The Town of Light (Xbox One, 2017)

The Town of Light
Developed by LKA
Published by Wired Productions
Released for Xbox One (6/6/2017)
Also on PC/PS4

Originally released for PC in February 2016, the Town of Light was ported to both the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One in June 2017. Powered by the Unity Engine, the game has players navigating an abandoned mental hospital in Tuscany, Italy. The developers state that it's based on extensive research and inspired by real events.

In the Town of Light, the player assumes the role of a 16-year-old girl named Renée,  who was a former patient at the hospital back in the 1940's. As Renée you'll explore the now abandoned hospital, searching for answers from the past and recollecting several memories of where she spent her youth. Sometimes these pop up as images, but mostly it is described in narrative. The hospital is a large facility, so there's a lot of ground to explore making it easy to get confused as to where or what you're supposed to do next. Luckily, guides are easy to find out there but it shows that the Town of Light is a bit more open-ended than your average walking simulator. There are a couple points in the story where your decisions will branch the story off a different path, helping to add a little replay value for those who want to play again.

Graphically, the Town of Light presents a detailed environment for you to explore with a decent amount of interactivity, but there are some issues here for sure. There's a filter over the screen at all times during the game that makes it look as if you're looking through some lenses that could use some cleaning. This definitely made me double-take on several occasions to make sure my TV wasn't dirty. It really stands out in the bright outdoor segments and is something I would've liked an option to turn off. There's also quite a bit of graphic pop-in that occurs, particularly noticeable when walking around in the large outdoor areas. The framerate struggles to maintain in quite a few areas, even while playing on an Xbox One X. The game definitely doesn't keep any kind of consistent frame-rate, but with this being a simple walking simulator it's not game-breaking, just a bit annoying. These issues aside, the environment looks good with lots of detail.

While the Town of Light is not your traditional horror game, some of the events that Renée experienced while locked up in the hospital are indeed quite horrific. In particular, the methods used to lobotomize patients back in the '40's were quite disturbing, involving shoving a tool up into the brain through the patient's eye. There are also some sexual themes as our character recalls her lesbian relationship with one of her fellow patients throughout the story. It's nothing too explicit, but I know how people are sensitive to this kind of thing so just a heads up. Sexual themes in general have always had a strange reception in America, but that's a different rabbit-hole to jump into another time. If you want a darker walking-simulator game, particularly one that deals with psychology in the old days, give the Town of Light a go. I'd recommend waiting for a sale due to the short length of the game, but it's worth a shot.

Final Verdict: Those into psychology, especially the history of it, will definitely find something to like with the Town of Light. It's dark and emotional, as a game about one afflicted with a mental illness should be.

Purchase Links:
Buy the Town of Light - Microsoft Store

Related Links:
The Town of Light - Official Site
LKA - Official Site
Wired Productions - Official Site
The Town of Light - GameFAQs
The Town of Light - Wikipedia
The Town of Light - True Achievements

Gnomes Garden 2 (Xbox One, 2018)

Gnomes Garden 2
Developed by Jerzie/SPL
Published by 8Floor
Released for Xbox One (10/30/2018)
Also on PC/PS4/Switch
File Size: 466.45 MB

Gnomes Garden 2 was originally released for PC back in December 2015, just four months after the first game came out. The versions released for the Xbox One would come out in even quicker succession, with the sequel releasing less than a month after the first game hit the digital storefront.

Gnomes Garden 2 will be instantly familiar to anybody who played the first title, as the gameplay really hasn't changed much this time around. There are a total of 49 levels to play through, with each level taking around 5-10 minutes to complete. Each stage will provide a list of tasks that must be completed and the same 3-star timed rating for each stage has returned from the previous game, adding a little replay value for completionists.

The story involves the gnomes trying to restore their kingdom and thwart the trolls. Trolls will occasionally appear on-screen to slow your workers down, but can be sent packing if you have a fireman handy. If you want a more complete overview of the gameplay, check out the review for the first game here, as the gameplay in the sequel is the same as the first title and I honestly don't feel like repeating all of that again.

The interface is mostly the same as the previous effort, with options that allow you to adjust the volume of the music and sound effects as well as pointer sensitivity. There's really not a whole lot more to say about Gnomes Garden 2. If you enjoyed the first game and simply want more of the same, then by all means check this one out. If you were looking for the franchise to evolve in any way then you will likely be disappointed by the sequel as it is literally just more of the same.

Final Verdict: Gnomes Garden 2 isn't bad, but it does nothing that wasn't done in the first title. If you liked the original game and want more of the same, check this one out.

Related Links:
Buy Gnomes Garden 2 - Microsoft Store
Gnomes Garden - Xbox Overview
8Floor - Twitter
Gnomes Garden 2 - GameFAQs 
Gnomes Garden 2 - True Achievements
Gnomes Garden 2 - Xbox Achievements

Far Cry 3 (Xbox 360, 2012)

Far Cry 3
Developed by Ubisoft Montreal
Published by Ubisoft
Released for Xbox 360 (12/2012)
Also on PC/PS3/PS4/X1
Backwards Compatible on Xbox One

Four years after Far Cry 2, Ubisoft released the third entry in the series in December 2012. Ubisoft Montreal took the open-ended nature of the second game and went all-out with it this time, dropping the player onto a giant set of islands and letting you explore at your own will. The island is massive and many dangers await, including hostile enemies and a large variety of wild animals. Far Cry 3 received positive reviews back in 2012 from both critics and gamers alike, so let's take a fresh look at the game and see how it holds up after all these years.

Far Cry 3 starts off with the main character, a dude named Jason Brody from Los Angeles, with his friends on vacation in Bangkok. When they decide to partake in some skydiving, the group makes the mistake of landing on a an island with a severe pirate problem. Soon after they are captured and taken prisoner by Vaas, a pirate-lord on the island.

