23/07/2024
Crow Country XBOX Review 7.5/10 "A throwback survival horror with narrative depth" 🐦⬛🌎 @SFBTom @SFBDim #GameDev #IndieGame
19/07/2024
Justice League: Cosmic Chaos Xbox Review 7.5/10 "A fun, family-friendly title with surprisingly cool music" 🦇 @PHLCollective @Outright_Games #GameDev #IndieGame
The story here is that life in Happy Harbor is turned upside-down by Mr. Mxyzplk, who usurps the current Mayor of the town by using Starro’s mind control powers to take control of members of the Justice League, leaving Batman, Superman, and Wonder Woman – with a little help from some very super friends – to restore order to the idyllic town.
15/07/2024
FIEHDUW Manba One Controller Unboxing & Review "A Beautiful Looking Controller!" 🎮 @manba_official
Rich dives into the Manba One Controller and finds that this thing is a real contender in the third-party controller market, aiming to bring some serious competition to the big names.
Pros:
Versatility: Multi-platform support is a huge plus.
Customization: The Interactive LCD screen and programmable buttons offer a lot of flexibility.
Hall Effect: Hall Effect Joystick and Hall Linear Trigger is a big plus!
Price: At £71 / $69.99, it’s a solid deal for what you get.
Cons:
Build Quality: While sturdy, it doesn’t feel as premium as some competitors.
Button Feel: The clicky buttons might not be everyone’s cup of tea.
Start & Select Placement is slightly odd (at the bottom of the controller)
Overall, the Manba One Controller is a fantastic option for gamers looking for versatility and customization without breaking the bank. It’s not perfect, but it offers a lot of bang for your buck
Would you consider trying it out?
UK Amazon Affiliate Link:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0D2CYM4QS
12/07/2024
Roxy Raccoon’s Pinball Panic XBOX Review 6/10 "Decent Mechanics Let Down By Flat Presentation" 📍 @RoxyRaccoon4 #IndieGame #GameDev
My household is one that does enjoy flipping the flippers, and there’s always a handful of pinball games installed on our various consoles, should the need for some high score settin’ arise.
Roxy Raccoon’s Pinball Panic begins with a story involving a witch and her evil animal cohorts teleporting away, with Roxy following in pursuit – leading to a series of pinball challenges wherein a balled-up Roxy will need to bounce around myriad tables to collect all of the available gems in order to proceed.
10/07/2024
Vera Blanc: Supernatural Mysteries Xbox Review 7/10 "Werewolves and Ghosts, oh my!" 🐺👻 @RatalaikaGames #IndieGames #GameDev
08/07/2024
Crime Boss: Rockay City (2024) XSX Review 7/10 "A kick-ass cast in a game that once got its ass kicked" 💥 @ingame_studios @505_Games #IndieGame #GameDev
Upon its initial release in 2023, Crime Boss: Rockay City had a rough old time, with cutting reviews across the board. We didn’t cover it at the time here at GF, but as someone who grew up watching this – quite incredible – cast of actors in myriad movies over the decades, it was always on my mind, and I was intrigued as to how the game appeared to be such a misfire.
Fast forward a year and the game gets a massive overhaul for its Steam release. DLC is now included for free - and the developers have fixed a lot of the more glaring issues that plagued the game upon its initial release.
How does it fare in 2024? it’s a lot of fun, but the repetition at the heart of the game is hard to ignore.
19/06/2024
Still Wakes the Deep XSX Review 9/10 "Possibly the most naturalistic dialogue in a video game" 🛢️🗼 @SWTD_Game @ChineseRoom #IndieGame #GameDev
The Chinese Room were the company that introduced me to the walking simulator genre with their minimalistic and glorious 2012 title Dear Esther. This was followed by a firm favourite of our household in Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs. And so, learning that The Chinese Room were making a game set on a Scottish oil rig in the mid-’70s was enough to make my trousers fly off and fold themselves neatly in a drawer, before definitively slamming it shut.
13/06/2024
Horizon Chase 2 Xbox Review 8/10 "Why did the frog cross the road?" 🐸🏎️ @HorizonChase #IndieGame #GameDev
Why did the frog cross the road?
