Crimsonland (Xbox One) - Review

Crimsonland is available now on Xbox One and is priced at £9.99.

Crimsonland is a remaster of a PC game released way back in 2003, which has since been re-released on both PS4 and Xbox One. It's a top down twin-stick shooter all about wiping out the waves of enemies that come your way.

It reminded me a lot of a game I loved on the Xbox 360, the XBLIG title I Maed A Gam3 With Zombies In It!!!1, most probably best recognised from this song. This was a twin-stick shooter that was challenging, but more importantly a lot of fun, something which Crimsonland emulates and expands upon perfectly.

The controls are slick and super-responsive, as they should be with this type of game. Graphically the game is just ok really, but can any of us say we play a twin-stick for the visuals?! No, we play them for the quick, mindless sense of gratification that comes with mowing down hundreds of enemies with minimal effort. In a slight move away from the usual twin-stick controls though, Crimsonland has you pressing RT to actually fire your weapon, something which I struggled with at first but ultimately ended up feeling like it added to the experience of the game.

Crimsonland has two modes, Quest and Survival. Quest features 70 levels that each pits you against waves of enemies, with plenty of unlockables and power-ups to collect. Obviously these levels get a little more difficult as you progress through the game, but I found the curve to be just right really - actually erring on the easy side if you played with a friend. Survival mode is what you'd expect, but there a few different variants within the mode to playa round with.

Overall I'd say Crimsonland is a solid addition to the Xbox One game library. I went into the game not expecting to think that much of it if I am honest, but in the end I was really enjoying myself. At £9.99 I would say it is a little pricey - I would have been more comfortable recommending it to you if it was around the £7.99 mark instead. But with a sale probably somewhere in the not so distant future I'd say this is a game that is definitely worth picking up.

8/10 BUY IT!

A code was provided for the purpose of this review

Pinball FX 2 (Xbox One) - Review

So we all now about the addictive pinball game that graced the last gen. Now it has made the leap over to the Xbox One, bringing with it the opportunity to move any of your past purchased tables over too. There's also been the release of the new Walking Dead table to look forward to, so thanks to the great guys over at Zen Studios I've had the chance to do a write up of a few of the tables gracing the Xbox One version of Pinball FX 2. Read on for reviews on the following tables: Deadpool, Guardians of the Galaxy, the four Star Wars: Heroes Within tables and the new The Walking Dead table!

Deadpool

The Deadpool table seems a little busy...

I have to admit, whilst I love Marvel films I'm not really a comic lover so Deadpool is someone I don't know much about. I am sure that as my son grows bigger this will probably change but for now Deadpool isn't really on my radar.

This table is loud, brash and in your face, which (I am told) kinda fits the character well. Deadpool himself can be seen flitting around the table, muttering to himself A LOT and occasionally sending grenades at your ball. He gets in the way a fair bit too.

I am not the best pinball player ever...in fact I pretty much suck at it. But I'm a trier. My son, rather annoyingly, is pretty good at this (and insanely good at Angry Birds!) but I rather meanly put it down to dumb luck. So we both had a go at this table and Zach did do much better than me. Although the table does look really busy I found it quite hard to get a decent score, but this could be down to me being rubbish.

The general feel of this table is good though and it appealed to my son because of all the action. There does seem to aways be something happening on screen and the voice acting and soundtrack is really good too. Overall I'd say it's probably worth a punt for any comic book fans or pinball aficionados, but otherwise I'd overlook it for some of the better ones.

 Guardians of The Galaxy

The Guardians of the Galaxy table stood out for me!

This table really stood out for me. When I first got it, I hadn't seen the film yet (we went to see it this week and LOVED it!) so I did worry that I wouldn't 'get' it. But I needn't have worried as I really enjoyed this table.

The music to it is great and just adds to the fun of this table. I found it easy to see what was happening too, much easier than the Deadpool table, but it didn't feel sparse either. The voice acting was good, although Quill could get pretty repetitive and doesn't have the presence of Chris Pratt, but I feel like I'm nitpicking there really.

All the characters have their own ball and each is seen right at the beginning of the game as the table starts with a multiball. The beginning of the table does feel a little bit mental, but this is not foreshadowing the rest of it, as for the rest of the table I felt it was pretty clear what you had to do to trigger special modes.

