Xbox Tavern's Scores

  • Games
For 2,228 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 52% higher than the average critic
  • 9% same as the average critic
  • 39% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 4.3 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Game review score: 71
Highest review score: 100 Trine 5: A Clockwork Conspiracy
Lowest review score: 6 The Language Of Love
Score distribution:
2232 game reviews
    • tbd Metascore
    • 48 Critic Score
    Casey Powell Lacrosse 18 is a poorly designed sports title at best, despite showing initial promise. This game’s tough difficulty spike and lack of fluid functionality alienates series’ newcomers. Veteran fans will more than likely appreciate what’s on offer, but for those that enjoy quality and quantity, look elsewhere. Copy and paste characters, shoddy visuals, meaningless commentary and much more, awaits those that don’t heed this warning.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 36 Critic Score
    On the basis that 100 percent of proceeds are being donated to charity to help sick and suffering children, I, Hope outshines any other game on the market. The same sadly cannot be said about the game in general. I, Hope is a shoddy platformer that’s bland, frustrating and utterly underdeveloped. If you’re looking for your next platforming fix, this two hour adventure will only serve to disappoint you.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 66 Critic Score
    Emily Wants to Play Too is bigger and better than its predecessor, but that’s not to say that it comes without issues. Problems with its performance tends to take the bulk of its downside, with the lack of a solid progressive structure and poor shadowing following closely behind. That said, this is still one hell of a scary experience that will certainly please horror fanatics and fans of the first game alike.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 69 Critic Score
    DragoDino is a cute and colorful collect-a-thon adventure that doesn’t take itself too seriously. The price-tag is well set and there’s no denying that you’re getting your money’s worth. Though issues with its punishing death penalty, lengthy loading screens and somewhat repetitive gameplay, will inevitably test your patience in the long run.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 55 Critic Score
    Aqua Moto Racing Utopia suffers from poor optimization, dated visuals, bland audio and a lack of decent stunts. Though, it has to be said that at its generous price, there’s a plethora of content to take to across several varying modes. It’s far from perfect, that much goes without saying, but if you’re looking for something akin to Wave Race 64, this will just about do the trick, warts and all.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 41 Critic Score
    Subaeria could have been fun if it wasn’t for the atrocious loading times, the poor controls, the tedious hit detection and the awkward camera angle. The whole experience just screams of wasted potential, offering up a slapdash game in place of something more refined and better developed. Putting its decent art style to the side, Subaeria simply hasn’t been constructed well enough to merit a recommendation.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 68 Critic Score
    Dungeon Rushers doesn’t do much to break the mold, but it certainly does enough to justify its generous price tag and a recommendation. Though with that said, if it’s gameplay depth that you seek, look elsewhere. The game does indeed become repetitive before its conclusion and there’s a few technical issues within, however, if you can overlook that, there’s heaps of challenging and endearing content to get through.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 35 Critic Score
    Mines are often deep, resourceful and interesting. Mining Rail, on the other hand, is the polar opposite of each. There’s very little that I can say in its defense other than that of its decent and precise control feedback. The presentation is poor, the UI is ugly, the selection of stages are bland if indeed diverse, and its currency and progression system remains far too confusing. Though above all else, it’s just not at all fun to play.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 19 Critic Score
    Super Hyperactive Ninja may have been a decent game if its stodgy controls, poor collision detection and its shower of cheap deaths didn’t dramatically hold the game back. There’s nothing wrong with a game that wants to seriously challenge its players, but when that challenge comes solely from its poor development and baffling design choices, it’s far too hard to overlook, or more importantly, enjoy.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 35 Critic Score
    Birdcakes is far too taxing for its own good, far too steep in its difficulty and far too lacking in its content. The requirement to constantly grind and persevere with its tedious singular mechanic just isn’t fun nor thrilling enough to justify a recommendation. Birdcakes’ distinctly designed stages and its tight controls are certainly commendable, but these few pros pale in comparison to its several cons.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 71 Critic Score
    Well worth its asking price for its content alone. The game’s meta theme doesn’t run dry throughout and is often used as a clever tool to hold up the overall experience. Minor annoyances with its dialogue and the general grind to the side, those that relish RPG games and enjoy some light humor, will more than appreciate what’s on offer.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 78 Critic Score
    Die for Valhalla!’s possession mechanic never tires and remains every bit as addictive as it is enticing. It’s a very accessible game that comes with some intriguing design choices and a great deal of variation across the board. I found issue with a few instances of unfair difficulty and it would have been nice to see support for online multiplayer, but when all is said and done, Die for Valhalla! is easily one to recommend.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Awkward is exactly that, awkward. This is a game that’s hellbent on testing your relationship with those playing by your side. On that front, it can be a blessing and curse depending on how well you can take a joke. Despite becoming repetitive before long, it’s very easy to play, which makes it quite an accessible experience. Though, by design, it’s likely only going to appeal to a specific crowd.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 33 Critic Score
    Grab the Bottle takes a simple idea and fails miserably to build on it. I wont deny that the game is fun to begin with, but once you realize that you’re doing the exact same thing from start to end, it soon wears thin. The initial fun is swiftly chased away by the game’s reliance on its singular mechanic, ultimately making for an overall experience that consists of little more than frustration and perseverance.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 82 Critic Score