One of the oldest questions never asked, perhaps because everyone’s talking about that damn chicken. And I’m not about to answer that question as this is not Amphibian Psychology 101. I’m here to talk about HOW the frog crossed the road and how this (loosely) relates to Horizon Chase 2, new to Xbox.
12/06/2024
Star Wars: Battlefront Collection | Xbox Series X Review | 4/10 “Turned To The Dark Side” 💩 #StarWars
There are two things I have a deep hatred for that are part of a lot of childhoods, and they are E.T, and Wookiees. Now, I won’t go into why I hate Mr Extra Terrestrial, but Wookiees are related directly with Battlefront 2, as a kid I loved these games, my friend and I played them for hours and hours - they are highlights of my childhood, but one memory sticks out and that's the time - whilst fighting a particularly tough battle - it came down to 10 vs 8, our team finally had the lead after replaying this missions several times, and victory was finally in sight! I had a fool-proof plan to win… get in a ship and take the enemy down from the skies. As I made my run to the ship, a Wookiee ran from the other side, entered the ship, and then flew it straight into the landing bay door destroying not just himself and the ship but also my hopes and dreams. As I stood in the landing bay filled with hate and disappointment, the enemy overturned the deficit and won. That moment changed me, I became a different person… I was now... a Wookiee hater.
11/06/2024
Little Kitty, Big City XSX Review 7.5/10 "The purr-fect game to play with kids" 😸 🏙️ @LittleKittyGame #IndieGame #GameDev
It’s an interesting time in our household, as we have a three year old son who is just getting his feet wet in terms of gaming. I always keep an eye out for suitable releases to enjoy with him, and when we received the press release for Little Kitty, Big City, my dad-gaming eyes lit up. What we ended up enjoying was a wonderfully cute, fun game that wasn’t without its flaws, but the charm and family factor shines through, meaning that you’ll have a great time if you approach little Kitty, Big City with an open and curious mind...much like a kitten, in fact.
Little Kitty, Big City begins as very much a story of highs and lows, there you are – sunning yourself on your owner’s balcony when disaster strikes and you find yourself falling to street level, many floors below. Your quest? To get back to your favourite napping spot!
07/06/2024
Loretta Xbox Series X Review 8/10 “Spiralling Down” ☠️🍶 @yabutuzoff #IndieGame #GameDev
Set in 1947, you control Loretta - a housewife who has murdered her husband, having finally had enough of his drinking, gambling, cheating ways - and decided to take matters into her own hands.
The game opens with a detective investigating his disappearance, he has come to question Loretta and have a look around the farm and it is here where we gain control of the titular character.
Early on you are presented with the choices that will shape her fate, I made the decision to try and poison the detective and… well… let’s just say it ‘didn’t go well’.
Throughout your time with this game you will get the chance to make important decisions such as should you higher your kill count or resist your murderous temptations and see if you can break free, and escape your current predicament.
14/05/2024
Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes Xbox Review 7/10 "A Sweet Suikoden Spiritual Sequel" 🔥⚔️ @eiyuden #IndieGame #GameDev
12/04/2024
Dragon’s Dogma 2 Xbox Review 9/10 "The most fun I’ve had in a single player game in 2024" ⚔️🐲🔥👹 @DragonsDogma #DragonsDogma2
As someone who is – and will be forever – drawn towards single player RPGs, The last few months have been very, very fun. I’ve played three games that stand out in my mind for different reasons, and between them cover a lot of the main points that appeal to me about the genre at its core.
Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden won me over with its understated characters, music, atmospherics and earthiness, whilst Outcast: A New Beginning featured incredible traversal mechanics and lore, and now Dragon’s Dogma 2 – and out of the three, this is the title that I, by far, have the strongest history with – comes blazing out of the gate with its main strengths being in how much it embraces and excels at being a video game, completely nailing combat mechanics and explosive, immediate gameplay.
It’s a game that is a pleasure to write about, and I feel like I could just list all of my in-game experiences to get my point across because there are so many personal stories to tell, all through a design sentiment that eschews seriousness to put fun and gameplay at the absolute fore.
