Tag: Mini Reviews
Mini Review Age of Mythology: Retold (PS5) - Series' Best Stands the Test of Time
Real-time strategy finds a home on console
Age of Mythology: Retold is a remastered version of Ensemble Studio’s hugely influential 2002 original. With a fresh coat of HD paint, a visual overhaul for every game unit, and brand new animations, Retold is a nostalgic jaunt for seasoned veterans and an excellent jumping-on point for interested...
Mini Review Dungeons of Hinterberg (PS5) - Chill Fights and Vibes in Virtual Vacation
Hit the slopes
If going on holiday is meant to be a time for relaxing and disconnecting from daily life, why can it feel so stressful in the moment? Dungeons of Hinterberg reckons with those mixed emotions as protagonist Luisa takes a break from being a lawyer to try and chill in the Austrian Alps... while putting her life on the line in puzzle and...
Mini Review Wanderstop (PS5) - A Meditative Musing on Mental Health
Turning over a loose leaf
On first appearance, Wanderstop looks like your average wholesome, low-stakes indie game with easy-going objectives and enjoyable, soothing tasks to perform. While the game is exactly that, it layers on top a story that hones in on the central character's mental state, and it's an effective combination. Alta is a fighter...
Mini Review Warriors: Abyss (PS5) - A Decent Descent into Hell for Roguelike and Warriors Fans
The Enemy of my Enma
Truthfully, Warriors: Abyss feels like Koei Tecmo tried to cook up its own budget Hades from the leftovers of last night's Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors. That's not to say it fails to sate the appetite, though. Despite being a bit rough around the edges, Abyss is a solid and successfully addictive foray into the...
Mini Review Afterlove EP - Musical Odyssey Emerging from Development Tragedy Is Worth the Trip
All you need is love
Considering the real-life tragedy surrounding the development of Afterlove EP, it would have been easy to forgive developer Pikselnesia for not moving forward with work on the title. To its credit, it's powered forward and delivered a poignant, prescient experience worth your time. You play Rama, a musician who returns to his...
Mini Review Tiny Terry's Turbo Trip (PS5) - A Simple, Delightfully Silly Sandbox
Joyride
Tiny Terry's Turbo Trip is a short but sweet open world adventure about one kid's ambition to drive into space. After acquiring a car to call his own, Terry's main objective is to make it go so fast it can escape his planet's gravity, and to do that, he'll have to explore every inch of his hometown and help out the locals. It's refreshingly...
Mini Review Luck Be a Landlord (PS4) - Simple Roguelike Is a Bit of a Gamble
The art of spin
Luck Be a Landlord lets you fight the evils of rental accommodation by using a customisable slot machine to generate cash. It's a daft premise, but sets up a simple game that's all about finding synergies to maximise your score. Each time you spin, the symbols on your slot machine randomise and reward you with coins, depending on...
Mini Review Ninja Gaiden 2 Black (PS5) - Fun Slasher Shows Its Age
All slice, no dice
Ninja Gaiden 2 Black is like a time machine back to the halcyon days of PS3, featuring over-the-top violence, ridiculous action, and a globe-trotting campaign. Black sparkles up those graphics for PS5, and while fun, it isn’t quite enough to counter how much this hack-and-slash experience has aged. With the threat of demonic...
Mini Review Ender Magnolia: Bloom in the Mist (PS5) - Peak Metroidvania Action
Bloomin' brilliant
There must be something in the water during January, for after Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown got the Metroidvania genre off to a flyer in 2024, Ender Magnolia: Bloom in the Mist is doing the same 12 months on. The follow-up to Ender Lilies: Quietus of the Knights refines what co-developers Adglobe and Live Wire achieved four...
Mini Review Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector (PS5) - Don't Sleep on This Deeper RPG Sequel
More space
Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector successfully builds on what was achieved in the original to deliver a compelling and challenging sci-fi RPG. It's a tricky game to discuss without spoiling things, but it's safe to say if you liked the first, you'll want to check out the sequel. Playing as a sleeper, an android with an emulated human...
