Latest Reviews
Review Yakuza 3 Remastered - Rough Around the Edges, But Still a Great Yakuza Game
Return of the Dragon
Yakuza 3's infamously slow start sees series protagonist Kazuma Kiryu enjoying a relatively quiet life managing an orphanage on the sunny shoreline of Okinawa -- but it's not long before our hero is dragged into yet another dramatic feud between yakuza clans. Yakuza 3 was an ambitious jump forward for the franchise back in 2009,...
Review Groundhog Day: Like Father Like Son - Time-Looping Puzzler Can't Live Up to the Iconic Movie
Phil Connors simulator
In Groundhog Day: Like Father Like Son, a virtual reality sorta-sequel to the classic movie, you play as Phil Connors Jr. -- the cocksure son of Bill Murray's character and social media influencer on the rise. He's back in Punxsutawney to see his family and celebrate the unveiling of a statue in his father's honour. It's meant...
Review Bus Simulator - Public Transport Shouldn't Be This Much Fun
On the buses
The simulator sub-genre has become something of a joke, and Bus Simulator seems to recognise that it’s part of the punchline. This cunningly self-aware public transport affair from StillAlive Studios straddles the line between silly and serious, blending arcade action with obsessive attention to detail. It plays a little bit like if...
Review eFootball PES 2020 - Same Shirt, Different Name
If it ain't broke, don't match-fix it
Just when you thought PES was getting old and stale, it gets a new name. That’s right, for a franchise that began as International Superstar Soccer, changed to Pro Evolution Soccer, and sporadically adopted and rejected the name of Winning Eleven, Konami has decided 2020 will mark the new era of eFootball PES...
Review Rebel Cops - Intense Turn-Based Tactical Response
Police brutality
Rebel Cops is what would happen if you crossed Lethal Weapon with XCOM. It’s a hard-boiled cop drama that plays out in isometric, turn-based confrontations between the criminal underworld and the only cops in the town of Ripton that haven’t yet been bought off or slaughtered. Set in the nineties, you’ll foil bank robberies,...
Review AI: The Somnium Files - Top Notch Visual Novel Tainted By Flawed Puzzle Solving
Dream machine
What a weird and wild ride AI: The Somnium Files is. At its heart this is a detective thriller styled as a visual novel, but that basic description sells this consistently bonkers title very, very short. The characters, their interactions with one another, and the world around them are all over the top and comical to some degree, yet...
Review Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch Remastered - Level-5’s Masterpiece Is Tidier Than Ever
A whole ‘nother world. Beautiful, en’t it?
Oh, how we could fling superlatives to describe how utterly wonderful Ni no Kuni is. Forgive us, then, for choosing the word tidy. Yes, tidy is the right word to open our review of Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch Remastered. Not just because this is clearly the tidiest edition of the game so far,...
Review Headspun - A Buggy FMV Adventure with a Decent Story and Little Else
Inside nout
The brain is a complex thing; vast, mysterious, and packed full of drones in ties controlling our thoughts. Or, so says Headspun, a disappointing FMV/management hybrid that has you rebuilding the functions of a man’s mind following an accident. It’s a neat concept, but one marred by glitches, outdated mini-games, and irritatingly...
Review Agatha Knife - A Sweet Natured and Deeply Disturbing Adventure
All the little animals
Agatha is a little girl who loves animals. She also likes to kill them, because stocking her mother’s struggling butcher shop makes her happy. She hates that her furry friends look sad when they face their end. Agatha tries to quell her sadness and insomnia by creating a religion in the hopes of revitalising her mother’s...
Review Smoots Summer Games - Daley Thompson's Decathlon Is Better
Run away
Tokyo 2020 is about a year away and the popsicle section in your local supermarket has likely been scaled back, but that ain’t stopping Smoots Summer Games from bringing some sunshine to the decathlon post season. This ugly sports game looks like it’s stepped straight off a smartphone and into the stadium, but it’s aiming to make you...
