ScreamRide (Xbox One) - Review

ScreamRide is out now on the Xbox One and is priced at £29.99. Yeah, ouch! The price point is one of the main reasons for the slightly lower score given to this game. I feel really strongly about recommending games I feel are worth the money, and this just feels that it's been priced slightly too high, for what is essentially an arcade game. I think it is a dangerous sign of things to come on this gen that there are VERY few games that are less than £10 to download. When we consider that when Minecraft was released on the Xbox 360 at 1600MSP everyone thought that seems a little steep. Just because it hadn't been done before. If I spent 1200MSP on an arcade game I wanted it to be the best thing since sliced bread! So I always try to consider the price the game may have been on last gen before I say that the game offers value for money.

Anyway, let's get on with the review of the game. ScreamRide is fun. Billed as a 'spiritual sequel' to the amazing old PC game Rollercoaster Tycoon, I feel that in my mind at least it was almost set up for a fall. I LOVED Rollercoaster Tycoon. But I loved all the 'boring' things about it, the day to day running of the park, setting admission prices and hiring staff etc. ScreamRide is nothing like that at all. It takes all of that away and actually the only similarities between the two games are that they both contain coasters and you can build your own in a sandbox mode.

ScreamRide instead celebrates certain doom and destruction. There are three main game modes during the campaign - Scream Rider, Demolition and Engineer. Scream Rider sees you take control of a coaster on what is essentially a race track made out of roller coaster. You can use turbo, brake on the corners and lean into the bends to gain more turbo. There are blue parts of the track which sees you have to press a button at a key moment to earn more turbo too. This part of the game is really fun, but does get tired quite easily. The camera angle used is great, and it does feel like you can feel the speed that you're doing. My children watched me play this game and both squealed when we were going round a loop-the-loop or down a hill. You earn stars by completing challenges which range from getting a certain amount of points to derailing your coaster cart a certain amount of times whilst still scoring highly.

Demolition mode is like Angry Birds. You are given a set amount of carts to fire out of a revolving arm at buildings, screens, rings and trampolines. I am usually pretty awful at these types of games, and this game was no different. I struggled like mad to earn any of the commendations so I could progress. My timing is off with throwing the rem, seriously the amount of times I threw the carriage behind me rather than in front is ridiculous. Then if I did manage to shoot it the right way I still managed to miss the screens or whatever. I actually ended up getting my son to do some for me. He is that flukey kind of player that always manages to get a near perfect score when it seems like he is just throwing things haphazardly. He did really well on this game.

Engineer mode is basically a construction mode. You are given an almost complete track and told to finish it. You have to make the track reach certain lengths for the commendations and do so without losing any riders. This mode is really hard to control, or at least I found it to be so. The camera never really seems to go where you want it to go, making it difficult to place your track pieces. And my biggest problem with it is that it all feels pointless. It lacks the all out fun of being destructive for the sake of it, and it lacks the speed and finesse that the Scream Rider mode has. It just feels like it has been placed in for the sake of saying that it is like 'Rollercoaster Tycoon'. It isn't. Sandbox mode is exactly what you expect and might keep you interested for a little bit. But you will have to complete the game to unlock all the cool stuff for inside the sandbox. Without going through at least some of the story you will find it extremely difficult to enjoy sandbox mode.

Overall I feel like this game has priced itself out of the market slightly. It is polished, the graphics are nice and colourful, the music is good and it is fun but it is just too expensive! Priced around £15 and I may have been able to recommend it but for double that it feels like too much for me to say go and spend your hard earned cash on it. Wait for a sale, if it sounds like something you'd enjoy, but if you get bored easily then I'd say skip it.

4/10 TRY IT!

A code was provided for the purpose of this review. 

2D Voxel Madness (XBLIG) Review

 2D Voxel Madness is available now on the XBLIG Marketplace.

I never played the prequel to this game, Volchaos, so I am in no position to compare the two. I played this game as a stand-alone game, as when I first approached the developers that's what I understood it to be. I was soon corrected upon loading the game!