Mini Review Tails of Iron 2: Whiskers of Winter (PS5) - A Simple Tail of Bigger and Better
Doesn't rat-tle the cage
Tails of Iron 2: Whiskers of Winter is your classic sequel — a bigger, better game than the inaugural animal action RPG. Playing as a new character in a different part of the world, this follow-up builds on the groundwork laid by the original game, with bigger scope and deeper systems as you hunt down the bats that...
Mini Review Tales of Graces f Remastered (PS5) - Classic Tales Game Is Better Than Ever
Aging gracefully
In this modern era of games getting rereleased, it’s crazy to think it’s been over 12 years since Tales of Graces f was released on western shores. Thankfully you no longer need to dust off your ancient PS3 to play, as Bandai Namco has spruced up this classic RPG for modern consoles with Tales of Graces f Remastered. As you’d...
Mini Review The Thing Remastered (PS5) - A Polished Up Horror Gem with Some Rough Edges
I’ll show you what I already know
One of the earliest articles this author ever wrote for Push Square was about Computer Artworks’ terrifying 2002 horror shooter, The Thing. A decade later, Nightdive Studios has worked its magic on a remaster, breathing new life into this rough-around-the-edges gem. Being a direct continuation of the greatest...
Mini Review Naiad (PS5) - A Cosy, Stunningly Beautiful Experience
Koyaanisqatsi
Naiad is a beautiful puzzler made by a solo developer under the name HiWarp. In it, you play as Naiad, a river spirit tasked with helping animals as you navigate your way through a series of interconnected rivers on your quest to reach the ocean. This visually stunning game is spread out over 16 episodes, each in its own biome. For...
Mini Review Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Rita's Rewind (PS5) - A Short But Sweet Nostalgia Trip
That witch came from the moon
Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Rita's Rewind is almost exactly what you want it to be. An arcadey beat-'em-up that brings back memories of the show, this has one or two rough edges but ultimately delivers a potent dose of fun. Playing as any of the original Rangers (plus the Green Ranger after completing the story...
Mini Review Warhammer 40,000: Darktide (PS5) - Grim Horde Shooter Is Frantic Fun
Rough around the edges, but one hell of a ride
Warhammer 40,000: Darktide is developer Fatshark's take on Games Workshop's grimdark universe and a refinement of the combat and gameplay of its earlier Vermintide titles. A first-person multiplayer cooperative game, each Darktide mission will see squads of four players (or, in their absence, AI bots)...
Mini Review Lorelei and the Laser Eyes (PS5) - Bring a Notebook for This Dense, Compelling Puzzler
Eye caramba
Lorelei and the Laser Eyes is one of those games you shouldn't read too much about before playing it. By design, it's packed to the rafters with layers upon layers of puzzles, and discussing this web of head-scratchers — or even its story — would be to undo a little bit of its magic. Initially, all you know is that you've arrived by...
Mini Review Nine Sols (PS5) - The Best Metroidvania on the Market
Nine Sols/10
Rather than waiting impatiently for Hollow Knight: Silksong, you should play Nine Sols, a Taiwanese Metroidvania that just got ported over to PS5. It beautifully blends the philosophy of Taosim and the styles of East Asia with a sci-fi flair to deliver a thoughtful story told in a vibrant and deadly world. The plot follows Yi, a cyborg...
Mini Review Trombone Champ: Unflattened (PSVR2) - Ridiculous Rhythm Game Is Top Brass Nonsense
Let it slide
Following Trombone Champ's viral success on flat screens last year, it's now come for the virtual reality crown too, and if anything, the format elevates the silliness even more. Trombone Champ: Unflattened successfully brings this ludicrous rhythm game to PSVR2, building on the unwieldy hilarity already present by having you mime the...
Block party
Tetris was and is a global phenomenon that remains pick-up-and-play perfection to this day, and its history is lovingly chronicled in Digital Eclipse's latest: Tetris Forever. It charts the franchise's entire history, from the brainchild of Alexey Pajitnov to its popularity explosion as a Game Boy pack-in and beyond. A far cry from the...
