Review Scribblenauts Mega Pack - Two Great Puzzle Platformers in One
Not all heroes draw their own capes
Video games often get a bad rap. Parents can demonise them as the scourge of education, the ultimate in distraction, and a waste of time and money. The media doesn’t help with its panic of the month over games like Fortnite. But hold up, what we have here are two video games that actively encourage not just...
Review Shadows: Awakening (PS4)
Emerging from the shadow of Diablo
PS4 adventuring takes to a dark new dimension with Shadows: Awakening – which might at first look like a Diablo-'em-up copycat, but actually brings a unique new spin to the isometric single-player RPG genre. You step in the wraith robes of a demon summoned from the Shadow Realm – known as a...
Full metal CCG
What do you do with a robot if it goes insane? Well in Playniac’s turn-based battler you’ll make it fight to the death in a fun and unique card driven game which puts tactics to the fore. You begin as the friendly and misunderstood little bot called Franklin, who is condemned to fight for his life in a brutal "last bot...
Review Guns of Icarus Alliance (PS4)
Fly together, die together
To slightly misquote Wordsworth: "We wandered lonely as a cloud. That floats on high o'er vales and hills. When all at once I saw a crowd – and unleashed furious destruction upon them from our steampunk airship." Guns of Icarus Alliance hits the PlayStation 4, providing seriously frantic player-vs-player or...
Hello sweet death
We weren’t sure quite what to make of Infernium at first – it’s a non-linear first person survival horror that throws you into hell with minimal preparation. This is a vision of hell more about bleak, eerie landscapes and impressive vistas rather than your traditional fire 'n' brimstone DOOM-esque virtual world. The game...
Review The Longest Five Minutes (PS Vita)
You can pack a lot into five minutes
Become a hero, face down the origin of all evil, and try to cope with the crippling loss of all your memories and abilities. This is the unique concept of The Longest Five Minutes – a new Vita adventure from NIS America. There's something really engaging and accessible about this old school Japanese RPG,...
Review Under Night In-Birth Exe:Late[st] (PS4)
It was a dark and stormy Under Night In-Birth
The PS4 is well served with 2D fighting games, but that didn’t stop this latest incarnation of the weird and somewhat wonderful Under Night In-Birth universe getting spruced up a little and expanded a lot to make the jump to current-gen hardware. Here, then, is the most complete edition of the deep...
A heavenly kingdom?
Republished on Wednesday 31st January 2018: We're bringing this review back from the archives following the announcement of February's PlayStation Plus lineup. The original text follows. Grand Kingdom is a good looking turn-based battle-'em-up that sees you getting to pick and command a group of mercenaries in...
Paint a celestial masterpiece in 4K
Some games are iconic, classics that are worth revisiting and bringing to a new audience. Okami is a prime example. Back in 2006 this was one of the PlayStation 2’s best games – a uniquely creative action, platform, and puzzle RPG with an incredible visual cel-shaded style. Now ten years later and...
Review Touhou Kobuto V: Burst Battle (PS4)
Touhou want to fight?
If you’ve ever wanted to make super cute anime girls beat the living daylights out of each other for fun but balked at the Dead or Alive series, then NIS America has just delivered what you’re looking for with Touhou Kobuto V: Burst Battle. This is a twist on the arcade fighting games that gives you guns as well as swords...
Plague is the disease
Are you brave enough to walk the Plague Road – a virtual path that will lead you through a strange 2D steampunk-ish world filled with illness, enemies, and treasure? You play the role of a lone masked doctor who is on a mission to try and save a city which is being eaten away from the inside by an all-consuming plague. Some...
Ghost Rider, this is Strike (Vector EX)
Republished on Wednesday 30th August 2017: We're bringing this review back from the archives following the announcement of September's PlayStation Plus lineup. The original text follows. If you feel the need, the need for speed – and by speed we mean high octane dog-fighting combat in...