Now I have to just say this game is weird. I've just finished playing it and I'm still struggling to adequately put my thoughts into words for you. I'm not undecided on the game or anything, but I guess I don't have that much to say about it.

It's easy to see that this game could easily become a time-sink. Put it on for five minutes and there is a large possibility you'll still be sat there an hour later. If you don't know much about the game let me give you a quick overview. You're a little guy mining for diamonds and fighting off weird monsters. There doesn't seem to be an overall objective from what I could gather. You collect stuff, destroy stuff and can build stuff. It is like the most simplistic version of Minecraft ever.

Now I have to be honest and say I did struggle to see the point in playing this game. There is no rhyme or reason to it at all but it is not an horrific game. It's ok. And at 80MSP you can't really go wrong. I'm betting there are people out there that could do all sorts with this game, but personally I don't have the patience. It is a nice simple little game, but it does have scope for more if you're a more patient person, or have more time on your hands.

Graphically it's quite nice. It kept my daughters attention with the cartoony monsters anyhow. And the music is nice too. As I say theres nothing I hate about this game, but nothing really that stands out either.

5/10 TRY IT!

A code was provided for the purpose of this review.

The Dannie Kitten Gaming Awards!

So I've been thinking long and hard about this. It's been another good year for us gamers and I wanted to acknowledge the best with the Dannie Kitten Gaming Awards!

By the end of 2011 I had had a pretty good year...I had a difficult pregnancy which meant plenty of bed rest and time with my Xbox just as Skyrim hit the shelves. Then my life as I knew it ended. I wanted to spend all my time as Thalia, my Redguard adventurer.

This year couldn't possibly have topped that....or so I thought. But it turns out this year had some goodies in store for us. So here it is, The Dannie Kitten Gaming Awards 2012:

Game of the Year: The Walking Dead

This was by far the easiest decision I've made. This game is perfect! The first episode was amazing when I first played it, but TRUST ME it gets so much better. I know a few people who didn't buy the game based on the first episode and all I can say is PERSEVERE. I enjoyed it anyway, but when my save miraculously disappeared most of the way through Ep.4 I had to go back and replay and yes I did think it felt pretty slow and drawn out. But by then I knew the awesomeness that was coming next so it was easy to go through it again. The game is game-as-storyteller at it's very best and should be way up there on everyones lists of favourite games. To cut a long story short...GO BUY THIS GAME NOW!

XBLIG of the Year: Smooth Operators

Now I know I have already given out my award for Game of the Year but I feel this game deserved a special mention. So I created an award for the Indie games and this is the winner! God this game is good! I have long since been a fan of sim games such as these and when one came to the XBLIG market I had to have it. And it really didn't disappoint. Giving this game this award was such an easy choice to make. It is easy pick-up-and-play fun, but trust me it isn't so hard to put it down! I have sunk many many hours into this game and I still find it fun. Pick it up guys!




Character of the Year: Kenny (The Walking Dead)

This is probably the toughest decision I have made in this post. We have been treated to so many convincing characters this year. But Kenny had to win it. Kenny has been one of my favourite characters from a game EVER let alone this year. This guy is amazing. A family man from Florida who just wants to protect his family from the Zombie infested world. He goes through a lot, and comes out the other side pretty broken. The emotion that went into animating this character and voicing him is truly experienced as you play alongside him. I love Kenny. That guy deserves a medal.



Biggest Surprise of the Year: Shark Attack Deathmatch

Let's be honest here, when an Indie game attempts to do something different, it almost always falls flat on its backside. This game really doesn't. I don't know why I was expecting this game to be bad, I just was and it was actually REALLY GREAT. The single-player Survivor mode is fun enough, but this game has fully-fledged online multiplayer mode which always seems to have plenty of people ready to play. For 80MSP this game is a real steal and again, should feature on everyones game list.




