Level 22 (Xbox One) - Review

Level 22 is available now on Xbox One and is priced at £5.59.

Level 22 is a simple stealth game that sees you play as Gary, an office worker who has to sneak to his desk because if he's caught coming in late one more time he will be fired. And so you find yourself navigating the various floors of the office building to get Gary to his desk without being seen.

Now I'm a big fan of stealth games, I'm just not all that good at them. They often require a level of patience I simply do not possess. Saying that, I guess I'm talking about the more serious stealth games we've had recently, you know the type which see you spend half an hour navigating a level just to be caught at the last minute and have to start the whole thing again. Luckily Level 22 doesn't punish you too badly if you get caught, the checkpoints come thick and fast in this game. On the flip side of this though, it kinda takes away the stealth side of the game and makes it more about simple trial-and-error - because you never have to replay more than thirty seconds of the level, you'll take risks you wouldn't normally take when playing a stealth game. At times this game definitely feels like more of a simple puzzler than a stealth game.

That isn't to say it is bad though, not at all. I thoroughly enjoyed my time with Level 22. The art style and writing is fun and the game can be quite challenging. There's just the right amount of collectables too, and there's even a reason for them!! Something quite rare in games these days, with some asking you to pick up 700 snotty tissues for nothing more than a 5G achievement. Level 22 instead asks you to collet your friends collectable figures for him, now that he is unable to enter the building.

Level 22 is a fun little game that certainly won't break the bank, in fact it is one of the cheapest offerings on the Xbox One Marketplace at the minute. It provides a lot more fun than a lot of the more expensive games out there too. If you're looking for a simplistic little game to kill some time with Level 22 is definitely worth picking up!

7/10 TRY IT!

A code was provided for the purpose of this review.

The Bridge (Xbox One) - Review

The Bridge is available now on the Xbox One and is priced at £7.99.

The Xbox One seems awash with puzzle games right now but does The Bridge stand out amongst them?

Well if you can't tell just from the screenshots, yes it does. This game is really, truly BEAUTIFUL. The levels are all hand drawn in a beautiful black and grey palette and your character is etched into the beginning of every level. The sound affects are amazing too, you can hear the pencil scratching on the paper as the main character comes to life. The music is perfect too, I usually end up turning music down quite low in puzzle games as I play them late at night, but I just couldn't bring myself to do this with The Bridge.

So in The Bridge you use the triggers to rotate the landscape to get to the exit...which sounds really simple. It isn't. There are keys that you'll have to collect to open the locks on the doors and numerous obstacles throughout your time with the game. It's a game that is perfect in its simplicity.

If you enjoy a puzzle game then picking this up is a no brainer. But even if you're not much of a puzzler usually I'd say keep an eye on The Bridge. It really is gorgeous and a dream to play. Yeah it's difficult, but if it wasn't we'd all be moaning about how easy it is. Give it a watch on Twitch or whatever if you're on the fence, but I wholeheartedly recommend it, even at it's full price.

8/10 BUY IT!

A code was provided for the purpose of this review.

Stealth Inc. 2: A Game of Clones (Xbox One) - Review

Stealth Inc. 2: A Game of Clones is available now on the Xbox One and is priced at £12.99.

Stealth Inc. 2 is a platformer which sees you play as a cute little clone who has to escape a pretty sinister testing facility.

Much like Q.U.B.E, which I have just reviewed, Stealth Inc. 2 was quite clearly influenced by Portal. Unlike Q.U.B.E though, Stealth Inc. 2 incorporated the snarky attitude of GLaDOS to great effect. Gameplay-wise this game really plays more like a mash up between Super Meat Boy and a real stealth game, in that yes to complete the level you do have to exercise stealth, but fail at this and you will use just as many lives as you did on Super Meat Boy.

As much as Stealth Inc. 2 bills itself as primarily a stealth game, it doesn't necessarily play like one. I say this because the gameplay can be too fast and frenetic to truly feel like you are playing a game that requires you to take it slow and, well, stealthily. Don't get me wrong you SHOULD approach this game slowly, but with restarts being instant and deaths (at least for  me) being plentiful I found myself hurling my clone around the test chambers as fast as his little legs would go. And dying repeatedly.

