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.

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.

Civil War Table - Pinball FX 2 (XBLA) Review

The Civil War table is available now on the XBLA Marketplace for 240MSP.

This table is taken from the Marvel comics that featured, you guessed it, a Civil War. The war was based on the Government wanting all mutants to register, Iron Man was all for it, Captain America not so much.

The table starts off with a really cool extra. You can choose to start off with the massacre at Stamford. If you do you get two balls thrown into play. Drop one and the other automatically drops out too. The point of this is to rescue people from the attack. the better you do the higher your score and this is all added together at the end. Nice.

You then decide which side you want to play for. I agree with Captain America, but I think Iron Man is way cooler so I choose his side. I'm that bad at Pinball thought that it probably counts as me fighting for Captain America. I am truly awful at this game.

It doesn't mean I don't have fun trying though. I used to love playing Pinball on my dad's old PC years and years ago. Until the original Sims was released anyway. Then it was good to play a game I didn't totally suck at.

So once you've picked a side it's time to start recruiting! There is a little table of eight other mutants in the bottom and by hitting the various bits and bobs on the table you get them to join your team. The reason you want a big team is because this gives you more allies when you start a fight. The fights are pretty cool. My son (who is Superhero mad) was so excited to see Iron Man diving across the table to fight Captain America.

This table is pretty challenging. I've always got by with Pinball games by mashing the triggers but this one needs a little more finesse though. This only adds to the fun though and this is a brilliant table. FOr the meagre price of 240MSP you'd be silly to not snap this up!

8/10 BUY IT!

A code was provided for the purpose of this review.

Planets Under Attack (XBLA) Review

Planets Under Attack is available now on the XBLA Marketplace for 1200MSP.

I love strategy games, but until I recently received XCOM I never enjoyed them on console. DS = Great, iPad = Great, PC = Great, Console = severely lacking That's usually how strategy games make me feel.

This game isn't as bad as many, many other attempts at strategy on console. But it isn't all that great either. It can feel like you are totally being snowed under sometimes and the game becomes a constant battle to keep up with yourself.

IT'S 3D is what my boyfriend yelled when first launching the game. He's right. And the 3D is VERY impressive. The planets do really look like they're floating around in the room with you. It's very strange. I have to be honest I'm not such a mad fan of 3D, it strains my eyes fairly quickly, but it is nice to be given the option. And the graphics are beautiful!

Each stage or level has loads of planets, some are moving about in orbit and others are stationary. Capture the neutral and enemy planets and bobs your uncle. You can then upgrade them to suit your galactic needs best, be it population increase, making more fleets, money makers or just plain old defense. You don't control your armies or anything like that, it is not a totally in-depth strategy game, you just choose how many of your ships to throw at a planet in an attempt to take it over.

Then the game for me anyway, all starts to fall apart. Not necessarily in a bad way. But I am naturally quite a stressed person. Couple that with OCD tendencies and this game plays havoc with my head. As I mentioned before i felt like I was always chasing my tail, I couldn't keep up, for what felt like ages, with what I needed to be doing and what was happening. Stressful!

Be that as it may though, once you get into the swing of things and you've worked out your strategy (duh) this game is fun. Difficult to get into, but even more difficult to put down. Anyone who has even once enjoyed a strategy game should probably pick this one up.

8/10 BUY IT!

A code was provided for the purpose of this review.

Naughty Bear: Panic in Paradise (XBLA) Review

Naughty Bear: Panic in Paradise is available now on the XBLA Marketplace for 1200MSP.

Now I never played the previous disc-based Naughty Bear game. So I am not going to compare it to that game, which I hear was pretty awful. This is my first foray into the world of Naughty Bear...and I LOVED IT!

If you are against mass teddy genocide don't buy this game. If, like most of the human race, you are aware that violence in video games ISN'T REAL then you should probably give this one a go. The various amazing ways in which you can exact teddy torture are totally hilarious!

So story wise...All the teddies have gone on holiday but they didn't invite the murderous little teddy that is Naughty Bear. In hindsight that was a pretty bad move eh teddies? So Naughty heads to the island to give the teddies a piece of his mind...or impale them on a cactus plant.

Graphics are actually really good for this game, I don't know why I didn't expect them to be but I was surprised to find myself admiring the graphics. I mean nothing groundbreaking, but the world is beautiful and the stuffing that comes out of the teddies you kill is actually pretty realistic!

You basically go around killing bears in various sick and twisted ways. You don't have to kill every bear you see (but it is more fun) you just have to kill the 36 nasty bears that didn't invite you to the party. Each of these bears have to be killed in a certain way, be it feeding it to a giant plant or dressed in a certain way. Follow the rules to exact your revenge on the target bear and do what you want with the other ones, whether that's making them so terrified they kill themselves or dropping a car on them.

There are 11 different ares for you to run around killing teddies in, so there is a little repetition but not enough to make this game a no-go. In fact it helps quite a bit later in the game to know the maps a little, as the hits gradually get harder.

There are SO MANY different things to collect in this game. Naughty Bear has a pretty huge wardrobe. And what goes best with a shiny new outfit? Yep a shiny new weapon. With so many different weapons on offer it is very hard to get bored of this game. Hell, even without this vast array of weapons, you have so many different things in the universe to kill teddies with this game stays interesting for way longer than a lot of arcade games at the minute.

Overall I would pretty much recommend this game to anyone. It is pretty sick and dark, but it is only teddies and there is no 'real' gore like blood. A definite must buy for me!

8/10 BUY IT!

A code was provided for the purpose of this review.