Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons (Xbox One) - Review

Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons is available now on the Xbox One and is priced at £14.99.

This is a game that was originally released on the 360 and, as with seemingly everything these days, re-released onto the Xbox One recently. If I remember correctly it was a Game with Gold on the 360 not too long ago, but is it worth picking up on the One too?

Well not at this price it's not. If you've already played it there's only extra art and commentary in the Xbox One version, not enough to warrant the price tag in my opinion.

However I never played the game on the 360. I seem to remember it being a Game with Gold, but this was after I had got my One which had completely taken over my gaming. The poor 360 never got a look in. So I got to play Brothers on the One as a newcomer. And I LOVED IT!

You control two brothers, each one has a side of the controller so Big Brother is right trigger and thumbtack and Little Brother is the left. This is MEGA confusing. I'd like to say that you soon get used to it, but I didn't and all the way through my time with the game I was sending the brother's in the opposite direction. The poor guys spent a lot of time walking into walls under my supervision. Oops.

But Brothers is a beautiful game and I don't mean just visually. The controls, whilst I'm not good at them, work really, really well and the relationship between the brothers is so heartwarming and the whole game just kinda sticks with you. It really is pretty near perfect in its simplicity.

As I said, if you have played it before I struggle to recommend you pick it up again, unless you're desperate to own it on another console. But if you haven't had the pleasure yet just go and get it. It really is something else.

9/10 BUY IT!

(This score is for NEWCOMERS to the game only)

A code was provided for the purpose of this review. 

How to Survive: Storm Warning Edition (Xbox One) - Review

How To Survive was released on last gen consoles around a year ago and was a game I was pretty intrigued by. I never got around to getting it though, and when I heard about the plans to release it on the Xbox One I waited it out so that I could play it on my nice shiny new console.

For the new gen console they've bundled it with all the DLC and named it How To Survive: Storm Warning Edition. This adds some pretty fun new modes, including the AMAZING One-Shot Escape mode. This mode gives you just one chance (duh!) to fix a vehicle and get your ass off of the island. Supplies are randomised and pretty scarce so this game mode is pretty stressful but a LOT of fun. Another mode added to the game is Barricade, which is like a horde mode - spend the day gathering supplies and try and survive the night.

I don't know whether I'd eat these fish?!

I am a huge fan of the open world zombie games. State of Decay is my all-time favourite and I cannot wait until it is released on the Xbox One. I did expect How To Survive game to come up short in comparison, but it really doesn't. I'm not a big fan of the asymmetric viewpoint in How To Survive, but this game gives us a robust crafting and upgrade system and its piece de resistance? Its CO-OP!

Yes, as you all know I am always keen to find some good co-op games for my partner and I to play and How To Survive delivers this brilliantly. It is this, and probably this alone really, that puts How To Survive above State of Decay in my estimations. For me State of Decay is screaming out for co-op, as are all open world Zombie games really. Who wants to face the Zombie apocalypse alone?!

The horde is coming...

The fact is though that How to Survive does deliver on almost every front. I have to admit that the biggest drawback from this game for me is just the asymmetric viewpoint. I find that these detract from the tension of the game a little, especially in this genre. Asymmetric to me always feels a little cheap, which I understand is a terribly ignorant thing to say, but it is just my opinion. If this had been third or first person it would easily have gotten 10/10 from me as at its core is a fantastic survival game where every decision counts.

The skills trees are great!

The crafting system, as I mentioned before, is really good and there is a great skills tree for you to work your way up to. I love these elements to the game. The characters are all well-thought out too, they are well-balanced and each have their own clear qualities, making playing with a friend a little more tactical - there's no point both of you going for a weak but fast person really is there?

Overall I think this game is a great addition to the Xbox One roster. It's good fun (especially the two modes mentioned earlier) and is a really easy game to pick up and play, even it's just for ten minutes. There are a few things I'd  change with it if I had the power, but it's pretty damn good as it is. Go buy it people!

8/10 BUY IT!

A code was provided for the purpose of this review.

Costume Quest 2 (Xbox One) - Review

I absolutely loved the first Costume Quest game on the Xbox 360, so I was really pleased to be able to review the new Costume Quest 2 for the Xbox One. In Costume Quest 2 players meet up with Wren, Reynold and the gang again  and have to save Halloween from the evil dentist Orel. You do this by time travelling, obviously.

Now you all know I run a spoiler free blog, so I won't go into the story properly. Suffice it to say it is pretty weird and wacky, but it is a lot of fun. I'm still a little unsure as to whether I would say it is better than the first game though. There is something about Costume Quest 2 which just lacks the charm of Costume Quest 1, but I can't quite put my finger on it.

