King's Heir: Rise to the Throne (Xbox One, 2018)

King's Heir: Rise to the Throne

Developed by Cordelia Games

Published by Artifex Mundi

Released for Xbox One (12/14/2018)

Also on Linux/Mac/PC/PS4/Switch

 

King's Heir: Rise to the Throne was developed by Cordelia Games, the same ones who brought us Path of Sin: Greed, which I found enjoyable enough to check out their earlier effort. This game was previously released as Kingmaker: Rise to the Throne and for some reason the later ports of the game had the title changed to King's Heir: Rise to the Throne. Both names are equally forgettable and I couldn't figure out why the title had to be changed, but they're both the same game so it really doesn't matter in the long run. Enough about the title, let's look at King's Heir and see how it plays...

King's Heir is exactly what you'd expect from Artifex Mundi if you've played any of their other releases: a mixture of the point & click and hidden object genres. The story involves a prince who fell in love with and married a poor girl, which the king did not approve of at all. The king sends the prince off to battle and plans to drive the poor girl away while he's out, which backfires when the prince is killed in battle. The prince's wife later died after delivering their baby, which has now gone missing. You take control of a royal knight who must try to find the missing heir, help them regain the crown and take over the throne. It's a cool setup, but unfortunately the characters and dialogue just aren't all that interesting and I found myself really struggling to care about the plot. While the story is a bit of a letdown, it was at least sufficient enough to provide reason to continue forward to the next puzzle. 

 

Woodle Tree Adventures (Xbox One, 2019)

Woodle Tree Adventures

Developed by Fabio Ferrara

Published by Chubby Pixel

Released for Xbox One (5/8/2019)

Also on Linux/Mac/PC/PS4/Switch

Woodle Tree Adventures was originally created by a single developer, Fabio Ferrara, and was released for PC back in  2014. The Xbox One version was ported and published by Chubby Pixel in May 2019. Woodle Tree Adventures bills itself as an old-school platformer that will take you back to good old days of Banjo Kazooie and Mario 64 with lots of jumping and collecting to be done. Without further ado, let's delve into Woodle Tree Adventures and see if it can deliver on its lofty promises of taking me back with a blast of nostalgia...

The story in Woodle Tree Adventures involves the great tree tasking you with finding 3 fairy tears on each stage in order to restore peace to the forest (or something like that). There are 6 worlds to explore, with 2 bonus levels that open up once you've collected enough berries, which act as the games collectibles. There's a decent amount of variety to the stages that no 2 feel alike, though they all feature the same task of finding the 3 tears and then taking them to the exit. In addition to the platforming and collecting, there's also some very basic combat that involves your tree character smacking enemies with his leaf. Initially, the combat feels clunky and you have to be practically on top of enemies before they drop. As you collect enough berries, you'll eventually unlock acceess to new leaves of a different color. These upgraded leaves will fire projectiles, which help make the combat more tolerable than trying to swing the default leaf right next to the enemies.

Concept Destruction (Xbox One, 2020)

Concept Destruction

Developed by Thinice Games

Published by Ratalaika Games

Released for Xbox One (5/20/2020)

Also on PC/PS4/PS5

 

Concept Destruction comes to us from Thinice Games, a one-man development studio out of Barcelona, Spain. Published by Ratalaika Games, the game features cardboard cars squaring off in arenas, destruction derby-style. It's an interesting concept and retails for a reasonable $4.99, so without wasting any more of our precious, limited time, let's get right into the review...

Concept Destruction features some rather simple graphics, but the textures are sharp and everything is easy to distinguish. The concept of racing around in cardboard cars is unique and the cars look the part, right down to the corrugated edges. There's an impressive damage system where the cardboard will react to where they are smashed. 

 

For this review, the game was played on an Xbox One X and the frame-rate dipped frequently when you played with maximum amount of opponents. While the game is still totally playable, this was worth pointing out and you might want to hesitate if you're playing this on anything less than an Xbox One X, since performance may become an issue on the lower end systems. This game is optimized for the new Series consoles, so I'm quite certain the game runs silky smooth on those systems (if I had one I'd be happy to test, but like most of you I've still been unable to find one as of May 2021!). The sound design is what you'd expect, with the sound of motors and cars bashing into each other being the main things you'll hear while playing. The music consists of some generic heavy metal that does a good job of fitting the destruction theme. The menus in the game are easy to navigate, rounding out an overall solid presentation here.

