Firstly, I’m mostly going to concentrate on what’s new in this year’s game, so if you want a more detailed overview then please go read my review of last year’s game.

So what’s new then? Let’s start with some of the on-track action shall we. You’ll find practice sessions are more vital this year as they go towards your drivers ‘readiness rating’. The readiness of your driver can affect your driver’s confidence as well, which is also a new feature – drivers confidence.

As I just mentioned, Drivers confidence is new, and it’s vital to how your driver performs over the race weekend. If you don’t get your driver setup correct or don’t get enough practice, there’s an increased likelihood of your driver making a mistake during either qualifying or the race itself. If a driver then makes a mistake during the race their confidence will go down and increase the likelihood of another mistake. Other factors like failing to make an overtake can affect your drivers confidence as well.  Of course, positive actions like making that overtake or just being able to put in consistent laps will help raise their confidence and reduce the likelihood and with the ability to now tell your drivers be more aggressive when performing overtakes, confidence will have pivotal role on the outcome.

My favourite of the new on track features is the visor cam. It was a big hit when it was introduced into the real world so to have it here in F1 Manager 23 is a major plus. It gives you a real feel for each action the driver takes, whether they’re trying to make an overtake and or on a flying lap in qualifying. There’s no limit to it either, so if you wanted to watch through the visor cam for a whole session, you can!

There is also ‘battle assist’ this year, which will instruct your drivers to save a portion of their ERS battery for when a rival car gets to within 1 second of them, which for anyone who’s not familiar with Formula One allows the driver behind to open a flap in their rear wing to gain a speed boost to aid with overtaking. You’ll also see the AI drivers using their tyres more this year – last year, pretty much every driver’s tyre wear was the same throughout a race. That changes this year as you’ll be able to visibly see which drivers have been pushing to catch their rivals or pull out a gap.

So, that’s on track, but what about off track. F1 Manager 23 introduces a new member of your backroom staff, The Sporting Director. The Sporting director oversees your pit crew, the better your Sporting Director, the better your pit crew can grow. The pit crew have more significance this year as well as you can assign them a training schedule. The schedule lets you decide which aspect of their training you want to focus on. For example, if you want your pit crew to perform faster pit stops you can, but that will come at the cost of neglecting errors or car building. Your pit crew also have a fatigue bar so you’ll have to be careful and not overwork them!

There are lots of ‘quality of life’ improvements as well, there are too many to rattle of here but I’ll go through a few of them here. When building new parts to improve your car you can now make the part better, but that comes with the side effect of making the part less reliable. Car parts now only last a certain number of races, so you’ll have to keep an eye on how worn the part is, so if you build a new car part with less reliability then you’ll be building more than usual and eating into the spending cap.

Driver and staff development has had a revamp this year and promises to be much better than just waiting for a development point to upgrade a certain stat. Other than balanced there are 6 different development areas for you drivers to focus on and home in on their weaknesses. For example, if you have a driver that struggles in wet weather conditions, then you can train the 4 key areas that affect their wet weather stats.

After not being in last year’s game, Sprint weekends make their debut in F1 Manager 23, so if you’re familiar with how they work you know that practice and getting your drivers confidence levels up will be vital at these weekends!

The only real negative I can think of for this years this game is that at launch you’ll still be unable to change teams. However, Frontier have acknowledged this was a big thing for us last year and should be available once they release the September update.

A whole new addition to the F1 Manager franchise for this year is the ‘Race Replay’ feature, which is your chance to re-write any race of the 2023 season. You can pick a team a do the whole race or you can take on a specific challenge like trying to keep Alex Albon in the points at the Bahrain GP or perhaps you fancy trying to better the tyre strategy that Aston Martin gave Fernando Alonso and guide him to a famous win in Monaco. The Race replays can also act as an extended tutorial for those that might be unfamiliar with Formula One, as you can restart and replay each one to your heart’s content without having to potentially compromise your career save.

For those that pre-ordered and for the people that purchased the Deluxe edition of F1 Manager 23 there are some exclusive scenarios; three for the people that pre-ordered and twelve for those who opted for the deluxe. These offer different kinds of challenges. There are some races that are done with equal car performance, there’s a ‘no preparation’ challenge in Canada and a reduced tyre allocation challenge at The Netherlands.

