Tag: Mini Reviews
Mini Review Gravity Error - Puzzling Potential Scuppered by Dreadful UI and Controls
Poor landing
Gravity Error has its heart in the right place. It wants to serve up a compelling puzzling experience rivalling the likes of Super Meat Boy with tough, quick-fire challenges that put you back in the action before you’ve even had chance to register failure. You could say it just about manages to achieve that, but then that would be...
Mini Review Super Mega Space Blaster Special Turbo – A Sufficient, if Forgettable, Shoot 'Em Up
The little space ship that could
While a fairly pedestrian shmup, Super Mega Space Blaster Special Turbo does have a couple of features that make it worth a quick look. It doesn’t hurt that the title's price -- $4.99 at launch -- is rather low, too. The most unique aspect of the game is by far the weapon system. Shmups are generally focused around...
Mini Review Flat Heroes - Just Pure, Challenging, Minimalist PS4 Platforming
Hip to be square
If you like your platformers 2D, no-nonsense, and tough as old boots, Flat Heroes is probably right up your alley. It strips away all the clutter and noise of the side-scroller and presents you with a gameplay gauntlet at its purest. This game tasks you with tackling hundreds of single-screen platforming challenges, and it does so...
Mini Review Blazing Chrome - JoyMasher's Homage to the Best 16-Bit Run-'n'-Gun Games
Joy machine masher
In a similar way to scrolling shooters, there's a purity to the gameplay in side-scrolling run-and-gun games, which has kept retro gamers coming back since Contra in 1987. Developed by JoyMasher and released in July 2019, Blazing Chrome's success comes from taking inspiration from the best 16-bit run-and-gun games -- with...
Mini Review Kine - This Clever PS4 Puzzle Game Has Got Some Moves
You like jazz?
Kine presents itself as a quirky, light-hearted puzzle game, and it is one, but it's also way harder than it looks. You must guide three different characters through simple stages to reach the exit -- it's a pretty straightforward setup. However, each of the sentient contraptions -- all aspiring musicians, of course -- are unusually...
Mini Review Untitled Goose Game - 2019's Most Popular Indie Waddles Onto PS4
Honk Fuzz
Untitled Goose Game has finally migrated to PlayStation 4, and it's every bit as wonderful as you've heard. You play as the titular antagonistic avian with the sole intent of causing as much misery as possible. The residents of the small English village are going about their day, and it's your job to stick your beak where it's not wanted...
Mini Review Ashen - One of the Best Souls-Likes Around
Ruined beauty
After a year of exclusivity, one of 2018’s best indie titles has finally been given its chance to shine by way of a glorious PlayStation 4 port. Ashen is a Souls-like in every sense of the word, but it’s one of the few which comes close to matching the quality of From Software. With a gorgeous open world to explore and deep,...
Mini Review Tools Up! - An Entertaining Co-Op Game That Almost Captures the Overcooked Magic
Job's a goodun
Tools Up takes the manic multiplayer of Overcooked and gives it a DIY makeover. Instead of things getting heated in the kitchen, up to four players are instead renovating an apartment block floor by floor. You'll be laying down flooring, painting walls, moving furniture, and more as you aim to achieve three stars in each of the 30...
Mini Review Lost Ember - This Game About Shifting Between Animals Is a Bit Ruff
Walkies simulator
The big gameplay hook for Lost Ember is the ability to swap from one animal to another. Doing so allows you to view the game's big environments from different perspectives, but more importantly, allows you to utilise each beast's unique abilities in order to advance. It's a novel idea, but the game built around it feels...
Mini Review Simulacra - FMV Chat Logs Worthy of a Phone Contract
Find My iPhone
Losing a mobile phone has to be one of the biggest first-world problems, but it becomes an entirely different ball game when its owner also disappears off the face of the planet. Anna's smartphone has just been delivered to your door, and in Simulacra, you'll need to work out what has happened to her. Taking place entirely on the...
Mini Review GRIS - This Simple 2D Platformer Paints a Gorgeous Picture on PS4
GRIS is the word
GRIS is beautiful. From the very moment the game begins to its emotional end, you could push that Share button at any time and have a frame-worthy screenshot. What makes this 2D platformer so striking and so captivating is its minimalistic visuals, using limited colours, hand-crafted animation, and breathtaking backdrops to great...
Mini Review Gas Guzzlers Extreme - Nothing Extreme About This Ropey PS4 Racer
Put it in reverse
Gas Guzzlers Extreme is a bad name for a pretty bad game. A combat racer that looks and feels like a title from generations gone by, it fails to really impress on any level. PlayStation 4 is a platform that's suffered a lack of arcade racing games, but this one can't hold a candle to the few decent examples available. One of its...
