Latest Reviews
Review Space Invaders Forever - One Great Game Does Not A Great Package Make
We'd rather have a packet of Space Raiders
It’s probably a contentious thought, but does Space Invaders really need to keep coming back? We get it, the game was important. Is it fun to play Space Invaders in the year of our lord 2020? God, no. Not in the slightest. The game, in anything close to its original form, simply doesn’t hold up. But...
Review When The Past Was Around - The Perfect Video Game Tonic For 2020
The last of something bright burning, still burning
It’s particularly affecting to play a game like When The Past Was Around as the most devastating year of many of our lives comes to its chaotic close. A lot of us have experienced personal loss in 2020, which makes this game's tasteful, cleverly-constructed exploration of the subject both welcome...
Review Super Meat Boy Forever - A New Formula That Takes Away More Than It Adds
Beat the Meat
Some ten whole years after the original Super Meat Boy first took the indie gaming scene by storm, fans of the original game's brutally difficult action finally get the chance to return to Team Meat's gloriously bloody world in a sequel that decides to make some pretty big changes to the series' core platforming mechanics. Super Meat...
Review Football Manager 2021 Touch - With Patience, This One's Got Great Potential
It's got a Silva lining
Well, it’s that time of year again. Quite literally, in fact, as it was on this very date last year that we published our Football Manager 2020 Touch review. Here we now have the 2021 edition, and to Sports Interactive’s credit there have at least been some attempts made to mix things up a bit. Whereas EA’s FIFA series...
Review Dicey Dungeons - A Raucous Roguelike Adventure Which Everyone Should Try
You feeling lucky, punk?
Terry Cavanagh is known for making some tough games. If you’ve played the likes of VVVVVV or Super Hexagon, you’re no doubt familiar with his unique brand of simplistic and punishing game design. That design is on full display, albeit in a completely new form, with his latest project, Dicey Dungeons. Here, instead of...
Review Among Us - The Lockdown Hit Finally Comes To Switch
Don't be sus
Innersloth's Among Us has become something of a gaming sensation in 2020, some two whole years after it first quietly released as a free-to-play title on iOS and Android devices. Due to a combination of factors – which no doubt include huge Twitch popularity driven by its unique social dynamics and a captive lockdown audience looking...
Mini Review Landflix Odyssey - Unoriginal But Engaging Netflix Parody Platforming
Landflix and chill
Coming up with original ideas can be tough. There’s a good reason why successful writers are always asked where they get their ideas from; no one else really has a clue. Sometimes, borrowing from others — if done in a respectful, subtle manner — can work out for the best as long as it’s executed well. Landflix Odyssey...
Mini Review Tanuki Justice - A Short And Sweet Homage To 8-Bit Run 'N' Gunners
Mega Raccoon
Don’t jump out of your seats too quickly here, folks — Tanuki Justice has nothing to do with Mario’s Tanooki suit. Developed by Wonderboy Bobi, this 2D run ‘n’ gun platformer actually shares a lot more in common with classic Mega Man games, albeit with slightly more frenetic gameplay. It’s a fun, challenging experience...
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...
