LAIR

An obvious pick for a list such as this one, Lair is forever going to hold the dubious crown of being one of the most bitter disappointments in gaming. Factor 5’s excellent track record and promising pre-launch showings suggested that Lair was going to be a huge early PS3 hit, but upon its release, the game turned out to be sort of a broken mess, thanks in large part to its frustrating motion-heavy controls. Even now, close to two decades later, it’s hard to get over the disappointment that was Lair.

In this feature, we’ll be taking a look at fifteen such disappointing Xbox One exclusives- note that some of these games have been improved significantly since launch thanks to updates, and that we’re primarily talking about disappointing launches. Also note that for the purposes of these list, we’ll only be looking at Xbox One console exclusives.

With all that out of the way, let’s get into it.

RYSE: SON OF ROME

Ryse: Son of Rome took our breath away when it was first revealed, showcasing stunning visuals and looking like the kind of cinematic action adventure killer app that the Xbox family had always been desperately searching for. What we got was a disappointing mess that didn’t even come close to achieving what we had all hoped it would. Sure, it still looked good- but that’s about as far as it went with positives.

Other prices include Dead Rising 3’s Standard Edition and Day One Premium Edition retailing for £44.99 and £68.99 respectively, FIFA 14 for £54.99, Fighter Within for £49.99 and Forza Motorsport 5 for £44.99. The rates for Ryse’s in-game currency have also been revealed and broken down as follows:

1000 / £0.79
2000 / £1.59
3000 / £2.39
5500 / £3.99
11,500 / £7.99
25,000 / £15.99

You can also pick up the Season Pass for the game at £15.99. What do you think of the rates for the digital versions and Ryse’s micro-transaction currency? Let us know in the comments below.

The Xbox One will be launching tomorrow across 13 territories worldwide. Stay tuned for more details.

Fighter Within lets you pull off quite the repertoire of techniques though. Along with the standard punches and kicks, you can counter attacks, pull off combos and even throw your opponent to the ground and pound their lifeless body into submission. The action is represented from a 2.5D perspective, which helps shed any perspective problems that may have resulted while playing Kinect Boxing on the Xbox 360 in split-screen.

Fighter Within will be launching alongside the Xbox One on November 22nd worldwide across 13 territories worldwide. Stay tuned for more details as reviews begin arriving for the same.

Fighter Within is a launch title for Kinect for Xbox One that promises to bring all the complexities and intricacies of a real fighter to the motion tracking and control of the Kinect for ‘maximum immersion.’ The trailers have generally shown us a game that looks too complicated to be fully motion controlled (or at least, fully motion controlled with the motion controls that exist right now), but it looks like it really will be a full fledged fighter controlled entirely with the Kinect.

Although I gotta say, that new trailer above is not helping how Kinect games are perceived at all. It’s cringe inducing, cheesy, and though it seems to know it, it’s the worse for it. Thankfully, in the increasingly awkward four minutes, they do manage to show us some gameplay footage, which looks pretty interesting. I’d want to give this game a whirl if only out of curiosity when it does release.

Stay tuned for more footage.

The game aims to bring the most immersive motion controlled action game to life by making use of the Xbox Ones brand new Kinect 2.0 motion sensor bar.

The game is currently slated for an the Xbox One launch on November 22nd of 2013.

• 1. Development
• 2. Gameplay

Development

Fighter Within is going to make use of the Kinect 2.0 Motion Sensor Bar, this is thanks to the 1080p camera that can process the required 2gb of visual data every second. The ability to track the players “skeleton” with such a great degree of accuracy allows for a seamless and 1 to 1 interaction between the players on screen avatar and the opponent. The 2.0 motion sensor bar enables the players to use throws punches and kicks which wouldn’t have been possible with the previous sensor bar.

Gameplay

One of the long but never delivered promises of the video game world is that we would eventually see a 1 to 1 responsive competitive fighting game. Fighter Within hopes to accomplish this with its ultra-accurate motion tracking combat. Whether it’s in an offline match versus the computer or against one of your friends (possibly a stranger you’ve never met) online, Fighter Within aims to be the world’s first fully motion based martial arts simulator that actually works. The Kinect 2.0’s ability to read the players movements makes it able to throw a variety of punches and kicks, perform counters/reversals and special combos. Characters even have access to special moves that can be executed by inputting the correct motion.

The punches and kicks will be given the correct elevation that they are actually being executed in, meaning head strikes and kicks to the legs are to be expected, allowing skilled players a more tactical approach to fighting rather than just flailing wildly. Combo reflect combos that are found in real martial arts, but with an arcade style flare, 3 jabs a hook punch and a kick will be reflected on screen but in the characters martial art style of choice, meaning a kickboxers 4 hit combo will be separate than that of someone that practices something like wing chun for example. No competent fighting game is complete without a working block mechanic, players can block the enemies’ attacks by raising their hands in front of their face in the same way a boxer would.

Moving your on screen avatar is accomplished by leaning towards your Kinect 2.0 motion  bar, and to move backwards you lean away from it. Whether or not this can be used to initiate a counter or move quickly and slowly is unclear.  The game features a gameplay mode called “Initiation mode”. When playing initiation mode, the player is expected to work their way through a ‘story mode’ which sees you make your way through a campaign that makes use of all the games various characters. By doing this, it helps develop the games various fighters as well as act as a tutorial and show you the ropes of how to fight.

Fighter Within, the Xbox One Kinect exclusive fighting game that will be launching with the system, got a new trailer today. The game admittedly looks impressive, and even rather deep and complex, all of which begs the question: how is a fighter controlled exclusively going to achieve that kind of intricacy? Or will this be the Kinect fighting game equivalent of ‘press a button, something awesome happens’?

