Latest Reviews
Review Assault Gunners HD Edition (PS4)
Not meching waves
Assault Gunners HD Edition feels completely out of place on PlayStation 4. Originally released on Vita in Japan, it never made its way over to the West until this HD remaster, and we can see why. The only real selling point is that you control mechs, and while this point alone might do enough to justify a few purchases in the East,...
What a waste-land
Republished on Wednesday 28th March 2018: We're bringing this review back from the archives following the announcement of April's PlayStation Plus lineup. The original text follows. With the recent cinematic success of Mad Max: Fury Road, there has never been a better time for a game based on Max Rockatansky's particular brand of...
Review TrackMania: Turbo (PS4)
Round the bend
Republished on Wednesday 28th March 2018: We're bringing this review back from the archives following the announcement of April's PlayStation Plus lineup. The original text follows. Despite the brand debuting well over a decade ago, TrackMania: Turbo marks the arcade racer's first release on a PlayStation platform. A favourite on the...
Review Q*Bert Rebooted (PlayStation 4)
@!#?@!
Republished on Wednesday 28th March 2018: We're bringing this review back from the archives following the announcement of April's PlayStation Plus lineup. The original text follows. It's easy to name the quintessential arcade games of the 80s, like Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, and Space Invaders – after all, these are timeless titles
Favelas of rage
Republished on Wednesday 28th March 2018: We're bringing this review back from the archives following the announcement of April's PlayStation Plus lineup. The original text follows. The scrolling beat-'em-up is one of those beloved genres that indie devs are always trying to bring back to the fold, but they never quite succeed...
Review Batman: The Enemy Within - Episode Five: Same Stitch (PS4)
Joke's on you
Telltale’s take on the Batman universe has been one of the few shining lights in its portfolio of late, and The Enemy Within has successfully eschewed the sophomore slump with another sterling five episode series that turns everything you know about the Dark Knight on its pointy-eared head. This finale is far from perfect, but...
Review Pure Farming 2018 (PS4)
Corny
The mainstream success of the farming genre may be attributed directly to a certain YouTube video showing tractors breakdancing to dubstep, but agricultural adventures are big business these days. Case in point: Techland’s Pure Farming 2018 is the latest in a long line of pretenders attempting to cull Giants Software’s ripened crown. But...
Review Atelier Lydie & Suelle: The Alchemists and the Mysterious Paintings (PS4)
Double trouble
Atelier Lydie & Suelle: The Alchemists and the Mysterious Paintings is the third and final game in the Atelier “Mysterious” trilogy. If we take a quick look back at the previous two games then you’ll see that there have been some pretty big changes between them. Atelier Sophie was praised by many for getting rid of the time...
It takes two
In keeping with A Way Out's theme of co-operation, this review has been written by Senior Staff Writer Stephen Tailby and Reviewer Alex Stinton, and sees them discussing their joint experience. What follows is their thoughts on the game, presented in a conversational manner. Enjoy. Stephen: So, A Way Out, then. It's Josef Fares'...
Review R.B.I. Baseball 18 (PS4)
Balls
Poor ol’, R.B.I. Baseball 18. You can’t help but feel sorry for this arcade-inspired adaptation of the Great American Pastime™, which is published and developed by Major League Baseball itself. Primarily designed to ensure there’s an MLB presence on multiple platforms, the PlayStation 4 edition is routinely forced to sit in the shadow...
Daddy issues
If an AI were to create a game based on popular Google search terms for video games, Far Cry 5 would likely be the result. Whether that's a good or a bad thing largely depends on what you expect from Far Cry at this point, and probably games in general. Because Far Cry 5 isn't a bad game – in fact, it's an awful lot of good old...
Review Batman: The Enemy Within - Episode Four: What Ails You (PS4)
Ail be back
It’s testament to Telltale’s work within the Batman universe that we didn’t even realise Episode 4: What Ails You does away with the cape and cowl almost entirely. That’s right, for the majority of Season Two’s penultimate instalment, you’ll be blitzing it as billionaire playboy, Bruce Wayne. Clocking in at around an hour,...
Going down
Floor Plan is far from the first puzzle game to release for PlayStation VR, with Statik, GNOG, and Wayward Sky all being notable releases from earlier in its lifecycle. What makes Floor Plan different to the others is its setting and its new concept of multi-layered puzzles across multiple floors. Set entirely within an elevator, you...
Review Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom (PS4)
Fit for a king
At this point the PlayStation 4 is home to many quality role-playing games. From the serious tones of The Witcher 3 and the violence of Bloodborne to the eye-popping style of Persona 5 and the majesty of Horizon: Zero Dawn, there's something for just about everyone. However, very few titles can measure up to the sheer charm that's on...
Review Assassin's Creed Origins: Curse of the Pharaohs (PS4)
More of a blessing than a curse
Following on from the enjoyable, if a little boring The Hidden Ones, Curse of the Pharaohs is Assassin's Creed Origins' second expansion, and it's a lot more ambitious. Once again, protagonist Bayek -- now getting on in years -- is informed of ill happenings off in a different part of Egypt. This time, he's...
