PS5 Game Reviews
Mini Review Old School Rally (PS5) - Don't Cut This Retro Rally Throwback
Smooth ride
Old School Rally does what it says on the tin, and it does it well. Mimicking the look and feel of a PS1 rally racing game, it combines retro presentation and design with some modern touches for a fun, nostalgic drive. The visuals intentionally ape the original PlayStation's jaggedy, polygonal look very well, and coupled with some music...
Review Octopath Traveler 0 (PS5) - Perfectly Fine JRPG Action
Gacha made good
Now on its third entry in seven years, the Octopath Traveler series and the HD-2D art style it pioneered have quickly become RPG stalwarts. They entertain with retro charm, engaging battles, and cute storylines. On that basis, prequel game Octopath Traveler 0 is another solid dose of turn-based action destined to please — just...
Review Marvel Cosmic Invasion (PS5) - Marvel's Most Fun Beat-'Em-Up in Decades
Beta Ray Brill
Between the brilliant TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge and Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: Rita’s Rewind, retro beat-‘em-ups are enjoying a bit of renaissance. Marvel Cosmic Invasion is perhaps the highest profile effort yet, a sublimely presented four-player pixel art tribute to the arcade glory years, when smoky pool halls were ruled...
Mini Review POOLS (PSVR2) - Niche Horror Is a PSVR2 Showcase
There's something in the water
POOLS is more of an experience than a game. You can technically see it through to completion in about an hour. But amid the brevity of our time with it, there's a palpable sense of atmosphere that'll leave you on edge. POOLS is an off-kilter horror walking simulator where you must navigate complex mazes of tiled...
Mini Review Morsels (PS5) - This Gross Little Roguelike Is Tastier Than It Looks
Pet food
Morsels is one of those roguelike action games that feels impenetrable at first, but once you start learning its obscure language, it becomes more and more rewarding. You play as a mouse trying to fight back against the tyranny of feline overlords, and you do so with mysterious cards that transform you into various strange creatures...
Mini Review R-Type Delta: HD Boosted (PS5) - Glow-Up of PS1 Classic Shmup Still Has the Sauce
Don't let go of that trigger
R-Type Delta is a PS1 classic. One of the greatest shmups of its age, the title hasn’t received a port since 2009 on the PS3, so this has been a long time coming. As the first R-Type with 3D graphics, we were worried the title might not look great with proper HD graphics. This era of 3D gaming tends to look pretty...
Review Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 (PS5) - The Most Absurd Game in Series History
Back to the future
Call of Duty has well and truly gone off the deep end. In Black Ops 7, the latest Treyarch effort, any hint of realism the series may have once possessed is gone. In its place are controllable machetes the size of buildings, boss encounters on a scale that would make God of War proud, and friendly zombies. The campaign is so far...
Mini Review Neon Inferno (PS5) - Beautiful Layers, Chaotic Bullets
Bullet hell
Some games embrace their inspirations in an obvious display of affection, which is exactly what developer Zenovia Interactive has done with Neon Inferno. This 2D run-and-gun platformer has a ton of similarities to classics such as Contra, yet manages to achieve its own identity with an interesting narrative and engaging gameplay...
Help wanted
Developer Purple Lamp Studios has been honing its craft working on several licensed games, with more than one SpongeBob title under its belt. Its latest effort, SpongeBob SquarePants: Titans of the Tide, is another 3D platformer riding the wave of nostalgia caused by its remake of the fan favourite, Battle for Bikini Bottom Rehydrated...
Nice town, I'll take it
Age of Empires 4: Anniversary Edition is another excellent real-time strategy game from the now venerable series that popularised the subgenre back in the late 90s and early 2000s (with 'popular' being a relative term). Developed by Relic Entertainment and initially published by Xbox Game Studios in 2021, it's now the turn...
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Mini Review Rennsport (PS5) - A Sim Racer That Just Can't Match the Competition
Shifting down
As long as Polyphony Digital continues to release and refine Gran Turismo titles, simulation racers will always have a hard time competing on a Sony console. With Rennsport, developer Competition Company is looking to separate itself from the leader of the pack by creating a cross-platform sim experience that’s geared heavily...
Review Dispatch (PS5) - Interactive Superhero Show Is a Damn Good Time
Cape diem
It only takes playing through one or two episodes of Dispatch to realise that this superhero comedy-drama has bags of potential. But spread between a total of eight instalments, does it stick the landing? The thing about Dispatch is it's not really much of a game in the traditional sense. This is more about watching than interacting, and...
Review Lumines Arise (PS5) - The Most Beautiful and Most Complete Lumines Game Ever
Block out the noise
In many ways, Lumines Arise represents the series reclaiming its own legacy. Tetris Effect is fantastic, of course, but its fancy lights and catchy music can be traced all the way back to 2004, when the original Lumines gave the PSP a puzzle game to rival the timeless classic. Lumines Arise, then, adopts a similar style and...
Mini Review Once Upon a Katamari (PS5) - An Eccentric, Joyful Time Capsule
All hail the Prince
Once Upon a Katamari brings back Bandai Namco's cult classic franchise with an all-new game that feels ripped straight from its PS2 prime. By and large, this is the same Katamari Damacy madness we all fell in love with 20 years ago — roll a ball around each stage, gathering up myriad objects to make it as big as you can. With...
Hey Jude
Having been shackled to the PS3 ever since its release all the way back in 2011, it's great to see Tales of Xillia make a deserved comeback through Tales of Xillia Remastered. Part of Bandai Namco's ongoing mission to re-release just about every Tales title on as many platforms as possible, Xillia Remastered is a predictably solid...
