Lake (Xbox) First Impressions!

My Top 10 Games of 2020

It's that time year again when we look back at the games released the previous year and rank the best ones we've played.

Now I didn't play everything and can think of some games like Hades or Yakuza Like a Dragon maybe making this list if I had played but from the 50+ I did these are the best 10.

10. Call of the Sea (Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PC)

 

Call of the Sea is adventure style game which released late 2020 from Out of the Blue and Raw Fury starring Cissy Jones as the leas voice actress.  CotS could have maybe placed higher, but the ending lets it down a tad.

9. Assassin's Creed Valhalla (PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Stadia, Luna, PC)

 

Ubisoft's continued its success of the previous AC games Origins and Odyssey with this new outing set in England. 

8. If Found... (Switch, PC)

 

If found won't be for everyone being a visual novel, and it's themes, yet you will find a well written emotional story very much taking a look at.

7. Spider-Man Miles Morales (PS4, PS5)

 

Insomniac helps usher in a new PlayStation generation with this Spider-Man spin-off starring Miles Morales in the lead over Peter Parker.

6. Tell Me Why (Xbox One, PC)

  

Dontnod continue their brilliant way of story telling (Not so much with Twin Mirror) with this Xbox exclusive Tell Me Why, which is my Xbox Game of the Year.

Before we get to the Top 5, we have the worst game of the year  G.I. Joe: Operation Blackout (PS4, Xbox One, Switch, PC) which is just awful.

5. Final Fantasy VII Remake (PS4)

 

I had been waiting since the PS3 tech demo for this remake, and it was the worth that wait for what is my remake of the year and possibly the best soundtrack as well. Now we wait for the next entry.

4.  Ori and the Will of the Wisps (Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Switch, PC)

 

Moon Studios made it 2 for 2 with this awesome sequel to this Metroidvania series.

3.  Ghost of Tsushima (PS4)

  

Sucker Punch moved away from platforming raccoons and superheroes to this open world adventure during the first Mongol invasion of Japan, in what I hope can become a new series for PlayStation much like Horizon.

2. Animal Crossing: New Horizons (Switch)

 

ACNH is my Nintendo Switch Game of the Year and could be argued to be the GOTY especially in 2020 as it's a game a lot of people needed this year and sells numbers are phenomenal. 

1. The Last of Us Part II (PS4)

  

But there can only be one GOTY and that's Naughty Dog's follow up to 2013's The Last of Us with its sequel which might not just be the best game of 2020 but one of the best on the PS4 and the 8th generation as a whole.

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. 

 

10 Most Anticipated Current Gen Only Multi-Format Games (October 2020)

 

In my last post I brought up my ten most anticipated multi-format games that will be on either Microsoft's and Sony's next gen systems, those games that will take advantage of the new consoles in some way. I did mention however that there are still a few games that I'm excited for which won't be on the new systems.

Now these will still be playable on PS5 or Xbox Series X|S via backwards compatibility but just won't have things like ray tracing or other next gen features.

Alex Kidd in Miracle World DX

Digimon Survive

 

The Good Life

 

Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory

 

Nier Replicant ver.1.22474487139...

 Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time Remake

 Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game - Complete Edition

 

She Dreams Elsewhere

 

Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne HD Remaster

 

Twin Mirror

 

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.

10 Most Anticipated Xbox Series X Games (May 2020)

This past week we got our first look at some Xbox Series X games, now some of these are coming to Xbox One and PlayStation's that you might be excited about them coming to your PS4.

I do also want to point out that 13 games were shown on the Inside Xbox but actually over 30 games have been confirmed to becoming to Series X and from those 30+ games I've picked the games I'm excited about.

Ubisoft will be bringing Assassin's Creed to Series X in what looks to be a great Action Adventure game set in Britain with Vikings.

The first game shown during Inside Xbox was this time travelling FPS from a one man dev team. A previous entry is on PC if you want a taste of what is to come.

Call of the Sea is adventure game which from the trailer to have Firewatch vibes which continues as Cissy Jones will be voicing the lead in this Game Pass title.

