Thomas Spurlin

Development of Mass Effect: Andromeda — at least, the creative thoughts behind it — likely began shortly after the release of Mass Effect 3 and the divisive reception that its ending received. Yeah, yeah: alarm bells go off at just the mentioning of that ending, but hear this out. Long before BioWare telegraphed the culmination of the trilogy’s storytelling, the longstanding role-playing game makers had two-and-a-half games of variables to keep straight and relevant. This includes whether to cure a disease that plagued a crucial race or whether to broker peace between robots and their creators, as well as a laundry list of characters who could’ve lived and died throughout the series.  Creating an ending that split the setting into three drastically different versions of one another was, frankly, the final nail in a coffin that had already been mostly nailed shut.  To continue the franchise, the options available to BioWare were in short supply. A total reboot? A canon set of storytelling values? Instead of disregarding choices, the studio behind Baldur’s Gate and Knights of the Old Republic decided to get the hell out of Dodge and jump over to another galaxy, one that’s far, far away from that nest of variables. Had the landing been a bit smoother, Mass Effect: Andromeda would’ve arrived as the ideal clean slate needed by both fans and BioWare.

It’s been a little over a month since the game’s release, and, like many other studios, BioWare has worked diligently to conjure up patches for their latest science-fiction epic, with modifications that range from typical clean-up of bugs to combat balance changes. However, they’ve also responded to critical feedback about some technical and artistic issues, notably in the realism in animations, which resulted in a rather substantial and mostly successful update (Patch 1.05) to face and body appearances.  No matter the state of the game in its support cycle, there are certain perceptions about the general direction taken by Mass Effect: Andromeda that patches really cannot impact, though. What BioWare has created with this journey outside the Milky Way is a flawed, overly familiar, yet determined and exciting melting pot of all things Mass Effect, equipped with improvements in many areas — yes, that includes its ending — as well as other areas where they stuck with the status quo when they shouldn’t have and, sure, even subtracted from bits-‘n-pieces of what originally gave the series its magic.

Andromeda takes place 600 years in the future … though as far as the cryo-sleeping travelers aboard the human Hyperion ark ship are concerned, only a brief time has passed since their departure from the Milky Way in 2185, just after the events of the original Mass Effect and before the events of Mass Effect 2. Therefore, everything that occurs in the second and third installments exist as something of a Schrodinger’s Canon: beyond Shepard being the Hero of the Citadel™, all possible decisions made throughout the three games can exist in the player’s mind, or be disregarded as never happening. With the opening cutscene touting exploration and fresh starts as motivation for taking the intergalactic journey, BioWare hammers home the point that they want Andromeda to essentially be ground zero for the characters involved, for the players, and for the studio itself, unencumbered by what may or may not have happened in Shepard trilogy. From here, the game works almost plays out like a mild “Corrupt-a-Wish” version of the ideal Mass Effect game, where every element carried over or improved from previous Mass Effect games has a little something off that keeps its throwbacks from excelling.

We’re introduced to one of two Ryder siblings — either male or female, selected by the player from preset appearances or completely customized — who awakens from cryo-sleep just before their ark ship encounters a celestial anomaly in the far-away galaxy, an event that blocks the path toward their “golden world” colony destination and, eventually, thrusts one of them into the leadership position of Pathfinder.  Immediately, the game makes it clear that players won’t be controlling a character of their own creation, but a tweaked version of one of these Ryder twins. This is unlike Commander Shepard, even if he or she was largely a predetermined character: Ryder’s first piece of dialogue, “We made it”, is the same regardless of what version of the character speaks it and completely lacks any player input, a sharp contrast to Shepard’s initial dialogue choice in the original Mass Effect‘s prologue. Remember the selection of backgrounds and reputations from the original Mass Effect? That ain’t here. Each iteration of the player’s Ryder has the same back-story, saddled with having a sibling of the opposite gender and a father, Alec Ryder, who’s a renowned N7 soldier. The type of role-playing has shifted, opting for a streamlined story for the Ryders over freedom of choice. This moves Andromeda closer to the style of role-playing found in controlling different versions of Geralt from The Witcher series than in creating personal characters.

Upon exploring their target “golden world”, Ryder and the Andromeda Initiative — the name of the multi-species organization responsible for getting the ark ships, plural, to the galaxy — encounter a brand-new species, the Kett, with nefarious ambitions involving the ancient technology of the mysterious Remnant, a machine race whose presence is embedded in many worlds across the Heleus Cluster.  Yeah, that’s a lot of foreign names to the Mass Effect universe, as expected, yet BioWare doesn’t really capitalize on the potential that this new beginning affords them. Bipedal and firing normal types of guns, the Kett turn out to be little more than rubber-forehead baddies who share a few similarities to Mass Effect 2’s Collectors, both in physical composition and generalized strategy. Meanwhile, the Remnant essentially combine the hostile mystique of the geth with the technological legacy aspect of the Protheans.   Between the two, BioWare keeps their motivations on a much smaller scale than with what the end-of-the-world Reapers conducted with their extinction cycles in the Milky Way, but there are a lot of parallels involved with these hostile oppositions to the Initiative and the antagonist forces “back home”, to a point where originality becomes an issue.

Luckily, Mass Effect: Andromeda flexes a lot of the muscle afforded by the new Frostbite engine while creating the setting, providing stunning environments throughout which Ryder will explore — and colonize — while returning the series to some of its mysterious roots about the dangers and delights of traversing the unknown.  After struggling with a tweaked vehicle in Mass Effect 2 via DLC (the Hammerhead) and scrapping vehicle exploration altogether for Mass Effect 3, exploration indeed returns to the Mass Effect series in a revamped version of the Mako: the gun-free Nomad. With standard but well-executed driving controls, Ryder and his crew zip around to points on a map that encourage full surveys of the landscape, from areas that can be mined for necessary resources to hidden caves and tucked-away firebases ready for enemy encounters. BioWare clearly didn’t want to make the same perceived mistakes made by the studio’s previous release, Dragon Age: Inquisition, where many of the missions were viewed as different spins on the “fetch quest”, so they’ve emphasized stronger doses of story in the spread-out missions to encourage their completion.  One that comes to mind: a series of audio diaries recorded by a deceased worker play while Ryder finishes their job of placing certain beacons across a map, adding a bittersweet punch at the end. There’s thought here.

Despite the adventurous tone of this new setting, one can’t help but feel that BioWare didn’t take enough risks in their presentation of a new galaxy, though, which continues into the introduction of a new species, the Angara, and the member of their species who joins Ryder’s crew, Jaal. With curved bipedal legs similar to other Milky Way species and a facial appearance that’s conveniently supple and attractive in nature, the angarans’ design comes across as too-engineered for appeal to the alien-romance crowd than the culmination of creative ambition; it’s not unreasonable to expect more species akin to the bug-like rachni from the original games in an entirely different galaxy.  And again, Jaal borrows character traits of other prior characters in his makeup, acting and even sounding a little like the fish-outta-water Prothy the Prothean, Javik, from Mass Effect 3 … only vastly more emotional and deliberately palatable, since that’s one of his species’ traits. The angarans develop into a crucial feature of the main plot, centered on their clashes with the Andromeda Initiative as colonists and their ongoing conflict with the equally uninspired Kett, so this ends up being a relatively disappointing facet from a science-fiction standpoint.

Consideration went into the companions that get tangled up with Ryder, though perhaps not quite the right train of thought that the writers should’ve placed in them. Each companion feels like a shadow or amalgamation of previous character types from the “original trilogy”, offering both fond, inviting throwbacks and an absence of creativity. The biotic vanguard Cora Harper operates like a fusion of the poise and intrigue of Miranda Lawson from Mass Effect 2 with the dedication and stubbornness of Ashley Williams in the first game, with an attachment to nature and military training with an alien species giving her just enough distinctiveness to be a unique character.  Liam Kosta is, in essence, the Jacob Taylor ex-military type with improvements, but still a little uninvolving.  The crew just couldn’t get along without a cute, geeky blue-alien bookworm, so we’ve got PeeBee’s adoration for Remnant tech filling the void left by the absence of Liara’s adoration for Prothean tech. Science advisor Suvi distills the religiousness of Ashley into the yeoman-style interactions (and skin-tight uniform) of ME2‘s Kelly Chambers. The resident krogan (the bulky lizard species), Drack, blends lovable mercenary and series favorite Wrex with the gristle and age of another gun-for-hire, Zaeed Massani. Vetra is, in the most positive of ways, a female version of another series favorite, Garrus Vakarian, mixed with a little of the female turian (the bird-like species), Nyreen, from Mass Effect 3’s Omega downloadable content.  And so on, and so forth. It’s all identifiable — and romanceable — territory for fans of the series, for better and for worse.

Similar comments can be made toward the role-playing aspects of Mass Effect: Andromeda. Those who have grown accustomed to how the series has shifted in terms of dialogue and controlling a character will feel comfortable, if a bit frustrated and restricted, with the options presented through Ryder. BioWare has, surprisingly, removed the black-and-white red-and-blue alignments of the Paragon-Renegade system, replacing it with a conversation and choice-based framework that’s far more subjective and gray in nature. Different tones, ranging from emotional and logical to casual and professional, match up with the verbal choices, and can even be toggled off in the settings for a more “blind” experience. Like with everything else in Andromeda, however, it comes with a few drawbacks. There’s a fair amount of auto-dialogue this time around (dialogue in which the player has no input on what’s said), and the choices presented often don’t push far enough into the “paragon” and “renegade”-style peaks and valleys to create drastically different versions of the Ryder character.  The intention is noble and appreciated; the execution is tame and limited.

Instead, the way the character can really be defined happens through plot-centric choices scattered throughout the game, and there’s plenty to be found in Andromeda.  Much like Dragon Age: Inquisition’s inaccurate reputation for only having fetch-quests, it’s inaccurate to say that Andromeda doesn’t have the same kind of tough decisions that the original games had. Ryder gets put in the position to make some hefty choices about leadership throughout the Heleus Cluster and the Andromeda Initiative itself, as well as smaller ones involving murder investigations and the legacy of scientists, which forms into a similar experience to the types of judgments that Shepard would dish out throughout the Citadel in the original trilogy.  BioWare has made a strong effort to retain that element in Andromeda, and while not without its stumbles in logic, they’ve done so in a variety of ways.  Moreover, some of the bigger choices do have a perceptible — if not entirely tangible — impact on how the adventure comes to a close in the final battles. A complaint frequently lobbed at Mass Effect 3 was that there wasn’t enough representation of decisions made in the final military skirmishes leading to the end of the game, and Andromeda earnestly attempts to not make those same mistakes again.

But enough about that pesky role-playing experience.  How’s the combat? That can be answered with two words: JET PACKS.  Fundamentally, the third-person shooting and upgrade systems play out like a refined blend of Mass Effect 3’s single and multiplayer controls, both with the precision of the gunplay and ability casting (biotics and tech) as well as the unfortunate streamlining of the power loadouts, allowing only three active abilities to be usable at a given time.  Granted, the game allows the player to switch skill concentrations and loadouts on the fly, but the inability to select other powers from a wheel mid-combat can be a frustrating setback. The big change, both in firefights and in general movement around environments, comes in the ability to launch high in the air with a jet pack (or the magical biotic-user equivalent), and the dodging, lunging, and levitating for a higher vantage point that this addition allows — either to unleash bullets or to “cast spells” — makes for an exceptionally intuitive and enlivened evolution of the Mass Effect model.  It’s going to be hard to go back to the original trilogy’s movement limitations after this.

