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If Narita Boy had a better handle on what it did well, and spent less time on the stuff it didn’t, we’d have a hit on our hands. Instead, we have style over substance – a Tron: Evolution rather than Blade Runner, say – when it could have been a bonafide classic.

Baobabs Mausoleum Grindhouse Edition on Xbox is one of those underground sleeper hits likely to become a future cult classic – if it hasn’t already done so. This release comes packed with all the chapters and other extras, and it is the best way for the uninitiated to jump right in and experience a game world and adventure like no other. With a captivating and bizarre style, and an entertaining blend of different gameplay styles, Baobabs Mausoleum Grindhouse Edition is one of those games you will definitely regret missing out on. If that isn’t enough to convince you, then the idea of being a cigarette smoking FBI agent, who just so happens to be an Eggplant, certainly will grab your attention. 

Altogether, Mail Mole on Xbox does the job of offering a ‘00s-era platformer – nothing more, nothing less. There’s no innovation here, not even capitalising on the fact that you’re a mole, and you may well groan at the landslide of cliches. But as we came to the end of Mail Mole, we kind of dug it. Aside from the odd control molehill, Mail Mole is a smooth ride and it may well scratch an itch that you forgot you had.  

Horned Knight is a strange one. It’s a game that suffers from an extreme lack of variety, story and replayability. It’s a game that becomes repetitive rather quickly. It’s a game that does nothing to set itself apart from the hundreds of games of a similar nature that already exist on the market. And yet at the same time, it’s fundamentally solid from a pure gameplay perspective, with smooth, responsive controls and naturally difficult platforming sections that really test a player’s skill. 

Super Sports Blast, as a package, on Xbox is a lot of fun. I very much enjoyed the volleyball and tennis segments, and whilst the football section doesn’t work for me personally, I feel that you can blame the likes of FIFA for that rather than anything this collection of games does wrong. If you’ve looking for a party game to be added for local multiplayer rotation then this will be a perfect addition, what with its range of competitions and fun, quick gameplay. That said, if you’re a solo player, it’s quite a price tag to invest in, especially when you put it up against other more realistic sports experiences out there. And similarly, if you are a serious sports fan then this is unlikely to be for you. 

All this comes together to ensure that Colossus Down on Xbox is an interesting proposition, with game-changing choices to be made and an upgrade tree that can well reward multiple playthroughs. The violence is over the top, but awesome, the characters and enemies are well-drawn and designed, and the whole game is fun in short blasts. And therein lies the rub; this is not a game that I can sit down with for an extended period, as mashing X and pressing RB every now and again becomes tiresome. There are however combos to learn and unlock, but you don’t need to use them, and the long and the short of it is that the game does suffer from a feeling of “I’ve seen this all before”. There are flashes of brilliance, but the whole is less than the sum of its parts. If you like side-scrolling beat-em-ups, then this is worth a punt, but if not, well, try Streets of Rage 4 instead!

On Xbox, Oniria Crimes’ greatest successes are in the rich world it’s created, and the uniqueness of interrogating the crime scene to come to a conclusion. But neither are enough: the experience tumbles into a nightmare, as poor controls, bemusing design decisions and bugs overwhelm everything. We’re glad that we experienced its peaks, but we’d suggest that the troughs are so deep that you might not get past them, or want to.

Who said that single player games were dead? Call of the Sea on Xbox was made for Game Pass: a fantastic story stunningly told, full of well-pitched puzzles, with almost zero replayability. It’s one of 2020’s most surprising genre-reboots, taking Myst and transplanting in a heart, and we’re all for it. You’d do well to buy a ticket to its shores.

For the potential that Super Soccer Blast on Xbox One brings, it consistently fails to deliver, with bugs, glitches and an overriding rushed feeling provided throughout. Even though the in-game mechanics aren’t the best, it could well have still been an arcade football game worth playing. But it comes with a severe lack of game options, zero online capabilities and enough bugs and glitches bubbling around, ready to explode, to ensure that this is one to avoid. After previous success in the sports field – particularly with Super Tennis Blast – I’m sure the team at Unfinished Pixel will be working to rectify the problems that keep cropping up, but in the meantime stick to your FIFA and PES. No matter how much you might complain about them. 

Indiecalypse on Xbox One tries many things, but for the most part it fails. Throughout my time with it it has regularly required restarts to fix its minigames, its humour is grating and fails to show any depth, and it only really takes a couple of hours or so to finish. Despite this, the minigames and story aren’t worth the playtime. Indiecalypse is to games what “Epic Movie” is to films – shallow, self-serving and ultimately pointless. If you own any of the games it parodies, just play those instead. 

