Shmee.Me

I am not going to lie, I got my Xbox One so I could sit on the couch and play video games.  When I heard that it was coming with an App called Xbox Fitness that was free with Xbox Live Gold, I just thought it would be an added benefit that I would never use, but since I have decided to get in better shape, I gave it a try.  It has kicked my butt, but in the best possible way.

The App is basically a mixture of workout videos and those ever popular dancing video games, but with the new tech in the Kinect 2.0 it can truly see how well you are doing by monitoring your heart rate, and by seeing if the desired area of your body is heating up or not.  The first time you use the App you enter your age, weight, and height, that way it can tell how many calories you are burning, and then you select the workout video you want to do.

Once in the workout video the Kinect will watch and see if you are properly mimicking the trainer on screen, and if you are doing the moves with the proper vigor.  If you are, it gives you points and achievements; If you are not, it tells you to work harder, and you earn nothing.  It also displays how far through the video you are, and how much longer the current exercise will last.  Getting more points is a surprisingly good motivational tool, and even more so when they start to compare your scores with averages for people in your age and fitness levels.  I always want to get my score above average.

The biggest downside to this App is that most of the workout videos are in the same genre of exercise, and if you want something else, you will have to pay to add it to your library.  If you just want general aerobic circuit training workouts though, the free videos should have you covered.

Xbox Fitness is a good idea, and one that adds value to the purchase of an Xbox One.  Provided that you use it of course, but it is a little something extra to make the Xbox Live Gold subscription look like a better deal.  If you have an Xbox One and Live Gold, and you want something to help you get or stay in shape, Xbox Fitness is worth downloading and checking out.

I reviewed Halo Spartan Assault for Windows Phone 8 earlier this year, but now it is out on Xbox One, and I thought I would give my updated impressions.

This is still the same game that was released for Windows Phone except that they have updated the graphics, and added a co-op mode.  That being said, it is way more fun on the Xbox One mostly due being able to use a controller.  I suppose if you bought this game for Windows 8, and then plugged in an Xbox 360 controller nothing would be different, but not having to try and mimic the motions of a dual stick shooter while your fingers cover the screen is just much better.  Plus this game gives the feedback triggers on the Xbox One a workout.  They are rumbling all over the place, and it is a cool feeling.

They must have developed a high resolution texture pack because the scenery looks much better on the Xbox One versus the phone, but the same love did not make it to the character models.  They look a little low-rez, but since there is so much happening on the screen it is a just minor annoyance.

Another minor annoyance is the length of the missions.  A three minute level is perfect for a mobile device, but on a console it seems like I am barely getting in to the action, and then it is over.  Luckily since the Xbox One has more than enough power to run this game there is almost no loading, so I am never out of the action too long.

If you are looking for a little Halo to go with your Xbox One, Halo Spartan Assault will fit the bill for now since this is as little as Halo gets.  If you have bought this game for Windows 8 or Windows Phone 8 it is only $4.99, and it is totally worth it at that price, but if this your first time paying for it, it jumps up to $14.99.  At that price I think it is still worth your hard earned cash, but I could understand waiting for it to go on sale.  It is much more fun on the Xbox One due to the better controller, and it shows why consoles are just a better place to play games.

When I heard that they were making a spiritual successor to the Panzer Dragoon series for the Xbox One, I was ecstatic.  While those games were on rails, the sense of exploration and discovery combined with great controls and cool enemies was brilliant.  Sadly, Crimson Dragon by Grounding Inc. is not near as good as its predecessors.

The story is about a planet that has dragons on it, and you can ride them.  Score!  Things are great, but then this disease/invasion called Crimsonscale shows up, and it makes all the local wildlife hate you, so you have to kill it using your awesome dragon riding skills.

There is probably more to it than that, but it is displayed so awfully that I really didn’t care to sit through it all. They must know that because they will have a “cutscene” (some pictures with some text and an annoying guy talking), and then they will have another character tell you the exact same things over again.  It is some pretty poor story telling, but I could forgive all that if the gameplay was good, but sadly that falls a little short too.

To control your dragon you use both sticks.  The left stick controls slight left and right movements and the right stick controls the camera and the aiming of the dragon’s weapons.  The bumpers allow you to do barrel rolls, and the left trigger selects the weapon you want to use and the right trigger fires it.  This control scheme should work fine, but everything just feels a little loose, and not quite responsive enough.

Part of this was my problem, because when I first started playing it I tried to play it on “classic mode”, but I got my butt handed to me over and over, so I just gave up and started playing Peggle 2 (which I do not regret).  Luckily my little brother came over and showed me the error of my ways and started to play it on “casual mode”.  The difficulty dropped to something much more playable.

Once Cameron figured out what mode to play it on, things got much more fun, but the game still had problems.  It forces you replay the same areas over and over, and even if it is easier, the poor camera still got in the way of the game being totally fun.

This is not the Panzer Dragoon game that we were waiting for, but there is some fun to be had once you get your dragon in the air.  Not enough that I can recommend buying this game, but enough that you will not feel totally ripped off once your Panzer Dragoon dreams have been dashed.