Unfortunately, as of this writing, it wouldn’t be hard to go back to the original trilogy’s appearance and weapon customization options after seeing how Andromeda tinkered with what already worked.  To call the character creator “disappointing” would be a bit of an understatement: after choosing one of nine preset faces, the player can tweak hairstyles, skin tones, height and width of their features, and whether they’re rocking scars or tattoos, but they can’t manually select from different shapes of eyes, noses, mouths, and other things freely.  Sure, this has game design implications – picking one of the nine preset faces dictates how Ryder’s father will look – but the boundaries it places on how individual Ryders can look is a monumental step back from customizing Shepard (let alone the surprisingly strong creation interface from Inquisition). Crafting weapons and navigating the research/development function of the game is also an exercise in patience and tolerance: some terrific artillery and armor can be made with the right R&D and mined resources, but cycling through the interface makes it an unpleasant process. Text-based menus are only a plus when they’re intuitive, and this toggling back and forth between pages isn’t intuitive enough. BioWare has both expanded and added obstacles to customization, yet another double-edged sword.

Speaking of facial appearances … yes, Andromeda started things out on the wrong foot with its animations.  The last thing BioWare needed after coping with the issues of Mass Effect 3’s polarizing ending was an issue that could easily be turned into an internet joke (or jokes), and a handful of wonky facial reactions and body movements provided the studio’s unswerving critics plenty of ammunition.  They were quick to fix the issues, though, and that hefty update released a few weeks after the game’s release made some rather dramatic changes to many areas, eliminating weird walking animations and blank-stare, emotionless faces with proper motion and improved shading/lighting. The response to these points may have been exaggerated, since the vast majority of the work put into Andromeda’s designs are well-executed, but it’s hard to dispute how much better the Andromeda experience flows when BioWare poured even more work and refinement into making certain faces not look tired.

These are all issues that can be acclimated to, though — every one of them — and once the player has found their groove with Mass Effect: Andromeda, they’ll discover a sprawling space-opera filled with a lot of passion, throwbacks, and general response to criticisms leveled at the previous games. BioWare has created a threat in the Kett that’s smaller in scope than the Reapers yet dangerous to the galaxy’s safety, hinged on an incrementally progressive story that gives breathing room to the game’s pacing; they’ve created a sense of progression with the colonization initiative that invites the player to continue exploring and returning to settled planets’ hubs; and they’ve created a vibrant living space in Ryder’s transport ship, the Tempest, where characters move about and chat like a real vessel. More importantly, they’ve well-and-truly listened to feedback about the previous game’s ending: the weird twists, mind games, and monumental choice-making that weighed down Mass Effect 3’s final scene have been replaced with a far more rousing, battle-driven climax that subtly changes in appearance based on the choices made throughout the game. They heard the gripes players let out at the studio’s comments about that game potentially being too “video-gamey”, and they’ve delivered something incredibly fun to play from start to finish that isn’t afraid to be a game, whatsoever.

That said, Mass Effect: Andromeda clearly could’ve been a more polished, versatile fresh start for the series than where it has ultimately landed after launch, pre- or post-patch.  There are so many things that it improves upon and strengths that it bundles together from the original trilogy that the foundation’s there for it to have potentially shot into the stratosphere as, perhaps, the best game of the lot, yet for every small step or giant leap forward that it takes, something causes it to take a small step or giant leap backward. Andromeda, therefore, hovers somewhere in the middle of the spectrum of BioWare’s catalog, at a time when they really could’ve used a full-on victory. It doesn’t mark a complete return to form for the studio as role-playing game makers, yet it does suggest that they’re charting the right course to eventually arrive where they need to be at in their niche genre, and there’s plenty of intriguing things going on in this new galaxy that they’ve dreamed up to desire a return trip there for future installments.

Patched or Not, Mass Effect: Andromeda is a Flawed Yet Exhilarating Journey

Thomas Spurlin

On one side of Microsoft’s free downloads for Games With Gold subscribers in May, we’ve got two recognizable names – for wildly different reasons – who have had their gameplay styles massively updated for the current era of gaming, both of which feature female lead characters. The other side, however, is dedicated entirely to the phenom that is Star Wars for their celebration month, offering both a darker, mature-leaning title and another more kid-friendly (and arguably far more entertaining) one. It’s a fairly predictable but not unsatisfying mix of under-the-radar arcade titles and secondary offerings from the LucasFilm properties. Shall we jump into the games?

Click Here to Grab a 12-Month Xbox Live Gold Subscription at Amazon

Black Forest Games

Xbox One

Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams (May 1-31)

Ever since the release of Braid nearly a decade ago, the concept of switching between two forms of reality has spiked in recent games, spanning from the Mayan folklore atmosphere of Outland to the Mexican wrestling heritage of Guacemelee.   Those games were so focused on the fluidity of the art style and mechanics, however, that they didn’t pour as much energy into ramping up the difficulty levels for the players searching for a hardcore challenge – not that that’s a bad thing. A follow-up to a rare Commodore 64 game that became controversial due to its similarities to Super Mario Bros., Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams incorporates manual shifting between planes of existence as one sister, Giana, delves into the world of dreams to save her sister from the dragon Gurglywocky.  Similarities can also be felt in this decades-later sequel, yet its charming attitude, the meaning behind how the character changes her world, and the punishing difficulty levels set this Giana apart.  In terms of difficulty, perhaps too much so.

Lara Croft: Temple of Osiris (May 16-June 15)

Videogame series often need to change and evolve with the times to meet the shifting demands of players, but that doesn’t mean they must become more complicated or contemporary. Before Lara Croft went off exploring her gritty rebooted universe with bow in hand, Crystal Dynamics and Eidos developed a more streamlined take on her classic tomb-raiding escapades: the isometric arcade release Guardian of Light.  A well-reviewed alternate take on the character featuring unique environment puzzles, the addition of team-based multiplayer, and plenty of colorful shooting, the successes of this different, yet old-school spin on Lara Croft merited a sequel with Temple of Osiris. A few new additions to the formula added a little firepower to the series’ arsenal, modeling it into a clear four-player co-op experience, but the sameness of it all and the unadventurous story didn’t explore enough new ground to take the spotlight away from the popularity of Crystal’s more robust AAA reboot.

LucasArts

Xbox 360

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II (May 1-15)

A few months back, Microsoft made the original Star Wars: The Force Unleashed available as a free download, which I described as an “electrifying but unbalanced stab at the universe” following the stumbles hit by the much-maligned prequel trilogy. It’s hard to deny the strengths of the initial game’s foundation and its potential as a continuing gaming franchise, though, so the release of The Force Unleashed II – now available for free download several months after the original game – is hardly shocking.  What might come as a bit of a surprise is the disappointment borne of this clone of the original game, fitting for a game where the player controls an actual clone of the protagonist from the first installment. A few tweaks were made to the formula, but a lacking story and a dearth of true innovation kept this continuing saga from progressing any further into the narrative of Darth Vader’s secret apprentice.

Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga (May 16-31)

Most of the comments and praise one can throw at the LEGO series of video games can apply to, essentially, every one of ‘em: they’re uncomplicated, age-appropriate, and a whole lot of fun for pretty much anyone who can operate a controller.  As transparent tie-ins to movies being released in theaters and what-not, they’re a great way of extending fandom to the home in an amusing, non-obnoxious way.  They’re also simply great time killers where players run around shooting and beating up things, building little devices to get between locations or just to earn points, and watching lighthearted parody versions of scenes from one’s favorite franchises.  LEGO’s spin on the “Complete Saga”, which bundles together both the prequel and original trilogy stories into one presentation, takes those positives and delightfully folds them into one of the longest-standing fandoms out there. That adds just a little something extra, a little more nostalgia, to the process of navigating landscapes and unlocking characters from its history.

Xbox Successfully Navigates May With Star Wars, Arcade Gold Freebies

Thomas Spurlin

The freedom of roaming around vast spaces earned popularity a few console generations ago with fine-tuned releases of the Elder Scrolls and Grand Theft Auto videogames, but that desire to explore and simply wander has grown in popularity as the years have gone by, almost becoming an expectation of larger budget games. The June offerings for the Xbox Games With Gold program celebrate several representations of where that freedom has arrived in last-gen and current gen consoles, both in the sprawl of their design and how the availability to explore can unearth new, hidden storytelling avenues.  And if you’re not in the mood for those, hit up the fourth one for some fast-paced competitive chases. Let’s take a look at the games.

Click Here to Grab a 12-Month Xbox Live Gold Subscription at Amazon

Ubisoft

Xbox One

Speedrunners (June 1-30)

Most co-op gamers have been there at some point: where one player progresses too far ahead in a level and loses sight of the other player’s character at the screen’s edge, causing the straggler to either hold up progress, die at one of the level’s deadly obstacles, or be forced to respawn close to their location. That sort of tension and frustration has been transformed into a game mechanic with Speedrunners, a four-player competitive game from Double Dutch Games. Colorful animated characters engage in foot races that takes places obstacle-covered side-scrolling tracks, and the players can use grappling hooks to either move quickly across wide spaces or grab their opponents. It’s a simple pick-up-and-play concept, but Double Dutch executed it with fluidity and briskness, best enjoyed amongst friends over multiplayer.  Originally a PC title, the Xbox One port debuted for free during its Games With Gold window.

Watch Dogs (June 16-July 15)

The saga behind the release and reception of Ubisoft’s Watch Dogs is almost as interesting as the game itself. Development behind the game boasted unparalleled freedom and innovation in its concept, where a hacker wanders the streets of Chicago with the ability to access electronic devices to complete primary and secondary quests, or just to mess with their surroundings and elevate their prestige. This would couple with third-person combat and mild environmental climbing to create something truly innovative, bolstered by state-of-the-art graphics that produced stunning trailers.  What ultimately manifested upon release wasn’t the pioneering gaming experience many envisioned, instead emerging as a modern-day Assassin’s Creed copycat with moderately successful hacking mechanics and visuals that weren’t nearly as impressive as anticipated.  Yet, after the hype settled down, Watch Dogs still satisfies as an urban sandbox experience with versatile tech weapons to utilize in a variety of activities.

Ubisoft

Xbox 360

Assassin’s Creed III (June 1-15)

Ensuring that there’s no shortage of open-world games for Gold subscribers this month, Microsoft have also offered up Assassin’s Creed III. This entry into Ubisoft’s storied franchise marked a significant journey into uncharted waters, shifting toward a new protagonist, the half-English and half-Native American assassin Connor, and focusing on the American frontier during the mid-1700s, occurring in a two-decade span that hits right in the heart of the American Revolution. The game itself has its drawbacks: a dryly stoic protagonist, halfhearted attempts at innovation involving naval battles (greatly improved in Black Flag), and an iffy final stretch featuring an infuriating chase sequence and an ending that’s maddeningly bizarre even by Assassin’s Creed measures. That said, Assassin’s Creed III is also a gorgeous, sprawling representation of the franchise’s sandbox concept, expanded to include frontier hunting and a greater sense of scale with the ship travels, along with the series’ signature plethora of main quests and diversions that send Connor gallivanting across the astonishing early-American setting.

Dragon Age: Origins (June 16-30)

Electronic Arts’ name stands out on the cover for Dragon Age: Origins, but their acquisition of BioWare happened somewhere in the middle of the game’s development, thus making it the last one in which the storied RPG maker created an experience without the powerhouse publisher’s complete oversight.   And it shows, as Origins still feels like a natural, updated extension of gameplay and role-playing concepts from their legendary Baldur’s Gate series.   With the availability to choose several different “origins” for your character, someone who becomes a member of the Gray Warden sentinel order, the game charts a course through the arrival of the Darkspawn to the realm of Thedas, in which the evil forces wish to wage war and purge the land of its occupants. A standard overarching save-the-day story proves to be a vehicle for compelling subplots, rich relationships, and moral dilemmas that impact both of said subplots and relationships, guided by tolerable combat and exceptional conversation dialogue.