There will be spoilers in the following paragraph, so if you haven't played the game yet you may want to skip to the next paragraph. Far Cry 3 is without a doubt a worthwhile gaming experience, though the game is far from perfect. The main storyline uses the "white man shows up to save the natives" trope that we've seen before in movies like Dances with Wolves or the Last Samurai, and while it works well enough to give you a reason to shoot people it all feels a bit contrived. The main character is a generic "dude bro" guy (though he is from Cali to be fair) and it's quite a stretch to think he's the one carrying out the player's actions. Jason's group of friends that are stuck on the island with him aren't particularly likable either. It's not a game-breaker, but you'll likely find yourself more interested in the villains and side-characters than the main ones, which leads me to feel that the game could have benefited from a silent protagonist. The most interesting of the bad guys, Vaas, who is also the guy featured on the game's cover-art, is taken out about halfway through the game, causing the campaign to lose some steam in the second act, due partly to the fact that repetition starts to settle in but also because Hoyt and Buck (the other 2 villains in the game) are nowhere near as interesting as Vaas. Despite a somewhat cliché story and a non-charismatic hero, Far Cry 3 still manages to throw the player into an interesting world that is a blast to explore.

Far Cry 3 was a great looking game on high-end PCs back when it came out. While the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 ports were watered-down in the graphics and performance department, the game still looked good when stacked against others on the respective platforms and delivered a solid open-world experience. The Rook Islands, the setting of the game, makes a good use of bright, vibrant colors in an era where most games were obsessed with using darker palletes. To help the world feel even more alive, there is a day and night cycle and even the occasional rainfall. Far Cry 3 also boasts some impressive fire effects, with an awesome flamethrower that can spread out and cause some serious damage.

In addition to the already mentioned flamethrower, Far Cry 3 features a large variety of weapons to choose from and is quite a step up when compared to earlier entries in the series. There's a nice range of assault rifles, submachine guns, sniper rifles, handguns, machine guns, shotguns, launchers and special weapons to choose from, allowing you to mix up your encounters by switching up your arsenal (since you can only carry a few weapons at a time). This was the first Far Cry title to feature the awesome Vector .45 ACP, an awesome submachine gun with a high rate of fire that has been featured in every game in the series after this one (with the exception of Far Cry Primal of course, which doesn't feature firearms). Special weapons include the flamethrower, flare gun, repair tool (used to fix vehicles) and the recurve bow. Also new to the Far Cry franchise is the weapon customization, which allows you add stuff like extended magazines, suppressors, scopes and even paint jobs. There are also signature versions of select weapons available, which come decked out with accessories and are definitely a step-up from the vanilla version of that gun. Far Cry 3 does a great job providing a wide variety of weaponry to play around with and was a big improvement when compared to the previous games.

One of the coolest features of Far Cry 2 was the inclusion of wildlife and Far Cry 3 brings it back, offering a nice variety of animals you'll come across while exploring the Rook Islands. There's over 20 different types of animals, ranging from boars, cougars, bears, deer to snakes, crocodiles and fish. The more aggressive animals will attack you on sight, so you'll always have to be mindful of them as you move about. The plus side to this is that the animals will also attack any other bystanders, allowing you to easily take out enemies without any direct involvement. Enemy outposts (more on these later) will frequently feature caged animals and it's always fun to release these beasts upon their captors. The animals in Far Cry 3 really add an extra element to the game that help set it apart from your average open-world game of the time.

Most open-world titles have a skill tree of some sort and Far Cry 3 is no exception. There's a large skill tree that will allow you to unlock a bevy of different perks. There are survival perks for improved sprinting, first-aid enhancement, underwater breath control and health boosts. There are weapon perks for stuff like steady aim, holding more ammo and quicker reloads. There's also a nice variety of perks to help with stealth encounters including several new takedowns. The chained takedown is definitely a favorite, allowing you to link your takedowns when there's another guy in close proximity, making quick work out of unaware groups.The perks do a good job adding a sense of progression to the game as you get stronger the more you progress.

Besides the standard campaign missions, there's quite a bit to do while killing time in the Rook Islands. Almost as important as the story missions are the radio towers and outposts. Radio towers are scattered all around the islands and will unlock more of the map for you to see when unlocked. Radio towers must be scaled, which will require some platforming, and once the power box at the top is destroyed another chunk of the map will be unveiled, revealing points of interest and nearby outposts. The outposts are enemy encampments that can be found across the map that will grant you a spot you can fast travel to on the map once you clear them out. Clearing enemy outposts is always some of the best fun in Far Cry titles, allowing you to choose from a variety of tactics to take care of business. If you want to go in guns blazing you can, but I always find it more fun to try and sneak about to clear the outpost undetected. Once a tower or outpost has been cleared, that location will be available to fast travel to from the map menu. There are alarms that can be disabled if your sneaky, but if the enemy sees you and activates the alarm then you'll have to fight against additional reinforcements. While the towers with their platforming aren't really anything special, the outposts are easily a highlight and among the most fun you'll have with the game.

In addition to the outposts and radio towers, there are several other types of side-quests you'll unlock as you clear the outposts. None of these missions are required to complete the game, but they will get you some nice XP and rewards. There are general side missions where you assist the locals, path of the hunter quests, supply drops, trials and wanted dead missions, so there's no shortage of extra stuff to do here. Most of these are just your standard "go here and get or kill this" type of missions, but there's a little variety. Supply drops have you racing on a quad, trying to reach a destination before a time limit runs out. Path of the hunter quests will have you seeking revenge on animals that have killed some of the locals. The side-missions add a decent amount of variety and will grant you some nice XP if you choose to take them on.

