Ken Barnes

Pure Xbox

Ken Barnes·Oct 12, 2015

Critic80/100

Agreement—

The Jackbox Party Pack 2 is a compilation of four great games and one that misses the target. There's easily more than enough laughs to be had here for the asking price. Some may feel a little bit short-changed by the inclusion of Quiplash XL if they've already paid money for it as a stand-alone product, but even they should find that there's more than enough entertainment here for their money. This is a well-made and entertaining collection that's sure to put a smile on the face of the most curmudgeonly party guest and become a staple amongst regular gaming buddies.

Pure Xbox

Ken Barnes·Oct 9, 2015

Critic60/100

Agreement—

Rugby League Live 3 contains a multitude of impressive features that you'd usually really only expect from the 2ks and EAs of this world and that's to the developer's credit. Extremely detailed off the pitch and generally fun on it, the game is it's only let down by a number of areas where the polish hasn't been applied as well as it could have been. Sadly, those issues do start to mount up with extended play but was it not for the player selection issue, it would have scored an extra point here for sure.

Pure Xbox

Ken Barnes·Sep 28, 2015

Critic80/100

Agreement—

It may be passé to say, but FIFA 16 is a game of two halves. Off the field, not much has changed that you could really write home about. The stalwarts of career mode and Ultimate Team feel much the same as they did before with very minor changes. With the ball at your feet though, the tooth-and-nail fights to hold on to a 1-0 lead against superior opposition or to take advantage of an entirely organic mistake to equalise in the final knockings of a lower league cup match, along with the general feeling that you're taking part in a decent tactical battle are stellar. The things EA hasn't shouted about are the things that they've clearly worked the hardest on and while there are still flaws, this is the best on-pitch representation of the beautiful game since Konami's PlayStation 2 efforts.

Pure Xbox

Ken Barnes·Sep 28, 2015

Critic10/100

Agreement—

It's as if the developers of Rugby World Cup 2015 hate you for daring to hope that they'd made up for the near-intolerable Rugby 15. If you've shelled out for this then it's fair to say that you'll hate them right back. This is easily the worst game available for Xbox One - sports or otherwise - and is without any shadow of a doubt one of the worst officially-licenced sports games of all time. Absolutely atrocious on every single level.

Pure Xbox

Ken Barnes·Sep 20, 2015

Critic70/100

Agreement—

Pro Evolution Soccer 2016 is a strange entry in the series. The improvements are obvious and clear to see from the outset but the areas in which it has taken a step backward take a lot longer to actually uncover. You don't realise that you haven't conceded a free kick for ages until you've played more than a handful of games. You don't realise that the keepers pretty much can't save low shots until you've conceded a dozen goals in the bottom corner. This means that your time with PES this year will be spent playing for an hour or two and then putting the controller down in frustration. It's to Konami's great credit that it somehow always calls you back to it.

Pure Xbox

Ken Barnes·Sep 19, 2015

Critic70/100

Agreement—

Pumped BMX+ is a good advertisement for mobile game ports on Xbox One. Crafted with care and not just spit out onto the platform in under five minutes, the game is easy to pickup and tough to master. Despite the amount of gameplay addicted players will get out of it, a little more variation and the inclusion of any sort of multiplayer play – H.O.R.S.E. anyone? – would have seen it score higher, though there's plenty going on here to justify the price for lone players. Good fun.

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.