Latest Reviews
Review What Remains of Edith Finch - A Melancholic Masterpiece
This old house
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. It's been five long years since developer Giant Sparrow released its debut title The Unfinished Swan. We absolutely adored that game when it launched, giving...
Review Fade to Silence - A Bang Average Fight for Survival
Silent night
The survival genre is most definitely an acquired taste, but it doesn’t always take a genius to recognise a bit of a dud. Fade to Silence attempts to take after The Long Dark with a harsh, unrelenting winter setting that puts a strain on food and warmth - but it’s nowhere near as effective. Largely thanks to a lack of direction,...
Review Snooker 19 - Solid PS4 Potter Is Right on Cue
Big break
Snooker’s perhaps at its most exciting when Ronnie O’Sullivan is complaining about the stench of tournament venues and Mark Williams is hosting press conferences in the nude. There’s none of the side-theatre in Snooker 19, though: just good honest baize buccaneering with 128 of the world’s top professionals. While there has been...
Sinking feeling
After the fantastical greatness of Assassin's Creed Origins: Curse of the Pharaohs, we had high hopes for The Fate of Atlantis -- a chance for the developers of Assassin's Creed Odyssey to let their imagination run wild. While Odyssey already features a number of mythological elements, this DLC saga promises even more creativity...
Review Arcade Classics Anniversary Collection - Old School Konami Kicks
Back to the 80s
Konami gifts us eight games for the price of one with its Arcade Classics Anniversary Collection. The results are good, but a tad disappointing, based on the other titles the publisher has to its name. The additions of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, The Simpsons Arcade, and Contra certainly would’ve livened things up and added more...
Review Jupiter & Mars - Nautical Neon Adventure Is a Little Shallow
Under the sea
Yes, Jupiter & Mars has some similarities to Ecco the Dolphin -- you use echolocation, whales are revered as god-like entities, and there's a sci-fi slant to the story. This PS4 adventure doesn't go quite as insane as the Mega Drive classic, however, instead opting for a more down to Earth narrative about, well, Earth. Taking...
Review Mortal Kombat 11 - Making One Fatal Mistake
Fatality
Mortal Kombat 11 sees the return of the nearly 27-year-old franchise, and likely for its last hurrah on this generation of consoles. NetherRealm’s latest is a solid kontender for the best PlayStation 4 beat-em-up, but its heart has been korrupted by a baffling progression system. Picking up after the events of 2015’s Mortal Kombat X,...
Review World War Z - Enjoyable Zombie Action That Narrowly Misses the Mark
Where's Brad Pitt?
The more games that release in an attempt to emulate it, the more we start to believe that Left 4 Dead was simply a product of its time. While the series never put in an appearance on a PlayStation console, its success was felt far and wide as multiple co-operative knock-offs tried and almost always failed to replicate the unique...
Review My Time At Portia - A Delightful Post-Apocalyptic Life Sim
Workshop till you drop
My Time At Portia is a charming life simulation game, revolving around your new life running a workshop in the post-apocalyptic town of Portia. Unlike most such settings, Portia is brimming with vibrant colours and cheerful residents. However, the town still bears the scars of the apocalyptic event which ravished the world...
Review Heaven's Vault - Impressive Linguistics Can't Combat Mediocrity
Speech level 100
One of the finest things about the independent scene is that it gives more unique ideas, mechanics, and features the opportunity to thrive. Heaven’s Vault, from developer inkle Studios, takes advantage of that freedom with an experience that turns back the clocks and places the emphasis on language and archaeology. It’s a far...
Review FAR: Lone Sails - A Melancholy Drive Through a Harsh World
Come sail away
Have you ever watched a trailer for an indie title and thought to yourself, “Yeah, I get it. It’s one of those artsy titles more hell-bent on just looking pretty.” At a quick glance, that impression looks like it could apply to a title like Swiss developer Okomotive’s FAR: Lone Sails. Well, we've got some news for you; it's...
Review Ghost Giant - A PSVR Masterpiece
Thank you for the music
If we were to hand out awards for adorability at the end of this year, Zoink! Games’ latest would already have the entire competition beat four months in. Ghost Giant has to be one of the most charming and lovable experiences we’ve had this generation, and to witness its beauty through PlayStation VR is quite a sight to...
Review Earth Defense Force: Iron Rain - EDF Is Back to Its Best
EDF! EDF! EDF!
Giving another studio the opportunity to work on a well-documented franchise, especially one whose most notable creations are its WWE 2K titles for the past six years, is always going to come with risks. When developer Yuke’s was given the keys to the Earth Defense Force series, it promised a more western take on things - one that...
Review Falcon Age - PSVR Classic Combines Meaningful Storytelling with Adorable Birds
Bird play
It’s kind of crazy to think that Falcon Age is Outer Loop Games’ very first project as a developer. Designed and produced in its Seattle-based studio, the experience demonstrates a level of maturity, understanding, and respect that games even in the AAA space could only hope to achieve. The headline-grabbing falcon is most definitely...
Review Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy - Three Classic Adventures That Stand the Test of Time
I hereby sentence you to play these games
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy is a bundle of the first three Phoenix Wright games, originally released on Game Boy Advance and then later revamped for Nintendo DS, making their way to a PlayStation console for the very first time. These classic adventure/visual novel titles follow a rookie defence...