The control layout in Far Cry 3 utilizes all of the buttons on the pad, but once you become accommodated it works well enough. The Y button serves two functions, which at first I thought would be problematic. Pressing the button will switch weapons while holding it will heal your character. I warmed up to this rather fast and it really wasn't an issue. The weapon wheel, a common thing in modern shooter games, works good and it's easy to switch up your arsenal on the fly. Aiming and shooting with the weapons feels good, which is of course very important in a shooter. When driving, the game forces a first-person mode which helps a bit with immersion but takes some getting used to. Later on in the game, you'll obtain the wingsuit which allows you to glide around, making traversal much quicker. The controls in Far Cry 3 are solid and it shouldn't take long to get used to the layout, as it's not all that different from your standard first-person shooter.

There are some other negatives to the game besides the already mentioned story/character issues. The missions leading up to the boss fights are fun, but when you actually go head-to-head with them it tends to result in a quick-time event, which was a bit of a let-down to me, though I'm sure some people don't mind or enjoy these. Also, some of the boundaries imposed on you while your on missions feel a bit restrictive, taking away from the open-world aspect of the game. Looting dead enemies can be a pain due to the fact that they drop their weapons on the ground next to their body, making it difficult to select whether you want to loot the body or swap weapons since both actions are assigned to the same button. The fall damage is way too unforgiving, with Jason losing several bars for dropping what feels like a few feet and death coming from falls way too easily. There is a perk you can unlock to help reduce the fall damage, but even after unlocking that I still found the fall damage far too exaggerated. These gripes are all rather minor and aren't enough to stop Far Cry 3 from being an enjoyable experience.

It's also worth noting that Far Cry 3 features a few additional modes, which include a co-op campaign and map editor. The co-op campaign allows for 2-4 players to team up against the pirates. The co-op campaign's story takes place before the vanilla campaign and it involves the featured characters being scammed out of their money while on a cruise ship. The action picks up when the crew decide to attack the pirates that stole from them. The co-op campaign features 6 missions, with an additional 2 that were released exclusively for PlayStation 3 which were obtained through the Ubisoft Club (which would later turn into Uplay). The co-op campaign was a bit rough around the edges but was still fun to play. These days you'll likely have a hard time finding random players and would have to coordinate a session with friends if you wanted to play it. There was also a map editor, which was quite a bit more advanced than what we'd seen in previous entries, allowing you to place enemy AI and wildlife with options for editing the terrain. There was enough to let your imagination let loose a bit, so kudos to the developers for including both the co-op campaign and map editors as nice bonus features.

While the earlier Far Cry games were good, the series really found its stride with Far Cry 3, establishing the formula that every game after it would follow. While the gameplay tasks can be a bit repetitive, the gameplay loop in Far Cry 3 is enjoyable enough that it was always fun to dig back in and continue exploring. The Xbox 360 port really struggles to keep a steady 30 FPS, usually averaging around 25 FPS and dipping even lower when there's a lot of action on-screen. It doesn't make the game un-playable by any means, but if you have a decent PC you can probably get this game running smoother and looking quite a bit nicer than these old console ports. In addition to an inconsistent frame-rate, both the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 ports both suffer from screen-tearing, which is quite easy to notice but at the same time many games of this era had the same problem. While not the most optimal way to play Far Cry 3, the Xbox 360 port is still a fun game if you have no alternative way to visit the Rook Islands.

Final Verdict: Far Cry 3 is a fun open-world experience with a colorful tropical environment to explore. There's a lot to do here and while the Xbox 360 port doesn't have the best frame-rate, the game is still a blast.

Purchase Links:
Buy Far Cry 3 (Digtial) on Xbox 360 - Microsoft Store
Buy Far Cry 3 (Disc) on Xbox 360 - eBay
Buy Far Cry 3 Classic (Digital) on Xbox One - Microsoft Store
Buy Far Cry Insanity Bundle (Digital) on Xbox One - Microsoft Store
Buy Far Cry 3 Classic Edition (Disc) on Xbox One - eBay 

Related Links:
Ubisoft Montreal - Official Site
Ubisoft - Official Site
Far Cry 3 - GameFAQs
Far Cry 3 Xbox 360/PS3 Frame-Rate Analysis - Digital Foundry
Far Cry 3 - True Achievements
Far Cry 3 Achievement Guide - Xbox Achievements

Bulb Boy (Xbox One, 2017)

Bulb Boy
Developed/Published by Bulbware
Released for Xbox One (10/6/2017)
Also on iOS/Mac/PC/PS4/Switch
File Size: 2.44 GB

Developed by Poland-based developer Bulbware (the same guys who would later collaborate with popular YouTuber Pewdiepie for a game called Poopdie for iOS/Android), Bulb Boy is a weird point 'n click adventure style game that was first released for PC and Macintosh back in late October 2015. In July 2016 the game was ported to iOS compatible devices, July 2017 the Switch, October 2017 the Xbox One and finally the PlayStation 4 in March 2018. Bulb Boy is a strange game, taking you through a nightmarish world in the shoes of the titular character, who indeed has a bulb for a head.

The story is simple but provides a nice set-up for the craziness that follows. Bulb Boy wakes up from a terrible nightmare, only to discover that some sort of evil presence has taken over the bulb-house. Bulb Boy's family has mysteriously vanished and there are some strange monsters lurking in the shadows. It's up to Bulb Boy to muster up the courage and save everything he loves.

Bulb Boy is definitely not going to be for everyone, even if you are a fan of point 'n click adventures, as the game features lots of toilet humor. In one of the standout sequences of the game, Bulb Boy has just digested a giant headless chicken and takes a literal monster dump, as after he's done a giant snake-like turd emerges from the toilet. Fans of games like the Binding of Isaac and South Park: The Stick of Truth will likely enjoy the twisted humor of Bulb Boy.

Bulb Boy is presented with a simple graphic-style that consists of various shades of green, except when Bulb Boy meets his demise, which causes the screen to turn red. While the graphics are simple, the environments are loaded with lots of nice little details and you can see quite a bit of effort went into the various animations. There's lots of cool nostalgia-throwbacks, such as a Power Glove lying on the living room floor or Masters of the Universe action figures in the sandbox. The music matches up well with the disturbing scenery and the sound effects help add to the grotesqueness, with lots of nasty sloshing noises used appropriately.