Open Worlds and Foot Chases Hallmark June’s Xbox Games With Gold

Thomas Spurlin

Microsoft traditionally holds their Ultimate Game Sale for their Xbox consoles during the month of July, offering a huge number of titles at discounts that range from making games immediate purchases to, well, earning little more than a shrug. Deals can be had, but subscribers frequently call out Microsoft for the sale not being more noteworthy … perhaps, by comparison, for not being on the same level as Steam’s annual summer extravaganza. The folks at Xbox regularly operate under the assumption that the deals are stellar, though, so much so that they typically offer mediocre freebies for their Games With Gold during this month, probably to prevent the attention from being dragged away from their sale.  Unfortunately, it’s a particularly unimpressive and forgettable arrangement of games this time around, ranging from under-the-radar indies to a lesser LEGO universe game (and a poorly-received shooter). It’s an okay month for the kids, though.

Click Here to Grab a 12-Month Xbox Live Gold Subscription at Amazon

Ubisoft Reflections

Xbox One

Grow Up (July 1-31)

The sequel to Ubisoft Reflections’ unique open-world action game Grow Home, Grow Up again finds the friendly-looking little red robot, B.U.D., navigating a gorgeously blocky environment. This time, instead of an objective solely hinged on sprouting space plants, the player helps the robot search for pieces of his ship, called M.O.M., that has crashed onto his location. I know, the cuteness is hard to contain. Progressing through the different parts of the world unlock new abilities for B.U.D, and while the gameplay remains largely the same, based on climbing over terrains and utilizing different buttons to control the robot’s grasping abilities, a few scanning functions and upgrades add something new. Whether there’s enough newness in Grow Up is a divisive point, as both critics and players seemed to feel it was simply more of the same, but the charm and visual wonder make up for it.

Runbow (July 16-Aug 15)

Last month, Microsoft made the competitive racing game Speedrunners available as a free Games With Gold download, which makes their decision to offer up Runbow in such close proximity a bit confusing.  In premise and in visual language, the two games are incredibly similar: bold colors give identities to the competitors and enliven the backdrop, as numerous players compete with one another to knock each other out of the screen’s visible range. The difference lies in the more combat-oriented gameplay of Runbow, which serves more as a beat-‘em-up situation that changes player strategies as they progress through the hazardous traps of the levels/courses. Similar crowds will gravitate toward both, but the jury’s out as to which one will be preferable to another, as Runbow will be released for the first time on Xbox One during its Gold window in the middle of the month.

Traveller’s Tales

Xbox 360

Kane and Lynch 2: Dog Days (July 1-15)

It’s never good when a videogame franchise ends up with negative controversy that’s more memorable than the game itself.  The original Kane and Lynch had its fans who viewed it as an underrated shooting experience, but the consensus landed on the game suffering from (far) more problems than successes.  Issues with this arose when a journalist was reportedly let go for the lukewarm marks given to the game, drawing attention to the fact that the game’s publisher was pouring advertising revenue into the website and, thus, might’ve impacted this situation. It’s a harsh obstacle to overcome, but IO Interactive and Eidos persevered and developed this sequel, Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days. A relatively brief campaign and a lack of innovative controls prove to be too overbearing for the successes of the shooter’s multiplayer functionality, and certainly not enough to get it out from the shadow of its maligned predecessor.

LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean (July 16-31)

LEGO Star Wars: The Video Game was released in 2005, right around the time that Episode III: Revenge of the Sith hit theaters. Ever since then, the LEGO series of videogames has been a well-oiled machine when it comes to releasing tie-in games to movies or franchises with an installment released in that given year. They keep building and releasing them because, well, they’re fun, uncomplicated games, and they support couch co-op gameplay while playfully poking fun at their subject franchises, making them great family titles.  LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean is no exception: released in 2011 as a tie-in to On Stranger Tides, the game charts a course through the stories of all four of the Pirates movies with its signature blocky visuals and third-person controls. Collectibles and unlockables, automated erection of environments, and simple combat offer plenty of content without a lot of complication, and that’s okay.

Xbox’s Kid-Friendly Games With Gold For July Aren’t Exactly Ultimate

Thomas Spurlin

Last month’s Games With Gold took an uncharacteristically disappointing turn for Xbox consoles, offering up games similar to previous month’s freebies and others with less-than-stellar reputations. The positive to this, of course, is that the following month will automatically appear better and more satisfying by default … right? Microsoft puts that assumptions to the test with a second month of shrug-worthy free titles, again imitative and middling-reviewed, propped up by one very strong, satisfying — last-generation — game. It’s a marginally better slate, but there’s certainly room for improvement.  Let’s check out what’s available this month.

Click Here to Grab a 12-Month Xbox Live Gold Subscription at Amazon

Monomi Park

Xbox One

Slime Rancher

Ever notice how there aren’t many kid-friendly games from the first-person perspective? That’s because most of them involve operating a weapon of some form or fashion, and, of course, it’s hard to imagine too many E-rated, first-person type of games where the main character runs around and aims a gun-like device, due to the inherent violence involved. Hoping to till ground in the same proximity as that of Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare, Slime Rancher presents a vibrant and soothing experience where the main character navigates a beautiful Western atmosphere — on a distant planet — and wrangles little globs of sentient jelly. A ranching simulation game, the player also maintains the “livestock” with food and upgrades for the farming equipment. This is, in essence, a point-and-shoot game without much violence that’s a good substitute for kids, released on August 1st for Xbox’s Games With Gold.

Trials: Fusion

The Trials series stuck its landings in the last console generation while attempting something novel, producing a consistent run of stylized, trick-based games hinged on completing elaborate courses while riding a dirt bike.  Trials: Fusion brings the familiar formula to current-gen hardware with a new slate of tracks, a retooled storytelling atmosphere based in a futuristic environment, and some beefed-up functions involving level creation and multiplayer.  At its core, however, Fusion plays to the strengths of the previous iterations, garnering satisfaction through the completion of levels and doing so with style. Some critics have said that it feeds too much off the successes of the other Trials games, delivering more of the same without enough added on for a newer generation, but those who found themselves enthralled by the breathless tricks and platforming progression will find much of the same here.

Platinum Games

Xbox 360

Bayonetta

Almost a decade ago now, Platinum Games started its development endeavors with a real bang. While Mad World garnered moderate praise for its harsh grayscale aesthetic and visceral aggressiveness, it was the furious, challenging hack-‘n-slash combat and confidently embellished style of Bayonetta that put ‘em on the map. An exaggerated, nudge-nudge wink-wink heroine combats the forces of evil in this upgrade progression brawler, where innovation in the combat mechanics aren’t as much of a draw as how blitzed and demanding the action becomes within each boldly-designed level.  A big part of the fun of Bayonetta comes in how bonkers everything continues to get throughout, where Bayonetta gobbles down lollipops and lashes her hair while double-jumping, slowing down time, and earning medals based on the player’s performance. After conquering the insane, metaphysical final climax, Platinum Games cemented their reputation as a studio who’s in the game to really make games.

Red Faction: Armageddon

The Red Faction shooter franchise has been demolishing environments with its “Geo-Mod” game mechanic since the early 2000s, bouncing between Mars and Earth throughout roughly a century of storytelling. Jumping ahead 50 years and descending underground due to the hostility of Mars’ terraformed surface, Red Faction: Armageddon shifts its perspective to a third-person shooter while telling the story of the grandson, Darius, from the previous Red Faction installment, Guerilla. The sci-fi atmosphere and destructive mechanics of the gameplay remained true to the series, but critics had a difficult time unearthing many noteworthy elements from the plot or the remainder of the linearized design.

Xbox Mines, Ranches, Whips Its Hair in August’s Games With Gold

Thomas Spurlin

The release of Microsoft’s new Xbox console, the One X, will be arriving in just a few short months, and the Games with Gold freebies available for the month of September suggest that the folks in green would prefer for the time between now and then to just … kinda speed by.  Two racing games of different stripes, one of which was a launch title for the original One, and a dated first-person multiplayer shooter hallmark the offerings, while an under-the-radar graphic adventure rounds out the rest of the roster.  There’s minimal excitement waiting at the starting line this month, unfortunately, but at least an indie gets a moment to shine.  Here are the offerings.

Click Here to Grab a 12-Month Xbox Live Gold Subscription at Amazon

Turn 10 Studios

Xbox One

Forza Motorsport 5

Every new console has its heavy-hitting graphical powerhouses to jumpstart enthusiasm for its capabilities.  For the Xbox One, the one-two punch of Ryse: Son of Rome and Forza Motorsport 5 filled that void as launch titles, and there’s nothing like a polished, realistic racing game to get one revved up for the next generation of visuals. These games rarely fail to deliver on the prettiness front, but the energy dedicated toward making one a technical or realistic success can also steal some of the attention needed to ensure that it’s also a substantial gaming experience. Such is the case for Forza Motorsport 5, which was celebrated for the precision of its graphics and the realism of its overall execution, yet lacked in the content and functional competition departments. Naturally, this made it quite easy for Forza 6 to zoom right passed and leave it in the dust.

Oxenfree

By comparison, you probably couldn’t have a more dissimilar freebie for the second half of the month than Oxenfree. More slanted toward the graphic adventure subgenre, this tale from Night School Studio follows a group of teenagers as they investigate the paranormal happenings on an island, happenings they unintentionally released onto the environment.  The player controls Alex, one of the teenagers, as he explores the landscape and makes dialogue choices mid-walking, solving puzzles and crossing barriers using the functions of Alex’s handheld radio. It’s the kind of experience that swings entirely on atmospheric storytelling and subtle tweaks to the narrative’s pathway based on the player’s choices, embracing eeriness, sleuthing, and mild divergences in the ending above the challenge of gameplay.

Vector Unit

Xbox 360

Hydro Thunder Hurricane

Back during the early rounds of gaming consoles, players likely built fond memories of speeding around in water-based racing games, and many of ’em probably didn’t have any interest in jet skis or speedboats. When surrounded by car simulation titles that can feature countless real-world vehicles or high-paced, combat-driven competition kart racers featuring popular videogame characters, the appeal of these games sunk a bit; Jet Moto may have stuck around for a few years, but lesser known ones like Hydro Thunder dissipated. It took over a decade, but Hydro Thunder finally received a revamped follow-up with Hurricane, which updated the visuals and breakneck pacing while also retaining the original’s design of mastering courses and discovering hidden or tough-to-navigate shortcuts. Bold graphics, a variety of boats, and a handful of game modes throttle this second Hydro Thunder ahead.

Battlefield 3

What place do first-person shooter games with a clear focus on multiplayer have several years after their release? In that time span, even if a new console hasn’t been released to update visual quality, so many other shooters will have stolen the spotlight and improved upon the formula that returning to one, no matter how polished, can feel like a step backwards. Therefore, unless it’s the likes of Halo or Call of Duty that sustain a niche competitive audience regardless, these games must rely on the longevity of their single-player campaign to propel them forward.  When it was dropped over half a decade ago, the campaign for Battlefield 3 was given a pass because of the robust multiplayer functionality and visual polish.  In the here and now, following the release of several other games — even more Battlefield games — that vie for online attention, Battlefield 3 now understandably doesn’t possess enough firepower.

Xbox Floors It Through September, Leaves Behind Sluggish Games With Gold

Thomas Spurlin

Overlap can be a death knell whenever these monthly free games for subscription services are announced, yet that’s the grounds the Xbox digs into with these Games With Gold offerings for October, in a few different ways. In one area, for the One, they’re offering a visual-novel style of experience that was featured prominently in their competitor’s roster last year.  On the 360 side of things, they’re double-dipping on the back catalogue of a popular franchise that hallmarked their last-gen system offerings earlier this year.  One unique indie title and another marginally positive-reviewed military shooter can’t offer enough variety to offset it, either, which isn’t helped by the general lack of horror-themed games that might play into the season’s atmosphere, beyond that one repeat title.

