Blog Update & Wishlist

It’s been a little while since I’ve updated the blog so I thought I’d get jump back into the swing of things with a few updates!

Things to come:
Game Pass Goals updates

Game Pass Goals: My Progress

Xbox Live Rewards updates

Easy Achievements 3

Current Game Wishlist:

In no particular order, these are a few games I’m looking forward to & ones I am desperate to get a hold of asap.

Cuphead

The art style is phenomenal. Probably want more for the aesthetic than challenging game play!
Metro Exodus

I’m currently replaying Metro Last Light in conjunction with the newest Game Pass Goals and falling in love all over again! Bring on Exodus!!
Absolute Drift

Looks tremendously fun and relaxing. I enjoyed Flippfly’s previous titles so I doubt I’ll be disappointed.
Danger Zone


A complete and utter destruction game reminiscent of the old Burnout games. So hyped for this.

Call of Duty: WW2


I actually surprised myself with this one. The trailers look very CoD3-esque and I loved CoD3. Still sceptical as to whether it’ll be a solid game, but will probably pick it up later down the line.

Shadow of War

What is there to say? Shadow of Mordor was a refreshing title in the LoTR universe, can’t wait for the second installment!

Easy Achievements 2

Telltale Games Edition

It’s time again for another round of easy achievements! This time we’re going for a more mainstream approach with the Telltale point-and-click adventures. Starting with the game that reimagined the genre and breathed fresh air in to video game story telling; The Walking Dead.

Side note: With new seasons of TWD and TWAU coming out in 2018, replaying these titles would be a great refresher on the stories.

The Walking Dead (Xbox 360/Xbox One): 48 Achievements for 1000G

Completion time: 8-9hrs

The beauty of The Walking Dead is that you can enjoy the story at your own pace and not have to worry about missing out on achievements. Simply complete the game and you’re sorted on this one. If you happen to have the 360 version as well, another play through on the system will bag you another 1000G.

The Walking Dead Michonne: 7 Achievements for 330G

Completion time: 1-2hrs

Michonne is a mini series that offers the same Telltale style of gameplay in a condensed story. Achievements follow the same pattern as TWD with the completion of episodes. Simples!

The Walking Dead Season Two: 40 Achievements for 1000G

Completion time: 9-10hrs

The next chapter in the series offers an even greater story in my opinion, with consequences from the previous season echoing throughout. Another easy 1000G for completing the story!

The Wolf Among Us: 35 Achievements for 1000G9-10hrs

Completion time: 9-10hrs

Another Telltale experience but pulled from Bill Willingham’s comic book series Fables. A very clever detective drama in a fantasy world where fairy tale creatures must disguise themselves as humans to survive. A very thrilling adventure with achievements following the familiar pattern. There are 5 episode specific, and missable, collectable style achievements obtained by making certain choices. This could prove tricky with out a guide.

The Walking Dead Season Three expected release: 2018

The Wolf Among Us Season Two expected release: 2018

Game Pass Rewards!


Game pass goals promotion on now from 1st – 30th September 2017! Get ‘mystery prize’ rewards for meeting monthly requirements. The promotions first goals are to play 30 minutes of Game Pass titles, the details are as follows:

Download & Play

1 Game Pass game to win a Mystery Gift

3 Game Pass games to win an Ultimate Mystery Gift

5 Game Pass games to win an Ultimate Mystery Gift and a chance to win £400 to the Microsoft Store.

“Prizes include Xbox Live Gold, Groove Music Pass, movies, DLC, Microsoft store credit, and more.”

As a frequent Game Pass subscriber I am personally excited to be rewarded for discovering new games. There is no better time to try free for 14 days than now.

Game Recommendation: Astroneer

I want to recommend a title that first came to my attention via my activity feed. I had seen a few videos my friends had posted of themselves carving canyons through mountains with a space-hoover-gun. Naturally I wanted in on the hoovering action which led me down a spiraling path of Google searches. ‘A game of aerospace industry and interplanetary exploration’ the description reads, which alone should intrigue even the casual of gamers. Astroneer doesn’t offer anything in terms of story, but it doesn’t need to. Alike Minecraft, it relies on pure exploration, trial and error and craftsmanship. You’ll soon take your base layouts as incredibly seriously as I do…

Astroneer was featured in the Game Preview programme and cost me a little over £10 at the time, and for what I paid, I would be lying if I said it wasn’t money well spent. Since my purchase early last year I have seen multiple updates and alterations made with appropriate patch notes accompanied. I’m a sucker for patch notes. Dedicated devs bring more and more content which could see no end. New planets, materials, hoover attachments, trade systems and planetary wildlife don’t even scratch the surface of added content. 

I realise this has turned into somewhat of a review, so I will leave it here. Astroneer is wicked and as Game Previews go, this would be a shame to miss.

Rainbow Six Siege

You may have been lucky enough to catch R6Siege on this weekend’s Free Play Days with Gold. You may also have spent a day installing it, and as I did, purchasing it on sale after an hours or so play. I’m not sure whether this decision was based solely on the gameplay or my nostalgia for R6Vegas 2. Like many, I spent countless hours cautiously creeping through Terrorist Hunt on Realistic back when couch co-op existed. We’d click on our thermal sights and yell “SMOKE AND CLEAR!” at each other while clearing rooms with military precision. It was probably these fond memories that drew me to Siege upon it’s release. But like many games I look forward to, the critics tear it to shreds. This usually doesn’t bother me so much as I tend to like the unplayable bad. But I guess I had to see for myself, and I have Free Play Days to thank for that. 