Costume Quest 2 is still really good fun. The new costumes for this game are brilliant, and the clown in particular had my children in stitches. Little tip for anyone who hasn't played the game yet; if you;re going out for the maximum gamerscore than you're gonna want to keep the Candy Corn outfit on one of your characters throughout the game. Many people have moaned about this due to the fact that Candy Corn does ABSOLUTELY NOTHING, but I found it alright. Enemies tend to attack the Candy Corn the most, or at least they did for me, so he (or she) can take most of the damage. The costume has a high HP, so it takes awhile to knock it out, by which point you can easily have finished them off with your other two characters. The most annoying thing about Candy Corn are the little pop ups each time its his turn. They start off as pretty cute and funny, but they soon start to grate.

Sweet Treat cards play a big part in this game, even more so if you do choose to keep Candy Corn on your party. There is a card that will damage the enemy when they attack so it's worth putting that on Candy Corn. Each card has a cool down period after each use, so you'e gonna want to switch them out after each battle. This does become pretty time consuming, but it really does make the game easier. Plus theres another achievement for if you use each card at least once.

This game is a nice family friendly game, which my children and I enjoyed playing together. It'd definitely be better with a co-op mode, something my son was constantly moaning about, until we gave him a controller and told him he was controlling someone. I also feel like it missed the mark a little with it's release date. It didn't release here in the UK on Xbox One until the 29th October, which yes was just about in time for Halloween but I do think just a few days more would have made for a nicer build up to Halloween.

With that said we all had fun with this game, and have continued to play it way after the last Halloween sweeties have been eaten, so it's definitely worth picking up.

8/10 BUY IT!

A code was provided foe the purpose of this review.

Castlestorm: Definitive Edition (Xbox One) - Review

Let me begin this review by admitting something. My son played the demo of this game constantly last year when it was first released on the 360. Yes, you heard me correctly, the demo. For some reason I never caved in and bought this game when it was first released, and instead just let my son play the demo over and over again. Cruel, right?

But now I am glad that I didn't buy it before. I did want it at the time it has to be said, but there was just so much going on on my 360 that I never felt like I had the time needed to commit to this game. So now I have the One, with far fewer games available on it, I am finally able to give this game some time and attention. I do still have a huge 360 backlog of games I must play, but they're being ignored now I have its new better looking big brother. 

So anyway, Zen made the very clever decision (I feel, anyway) to re-release Castlestorm as a 'Definitive Edition' on the next gen consoles. The Definitive Edition bags you the DLC campaigns 'From Outcast to Survivor' and 'The Warrior Queen' on top of the base game with its updated visuals. 

Now Castlestorm is MENTAL! Seriously, it is crazy. I'll try and summarise it here for you...
It's a tower defines game, with RPG elements, some hack 'n' slash gameplay and a little bit of building thrown in for good measure. I think that about sums it up, but hell grab a copy for yourself and see! This little description doesn't do it justice though, as really upon reading that how many of us can honestly say we want to play a game like that. On paper it sounds like Zen just didn't really know what they wanted to do with the game so threw everything they had at it and the kitchen sink. 

BUT it works. Very, very well. Yes its crazy, and I definitely wouldn't recommend you play it whilst high on strong pain medication. I tried it and it wasn't a nice experience which is why this review has been a long time coming. To not suck at this game you have to have your wits about you, for sure. The controls can be a little hard to get your fingers around, but eventually you will get there (if you;re not under the influence). But no matter how much you struggle to complete a level it is impossible to not have fun with this game. 

Now a few of you may know I am quite a fan of most of the elements of this game. I love RPG's and I love tower defines games. My favourite tower defines was Defense Grid on the Xbox 360, a game many moaned about when it was a Game with Gold (WHY?). I tend to measure, unfairly, any tower defense game I play against that one. In my opinion the sequel to that game did not measure up to the brutality of the first but thats a story for another time... Castlestorm faired well in my opinion against the hard slog that was Defense Grid 1, and actually was a fair bit more fun, although INFINITELY more stressful, it was in a good way.

Wahey!

If we're going to take this game down to basics then it goes something like this. You are presented with a cartoon-style world that has a castle at either end of the screen. One of them is yours, protect it at all costs. The other is the enemies, DESTROY IT! You have to do this whilst dealing with a barrage of enemies, wolves, knights and hammer throwing dwarves etc. etc. To do this you can use your ballista, which can also include exploding apples and flatulent sheep. OR you can use some troops that cost food, which you store in your castle. OR you can magically teleport your hero into the fray and have at 'em. See, complicated right? All of these abilities are mapped to the same buttons, but you toggle through them using your d-pad, which is where confusion may set in. It definitely did for me, leading to some not very lady-like rage screaming at my TV. 

I think that the game has quite a steep learning curve, but that may just be me struggling with the agility needed to swap between the abilities. By the way all of these abilities can be levelled up using your coins in-between levels. Castlestorm: Definitive Edition is exactly what it says...there can't possibly be a more definitive edition of this game. It is fantastic fun and very challenging and that is why I love it. It is refreshing to find a pick up and play arcade game that offers a greater challenge than many AAA full disc releases, and this it does by the bucketload. There is plenty to see and do in the world of Castlestorm and I highly recommend that you pick this game up!

8/10 BUY IT!

