ReCore | Xbox One

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Going into a game like ReCore raises questions. “So what's this one about?” “Isn't this the one with the robot dog?” “When is this coming out on PS4 again?” Arriving on the tail end of a summer of ups and downs in gaming and being Microsoft's first exclusive since the release of the Xbox One - this new IP has a lot to prove.

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by James Parry

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​@James_Parry

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Developer: Armature
Studio
Publisher: Microsoft
Studios
Platforms: Xbox One,
MS Windows
Players: 1

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​You are Joule, a female protagonist stuck on an extremely sandy remote planet known as Far Eden. Earth as we know it has been hit by a horrific disease which causes people to lose their limbs at best and die pretty painfully at worst...Thankfully the only thing Joule needs to worry about is how to get the planet's terraforming operation back on track.

Keeping Joule company are a handful of different corebots, each with their own unique ability, which not only help her traverse the world but take out the hordes of enemy corebots.

The bots all have their own colour core, each of which represents a different attribute (red is attack, yellow defence and blue energy). Collecting cores, by picking up shards or pulling out enemy cores, once you've done enough damage, allows you to upgrade your companions and make them more effective killing machines.

You aren't left defenceless of course - though the bots can often do far more damage than you can, so they're essential to victory - as you're equipped with a laser rifle which can fire in each of the primary colours (when upgraded).

It might seem as though the game is already getting mechanics heavy, but in reality, other than mastering the art of jump-and-dash and navigating a few platforming puzzles, there's not too much to get your head around here.

Simplicity can be effective if done well however, and in this case the gameplay is solid, if somewhat repetitive after a while.

​Making your way across the epic landscape - which looks great, but not exceptional - is helped by the use of classic fast travel stations, but sadly they aren't spread very evenly, meaning you can run into three and then not see one for a while.​

Since popping back to Joule's crawler (where she's been sleeping for the past 200 years in suspended animation) is a key part of the game, as it allows you to upgrade your corebots, it can be frustrating to find yourself easily able to warp back there, but unable to return once your tinkering is complete.

...a fun action platformer which executes the simple, and sometimes familiar, ideas it has very well, but there's not too much more to it than that.

This leads us to possibly the worst element of ReCore - the loading times. Moving between two areas, even a fairly straightforward door, triggers a 30-60 second loading screen and often stays black for much of that time.

Of course, the experience could be different on PC, something you can do easily thanks to Xbox’s Play Anywhere programme, which allows you to play the game in full on either platform.

The structure of the game feels most similar to something like The Legend of Zelda, though that endearing quality and personality you get from particularly the locations in those games doesn't show itself here, as ReCore offers you either a sandy plain or a grim dungeon.

​The fact that the game does describe them as dungeons is to its credit though, there's no overly-forced slew of technical terms to translate here. The dungeons themselves share the game’s love of simplicity, challenging you with only a few rooms and the odd frantic, timing-based platforming element.

​ReCore doesn't outstay its welcome though. At around 8-10 hours the main story wraps itself up fairly neatly and there's not too much more to discover by returning to some of the earlier locales.

At its core then (well, you know there'd be one…) ReCore is a fun action platformer which executes the simple, and sometimes familiar, ideas it has very well, but there's not too much more to it than that. Those looking for sweeping cinematics or an incredibly deep plot will be disappointed, but if you've got a free weekend and you want to hit a game hard, ReCore is certainly a good bet.

Pros

• Easy to pick up and play
• Good clean fun
• Ripping out machines’ hearts (effectively) is extremely satisfying

Cons

• Visuals are unremarkable
• A bit short to last more than one heavy gaming weekend
• Simplicity only takes you so far

Score 7/10

Have you played the game yet? Are you still too busy with No Man's Sky? Let us know in the comments, and don't forget to watch the video review as well (and subscribe, naturally).