The guys at Koei seem intent on realising the same game in as many ways possible. Not satisfied with having Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors they decided to combine them into this package, the first in the Warriors Orochi series. It is basically the same hack and slash gameplay as the others Warriors games and if you are familiar with those games, it's more of the same. Of course this is extremely lazy, but it makes for an easy review. What has changed? Well there is one positive. In this game you get to fight as a team of 3 instead just 1. I do welcome this change. Rotating characters when they are low on health and using characters with different move sets for different battles adds a bit of tactics to the otherwise mash X game. The story is also a little bit more interesting but nothing special. I also found this game pretty hard compared to other warriors games, but maybe I just suck. Better than the standard warriors games but still nothing particularly special. Unless you love these, I wouldn't bother picking this up.

I've been pretty harsh on most of the warriors games but I think most of that criticism is warranted. The thing is, if you don't like this style of gameplay, you are not really going to enjoy these games. That being said, Orochi changing it up by having 3 characters was a big improvement. Orochi 3 makes further improvements and is probably the best in the series. For a start the story is actually quite fun. You start off in a losing battle against the multi-headed hydra. However, as you are about to lose they are sent back into the past to build up a stronger team and the game actually begins. Not having to follow true historical battles just makes everything more fun. The gameplay is also improved and the characters feel a bit more balanced. In Orochi 1 I found myself using all the same characters and having to grind to level others up. 3 is a lot more generous in giving out experience which is great. This means you can play around with different characters without having to grind. The characters are at least slightly varied and are fun to play around with. The levels are also a bit more varied and more fun to play. I found myself getting lost and frustrated less then before. Now I still don't love the gameplay, but warriors orochi 3 is a really decent attempt and is very successful at what it's trying to do. I would say this is a good place to start to see if you enjoy the Warriors games and not a bad title all around.

Many many moons ago, before Assassin's Creed was the yearly franchise that it is today, before it had become one of worst offenders of the typical Ubisoft game, it was one of the coolest ideas in gaming. From all of the cool and interesting IPs that we got with the 360/PS3 generation, I think AC was the one with the most promise. A historical game featuring assassins and templars, secret societies, beautiful realistic ancient world cities like Jerusalem, bustling with life and NPCs that you could actually interact with, bump into etc. I wasn't a huge fan of the whole animus sub plot, let's just set it in the past, but aside from that it's such a great concept. And at the time, it was a big hit and its easy to see why. For 2007 the environments are incredible, bursting with detail and life. Damascus and Jerusalem are beautiful to look at and are still fairly vast and detailed to todays standards. Nowadays, and perhaps because of the better sequels, AC1 has been somewhat cast aside, perhaps unfairly for that matter. Now, personally I am in two minds about this, because I am not an AC fan. The issue is really what I think of as the gameplay loop. Now the basic gameplay is fine. It offers a parkour style of gameplay similar to mirrors edge where you can run up and jump across building automatically just by holding a button. You traverse the environment, climbing up building and hiding from ensuing enemies as you explore the city. There is a bit too much fighting in this game, and a lack of stealth, but it's not horrible. The way the game works, once you get into it, is you are sent on a mission to assassinate someone. Once you get to that location you need to climb towers around the city to uncover the map, and then complete some smaller tasks like assassinating someone or chasing someone to get more information about the target. Once you have done enough you can actually go and assassinate the target. The problem is, all of this pre-assassination set-up is not good. It's boring, virtually identical for every mission and really just feels like filler. The main event assassinations are better as they offer some story and a bit of variety, and give a nice break from all the time spent doing what seem like procedurally generated sub missions. It upsets me how un-fun this series is, because I really want to love it and that makes it difficult to review. As much as I don't really enjoy playing it, AC is still an impressive world. The story and environments are excellent, it looks beautiful and has most of the basics that made the AC creed franchise so popular. A flawed but impressive IP that I can recommend only as an impressive point of reference and not as a fun game.