Mini Review 1000xRESIST (PS5) - Story-First Experience Is a Marvel
Fall of mankind
With one of the most fascinating narratives on PS5 backing it, 1000xRESIST is more of an experience than something you traditionally play. It’s more involved than a visual novel, as exploration and light platforming break up cutscenes and conversations. For all intents and purposes, however, everything the game does is in service...
Review Wreckreation (PS5) - Ambitious, Burnout-Inspired Racer Is a Near Miss
Crash out
Wreckreation is a game made by Three Fields Entertainment, a small studio led by Criterion Games alumni Alex Ward and Fiona Sperry. With their combined experience on the Burnout series, fans have been hopeful for a spiritual successor that can live up to one of the kings of arcade racing. Although this is the team's best and most...
Review ARC Raiders (PS5) - A Triumph in Multiplayer Immersion
See you topside, Raider
ARC Raiders is easily one of the best multiplayer games currently on PS5. This sophomore release from Swedish developer Embark Studios manages to balance all the hardcore elements of an extraction shooter while making it accessible, cinematic, immersive, and, most of all, just damn good fun. ARC Raiders is set in a...
Review Mortal Kombat Legacy Kollection (PS5) - An Almost Flawless Victory for Fighting Game Fans
Get over here
Not every game in the Mortal Kombat Legacy Kollection is a klassic, but dev Digital Eclipse’s ability to kontextualise kontent makes this a kompilation well worth owning. If you’ve played the excellent Atari 50 or any of the Gold Master Series kollections, then you’ll know roughly what to expect here: a playable timeline of...
Mini Review Reach (PSVR2) - Great VR Parkour Let Down by Dull Story
Greatness out of reach
Reach is the latest VR adventure from nDreams, the developer of the excellent VR shooter, Synapse. With that in mind, we had high hopes going into its latest outing. But can Reach capture that VR magic found in Synapse, while delivering on its cinematic promise? Well, sort of. In Reach, you play as Rosa, a movie stunt...
Mini Review Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake (PS5) - A Comforting Couple of Classic JRPGs
No two ways about it
Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake bundles two classic JRPGs together that, somewhat confusingly, are linked to but set chronologically after Square Enix's 2024 revival, Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake. Together, they comprise the Erdrick trilogy and continue the series' consistently high quality, offering traditional turn-based...
Mini Review Halls of Torment (PS5) - Proof That Vampire Survivors Wasn't a Fluke
Walk the walk
To call Halls of Torment a Vampire Survivors clone would be overly reductive, but it's probably the easiest way to start describing what it is. It's very similar in terms of its structure and flow, but introduces some interesting wrinkles that give it a pretty unique feel. For starters, its aesthetic is a pitch-perfect recreation of...
Mini Review Fast & Furious: Arcade Edition (PS5) - An Overpriced Racer That Loses Its Grip
Family can't fix this
We’ve never wanted to recommend a racer more than Fast & Furious: Arcade Edition. This scrappy PS5 port of a 2022 arcade cabinet hails from Raw Thrills, the US-based dev founded by coin-op royalty Eugene Jarvis. If you’ve not stepped foot in a sticky arcade for several years, you may know the studio best for its...
Review Full Metal Schoolgirl (PS5) - This Offbeat Anime Roguelite Somehow Gets It Right
Learning the hard way
For a game about robotic students raging against a sinister regime, Full Metal Schoolgirl is weirdly relatable. The onset of AI has brought life to a horde of automaton employees known as the Working Dead, tasked by a tyrannical corporation to behave as corporate slaves. With a single organisation controlling Tokyo’s...
Review The Outer Worlds 2 (PS5) - Mechanically Fantastic RPG Struggles to Be Memorable
In one ear, Outer the other
The Outer Worlds 2 is Obsidian trying to rediscover the role-playing magic that once defined it as a juggernaut within the genre. And in a lot of ways, this bigger, and generally better sequel accomplishes its goals. Compared to The Outer Worlds — and indeed, compared to many other modern RPGs — the game provides...
Mini Review PowerWash Simulator 2 (PS5) - A Bigger, Better, Squeaky Clean Sequel
Lather, rinse, repeat
PowerWash Simulator 2 is a pretty straightforward sequel. It sticks to the core of what made the first game such a cult hit, but builds on it just enough with a few smart revisions and new features. Broadly, this is more of the same, but so strong is the satisfying clean-'em-up gameplay that we don't mind one bit. Each level...
Mini Review Tekken 3 (PS1) - PlayStation's Definitive Fighter Is Still King
Enter the Tekken
Tekken was already a big deal before Tekken 3 came along, but the third instalment rocketed Bandai Namco's series to truly awesome heights. It was both a revolutionary 3D fighting game and a commercial juggernaut, helping define an entire console generation. But perhaps the most impressive thing about Tekken 3 is that, over three...
Let's talk about Rex, baby
The Jurassic World Evolution series' greatest strength has always been how it sits comfortably in the sweet spot between serious park building mechanics and the giddy wonder of dinosaur related mayhem. Jurassic World Evolution 3 is the best yet — not revolutionary by any stretch of the imagination, but a game that knows...
Review Ninja Gaiden 4 (PS5) - A Bloodthirsty Action Game Ripped Straight from the PS3 Era
Stark raven mad
Ninja Gaiden 4 feels like a game that came out 15 years ago, and we mean that as a compliment. This blood-soaked, hard-as-nails action game eschews many contemporary design decisions, instead giving players a traditional, linear experience that's refreshingly straightforward. A collaboration between action specialists PlatinumGames...
You're Phyred
Over its first couple of hours, Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 does its best to convince you that it might actually be pretty good. Against all odds, this deeply troubled project could rise above expectations. But as the game's structure becomes more and more apparent, the real Bloodlines 2 shapes up to be a bit of a disaster...