 

Path of Sin: Greed (Xbox One, 2019)

Path of Sin: Greed

Developed by Cordelia Games

Published by Artifex Mundi

Released for Xbox One (8/23/2019)

Also on Linux/Mac/PC/PS4/Switch

 

Path of Sin: Greed will mark my first experience delving into the Artifex Mundi series of games. I've been intrigued by their releases for a while and picked this one up on sale a while back. This is far from the first release from the publisher, but we've got to start somewhere and this just happens to be their first title I got my hands on. Hidden object games are a niche genre and it's nice to see publisher Artifex Mundi not only giving the genre some love, but also porting these games over to a wide range of platforms so more people can play them. Without further ado, let's delve into Path of Sin: Greed and see if it's worth your time...

Right off the bat, the first thing that struck me with Path of Sin was the excellent artwork. The illustrations are incredibly vibrant and the attention to detail really shines through in high-definition. While there is a limited amount of animation, there is enough so that the environments and people don't feel like static images. The sound design, like the animation, is used sparsely but does a good job bringing the illustrations to life. The music isn't anything you're going to want to bump in the car, but it does a good job adding to the suspense at times and at other times conveys a mystery mood. Overall, the developers have done an excellent job on the overall presentation.

 

Gaijin Charenji 1: Kiss or Kill (Xbox One, 2019)

Gaijin Charenji 1: Kiss or Kill
Developed/Published by overGame Studio
Released for Xbox One (9/4/2019)
Also on PC

Gaijin Charenji 1: Kiss or Kill was released in early September 2019 and is easily among the weirdest games I've encountered on the Xbox One. For starters, this game has an interesting back-story to its creation. If the game is left idle at the title screen, a crawler will pop-up explaining the origins of how Gaijin Charenji came to be. The game was originally being programmed for the Dreamcast by the developer's father back in 1998, but it wasn't finished in time before the system met its untimely demise. After his father passed away before completing the game, Yosuke Takahashi vowed to finish what his father started and release it to the public when it was finished. Over 20 years after the development began, Gaijin Charenji 1: Kiss or Kill finally saw a release in September 2019.

Before we get into the review, I want to say that if you're into the strange and eccentric, particularly of the Japanese flavor, then Gaijin Charenji is definitely going to tickle your fancy. This is one of those titles that's best experienced if you go in blind, so you may want to hold off reading this review, download and play the game first, then come back and read the review. The less you know, the more shocking it all is and discovery is part of the fun. Now that we have that out the way, here's a look into the craziness of Gaijin Charenji... 

Horned Knight (Xbox One, 2021)

Horned Knight

Developed by Josep Monzonis Hernandez

Published by 2Awesome Partners

Released for Xbox One (2/24/2021)

Also on Mac/PC/PS4/Switch

Horned Knight was created by a single developer named Josep Monzonis Hernandez and was published by 2Awesome Partners. Not to be confused with the excellent Shovel Knight, Horned Knight does share a few things in common with it. Both games are 2D action-platformers featuring pixel graphics where the player controls a knight in armor. The similarities end there, however, and you can definitely tell that Horned Knight was created by a single dude while Shovel Knight had a whole team behind it.

Horned Knight is presented with 2D sprites, which are a bit blocky and simple but feature some nice animations. The visuals do a decent job conveying that retro look, though lack enough originality to leave much of a lasting impression. We come to another issue in regard to the backgrounds, as every level features the same generic "dungeon" environment that gets repetetive quickly. The music, while decent, will be forgotten the second you turn the game off. The sound effects are sparse and feel like they came from a database of stock sounds. The same grunt that the knight makes when taking damage is also used on the enemies, which comes off just feeling a bit lazy. Presentation-wise, Horned Knight makes a decent first impression, but after playing for any length of time the aforementioned flaws become apparent. 