With the stupid naming system of all these DB games, I am always a bit confused which is which. I'm not a DB fan, so that probably explain it, but this Battle of Z game always stood out to me. It could be because of the late release date, but I think it's probably the awesome box art. What I try to forget though, is the very slow and boring 3D brawler combat, and that's what makes BoZ really stand out from the other DB games. Now, that's not to say that it doesn't have all the hallmarks of a DB game, as it does. It has lots of story and cutscenes from the TV series. It has a very short and basic campaign. It has loads of characters. Yet, it manages to change things up and be even worse by changing from a mostly 2D fighter to a 3D brawler. The game also has become team based, with you joined by 3 other friends for most fights. This introduces some team combo moves, which do feel cool when you pull them off, but this move was clearly designed for multiplayer play, which in 2024 is now dead, leaving an awkward empty single player campaign. It's happened before with Anarchy Reigns, and it's unfortunate that the multiplayer focus of the combat system doesn't hold up to the test of time. This empty gameplay is not helped by the stages. You fight in huge open and empty areas meaning that you will spend a lot of time just chasing your enemy around. This really slows down the fights to a snails pace, and removes any of the fun of the previous 2d DB game. Combine this weaker, less skill and combo based fighting, with the general lack of feature to the game aside from cutscenes and story, it feels very light for a 2014 release, and definitely not something worth picking up in 2024.

What a dumb name for a game. So here we are with another Dragon Ball game with another confusing title. How do we remember this one? Well it was the first Dragon Ball games on the console, released in 2008 and it looked great at time. Partly because it was the first released on the console, Burst Limit really sets the standard for the Dragon Ball games to come. This is not because it's an amazing game, but because like most DB games on the console, it is very average. In fact, it feels way more stripped back of features than the 3rd Budokai game found on the HD collection which came out a few years before. BL and most DB games have a simple formula. One on one fighting games with a short campaign covering a large story based on the famous anime. They all have loads of characters, lots of combos to remember, and a Ki system to charge up special attacks. Burst Limit doesn't do a lot to stand out from the crowd and offers little in terms of innovation or distance from this tired old formula. Fights all basically take place a similar area, each level offering little more than some dialogue and the fight itself. Of course, the fighting is what you have come here for, yet the fight system in Burst Limit doesn't really offer enough depth to compete with the traditional fighting games like Tekken and Street Fighter. I was expecting a bit more in terms of world building, tasks, challenges or even something like the 3D open world environments found in the Naruto games. Spam punches and kicks, build up Ki, unleash your special. So is there anything to like about the game. Well, the tutorial is nice and does a good job at explaining the game mechanics. They have also added some in-fight events which add a bit of story and variety to the fights. I found these interesting at first, but quickly it felt like they were only added to make the fights last longer. The campaign itself is also very short and quite stale. It's a real shame that most of the DB games on the console are fairly average, but in that way BL is a nice place to start. If you dig this, you will probably enjoy these others and vice versa. Disappointing, but a taste of what was to come.

Dragon Ball, the popular anime series featuring a cast of wacky characters beating the shit out of each other seems like the perfect candidate to make a game out of. In fact there has already been a large number of these games on various consoles, so much so that it is difficult to know where to start. The Budokai series are some of the most popular games in the franchise, particularly 3 and so it's great to see them again on the console for more people to play. But wait, we have an issue, where is 2. This HD collection goes down a similar route to others by completely skipping a game. It's really hard to understand why, especially when they have skipped the middle one. Alas, we are left with two 1 on 1 fighting games. The combat is quite simple and button mashing works, but there are a lot of different ways to fight and combos to pull off. You can charge up attacks with your Ki and use special moves. The games also feature a lot of story and cutscenes which, as a non DB fan, went right over my head. 1 is a fairly standard fighter, and there is nothing special about it. It's short and doesn't offer much except the fights themselves. 3 is much better. It is less linear and offers way more features. You can level up your character with new skills. There's a 3D world for you to explore with even some secrets to find. The combat itself is similar to 1, but the more fleshed out game makes it feel way better. These are both short games and aren't really groundbreaking. Yet, its a nice little package and a nice place to start playing DB games. A must for dragon ball fans and a nice way to see if you would enjoy the other games if you are not a fan.

