Crimsonland (Xbox One) - Review

Crimsonland is available now on Xbox One and is priced at £9.99.

Crimsonland is a remaster of a PC game released way back in 2003, which has since been re-released on both PS4 and Xbox One. It's a top down twin-stick shooter all about wiping out the waves of enemies that come your way.

It reminded me a lot of a game I loved on the Xbox 360, the XBLIG title I Maed A Gam3 With Zombies In It!!!1, most probably best recognised from this song. This was a twin-stick shooter that was challenging, but more importantly a lot of fun, something which Crimsonland emulates and expands upon perfectly.

The controls are slick and super-responsive, as they should be with this type of game. Graphically the game is just ok really, but can any of us say we play a twin-stick for the visuals?! No, we play them for the quick, mindless sense of gratification that comes with mowing down hundreds of enemies with minimal effort. In a slight move away from the usual twin-stick controls though, Crimsonland has you pressing RT to actually fire your weapon, something which I struggled with at first but ultimately ended up feeling like it added to the experience of the game.

Crimsonland has two modes, Quest and Survival. Quest features 70 levels that each pits you against waves of enemies, with plenty of unlockables and power-ups to collect. Obviously these levels get a little more difficult as you progress through the game, but I found the curve to be just right really - actually erring on the easy side if you played with a friend. Survival mode is what you'd expect, but there a few different variants within the mode to playa round with.

Overall I'd say Crimsonland is a solid addition to the Xbox One game library. I went into the game not expecting to think that much of it if I am honest, but in the end I was really enjoying myself. At £9.99 I would say it is a little pricey - I would have been more comfortable recommending it to you if it was around the £7.99 mark instead. But with a sale probably somewhere in the not so distant future I'd say this is a game that is definitely worth picking up.

8/10 BUY IT!

A code was provided for the purpose of this review

Polychromatic (Xbox One) - Review

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

There have been a few twin-stick shooters released on the Xbox One in this past year, all priced around the same mark my favourite of which has been Ultratron by a smidgen. Does Polychromatic knock Ultratron off the top spot?

Well, no. We all know what a twin-stick shooter is and how to play them, so I'm gonna skip over that particular explanation. Polychromatic takes the twin-stick genre back to the bare bones, only giving you three modes in which to play and no real campaign to speak of and using extremely simple coloured shapes to depict yours and the enemy ships

. This was part of my problem, I kept losing my damn ship in the mass of colour. Not cool.

But Polychromatic does have a nifty little dash button, triggered by tapping your bumper (either of them). I'm sure that for some of the bigger twin-stick aficionados out there does could either be seen as a new necessity or something that takes away from the purity of a twin-stick shooter. I saw neither because I kept forgetting I had it and so ended up using it about twice.

I feel like Polychromatic's simplicity works against it. For me it is priced at the top end of a twin-stick shooters price point and so is trying to compete with the big guns. And Polychromatic just doesn't measure up. I struggle to understand who would have thought it a good idea to come in at the same price as Ultratron and Tachyon Project, two twin-stick shooters that do what they do pretty damn well. Grab this one in a sale if you just don't feel like you already have enough twin-stick shooters in your life.

5/10 TRY IT!

A code was provided for the purpose of this review.

Tachyon Project (Xbox One) - Review

Tachyon Project is available now on the Xbox One and is priced at £7.99.

Tachyon Project is a twin-stick shooter with super bright visuals that immediately brings to mind Geometry Wars. But does it hold up in comparison to legendary twin-stick shooter?

Well, actually, yes it does. The latest iteration of Geometry Wars saw it shed its border and whilst many loved this new mechanic I have to admit I hated it. I missed the borders. In fact I play like they're still there, which only serves to hurt me. Tachyon Project puts the borders back in, which I was infinitely grateful for.

In Tachyon Project you play as an AI, Ada. Yes they have actually managed to put a story into a twin-stick shooter and even better than that it is actually alright. Don't get me wrong it isn't going to win any awards but it's a story that makes some sense and is actually fairly well told. I'm not gonna ruin it for you, lets just say it is actually a pretty cool addition to this genre of game.

There are ten stages in the story, which get increasingly more difficult as more enemies are introduced. The enemies in Tachyon Project are particularly impressive as they all vary greatly. Gameplay is uber responsive, but most of all its fun to play. Yeah it's a challenge, but lets be honest we'd be bored if it wasn't and it's not so challenging that I furiously quit out.

£7.99 is a good price for Tachyon Project. It's a great twin-stick shooter with plenty for you to do. Go grab it!

7/10 TRY IT!

A code was provided for the purpose of this review. 

Ultratron (Xbox One) - Review

Ultratron is out now on Xbox One and is priced at £7.99.

I have had this game since release, so as you can tell this review has taken me awhile to write up. I bet you're probably wondering how the hell I could have taken this long to review a simple twin-stick shooter? Well here is the very embarrassing answer: I SUCK at this game.