Review Blasphemous - An Unholy and Triumphant Metroidvania
King of the castle
Perhaps ‘Dark Souls-vania’ is a bit of an overstatement, but there’s no denying the plethora of influences, both modern and contemporary, in this gorgeously sacrilegious metroidvania. Blasphemous is dripping in grim atmosphere and stuffed full of macabre religious iconography, bloody combat, and enough lore to fill the Old...
Review Metro Exodus: The Two Colonels - Satisfactory Action Down Under
Sound of the underground
After pitching itself as the series' big, breakout, open-world moment, it's almost comical that the first piece of downloadable content for Metro: Exodus immediately returns to what it was originally known for. The Two Colonels is a short, linear, claustrophobic experience that's not much more than serviceable in any...
Review The Ninja Saviors: Return of the Warriors - A PS4 Remake of a Classic Beat-'Em-Up
Tengo's game works
Developed by NatsumeAtari's Tengo Project team, The Ninja Saviors: Return of the Warriors is a remake of a 1994 SNES beat-'em-up, The Ninja Warriors Again, which in itself felt like a mixture of sequel and remake of TAITO's 1987 The Ninja Warriors arcade game. With gameplay that expands upon the template set by the likes of
Review Risk of Rain 2 - Frantically Challenging Action Makes for Compelling Co-Op
Heavy loot showers expected
Risk of Rain 2 might just be one of the PlayStation 4’s most addictive co-op experiences. Crash-landing on a hostile planet littered with sparsely detailed but highly stylised landmarks and architecture, you and your team must survive using weapons and abilities that are in constant flux as you slot in more and more...
Review River City Girls - Retro Brawling With a Twist
Girls about town
Dishing out knuckle sandwiches as either Kyoko or Misako in couch co-op brawler River City Girls is immediately fun, with the combat comparing favourable to the genre favourites of yesteryear. As tends to be the case with this sort of title however, fighting the ever growing hordes of enemies on your quest to rescue the duo’s...
Review Monster Hunter World: Iceborne - A Truly Monstrous Expansion that Destroys Expectations
Beastly
Monster Hunter World: Iceborne is an expansion that just keeps on giving. We've sunk close to 100 hours into Iceborne and it feels like we're still discovering something new every time we boot it up. Capcom has gone above and beyond with this one, transforming an already amazing action role-playing game into something truly special. This is...
Review Torchlight II - Diablo's One True Contender Finally Comes to PS4
Killin', lootin', and feedin' your dog
Back in 2009, developer Runic Games gave the dungeon crawler a spark of new life in the form of Torchlight -- A colourful action-RPG, both fun and satisfying to play. It was a finely tuned example of the genre, no doubt because of a creative team that consisted of ex-Diablo 2 devs. A sequel came in 2012,...
Review Root Letter: Last Answer - Manga Turned Live Action Is a Pleasant Surprise
Is that a ghost?
As far as re-releases go, Root Letter: Last Answer is one of the most dramatic of the generation. Originally released on PlayStation 4 three years ago as a manga-based visual novel, the title from Kadokawa Games is back with an all-new live action overhaul that turns what was already a decent experience into something that anyone...
Review Final Fantasy VIII Remastered - A Fascinating JRPG Classic, Gameplay Flaws and All
I've got a GF that's better than that
Do we think Final Fantasy VIII is a bad game? Not at all. Do we think it's one of the best Final Fantasy games? Not quite, but even now, a whopping 20 years after its initial release on the original PlayStation, there's a unique kind of magic to Final Fantasy VIII. The world, the characters, and the story create...
Review WRC 8 - A More Forgiving Alternative to DiRT Rally 2.0
Dirty tactics
WRC 8 is the latest rally title from Bigben Interactive, and unlike Codemasters' simulation series, it's officially licensed -- all the cars, teams, and tracks from the real world sport are present and correct. It's a neat advantage, but having an FIA sticker on the box doesn't guarantee a good time on the track. Fortunately, the game...
