Tag: Xbox 360

Lego Dimensions complete character guide – every Year One character reviewed

Published on by Chris Scullion8 Comments

LEGO Dimensions Xbox OneThis week marks the beginning of ‘Year Two’ of Lego Dimensions, the fantastic toys-to-life game by long-time Lego game studio Traveller’s Tales.

Because Year Two introduces a whole bunch of new franchises to the mix, a lot of players will be getting into Lego Dimensions for the first time.

With that in mind, I’ve put together this enormous guide to all 46 characters released during the game’s first year: that’s the 44 main ones and the two limited edition characters Green Arrow and Supergirl. Continue reading “Lego Dimensions complete character guide – every Year One character reviewed” →

The week in games – cancelled titles, starter Pokemon

Published on by Chris Scullion2 Comments

‘The week in games’ is my new weekly series covering the week’s gaming news in a (hopefully) humorous way. If it seems familiar it’s because I tested it out with a couple of articles last year, but now it’s here to stay in a weekly form.

Losing its Spark

project sparkMicrosoft has finally properly cancelled Project Spark. The free-to-play game is no longer available for download, and if you already have it online services will be cancelled from August.

Anyone who bought the retail version of the game will be getting the price refunded into their Microsoft account. The company will be holding emergency talks to discuss how to recoup the £79.98 they’ll lose as a result of this. Continue reading “The week in games – cancelled titles, starter Pokemon” →

ICYMI – Jet Car Stunts review

Published on by Chris Scullion2 Comments

ICYMI (or In Case You Missed It, if you’re an old fart like me) is my new video review series looking at games that for whatever reason weren’t fully covered in bigger sites. The video is after the jump, and if you’d prefer a written version you’ll find one there too. Continue reading “ICYMI – Jet Car Stunts review” →

Lego Dimensions – Back To The Future Level Pack review

Published on by Chris Scullion6 Comments

Lego Dimensions week on Tired Old Hack continues! Yesterday I reviewed the Simpsons Level Pack and today is the turn of the Back To The Future Level Pack.

Keep checking back throughout the week for reviews of the other three Level Packs currently available.

Lego Dimensions Back To The Future level packWhen Lego Dimensions was first announced, the confirmed franchise that excited me most was easily Back To The Future.

I’m a huge fan of all three films in the classic ‘80s trilogy, so the thought of being able to finally play as Marty McFly (as opposed to just guiding him, as in Telltale’s decent point-and-click game) had me properly pumped.

Unfortunately, of the five Lego Dimensions level packs released to date, this was the one that left me most wanting by the end. Continue reading “Lego Dimensions – Back To The Future Level Pack review” →

Guitar Hero Live vs Rock Band 4 – which is best?

Published on by Chris Scullion4 Comments

Guitar Hero vs Rock Band 4I’m an enormous fan of rhythm action games, and was still happily buying every new Guitar Hero and Rock Band game even while everyone else was losing interest in the genre.

It goes without saying, then, that the return of both series in 2015 was a massive deal for me, and the fact that both actually seemed significantly different from each other made things even more interesting.

Not everyone’s as obsessed with this genre as I am, though, so it’s understandable that the vast majority of gamers would probably only want to buy one of these games. The question, then, is which is best: Guitar Hero Live or Rock Band 4?

Having bought both games at launch (with my own cash, I should stress) and spent a couple of months with each now, I reckon I’m in a good position to give you my unbiased, detailed opinion on which of the two you should go for. Let’s rock. Continue reading “Guitar Hero Live vs Rock Band 4 – which is best?” →

WWE games by the numbers: a stat nerd’s paradise

Published on by Chris Scullion6 Comments

WWESmackDownHereComesThePainI love wrestling games. All of them. Even the shite ones.

Wrestle War on the Mega Drive? Love it. WCW Backstage Assault on the PlayStation? Love it. World Wrestling Championship on PS2? Okay, not that one.