I feel that this table has plenty to keep anyone happy but is especially good for any GotG fans out there. And Groot fans. And who doesn't like Groot?!

Star Wars - Heroes Within

There are four tables included in this pack - Han Solo, A New Hope, Masters of the Force and Droids. My partner and son are both huge Star Wars fans so they dived right into it, without even a backwards glance at me! 

This table felt a little tedious.

The first one we put on was the Masters of the Force table, which is Sith vs Jedi and features Count Dooku, Darth Sidious and Darth Maul pitted against Yoda, Qui-Gon Jin and Obi-Wan Kenobi. The table is set out with the Sith on one side and the Jedi's on the other. 

Each side of the table is the same as the other but themed to either the Sith or the Jedi, so that at the top there is Yoda's hut on the Jedi side and Darth Sidious' throne room on the side of the Sith. Both of these open up into mini tables that really can add to your score.

I liked that the launcher was a lightsabre and I thought the music and the voice acting were generally good but I couldn't shake the feeling that there was something missing with this table that I couldn't quite put my finger on. I guess it felt a little empty, which in turn made it feel pretty tedious. It is just one part of the whole though, and I do feel like this table is possibly the weakest in this pack.

The biggest challenge of the pack.

A New Hope features Luke Skywalker, Obi-Wan, C-3PO and R2-D2. I really struggled to get anywhere on this table and found it really quite difficult to rack up any semblance of a decent score. My son however, did not struggle quite as much and did activate some pretty cool modes, he especially enjoyed the multi ball that activates the Death Star.

We all soon got a little tired of trying on this table too, it proved itself a little too difficult for our rookie pinball skills (or lack thereof!). But for all those people that seem to have an innate ability that allows them to excel at Pinball this table may offer a bit of a challenge that doesn't result in feeling completely inept.

C-3PO's comments really make this table.

This table features the brilliant duo that is R2-D2 and C-3PO. This table looks really cool and is set inside of a Sandcrawler with Jawas supervising the action. The Jawas can interfere in your game too, which - whilst it could be frustrating - did introduce a fun gameplay mechanic.

This table was my sons favourite, mostly because of the Jawas, but I found it enjoyable too. The setting of the table is perfect and C-3PO's comments are hilarious and get the character spot on. This and the Han Solo table are by far the stand out tables of this pack, and really do make the pack worth buying for everyone who loves Star Wars.

Who doesn't love Han Solo?!

This table was my favourite, not least because it revolves around my favourite character, Han Solo. This table features the song from the Mos Eisley Cantina which immediately brings a smile to your face. The voice acting was really good too, and fit Han Solo's character well.

I found that the modes were pretty difficult to activate, but it wasn't frustrating like some of them are. You can just coast through this table as it is easy to keep the ball afloat, but in doing that you are never going to get the high scores.

This table was by far the most enjoyable of the pack in my opinion. It's brilliant for any Star Wars fans and presents enough of a challenge to the seasoned Pinball players without alienating the ones that aren't as good.

The Walking Dead 

Honestly the best table I've played

On hearing that there would be a table for The Walking Dead I was pretty sceptical of how it would work. How could they take the amazing story that Telltale games wove and transfer that to a PINBALL table?!

Well I don't know how they did it but they did, and most importantly they did it REALLY WELL! The table manages to seamlessly join the brilliantly fun gameplay of Pinball FX 2 with the tear-jerking moments and horrible heart-rending decisions that players make in The Walking Dead.

There are some really good special modes to unlock on this table, but I won't go into how you get them. There was one mode that sees you sniping zombies which was really cool. Zombies invade the table and hitting them with your ball does feel really gratifying.

I felt like this table was set up way better too, in that the ball seems to fly nearer to the flippers more often than some of the others. I found this table to be a fair bit easier than many, but at the same time just so much more fun and engaging. This table is an easy 'must-buy' for literally anyone.

Codes were provided for the purpose of this review.

