Latest Reviews
Review God of War Ragnarok (PS5) - A Dazzling Crown Jewel in Sony's Catalogue
The boy is back in town
At one point or another, Santa Monica Studio was thinking about spreading Kratos' new saga across three games — a trilogy that would mirror the original adventures of the vengeful god. This is worth bringing up because God of War Ragnarok feels like it could have been split in half and sold as two separate pieces. It...
Mini Review The Chant (PS5) - Nothing Special Whatsoever
Kum Ba Nah
With the horror genre going through a sudden but welcome revival, a bang-average title isn't really going to cut it anymore as The Callisto Protocol and Dead Space loom on the horizon. Unfortunately, The Chant is exactly that. It's an okay game, but it's going to be forgotten about just as quickly as it comes. A third-person title about...
Review Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (PS5) - Infinity Ward Proves It Knows Best
The Price Is Right
As the development cycle of the Call of Duty series wraps back around to Infinity Ward, excitement in the FPS franchise feels renewed. Last year's Call of Duty: Vanguard will forever go down as a misfire, but after the success that was 2019's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, Activision couldn't have wished for a better studio to take...
Mini Review Brewmaster (PS5) - All Hail the Best Beer Brewing Sim on PlayStation
"Just a half for me, Susan. I'm driving"
Back in the good old days you could go to your local pub for a pint of Housewives Knee and the only other people in there drinking proper beer would be old men and people who go to Games Workshop. People wearing fedora hats. Those sorts of people. But then they came. The normal people. Suddenly craft beer...
Mini Review Shatter Remastered Deluxe (PS5) – Brick Breaking Great Returns
How can you have any pudding if you don't eat your meat?
Brick breakers have been a staple of gaming since the early days, and the formula hasn't really changed since. You're presented with a wall of colourful bricks and it's up to you to guide a ball into each one, destroying them until the level is clear. But what happens when a developer decides...
Review Star Ocean: The Divine Force (PS5) - Space Age JRPG Barely Takes Flight
One small step for man. One smaller step for JRPGs
After forty-five hours, a few smiles, and one or two frowns, we walked away from Star Ocean: The Divine Force with a shrug. It’s a middle-tier Japanese role playing game that at no point, ever, threatens to get promoted to top-tier status nor sink so low that it ends up sandwiched between...
Mini Review Saturnalia (PS5) - An Engrossing Terror
It’s always a village, isn't it?
As heavy darkness permeates the discomforting town of Gravoi, Saturnalia dares you to survive it long enough to unveil the village’s hidden skeletons. Harkening back to the good ol’ survival horror games of the 90s, this artsy but quite disturbing indie horror manages to rattle your bones after the credits hit...
Mini Review Signalis (PS4) - Last-Gen Release Has Its Feet in the Future
Stunning revival of classic survival (horror)
Keycard puzzles, limited inventory, scarce ammo. The survival horror formula may be nothing new, but the sheer tension of Signalis shows once again that if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it — just move it to an eerily abandoned mining colony on the edge of a Nazi-like galactic empire. Even more...
Review Resident Evil Village: Shadows of Rose (PS5) - Creative DLC Is a Short But Sweet Send-Off
Goodbye Winters
For as good as the Resident Evil series is, Capcom has generally restricted it to one-and-done experiences. A few post-launch expansions have come and gone — in Resident Evil 5 and Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, for example — but they've never felt like a sure-fire thing. If anything, Resident Evil Village continues that...
Review NHL 23 (PS5) – The Same as Last Year, with Small Changes
Stick it out
It’s the same thing every year, isn’t it? Annual sports titles get announced, highlight a few key features, and then hunker down for a few months, hoping any sort of pushback gets swept under the rug. It hits some series’ harder than others, Madden NFL being the most noteworthy franchise to endure a rough go of things. But some...