So, that is the sum of the experience on offer in Concept Destruction on Xbox One. It’s fun while it lasts, but apart from some interesting achievements to find and unlock, once you’ve done so the urge to play again evaporates like the morning dew in a blast furnace. It’s a fun diversion, but sadly it doesn’t last long enough. I fear this will suffer the same fate as a lot of Ratalaika Games titles – once all the achievements have been rinsed, it’s a one way trip to Uninstallsville. It’s a shame really, as the “Concept” does have legs. It’s just a shame those legs appear to be made of cardboard. 

There is a lot of imagination and heart gone into the making of Super Toy Cars 2 on Xbox One that oozes out of almost every corner. Career mode is an absolute blast and I will never tire of smashing up opponents – or myself when making a bad judgement on one of the obstacles. The game is slightly let down by only allowing two players locally – four would have made this a gaming night essential – and the lack of modes online, but there is still masses of fun to be had here on your own.

With plenty of exhilarating platformers on the market, such as A Hat in Time and Yooka-Laylee, it’s hard to recommend Gigantosaurus: The Game to any age. It’s too easy, repetitive and contains no sense of inventiveness. Younger gamers will no doubt find a slight amount of fun in the experience, but it will fail to push their skills any further or demand a large amount of attention. Gigantosaurus: The Game on Xbox One is a gigantic flop.

Arise: A Simple Story on Xbox One is a brilliantly devised game and it’s been a huge pleasure to play. Yes, there are the occasional frustrations with some of the platforming, but you really shouldn’t let that worry you. It’s a splendid wordless story with a perfect amount of gameplay hours for the price, and it’s right up there with the very best games I’ve played this year.

Solo: Islands of the Heart on Xbox One is something of an enigma. The deep delve into the player’s love life is a risky one as many won’t even want to contemplate such thoughts when gaming and so the ‘story’ could be a non-event for some folk. On the plus side though, the visuals, the sounds and the puzzling goes hand in hand to create an experience that’s a challenge, with a fair few intelligent solutions to figure out. If only the block placement and camera angle weren’t constantly at odd with your efforts, then it’d be a far more enjoyable game.

What is in place with Etherborn is very good, and if you are after a taxing puzzler which will push and pull the grey matter in ways other games can’t, then you should certainly consider a purchase. Just be aware that you may well be left wanting more as the end credits roll.

So, the big question… now that I’ve played Farm Together for some time, will I continue to spend time tending to my crops?, Well, the answer is that I might just do so. The more you play the more repetitive it seems to get; I already feel that I’ve done most of what the game has to offer and can’t see the thrill of unlocking a new vegetable is going to keep a hold on me for much longer. But popping in every now and then for a walk through the French country garden at sunset or a wade through the piranha pond is still pretty appealing.

It’s competitive, it’s fun, and it doesn’t take itself too seriously, and so if you’re a fan of local multiplayer titles, enjoy sports games, or simply want something to play with family and friends, then Super Volley Blast is a title you should consider grabbing with both hands.

I’m glad the puzzles were not too difficult and I could simply enjoy the story, the characters, and the copious profanity. Nika herself is a highly likeable persona and I truly wanted her to succeed at her mischievous plan. MechaNika is only a couple of hours long, but at the low price point of £4.99, it is very much worth it. Even if you normally don’t enjoy puzzle games, you might as well enjoy this one. Get it!

Thinice Games has done a solid job by creating a fun (if slightly bland) platformer. Levels hold enough complexity to keep up the challenge and the sense of progression is balanced very well. Its lack of a story-based campaign is sorely missed and the repetitiveness of the environments is noticeable at times, but despite the infrequent flaws a good time can be found in Twin Robots.

Overall there is much to love in this amazing little game. The visual tone, soundtrack, and narration of Candle: The Power of Flame, as well as the inclusion of great puzzle elements see it coming across as something with brilliant invention. The downsides are that some of the game mechanics feel a bit off, and a tad annoying, but it isn’t enough to dampen the spirits or ruin the enjoyment of this stunning candle adventure.

Super Hyperactive Ninja is a game that will fit in well with those who enjoy a good speedrunning adventure or simply want to find the next challenging platformer. Whilst there may not be much replayability besides going back for the S-rank, there are certainly some bragging points to be earned for anyone who can master this surprisingly difficult adventure. For such a low price, there may well be many who want to give it a shot.

STAY is completely different to anything out there at the moment, in a good way, and so it’s definitely worth checking out. Just remember that there are people that can help with those darn puzzles!

Agatha Knife is a strange game. It is sometimes simple and a tad shallow, it’ll offend some and irritate others. It does nothing new for the Point and Click adventure game. But the further I delved, the stronger my resolve to see its conclusion. I cared about Agatha and the struggles she faced. I can’t remember the last time I sniggered so much at a video game. Mango Protocol, a studio of less than 10 people have created a world and characters that I want to see more of. Agatha Knife shows a great deal of innovation over their debut project and I only hope they continue down this path.

