Latest Reviews
Review Soccer Story (PS5) - Ballsy Footie Adventure Misses the Target
Bale out
Football-themed role-playing games aren’t anywhere near as rare as you may think. Captain Tsubasa, inspired of course by the manga, has been a mainstay of the Japanese video game landscape dating all the way back to the NES – and more recently Level 5’s strategy-style Inazuma Eleven has found worldwide appeal. Soccer Story takes a...
Review Biomutant (PS4) - The Classic Case of What Could Have Been
Karate kid
Republished on Wednesday 30th November 2022: We're bringing this review back from the archives following the announcement of December's PlayStation Plus lineup. The original text follows. Biomutant could have released a decade ago and it wouldn't have looked out of place. By stimulating the open world formula of old with new takes on the...
NHeaven
Republished on Wednesday 30th November 2022: We're bringing this review back from the archives following the announcement of December's PlayStation Plus lineup. The original text follows. One of gaming's most beloved trilogies is back, and quite frankly, it's better than ever. If you loved the intergalactic adventures of Commander Shepard...
Mini Review Norco (PS5) - A Peculiar Prosaic Paradigm
Norc by Norcwest
While on the surface, Norco might seem a fairly traditional point-and-click adventure title, this would do a gross disservice to what the game actually has to offer. A grungy, dystopian, post-capitalist mining town, Norco, Louisiana is a bleakly beautiful setting for a brilliant story. Offering a unique cross-pollination of...
Mini Review Gungrave G.O.R.E. (PS5) - It's Definitely a New Gungrave
2022? More like 2002
If you asked us to guess which PS2 game would get a sequel in the year 2022, there's no chance we'd have said Gungrave. The original launched back in 2002 and was the brainchild of mangaka Yasuhiro Nightow, best known for writing the critically acclaimed Trigun. The original Gungrave was a stylish, albeit incredibly basic,...
Mini Review Inertial Drift: Twilight Rivals Edition (PS5) - More Style, More Substance in PS5 Port
Eurobeat the clock
We enjoyed Inertial Drift when it originally released back in 2020 for the PS4, and we're happy to declare that it can still be a deliciously addictive arcade racer here in 2022. Inertial Drift: Twilight Rivals Edition is an enhanced PS5 port (or DLC pack, if you're still on PS4), which throws in fresh content like more tracks,...
Mini Review Arkanoid: Eternal Battle (PS5) - Retro Revival Can't Overcome Sticker Shock
Breakout
Taito’s Arkanoid may not have been the original brick breaker – that accolade, of course, rests with Atari’s Breakout – but it’s probably the best. With the addition of weapons and power-ups, as well as 3D enemies recompiled as sprites, it took a primitive concept and completely reinvented it. Now, over 35 years removed from its...
Review Evil West (PS5) - Dumb Vampire Slaying Fun Certainly Doesn't Suck
Full-blooded
While there has been something of a resurgence in 'AA' titles over recent years, games like Evil West still don't come around all that often. Schlocky, violent, and just dumb fun, it's a linear action game with a heavy focus on an ever-expanding combat system. It's also got big early 2000s vibes, with characters that have cartoonishly...
Review The Dark Pictures Anthology: The Devil in Me (PS5) - One for the Fans Lacks Ambition
I want to play a game
With four instalments under its belt, The Dark Pictures Anthology from Supermassive Games feels like a roller coaster. Following an underwhelming start in Man of Medan, the horror series was getting better and better with Little Hope and House of Ashes. It appears, however, the latter may have been the peak o
Review Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord (PS5) - Long Live the King
A storm of steel
Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord is an intricate feudal relationship simulator set in a dynamic sandbox world dominated by six medieval kingdoms roughly analogous to cultures from our own. It features massive-scale battles, deep character customisation, action-based melee and ranged combat (on horseback or afoot), a living,...
Review Goat Simulator 3 (PS5) - Bigger, Madder Sequel Is Udderly Ridiculous
Bleat-'em-up
Goat Simulator 3 knows exactly who it's for. If you found the wonky physics and toilet humour of the original Goat Simulator about as amusing as the bubonic plague, the odds are incredibly low that you'll find anything of value in this follow-up. Even the name is a daft joke; this is in fact the second instalment. Your Google searches...
Mini Review Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana (PS5) - Falcom's Fantastic Action RPG Is Still a Joy
Adventure, at a price
Considered by many to be one of, if not the best game in Falcom's long-running action RPG franchise, Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana is still a joy to play six whole years after its PS Vita debut. Series protagonist and lifelong adventurer Adol Christin gets shipwrecked on an uncharted island, and has little choice but to gather his...
Review Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration (PS5) - A Warts and All Celebration of an Industry Icon
Insert coin
Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration may very well set the standard for retro compilations moving forwards, and not necessarily because of the content it includes. In truth, a significant number of the 100 or so releases included here are borderline impenetrable – appreciated inclusions, yes, but pretty much unplayable. It’s the way...
Review Tactics Ogre: Reborn (PS5) - A Tale That Grew in the Telling
Sing to me of a time long past
Tactics Ogre: Reborn is a return to the golden age of isometric strategy RPGs, which, paradoxically, it helped to create. Building upon the rock solid foundations of 1995 Super Nintendo release Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together, and the 2011 PSP remake of the same name, Reborn, in turn, makes everything old new...
Mini Review Save Room (PS5) - RE4 Delight Turned Full Game
What're ya sorting?
Considering just how beloved the inventory management of Resident Evil 4 was, it's insane to think it's taken this long for someone to spin it out into a full game. 17 years later, Save Room is a completely faithful recreation of the enjoyable Tetris-like mechanic that works as a neat distraction for an hour or two. This is the...