The gameplay in Bulb Boy is more or less your standard fare for a point 'n click style game, involving some exploration and puzzle-solving to see your way through to the end. There are a couple of spots in the game where you'll need to use your reflexes, but it's not too demanding on that front. The puzzles aren't too difficult, as the areas tend to be quite small and the item you'll need to interact with is always close by, though they will inevitably require a bit of trial and error.  The trial and error never becomes too frustrating due to generous checkpoints that get you back to where you were quickly.

Bulb Boy allows you to control your character directly and the movements are nice and responsive. Overall the game's control scheme is nice and simple; A button interacts with objects, B button backs out of the exam screen and the inventory is accessed using RB & LB. Once an inventory item is selected, you simply hit the A button to use that on whatever object is highlighted. There's a sequence where you control both the kid and the dog at the same time, one with each stick. This is a cool segment and I definitely wouldn't have minded another scenario or two involving the duo.

I enjoyed my time with Bulb Boy, though it's a rather short experience and, as already stated, it won't be for everybody due to some of the disgusting imagery, lots of it involving sphincters and feces. Throughout my playthrough of Bulb Boy, I unlocked all of the achievements in under 5 hours and didn't run into any crashes/glitches in the process. If you're a fan of the strange and bizarre, you may want to look into Bulb Boy. It retails for the fair asking price of $8.99, so while the game is quite short at least you don't have to break the bank to get it.

Final Verdict: While a short game, Bulb Boy will provide a few hours of fun for those who enjoy some toilet humor and bizarre imagery in their point 'n click adventures.

Related Links:
Buy Bulb Boy - Microsoft Store
Point & Click Games - Xbox Overview
Bulbware - Official Site
Bulb Boy - GameFAQs
Bulb Boy - True Achievements
Bulb Boy - Xbox Achievements

Gnomes Garden (Xbox One, 2018)

Gnomes Garden
Developed by SPL/Workroom7
Published by 8Floor
Released for Xbox One (10/2018)
Also on PC/PS4/Switch

Gnomes Garden shares much in common with real-time strategy games, featuring a similar 3/4 overhead perspective view with gameplay primarily consisting of gathering resources and using them to build/upgrade various structures. Unlike most real-time strategy games that feature vast, sprawling maps to explore, each of the scenarios in Gnomes Garden are limited to a single screen. A dry summer has withered up the king's beloved garden and all the other gardens in kingdom. Due to this the king has become ill and the land is in danger, so it's up to the gnome princess and her crew to help save the gardens and make the king better. It's a silly story and is only revealed through occasional text boxes, but it does enough to set up why you're gathering resources and restoring trees.

When you begin a stage in Gnomes Garden, you'll have command over a single worker gnome. You're unable to control the gnomes directly, though you can command them to perform specific actions by clicking on the appropriate spots on the screen. Clicking on a resource or building will send a gnome over to collect or construct what you've commanded them to. Buildings can be upgraded to level 3, which will boost the production of that building. Upgrading a worker house will give you additional worker gnomes (up to 3), allowing you to gather resources faster. Building a mage home will give you access to the sorceresses, who have the ability to deter large gnomes (who block pathways). Sorceresses can also sprout trees on designated dirt plots, though you'll need a fireman to get the tree to bloom (more on this in a bit).

There are four different resources to gather: food, stone, wood and crystals. Food, stone and wood serve as the basic building blocks for most structures and the crystals aid your sorceresses in performing special feats, such as removing a large troll from blocking your path. Certain levels also features trolls that walk around the pathways, slowing down your workers. The trolls will stay on the screen disrupting your workers until you've constructed a firehouse. The firehouse allows you to command the fireman to dismiss these annoying trolls. The firemen will also be used to water the trees that the sorceress can sprout, which means growing the trees are a 2-part process requiring both classes.

Gnomes Garden features 49 levels that cover four different terrains. On each stage you can earn up to a 3-star rating, which is rewarded for completing that stage within a certain time. Gameplay remains the same as you progress, though the game does mix it up occasionally by throwing in new structures to build like teleporters and signal fires. You'll have to use your worker, fireman and sorceress gnomes frequently, especially in later levels. Objectives are typically varied enough that no 2 levels feel exactly the same, though they are all undeniably a bit similar.

As you progress through the game, you will start to unlock special abilities. There are 3 of these in total, which can be used as often as you like, though their use is limited due to a cooldown between usage. The first ability you'll gain will speed up your workers, allowing them to zip around and gather resources faster for a limited time. The second ability allows you to speed up the building process, shaving valuable seconds off the time it takes to construct a new building. The third and final ability allows you to stop the clock for a brief period, making it a bit easier to finish certain stages in time to get a 3-star rating.

Gnomes Garden is a bit limited in the music department, as there's only one song that plays throughout the entirety of the game. While the song isn't terrible, you'll certainly grow tired of hearing it play endlessly and will want to put on your own soundtrack if you play through the whole game. There's not much as far as sound design is concerned, just the basic sounds you'd expect for stuff like chopping wood. There are helpful sound cues that indicate your special ability is charged or that a troll has wandered on-screen, so muting the game to listen to something else comes with a bit of a cost. There's an options menu that allows you to adjust the sound/music volumes and pointer sensitivity. While everything in Gnomes Garden is a bit small, the graphics are detailed enough that it's never difficult to tell what you're looking at. Presentation-wise, the game leaves a bit to be desired in the music/sound department but does okay when it comes to the graphics and menus.

Gnomes Garden isn't bad for what it is, which is a very linear resource management and building game. It's definitely something that wouldn't feel out of place on your cellphone, so if you'd like something you can pick up and play in short bursts you might like this one. There's something relaxing about the game and I enjoyed playing through it, but it's not something I'd ever come back to. There's also a little bit of challenge and replay incentive with the 3-star rating, plus the game sells for the meager price of $4.99.

