The 400 Project

Picture a dark room filled with TVs, Xbox Ones, and all the upcoming games fans have been dying to get their hands on. Add snacks and a bar to that and you have the perfect recipe for a night of gaming. That was the atmosphere at X16, an event that I was invited to recently.

X16 was an Xbox preview event to showcase some of the games coming out this fall. Held in the Distillery District in Toronto, it was a chance to hype some popular upcoming games and allow fans to try out other games they may not have seen. The demos were satisfying, but reasonable lengths to keep people rotating out. It was a great night of gaming. But the important part is the games, right? Check out my thoughts and impressions below:

Gears of War 4

Felt pretty familiar to the original Gears games, which is not a bad thing at all. They still featured the staples like active reload and the excellent cover system you will instantly recognize. The controls handled exactly as I remember, meaning that I could basically pick it up without any instruction. That’s something I really liked. The demo was a campaign mission (I assume early in the story). Lasted about 10 minutes and added a few new weapons and mechanics that I hadn’t experienced. All in all it was a fun/semi nostalgic experience that pushed this to a day one purchase for me.

Recore

I had heard of Recore before but never had much exposure to to it. Sitting down I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. I was pleasantly surprised. Recore is a mix of puzzle/platformer with shooter elements. The movement and gunplay felt very smooth and easy to pick up. What made the gameplay really interesting was the coloured ammo. Basically blue ammo does more damage to blue enemies, than it does to yellow enemies (there were 4 colour ammo option). This could easily be switched with the D-pad making it quick to change on the fly. With the launch date just around the corner, I will definitely be paying much closer attention to this game.

Forza

I have to start by admitting that I am not much of a Forza fan. That is a personal choice, not a  review of this game. For those that don’t know, Forza is a simulation style racing game. I find myself much more interested in fast paced arcade driving game (Burnout, anyone?.. anyone?). Because of this I struggled a bit playing this game. That said, I did like the mechanics and the visuals were beautiful. Seemed to me that those that liked Forza were having fun around me as I struggled to handle the corners without slowing down or breaking.

Dead Rising 4

Crazy weapons, tons of zombies and and insane kill count. What else could I say about this demo. Oh right, MECH SUIT. They added a mech suit that can be worn by your character to add in a lot more variation in what you can do to fight back the hoards of the undead. Seems like the same fun zombie game that does not take itself too seriously that I have come to expect from the Dead rising series, and I am more than happy with that.

We Happy Few

This was the stand out for me even though it was only the opening sequence. I loved the atmosphere in the game and situation you are dropped into. You start out as essentially a paper pusher sitting in his office. You are startled by an article that appears in front of you and have the option to take a drug called Joy. When you decline you start to see that the world around you isn’t quite how it looked before. You are off your crazy pills that make everything look perfect and are seeing the real world for (possibly) the first time. You become, what they call a “Downer”. The look and gameplay put me in mind of Bioshock, although this is only the opening to the game. Looking forward to it’s release to try out the final product.

Unfortunately I couldn’t cover every game that I tried (Not mentioned: Halo Wars 2, Dragonball Xenoverse 2, Killer Instinct Season 3, Cuphead). Big thank you out to Xbox for holding this event and inviting me out. Definitely got me excited for a fall filled with great games!

Have any opinions on these games or other games you are excited about? Post your thoughts in the comment section below!