Latest Reviews
Review Call of Duty: WWII - Safe FPS Is Still a Solid Historical Shooter
Right as Rhine?
Republished on Monday 28th May 2020: We're bringing this review back from the archives following the announcement of June's PlayStation Plus lineup. The original text follows. Each Call of Duty since Modern Warfare 2 has put the player in higher positions of power. Whether you’re the unspoken, do-it-all he
Review Mafia II: Definitive Edition - There's Nothing Definitive About This Awful Remaster
Throw away the key
Mafia II deserves better than this. Originally released for PlayStation 3 in 2010, it was by no means the greatest of its time. However, ten years later, anything the game got right has been thwarted by the technical disaster that is Mafia II: Definitive Edition. This remaster fails on all fronts. From an atrociously bad frame...
Review Maneater - Underwater Far Cry Is Fintastic
Get in the sea
Far Cry’s formula may be feeling a little shallow these days, but Maneater breathes new sealife into the open world collectathon concept by setting its action underwater – and putting you in control of a bloodthirsty shark. This moreish aquatic action RPG is a modern incarnation of PlayStation 2 cult classic Jaws Unleashed, and...
That one was for you, Johnny
Hearing Troy Baker shout "get the **** out of here!" as you punch a policeman square in his privates is still pretty funny. In fact, Saints Row The Third in general is still pretty funny — at least, some of the time. The game's almost nine years old, yet Saints Row The Third Remastered is a welcome reminder of just how...
Review Gorn - A Satisfying, Comically Violent PSVR Brawler
Are you not entertained?
Gorn is one of those games you can describe in just a few words. It's a VR beat-'em-up where you engage gormless gladiators in a bloody fight to the death. That's kind of it, really, but that simple concept makes for a more engaging experience than you might think. One of virtual reality's first success stories on PC...
Mini Review Concept Destruction - Destruction Derby with Cardboard Cars
Crash dummies
Concept Destruction’s name tells you much of what you need to know about this pen-and-paper PlayStation 4 racer. It’s a combat game inspired by PS1’s legendary Destruction Derby, and it’s effectively a proof of concept. In many ways this feels like half a game, as you smash your way through Drawn to Death-esque arenas,...
Review Mafia III - Gripping Presentation Marred by Repetitive Missions
An offer you might want to refuse
Republished on Tuesday, 19th May, 2020: We're bringing this review back from the archives following the announcement of Mafia III: Definitive Edition. The original text follows. 1968 was a turbulent year in United States history. With both the Vietnam War in full swing, and the assassination of Martin Luther King...
Review Mafia II - Stunning Period Setting Undone Only by Restrictive Open World
Godfatherly love
Republished on Tuesday, 19th May, 2020: We're bringing this review back from the archives following the announcement of Mafia II: Definitive Edition. The original text follows. Protagonist Vito Scaletta is a typical mobster: he's a criminal, a low-life, and a murderer -- but you can't help but fall in love with him. Despite being...
Mini Review Thy Sword - Thou Shalt Enjoyeth This Roguelike
Live by thy sword
Roguelikes are dime a dozen on PlayStation Store, but Thy Sword appeals in spite of the genre’s ubiquity. This single-screen side-scroller sees you clearing out enemies in different locations to progress to different levels, many environments culminating in larger-than-life boss fights. There’s a casual mode which makes the...
Mini Review Ticket to Ride - A Basic But Fun Version of a Classic Board Game
Who is John Galt?
If you’re thinking to yourself, “Wait a minute, didn’t this come out years ago?” you would be correct. But given the pandemic and the fact we never actually reviewed it, now seems like the perfect time to draw some attention to Days of Wonder’s digital version of the renowned board game, Ticket to Ride. While the...
Review Super Mega Baseball 3 - A Golden Era for Virtual Baseball Continues
Deserving of the superlatives
Don’t pay too much mind to the freakish aesthetics of Super Mega Baseball 3’s fictional stars: this cartoony sports sequel has all the trappings of a true simulation, but it’s all packed up in an alarmingly accessible wrapper. It means that practically anyone can step up to the plate and knock out a Home Run or...
Review Huntdown - A Glorious Homage to 80s Action Movies
Remember when I said I'd kill you last? I lied
The future sucks, doesn't it? There's always something. Either we're enslaved by robotic overlords, starving because we ran out of natural resources, or we just blow ourselves up with weapons of mass destruction. We've all seen the movies. Even if by some small chance the human race isn't eradicated by...
Mini Review SuperMash - Genre Melding Experiment Is Novel But Shallow
Will it blend?
SuperMash has a neat central idea, but the game unfortunately can't quite deliver on it. You and your friends have discovered a strange console that's capable of blending two genres together, and you use it to stock the shelves of a game shop. Silly narrative aside, you select two of six genres, fiddle with settings like length and...
Mini Review Fury Unleashed - Comic Book Action Is Almost a Page-Turner
Gypsy king
Fury Unleashed doesn't live up to the name of its developer, but it may still be worth checking out if you’re into Spelunky and Dead Cells. This comic book-inspired rogue-lite is packed with so much action that it quickly becomes the experience's defining trait. Despite it not doing anything new, Fury Unleashed is an enjoyable, if all...
Review Arcade Spirits - A Visual Novel with a Lot of Heart
Ready Player One
Arcade Spirits is a romantic visual novel set in an alternative future where the video game crash in the 80s never happened. Imagine: the now-infamous E.T. game was held back until a higher quality title could be produced, meaning that Atari didn’t have to dump hundreds of thousands of unsold copies in the desert. The gaming...