Click Here to Grab a 12-Month Xbox Live Gold Subscription at Amazon

Bulkhead Interactive

Xbox One

Gone Home

Granted, selecting October as the month to present the interactive drama Gone Home as a freebie is a wiser decision than dropping it into the roster at the beginning of the summer.  The atmosphere of the focal mansion home, investigated by twenty-something Kaitlin Greenbriar when she returns from her travels abroad, taps into a familiarly eerie tone reminiscent of classic point-and-click adventure games of yesteryear.  Memories of the experiences one had with the likes of Myst and 7^th Guest will come rushing back as the player acclimates to the evolving mystery and puzzle-solving surrounding Kaitlin’s family, which gains context the deeper that the player delves into the clues presented to them.  Gone Home doesn’t hinge on the supernatural, though, instead unearthing layers of personal turmoil involving the repercussions of deteriorating relationships, but the eerie tone of the mystery makes for an absorbing interactive experience during the Halloween season.

The Turing Test

The movie The Imitation Game introduced more of a widespread audience to Alan Turing, a key figure during World War II for his use of early computers to decode German radio frequencies. Broader science-fiction audiences have been exposed to the British scientist’s name, however, due to the his Turing Test, an element often utilized in artificial intelligence fiction (recently, Ex Machina) as the gauge in which one can decipher whether an entity is human or not. The dynamics of the actual original test play a key role in Bulkhead Interactive’s The Turing Test, a first-person puzzle game set on Jupiter’s Europa moon, in which an engineer, Ava Turing, must cooperate with an AI to uncover the mysteries of an established facility and potentially save endangered lives.  Twists in the story generate a harrowing sci-fi tempo reminiscent of Valve’s different universes, with the puzzles themselves and the visual prowess of the design pumping life into its brief but engrossing trials.

Ubisoft

Xbox 360

Rayman 3 HD

A quick glance at the Rayman catalog reveals that there are roughly three dozen games that have taken place in Ubisoft’s colorful platformer universe, to which the fourth core installment in the narrative, Rayman Origins, appeared in Xbox’s Games With Gold earlier this year. They’ve gone back to the well this month with Rayman 3 HD, a remastered version of Hoodlum Havoc released nearly a decade after its initial debut. As Rayman uses a slew of special powers at his disposal to battle the black (hood)lum minions spawned by baddie Andre, the game stays true to the original’s platforming intentions with little deviation, both a strength and a weakness when propped against modern game designs.  Rayman 3 HD tests the threshold between nostalgia and dated mechanics.

Medal of Honor: Airborne

Several years before the first Call of Duty game stormed onto PC and consoles, the Medal of Honor series was cranking out gritty, semi-realistic historical military shooters, even signing on Saving Private Ryan-era Steven Spielberg to craft a story for the inaugural entry. A decade-plus and numerous console generations passed, to which the popularity of certain franchises has obviously taken over, but Medal of Honor’s grasp on pragmatism continued to serve it well until the series went on hiatus about five years ago. Airborne marked the franchise’s arrival onto the first generation of HD consoles, and it clearly tried to pull out the stops amid a swarm of competition, opting for tightly-executed WWII-era scale with the series’ signature music powering it. Medal of Honor couldn’t conquer its rivals, but it did offer a bold alternative with Airborne.

Xbox Left the Thrills At Home With October’s Unexciting Games With Gold

Thomas Spurlin

Hard to deny that gaming has reached a point where open-world exploration has transitioned from being not just worth touting as a feature in a game, but an objective and necessity for many single-player experiences out there. One might view that as something negative, but this also comes with two strong positives. For one, the quality and versatility of sandbox games continues to grow with each year, expanding to even more unique settings and proving that it’s not just Bethesda and Rockstar who can pull it off.  And secondly, as backwards as this might sound, this shift toward persistent open-world experiences draws more attention to the stellar games that actively avoid submitting to the trend. As an extremely solid year nears its end, there’s plenty of quality stuff that could’ve slipped through the cracks for the gamers in your life, ripe for gifting over the holiday season.

Below, we’ve gathered together a dozen of such games, from vigorous shooters to innovative sci-fi games and the gallant return of everyone’s favorite blue hedgehog.  And yeah, quite a few splendid open-world games. Also, you can hop over to Ben’s Bargains’ Hardware Gift Guide for a rundown of consoles and add-ons they might enjoy, too.

Gifts for the Rapid-Fire Aficionado

For those players who love the struggle in keeping up with whizzing shots and the jitters of explosions, these games unleash chaos through alternate historical timelines and legendary sci-fi universes.

Gifts for the Sci-Fi Geek

There’s more to science-fiction games than merely pew-pew action and futuristic armor. The pair of games below prove it, tapping into strategic usage of one’s surroundings in a space station and exploring the nooks and crannies of a distant familiar galaxy.

Gifts for Those That Like Sneaking Around

Neither of the games included below would be considered innovative, since both largely piggyback on the success of their prior installments in what they do right.  But, that’s just it: they do those things very, very right in their returns to the lore of Middle-earth and the Order of Assassins.

Gifts for the Exclusive Hunter

Warring between gaming systems has gone on since, well, the development of gaming systems, with owners and loyalists of specific consoles bickering over which of their exclusive titles are better. Those “conflicts” have mostly eased off and transformed over time into sheer appreciation for the privilege of being able to play certain games that others cannot, and 2017’s exclusive situation is no exception, especially the one below released by Nintendo that’ll possibly end up being this year’s best.

Gifts for [E]veryone

It doesn’t get more wholesome than spin-dashin’ and goomba-stompin’, does it?

Bargain Blockbuster Gifts

Whether it’s waiting for a price drop or acting on the knee-jerk impulse to buy on release day, $30 seems to be the sweet spot in terms of bargain shopping for games. Both of the games below, one a remaster and another a new release, dropped at that price and offer grand-scale, intense experiences despite the low price tag.

2017 Gift Guide: Best Video Games of the Holiday Season

Thomas Spurlin

The release of a new iteration of their current-gen console, the Xbox One X, makes it difficult to figure out how Microsoft should handle their free Games with Gold for the month of November. Should they offer a handful of glitzy games that’ll flex the muscle of the X’s graphical prowess and make new subscribers better appreciate the service? Or, should they redirect their energy off their freebies and their subscription service altogether, instead letting the deals and bustle of Black Friday month speak for themselves?  It’s a rhetorical question with an easy answer: yeah, they should toss out a few solid freebies to whet appetites and satisfy their ever-growing subscriber base. Yet, perhaps more predictably, they’re taking the other path by offering a foursome of unexciting freebies that not only lack any challenges for their powerhouse new console, they generate marginal enthusiasm in general.

Telltale Games

Xbox One

Trackmania Turbo

Nadeo’s Trackmania series of arcade racing games just recently crossed the finish line of its 15-year anniversary, starting out on PCs in 2003 and eventually moving over to Nintendo’s portable and motion-based systems in 2009. It’s only with their latest release, Turbo, that the developer has steered the action over to standard consoles. The feel of micro-car racing blends with a realistic, structural aesthetic as Nedeo unleashes 200+ tracks for players to traverse, in which high-octane tricks and raucous throttling are prioritized above realism. A campaign, numerous game modes, and split-screen multiplayer enliven Trackmania Turbo, as well as track creator with a randomization fuction. Fans of the series note the absence of certain features from prior installments, notably car customization, as the limited negatives in a solid console release of the franchise.

Tales from the Borderlands

Telltale Games wasn’t always a household name amongst gamers, once struggling to figure out how to properly implement their dialogue and role-playing mechanics within established franchises. After a few stumbles in the world of Jurassic Park and Back to the Future, the studio finally landed on a formula that worked with The Walking Dead, and eventually went on to successfully tackle such monumental franchises as Game of Thrones and Batman.  Tales From the Borderlands marks their first attempt at spinning off from a videogame franchise, modeling their conversation design and cel-shaded aesthetic around the side stories outside of the core game’s narrative.  The gear-lootin’ and cooperation that made the console shooter series popular are replaced by an amplification of the humor and characterization scattered throughout the games, forming into five episodes of consistent storytelling.

Sonic Team

Xbox 360

NiGHTS Into Dreams

Gradually developing a cult fanbase since its original release for the Sega Saturn, Nights Into Dreams marks one of Sonic Team’s deviations from the reliable platform gameplay featuring their blue hedgehog. Hinged on a plot involving the sides of dream realms and those dreamers who must navigate their obstacles, a colorful array of levels parallel with themes of both pleasant memories and distinct fears. Players glide through the levels of Nightopia to prevent the nefarious overlord Wizeman from destroying the dream realm and, with it, the realm of reality, and the challenges before them take shape within fluid 2D platform designs, in which the player receives grades on their performances and are transported into a nightmarish boss battle. This HD edition, an updated iteration of the PlayStation 2 remake, contains both beautifully modernized graphics that stay true to the original and the option to play the untouched presentation from the Saturn.

Deadfall Adventures

A first-person shooter that infuses Tomb Raider with Indiana Jones, perhaps with a bit of Brendan Fraser’s Rock O’Connell character from The Mummy, sounds like a winning idea. That’s the attitude presented by Deadfall Adventures, The Farm51’s raucous adventuring starring the great-grandson of Allan Quatermain, James. Set in the late ‘30s, the story revolves around James’ mission to escort a female US agent on her search for the Heart of Atlantis, an excursion complicated by the interruptions of wicked forces that range from Nazis to the undead. Deadfall Adventures holds potential with its premise and atmosphere, but the mundane controls, weak voice-acting, and relatively unimpressive graphical presentation relegate it to the ranks of being one of those short shooters that has just enough personality to tolerate for those precious achievements.

Xbox One X Gets Shrug-Worthy Games With Gold Freebies At Launch

Thomas Spurlin

Last month saw the release of the new iteration of the Xbox One console, the X, as well as an indifferent foursome of Games With Gold free offerings to accompany it, flexing little of the new console’s muscle.  December shares a few similarities to the previous month: another Telltale experience, another blast of nostalgia with upgraded graphics, and another ho-hum action game that resembles others without enough uniqueness to set it apart.  This month, however, the folks at Microsoft have included one brisk fantasy-themed game that taps into the console’s graphical prowess, though the multiplayer focus of that one might be a restraint.  It’s a tame conclusion to a suitable year, especially considering the backwards compatibility of all the 360 included titles for the second year in a row. Let’s take a look at the games.

Click Here to Grab a 12-Month Xbox Live Gold Subscription at Amazon

Fatshark

Xbox One

Warhammer: The End Times – Vermintide (December 1-31)

For over three decades, many different forms of media have taken place in the Warhammer Fantasy universe, from tabletop and pen-and-paper RPGs to computer games. This shows the versatility of the setting, a gritty fantasy realm that’s a few shades darker than Lord of the Rings-style fare, to adapt to many different modes of interactive storytelling. Warhammer: The End Times – Vermintide takes that another step further, borrowing the four-player co-op formula from Left 4 Dead and dropping it into the fray of hack-‘n-slash warfare. Five classes can be chosen depending on the desire to play ranged, magic, and melee-based characters, guiding the combatants through grim medieval levels and against hordes of ratty-looking Skaven enemies. Single-player folks need not apply, but those in search of an appealing and themed cooperative experience will find a straightforward, yet lively one here. Moreover, it’s one that runs at 4K on the Xbox One X!

Back to the Future: The Game (December 16 – January 15th)

Telltale Games has built a reputable catalog of interactive adventures over the past decade, enough so that the three titles they featured in this year’s Games With Gold – The Walking Dead, Tales From the Borderlands, and now Back to the Future – share very little in common in terms of setting and tone. It’s hard to find someone who hasn’t heard of this month’s addition: based off the beloved film franchise from Robert Zemeckis, Back to the Future: The Game branches off the events of the third film in its telling of a new adventure featuring Marty McFly, Doc Brown, and other familiar characters. Telltale was still figuring out their dialogue selection and interactivity at this stage, as well as how to tie new stories into preexisting franchises, but most consider the storytelling and voice-acting to be a fitting, nostalgic success that’s only pulled down by the lack of depth and difficulty in the game itself.

