Ken Barnes

Pure Xbox

Ken Barnes·Feb 22, 2016

Critic90/100

Agreement—

Relatively very minor gripes aside, Rocket League is a genuinely new type of game that provides addictive, enjoyable, skill-based fun that doesn't prevent new players from joining the fray and which never threatens to become dull. Even folks who aren't necessarily excited by football, sports in general, or cars will find something to love here and for many, it'll become their new favourite pastime. This is absolutely superb and will keep you entertained for many, many hours.

Pure Xbox

Ken Barnes·Feb 11, 2016

Critic80/100

Agreement—

This War of Mine: The Little Ones is a fantastically atmospheric, emotional, and compelling game that constantly makes you doubt what you're doing, in a way that feels entirely natural as part of the experience. You have to weigh up every decision in order to keep your crew safe from harm and that coupled with the strong desire to play through just one more raid to see how things turn out, means that you're more than likely to get your money's worth here. Great stuff.

Pure Xbox

Ken Barnes·Feb 8, 2016

Critic40/100

Agreement—

Assassin's Creed Chronicles features a generally solid game engine, nice storyline, and is for all intents and purposes a decent proposition. However, it's constantly prevented from shining by some dire level design and so many instant deaths that if you counted them, would probably see you reaching triple digits by the time you complete the game for the first time. There's some enjoyment to be had here, but it's frequently punctuated by massive bouts of frustration. If you want to try the series, you should grab China, since it remains the best of the three.

Pure Xbox

Ken Barnes·Jan 25, 2016

Critic70/100

Agreement—

Level 22: Gary's Misadventures is a fun puzzler that doesn't take itself too seriously. Even with that in mind, the developer has obviously lavished love and attention on the game and produced a product that, while not the longest or most challenging game in the world, is enjoyable enough.

Pure Xbox

Ken Barnes·Jan 18, 2016

Critic70/100

Agreement—

Oxenfree is truly unlike any other experience that you can pick up for the Xbox One right now. While it isn't heavy on gameplay, the narrative and aesthetics really build a superb atmosphere and give a great sense of weight to proceedings. It doesn't necessarily score a direct hit with every story beat and we could definitely live without the crashes. There's also an argument to be made that around four or five hours, the game is a tad short in the grand scheme of things. It feels shorter still when you pick up the controller to make a quick bit of progress late in the evening, then find yourself staring at the rolling credits at 3am with all the lights on because something just doesn't feel right.As we said, Oxenfree is an unsettling game.

Pure Xbox

Ken Barnes·Jan 12, 2016

Critic50/100

Agreement—

If you liked Assassin's Creed Chronicles: China, then there's a decent chance that you'll have a good time in India, in spite of the problems outlined above. There's enjoyment to be had, but the main worry is that almost everything new that has been thrown in is flawed to the point of not being a worthy addition. With the Russian entry just around the corner, we're hoping that this is a missed step in the journey, rather than an inevitable and unalterable course.

Pure Xbox

Ken Barnes·Dec 5, 2015

Critic90/100

Agreement—

Fallout 4 isn't perfect by any means, but the sheer scope of the game as a whole and the incredibly well-structured world means that should you dare to take the plunge, you'll be swimming around in these waters for dozens, if not hundreds of hours. The bugs may threaten to spoil the show, but every time one rears its head and makes you want to stop playing, you'll feel the pangs within the hour to go back and give things another go. Many people will fail to see everything that the wastelands have to offer, but that absolutely shouldn't stop you from trying to take it all in. Just as in life, your journey won't be the same as anybody else's.

Pure Xbox

Ken Barnes·Nov 15, 2015

Critic50/100

Agreement—

It all looks pretty nice and tries very, very desperately to be cool, but the actual game behind the graphics isn't close to being polished enough for a recommendation. The always-online requirement which is apparently only there because you have to be online to be able to share snapshots (seriously, that's the claim) is an absolute abomination but you'll be able to live with it, at least until EA kill the servers in a year or two and you won't be able to play the game anymore. Need for Speed isn't unplayable by any means, but there's a laundry list of things that can – and often do – stop that playing time from being very enjoyable.

Pure Xbox

Ken Barnes·Nov 12, 2015

Critic50/100

Agreement—

WWE 2k16 provides everything that wrestling fans will want to see outside of the ring. Was it not for the long and annoying loading times, the creation system and general control that you have over things would be enough to get it into the main event at Wrestlemania. A few minor fixes and changes here and there would do wonders, but the constant loading and the frankly abominable issues with the fighting engine that remain unfixed destroy any semblance of realism and are enough to relegate it to the indies.

Pure Xbox

Ken Barnes·Nov 9, 2015

Critic90/100

Agreement—

Rise of the Tomb Raider is not perfect, but the areas in which it lacks are relatively minor technical issues and the story does a great job of picking the player up to ensure that they jump right back into the action if they fall foul of a problem. Once you've beaten the campaign, you'll be tempted by the addictive Score Attack mode, as well as having an eye on playing through the whole thing again to pick up a few more achievements, something which - rarely these days - is no chore. The switch to a style of play that doesn't rely solely on raw firepower is the absolute key to the game's success and that, mixed with a plethora of action-packed adrenaline-boosting scenes, makes Lara's second return an absolute blast to play.

Pure Xbox

Ken Barnes·Nov 2, 2015

Critic70/100

Agreement—

Guitar Hero Live's microtransactions aren't necessarily as bad as certain sections of the gaming community would have you believe and the new controller presents a fresh new challenge that Guitar Hero veterans will be hungry to take on. The offline GH Live mode is very cool, albeit short-lived, even if the on-disc track selection is lacklustre, but the real meat in the pie is GHTV. It isn't as fully-featured as we'd have expected it to be off the bat, but being able to jump in and spin through a selection from the 200+ tracks (with lots more to come, we're told) for an hour while earning rewards and upgrades is pure addiction.

Pure Xbox

Ken Barnes·Oct 22, 2015

Critic90/100

Agreement—

It's as if the developers have listened to many of the complaints that were levied at previous titles in the franchise and decided to finally do something about it with Assassin's Creed: Syndicate. Framerate problems persist – not nearly as much as in the last game – but they've stripped out the things that diluted the fun of the earlier titles and focused on giving the player the ability to do what they want, when they want and not only that, but to go about it however they want. There's no broken co-op or botched multiplayer here and as we've said, there's no need for a companion app. The focus is back on single player stealth and freedom, with the final game giving us the feeling that the franchise is absolutely back on track. Excellent fun.

Pure Xbox

Ken Barnes·Oct 19, 2015

Critic20/100

Agreement—

Rock 'N Racing Off-Road DX is not a game that you'll be coming back to if you bother to put in the hour or so it'll take to complete it. There are very occasional second-long moments where the game is almost fun, but the shockingly bad AI, physics that seem to be both too floaty and too heavy at the same time somehow and an amateurish bare-bones feel mean that you should definitely be looking elsewhere for your arcade racing fix.

Pure Xbox

Ken Barnes·Oct 13, 2015

Critic70/100

Agreement—

It would be harsh to overly punish Kaiju Panic for the problems that it contains, simply because the mix of tower defence and RTS gameplay works so well. It surely won't be to everybody's tastes and some will get frustrated when a lack of knowledge or a varying enemy attack path causes them to fail a level, but those that like a challenge will enjoy what Mechabit have created here.

Pure Xbox

Ken Barnes·Oct 13, 2015

Critic40/100

Agreement—

Some will take solace in the somewhat simplistic gameplay and be hooked on its psychedelic charms as there is the occasional high point to be found, but repetition and poor choices in terms of the control scheme will undoubtedly get in the way of that for most.