Modus Games Game Reviews
More than token replaya-Billy-ty
Speaking to Push Square during Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragons' July 2023 release, developer Secret Base's Raymond Teo described adding highly replayable roguelite elements to create a brawler with an ingenious way of counteracting the beat-'em-up genre's innate repetitiveness. It takes just under two...
Mini Review Afterimage (PS5) - Gorgeous Metroidvania Doesn't Break the Mould
In good company
Afterimage is a beautiful hand-drawn Metroidvania-style game with satisfying melee combat and a gratifying array of options with which to overcome its many tough boss encounters. Fans of Hollow Knight and Blasphemous will likely find much to love here as it has in common a similarly excellent visual aesthetic, tense platforming...
Mini Review Teslagrad 2 (PS5) - Puzzle Platformer Focused on Tremendous Traversal
A shocking shadow drop
Teslagrad 2 is a sequel to the well-received PS4 title, Teslagrad, developed by Rain Games. It is a three to five hour Metroidvania-style 2D puzzle platformer in which you play as a young girl, Lumina. While out training to become a teslamancer, she crashes her airship in Wyrmheim, stranding her in this treacherously foreign...
Mini Review God of Rock (PS5) - A Decent Fighting Game Which Shares Similarities with Rock Band
Rock of ages
Punching is cool, but what if punching was instigated by musical notes instead? Well, developer Modus Studios liked that idea, and the result is God of Rock, a fighting game that pits rival musicians against one another. Mechanically, God of Rock is solid. While it's a fighting game, the core of the experience relies on note charts a...
Mini Review Rustler (PS5) - Silly Medieval Sandbox Houses Enjoyable Old-School GTA Clone
Tis but a scratch
For as iconic as Grand Theft Auto unquestionably is, it often feels like its PS1 origins have been resigned to the past. Titles like Shakedown Hawaii have attempted to recapture Rockstar’s early isometric days, but since the developer’s very own GTA: Chinatown Wars, there’s been a real dearth of top-down open worlds. Rustler...
Mini Review Cris Tales (PS5) - Enchanting RPG Inspired By the Classics
Let’s do the time warp again
Cris Tales is an absolutely gorgeous game that's heavily inspired by classic RPGs such as Final Fantasy VI and Chrono Trigger, while also managing to put its own unique spin on things. The game’s protagonist, Crisbell, is a young orphan who acquires a magical time crystal which shows her a vision of the future where...
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 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 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...
Review Trine 4: The Nightmare Prince - Gorgeous Puzzle Platformer Is a Return to Form
Saving the kingdom, one floating box at a time
The first two games in Frozenbyte’s Trine series were whimsical 2D puzzle platformers. A third title, Artifacts of Power, switched to 3D and offered a shorter adventure that left some fans cold. Trine 4 throws away that extra dimension, and feels much more like the series at its best. Returning...
Review Bear With Me: The Complete Collection - Surprisingly Deep Film Noir Point & Click Action
Paw-fully good
On the surface, Bear With Me appears to be little more than an amusing, story-driven, point and click adventure, infused with the tone and style of noir classics like The Maltese Falcon. However, there's much more at play within this clever episodic tale. The plights of Amber, Flint, and (collective sigh) Ted. E Bear amidst the...
Review Override: Mech City Brawl - Fun But Flawed Giant Robot Fighting
Mech it count
Override: Mech City Brawl is a surprisingly fun time, at least, for the first few hours. It's a relatively simple brawler featuring big colourful robots, and when you're stomping around a destructible stage smashing your opponent through multiple blocks of skyscrapers, it's hard not to enjoy yourself. But look beyond its shiny...