Of course, given my lifetime passion for WWE, it’s the games based on that particular promotion that I love the most. There isn’t a WWE (formerly WWF) game that I haven’t played.

Recently, WWE 2K16 was released. It’s the 57th WWE video game released, and if that stat excites you a little then grab some tissues, because that’s the tip of the iceberg.

Yes friends, I’m about to take you on a tour of WWE game history using nothing but stats and numbers. It’s going to be the nerdiest thing to happen to wrestling games since someone created Dragon Ball and Avengers characters in WWE 2K15. Continue reading “WWE games by the numbers: a stat nerd’s paradise” →

Lego Dimensions Starter Pack review

Published on by Chris Scullion8 Comments

Disclaimers: This review is not based on a free review copy. I pre-ordered it from Amazon and bought it with my own money. The review covers the Xbox One version of the game. While there are references to other characters not included with the Starter Pack, this article should by and large be considered a review of the Starter Pack only, and whether choosing to buy it alone (with no plan to buy any additional packs) is worth your time and money.

LEGO Dimensions Xbox OneLego Dimensions is a game about shaking things up. It was marketed with a #BreakTheRules hashtag, and this mantra is persistent throughout: not just in terms of its storyline, but also the game’s structure itself.

You see, at the heart of Lego Dimensions lies a massive inner struggle, one that questions a fundamental part of what makes Lego games so well-loved.

But we’ll get to that. Continue reading “Lego Dimensions Starter Pack review” →

Xbox One backwards compatibility – the 20 best XBLA games to play now

Published on by Chris Scullion1 Comment

Xbox-One-backward-compatibilityThe first batch of backwards compatible games launches on Xbox One on Thursday, giving players the chance to play 104 titles from the Xbox 360 catalogue on Microsoft’s current-gen console.

Some of these are retail games: the likes of Assassin’s Creed II, Fallout 3, the entire Gears Of War saga and the first Mass Effect (but not the other two, oddly) are in there.

These are well-known titles so chances are you don’t need a hack like me (tired and old or otherwise) to tell you if they’re any good.

However, the vast majority of games on the list are Xbox Live Arcade (XBLA) games – titles that were only made available to buy digitally through the Xbox 360’s online storefront. Some are relatively new, others stretch all the way back to the Xbox 360’s launch a decade ago.

If you’re a long-time Xbox 360 owner then these titles will be familiar to you, but if Xbox One is your first Microsoft console – or even if you’ve only had a 360 for the last couple of years – there may be a few that don’t ring a bell.

With that in mind, I’ve put together this list of the 20 XBLA games on the backwards compatible list that I personally consider must-owns. In alphabetical order, mind: I can’t be arsed with any “number 17? It should have been 16 you prick” nonsense. Continue reading “Xbox One backwards compatibility – the 20 best XBLA games to play now” →

Late to the party – Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag

Published on by Chris Scullion2 Comments

Late to the party is my new video series in which I review popular games a while after they’ve been released, mainly because I’ve only just gotten round to playing them.

The video can be found under this paragraph, but if you’re more of a reader I’ve provided a modified version of the script after the jump so you can enjoy my thoughts in the written word instead. I’m nice like that.

Continue reading “Late to the party – Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag” →

Video – Xbox One backwards compatibility demonstration

Published on by Chris ScullionLeave a comment

Xbox One backwards compatibilityDuring its E3 conference this week Microsoft surprised gamers by announcing that the Xbox One will soon be backwards compatible with a number of Xbox 360 games.

Although this feature isn’t rolling out until later this year, anyone signed up to the Xbox One Preview Program can test it out right now with a select number of games (around 20 or so) in order to give feedback to Microsoft on how smoothly things are running.

I’m a member of the Preview Program, so yesterday I held a quick 20-minute livestream on my Twitch channel showing the entire process. If you missed it, here it is in its entirety. Continue reading “Video – Xbox One backwards compatibility demonstration” →