That obvious elephant in the room aside, the game, judging solely from the footage we have received, does look pretty cool. Actually, it looks almost suspiciously better than the gameplay footage we got a while back, but of course, Ubisoft has had time to polish it up since then.

Assuming Ubisoft shows us just how such a deep fighting game will translate to real world mechanics, this could actually be a title to pick up this winter. It could also be the game that finally justifies Kinect’s existence as a means of controlling hardcore gamers.

We’ll see. Until then, stay tuned for more coverage.

Now, we’re firmly focused on the games and services that Microsoft will be offering in the next generation. What can we expect when the company takes to the stage at this year’s Gamescom in Cologne? Here are our top 10 picks for the same.

Halo 5

It’s a long shot. Heck, it’s more than a long shot – consider that when Microsoft and Bungie first teased Halo Reach at E3, it didn’t show any gameplay footage until a full year later. It would be smarter to hype Halo when the Xbox One is out there and in the hands of consumers (and why take away immediate attention, no matter how meagre, from Halo The TV Series?). Regardless, if there was something about Halo at this year’s Gamescom, it wouldn’t be the worst thing to happen.

Quantum Break’s TV Series

It’s Microsoft. It’s the Xbox One. And this is television. However, it should be a bigger point of interest than Halo The TV Series given how it actually intertwines with the game itself. It might not be the hottest, most unique announcement, but it will allow us to see just how good (or bad) the television connection will work out for the Xbox One and Quantum Break.

Indie Titles

After Sony has been trouncing Microsoft again and again with its indie acquisitions, look for Microsoft to get some measure of revenge following its reversal of no self-publishing for indie games on Xbox Live for the Xbox One. Minecraft: Xbox One Edition could make an appearance along with Below, but is it too much to expect some new games to be announced?

D4 Details

We’d say that not much is known about D4, but the truth is, there are actually quite a few details that help us understand what we’re getting into. However, this is Hidetaka Suehiro’s game and if Deadly Premonition was any indication, things aren’t what they seem. Perhaps D4 will get some more details at Gamescom. Considering that it’s an exclusive but not quite in the AAA league, it wouldn’t hurt Microsoft to build it up now in preparation for a Q1 2014 release.

Zoo Tycoon Release Date

Hell yes! Who doesn’t want to be able to manage their own zoo, bring in the customers and research new inventions with which to keep your animal population satisfied? We’re not quite sure at this point, but we are sure that Zoo Tycoon will get a release date at Gamescom (earlier reports indicated it would be out by Fall 2013 anyway) seeing as it’s exclusive to the Xbox One and Xbox. Look forward to gameplay footage as well.

Kinect Titles

The May reveal for Xbox One was all about television and mass appeal games along with, of course, the console. E3 2013 was about the games. Could Gamescom be the event where Microsoft finally reveals what Kinect games it will be bringing to the Xbox One. We already know about one (see below), but what about the usual Kinect Sports, Kinect Adventures and Kinectimals sequels? We don’t expect them to be far behind. Perhaps Microsoft is waiting until the Xbox One has enough market penetration before revealing its Kinect titles? We’ll soon find out.

Backwards compatibility

Rumours indicated recently that Microsoft is still up in the air regarding whether the Xbox One would have backwards compatibility or not. There’s a good chance this will be made possible using Azure, similar to how the PlayStation 4 will use Gaikai for backwards compatibility. This is due to the use of a Blu-ray disc drive rather than the typical DVD drive. There will at least be some clarification on the same come Gamescom, but we don’t necessarily expect to be able to use our Xbox 360 discs with the Xbox One.

Xbox One Release Date

You didn’t think Sony would be the only one to announce a release date for its next generation console, did you? We fully expect Microsoft to provide details on just when we can expect the Xbox One to release this November, which should be around the first week. Sony could release the PlayStation 4 earlier, as early as October 21st if rumours are to be believed. Gamescom 2013 certainly looks to be the last stop on the way to the next console war.

What do you expect to see Microsoft announce at this year’s Gamescom? Let us know in the comments below.

The list includes Assassin’s Creed 4: Black Flag, Battlefield 4, Call of Duty: Ghosts, Crimson Dragon, Dead Rising 3, FIFA 14, Fighter Within, Forza Motorsport 5, Just Dance 2014, Killer Instinct, Lego Marvel Super Heroes, Lococycle, Madden NFL 25, NBA Live 14, Need for Speed: Rivals, Peggle 2, Powerstar Golf, Ryse: Son of Rome, Skylanders: Swap Force, Watch Dogs, Zoo Tycoon and Zumba Fitness: World Party. Titles like Peggle 2 will be launching on the Xbox One first before anywhere else.

Will the United States launch line-up be something similar? If so, that’s a fairly strong selection of both multiplatform and exclusive titles when the Xbox One launches in November worldwide.

Ubisoft has registered a domain for a new title, Fighter Within, but has not yet put any content on the web page. All it reads the ominous words, “Coming Soon.” They have teased a new IP for GamesCom so may be this is the new game after all.

Ubisoft has been around in dome from or another since the mid 1980’s, and has produced a massive catalogue of games in their 25+ years in the industry, with 26 studios in 19 countries across the globe.

If we take a quick look at the amazing catalogue of games Ubisoft has produced over the course of its expansive career, from the F1 series, to Rayman, to Prince of Persia, to Far Cry, to Assassin’s Creed… The list goes on. These are some of the most massively successful franchises in the history of gaming. With such a rich history of positive results behind them, our hopes are as high as the bar they have set for themselves in the past with the upcoming Fighter Within.

Stay tuned to Gamingbolt for updates, reveals, teasers and trailers on the next Ubisoft release.

Via: Ubisoft