Conclusion

Frontier have worked their magic to ensure it’s the best F1 Manager game out there and have another smash hit on their hands. With the Race Replay feature and the ability to change teams coming down the road, F1 Manager will keep fans pinned to their team principle chairs.

The post F1 Manager 2023 Review appeared first on Xbox Tavern.

At its best, Ed-0: Zombie Uprising tackles the roguelike RPG genre by creating an atmosphere that can be both satisfying and challenging at the same time. It’s addictive to the point where after every failed run attempt, it makes you want to try again and get further than that last time. However, there are some aspects that do make the title tedious at times. 

The story behind Ed-0: Zombie Uprising isn’t something to rave about. The game takes place during the Edo Period in Japan and the country shut itself off from the rest of the world due to an outbreak. Even so, the zombie apocalypse has invaded and it’s up to a group of heroes to take charge and eradicate all opposition. That’s pretty much the story. There isn’t much but it generally isn’t all too needed considering the type of gameplay style it takes after. 

Gameplay in Ed-0: Zombie Uprising is pretty simple to understand in terms of mechanics. You have the choice of playing as a Sumo Warrior, Samurai, or Ninja. Regardless of your choice, each character can pick up different charms and skill scrolls along the way that give you the upper hand in battle. Charms can give you a boost in things such as attacks or health while scrolls give you access to new skills you can use to slay undead foes. 

Throughout the levels, you’ll encounter gates that act as pathways to dungeons that allow you to replenish your health, or pick up new charms or scrolls. Whichever gets you go through is all up to you, so choose wisely based on your current situation. 

Combat itself is pretty fluent as you can string together a set of combos to defeat the undead. At times, certain skills may take a while to charge up, so timing is everything if you don’t want to leave yourself open. It might get repetitive at times, but you can always switch things up by playing a different character or grabbing a different set of skills. 

Once you die, which will happen, you’ll take a trip to recover in Kuku Village. In Kuku Village, you can upgrade abilities that boost your stats and power, buy extra items like food to take with you, and more. 

Conclusion

Ed-0: Zombie Uprising is a nice time killer if you want to play something to take the edge off. The replayability is insane as you can up the difficulty in the dungeons if you want more of a challenge. Sure the zombie slaughter may not be something to scream to the hills about, but it is definitely worth mentioning to a friend or two that love the hack n slash genre. 

This game was tested and reviewed on Xbox Series X/S. All of the opinions and insights here are subject to that version. Game provided by publisher.

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You take control of Camina Drummer an Executive Officer aboard the Artemis. The crew on Artemis are scavengers looking for the payday of a lifetime, under the supervision of Captain Cox.

In episode 1 you stumble across ship wreckage from The Ushanabi, once onboard you slowly get clues as to why the Ushanabi is in the way it is. There is some new movement in The Expanse which is a welcome addition, jetpacking across parts of the ship and using your gravity boots to land and travesre the space decks is pretty cool. This episode lasts about an hour and 20 ish minutes. This also depends on how much you explore the wreckage.

Conclusion

Overall, this is a good first outing for The Expanse: A Telltale Series. The et up for the season has me intrigued, and the gameplay improvements are most welcome indeed. I eagerly await the rest of the season.

The post The Expanse: A Telltale Series – Episode 1 Review appeared first on Xbox Tavern.

Conclusion

Koa and the Five Pirates of Mara is a very cutesy platforming game that does it’s job surprisingly well. The “speed tech” taught is simple but effective and the variety of level types was a pleasant surprise. The art style and the story are nothing to write home about and certainly won’t appeal to all but platforming fans who admire gameplay are encouraged to give the pirates a run for their money. It doesn’t really overstay it’s welcome (underwater levels aside) and the levels feel bite-sized which was nice. A fun game to just pick up and play for bits at a time.

This game was reviewed based on Xbox One review code, using an Xbox Series S|X console. All of the opinions and insights here are subject to that version. Game provided by publisher.

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Conclusion

Inner Ashes is a game that tries very hard to deliver facts about a terrible real world disease mixed with an emotional story in a videogame and it misses the mark for me. As a walking simulator at it’s core the gameplay is expected to be a little slow, however they can hold their own ground when they come with great stories. Unfortunately Inner Ashes is mediocre for me. I appreciate all of the interesting facts I learned about Alzheimer’s Disease because of this game but the mechanism they used, a videogame, doesn’t quite align with this presentation as something interesting enough to hold my attention.