Mini Review John Wick Hex - Satisfying Tactical Action with a Few Rough Edges
Stop, drop, roll
It takes a little while for John Wick Hex to click, but when it does, the game does a surprisingly great job of making you feel like the unstoppable hitman himself. The title follows an original storyline that takes place before the John Wick movies, with comicbook-style cutscenes playing between each mission. It's a decent attempt...
Mini Review Construction Simulator 3 - Cowboy Builders
Needs more work
Simulation games are a bit of a sore point on the PlayStation 4 at the minute, given the overwhelmingly negative reaction to May 2020’s free PS Plus games. Nevertheless, the genre has become a strong source of entertainment for workaholics, with Sony’s system playing host to dozens of virtual careers, including farming and...
Mini Review HyperParasite - A Roguelike with a Smart Twist
Mutant blobs attack
Tired of indie roguelikes releasing on the PlayStation 4? That was this author’s initial reaction when he recklessly volunteered to review Troglobytes’ love letter to The Thing. Fortunately, there’s more to HyperParasite than repetition and 80s references, as this is a rather creative twin-stick shooter-style take on a...
Mini Review Gun Crazy - Super Nintendo-Esque Shooter with a Short Shelf Life
Crazy in guns
Gun Crazy has modest ambitions, meaning you should calibrate your expectations appropriately before giving it a spin. This is a Super Nintendo-esque side-scrolling shooter, in which you commandeer a blue-haired bad ass through a breakneck 30 minute-ish campaign against a variety of tyrannical robots and green blobs. It features all of...
Review Streets of Rage 4 - Bygone Beat-'Em-Up Classic Returns in Flashy Revival
Flashy but familiar
Video games have largely abandoned the humble beat-'em-up, a sub-genre superseded many times by faster, more thrilling action titles. Getting Streets of Rage 4 at this point feels a bit like your estranged but fondly remembered uncle showing up on your doorstep 26 years later with a beard and a redder face. It's great to see you,...
Review Daymare: 1998 - A Budget Passion Project That Gets Just Enough Right
"That explains the horrible things I've seen"
Daymare: 1998 has had a long and fascinating road to release. Dating back a number of years, Invader Studios' project actually began life as a Resident Evil 2 remake. No, not that remake. It actually dates back to before Capcom’s announcement of its legendary return to Raccoon City. Once the publisher...
Review Cities: Skylines - A PS4 City Builder with Solid Foundations
Skyscraper
Republished on Wednesday 29th April 2020: We're bringing this review back from the archives following the announcement of May's PlayStation Plus lineup. The original text follows. In terms of city-building games, the PlayStation 4 – hell, every console in general – is pretty light. Simulation games as a whole seem to be married to...
Review Deliver Us The Moon - The Fate of Humanity Is in Your Hands
Moonwalker
Deliver Us the Moon is set in the very near future, and things are not looking particularly rosy for the Earth. Natural resources have been depleted and environmental damage is so severe that large land masses are slowly being turned into desert. Humanity is a pretty versatile species, and with a strong hunger to survive we can sometimes...
Review Telling Lies - FMV Thriller on the Cusp of Greatness
Speech check
As the video game industry begins to accommodate more and more unique experiences, what we define as interactive entertainment expands. This is largely thanks to the boom in independent development over the past two generations, which as a result, has given rise to select genres once assumed dead. Full-motion video is just one example,...
Review SnowRunner - Glacial Haulage Sim Is Snow Joke
Deck the hauls
With the PlayStation 4’s catalogue so radically diverse these days, a haulage simulation set in challenging terrain doesn’t sound all that abnormal. SnowRunner is the latest instalment in the strangely popular Spintires series, which you may recall making its PlayStation 4 debut with MudRunner a few years ago. As its name...
Review Sakura Wars - An Entertaining But Flawed Summer Anime in Video Game Form
Pretty average in pink
Sakura Wars is a soft reboot of SEGA's long running series. Like its predecessors, it combines visual novel and dating sim elements with steampunk robots, as the threat of a demonic invasion looms over one of Earth's major cities. This one's all about alternate timeline Tokyo in 1940, as former navy captain Seijuro Kamiyama is...
Review MotoGP 20 - Another Exciting Ride, If You Can Handle It
A tricky balancing act
Milestone has made a name for itself as the de facto developer of motorbike racing games. If you trace it back, the Italian studio has been crafting this niche subset of racers for about 20 years. To say it has experience with two-wheeled motorsport would be a grave understatement. However, despite its expertise and dedication...
Mini Review Moving Out - PS4 Couch Co-Op at Its Most Literal
To me, to you
Moving Out successfully gamifies the otherwise highly stressful process of relocating. As employees of a somewhat questionable removal company, you and up to three other local players are tasked with shifting all the marked goods out of each building and into your truck as fast as possible. It's daft, easygoing fun. Levels start...
Mini Review Help Will Come Tomorrow - Survival Sim Best Left to the Cold
Frozen
With the independent scene continuing to thrive on PlayStation 4, perhaps the worst thing a smaller title can do is fail to make itself stand out from the ever-growing pack. Help Will Come Tomorrow has fallen victim to that -- a somewhat competent resource management simulator that doesn't do anything you haven't seen before. It's not a bad...
Mini Review My Friend Pedro - Stylish Action Stumbles on Rigid Design
Flash in the pan
My Friend Pedro has finally brought its zany 2D shooting gallery to PlayStation 4, and it's a strange beast. Ignoring the fact you play a character devout to a sentient and bloodthirsty banana, the game feels at odds with itself on quite a fundamental level. It's aiming to make the player feel like a John Wick, gun-fu master at all...
