Elex II Review (Xbox Series S)

by Jim Smale · March 1, 2022

This Elex II Review takes us to the sequel of the vintage Open World RPG ELEX, Jax must once again unite the free people of the Science-Fantasy world of Magalan against a new threat – the Skylands, who want to change the face of the planet forever.

Elex II Review Pros:

Decent graphics.
29.2GB download size.
1000 Gamerscore.
Five difficulties – Story, Easy, Normal, Hard, and Ultra.
Audio settings for each part like voices, enemies, ambient sounds, and music.
3rd person view.
Action-adventure gameplay.
Tutorial tips as you play.
Cutscenes are a mix of stills, FMV, and in-game.
You can skip cutscenes.
Multiple choice interactions.
Has a lot of voice work.
Earn EXP and level up to get points to put into your stats.
Loot enemies, chests, gather resources and materials from the world.
Beautiful looking world.
Quick slot wheel for easy access.
Find and activate teleporters for fast travel.
Find villages and towns to not only get new jobs and missions but also find blacksmiths and shops to buy and sell items.
Sleep in beds to change the time of day.
Recruit followers to fight alongside them, when you dismiss them they will stay at the main HQ.
Can steal from people if they are not looking.
Get wanted levels from each settlement if breaking the law and pay fines or face banishment.
Higher-level enemies will walk the world.
Trainers/teachers are found in the game and paying training points and other criteria will allow you to learn new skills like crafting, lock picking, etc.
Map populates with icons as you discover them.
Jetpack is the first gadget you get and with it, you have to gather fuel for it, it has a bar that dictates how long you can fly for. It makes traversal a lot easier and more manageable.
Characters will remember your actions and responses and this changes how they interact with you going forward.
Stamina system in play for combat, running, and jumping.
Play how you want.
You can stumble across side missions and stories.
Save when you want.
Out of combat, you will heal back up.
Full control over your character playstyle.

Elex II Review Cons:

Robotic-looking NPC with weird straight face expressions.
Can’t loot when you have a weapon drawn.
Cold cuts into cutscenes and it is very sudden and abrupt.
Very slow starter.
You cannot lock onto an enemy unless your weapons are out.
The view distance makes it hard to see what you can interact with.
A never-ending avalanche of quests, side quests, and jobs that besiege you immediately and forever.
Using items in battle is clumsy with you having to use the wheel of selection.
The mission structure is all broken up into submissions that not only make it unclear what’s what but also make progress tedious.
When you finish a mission it will just end all markers which are especially annoying when doing a multi-layered mission.
The Ai party members are inconsistent with both aiming and effectiveness.
All gear and weapons on particular have high state requirements meaning a lot of the time you are using shit low-level low damage weapons.
The cost of learning new abilities and skills is really high.
The World is not as full of life as you would hope.
Leveling up and all text notifications are just bland text pop-ups making it all feel a bit lackluster.
You don’t actually know how strong or weak an enemy is until you hit it, the game doesn’t have an enemy level.
Ailments like poison nearly instantly clear themselves out when the combat ends or when you leave the infected area.
Your Ai buddies seem to always get stunned and knocked out in big encounters meaning it’s just you fighting.
The enemy sees you and aggro from so far away.
The radar is no good for pinpointing locations.