Games With Gold for December revealed.
For the month of December, Xbox Live Gold members will get a chance to redeem great titles like Warhammer: End Times – Vermintide, Back to the Future: The Game – 30th Anniversary Edition & more. On Xbox One, Xbox Live Gold members can download Warhammer: End Times – Vermintide for free during the month of December. Back to the Future: The Game – 30th Anniversary Edition will be available as a free download from December 16th to January 15th. On Xbox 360, starting December 1st, Child of Eden will be free for Xbox Live Gold members through December 15th. Then on December 16th, Xbox Live Gold Members can download Marlow Briggs and the Mask of the Death for free through December 31st. Source: majornelson.com
Assassin’s Creed: Origins Review
Developer – Ubisoft Montreal Release Date – October 27, 2017 Platforms – Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Uplay After Assassin’s Creed: Syndicate, hearing that the franchise would be taking a year break was just preposterous. Then following with rumors that the game would set as far back as to Egypt for the next title was just unreal. But as the pieces started to come together and in mid-2017 at the Xbox E3 conference was Assassin’s Creed: Origins. As this isn’t the first time the series was featured by Xbox, it was more of the fact that the title would be used partly to help with the launch for the Xbox One X seeing the demo play in 4K. After putting in 70+ hours into the game and unlocking all achievements, it is easy to say that it’s refreshing coming back to a game on a different perspective of the series that’s never been touched, its origins. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Story (Spoilers) The game starts you as Bayek of Siwa, a Medjay that protects that people of Egypt. After Ptolemy XIII deposed Cleopatra and becoming the main ruler of Egypt, he ordered his group of specialized Phylakes to exterminate all Medjay from Egypt. Soon after his son Khemu gets kidnapped and used part of a ritual with a familiar artifact seen from other titles. Bayek tracks him down and accidentally murders his son when attempting to attack the cultists. Leading Bayek on a pursuit of revenge for murdering his son. In the process of tracking down who he almost killed, Bayek finds himself helping Cleopatra retake her thrown as he’s assassinating more of Ptolemy’s conspirators trying to find out who made him kill his son. Eventually reuniting with his wife Aya who secretly been helping Cleopatra as well, planning together to assist in Cleopatra’s civil war in Egypt. Eventually making Bayek Cleopatra’s official guard. But as Bayek pushes further for Khemu to reach the Field of Reeds, Aya constantly pushes for Bayek to leave the past at rest. But that’s where I start to like the story over previous. While one’s like Assassin’s Creed II or Assassin’s Creed III were to avenge a loved one or family member from someone else. Bayek is the one who murdered his son. Really hunting for a closure more than to “avenge Khemu”, not really knowing what he wants and keeps pushing for it. Along with this tragedy following him, Bayek constantly pushes his relationship with him and Aya. Even though both have their “encounters” a few times throughout the story, she puts the people of Egypt over her personal life. And by the end of the game, Bayek finally sees that even after getting what he wants for Khemu. Initially seen as a mission for vengeance to slowly morph into grab for closure, to conclude on what started the game really gives a different take on how the average story is told. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Gameplay Originally played the pre-alpha back in June at the Xbox Game Showcase after the E3 Press Conference, the first change I noticed drastically was sprinting. No more holding down the trigger to sprint, that’s replaced with a heavy attack and bumper to light attack. Another that really changed up gameplay was the first time adding a shield to the player’s arsenal. Replacing the constant parry/counter mechanic and bringing a new combat mechanic to the table. The worst part is conditioning to use the shield. Until you get it down, expect to get hit a lot. The only thing I had a problem with from the pre-alpha was unable to invert the y-axis. Overall the demo was just a sample of the huge map that is in the full game with a mission to complete. Short, but this sample tasted great. With the range of weapons with different classes from sickle swords to spears and heavy dual swords. And making distance with the four classes for bows: Hunter – standard bow Warrior – shoots more than one arrow at a time Predator – has iron sight to use for long range Light Bow – shoots arrows at a fast rate Using each for different circumstances and preference, but it seems that most were more miscellaneous than anything. With the bows I used, finding out how to use them was interesting. Aiming over an open flame to light your arrow and fire at oil pots or even vegetation will set a flame. And in mid-air too, you can get the perfect shot while falling to the ground. With the change in sprinting made the parkour less messy than from games before. Using the trigger to climb