This game was reviewed based on Xbox One review code, using an Xbox Series S|X console. All of the opinions and insights here are subject to that version. Game provided by publisher.

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                A nuclear war has devasted New York City and it has become lawless. The streets are overrun with gangs and something needs to be done. In comes the brothers Billy and Jimmy and their friends to help turn the city around.

                Visually, Double Dragon Gaiden shines with its hand-drawn art style and smooth animations. The environments are vibrant and diverse, taking players through a mix of urban landscapes, neon-lit cityscapes, and even the depths of the underworld. Character designs pay homage to the original arcade game while infusing a fresh, modern flair. Audibly they have remastered some of the older tracks and they sound much better with their modern twist and still keep the same high energy.

                The gameplay maintains the core elements that fans of the series cherish: fast-paced, action-packed combat and co-op play although only locally. The controls are intuitive, allowing players to execute a wide array of attacks, combos, and special moves with ease. The classic move set of Billy and Jimmy is familiar with some newly added special moves which are unique to each character and are vital to master. There are also new characters you can choose from as well as unlockable characters each with unique attacks and special moves. Before you begin your campaign you can make some adjustments to make the game easier like doing more damage and the enemies can be made weaker but the sacrifice is that the cost of cash exchange for tokens increases and you need the tokens for unlockables. Those familiar with the series should be excited as I was when I unlocked the ability to play as Abobo the brutish enemy from the older games and is still just as ferocious.

                To perform the special moves you need to rack up the combos and attacks as well as picking up the drops from enemies which accelerate the special gauge. But you shouldn’t waste the special moves as they have placed an interesting twist on them. If you hit and take down 3 or more enemies with one special move then you get a health pick-up bonus. The more enemies you take down with the move the bigger the food and more health replenished. But if you are at full health you get a cash bonus which comes in handy for other sections of the game.

                This game has an element of rogue-lite to it as at the end of each level you get a chance to upgrade certain perks for your character like the special meter loads quicker or you take less damage from enemies. Or you can preserve the cash and take a bit more and this is because as mentioned before you trade the cash for tokens which you use to unlock things in the shop of the game like extra characters, art or even tips in the game which is great for replay value. My only gripe is that they have added some platforming elements in some of the areas and it comes across as clunky at times and even the enemies get stuck on certain parts of the scenary.

                There are four gangs you have to take down and the game has implemented a neat mechanic where you can fight the gangs in any order and regardless of the order the game gets progressively difficult. This allows you to mix and match so you get a different experience in your next play-through if you play in a different order. Also towards the end, if you beat all those gangs you get to meet the mayor. But this mayor may not be the answer the city needs so you have a choice to make with a chunk of money at stake but also a further challenge.

                The shop and the unlockables extend the life of the game a bit more as aside from unlocking the super thug Abobo you can also play as some of the gang leaders as well as other characters if you can rack up enough tokens. So this encourages you to play a perfect game to get more cash for tokens so you can unlock more items which are always something to aim for.  

Conclusion

Double Dragon Gaiden: ROTD  is a perfect addition to the series keeping what made the originals memorable and enhancing the experience without going fully 3D. The fast-paced action and different play move sets keeps things fresh as well as playing the stages in a different order to enjoy new challenges. I appreciate the effort that has gone into keeping the game fresh with the rogue-lite elements, the unlockables in the shop and the variety of characters you can play as I think this is well worth picking up.

This game was tested and reviewed on Xbox Series X/S. All of the opinions and insights here are subject to that version. Game provided by publisher.

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The crux of the gameplay sees us moving a wizard about a top down, 2D plane in the four cardinal directions. As we do so, he leaves a trail of ice behind him that acts as both a newly formed barricade and a way to skip over other obstacles. Across the 50 or so levels, we need to use this simple mechanic is clever ways to overcome the surprisingly high difficulty.

As we move about we need to collect several crystals in order to complete the stage. While this sounds easy, they are often laid out in such a way as to require us to create a weaving trail that ends up being far more intricate that we’d expect.