Review New Tales From The Borderlands (PS5) - No Tale, Too Much Borderlands
Fails from the Borderlands
There’s an argument to be made that 2014’s Tales from the Borderlands is actually the best game in the Borderlands series. Now, hold on. Don’t go typing up your angry comments just yet. Hear us out. Sometimes you just want a capital V capital G Video Game that’s about running and jumping and shooting and looting...
Mini Review Dragon Ball: The Breakers (PS4) - Janky Casual Fun In Familiar Setting
Is it worth surviving?
Dragon Ball: The Breakers breaks into unfamiliar territory for the franchise — a realm that'll be more than recognisable to avid Dead by Daylight players. This 1v7 multiplayer game is more than just a reskin of its inspirations, however. While it falters in several game mechanics, it uses the beloved manga and anime property...
Review Gotham Knights (PS5) - It's Actually Pretty Good
Return to Arkham
Sometimes, reviewing a game under embargo feels a lot like the famous Jose Mourinho phrase: "If I speak, I am in big trouble." Not just with the publisher, but also those fuelling the narrative that Gotham Knights is a bad game before it's even out. Warner Bros. Games Montreal's latest has continually been thrown under a bus in the...
Review Uncharted: Legacy Of Thieves Collection (PC) - Treasure Hunting Never Looked So Good
Nathan Drake ventures to a brand new platform
Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection has washed ashore on the beaches of a new platform — one that allows us to dial the technical aspects of series' most recent instalments up to 11. But with the PS5 receiving its own remastered collection just earlier this year, is this PC port another big step,...
Review A Plague Tale: Requiem (PS5) - Asobo Studio Levels Up in Fantastic Narrative Treat
Pest control
A Plague Tale: Requiem is an excellent example of what a sequel should be: similar to its predecessor, but bigger and better in virtually every single way. Asobo Studio was so close to something quite special with 2019's A Plague Tale: Innocence, and its PS5 sequel turns that potential into reality. For fans of narrative-focused titles,...
Mini Review Persona 5 Royal (PS5) - Still One of the Best JRPGs Ever Made, Despite PS4 Disrespect
Persona 5 Royalties
Let's get right into it: Persona 5 would not be the success story that it is without the PS4. And with that in mind, the complete lack of an upgrade path for existing PS4 players is a slap in the face. It doesn't matter if you've already paid full price for Persona 5 and Persona 5 Royal on Sony's last-gen system — SEGA and...
Mini Review LEGO Bricktales (PS5) - Solid Puzzler Taps into the Creativity of LEGO
If you build it, they will come
LEGO Bricktales is the latest attempt by LEGO to diversify its gaming portfolio beyond the formula popularised by TT Games. While some of these attempts have been worse than others, LEGO Bricktales is the latest in a line of successes. This is a puzzle game about a young minifig on their way to visit their...
Review Overwatch 2 (PS5) - More 2.0 Than a Full Sequel
Heroes reunite
It's better to think of Overwatch 2 as Overwatch 2.0 instead of a full sequel. While many of its playable Heroes have undergone significant changes — alongside the introduction of three brand-new ones — this is essentially the same game you've been playing for the past six years. Activision Blizzard has (quite literally) stuck a...
Review Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous Enhanced Edition (PS4) - A Roleplaying Renaissance
We live in a CRPG Golden Age
Pathfinder: Wrath of the Righteous is the kind of game that can take over your life if you let it. Its intricate mechanics, engaging combat, and gritty narrative combine to create a heady experience, provided you're willing to put in the time to learn its specific eccentricities. It can be unwieldy, and its depth and...
Review No More Heroes III (PS5) - A Suda51 Sequel Full of Surprises
Start the game
Grasshopper Manufacture and its founder Goichi Suda are infamous for their oddball ideas, and the No More Heroes games are prime examples of their unorthodox proclivities. The first two games are schizophrenia-fuelled mania operating under the guise of hack-and-slashes, while Travis Strikes Again utilised its smaller team and budget...