Final Verdict: Gnomes Garden is a short and simple game where you gather resources, construct buildings and restore trees. While a bit basic, the game is fun for what it is.

Related Links:
Buy Gnomes Garden - Microsoft Store
Gnomes Garden - GameFAQs
Gnomes Garden - True Achievements
Gnomes Garden Achievement Guide - Xbox Achievements

Albedo: Eyes from Outer Space (Xbox One, 2016)

Albedo: Eyes from Outer Space
Developed by ZG40
Published by Merge Games
Released for Xbox One (1/20/2016)
Also on Mac/PC/PS4

Albedo: Eyes from Outer Space not only has an odd title, but is a strange game as well. The opening of the game proudly declares that the game was created by a single person, a dude named Fabrizio Zagaglia (ZG40). Albedo was originally released for PC & Macintosh in October 2014 and received a port to the PlayStation 4 & Xbox One in January 2016. Albedo: Eyes from Outer Space is an adventure game that looks to invoke a B-movie sci-fi vibe.

The game kicks off with a brief cutscene, showing you sitting at a desk as a watchman for some sort of facility. After watching a co-worker leave for the night, a sudden explosion occurs and you fall through the ground as it busts open. When the game starts proper, you find yourself down in the basement looking up a giant hole in the floor. Albedo's gameplay is a mix of puzzle and adventure. The game progresses by rooms and each room will have puzzles to solve, which will involve interacting with various objects you'll find scattered about. There will be some traveling back and forth between previous rooms, but for the most part the game is linear in progression.

Albedo takes place from a first-person perspective. Featuring detailed 3D-rendered environments, it's not a bad-looking game. Though it's certainly not a good-looking game either, as many of the environments have so much packed into small areas it can be a bit too busy, making it difficult to tell what you're looking at sometimes. While acceptable on a graphical level, the control department is where Albedo really starts to blunder. Items have to be accessed via a menu, then once you've selected an item you need to scroll through another menu to determine what you'd like to do with that item. The game doesn't pause to let you do this, causing for some frustrating combat where you'll have an enemy attacking you while you clumsily try to select an item then select the menu to attack with. It's quite clunky and I never really got a feel for it even towards the end of the game. The controls definitely could've been mapped out better.

Aledo is a rather short game, though unless you use a guide there will no doubt be several areas where you're unsure what to do. Without a guide, the game could last anywhere from 10-20 hours, though once you inevitably end up using a guide the game can be cleared within a few hours. The areas and rooms you'll explore aren't that memorable for the most part, but there were a few interesting sections. The outdoor section toward the end was a standout sequence, but much of what led up to that was easily forgettable.

Albedo allows you to adjust the difficulty of the puzzles and combat individually. When puzzles are set to easy, the objects you can interact with glow green, but even set on easy I still found myself struggling with the puzzles at points (more on this later). Adjusting the combat slider will make enemies tougher and deal more damage. As I've already addressed how bad the combat is in Albedo, you'll want to do yourself a favor and set this to easy.

Albedo started off at least somewhat promising, giving the impression it might be a solid puzzle/adventure game with a lot of weirdness. While the game definitely delivered in spades on the weirdness scale, whatever fun I had with the game completely vanished at the fourth room, which is a boiler room. After a bit of frustration trying to figure out what I was supposed to do, I had to resort to a guide. Even reducing the difficulty to make the puzzles easier didn't help, which speaks volumes to the non-sensical design of the puzzles. It's like the developer knew the puzzles were bad, giving you the ability to skip certain puzzles and having no repercussion on getting the achievements.

This was one of those games I couldn't wait to end; it was painful to play at times. The best part was getting that last achievement and uninstalling this from my hard drive. I consider myself a fan of both puzzle and adventure games, but this was easily among the worst of either genre I can recall playing. The puzzles are convoluted beyond belief and the game is buggy enough that sometimes required objects clip through walls and disappear, making certain parts un-completable.  Couple that with terrible voice-acting and clunky controls, Albedo is a game I can safely recommend you avoid. While the game is a relatively quick completion, there are much better ways to earn some easy gamerscore.

Final Verdict: Albedo: Eyes from Outer Space is a strange first-person action/adventure/puzzle title that has a few interesting ideas but is held back by a clunky interface, clumsy controls and nonsensical puzzles. I wouldn't even recommend this game to my worst enemy.

Related Links:
Buy Albedo - Microsoft Store
Merge Games - Official Site
Albedo - GameFAQs
Albedo - True Achievements
Albedo Achievement Guide - Xbox Achievements
Albedo Platinum Walkthrough - PlayStation Trophies

6180 the Moon (Xbox One, 2015)

6180 the Moon
Developed/Published by Turtle Cream
Released for Xbox One (12/11/2015)
Also on 3DS/Linux/Mac/PC/Switch/Wii U

6180 the Moon is a 2D platformer from Korean developer Turtle Cream. The sun has vanished and it's up to you, the moon, to navigate through 100 levels in your search to restore the sunlight. This one's a bit different than your standard game in this genre, as the moon jumps very high, all the way through the top of the screen and up through the bottom.

6180 the Moon is likely not going to grab you from the screenshots. Everything is very minimalist and the primary focus is just the gameplay. The graphics are basically just composed of basic shapes with stars in the background; it's a simple style but it works well here. The music is smooth and relaxing, which fits the game's overall mood and tone. Sound design is basic and unobtrusive. Presentation-wise, 6180 the Moon sports a minimalist aesthetic that works in its favor.

Similar to Atari 2600 titles of old, the top and bottom of the screen are interconnected. It's a minor difference from your standard platformer, but it gives 6180 the Moon a unique feel. It's a bit refreshing to not have to worry about dying when falling over the edge. It's not as if you can't die, as there are still hazards in the form of spikes and various objects you'll have to avoid, not to mention vanishing platforms.

