DIRT 5 Review Xbox One

 

I've never been a big fan of driving games, with only a few clicking with me be it RalliSport Challenge 2 or the Forza Horizon series with their off-road antics. 

Which is why Dirt 5 was on my radar from the trailers we have seen, with its outlandish feel to it with the use of pink and purple smoke along with speakers around the tracks blaring out music.

And how its career mode is told in a rather simple way of picking an event which could be racing around an ice circuit drifting around every corner or racing against 12 classic rally cars like the Ford RS200 to get the finish first, whilst the guess you'll call it story is told via a Podcast with some enthusiastic characters talking of your progress over the game's 5 chapters.

 

You'll find 120+ events to do in the career mode, along with some special one on ones to unlock some neat decals for the 60+ cars, you don't have to do all these to see out the career mode and myself I've done about 40%  of them but I plan to come back to do the rest when my Xbox Series X arrives as Dirt 5 uses Smart Delivery and one of a few games that has a 120fps mode if you have the right setup.

Outside of career mode you have online and playground which is a tad like Tony Hawk create-a-park or the stuff you find in Trials Rising where you build or play playgrounds created by the community. I'm hopeless at building but from what I've seen from the few playgrounds I've played a lot can be done in the mode and can see this keeping people busy for a while.

 

Overall Dirt 5 is a fun arcade racer which come along at the right time as the racer to check out at the start of a new console generation and you won't be left behind on current gen either, just maybe single player is a tad lacking as maybe some simple time trail modes or basic cups could have added a bit more to the overall package. 

 

Maneater Review

Maneater recently released on PS4, PC and Xbox One. I've been playing Maneater on Xbox One for the past week and have mixed things on the game.

Maneater starts out with a tutorial on how all the controls work along with the game's setup of it being a reality TV series over 8 episodes much like Deadliest Catch, just narrated by Jerry from Rick & Morty. 

This builds around the plot of you playing as a baby shark who is out for revenge on the antagonist Scaly Pete.

Over the game you level up, get stronger, unlock new abilities and eventually go from baby shark to a mega shark who can spit lightning. You do this in various ways such as a mission to chew up 10 humans or take down an alligator.

The narration over this and the games overall tone, makes it what it is, a quite funny game and reminded me of things like Goat Simulator and Untitled Goose Game in a lot of ways.

However, that is also an issue as over my almost 10 hours to finish the story and do every sidequest (I didn't get all the collectables, so missing the1000G) which was needed to level up to take on one of the bosses, is the joke gets old.

Why I said at the start I've got mixed feelings on Maneater as the first few hours was really fun but by the end I just wanted the game to be over. 

This is very much an example where less is more, as I would have much sooner had a 3hr game which fun all the way through then this what just becomes boring at the end due to lack of variety in the missions as you can only chew up so many humans.

Gylt on Stadia Review

A Plague Tale: Innocence Review

Bonjour everyone, I recently had the pleasure to review A Plague Tale: Innocence. Which I've had on my radar for a while now and even featured in a YouTube video of mine just before E3 2018.

Apart from popping up now and again on gaming news sites, there hasn't been a great deal of buzz around APTI. Which is a real shame as developers Asobo Studio has done a fantastic job on what is a tad old fashioned approach to games especially in 2019. 

I say this because a lot of games now are open-world, have a boatload of sidequests, different endings and the like. Where APTI is a linear level-based experience.

With Asobo just wanting to tell you this story of Amica and Hugo are two leads during the Hundred Years' War in the French countryside, whilst a plague has broken out. This is done incredibly well through the interactions between Amica who you mainly play as and her younger brother Hugo, who turns out to be rather special. 

As you're rather regular people, the gameplay is very stealth based which won't be for everyone as you can't go in guns blazing (a sling in this case),  meaning you will need to figure out how to get past soldiers and plague-infested rats in the various puzzles in each level. On your journey, you will meet various allies who will teach you new things and give a helping hand to puzzles.

I really enjoyed my time with APTI as what it does it does very well be it the aforementioned story, the gameplay and sounds design, also it looks fantastic especially one scene in Chapter IV if you're using HDR.

If you enjoyed The Last of Us, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons and similar games then you will enjoy APTI. I do know the length, it took me about 9hrs and lack of replayability part from trying to find all the collectables will put some of you off otherwise an excellent game.

Battle Princess Madelyn Review

 

Battle Princess Madelyn is a modern take on Ghouls 'n Ghosts which you set out to defeat a wickedly evil wizard who's kidnapped the family of Princess Madelyn and killed your dog Fritz, whilst trying to protect you.

The game mechanics should not surprise you if you've played Ghouls 'n Ghosts and indeed, you will feel like you have reinserted a cartridge into a SNES.

Madelyn starts protected by a simple dressing gown and with the only possibility of making small jumps and armed with a spear barely suited to take out some carnivorous plant or some skeleton.



