Ori

Ori is back, in a brand new adventure that introduces a new owl friend and plenty of abilities that you can discover. Just like you would expect in a Metroidvania …
Read More

Ori and the Blind Forest was developed by Moon Studios and published on Xbox One by Microsoft Studios. It will be released on March 11, 2015 for $19.99. A copy was provided for review purposes.

If I’m ever asked sum up Ori and the Blind Forest in just a few words, I’ll undoubtedly describe it as beautiful, sorrowful, thought-provoking and magical, but it’s also a game which offers a stiff challenge that stretches across a vast and diverse range of environments and offers a lot of replay value. In fact, I’d have to say that Ori is one of the best games I’ve played in a long time and it may even be one of my favourite games ever, despite belonging to a subgenre of platform games of which typically I’m not a fan.

Although Ori is basically a platform game with RPG-lite elements, it features a system of advancement through the unlocking of new and different abilities – double jumping, air-dashing and so on which in turn allow access to previously unreachable areas. This style of game is traditionally likened to Metroid and Castlevania, but due to its graphical leanings and wonderful musical score, Ori is perhaps most alike to Dust: an Elysian Tale among its peers.

As a reviewer, I’m duty bound to tell you what genre a game belongs in, or how it looks and how long it is, but the truth is that Ori is one of those special kind of games that works hard to set itself apart (and boy does it succeed) because almost everything comes together perfectly to create a tight and eminently enjoyable experience which allows it to sit aside from similar games and perhaps even redefine the accepted norm.

Read More

Welcome to the XBLA Fans GOME Good Characters Guide. In this article, we’ll offer some invaluable usage tips which are specific to the good Guardians which, if used in conjunction with our General Strategiies Guide, should enable even the greenest of recruits to become combat effective quickly.

Arathorn

Father of Aragorn, Arathorn is found in the Warrior section and proves to be a very powerful character. His basic attack is very strong, and is what most builds will be centered around. He has 3 main skills that he will utilize during combat. Staggering Shot is a long range stun that does moderate ability damage. It has a reasonable recast timer, so when attack other Guardians open up with this move. You then have a choice of two moves to follow up with. Chieftain’s Focus is a forward facing attack, that not only slows the enemies movement but increases your attack speed. The other choice is Ranger’s Strike. This is a power move that does massive damage, slows the enemy and renders you invisible. Using a combination of these three skills, or all three back to back will likely kill most weaker Guardians and stronger ones will think twice about continuing the fight. His final skill is less useful in direct combat, and should be used more when killing monsters in lanes. Dunedain Blade is a close range attack that will deal damage over time while also slowing the afflicted targets.

For Gems and Relics, it is suggested you boost his basic attack damage and speed. His basic attack is quite high already, and adding on to this only makes him stronger. With the right gems in place, his damage can reach 300+ on regular attacks. Couple this with attack speed increases and you will have a very powerful Arathorn, who can net kills even without his abilities. An alternate build involves stacking a lot of ability power with cooldown reduction. This will allow for the player to cast abilities more frequently, for more damage. Potions and Commands that increase damage or speed are both recommended for this character.

Read More