It may not immediately strike as a must-play title, but Immortal Redneck shouldn’t be overlooked. With tons of replayability, tense fast-paced gameplay, fluid controls and enjoyable combat, this is a game that will offer great gameplay for hours on end. To bring things into context, Immortal Redneck is exactly what you could expect to find if you were to blend Serious Sam with Indie 2015 indie hit Ziggurat, and I for one find that to be an exciting prospect.

You see, on the whole Vesta is a lovely little story-filled puzzler that is powered by humour and brings enough thought as to why, what and when at all times. It’s not the most perfect game, and slight control issues, a repetitive soundtrack and massive save problems put a downer on things, but it’s still worth taking a shot at. Especially should the saving bugs get ironed out.

Oh My Godheads offers a fun gaming experience for an hour or two at best. Having timed one session, it took just over 16 minutes to play every multiplayer game once, with the most enjoyable ones strangely being those not involving the Godheads. Had this game been priced accordingly I could easily recommend it, but with what you get and the price at £10.99, I would highly suggest looking elsewhere for a local multiplayer fix before considering Oh My Godheads.

By all means jump into the world of Billy and his nightmares, but you should be aware that the difficulty and horrible screen shake that is on offer may just be seeing you losing some sleep of your own.

The Sexy Brutale is definitely one of the more original ID@Xbox games that we’ve seen recently. On one side there is an incredibly dark and sinister side to the game solving, sometimes described in great gory-detail, murders. But then ultimately it is a game of hope as Lafcadio tries to prevent his friends re-living their nightmares day after day. The Majora’s Mask time-inspired gameplay is a very neat mechanic and you get as much out of the game as you are willing to explore. A few technical issues and a lengthy ending stop this from being a truly great standout indie title, but it is easily far better than most.

I have two distinct reactions to my time with Vaccine. The first is hatred of its terrible old control system, changing camera angles and the random generating house of horror. The second reaction though is of respect and enjoyment at the increasing tension of the challenge, while getting better at unlocking the secret of the Vaccine. This is a game that you need to fail at and spend some time with in order to get the best out of it. If you can get past the issues I had at the beginning then there is a good Survival horror game in here, with a neat concept, that will make some classic gamers very happy indeed.

This review may seem like a bit of a spanking, but despite all the above, the game is not as bad as I have made out. Sure, a bit of quality control would have been welcome, but it’s clear where its inspiration came from and if you are a fan of early 90’s hack and slash dungeon crawlers, then you will likely see some enjoyment from this. It is very basic and should last no longer than a few nights to complete, but with a price as low as this it is difficult to expect anymore.

Whilst an entire playthrough of Spheroids will only take you four or five hours tops, and nothing put in front of you is likely to test any of your gaming skills, you’ll probably still enjoy the mindless ball popping mayhem that it brings – whether or not that statement says more about me and my gaming ambitions though is another matter. There are issues – most notably with the ‘shop’ which is fairly pointless, but should you be looking for a fairly cheap, simple playthrough and a whole ton of achievement gathering in the process, then you could do worse.

Stories of Bethem: Full Moon is a retro game, with retro ideas which doesn’t do anything remarkable and feels a little out of place on today’s latest console, despite it being a decent experience overall. Also, the price is reasonable enough for anyone looking for a blast from the past!

From the damn commentator who constantly repeats the same three or four lines over and over again, to the random-filled races, terrible AI, poor visuals, utterly disgusting sound and occasional screen lag, Grand Prix Rock N Racing is about as far from fun as you’re likely to find. It is therefore left in the hands of your friends and family as to whether the multiplayer side of things makes this Rock ‘N Racing title worthy of a one time shot.

If you’re looking for a bit of a challenge and a thoroughly enjoyable action platformer, for a very reasonable price, then look no further than Unepic – aka Dark Souls 2D.

n summary, those who have played the game on other platforms will notice that the Xbox version is nothing more than a poor port of the original game, where the only changes are the control schemes which have been adapted to the Xbox controller. Besides that, the game continues to have the same issues that seem to have afflicted the previously released versions and that is something which disappoints me. With a bit work in a bunch of different aspects, this could have been a promising game, but in its current state it’s hard to recommend it as a good game.

Is Super Toy Cars perfect? No, far from it. But it’s the best fun filled combat racer that you can play on Xbox One today so grab some sofa friends and settle some scores.

Overall and Project Tachyon is a lovely fireworks display on steroids; an attractive display complemented by some lovely solid gameplay. The omission of a scroll-able leaderboard and full stats page is a big miss however, with the twin stick shooter genre relying heavily on being able to compare your stats to your friends. I’m not overly bothered about the strangers that frequent the leaderboards near me, all I want to see is how I compare to my nearest and dearest, so why Eclipse have not included leaderboard filters or scrolls is beyond me. Similarly, online multiplayer, or at least the inclusion of online co-op, would have been a massive winner.