Mini Review Return to Monkey Island (PS5) - Original Creators Return to Beloved Point and Click
Rubber chicken with pulley optional
We find the mighty pirate Guybrush Threepwood sitting on a park bench, a bit older but not necessarily wiser. He is relaying the tale of a quest from The Secret of Monkey Island to a familiar youngster. The story that plays out is essentially the greatest hits of his first two adventures, with a sprinkling of...
Mini Review The Entropy Centre (PS5) - Portal-Esque Adventure Rewinds Time
If I could turn back time
Waking up in a strange facility, protagonist Aria Adams finds herself a Handheld Entropy Device (HED): a gun-like entity which can bend time, and houses a sassy virtual companion named Astra. If that sounds vaguely familiar, then you should already know what to expect. It’s hard to ignore the influence of Portal in The...
Review Sonic Frontiers (PS5) - Bold New Gamble for the Series Pays Off
I must proceed at a high velocity
After 23 years of 3D Sonic adventures, we all know how we feel about them; some love them, some demand they be launched into the sun. Regardless of your opinion on the 3D games, it was clear that, after the disaster that was Sonic Forces — a game many consider one of his worst ever — something drastic had to...
Review God of War Ragnarok (PS5) - A Dazzling Crown Jewel in Sony's Catalogue
The boy is back in town
At one point or another, Santa Monica Studio was thinking about spreading Kratos' new saga across three games — a trilogy that would mirror the original adventures of the vengeful god. This is worth bringing up because God of War Ragnarok feels like it could have been split in half and sold as two separate pieces. It...
Mini Review The Chant (PS5) - Nothing Special Whatsoever
Kum Ba Nah
With the horror genre going through a sudden but welcome revival, a bang-average title isn't really going to cut it anymore as The Callisto Protocol and Dead Space loom on the horizon. Unfortunately, The Chant is exactly that. It's an okay game, but it's going to be forgotten about just as quickly as it comes. A third-person title about...
Review Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (PS5) - Infinity Ward Proves It Knows Best
The Price Is Right
As the development cycle of the Call of Duty series wraps back around to Infinity Ward, excitement in the FPS franchise feels renewed. Last year's Call of Duty: Vanguard will forever go down as a misfire, but after the success that was 2019's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, Activision couldn't have wished for a better studio to take...
Mini Review Brewmaster (PS5) - All Hail the Best Beer Brewing Sim on PlayStation
"Just a half for me, Susan. I'm driving"
Back in the good old days you could go to your local pub for a pint of Housewives Knee and the only other people in there drinking proper beer would be old men and people who go to Games Workshop. People wearing fedora hats. Those sorts of people. But then they came. The normal people. Suddenly craft beer...
Mini Review Shatter Remastered Deluxe (PS5) – Brick Breaking Great Returns
How can you have any pudding if you don't eat your meat?
Brick breakers have been a staple of gaming since the early days, and the formula hasn't really changed since. You're presented with a wall of colourful bricks and it's up to you to guide a ball into each one, destroying them until the level is clear. But what happens when a developer decides...
Review Star Ocean: The Divine Force (PS5) - Space Age JRPG Barely Takes Flight
One small step for man. One smaller step for JRPGs
After forty-five hours, a few smiles, and one or two frowns, we walked away from Star Ocean: The Divine Force with a shrug. It’s a middle-tier Japanese role playing game that at no point, ever, threatens to get promoted to top-tier status nor sink so low that it ends up sandwiched between...
Mini Review Saturnalia (PS5) - An Engrossing Terror
It’s always a village, isn't it?
As heavy darkness permeates the discomforting town of Gravoi, Saturnalia dares you to survive it long enough to unveil the village’s hidden skeletons. Harkening back to the good ol’ survival horror games of the 90s, this artsy but quite disturbing indie horror manages to rattle your bones after the credits hit...
Mini Review Signalis (PS4) - Last-Gen Release Has Its Feet in the Future
Stunning revival of classic survival (horror)
Keycard puzzles, limited inventory, scarce ammo. The survival horror formula may be nothing new, but the sheer tension of Signalis shows once again that if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it — just move it to an eerily abandoned mining colony on the edge of a Nazi-like galactic empire. Even more...
Review Resident Evil Village: Shadows of Rose (PS5) - Creative DLC Is a Short But Sweet Send-Off
Goodbye Winters
For as good as the Resident Evil series is, Capcom has generally restricted it to one-and-done experiences. A few post-launch expansions have come and gone — in Resident Evil 5 and Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, for example — but they've never felt like a sure-fire thing. If anything, Resident Evil Village continues that...
Review NHL 23 (PS5) – The Same as Last Year, with Small Changes
Stick it out
It’s the same thing every year, isn’t it? Annual sports titles get announced, highlight a few key features, and then hunker down for a few months, hoping any sort of pushback gets swept under the rug. It hits some series’ harder than others, Madden NFL being the most noteworthy franchise to endure a rough go of things. But some...
Review New Tales From The Borderlands (PS5) - No Tale, Too Much Borderlands
Fails from the Borderlands
There’s an argument to be made that 2014’s Tales from the Borderlands is actually the best game in the Borderlands series. Now, hold on. Don’t go typing up your angry comments just yet. Hear us out. Sometimes you just want a capital V capital G Video Game that’s about running and jumping and shooting and looting...
Mini Review Dragon Ball: The Breakers (PS4) - Janky Casual Fun In Familiar Setting
Is it worth surviving?
Dragon Ball: The Breakers breaks into unfamiliar territory for the franchise — a realm that'll be more than recognisable to avid Dead by Daylight players. This 1v7 multiplayer game is more than just a reskin of its inspirations, however. While it falters in several game mechanics, it uses the beloved manga and anime property...
