What a year it has been for Xbox gamers.

Getting lost in the open ocean with Sea of Thieves, burning rubber in Forza Motorsport 7 and the added subscription based service of Games Pass which allows exclusive Triple AAA titles to be downloaded and played for free. Xbox also did a honourable nod to gamers with special needs with their Adaptive Controller.

With the next year just around the corner, let’s see what’s in store for the world’s most powerful games console as it leads us in to 2019.

Anthem is a shared-world action-RPG, where Freelancers challenge the wilds past the wall, exploring a vast world filled with savage beasts and ruthless marauders, but also teeming with amazing technology and forgotten treasures. Players will be able to join with their friends to unravel the world’s mysteries and defeat the forces plotting to conquer humanity. Throughout their journeys, players can outfit their Freelancers with powerful Javelin exosuits, each of which are equipped with unique weapons and abilities.

Freelancers can customize their Javelin with gear they earn and craft throughout the adventure, and leave a lasting mark on the world. Anthem is due for release from EA Games in 2019.

From the creators of ARK: Survival Evolved comes ATLAS – a massively multiplayer first-and-third-person fantasy pirate adventure. “ATLAS” will host up to 40,000 players exploring the same Globe simultaneously, with an unprecedented scale of cooperation and conflict. Join an endless adventure of piracy & sailing, exploration & combat, roleplaying & progression, settlement & civilization-building, in one of the largest game worlds ever! Explore, Build, Conquer!

This coming February experience the next gen of Crackdown. It’s time to step up your boom and stop crime as a super-powered Agent in Crackdown 3’s sandbox of cooperative mayhem and destruction, plus an all-new multiplayer mode where destruction is your ultimate weapon. “Crackdown 3” is available at launch on February 15^th with Xbox Game Pass and globally on Xbox One and Windows 10.

One of the hotly anticipated games on my list for 2019 is Devil May Cry 5 from Capcom.  brand-new entry in the legendary over-the-top action series comes to Xbox One in spring 2019, complete with its signature blend of high-octane stylized action and otherworldly and original characters the series is known for. Years have passed since the legions of hell have set foot in this world, but now a new demonic invasion has begun, and humanity’s last hope will rest in the hands of three lone demon hunters, each offering a radically different play style. United by fate and a thirst for vengeance, these demon hunters will have to face their demons if they hope to survive.

Also, Ubisoft will have you diving into a transformed vibrant post apocalyptic Hope County, Montana, 17 years after a global nuclear catastrophe in Far Cry New Dawn. Join fellow survivors from Hope County and lead the fight against the dangerous new threat known as the Highwaymen, and their ruthless leaders The Twins, as they seek to destroy and take over the last remaining resources by any means necessary.

Perhaps one of the more intriguing is the expected 2019 release of Gears of War 5, with Gears of War 4 still one of my go to games, having completed it several times over.

As Kait, journey across the biggest, most beautiful Gears world ever created. Play solo or with a friend in local split-screen co-op, or online co-op and experience every mode in 4K Ultra HD resolution with stunning HDR at a smooth 60 frames per second. Called Gears 5 it will be coming to Xbox One and Windows 10 in 2019 and will be available day and date to Xbox Game Pass members.

Keeping in tune with Gears 5 – perhaps the lighter and weirder announcement from Microsoft Studios is their upcoming Gears Pop, a new Arena Brawler mobile game that brings together iconic Gears characters in the distinctive Funko Pop! style. The game is being developed in partnership with Funko and inspired by the Gears of War vinyl collectible figures. It’s the perfect slice of mobile mayhem, available on iOS and Android in 2019.

Jump Force, which we have covered in a news piece before is slated, also for a 2019 release. This BandaiNamco title sees the greatest heroes and villains from the 50-year history of Shueisha’s influential Japanese Weekly Jump manga will battle against each other across iconic locations across Earth in this anime fan’s dream come true! Featuring the world’s most popular and classic manga and anime franchises including DRAGON BALL Z, ONE PIECE, NARUTO, and many others, players will be able to compete in hyper-stylish arena brawls set against familiar backdrops of famous landmarks around the world, including New York City’s Times Square and the Matterhorn.

Then – we have the juggernaut of fantasy cross-over titles; Kingdom Hearts III. Set in a vast array of Disney worlds, Kingdom Hearts follows the journey of Sora, a young boy and unknowing heir to a spectacular power. Sora is joined by Donald and Goofy to stop an evil force known as the Heartless from invading and overtaking the universe. Through the power of positivity and friendship, Sora, Donald and Goofy unite with iconic Disney-Pixar characters old and new to overcome tremendous challenges and persevere against the darkness threatening their worlds.

