ReCore Reviews
The best way to explain ReCore is that it's a game that has the fundamentals of an action platformer nailed, but just to add more "purpose" is walled off at every turn by a progress gate. Give me my fetch quests, I would kill 15 robots, as long as I do not ever need to see a Prismatic Orb ever again.
In ReCore's attempt to capture gaming's pervious accomplishments, it failed to create its own personality and be a fun experience.
ReCore could've been much better if it had more time in development, as it still doesn't feel stable nor polished. But on the other hand, it mastered the basic elements of a platforming games. Anyway, the game is relatively cheap, so that might incentivise you to buy it if you like platformers.
Review in Arabic | Read full review
'ReCore' can be very fun at times, and it can also be very tedious. It has good video game conventions, like the awesome jumping-dashing-grappling bits, but also has some bad ones, like bosses that are made difficult only by virtue of having massive health bars. It isn't helped by the weak technical presentation. It's probably best for only the most ardent of platforming fans, the players who can put up with all of its hangups.
ReCore is not an AAA game but they want us to think that way. If there is something that we can say about this game to make it kinda cool and important, we might say that is the graphics but that's it! The game is broken and unfinished; but if the developers put more work on it and keep it more in development, now we might have a gorgeous game that makes everybody happy and feel less disappointed.
Review in Persian | Read full review
Nonetheless, persist and you'll bear witness to a sound narrative pay-off, a rarity in the world of gaming these days. Recore's story isn't particularly original, but it's paced well enough to keep you playing, and in our case, power through its more glaring problems. As it stands, Recore is a flawed, albeit fun, game that could have benefitted by a longer development cycle. You could do worse, you could do better, and for now with Recore the overall experience is rather middling.
Despite its problems, it's not hard to envision a world in which a few changes along the way could have turned ReCore into a cult hit.
Smart, simple, but doesn't play to its own strengths
ReCore is a solid action-adventure platformer with fun, interesting ideas established at the forefront. However, those ideas wither over time because of the game's repetition and weak story.
There's a lot to love about ReCore. It's charming, has character and a spark of creativity that hasn't been seen in decades. But the more you play it, the more you'll despise it when yet another technical blunder ruins the experience. After all, you only hurt the ones you love.
ReCore is a title that, ultimately, rises and falls in crafting an experience that we don't normally see too often on Xbox (and frankly, in this generation of gaming). Harkening back to platformers like Jak and Daxter with a little bit of the flavor from Metroid titles, ReCore's strong aesthetic and style give way to some technical flaws and repetitive design. Much like the design of Joule's band of Corebots, the exterior of ReCore and its gameplay show signs of age and may not be the most appealing from a first glance, but inside there's still a core of unique qualities to make it stand out as one of Microsoft's most interesting (though flawed) exclusives.
Like a robot that's been cobbled together from spare parts, ReCore has a complicated identity. It's often a platformer and a third-person shooter, but it sometimes feels like a shoot 'em up or a character action game, and it's all underpinned by RPG systems. Because of this muddled personality, it never fully delivers on anything, leaving us with an enjoyable experience, albeit one with a few issues at its core.
If ever a game felt like it was rushed to release, it is this one.
Recore is one of those games that sounds better than it is. It's an interesting fusion of genres, the story is well written and the world is beautiful. But the gameplay gets a bit monotonous after a couple of hours and the level design feels uninspired. Still, with the price tag in mind, its might be worth a closer look if you looking for a solid action adventure game.
Review in Swedish | Read full review
Strategic combat and innovative platforming suffer at the hands of ridiculous load times and buggy boss fights
ReCore had a ton of potential and sadly squandered a good portion of it. The game still has moments of glory, and pulls inspiration from a lot of great games of the past. It even has a very old school feel to it, with 3D platforming and combat that feels very classic, if unfortunately not delivering top of the line quality. Still, the first few hours are worth trying out, and perhaps the flaws won't be as glaring for all players. The game has a good foundation, and maybe some patches will get it close, but it'd take a complete rework to truly live up to the expectations that were set long ago.
The first couple of hours of ReCore were almost downright magical. The story had me on its hook, the gameplay was fun, Mack was adorable and so much fun to use in combat, and I admit that the environment initially took my breath away. A few hours later, everything fell stale. The gameplay gave way to typical dungeon-platforming formulas. Even the beauty of the characters and environment appeared to diminish, as though the game was slowly rolling back to the PlayStation 2 era. At least I had the story to keep me going, and that somewhat made it worth it to push through to the end. If ReCore had simplified a smidge, focused on its core gameplay and core values, it wouldn't be anywhere close to the loose conglomeration of half-executed ideas that it sadly is.
ReCore is a style of game we haven't seen in a while. Part Mega Man Legends, part Metroid Prime, ReCore puts exploration and platforming at the forefront. With your trusty corebot pals, you'll double jump and dash through an open world and some damned fiendish dungeons. While ReCore trips up a bit with some odd combat and gating mechanics, it's still worth your time if you remember how platforming was in the old days.
ReCore's solid mechanics are sullied by frustrating quest design.