Next Gen

So what did you all plump for? I waited and waited and waited and never really knew which one to get. My heart for this gen was totally with Xbox 360 I adored my machine and spent many hours with it. PS3 never really floated my boat, some of the games were AMAZING - Heavy Rain and The Last of Us I'm looking at you - but I felt like I was constantly battling with the interface and controller.

As any of you that read my musings on the Xbox One at the time will know I wasn't particularly impressed with either at the time. But as I researched them more I started to lean more towards the PS4, much to my partner's disgust - he is and always will be a Microsoft fanboy and literally recoils at the sight of me on my Macbook - but that system just seemed to be aimed more towards the gamers.

We left it for awhile and for a good while it was easy to ignore the next gen. The friends we had who had preordered the Xbox One (interestingly we had none that had preordered the PS4) liked it enough but didn't really rave about it. They had all kept their 360, a console we still have plenty of games left to play, for instance I STILL have not completed Skyrim, despite being 150 hours in...I just love exploring a little too much. We didn't feel like we were missing out at all really.

Christmas came and went, we got our children's birthdays out of the way and then it was getting closer and closer to the release date of Watch Dogs. Yes it was coming out on the last gen too, but who really wants to buy a new game on an old console?

So we finally plumped for...

The Xbox One. I know, I know. I HATED it at last years E3, but after waiting awhile it became more and more apparent that, for us, for our gaming preferences it HAD to be the One. The exclusives, the promise of future releases and above all the games currently available on it swung it for us. So now we have a One proudly sat underneath the TV next to its older (and more loved) brother.

It is good. Not mind-blowing, and certainly not game-changing yet. Maybe it will be in the future, but for now, for me at least it's a means to an end. I needed it to play Watch Dogs, Plants vs Zombies split screen and RYSE. But it's not earned my heart yet.

I'll be posting some opinions on the games I've been playing recently in due course.

Keep Gaming!
xXx

Thoughts on the Xbox One

Now I want to make it clear from the outset that I have never really considered myself a 'fangirl' of any of the consoles. I have owned most of them since I began gaming and can honestly say that the only thing that has ever made me favour one console over another is if that console SUITED my needs better. For example, when I asked for a GameCube for my birthday one year, it was mainly because my brother already had the PS2 and I knew I wouldn't be allowed online on the Xbox.

The GameCube was the first console bought solely for me and I adored it. A couple of years later I owned my own PS2 and Xbox, but really for me at the time GameCube had my heart, followed closely by the PS2. When the next gen was released I went straight to Xbox 360 and have never looked back. I purchased a Wii a little later, for something a bit different and finally a PS3 when I had more money than sense.

I can honestly say that, whilst I don't regret buying the PS3 I do feel it has been mistreated in my house, it has never been, and will never be our primary games console. It has been used for PS3 exclusives and Bluray and that is about it. Until I bought Ni No Kuni last month I don't think I had played a game on it since Heavy Rain. I hate the long drawn out updates (that it seems to need everytime I turn the damn thing on!) I dislike how cheap and flimsy the controller feels. In short, there isn't actually much I enjoy about the PS3 as a games console.

The Xbox 360 was (and still is) the gaming console for me. It suits me well. It has a vast array of games that can cater to any of my whims. I have a huge game collection for it, including over 300 XBLA and XBLIG titles. I love the controller. I love my special Gears console. I love the background updates.

But recently it has been clear where Microsoft are going. Slowly but surely more and more useless junk has been spreading onto my 360. Sky, which I don't care about. Facebook, which we all have on our phone. Mounds of apps that mostly do the same bloody thing. ADVERTS ON THE DASH - that was a real joy-killer. And the death of Inside Xbox and SentUAMessage, seemed like the final death knoll. But I stuck by my machine - after all I have no issues with it as a games console, which is all I wnat it to be.

So when they announced the Xbox One I didn't get that excited. I sat with baited breath and watched the reveal on my 360. And even though my expectations hadn't actually been that high, I finished watching it feeling deflated.

TV, TV, TV, TV, Television, TV, TV. It was heard a ridiculous amount of times during the unveiling of a GAMES console. What made it worse was that a lot of the 'features' seem to be for our cousins on the other side of the pond. I guess we'll see. But for a long while the USA have had more varied apps and features than us poor Brits and the Xbox One seems to be carrying on that trend.