Mini Review The Curious Tale of the Stolen Pets - An Adorable But Brief PSVR Puzzler
Animal magic
The Curious Tale of the Stolen Pets is a PlayStation VR puzzle game in which you swivel a handful of dioramas around in search of hidden animals. There's not much more to it than that, but it gets away with such a simple idea by presenting it wonderfully. It's an absolute walk in the park, but there's still a satisfaction to solving...
Mini Review Doctor Who: The Edge of Time - A PSVR Game Only Whovians Could Love
Wibbly wobbly timey wimey
It's always felt like BBC's campy sci-fi show should be a home run in video games, but it's rarely translated well to an interactive format. PlayStation VR adventure Doctor Who: The Edge of Time is an effort to change that, but it's ultimately a bit flat, leaning a little too heavily on fan-pleasing moments instead of...
Mini Review Sparklite - A Sparkling Rogue-Lite Adventure
Shine bright like a diamond
Weaving the charm of 2D Zelda games with rogue-lite mechanics, Sparklite is quite literally a gem to be uncovered. Set in the ever-changing land of Geodia, and the balloon powered hub-ship above, you play as Ada, a sky-refugee turned Titan slayer tasked with collecting all the Sparklite she can. The titular currency...
Mini Review Bee Simulator - A Good Natured Game, But It Still Stings
More like half-a-bee
There's a simulator for all kinds of weirdly specific things these days, to the point where it's a bit of a running joke. Some really are trying to portray a true to life experience, while others use the moniker ironically. Bee Simulator flies closer to the latter camp, although instead of aiming for cheap laughs, it's hoping to...
Mini Review Audica - Harmonix's PSVR Rhythm Game Is Right on Target
Rock n' roll is king
PlayStation VR isn’t hurting for good experiences, but it’s time to throw another on the stack. Rhythm kings Harmonix are back with Audica, a VR music experience where you shoot at notes as they fly towards you. While its gameplay may be more comparable to the Persona dancing games, the gameplay loop is every bit as...
Mini Review Last Labyrinth - PSVR's Most Baffling Experience
At least it's the last one
Every so often, a video game will come along that seemingly defies all preconceived logic and common sense. That can be a good thing, or it can go the way of The Quiet Man. Unfortunately, Last Labyrinth is a PlayStation VR title that very much belongs in the latter category. Its core mechanic is sound enough, if a little...
Mini Review Valfaris - Heavy Metal Headliner Is Hellishly Worthy
Go to Hell, for Heaven's Sake
Valfaris isn’t interested in pleasantries and introductions. The Slain: Back From Hell spiritual successor is a headbanging romp across an alien planet that lets the action do the talking. Teeming with the Devil’s deadliest associates, it’s 2D shooting mayhem that manages to match impressive enemy designs with...
Mini Review Antigraviator - This Anti-Gravity Imitator Wipes Out on PS4
So-so, speed racer
WipEout is an excellent target to aim for, but rarely do attempts at recapturing the series' magic get it right. Unfortunately, that's the case with Antigraviator, a newly released, high speed, anti-gravity racing game. It features a handful of different customisable ships to pilot through a few different race types, and swaps out...
Mini Review Yakuza 4 Remastered - Uneven Storytelling Holds Back Another Solid Yakuza Title
Four's a crowd
When it originally released back in 2010, Yakuza 4 was defined by its four playable characters -- a first for the series. Alongside mainstay protagonist Kazuma Kiryu, players got to experience the stories of charismatic loan shark Akiyama, escaped convict Saejima, and street-smart cop Tanimura. In Yakuza 4 Remastered, all four...
Review Outer Wilds - An Engaging, Open Ended Sci-Fi Mystery
The great unknown
Rather than making space an endless slog to explore, Mobius Digital has condensed its starry sandbox down to a handful of small planets packed with secrets. Outer Wilds is an open ended sci-fi title with a time-twisting mystery at its heart, and it manages to do a lot with a little. It might take some getting used to, but this is a...
Review Disney Classic Games: Aladdin and The Lion King - A Comprehensive Nostalgia Trip
The king has returned
Nostalgia is a powerful drug, especially a double whammy of childhood movies and games. Disney Classic Games: Aladdin and The Lion King is exactly as advertised -- the beloved 16-bit platformers bundled together. Only it's more than that; Capcom's Aladdin for SNES aside, this is about as comprehensive a package as you could...
Review Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz HD - Monkey's Paw Paradox At Play in Port of Poor Game
Monkey balls
There’s a bit of a monkey’s paw paradox to Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz HD: SEGA’s vibrant Marble Madness-esque roll-‘em-up has finally made its long-awaited PlayStation 4 debut, but not even apes would have picked this wretched ex-Nintendo Wii exclusive as the version to port. Maligned at launch for its miserable motion...