Cyberpunk 2077 was a one of the few games confirmed for Series X awhile ago and to use the Smart Delivery system meaning you can buy on Xbox One and when the game becomes available on Series X you can upgrade for free.

Dirt 5 from the trailer looks a lot like Forza Horizon which is never a bad thing and always good to have a racer on a new system.

Now Xbox list would be complete without Halo which will be launching alongside the Series X and in Game Pass.

The Xbox One's biggest misstep for me has been the so-so Japanese support that to see a game like this shown is a positive.

My favourite game from the Inside Xbox this new horror title from the team behind the recent Blair Witch game along with the composer of Silent Hill working on the score for this Game Pass title.

The trailer was a tad rough that was shown for this but the overall look has me excited to play this Vampire RPG.

I was very pleased to this as for the longest time the Yakuza series has been on associated with PlayStation that the seventh entry to come to Xbox at the same time is great for gamers as more people get to play right away.

That's my 10 games, the one I was tempted most to include was Hellblade 2 but till we see more I decide to leave of this list which I will comeback to update every so often.

Get Your Gaming Credit Here

Darwin Project on Xbox One

Music Racer on Xbox One

Can Androids Pray on Xbox One

E3 2019 Xbox Predictions - Halo - Gears - Forza and more to come

                    

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.

Out this Week on Xbox One - Plague Tale - Rage 2 - Castlevania and more

 

14th A Plague Tale: Innocence

Xbox One X Enhanced - Follow the grim tale of Amicia and her little brother Hugo, in a heartrending journey through the darkest hours of history. Hunted by the Inquisition and surrounded by unstoppable swarms of rats, they will struggle to survive and fight to find purpose in this brutal, unforgiving world.

 

 

14th Rage 2

Xbox One X Enhanced - Dive headfirst into a dystopian world devoid of society, law, and order. Rage 2 brings together two studio powerhouses – Avalanche Studios, masters of open world insanity, and id Software, creators of the first-person shooter – to deliver a carnival of carnage where you can go anywhere, shoot anything, and explode everything.

 

14th Sniper Elite V2 Remastered

Xbox One X Enhanced / Xbox Play Anywhere - You are elite sniper Karl Fairburne, parachuted into Berlin amidst the Germans’ final stand. Your mission: prevent Nazi V2 rocket technology falling into the hands of the Red Army. With all DLC missions included, take the fate of the war into your own hands, and hunt the Führer himself.

 

14th Lost Orbit

Stranded after his ship is destroyed in deep space, Harrison, a lowly maintenance worker and our hero, must struggle to find his way home. Armed with an improvised set of equipment and a relentless spirit, Harrison will need to use the gravitational forces of planets to navigate and propel himself through space.

 

15th Devious Dungeon 2

Devious Dungeon 2 is a medieval focused action platformer title. The castles ever-shifting halls are filled with deadly monsters, treacherous traps, and treasure. It’s also the domain of The Summoner and he does not look kindly upon uninvited guests. Slay monsters, collect loot, level up, and upgrade your gear and pick one of three different playable heroes.

 

15th Feudal Alloy

Explore an unusual medieval world with a fish-controlled robot, Attu. Improve your combat techniques and skills by smashing many kinds of mechanical creatures in a beautiful hand-drawn world. Discover a huge interconnected world, filled with a wide range of enemies, bosses, skills, and equipment. Choose which paths you take and which enemies you face. Defeat evil and find your way back home.

 

15th Undead Horde

Xbox One X Enhanced - Become a necromancer and raise the dead in this action RPG/RTS wrapped in an undead package. Command, lead, raze, loot, and fight your way through the lands of the living with your horde and claim the kingdom for the Undead Horde!

 

16th Castlevania Anniversary Collection

This Konami Castlevania Collection is designed to be a compilation around the origins of the historic franchise. Included is a unique eBook that has details provided by developers, artists, and other inspired by the Castlevania legacy. Released as part of the Konami 50th Anniversary celebration, now’s the best time to relive these timeless classics that helped define the platformer genre.

 

17th Dragon’s Lair Trilogy

Play as the heroic Dirk the Daring, a valiant knight on a quest to rescue the fair princess from the clutches of an evil dragon, and then go to outer space as Ace, defender of justice, truth, and the planet Earth in the arcade classics Dragon's Lair, Space Ace, and Dragon's Lair 2: Time Warp.