Q Entertainment

Xbox 360

Child of Eden (December 1-15)

The emergence of Dance Dance Revolution in the late-‘90s gave rise to the popularity of rhythm-based musical games, testing players’ concentration and reflex responses.  Spawning a subgenre, the concept helped to produce the innovative gameplay found in Rez and Lumines, in which designer Tetsuya Mizuguchi infused abstract, geometric visuals with fast-paced music  responses. Child of Eden marks an impressive, yet familiar next step for the developer, in which the flow through geometric spaces and the method of interacting with targets looks and sounds similar to the rudiments of Rez.  The vividness and scope of the upgraded visuals make it a different experience, in which players navigate a pathway through the collected framework of human memories that become mesmerizing with the depth and color of the level design  and the fluidity of the electronic music.

Marlow Briggs and the Mask of Death (December 16-31)

All it takes is a brief glimpse at footage of the combat in Marlow Briggs and the Mask of Death to absorb its influences. Set in a semi-modern environment at a Mayan exploratory dig site, the story revolves around vacationing wildfire fighter Marlow Briggs who, due to circumstances involving his girlfriend, gets murdered while at the site. His demise wasn’t permanent, though, as he’s resurrected with the spirit of a Mayan ruler embedded inside him, instructing him on his heroic journey as he wields a pair of ceremonial blades. The briskness of combat and environmental interaction instantly remind one of action-RPG experiences like God of War and Dante’s Inferno, while also sporting progressive upgrades to his weaponry and capabilities.  Despite gritty graphics and apparent personality, critics and players weren’t convinced that there was enough differentiation between Marlow Briggs and his influences to justify the jump into the game.

Swords, Rhythm, Flux Capacitors in Xbox’s December Games With Gold

Thomas Spurlin

Typically, the experience of buying a launch console falls into two categories. Under most circumstances, this momentous occasion involves a from-scratch videogame system with an entirely new body and series of jacks to plug stuff into, along with massively upgraded graphical capabilities and – both a positive and a negative – the process of getting all new games and accessories. Other times, gamers who already own one system will buy a recently updated version of said system, and that can be because of a reduction in build size, an electronic or mechanical advancement, or their current system is wheezing and on its last legs after long nights in the trenches of the gaming realm.

All their games and controllers still work on this new system as they did before, only it offers something a bit better, in one way or another, that an identical and likely cheaper replacement console wouldn’t. One of the above experiences should seem more exciting and fun, while the other should seem a lot more effortless and less costly. Microsoft’s Xbox One X sets its sights on both experiences, and, boy, does it hit the mark.

Long discussed under the moniker Project Scorpio, this new console was developed from the start with a certain objective in mind: to make current games and media look, sound, and perform better, and to give future releases the option of tapping into this improved hardware for more powerful gaming experiences. The decision to upgrade based on those qualifications has branded the Xbox One X as a console mostly designed for the “elite” or “hardcore” player, but even at its higher price point, the technology under the hood starts to look like a decent value for any number of consumers, from those new to this console generation to those wanting to hop into 4K media playback.

Most often, that boils down to one’s point-of-view and circumstances; in the instance of this review, for example, the Xbox One X will be filling the void of a bulky early-release Xbox One, which had an expanded hard-drive hooked up to it due to the small internal space of those systems.  To this day, over years of continuous usage, that system still performs quietly and solidly … but the promise of hardware improvements, elevated backwards compatibility, and 4K playback proved compelling.

Included: Power Cable, HDMI 2.1 Cable, Vertical Stand, Riveting Literature, Lots of Black Foam.

Click Here to Pick Up an Xbox One X at Amazon

While a Project Scorpio Limited Edition will be reviewed here, the differences between it and a standard Xbox One X are only cosmetic, both the console and the packaging presentation itself. While one can appreciate the Project Scorpio logos on the front of the system and one the bundled controller, along with the slight gradient coloring at the top of the system’s chassis and the black accents of the foam supports on the inside of the box, they are identical systems in terms of unboxing and performance.

What’ll be noticeable regardless of the system purchased will be the decreased size of the X in comparison to the original Xbox One, which had shinier plastic accents, wide vents for circulation, and an external power brick that could be difficult to deal with in cramped audiovisual setups. Piggybacking off the Xbox One S’s design improvements, the X sports a sleeker, slimmer, yet noticeably heavier chassis with seemingly less ventilation — though that doesn’t seem to impact the volume factor – and an internal power supply that’s utilized with a standard figure-8 cord. Despite the reduction in size, it feels even more substantial than the One.  And I dig that it has actual push buttons for turning it on and ejecting a disc.

Unboxing, connecting, and setting up the Xbox One X was a simple and streamlined process, one that’ll seem almost identical to getting the original Xbox One ready to go. The power brick for the Xbox One will need to be removed, but the existing HDMI cable could feasibly be left in place and plugged into the rear of the Xbox One X; however, Microsoft have included a solidly-built (yet reasonably short) HDMI 2.1 cable that’ll better support 4K/High Dynamic Range (HDR) signals, so it’s worth considering a switch-out.

Ports are available at the rear for HDMI both in and out, so signals can be sent to receivers and TVs at the owner’s discretion, as well as a pair of USB ports for any number of useful devices, especially those expansion hard-drives … which might still be required since the system’s only working with 1TB of space, and those “enhanced” updates aren’t exactly small. After all those normal questions asked by the system upon being booted up – including getting internet connectivity up and running – the system will do a lengthy update, so grab a book, fix a sandwich, or plan on doing some housework.

After that, it’s all a matter of getting everything plugged back in and signing into an Xbox account.  Surprisingly, reconnecting my external hard-drive containing my gaming library was incredibly fluid, instantly recognized and accessible after plugging it in at the back and signing in. Had the Xbox One X not required a lengthy update, it’d probably only take about 15-20 minutes to switch out systems into a functional state.

Before and After a Couple of Years of Slimming Down.

Getting the Xbox One X to handshake with 4K TVs and receivers for UltraHD content takes some finagling, but nothing too complicated, and the Xbox’s menus will help if roadblocks are hit. In terms of resolution, the appropriate signals obviously need to be chosen in the system itself and sent to the TV, but the TV (and receiver) might also need to be tinkered with so that the specific input channel will process the increased resolution and, more significantly, the HDR capabilities; static, stuttering, and crashing of the visuals might occur in the absence of doing that.

The system will also need to download a specific app from Dolby to decode ATMOS object-based audio, and the changes are toggled in-app to process and/or stream the high-definition audio; sending audio to a receiver is free out of the box, but a $15 fee will be applied to enable headset connectivity. Preparing for 4K gaming might seem like a daunting task for some, but Microsoft have made the process relatively user-friendly in pointing folks in the right direction if something’s awry.

Under the hood, the Xbox One X boasts enough processing capability for gaming enthusiasts to give Microsoft a stamp of approval in its claims of this being the “world’s most power console”. The technical specs are led by the system’s 6 teraflop GPU, which stands tall against most of the gaming PCs out there not rolling with graphics cards that rival the cost of the entire system itself, and are supported by a 2.3GHz CPU and 12GB of DDR5 memory. Comparisons to other systems not only give the Xbox One X an edge, but a significant edge in rendering more details, generating smoother motion, and keeping everything stable.

In general, the system has been designed to run all games on a higher base level, but numerous titles have been – and will be – optimized for 4K/HDR playback, which can be spotted on cover artwork somewhere near the corners in hard-to-miss text. Those that have been optimized require a graphics pack update that triggers upon booting them up, but the wait time for those isn’t significantly more than a general update. HDR-active titles will indicate the effect is live by a nifty colorful button at the top-right of the screen; Xbox One X Enhanced titles (click here to read them all) can be singled out in the gaming library through an option in the pull-down menu.

The Included Not-So-Elite But Still-Pretty-Great Controller.

The results are, indeed, impressive. Indicated by exploring the cluttered Egyptian architecture and sandy, occasionally verdant vistas of Assassin’s Creed Origins, the system’s capabilities to render dense clusters and gradations of graphical detail are monumental. Keep an eye out for the organic textiles of garments and the contours of foliage surrounding protagonist Bayek, which are incredibly sharp and show very little aliasing in motion.

Observing the horizons from vantage points yields a beautiful experience on the X, too, with coarse stone textures and wisps of clouds beautifully observable in the distance. Shadows in tombs contrast against flickering flames for an immense representation of HDR’s capabilities, adding lifelike depth and responsiveness to the expanses of echoic tombs.  The ATMOS object-based sound environments further accentuate the confined chambers and sprawling citizen-filled deserts, with incredibly responsive fluidity while rotating Bayek’s perspective and navigating the roads on camel- or horse-back. The 2160p presentation holds up to the details and naturality of high-grade PCs.

Backwards compatibility has become a battlycry of sorts for Microsoft over the past couple of years, where they’ve begrudgingly transferred from wanting the Xbox One to concentrate on new games to making sure that every new free Xbox 360 title in their Games With Gold program would be playable. The Xbox One X continues that mantra by flexing new performance muscles with select titles, both from the 360 generation and, in something of a surprise, the classic Xbox; currently, only a dozen or so original Xbox titles are playable.

While a growing legion of 360 games continue to be backwards compatible on the One – click here for a full list – a select few have been christened as “enhanced” with spruced-up graphics, including Bethesda’s Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion.  Those expecting a night and day difference, transforming the standard game into a remastered or modded PC version, could be let down …  but they also might, and deservedly should, be impressed with the restricted cleanup effort.  Colors appear more vibrant and fluid, textures produce cleaner and nuanced details, and the environment’s depth brims with new life. It’s still got the flesh and bones of a decade-old game, but what’s been spruced up here looks stellar.

Cozying Up With Xbox’s New-ish User Interface. Streamlined is the Road To Awe.

Last year’s interim Xbox One re-release, the S, featured a few mild upgrades in the graphics department – notably, HDR support – but perhaps its biggest selling point came in its media playback: for a while, it was one of the least expensive and feature-rich 4K UltraHD disc playback devices. The Xbox One S still pulls this off, but it’s less of a talking point a year later now that standalone players have dwindled down in price; solid units can be had for about $50 less than Microsoft’s system.

Therefore, the Xbox One X’s 4K playback functionality serves more as a secondary feature than it did with the prior system, and it feels about as such with the sturdy, yet serviceable presentation of the discs, accessible after downloading the (free) Blu-ray Player app from the Microsoft Store.  The craggy landscapes, robotic weaves, and futuristic electronics of Ex Machina are stunning when rendered by the player, projecting supple skin tones and deep, responsive black levels alongside brighter elements that accentuate the HDR functionality.  Granted, this is only the case after Microsoft sent an update to the system, which was marred with elevated black levels beforehand.  After a month, it’s a respectable 4K device.

The Xbox One X also serves as a robust media playback device, one that readily streams content through service apps and accesses various files with ease.  Booting up Amazon Prime and hunting down 4K content led me to The Neon Demon, which boasts a wide array of bold shades and complex shadows that looked smashing at 2160p. As with prior systems, all it requires is a quick app download and logging into the service to start streaming content, which, after a few seconds of buffering, quickly yielded a sharp and vibrant image for the film over a stable internet connection.

Accessing photos requires little more than plugging a USB device into the front port and clicking on the green Media Device icon; this is how custom wallpapers are made possible, after pressing the three-line button on the controller while looking at a specific image.  Playing music files operates on about the same level of user friendliness with the USB jack, where opening a file or folder summons the in-system music player, as does video files. It may seem customary at this point, but the ability to plug and play one’s storage devices and media files on the fly furthers the Xbox One X’s general versatility.

A Better Name. Guess It Didn’t Have the X-Factor.

With such unique and specific improvements, the elephant in the room naturally becomes the entry fee for savoring the luxuries offered by the Xbox One X, which currently sits at about double the cost of Microsoft’s prior version of the system.  Whether the upgrade in graphical prowess alone justifies the pricetag will depend on who’s using it, but the tech specs aren’t just smoke and mirrors, rendering near-PC level 4K/HDR graphics for “enhanced” titles and notable, if modest upticks in quality for a handful of Xbox 360 titles.

