Latest Reviews
Review Mercenaries Blaze: Dawn Of The Twin Dragons - A Tactical RPG That's Short On Surprises
A tactics game for tactics fans
Over the past several years, Rideon has carved out a nice niche for itself with the Mercenaries series. Taking after titles such as Final Fantasy Tactics and Tactics Ogre, these games have long offered up simple and faithful examples of the tactical RPG experience. The fifth release, Mercenaries Blaze: Dawn of the...
Review Drawn To Life: Two Realms - A Strange Sequel Which Totally Misses The Point
Styleless And Stylusless
Drawn To Life: Two Realms is the second sequel in a series that last came out in 2009, the same year that Obama first came to office. It's a lifetime ago. No one had "new Drawn To Life" game on their 2020 bingo, yet here it is anyway, attempting to revitalise and reinvent a beloved cult classic that found its home on the DS...
Review PixelJunk Eden 2 - More Than Simply An 'Audiovisual Experience'
In the Garden of Eden, honey, don't you know that I lo-ove you-ou
Calling your game "Eden" promises three things; a garden, naked people, and the original sin that led to the inexorable corruption of humanity and, ultimately, all of the misery in existence. Big shoes to fill, then, for Q-Games' twelve-years-later sequel to their downloadable...
Review Taiko no Tatsujin: Rhythmic Adventure Pack - A Fine Western Debut For This Drumming Duo
A thumpin’ good time
The Switch is no stranger to ports of older titles. Following hot on the heels of the delightful Taiko no Tatsujin: Drum ‘n’ Fun! in 2018, Don and Katsu are back with a pair of beefed up 3DS titles never before released in the West: Taiko no Tatsujin: Rhythmic Adventure 1 and Taiko no Tatsujin: Rhythmic Adventure 2...
Review Monster Sanctuary - A Pokémon / Metroidvania Mashup For Number Lovers
They did the monster maths
When disparate genres come together, it's the hope of any reviewer that they'll be able to deploy the traditional "peanut butter and jam" simile. Styles that ought to clash like the wrestling finisher of the same name often synchronise beautifully, with the likes of Crypt of the Necrodancer or the more recent Lair of the...
Review DOOM Eternal - This 'Impossible' Port Is Nothing Short Of A Miracle
It's a Hell of a conversion
Look, we know how this is going to go. We’ve been around the blocks more than a few times, and we’re old enough to have been using the internet when people still gave their emoticons noses (and still called them emoticons), so at this point, we don’t have to be soothsayers to know what’s going to happen here: some...
Review Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon & the Blade of Light - We've Come A Long Way In 30 Years
A burning flame or a dying ember?
It wasn’t until 2003 that western players first got a taste of the Fire Emblem series with the simply named Fire Emblem that launched on the Game Boy Advance. The title seemed to imply that it was the first release in the franchise, but it was in fact the seventh game in the series, while the previous six remained...
Review Puyo Puyo Tetris 2 - Another Fine Fusion Of Two Puzzle Greats
Another one of those block-dropping feats
The original Puyo Puyo Tetris was one of those strange combinations that didn't seem like it would work but was actually surprisingly moreish, sort of like whoever came up with the idea of cola chicken: a mad idea, without a doubt, but the results speak for themselves. Now Puyo Puyo Tetris has returned, and...
Review Sam & Max Save The World - An Excellent Point-And-Click Series Remastered For 2020
Has all the Telltale signs of a solid update
In the world of point-and-click adventure games, there are a few names that stand out as icons of the genre, especially if you’re of a certain vintage. Monkey Island. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. The Walking Dead (more recently). Sam & Max Hit the Road. The last of these was a 1993 adventure...
Quite the gamble
You’ve likely heard of the Mystery Dungeon series before, but that’s probably because you’ve seen one of the many Pokémon or Final Fantasy spin-offs. Though the spin-offs have taken on a life of their own, they owe their origins to the Shiren the Wanderer games, which stretch back as far as the SNES. Shiren the Wanderer: The...