Then they announced the very controversial DRM. Now I have to admit that whilst it irked me a little it didn't pee me off to the extent it has others. I rarely buy second hand games so at first I struggled to understand how it would affect me. But I really disliked the control they are trying to assert over us, their loyal fans. It seemed like a slap in the face.

At the minute we have two Xbox 360's, one in the bedroom and one in the living room. It seems natural that we would probably do the same with the next gen, but now we're not so sure. From what I understand, anyone on the same console the disc was installed to can play it, which is fine. But what about if we do own two? Would one us then not be able to play any games on the other Xbox One?

For me there are too many questions about the next gen. I will not be pre-ordering either of the next gen. I will wait and see what happens and wait for them to clarify some points. What I saw didn't excite me enough for me to throw my chips in with either Sony or Microsoft to be honest.

Sony have said they will not be using DRM, but for me this is just as worrying. They did say first party games will be DRM-free which is fine. But surely they should just be upfront and admit that, because of Xbox One's stance on it, the publishers now have them over a barrel. If Sony won't allow the publishers to use DRM than Sony will probably not be getting as many games as Xbox One.

I guess we'll see what happens. Bt I have to admit to be being worried about the future of gaming. It could be amazing, but for now I'm on the fence.

Black Knight Sword (XBLA) Review

Black Knight Sword is available now on the XBLA Marketplace for 800MSP.

Black Knight Sword is a 2D side-scrolling hack and slash game. But it is unlike any other I have played before, I'm still undecided whether this is a bad thing or not. I'm gonna begin this review by saying this game is intriguing...make of that what you will.

The art style is beautiful, in places it is really stunning. All of the game plays out on a kinda stage, complete with curtains around the screen. Curtains down when you pause, or die. It's a pretty neat little concept. The music as well is brilliant. It really fits the art style well and makes for pretty atmospheric gameplay. The voiceover is a little freaky, but again it does fit in. The loading screen continues the stage show theme by giving us a silhouette audience which is pretty cool.

So yeah that all sounds pretty good, right? And that bit is, but I still can't honestly tell you I enjoyed this game. I don't know whether it's because it's just a little too weird, or purely because I'm easily bored with hack and slash games. This game definitely is a button basher, there is no sense of needing any real tactics to this game, just bash and hope and you'll be fine.

This game is really weird. Item boxes, yeah they're in the form of microwaves. Yup, doesn't make any sense what-soever, but then neither does the game. It all feels really disjointed, like it was trying hard to be this weird. Nothing is really explained. The shop is one of the weirder moments. The first time you trigger the shop, by catching a little eye-thingy, a big eye pops onto the screen and thanks you for rescuing her child. Now to repay you she will sell you stuff, extra lives etc. STRANGE!

This game is beautiful, no one can take that away. It really is pretty stunning. But the gameplay is dull as dishwater. I found myself bored pretty sharpish and I had a headache. That's no fun.

And the JUMPING. Eurgh. I hate games that include jumps that are a little too big for a single jump so you have to double jump like an idiot all the way round the level. Irksome to say the least.

That being said I don't think everyone will hate this game. A fair amount of you will probably love it. If you're looking for something a little different, or love hack and slashers, definitely give this a try!

6/10 TRY IT!

A code was provided for the purpose of this review.

Vampire Slayer FPS (XBLIG) Review

Vampire Slayer FPS is available now on the XBLIG Marketplace for 80MSP.

Vampires are cool right? Well this game gives you the choice of playing as them or against them, either online or with bots and the biggest thing you need to know about this game is that you should BUY IT! There review complete!

Just kidding, obviously I'll give you more than that. So here are some details.

Upon loading this game I have to admit to feeling a little disappointed at first. The graphics are pretty bad. BUT I overlooked this for the moment to see what else this title had to offer and I'm so glad I did! I chose to play as a Slayer in my first bot-match. And it was pretty damn scary! This is a game which I felt gave real credit to how difficult vampires would be to kill. They are frightening! I found myself cowering in the corner for a good part of my first match because all I could hear was the vampires creepy noise and all down my screen was a list of my team-mates being decimated by the vamps. No fair!