A code was provided for the purpose of this review.

Contrast (Xbox One) - Review

Contrast is out now on the Xbox One having previously been released on the last gen consoles. It was one that I kept meaning to pick up, but never got round to before getting my One. Having not played it on the 360 I can't really comment on whether there are any improvements between the two versions. It does feel rather last gen, so I wouldn't be surprised if there hasn't been any notable graphic improvements made. 

In parts the game can look really nice - the levels are quite pretty but the character designs, whilst initially pretty good soon reminded me of 'Alone in the Dark Jack is Back', a game I played on the PS1 back in the day. Now I'm not saying the graphics are that bad,  this was more in the movement as all the characters look pretty good initially but they all moved a little bit too unnaturally, quite clunky and forced looking really. Dawn, the character you play as is a nightmare to control because of this clunky movement. Her legs are too long so I was forever overstepping or over-jumping obstacles and running into walls. For a character sprite that looks so lean and lithe she moved with all the grace of an elephant. 

Pretty sexy for a young girls imaginary friend!

For those of you that haven't played the game yet, you take control of Dawn, the imaginary friend of Didi. Now maybe this is the mummy in me but I was really shocked at how sexualised Dawn is at first, really struggling to believe that this corset wearing woman was the imaginary friend of a young girl. My childhood imaginary friend certainly didn't look like that! But as I played more of the game I guess it kinda made sense. The game is set in the 1920's and Didi's mum is a lounge singer, so I for one didn't find it quite so difficult to believe anymore. As I said though, this particular problem for me is probably nothing for a lot of people. It being set in the 1920's leads me to the best part of this game in my opinion - the sound. The voice acting and the jazz music soundtrack are fantastic. 

Didi seems to be the only real person Dawn can see...

Now when I first heard about Contrast I was really excited about it. And loading it up I expected it to be a game that felt full of heart, but really it kinda falls flat. Maybe it's because everyone but Didi is shown only in shadow, which can be seen as ruining any sense of immersion in the story. It felt pretty hard to empathise with any of the characters. I feel like in theory this game was fantastic, but in practice I'm not so sure. The story is fairly interesting, but I just didn't feel any real connection to it, it felt quite pedestrian, like a bad cover for the fact that this is just a platform game. I guess I expected this game to feel more narrative based then it was, which is totally my bad. As a massive fan of games as storytelling devices I wanted more from the story. All the aspects were there for an emotionally driven narrative, but it fell short and at some points was pretty soulless.

Use the shadows to get around the levels

Dawn can move through the 3D area and the 2D area that is the shadows on the wall. Now this is a key thing for this game, and it is done really well. There are parts where I was questioning whether I really couldn't go another way, like did I really have to morph into the shadows if this had been real life, but for the most part it made sense, and it was pretty fun to jump in between these two very different styles of play. The 2D took some getting used to. I found Dawn kept switching back out when I hadn't told her so and the shadow jump really took awhile for me to 'get', but it does prove to be a fun gameplay mechanic.

The levels are very linear, really. It seems like they are not at first glance but the first time I tried to deviate from Didi's instructions I was told off and turned back. The next time, she still moaned at me but I didn't have to turn back. And there are A LOT of collectibles. Seriously there are that many that at times you will find three in one room. They give an interesting bit of back story, but it kinda feels like there are too many for them to be of any worth. Also when you do press to view them it ruins any immersion, as when you back out instead of being in the game world, you're at the pause screen, just giving an extra level of separation really. 

What annoyed me the most about this game is that there didn't seem to be any reason given to it. There are these things called 'luminaries' that you run round collecting, and for awhile you're just left wondering why the hell you are doing it. Then you use them to make a spotlight work. Didi seems to know all about it, though, but still no explanation is given. Also there are huge holes in the games universe. Literal holes. The world looks like the little worlds on the British Gas adverts, but less cutesy and colourful. What the hell is that? There are a lot of nonsensical things in Contrast really. Dawn can break down massive metal scaffolding, but apparently can't open a simple door. It sometimes feels like the game is sending you the long way round just to drag out the game, which is pretty short. 

A HUGE problem for us was one that many may not encounter, but we were both sat down whilst I was playing, and then Kinect picked up that he was in the room and promptly KICKED ME OUT OF THE GAME. What the hell?! I had to redo a fairly large portion of the game because it knew someone else had signed in and it didn't like it. So sign everyone in when you load up this game on your Xbox One, for fear of them walking in and the Kinect doing it for you - Contrast really doesn't like it.

Generally this game feels like it could have been much more. It was an absolutely cracking idea let down by some pretty poor execution. Dawn doesn't move the way you expect her to and seeing as some - if not most - of the puzzles depend on refined movement and waiting for the exact right moment, this is a pretty tough problem to overlook. The music really is fantastic and the puzzles are good. It's currently on sale on Xbox One and I would say it's worth it at that price, but I'd say it's not really worth full price unless you're a huge platformer aficionado. 

5/10 TRY IT!

A code was provided for the purpose of this review.