Next year is also going to see a reprise of the Metro series. Metro Exodus is an epic, story-driven first person shooter from 4A Games that blends deadly combat and stealth with exploration and survival horror in one of the most immersive game worlds ever created. Explore the Russian wilderness across vast, nonlinear Levels and follow a thrilling storyline that spans an entire year through spring, summer and autumn to the depths of nuclear winter. Inspired by the novels of Dmitry Glukhovsky, Metro Exodus continues Artyom’s story in the greatest Metro adventure yet.

If all of the above is not to your liking, there’s always Minecraft.

Minecraft: Dungeons is an action adventure game in the classic dungeon crawler style, where up to four players can fight together to defeat a relentless swarm of new mobs in a quest to save the villagers and take down the evil Arch-Illager. As an all new passion project for PC from a small, dedicated team at Mojang, Minecraft: Dungeons will be the first new title in the Minecraft universe when it releases in 2019.

Another one I am excited for, having loved the first Ori, is Ori and the Will of the Wisps. From the creators of Ori and the Blind Forest, winner of over 50 awards and nominations, comes the highly anticipated sequel, Ori and the Will of the Wisps. Embark on an adventure with all-new combat and customization options while exploring a vast and exotic world, encountering larger-than-life enemies and challenging puzzles on your path to unravel Ori’s true destiny. “Ori and the Will of the Wisps” will be launching exclusively on Xbox One and Windows 10 PCs in 2019 and will be available day and date to Xbox Game Pass members.

The oceans of Sea of Thieves will continue to wash over the Xbox gaming landscape in 2019. Sea of Thieves is changing in a big way with its fifth free content update since launch, ‘The Arena.’ Releasing in early 2019, ‘The Arena’ is an all-new competitive game mode that allows players to test their pirating skills in fast-paced matches against rival crews. Each match is a fun, frenetic and action-packed race to find treasure that brings together all the most exciting elements of “Sea of Thieves” – on demand. “Sea of Thieves” is available with Xbox Game Pass and globally on Xbox One and Windows 10 as an Xbox Play Anywhere title.

The Artful Escape of Francis Vendetti is a video game about great expectations, famous folk singers, lingering shadows, space Gods, hallucinogens, individuality, reptile shops, and wild imaginations. It’s an action, adventure, exploration, narrative driven, musical-laser-light-battle kind of game and is the debut release from BEETHOVEN & DINOSAUR.

Kick in some sci-fi action, The Outer Worlds is a new single-player first-person RPG from Obsidian Entertainment and Private Division. Lost in transit while on a colonist ship bound for the furthest edge of the galaxy, you awake decades later only to find yourself in the midst of a deep conspiracy threatening to destroy the Halcyon colony. As you explore the furthest reaches of space and encounter various factions, all vying for power, the character you decide to become will determine how this player-driven story unfolds. In the corporate equation for the colony, you are the unplanned variable.

Tom Clancy’s: The Division 2 will explode in to 2019. Developed by Ubisoft Massive and the same teams that brought you Tom Clancy’s The Division, Tom Clancy’s The Division 2 is an online open-world, action-shooter RPG experience set in a collapsing and fractured Washington, D.C. This rich new setting combines a wide variety of beautiful, iconic and realistic environments where the player will experience the series’ trademark for authenticity in world- building, rich RPG systems, and fast-paced action like never before. Play solo or co-op with a team of up to four players to complete a wide range of activities, from the main campaign and adversarial PvP matches to the Dark Zone — where anything can happen.

Throwing a bit of indie goodness in, Tunic from devs Finji is an isometric action adventure about a tiny fox in a big world. Embark on an adventuresome quest-about set in that place just beyond the farthest you’ve ever been! Explore ancient ruins, fight monsters and uncover mysterious secrets. The world is big and scary — so be brave, little one!

And finally in this 2019 Xbox round up is from the creators of Wasteland 2 and Torment: Tides of Numenera comes Wasteland 3! Following the critically acclaimed releases of 2014’s Wasteland 2 and 2015’s Wasteland 2: Director’s Cut, fans have been clamoring for a direct sequel.

Wasteland 3 will feature a deep and engaging story utilizing a newly-revamped dialog tree system from the celebrated writers of Torment: Tides of Numenera, along with a renewed focus on our trademark complex story reactivity and strategic combat that evolves on Wasteland 2’s deep tactical turn-based combat and unique encounter design. Play by yourself or with a friend in story-driven synchronous or asynchronous multiplayer to face difficult moral choices and make sacrifices that will change the game world.

So there we have it Xbox One gamers – here’s what’s in store for the next 12 months from Xbox. A couple of first party surprises and alot of third party goodness to welcome in another year.