Each set of levels is represented by a planet, with each planet containing 10 levels. There are 5 planets which you'll have to go through twice, making for a total of 100 levels. Once you reach the end, the sun advises you that it's waiting on you (the moon) to set and you need to go back to set things straight. So you go back through the game again, this time both in reverse order and upside down. It sounds much more difficult than it is, with the entire game only lasting 2-3 hours. A few stages can be a bit challenging, but nothing is too frustrating and they get back in the action quickly when you die.

6180 the Moon is a fun game for the hour or so it lasts, but due to the brief length you may want to wait on a sale before picking it up, though the $4 asking price is quite fair. Give it a look if you're into 2D platformers; it's a nice little game. There's an interesting bit of text at the end of the credit roll that says the following: "We're Korean. But we don't make games in Korean. Because the South Korea government thinks video games are social evils, just like drugs." Just wanted to make a note of that as I found it interesting and not you don't commonly see messages from the devs in the credits.

Final Verdict: 6180 the Moon is a fun 2D platformer where you can jump really high through to the other side of the screen. While short and a bit on the easy side, it's still a good time for platformer fans.

Related Links:
Buy 6180 the Moon - Microsoft Store
Platformers - Xbox Overview
Turtle Cream - Official Site
Video Gaming in South Korea - Wikipedia
6180 the Moon - GameFAQs
6180 the Moon - True Achievements
6180 the Moon Achievement Guide - Xbox Achievements

Black (Xbox, 2006)

Black
Developed by Criterion Games
Published by EA Games
Released for Xbox (2/28/2006)
Also on PS2
Backwards Compatible on Xbox 360/Xbox One

Black was developed by Criterion Games, most known at the time for the Burnout series, and was released in February 2005, a few months after the new Microsoft system the Xbox 360 was released. It seemed like an odd choice for EA Games to put this out for the older system. Regardless, Black serves as a graphical showcase for what the aging Xbox and PlayStation 2 hardware were capable of. Black featured several aspects of the world that were destructible, awesome sound design and impressive particle effects.

Black consists only of a single-player campaign mode which contains 8 missions. There's a decent variety between the stages, featuring a town, asylum, dockyard and bridge to name a few. The levels themselves are detailed for the time and feature an admirable amount of destructible objects in them. Levels are linear but leave a little room for exploration, though the path forward is never really difficult to find. Black's stages have a decent flow to them, but they typically just consist of go to a checkpoint, kill waves of enemies that spawn and then move to next checkpoint to do it again. To be fair, this is the case in most first-person shooters and Black is no exception. While the overall stage design is a tad generic, there are a few standout levels like the bridge and the finale at the gulag as quite memorable.

There's some kind of story to follow along with in Black, but it's a bit convoluted and tough to keep up with. You play as a black ops operative in Chechnya, Russia. The story is revealed in cutscenes before each level, featuring full-motion video showing clips of the interrogation. Our character is a veteran who is being threatened with imprisonment unless he cooperates with the interrogator. There's some stuff about an arms smuggling/terrorist group called the Seventh Wave, which are the guys you'll be killing by the hundreds. While the story is a bit confusing, the cutscenes are well-produced and they don't get in the way of the action.

The weapon selection in Black is quite standard, but Criterion Games did a good job making each weapon feel different and fun to use. For handguns you have the G17 and the DC3 Elite, the only fictional gun in Black that is comparable to a Desert Eagle. For assault rifles, there's the AK47, G36C and M16. The M249 SAW sits as the only light machine gun in the game. Then for sub-machine guns you have the MP5, Uzi and P90. Rounding out the weapons cast are the two specialty guns, the sniper rifle (Walther 2000) and the RPG. You can only carry up to 2 guns at a time so there's a bit of strategy in deciding which weapons work best in certain scenarios, but unfortunately the game chooses which guns you start each level with, so the available arsenal is limited to what the enemies on that particular stage are carrying.

For the most part, the weapons feel good to fire. There's some nice, beefy gunfire sounds and the particle effects and damage when bullets hit surfaces is quite impressive. The recoil is a bit crazy on some of the automatic weapons, but once you get used to burst-firing it's not so bad. I wound up using the MP5 for the majority of the game, because ammo was plentiful due to most soldiers dropping it and the recoil is minimal compared to the other guns in the game. There are definitely situations suited for the shotguns and sniper rifles, providing a bit of variety to the weapons effectiveness. There's an effect where the camera focuses on your gun when you reload and the background blurs out while you insert a new clip. While I'm sure this was impressive at the time, it quickly became a bit annoying and was definitely not necessary. At the very least, an option to toggle the blur off would have been welcome.

Enemy design is not one of Black's strong points, but it gets the job done. You'll face off against countless grunts, most wielding SMGs but some will be equipped with an M249, sniper rifle or rocket launcher. There's the heavily-armored shotgun soldier, who will rush in to get close and will get back up again before dying. There's also riot-shield soldiers who can be a real pain, but can be taken out quick with a frag grenade. Enemies are often content with just ducking in and out of cover, but the shotgun and riot shield guys will close in on your position, adding some intensity to the firefights.

There's a bit of replay value in Black, with multiple difficulties and some unlockable modes. Playing on normal or up will reveal additional objectives for each level that aren't present on easy, similar to how games like Goldeneye 007 and Perfect Dark did. There's added objectives for the toughest difficulty for a nice boost in challenge. If you clear the game on normal or hard with all objectives completed you will unlock silver weapons, granting you unlimited ammo. Completing the game on hard will also unlock black ops mode for players who want an extra challenge.