Demetrios - The BIG Cynical Adventure (Xbox One, 2017)

Demetrios - The BIG Cynical Adventure
Developed by Fabrice Breton
Published by COWCAT
Released for Xbox One (8/2/2017)
Also on Linux/Mac/PC/PS4/Switch/Vita

Demetrios - The BIG Cynical Adventure was funded via Kickstarter and developed using the Game Maker Studio engine. Coded by a single French developer and published by COWCAT, Demetrios is an interesting blend of both the point 'n click and visual novel genres. There are tons of things to interact with and puzzles to solve, but at the same time there are thousands of lines of dialog to read. With the subtitle of the BIG Cynical Adventure, the game lives up to its name featuring some really wacky dialog that will make it hard to keep a straight face while playing.

Gameplay in Demetrios, as previously stated, is a mixture of the point 'n click and visual novel genres. Consisting of 6 chapters, you'll be given a few different locations in each chapter to explore. There are lots of people and objects to interact with along your journey. While engaging in a conversation with another person there are typically several dialogue options to select from. Like most point 'n click games, some of the puzzles can be real head scratchers, but there is a sense of satisfaction once you figure them out. For players going in blind, you can expect to get a solid 10-15 hours out of Demetrios before it's over, which is a good length for a game of this nature. Even those playing through the game with a guide can expect to blow around 8-10 hours, so if there's one thing you can't hold against the game it's being too short as this is a decent length for a point & click/visual novel game.

Thunderflash (Xbox One, 2021)

Thunderflash

Developed by SEEP

Published by Ratalaika Games S.L. 

Released for Xbox One (2/26/2021)

Also on Series/PC/PS5/Switch

 

Developed by 2-brother indie-team SEEP, Thunderflash is an obvious love-letter to classic overhead shooters from the 80's, such as Commando, Ikari Warriors or Bloody Wolf. The game even names the enemy criminal organization Bloody Wolf and features pixel graphics that look like they came right out of an early 90's arcade game. Much like the titles that inspired it, Thunderflash is designed to be a quick burst of fun and in this review we'll dive in to see if this one's worth a download or is it just another title trying to make a quick sale off nostalgia...

 

With Thunderflash being a retro-throwback title, the controls are extremely simple: d-pad or analog stick to move, A to fire your primary weapon and B to fire your rockets (which are limited in ammunition). The first time you play the game, you'll have 10 credits to try and beat it, but after you make some progress and use all of those up you'll unlock and option to start with 15 credits and eventually another for 20 credits, so even if you find the game difficult you'll eventually be able to plow your way through. There's also an option to put a CRT filter over the screen to give it that old-school monitor look.

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Batman: The Telltale Series (Xbox 360/One, 2016)

Batman: The Telltale Series
Developed by Telltale Games
Released for Xbox 360/Xbox One (9/2016)
Also on iOS/Mac/PC/PS3/PS4/Switch

Batman: The Telltale Series is one of many licensed franchises that were given the Telltale Games treatment. The game takes many liberties with the Batman universe and while fans of the comics will recognize many of the characters, many of the backstories are quite different than you might be accustomed to. Though to be honest I haven't really followed Batman comics since the early to mid-'90s, so I could be wrong here but it is quite the contrast to the Batman and company that I knew as a youngin. I can see this being an issue with purists, but if you look at it as like an Elseworlds style spin-off there is some enjoyment to be had from Batman: The Telltale Series.

There are going to be some spoilers in the following paragraph as we'll be discussing some basic details of the story, so if you don't want any of the plot revealed you might want to skip ahead to the next paragraph. The first big shocker drops when you find out that your now-deceased father, Thomas Wayne, was involved in some shady business and was a criminal. Oswald Cobblepot, aka the Penguin, was a childhood-friend of Bruce's in this strange version of Gotham City. Other classic characters you'll encounter include Selina Kyle/Catwoman, Two-Face and the Joker. The character actors all do a great job with the voice acting, as has been the standard with Telltale Games in the past. The story is the game's strong suit and I'll leave it up to you if you wish to look into further spoilers, but I will say there are lots of unexpected twists that will leave you scratching your head and wanting to see what the next chapter holds.