Multiplayer of the Year: Mass Effect 3

This game carried with it A LOT of controversy when it was released way back in March. I'm gonna hold my hands up and say this...I don't know what all the fuss was about. I think the game was great. For me Mass Effect was about the journey, I wasn't too fussed by the 'three choice ending' because I actually thought it tied up all the stories pretty well.

So now I've got that out of they way, let's get on with explaining why this game wins this award. For me it's simple....it's bloody good. But for those of you wanting a little more explanation than that (can't say I blame you!) here goes. This is the first time Multiplayer has been included in a Mass Effect title. So it could have been shocking. It isn't though, and in the first few weeks of owning this game I sunk as much time into multiplayer as I did the campaign. I think it ties in nicely with the campaign too, increasing your 'readiness' for the grand finale. And it works well. There isn't really anything I found annoying with Mass Effect multiplayer, which is pretty rare. And they gave us TONNES of new content for free so it didn't get old. You can play as so many different races and classes that you can make the experience different every time. There are varying difficulty levels, and trust me they get hard! But it's all part of the fun with this game, it doesn't get as annoying as other online shooters and added bonus for me and my fella...the game has two discs, and BOTH of them include the multiplayer, so we can play together without forking out so much! Yay!

Co-op Game of the Year: Minecraft

I doubt there are many of you that haven't at least played Minecraft or one of it's many, cheaper clones. I hadn't played Minecraft until it was released on XBLA this year and my boyfriend begged me to buy it. So I did, and so did our friends and we spent agggggeeess building a world together. This game gets co-op game of the year because it never really gets old. If you read my blog you know I'm always on the look out for co-op games to enjoy with my friends and family, but many of them get old fairly quickly. This one doesn't. Maybe it's because it doesn't really have a main objective so you can set your own depending on what you feel like. I don't know what made this such a favourite for me and my friends but it is and it is a game we keep going back to. It is pretty dear at 1600MSP but it is a game that you will never actually complete...so that seems like pretty good value :p

Most Fun this Year: Rock Band Blitz

This game is another I have reviewed this year and loved. Living with a guitarist means we have every music game ever in our house. It also means that, unfortunately he wasn't ready to even give this game a chance, due to the lack of a plastic guitar (sad I know) I made him try it and he actually likes it. But I LOVE IT. For me it has taken everything that is most fun about a music game and made it even better. Listening to music...yes fun. Playing a game whilst listening to music...yep fun. Doing it without going through the rigmarole of digging out paraphernalia...EVEN BETTER! The tracklist for this game is amazing, and even better all of my DLC moved into there to make for a pretty full roster. The power-ups make this game a must have for me, and it is a game I keep going back to if I want some quick, easy fun. Pick it up guys!


Graphics of the Year: Far Cry 3

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder so I don't expect everyone to agree with me. I gave this award on the basis of what game, upon entering the game world, made me say 'wow' and this has to be it. This game is beautiful! The characters are well envisioned and the Island is simply gorgeous. Climbing to the top of a Radio Tower and looking out everything looks amazing. There doesn't seem to be any rendering, like in Skyrim, everything is there in all it's beauty. It is an astonishing world that has so much to offer to us gamers, it's amazing graphics are just the icing on the cake.





Shooter of the Year: Sniper Elite V2

I wasn't originally going to create awards for specific genres of games, but I thought I would make an exception with this one. Almost everyone has got at least a little disheartened by all the carbon-copy shooters coming out year after year. This game offers something a little different. Yes it's still a shooter, and you don't have to play solely as a sniper, you can still run and gun. BUT if you persevere and stick to being a sniper, you are rewarded with some amazing slowed-down close-ups of your victim. The camera follows the bullet THROUGH the body, wherever you hit and goes into X-Ray vision, showing you the shattering bones in all their glory. SO MUCH FUN. My dad even managed a shot straight through the enemies testicles...now that was fun to watch!


