Latest Reviews
Review: Home Run Stars (Xbox Live Arcade)
Safe! Sort of.
In the past, Xbox Live Arcade has been a veritable treasure trove of cheap and addictive titles that make really good use of Kinect. Generally built from the ground up with Kinect in mind, games such as Fruit Ninja Kinect and Haunt have kept gamers interested in Microsoft's motion device, and that looks set to continue as we head.. Continue Reading »
Review: Forza Horizon (Xbox 360)
Open your world.
When it comes to racing games, Turn 10 are undoubtedly the kings of the track on the Xbox 360. Their Forza Motorsport series has hit the nail on the head more often than not, with super-slick visuals and an unmatched attention to detail causing petrolheads to drool. This spin-off however, has been handled by Playground Games, a team.. Continue Reading »
Review: Fable: The Journey (Xbox 360)
The road less travelled?
Let’s get this sorted right away. Fable: The Journey isn’t an on-rails experience. Well, it is and it isn’t. Ok, it’s about half and half. But when you’re not being moved about automatically, you’re controlling a horse and cart that can only really go in one direction. So it kind of is. But you can choose which... Continue Reading »
Review: Kinect Sesame Street TV (Xbox 360)
Big Bird's Big Let-Down
After seeing the potential of Kinect-based learning with Kinect Nat Geo TV earlier this week, we were looking forward to visiting our old friends down on Sesame Street. If older kids could be coaxed into mixing learning into their downtime, we were sure that the same could be said for an even younger crowd, especially given.. Continue Reading »
Review: Kinect Nat Geo TV (Xbox 360)
Lions, and tigers, and bears! Oh, my!
Did you know that the mountain lion is the largest member of the cat family that actually purrs? No? Neither did we, although thanks to Kinect Nat Geo TV, we do now. With some games, you feel a bit of apprehension when it comes to loading them up for review. It has the be said that the prospect of finding out.. Continue Reading »
Review: Mini Ninjas Adventures (Xbox Live Arcade)
Zero or Hiro?
There’s no doubt in our minds that 2009’s Mini Ninjas was one of the most underrated games of the generation. Cute characters, some great belly laughs, and solid action-adventure was the order of the day. Unfortunately, the game was pretty much overlooked. Disappointingly for fans, Mini Ninjas Adventures is a Kinect-only spin-off.. Continue Reading »
Review: Summer Stars 2012 (Xbox 360)
Going for Gold
In an Olympic year, there’s always an official game release – such as London 2012: The Official Videogame of The Olympic Games – and then a bunch of pretenders to the throne with publishers who are looking to make a quick buck. On a few occasions, the unofficial titles have surpassed the official attempts in terms of quality.. Continue Reading »
Review: Rhythm Party (Xbox Live Arcade)
Rhythm is gonna get-cha.
More and more often when we talk about Kinect games, we’re talking about hybrids. They can be difficult to categorise, and even more difficult to judge in terms of quality. With Konami’s Rhythm Party though, that isn’t the case. You see, Rhythm Party is designed to be a dancing game – albeit one that allows.. Continue Reading »
Review: Dragon's Lair (Xbox Live Arcade)
Cut! Take 843. Action!
If this were a website focusing on any other part of gaming, it would be hard to know what to write about a game that’s been released for 66 other formats since its inaugural unveiling to the public in arcade form back in 1983. But, with the addition of Kinect support to this Xbox Live Arcade version of Don Bluth’s.. Continue Reading »
Review: Babel Rising (Xbox Live Arcade)
Break the walls down.
After Halfbrick successfully turned the mobile hit Fruit Ninja into the outstanding Fruit Ninja Kinect, the expectations were high for a wave of smart smartphone-to-Kinect crossovers. Doodle Jump Kinect is on the way (apparently), but that and this new edition Babel Rising seem to be the long and the short of the rush. Some.. Continue Reading »
Review: Brave: The Video Game (Xbox 360)
Red Head Redemption?
