Blues and Bullets Episode 1 (Xbox One) - Review

Blues and Bullets Episode 1 is available now on the Xbox One and is priced at £3.99.

Episodic games are all over the Xbox Marketplace at the minute. I'm a big fan of them myself, I'm pretty busy so to be able to 'finish' a game in under 5 hours suits me well. Then we get the next instalment about a month or so later, which is something I always look forward to, particularly with Life is Strange, King's Quest and Telltale's Game of Thrones. Well Blues and Bullets is another one to add to that list after playing the first episode.

In Blues and Bullets you begin playing as a little girl who is trapped in a cell. The story soon moves to you playing as Eliot Ness, famous for taking down Al Capone, who now runs a diner after retiring from the force 20 years ago. As always on this blog I won't go into proper story detail, but it centres around Capone and his missing daughter.

The games graphics aren't the best ever, but the art style is truly beautiful and gives ample opportunity to capture some nice screenshots for you dashboard background. The game is exclusively in black and white, with red being the only colour that is picked out which more than makes up for the lacking graphics.

This game is NOT for the faint-hearted as it features a pretty grisly murder and I've a feeling this is setting a precedent for the upcoming episodes. The game looks more open than it is, it gives you fairly large environments but they are full of hidden walls that basically lead you to exactly where you need to be so there isn't really any space to explore.

I'm very excited for what's coming next in Blues and Bullets, episode one is left on quite a big cliffhanger and I can't wait to see what happens next. At £3.99 an episode, which I'm guessing will be once every 1-2 months it's an absolute steal and one that won't break the bank. Go grab this episode and see if its for you.

9/10 BUY IT!

A code was provided for the purpose of this review. 

King's Quest: A Knight to Remember (Xbox One) - Review

King's Quest: A Knight to Remember is available now on the Xbox One and is priced at £7.99. Alternatively you can buy the Season Pass for £31.99, which gets you all future episodes and a bonus Prologue and Epilogue.

King's Quest was apparently a very popular game in the 80's, but I'd never played it or indeed heard of it before the reboot was announced. I'm gonna excuse myself by saying I wasn't born until quite awhile after release.

Anyhow King's Quest s the story of King Graham, as told by him to his granddaughter Gwendolyn. Voiced by the amazing Christopher Lee King Graham is telling Gwendolyn stories from his past and it is these stories that you will play out in the chapters to come. 

This first chapter sees you play through the Knight'e Tournament in Daventry. I will not go into anymore story than that. This truly is a game that you will enjoy infinitely more if you experience it for yourself. Suffice it to say that the writing in this game really is top-notch. It's witty, clever and brilliantly acted. The game is both beautiful to look at and to play. Controls are responsive and the quests are great. There are plenty of times where you can meet a sticky end, these moments are fantastic, as we see old King Graham and Gwendolyn make some funny remarks about what you've just done. 

Usually for games like this there is just one solution to each of the puzzles you are faced with, but in King's Quest there are multiple ways in which to solve each problem. It is hard to say what effect this will have on the story as it continues, but it makes for an interesting change. The characters you meet along the way are all really, well, characterful. They're hilarious and so memorable. 

King's Quest is a game I thought I would love anyway, I love this type of game and I am surprised that I hadn't heard of this one. It is hard to think of someone that wouldn't like this game though, it is honestly so well done. Whilst the Season Pass does sound pricey at £31.99 I'd be tempted to recommend it, as for that you get all five episodes and two bonus ones. For those who may be comparing this to Telltale's price points, which are usually around half the price, King's Quest is easily double the game, with this episode probably taking somewhere between 7-8 hours to complete.  If you're on the fence at all I would recommend that you pick Chapter One up and try it out, but honestly I don't know who wouldn't want to continue hearing from King Graham. 

10/10 BUY IT!

A code was provided for the purpose of this review.