Platinum games always strive to make interesting and stylish games. Bayonetta is their best known game on the system which managed to combine style and substance with its excellent combat. Vanquish came next with is substance but not much style, which makes it still a fun game to play. Anarchy Reigns is the third offering on the console and while it ticks the stylish box, it doesn't hold up in terms of substance. Gameplay wise AR is a 3D brawler set in a post apocalyptic future. A spiritual successor to the better Madworld, the game features 2 different but very short campaigns with different characters Jack and Leo. The story for each character is intertwined and works quite well, with some suitably cheesy dialogue between fights. It's a shame then that it's enjoyable on a very superficial level. The combat, while fun at first, quickly becomes repetitive and the lack of enemy variety later on in the game becomes a big issue. I found myself repeating similar combos all the way throughout the game and you are really given one set option to handle each enemy type which leaves you little space for creativity. Each level is set in a different area which seems interesting at first, there are different sections to each area and some special areas too, yet it all feels very superficial as when you spend a bit of time in a level you realise how small and dull they are. A lot of these problems are probably due to the fact the game wants to be a multiplayer brawler and maybe it did succeed in that, but i doubt you will be able to find any matches nowadays. A game which, while fun for a short while, looks more interesting than it actually is. Bonus points for the excellent music though.

Samurai Shodown Sen is the 360 generation's release of the beloved fighting game series. While I haven't spent much time with the previous games, Sen is seen as a departure from most of the previous games in terms of how it plays and this change has been attributed to making it more accessible to the general consumer. Sen attempts the transition to a modern 3D fighting game, but fails spectacularly. You have a fairly large roster of interesting characters with different fighting styles. The menus also have some nice music and decent artwork too giving a very feudal Japan feeling. In terms of positives that's about it. With it's lack of features, clunky controls, ugly graphics and total lack of a tutorial, Sen fails in some of the most basic aspects of game design. The most aggravating way however is the gameplay itself. Fights are slow and sluggish and the characters move extremely awkwardly. At no point in my time with the game was I able to feel any type of flow with the combat, I would either win with some cheap attacks or get totally dominated. The move list doesn't really help and the tutorial is even more useless. I'm not sure if this was a cash grab or they just absolutely botched the game but it's difficult to understand how such a poor entry in an otherwise highly regarded series could be released.

