Tag: Mini Reviews - Page 10
Mini Review Yakuza: Like a Dragon (PS5) - Not a Huge Upgrade, But Still a Brilliant RPG
A hero's work is never done
The tale of incredibly endearing protagonist Ichiban Kasuga shines brighter than ever on PlayStation 5, where Yakuza: Like a Dragon offers enhanced visuals. This next-gen upgrade lets you choose between 60 frames-per-second at a slightly higher resolution, or 30 frames-per-second with 4K support. And, well... That's about...
Mini Review Kill It with Fire (PS4) - Enjoyable Chaos, But Not Much Bang for Your Bug
Spider-Manslaughter
Kill It with Fire channels your inner arachnophobe and tasks you with exterminating the world’s spiders. You’re armed with everything from a strimmer to a flamethrower in your quest to commit arachnid genocide. You’re also given a selection of non-lethal tools to attract the little blighters or slow them down with a fire...
Mini Review Taxi Chaos (PS4) - Crazy Taxi Clone Is a Write-Off
Lazy taxi
TAXI CHAOS! That could be the name of a game simulating the experience of loitering in a Newcastle taxi rank at 4AM drunkenly nursing a tray of cheesy chips, and if it was, we'd undoubtedly be more excited about it than we are about this game which is just a Crazy Taxi clone. If the game were good we'd perhaps be inclined to call Taxi...
Review Yupitergrad (PS4) – A Cheeky VR Platformer That’s a Whole Bundle of Fun
To space, comrades
PlayStation VR games fluctuate wildly when it comes to motion sickness. Some of the simplest ideas can be incredibly disorienting if everything isn’t calibrated perfectly. But what happens when you go to the extreme other end of the spectrum? Yupitergrad is a first-person momentum-based puzzle platformer that takes place on a...
Mini Review Neptunia Virtual Stars (PS4) – 10th Year Anniversary Doesn’t Quite Reach the Stars
Virtually famous
Neptune and the other three goddesses from Gamesindustri are back in a brand new action RPG to celebrate Hyperdimension Neptunia’s 10th anniversary. This time around the characters are transported to Virtualand where they are asked to help save all of the nearby worlds from the nasty villains, called Antis. The story aims to...
Mini Review The Sinking City (PS5) - A Re-Release That Struggles to Remain Afloat
Let it sink in
After months of publisher disputes, The Sinking City has resurfaced on PlayStation Store, alongside a new PS5 version. Based on the work of H.P. Lovecraft, the game places you in the role of private investigator Charles Winfield Reed, investigating the supernatural town of Oakmont. Using your detective skills, you'll uncover why...
Mini Review Arrog (PS4) - An Extremely Short But Worthwhile Trip
30 minutes or less
We've typed out nearly as many characters for this review as there are seconds of gameplay in Arrog. Playtime isn't everything, though, and this half-hour long experience is well worth checking out. It's almost impossible to discuss without spoiling things, but this is essentially a bitesize point and click puzzle adventure...
Mini Review Habroxia 2 (PS4) - Retro Arcade Shooter Will Hold Your Attention
Beam me up
In an industry overloaded with choice, there’s a modesty to Habroxia 2 that’s easy to appreciate. The successor to Lillymo Games retro-inspired arcade shooter humbly thanks you for playing the PlayStation 4 and PS Vita release each time you load it up, and while cynics could hand-wave the gratitude and declare it disingenuous, we get...
Mini Review Bonkies (PS4) - Co-Op Construction Game Is Simple But Satisfying
Planets and the apes
Think you've played every local co-op game on PlayStation 4? Well, have you built structures in low gravity as an ape with a robotic arm? Didn't think so, but don't worry — Bonkies is here to fulfil that very specific need. Playable alone or up to four-player co-op, this unusual little game puts you in the boots of a...