Back in its day, Black was a rock-solid FPS game and a technical marvel for the aging consoles it released for. There were many times while playing this I could have easily mistaken the game for an early Xbox 360 title; it really looks that good. The gameplay hasn't aged as well as the graphics, unfortunately, and Black feels a bit more sluggish than your standard FPS. The already slow aiming and movement isn't helped by the fact that there's no sprint button, so movement in general just feels a bit slower when compared against other FPS titles. The cutscenes that play before each level are un-skippable the first time through, a minor annoyance but I thought it was worth mentioning. While the guns feel good to use, there is a  bit of a lack of variety when it comes to the enemy and stage design. Black is far from a perfect shooter and hasn't aged the most gracefully, but there's still some fun to be had running around blasting bad guys with the various weaponry.

Black would receive backwards-compatible support on both the Xbox 360 and the Xbox One. On the Xbox 360, it's one of the titles known to run more or less error-free, which is a bit rare for Xbox backwards-compatible games on that system. The game looks great running on an Xbox One X and I didn't experience any issues while playing through the game on that console. I did notice tears in destructible objects likely due to the resolution enhancement, but it was by no means a game-breaker.

A sequel to Black was planned and would have come out for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, but was cancelled due to differences between the developers and publisher EA Games. Bodycount, which was released for the Xbox 360 in 2011, is considered to be the spritiual successor to Black. Bodycount was developed by Guildford Studio, which  was made up of several of the developers that worked on Black. I don't have Bodycount yet, but I'd be interested in taking a look at that one on the site sometime.

Final Verdict: Black is a solid, action-packed single-player first-person shooter. While it hasn't necessarily aged the best and feels a bit slow at first, once you warm up to it Black is still a fun time.

Purchase Links:
Buy Black (Digital) - Microsoft Store
Buy Black (Disc) - eBay

Related Links:
Criterion Games - Xbox Overview
FPS Games - Xbox Overview
Criterion Games - Official Site
Electronic Arts - Official Site
Black - GameFAQs

Alternate EU/JP Cover

Minit (Xbox One, 2018)

Minit
Developed by Jan Nijman, Kitty Calis, Jukio Kallio and Dominik Johann
Published by Devolver Digital
Released for Xbox One (4/3/2018)
Also on Linux/Mac/PC/Mobile/PS4/Switch

Developed by a small indie team and released in 2018 for the Xbox One, the concept of Minit is that you only have 60 seconds to live. There's a timer up in the top-left and when it runs out, your character drops dead on the spot due to some kind of funky curse placed on you. If you enjoy speed-running games, then you're likely going to love Minit. If you like to explore and take your time in your action-adventure games, then perhaps the mechanic sounds more irritating than interesting. Personally, I'm usually more of the latter but I came into Minit with an open-mind and I wound up enjoying the game quite a bit.

Minit's presentation is very basic. The game sports some basic pixel art with only black and white as the colors, with characters that remind me a bit of  those old Tomagatchi creatures, especially this one. It's a simplistic look that serves the simple gameplay well. Sound effects are well done and all characters have their own person speaking their gibberish. While basic, the graphics serve their purpose well and you can tell what everything is supposed to be at a glance which is not always the case with pixel art.

Gameplay-wise, Minit borrows a lot from the old Legend of Zelda titles. The action is viewed from an overhead perspective and the screens change when you hit the borders, rather than scroll. As you explore you'll find NPCs to talk to which will usually yield a fetch quest to complete. You'll find several useful items that will grant you the necessary abilities to progress further into the game. Items in Minit are things like the sword (lets you fight), coffee (lets you push boxes), gardening gloves (break trees with your sword) and a few others.

You'll also encounter enemies that you'll have to fight with your sword. Combat is basic (1-button to hit) and easy to use. As you travel along you'll find new homes, which will serve as a checkpoint of sorts. Once you enter into one of the "home" buildings, you set that to be your next spawn point upon your next inevitable death. It's a cool system and makes it possible to explore further out into the map as you fight against the strict time limit. The game will likely take anywhere from 2-6 hours to complete, shorter if you're using a guide of course.

Upon completing the game for the first time, you'll unlock 2 new game modes: second run and Mary's mode. Second run adds some difficulty to many of the screens in addition to giving you only 40 seconds each life as opposed to the 60 you got the first time. Mary's mode is interesting, where you play as the ghost Mary (who is an NPC you can meet in the first playthrough) and are no longer constricted by any kind of time limit. I enjoyed Mary's mode as it allows you to explore at your own pace and play the game like your more traditional adventure title, rather than rushing through everything in the main game. Both of these game modes are nice additions and add some extra replay value to what would otherwise be a super short game.

Minit is definitely an interesting take on the action/adventure genre with a speedrunning element incorporated. While the constant time limit could have easily been a frustrating mechanic, Minit features some solid map design and the solution is never too difficult to find. There's not much out there like it, other than Half-Minute Hero off the top of my head, so if you like this one you may want to check that one out too. Those into speed-running and/or old-school Legend of Zelda-style adventure games will surely find something to like in Minit.

Final Verdict: If you're a fan of speed-running and/or classic action-adventure games, Minit combines them both to deliver a unique experience.

Related Links:
Buy Minit - Microsoft Store
Jan Willem Nijman - Twitter
Devolver Digital - Official Site
Minit - Official Site
Minit - Hardcore Gaming 101
Minit - GameFAQs
Minit Achievement Guide - Xbox Achievements
Minit - True Achievements

Old Man's Journey (Xbox One, 2019)

Old Man's Journey
Developed/Published by Broken Rules
Released for Xbox One (3/4/2019)
Also on Mac/Mobile/PC/PS4/Switch

Old Man's Journey was developed by Vienna-based indie studio Broken Rules and has been ported to numerous platforms since its initial inception. Originally released in May 2017, Old Man's Journey made its debut on PC, Macintosh and mobile devices (Android/iOS). In 2018 the game would see ports for both the Switch and the PlayStation 4 before finally ending up on Xbox One in March 2019.

In the game you take control of an old man, going for a journey and reminiscing about the good old days as you stop to savor life along the way. One interesting aspect about the game is that despite the fact there is no spoken or written dialogue of any sort, the devs did a good job conveying a story you'll piece together from the just the visuals. Being an old man, the game has a laid-back pace to it and the puzzles aren't too taxing on the brain, allowing you to play through the game at your own pace with minimal frustrations. Old Man's Journey features a painted-art style to the graphics and the amount of animation put into this game is quite impressive, especially on the main character.