Mini Review Startenders (PSVR) – A Fun Time Serving Up Cosmic Drinks
The luck is gone, the brain is shot, but the liquor we still got
PSVR is jam-packed with goofy little experiences, and Startenders is the newest to join that lineup. A procedural bartending game with a twist, the experience offers a perfectly pleasant distraction for a little while. As a mundane, office working human, you suddenly get transported...
Mini Review Airoheart (PS5) - Flawed Zelda Clone Has Some Nice Ideas, But Stumbles
Broken Link
Indie games don't have to do their own thing to be successful (just look at something like Prodeus), but Airoheart, a 2D The Legend of Zelda clone through and through, never feels confident in its structure or design when it isn't directly aping Nintendo's timeless series. The action adventure title tries to set itself apart by...
Mini Review Potion Permit (PS5) - Time to Play Doctor in a Charming But Buggy Town
Che-missed the mark
Potion Permit throws you in the deep end. The town of Moonbury needs a chemist, and as a fresh graduate from the capital you’re shipped in to cure the mayor’s daughter who has succumbed to a mysterious illness. Moonbury residents don’t have a great track record with chemists, however, and that will become apparent as the...
Mini Review Prodeus (PS5) - Old School Shooter Is Derivative But So Damn Good
From hell with love
The so-called 'boomer shooter' is a common sight these days — retro-styled blast-'em-ups that promise the pixelated thrills of early DOOM games and their ilk. Prodeus is one such project — a straightforward take on the genre that can set its stall with a single screenshot; this is the definition of a boomer shooter. But what...
Review Mini-Review: Circus Electrique (PS5) - Not Quite The Greatest Show On Earth
Roll up, roll up
Young journalist Amelia has the circus in her blood; her uncle runs the titular Circus Electrique and her mother was a former circus performer who died in an accident ten years prior. Amelia has been given an assignment to report on the reopening of the circus, but disaster strikes as London is plagued with a mysterious incident...
Review FIFA 23 (PS5) - Series Ends on a High, But Familiar Frustrations Remain
Touch grass
After an incredible 30-year run, FIFA 23 had to go out on a high – and to be fair, we reckon it just about has. Fans of EA Sports’ flagship football franchise will be familiar with the formula: this is more refinement than revolution, but FIFA 22 threaded through some of the best virtual soccer we’ve seen from the juggernaut...
Mini Review Tunic (PS5) - Cute But Tough Action Game Is Cunning As a Fox
Page turner
Tunic is more than it appears. It treads familiar ground to classic Legend of Zelda-style adventures, with simple combat, a large overworld, and a selection of bosses and dungeons. However, it's what's added on top that really shines. To start with, the foxy hero doesn't even have a sword, but throughout the game you'll slowly accrue...
Mini Review Let's Build A Zoo (PS5) - An Absorbing and Quirky Tycoon
A crocoduck?
Don’t let the cutesy pixel art style fool you; managing a zoo is more than just a walk in the park. Let's Build A Zoo wastes no time to allow the player to establish a living hell or a haven for both your visitors and animals. The game excels at two main mechanics which make it stand out from its tycoon competitors — the morality...
Mini Review Sam & Max: Beyond Time and Space Remastered (PS4) - A Snappier, Funnier Sequel
Weird is an understatement
Santa, Hell, vampires? In any other game, this would be such an odd combination. However, this is Sam & Max we're talking about, and Santa's exorcism is just another typical case for the dynamic duo. Sam & Max: Beyond Time and Space Remastered is just as enjoyable as Ozzy Osbourne's crazy train to experience...
Review Valkyrie Elysium (PS5) - Quality Combat Elevates Drab Action RPG
Par for the Norse
There's something distinctly old school about Valkyrie Elysium, and we don't mean because it's part of a long-running franchise; a series that started with the turn-based JRPG Valkyrie Profile way back in 1999. This is a game with an almost PlayStation 2 style design philosophy, for better and worse, and what you're here for will...
