Action Henk (Xbox One) - Review

Action Henk is available now on Xbox One and is priced at £11.99.

Action Henk is a side-scrolling speed-runner which sees you take on the role of Action Henk (and his opponents when you unlock them by beating them) in a wacky race to get to the end of the course as fast as possible. Do this by running, jumping and of course butt-sliding. Because what good is a speed-runner if you can't go faster by sitting on your arse?!

The graphics are loud and colourful. The story and cut-scenes could quite gladly disappear without losing anything from the game at all in my opinion. In fact the cut scenes take you out of the fast and frenetic gameplay that suits Action Henk so well, which can get kinda frustrating. Or maybe I'm just a really inpatient person. Yeah, actually it's probably the latter.

So as well as a single player mode, which sees you unlock new skills and new avatars to play as you get a multiplayer, including LOCAL multiplayer - a mode many games seem to be forgetting about. We're a gaming family in this house, so any game that allows us to sit in the same room and play together is given a lot of attention. When Ark was updated with Local Splitscreen, my son and I spent almost an entire day building a village together. It was AWESOME.

Action Henk is a good little pick-up-and-play game that does get really difficult to master, but it feels like it could have been more. A track creator mode would have been great, and would have made the most of the settings and props available. It's a simple game done well, that relies on you wanting, nay needing, to beat your friends to the top of the leaderboards. I have to admit to falling prey to this myself for a little while, replaying the same level over and over in a vain attempt at beating someone to only end up giving up in a rage half an hour later having gotten within .3 of a second of them. I used to play a fair bit of Trials on the Xbox 360 and would gladly spend an entire day fighting my way back to the top of a leaderboard my friend had managed to leapfrog me on. We had quite the battle going, spanning months and neither of us got sick of doing it but I find I have much less time these days for this type of thing, meaning I care much less about being at the top of the leaderboard and more about just being able to get through the levels. This is a very personal thing though and in no way means that the game isn't enjoyable, all I'm trying to say is that you yourself know whether you fall slave to a leaderboard. If you do (and you enjoy it ) then this game is definitely for you. If not, maybe you should look at something else.

6/10 TRY IT!

A code was provided for the purpose of this review. 

Rock Zombie (Xbox One) - Review

Rock Zombie is available now on the Xbox One and is priced at £6.39.

Yeah, that's pretty cheap for an Xbox One game, isn't it? Yeah...there's a reason for that. This game is terrible and not in the 'so bad it's good sense' just in the 'shit why am I wasting my time' sense. Like Toro.

Straight away upon loading it up I didn't like it. After ten minutes I loathed it. The graphics are just awful (seriously the bright palate does not detract from how butt ugly the game is) and honestly look like they belong on the last gen, if not the PS2 era. Gameplay is repetitive and not fun at all, even when it does work how it should.

I guess it's supposed to be a modern take on Streets of Rage. It's a side scrolling beat 'em up yes, but that's where the similarities begin and end. Rock Zombie is lacklustre at best and just downright awful the majority of the time. The music makes you start grinding your teeth within ten seconds and the gameplay will have you grinding them to stumps in minutes. It's very simplistic, which I guess is what's to be expected from a side-scroller, but this takes simplicity to an all new level of dullness. Combat is repetitive and a bit hit and miss on whether you're actually aiming where you think you are (and where your character is pointing before the attack animation kicks in).

In case it wasn't clear guys, skip this one. Even if it's on the best damn sale you've ever seen. NOT WORTH IT.

1/10 SKIP IT!

A code was provided for the purpose of this review. 

Funk of Titans (Xbox One) - Review

Funk of Titans released this week on the Xbox One priced at £7.99/$9.99. Billed as a fast-pace side-scrolling platformer you play Perseus, a guy told by Zeus to go and slay the musical titans that are Pop, Rap and Rock so that Funk can prevail.

To do this you must master the art of 'Funk Fu' which means basically you must be able to time your button presses, on the Xbox One 'A' jumps and 'X' attacks. To get through each level you must basically jump and attack at the right time. And that's it.

Perseus does not stop moving so timing really is everything. You'll find various obstacles in your way, including random fires and spike pits, as well as the weedy little guards. Bounce on their heads a la Mario or cut them up with your weapon the choice is yours...but this is the only choice you have in this game really. And if you're looking for 100% completion you don't even have that. To get 100% on each level you must earn three medals; 'Intactus' (completing the level with your jacket still on), 'Vinylus' (collecting all of the vinyl) and 'Pegasus' (for getting the Pegasus, a wooden horse with a rocket attached). The vinyls will sometimes be resting on an unknowing guards head, therein forcing you to jump on it.

There are some customisation options, but except for some of the weapons (which you will need to unlock certain gates) they offer no difference in gameplay. I would have thought that having a helmet on would you give you one extra hit pint, but that isn't so. If you get hit once then your jacket falls off. Get hit again and you die and can retry from the very beginning of the level. There are no checkpoints, which usually I wouldn't miss given that the levels are so short, but they are so dull that having to go from the beginning again honestly feels torturous.

Getting the Pegasus from each level grants you a 'Flappy Bird'-esque level in which Perseus flies on his Pegasus and tries to collect coins and most of all, not crash. The whole game just feels like a fish-mash of non-original ideas. The 'Titan' levels are a dance off between Perseus and the Titan of that level. You watch them do a dance and then you press buttons to complete your dance. There is no rhythm in these button presses - they just pop up in the position they are in on the controller randomly. I mean you have to press them before they disappear but for a music game this should really have been a more timed event. Something scrolling along the bottom I feel would have been much better, where you have to hit the button at the right time, and most importantly in time with the music to progress.

Graphically the game is pretty nice and the music would have been great...if it didn't repeat quite so much. The controls, whilst nothing new, do work well and are responsive. The game has clearly been made well, it is just the idea of it that I can't get behind.

I feel awful slamming this game, I really do. I wanted to like it. I always want to support indie devs, but I can't recommend this game. It should have been a mobile game. But saying that, that market is so saturated with games like this that Funk of Titans maybe wouldn't have gotten the recognition it deserves on that format. It would have worked wonderfully there though the price point would have had to drastically change on mobile devices for it to ever get a look in. As it stands I think this game will flounder somewhat in the competitive console market, and whilst it's priced at £7.99 I believe it is just too high to just take a punt on.

4/10 SKIP IT!

A code was provided for the purpose of this review.

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.