Latest Reviews
Review The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth (PS4)
Reborn
The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth was released for the PC back in October last year and ever since console fans of the series have been crying out for the much-anticipated DLC. Well, it's finally arrived on the PlayStation 4 – and boy was it worth the long wait. The main addition in this expansion is Greed Mode – an entirely new game mode...
Genre blended meta growth
Back in 2014, Gearbox Software head honcho Randy Pitchford incomprehensibly described Battleborn as an "FPS; hobby-grade co-op campaign; genre-blended, multi-mode competitive e-sports; meta-growth, choice epic Battleborn Heroes". While no one could quite decipher just what he was going on about, it was safe to assume that...
Review Valkyria Chronicles Remastered (PS4)
Tanks for the memories
When Valkyria Chronicles launched on the PlayStation 3 in 2008, it was a breath of fresh air. A solid strategy title bolstered by a lovingly crafted watercolour art style, it was hit with critics, and quickly amassed a reasonably niche, but enthusiastic following. Fans of the original will be quick to recommend Valkyria...
Review Neverending Nightmares (PS4)
Make them stop
Fittingly released at the start of Mental Health Awareness Month, Neverending Nightmares is a terrifying survival horror with an individual art style and an intriguing concept. The game is inspired by the real life struggles of project lead designer Matt Gilgenbach, who suffers with OCD and depression. You take control of Thomas, a...
Review Shadow Complex Remastered (PS4)
Press X to Jason
Today, independent and digital titles sit fairly comfortably alongside big budget games in terms of critical reception and public acceptance, but when Shadow Complex was released in 2009, it was customary to finish any sentence that started "It's great..." with a
Review Table Top Racing: World Tour (PS4)
Exhausting
One of the main things being touted about Table Top Racing: World Tour is that one of its creators worked on the WipEout series, so it'd be safe to expect high-octane racing, a pulsing soundtrack, and dazzling graphics – at least somewhat in the style of the iconic PlayStation series. This game has none of those things. A sequel to a...
Global worming
Push Me Pull You is a weird game – and not in a "Tim Burton" kind of way. It's weird in a "I really hope no one walks in on me playing this right now because there is simply no way to reasonably explain what's currently happening on my television screen" kind of way. Thankfully, it's also one of the most hilarious and joyously fun...
Review Masquerade: The Baubles of Doom (PS4)
Rotten tomato
Falling far under the radar, Big Ant Studios' latest effort Masquerade: The Baubles of Doom is a rapid-paced brawler that is inspired by the slapstick comedy of 90s action-adventure classics. Divided into eight main acts, the game sees you tiptoeing across a minefield full of jack-in-the-boxes, dashing through a Total Wipeout-inspired...
Do you wanna ride the rollercoaster?
While developer Funcom's last console release, Dreamfall: The Longest Journey, never found its way to a PlayStation platform, its newest title, The Park – developed by the firm's Oslo branch – does find its way onto Sony hardware. The Park is a story that supposedly takes place in the world of one of Funcom's...
Six feet under
We'll be straight with you on this one: Coffin Dodgers is not a good kart racer. Sadly, all it really has going for it is a darkly amusing premise. Sunny Pines retirement village is where the Grim Reaper himself has decided to hang up his scythe after a lengthy career of soul collecting – but not before claiming a few more from his...
Inc-redible
Klei Entertainment has garnered a bit of a reputation over recent years for delivering quality games across very different genres. Whether you're stealthily murdering all comers in Mark of the Ninja or trying not to starve in, well, Don't Starve, its titles have carefully woven gameplay systems that make for enjoyably deep experiences...
Review Hitman: Episode 2 - Sapienza (PS4)
Bellisimo
The quiet, picturesque Italian seafront town of Sapienza is a retiree's dream. Bathed in sun, the cobbled streets are full of cafés, trattorias, and street performers – not to mention the diamond blue sea, and the quaint old church that sits next to it. How strange, then, that for all its serenity, Sapienza works exceptionally well as...
Yorigami killer
Another dungeon crawling role-playing game from Japanese developer Experience, Ray Gigant is a good entry point to an often complex genre, boasting streamlined mechanics, an enjoyable story, and decent cast of characters. Adding to the Vita's already crowded catalogue of Japanese titles, does this tale of teenagers and colossal...
Review Shantae and the Pirate's Curse (PS4)
It's y'arrrrrrrrlright
Shantae and the Pirate's Curse is a 2D side-scroller in the classic Metroidvania vein, but with a whimsical story and an anarchic sense of humour that helps separate it from the pack. Taking on the role of a half-genie named Shantae, you'll spend approximately ten hours exploring various islands, solving puzzles in dungeons,...
'Armless
The main character in Severed is missing an arm; we're going to assume that it fell off following a particularly furious session with Drinkbox Studios' latest game. This colourful PlayStation Vita exclusive has grand aspirations: it's a first-person dungeon crawler with Punch Out!!-esque combat and enough crafting to momentarily capture the...