Mini Review Metal Slug Tactics (PS5) – Some of the Best Tactics Since Into the Breach
Hooked on a Fio
From the moment it was announced Metal Slug Tactics was a winner in our eyes. Marrying the SNK classic with the turn-based tactics genre is a golden idea on paper. Hearing it’s a roguelike in the vein of Into the Breach was the coup de grâce for this game being anything but a banger. And we’re happy to say it lives up to those...
More death loops than Deathloop
Nobody expected a spinoff to 2022’s The Callisto Protocol and so Redacted — a fast-paced, twin-stick shooter roguelike — comes as a pleasant surprise. Set in CP’s Black Iron prison on Jupiter’s moon, Callisto, you take on the role of a prison guard who is not only in a race to reach the last remaining escape...
Mini Review Empire of the Ants (PS5) - A Confused RTS That Shines in Its Multiplayer
Jack of all trades, master of none
Empire of the Ants is a victim of its own ambition. It burrows into the undergrowth offering a fresh perspective on the lives of critters dwelling on our forest floor and raises some interesting environmental questions during its campaign, but spreads itself too thin trying to be both an RTS and a platformer...
Mini Review Planet Coaster 2 (PS5) - Improved Sequel Offers a Ride Well Worth Taking
Splashtastic
Much like its predecessor, Planet Coaster 2 is a theme park creative management game which lets you design and run your own amusement park and offers new features compared to its predecessor. The biggest and most obvious change to the sequel is the addition of water parks. You can now add swimming pools, lazy rivers, and a variety of...
The sins of our fathers
Romancing SaGa 2: Revenge of the Seven is a remake of the influential, Japan-only, 1993 original JRPG of the same name. Square Enix has modernised the experience, which holds its own even in a year which has proven extremely strong for the genre. With a classic design, exciting twists on well-worn systems, deep combat, and...
Mini Review Starship Troopers: Extermination (PS5) - Not Just a Helldivers Clone
Thrilling, retro bug killing
You might think you're familiar with Starship Troopers: Extermination because you've played Helldivers 2. They're both satirical games where you take up arms as an indoctrinated foot soldier in a fascistic army and fight endless hordes of terrifying bugs, but Extermination has a well-implemented base-building twist and...
Mini Review MechWarrior 5: Clans (PS5) - An Obsolete Model
Grinding gears
If you're a fan of mech games, there are different subgenres to choose from. There's the difficult twitch combat of Armored Core and the beat-'em-up brawls of Gundam Breaker. MechWarrior 5: Clans doesn’t fit into either of those categories. You pilot slow, lumbering machines, and it's more like a mecha XCOM than anything else. While...
Mini Review Shadows of the Damned: Hella Remastered (PS5) - A Hella Good Update
A dish best served hella remastered
It’s been a long time since Shadows of the Damned dropped — 13 years, in fact. The game industry has changed substantially in that time, but a good game is still a good game. And that’s what we’re lucky enough to encounter here with Shadows of the Damned Hella Remastered. Narratively, this gonzo world...
Mini Review Romance of the Three Kingdoms 8 Remake (PS5) - A Gorgeous Return to Series' Roots
“I'd rather betray the world than let the world betray me”
Koei Tecmo is almost single-handedly keeping the niche historical simulation strategy subgenre alive at this stage, which is fitting, as back in 1985, when the company was just Koei, it was primarily responsible for creating it. Not to be confused with the series' latest, PS4's Romance...
Mini Review A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead (PS5) - Immersive and Surprisingly Impressive
One to shout about
A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead snuck up on us, releasing amid a slew of other games and horror titles, but you shouldn't overlook it. Stormind Games has crafted a really solid and terrifying horror experience that captures the intense fear and meticulous precision of movements the franchise is known for. Taking place 118 days...
