Whispering Willows Xbox One Review

Whispering Willows

Xbox One

ID@Xbox

28/08/2015

Whispering Willows is a dark, horror-ish adventure game designed beautifully by Nightlife Interactive and published onto Xbox using the ID@Xbox program. This is another great indie game to add to the growing collection on Xbox one and I'm glad I had the opportunity to play this little gem.

In this dark story you are in control of a lost, scared but extremely determined young girl called Elena who is stranded in and around the Willows Mansion trying to find her Father while solving problems and discovering secrets of the mansions past along the way.

Elena is in possession of a family heirloom which grants her the ability to control her spirit which can be used to possess objects to help you pass  through rooms and speak to the other spirits that are trapped in time.

The game features a few chapters for you to puzzle your way through and discover the mystery of Willow mansion, However after I had finished these few chapters I was longing for more after only a few hours.

There are different objectives for you to do throughout the game and these range from finding items to help you get through rooms to ghosts mazes. There are plenty of items you can interact with and Elena will respond usually with a witty comment. Most of these lines are just for show, however some are very important and you need to pay attention to what other ghosts have to say in order to find your father. Key points in dialogue are highlighted in a different colour which I liked because I am usually a button masher when it comes to cut-scenes but this told me no Ryan you need to stop and read this its important.

There are quite a few collectibles for you to scavenge for in the form of a scroll. Finding of of these prompts you to open the menu and read its contents, usually telling you something about the area you are in. However these aren't key to finishing the game but I would recommend finding them as some of them are interesting and they make the game a while longer. Also there are few different logos for you to find that are related to the devs, some of these are tough to find but if you do them you are rewarded with a hefty amount of gamerscore.

The game was built very well and playing through the game twice I found no bugs and it ran smoothly at all times.

Some parts of the game did make me jump a little bit but generally it was quite a chill out while playing.

The games visuals are gorgeous. I am a bit of a sucker for hand drawn games because they just look so damn good and this game is no exception every scene has been beautifully drawn and I give the artist a thumbs up on drawing a dark and gloomy but beautiful piece of art.

Just like the visuals the audio cant be faulted. It helps set the scene perfectly with eerie piano playing scary notes to the clicking of spiders as they approach or the croaking of a lonely frog.

As I said earlier on I had no trouble with game and it all ran smoothly with no hiccups, shame there wasn't a few more mechanics to play around with.

The game comes with 4 chapters to puzzle through but this just isn't enough. From what I played I really enjoyed there just wasn't much content but what you do get is fun.


Summary

I did enjoy Whispering Willows and if you have some spare cash then get it on the download.
The game looks and sounds fantastic, the setting is spooky and the story is quite interesting its just shame there is only a small amount of it. I finished the game twice however the second time wasn't fun because I had remembered it step by step so there is very little replay value.
However if you are into this sort of genre then it is worth adding to your collection.

I spent approximately 3 hours playing the game getting 19/19 achievements.

- King Yatesy

A copy of the game was supplied by the developer. (Thank You!!)

Developer Website: http://nightlightinteractive.com/#whisperingwillows

Lifeless Planet Premier Edition xbox one review

Lifeless Planet: Premier Edition

Xbox one (13/05/2015)

King Yatesy

 

Lifeless Planet is puzzle, platformer, space, jetpack, scary monster game which was developed by an indie studio called ‘Stage 2 Studios’ and I think they did a cracking job bringing the game together and making a puzzle game which has quite an interesting story to follow.

The game is set on another planet that scientists have travelled to in the hope of finding another lifeform. However you start off by crashing onto the planet and you can’t find any other crew members or any forms of life, only derelict soviet union outposts which your fine fellow of a crew member needs to find out what happened.

 

The game features a fair few levels for you to jump around like a mad man on and fall to your death countless times as you over jumped a rock.

There are different objectives you are given in different areas such as turn the power back on by using alien power sources and getting oxygen quickly otherwise you die, or find your way through a pitch black forest with a torch that would barely light up a label on a tin of beans.

In each area there are a range of collectables to pick up such as rocks, documents and audio files. Each of which have their own corresponding achievements tied to them. The documents that you find explain what has happened on the planet and they are actually quite interesting and are what pave the story in this puzzle platformer. I found myself actually reading the collectibles which is something I would never normally do on a game.

The game does have a few issues like the jumping which isn’t the best and sometimes when you are climbing up a hill it will push you backwards when you jump sending you to your death which infuriates me and I did rage quite once or twice from this happening as I felt I was cheated for that life.

 

The game itself at times was quite difficult and at times I found myself walking around for half an hour trying to find a switch. (sounds stupid I know) It’s a very linear game but at times there can be different routes to take.

It is a very nice game to play it was a good change from other puzzlers where you were locked in a room to solve an obvious puzzle in front of you. On this game you have to find routes to things that you wouldn’t expect to be there. Such as hidden paths round the sides of rocks and using inanimate objects to reach higher areas.

 

The graphics aren’t the best. Sometime they can look really nice like in the picture above but on some cut scenes when it zooms in on faces its shocking it’s like they are competing with PS2 graphics. Other than that there’s not really much to see other than red rocks and sand.

 

 

The music in this game is really nice its fits the atmosphere perfectly (no pun intended). Its keeps you under suspense and makes the planet feel very mysterious and eerie and there are different tracks for different situations which all keep you on edge.

 

 

The gameplay is generally very smooth and performance is never an issue. There was however a few times when jumping would send you flying backwards instead of up which can ruin the game a bit. However flying through an alien canyon and floating from rock to rock at quick speeds is extremely fun and put a cheeky grin on my face every time I got the super jetpack.

 

Summary

Lifeless planet is a nice little game and my first play through took me about 4-5 hours as I had no idea where to go in places. I did however manage to do a speed run which took 2 hours and 1 minute so there isn’t much replay value. However an interesting indie game which I think people should give a chance and spend their delicious bucks on.

I spent approximately 10 hours on the game getting 15/15 achievements available and finishing the game twice.

 

A copy of the game was provided by the developer.

 

Xbox one store link: http://store.xbox.com/en-GB/Xbox-One/Games/Lifeless-Planet-Premier-Edition/df5cbf8a-8b14-4967-8612-b6bf29888661

Developer website link: http://www.lifelessplanet.com/