Xbox Series X Reviews Archives - GamersHeroes

Redfall Review

Johnny Hurricane — Wed, 03 May 2023 21:18:43 +0000

After being announced last year, Arkane Austin and Bethesda’s open-world, co-op FPS Redfall is now available. Is this vampire-slaying game worth the time, or should you sink your teeth into something meatier?

Redfall Review

When you first boot up Redfall, you get a brief intro to what happened before you start playing. The town of Redfall has slowly been getting smaller and smaller without many noticing. By the time people figure out what is going on, it’s far too late. Vampires have been taking people, and now a full-blown vampire invasion is happening in town. You try to escape, only to have the sea cut you off with a massive tidal wave.

With escape no longer being an option, you can only do your best to survive in the town of Redfall. You play as one of four characters:

– Jacob is the stealthy sniper guy who can scan for nearby enemies
– Layla has kinetic abilities and can summon a vampire ally
– Devinder has anti-vampire moves like UV rays and lightning
– Finally, Remi gets a robot companion and C4

It’s a good selection, but the gameplay in Redfall is rough.

With Arkane Studios’ rich pedigree, I was expecting more stealth options. The lack of backstabs is a disappointment, though players can still melee from behind. The AI can be downright brain-dead when detecting you as well. On the other hand, sometimes a sniper will drop you from an insane distance and have you wondering where the shot came from. More times than not, though, the AI is lacking.

The bad AI translates into Redfall’s combat as well. You will mostly face off with various vampire types and cultists. The cultists do try to take cover, but then they will just sit there and get shot. The basic vampires rush you and eat bullets while they try to slash at you. Some of the different vampire types are fun, but those are few and far between. That and the gunplay doesn’t feel great. It feels like an Xbox 360 game – even if the flare gun is awesome to burn vamps with.

The town of Redfall is fantastic, but the gameplay is so bland. It’s mostly going here and killing vampires and other enemies, or going there and collecting something to bring back to the base. You can also open up various safe houses in town, and those have side quests with them as well. Vampire nests are another side activity you can do, but also proves to be not that interesting.

While I didn’t care too much for the combat, I did like each of Redfall’s unique weapons. I mentioned the flare gun earlier, which can set vampires and humans on fire. There is also a stake launcher, which is exactly what it sounds like. Finally, the UV gun shoots out a laser that turns vampires into stone – a thrilling feeling. These are all cool ideas, but they are held back by subpar combat.

After completing enough story missions, you will unlock the Rook. As you kill vampires and beat missions, the Rook meter will fill. Once it fills up, the Rook is summoned, and you must face this hulking vampire. However, you will get some powerful loot if you can bring him down.

For some reason, this game doesn’t have matchmaking with random people. If you want to play with others, you will need some friends who want to play. Also, even if you play co-op, the host is the only one who keeps the story progression. That means if both players want to beat the game, they must go through it twice.

While I didn’t run into any crashes, the game doesn’t always hit the target of 30 frames per second. On top of that, you get T-pose bugs and stretchy limbs on specific models. Nothing game-breaking, but still there. Oh and you have to sell your items one at a time, which is insane with the amount of loot you get.

Redfall is a fantastic idea that just doesn’t pan out. Clunky combat, horrible AI, and boring gameplay make this one an easy pass.

This review of Redfall was done on the Xbox Series X. A digital code was provided by the publisher.

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Minecraft Legends Review

Johnny Hurricane — Fri, 14 Apr 2023 13:53:48 +0000

After being announced less than a year ago, Mojang Studios and Blackbird Interactive’s Minecraft Legends arrives on Xbox and PC. Is the spinoff release worth a try, or should you stick with the OG?

Minecraft Legends Review

Minecraft Legends begins with an invasion by the Piglins. They quickly take over the land, leaving the villagers defenseless. However, the protectors of the land – Action, Knowledge, and Foresight – quickly set off to find you for aid. When you are located, you are mining away in a cavern as they explain why you are the perfect person to save the world. You then make your character, and the game gets underway.

After a brief tutorial, the game truly opens up. Piglins have set up various camps and portals to keep spawning and raiding, with players tasked with putting a stop to the portals while protecting villagers. To do this, you can build structures and summon golems to aid in combat, providing a surprisingly tactical slant.

One can only spawn 20 golems to start, but this can be upgraded later as one upgrades their base. This is then broken down between tank golems, ranged damage golems, golems that charge enemies, and healing golems. That’s not a bad conversion, but when you add Zombies, Skeletons, and Creepers, you will have to make some hard choices.

Each unit has its strengths and weaknesses, but there are other factors to consider. One can only command so many units at once solo; while great for pincer attacks or flanking, it would be nice to have our more than 40 units charge the portal. Solo, you have to run to the units and then command them to charge. In co-op, everyone can control their own contingent of golems. This review was mostly done in single-player, but things truly shine in co-op.

As for the building, there are many defenses, traps, towers, and weapons/ramps to help you get the edge on enemy camps. The villages are pre-built, but you can put down other buildings and walls to protect them. If you ignore a village, the enemy will take over and players will have to reclaim it. The reward for having a town comes in the form of free daily resources. Having enough archer towers and walls will keep most towns safe, but always check to be sure.

The Piglin portals that you need to destroy are all very well protected. You usually have a gate, multiple archer towers, massive walls, some sort of killzone or maze to die in numerous times, and plenty of Piglins. Sometimes the portals are protected by a shield, tasking players with destroying special buildings to weaken them. Other times there will be a boss, and defeating it automatically eliminates the portal. It can get a bit grindy, especially with bosses having so much HP.

Minecraft Legends also started making me build ramps to climb up to the portals – which wasn’t as fun. Your little golem units don’t path very well, meaning trying to cross bridges results in some falling off. To top it off, they always seem to have a large unit or something that can push your soldiers off the cliff. They know it’s a problem and use it to actively hinder you. Again, this might be a better thing in co-op, because one isn’t running around trying to gather all units.

I’m starting to see a new trend in crafting games, which I like. Sons of the Forest let you use Kelvin to gather resources for you, and Minecraft Legends lets you put down a box, which allows little fairies called Allays to gather everything for you. It is the smoothest, least intrusive gathering system I’ve used in a while, and I hope to see more of it in the industry.

There aren’t really many side quests outside of helping the Zombies, Skeletons, and Creepers. However, the overworld does have various towers and other points of interest that will reward you with rare resources. The main collectible for me was the “First” golems. These are unique giant golems that deal a ton of damage. Reviving them takes a lot of resources but prove to be well worth it.

I didn’t run into any tech problems, bugs, or frame drops while playing.

While the tactical options are more limited when playing solo, Minecraft Legends is a blast to play. Pick it up if you are a Minecraft fan or if you just want to have fun playing a chill game with a friend.

This review of Minecraft Legends was done on the Xbox Series X. A digital code was provided by the publisher.