For example, one key aspect of our arsenal is being able to use straight lines as a way to hop over a distance; approach a vertical line from the side and our wizard will quickly slide to the other side. We can line up several lines in a row and cross them all at once, as well as line them up next to otherwise uncross-able walls in order to pass them by. I must admit to being a bit perplexed by this mechanic at first blush as its purpose seemed a bit flat, but a few puzzles later showed some ingenuity with the puzzles and solutions.

Hitting an ice line from the same orientation (i.e a vertical line from the top or bottom) kills our wizard, and so the game requires us to plan multiple moves ahead in order to not stump ourselves. This goes for general movement as well as when skipping over correctly aligned lines, and can make some of the already harder later areas even more challenging as we lay out a long pathway only to fall at the final hurdle.

Finally, as if things weren’t trying enough, there are several coloured ice lines and crystals to worry about. Crossing a colour changes our own line to that as well, and lets us pick up to associated colour. However, when crossing multiple lines we only take on the colour of the first one we cross, and so we need to add to the already snake-like mazes with colour ordered colours as well.

With all of the above, Iceline does a good job of offering a real challenge. At time of writing I’ve not long passed level 30, and there were a good percentage of stages until now that properly stumped me for a while.

Some required more back and forth than initially appears, while others call for more direct pattern repetition. There have been very few that felt unfairly hard mind you, and for those looking for something to test them for a little stint each night, Iceline feels like the perfect fit. I’ve enjoyed spending 30-45 minutes a night over the last few days working on the solutions until my brain gave in, at which point I moved onto something a little less strenuous.

Conclusion

For less than a fiver on the Xbox store, there’s not much to lose if you’re even remotely keen on a fun but challenging indie puzzler. There’s not much in the way of extra flash or pizzaz, but what’s here is solid puzzle gaming through and through.

The post Iceline Review appeared first on Xbox Tavern.

Conclusion

While the live service nature might not inspire much excitement, as a game to play with friends Exoprimal is a worthwhile pickup. The action is immediate and hectic, but never overwhelming, and the rounds are generally well paced and fair to enable some exhilarating final moment reversals of fortune. It might not have to flash of some of the bigger multiplayer titles out there, but it has more than enough to come recommended, especially if you’ve got a Game Pass subscription.

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The more I played of Aliens: Dark Descent the more I realised how wrong I was.

Developed by Tindalos Interactive, Dark Descent is an isometric 3D real-time-strategy game. The opening tutorial introduces the player to Maeko Hayes who discovers a xenomorph infestation aboard her space station. In an attempt to control it she totals nearby ships and brings herself into contact with a group of marines. Realising the aliens came from the nearby planet, the two forces unite to eradicate them. The story is a bit more complicated than that, but I don’t want to spoil it past the intro.

Dark Descent itself is broken into two parts. The first is a base management game – with research, upgrades, and levelling up done there. There is also the aforementioned RTS element, set on sprawling maps with multiple objectives that need to be completed before the map can be considered ‘done’.

The moment-to-moment is moving the one unit through the map, when spotted the marines will automatically open fire on enemies, and by going into an overview mode the player can also use special abilities like throwing a grenade, using a shotgun, and a multitude of other unlockables. Combat isn’t always the best thing to do either, as each encounter with a xeno will up each marine’s tension meter. Once they reach a threshold a marine will develop certain negative traits such as a fear of fire, or terrible aim. So, the player is encouraged to hide from enemies where possible in order to maintain the squad’s physical and mental health. This is not something I’ve seen before, and the moments where I was negotiating my way through tunnels while predators stalked around them was really intriguing.

Stealth is made more nerve wracking by the fact that there is a ‘Hive Activity’ meter in the top right that is constantly going up – when it hits a threshold a swarm of aliens assaults the player. You don’t want to go too slow as that can end up being just as bad as running and gunning.

Dark Descent has a really interesting approach to levels too. The squad can extract at any time and return to the ship, as long as they can return to their parked armoured vehicle. This allows for them to level up, rest, and purchase new equipment. However, each time the team returns, the threat level increases on the current map and random events fire off that can escalate the problem. It creates a very real sense of having to push each incursion to the limits of the squad’s capabilities and treading that thin line between success and failure.