would constantly lead me to jump off a wall or ledge to my death. Only step back was that the character doesn’t vault/jump over short obstacles by holding A like before, instead of jumping on the obstacle and then jumping off on the other side. Overall parkour plays fluid and controls greater than any former title. There are hiccups in running at certain obstacles, but can be excusable compared to falling through the ground anytime. Traversing through the world was a major factor that plays a big part of the gameplay for the most part. You can call a mount at any time now, either having a camel or horse. While riding you can hold A and have an instant path set and will automatically ride towards your objective/waypoint without having to touch your controller. You can attack at any time while on horseback with melee and bows as well. And also given the option to use chariots to for faster travel, but still has its problems when going off ledges as the physics might not know how to react. Even swimming was expanded, on top of standard swimming like in previous titles you can now swim underwater, a more in-depth version compared to Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag only touched it surprisingly. And just like on land or on horseback you can defend yourself with bows over water and melee both over & underwater. With the wildlife that overruns the land of Egypt you’re not just a hunter, you are prey too. [Spoiler] Similar
Review: Super Lucky's Tale
Super Lucky’s Tale is the sequel to 2016’s Lucky’s Tale, a VR headset release; however, Super Lucky’s Tale isn’t a VR game at all. Instead, it’s a 3D platformer, released exclusively for the Xbox One family of systems and Windows 10 PCs. Should you pay the €30 price and pick up Super Lucky’s Tale? Find out in our review below. Story: Super Lucky’s Tale has a pretty basic story, but for a platformer it does the job. You play as Lucky, a young fox who is a guardian. One day Lucky’s sister, Lyral, finds the Book of Ages, a book which lets one travel to different worlds and rewrite history. Unfortunately, the Kitty Litter gang, led by Lucky’s father Jinx, attack him and his sister. The result leaves Lucky and the Kitty Litter gang stuck inside the Book of Ages. Gameplay: Super Lucky’s Tale is a standard 3D platformer, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It’s not on the level of say Mario or Ratchet & Clank, which have had years to redefine their gameplay. Super Lucky’s Tale isn’t a 360 degree platformer, however, the camera can be moved into three different perspectives. I didn’t have any issues with this the majority of the time, but there were instances where the camera became annoying. There are also 2D levels that offer a nice change of pace. Lucky has a few moves he can use, such as a tail spin to attack. He can also dig underground and perform standard jump and double jump moves. In terms of collectibles, you will spend your time gathering up a ton of cloves, which you need to unlock new levels in each of the worlds, as well as coins, which are used as in-game currency. Graphics: Graphics wise, Super Lucky’s Tale is a gorgeous game. The colors are bright and pop. The art style is wonderful and the animation is, for the most part, really good. I did notice some stuttering in a few parts. This wasn’t a massive issue, but it’s worth noting. Just to note, I played Super Lucky’s Tale on the Xbox One S on a 1080p TV. It plays the same on the original Xbox One as well. However, thanks to Rectify Gaming writer Daniel Hartshorn, I have information on what Super Lucky’s Tale runs and looks like on the Xbox One X on a 4K HDR TV. Xbox One X- Daniel Hartshorn “Super Lucky’s Tale is one of the 170+ announced Xbox One X enhanced titles. On the Xbox One X Super Lucky’s Tale runs at Native 4K at 60FPS. During gameplay on the X, Super Lucky seems to run at a solid 60fps with no noticeable drops in frame rate. The Graphics at 4k look sharp and the colors are bright and vivid. Unfortunately the game doesn’t support HDR, which would have further enhanced the colors on supported TVs. On the Xbox One X, Super Lucky runs exceptionally well. There’s an improvement to loading times between levels and worlds compared to when running it on the Xbox One or One S.” Final Thoughts Super Lucky’s Tale doesn’t do anything groundbreaking or change the way we see 3D platformers. Frankly, it doesn’t need to. It takes the standard 3D platforming gameplay and turns it into a fantastic and fun game. The graphics are gorgeous. It does have some issues with stuttering in some places after loading a level, but the majority of the time it plays well. The story is basic though, which while not a massive issue for a platformer, I would like to see a bigger emphasis on story in a potential sequel. I feel like the loading times could have been shorter. Some are only a few seconds long, but others felt like they were around 10-15 seconds (at least on the Xbox One and Xbox One S). Overall, if you own an Xbox One or a Windows 10 PC, then Super Lucky’s Tale is a game that you should play. It only costs €30, and if you enjoy platformers or are looking for something relaxing to play, then definitely consider Super Lucky’s Tale.
