November2022
Review Front Mission 1st: Remake - Impressive Visuals, But A Slog On The Battlefield
Best pray to the RNG gods
As the saying goes, war never changes, but this is only partly true of the Front Mission series, which puts players in control of a group of wanzer pilots as they try to outmanoeuvre the opposing side. The first game in the series has seen a whole host of remakes and releases, with the latest, Front Mission 1st: Remake,...
April2022
Review The House Of The Dead: Remake - Control Issues Gnaw At Sega's Arcade Classic
Stutter like G did
Two years ago, Polish studio Forever Entertainment released an HD remake of Sega Saturn classic Panzer Dragoon. Our review at the time stated that the remake was interesting but flawed, but ultimately concluded that even though it wasn’t perfect, we were glad it at least existed so that more people could at least get a chance to...
January2022
Review Hollow 2 - A Sequel That Shoots Itself In The Foot
Game over, man, game over!
Sequels are supposed to be better than their predecessors. Although such a statement doesn’t always ring true (plenty will have a lot to say about which of the Metroid Prime games is their favourite) the intention behind a sequel is to learn from and improve upon previous works - that’s the theory, at least. When...
October2020
Review Green Hell - A Brutal And Rewarding Open-World Survival Sim
Welcome to the Jungle
If you're a fan of relentlessly brutal open-world survival sims that fling you sans ceremony into a dangerous wilderness full of death and danger, then Creepy Jar's Green Hell might just be right up your street. Here is a survival effort that sticks admirably to its core conceit, never once allowing you an unearned foothold in...
March2020
Review Panzer Dragoon: Remake - Doesn’t Quite Nail The Landing
In-flight entertainment
Since this review was originally published, an update has reportedly addressed or improved one or more of the issues cited. While we unfortunately cannot revisit games on an individual basis, it should still be noted that the updated game may offer an improved experience over the one detailed below. When Nintendo revealed...
February2020
Mini Review Sinless - A Cyberpunk Point-And-Click Adventure That's Over Too Soon
Sinful lens flare
The Switch most likely won’t be getting the cyberpunk game that everyone’s currently talking about (boo!), but that doesn’t necessarily mean that there are no examples of the genre available on the platform. Alongside titles such as Observer, Neo Cab and Astral Chain, Sinless is an
July2019
Review Q-YO Blaster - It's Not Quite Parodius, But It's The Next Best Thing
Let slip the beheaded space dogs of war
If you’ve ever subjected yourself to the surreal and brilliant horizontal shooter that is Konami’s classic Parodius or if you’ve yearned for the glory of those relentlessly goofy and bizarre shooting galleries filled with every unrelated object the developers could seemingly stuff in at random, then step...
June2019
Review Phantom Doctrine - XCOM Meets James Bond In This Scrappy Strategy Epic
Spooks show
While our interactive medium has played host to a fair few ‘spy games’ over the years, most have opted for stealthy infiltration (hello Splinter Cell and Metal Gear) or all-out gunfights with the occasional silencer thrown in for good measure (see just about every James Bond game ever made). However, it’s the games that dig deep...
May2019
Review Thief Simulator - A Brief Robbery Of Your Spare Time
It’s literally a steal
As illegal as it is in real-life, there’s something oddly satisfying about larceny in the digital world. From countless questlines for the Thieves Guild in The Elder Scrolls to the procedural heists of The Swindle, few things get your blood pumping in equal parts fear and elation quite like scoping a joint, filling your...
March2019
Review Hard West - Conquer The Wild Frontier In This Likeable But Flawed Tactical Adventure
West side story
If there's one thing Hard West absolutely nails, it's the way it retains the palpable danger and lawlessness of the Wild West and infuses it with a noir-ish supernatural edge. Thanks to some excellent voice acting and a soundtrack that captures a unique take on this formative period (courtesy of Marcin Przybyłowicz, he of The...
August2018
Review Realpolitiks (Switch eShop)
Diplomatic impunity
If the recent successes of Element and Bad North have taught us anything, it’s that the deep mechanical function of strategy games doesn't often work well when ported wholesale to a new platform. When you’re porting such a title, you really need to keep in mind the technical restraints of a console - and especially the...