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Who would have thought that Forza Motorsport’s “missing” campaign spin-off, Forza Horizon would ellipse it’s pure racing brethren and become THE racing game on the Xbox One.

Whilst Turn 10’s Forza Motorsport games may give us the physics and the cars, they can be a rather dour affair. Still one of the best racing franchises out there, but a little on the serious side. It’s younger sibling, Forza Horizon is a relative hooligan in comparison, and I believe that is exactly what Playground Games are aiming for.

The first game had us hooning around the US, the second took us to the French Rivera and for the third game the Horizon Festival pitched its marquees down here in Australia. For this fourth outing the festival goes to the UK, the Leamington Spa-based developer’s home country.

On the surface Forza Horizon 4 follows the same format as that carved out across the previous three iterations. Players are newcomers to the prestigious Horizon Festival, a celebration of cars and motor-racing. In order to progress through the ranks, races need to be won and influence increased.

As with previous games, the game world is a loose approximation of the real-world location. There are familiar landmarks such as the Lake District’s Derwent Water, the Uffington White Horse in Oxfordshire and the city of Edinburgh. Geographically it is all over the place, but the landscape is undeniably British, complete with red telephone boxes and quaint villages.

Previously, the Horizon Festival served as the game hub where players buy cars, carry out tune-up and admire their car collection. This time, however, players can buy houses all over the map, which also act as hubs.

The big difference this year is the addition of Seasons. Rather than be restricted to the illusive British summer, players can also experience autumn, winter and spring, each Season with its own look and lighting.

The game features a year-long preamble giving players a taste of all four seasons, which roll over after obtaining a certain level of influence. For me this took a few hours of play, up to level 20. I was then rewarded with my Horizon wristband and the game, effectively, began properly.

After your year of probation, Horizon Life kicks in, placing you into a live world populated by real players who you can team up with and race against. The Season mechanic also kicks in, with every Season lasting one week in real time. It’ll be interesting to see how players get on with this.

No matter what the Season, though, Forza Horizon 4 looks absolutely stunning. The lighting is superb, accurately capturing the beauty of a British summer’s day and the crisp look of a snowy winter’s evening. I could almost smell the snow in the air.

And it’s winter that really blew me away. The entire map gets a covering of snow. The fields and countryside are draped, knee-deep in untouched snow. The snow has melted and refrozen on the heavily trafficked lanes making for some slippery surfaces. Many roads are still covered in virgin snow, awaiting the snow plough. In the city, the snow has all but melted. Derwent Water is frozen, becoming a huge skid-pan. It’s like a different game altogether.

Playground Games have done themselves proud in capturing the look and feel of my homeland, just as they did with my adopted homeland of Australia in Forza Horizon 3.

Xbox One X owners can choose between Performance (1080p/60fps) or Quality (4K/30fps). Whilst the game does look wonderful in 4K, it also looks pretty spectacular in 1080p, and silky-smooth running at sixty frames-per-second. I found myself flicking between them both and even now I can’t decide which I prefer.

As before, the cars handle incredibly well. I’m not sure, but I’d say that they are a far bit more forgiving than in the Forza Motorsport games. Cars can drift around bends in a very satisfying, controlled manner with relative ease.

The diverse race types mean that you’ll never get bored. One minute you are in a rally, next you are racing supercars through city streets. There are point-to-point races and circuits. And this is just the solo part of the game. You can race other players, try out a user-created race or just try and beat your friends fastest speed through speed cameras. It’s a massive game with heaps to do.

Showcase events unlock as you progress. These offer special challenges like racing the famous Flying Scotsman train, a hovercraft and a motocross team.

The game is packed with boards to smash earning influence and fast-travel discounts. There’s also barn finds to discover, unlocking classic British cars. Top performance is awarded with wheelspins, returning once again, this time offering the chance to win money, cars, special editions, emotes and clothing for your character. Super wheelspins offer three times the prizes.

Despite the game being packed full of activities, it never becomes overwhelming. Your on-board navigation system, ANNA, is always on hand to direct you to the nearest race, avoiding the need to drive around aimlessly.

I’ve a couple of very minor issues with the game. The first is with the Horizon radio DJs. Just as in real life, they annoyingly rabbit on about nothing in particular. You can, of course, switch the radio off. The second is with the post-race summary, which is a bit over-the-top and could do with streamlining.

If you subscribe to Xbox Game Pass, the standard version of Forza Horizon 4 is yours free of charge. The game is also a play anywhere title, which means that you will be able to download it free-of-charge for your PC from the Microsoft store.

