Category: Consoles

Xbox is currently winning… by far

Posted on by X35 Earthwalker
 

Xbox recently announced the design and price of their newest next gen console, Xbox Series S. So know gamers get a choice between the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S. After all, gamers like having options. This new smaller console has not only sealed Xbox’s victory over the competition but also extended how far they are ahead. We will talk about this here. So fan boys (especially playstation and PC) drop the emotions and get logical. Be mature about this. Let’s take a look.

Let’s clear up the most basic subject first, the games, or should we say exclusives. Sadly and not surprisingly many gaming websites and so called reviewers fail this section due to them not being smart or honest. Xbox Series X has lots of exclusives. You can call them console exclusives if you want but exclusive none the less as gaming consoles like PS5 and Nintendo Switch won’t have them. Let’s make this clear again. PC is not a console. It isn’t an gaming console. Go on the internet now, type in consoles. All we saw was new and old consoles like Nintendo 64, Xbox’s. Playstation etc. No PC! We kept scrolling down and dow but no PCs. So a game that’s on the Xbox but also on PC is still an Xbox exclusive.

The argument back in the during the Xbox One and PS4 days was that Xbox didn’t have exclusives while PlayStation did. First of all Xbox did have exclusives just not big named ones, secondly not anymore. Xbox Series X has over 20 exclusives. 22 to be exact that we know off. PS5 currently has revealed 9. So Xbox Series X has over twice as many exclusives coming as PS5. That’s a huge difference. These exclusives are big names too. We have written about the majority of them. The names will also be links. They are: Halo Infinite, Second extinction, Call of the sea, The ascent, Scorn,  Bright memory, The medium, New genesis phantasy star online 2, Hellblade 2, Grounded, avowed, Forza: Motorsport, State of decay 3, Psychonauts 2, Stalker 2, Everwild, Warhammer 40000: dark tide, Tetris effect: connected, The Gunk, CrossfireX, Fable, Exomecha. Now that’s a lot. There’s also lots of gamers who wants to play these games. It’s also a variety of genres too. Racing – Forza: Motorsport. First person shooter – Halo Infinite, Second extinction, ExoMecha. Exploration (also adventure) – Call of the Sea. Cartoony-ish (also adventure) design but – Psychonauts 2, The Gunk. Horror – The Medium. Top down shooter – The Ascent. Etc etc. Simply put, there’s lots of options here. 22 > 9. Since we checked out and wrote about majority of these games, 16/22, we can confirm that they are great games with some looking real special. 

Now we already talked about the build of the consoles in another post. Clearly Xbox Series X is stronger and you can expect better visuals and graphics. We think PS5 will have better load times though. Xbox Series X will have faster load times too but PS5 will just be faster than that so it’s not the biggest deal at all. Power, graphics, visuals > Load time. No contest. What Xbox is also winning at is price. Xbox Series X and the Xbox Series S are prices respectively at $500 and $300 so £380 and £230 (we care about and include the UK readers). Now that’s amazing. PS5 price hasn’t been announced but they can’t go lower than that without making a huge loss. Xbox can afford this loss though. Last time we checked Microsoft has WAY more money than Sony. So we can assume that the PS5 will be more expensive or possibly match the price of the Xbox Series X. That’s just the X though. Remember the Xbox Series S? Xbox has stated that the Xbox Series S has: Custom 512 GB NVME SSD, powered by Xbox Velocity Architecture, Faster load times, Steadier frame rates, quick resume for multiple games, ultra low latency, all digital gaming experience, 1440P at up to 120FPS, 4K upscaling for games, DirectX Raytracing, Variable Rate Shading, Variable Refresh Rate. So it’s still a beastly console for sure just smaller but obviously the Xbox Series X is better. It’s just a great second if you can’t afford the main big thing.  

Continuing the topic of price this is also where Xbox beats PC. PC has officially lost their advantage. The silly so called pc master race idiots use to say you save money on games and stuff like that and that PC has the best performance. One thing at a time. First of all you know what’s better than getting games at a discount… getting games for free. With Xbox game pass ultimate you can literally just download games (not own) and start playing the full game. We literally got some awesome games for free (the game pass ultimate obviously has a monthly cost) and dive into them. Free > discount. All day everyday. Also being on the same pass has it’s own perks too (check their website for full information) including discounts for buying games. So yeah you save money with Xbox Series X (game pass ultimate)… not PC. Now concerning performance. Well if you check the specs of the Xbox Series X and PS5, they easily match PC (the high end ones) and the Xbox Series X might even be better. 12 teraflops, 4K gaming and 8K ready, up to 120 FPS all for £380 or $500!! How much does it cost to build those super high end gaming PCs? What’s that? Stop mumbling under your breath. Louder! Oh, over 1000! Some sources are saying $1920 – $2070! Another saying $1500. Another saying $2000. You get the point. The Xbox Series X matches high end PCs while only costing $500! With your high end $1500 PC you could buy three Xbox Series Xs or buy one and buy all the games they plan to release. You could buy one for you and your sibling with fancy controllers. You could buy one for the master, one for the dame and one for the little boy who lives down the lane. So who’s saving money? Consoles. that’s who. PC has been dethroned. Facts.