When I eventually wised up, I got a lot better at not dying (shocker, huh?). When you stop delighting in hurling your clone to his death time and time again the games stealth aspects can really be brought to the fore. I guess what I'm trying (and failing) to say is that I wish the deaths hadn't been so instant. Pretty much everything can kill you instantly and you restart literally straight away. This mechanic WORKS in games where fast play is a must-have; where you have to get back in instantly otherwise you'll break your controller, but for Stealth Inc. 2 it kinda just removes from the actual purpose of the game, which is to NOT die but escape.


As you progress your clone will gain access to a multitude of cool little gadgets. These are given to you in dribs and drabs, allowing you to master the use of one tool before they let you loose with another. Each tool you are given will, obviously, help you in solving the test chambers to come, but they will also allow you access to previously unaccessible points in the facility. I found myself completely confused by the map however, and I am yet to actually backtrack on purpose (I have done this multiple times accidentally).

Graphically the game is beautiful, in its own way. It's dark and gloomy and awash with a particularly dank shade of green, but it works. The main problem I had with this was that I couldn't really see the screen very well on bright days, I have a huge bay window in my living room and the sun coming in just completely removed the use of my screen for this game. Usually I just have to up the brightness but I couldn't actually up it enough to make Stealth Inc. 2 playable. Luckily I live in Manchester so after our two days of sunshine it was back to the grey clouds we know so well and I was able to play Stealth Inc. 2 again.

You get a fair bit for your money in Stealth Inc. 2. After you've completed the main game there's a pretty robust level editor for you to test out your skills by creating new test chambers. I'll be honest and say this is something I haven't really tried much because this kinda thing just does;t float my boat, but it's there for the rest of you guys!

Overall I'd say Stealth Inc. 2 is a solid addition to the Xbox One games collection. It plays well and the puzzles are challenging enough to make you think, but not so challenging that you'll rage quit. The added bonus of a level editor makes this game slightly better value for money, but I still feel this game would have been more at home in the £9.99 price bracket.

7/10 TRY IT!

A code was provided for the purpose of the review. 

Q.U.B.E Directors Cut (Xbox One) - Review

 Q.U.B.E Directors Cut is available now on the Xbox One and is priced at £7.99.

I'm yet to find a person who didn't love Portal, if you're out there make yourself known! So a puzzle game that was inspired by Portal is always gonna be a winner, right?

Well in the case of Q.U.B.E yes! You are a person trapped somewhere that is made out of white boxes. A voice in your ear tells you that it is an alien ship, making its way towards Earth. You are humanity's last hope.

Now all of that, now I read it back, sounds remarkably cheesy, but Q.U.B.E really isn't. Or at least it doesn't feel that way whilst you play it. Now if you read my blog you know I'm a spoiler-free zone, so I'm not gonna go into the details, suffice it to say that the story is much better than I expected from a puzzle game. Yes the Portal inspiration is clear to see, but in many ways, I feel that Q.U.B.E expanded in such a way as to outgrow Portal a little. Q.U.B.E poses some real existential questions and the narrative is actually really, really emotive, especially given that your character doesn't speak.

Anyway, you have to find a way out. Luckily you're wearing a nifty little suit that allows you to mess around with coloured blocks. The white ones that make up the majority of the ship are immovable, but in each room you will come across blocks in various colours which do different things. The red ones just move in or out and the yellow ones form stairs, but the blue ones act like a trampoline which is pretty neat. These blocks will allow you to escape the room you're in and continue your quest.

The puzzles in this game are FANTASTIC, I simply cannot say that loud enough. It has been a long time since I've played a puzzle game I enjoyed quite as much as this. They just feel so good to solve. The learning curve is brilliant too, yes the puzzles get progressively harder, but they only extend upon knowledge gained in previous rooms. Honestly the puzzles are so so well done.

Everything about this game is of a quality that I have to admit I did not expect. I started it thinking 'ugh Portal rip off' but soon I was enjoying this even more than I had Portal. Q.U.B.E lacks the humour that was present in Portal, but it makes up for it with an emotional narrative that is really well done. And the puzzles are a dream to solve, just you in a room with no timer or pressure and a reset button for when you eff up to badly. Until you get to the Against the Clock mode, which is a series of time trials that are pretty damn difficult.

Priced at just £7.99 I recommend you all pick this game up and give your brain a little exercise. I'm hard pressed to think of anyone that really won't enjoy it.

9/10 BUY IT!

A code was provided for the purpose of this review. 

