Latest Reviews
Ghost Rider, this is Strike (Vector EX)
Republished on Wednesday 30th August 2017: We're bringing this review back from the archives following the announcement of September's PlayStation Plus lineup. The original text follows. If you feel the need, the need for speed – and by speed we mean high octane dog-fighting combat in...
Review Child of Light (PlayStation 4)
Painted paradise
Republished on Wednesday 30th August 2017: We're bringing this review back from the archives following the announcement of September's PlayStation Plus lineup. The original text follows. Child of Light, a new two-dimensional role-playing game from Ubisoft, is best described using the titles that it was so...
Review inFAMOUS: Second Son (PlayStation 4)
Heart-shaped sandbox
Republished on Wednesday 30th August 2017: We're bringing this review back from the archives following the announcement of September's PlayStation Plus lineup. The original text follows. Sucker Punch’s primary superpower is its ability to craft compelling connections through the controller. inFAMOUS: Second Son...
She's not a bad rabbit, she's just drawn that way
You know that dream you have where you’re a bunny rabbit who mysteriously gets turned into a cute human girl? Eh? Oh, just us then? But imagine the fun you could have as a literal bunny girl with kick ass battle powers. Yeah, that’s Rabi-Ribi. Packing one of the strangest plots to have hit the...
Review Warriors All-Stars (PS4)
Seeing stars
A crazy crossover title that features characters from a bunch of different Koei Tecmo properties, Warriors All-Stars certainly feels like an attempt at celebrating the publisher's many years of success. Unfortunately, as a traditional hack and slash Warriors title, the game just isn't that great. The PlayStation 4 has been blessed with...
Review Pillars of Eternity: Complete Edition (PS4)
Pillar talk
In traditional role-playing game fashion, you begin Pillars of Eternity by creating a character and assigning them a class, and then seconds later your avatar is caught in some sort of dastardly plot that leaves him or her with a magical new power. In this case, you're a Watcher - somebody able to communicate with souls, both living and...
Review Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana (PS4)
We’re going on an adventure
Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of Dana is the follow up to Ys: Memories of Celceta. It’s an action RPG which at its heart is all about adventuring and exploration. Ys is a long-running series that has been around since the 80s, but you don’t need to be familiar with any of the previous games to understand what’s...
Review Rock of Ages II: Bigger and Boulder (PS4)
Boulder dash
Rock of Ages II: Bigger and Boulder is one of those games that, on paper, sounds like it shouldn’t work. A sequel to 2011’s Rock of Ages on PlayStation 3, this title is a blend of tower defence and physics-based racing/platforming, all under an aesthetic that immediately brings to mind Terry Gilliam’s Monty Python animations. If...
Pedal to the Vettel
It’s the metagame that makes Formula One such a compelling motorsport: the tactical tension of fuel management, the timing of that pivotal pit-stop, and the never-ending research and development going on behind-the-scenes. F1 2017 offers a taste of these additional activities, and it all helps to raise the stakes when you’re...
Review The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing II (PS4)
Monster mash
The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing franchise has been releasing regularly on PCs since 2013, but has only just started to reach the PlayStation 4. The first in the series came to the console on the 1st March of this year and was met with a mixed reception. Now, just several months later, The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing II...
Review White Day: A Labyrinth Named School (PS4)
Whispering corridors
In 2001, a little-known game called White Day: A Labyrinth Named School released to a Korean-only audience, and amongst those who played it, many considered the title to be one of the scariest games of all time. 16 years later, this slice of Korean horror has finally made its way to western shores thanks to an English...
Paint by numbers
On paper, it’s obvious what ChromaGun will be compared to. A first-person puzzler set inside the white walls of a laboratory with an unfinished weapon that needs testing out? “That’s Portal!” we hear you scream. And if you were to look at it that simply, then indeed it is – but that would take away from everything...
All you need is LOVE
Loved by PC gamers since its launch in 2015, now the unique and eccentric Undertale has arrived on the PlayStation 4 and Vita, bringing a whole new world to console adventurers everywhere. Packed with charmingly weird and wonderful characters who interact with you in constantly unexpected and interesting ways, every encounter...
Adventure time
Ron Gilbert will always have a place in the gaming history books, mainly as a result of his services to the adventure game genre. Having played a key part in classics such as The Secret of Monkey Island and Maniac Mansion – to name but a few – the man himself hasn’t taken the lead in producing a straight up point-and-click...
Review Uncharted: The Lost Legacy (PS4)
Bolly good
Uncharted: The Lost Legacy is like a Greatest Hits album: short on surprises but a blast from start to finish. Naughty Dog’s greatest challenge with this standalone story was proving that its adventuring universe can survive without its wise-cracking protagonist – and it’s passed the test with flying colours. For as much joy as...
Either a benefit or a hazard
Bloober Team is a fascinating developer. The Polish outfit has released a couple of games this generation: its first, Basement Crawl, was so poorly received that it had to be remade, and was reborn as Brawl. Its follow-up to this was Layers of Fear, a Victorian-themed horror title about painting, and it remains one of...
