Xbox Tavern's Scores

  • Games
For 2,229 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 Resident Evil 2
Lowest review score: 6 The Language Of Love
Score distribution:
2233 game reviews
    • tbd Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Youtubers Life is quite an endearing management experience that, surprisingly, doesn’t come across too taxing nor too demanding. There’s a decent amount of depth to be found here, but its lack of gameplay variation is what holds it back the most. Nevertheless, if you can overlook that and forgive the game for its repetition, Youtubers Life will keep you gleefully busy for hours on end.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Floor Kids isn’t a bad game per se, it’s actually quite fun during the initial stages of play. The drawback, however, is that the game fails to shake-up its formula throughout. Whilst there may well be some energetic variety as far as its dance mechanic and its character selection is concerned, there’s little else to get excited about. The end result ironically makes for a very monotonous experience, one that gets old, fast.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 56 Critic Score
    There’s no denying that for its cheap cost, you’re getting more than enough content in return, but it’s content that ultimately becomes repetitive before too long. Much like each of its three predecessors, New Home fails to truly evolve its gameplay loop throughout its entirety. That said, I’ll credit the game for its simplicity and accessibility, but this means very little when innovation has been sacrificed as a result.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Energy Cycle Edge is every bit as alienating as it is ignorant. The game is completely without accessibility, largely due to its overly steep difficulty spike and the fact that it’s devoid of any tutorials or tips. This wouldn’t usually be an issue, but for a puzzle-only game that comes with a such a distinct process, it’s disconcerting and confusing to say the very least. Even once you eventually grasp its concept, there’s little fun to be found here.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 59 Critic Score
    While there isn’t anything definitively wrong with the game, there isn’t anything that On a Roll 3D can particularly brag about either. It’s your run of the mill side-scrolling platformer, one that seemingly trades innovation for simplicity. If you’re a speedrunner, a leaderboard buff, or generally enjoy ease-of-use games of this type, On a Roll 3D is for you. If, on the other hand, you appreciate something deeper and more robust, look elsewhere.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 48 Critic Score
    Desert Child suffers greatly from its poor interconnected structure, which is a shame, because the game oozes potential throughout. I’ll credit the game for its gorgeous retro aesthetic and its brief moments of excitement, but ultimately, much of the game’s fun is bogged down by its constrained flow. Furthermore, the game constantly builds to a fabled event, one that turns out to be puddle deep and underwhelming.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Big Crown: Showdown isn’t without issues. There’s some questionable design choices within, as well as a few bugs that hinder its fluidity. That said, these small problems are easy to overlook in the face of the vast amount of fun that the game consistently relays. I credit the game particularly for its accessibility, making for an action-packed, family friendly party brawler that rarely alienates the younger, or lesser skilled players.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 55 Critic Score
    Lazy Galaxy: Rebel Story fails to truly build upon any of its interesting ideas. There’s fun to be had, but these moments of excitement are oftentimes short lived due to the game’s play-it-safe formula. I don’t doubt that this will please die-hard fans of the shmups, but if you’re looking for the genre’s next big thing, this isn’t it. Lazy Galaxy is, at best, just another substandard bullet-hell adventure.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 65 Critic Score
    The Atari Flashback Classics Volume 3 is certainly a worthy choice if you’re looking for a true nostalgic hit. There’s a wide selection of retro titles on offer here, with online and leaderboard support added for heightened value and extra longevity. With that in mind, this is a bundle of fifty massively dated games that, by current standards, handle pretty poorly for the most part. This will likely only appeal to a specific crowd.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 64 Critic Score
    Kingmaker: Rise to the Throne brings with it the usual drawbacks that we’ve come to expect from its developer and its publisher. The game’s poor writing and its shoddy voice work makes it hard to get truly invested in the story at hand, which at best, is only mildly entertaining throughout. That said, the game’s exceptional artwork, together with its fairly creative puzzles, collectively provide the journey with its much needed grip.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 73 Critic Score
    Knights of Pen & Paper 2 feels more like an extension to Knights of Pen & Paper than that of a true sequel. That’s not necessarily a bad thing when we take into account that the first game is a lot of fun, but, poor design choices from the first game do indeed creep into its follow up. By and large, this is a very safely constructed sequel. That is to say that if you enjoyed the first game, you’ll enjoy this. If not, this is highly unlikely to sway you.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 68 Critic Score
    Hellfront: Honeymoon trades depth for gameplay simplicity, and in doing so, will likely turn away those that prefer deeper action strategy games. If you can overlook that, there’s a lot to like about the experience at hand. The game’s constant action sits remarkably well with its quick-fire matches. Though, as with any game that’s relatively bare, repetition sinks in soon enough. Still, this is one PvPvPvP that’s fit for those party nights.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 45 Critic Score
    The core loop that made Road Rash such a classic is just about present here. However, it doesn’t come without problems. Whilst it’s fun to have a vehicular duel as you tear along the road, such weightless impact, its floaty physics, and the heavy reliance on randomly generated tracks and objectives, massively pulls the game short in the long run. The foundation is on the right track, but it definitely needed more time in the oven.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 25 Critic Score
    Planet Rix-13 consists of little more than constant fetch questing, with the majority of its necessities nonsensically strewn in plain view throughout its hour-long run. The problem that this generates, amidst its poorly structured story and its feeble puzzle work, is that it all feels far too guided. Despite its cheap cost, and unless you’re only looking to bulk up your Gamerscore, this game isn’t worth your time nor your attention.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 35 Critic Score