Forza Horizon 4 made me more homesick than my recent trip back to the UK did. Whilst the Summer reminds me of drinking cider in the Kent countryside, it’s the snowy evening light, that subtle purple hue cast over everything, that brings back memories of sliding my car along narrow roads, through unploughed snow.

Forza Horizon 4 is a racing masterpiece that belongs in your collection.

Forza Horizon 4 Gallery

The post Forza Horizon 4 (Xbox One) Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Nostalgia can be a double edged sword.

On the one hand, reliving old experiences can bring back great memories and add an extra dimension to your enjoyment of something. But at the same time, revisiting the past can bring attention to flaws that might have been missed the first time and show just how much times have changed.

This is the dual nature of Age of Empires: Definitive Edition. By remastering one of the most iconic and influential PC games of the late 90’s, Microsoft have also exposed it to a world that has experienced 20 years of steady improvements in gaming. While the base gameplay is fun and offers a healthy dose of nostalgia for returning players, a host of issues persist from the original that limit its lasting appeal and overall make this a not as expected experience.

For the unfamiliar, Age of Empires is a historical real-time strategy (RTS) game that follows various ancient civilisations spanning a huge period of time from prehistory through to the fall of the Roman empire. Gameplay centres around the familiar yet satisfying challenge of balancing an economy while amassing and controlling a military to destroy your opponents. Compared to many of its peers it relies more heavily on micromanagement, with worker units often requiring your attention and with the unit pathfinding and decision-making often needing more careful oversight. Age of Empires was released in 1997 and is considered one of the seminal releases of the RTS genre. While perhaps overshadowed by the release of Starcraft only 6 months later and by its own much-loved sequel in 1999, it was undeniably a huge influence on the genre.

In celebration of the series 20th anniversary, publisher Microsoft Studios is giving us remastered versions of all 3 main-series entries and a brand new fourth entry that is currently in development. 

To be clear, AoE: Definitive Edition is a remaster, not a remake. The game received a huge graphical upgrade as well as a host of quality-of-life improvements that make it a much smoother experience, but the number of changes is somewhat limited and the original experience is largely preserved.

Graphically, the game looks good, with high definition unit models and the addition of destruction animations and even simple reflections for ships. It treads a fine line that adheres to much of the original design without looking too retro. Support for HD resolutions and widescreen monitors has also been added. The music is remastered too, with a soundtrack that is immediately recognisable but with a slight twist on the original score.

On the gameplay side, some of the best additions include unit control groups, the ability to attack-move, building queues, gather points for buildings and a streamlined interface. But in many aspects the base game has aged poorly, and many will be left wishing that developers Forgotten Empires had taken a heavier touch.

The most glaring example of this is the AI behaviour. To be fair, the game’s intelligence seems to have improved since the original release, but it’s not quite on par with the 2013 version of Age of Empires II: HD.

The AI opponents frequently make bizarre decisions, such as sending all of their villagers to build a structure inside your base, attempting to harvest resources far from their drop-off points or failing to provide a coordinated response to attacks on their base. And once a unit attacks another it will never stop until it loses sight of them or it is attacked by something else, making it easy to pick off an army one-by-one by letting them target a building first.

In spite of the poor AI, some of the campaign missions are genuinely difficult because the AI likes to keep up consistent early pressure. Strangely, the first mission in the first campaign listed after the tutorial is one of the most difficult in the game, serving as a brutal introduction to newcomers. But the AI shows a variety of behaviours and the ability to tailor their mix of units to the strengths and weaknesses of the other players, so there is still fun to be had.

The notoriously bad pathfinding of the original release is also preserved in the remaster, with units often blocking each other and getting stuck on trees and buildings. The sizes of most units are significantly larger than their models suggest (particularly for naval units), meaning that a seemingly huge gap between two units will prevent a third one from passing. This is especially noticeable when sending ranged units to attack, as the first couple of archers might block the path for the rest of your army. As each unit stumbles into the one in front, they pause slightly, making it look like they’re having trouble deciding where to go. This is contrasted with the complete lack of hesitation they show when deciding to walk the long way around the entire map, because they decided they can get slightly closer to their intended target by strolling through the other entrance to the enemy base.

Another quirk of the original game is that selected units will keep their relative positions when you order them to move, so if an axeman gets temporarily stuck on a tree and you tell the group to move somewhere else, it will end up standing awkwardly away from the rest of the group when it arrives. All of this leads to a feeling like you’re herding cats, and tests your micromanagement skills as much as your strategic planning.

But if you want to see just how much the game has improved with the Definitive Edition, you can play custom games with the engine and graphics of the original. It’s clear that a lot of work went into the Remaster.