As you guide the old man along his journey, you'll traverse from one screen to the next, solving puzzles and reminiscing upon times of days past. The puzzles involve grabbing and manipulating the hills in the background (by moving them up and down) in order to create a path for your character to move onward. There's some nice variety throughout, but the puzzles all involve grabbing and manipulating chunks of land. One stand out sequence has the old man riding along in a train, requiring you to slide various track and bridge pieces into place to create a path for the train. At the end of each chapter, the old man will witness something that sparks some nostalgia and you'll get to view him daydreaming about his earlier years. The game features 15 chapters and will likely only take 1-3 hours to complete.

While Old Man's Journey is a brief experience, I enjoyed my time with it and would easily recommend it to anybody who likes a laid-back adventure/puzzle game. The story packs a lot of charm and the graphical style is simply beautiful. The short game length makes it an ideal title to load up on and play-through on a lazy weekend. These kind of titles are great to play while on Game Pass (which was on the service at the time of this writing) or else wait for a sale to get the most for your buck.

Looking at the user reviews for Old Man's Journey reveals a large number of negative reviews, all based on the fact that the game flashes up the "Permissions Needed" screen when you first load it up. Several of these reviewers clearly state that they never actually played the game after disagreeing to the permissions screen, which hopefully the people reading those reviews take into account. I'm not 100% sure why this particular title requests permissions, but I can assure you that agreeing to this statement is not going to submit any kind of revealing information about you to the developers. At most they can see your stats, friends list, achievements and that kind of general Xbox Live stuff. Read more about the permissions request here.

Final Verdict: Old Man's Journey is an adventure/puzzle game that doesn't last too long, but has a beautiful art-style and a story with some charm that makes it worth a look for those seeking a laid-back adventure.

Related Links:
Buy Old Man's Journey - Microsoft Store
Apps/Games Requesting Permissions - Xbox Overview
Broken Rules - Official Site
Old Man's Journey - GameFAQs
Old Man's Journey - True Achievements
Old Man's Journey Achievement Guide - Xbox Achievements

Apps/Games Requiring Permission on Xbox One

Apps/Games Requiring Permission on Xbox One

If you're a frequent Xbox One user, chances are you've loaded up a game or an app at some point and been greeted with a screen stating that permission is needed to continue. This can be a bit alarming at first, but it's actually harmless.


Here's the exact message that pops up:

"Permission Needed
Game/App needs your permission to:

Access your Xbox Live profile information and associated date, and sign you in to its services: App/Game will be able to access basic properties about your Xbox Live profile including your gamertag, friends list, activity, stats and rankings, settings and content you share. Learn more at aka.ms/datasharing.

Accepting these permissions means that you allow this app to use your data as specified in their terms of service and privacy statement. The publisher has not provided links to their terms for you to review. You can change these permissions at https://microsoft.com/consent.
Only accept if you trust the publisher."


A couple of key phrases to note are that the publisher won't let you see whatever terms you're blindly agreeing to and the part where it says to only accept if you trust the publisher. I thought this was Microsoft's job to make sure everybody releasing content on their marketplace is reputable, not the consumers. With so many releases coming out so quick, my guess is that it's just too much to keep up with at this point. So there are some instances where I might be a little hesitant to accept these, particularly with games from the Creators Collection or apps. Games from the Microsoft Store should be fine and I haven't encountered or heard of anything bad happening to anyone, but I can understand why one would be hesitant.

Really though it doesn't really seem like that big of a deal unless you're the type that likes to keep your Xbox date private. If any of your info is going to be shared, it'll be harmless stuff like your achievements and activities, nothing confidential like your pay or account login information. I've noticed reviews on some of the games that feature this disclaimer, with several reviewers stating that they didn't even play the game due to the paranoia of accepting these permissions. I'm willing to be these same people use Facebook and/or a mobile device, which no doubt tracks more information about you than your Xbox ever will. At the very least, pick the right things to be paranoid about!

One final reason these screens often pop-up is if the game is a "Play Anywhere" title, which are games that play across both PC and Xbox One. Check and see if the title giving you the disclaimer is a "Play Anywhere" game and if it is then you've likely found the reason. These are simply asking you if the data can be shared between PC and the Xbox One, though due to the wording I can understand how some people freak out.
Related Links:
Third Party Data Sharing - Xbox
Change Permissions - Microsoft

State of Anarchy: Master of Mayhem (Xbox One, 2018)

State of Anarchy: Master of Mayhem
Developed by Lapovich
Ported/Published by Sometimes You
Released for Xbox One (8/1/2018)
Also on Linux/Mac/PC/PS4/Switch

Developed by Lapovich and originally released for PC back in March 2017, State of Anarchy: Master of Mayhem received a port to the Xbox One in August 2018 thanks to Sometimes You. State of Anarchy is a basic twin-stick shooter featuring graphics made to look like they were drawn out on paper and sound effects all generated by a human.

State of Anarchy features 48 levels to play through, with a few different objectives for a little variety. Most stages will have you navigate an overworld map where you'll need to make your way to a bank which is marked by an arrow. Once there you'll need to head inside and, after a loading screen, you'll need to defeat the bank boss, an enemy in the center of the bank that has a health bar. These banks bosses are largely the same other than a different bullet-pattern, they all just sit in the middle of the room firing off. Other stages will have you fighting against alien invaders, sometimes chasing after UFOs on Earth and other levels have you flying a ship in outer space battling the aliens. The variety sounds greater than it really is, as every stage boils down to shooting enemies while dodging stuff and you'll do these same types of missions ad naseum. Upon completing a stage, you'll receive a new weapon which will replace whichever main or secondary weapon you currently hold.