Xbox Sales: TA Team Picks (February 24th)

Afterparty, what a cracking choice

Afterparty is a very fun game.

Afterparty is one helluva game.

Also Alba: A Wildlife Adventure looks really interesting.

A Hat in Time is adorable as hekk and highly recommended to anyone who likes platformers.
Iconoclasts is a great metroidvania. One of my favorite games I played last year.
Tricky Tower is a great tetris like game with physics and gravity and your tower will actually sway in the wind and fall over if you don't build it right.
If you want something completely different Sunless Skies is interesting.

Afterparty was just ok for me, I never enjoy playing games through multiple times just to mop up the achievements. It is a well written game though and well worth a look. Love A Plague Tale: Innocence too. Feels like the sales have been pretty on point for me recently, most weeks I have 7-8 games on my wish list that appear, which is both a blessing and a curse.

And the winner is:

Drumroll:

It pains me to say this, but none of the above. Under other circumstances, I’d say how could you go wrong with A Plague Tale: Innocence, a phenomenal game discounted 75%? But, BioShock Remastered is on the list.

The only reason you’d pass it up is if you’d gotten the entire BioShock: The Collection that just went off sale for the same low price as the single game. Moreover, A Plague Tale is in GP. Those who don’t have a subscription should be able to get a deal for 1 USD or equivalent making Bioshock the more economically advantageous option.

Still, I guess @KesStephenson deserves an honorable mention. And I’m sure we’re all eagerly anticipating A Plague Tale: Requiem.

Allgorhythm said:I think it’s really awesome that you always speak so positively about games. It’s cool to see people passionate about things and I’ll always encourage people to spread that passion.

I also think it would be cool if you phrased it in a way that didn’t make it sound like you’re saying the TA staff’s recommendations are wrong. This is two weeks in a row where I noticed you phrased this as “sadly, none of the games they recommended are as good as the real winner. It pains me to say this, but my choice is better.” You could try just stating that you really like BioShock and not saying that the staff got it wrong. The way you’re phrasing it comes off very rude, and I know that’s not your intention.

Alba looks really interesting, but I have many other things to play, I'll probably wait for a bigger discount.
A Plague Tale was much more enjoyable than I expected going into it. I highly recommend it.

I enjoyed OXENFREE, but Afterparty just missed the mark for me for some reason.

Aside from A Plague Tale, another list of stinkers. How's Baldur's Gate play?

PlayUltimate711 said:Sorry. It's intended to be humorous rather than rude. Of course, personal preference is unique.

But behind the tongue in cheek is some seriousness. Personally, I prefer A Plague Tale. I'm a stealth aficionado and, although Bioshock also has great stealth play, it's not as intrinsic as it is in APT. Also, I'm a linguist and use video games as a fabulous resource for language materials. I enjoyed APT's original French voice track & it reminded me how much my proficiency has declined. But, if you look at the body of user and critical commentary on Bioshock, a GOTY, you would have to conclude that the game has greater stature.

Nevertheless, my main goal was humor. I didn't go into any detailed analysis. And, I post in every TA Picks article along the same lines. Usually, I award a winner even though there may be a case for other games being of greater stature. Rarely, is the 'winner's' choice my personal favorite. It's just a fun game to spice things up.

In short, these posts are a kind of game--since we are all gamers. Also, if you paid attention to the closing comment, you may have noticed a subtle message:
My plug for APT's sequel indicated I was in synch with the choice of @KesStephenson and felt that was the sentimental favorite.

Flipy Fliperson said:That was my experience exactly. Maybe my expectations were just too high after OXENFREE but Afterparty just didn't impress me. Not bad, just... "meh".

Nexomon would be my pick. Great little pokemon clone. Found it played better than some of the newer pokemon games as it captures a feel more akin to the originals.

Mike Marcelais said:Ditto for me as well, enjoyed Oxenfree, than Afterparty kind of felt like a dud after. Not sure why either, none of the writing or voice acting was bad, and that's pretty much all Afterparty had as it's more or less a "walking sim".

Isn't it supposed to be a yellow framed news? As it consists of a TA thought/review, and nothing official.

Wytchwood!! It’s so fun so far just being a witch gathering ingredients for spells and catching fairies.

Flipy Fliperson said:If you liked Oxenfree have you played Night In The Woods? I think you'd enjoy it.

uberJames said:Didn't get the chance to play that one while it was on GP. Hopefully, it'll get added again in the future.

EarthboundX said:I think it was the suspense and mystery in Oxenfree that I enjoyed and kept me hooked.