Now to put the nail in the coffin. xCloud. We wrote about this before. Simply put you can play your games like Minecraft, Halo, Ori and the will of the wisps, Sea of thieves and much much more on your phone or tablet. So you could play on the bus, in the park at your aunties house etc. xCloud makes Xbox the most versatile platform too. At the end of the day it’s still options for the gamers. We are going to try out cloud gaming with Xbox to see for ourselves how it feels. This what if someone is using the TV then we can still game. Can be useful. If you want more information you can check their website.

Sad we have to explain this again but quickly, yes most of the game son Xbox will also be on Windows. Why? Who owns windows? Microsoft. Who owns Xbox? Microsoft. So from a business perspective it makes no sense to put your games on one and no the other. They want to earn money. So that’s how it’s going to be. most xbox games will be on PC. PC isn’t a console. 

Let’s sum up here. Xbox has the price advantage over both PlayStation and PC concerning the consoles AND the games. Xbox Series X will have 22 exclusives while PS5 will have 9. Xbox Series X will have the best or joint best performance with PC (the super high end ones only) in terms of graphics and visuals. If you take price into account then Xbox Series X easily better than PC. Xbox also has xCloud to allow the playing of games on portable devices like phones and tablets, so they have versatility advantage too. So price (games and consoles), exclusives, versatility, deals all goes to Xbox. So yes Xbox is currently winning… by far. No more master race nonsense and PlayStation needs to up their game. Let us know what you think. Now the Xbox Series X may be the most powerful console but it’s still too weak when compared too… the ‘Earth Walk!’    

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ExoMecha. Giant mechs, dragon and wars

Posted on by X35 Earthwalker

ExoMecha is a new free to play online competitive first person shooter game developed by ‘TwistedRed‘ and published by ‘Xbox Game Studios‘. ExoMecha is said to be coming out last quarter of 2021 on the Xbox One, Xbox Series X and PC. X35 Earthwalker knows a special game when he sees it. This game is looking special for sure. Let’s take a look. 

In the universe of ExoMecha there is a planet called Omecha. It’s described as habitable. Multiple intelligent species in the galaxy have discovered Omecha. Now off course no likes to share apparently so these species are going to fight it out to be the one to have control of the planet’s resources. Simple story but it does explain everything you need to know about the action of the game. The action is the main factor and where it’s at.

Now the main battle and gameplay of ExoMech is infantry in advanced suits fighting it out in a way that reminds u of Titanfall. You can sprint, jump and shoot like in a regular shooter game. You have grenades and equipment to back you up like a grapple hook that you can even use to reach and take over a vehicle for example. You can get your hands on powerful weapons like rocket launchers which off course is perfect for destroying vehicles a group of troops and even flying threats Here’s where out feels like a shooter and you’ve got to make some moves in order to bring in the real firepower.

Now when we said in the title “Giant mechs, dragon and wars”, we weren’t joking. That sums up ExoMecha. It’s big battles. There are giant mechs that carry shields and swords. They literally fight it out like transformers. Remember that scene where sentinel prime with shield and sword fought Optimus prime. Yeah think of it like that. Two big mech robots just blocking, swinging and even doing techniques like knocking the enemies shield away with a kick. So it isn’t mindless button mashing but there’s neutral footsie game with spacing, counter attacking and moving in to remove the shield. There’s even executions.

Now it doesn’t end there in ExoMecha. We mentioned vehicles earlier as well. There are flying vehicles like attack copters which are literally just there to mow everything down even with explosive rounds. There are tanks with a heavy duty main cannon. There’s even a quick combat land vehicle which we saw it, we instantly though of the warthog from Halo. It can fight a few people and has a current for someone to man and fire. Last of all is the dragon. You heard us. This beast is a friend to no one. It will go wherever it wants and start shooting flames everywhere. It has been said that there’s a serious reward for having the guts to face this thing. The dragon is mechanical, big, and causes lots of damage. Off course it’s powerful but X35 Earthwalker can literally one shot that thing with a slap… so it’s only dangerous to regular people like you who’s reading this.

