A simulation game based on numbers that’s set in a Lovecraftian landscape, The Shrouded Isle is a well-designed title rich in ambience and with a desert-dry sense of wry humour but the mileage gained from it will depend on the players’ level of fascination with gauge-juggling. The game casts you in the role of the […]
A tough game to locate online due to the similarly titled online game Paladins (although I haven’t played the latter), I’m pretty sure that Paladin is more up my strasse with its arcade sensibilities and pick-up-and-play approach, it plays like a modernised update of a classic. An action title with its roots in the seminal […]
In DIGITAL SHORTS we review some of the latest video games that are only available digitally (at least in the UK), in a short-form review format. In this edition we take a look at Coffee Crisis – a side-scrolling beat ‘em-up with intriguing protagonists now available on the Nintendo Switch. Coffee Crisis is an arcade-style […]
The 2D motorbike genre goes way back to games like Stunt Bike and Kik Start on the 8-bit home computers and it’s a genre I played a lot as a child. As time went on, those games evolved into such titles as the Trials series, games where the fun lies in multiplayer havoc with pseudo-3D […]
What could have been a fun, tongue-in-cheek fighting game is instead a generic and repetitive title with few joys to be found beyond the actual concept itself. I like the idea, getting a roster of Gods and key religious figures from around the world and thrusting them, through some tenuous circumstance, into a situation where […]
If I had to sum up my experiences with the previous Life is Strange installments. I would say that I liked it but I didn’t love it. I went into the second main entry with the same expectations and by the end of Roads, I ended up thinking that this was the experience the internet […]
There have been a serious amount of twin-stick rogue-likes released in the last few years and whilst Mana Spark is a nifty little game, it doesn’t offer enough to separate it from the pack and make it a key title, although fans of the genre will find something to take away from the experience. Set in […]
With the new episode of Life is Strange 2 ‘Rules’ getting closer to its release, it makes sense to review the prequel to it: The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit. This DLC came out long before we knew anything about Life is Strange 2 so playing it again after playing through the first episode of LiS2 […]
A classic genre that’s been around since pretty much the start of gaming, the shoot-em-up (or, Shmup) genre has a rich and storied history as wealth as a wealth of amazing titles under its belt. What sets apart Rival Megagun from its…well, rivals, is the focus here on pure multiplayer action, it’s a neat and […]
As the world crumbles, Gris loses her singing voice. She falls into a colourless void. Then she decides to rebuild, bringing light and colour and music back into existence… Gris is the debut game from Barcelona-based developers Nomada Studio. The distinctive visuals, which sell themselves in trailers and videos, were crafted by artist Conrad Roset. […]
Override: Mech City Battle Brawl is a fighting game featuring towering robots going at each other like there’s adultery involved. You choose from a selection of colourful, building-sized mechs each armed with their own fighting styles and special moves as you take on the game either through its story mode or online versus action, including […]
A spin-off of the Jagged Alliance series, Jagged Alliance: Rage! is definitely not Jagged Alliance 3, but does it stand on its own? Well, having only a had a brief dalliance with the series’ previous iterations, I came away from this newest installment with the feeling that it really shows its lower budget in some […]
In DIGITAL SHORTS we review some of the latest video games that are only available digitally (at least in the UK), in a short-form review format. In this edition we take a look at Monkey King: Master of the Clouds – a remake of an 80s shoot ‘em-up available now on the Nintendo Switch. Based on […]
It was only a few months ago that I worked my way through Lizardcube’s re-make of Wonder Boy: The Dragon’s Trap. I picked it up at a bargain price for the Switch (from Insane Games in Bridgwater, a haven of retro gold for those interested) and merrily made my way through the adventure. Its hand-drawn […]
Made by appSide Down – a team of just two – and published by Sonka Games, who are best known to Switch owners for Astro Bears Party, Escape Doodland is an autorunner platform game with bags of charm and a practically vertical difficulty curve. There’s nothing new about the gameplay conceit of outrunning a pursuing […]
Released in 2002 and 2004 respectively, Microids’ Syberia series was a hit for the French developer, featuring protagonist Kate Walker’s escapades in the small village of Valadilene and her travels beyond. With its photo-realistic graphics and relatively dry tone, it stood out at the time as a more ‘mature’ game. Played now on the Switch, […]
War is something we see on television and in films, some of us even play it in games like Call of Duty, but we do so for entertainment. We understand that there are wars out there and people get killed, but most of us are lucky and don’t have to face that. This War of Mine […]
The last game I played by publisher COSEN was the quirky Taiwanese puzzler Behind the Screen, which was relatively basic in its execution but had enough character to keep my interest up for the duration of the play-through. Destruction however, definitely feels more at home on a mobile device than the Nintendo Switch as its […]
Christmas day 1998… I was one lucky girl who got a PlayStation along with Spyro the Dragon game and Crash Bandicoot, flash forward ten years and with the success of the remastered Crash Bandicoot trilogy, Activision wasted very little time in a remastered Spyro trilogy. Spyro has returned and his attitude is fiercer than before! […]
Finally, the long-overdue latest instalment in the revered action RPG series is here. This one has been developed by Gunfire Games, a team born from the ashes of Vigil Games. Gunfire worked on the “Deathinitive Edition” of Darksiders II – a game which, I’m sorry to report, retains its title as the best in the […]
Originally released in 2013, Rogue Legacy makes its way to Nintendo’s handheld console and proves an ideal match for gaming on the move. I’m very wary of procedural generation in video games and so when games like Nongunz, Moonlighter and Rogue Legacy use it well, it can really enhance the gaming experience and add real […]
A game of two halves that make a cohesive and enjoyable whole, Moonlighter spends all night dragging you through ever-more-difficult dungeons and all day making sure that you hawk that broken sword for just the right price from your cosy little store. Moonlighter is the name of the town that our merchant hero, Will, calls […]