The year is 1995, it's Saturday morning and you are playing Sega Rally on your Saturn. You have the whole weekend ahead of you. No homework to do. Pure bliss. These were the heydays of the arcade racer, but at some point we lost our way. By the time the Xbox 360 had been released, driving games focused more on realism, car customisation, story and real life locations. Sure there are a lot of great and revolutionary racing games on the console. Grid brought the excellent rewind feature, Test Drive unlimited brought a beautiful open world Hawaiian island, Forza 2 created an almost perfect racing package, all of these changed the way we view racing games. In this regard, Sega Rally Revo stood out like a sore thumb. A pure arcade rally game, with no damage, no customisation, no real life tracks. It didn't go down well with reviewers and in my opinion has been severely misjudged. SRR is an excellent classic arcade racer and a must play for all retro arcade racing fans. For a start the racing is smooth and competitive. You take part in a selection of championships, 3 races for each event, against 5 AI opponents. The difficulty of these opponents cannot be changed and it does get really tough. The AI will attack you aggressively at corners and jump at you if you make even the smallest mistake. It's a hard but fair style of racing. There are times when you have managed to pick up speed and are ready to overtake the pack but the car in front of you swerves right into your path causing you to lose all momentum. At the same time, sometimes when you make a mistake the AI will come crashing into the back of you sending you flying forward and able to hold onto your position. It's both frustrating and incredibly satisfying at the same time. You have 6 sets of tracks, based of different locations and track types. Arctic has snow and volcano ash on the track, and the icy roads will have you skidding. Safari tracks are dusty which affects your vision. The Canyon tracks get very muddy with huge water puddles that slow you right down. Every track feels different in terms of the feedback from the road and it's a real nice feature which I much prefer to having a huge number of tracks that feel the same. Similarly, while there are not a huge number of cars in the game, each one handles differently and you will have favourites based on how they handle the terrain. As mentioned earlier, you are not bogged down by car customisation or autobraking. You have 2 options, auto or manual gears and a road or off-road set up. It keeps things simple and focuses the game on the fun part, racing. What makes the game really standout is the graphics and the deformable terrain. This game looks incredible. It's not something that I really pay attention to in games but even for a 2007 release, it's one of the best looking games on the console. The car models are nice and the lighting works well, but it's the tracks and the environment which really standout. This is probably due to the aforementioned deformable terrain. As you race around the circuits, the tracks themselves are affected by your racing lines. This could be simple like cutting lines in the snow to make it more compact and creating a harder more grippy surface for racers behind you, or more impressively changing the formation and area of puddles of water in the road as you carve through the mud. It really changes the tracks every single race and keeps things fresh and exciting. It looks beautiful too. I love getting my car all caked up in mud before driving through a puddle and washing it all off. Every time I play this game I enjoy it a bit more and I can't sing it's praises enough. So is it perfect? Well no. I can understand people being frustrated by its difficulty. A big crash can really mess you up for a whole race and the AI is brutal. The small number of tracks may be a turn off for some, but each race plays out differently each time so I have never found it an issue. One minor issue I have with the game is that you always start off at the back of the pack, no matter where you finished in the previous race, but this is mere nitpicking. I'm an official SRR fan boy now. There is nothing like it on the console and it is a must have for any 360 collector.

The word hidden gem gets thrown around a lot, so much so that games which are heralded as hidden gems become popular well liked games. MXGP is a true hidden gem and due to its nature as a bit of a niche title I feel confident it will stay that way, especially considering how many good racers there are on the console. MXGP is the first official MX game on the console, but is fairly similar to the previously released MX vs ATV games. This is some fast action, dirt track racing and it is a lot of fun. The first thing I have to mention is the incredible track degradation/deformation, by this I mean the surface of the race track - the mud- being carved up by other racers, creating a totally different track each lap. Sega Rally Revo pioneered the track degradation/ deformation effects and MXGP takes it to another level. Lines and routes will get cut into the track, some of which are helpful and some of which deviate from the racing line. It's a really nice feature and it looks great and adds some variety to races. This is helped by the excellent physics. The cornering feels right and the ruble gives you some nice feedback each turn feeling very responsive. I'm sure fans of MX will dig this one, but even for none race fans it is a decent and polished package, with everything you would expect from a 2014 racing game. On the negative side there are a few issues. Perhaps this can be played with in the menus, but I found the game was a bit too forgiving of rule breaking and crashes. Even on the most difficult of handling settings I was able to maintain first even after a crash. This could also affect the longevity of the game as some may not find it challenging enough. For a fairly unheard of 360 title though these are minor flaws and it is a great game. If you are looking for more mud based fun after Sega Rally Revo, go for this one.