Super Contra (XBLA, 2007)

Super Contra
Developed by Konami/Backbone Entertainment
Published by Konami
Released for XBLA (7/25/2007)
Also on Arcade/Amiga/NES/PC
Backwards Compatible on Xbox One

Super Contra was released in arcades by Konami in 1988 and was the sequel to the popular Contra (1987). Super Contra takes the familiar run & gun formula and pumps up the excitement with 5 action-packed new levels and support for up to 2 players. Load up your firearms and prepare to shoot everything in sight as "the quest for freedom continues!" The XBLA port of Super Contra was released in late July 2007, around 7 months after the original was put up for download.

There are 5 levels in Super Contra and while the game is a bit shorter than Contra, the pacing is much quicker and the action more frenetic. The corridor sections that broke up the 2D platforming in the first game are gone, replaced with the new overhead shooter segments which play a bit like Capcom's Commando (1985). The game alternates between stage types, featuring a total of 3 side-scroller and 2 overhead-shooter stages. Regardless of how you feel about the overhead stages, the 3 side-scroller stages are top-notch and the bosses are menacing. The overhead levels can be fun once you become familiar with the layouts, but enemies love to quickly appear from the sides of the screen to wipe you out sometimes resulting in some cheap deaths. The biggest hurdle to clearing this game in a single credit are definitely going to be these overhead stages.

Konami Classics Vol. 1 (Xbox 360, 2009)

Konami Classics Vol. 1
Ports Developed by Digital Eclipse
Published by Konami
Released for Xbox 360 (12/15/2009)
Backwards Compatible on Xbox One

It wasn't very often you'd see games released for Xbox Live Arcade receive a retail-disc release, so Konami Classics Vol. 1 is worth a look for fans of physical media as it packs 3 of Konami's XBLA titles into one package. Released simultaneously with a second volume in mid-December 2019, this disc features Frogger, Super Contra and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. It's definitely an odd grouping, but each are classics in their own respect.

Each of these games have already been reviewed individually on this site, so be sure to check them out here at these links:

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night (XBLA, 2007)
Frogger (XBLA, 2006)
Super Contra (XBLA, 2007)

Rush'n Attack (XBLA, 2007)

Rush'n Attack
Developed by Konami/Backbone Entertainment
Published by Konami
Released for XBLA (5/23/2007)
Also on Arcade/C64/CPC/MSX/NES/PC/ZX81

Rush'n Attack, also known as Green Beret, was originally developed by Konami and released to arcades in 1985 and is one of the earliest examples of a 2D side-scrolling run & gun action game. It may even be the first, but it's hard to make such an assumption when there's such a wide number of forgotten and unknown games out there. This XBLA port was handled by Backbone Entertainment, the same team that responsible for Konami's other classic titles that arrived on the service.

Rush'n Attack has you take control of a spec-ops solder who has been sent into enemy territory. Your mission is to infiltrate the hostile grounds, locate and rescue your fellow soldiers who are being held captive. Armed with only your combat knife, you'll have to stab or avoid oncoming enemies. A single hit from an enemy or a projectile spells instant death, at which point you'll be sent back to a checkpoint to try again until you run out of lives.

River City Ransom (Xbox One, 2020)

River City Ransom
Developed by Technos Japan/I.T.L., Inc.
Published by Arc System Works
Released for Xbox One (4/16/2020)
Also on GBA/NES/PS4/Switch/X68000

Before we look at the Xbox One port of River City Ransom, I'd like to take a look back at the history of the game and its various releases. River City Ransom, aka Downtown Nekketsu Monogatari in Japan or Street Gangs in PAL territories, was originally released for the Famicom in April 1989 and later for the NES in January 1990. Also in 1990, the Sharp X68000 (Japanese home-computer) would receive a port in taking advantage of the computers beefy hardware, featuring better graphics, improved music, more enemies on screen at once and various other improvements. There would be yet another enhanced port released in December 1993 for the PC-Engine CD, this one built from the ground up. The 4th port was released in May 2004 for the GameBoy Advance and was titled River City Ransom EX. This one packs enough new features that it's technically not a remake, with tons of new moves and animations to make the fighting more interesting. It's a bit of a bummer that the only version included is the NES/Famicom and they didn't include some of the other versions of the game, but I suppose this would have taken a lot of effort since only the NES and GameBoy Advance ports were translated to English. Enough about the ports of the past already, let's talk about the Xbox One port of the game...