Along the way in the story mode, which is probably the most interesting mode because it is enriched by secondary quests given by NPCs whose completion is rewarded with gadgets; there is also a locksmith who can upgrade Maddy's weapons. In this mode there are some influences from Metroidvania: some areas are initially not accessible, and only after having obtained special skills or keys will they. In addition, the difficulty is lower than the arcade version which has more "compressed" levels to complete simply by continuing from the left to the right of the screen.

If you're a fan of modern retro games BPM could be for you with a soundtrack that deserves a special mention, which can be activated in both orchestral and midi style. Longevity of the story mode will keep you busy for at least a dozen hours.

The First Tree Review

You may have seen my recent let's play of The First Tree after watching you might think this isn't much of a game.



Due to the fact when you're playing as the fox, you basically just walk forward towards The First Tree and you could even miss all the collectables along the way if you really wished.

You might also think the game looks very pretty in some parts such as a scene with a deer but even on the One X, foliage can appear out of nowhere and some other odd occurrences.

 

That you may be thinking this doesn't sound good at all, which is sort of a problem with this sort of game to review as if you do pick up the collectables you'll get a backstory which is fully narrated, I believe by the games creator and his wife.

Now, this is where the game shines and it's the emotions you'll feel along the way which will even mean you'll like the game or not. I don't want to go into the story too much which is based around one of the characters talking about his childhood.

It might just be me but he doesn't mention his mother once that I do believe he is talking about a single parent in his father. Now this hits home to me being raised by a single parent in my father, that the emotional notes of The First Tree may have reached me more than it would some.

 

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Storm Boy Review

Storm Boy: The Game is an adaptation of Australian Authors Colin Thiele's 1964 novella for Xbox One (how I played the game), PS4, Switch, PC, Mac, and Mobile from Blowfish Studios.

To be honest and it might be because I'm the UK, I've never heard of Colin Thiele or his works, however what I gather from playing the game and a section in the menu talking about the novellas history, it's clearly an important piece of literature. 

After reading the history section before playing, I think Storm Boy is an interesting game not in terms of playing but more in educating you about relationships with people be it your father Hide-Away Tom or your buddy a pelican called Mr Percival and few others along the way in this half an hour or so game.

Yeah, the game is short and rather simple as really all you do is just wander around a beach, playing some simple mini-games such as fetch with Mr Percival in what is a fairly beautiful oil-painting-like visuals which I can imagine is based on illustrations straight from the book.

Storm Boy won't be for everyone but if you have young kids, I could see this being a great introduction to gaming in the same way as you might read them the actual novella. 

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The Gardens Between Review

I just want to start off by saying that I asked on Twitter for some feedback regards to reviews as I was offered a code for The Gardens Between a game I very much was looking forward to that I jumped at the opportunity to review TGB but wasn't sure where I'd actually put the review.

After the feedback I got, yes this will stay primarily as an Xbox focused blog however you seem to be interested in what else is happening outside of Xbox and with a title like The Gardens Between being available on PC, Mac, Linux, Switch and PS4 (where I played TGB) meaning even if it's not on Xbox, you may have a way to check it out and check it out you should.

The Gardens Between focuses on teenagers Arina and Frendt, who live next door to each other. One stormy night the pair sneak out and hide out in their treehouse, built on a small garden square next to both houses when a light sphere causes the treehouse to enter a dream-like a state.

In this dream-state, Arina and Frendt come across islands made up of there experiences over the years that are played out over 19 levels spread over multiple islands.

These levels consist of a beautiful art-style which sort of remind me of Oxenfree if that was in 3D. The core gameplay is centred around puzzles that are simple in nature based around when you move forward time moves forward and vice-versa for backwards.

This leads to some really clever puzzles as you have to get the light sphere that you see at the start of the game to the end of each level which seems rather straightforward but you come across obstacles that may be a planet which eats the light for instance, so you have to get rid of the planet and this is made more difficult as only Arina can carry the light whilst Frendt can use switches, which means you have to manipulate the flow of time to get past each level. 

When you do get past all the levels in an island, you get a sort of cut-scene which shows a memory linked to the level's you've just played.

The Gardens Between is a lovely looking and challenging yet simple puzzle game that is a great few hours of fun to play on a Sunday afternoon.

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#Wargames Review

 

#Wargames is my first review on Guilty Spark and the main reason why I decided to do reviews on the site, as I've seen no reviews on this game.

I use the term game loosely when talking about interactive video series #Wargames and yes it is called that, from Her Story creator Sam Barlow.

Which was the main draw for me the connection to Her Story and why I paid my money for the title.

Much like Her Story, #Wargames is an FMV game unlike Her Story it isn't very good.

I get what it's trying to do and that's to get you to make choices in how you react whilst face timing, the problem is unlike a Telltale game or even fellow FMV game The Late Shift (I recently played via Game Pass) you know when to make a choice and what it may even do, yet in #Wargames you really have no idea and honestly I could see someone playing from the start to finish without switching who you face time and getting an-okay acted 6 episode web series.

I appreciate #Wargames is trying to push the medium forward by doing something different along with having some more mature themes and they are the sort thing that now has a place in gaming like they do in TV and Film, just what's on offer isn't very good. 

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