Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

10 Hours or Less

The Bottom Line:

"Immersive"

Anyone who sees outland will stop whatever they are doing and ogle at the amazing beauty of the scenes in front of them. The environments in outland are simply breath-taking. But wait, no game can win hearts over with just a gorgeous set of visuals. Outland backs the visuals up with some fantastic gameplay mechanics. The controls are simple, yet, it is the way you use them that defines your outland experience. In the story mode, you are given powers at regular intervals which help you in your quest. Outland spaces these powers out very well, so you can gain mastery of one ability before you get the next one. The game is an immersive experience. It's very easy to stop playing and stare at the environments. The storyline is simple and you have to carefully switch colors while jumping across platforms, fighting enemies and so on. However, it is not as simple as it appears. The difficulty curve is perfect. The game eases you into the various challenges and raises the bar over time. The boss fights are absolutely epic! There are five bosses in all and each one poses a different kind of challenge to you. One of the minor annoyances with the boss levels are that you sometimes fight a boss, and then tackle some enemies while you move across the level and then fight the boss again. If you die, you are forced to start over from scratch. The lack of local co-op is another blemish. The arcade mode adds a different flavor to the gameplay and you are given time limits to cross sections and take down the boss. I have not tried the online co-op, but from the few hours that I have played the game, I must say that this is one of the best Xbox Live games that you can download. It's a bang for a buck.