Mini Review Vendetta Forever (PSVR2) - Exhilarating Puzzle Shooter Is Next VR Must Play
Yeah, I’m thinkin’ I’m back
Meatspace Interactive’s Vendetta Forever is a brilliant puzzle shooter for PSVR2. Across a hearty supply of levels –many of them goofy or fun in tone – you’re tasked with killing a collection of faceless grunts all wielding an impressive array of weapons. But here’s the catch: you can only move by killing...
Mini Review Squirrel with a Gun (PS5) - Forage for Chaos in This Silly Sandbox Adventure
Ro Dent Redemption
Every now and then, it's really nice to play a game that doesn’t take itself seriously at all. At the end of the day, this medium we all love is focused on entertainment, and while a gripping narrative and meticulously developed controls are great to have, sometimes we want to play the stupidest games that developers can think...
Get in the Halloween spirit
Horror is something that Blumhouse does very well in its movies, so with its newly founded gaming branch, it stands to reason that its first release, Fear the Spotlight, would follow suit. From small gaming studio Cozy Game Pals, this is a love letter to a retro horror gaming genre from years past. Fear the Spotlight...
Mini Review Kong: Survivor Instinct (PS5) - A Repetitive Cinematic Side-Scroller
Not particularly ape-pealing
Following last year's abysmal Skull Island: Rise of Kong, the King of the Beasts is back in unexpected form with Kong: Survivor Instinct. Canonically set after 2021's Godzilla vs. Kong movie, this 2.5D cinematic side-scroller offers a more human-driven story instead of the kaiju beat-'em-ups we're more accustomed to...
Mini Review Diablo 4: Vessel of Hatred (PS5) - Hard to Hate This Meaty Expansion
Welcome to the jungle
Diablo IV: Vessel of Hatred is the first major expansion for Blizzard's excellent action RPG, serving up throngs of awful new beasts to blast through and piles of shiny gear to gather. It ventures into the corrupted jungle of Nahantu, and a new storyline picks up from the base game's colossal cliffhanger ending. It's largely...
Mini Review Arizona Sunshine Remake (PS5) - More Remaster Than Remake
Killing zombies never gets old
Just a year after its brilliant sequel, Arizona Sunshine Remake arrives on PSVR2 as a graphically revamped version of the 2016 original. However, it isn't just a graphical glow-up that Vertigo Games has in mind, as it's also bringing its far more advanced (and satisfying) reload mechanic back from the sequel. The base...
Mini Review Transformers: Galactic Trials (PS5) - A Nice Idea Gone Awry
Less than meets the eye
Transformers: Galactic Trials is not a bad idea at all – in fact, it’s a pretty good one. This is an arcade racing game where you’re occasionally required to transform into your chosen character’s robot form in order to work through simple shooting galleries. In principle, it has all of the elements you’d expect...
Mini Review Neva (PS5) - A Stunning Masterwork of Art and Animation
Time to stock up on tissues
GRIS made waves in 2018 for its stunning, painting-like visual style and story, and when it came to PS4 a year later, we thought it was great. Now Nomada Studio is back with Neva, a game that builds upon the strong parts of GRIS and vastly improves the other areas to create a gorgeous, emotional, and captivating tale of...
Mini Review Looney Tunes: Wacky World of Sports (PS5) - Arcade Effort Doesn't Feel Great
That's all, folks
The problem with Looney Tunes: Wacky World of Sports is it doesn’t feel fun to move. Characters like Road Runner should be a joy to nimbly navigate around a cartoon football field, but he’s as slow and unwieldy as Elmer Fudd – in fact, it doesn’t matter whether you’re Yosemite Sam or Sylvester the Cat, there’s a tardy...
Mini Review Kill Knight (PS5) - An Unrelenting Arcade Nightmare
Stress test
If you took the modern DOOM games and boiled them down to a pure, score attack, twin-stick action game, Kill Knight feels like the result. Playing as a bloodthirsty, undead warrior, the game is simply about killing hordes of demonic creatures as they swarm you in alarming numbers, while each stage shifts and changes around you. The odds...