The Xbox One port of River City Ransom contains the Famicom/NES version of the game, which was developed by Technos Japan. Technos has a rich history with the brawler genre, having also developed Renegade and Double Dragon, really helping to lay down the framework for games to come. River City Ransom feels like a natural progression of the genre, adding in the ability to explore, character stats with the ability to level up and shops where you can use money to purchase items. These features had all been seen in other types of games, but this was the first time we'd seen them in a beat 'em up before.

Life is Strange 2 (Xbox One, 2018)

Life is Strange 2
Developed by DONTNOD Entertainment
Published by Square Enix
Released for Xbox One (9/27/2018)
Also on Linux/Mac/PC/PS4

It took a little while, with a prequel and a demo coming out in the years between the first game and this one, but in 2018 DONTNOD Entertainment finally gave us a direct sequel to the original game in Life is Strange 2. The game was released episodically just like the previous entries in the series. There were a total of 5 episodes, with the first one released on September 27, 2018 and the final episode on December 3, 2019. All of the other episodes were of course released between those dates.

It took well over a year for the complete game to release, which is way too long for such a story-driven game. DONTNOD Entertainment has revealed that their next title will release with all episodes available from day one, which will hopefully become a standard practice for the company going forth. The release dates were far too spread apart, making it difficult to clearly recall previous events with so much time lapsing between episodes. While it took over a year for the final episode to release, Life is Strange 2 ended up as a well-polished product, so the developers should be commended for taking the time needed and not rushing out an unfinished product like some of Telltale's later efforts.

Agatha Christie - The ABC Murders (Xbox One, 2016)

Agatha Christie - The ABC Murders
Developed by Artefacts Studio
Published by Microids
Released for Xbox One (2/23/2016)
Also on Android/iOS/Linux/Mac/PC/PS4

Agatha Christie was a prolific author who specialized in crime novels, writing over 60 different books that spanned from the 1920s all the way into the '70s. The ABC Murders was but one of many crime novels she wrote and was originally released way back in 1936. One of her more well-known works, the ABC Murders was adapted into several forms of media over the years, including several video games based on her works. Before an Agatha Christie title ever made it home consoles, there were quite a few adaptations of her works on the PC from DreamCatcher Interactive, so if you're interested in Christie you might want to look into those. The first Agatha Christie title to release on a system other than the PC was the 2009 release for the Nintendo DS that shares the same title as this version, but they are very different games. The DS game is presented more like a visual-novel while the Xbox One game takes the point & click adventure approach. So without further ado let's take a look at Agatha Christie - The ABC Murders for the Xbox One and see how it fares...

The story begins with our detective being informed of a murder in Andover, the beginning of the alphabet-themed kills: the victim's names and the location they are killed both correspond to the alphabet and the killer intends to go down all of the letters. While attempting to solve the mystery you'll investigate murder scenes, interrogate suspects and witnesses on the scene, solve puzzles and use deduction in order to find answers. You'll control the renowned detective Hercule Poirot, who will often be assisted by his helping hand, Captain Arthur Hastings. It may sound like the game checks all the boxes for a great detective adventure, but there issues with the gameplay that drag it down.

Coffee Talk (Xbox One, 2020)

Coffee Talk
Developed by Toge Productions
Published by Chorus Worldwide
Released for Xbox One (1/31/2020)
Also on Mac/PC/PS4/Switch

Coffee Talk is a visual-novel game where you play as a barista at a coffee bar, serving up beverages to an interesting cast of characters. The setting is in Seattle, which grounds the game in reality somewhat, but the characters are completely far out. You'll encounter a vampire, werewolf, mermaid, and a cat-lady among other strange patrons, each with their own story to tell. I can't really say I've played anything quite like Coffee Talk on the Xbox One before, so if you're looking for something different this just might be it...

The bulk of your time with Coffee Talk will be spent playing the main story, which will last somewhere between 3-5 hours, depending on how fast you read and if you skip text or not. The majority of gameplay just consists of reading the dialogue between characters, with the occasional chance to brew a drink for your patron. This should inform you right off the bat if this is going to be a game for you, as I know how so many people can't stand reading, especially when it comes to video games. This alone makes Coffee Talk a niche title, but there's nothing wrong with that and there's more than enough room in the gaming marketplace for titles that cater to a smaller audience. The customers you'll serve are an interesting bunch and the writers did a great job giving each of them unique personalities. Occasionally you'll be requested to serve up a certain kind of drink and you'll have to select the proper ingredients to mix it. These sequences do a good job keeping the player involved without being too challenging.