Review Zanki Zero: Last Beginning - A Survival RPG from the Makers of Danganronpa
Eat, sleep, die, repeat
Zanki Zero: Last Beginning comes from the creators of the Danganronpa series, and if this game isn’t further proof that Spike Chunsoft loves to torture and torment its poor characters then we don’t know what is. While Zanki Zero doesn’t force a group of school students to kill each other, it still has an equally grim...
Review Dangerous Driving - As Close as You'll Get to Classic Burnout on PS4
Bumpy ride
As enormous fans of Criterion's classic arcade racing series Burnout, we've been patiently waiting for either a revival from EA (a pipe dream, let's be honest) or for someone else to crash into the scene with a fast and brazen alternative. That's exactly what Three Fields Entertainment has created with Dangerous Driving, although you'd...
Review Borderlands: Game of the Year Edition - Back with a Bang
Boom Claptrap
Ten years ago, Borderlands felt like a breath of fresh air. It stood apart from the games that were chasing Call of Duty’s shadow by channelling Diablo more than Desert Storm. Its signature loot mechanic became a selling point, but Borderlands always offered more than that. It was funny, charming, and wholly unique. And in a world...
Review Angry Birds VR: Isle of Pigs - A Short But Competent Adaptation to PSVR
Two pigs with one bird
Angry Birds was a massive hit when it launched on mobile devices several years ago, and since then it has spawned many different spinoff titles, such as Star Wars, Transformers, Rio, etc. The latest of which, Angry Birds VR: Isle of Pigs, is a virtual reality experience available on PlayStation VR. The game plays exactly as...
Review Outward - An Unremarkable Yet Charming Nod to Old School RPGs
Onward and outwards
Devoid of any innate ability to absorb dragon souls or lacking the experience and training of a ruthless Witcher, Outward instead sends you packing into a hostile world as a feeble adventurer with little but the clothes on your back for protection. Even set in the fantasy realm of Aurai, this open world RPG prides itself on...
Review Xenon Racer - Look Ma, No Handling
Race to the bottom
Xenon Racer is a racing game. That’s really the only way to kick off this review because there’s nothing memorable about it. Despite its 2030 setting it doesn’t try anything new – not necessarily a bad thing in itself, but something that becomes worse when you realise developer 3D Clouds hasn’t even got all the basics...
Review Space Junkies - Arena Shooters Have Met Their VR Match
Now it's time to get junky
You don’t need us to tell you that maintaining a consistent player base in multiplayer-only PlayStation VR games continues to be a struggle for any studio that claims to be up to the task. Some have lowered the barriers to entry by adopting free-to-play models or by opening the doors to non-VR players too, but the fact...
Melting pot
It really is crazy to think that the Atelier series has been going for over twenty years now. The series is well known for being far more about enchanting coming of age stories than trying to defeat the bad guys and save the world. Nelke & the Legendary Alchemist: Ateliers of the New World is a spin-off game that celebrates this...
Be seein' you, Sweetpea
Telltale’s horrific and very public implosion spelled disaster for the end of Clementine’s story. Halfway through the Final Season of The Walking Dead, we all got to witness the plug be unceremoniously pulled, only to have publisher Skybound swoop in and essentially rehire the entire Telltale team working on the final...
The revolution begins again
From gliding through the sandy deserts of Origins to basking in the ostentatious ancient Greek environments of Odyssey, the last few Assassin’s Creed instalments have not failed to astound players with their mind-blowing finesse. That said, regardless of how far the series has progressed (undoubtedly for the better),...
Review Generation Zero - A Woeful Open World Ordeal Stuck in the Past
Last gen design
Despite flying under most people’s radars, Generation Zero is actually a fairly major fall from grace. From developer Avalanche Studios, its latest open world foray is in stark contrast to the explosive, experimental, and action-packed nature of Just Cause 4's Solís. Instead, the studio’s take on a 1980s Sweden ravaged by an...
Review Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice - From Software Doesn't Sacrifice Difficulty for Accessibility
If at first you don't succeed, die and die again
It's a bit of a tired point at this stage, but it's definitely true -- Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is a far cry from Dark Souls and Bloodborne, and anyone who ignores this will be summarily slashed to pieces. From Software's latest shares some similarities with its predecessors, but with combat,...
Review The Surge - Dark Souls with No Soul
Bloodbored
Republished on Wednesday 27th March 2019: We're bringing this review back from the archives following the announcement of April's PlayStation Plus lineup. The original text follows. The Surge makes a great first impression. Its opening hour introduces you to a combat system that takes clear inspiration from the likes of Dark Souls and...
Review Conan Exiles - A Barbaric But Addictive Survival Experience
Grindr
Republished on Wednesday 27th March 2019: We're bringing this review back from the archives following the announcement of April's PlayStation Plus lineup. The original text follows. Conan Exiles is surprisingly good. When we first learned about an open world survival game themed on the Conan universe, we were tempted to write it off as a...
A class of its own
The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel, or just Trails of Cold Steel as it's more often referred to, is a turn based, character-driven role-playing title from Japanese developer Nihon Falcom. It's a story of friendship and war, all told from the perspective of Rean Schwarzer, a newly enrolled student at the prestigious Thors...