Most Frustrating Game of the Year: Spelunky

Now I know frustrating is a negative thing. SO why am I giving an award out to a frustrating game? This game is one of the most frustrating games I have ever played, but it is also one of the best. It features four player coop (yay!) and is easily one of the most annoying games I've ever played. But it has us all hooked. The fun is in the challenge in this game, if it was too easy it would not have sold half as many. This game is just as hard as it needs to be to create a challenging environment in which the right tactics can thrive. A brilliant, yet frustrating game.





And now, simply because I don't feel like I have enough of my favourites of this year on this list I am going to give you a list. This list will contain my top ten picks of the year, after all of the above. It's a kinda 'Best of the Rest' if you will. So here it is:

1. XCOM
A truly great turn-based tactical shooter. I'm not one for turn-based games but this one is brilliant!
2. Dishonored
Reminds me a lot of the old Tenchu game on PS1. Play how you want, sneaky or full scale attack. Amazing game with great graphics.
3. Spec Ops: The Line
A great cover-based third person shooter that actually makes you feel bad for the decisions you make.
4. Deadlight
This 2D platformer features beautiful 3D environments and is SO much fun to play.
5. Game of Thrones

As a massive fan of the show and the book, this had to feature on the list!
6. Real Steel
I have never watched the film and don't even have much interest in Robots or fighting games, but this game had me hooked.
7. Hitman Absolution
Whats not to love about this return to the amazing Hitman games?!
8. Rocksmith
It's strange that I like this so-called 'game' so much, but it does provide some fun whilst teaching you to play your favourite songs on the real guitar.
9. Family Guy: Back to the Multiverse
I know it got slammed pretty much everywhere, but I had a lot of fun gunning down my friends on this game. Take it as a bit of fun (and get it cheap) and this game can provide a lot of laughs.
10. I Am Alive
A game that was originally meant for retail release and instead released on XBLA. The characters are well written and the graphics are beautiful. A great post-apocalyptic game.

XenoMiner (XBLIG) Review

XenoMiner was another of the games featured in the Indie Games Uprising III. It costs a measly 80MSP.
XenoMiner is a voxel-based sandbox game akin to Minecraft and a million other copycats. But this game is actually different. It has taken what makes Minecraft so addictive and put it in space.
There is no denying this game is beautiful to look at. Start it up and you are greeted by an AI called Dai-Se (Daisy) who will very kindly introduce you to the basics of the game. Ten minutes in and you're left to your own devices. I found this fine, having sunk many hours into Minecraft, I got the basic jist of things, but I can see that this tutorial may not be enough for everyone.
Not only have they taken us to space but they have also given the basic Minecraft idea a STORY and an ultimate goal! Albeit a rather brief story, but nevertheless it's there. You are the lone survivor of a crash and have lost your memory. You must, first and foremost, survive. This means keeping a close eye on oxygen levels and your battery power. You will need SO much ice, to convert to oxygen to refill your tank. You will also need to build plenty of AI cores to increase your crafting ability, or processor power. This processor power, once leveled up gives you more options to build.
There is no enemy in this game, no creeper-like dudes to blow up all your good work. You just have to look out for yourself. Radiation is a problem, so keep yourself hidden from the planet's sun and you'll be fine. Radiation works very much like in Fallout in that the longer you spend in a radiated area the more radiation damage you will take. It can be treated though through crafting. It is easy to make Radiation a non-problem, just build yourself a shelter and do all your mining down. If you do have to go out, do it at night. The light on your tool makes this pretty easy.
This game requires a HUGE amount of time to feel like you're getting anywhere. And it seems to be missing something. I can't even put my finger on it, but having spent hundreds of hours on Minecraft and losing track of time, I expected to feel the same about this game. I don't. This game makes you FEEL like you're sinking all of your life into it, for very little gain. If you have never tired of Minecraft and are looking for an absolute bargain this is a definite buy. No-one can argue the value-for-money aspect seen here. But I don't think this is a must-buy for everyone.

6/10 TRY IT!