Mini Review The Pedestrian (PS5) - Unique Puzzler Shines with Great Haptic Feedback
Anything but pedestrian
In a world with uncreative sequels and rehashed ideas, The Pedestrian stands out as a truly unique and memorable experience. At its core, the game is a 2D puzzle-platformer where your goal is to guide an unnamed stick figure to the door at the end of the stage. The twist though is that the entire game takes place on road...
Mini Review Olija (PS4) - A Lot Achieved with Very Few Pixels
Pronounced "oh-lee-ya"
Devolver Digital continues its love affair with moody pixelated action games with Olija. This one has you exploring a mysterious land after Lord Faraday and his crew are left stranded, and it's your job to find a way back home. Things become complicated once you come across a cursed harpoon that grants a sort of teleport...
Mini Review Memoranda (PS4) - Surreal Point and Click Adventure Inspired by Haruki Murakami
One to remember
Memoranda is inspired by the short stories of renowned Japanese author Haruki Murakami and so you can expect plenty of odd characters set in a world that mixes realism with a kind of dreamlike fantasy. You’ll need to help the game’s protagonist, Mizuki, with her crippling insomnia and selective memory problems by pointing and...
"You are incorrigible"
Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game is finally back after years removed from digital shelves. The 2D beat-'em-up translates the story of the graphic novels and movie well, with each stage culminating with a boss fight against one of Ramona's evil exes. It's a highly entertaining title, but with no real changes in this new...
Mini Review Maneater (PS5) - Shiny Bits and Bobs Make for a Fin Time
Let’s fin-ish this
Republished on Wednesday 30th December, 2020: We're bringing this review back from the archives following the announcement of January 2021's PS Plus lineup. The original text follows. One of a number of free next-gen upgrade titles being offered on Sony’s newest hardware, developer Tripwire has returned to its undersea all...
Mini Review Monster Sanctuary (PS4) - A Monster Taming Marvel
This one's a Keeper
Here's the elevator pitch for Monster Sanctuary: It's like Pokémon, but it's structured like a Metroidvania. It boasts a reasonably large map of interconnected corridors and rooms, complete with some light puzzle and platforming elements. The world itself is a bit unremarkable, but it's the in-depth and addictive gameplay that...
Mini Review Twin Mirror (PS4) - Yeah, This Exists
Man in the mirror
The more games DONTNOD Entertainment puts out, the more it feels like Life Is Strange really was just a fluke. The developer’s latest effort, titled Twin Mirror, is the worst of the lot as a nonsensical story, flat and uninteresting characters, and poor performance riddle this narrative-based adventure with flaws. Protagonist...
Mini Review Phogs (PS4) - Two Heads Are Better Than One in Cute Puzzle Platformer
Co-pup
Phogs is a deliriously happy game about a double-headed dog. Playable alone or in co-op, the two sides of the conjoined canine are controlled separately, and must work together in a short series of colourful levels. You'll collect bones, eat treats, stretch out, and bark at everything while you solve basic puzzles. It's a very simple game,...
Mini Review Tesla Force (PS5) - Twin-Stick Roguelite Needed More Time in the Lab
The greatest minds in history cannot save this game
In an already bizarre year, Tesla Force’s absurd concept of pulling famous people from history and making them fight monsters seems right at home. Tesla Force is a roguelike twin-stick shooter starring Nikola Tesla and Marie Curie, fighting waves of monsters with over the top guns and powers...
Mini Review Rocket Arena - Competent Shooter May Be Fun for Free
Quake live
Republished on Wednesday 25th November, 2020: We're bringing this review back from the archives following the announcement of December 2020's PS Plus lineup. The original text follows. Electronic Arts put out a new PlayStation 4 game earlier this week and there's a pretty good chance you never even knew it existed. Rocket Arena is a 3v3...
Mini Review Lair of the Clockwork God (PS4) - A Witty and Effective Blend of Genres
Point n' click platformer
Lair of the Clockwork God presents itself predominantly as a point and click adventure game, but doubles up as a 2D platformer. Ben and Dan, who respectively personify these two disparate genres, are the stars of this quirky game, and they must work together in these opposing styles to help save the world from multiple...