Review Return of the Obra Dinn - Methodical Maritime Mystery Masterpiece
Worse things happen at sea
Return of the Obra Dinn is the most engrossing puzzler on PlayStation 4 since The Witness. Putting you in the shoes of an investigator, you're sent aboard the titular ship, which has reappeared after being assumed lost five years earlier. Your job is to explore every part of the vessel in order to work out the identity and...
Review Pig Eat Ball - Solid Swine Arcade Action
Sow good
Don’t let its rudimentary title deceive you: action-puzzler Pig Eat Ball is a fun homage to arcade titles that develops into a surprisingly deep experience with a quirky plot. You play as Princess Bow, a young pig forced into marriage when (like any good princess) she wants adventure in the great wide somewhere. Your overall goal is to...
Review Children of Morta - Family Matters in This Refreshing Rogue-Lite Adventure
Talkin 'bout my random generation
How do you make your pixelated rogue-lite game stand out? Children of Morta has an interesting answer. While you're cleaving your way through hundreds of corrupted baddies in the title's randomly generated dungeons, it frequently hits you with moments of story. The combination of random levels with a set narrative...
Review ReadySet Heroes - Fundamental Flaws Betray a Novel Twist on Multiplayer Dungeon Crawling
Party animals
ReadySet Heroes, the dungeon crawling party game from Robot Entertainment, arrived two weeks ago, but doesn't seem to be as prepared as its title implies. As of right now, the game just isn't up to scratch, with some glaring issues betraying its interesting ideas. There are just two modes of play. Crawl n' Brawl has up to four players...
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 Habroxia - A No-Frills Arcade Shmup on PS4
Don’t forget your quarters
The arcade style shmup’s been around for a long time now. Space Invaders is nearly 50 years old, and Galaga isn’t far behind. To say that the gameplay ideas for the genre have been perfected at this point would be an understatement. How do you add something new to that? Enter Habroxia, which plays more or less like...
Review The Bradwell Conspiracy - Jonathan Ross Can't Save This Technically Inept Title
Go home
The Bradwell Conspiracy wants to reach the same heights as Gone Home and What Remains of Edith Finch, but thanks to woeful performance on PlayStation 4 and clunky, unreliable mechanics, it goes in the opposite direction. After an explosion at the Bradwell Stonehenge Museum starts to topple the building over, it’s yours and a companion’s...
Review Castle Crashers Remastered - This Zany Brawler Is Chaotic, Ridiculous Fun on PS4
Cartoon violence
Castle Crashers Remastered is a pretty straightforward update to the cult hit beat 'em up, but that doesn't mean it's any less fun. The PlayStation 4 re-release has been refreshed with higher resolution visuals and a rock solid, 60 frames per second performance, but it's otherwise the same cartoonish brawler you know and love, warts...
Review Sayonara Wild Hearts - An Emotional Journey Inside a Neon-Filled Music Video
Sayonara bye bye
If you’ve ever been watching a music video, and thought “wow, listening to this is cool, but I wish I could play it,” look no further. A literal emotional journey that takes you through the highs and lows of falling in and out of love, Sayonara Wild Hearts is a vibrant and creative rhythm game. Using tarot cards as a framework...
Review Contra: Rogue Corps - Bargain Bin Isometric Shooter That's Easy to Forget
Corps, blimey
Contra – or the infinitely more extravagant Probotector, as it was originally known in some European territories – is a revered name in video game fame; Contra: Rogue Corps, the franchise’s first non-pachislot outing in almost a decade, does not live up to the property’s illustrious legacy. This artistically inconsistent...
Review Mutazione - A Human Story Told by a Cast of Mutants
Dramatic reading
"Mutant soap opera" is an odd phrase to describe an adventure game, but it does a good job of summing up Mutazione. You play as a young girl named Kai who travels to the titular island to help her grandfather, who has fallen gravely ill. However, once you arrive in the sleepy setting, it's not long before you're introduced to each...
Review The Sojourn - This First Person Puzzler Is No Walk in the Park
Taking a scroll
The Sojourn seems to have emerged from nowhere, but it's a pleasant surprise. It's a tranquil first person puzzle game that appears to be inspired by The Witness, with a similar art style and attitude to its storytelling. In practice, this puzzler has more in common with Portal; both are about reaching the end goal by cleverly...
