We didn’t review the Xbox One seven years ago. We didn’t get a preview unit and nobody on staff at the time was interested enough to pick it up day one. Man, what a difference seven years makes, because the Xbox Series X is a triumph. Check out our One Dislike, Three Likes article about the Xbox Series X! This console has been built by gamers for gamers, and it comes through in every interaction you ...
John Wick Hex really clicked for me when, after clearing a level, I watched it back “in real-time,” versus the time-based strategic puzzle-combat gameplay. Watching the titular hero make his way through a street, punching, rolling, kicking, and shooting adversaries in under 10 seconds is a lot of fun. Of course, 10 seconds in “real-time” translates to about 5 minutes of gameplay, as the player tries to ...
Puzzles! Romance! Adventure! If Call of the Sea was a story from the 1930s, its advertising would speak entirely in exclamation points – and it’d almost live up to them. It’s filled with brainteasers designed to fairly but frequently trip you up, all on one of the most beautiful islands in gaming. It boasts next-gen features like raytracing, but doesn’t feel the need to overdo them or ...
Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 – a game title that deserves a Kingdom Hearts style “2.5D Ultima Super Dream Final Edition” if I’ve ever heard one. People know what Tetris is, and a good chunk of those will know what Puyo Puyo is if you explain it in Mean Bean Machine terms. It says what it is, for better or for worse. But hidden behind that slightly mystifying name is a potent mix of puzzling fun ...
I’m not sure there’s a more intense single-player racing experience than coming to the end of a long rally stage as the rain starts to spit. The time pops up at the checkpoint and you’re either a second ahead or behind the pace heading into the last stretch. Every time it happens in WRC 9 on Series X, I shift forward in my seat and try my darndest to hit each apex without careening off an edge and down a…
Breath of the Wild meets Assassin’s Creed – it’s a recipe that amazingly we haven’t had until exactly this moment. But boy, does Immortals Fenyx Rising taste good. Mixing in a bit of fourth-wall breaking Borderlands humour and plenty of mythology, this is a game that wears its influences on its sleeves. You enter every “shrine” knowing full well that you’re venturing ...
How good can Tetris get? The definitive version on the Gameboy (or NES) did everything that this genre needed to do. Every effort since has just been more of the same. How much innovation can there be after billions of blocks? Turns out, you can squeeze quite a lot out of it. There’s been plenty to play on Xbox Series X this past week, but Tetris Effect: Connected has proven to be the most addictive. If ...
There are certain things we can rely on in life to have an annual release, Things like the Shamrock shake at McDonald’s, or they claymation Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer special during the holidays. Just Dance has been in that same category since it’s inception over a decade ago. With its infectious song lists bright colors and fancy unique choreography Just Dance has always been a fun time for ...
It’s time to enjoy two of the best co-op games ever made… again. Overcooked! All You Can Eat combines the first and second games together into a “remastered” pack on Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5, but it feels a bit like warming up leftovers. If you’ve never played this series before and have somebody to play it with, disregard any negativity in the coming 900 or so words. They ...
Tis the season everyone, time for Call of Duty to release a new game, Time for them to climb the sales charts with another new title, Time for wives to mourn the loss of their husbands as we all prepare our bodies and new consoles for some elite level pew pew action. The Campaign mode of Black Ops Cold War was designed and developed by Raven Software which was already designing a campaign based on the Cold ...
How do you make a great racing game like Dirt 5 into a must-play experience? You optimise it for Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5. It’s that easy. Racing should be a bigger genre than it is. When you look at the mobile scene, the biggest titles are things that are intense, fun and playable in short bursts. That’s driving games to a tee. We haven’t been able to have that pleasure on console ...
There’s no sign of the roguelike rush stopping any time soon, and ScourgeBringer is the latest to join the often-punishing genre. A well made game that nails its gameplay execution, ScourgeBringer is a fun ride that will remind you of a game with tight controls from the NES or SNES era. There’s a story to ScourgeBringer, but it’s ancillary to the experience. From the time you first load up ...
There’s no better way of rounding out a dinner party than to load up Jackbox. The mini-game compilations are fantastic fun, often come to Gamepass, and, more amazing than anything, are now up to their seventh pack. This latest compilation brings with it five new games, each worth looking at. For what it is, there’s nothing quite like the Jackbox compilations, and I think if you know you’ll get ...
London’s facing its downfall courtesy of state surveillance, private military, and organized crime. Recruit a well-rounded resistance to overthrow the wankers ruining this once-great city. The fate of London lies with you. As heavily advertised, Watchdogs Legion allows you to play as anyone. Each character has their own backstory, personality, motivations for joining, and skill set – all of which ...
Here we are on the cusp of a bonzer new generation of consoles, and I’m thrilled that Ty the Tasmanian Tiger is still here, biting it up with the big boys. Old games deserve to live on, and that’s doubly true when you’re talking outside the holy trinity of Mario, Sonic and Crash Bandicoot. Seeing those ripper levels again was a joy, but Ty HD is just that: those same familiar levels again. The ...