    Void Vikings would have been more interesting if its needless debt structure was stripped away to allow the game’s core functionality to shine. However, even if that was so, there wouldn’t be much justification to warrant a recommendation. The game lacks refinement across the entire board, making for an experience that, despite its decent variation, is more convoluted than it needs to be, and a lot less fun than its peers.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    JackQuest’s sizable interconnected world, together with its immediately fluid and precise gameplay, collectively go hand in glove to set an instantly captivating stage. There’s a good blend of combat, puzzles, and platforming throughout, making for a worthwhile adventure that rarely loses traction. The only real downside here is that it lacks diversity across all of those aspects, pulling it just shy of greatness as a result.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 35 Critic Score
    Disregard the game’s sickeningly inaccurate description. Throughout its entirety, Heroes Trials plays like a horrendously designed Zelda dungeon, complete with a shoddy story, lackluster visuals, and worse, combat that’s dire, and control feedback that’s ultimately imprecise. It doesn’t help matters that the game suffers from some pretty frustrating bugs and technical issues on top of that. Avoid.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 59 Critic Score
    Despite housing a generous amount of content, the game’s core systems lack depth and variety, and whilst DayD: Through Time makes a few functional improvements when compared to Gnomes Garden, it still falls short due to its tedious loop. That said, if you’re a fan of this simplistic concept, DayD is certainly going to be serviceable. If, on the other hand, you prefer something robust and challenging, look elsewhere.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 65 Critic Score
    This is one local multiplayer bomb-based game that anyone can pick up, play, and enjoy. There’s a nice, steady influx of unlocks to earn through little more than natural play, ensuring that even the youngest and lesser skilled of players will witness everything that the game has to offer. The drawback, however, is that outside of its technical issues, it all becomes fairly repetitive before too long, more so when playing solo.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 55 Critic Score
    Whilst the depth and diversity of its content will be bolstered through post-launch community contribution, Animal Super Squad, at its core, feels far too bare for its own good. There’s nothing particularly wrong with its physics-based gameplay, and there’s certainly some fun to be had throughout. However, the big drawback here is that it’s just not exciting enough nor interesting enough to maintain traction in the long run.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 55 Critic Score
    Those with patience and a mind for spatial puzzles will no doubt relish the challenge on offer here. Whilst difficulty spikes can frustrate to the point of quitting entirely, this is one of those games that gets that under your skin, you cant help but return. That being said, this is likely only going to appeal to a specific crowd, and if that’s you, you might want to bring your own tunes. The audio here is truly annoying.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 65 Critic Score
    Ages of Mages is a mixed bag of pros and cons. Though to the game’s credit, it does indeed manage to get more right than it gets wrong. The gameplay remains fun, fluid, and responsive, with just enough depth present across its enemy variation and its skill tree systems to keep it from repetition. The drawback, however, is that it’s bogged down by poor presentation, minor framerate issues, and unbalanced difficulty.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Access Denied’s varied and intelligently designed puzzles are bound to excite fans of the genre, and although it’s a very short game, it does well with the few tools that it encompasses. It’s a shame then, that its handling can be all over the place, which simply isn’t forgivable for a game that strongly encourages perseverance and precision. That being said, and for its fairly generous price, you could do worse.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Whilst it would have benefited from some variation as far as its visual design is concerned, it’s easy to like Minesweeper Genius for its relatively straightforward and challenging structure. The game takes the classic Minesweeper formula and introduces some simple yet effective mechanics, which goes hand in glove with its randomly generated content. The end result makes for an experience that’s both fun and gratifying throughout.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 15 Critic Score
    The biggest challenge you’ll face here is trying to overcome its horrendous presentation. There’s a complete lack of distinction between the game’s foreground and its background, leading to heaps of cheap deaths as a result. What’s worse, there’s almost no depth and variation within. Instead, the game makes a nasty habit of constantly recycling its few dull ideas, over and over, throughout the entirety of play. Heed my advice, avoid.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 55 Critic Score
    Creepy Road is a mixed bag of pros and cons. Whilst it looks and sounds the part, handles quite fluidly, and comes with a diverse variation of enemies and weaponry, there’s just too many glaring issues holding it back. Chief among them being lazily designed boss battles, poor hit detection, and several environmental bugs. It’s a shame really, because had the developer held the game’s quality to a higher standard, this could have been a hit.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 65 Critic Score
    Daggerhood is a safe choice if you’re a fan of punishing platformers. It does a fine job of keeping its gameplay varied and challenging via continuously introducing new and interesting mechanics. It’s a shame then, that it’s held back quite a bit by its poor boss encounters and its tendency of taking cheap-shots. Overall, I wont go so far as to say that it’s a good game, but it does just about manage to get more right than it gets wrong.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 35 Critic Score
    Mars Chaos Menace is too hard to recommend due to being chock-full of cheap deaths, awkward level presentation, and poor design choices. To the game’s credit, and a forefront necessity for any shmup, its handling remains fluid and responsive throughout. That, however, means next to nothing when much of the difficulty within is relayed through little more than its incompetent development. Simply put, it’s a waste of digital space.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    RemiLore clearly has some heart. The problem, unfortunately, is that its execution seems to be all over the place. I found myself almost constantly questioning the game’s many systems rather than enjoying them, simply due the fact that they don’t feel very unified overall. Still, I’ll credit the game for its tight combat, its accessibility, its healthy serving of modes, and its lush visuals, but even so, it’s not worth its rather steep and greedy asking price.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 75 Critic Score
    Old Man’s Journey is a decent brain teaser that manages to relay such a beautiful and meaningful story without ever uttering a single word. The game intertwines its gorgeous landscapes with its intelligent puzzle framework to great effect, ultimately pushing forward an experience like no other. That said, the game’s lack of basic guidance and its short running time is bound to disappoint those that seek something more grounded and lengthy.

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