The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit (Xbox One, 2018)

The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit
Developed by DONTNOD Entertainment
Published by Square Enix
Released for Xbox One (6/26/2018)
Also on PC/PS4

Released as a demo for Life is Strange 2, the Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit released in late June 2018. The game follows a 9-year-old boy, who has a crazy imagination and escapes to a fantasy version of reality where he becomes his superhero alter ego: Captain Spirit. Since this is classified as a free demo, there are no achievements or gamerscore to unlock, which unfortunately many will skip over this one. Let's take a look and see if the Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit is worth the download...

A playthrough of the Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit is only going to eat up an hour or two of your time, so there's not much to lose going into this. The game puts you in the shoes of Chris, a young boy with a hyperactive imagination, who creates a superhero alter ego by the name of Captain Spirit. Chris is an only-child that lives with his father and they are both struggling in the aftermath of losing Chris's mother in a tragic hit-and-run accident. Chris's father has turned to alcohol to cope with his loss and during the course of the game he drinks himself to sleep while watching a sports game. Captain Spirit basically entails the adventures of Chris while he does some chores around the place, using his vivid imagination to make these mundane tasks seem exciting.

Arrow Diamond (XBLIG, 2013)

Arrow Diamond
Developed/Published by Hitmark Brothers
Released for XBLIG (9/19/2013)

If you've read through any number of the XBLIG reviews here, you know that I've described many of those games as weird or strange (which they are), but I think this game might take the cake for the most mysterious piece of software that I've encountered on the service. Rather than just simply giving the game a proper name composed of letters like everything else, the Hitmark Brothers decided that this title would be named using symbols. GameFAQs has it listed as Arrow Diamond, but in the game library and back when it was sold it was simply listed as ->♦, which I suppose could be directly translated to Arrow Diamond. Naming your game with symbols is a sure-fire way to make sure that your game is nigh impossible to find, so its doubtful that many were even aware of this game's existence. This is just the beginning of the weirdness that lies within the game that will be referred to as Arrow Diamond...

After starting up a new game, you'll take control of a giant green hand that belongs to presumably a god, looming down from the sky above. Everything is viewed from a 2D perspective and the first thing you'll notice are the little green seed things walking around on the ground level. Some of the seeds will grow a sprout which can pushed down into the ground using your finger. You can also flick them to quickly move them or pick them up to manually relocate them. Once a seed has been planted, you'll need to nourish it with water. There's water on either side of the little island you have to work with, so using your giant hand you'll need to cup a handful of water and dump it on the plant.

Contra (XBLA, 2006)

Contra
Original Game Developed by Konami
Ported by Backbone Entertainment
Published by Konami
Released for XBLA (11/8/2006)
Also on Arcade/C64/CPC/Mobile/MSX/NES/PC/PS2/PS4/ZX
Backwards Compatible on Xbox One

The original Contra game was an important release in the history of video games and the classic run 'n gun shooter got its start in the arcade back in 1987. Featuring 8 action-packed stages and allowing 2-player simultaneous co-op gameplay, Contra was an incredible game when it came out. A mysterious meteor has landed in the jungle (presumably somewhere in South America) that has brought with it deadly alien lifeforms called the Red Falcon. So of course the first course of action is to send 1 or 2 commandos to the island to put a stop to the deadly aliens. It's not much of a story, but it's enough to justify some blasting excitement.

The first 4 stages of Contra alternate between side-scroller and behind the back levels, but all stages following these are side-scrollers. There are a total of 8 different areas, though the last 4 are linked together and many consider stage 5 to be 1 level with 4 sections. It feels a bit uneven though there wasn't much more Konami could have done with the base levels and it would have gotten a bit monotonous had there been any more of them. The existing 2 base areas where you play behind the back are quite similar, but there's a solid amount of variety between the side-scrolling stages. The mission begins in the jungle and will take you through the waterfalls, snow and a few others before ending up at the alien base.