 

17th Darkwood

A challenging survival horror game that doesn’t rely on jump scares. Craft weapons, prepare traps, fortify hideouts and explore the eerie forests of the Soviet Bloc by day, then hunker down in your hideout at night while nightmarish forces corrupt the woods as you wait and pray for the sun to come up the next morning.

 

17th Steel Rats

Wreck and ride in Steel Rats, a game that fuses destructive motorbike combat and death-defying stunt gameplay set in a visually stylized retro future world. Switch between four characters, each with unique abilities, as you wreak havoc fighting deadly Junkbots.

 

17th Molecats

A challenging, indirect-control puzzler. Play as the Molecats as you delve into nearby caves to retrieve delicious 'shrooms and shiny relics. It's your job to keep each of them on the safest, most direct path to goodies, avoiding traps, and monsters along the way!

 Get your Xbox codes and more here

Aprils Game Pass has already kicked off with Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite and Minecraft, now today six more games were announced to be coming to the service.

Starting with Arkane Studios, Prey reboot and The Golf Club 2 tomorrow.

A week later Capcom's ever-popular Monster Hunter World, which is brilliant with four mates and on the same day Season Three of The Walking Dead: A New Frontier arrives.

Rounding out the month is Life is Strange Season 2 Episode 2 and Resident Evil 5, April 24th and 25th.

 Get your Xbox codes and more here

Games of April - Mortal Kombat - Days Gone - Nintendo VR and more

Games of March - Dead or Alive - Devil May Cry - Kirby - Sekiro - Yoshi and more

Wargroove - First Impressions

 

I've been excited for Wargroove since it was first shown in a Nintendo Direct for Switch, due to the homage to Advance Wars, a series that largely past me by, that I have thought about playing especially after Intelligent Systems recent work with Fire Emblem, just Nintendo hasn't given a new Advance Wars in sometime thankfully Chucklefish has stepped in and brought us Wargroove.

Now I might have seen Wargroove in a Nintendo Direct however I'm playing on Xbox One which doesn't matter much as Wargroove has cross-play with a code system, meaning I can play with anyone be it on PC, Switch or Xbox One and if you're a friend then I just need your game's code, also it has asynchronously mode but I feel I could forget to take my turn.

This is more of a first impression than a review and so far I've played the prologue and all of Act 1 (Haven't played more due to another project). I've got to say it's great at the moment with some really neat characters. There's also an arcade mode which is a five battle campaign for each character, I only have the one character unlocked at the moment which I got from finishing Act 1.

Mercia was the first character I unlocked for the arcade mode, the five battle campaign has an overarching story and gives you some more lore to the characters and world which can be found in the codex. I would imagine some of the other characters arcade modes will intertwine with each other and some like Ceaser the dogs likely to be a bit more silly.

With all this means there is plenty of content with a 6 Act story mode and 12 Characters all having a Mini-Campaign in the Arcade, without touching any multiplayer and finding all the games secrets.

There is also something called Puzzles Mode which I've not unlocked yet and a Map Editor which I played around with but not really something I can see me using as I'm rather hopeless at those sort of things. I did download a 1P campaign someone had made in a haunted house and that was rather good and since heard about people recreating maps & missions from the likes of Advance Wars, which is all available regardless of what platform the map was made on.

As I said I've not played much Advance Wars, that I can't really compare but I have played some Fire Emblem and it's rather close in how it plays just with some different system on what unit can beat what unit and it's not an individual unit you're moving but a group of swordsmen to move in most cases.

 

I am playing on Xbox One but I have to say this might be best on Switch due to the aesthetics and the homage to Advance Wars plus IF it uses the touchscreen that could be a handy way to move units and make maps.

Now there is a positive playing on Xbox One and Wargroove is the first game I've tried it out with is mouse and keyboard support which I have to say is an excellent way to play this and can making maps that I can see it being much easier than using a controller.

No matter what you do decide to play Wargroove on, based on my first impressions this is very much worth a download.