The game boasts 9 single-player campaigns taken from both the original game and the Rise of Rome expansion. This gives a total of more than 50 individual scenarios to play, a decent number for any RTS.

The detailed scenario editor also makes a return, allowing people to customise their own maps, start conditions and objectives. These can also be packaged together into user-made campaigns. In a nice touch, you can also reuse scenario and campaign files from the original.

Despite its age, the original AoE did include basic online multiplayer functionality. The Definitive Edition has taken this a step further, adding a lobby browser. This relies on a person to volunteer to host a game and define the rules. However, it remains to be seen whether there is enough of a community to keep the multiplayer mode active.

One reason for that is that just like the rest of Microsoft’s recent first-party games, AoE: Definitive Edition is only available on Windows 10 via the Windows Store. This is a huge disappointment and will no doubt greatly restrict the number of people who are willing and able to play the game.

But even greater than this, the biggest threat to AoE: Definitive Edition may be AoE II: HD. The second release is largely considered the best in the series, and the 2013 remaster still looks great. At the moment, AoE II: HD has superior gameplay, more content, is a similar price and is available on Steam. In that light, AoE: Definitive Edition is a hard sell.

But perhaps that misses the point.

With AoE II and III set to receive their own new remasters and with AoE IV just around the corner, perhaps the intention was to take us on a trip down memory lane, to introduce a new generation to the series, to remind us of what made the Age of Empires series special and to show us how the games have changed over the years.

In that case, AoE: Definitive Edition could be seen as a successful first step.

The post Age of Empires: Definitive Edition (PC) Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

With the release of Age of Empires: Definitive Edition around the corner, I was fortunate enough to get an early glimpse into how this remaster is shaping up thanks to a recent multiplayer BETA. As one of my favourite games as a child, I was curious to find out how the game has held up after 20 years.

First of all, one thing to clarify is that the game tries to stay true to the original game. It doesn’t try to reinvent itself for a modern audience. To me, it still felt exactly like I remember. While those seeking a nostalgic hit may enjoy this aspect, many people picking it up for the first time may feel otherwise.

For me a few gameplay aspects struck out as feeling noticeably outdated. Not being able to queue different units or technology is a notable one for me. As someone who has spent a lot of time in Age of Empires II, I found the inability to build gates on walls restricting as it forces you to leave them partially open which makes them partially redundant. While some may disagree, I feel fixing these sorts of things could have been done while still being faithful to the original game.

If you can look past these things, the core gameplay concept is still enjoyable. For the uninitiated, Age of Empires has you playing as a historic civilisation in a RTS battle against other civilisations. The gameplay loop revolves around gathering resources, building a base, rising through technological ages, building an army and taking out the enemy.

I still find this concept fun to play, it’s the execution itself that is holding back the game. While undoubtedly great for the time, the concept was implemented much better in the also massively popular sequel, Age of Empires II. Going backwards in a series is always a difficult thing to do.

Visually, the game stays true to the original look but adds some much needed additional detail and refinement. The buildings, the units, the terrain, all look like how it originally did just with a lot more detail added. Because of this though, the buildings look a bit too basic and the terrain a bit dull.

I didn’t get a chance to play the Campaign as the BETA was restricted to multiplayer. For me, Age of Empires has always been about playing through the historic campaigns. I’ve never thought of it as a competitive type of game. After playing multiplayer, that view is unchanged.

One of the biggest issues in my mind is the poor structuring of the multiplayer. Instead of predefined match types to join, people are free to set up and play their own matches with their own rules. There is an impressive array of options to tweak the game ranging from starting resources to number of players. You can even enable cheats, which I found out as may base was being swamped by a flock of babies riding bicycles. While in theory this may sound nice, it leaves things too open and I feel will fracture the community too much.

Even in the BETA I played in, the online community seemed scarce which made it extremely difficult to find a game with a set of rules that I wanted to play. When trying to set up a game, I found the wait time to find people to join unbearable. While things may be more populated at launch, I just don’t believe the online community will last very long.

Full disclosure, I lost almost every game I played. Obviously this took away from enjoyment and maybe others were having a better time than I was. I more enjoy the base building, exploration, resource gathering and story parts of the Age of Empires rather than combat. My strategy was totally off for the competitive environment. In any case, between trying to find a game and getting destroyed, I didn’t have a huge amount of fun.

Age of Empires: Definitive Edition looks to provide a faithful remastering of one of the most notable early RTS games. Those looking for a nostalgic hit may be in for a treat. The game does show its age and may not be the best place for newcomers to the series to start. I look forward to finding out how Age of Empires: Definitive Edition really holds up when the game launches on February 20th, 2018.

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