July2018
Review NoReload Heroes (Switch eShop)
We could be heroes, indeed
NoReload Heroes is like one of those microwave meals you get from a discount store. On the surface, this title appears to be a tasty treat to get stuck into, but after a couple of mouthfuls of the DIY fast food, it’s a dish that becomes a bit of a slog to chew through. This isn’t to say this game doesn’t have some...
Review Star Story: The Horizon Escape (Switch eShop)
Live. Die. Repeat.
"NO FREE-TO-PLAY! NO LOOTBOXES! NO GRINDING!" proclaims the eShop trailer. Developer EvilCoGames boldly assures players that Star Story: The Horizon Escape contains "ONLY FUN!" While it’s amusing to throw tired conventions and unpopular trends under the bus, ‘fun’ is a vague descriptor. What’s fun about this turn-based...
May2018
Tree house of horrors
For Abigail Blackwood, all is not as it seems. As the deceased former resident of a desolate town, you will be revisiting and exploring a once tranquil mansion and township on a quest to recall memories from nearly 40 years ago to figure out just what happened to you after you fell out of a window and were inexplicably brought...
Review Timberman VS (Switch eShop)
Timber!
Timberman VS is Digital Melody's Switch enhancement of its free-to-play arcade title first released on Android and iOS devices in 2014 (and eventually ported across to Steam in 2015). If the name wasn't already enough of an indication, it's a game about chopping trees as fast as you can until your hands hurt. Given its mobile roots, the...
February2018
Queasy does it
Hollow is a difficult game to play. We don't mean that in the sense that it requires great skill to complete, or that its dark sci-fi horror world is especially harrowing. Those would both be valid, even praiseworthy qualities. No, Hollow is difficult to play in mostly all the wrong ways. The game is perhaps best described as a...
Review Frederic 2: Evil Strikes Back (Switch eShop)
Auto tuned
Piano-playing, musically-dueling Polish composer Frédéric Chopin is back again, with a sequel to his stylish piano game Resurrection Of Music, by developer Forever Entertainment. This time, subtitled Evil Strikes Back, our heroic maestro's duty is to rescue his precious Muses from a new, sinister and enigmatic threat (weirdly...
It’s a block-eat-block world out there
The hybrid design of Nintendo Switch makes it the ideal system for all types of games. As illustrated by previous releases on the platform, there are certain games catering to prolonged couch sessions while other titles have been providing audiences with shorter bursts of fun better suited to the daily...
Don’t byte more than you can chew
Jumping ship from the mobile market to Nintendo Switch, Forever Entertainment’s Millie promises to be a, “joyful, casual puzzle game that will tease both your wits and your memory,” but it forgot to mention another quality needed to properly enjoy this one: patience. Tread on your 100 legs lightly…. Equal...
December2017
Review Frederic: Resurrection Of Music (Switch eShop)
Playing second fiddle
Nintendo Switch’s music rhythm games thus far have been stellar editions to the console's library. Whether it’s the raw power of Thumper or the serene ambient songs of Deemo, the genre fits the hardware well, using either the touchscreen or traditional inputs, and with Frederic: Resurrection Of Music, developer Forever...
November2017
Review Sparkle 2 EVO (Switch eShop)
Falling off a DNA ladder
In a shocking turn of events, arcade-styled games starring evolutionary entities searching through petri dish detritus for food are not in fact a dime a dozen. Sparkle 2 EVO is a game by which you experience a world not unlike what you’d find under a microscope in biology class, in order to climb the chain of...
October2017
Through the Looking Glass
Point-and-click adventure games are in an interesting spot these days. There’s definitely an audience for them, but it seems that developers go out of their way to make them only cater to that specific crowd. Those who don’t have an affinity for finding hidden messages in game manuals or using an inventory item on every...
August2014
Review Frederic: Resurrection of Music (Wii U eShop)
A decomposing composer, recomposed
Public domain is often seen as the place cheap music games go to die, but it does not have to be this way. There is a lot of great music from the past that remains untapped; a multitude of virtuosos from previous centuries whose works can appeal within the context of a game. All that’s needed is the right...