Review The Raven Remastered (PS4)
Leave no stone unturned
Mystery awaits in THQ Nordic’s latest rework of its 2013 game The Raven: Legacy of a Master Thief. The Remastered edition comes bundled with just the right amount of puzzle solving, wit, and charm as its counterpart, with some reworked animations as well as improvements to shading and lighting. It's an often slow-paced...
Leap of faith
Octahedron isn't quite your regular 2D platformer. The strikingly colourful pixel art doesn't give a whole lot away in screenshots, but there are a couple of key points that afford this clever title a unique flavour. Firstly, you're not heading right, you're heading up. Secondly, and more importantly, you create many of the platforms...
Review Burnout Paradise Remastered (PS4)
Paradise
It’s not so much the destination but the journey that makes Burnout Paradise Remastered sing like Avril Lavigne in her punk princess pomp. Glittering yellow gates beg to be smashed; crimson coloured billboards linger precariously at the end of ramps, begging to be kissed by your bonnet. And all this while you’re en route to the...
Review Devil May Cry HD Collection (PS4)
Devil Never Cry
Devil May Cry is a franchise that revolutionised hack-and-slash gaming back when it first released in October 2001 for the PlayStation 2. Since then, the series has seen several sequels that varied in quality, but ultimately still provided some of the most exciting and engaging gameplay to date. Naturally, Capcom had decided to...
Review Tesla vs Lovecraft (PS4)
Electricity and madness
With a name like Tesla vs Lovecraft, you're expecting a certain tone. This is not a serious shooter; right from the outset it aims for ‘insane’ and works from there. Appropriate given the game's antagonist. The title screen blasts out a chaotic theme tune, depicting a monster-riding H.P. Lovecraft facing off against...
A peasantry affair
With over 11 years' worth of material to draw inspiration from, a video game adaptation of the Beast Quest franchise arrives with a somewhat decent amount of potential. Telling tales of mythical creatures and the heroes that slay them, does the series’ first attempt on consoles go down in the history books with a lasting legacy...
Review Attack on Titan 2 (PS4)
Colossal fun
For those who have been living under a rock, Attack on Titan is one of the biggest anime and manga properties of recent years, and tells the story of humanity's struggle against a group of man-eating Titans who are threatening to destroy their world. The first Attack on Titan game came out in 2016, and now Koei Tecmo is back with a...
Life on Mars
As entrepreneurial wunderkind Elon Musk reaches out to settle humans on Earth’s little red brother, mankind wonders what awaits us on that alien soil. How will we come to terms with our new existence as off-world colonists? What trials will we face? Well, if it turns out like our first forays onto crimson soil, we’ll scrap the first...
Squad goals
The elite squad of United States hotshots Bravo Team think they’re home and hosed: they’ve successfully escorted the president of a fictional Eastern Europe country safely back to her destination, and all that’s left is a pat on the back and a rousing round of ‘Oorah’. But a sudden coup sees the dignitary snatched away, and...
Push cube
QUBE 2 is the sequel to QUBE: Director’s Cut, the very well received puzzle game from Toxic Games that launched on PlayStation 4 back in 2015. The story for QUBE 2 follows on from its predecessor, except this time with another character taking on the lead role. You play as Amelia Cross an archaeologist who has awoken inside this weird...
Review The Council: Episode 1 - The Mad Ones (PS4)
We're all mad here
Focus Home Interactive’s impressively ambitious portfolio scoops another intriguing title with Big Bad Wolf’s political period drama The Council, an episodic adventure that fuses Telltale’s narrative-driven experiences with a more traditional role-playing release. But does debut episode The Mad Ones do enough to draw you...
Review Way of the Passive Fist (PS4)
Wayward fist
The side-scrolling beat-'em-up is a genre that has been around for almost as long as video games have existed. Countless games have been released in this style to the point where coming up with something that feels original and unique is almost impossible. However, Household Games Inc found a distinctive spin to put on this tried and...
Review Scribblenauts Showdown (PS4)
Sketchy
Perhaps surprisingly, Scribblenauts Showdown is the first title in the series to make its way to PlayStation. In a way, this is great news; Scribblenauts is a fun, creative franchise that encourages imaginative thinking, and it's always good to have more kid-friendly games on PlayStation 4. However, while Showdown retains the charm,...
Review TT Isle of Man: Ride on the Edge (PS4)
On the edge of boring
As you can probably tell by its title, TT Isle of Man Racing: Ride on the Edge is a very niche game. Not only is it an entire game dedicated to one sub-genre of motorcycle sport, but it’s actually dedicated to one race; the Isle of Man’s Snaefell Mountain Course is the only official track present, with fictional tracks set...
More Hazard than Eden
VRFC is a strange beast. To get anything from it you need to be able to embrace its lunacy. It might not be a true-to-form example of the beautiful game, but it sure is fun. That is, after you get past the steep learning curve, at least. For the first couple of hours, VRFC is a baffling experience. There's a tutorial...