"I like to keep this handy, for close encounters"
Housemarque is renowned for a couple of things: its consistently brilliant arcade titles with incredibly moreish gameplay, and its gloriously colourful visual effects. The Finnish developer's body of work is a kaleidoscopic tour-de-force, the games as vibrant as they are deceptively deep. It should...
Review Call of Duty: Black Ops III - Eclipse (PS4)
Sins of the sun
With game releases picking up around this time of year, Call of Duty: Black Ops III DLC is a tough sell when you could be experiencing the whimsical magic of Ratchet & Clank or the masochistic beauty of Dark Souls III – and rightly so, considering that the strangely-named Eclipse isn't very special at all. The sun doesn't shine...
Review Enter the Gungeon (PS4)
You're fired
Releasing an indie roguelike in 2016 is tough. There are already several almost perfect and incredibly popular entries in the genre floating around in the wild. Indeed, not only is the market flooded, it's flooded with liquid gold. Thankfully, Enter the Gungeon not only borrows good ideas from its peers, it also plays enough new tricks...
Having a ball
Pang always seemed like a strange name for the then-popular game about bursting deadly alien bubbles. The word not only sounds like the perfect title for a shameless rip-off of Pong, but it means "a sudden, strong feeling of physical or emotional pain". When the original game was released in the US back in 1989, it adopted the name...
A missed oppor-tuna-ty
With the introduction of consoles to China comes a new market of consumers and drastically increased marketing opportunities, but also a bigger development pool. KOI's claim to fame, then, is that it's the first Chinese-developed game to be published in the West for PlayStation 4. It perhaps fits that a country often...
Avengers ensemble
With the retail space seeing a resurgence in rhythm games – Guitar Hero and Rock Band most notably – it's good to see an indie developer trying to tackle the long-abandoned genre, too. Step forward LOUD on Planet X, a Plants vs. Zombies, Crypt of the Necrodancer hybrid created by one of the developers of Sound Shapes – an...
Review Stories: The Path of Destinies (PS4)
The path of self-destruction
Don't let Stories: The Path of Destinies' incredibly generic sounding name put you off – this is a charming and rather unique PlayStation 4 indie that is, more often than not, very enjoyable to play. It's an action role-playing game of sorts in which you take on the role of Reynardo, an anthropomorphic fox with a...
Er, unepic?
Unepic begins with a few friends playing a table top RPG over one or two beers. Our hero, Daniel, gets up to use the bathroom and, mid-toilet break, the lights suddenly go out. He's in the dark feeling around for a light switch when he discovers that he's not actually in the bathroom that he was in before. Daniel has been magically...
Ashes to ashes
Dark Souls II was a tremendous video game – so good in fact that we happily played through it twice thanks to a timely HD remaster – but for some Souls fans, something wasn't quite right. It lacked the focus of the sublime original it was argued, and when it came to finding a scapegoat, such critics didn't have to look far...
Review Stranger of Sword City (PS Vita)
Outsider art
Stranger of Sword City does a great job of living up to its name. Trapped in a weird, rather haunting fantasy world, you're constantly made to feel like an outsider – someone that's stumbled into a series of events that they can't quite comprehend. This is a dungeon crawler with an atmospheric edge, and although it doesn't do a great...
Knocked for six
How did this happen? No, really – how did this happen? Resident Evil 6, the most recent numbered entry in Capcom's iconic survival horror series, is an unmitigated mess – a real turd of a game that's so downright bad that it beggars belief. You'd think that with the series celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, the publisher...
Review Stikbold! A Dodgeball Adventure (PS4)
Hvis du kan undvige en skruenøgle, kan undvige en bold
The offline multiplayer renaissance continues with the release of Danish indie studio Game Swing's Stikbold! A Dodgeball Adventure. Originating from a concept prototyped at the Nordic Game Jam in 2013, the title is a jovial, wacky take on dodgeball – a sport bewilderingly lacking in video...
Review R.B.I. Baseball 16 (PS4)
We'll let this slide
R.B.I. Baseball 16 is a game of pure baseball simulation, opposed to MLB: The Show's more gleaming, polished take on the sport. While its Sony-backed competitor is innovating, R.B.I. is content with treading water and refining its gameplay – which is by no means a bad thing, considering how easy it is to pick up and play this...
Review Minecraft: Story Mode - Episode 5: Order Up! (PS4)
Blockheaded
Telltale released the first four episodes of its Minecraft series fairly quickly – within three months, actually – but opted to wait several months before deploying the fifth episode. We've slung our fair share of criticisms at this series, but one of our biggest complaints was that Episode Four felt like the end of Season One; the...
We rally, rally like it
DiRT Rally is a beast – a beautiful, brilliant, and breath-taking beast that will humble you, drive you mad, and leave you grinning like an idiot once you master it's brutally tough driving challenges. Think Bloodborne but with cars and you'll understand the punishing pleasures awaiting those brave enough to strap in and...