She's not a bad rabbit, she's just drawn that way
You know that dream you have where you’re a bunny rabbit who mysteriously gets turned into a cute human girl? Eh? Oh, just us then? But imagine the fun you could have as a literal bunny girl with kick ass battle powers. Yeah, that’s Rabi-Ribi. Packing one of the strangest plots to have hit the...
All you need is LOVE
Loved by PC gamers since its launch in 2015, now the unique and eccentric Undertale has arrived on the PlayStation 4 and Vita, bringing a whole new world to console adventurers everywhere. Packed with charmingly weird and wonderful characters who interact with you in constantly unexpected and interesting ways, every encounter...
Review Comet Crash 2: The Kronkoid Wars (PS4)
In space no-one can hear you Kronk
Evil Kronkoid battleships have been discovered near the planet Kulin and they are taking advantage of waves of comets headed towards populated planets to expand their galactic dominance. You, however, are equipped with a tower building spaceship and the fate of the galaxy rests in your hands as you defend the...
Review World to the West (PS4)
A different kind of Westworld
What happens when a teleportation-mishap leaves four heroes lost in a strange world, each packing their own unique special powers? Teamwork, that’s what. From the makers of cool 2D puzzle-'em-up Teslagrad, Rain Games brings a new title to the same universe in the shape of World to the West. The big change this time...
On the right light track
Rhythm is your weapon in Aaero, a new high-speed fusion of music, light track running, and weapon combat that blazes across the PlayStation 4 in an attempt to reignite the music game genre. Created by independent two-man studio Mad Fellows, Aaero synthesises frantic sci-fi shooting action with solid rhythm game dynamics,...
Review Atelier Shallie Plus: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea (PS Vita)
A crafty plus size treat
Just as Nintendo look to Switch up the handheld market, Sony give gamers a reason to dig out the trusty old PlayStation Vita in the shape of another fun and accessible Japanese role-playing game. Atelier Shallie Plus: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea is an enhanced port of the PlayStation 3 game packing all the downloadable...
Review Siegecraft Commander (PS4)
Under siege
The first casualty of war is potentially your mental health if you fire up Siegecraft Commander, which takes the novel idea of crossing a real-time strategy (RTS) game with the tactical control of a tower defence title. Sounds good and Blowfish Studios has a good track record of making compelling games, so let's slip the dogs of war and...
Bark or bite?
This is what you wanted, people – this is what you voted for. No, not Trump or Brexit, but a city run by the Blume Corporation where absolutely everyone is constantly under the gaze of an advanced Big Brother surveillance system. This near future society is a Black Mirror-esque teched-up metropolis where ctOS2.0 connects everyone...
Do you underSTEIN?
Imagine if we managed to create a working time machine? How long before the future, past, and present were altered irrevocably – and would it be fun and games or trauma and death? Steins;Gate was a massively acclaimed visual novel developed by 5pb. and Nitroplus back in 2009 telling of humanity's first time-travelling...
Review Superdimension Neptune VS SEGA Hard Girls (PS Vita)
To be this good takes AGES
Just when you thought that the PlayStation Vita had no new games, here comes a rather lovely RPG adventure which packs a ton of fun combat and exploration into a perfect on the go package. Superdimension Neptune VS SEGA Hard Girls is a spin off from the long running Hyperdimension Neptunia RPG series which sees various...
Carry on my wayward son
Risk virtual life and limb exploring a mysterious floating fortress, as Wayward Sky puts you directly into the shoes of young Bess, a pilot whose father has been kidnapped. In order to rescue your dear old dad, you must guide Bess through various puzzles – it's a bit like playing with a toy figure who you can 'jump into'...
It's a virtual EVE-olution
Cold. Disorientated. You awake in a clone tank. No, it's not the aftermath of a Push Square office party, this is the future and you're already dead. EVE: Valkyrie is a strong space dogfighting sim that got quite a lot of love when it launched on the Oculus Rift, and now it deserves to get more love as it hits PlayStation...