There’s more to ExoMecha than what you see. You have chaos and wars happening everywhere. Players will be equipped with abilities and gadgets. The two we see in the trailer: dash and grapple hook are examples. The developers said that none of the abilities are offensive: so expect defensive stuff or mobility. So far we know of three game modes in ExoMecha. One is like an objective type mode, another is basically a large scale battle while the third is basically a battle Royale. It gets strange though as we saw a players standing on top of a moving missile. So literally riding a missile into combat while shooting. Wild.

ExoMecha isn’t a simple flat game either with a set design. It changes. The developers stated that “at first, the ExMecha journey will start with all-natural environments” but as more species and civilisations land on Omecha, the maps will change due to their impact on the world. So each civilisation will have their own theme which will be clearly seen in the design of the maps. A little bit of information concerning the vehicles. There will be more than one of a type. For example there is a main tank and spider tank. The spider tank has better control and movement on rough surfaces and has a faster rate of fire but the main tank overall does more damage with slower firing big cannon and has higher max speed. So expect this for other vehicles. 

We checked out some ExoMecha gameplay and it’s what we though. Expect big fields and maps with loads of combat and gameplay going on. Expect giant mechs clashing across the map while infantry are fighting it out with headshots, grenades and abilities and maybe commandeering vehicles. Then suddenly you are warned that you are in danger zone. Why? No reason… only the fact that there’s a giant dragon right there burning everything up. It’s pure action. Like we said it’s sort of like Titanfall, Transformers and Halo in one in a way with fractions from each. 

Overall ExoMecha looks like something special. We are finally get a mechanised futuristic all battle game that will also visually look amazing with the power of the Xbox Series X. They stated, “Xbox Series X, we will have a 4K high fidelity mode & a 120 fps mode. Our 120 fps mode will also be 4K but it will be a dynamic resolution.” The developers ‘TwistedRed’ have done a fantastic job with this game. We at X35 Earthwalker are keeping an eye out for this game. Now ExoMecha may have Gian mechs and a dragon but all those working together wouldn’t even scratch… the ‘Earth Walk!’

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Halo Infinite. What we want to see

Posted on by X35 Earthwalker

Halo Infinite is the game that so many many people have been waiting for. It’s a First Person Shooter looking like an open world game developed by ‘343 Industries‘ and published by ‘Xbox Game Studios‘. Halo Infinite is coming out on 2021 on the Xbox Series X, Xbox One and Windows 10 PC. Halo Infinite has so much potential that it’s crazy. There’s so much room for the good stuff to make this the best game of the year easily. So here we will just talk about what we want to see but we won’t give away everything. Let’s take a look.

Now as the universes ultimate strategist and easily the most intelligent gamer ever, X35 Earthwalker knows what he is talking about is is the most authoritative. Off course we like to hear from you guys so let us know what you think. First things first, Halo Infinite has dropped huge hints of open world. We are convinced that it’s open world and if you want to see our first G-blog post on Halo Infinite then use the link here. Hall is one of those games who can easily make their game open world. Look at the previous halo games and check out those levels where you ride a warthog through the mission and there are trees, structures, rocks etc and you can see how Halo is capable of exploration. When you look at the map in Halo Infinite, just imagine it bigger. Imagine being able to eventually explore the entire Halo ring. After all the Halo ring is basically a planet.

Open world is just the start. The next thing that we want Halo Infinite to have is wildlife. We mentioned this in out first blog post about Halo Infinite. Halo Reach had large animals that can attack and kill you in the night mission with the spartan Jun. Those things were cool but so easy to kill. Halo Infinite showed deer or antlers. We need the wildlife yes as it adds to the environment. After all Halo is a massive planet sized ring. Surely there has to be bears, sharks, insects etc. Bring them in. Imagine killing the banished in the area but you take cover to regain your shields but a bear comes out from behind and one shots you. Scary ain’t it? Hold up though. This is Halo as in the 26th century… the future. Bring in some alien advanced looking animals too. Bring in beasts with large forearms and tusks. Animals that clearly aren’t from earth. Get creative! We want to see a dangerous but passive sand worm thing that you can detect through the rumble of your controller or headphones and you have to stay out of its path or its instant death. 

Another thing we do want to see… is the return of warzone. Warzone is the best game mode in Halo history in our opinion. It’s the perfect representation of a war. You could get ran over by a ghost, a dude snipe your head of with a sniper rifle, or a guy with a sword with three speed boosts running around. Anything can happen, like in a war. It forces players to react, adapt and deal with the constantly changing situations that happen. You think you are safe with Nornfang but then you get assassinated, robbed and tea bagged by a guy who is invisible thanks to active camouflage. Warzone is an excellent mode which does need some adjustments though for Halo Infinite. Warzone is crazy. So they need certain limits of the number of vehicles a team can have, the req weapons be split into tiers and thus make it easier to limit and manage. 