Review Star Renegades - Borrows Ideas From The Best To Create A Truly Inventive RPG
"Something good? Something bad? A bit of both?"
Modern game design can be a fickle beast, in that it often falls on either end of the spectrum of innovation. On one hand, you have games that are content to ‘play it safe’ and only stick to well-worn genre conventions that are satisfying, if not unsurprising. On the other end, you have games that...
Review Phogs! - Utterly Cute And Charming Co-Op Fun
Where poodle meets noodle
What do you get if you take one part Push Me Pull You, one part Noby Noby Boy, one part CatDog and a weirdly large helping of Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons? Depending on which parts you take, you'll either end up with a tale of fraternal love and body horror, or you'll end up with Phogs: a game in which you play,...
Review John Wick Hex - Stylish Turn-Based Action With Too Many Rough Edges
Hex Bomb
John Wick Hex is a rather clever turn-based action/strategy effort that sees you step into the blood-caked boots of Keanu Reeves' stylish and unstoppable killing machine – a man who's always ready, willing and more than able to punch, kick, shoot and fling his gun at the heads of as many bad guys as it takes to do the bidding of the High...
Review Commandos 2 - HD Remaster - A Shoddy Update Plagued With Both New And Old Annoyances
An in-fuhrer-ating remaster of an age-old classic
2001 really is beginning to feel like quite a long time ago indeed and Commandos 2, which originally released way back in September of that year is, it has to be said, now showing its age in many ways. Pyro Studios real-time tactics effort is undoubtedly something of a classic of the genre, for sure;...
Review Wildfire - A Thoroughly Enjoyable Slow-Burn Of A Game
I am the god of hellfire, and I bring you...
Sidestepping any potential controversy about whether or not they exist or if their persecution is merely an expression of historical misogyny, I think it’s a universal truth that if you’ve got a Witch, you need to be able to burn it. It’s an alarming development, then, that Wildfire begins with the...
Review Empire of Sin - A Criminal Waste Of A Superb Premise
Eliot Mess
Romero Games' Empire of Sin is an excellent premise for a turn-based strategy/management mash-up that sticks you in 1920s Chicago during the heyday of Al Capone and a host of other real-life gangster legends and charges you with building up your very own criminal enterprise. It's an era that absolutely oozes atmosphere and one that we...
Mini Review Absolute Drift - Zen-Like Powersliding Plagued By Technical And Design Problems
A car crash in more ways than one
Drifting, when done right, can be absolutely thrilling. There’s nothing quite like tearing round a corner with razor-sharp precision, and everything from Mario Kart 8 to Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit relies heavily on your ability to execute drifts successfully. Absolute Drift is all about drifting; you don’t race...
Review Fitness Boxing 2: Rhythm & Exercise - More Of The Same, And That Might Not Be Enough
You might swipe left after a while
The original Fitness Boxing launched a couple of years ago, and while it certainly served its purpose, two years is a long time for anyone to be playing one game on a daily basis, as was its intention. With that in mind, Fitness Boxing 2: Rhythm & Exercise is now with us, but a lot has changed in two years:...
Review Immortals Fenyx Rising - An Off-Brand Breath Of The Wild That's Still Worth A Look
Breath of the Assassin's Creed of War
Do you remember when you were five, and your mum would ask you if you wanted anything from the supermarket, and you'd probably reply with whatever branded cereal you'd last seen an advert for in-between episodes of Scooby-Doo? Then, two hours later, she'd return with whatever off-brand cereal approximation she...
Mini Review Picross S5 - You Know The Drill By Now, Surely?
It's Picross, but now there's a '5' on the tin
There are plenty of excellent puzzle games on the Switch, but arguably the most ubiquitous franchise out there is Nintendo’s own Picross series, which has featured fairly frequently ever since the platform’s launch year. With the launch of Picross S5, we’re now looking at the sixth (!) entry in...