Nid I say more
Nidhogg 2 is the very definition of an iterative sequel, in that it makes no changes to the core mechanics of its predecessor. You and a single opponent attempt to run towards opposite ends of a large 2D arena in order to be eaten by the giant cosmic worm known as the Nidhogg. It's probably going to take until Nidhogg 15 for us to...
Review Minecraft: Story Mode Season Two - Episode 2: Giant Consequences (PS4)
Lacking in consequence
So far Minecraft: Story Mode Season Two hasn’t had the best of starts with Episode 1: Hero in Residencestruggling to remedy the issues experienced in the first season with a slow paced story and clunky gameplay mechanics being the most prominent problems. Unfortunately Episode 2: Giant Consequences, although...
Pipe dream
SwapQuest has been on quite a journey to get itself a PlayStation 4 release. Originally launched on mobile platforms in early 2015, the title then made its way to the PlayStation Vita in March 2016, where we praised it for its simple yet enjoyable and addictive gameplay loop. The PlayStation 4 version attempts to build upon that with a...
Player agency
Watching Saturday morning cartoons as kid, there was always one thing that bothered us about shows focusing on paramilitary groups such as M.A.S.K. and G.I Joe. No, it wasn’t the fact they were designed primarily to sell toys to impressionable young minds, it was the way none of the teams ever showed up en masse to foil the plans of...
Review Night Trap: 25th Anniversary Edition (PS4)
Slash fiction
HD remakes, remastered collections, and celebratory re-releases are a mainstay of the launch slate these days – love 'em or hate 'em. Usually the retread treatment gets lavished on childhood classics or highlights of the previous hardware generation. It's not entirely clear if anyone predicted that infamous schlock fest Night...
Dad's Barmy
Sudden Strike 4 is a real-time strategy game set in World War II featuring three separate campaigns – one for the Allies, the Germans, and the Soviet Union – based on real battles. There’s over twenty missions in total, and these are presented to the player without any political pandering or moral high-grounds. World War...
Zero-G Suit Samus
In a weird kind of way, Matterfall is what Mighty No. 9 was supposed to be. Artistically, the Housemarque developed side-scroller couldn’t be different to Keiji Inafune’s cartoon Kickstarter, but the gameplay – which is designed around a dash mechanic, just like Mega Man’s ill-fated spiritual successor – has many...
Review Final Fantasy XV: Episode Prompto (PS4)
Bullet hell
Final Fantasy XV: Episode Prompto is the second downloadable character episode for Square Enix's action role-playing release. Filling in yet another gaping hole in the main game's story, the two-or-so-hour journey plops you in the snow-filled shoes of Prompto as he attempts to reunite with Noctis and the boys after ending up in a...
Review Mega Man Legacy Collection 2 (PS4)
A bit of new, a bit of bold
When we reviewed the original Mega Man Legacy Collection, we gave the game a favourable score, mentioning that it was an affordable compilation of classic ports that would fill your time ahead of the then-anticipated Mighty No. 9. A lot has changed since then. It’s no secret that Keiji Inafune’s spiritual successor...
Zero-G chill
Arena shooters aren’t all that common on consoles. Sure, we’ve had general examples like Unreal Tournament, Team Fortress 2, and DOOM land on PlayStation platforms, but these titles are best experienced and sometimes exclusively made for PC. LawBreakers was going to be no exception with its focus on insanely fast speed and chaotic...
Review Batman: The Enemy Within - Episode One: The Enigma (PS4)
Riddle me this
Telltale’s take on Batman lore ended with a bang a little less than a year ago, and The Enemy Within picks up the baton from its predecessor without pumping the brakes. Episode 1: The Enigma once again puts an emphasis on Bruce Wayne, as the Riddler returns to Gotham with his trademark brand of brain-teasing supervillainry in tow...
Review Comet Crash 2: The Kronkoid Wars (PS4)
In space no-one can hear you Kronk
Evil Kronkoid battleships have been discovered near the planet Kulin and they are taking advantage of waves of comets headed towards populated planets to expand their galactic dominance. You, however, are equipped with a tower building spaceship and the fate of the galaxy rests in your hands as you defend the...
Review Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice (PS4)
Heavy sword
Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice opens with a warning screen, which tells you all you need to know about Ninja Theory’s challenging new character action game. Developed in conjunction with physicians and mental health patients, the title tackles the taboo subject of psychosis – a disorder which causes hallucinations and delusions. As...
Review Graceful Explosion Machine (PS4)
Swiss army spaceship
There are plenty of arcade shooters on Sony consoles; Housemarque's Super Stardust HD and Resogun pretty much set a gold standard on PlayStation. Other than shifting perspectives and prettier graphics, there aren't that many twists left in the genre. Vertex Pop’s Graceful Explosion Machine distinguishes itself from the rest of...