The next thing we want to see in Halo Infinite is a Battle Royale. Hate on it all you want but if there is any game that has the universe, design and right to do a battle Royale… it’s Halo. Look at the view of the land and level in Halo Infinite during the lift segment of the gameplay trailer. It looks perfect for a battle Royale. Imagine a huge map with mountains, grass, forests etc, someone is high up on. A Spartan on a hill with a sniper rifle trying to snipe but there’s someone with an active camouflage sneaking up behind them. Or someone with a banshee flying around looking for the right moments to strike but a player finds a rocket launcher that has homing capabilities goes to take him down. Imagine maybe 100 players. Everyone starts with the assault rifle. There are loot drops in the form of ODST style pods. Boosts to your shields can be found, armour abilities like active camp, sprint and even hard light shield or even bring back armour lock can be found but have limited uses like twice or whatever depending on how strong the ability is. Maybe each player can earn a respawn depending on the number of kills they acquire like killing 1 person gains a respawn but then need 5 kills to earn a second respawn. When respawning you can pick within a radius of where you died that you can ODST drop back in. It’s possible here. 

That’s some of the things we want to see in Halo Infinite and will make the game much better. Make it open world, bring in wild life, bring back modes like warzone and even breakout and do Battle Royale. This is just some of the stuff we want to see in Halo Infinite. Simply put, 343 Industries should not be afraid to try new things. Halo Infinite is being called “the most ambitious Halo game ever made” and even “the most expansive Master Chief campaign yet”. They need to live up to these. Get ambitious. Now X35 Earthwalker is excited for Halo Infinite. We will keep an eye on this game and see what happens. Now Halo Infinite may have all the potential but it’s nothing special when compared to… the ‘Earth Walk!’

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Psychonauts 2. Crazy world out here

Posted on by X35 Earthwalker

Psychonauts 2 is a new action, adventure 3D platformer game developed by ‘Double Fine Presents‘ and published by ‘Xbox Game Studios‘. Psychonauts 2 is said to be coming out 2021 on Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC. This is another game that got displayed during the Xbox games showcase. We wanted to write about it quickly. Let’s take a look.

Psychonauts 2 is about a dude called ‘Razputin Aquato’. This guy is a trained acrobat but that’s not all. He’s psychic. Not just any psychic but a powerful one. He has a major dream of wanting to join the Psychonauts, who are an international psychic espionage organisation. The members are basically psychic super spies. He finally fulfills his dream but things aren’t so great right now. Basically the leader of the Psychonauts has changed. Ever since he got kidnapped. So the leader is wack but there’s also a mole (traitor) hiding in the headquarters. That’s a terrible situation.  

So basically it’s up to Razputin to save the day. Why him though? This is a whole team of psychic spies but this new guy is going to be the hero. If they fail then the traitor will complete his mission which is to bring Maligula, who is a psychic villain who kills alot. So that’s the story really. 

Now Psychonauts 2 is going for it’s own style with the character design, body shapes, objects and world. Remember that this game is an adventure. This adventure won’t just be a we have to go here and stop the bad guy there. You will need to enter peoples minds. Allowing you to be able to help them as some have struggles or “inner demons”. There’s going to be some emotional issues. This does make sense since you need to figure out who the mole is amongst the Psychonauts organisation. Access everyones minds and find out who has something to hide concerning the mole.  

Get ready to enter minds by entering brains for some reason. There are worlds that look like creative imaginations. Expect forests, mushroom plants, buildings with an eye, space travel looking worm holes etc. Nothing is normal hear. Fitting in spaces you can’t normally. Appearing in random places. Some of these levels remind of us Super Mario Sunshine. The forest area in Psychonauts 2 brought memories of Pianta Village. The creativity in this game is very good. We even have an area made from teeth. Creepy.

This isn’t our style of game but we have to look at games for their genre and design style. Psychonauts  2 certainly has quite a bit going on here. The biggest thing going for Psychonauts  2 right now is the creativity and the fact that this game is very different to other games coming out and the others in the Xbox showcase. X35 Earthwalker are all about creativity. We have seen psychic abilities like telekinesis and even deflections of projectiles.  Psychonauts 2 is giving is what is claims to have. A psychic organisation, psychic abilities, creative worlds, surreal stuff everywhere. You will experience this all and more.  

We checked out some Psychonauts 2 gameplay and it’s what thought it would be but to a higher degree. This game is weird though. Seems very simple to understand and seems like there’s a good amount of hand holding too. Run, jump, climb, shimmy down, attack, think and solve. We hope they up the excitement for the enemies. Most of them look lame and don’t look like a threat.  