The Swapper (Xbox One) - Review

The Swapper is available now on Xbox One and is priced at £11.99.

The Swapper is a puzzle platformer that actually feels truly unique. Pretty rare now, huh? This game puts you in the shoes of a man who can clone himself. Multiple times. Yeah, this game freaked me out.

Your clones are not capable of independent thought or movement, they copy what the player does. So whilst I got to grips with this I sent many a clone hurtling to their death off high ledges. I got there in the end. And I was fine whilst I just had my little army of clones to deal with. I wasn't worried about my mindless clones. Didn't care that they disappeared if I ran into the light, unless that is them disappearing effed up my solving the puzzle.

But then you get the ability to TRANSFER YOURSELF INTO ONE OF YOUR CLONES. And that was it. From the moment I had to leave Mr Astronaut behind and continue my journey in one of the 'mindless' clone bodies I was completely stressed out. I couldn't stop thinking about the poor man I had abandoned. And that's what this game has set out to do I suppose. Question the morality of cloning, the practicalities, and of course impracticalities of it too.

It's a sci-fi puzzler set in the future (obviously). The puzzles are great, though they are really difficult. But isn't that what you want from a puzzler, a bit of a challenge? You get that by the bucket-load with The Swapper. And even though I did struggle I could still admire the puzzles, they were very well designed. There are areas that restrict clone placement, or swapping to clones that really force you to rethink, making the moment you solve it all the more satisfying. And there are other things to do in The Swapper too. Backtrack on yourself after you have unlocked a new ability to explore more of the ship and find out more about it.

The graphics and sound to this game are fantastic too, and really aid the overall feel of the game. Although it did take me awhile to work out how to turn my character around, so for awhile whenever I had to run in another direction, I basically moonwalked there. It was actually pretty funny.

You will go through a bazillion clones before you complete this game, and if you're anything like me you will still be thinking about the poor guy you left right at the beginning. It haunts you. Or at least it haunted me. At points I honestly didn't want to put the game back on because of it. I know, I know, that's incredibly silly, but the questions posed in this game really stuck with me. This game is more than a simple puzzle platformer. I mean the puzzles are by no means simple, but more than that this game can be considered as true art, in my opinion. £11.99 may seem steep for a puzzler, but this game feels more like an experience. Wait for a sale if you want, but I wholeheartedly recommend you play The Swapper at some point.

9/10 BUY IT!

A code was provided for the purpose of this review.

Unmechanical: Extended (Xbox One) - Review

Unmechanical: Extended released on 11th February in Europe and is priced at £7.99. Unmechanical was a game released in 2012 for Windows, and the devs have now seen fit to bring it to the console with a bit of an extension. It features quite possibly the cutest robot ever on its apparent quest to escape from....well somewhere.

This was one of the most intriguing things about Unmechanical: Extended for me, it has literally no dialogue. There is no over-arching plotline. Nothing to guide you on your way, and NO TUTORIAL! Many people have grown sick of the hand holding tutorials within games now, that stop you from getting into the action for what seems like a huge amount of time. Well have no fears with this game, as everything is left for you to figure out, and it's all the better for it.

Cutest robot ever?

As you make your way through the scenery, you come across little puzzles that will unblock that route and allow you to venture forth. These puzzles are simplistic but brilliant, much like the game. There is enough variety that you won't get bored, but at the same time the game never really throes you a huge curveball. With just a little thought these puzzles are quite easily overcome, and this isn't a bad thing - quite the opposite in fact - as it makes for a truly enjoyable experience instead of one marred with frustration at the sometimes silly solutions to the puzzles. we've all been there right?

No Unmechanical:Extended takes puzzle games back to their beautiful basics. The music is relaxing and so so fitting to the overall feel of the game. The lack of story only makes the game MORE interesting, as you attempt to fill in the gaps. Who is this robot? Where is he? Why does he need to escape? The graphics are gorgeous and the extremely simple controls are a pleasure to use. This game is proof that a simple little game can be excellent if done correctly.

Priced at £7.99 I'd say this is very competitively priced (although what happened to indies being <£5!?). Considering the last game I reviewed was also this much I have absolutely no qualms in stating that if you have that amount sitting about then THIS is the game you should get. It is a brilliant experience, and one that you won't regret. For the hardcore gamer it might feel a little slow, but for anyone else I'd say give it a go!

9/10 BUY IT!

A code was provided for the purpose of this review.