Also, unlike their current competitor, Sony’s PS4 Pro, the Xbox One X comes equipped with an in-deck UltraHD Blu-ray player, enabling direct 4K/HDR support and enhanced object-based audio.  Looking at its individual components and the availability of the significantly less-expensive Xbox One S, this system mostly stands as a smart investment only to those so-called “hardcore gamers” who will relish improved visuals and sound just as much as access to new or exclusive titles. Considering the full experience, however, the Xbox One X fuses together news bells-‘n-whistles with library cohesiveness into a worthy and worthwhile apex of this generation’s console gaming.

The Xbox One X, Microsoft’s ‘Project’, Is a Robust Console Enhancement

Thomas Spurlin

There’s no shortage of action to be found in Xbox’s Games with Gold offerings for January, though there’s a notable lack of originality and substance involved with their selections to start off the new year.  The two Xbox One picks for the month revolve around the horror genre, though one’s the third sequel in an under-the-radar series and another is a port of a game from a prior console. For the Xbox 360, there’s an appearance from the lovely Lara Croft and a co-op shooter, yet one proved to be the last gasp of familiarity for a franchise before a much-needed reboot and another involved little of the boasted innovation it promised.  On the positive side, plenty of intensity and excitement can be found in the tunnels, tombs, and warzones throughout ‘em all, enough to occupy interest until the next round.  Let’s take a look at what’s in store.

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NeoCoreGames

Xbox One

The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing III

The attention drawn by the likes of Diablo III, Pillars of Eternity and Torment: Times of Numenera proves that single-player fantasy games from that top-down, isometric perspective still hold onto a niche among gamers both old and new. Now on its third iteration, The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing has tapped into that fondness with its series of hack-‘n-slash adventures, delving into a (liberal) extension of Bram Stoker’s Dracula universe for its 19^th-century setting. As the son of the original monster hunter Van Helsing, the protagonist navigates the gloomy, stony expanses of Borgovia, an eerie fictional city where a civil war has recently concluded … and doomsday prophecies have emerged.  Van Helsing must wage war on the evil creatures populating the city, driven by standard third-person combat controls.  Both critics and fans indicate that it’s more of the same, yet lacking features that’d scare up a higher ranking.

Zombi

Zombi has enjoyed a unique, prolonged existence across several consoles, starting out as a launch title for Nintendo’s Wii U and later resurrected for other systems three years later. While the tablet functions have obviously been abandoned for the newer version of the game, Ubisoft Montpellier has retained the immersive and tense survival horror aspects, hinged on a zombie outbreak around London, England. Exploration is rewarded through the discovery of safe houses and connective tunnels that help the lead character traverse the landscape, but, of course, the core of the gameplay comes in bashing in the skulls of zombies, whom can be pretty terrifying. Despite its raising from the dead, Zombi received a mixed response to its translation to the standard console format, but the central aspects of its terror are strong enough for it to hang on in the survivor-horror genre.

Crystal Dynamics

Xbox 360

Tomb Raider: Underworld

Coming up in a few months, the recent reboot of the Tomb Raider franchise will be receiving a new film adaptation starring Alicia Vikander, marking the first time that Hollywood has taken a second, non-sequel crack at a videogame storyline. She’s a more realistic iteration of Lara Croft who has been updated for the common era, given roughness, practicality, and naivete in her physical and emotional presence.  The last title that captured the legendary raider of tombs in her confidently heroic and unabashedly sexualized form — the one embodied by Angelina Jolie on the big screen — was Tomb Raider: Underworld, in which the title character embarks on a search for her mother in submerged environs powered by Norse mythology. Some questionable tweaks have been made to the combat and to the skimpiness of Lara’s attire, and problems persist from prior installments regarding camera angles, but the wall-climbing, puzzle-solving, and gunplay make for a rush of a final hoorah with this version of the lady Croft.

Army of Two

Army of Two infiltrated the shooter scene at an awkward point in that console generation’s life cycle, where gamers had experienced a hefty amount of the same-old, same-old from the genre, evolving little to that point. Claims emerged that this game from EA Montreal would revolutionize things, especially from the co-op side of the gameplay, in their depiction of mercenaries weaving through current battle zones throughout the Middle East and Africa. Designed with strategy and tension involving a pair of soldiers in mind, the game properly hurls player into the throes of engaging battles that absolutely demand two responsive entities, which can either be a single-player with a computer-controlled partner or, more desirably, with two players cooperating. Revolutionary isn’t a word that critics and gamers fired at Army of Two, though, instead regarded as a passable third-person shooter with loosely applied gameplay concepts drawing attention to one soldier or another.

Xbox Rings In 2018 With a Tense, Yet Uninspired Games With Gold Slate

Thomas Spurlin

While many other facets go into the creative process of developing games, a big chunk of making successful ones comes in how a specific title reacts to, improves upon, or straight-up deviates from prior versions of the same concept. All the games offered on the Xbox through their Games With Gold program for the month of February represent some pretty deliberate departures from what was currently expected of their genres or franchises at a given time, from an open-world franchise condensing its scale to a platformer to a pair of wild racing games that aren’t interested whatsoever in achieving realism. Most have their quirks that keep ‘em from being greats of their genre, emphasizing form above function, but they’re all distinctive enough to earn credit for making Microsoft’s free offering this time around something to be fond of. Let’s jump into the games.

Click Here to Grab a 12-Month Xbox Live Gold Subscription at Amazon

Flying Wild Hog

Xbox One

Shadow Warrior

Over the years, a degree of obligation to practicality has gradually taken hold of the first-person shooter genre, which once began as a medium for the outlandish, humorous mowing-down of demons and Nazis. Some entries have worked comical violence into their games — both Doom and Wolfenstein have been revived in the modern gaming climate, too — yet the truly chaotic sorts of FPS games are in shorter supply nowadays.  Armed with a katana, fictionalized artillery, and a cutthroat attitude, Shadow Warrior attempts to recapture that brazen attitude in its Japanese setting, pitting a stealthy ninja mercenary against its own hordes of demons.  It does so with gusto, given some versatility with an upgrade system for lead character Wang’s weapons and abilities, though Shadow Warrior hopes to win over its audience with the outlandishness of the action than any imperceptible advances it might make in the gameplay department.

Assassin’s Creed India

With the release of Assassin’s Creed: Origins, Ubisoft embarked on an adventure into a location frequently requested by its loyal fanbase: Egypt.  It’s but one of many suggestions they’ve received, though, since the open-world concept could apply to many different fascinating time periods and places. While the developer couldn’t make a full-fledged game for each of those possibilities, they found a way to bring a pseudo-Assassin’s Creed experience to these places with platformer controls and game design, under the Chronicles brand.  The second of these experiences takes place in 1800s India, where the man in the Assassin’s Creed garb must discover what item a mysterious member of the Templar order holds in his possession when he arrives to an area. None of the Chronicles line of games received terribly good marks from either critics or players, though, and India seems to fall in the middle both in chronology and quality.

Black Rock Studio

Xbox 360

Split/Second

So many racing games get lost in the pack because they don’t have a particularly interesting hook about their concept, and there’s only so much exclusivity of vehicles and locations to be spread around.  Split/Second takes a different approach by altering the setting of the racing going on, putting the competition under the microscope of reality TV and a series of tracks designed for chaos. Players rev up a “power play” meter through successes on the tracks, from crazy tricks to drift racing, and that meter can activate events that complicate the pathways of other drivers on the course; it’s kind of like a semi-realistic spin on Mario Kart.  The execution of the concept earned Split/Second a reputable fanbase and a positive critical reception, but it wasn’t enough to keep a planned sequel from being cancelled.  That fans still champion the game and petition for a follow-up is a good indicator that Split/Second remains a well-oiled machine.

Crazy Taxi

Crazy Taxi has been rattling around consoles since the Dreamcast, a port of sorts from the arcade version of the game.  Sporting a vivacious soundtrack that included The Offspring and Bad Religion, the game’s concept is about as straightforward as they come: get the customer from one location to the next as quickly as possible. That makes it a racing game … sort of.  A trick mechanic earns the driver extra cash throughout the fare, and the methodology involved with making the drive as crazy as possible adds a layer of mechanical depth to the experience. Unfortunately, the Xbox Arcade port features the newly-created soundtrack from the PC version, which removes the groovy sonic allure of the experience, and the port hasn’t received the warmest response due to its graphical presentation and how the controls have aged over the years.  What’s left is the blitzed arcade driving experience, which  can be addictive or fleetingly engaging, depending on who’s asked.

Xbox Pulls Ahead With Twists on Racers, Stealth in Feb’s Gold Games

Thomas Spurlin

Most of the time, the titles made available through the Games with Gold program on the Xbox have enough substance and interest to extract at least some compelling talking points about their inclusion. Sometimes, that can be the germ of a unifying theme or subversion of a genre, or perhaps the different games compliment one another as examples of the balance between big-budget and indie experiences.  Honestly, that’s fairly difficult to do with this cycle of releases for March, which features zero AAA offerings, esoteric indie efforts, and middling movie tie-ins. Granted, two of the titles are intriguing enough to consider a download, but it’s a rough month if that’s the most enthusiasm one can muster.  Let’s take a closer look.

Click Here to Grab a 12-Month Xbox Live Gold Subscription at Amazon

RedLynx

Xbox One

Trials of the Blood Dragon (March 1-31)

The name “Blood Dragon” will likely trigger thoughts of the standalone open-world game from the folks responsible for Far Cry, in which a blatant ‘80s aesthetic gets slathered atop a somewhat short but visually and viscerally captivating romp.  Trials of the Blood Dragon borrows a similar neon-punk aesthetic as it tackles the Trials formula, adopting an atmosphere more similar to Sunset Overdrive as the descendants of  Rex Power Colt Man — Slayter and Roxanne — engage the franchise’s unique platform and timed racing mechanics.  A few new surprises are worked into the mix, such as shooting mechanics and actual 2.5D third-person controls, but critics have noted that these new moving parts don’t fully click with the core Trials experience.

SuperHOT (March 16-April 15)

If you’ve ever played a difficult first-person shooter game, you’ve probably engaged a specific level or stretch of obstacles between save points, learned what challenges lurk behind different corners, and then adjusted your strategy according to progress beyond that point. With its minimal, polygon-driven art style, SuperHOT takes the seed of that concept and morphs it into an in-game mechanic, in which time in the game doesn’t pass until the player moves the main character. This allows for a strategic analysis of the levels’ layouts to occur, which are tied to a meta-level story in which completing these levels gets the player closer to unlocking the SuperHOT experience.  Novelty of its concept and visual design overcome its relative simplicity of gameplay, dropping it among the better crowd-funded indies out there.

Disney Interactive

Xbox 360

Brave: The Videogame (March 1-15)

The inclusion of Brave in this month’s Games With Gold is particularly odd.  There isn’t a lot to the experience, functioning much like other licensed games in its straightforward third-person take on the tale of Merida, a Scottish princess whose desire for independence inflicts mystical consequences upon her family.   The archery aspects and level progression are standard stuff for tie-ins, which were popular upon its release due to the prominence of the Hunger Games books and movies, proving to be sufficient enough to satisfy its intended audiences … and little beyond that.  Brave’s only real distinguishing trait, beyond the Pixar characterization, ended up being the Kinect functionality with its “archery range” mode … which is no longer pertinent since that device has essentially been decommissioned.

Quantum Conundrum (March 16-31)

While Gabe Newell usually receives props for the successes of Valve’s original game productions, it was designer Kim Smith and her team who were responsible for Portal, the first-person puzzle game that gave birth to the idea of “thinking with portals”.  Quantum Conundrum is Swift’s latest production, under the Airtight Games development wing, which again finds a silent protagonist manipulating environments — and dimensions — to reach the end of a level. While the concepts may share some similarities, the differences lies in the setting, in which the pre-teen nephew of a prominent physicist most fix an experiment gone awry that resulted in a foursome of dimensions to be created. Once the character gains access to a special glove, inventive physics tap into a similar puzzle-solving creativity and fluidity to Swift’s prior creations, producing a tweaked, bubbly outing that’ll probably get the player “thinking with dimensions”.