Overall Psychonauts 2 just seem like another wacky action adventure game with psychic powers. How big the adventure is… we don’t know. We do know there’s a loyal body of fans for this game. We like the visuals and creativity of the areas as that’s it’s strongest point in our opinion. The developers ‘Double fine present’ have done an alright job with this game. We at X35 Earthwalker will just have to hear how well Psychonauts 2 does. Now Psychonauts 2 may have a wacky style and creative locations but but they are all regular nd plain compared to… the ‘Earth Walk!’

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CrossfireX. Don’t get caught in it

Posted on by X35 Earthwalker

CrossfireX is a new “fast paced” first person shooter game developed by ‘Smilegate Entertainment‘ and published by ‘Microsoft‘. CrossfireX is another Xbox exclusive that’s said to be coming out 2020 on the Xbox Series X and Xbox One. CrossfireX looks like it’s going to be a big battle that has explosives. Let’s take a look.

CrossfireX is looking like a real serious game. The story sounds quite simple. It’s basically a huge battle between the world’s two strongest and biggest private military factions: Global Risk and Black List. So already you know it’s going to a major league battle. Expect helicopters, vehicles, special forces, advanced weapons and explosives and much more. 

There is a bit more to it though. The developers and even the official website keep hinting at the fact that players need to “Unravel the story”. This is strongly suggesting that there’s more going on than just a simple war. Honestly a simple all out battle would still be fine as you can easily make that awesome and give a simple story. Yet in CrossfireX there’s something deeper. Expect conspiracies, lies, who struck first etc. We took notice of this game because of the Xbox games showcase. 

There’s loads of shooter games out there and some like call of duty tried the whole what’s really going on and learning who you are and what side you are on etc. CrossfireX is looking real serious and we hope they try something new. Like what you ask? We ain’t giving away our best selling ideas. Pay us first at least. Hmph, Kids these days.  Now we’ve seen all kinds of action already. Wingsuit flying, helicopter drop off. Advanced technology like suits with active camouflage. Rifles that not only fire serious bullets but also fire grenades and explosive projectiles.  

We checked out some CrossfireX gameplay. It looks very good so far. The animations of the characters is very good. The guns look good for its style. Headshots truly matter delivering a powerful and satisfying kill. Sniper rifles are very lethal bringing instant death. Global Risk look more like a heavy armed city squad for countering terrorists while Black list look like wilderness fighters. Taking the fights in the deserts, mountains etc. We like that the round mvp walks through fire, a cool entrance for sure. better than what other games have. Team match, spectre and point capture are the three modes that gamers have been trying soo far in CrossfireX. We do like that gamers get the option of playing classic CrossfireX playlist which has no aim down sight and sprint while the modern playlist does. There’s quite a bit going on here.

Overall, CrossfireX seems like a very good shooter game. It doesn’t have anything new or unique coming in here. It’s another big shooter game, with competitive multiplayer modes, a big explosive story and woads of weapons and guns firing. It’s a shooter game, you get what it says on the box. It definitely looks good. Graphics and sounds are good too. The developers ‘Smilegate Entertainment’ have done a very good job. We at X35 Earthwalker will just have to hear what CrossfireX is going to bring. Now CrossfireX may have great graphics and an explosive war but it’s all pathetic when compared to… the ‘Earth Walk!’ 

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Inmost. Dark, atmospheric and action

Posted on by X35 Earthwalker

Inmost is a horror puzzle platformer game developed by ‘Hidden Layer Games‘ and published by ‘Chucklefish‘. Inmost came out on Nintendo Switch, iMac and PC. Inmost isn’t our type of game . It’s pixel styled and very simple controls. It did catch out attention at some point we can tell it is very good. Let’s take a look. 

Inmost is quite simple to understand. It’s a dark, sad world with danger. You play as three different characters: A knight, a stranger and a little girl but yet their stories are interconnected. The story isn’t suppose to be pleasant. There’s a warning on their website which says, “player discretion is advised. INMOST is an intimate story of loss and hope that some may find upsetting.” That should tell you quite a lot. You see. little girl get neglected, mistreated, afraid, bad dad, she cut herself and the mum didn’t care at all. Abuse, kidnapped children, a cursed knight, etc. This game is dark but the monsters are darker. This is a shorter game as it’s been described as something you are suppose to play and finish in one go on a dark stormy night. 3-5 hours long. 

When you play as the little girl it’s the heaviest with narrative and story driven. There’s no actual enemy or danger but just figuring out what needs t be done. You may need to move a table or chair. Carry certain things around the house. You even play hide and seek with a toy who thew girl has conversations with. You see her pain and what she goes through. With the stranger it’s the main part of the game. You platform, move around, evade hazards and dangerous creatures, you climb, collect items, cut away tall grass, break down weak walls, mine things, break down wooden structures and use your wits and to defat your enemies and survive. The knight is the action part of the game. You actually aren’t defenceless. You can slash and destroy your enemies easily, dash, grapple around etc. As the knight you are powerful and can take a hit before dying. Three different styles. 