It loaded up with an incredible introductionary cinematic stating that the world has basically gone to shit, and the Rainbow Six team has to be re-established as our last hope against terrorism. Perhaps a tad cliché, but I was pumped. You can imagine how disappointed I was to find there is no campaign! In its place is Situations, a Modern Warfare 2 Spec-Ops style mode offering a similar star rating system rewarded for completing objectives. There are 11 in total, and from what I can tell, they are the multiplayer levels with AIs to simulate the multiplayer modes to come. Nothing to scream or shout about, a nice challenge to collect all the stars and earn the in-game currency ‘Renown’ (not to be mistaken for the micro-transaction currency of ‘Rainbow 6 Credits’) but nothing more. 

Multiplayer feels like its going for a F2P MOBA kinda style character purchase scheme, which is fine but perhaps a bit of a cash grab. Characters are quite varied however, each divided into factions of Counter Terrorist Units (SAS, FBI Swat, Spetznaz etc) each with their own individual skill. The factions each character is within each have particular sets of weapons available for your loadouts. This seems like a realism choice but offers the player only two or three weapons to choose from. The afore mentioned skills each character possesses are beneficial to either an attack team or defense. This is where the multiplayer shines. The team work aspect is heavily encouraged, even as I was playing I had team mates close by for support, and to revive me a few times. I can easily see getting a group together, like in the days of old couch coop, and dominating the multiplayer as a well oiled machine! Now to find a team…

I have not yet had a chance to try out Terrorist Hunt but I assume it can only be like the Situations. But I am excited to give it a blast, see how it compares with the old school.

Overall I am quite impressed with Rainbow Six Siege. The graphics are wonderful, the gameplay is tactical and the characters are diverse. I can see myself spending many hours playing multiplayer and earning that ‘Renown’ no problem! Quite disappointed at the lack of campaign however as the intro looked like it had potential. The obvious con for me ofcourse is no couch co-op, I can somewhat understand that times have changed and online is king but c’mon! Regardless, I am looking forward to the many challenging games ahead and hope to see you out there too.

A well deserved 4/5

Easy Achievements 1

I must admit to being a bit of an achievement hunter. Not always to 100% a game, although I try, but more so to have a banging gamerscore. I have definitely fallen for the allure of the achievement system and have done since receiving a 360 many years ago. Don’t get me wrong, a banging gamerscore is one thing, but the chase has led me to a lot of games I’d never think to check out otherwise. If it wasn’t for the thought ‘hm, probably get a few hundred g here…’ I’d be none the wiser to some fun games. For instance, the latest backcompat Games With Gold title Red Faction: Armageddon was never on my radar. After enjoying RF Guerilla back when, I’m disappointed I wasn’t aware of Armageddon sooner! It’s not a fantastic game, but very enjoyable nonetheless. 

Now, sometimes the numbers get the better of you and just need a little boost to earn full bragging rights among your friends. I get that, more than you know. So here I’ve listed a few games you can knock out in a few hours with little to no effort.

Cubot The Complexity of Simplicity: 10 Achievements for 1000G

30 minutes – 1 hour completion time

This one could not be easier. A very simplistic dirt cheap puzzle game which has guides online a plenty. I knocked this one out in 33 minutes without even looking at the screen.

Refunct: 10 Achievements for 1000G

1 – 2 hours completion time

In the same vein of Cubot this is another simple puzzle game, this time in form of a platformer. Not a great deal of fun literally jumping on platforms to change their colour. There is one somewhat challenging achievement to complete the game in 4 minutes, but that’s the only reason to replay this title. 

Sunset Overdrive: 88 Achievements for 1925G (incl DLC)

~40 hours completion

I know this one is out there with a significantly longer completion time, but they all can’t be too easy now! This game has a lot of big G standalone achievements that can definitely boost your score every time you pick it up. Plus it’s a wicked game so why not?! 

Note: You may struggle to find multiplayer games these days. I suggest you organise a session via the Club/Looking For A Group feature.

Some Forza Horizon 2 Love

I am a massive fan of the Forza Horizon series, the mix of beautifully tuned cars and gorgeous scenery with an arcade-y race feel is superb. Horizon was good fun, very linear but offered a good casual play. Horizon 2 stepped it up with the stunning French coastline and a relaxed pace of play. Leaving Horizon 3 to blow it’s predesessors out of the water with visuals, multiplayer intergration, complete customization and tone. Such an incredible series I just had to share some love.

I was first introduced through Horizon 2 which quickly took up most of my evenings and weekends, much to my fiancee’s dismay. At the time the visuals were top class, and since I have fond memories I have to show some appreciation. I made a small homage to some of my favourite vehicles, it is this I’d like to share with you all.

 

 

Note: This is ~2014 me and my very first attempt at using the Xbox Upload Studio.

The Flame in the Flood

After downloading, and subsequently uninstalling, a lot of the Xbox Game Pass titles, I stumbled across the absolute gem that was The Flame in the Flood. A roguelite survival game where Scout and her canine friend Aesop must traverse the aftermath of an apocalyptic flood that has devastated the landscape via a makeshift raft. Between battling the elements and evading sweeping debris, the duo must hunt for craftable materials, weapons, food and shelter to continue.
TFITF was right up my alley; an apocalyptic setting, creepy undertones, constant danger and a lovable canine companion, what more could you ask for? I found myself losing hours in this wonderfully dark masterpiece, all be it dying repeatedly. But perhaps it was the pull of the luscious art style or the drive to survive that gripped me the most. Battling the treacherous rivers, entrapping wolves, building the raft and near freezing to death on a perilous journey for safety was, well, thrilling. Needless to say I had a lot of fun with it.
Too many games swing only to miss the mark in the survival genre that TFITF may easily be overlooked. It truly was a pleasure to discover and I suggest you give it a go.

A solid 5/5.