Mini Review Parcel Corps (PS5) - A Speedy Dispatch, Not a Special Delivery
Fragile Express
Delivery games vary drastically from simple delivery driver simulators to more complex titles such as Death Stranding, where you traverse treacherous terrain to complete your daily drops. However, Parcel Corps, the cel-shaded, extreme sports delivery game from Billy Goat Entertainment, sticks to a more familiar concept, providing the...
Mini Review SUNSOFT Is Back! Retro Game Selection (PS5) - Archaic But Interesting 80s Bundle
The sun always shines brighter
Before you shell out for the SUNSOFT Is Back! Retro Game Selection, you need to understand exactly what you’re getting. This trio of archaic 8-bit adventures has never been officially localised in English before, so it carries inherent value for that reason alone. But it’s worth noting that these titles are...
Mini Review Mortal Kombat 1: Khaos Reigns (PS5) – DLC Add-On Is Mostly Unfunny and Overpriced
Back in the Havik
For those who missed it, following the bloody finale of Mortal Kombat 1's story, which saw Liu Kang and the gang dispatch the Deadly Alliance of Shang Tsung and Quan Chi, a version of PS2-era jobber Havik discovered that not only do other timelines exist, but that they could all use a little more chaos. This brings us to the new...
Mini Review Worms Armageddon: Anniversary Edition (PS5) - Still a Series Highlight 25 Years Later
Garden warfare
Despite countless sequels, Team 17's turn-based strategy series has struggled to better 1999's Worms Armageddon. The developer knows it, too; Worms WMD is based on the fan-favourite game's source code, and the Steam release of Armageddon has been consistently updated, most recently with a major patch in 2020. Now, Worms Armageddon:...
Mystery mayhem
Spike Chunshoft is known for its incredible work on the Danganronpa series, a collection of visual novels that saw critical acclaim for its interesting characters and dark yet comedic writing. Following on from such success is a difficult feat, yet in June last year, the release of Master Detective Archives: Rain Code on Nintendo...
Mini Review Reynatis (PS5) - Beautiful Action RPG Is Far Too Repetitive
Shibuya showdown
Reynatis is an action RPG set in the vibrant ward of Shibuya, Tokyo, but it’s a very different place to the one we know. In this version, magic is real, very dangerous, and feared by the non-magical population. Magic users either hide their abilities or join a government organisation called M.E.A. to hunt down rogue witches and...
The G.O.A.T.
Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars is a sacred text in the history of point-and-click adventure games, and new remaster Reforged is the best version of the game that's ever been released. Quality-of-life improvements mean players who just want to enjoy the story without too much lateral thinking can do so, while veterans of the genre...
Mini Review Lollipop Chainsaw RePOP (PS5) - A Sweet Return with a Bittersweet Bite
Burst bubble
Let’s get one thing straight: Lollipop Chainsaw is amazing. This seminal, subversive monstrosity from the minds of legendary developer Suda51 and Hollywood big-shot James Gunn (in his PG Porn era, no less) is as amusing today as it was over a decade ago; it’s outrageous, ridiculous, obnoxious, garish – we absolutely love it, and...
Mini Review Persona 3 Reload: Episode Aigis (PS5) - Expensive Expansion Is a Flawed Affair
SEES the day
Episode Aigis is an epilogue to Persona 3 Reload — a remake of the additional scenario that first appeared in Persona 3 FES on the PS2. Much like Reload itself, this expansion is pretty much a one-to-one recreation in terms of core narrative and structure, but it's bolstered by all of the remake's quality of life and combat system...
Mini Review Funko Fusion (PS5) - Bland, Cryptic Nostalgia Bait Lacks LEGO's Charm
Pop! your card back in your wallet
We figured Funko Fusion could have been fun — or even a surprise gem. Except Funko Fusion isn’t either of those things. Much like the figurines the game is based on, it feels soulless and a poor approximation of the pop culture it's trying to represent. The main point of comparison with Funko Fusion is the...