Mini Review King Oddball (PS5) - Weird Physics Puzzler Is Still Addictive
Royal rumble
Odd by name, odd by nature – and even odder when you consider it’s on a next-gen console now. King Oddball baffled us a billion years ago on the PS Vita, but now this bizarre physics-based puzzler has hooked us with its over-extended tongue for a second time. We can’t believe we’re playing this on a PlayStation 5 – but it’s...
Mini Review Five Dates (PS4) - Interactive Romantic Comedy So Bad It's Almost Good
Daters gonna date
"I've got a surprise for you," says Vinny to his friend Callum over a video call: "I've joined a dating app!" Callum reacts with such glee, one would be forgiven for thinking that Vinny had just announced the reformation of The Beatles. Surely everyone uses dating apps in 2020? Who wants to awkwardly wander up to someone in a bar...
Mini Review Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin (PS4) - Gorgeous Action RPG with Deep Farming Mechanics
Have a rice day
In Sakuna: Of Rice and Ruin, you’ll be playing as a young goddess, called Sakuna, who spends her days being lazy and drinking in the home of the gods. After a small mishap involving a fire and some sacred offerings, she ends up being banished to the Isle of Demons and told that she can only return once all the monsters are...
Mini Review Undead Darlings ~no cure for love~ - Great Writing Lifts This Average Dungeon Crawler
Zombie road trip
Undead Darlings ~no cure for love~ is part-visual novel, part-dungeon crawler, and is very entertaining despite being a little rough around the edges. You’ll play as Reggie who, thanks to a spiked drink, manages to sleep his way through the end of the world. He takes the news pretty well, even though it’s delivered by his...
Mini Review Stories Untold - Uneven Horror Anthology Frustrates More Than It Frights
Be afraid. Be marginally afraid
For the uninitiated, Stories Untold is a creepy collection of four stories, each taking no longer than an hour or so to finish, and each with different gameplay elements. The first and by the far the best episode pays homage to the old school text adventures that you might have played if you grew up in the '80s. The...
Mini Review Pacer - Anti-Gravity Racer Comes Surprisingly Close to WipEout
Smooth sailing
We don't want to make too many comparisons to its clear inspiration, but rest assured that if you like WipEout, you'll probably enjoy Pacer. Having said that, it definitely puts its own stamp on this racing sub-genre that gives it a unique identity. The on-track action is where it really shines. Familiar controls mean you're...
Mini Review Carto - Map-Manipulating Puzzler Is an Adorable Adventure
Mo maps mo problems
Carto has a unique gameplay hook — you can rearrange the world map in real time to solve puzzles — but it smartly doesn't rely solely on it. You play as a small girl who's separated from her airship-flying grandmother, and must use some map-altering abilities to reunite the pair. However, this simple task has you traversing...
Mini Review Ray's the Dead - A Flawed But Novel Zombie Adventure
I was a teenage zombie
Ray's the Dead has been in development for a long time, but it's now finally shuffled onto PlayStation 4. As the name implies, you play as Ray, brought back from the dead under mysterious circumstances. In order to discover what's going on in the 80s inspired town, Ray must use his zombie abilities to resurrect others, defeat...
Mini Review Cloudpunk - Sci-Fi Noir Deliver 'Em Up Does Just Enough
UPSo-so
Cloudpunk is the name of a legally ambiguous delivery company that operates in the future city of Nivalis, delivering whatever — or whomever — the job requires and asking zero questions. They're a bit like Yodel, only they've got flying cars and they actually deliver your packages. Anyway, you play the role of Rania, a newcomer to the...
Mini Review Cake Bash - A Sweet Party Game with a Short Shelf Life
Just desserts
A party game about becoming the tastiest treat in a series of sugar-coated mini games? What's not to like? Cake Bash is a light-hearted multiplayer title for sweet-toothed gamers of all ages. Select an edible character and engage in a series of simple party games to determine the most delicious one of all. Get Tasty is the main mode...