10/04/2024
Outcast: A New Beginning Xbox Review 7.5/10 "An Outcast No More" 💥🌴 @OutcastGame #IndieGame #GameDev
I’ve had a spotted history with Outcast, when it was originally released in 1999, I played it briefly over a friend’s house and was entranced by the world conjured and possibilities laid out. The unfortunate thing was, I didn’t have a PC that could really get the most out of it at the time, and I fell away from it – assuming that I’d return soon – but the next time I spent any time with the game was when I picked up Outcast: Second Contact in 2020, and, revisiting the game so long after release highlighted the sheer scope and imagination of developers Appeal Studios, along with the unavoidable fact that the design and mechanics were lodged in a transitory period of the third-person open-world genre, and had aged appropriately.
Thus, when I caught wind of this new entry in the franchise- pseudo-reboot, pseudo-revising, pseudo-revisiting pseudo-sequel – call it what you want – I was glad to discover that I feel that this I finally the most complete, accessible, and wonderful way to know the story of the impossibly named ‘Cutter Slade’, and appreciate the full scale of the dev’s vision. A vision set into motion almost thirty years ago.
05/04/2024
Welcome to ParadiZe Xbox Series X Review 6/10 "More PontinZ than ParadiZe" 🐘 #IndieGame #GameDev #PvE #Zombies
I first caught wind of Welcome to Paradize a couple of months ago, and having been on a bit of an isometric / action run recently I was quite keen to start smashing and blasting some zombie heads, whilst the survival and crafting elements seemed accessible enough to have fun with, without getting bogged down in menus etc.
28/03/2024
Cybertrash STATYX Xbox Review 7/10 "A Fun Throwback in The Run ‘n Gun Genre" 💥 #IndieGame #GameDev
26/03/2024
Jagged Alliance 3 XSX Review 9/10 "A Modern Turn-Based Classic" 💥 @THQNordic
A series of turn-based games that have roots going way back to 1994, Jagged Alliance has always enjoyed critical success – and yet it’s a series of games I’ve only touched upon briefly since its inception in the mid-’90s. I recall having some friends who were hips deep, thinking very highly of the franchise, and so when the opportunity came up to cover the third major entry, I was keen to have a goosey.
25/03/2024
Antstream on Xbox 🐜🕹️📺 @AntstreamArcade #RetroGaming
Good news! Back in 2020 I reviewed the Antstream service on PC – it’s also available on Mac, Android, Nvidia Shield and Amazon Fire Stick – and lamented the fact that it was taken down from the Xbox family of consoles, but no more!
Over the last couple of weeks I’ve been playing a myriad of games on my XSX through Antstream, you can pay for either a yearly or permanent subscription, and there are currently over 1200 games to choose from ranging from home systems such as Spectrum, Commodore, Amiga and Spectrum through to Arcade and modern indie.
It runs swimmingly on the Xbox and still features daily challenges and high score tables for players to dive into, as well as the usual save states and gaming snappiness.
If you are a lover of classic titles, this is a great way to dip in and out of hundreds of games with full multiplayer and controller support – perfect for retro gaming nights with friends and family!
AntStream On XBOX 🔗
AntStream Games List 🔗
21/03/2024
Cannibal Abduction Xbox Series X 7/10 “Leatherface Upstairs, Having a Quick 40 Winks” 🏠 @selewidev @transvaalgf #IndieGame #GameDev
Now, on the one hand it was nice of Henry to help, but personally I have a rule in life - if a house looks like Leatherface may be upstairs having a quick 40 winks, I refuse to enter and run as fast as I can in any direction to get as far away as I possibly can.
18/03/2024
Gloomhaven XSX Review 8.5/10 "How Deep is Your (board gaming) Love?" 🧙♂️ @GloomhavenGame #IndieGame #GameDev
Although Gloomhaven was originally released on PC back in 2021, I wanted to cover it here on GF (on Xbox) in 2024 because I had such a rich experience with the boardgame on which it is based at one of our regular nerdy weekends away a few weeks ago. At said weekends, we tend to have several smaller, briefer games, and then a hefty one to tuck into for a good portion of each day. In this way we’ve played some pretty heavy hitters...but Gloomhaven always lurked at the back of our minds.