The game is very silent for the most part which is a type of atmosphere still. Your footsteps and pulling stuff and interactions with environment are louder than anything else. So when something actually happens it acts as an alarm, alerting the player to take action. Some dangers are just like traps, a tentacle on the ceiling while others are small dark substances on the ground waiting for you to walk over it. Then there’s real threats like real monsters that pop up and chase you down. Dangerous and very hostile. You can beat them as the stranger and need to hide, out climb, duck and outsmart them. Players will need to think fast and do the right things to survive. It is a simple game at the end of the day with move, jump and action. It’s simple but very well done. Sounds, lighting, music and different play styles work well together. Not everything is consistent though like with the girl voice narrating the first section of the knight. You don’t hear her again until much later.

We checked out some Inmost gameplay and what it says on the box is what you are getting. It is dark as in there will be candles, fire, lights with some stuff you can’t see yet. Very atmospheric as most of the time things are quiet and your actions, movement are the loudest things in the game. Horror well the game itself isn’t scary but there are shadow and monsters of darkness that are real aggressive and jump out to get you. Thinking is needed to get through the area, and evade death and there is definitely platforming. Expecting climbing, jumping, moving stuff etc. The game is very simple to understand and it’s almost always clear what you have to do. The music or lack off does act to the atmopshere. The story was very predictable though even though they didn’t well to add emotions, sadness and disaster. The story connects up concerning the three characters you play in the game.  

Overall Inmost is a good game. It does what it said it would do, provides different styles of gameplay through the characters, a variety of enemies, dangers and even threats you will have to face later. Players have to be focused when playing and get strategic at times. Inmost’s graphics for a pixel style game is excellent. The music is very well done and adds to the experience. We didn’t get scared or emotional at all though so it failed there for us. The developers ‘Hidden Layer Games’ have done a very good job with this game. It something a number of gamers would get into. We at X35 Earthwalker  like this game and know it’s good even though it isn’t our style or our thing. Inmost may be telling a dark sad story but it has no effect on… the ‘Earth Walk!’

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Forza: Motorsport. Some real racing

Posted on by X35 Earthwalker

Forza: Motorsport is the new Forza game developed by ‘Turn 10 Studios‘ and published ‘Xbox Game Studios‘. Forza: Motorsport hasn’t much information on when it’s coming out but we know it’s going to be coming out on Xbox Series X and Windows 10 PC. Forza: Motorsport was one of those games that stood out to us from the Xbox Showcase 2020. Let’s take a look.

Forza: Motorsport stood out for one reason only. The visuals. Off all the games being displayed at the Xbox Showcase, Forza: Motorsport visually looked the best of all of them. Everything they showed was declared as “footage captured in-engine”. What’s typical and very biased of many streamers and youtubers who reacted to the Xbox Showcase they lacked the skill and ability to notice this about Forza: Motorsport in the showcase. X35 Earthwalker clearly being greater and better than all of them noticed this and took the visuals into account. Racing games are basically the same at this point. Especially those who want realistic looking ones.

It’s harder to stand out in the racing game genre. You have V-Rally 4, WRC8, need for speed Payback, 2020 F1 etc which all went for a high graphics realistic looking game. Sure they have some differences and racing styles but you get the point and what the common denominator is. What really catches the eyes though is off course the visuals. That’s what it looks like Forza: Motorsport is aiming for. Their official announcement trailer which is embedded below showed the most impressive, visually, racing game ever. Now off course we have to wait for straight up actual gameplay graphics but if what we saw is truly all in-engine then the hopes can be quite high. After all it has the power and backing of the Xbox Series X. 

Forza Motorsport is going to need to do more than just racing across tracks with high speed because we’ve got that already. It shouldn’t just be about the graphics. What modes will there be, will the ‘career mode’ actually be interesting. What features will be there to shake things up. Last time we had that rewind ability which was excellent and gave the game a big stand out factor and something cool, for players to use to their advantage. So Forza Motorsport… what do you have for us this time. We aren’t feeling racing games right now. So give us a reason to want to care. We are impressed with the visuals but that ain’t enough. Bring the action!!

Forza Motorsport has the legendary green badge. You know what this means: “Games built using the Xbox Series X development kit are designed to take advantage of the unique capabilities of the Xbox Series X. They will showcase unparalleled load times, visuals, responsiveness and frame rates up to 120 FPS.” The Xbox website has also declared it will be 4K ultra HD and HDR. So it’s reasonable to have high expectations for visuals and graphics.

