Ken Barnes

Pure Xbox

Ken Barnes·Sep 14, 2015

Critic80/100

Agreement—

Some of the off-track functionality in Forza Motorsport 6 is sometimes surprisingly lazily implemented but you'll tend to forget that when you're in a battle with the elements, trying to shave a tenth of a second off your laptime in your newly-tuned favourite racer, or simply gawking at the outstanding visuals. Time ebbs away when you're playing. "One more race" becomes "one more series" and then you just pop online to have a quick League race, then you just have to take on a rival's laptime real quick…and soon it's 5am and you realise exactly how much game you get for your buck. Warts and all, this is well worth the investment.

Pure Xbox

Ken Barnes·Sep 12, 2015

Critic70/100

Agreement—

Asteroid Base have done a fine job with Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime, providing that you're a co-op gamer. Single players will likely find that they enjoy things up until the game becomes too overwhelming. Still, as a whole, there's a lot to like here – including genuine innovation - and it's definitely something different.

Pure Xbox

Ken Barnes·Aug 25, 2015

Critic60/100

Agreement—

Mega Man Legacy Collection feels incomplete, even at the relatively low asking price. You get the first six titles that form the basis of the Mega Man Legacy (which is apt, given the compilation's name) but other than an entertaining challenge mode, there doesn't appear to be much in the way of love shown to the franchise here.

Pure Xbox

Ken Barnes·Aug 20, 2015

Critic70/100

Agreement—

The team at Tic Toc Games have done a great job here for sure, but we just wish that there was either more volume to it in general, or more of a challenge to what is provided. It's definitely an enjoyable enough way to while away a couple of hours.

Pure Xbox

Ken Barnes·Aug 18, 2015

Critic60/100

Agreement—

Outside of the game-ending glitches and the poorly designed collection mission that we've mentioned, the experience is tension-filled and easily right up there with the best survival horror titles available today. The problem is that there's a very good chance that you'll give up after your umpteenth unfair death way before reaching the closing credits.

Pure Xbox

Ken Barnes·Aug 6, 2015

Critic90/100

Agreement—

There's definitely a feeling that there could have been more to it, but Beyond Eyes is an important game that is undeniably superb.

Pure Xbox

Ken Barnes·Jul 21, 2015

Critic70/100

Agreement—

Tachyon Project is a twin-stick shooter with a few major differences that affect things in a positive way. Enjoyable and thrilling while it lasts but also all too short and a shade too easy for those with any sort of skill in the genre, it's one that will surely hit the spot to while away an afternoon. Just don't expect it to last all that much longer than that.

Pure Xbox

Ken Barnes·Jul 15, 2015

Critic40/100

Agreement—

We're not exactly seeing what the wait was for when it comes to F1 2015. The game is clearly rushed, riddled with bugs and lacking in some relatively basic features. You might spend enough time on track to watch that achievement for spending 10 hours in your car just reset itself and never pop (again, due to a bug) and have a fair amount of fun while you do so, but there's a more likely chance that you'll run into so many issues that you just don't bother turning up for the next race.

Pure Xbox

Ken Barnes·Jul 6, 2015

Critic70/100

Agreement—

Sparkle Unleashed is tremendously addictive and gets the basics of the genre right whilst adding a few changes to the mix. If you liked Zuma – which unfortunately for Sparkle Unleashed now runs on Xbox One via backward compatibility – you'll probably enjoy the challenge this provides, even if there isn't anything majorly groundbreaking going on.

Pure Xbox

Ken Barnes·May 15, 2015

Critic40/100

Agreement—

Your mileage may vary depending on how much the story grabs you, but most will find that the asking price here is too high for what you get.

Pure Xbox

Ken Barnes·May 10, 2015

Critic60/100

Agreement—

Project CARS is not for the faint of heart. It undoubtedly has the ability to grab players and take them on an outstanding tour of Simply Mad's racing world, and does look absolutely stunning at times. However, the game is ultimately frustrating with a controller and features more than its fair share of bugs. With a wheel, it's a more rewarding proposition.

Pure Xbox

Ken Barnes·Apr 20, 2015

Critic70/100

Agreement—

Assassin's Creed Chronicles: China is a fun and enjoyable game that does the franchise justice while taking it into another genre. There are some truly fantastic ideas here, some super-smooth parkour, brain-tingling puzzle challenges and occasional flashes of brilliance when it's time to get down and dirty in combat. Some ideas haven't been explored as thoroughly as we'd have liked, and there are a few rough spots, though. We're looking forward to the next installment.

Pure Xbox

Ken Barnes·Apr 16, 2015

Critic50/100

Agreement—

We Are Doomed makes a good attempt at being a compelling and addictive twin-stick shooter, getting a lot of things right along the way. There are some problems with the basic design though and the very limited amount of modes on offer means that unless you're hooked by beating your own best scores or unlocking the limited (but tough to obtain) number of achievements, it'll be over way, way too soon.

Pure Xbox

Ken Barnes·Apr 11, 2015

Critic40/100

Agreement—

There's the essence of a good game in here - make no mistake about it - but it really is very, very hard to see it with all the problems in the way. We'd like to think that the development team at Milestone is working on patches for the game, but whether that's the case or not with their next attempt – MotoGP 15 – being released in only two months, remains to be seen.

Pure Xbox

Ken Barnes·Apr 2, 2015

Critic20/100

Agreement—

Pool Nation FX is hugely disappointing