Review Yakuza 3 Remastered - Rough Around the Edges, But Still a Great Yakuza Game
Return of the Dragon
Yakuza 3's infamously slow start sees series protagonist Kazuma Kiryu enjoying a relatively quiet life managing an orphanage on the sunny shoreline of Okinawa -- but it's not long before our hero is dragged into yet another dramatic feud between yakuza clans. Yakuza 3 was an ambitious jump forward for the franchise back in 2009,...
Review Groundhog Day: Like Father Like Son - Time-Looping Puzzler Can't Live Up to the Iconic Movie
Phil Connors simulator
In Groundhog Day: Like Father Like Son, a virtual reality sorta-sequel to the classic movie, you play as Phil Connors Jr. -- the cocksure son of Bill Murray's character and social media influencer on the rise. He's back in Punxsutawney to see his family and celebrate the unveiling of a statue in his father's honour. It's meant...
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 Headspun - A Buggy FMV Adventure with a Decent Story and Little Else
Inside nout
The brain is a complex thing; vast, mysterious, and packed full of drones in ties controlling our thoughts. Or, so says Headspun, a disappointing FMV/management hybrid that has you rebuilding the functions of a man’s mind following an accident. It’s a neat concept, but one marred by glitches, outdated mini-games, and irritatingly...
Review Agatha Knife - A Sweet Natured and Deeply Disturbing Adventure
All the little animals
Agatha is a little girl who loves animals. She also likes to kill them, because stocking her mother’s struggling butcher shop makes her happy. She hates that her furry friends look sad when they face their end. Agatha tries to quell her sadness and insomnia by creating a religion in the hopes of revitalising her mother’s...
Review Blasphemous - An Unholy and Triumphant Metroidvania
King of the castle
Perhaps ‘Dark Souls-vania’ is a bit of an overstatement, but there’s no denying the plethora of influences, both modern and contemporary, in this gorgeously sacrilegious metroidvania. Blasphemous is dripping in grim atmosphere and stuffed full of macabre religious iconography, bloody combat, and enough lore to fill the Old...
Review Metro Exodus: The Two Colonels - Satisfactory Action Down Under
Sound of the underground
After pitching itself as the series' big, breakout, open-world moment, it's almost comical that the first piece of downloadable content for Metro: Exodus immediately returns to what it was originally known for. The Two Colonels is a short, linear, claustrophobic experience that's not much more than serviceable in any...
Review The Ninja Saviors: Return of the Warriors - A PS4 Remake of a Classic Beat-'Em-Up
Tengo's game works
Developed by NatsumeAtari's Tengo Project team, The Ninja Saviors: Return of the Warriors is a remake of a 1994 SNES beat-'em-up, The Ninja Warriors Again, which in itself felt like a mixture of sequel and remake of TAITO's 1987 The Ninja Warriors arcade game. With gameplay that expands upon the template set by the likes of
Review Risk of Rain 2 - Frantically Challenging Action Makes for Compelling Co-Op
Heavy loot showers expected
Risk of Rain 2 might just be one of the PlayStation 4’s most addictive co-op experiences. Crash-landing on a hostile planet littered with sparsely detailed but highly stylised landmarks and architecture, you and your team must survive using weapons and abilities that are in constant flux as you slot in more and more...
Review River City Girls - Retro Brawling With a Twist
Girls about town
Dishing out knuckle sandwiches as either Kyoko or Misako in couch co-op brawler River City Girls is immediately fun, with the combat comparing favourable to the genre favourites of yesteryear. As tends to be the case with this sort of title however, fighting the ever growing hordes of enemies on your quest to rescue the duo’s...
Review Root Letter: Last Answer - Manga Turned Live Action Is a Pleasant Surprise
Is that a ghost?
As far as re-releases go, Root Letter: Last Answer is one of the most dramatic of the generation. Originally released on PlayStation 4 three years ago as a manga-based visual novel, the title from Kadokawa Games is back with an all-new live action overhaul that turns what was already a decent experience into something that anyone...
Review WRC 8 - A More Forgiving Alternative to DiRT Rally 2.0
Dirty tactics
WRC 8 is the latest rally title from Bigben Interactive, and unlike Codemasters' simulation series, it's officially licensed -- all the cars, teams, and tracks from the real world sport are present and correct. It's a neat advantage, but having an FIA sticker on the box doesn't guarantee a good time on the track. Fortunately, the game...
Review Edna & Harvey: Harvey’s New Eyes - An Enjoyable Point and Click Adventure with a Dark Twist
Keep your eyes peeled
Edna & Harvey: Harvey’s New Eyes is a follow up to 2008’s Edna & Harvey: The Breakout. Set in the same world as the original (not that you need to have played the first game to enjoy this one), Harvey’s New Eyes is a point and click adventure in the classic 2D style. Despite being a sequel to Edna & Harvey,...
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...