Other from what was in the trailer there isn’t that much to go on concerning Forza Motorsport. It’s a racing game with so far the best graphics and visuals. Yet it’s another racing game going for the realistic approach. We truly hope there’s more.

Overall Forza Motorsport is looking real good for now. The developers ‘Turn 10 studios’ are working on it. We at X35 Earthwalker will have to wait and see what happens. Now Forza Motorsport may have high level graphics but it looks like trash when compared to… the ‘Earth Walk!’

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The Gunk. Oozing with adventure

Posted on by X35 Earthwalker

The Gunk is a new third person action adventure game developed by Image & Form Games and published by ‘Thunderful‘. The Gunk is an Xbox exclusive and said to be coming out September 2021 on the Xbox One, Xbox Series X and Windows 10 PC. The Gunk is clearly going to be an adventure and there’s something strong going on with this planet. Let’s take a look.

The Gunk is about two space haulers (scavengers) who make a living by travelling from planet to planet looking for cool and valuable resources they can harvest and off course sell. This isn’t paying out too well but everything changes when they land on a new planet. The planet from a distance does look lifeless and dull but once they get there, they discover that a gunky substance which is actually a slimy parasite is actually destroying and covering up the colourful and vibrant world. This planet I cursed and dying. It’s up to you to help… or is it?

Here’s the problem and it’s what’s causing issues between the two friends. One wants to help this planet and do something about the situation while the other believes it’s not their problem as it’s not their planet and they are just here to try and make money. The developers said this about The Gunk, “To be honest, the game has frightened me many times.” and “Here’s a game about really scary stuff, slimy things and real conflict.” A game like this has potential to be scary. We hope they explore horror attributes in this planet.

You decide to help the planet after learning more about it. That there was a civilisation here and it’s off course ruined and destroyed by this gunk parasite. Now how do you deal with the Gunk? You use your vacuum like device and suck it all up. You ain’t running away from the gunk, you’re going towards it. Now whether there’s a limit to how much you can suck up isn’t clear. Maybe players will need to use something to destroy the gunk since it has been identified as an enemy. Do not take the Gunk lightly. The Gunk can hurt you and some creatures are hostile too.

We checked out some The Gunk gameplay and it’s looking really good. It’s definitely an adventure. There’s a mystery, a broken civilisation, a mysterious gunk parasite. There’s quite a bit to discover and solve. There are enemies in The Gunk and they seem very hostile. They aren’t plentiful though. This game needs enemies besides the gunk but they need a good amount of frequency. Action is needed so we hope there’s enough combat and encounters. The whole reason for the two space scavengers to be at conflict with each other or should we say disagreement concerning the planet comes down to a sense of duty, realisation, kindness of the heart. We like conflict with good meaning that’s realistic. The game does need to be more interesting. It feels more like exploration mostly right now. It needs something more explosive involved.    

Overall, The Gunk looks like good game. It isn’t a simple run and jump and open doors type of adventure. There’s mystery, danger, conflict, scares, basically more going on that initially thought. It’s not a just a blob you have to suck up. The graphics look very good and we are liking this colourful and creative world with great visuals which will be better on the Xbox Series X with the raw power. The developers ‘Image & Form Games’ have a done an excellent job with this game. We at X35 Earthwalker will have to see more of what’s going on but liking what’s already been seen. Now the Gunk may have a gunk parasite but even that’s insignificant when compared too… the ‘Earth Walk!’

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Tetris Effect: Connected. Next level

Posted on by X35 Earthwalker

Tetris Effect Connected is a new arcade puzzle game developed by ‘Monstars Inc.’, ‘Resonair’, ‘Stage Games’ and published by ‘Enhance‘. Tetris Effect: Connected is said to be coming out 2020 on the Xbox One, Xbox Series X and PC. It’s Tetris, that alone should tell you what this is all about. Let’s take a look.

Tetris Effect: Connected is Tetris at the end of the day which means you got to place falling blocks of different shapes and patterns in places to fill up rows to get rid of them and score the big points. If you don’t know what Tetris is then you should be ashamed of yourself for the most part. We never cared about Tetris but we knew what it was. Now Tetris Effect: Connected is like Pac-Man Championship Edition 2… a bigger, better game with the same foundation formula but with new features, mechanics, more colours and more flashiness.

The Single player has been upgraded and levelled up. There are all new modes like ‘Zone Battle’ which has “time-stopping Zone mechanic” which can be the thing that helps bring someone from behind in the game or maybe in front. This shakes up the 1v1 battles. New features and mechanics means new tactics and new things to taken into account. There’s said to be over 10 modes in Tetris Effect: Connected so expect lots of things to do in this game. This isn’t the main thing nor what we care about that much.

