Whilst in the middle of a quarantine, some of us have been struggling to keep ourselves or others in the household occupied. I am all for spending more time with my family but with some of my free time I have found myself going through the extensive catalogue of the Xbox Game Pass library. I subscribed to this service late last year and so far it has paid for itself.
In total I have played more than 20 games from the library, getting a taste of a few different titles. Out of all the games I have played I have really gravitated and beaten 4 games so far, which I will get into now.
Doom
Doom Eternal was released this year and I figured I’d give the first game a whirl since I never really got into it when it released in 2016. After beating the campaign on ultra violence difficulty I have to say that it was well worth the time I put in. This game has a lot of fast paced action that still lets you explore the environment, which is terrifically gory. And speaking of gory, I absolutely loved how messy you got using all the different weapons getting up close and personal with the glory kills. Thinking back at the arsenal of weapons that were at my disposal I have to say my favorite was the gauss canon because it absolutely obliterated the enemy turning them into nice little chunks of meat.
The one negative thing I have to say about the game is that the last couple missions felt like a grind. Constantly duking it out with demons did feel like a chore compared to the flow of the early missions of the game. With that said the boss battles were really great (even though I died a lot) and really forced you to use your weapons wisely. Funny enough I felt that the last boss battle was the easiest of them all even though it was the biggest demon you’ll face in the game.
There were times though where my heart was racing with terrifying close encounters with the game’s juggernauts. I have to give it to the designers of the levels because they did mix in open and closed areas keeping you on your toes making you can feel a sense of horror walking down a hallway with a huge demon breathing down your back.
In closing, if you have not played this game I highly recommend you do. It was very challenging on ultra violence difficulty but I still beat it with about 20 hours of gameplay under my belt. For context my cousin played 23 hours of it and still hadn’t beaten it. With that said, I did not manage to find all the secrets or hook up all my equipment, but I did get far enough for my liking.
My Friend Pedro
I found out about this game on one of my favorite YouTube gaming channels and was instantly drawn to the mechanics of this atypical shooter. On top of the mechanics I also noticed that the main character would talk to a floating banana, which is not something you see all the time. This led to me to try out the game resulting in me beating it relatively quickly even though it does have a good amount of levels.
The shooting mechanics were what made the game for me. Not only do you get slow motion, focus vision but you are able to dual wield most weapons as well as being able to shoot from just about any position. There were some moments of clunkiness especially down towards the end of the game but it did not deter from the fun I was having. In addition to shooting you are able to kick the enemies either directly or you can kick an object towards them like a knife or even a basketball for an instant kill. Ultimately my favorite move was kicking a pan into the air which allowed me to ricochet bullets off of it to attack enemies who were not in my line of sight.
If you’re looking to get high scores in this game then you’ll need to move quickly and efficiently through each level. Before my son was born I would stream my attempts to achieve the best score on each level and what I learned was that it was very difficult! Joking aside, in order to get the top score you’ll need to rack up your multiplier. Although on some levels you can get away with breaking the multiplier as long as you chain them on the back end of the mission. Furthermore, to keep you score alive you’ll need to traverse the level as efficiently as possible because any misstep will cause you to lose your bonus and you might as well restart the level.
Ori and the Blind Forest
Knowing that the sequel to this game was going to be available on Game Pass, I gave little Ori a shot. Now this was not some chance encounter with the game as I did hear good things about this game. I came to the conclusion that those things I heard are very much true. The game pulled me in right from the start with a very emotional prelude that had its own version of an M. Night Shymalan twist.
Once the game kicks off you’ll see a wonderful world that is beautifully crafted and filled with all sorts of creatures that will that will happily attack you. Your only friend is a spirit orb that also doubles as your weapon. This made the game a bit hard at the beginning since your offensive capabilities are limited at range but you are able to cleverly use other abilities to inflict damage to enemies. One such move was the ground pound that would sent bad guys flying into environmental hazards or even into other enemies.
Another knock on the game was the way that you’d save the game. There was no automatic checkpoint system, the game required you to use one of your abilities, thus using your energy pool, to create your own save points. I could not tell you how frustrated I was at the amount of times I was significantly set back because I was not able to save before heading into a difficult fight.
Fighting some of the normal creatures proved challenging but nothing compared to the challenge provided by completing some of the main objectives. For example, whenever you clear a main story mission you are forced to make a run for your life and the worst part is that upon death you were sent back to the starting point. Although, as frustrating as that may sound, it was actually quite fun and got my heart racing most of the time. One of the biggest upsides to the game was your ability to traverse the environment in all sorts of ways and in these big moments you are forced to use all those maneuvers to escape the chaos.
Ori and the Will of the Wisps
After beating the first game in the series I was able to jump right in to the second installment and I could immediately tell the difference between the two. Will of the Wisps definitely felt like an upgrade over the previous game with improvements in nearly every aspect of the gameplay. The story picks up where the Blind Forest leaves off, introducing a new character to the group. Now I thought this new character was going to have more of a role in the gameplay being able to use their abilities along with Ori’s but that was not the case. With that said, the game was still really good and just like the first game showcased a beautifully crafted world and a soundtrack fit for a meditation session.
One of the first things things I noticed that set this game apart from the first is the world is filled with friendly creatures that provide side missions which earn you points for upgrades. These sometimes cute characters also made it feel like the world you inhabit is not all bad. You will find yourself interacting with a handful of them over the course of the game because they offer you the chance to upgrade your abilities.
Another noticeably big difference between the two games is that Ori has an arsenal of weapons that include throwables, force fields, and even devastating power moves. With each weapon comes a chance to upgrade them to make them that much more powerful. Another big change is the ability to move around different environments in unique ways. For example, moving around in sand and in water is much more exhilarating thanks to certain upgraded abilities that let you tunnel through at fast speeds. With these speed bursts you’re also able to attack your enemies for which there are many.
The enemies in this game vary wildly from the last and provide a challenge from the get go. The biggest challenges are of course the boss fights which feature opponents that are many times larger than you are and have an array of abilities that you’ll need to watch out for. However there are the escape modes that do occur at the end of certain missions and yes they are still enjoyable. Somehow the developers found a way to make something that is genuinely frustrating worth dying multiple times to complete the mission.
After beating the final boss you are then strapped in for another emotional ride as the game comes to an heartbreaking end. I feel that’s what makes this series great as it grips you right from the start, sprinkling in moments of sadness with lifting moments of triumph.
In conclusion, these four games are just the tip of the iceberg in term of what’s available on Xbox Game Pass and I will be sure to play and review more of them as time permits. If you are a subscriber to the service, I definitely recommend you charge right into these games as they are worth the time.