Mini Review The Alto Collection - A Breezy Pair Of Smartphone Classics On Your Switch
Cruise Control
Some of the best mobile games are often the most straightforward. By happy coincidence, this also means that they’re especially easy to port over to other systems. The Alto Collection takes two of mobile gaming’s most celebrated titles, Alto’s Adventure and Alto’s Odyssey, and puts them together in one handy – albeit rather...
Review Ghostrunner - A Thrilling Cyberpunk Epic Dulled By Performance Problems On Switch
Be a literal runner of blades
It seems the cyberpunk genre has seen something of a resurgence in the indie game scene lately, no doubt spurred on by CDProjektRed’s anticipated tentpole release which now appears set to launch somewhere in the actual year 2077 (only kidding, of course! It's sure to be here by at least 2055). Ghostrunner is the...
Review Serious Sam Collection - Two-Thirds Enormous Fun, One-Third Crushing Disappointment
Seriously below-par
The central joke of Serious Sam is that he isn't very serious at all. And nor are his games. In fact, they're extremely silly, and if they don't start behaving they're not going to get any sweets. Yes, Croteam's long-running flagship FPS is a gleefully daft blaster that revels in throwing as many enemies at you as possible,...
Review Cake Bash - Delicious Multiplayer Action That's Too Tasty To Ignore
Much ado about muffin
The majority of people, young or old, would be forced to concede that cakes are delicious. Nobody dislikes sweets, and anyone who did would rightfully be cast out from society and forced to live in some sort of modified bin. It's a canny move, then, to make a game about said desserts. It guarantees at least a 5/10 from any...
Review Just Dance 2021 - Still Fun, But Feels More Like A Cash-Grab Than Ever Before
Blame it on the boogie
Just Dance 2021 is the latest in a long line of Just Dance games, each marginally different from the last. Much like serialised sports games, Ubisoft's choreographed creation is born anew each year, with a couple of new features thrown in, and a helping of new songs sprinkled over the top. Innovation is it not, but this isn't...
Mini Review Arcade Archives Zero Team - A Long-Lost Coin-Op Relic That's Worth Unearthing
We could be zeroes, just for one day
While the arrival of Streets of Rage 4 and The TakeOver might lead you to assume that the belt-scrolling brawler is back in vogue, it's still a pretty niche genre in 2020 – and, to be brutally honest, that has been the case since the mid-'90s, by which point Street Fighter II had made the one-on-one fighter the...
Review Chicken Police - Paint it RED! - No Fowl Play Here, This Is A Great Detective Adventure
Finger lickin' good
Chickens know things. It's obvious. They have that look in their eye, the slightly disdainful squint of someone who knows what you did and why you did it. They'd be perfect detectives, if not for the small obstacle of their inability to communicate in any meaningful way. Thankfully, developers The Wild Gentlemen saw the potential...
Review Kingdom Hearts: Melody Of Memory - A Marvelous Musical Trip Down Memory Lane
Simple and clean
It’s hard to believe that the Kingdom Hearts franchise has been around for nearly twenty years. The odd pairing of Final Fantasy and several Disney franchises always sounded like an idea that just wouldn’t play out right, but the series has gone on to garner quite a sizable and passionate fanbase over its long run. With last...
Review Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit Remastered - A Racer From A More Innocent Time
Cop a load of this
Here’s a fun fact for you: there isn’t a single person on this planet who can recite the titles of all 24 Need for Speed games in order. It’s actually physically impossible, like licking your own back or hearing the words “Hi, I’m Daisy” without getting irritated. While this ‘fact’ is open for debate, here’s one...
Review Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity - Not The Zelda Game You Want, But Perhaps The One You Need
Calamity game
You know the Gerudo Valley theme from Ocarina of Time? It's a kickass tune – probably top five Zelda tracks – and one that's sure to get your blood pumping. Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity is all Gerudo Valley, a rousing number that'll fire you up for the journey ahead. It's also a tad repetitive and just one part of the symphony...