Cook, Serve, Delicious! 3?! takes the fevered cooking game on the road, which opens up a slightly different gameplay style while further refining the original gameplay concept along the way. All three of the games in the series amount to what is a frantic rhythm game as orders come in associated with specific sequences of button presses to complete. For many of the early orders, this can lead a player to a ...
The last time I really loved a hockey game, Patrick Roy was tending the net for the Colorado Avalanche and the Columbus Blue Jackets — my de facto hometown team — was in its infancy, led by a guy with the last name of Tugnutt. Like many gamers my age (mid-30s), NHL ’94 will forever hold a special place in my heart. My go-to team back then, with Jaromir Jagr my favorite player. Add in the Mighty Ducks movie ...
We are knee-deep in the spooky season, which I always find myself playing spooky games throughout, this year was delighted to find a trick not treat in my goodie bag in Pumpkin Jack. Which is a 3D platformer much in the same style as the cult classic MedEvil with a bit of a modern flair. The peaceful Boredom Kingdom, with its happy citizens, monotonous calm… and adorable little bunnies, has sent the Devil ...
It’s the back-to-school season! Time to open the doors of your school and welcome your new students. Put on your schoolbag and get your notebooks: the game My Universe – School Teacher is available today on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and digitally on Xbox One and soon on PC/Mac. Play as a young teacher with a mission: take on the challenge to bring your new school back to the top and become the best ...
Now in its fourth iteration, the Ride series is firmly entrenched as the Gran Turismo of motorcycle racing games. The developers clearly love motorcycles and have a reverence for the history of the various makes and models. Ride 4 can serve as a digital museum of sorts for motorcycles. On the track, controlling the various bikes feels great, and there is a marked difference between bikes. Nailing the apex ...
Whatever happened to the brawler genre? One day, every game was a brawler, and the next it was gone. It had become retro, with new content consigned to stylised sequels like the incredible Streets of Rage 4. 9 Monkeys of Shaolin is an attempt to bring those old titles back in something feeling a little fresher – and it mostly succeeds. But not just that. 9 Monkeys of Shaolin is a perfect combination of ...
Crash Bandicoot 4 continues Activision’s string of resurrecting old IP into something that feels both fresh and familiar. The game — developed by Spyro Reignited devs Toys for Bob — strikes the perfect chord between throwing back to the original trilogy and adding new bells and whistles to differentiate the experience. In Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time, Crash and Coco are sent on an adventure to track ...
Sports games get picked over with a fine-toothed comb each and ever year, and for good reason. At 79.99 in Canada, it's a steep price to pay, and folks want to make sure they aren't getting a very expensive roster update. While FIFA lacks any major overhauls this year, there are enough changes that should justify a purchase for even the most casual of FIFA fans. Let's dive in!
The world is on the brink of extinction as mighty Tyrant Nexomon fight for dominion over humans and monsters. Join the Tamer’s Guild and begin an epic journey to restore balance before all hope is lost… Begin Your Journey Leave the orphanage you grew up in, choose your first Nexomon, and start your life as a tamer. Explore a world teeming with Nexomon Trap and tame 381 Nexomon from nine elemental types, ...
The city of Lost Heaven got hit hard by The Great Depression, and the advent of Prohibition in America means lucrative business opportunities for mobsters. The Salieri and Morello crime families vie for control over Lost Heaven, even as it’s few honest policemen scramble to maintain order. Thomas Angelo’s humble life as a hard-working taxi driver is forever changed after a fateful run-in with the Italian ...
At the beginning of “The Last Campfire,” I had a nagging sense of deja vu. The main character — Ember — looks like he’d belong in the 2012 indie megahit “Journey,” while the art style, storybook narration and music feel like an indie game playbook. Cutesy artwork; bright colors; melancholy story; understated soundtrack; mysterious narrative; and so-on. In some ways, it’s hard to believe this game comes ...
Back when the Summer Game Fest Demo Event was going on with Xbox, I had a hard time keeping up with what was being offered. Part of it was pure laziness, part of it was I really didn’t know where to begin considering all of the demos available for a short period of time. So I reached out to my audience and said, alright folks pick out a bunch of games and I will play through them and stream them.…
The remake of the first two Tony Hawk Pro Skater games — recently released on Xbox One and PS4 — continues the recent Activision trend of stellar updates of classic games from the 1990s. This package, more than any remake or remaster in recent memory, speaks almost directly to me. The original games were among my favorites on the original PlayStation. Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1+2 perfectly captures the ...
Who knew that a TV series following gangsters with Brummy accents could have such selling power? Birmingham has become the unlikely setting of Peaky Blinders, one of TV’s most popular British shows, giving our second city a focus outside the meat market and that funny shaped shopping centre. It only makes sense that a game was going to follow, and Mastermind has come along to fill that gap. What you end up ...
Released yesterday, Marvel's Avengers is, surprisingly, the first big-budget Avengers game available on PC and current-gen consoles. Despite the overwhelming success of Marvel's movies and TV shows in the last 12 years (since 2008's Iron Man re-ignited their franchise), their heroes have been noticeably absent on the gaming scene. Other than some mobile games and the latest installment of the always enjoyable ...
