Before we get into today’s list, I humbly request that you please press F to pay respects to our Xbox friends in the comments. On Friday, it was announced that the price of one year of Xbox Live Gold has doubled from $60 to $120. While I’m a Game Pass Ultimate subscriber and I’m basically already paying that, my thoughts and prayers are with any Xbox player whose wallet is affected by this change.
*solemn moment of silence*
Aight y’all, fuck Xbox, let’s talk about some games! I can’t lie, there isn’t a lot of obvious heat at the moment which makes sense considering that basically every game was on sale for a month. That being said, this is the perfect time to talk about some lowkey bangers that you either wouldn’t instinctively think to grab or have just flown under the radar.
Uno, $3.99 (PlayStation Network)
Hey! Don’t give me that look! I know you’re already looking at the page like “Bruh, Uno?” Yes, bruh, Uno. Now it’s no secret that I’m a bit of a wrestling fan, and one of the small delights that has come the never-ending quarantine has been watching WWE wrestler Xavier Woods play Uno every week with his fellow wrestlers. If you happen to have 3 friends with the same console, why not play some Uno? The board game—both physical and virtual—is the perfect hangout tool in my opinion. You get to crack jokes, dunk on your friends, and are able to just talk without having to worry about, oh I don’t know, someone sniping you from all the away across the map when your friends just bought you back in Warzone, and you know dude is hacking, but that doesn’t matter because you’re dead as fuck and—
Sorry. I just got some unresolved shit I’m dealing with.
All I’m saying is, for $4, you can do a lot worse than Uno. Everyone loves Uno.
FarCry 4, $6.59 (PlayStation Network)
While yes, this is the fourth entry in an incredibly successful franchise, it’s also a 6-year-old game that you would likely skip by virtue of it being a 6-year-old game. Trust me, I get it. If you’re looking for an incredible open-world, first-person shooter, you should check out FarCry 4. I’ve played every FarCry since the OG game was ported to the original Xbox and I have to say that I think FarCry 4 is the peak. It takes everything that made FarCry 3 work and does it better, while also not having any of the yuckiness that comes with FarCry 5’s, uh, everything.
There’s just something about the over-the-top sense of freedom this game gives you. While it can be a challenge in the early hours, nothing beats the feeling of going into a heavily fortified compound in the late game knowing you have all the tools at your disposal to take it down. The flamboyant Pagan Min is nothing if not a charismatic villain, the combat mechanics feel really good, and you can ride a goddamn elephant in this game. If you happened to miss out on this game at the beginning of the last console generation, give it a look. I think you’ll find there’s a lot of fun to be had here.
Sonic & All-Stars Racing: Transformed, $9.99 (Xbox Live)
It takes a lot of courage to say this, but um, I enjoy this game more than Mario Kart. I know, I know, I know. I was obsessed with this game back in college; I had it on my Xbox and my PlayStation Vita. Whenever it was my turn to pick a game for game night, this was what I was pulling up with.
Part of it comes from growing up playing mad Sega games so I just generally have more of an attachment to those characters. The other part comes from the fact that it is a racing game where the cars are fucking transformers. Mario Kart 8 has hover pads? That’s cute. Your kart can turn into a goddamn airplane in this game.
Look, this is a delightful, extremely underrated kart racer and I’m going to need y’all to stop sleeping on it, okay?
OK.
Well, that does it for me today. While Xbox fans got some bad news this morning, there’s a huge Resident Evil sale happening right now and you can get a free month of Disney + with Xbox Live Gold. So if you have any curiosity about WandaVision (actually worth a look) be sure to grab this perk before it expires at the end of the month.
As always stay safe, wash your hands, wear a mask, and play more video games.