Let’s dispense with pleasantries, shall we? We all know that games based on movies are usually average or downright awful, with THQ’s excellent Puss in Boots perhaps being the only notable exception of late. So, we won’t dwell on that. Or we wouldn’t dwell on that, were THQ’s latest Disney/Pixar crossover, Brave: The.. Continue Reading »
Review: Wreckateer (Xbox Live Arcade)
Castle Crasher
Angry Birds has a lot to answer for, doesn’t it? Not only are we besieged by clones of the game in each operating system’s app store, but now we’re seeing the influence stretch to console gaming. Even the master itself – Rovio — is exerting its influence, confirming that Angry Birds Trilogy will be coming to Kinect for Xbox.. Continue Reading »
Review: Ice Age: Continental Drift - Arctic Games (Xbox 360)
The ice is wearing thin
Games based on movies have a somewhat dodgy reputation. The publisher grabs the movie licence – generally as filming wraps up – and assigns a developer to get a game completed in time for the movie’s release. In rare cases, the development teams have struck gold. Generally though, the publisher ends up releasing a game.. Continue Reading »
Review: London 2012 - The Official Video Game of the Olympic Games (Xbox 360)
Go for gold, or settle for bronze?
Even though there have been many, many attempts at putting multi-event sporting action into the next generation, only a few attempts have even come close to emulating the quality shown in the likes of Konami’s 1983 arcade hit Track and Field, Sega’s own DecAthlete (Athlete Kings) for the Saturn, or even Olympic.. Continue Reading »
Review: Steel Battalion: Heavy Armor (Xbox 360)
Wreck warrior
On paper, it seemed like a recipe for disaster. How could Capcom possibly take the Steel Battalion series — famed for its intimidating controller and unwavering adherence to hardcore, hard-as-nails gameplay — and condense it into a motion-controlled game on a platform that is beloved by casual players and loathed by ‘proper’... Continue Reading »
Review: Kinect Star Wars (Xbox 360)
Your powers are weak, old man
It isn’t hard to picture the glee that must have filled the offices of Microsoft Studios when the deal to produce Kinect Star Wars was inked. Kinect has always been about removing barriers thrown up by physical controllers and letting players filful their fantasties, and what better advert for the tech than the.. Continue Reading »
Review: Diabolical Pitch (Xbox Live Arcade)
Warning: baseball puns
Leave it to developer Grasshopper Manufacture to take a perfectly innocuous activity like throwing a baseball and find the perfect way to twist it into a weird sci-fi horror show. As a former major league pitcher down on his luck with a bum arm, an anthropomorphic bovine in a suit grants you a souped-up bionic arm — to earn.. Continue Reading »
Review: Country Dance All Stars (Xbox 360)
Saddle up
If you’ve always wanted to play Dance Central but prefer twangy guitars and cowboy hats over Lady Gaga, you'd better strap on your cowboy boots and bolo tie because Country Dance All-Stars is your game. Eschewing the top 40 pop assortment of modern hits, Country Dance All-Stars serves up a Texas-sized helping of country songs from such.. Continue Reading »
Review: Kinect Rush: A Disney Pixar Adventure (Xbox 360)
Fools rush in?
Kinect is proving to be the ideal platform for younger gamers right now; we’ve already had the reasonably enjoyable Disneyland Adventures, and it’s highly likely that the forthcoming Kinect Star Wars will find more favour with pre-teens than thirty-something geeks. Kinect Rush: A Disney Pixar Adventure is another controller-free.. Continue Reading »
Review: Puss in Boots (Xbox 360)
Nearly purrrfect
Any Kinect game that lets you play a swashbuckling cat should have your attention, and Puss in Boots manages to overcome its obvious handicap of being a movie tie-in to result in one of the more enjoyable action games available on Kinect. With several styles of gameplay to sample, from sword fighting and bar room brawling to... Continue Reading »
