THQ Nordic Game Reviews
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...
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...
A kingdom with heart
Once upon a time, legendary game director Warren Spector asked Disney to help him make a science fiction game. The house of mouse wasn't interested in his pitch, but it gave him the keys to the forgotten magic kingdom instead. Spector's Junction Point Studios was given unfettered access to archival materials and tasked with...
Review South Park: Snow Day! (PS5) - 3D Co-Op Card Brawler Is a Step Back for the Franchise
Let's Fighting Love
The South Park franchise has an eclectic history of genre choices, trying (and mostly failing) everything from FPS to kart racer. 2014's South Park: The Stick of Truth and its comic-book-themed follow-up redressed the balance with an excellent comedic spin on the old-school RPG. Now it takes another genre pivot, becoming the...
Review Alone in the Dark (PS5) - An Admirable Effort with One Too Many Flaws
The new nightmare
In spite of all its shortcomings, Alone in the Dark is a game we can't help but have a soft spot for. It's packed full of glitches at launch. The combat feels awful. It's not scary whatsoever, and the stealth sequences are dreadful. Yet, there's such a clear passion for the survival horror genre coursing through it that it comes...
Mini Review Outcast: A New Beginning (PS5) - A Rough Around the Edges Action Relic
We're sorry Ms. Jackson
Remakes, reboots, revivals. Whether it's a lack of fresh ideas, exploiting nostalgia, or an earnest desire to introduce a new generation to past glories, the entertainment industry loves bringing old things back. And we love old things coming back, too, as long as it isn't Nanna after she's escaped from the home again...
Review Jagged Alliance 3 (PS5) - Dormant Series Returns with a Solid Tactical Offering
Honour among thieves
The Jagged Alliance series still has an imposing reputation in strategy gaming circles, despite the last mainline entry launching 24 years ago and the spin-offs being generally not great. Jagged Alliance 3, thankfully, does an excellent job of modernising the series while introducing engaging new elements, crafting a genuinely...
Clockwork conundrums
Trine 5: A Clockwork Conspiracy is the fifth entry in the one-to-four player, puzzle platforming adventure series, from Finland based developer, Frozenbyte. After attending a celebration at Astral Academy and being framed for destroying the village, our three heroes, Amedeus the wizard, Zoya the thief, and Pontius the knight,...
Review AEW: Fight Forever (PS5) - A Superkick Party Pooper Fit for Elite Fans Only
Meh-EW
It’s been close to three years since All Elite Wrestling’s first video game was officially announced. Many performers within the company itself have long extolled the virtues of 90’s wrestling video game royalty – and in particular, WWF No Mercy – even going so far as to position AEW: Fight Forever as something of a homage. But with...
Review SpongeBob SquarePants: The Cosmic Shake (PS4) - Old School Platformer Is One for the Fans
You're ready, kids
Aficionados of Nickelodeon's iconic square-panted hero will largely agree Battle for Bikini Bottom is the best SpongeBob game. Nearly two decades later, developer Purple Lamp Studios brought it back with a full remake, and it was clear fans were hungry for something fresh. The team's response is SpongeBob SquarePants: The Cosmic...
Review Biomutant (PS4) - The Classic Case of What Could Have Been
Karate kid
Republished on Wednesday 30th November 2022: We're bringing this review back from the archives following the announcement of December's PlayStation Plus lineup. The original text follows. Biomutant could have released a decade ago and it wouldn't have looked out of place. By stimulating the open world formula of old with new takes on the...
Review Destroy All Humans! 2: Reprobed (PS5) - We're Just Remaking Anything Now
Close Encounters of the Turd Kind
At some point during the billion hour long campaign for Destroy All Humans! 2: Reprobed — a remake of 2006's Destroy All Humans! 2 for PS2 — we began to wonder where it had all gone wrong. There we were, running around as a little alien shooting innocent passers-by with a gun that reduces them to skeletons and...
Mini Review Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? (PS5) - An Outdated Family Trivia Game
Back to school
Based on the long-running game show, HandyGames' adaptation of Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? will have you or your friends wondering if you should have paid more attention in elementary school. Offering two modes — Exam mode and Study mode — the game is definitely more suited to local multiplayer. You can easily finish a...
Mini Review MX vs. ATV Legends (PS5) – Scrap Metal
Legends never die, until they do
Since the end of the seventh console generation, the MX vs. ATV series has been foundering. Both of the titles to hit the PS4 were generally maligned, and things aren’t looking much better on the PS5. The main part of the game – races with dirt bikes, ATVs, and UTVs – functions as both a blessing and a curse...
Review SpongeBob Rehydrated - Battle for Bikini Bottom Remake Is Rough and Ready Fun
Doing the Sponge
Republished on Wednesday 30th March 2022: We're bringing this review back from the archives following the announcement of April 2022's PlayStation Plus lineup. The original text follows. Say what you like about SpongeBob SquarePants, but there's a reason it's still one of Nickelodeon's most popular shows. The cartoon starring a...
You've got to have fate
Just like the game's fateless protagonist, Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning - Fatesworn exists against all odds. This is a brand new expansion to a game that first released ten years ago, from the same development team that brought us the remastered Re-Reckoning in 2020. It's an incredibly strange scenario, but hardcore...