    With its bad voice acting and its poor writing to the side, Eventide 3: Legacy of Legends is another stunningly detailed and well rounded hidden-object puzzle game from Artifex Mundi. There’s a decent variation of puzzles within, which is further upheld by a difficulty curve that gradually climbs in complexity as you dive deeper into the plot. It may not be the best from Artifex’s catalog, but it’s certainly high up the list.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 41 Critic Score
    Magical Brickout takes that classic Super Breakout formula and attempts to reinvent it. Sadly, however, the end result is one that will frustrate and annoy you far more than it will entice and excite you. The game’s lack of refinement is its main issue, with several poor design choices following closely behind. Die-hard fans of the concept may find some enjoyment, but if you’re looking for quality, look elsewhere.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    What the Box? lacks originality and depth. The ability to utilize the game’s bot support is a necessary touch, because in honesty, I highly doubt that this game will maintain a strong enough online community to uphold it in the long run. For its price it’s an absolute steal. There’s some neat functions present and I did have fun during the initial stages of play, however, there’s no denying that it becomes repetitive before long.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 85 Critic Score
    Between its fairly deep serving of content, its multi-tiered progression system and its innovative community death mechanic, Next Up Hero is certainly one of the better dungeon crawlers to release in recent memory. Its steep difficulty may not be for everyone, but if you relish a heavily challenging experience with heaps of replay value, this game should most certainly be on your radar.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Wheelspin Frenzy offers a passable racer that functions and performs quite well throughout the entirety of play. The biggest drawback here is that the game is just far too basic to stand anywhere near as tall as its peers. The lack of meaningful progression and the bog-standard visuals certainly doesn’t help in this regard. Though with that said, if you’re simply looking for a quick and simplistic arcade racer, Wheelspin Frenzy should do the trick.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 58 Critic Score
    Gnomes Garden 3’s asking price is a generous one, and I wont deny that there’s more than enough content to justify its cost several times over. However, that doesn’t cover up the fact that the game’s core loop just doesn’t maintain its initial excitement throughout. This is fun in short bursts, but everything you’ll see here has already been done a thousand times before, to a better degree, I might add. Pay a cheap price, get a cheap game.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    At best, Gekido Kintaro’s Revenge is a passable game that should please just about anyone who enjoyed the original. The additional features within deserve a special mention and they certainly make the price of the game much more generous. However, there’s no denying that the game’s age shows far too much and despite its limited capabilities, the difficulty can make for one hell of a frustrating and repetitive experience.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 65 Critic Score
    The Z Axis: Continuum isn’t likely to rock your puzzle-loving world, but it does enough to stand out on the merit of its interesting, manipulative mechanics. The game slowly feeds you into the basics of play before throwing larger, more complex levels your way. It may indeed be lacking in the visual department for more reasons than one, but it still goes on to present a brain hammering challenge nevertheless.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 53 Critic Score
    One More Dungeon is a basic game that doesn’t even try to evolve its quite frankly dated concept. There are far better roguelike dungeon crawlers available on the market for a similar price, removing much of the appeal that this game clearly doesn’t have to spare. Despite that, if you enjoy simplicity and can forgive the game of its issues and shortcomings, there’s some fleeting fun to be had here.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 34 Critic Score
    Maximum Football 2018 is a game you’ll want to avoid for many reasons. Take your pick; extremely dated visuals, daft character animations, puddle-deep gameplay mechanics, graphical faults, technical problems and a complete and utter lack of polish across the board. Sure, the game’s main performance may be passable and it controls well for the most part, but that’s the max limit of the game’s pros.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    With today’s modern additions such as leaderboards and online multiplayer for 16 players, Forsaken: Remastered’s 360-degree movement gives it something unique in today’s crowded shooter market. It might just be the resurgence needed for a game that didn’t get a chance to shine all those years ago.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Polygod offers a challenging, randomly generated experience that’s constantly engaging and fun. There’s a lot of variation here across the game’s levels, its enemies and its pacing, which collectively ensures that repetition almost remains completely holstered throughout. There’s certainly a steep difficulty curve to begin with, but its greatly addictive core gameplay loop will keep you coming back for more.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 86 Critic Score
    Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes takes a simple concept and makes it something that’s hilarious, tense and massively entertaining. It helps that the game is very accessible and easy to understand for both the direct player and the off-screen participating helpers, alike. This is undoubtedly the best party game in recent memory, one in which losing is every bit as fun as winning.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 55 Critic Score
    Treadnauts is a fairly passable couch party-like game that houses some interesting ideas and design choices, but is fundamentally flawed as far as varied gameplay content is concerned. This is the definition of fun in short doses, though, tiresome and boring in the long-run. There’s enjoyment to be had through the use of the game’s various modifiers and maps, but that’s pretty much as compelling as it gets.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 49 Critic Score
    Socketeer is fun to begin with, I’ll credit it with that. The problem, however, is that the game is littered with cheap deaths and frustrating elements that punish you for merely being curious or even just slightly careless. This is an unforgivable design choice for a game that incorporates perma-death functionality and boasts hidden secrets. Enjoyable in short doses, yes, but even then you’re likely to leave annoyed.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 45 Critic Score
    Planet of the Apes: Last Frontier’s core functionality relays little more than a choice-driven interactive experience. We’ve seen this formula many times this gen, and although it can indeed work when effort has not been spared, here, it just doesn’t add up. Indeed, Last Frontier offers a decent multi-branching plot, but its hands-off approach and its poor production value holds it back, tremendously.

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