Xbox Lagging Behind with March’s Not-So-Brave Games With Gold

Thomas Spurlin

While the official start date for spring is a few weeks into March, most people associate the turn of the season with the blooming plants, pastel colors, and Easter celebration of April. After a relatively frigid first few months from the Xbox camp, it looks like Microsoft have embraced the spirit of this season by getting their Games with Gold for the month to blossom. Containing a pair of noteworthy AAA titles and a novel, popular abstract gaming experience – and, oddly, yet another Pixar movie tie-in – their foursome of titles for April finally show some life in a shrug-worthy year thus far. Here’s hoping that they continue to flourish in the coming months. Let’s dig deeper into the games.

Click Here to Grab a 12-Month Xbox Live Gold Subscription at Amazon

Thekla Inc.

Xbox One

The Witness (April 1-30)

As games grow larger, more elaborate and sophisticated in their digital world-building, the puzzle adventure genre struggles to keep up. Either those games ease up on the technical aspects and conjure a deliberately nostalgic return to the era of Myst and Sierra’s point-and-click adventures, or they go into the territory of walking simulators, which can easily struggle with pacing issues and staying engaged with the narrative.  The Witness takes a major step toward combining these two concepts, bringing the exploration aspect of the best first-person puzzlers from the ‘90s with the sprawling landscape of a modern open-world playground.  Vibrant multihued graphics create a sense of wonder as the player navigates a secluded island, while grid-based and environmental puzzles offer a deep and largely unguided challenge, provoking the curiosity and sleuthing of the player. The second game from designer Johnathan Blow, the guy responsible for Braid, has been regarded as another indie masterwork.

Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate (April 16 – May 15)

Prior to the Egypt-themed Origins, the Assassin’s Creed franchise proved to be a tricky and awkward challenge for Ubisoft. They struggled to revolutionize their endlessly popular open-world property while also fumbling with digital quirks, mostly with their first current-gen installment, Unity, which has documented glitches in both form and function.  Syndicate had the unfortunate honor of following Unity and cleaning up the mess of its reputation, yet it does so admirably with an absorbing setting – steamy, leather-bound Victorian London – and the concept of dual protagonists, siblings Jacob and Evie Frye, who can be switched on the fly.  Even with the novel atmosphere and pairing of main characters, however, Syndicate feels like Ubisoft played it safe after the tumultuous release of Unity. While it exists on the better side of the spectrum of games in the franchise, its moving parts aren’t significantly different to those in other Assassin’s Creed entries, resulting in a sturdy yet worn-out stealth sandbox.

Visceral

Xbox 360

Cars 2 (April 1-15)

The inclusion Brave: The Video Game in the previous month’s Games With Gold offerings was a bit of a head-scratcher, mostly because that game’s most distinguishing component was its functionality with the now-defunct Kinect camera system. Now, Microsoft has included another Pixar tie-in that might also cause some to scratch their heads a bit, but for other reasons.  Notorious for arguably being Pixar’s worst film and an indication that they were veering into mindless sequel territory, Cars 2 was adapted into a console videogame by Avalanche Software, transformed into something of a Mario Kart clone. Characters from the film engage in combat-style lap racing under the guise of an espionage training simulator, where victories unlock vehicles and tracks and multiplayer functionality is always an option. Designed for kids, Cars 2 arguably finishes its race in better standings than the movie itself.

Dead Space 2 (April 16-30)

Visceral Games’ original Dead Space conjures fond memories of writing about videogames during last-generation. After the developer – then known as EA Redwood Shores — telegraphed one of the more unsettling horror games released in a very long time, drawing comparisons to the scares of Hollywood productions, genuine enthusiasm built up around what non-sports projects could accomplish under EA’s oversight.  Dead Space 2 furthered this enthusiasm, as the unrelenting atmosphere and fine-tuned third-person shooter controls of the original see improvement in the sequel. Isaac Clarke’s unnerving navigation of alien-infested structures comes face-to-face with his waning sanity, while design tweaks beef up the sci-fi shooting aspects, thrusting him against warped new necromorph aliens and complex gravity scenarios. Dead Space 2’s elevation of the concept put Visceral Games on the map, which would unfortunately be the last indisputable success from the developers, who shuttered in October of 2017.

Xbox Springs Into Action With April’s Games With Gold Adventures

Thomas Spurlin

As the demands for contemporary videogames continue to evolve, players occasionally need a little reminder of the pure joys of yesteryear’s gaming experiences, and Microsoft hopes to do that with their Xbox freebies for the month of May. It’s a little different than nostalgia: instead of striving for innovation, certain franchises and studios might deliver experiences that stick to tentpole, perhaps more simplified pleasures that hallmarked prior games.  Along with the inclusion of a collection of favorite beat-‘em-ups from a few decades ago, all the games offered through the Games With Gold program this month tap into pure gaming bliss: a raucous arcade baseball outing, a deliberately challenging sci-fi shooter, and the latest well-regarded installment in the Metal Gear stealth franchise.  Let’s take a peek.

Click Here to Grab a 12-Month Xbox Live Gold Subscription at Amazon

Metalhead Software

Xbox One

Super Mega Baseball 2 (May 1-31)

The look of the original Super Mega Baseball triggers memories of sports games from a few generations back, especially the big-head golfing franchise Hot Shots. Similarly to how that one delivered capable realistic golf elements underneath its more exaggerated design choices, Super Mega Baseball also telegraphed a fairly deep baseball simulator with its nuanced control scheme, play options for both pitching and batting, and roster/season creation and management. The sequel serves up more of the same, and while this Games With Gold offering marks its debut, it’s already developing a reputation as a further refinement of the original, with tweaked real-world responsiveness in the action and, from an aesthetic point of view, in the more restrained character models.  The big addition is online multiplayer, which should extend Super Mega Baseball 2’s longevity into quite a few extra innings.

Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (May 16-June 15)

At this point, folks generally know what to expect out of a Metal Gear game: enough tweaks to the winning stealth formula from several generations ago to make it interesting, and overwhelming critical and commercial acclaim for the smartness of those adjustments and the cinematic grandness of it all. Ground Zeroes was something of an anomaly, a truncated creation from Hideo Kojima that feels like a deliberate trailer for something bigger and better to come, with promising gameplay evolutions within the familiar atmosphere and characterization signature to the designer.  Phantom Pain reveals what that “taste” of an experience was leading toward, a smartly-crafted sandbox marvel that relishes both its complex gameplay in an open-world realm and the cinematic energy established by prior entries. Beyond a few complaints about the twistedness of where the story ends up, Phantom Pain wraps up Kojima’s tentpole franchise on a note that shows the gaming community who’s boss.

PlatinumGames

Xbox 360

Sega Vintage Collection: Streets of Rage (May 1-15)

When it comes to exclusives for the SEGA Genesis from the early-‘90s, memories are typically conjured about two franchises: that rapid blue hedgehog who runs around collecting rings, and the Streets of Rage series of brawling games.  One filled the void for single-player platform sessions, while the other provided fantastic, rambunctious couch co-op play with friends that was just different enough from the popular “fighting games” of the time (Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter) for younger players to get away with playing ‘em … though not really all that much less violent.  All three became big hits for the console, and they’ve been bundled together once again for the 360 in an updated package, complete with online play and leaderboards.

Vanquish (May 16-31)

Platinum Games strive to challenge their audience, focusing on the relentlessness of fast-paced controls and volumes of opponents that aren’t cheap with the constant threats they pose to the player.  One of their most under-the-radar games is Vanquish, a futuristic third-person shooter in which the player controls a US Defense Dept. operative manning a suit that slows down time, allowing the wearer to either manually manipulate their surroundings for enhanced reactions to targets or scramble away whenever they’ve taken too much damage. Even considering the “helpfulness” of the suit, the unyielding bullet-hell chaos presents a constant barrage of challenges to overcome, even at standard difficulties.  Critics aren’t too kind to Vanquish’s shrug-worthy militaristic plot and relative shortness of the campaign, but the swiftness of Platinum Games’ execution of its amplified, precise style conquers those obstacles.

Xbox Knocks It Out of the Park With May’s Superb Games With Gold

Thomas Spurlin

During the month of E3, it’s natural for Xbox and other companies to direct attention to two things going on: the information coming out of the convention, and the ensuing sales both in stores and through their online platform. Surrounded by all that, the free games offered by their subscription services can fall out of focus, so it’s not entirely surprising that the Games with Gold offerings for June would be lacking.  One would think that they’d still want to bait new adopters with interesting freebies during that period, but Microsoft have chosen to go all-in with a big sale and feed of information … and offer a foursome of downloads for the month that can just about be forgotten without much hassle.  When a Mario Kart clone on the previous generation’s system ends up being the most excitement-worthy title, you know it’s a weaker month than normal.  Let’s take a closer look.

Click Here to Grab a 12-Month Xbox Live Gold Subscription at Amazon

Ubisoft

Xbox One

Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: Russia (June 1-30)

The natural culmination of several months of Xbox Live offerings, Microsoft have now presented the entirety of Ubisoft’s Chronicles spinoff of the Assassin’s Creed juggernaut as free downloads. The Chronicles games take the stealth and parkour elements of the open-world franchise, then mixes it with more direct inspiration from the classic Prince of Persia games for a 2.5-dimensional gaming experience. Unfortunately, the quality has moved at a downward trajectory since the meager successes of its first installment, with Russia, the last game in the series, suffering the pitfalls of what happens when difficulty and glitchy execution collide. Marginal stealth intrigue and grim storytelling aren’t enough to salvage even a mediocre spinoff here, skewered by critics and players as the series wraps things up.  As with all the titles in this Chronicles series, one wishes they had just given Russia the open-map treatment.

Smite (june 16-July 15)

Originally developed for PCs and ported to consoles roughly a year after its release, Smite boasts arena-based multiplayer combat in which the players select mythical beings to wage war against one another. PvP combat has become a staple over the past two generations of gaming, and Smite hopes to contend with the likes of League of Legends and Defense of the Ancients (DOTA) with its novel spins of mythology and quirkiness, galvanizing its fast-paced combat with an air of grandness that isn’t to be taken too seriously.  Both critics and players have responded well to its visual presentation and the variety and intensity of the fantasy-based combat, offering an alternative to those of its subgenre that’s different enough to stand apart from its opponents.  Smite is already a free-to-play title, so the version being offered by Xbox is the Gold Bundle, which includes roughly $100 in bonus content: character skins, announcers, etc.

SEGA

Xbox 360

Sonic & All Stars Racing: Transformed (June 1-15)

Look, we all know that any mildly lighthearted, combative racing game that hits the market will be inextricably compared to Mario Kart just as soon as it blasts off  the starting line. Of course, that’s especially the case with something like Sonic and All-Stars Racing, since the blue hedgehog served as direct competition for Mario for such a long time. The tempo of this combat cart racer feels incredibly similar to Nintendo’s big moneymaker, complete with lively power-up sounds, colorful graphics, and a smorgasbord of characters from both within and outside the Sonic universe.  The dimensionality of the design, emphasis on controlled handling around turns, and the relative restraint of the style of combat mechanics do tighten the experience, though, elevating it from being merely a clone and into a worthy, nostalgic competitor.