I mustered up the courage and was basically met by a vampire who seemed to appear from nowhere. I came off worse in that meeting. Renewed though I kept trying and eventually I could almost hold my own against them, so it was time to try out the Vampires themselves.

I had my suspicions upon loading this game that the vampires would be pretty hard to master. How right I was. I found myself constantly overthrowing where I wanted to be and again, was coming off worse. I was dying continuously!

Anyway long story short I feel this game provides more than enough of a challenge for most gamers. It's great to pick up and play for a quick match, but at the same time you could sink hours into trying to master it. Yes the graphics are bad BUT the game isn't and at 80MSP what does it even matter. We spend more than that on a bar of chocolate. Skip the choc for today and treat yourself to this instead!

9/10 BUY IT!

A code was provided for the purpose of this review.

Red Bull Crashed Ice Kinect (XBLA) Review

Red Bull Crashed Ice Kinect is available now on the XBLA Marketplace for 400MSP.

 I need to start this review off by saying this mental game is based on a REAL-LIFE SPORTING EVENT. Yes some of you may be aware of that, I however was not and upon learning this I tweaked my score a little. Just a little mind.

So what happens is this. Your avatar gets all decked out in pads and you meet him at the top of an icy slope with ten tonnes of obstacles in the way. Make your way round them faster than anybody else.

As the title shows, this is a Kinect title so if you are a gamer that is averse to moving anything but your digits look away now. This game is a pretty good work out. To gain speed you have to swing your arms about, something my three year old found VERY amusing to watch. Duck obstacles, hop onto others and block your face to get through walls and that's about it.

This game is good fun. But it does get old pretty quickly. As is now usual I find with Kinect titles the tracking is a little off and at one point this game seemed to be tracking a lamp in the corner of my living room. And lets be honest here, sometimes a Kinect only title is just REALLY what you don't wanna play, right? You have to be in the right frame of mind to play Kinect and if you just want a bit of active fun go for this. It's cheap and cheerful at just 400MSP and will provide a bit of fun. A hell of a lot more than some other Kinect titles though! At this price you can definitely afford to give this game a go!

7/10 TRY IT!

A code was provided for the purpose of this review.

Three Dead Zed (XBLIG) Review

Three Dead Zed is available now on the XBLIG Marketplace for 80MSP.

 Ok so even if you're the biggest Zombie-nerd ever you could be getting tired of the endless Zombie clones finding their way on to your Xbox. Nothing feels new anymore with Zombies (except The Walking Dead) there doesn't seem to be much creativity in them anymore, right?

Wrong! Three Dead Zed is a zombie game with n actual difference. Albeit a few slight ones but still it is NOT a carbon copy!

This game has coupled HUMOUR with ZOMBIES. No, you didn't read that wrong. They have made Zombies funny. Whilst this may be refreshing for some, I can imagine some of the more hardcore zombie-fans getting pretty annoyed right now. To be honest I thought I would hate a humorous take on Zombies to but this game doesn't totally stink.

Basically some scientists are trying to create a smart Zombie. You play as three of their creations. You morph between them to suit the levels needs. The first one, default Zombie can flick switches, the second can run pretty fast and bounce off walls. The third one is a heifer that can crush pretty much anything, or at the very least move it out of your way.

Graphically it is impressive, it's done in a real nice cartoony comic style. It does look a lot better than a lot of indie games. Unfortunately this can not be said for the controls. I am not normally one to just slate controls in games but this one is ridiculous. The controls are all over the place. There are more than a few points in that game that had me annoyed. The running zombie on all fours can cling onto walls and jump onto the next. Sometimes this works great, but at other times he would only bounce off the wall if you hit a teeny tiny bit of the wall. Irritating.

It is a pretty fun game though. It is pretty short-lived fun though with the problems it has at the minute. I found myself getting too irritated to carry on a few times, and I struggled with motivation to attempt it again because of the poor controls. I do like the system of weaknesses and strengths in different Zombies though, and feel like this game pays enough attention to each Zombies shortfalls.

Overall this game is a pretty good idea executed pretty poorly. With a few patches though I think you should give it a try. It is good fun, sometimes.

5/10 TRY IT!

A code was provided for the purpose of this review.