You may be thinking to yourself, what is this game? Why have I never heard of it? Somehow Games Farm managed to stealth release this in late 2011 to little fanfare. Weirdly enough they managed to crack out 2 sequels before the end of the 360 lifespan. Air Conflicts is a story driven flight game set in WW2 featuring as you can guess an undercover french pilot completing secret missions. Despite not really enjoying this genre, there were certain aspects of the game which I enjoyed. It was easy to pick up and control. The story and cutscenes are quite nice and add a bit of reason to play. I also enjoyed the fact that a lot of the story was told as voice over conversations which go on as you play the level. Instead of skipping a 2 minute intro video, you can enjoy the story as you play the game. The mission structure is also quite nice. The game is cut into chapters, which each chapter featuring around 7 to 8 very short missions. It gives a game a nice pick up and play feel, and you don't get bogged down in checkpoints or find yourself repeating the same 20 minutes again and again. Unfortunately, Secret Wars commits the cardinal sin of game, it's not fun to play. Air battles are fairly bland and repetitive, the levels are quite boring and the stealth sections are weirdly frustrating considering that you don't really do anything. It's not bad, but I can't think of a good reason to pick this one up.

Oh what's this, a video game based on a move based on a board game. Err u wot m8? What we really have here is another FPS with a gimmick. This one being that you are controlling a game of battleship at the same time as shooting people. The battleships don't do much to the fps, but in the fps sections you can unlock upgrades to your ships in the battleship section. It's about as tacked on as you can get and really doesn't add much to the game. This wouldn't be a problem if it was a solid shooter, but battleship is not that. It's an as generic as they come, alien shooting, shotgun wielding, non descript protagonist, lack of story FPS. One of the most grating things is how similar every level is. Sure the island setting looks cool at first, a bit like a far cry environment. But level after level become tedious at best. I managed to beat the campaign, but I don't encourage anyone else to put themselves through it.

Games live and die by their gameplay. Great games have varied gameplay, with different ways to solve problems and encounters which require you to change the way you play in order to progress. Dark souls bosses are a great example of this. A defense heavy shield based approach might be viable for some bosses, but not others. The game challenges you to change up the way you play by throwing new challenges at you. X-men the official example is not a great game, its not even a good one. Interesting though, it seems like the developers realised they were making a shitty game and decided to add some variety by sticking 3 games on the same disk, at least that's what it feels like. The game is split into 3 types of level: Wolverine levels, Blue guy levels and Ice Bloke levels. This actually sounds kind of appealing, adding some variety and mixing things up. But now, instead 1 boring and repetitive level type, you have 3. Seriously its all the same. Wolverine levels are hack and slash, smash x and kill everything. Blue guy levels are a bit of platforming then some scrapping, press R to jump and then x to kill everything. Ice Man levels are horrible flying levels that are akin to superman 64. It's a nice try Activision, but if you squish 3 turds together its still poop.

So here we go with some more rally action. WRC 2 is an officially licensed rally game, with more realistic controls, driving and damage. WRC 2 is the second in the WRC series on the 360, and the first that wasn't released in the US. So, are US rally fans missing out on anything? Well, to be quite honest, no. It's really difficult to actually pinpoint any differences between this and WRC 1. Yes, it does have a rewind function which makes it more accessible for the casual gamer. Apparently, there are some changes to the campaign, but I didn't notice them. Appealing to the casual gamer in some ways defies the point of WRC 2 though. WRC 1 was seemingly for more hardcore rally fans, with more realistic controls and racing. If you were interested in a more accessible (or better) rally game, surely you would buy dirt instead? In 2023 this game is no better or worse than WRC 1, but its lower because at least 1 was original. Buy Dirt 3 instead.

I'm trying to think of anything that I can say about this game. Apache is an extremely forgettable helicopter flight game. You bounce between very similar locations shooting stuff with missiles and a machine gun. It's the type of game that isn't offensive to play. It's clear what you are required to do, the controls work fine, it's not incredibly frustrating or broken. You have two types of controls, the simple mode, which worked for me, and the more complicated mode, which would probably appeal to the more hardened flight fans. The enemy difficulty seemed to spike quite a bit, but the enemy AI was good for the most part. If you like flight sims, it would be worth checking out. A very bland but serviceable affair. The graphics are incredibly boring, but the gameplay is acceptable.