Latest Reviews
Review Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled - An Unapologetically Retro Racing Revival
Resolution wump
On a lot of levels, Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled is a resounding success. This Beenox recreation of the 20-year-old original looks and sounds fantastic, and it plays just like it did back in the day. For fans, it's about as good a remake as you could hope for, but we're not quite convinced that a prettified retread is enough of a...
Review Luna - A Sweet, Meditative PSVR Excursion
By the light of the silvery moon
Every now and again, it's nice to just play a game that makes you smile. In between all the games about shooting and killing and gore, there are games that are just so unabashedly sweet that you can't help but grin as you play them. Enter Funomena's Luna, a PlayStation VR puzzler that tells a tale about connectedness...
Adult entertainment
At the beginning of Larry Laffer’s latest adventure, you can prompt seedy barkeep Lefty for information on the current era. One of his many responses is the revelation that “people don't play point and click adventures anymore, they play games with exploding candies instead”. Throughout Crazy Bunch Studio’s revival of...
Review Crash Team Racing - Naughty Dog Created the Best Kart Racer on PSone
Bandicoot power slide
Start your engines, and fasten your seatbelts for another Naughty Dog creation. In this case it's CTR: Crash Team Racing from 1999, which also happens to be the greatest kart racing game on the PSone. Released in the same year as Speed Freaks, and colourful mascot racers like Bomberman Fantasy Race on PSone, Crash Team Racing...
Review Mini-Mech Mayhem - Silly Turn-Based Strategy from the Makers of Velocity
Go ahead, Mech my day
PlayStation VR really is a treasure trove of new ideas, and FuturLab’s latest is certainly just that. The developer of the excellent Velocity 2X has brought multiplayer turn-based strategy to the platform, and while it isn’t without its issues, it offers something wholly unique. Mini-Mech Mayhem begins with customising an...
Review Super Neptunia RPG - Only You Can Save the Gamindustri
2D console wars
Things have definitely changed since the last time we visited the land of Gamindustri (yes, that’s really what the world is called). For one thing, everything is now in 2D which, according to the locals, is the height of modern gaming technology. Super Neptunia RPG is a spin-off from the Hyperdimension Neptunia games, a super cute...
Review Effie - A Charming Concept That Feels Much Too Easy
Young at heart
Effie is a Disney-esque 3D action-adventure packing all the cliché tropes of a bog standard fairy tale. It meshes together traditional elements of the genre with expanded, enchanting environments to explore, all of which dazzle and ooze with charm. You follow the story of Galand who ventures far and wide across the region of Oblena,...
Review Contra Anniversary Collection - A Good But Repetitive Package of Retro Shooters
If it moves, shoot it
Continuing Konami’s trend of 50th anniversary celebration compilations, Contra Anniversary Collection storms into battle with ten classic side scrolling shooters. Well, five, actually. The collection includes three variations of the original, and three other titles that double up with different console ports. Having the...
Review Super Blood Hockey - Streets of Rage Meets Ice Hockey
Bloody H.E. Double Hockey Sticks
When it comes to hockey games on the PlayStation 4, it’s relatively slim pickings. 2K has been out of the game for quite a while now, and EA’s monopoly has resulted in each annual NHL release offering up mediocre titles that haven’t changed in a decade. Apart from that, there are a couple smaller arcade games:...
See you in hell
After being left slightly disappointed by Assassin's Creed Odyssey: The Fate of Atlantis - Episode 1, we needed Episode 2 to show us that the Eagle Bearer's journey through the underworld was only going to get better. The first episode was beautiful but ultimately a bit boring, and while Episode 2 does still plod along at times, it's...
Review DayZ - Far Too Little Far Too Late for the PS4's Worst Performing Game
Zzz
DayZ was a cultural phenomenon when it launched as a mod for ARMA 2 in mid-2012. As one of the first games to successfully implement survival elements and mechanics into its gameplay loop, it paved the way for an entirely new genre that is still just as popular today. That original experience was seven years ago though, and the world of video...
Review Warhammer: Chaosbane - Dull Diablo Clone Doesn't Deliver
Borehammer
Imagine a fantasy action role playing game in which you must guide a wizard or warrior on a heroic quest through dozens of wonderfully realised locales, battle a cavalcade of foul creatures, loot their rotten remains for rewarding new gear, and eventually go toe-to-toe with fearsome and challenging bosses. And then imagine you can play...
Review The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II - A JRPG Sequel that Delivers on Every Level
Smile like you Rean it
Sequels like The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel II are a rarity these days. This lengthy, incredibly in-depth follow-up to the first game is essentially the second half of the story. Most of the key plot points that were set up in Trails of Cold Steel are fully explored here, with an absolutely massive cast of...
Review Sonic Mania - A Pixel Perfect Celebration of the Hedgehog's Heyday
To be this good takes AGES
Republished on Wednesday 29th May 2019: We're bringing this review back from the archives following the announcement of June's PlayStation Plus lineup. The original text follows. It still amazes us that SEGA would entrust its most famous creation to a group of fans. Should a team of enthusiasts really meddle with one of...
Review Borderlands: The Handsome Collection - All the Looting and Shooting You Could Ask For
Claptrap compilation
Republished on Wednesday 29th May 2019: We're bringing this review back from the archives following the announcement of June's PlayStation Plus lineup. The original text follows. It's becoming a familiar tale of late: a much loved game from the previous generation shows up on your new and shiny gaming apparatus, dressed up, and...