This is the core of what makes Dark Descent one the best Aliens games out there. It feels like Tindalos looked at the one scene (SPOILERS for a 38-year-old movie) in Aliens where a group marines go into a hive and proceed to get dismantled in a bewildering fashion and went: “How do we make that the whole game?”.

With every foray into a map, I was on edge, the familiar sound of a motion sensor sparking off when movement was near. Each time this happened it felt like I was only moments away from a gunfight that could end badly for any one of my team.

On top of that it finds places for Aliens fan-service that actually works within the game framework. The turrets from the director’s cut of the film make an appearance here, welding shut doors as a means to hold off enemies is a key tactical advantage, and of course the familiar sound of the smartgun ripping through acid induced flesh. It feels perfect.

So, the few negatives. For those that are a fan of the Alien franchise but do not enjoy getting beat up by a game that delights in that – it is going to be an uphill struggle. The other minor one? I did not personally enjoy listening to my marines barking a repetitive sound bite every time. If Dark Descent had been turn based it would have slowed down the pace, given the player too much time to think and calculate. If it had been multiplayer the fear of the ever-present threat would have been set back by cheery banter from other players. I hope it is affirming to the developers that I write that I cannot imagine Aliens: Dark Descent as any other type of game.

Conclusion

With a fresh take on the Aliens game franchise and a deep understanding of what made that movie tick, Aliens: Dark Descent is a great Real Time Strategy.

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            The visuals of Melon Journey: Bittersweet Memories are pixelated with a top-down oblique viewpoint. The colors are monochromatic, all being a shade of green. There are many things your character can interact with through their journey, but the key things are the characters you meet and are searching for. All the characters are some form of an animal, and the more you explore, the more you learn the lore of the world Honeydew lives in. As you meet new characters you are tasked with simple things that help the player become more aware of their surroundings. There are also fun useless things to do like shake plants and kick soda machines to break them that help build the world you explore and add to the cute factor. 

            The plot of Melon Journey is one of finding a friend that works with Honeydew at a melon facility. Honeydew even ventures to a town nearby to meet them and comes across animals who work for the underground crime scene. Melons are illegal in the other nearby town naturally. There is a new mayor being elected in Hog Town and we get to unravel mysteries along the way that count more as side quests involving additional characters. There isn’t a list of quests besides the bar of icons that pop up when you finish one throughout the story, so you’ll have to be alert of what is being said. The gameplay is rather short, but the quality of the content exceeded my expectations for the low price point. Shortly into the title the player does also unlock “skates” to help speed up moving around from cell to cell when helping out other critters. 

            The best part of this title, other than the art, was the music! The OST offers 90+ original songs and I wrote this while jamming out to some played by a quite literal underground musician in the sewers. Most tracks are short and meant to be looped and are dependent on how long you’re supposed to be in that area. Each area has a different song unless they are loud or peculiar areas; like the factory Honeydew works at, or the underground scenes, or the escalator leading to the train. All these songs are composed by Markeryjane and Mario. They are Jazz and lo-fi cafe sounding songs. This is a great combination to have while reading through the text and delivers the proper mood for each scene. There is no voice narration apart from a few songs and the sound effects to build the environment. 

            The longevity of this title is only 4-5 hours long if reading just the main story text and exploring little. If a player is very thorough and doesn’t use a guide, the game will take a bit longer than that. I still missed a couple of the achievements while playing due to me solving a quest sooner than needed for one character that apparently auto solves on a later day of the story. I still plan on returning to this title to clean up the couple achievements I missed and to enjoy the music even more. 

Conclusion

Melon Journey: Bittersweet Memories is a brilliant, cute title that was built off their original RPG so many years ago. This feels like a step up for those who played the original story. The main takeaways will be the art and music for most players. You do have the freedom to explore, but the story only moves forward when finishing tasks assigned to you opening new sections. The game was updated back in May which added a quick save feature and fixed minor bugs. This title is very polished unlike many of the games flooding the Xbox marketplace currently. Melon Journey is not a shovel ware title and does have substance for those looking for a more relaxed game to pick up and enjoy. If you’re looking for heavy action, that will not be this title. It is low skill based and requires paying attention to text prompts to know where to go. This is a slower paced game, however, it is incredibly cute from the music production to character designs.

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