Before I wrote my review I wanted to actually get to the end. I cannot get to the end :( I have tried and tried and tried, but I am just not good enough to actually finish this game. I am really, really bad at twin stick shooters.

So now my gaming embarrassment is out there lets get into the review.

Ultratron is an old-school arcade style twin-stick shooter. God that was a mouthful. Yes I speak as I type too. Everyone has been killed by robots and you are the last humanoid battle droid with one mission and one mission only, AVENGE THE HUMANS!!

We all know how a twin-stick shooter works at this point. If you don't WHERE THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN? You get to upgrade your battle bot if you collect enough floaty bits that disperse when you kill the nasties. The upgrades are absolutely necessary to get further into the game, so think about what you upgrade carefully. I'm not so good with the dodging so high shields was a must have for me from early on.

The game handles SO well. The controls are super-responsive and you never feel like you lost the game for anything other than your own lack of skill, which is how a twin-stick shooter should be. The screen gets mega busy with nasties and I didn't notice any lagging, the game works seamlessly. It really is a masterful example of the twin-stick genre.

There's even a coop mode. Although I didn't fare much better playing it with my partner, it is nice to be able to share the blame.

I need to get over my dislike of the pricing of the ID@Xbox games, and stop comparing them to the much cheaper XBLA and XBLIG games of the previous generation. This is simply where we are now whether we like it or not. So considering that games like Tower of Guns are £4 more expensive than this, I'd say this is a steal at £7.99. It's a great, fun little game that you will keep picking up to have just one go at. Then lose two hours to it.

8/10 BUY IT!

A code was provided for the purpose of this review.

Christmas Carnage (XBLIG) Review

Christmas Carnage is available now on the XBLIG Marketplace for 80MSP.

 Everybody loves christmas right? Apparently not the people at Bandana Games as they have released Christmas Carnage, a game about shooting everything that signifies Christmas.

Ok. So you open the game to a very basic menu, that looks like it could have been made with Paint. BUT there is a cute little countdown to Christmas ay bobbing about near the top. It's a nice touch, but it doesn't really detract from the clipart-esque fairy stood by the side.

Stay on this menu long enough and you'll be treated*note the hint of sarcasm* to the voice acting/sound affects. Oh God it is bad. It's lazy and nowhere near as merry as the nice, christmas music.


Go into the game and unfortunately the clipart theme continues. It's bad background after bad background as you're pitted against varying Christmas themed enemies. The scrolling text at the bottom is actually pretty funny...but if you're the one playing be warned, reading it all may well lead to your death, it scrolls along AS the enemies come onto the screen.


It's a typical twin-stick shooter, nothing new there. And I guess there is a certain charm to it. It plays pretty well, but you may want to turn down the volume, the voice acting gets annoying very quickly.

The point of the game is to get the highest score. So you'd expect to see a Leaderboard of some type right? WRONG. There are no leaderboards in this game, not even local ones, it just records your best ever score. That is all. That's a very poor show in a game like this, hopefully something the developer will look into doing in the future.

At 80MSP it's worth a try. It's not going to break the bank and it provides a little entertainment. Nothing spectacular but nothing too bad it shouldn't be there.

4/10 TRY IT!

A code was provided for the purpose of this review.

Defenders of the Last Colony (XBLIG) Review

Defenders of the Last Colony is a unique mix of twin-stick shooting and tower-defense. Available now on the XBLIG Marketplace for just 80MSP.
Up to three others can join you as you try to defend the last colony from alien invasion (and trust me later you will definitely want your co-op buddies to help out!). Pick one of two classes, Engineer or Fighter, and you're good to go.
Ok so this game works like so. Between waves of enemies you (and any teammates) have the opportunity to lay down barricades to help you defend the colony. Once they start to invade you switch to a twin stick shooter set-up and annihilate the alien race.
Now the story is pretty cliched and the writing leaves a lot to be desired. It all feels pretty clunky. But the gameplay is brilliant in the campaign mode, so stick with it! There does sometimes seem to be a little too much going on on the screen, for example some enemies seem to carry on exploding for ages after their death, leaving bright fireworks burning into your retinas. The HUD gets quite crowded at points too, but none of these points in my eyes are a game-killer.
Everyone loves a good twin-stick shooter, even if only for five minutes. Some of the modes available on this game are fun for about that length of time, but honestly the campaign in my eyes makes up for that. There is a lot of variety offered in the campaign. The two different classes are really good and offer up slightly different challenges in the ways in which you will complete the level.
The multiplayer option on this game s also good. As you'll be aware if you read my blog regularly I'm a big fan of any game that allows four of us to play!
Overall I'd definitely say try this game. Anyone can enjoy a twin-stick shooter, and the extra bit of strategy involved in this game makes it a little more interesting. It's not amazing by any means but for 80MSP you really cannot complain, you're getting a lot of game for that amount and a lot of fun into the bargain!

7/10 TRY IT!

A code was provided for the purpose of this review.