Review Catherine: Full Body - The Definitive Catherine Experience
Like a fine wine
A whole eight years after its original release on PlayStation 3, Catherine remains a unique experience. A mix of visual novel-style storytelling and often hellish puzzle solving, it's a game that's aged surprisingly well. Catherine: Full Body enhances the visuals, expands the story, adds to the already sublime soundtrack, and brings...
Review Edna & Harvey: Harvey’s New Eyes - An Enjoyable Point and Click Adventure with a Dark Twist
Keep your eyes peeled
Edna & Harvey: Harvey’s New Eyes is a follow up to 2008’s Edna & Harvey: The Breakout. Set in the same world as the original (not that you need to have played the first game to enjoy this one), Harvey’s New Eyes is a point and click adventure in the classic 2D style. Despite being a sequel to Edna & Harvey,...
Review Darksiders III - An Entertaining Adventure That's Stuck in the Past
Fury rode
Republished on Wednesday 28th August 2019: We're bringing this review back from the archives following the announcement of September's PlayStation Plus lineup. The original text follows. The Darksiders series has always been an unexpected surprise. It's managed to garner a cult following, despite a proclivity for liberally borrowing...
Review Batman: Arkham Knight - Rocksteady Ends Its Trilogy on a High
Arkham night, night
Republished on Wednesday 28th August 2019: We're bringing this review back from the archives following the announcement of September's PlayStation Plus lineup. The original text follows. Branded as the apparent finale to London-based studio Rocksteady's gritty affair with the world's greatest detective, Batman: Arkham Knight...
Review Black Desert - Ugly Technical Issues Hamper Pretty MMO
Black Sheep
For the uninitiated, Black Desert is an MMO that supplants the standard combat that you'd expect to see in a game like World of Warcraft or Final Fantasy XIV with an action-based battle system more akin to a really low-budget God of War. It takes place in one fairly sizeable open world map rather than lots of smaller ones joined together...
Review Oninaki - A Dark and Intriguing Action RPG That Loses Its Edge
Break the cycle
Oninaki is developer Tokyo RPG Factory's third game. Like I Am Setsuna and Lost Sphear before it, Oninaki is fundamentally a role-playing title, but it differs greatly in that it takes more inspiration from Diablo than it does Final Fantasy. This is a dungeon crawling action RPG with randomised loot, expansive character progression,...
Review Knights and Bikes - Girls on Bikes Take a Delightful Nostalgia Trip
On your bike
Every close knit group of childhood friends inevitably spawn their very own local legend. These stories are birthed not only by a child’s unique perspective of the world, but probably a bit too much sugar in their diet as well. For this reviewer, it was an ominous looking house that could just be seen over the treeline on my walk to...
Review Decay of Logos - An Action RPG for Those Who Love to Explore
Discover the truth behind this ruined realm
A burning village, a dark abomination harassing a noble looking elk, and a sword at your feet. These are the opening moments in Decay of Logos. No tutorial, no lengthy exposition of the world’s lore, just you and a sword. This opening is a sign of things to come. This is not a game that’s going to hold...
Review RAD - Mutant Roguelike Madness in a Dystopian Future
The New Mutants
Combining addictive roguelike gameplay with a rocking 80s aesthetic and an assortment of flesh altering power-ups, RAD more than lives up to its name. Throwing you into a world clinging to life after not one, but two apocalypses, your character is tasked with purifying the desolate land. By locating respirator machines, you’ll...
Review Ancestors Legacy - An Impressive, Robust Console RTS
Generational talent
As recent as last console generation, an RTS on console – with the exception of Halo Wars – was pretty much guaranteed to be a nightmarish experience. There are just too many systems and too many things to monitor to be able to successfully transfer the genre to a controller. Fast forward a few more years and now it’s...