Review Unruly Heroes - Awesome Art Style Can't Hide Iffy Gameplay Issues
Beauty is only skin deep
The PlayStation 4 is not short on 2D platformers, but Unruly Heroes at least makes an attempt to stand out from the crowd. This action-focused side-scroller comes from independent developer Magic Design Studios, comprising partly of several ex-Ubisoft folks. That the game looks remarkably similar to Rayman Legends starts to...
Review Trover Saves the Universe - A Frenzied, F-Bomb Fuelled Fever Dream
Where do we even start
In a way, Trover Saves the Universe almost feels more like a Rick and Morty video game than Rick & Morty: Virtual Rick-ality. It shares the zany, off-the-wall humour of the popular show, but also its sense of adventure. You join the titular character on a journey across the cosmos to thwart an evil power, and no...
Review Blood & Truth - Confident Cockney Crime Drama Is a PSVR Dream
Marks man
As far as tech demos go, the London Heist – which launched as part of London Studio’s varied compilation disc PlayStation VR Worlds – was a convincing one. The short, hour-long crime drama effortlessly captured the potential of Sony’s pricey PSVR headset, demonstrating how it can enhance immersion, story-telling, and interactivity...
Review Layers of Fear 2 - Tame Scares Are a Slight Dampener on Impressive Sequel
Be my victim
Bloober Team is a studio that knows a thing or two about the spectrum of opinion. After launching its 2016 hit Layers of Fear, the Polish developer fell well wide of the mark a year later with its own version of cyberpunk. We didn’t take to Observer in the slightest, but fast-track two years and the team is returning to what put it on...
Review Bubsy: Paws on Fire - Put a Paws on Buying This Platformer
This kitty's got (no) claws
After lying dormant for nearly two decades, 2017 saw the release of a new Bubsy title when The Woolies Strike Back released for the PlayStation 4. Much like the many other entries in the series, it was received rather poorly. In our review, it was referred to as probably the last entry in the series of underwhelming...
Review American Fugitive - A Decent Reimagining of Classic Grand Theft Auto
Bad boys
Grand Theft Auto III was one of the PlayStation 2’s most important early releases -- fully realising the potential of its genre with an interactive 3D open world that took the world by storm upon its launch in late 2001. It was a landmark moment for video games, but it also represented a shift in design away from the top-down perspective...
Review Observation - Space Survival Story with Some Surprises
I'm just looking, I'm not spyin'
Space is kinda terrifying when you think about it. It can be unsettling taking the wrong turn in Wales and winding up surrounded by fields and sheep with nothing but your SatNav for company -- imagine being trapped on a space station and looking out of your window to see nought but the immeasurable black void staring...
Review Everybody's Golf VR - Hot Shots in a Different Dimension
Putt to the test
In the 2017 instalment of Everybody’s Golf, veteran developer Clap-Hanz – supported, as always, by Sony’s own industrious Japan Studio – attempted to reinvent the decades-old franchise, adding open world elements to the classic click-click-click arcade action of yore. Everybody’s Golf VR represents another stark change for...
Vampires. I hate these guys
With a series as well-loved as Castlevania, Konami has sensibly approached celebrating the company's 50th anniversary by providing a game selection in the Castlevania Anniversary Collection with a sense of focus and balance. As opposed to Metroidvania games, the focus here is upon the traditional-style, stage-progression...
Review RAGE 2 (PS4) - Some of the Best Shooting This Gen Doesn't Get the Attention It Deserves
What a wasteland
RAGE 2 is a bit of an odd one. It's been marketed as a sandbox of insanity since its initial reveal, but the reality is that it's actually a pretty tame open world shooter — you could even call it safe. It can be loud but it's no Mad Max: Fury Road, it can be sassy but it's no Borderlands, and it can be brutal but it's no DOOM...
Review Darkwood - Sublime Horror with Some Small Setbacks
It comes at night
Trapped in a Polish village surrounded by an insurmountable forest of trees and threats, you head back to the one place you know can provide some amount of safety. As the sun goes down, your pace quickens with the knowledge that if you’re caught out after dark, you may as well start digging your own grave there and then. With...
Review Sniper Elite V2 Remastered - Serviceable Sniper Action Stuck in the Past
Not so ghillied up
Sniper Elite V2 Remastered is the re-release of a PS3 game that was already a remake of the original title in the series. It’s a confusing timeline to say the least, but what baffles us even more is the sheer existence of this PS4 version in the first place. Subsequent sequels, Sniper Elite III and Sniper Elite 4, outmatch the...
Review Shakedown: Hawaii - Money Makes This Open World Go Round
Making a killing
Shakedown: Hawaii is the follow-up to Vblank Entertainment's Retro City Rampage, and as such, it shares a lot of the same DNA. Both are pixelated, open world action games that riff on old-school Grand Theft Auto, and both took a long time to make. However, while this new adventure will be very familiar to anyone who's played RCR, it...
Pour one out
You'd be forgiven for not knowing this is actually the second time VA-11 HALL-A has graced a PlayStation platform. It released to relatively little fanfare on the PS Vita – and only the PS Vita – but now, at long last, it's found a new home on the PlayStation 4. Venezuelan developer Sukeban Games’ marvelous visual novel is here,...
Review Overcooked - A Delicious Slice of Culinary Co-Op
Frying pan-ic
Republished on Wednesday 1st May 2019: We're bringing this review back from the archives following the announcement of May's PlayStation Plus lineup. The original text follows. Too many cooks spoil the broth – or so the saying goes. The fellows at Ghost Town Games may have taken this on-board when developing its debut indie effort...
