This week’s Xbox sales have a focus on Square Enix, EA, and Capcom games alongside a Publisher Spotlight Sale highlighting discounts across Xbox and PC. Here are the TrueAchievements news team’s top picks.
Each week, we love to have a good rummage through the Xbox sales to find some bargains that we personally think are great games. This week, the Xbox Store is hosting the Square Enix Publisher Sale, EA Publisher Sale, Capcom Publisher Sale, and Publisher Spotlight Series, which highlights some of the best-discounted games across Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Xbox 360, and PC. Take a look below to see what the TrueAchievements news team thinks are great pickups.
Discounts from the bargain bin
Luke — Sega Mega Drive & Genesis Classics
The Mega Drive was the first console I owned, so I will always have a soft spot for Sega’s 16-bit machine and some of the all-time classics it brought us. Like pretty much every retro collection, this one is missing some notable games — Sonic 3, Sonic & Knuckles, and the Ecco and Thunder Force games, to name but a few — but there’s still no shortage of old-school bangers. Gunstar Heroes is an all-timer, as are the likes of Beyond Oasis/Story of Thor, Dynamite Headdy, Streets of Rage 2, and Shining Force, plus there’s plenty of fun to be had with most of the other classics presented here… but why does Sega insist on putting the awful Mega Drive version of Virtua Fighter 2 on every single one of these things?
The Sega Mega Drive & Genesis Classics achievements are fairly straightforward, as evidenced by the game’s 8-10-hour estimate. A lot of the game-specific ones can be unlocked easily if you just want them done by using the original in-game cheats to skip stages and get other advantages, so it’s really only the challenges that are likely to give you much hassle. And to be honest, most of those aren’t that bad, although making people play Vectorman 2 is just mean. Still, at least you aren’t forced to suffer through Altered Beast…
SEGA’s collection of Mega Drive & Genesis classics comes to a new generation!
Including over 50 titles across all genres, from all-time classics like Sonic and Streets of Rage 2 to deep RPGs like the Phantasy Star series; arcade action, shooters, beat’m ups, puzzlers, old favourites and hidden gems. There is a classic title for every player to enjoy!
Sean — Grid Legends: Deluxe Edition
For $15.99/£19.99/€22.49, you can do much worse than the Grid Legends: Deluxe Edition. Sure, Grid Legends isn’t the best racing game out there, but it’s a pretty good one that has hours up hours of content to keep that little Lewis Hamilton (sorry, I don’t really know any other racing car drivers, is he the good one?) inside of you satiated with motorsports goodness. Although Legends at times straddles the racing line between arcade and sim racing, it does lean more towards the arcade side of things, with its heavily-assisted driving controls (turn some of these off for a better handling experience), rewind feature, and Nemesis AI system. The driving here feels good, with cars having a real sense of weight to them and more convincing physics as a result, but what I really liked about Legends was its Nemesis AI system that made the racing experience feel more authentic and exciting. What else is good about Grid Legends? The story mode. Why? Because the writing is so bad, it’s good. Grid Legends’ Drive to Glory has some of the cheesiest writing I have ever come across in a game, and I love it for it that. Presented as a fly-on-the-wall documentary, you join Seneca Racing as a rookie, and before long, you’re duking it out with the pros, trying to knock team Ravenwest and the big, bad meanie that is Nathan McKane off the top spot. It’s all very melodramatic, and if you’re into questionable writing and some pretty wonky acting, you’ll love the story mode. Even if you don’t, there is still a good racing game here that is absolutely worth the Deluxe Edition price, which includes four DLC packs.
The Deluxe Edition includes access to four post-launch DLC packs that feature an unmissable range of extra cars, story experiences, bonus Ravenwest career events, and exclusive Weekly/Monthly Challenges.
Tom —Murdered: Soul Suspect
While it’s probably not the most highly rated game out there, much like most of my picks, I loved playing through Murdered: Soul Suspect. It’s a third-person action game that puts you in the shoes of Ronan O’Connor, a recently deceased detective that needs to use his recently acquired ghost powers to solve his own murder and hunt down a serial killer. It’s a pretty short, one-hit-wonder — as long as you use a guide for the missing collectables required to unlock all of the Murdered: Soul Suspect achievements — but has a pretty cool story and simple puzzles. To be honest, it’s just good fun to mooch around Salem and see the ghostly activity going on. It’s not got much in the way of combat, but you’ll need to steer clear of demons and take them out stealthily, which makes use of Ronan’s teleportation abilities. It’s well worth picking up, I think, and considering the current 85% discount knocks it down to less than three quid, it’s a bargain — you also get to possess a cat, which is worth the purchase price as it is!
A dark, supernatural detective thriller with a unique gameplay twist: solving your own murder from the afterlife.
Will you be adding any of these games to your collection, or do you want to suggest a game to us? Drop down into the comments and let us know!