Lego Indiana Jones 2 (June 16-30)

Over time, the formula for all those Lego videogame “adaptations” has proven itself: they’re predictable, straightforward, and ultimately addictive for people of all ages due to their charm and collection tendencies. Perhaps the most damning criticisms one can levy upon one of those games is that the characters don’t hit that pop-culture sweet spot, that the levels have observable gaps in the storytelling of the source material and, well, that it feels bland and repetitive because of those aspects. LEGO Indiana Jones 2 stumbles into those pitfalls, though, with the bulk of frustrations being centered on the fact that the game puts its focus on the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull – widely considered to not only be the worst Indiana Jones movie, but a terrible film in its own right – and spreads out the vastly more popular films in the franchise. A level creator isn’t enough to distract from something like that.

June’s Xbox Games With Gold Boast Major Franchises in Minor Packages

Thomas Spurlin

Ah, the dog days of summer: the period where some huddle up indoors with their Xbox systems and air conditioning, or others will — by choice or not — head out into the baking sun in search of adventure or bodies of water to dip into.  Plenty do a bit of both, of course, but the draw to get outdoors becomes its most powerful in the month of July, which understandably plays into the caliber of the free titles made available through the various gaming subscription services. This month’s Games With Gold are a strong reflection of that, offering two under-the-radar indies for current-gen systems and two largely forgotten sequels to recognizable franchises for the legacy format. It’s a little bit of brawling and shooting, designed to tide subscribers over until the later months.  Let’s check ‘em out.

Click Here to Grab a 12-Month Xbox Live Gold Subscription at Amazon

Witch Beam

Xbox One

Assault Android Cactus

Twin-stick shooting controls may be dated, but they’re also a reliable framework for fast-paced, precise gameplay and an ideal vehicle for an experience with personality. That’s exactly what Witch Beam have done with Assault Androids Cactus, a jubilant shooter that eschews innovation and depth of plotting for pure, unadulterated fun.  Nine female science-fiction heroines find themselves crashed aboard a space freighter that needs to be retaken from hostile robots.  That, of course, means waves upon waves of mechanical enemies are just waiting to be mowed down by the female heroes, each of which has her own different set of artillery groupings that can be employed across the game’s two-dozen plus stages.  Repetition never really has a chance to set in with how vibrant and chaotic the gameplay gets in Assault Android Cactus, though console players have reported sporadic framerate issues in connection to that.

Death Squared

Puzzle games are a dime a dozen across all gaming platforms, but it isn’t all to often that one sees cooperative puzzle games, in which multiple players work together to reach solutions in levels. Death Squared maneuvers into place to deliver that kind of experience, where up to four players control energy devices that control the motion of cute little robot blocks on a grid.  The players manipulate different portions of the layout, and while there aren’t any actual portals that form here and there, one can’t help but reminded of the spatial manipulations and positionings of the multiplayer aspects in Portal 2 with the gameplay. There’s a single player mode, but it’s pretty apparent that Death Squared was designed with the cooperation of multiple players in mind, and the more the merrier.

SEGA

Xbox 360

Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown

During the fighting game craze of the early- to mid-‘90s, Virtua Fighter started out as a novel alternative to its competition by executing polygon-based 3D combat.  Even the tag “Virtua” triggered thoughts about its precision-based controls and combos within the space as a more realistic take on its rivals, a design element that was eve later adopted — well, attempted — by some of ‘em. It’s that aspect that kept Virtua Fighter brawling alongside the others for nearly two decades, across many iterations that lead to Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown as the finisher of the franchise.  Cobbling together vast improvements made to the fifth installment since its arcade release and a host of new features both big and small, this definitive version of the game has been hailed as the crowning achievement of the franchise’s history.

Splinter Cell: Conviction

Nearly a half-dozen different installments and almost a decade of stealth experiences made up the Splinter Cell franchise before the development of Conviction, a such a long period naturally sets its audience up for certain expectations for the latest iteration. So, when Conviction steered more toward swift, overt action above tactical stealth — and stripped away some of its intricate covert mechanisms — one could understand if its loyal base might be taken aback. For the most part, they rolled with the punches and enjoyed Conviction for the bolder and more direct shooting retooling of the concept that it became, complete with several fresh multiplayer modes. Since the next installment, Blacklist, reintroduced many of those neglected stealth aspects, the overall success of Ubisoft’s attempt at making Splinter Cell more a more accessible and action-oriented shooter is debatable.

Xbox Delivers Weak Jabs, Fires Muted Shots for July’s Games With Gold

Thomas Spurlin

We’re nearing the end of the summer, having passed the attention sink of vacations, summer movie blockbusters, and the hoopla of San Diego Comic Con. All those things tend to be distracting enough for the subscription services to get away with shrug-worthy titles during their respective months, but once school starts back and the relaxation of fall settles in, they’ve got to kick into gear and satisfy gamers’ curiosities with unique, worthwhile titles. Xbox gets things off to a quick start with a robust assortment of titles for their August Games With Gold freebies, from a renowned racing title to a historical fighting game and a little magic from the House of Mouse. It’s perhaps not the most exciting of months, but it’s a decent way of getting the season off on a good note. Let’s take a closer look.

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Playground

Xbox One

Forza Horizon 2

Playground Games’ second installment in their Horizon series of racing games was arguably the most anticipated launch title for the Xbox One, both because of the realistic graphical prowess and because of the franchise’s prestige stemming from their success on the 360. Predictably, Forza Horizon 2 ended up being a visual powerhouse, transporting the players into an open-world racing experience that exhibited exactly what was capable of next-gen hardware. But they also telegraphed exiting simulation aspects as well, working in dynamic daylight and weather mechanics alongside a broadly expanded area through which the players can drive, engage in challenges and interact with online functionality. Naturally, certain opinions about Horizon 2 were inflated around release due to it being among the system’s launch titles, but it’s maintained a fine reputation with critics and players since, even though its sequel has mostly lapped it in the standings.

For Honor

People enjoy discussing what would happen if a battle so happen to occur between opponents X and Y, whether it’s superheroes, fantasy creatures, or even historical factions. For Honor taps into the interest generated by the last of those possibilities, matching up several iconic medieval factions — knights, the Iron Legion; vikings, the Warborn; and samurai, the Chosen — and having them duke it out through third-person warfare controlled by the player. Driven by authentic spoken language for their classifications and the selection of different warrior classes, For Honor explores its different historical options with a lot of gameplay versatility. That eventually funnels into a more tactical brawling paradigm, The Art of Battle, during key moments of battle that resembles more traditional fighting mechanics, opening up lots of opportunities for special abilities and maneuvers. There’s a learning curve, but both critics and players seem to agree that the versatility of combat and historical essence makes it worth the effort.

Visceral Games

Xbox 360

Dead Space 3

After a surprisingly tense debut with the original Dead Space and a sequel that somehow managed to improve on an already terrific formula, expectations were high for Visceral Games’ Dead Space 3. The pressure was on for the studio to deliver something even scarier in tone and more expansive in gameplay, continuing the psychologically rattled narrative of Isaac Clarke as he battles the Necromorphs. Attention may have been paid to tweaking the gameplay toward new and exciting directions — including the addition of online co-op — but it was at the expense of some of the series’ core strengths, lacking the execution of scares from the first two entries and delivering an underwhelming conclusion. Some critics and players were won over by Dead Space 3, and there’s certainly some strong sci-fi/horror shooting tenacity to relish here, but it’s hard not too look at the ineffective final entry in the series as a key reason for Visceral Games’ downfall.

Disney’s Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two

A ton of buzz formed around the original Epic Mickey, a result of stealth-RPG mastermind Warren Spector — responsible for Thief: The Dark Project and Deus Ex, as well as several entries in the Ultima series — being at the helm for a dark Disney fantasy featuring the House of Mouse’s iconic mascot. Expectations might not have been met when it finally arrived on the Wii U, sporting less of a moody atmosphere and less gameplay versatility than expected, but it was enough to spawn a sequel, The Power of Two, in hopes of capitalizing on the potential. Unfortunately, even with the inclusion of another uniquely iconic Disney character, Oswald the rabbit, Epic Mickey 2 couldn’t make the magic happen. Despite adoration for the breadth of the Disney universe, gameplay and camera issues end up being too overpowering for this lackluster follow-up.

Xbox Zooms Through August With Honorable, Not-Quite Epic Games With Gold

Thomas Spurlin

October tends to be a busy month for videogame releases, and it’s tough to know whether it’s a good idea or not for the Xbox Games With Gold and other subscription services to offer substantial games for their freebies during that month.  This October is especially challenging, with a Spider-Man game that swung in at the end of September with a stellar reputation, a new and genuinely novel Assassin’s Creed game trying to leave its mark on the open-world climate, and the long-awaited sequel to Red Dead Redemption waiting to gallop onto that same scene in just a few weeks.  All three are designated time-sinks, and instead of attempting to compete with how those games effortlessly demand gamers’ attention, the October Games With Gold have decided to stay exceedingly low-key, to such a degree that they’ve missed opportunities to build enthusiasm or even celebrate the Halloween season. Let’s take a closer look.

Click Here to Grab a 12-Month Xbox Live Gold Subscription at Amazon

Team 17

Xbox One

Overcooked

There aren’t many ways in which a cooking simulator – perhaps a Hell’s Kitchen type of line-preparation management — could become a legitimately interesting gaming experience, with the longstanding stylus-based Cooking Mama series on Nintendo’s DS being the best execution in the same ballpark. Hey, they even tried a Hell’s Kitchen game, to … uh, foreseeable results.  In steps Overcooked, a cooperation-based blend of puzzle-solving and reflexes, in which multiple players get together and prepare meals under both semi-normal and outlandish circumstances. On top of pirate ships and moving cars alongside other standard kitchen layouts, the game exercises playfulness in throwing challenges at its chefs, while the management of ingredient gathering, preparation, and kitchen integrity creates a vibrantly chaotic environment to keep sorted out. No online gameplay tends to be a sour spot for players, though.

Victor Vran

Belgian developer Haemimont Games is probably best known as the driving force behind the continuation of Tropico installments – Tropico 3 through 5 – and as the creators of the Omerta strategy gangster game, excelling in the city-building and RTS fronts.  Every developer needs a change of pace, though, and that’s where Victor Vran comes into play.  Almost isometric in its third-person perspective, this action-RPG follows a Van Helsing-like demon hunter who arrives in a gothic city to wipe out its monstrous threats and assist the civilians. Players can customize Victor’s combat style through weaponry and consumable modifications, and the depth of its modifications takes it closer to the realm of dungeon crawlers than standard action fare. Critics and players are iffy when it comes to the storytelling and the odd injections of humor, but the core action mechanics and tailored customizations scare up enough excitement to overlook those issues.

Paradigm Entertainment

Xbox 360

Stuntman: Ignition

The mantra of the Stuntman franchise hinges on learning from one’s mistakes to more expertly – and with greater style – reach the finish line.  Over a decade ago, Paradigm Entertainment took that mantra to heart when crafting Ignition, the second and only sequel. Despite the enthralling premise of piloting cars through explosive tracks embedded in movie sets, criticism was rampant toward the frustrating difficulty levels, which causes players to hit the brakes on that infectious drive to give the tracks just one more go-around to see if they can get it.  Without sacrificing the exhilaration of the premise, Ignition fine-tunes the difficulty level so that the thrill of each of the six parody tracks lies in enjoying the ride instead of the struggle to progress, better aligning challenge and reward.

 Hitman: Blood Money

The Hitman franchise rapidly approaches its 20^th anniversary, and it’ll be seeing a new installment released in a little over a month: Hitman 2, a non-episodic sequel to the 2016 revival of Agent 47’s escapades. All the entries in the franchise have earned largely positive marks from both critics and players for its stealth assassination mechanics and fluidity, but perhaps the most well-regarded one is Blood Money … y’know, the one released shortly before the live-action movie starring Timothy Olyphant.  Those who’ve played Blood Money rarely cite innovation as a reason why it’s the better of the lot, as much of the core gameplay infrastructure remains the same in it as in previous installments.  However, this Hitman triumphs over the others due to its refinement of the concept, from the variety of ways to complete missions to capable AI opponents and elevated audiovisual polish.

Xbox’s October Games With Gold Cook Up Very Few Treats