Review Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning - Rough Remaster Is Still Fun to Play
Fatal attraction
Republished on Wednesday, 28th October, 2021: We're bringing this review back from the archives following the announcement of November 2021's PlayStation Plus lineup. The original text follows. As regular Push Square readers may already know, we decided to hold off on our Kingdoms of Amalur: Re-Reckoning review back when the...
Mini Review Wreckfest (PS5) - Not a Huge Jump on PS5, But Still a Smashing Good Time
Get wrecked
Wreckfest just fully embraces what it is, and you have to respect it. Bugbear's brash, fender-bending racer has been unleashed on PlayStation 5 as part of May's PlayStation Plus lineup, and it's still very much the chaotic, crash-happy, Destruction Derby-esque experience people love. In the jump to new hardware, the game definitely...
Review Wreckfest (PS4) - Technical Issues Fail to Void This Great, Destructive Racer
It's daa-bee, not dur-bee
Republished on Wednesday 28th April, 2021: We're bringing this review back from the archives following the announcement of May 2021's PS Plus lineup. The original text follows. Racing games have been seemingly few and far between this generation. DriveClub will cease to exist at the end of this month, Codemasters’ GRID...
Review Destroy All Humans - Faithful Remake Can't Disguise Archaic Design
Alienated
Over the last few years, many classic games have been brought back with a bang on PlayStation 4. Whether it's Crash Bandicoot, Spyro the Dragon, or Shadow of the Colossus, we've been treated to some superb remakes that not only bring the visuals up to date, but also make them feel modern again. Destroy All Humans is the latest title to be...
Review Desperados III - Sneaky Cowboy RTS Mostly Delivers
Tactical Western? This is the best 'un
Desperados III doesn't have much competition for the title of best cowboy-themed real-time tactical stealth game on the PlayStation 4, but that doesn't mean developer Mimimi Games is happy to take the accolade by default. This is a well crafted strategy game and one that is easy to recommend to fans of the...
Review Darksiders Genesis - Competent Prequel Lacks Originality
Then there was War
On the face of things, Darksiders Genesis is yet another example of the THQ Nordic-fronted franchise mixing things up to ensure one more fresh experience for its fans. Developer Airship Syndicate is at the helm this time around with a prequel which ditches classic third-person action for a perspective more akin to Diablo than...
Review Monkey King: Hero Is Back - Simplistic Brawling Fun That's a Bit Too Short
Planet of the apes
Monkey King: Hero Is Back is a love letter to simpler times. Mechanically, it wouldn’t feel out of place on the PlayStation 2, and graphically, it’s barely just a generation ahead of that. This is a simple experience at heart, but it’s one you’re bound to find some enjoyment in should you take to its rather repetitive...
Review Rebel Cops - Intense Turn-Based Tactical Response
Police brutality
Rebel Cops is what would happen if you crossed Lethal Weapon with XCOM. It’s a hard-boiled cop drama that plays out in isometric, turn-based confrontations between the criminal underworld and the only cops in the town of Ripton that haven’t yet been bought off or slaughtered. Set in the nineties, you’ll foil bank robberies,...
Review Darksiders III - An Entertaining Adventure That's Stuck in the Past
Fury rode
Republished on Wednesday 28th August 2019: We're bringing this review back from the archives following the announcement of September's PlayStation Plus lineup. The original text follows. The Darksiders series has always been an unexpected surprise. It's managed to garner a cult following, despite a proclivity for liberally borrowing...
Review Fade to Silence - A Bang Average Fight for Survival
Silent night
The survival genre is most definitely an acquired taste, but it doesn’t always take a genius to recognise a bit of a dud. Fade to Silence attempts to take after The Long Dark with a harsh, unrelenting winter setting that puts a strain on food and warmth - but it’s nowhere near as effective. Largely thanks to a lack of direction,...
Review Generation Zero - A Woeful Open World Ordeal Stuck in the Past
Last gen design
Despite flying under most people’s radars, Generation Zero is actually a fairly major fall from grace. From developer Avalanche Studios, its latest open world foray is in stark contrast to the explosive, experimental, and action-packed nature of Just Cause 4's Solís. Instead, the studio’s take on a 1980s Sweden ravaged by an...
Review This Is the Police 2 - An Enjoyable Sequel with Bad Difficulty Spikes
That's the sound of da police
After a brief two month period of exclusivity over on the PC, This Is the Police 2 has made its way to the PlayStation 4 with new gameplay mechanics and expanded offerings in an attempt to build upon the foundations laid by the successful 2016 original. While one or two of these additions may have caught its fan base...
Review Red Faction: Guerrilla Re-Mars-tered (PS4)
Revolutionary
The last console generation seems like a quainter time compared to now. Granted, we didn’t have as many indie games then as we do now, but for every big-budget blockbuster there were numerous B-games: passion projects lacking polish but full of heart. We’re talking about games like Deadly Premonition, Binary Domain, The...
Review The Raven Remastered (PS4)
Leave no stone unturned
Mystery awaits in THQ Nordic’s latest rework of its 2013 game The Raven: Legacy of a Master Thief. The Remastered edition comes bundled with just the right amount of puzzle solving, wit, and charm as its counterpart, with some reworked animations as well as improvements to shading and lighting. It's an often slow-paced...