Mini Review The Walking Dead Onslaught - One for the Undead Fans
Building a new beginning
It’s been a good year for The Walking Dead fans on PlayStation VR. Having previously seen The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners back in May by Skydance Interactive, we now have The Walking Dead Onslaught arrive as an entirely separate VR adaptation. Developed by Survios, Onslaught takes us directly into AMC’s television...
Mini Review Budget Cuts - VR Stealth Action Has Never Been This Good
No cutbacks here
Corporate satire is common across gaming but rarely focuses on issues faced by automation. Taking this concept into an action stealth title with murderous robots, Budget Cuts finally lands on PlayStation VR two years after its PC launch and it’s been worth the wait. Developed by Neat Corporation, you play as a human employee of...
Mini Review Port Royale 4 - Dull Strategy Game Fails To Float Our Boat
Yo Ho Hum
Port Royale 4 starts well. The opening cinematic shows footage of shady piratey characters doing shady piratey business, and it's backed by a rousing soundtrack that makes you want to sail the seven seas looking for plunder. But any hopes you might have of swashbuckling adventures are almost immediately dashed after starting up the first...
Mini Review Crysis Remastered - A Poor Remaster of a Pretty Important Game
Not-so incredible Crysis
Everyone remembers Crysis, of course. But what’s easy to forget is Crytek’s PC shattering behemoth of a technical marvel released 13 years ago. The industry has changed rather a lot in that time. For example, 13 years ago, Crysis was a pretty good game. Now? Well, it’s complicated. Memes aside, the PS4 can mostly...
Mini Review Unrailed - Simple Train Survival Game Runs Out of Steam
Do the locomotion
Unrailed is a co-op survival game in which you must keep a train going for as long as possible. It's a novel twist on the genre that sees you and three other players protecting a locomotive rather than yourselves. It even has the usual trappings of survival games, such as procedural level generation and crafting, but it keeps it...
Mini Review eFootball PES 2021: Season Update - Football, Bloody Hell
Flying without Ings
If you want to know more about eFootball PES 2021: Season Update then you can simply read our review of eFootball PES 2020, as this is almost identical in every single way. To be fair to Konami, it’s been uncharacteristically upfront about the nature of this year’s soccer simulation, pointing out at practically every...
Mini Review Bounty Battle - A Truly Terrible Attempt at Indie Smash Bros
Wanted dead
In concept, Bounty Battle is the Super Smash Bros. of indie games. In reality, Bounty Battle is nothing short of a disaster. It's a terribly made brawler that, at its worst, is borderline unplayable. It's a joyless, almost baffling experience that'll make you wonder how the heck it even managed to secure characters from Owlboy, Darkest...
Mini Review The Outer Worlds: Peril on Gorgon - A Solid But Very Safe Expansion
Welcome back, Captain
Bloody corporations, eh? They've only gone and done it again! Peril on Gorgon is The Outer Worlds' first expansion, and all told, it's a solid excursion. Your intrepid Captain and their crew find themselves travelling to the hellish Gorgon asteroid — a (mostly) abandoned testing site for dodgy space drugs. You're contracted...
Mini Review Tamarin - Tonally Confused Monkey Business
Is that a monkey? He's got a gun!
Tamarin bears some striking resemblance to Jet Force Gemini — an N64 game in which you save a peaceful planet from an invading race of alien insects. The key difference, though, is that in the 1999 Rare title, you play as the titular group of galactic soldiers, while in Tamarin, you play as a tamarin. After a very...
Mini Review Ary and the Secret of Seasons - A Solid, Good-Looking Indie Action Adventure
A woman for all seasons
Something is amiss in the world of Valdi. The seasons are in disarray, meaning that fierce winter winds bellow in place of gentle summer breezes. It’s up to a girl named Ary to restore balance at the behest of a mysterious society, the Guardians of Seasons. Ary and the Secret of Seasons is an action adventure in the...