What we really care about is the multiplayer as that’s the biggest upgrade in our opinion. The multiplayer has what’s called connected mode. This where up to three players can actually connect their playing fields together and play as a team. This team must do their best to defeat CPU bosses. A whole series of them and they keep getting harder and harder. So working together and doing your best is the solution. We don’t know if there is a difficulty adjustment for the number of players working together or not. 

Tetris Effect: Connected has the green badge of Xbox Series X approval. You know what this means. “Games built using the Xbox Series X development kit are designed to take advantage of the unique capabilities of the Xbox Series X. They will showcase unparalleled load-times, visuals, responsiveness, and frame rates up to 120 FPS.” So expect 120 frames per second of Tetris Effect: Connected goodness.

We checked out some Tetris Effect: Connected gameplay and it’w what we thought it would be just more flashy. There over 30 different stages to play on, more than 10 modes. The effects don’t make things hard to see. It’s Tetris at the end of the day, so don’t expect any sticky plasma grenades. Our favourite thing is clearly facing the CPU bosses like that scorpion. Tetrtic Effect: Connected will have both cooperative and competitive gameplay which will be both local (old for that) and online. There’s options. 

Overall Tetris Effect: Connected is looking like an excellent game so far. Tetris Effect was good but this new game is even better. It has all the previous great stuff plus more. The multiplayer is definitely going to be the best feature of this game and we like the flashiness and work that’s gone into this game. The developers ‘Monstars Inc.’, ‘Resonair’, ‘Stage Games’ have done an excellent job with this game. We at X35 Earthwalker will have to see what else Tetris Effect: Connected has up it’s sleeves. Now Tetris Effect: Connected may have a new flashy upgrade but it’s incredibly dull when compared too… the ‘Earth Walk!’

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S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2. It’s not over

Posted on by X35 Earthwalker

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 is a new First Person Shooter and horror game developed and published by ‘GSC Game World‘. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 is said to be coming out on the Xbox Series X and PC. The release date has not been given but we’ve got clues. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is again one of those games we never heard off and didn’t care about. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 is looking big though. Let’s take a look.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 is big. Let’s just start off with that. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 has been described as an open world game. The developers specifically said, “The zone in S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 is one of the biggest seamless open worlds to date.” This is. Abigails claim to match the size of the game. So expect loads of exploration, multiple locations, quests, discoveries and more. 

The S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 story itself is suppose to be the heavy focus of the game. What we know about this game is that it’s trying that game technique where the players decisions make a difference. S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 is said to feature a non linear story where the choices you make has both short consequences and effects outcomes on a global scale which would make sense as it’s an open world game. Many games try this and don’t do it well. Hopefully S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 developers learn from others failures and do better.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 is an Xbox console exclusive and has a certain green badge. You know what this means. “Games built using the Xbox Series X development kit are designed to take advantage of the unique capabilities of Xbox Series X. They will showcase unparalleled load-times, visuals, responsiveness and framerates up to 120FPS.” So expect top the highest levels of performance of the Xbox Series X.

There is a lot going on in 3. There is multiple endings. The story branches off. Players need to keep this in mind when going about objectives, completing the story and whatever side missions are available. Multiple endings off course mean replayability is here. Now will it be clear on how to get the different endings or not. We at X35 Earthwalker for the most part enjoy multiple endings as you get to see what you truly got when you do a blind run of the game.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 being open world there are many locations and quite a bit of mystery. We have seen what looks like facilities for experiments and growing creatures. There are large woods which must be risky to explore at night. There are underground sections which may require certain equipment to explore like masks for breathing. There are houses, wrecked structures and what looks like ruined civilisation. 

We checked out S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 and saw some interesting things. There are mutants and anomalies. Some of these creatures just seem straight up supernatural and have big effect on the environment. One looked like an enemy from Skyforge, a water elemental being (we hate them). It was cool and you should keep your distance. Don’t get distracted as there are other threats around so put your gun to use. First person shooter and horror is a nice combination. The horror tends to be lacking. They need to make sure the horror is strong. If it’s horror then players should be afraid. 

Overall S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 seems like a good game. It isn’t a special game nor has it made us want to play but S.T.A.L.K.E.R. has a good fan base and S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 did get the attention of a number of gamers during the Xbox Showcase 2020 so the players will be there. Concerning the graphics they said “The trailer demonstrates the level of graphics and atmosphere we are aiming to achieve on release.” Well do your best guys. The developers ‘GSC Game World’ have done a good job. We at X35 Earthwalker will have to see what’s happening later. Now S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 may have horror in there but it’s never capable of scaring… the ‘Earth Walk!’

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