Blues and Bullets Episode 2: Shaking The Hive (Xbox One) - Review

Blues and Bullets Episode 2: Shaking The Hive is available now on Xbox One and is priced at £3.99 if you're buying the episodes separately.

Now I have to be honest, usually when I'm reviewing an episodic game I'd rather wait until they're all out to review them. I think you deserve to know what I think of the game as a cohesive whole, rather than what I think of each individual chunk. Let's be honest, would any of you have wanted a big retail release like Fallout 4 reviewed in hour long chunks?! But with Blues and Bullets I have (and will be) reviewing them as and when they come out, because it has been ages since Episode 1 released and if I didn't review them singularly I'd forget what the hell has happened before the last Episode.

Now that sounds a little silly but I'm serious, the gap between episodes for Blues and Bullets is far too long and honestly this is my main criticism of the game. The story is gripping and well told, so that by the end you are dying to know what is going to happen next. Fast forward EIGHT whole months and we can finally continue the story. Tiny problem though, a lot of time has passed and I can't remember what the fudge was going on. Yes I can replay the first episode, but lets be honest here, we all have a huge gaming backlog, don't we?

As ever I'm not going to ruin the story here. Episode 2 starts off a little slower than I would have liked, but it soon picks up and by the end I was desperately searching for any known release date for the next episode on the internet. The art style is still a real pleasure to immerse yourself in, the story is gripping and I love the mixture of piecing clues together and shooting the bad guys. The shooting parts really stand out for me in this game, they are just really simple and fun, I love that you can aim in the right general direction before sticking your head out of cover. The dialogue options could be a little clearer as I found myself disappointed in what Ness was saying a few times, but this might just be me!

Overall I'd say Blues and Bullets is a really interesting game, one that I love when I'm playing. However the large break between episodes is a problem for me really, by the time this one came around, any interest I had had waned significantly. Props to the developer though, as once I started playing it had me hook, line and sinker again. I just hope I don't have to wait another eight months for the next episode.

7/10 TRY IT!

A code was provided for the purpose of this review.