Mini Review The Last Campfire - Cosy Puzzles from Hello Games
Marshmallow mania
If No Man's Sky is the ambitious, boisterous member of the Hello Games family, The Last Campfire is the subdued, charming one. Released to very little fanfare, this simplistic puzzler does enough to provide a weekend's worth of enjoyment. Just don't expect anything too impressive from those two days of fun. The hazy fairy tale...
Mini Review Hypnospace Outlaw - A Literal Point and Click Adventure
Surfing in the 90s
Hypnospace Outlaw gamifies the structure and horrific custom pages of GeoCities. If you've any nostalgia for this chapter in the Internet's history, you're likely already interested in this obscure title. You're free to explore Hypnospace as you see fit, but your job is actually to scour the virtual space for rule-breaking...
Mini Review No Straight Roads – A Vibrant, Creative Experience Not Without Its Missteps
Mayday Parade
Stepping into the colourful, vibrant world of Vinyl City is a treat. A crazy, dystopian metropolis powered by “evil” EDM music from corporation NSR, No Straight Roads makes a spectacular first impression. Mayday and Zuke comprise rock band Bunk Bed Junction, and it’s up to you to bring rock back into the world. With a...
Mini Review New Super Lucky's Tale - Short and Sweet Platformer Charms Throughout
Foxing clever
We tend to think that platformers are at their best when they're forgiving in the beginning but tougher than our Nan's steaks by the finale. New Super Lucky's Tale never progresses to the point where it poses any significant challenge, but it makes up for it with bags of charm and a campaign that's short enough to never wear out its...
Mini Review Manifold Garden - A Real Visual Treat
Eden prime
Manifold Garden is one of those games that, in the same vein as Journey and Inside, can be considered an "experience" more than anything else. Sure, it's a first-person, 3D puzzler at heart, but defining it as that does a disservice to the game's greatest aspect -- its visuals and atmosphere. This is a real treat for the senses. You need...
Mini Review The Alto Collection - The Chillest Endless Runner on PS4
Hitting the slopes
Originally a duo of mobile games, The Alto Collection brings two beautiful endless runners to PlayStation 4. There are more words in this game's title than there are buttons to learn; press X to jump, hold it to backflip, and that's it. These ultra-simple controls will see you shredding snow or surfing sand as you slide forever...
Mini Review Skully - Knack Meets Marble Madness
Skull Town
Whose idea was it to kick-start the PlayStation 4 generation with Knack and then proceed to end it with a game inspired by the popular mascot? We joke, of course, but Skully really does borrow those basic elements of brawling and platforming to create a somewhat enjoyable experience targeted at kids. That is to say that players beyond...
Mini Review Fairy Tail - Faithful Anime Adaptation Is a Fan Pleaser
They lived Happy-ly ever after
Fairy Tail follows the plot of the anime, set from around the end of the Tenrou Island arc to approximately the end of the Avatar arc. For the uninitiated, that spans around 160 episodes from about 122 onwards. You're therefore much better off going into Fairy Tail with some knowledge of the property already, but there...
Mini Review Superliminal - Fresh Perspective on First Person Puzzling Is Small in Scale
Perception is reality
As you're constantly reminded, perception is reality in Superliminal. Like other first person puzzlers, one single, mind-bending concept is the focus, and this time, it's all about scale and perspective. Objects are as they should be before you pick them up, but depth vanishes once you do. To borrow an example from Father Ted:...
Mini Review Rock of Ages 3: Make & Break - Fun, Oddball Tower Defence with Awkward Level Editor
Rock 'em, sock 'em
Rock of Ages 3: Make & Break isn't a huge departure for the series; it's still an odd mix of tower defence and, er, chucking a boulder down a precarious hill. The comical, historical story mode remains the main attraction, with plenty of adversaries to defeat and side activities to play. You'll be playing skee-ball and racing...
