Tag: Mini Reviews
Mini Review Metro Exodus (PS5) – A Greatly Improved Version of a Pretty Awesome Game
Time to leave the metro
Republished on Wednesday, 10th August, 2022: We're bringing this review back from the archives following the announcement of August's PS Plus Extra, Premium lineup. The original text follows. 4A Games is one of the most talented teams in the industry, but the PS4 version of Metro: Exodus – as noted in our original review...
Mini Review GigaBash (PS5) - A Mighty Brawler That Excels in Multiplayer
Saving the earth one more time
Kaiju fighting games are witnessing a resurgence and it’s a beautiful thing. PS2 efforts like War of the Monsters set the scene and through recent efforts like Override: Mech City Brawl that legacy lives on. Making little secret of its inspirations, here comes GigaBash from Passion Republic Games, a colourful new...
Mini Review Frogun (PS5) - PS1 Era Platformer Doesn't Have Much Bounce
Shooting your mouth
For better and worse, Frogun really does feel like a game ripped from the late 90s. This is a puzzle platformer with a PS1-era vibe, and while it nails the presentation, it also inadvertently captures the frustrating and finicky nature of those early 3D games. Playing as a young girl in search of her parents, you use the titular...
Mini Review What Remains of Edith Finch (PS5) – Still Immaculate All These Years Later
If these walls could talk
Back when What Remains of Edith Finch launched in 2017, we awarded it an elusive perfect score, lauding it as one of the greatest walking simulators ever conceived. But that was five years ago. How does it feel to step foot within Giant Sparrow’s lovingly crafted world now? With delight, we can say that the return to the...
Mini Review Bright Memory: Infinite (PS5) - A Memory in a Flash
Definitely not infinite
Swords, guns, parkour! Could this be the next Devil May Cry successor? Unfortunately, Bright Memory: Infinite will only be in your memory for T-minus two hours because not even Speedy Gonzales can outrun Sylvester faster than the credits roll in this game. It is hard to understand how Bright Memory’s Early Access on PC was...
Mini Review Seduction: A Monk's Fate (PS5) – A Bite-Sized Curio
Taking a vow of brevity
Not every game has to have a AAA budget or photorealistic graphics to offer something intriguing. A good example? Seduction: A Monk’s Fate, a side-scrolling puzzler by KOEX Studio, a single dev out of Singapore. In this title, you assume the role of a Buddhist monk attempting to cleanse your monastery from the temptations...
Party animals
Republished on Wednesday, 13th July, 2022: We're bringing this review back from the archives following the announcement of July's PS Plus Extra, Premium lineup. The original text follows. 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...
Mini Review Marvel's Avengers (PS5) - Heroic Makeover Still Needed
Thor-t it would be better
Republished on Wednesday, 13th July, 2022: We're bringing this review back from the archives following the announcement of July's PS Plus Extra, Premium lineup. The original text follows. Marvel’s Avengers’ biggest mistake is that it wants to be a game you can play forever, without offering the variety to sustain such...
Mini Review MADiSON (PS5) - Just Another PS4 Era Horror Game
Camera tricks
Outlast. Layers of Fear. Visage. Maid of Sker. Amnesia. PT. If you've played any one of these games, you've essentially already experienced MADiSON. Replicating the familiar mould of indie horror games released throughout the PS4 generation, very little sets the B
Mini Review Tour de France 2022 (PS5) - Tactical Sports Sim Is Overly Familiar
It's two tired
While you may expect a title based on the historic three week, 3,000km Tour de France cycling tournament to be a little like a racing game, this adaptation is actually much more of a strategy experience. Those already familiar with Nacon and Cyanide’s biking excursions will know that, of course, as Tour de France 2022 is largely...
Mini Review Yurukill: The Calumniation Games (PS5) - Zero Escape Meets Bullet Hell Mystery Madness
Virtue's Blast Reward
Oh no. You've been convicted of murdering 21 people and sentenced to 999 years in prison. Now you've been kidnapped by a super-rich megacorporation so you can take part in a series of games against other teams and the ultimate prize will be your freedom. You're fitted with a collar that can inject you with lethal poison at the...
Mini Review Best Month Ever! (PS4) - The World's Heaviest Road Trip
Okayest month ever
Created by the Warsaw Film School’s Video Game Directing department, Best Month Ever! is the story of Louise and her biracial son, Mitch, living in 1960s rural America. Having been diagnosed with a terminal illness and told she doesn’t have long to live, Louise takes Mitch on a road trip for summer, promising him the best...
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...
Mini Review Fobia - St. Dinfna Hotel (PS5) - Hotel Hell Makes for Effective Survival Horror
Hotel Califobia
If we were reviewing the St. Dinfna Hotel for Tripadvisor, then it would be a bit of a mauling. Old fashioned décor, a serious damp problem, monsters, rubbish WiFi, and a smug receptionist that didn’t even offer to carry our bags to the room. We simply couldn’t recommend staying there. But here at Push Square, we’re in the...
Mini Review Astro Aqua Kitty (PS5) - Retro Style Shooter Leaves Us Feline Good
Kitty kitty bang bang
Can deep water exploration as a cat possibly be more furr-tastic and wacky? Tikipod wants you to know that it can with its sequel to Aqua Kitty: Milk Mine Defender DX, Astro Aqua Kitty. Recently enhanced to take advantage of the PS5, Astro Aqua Kitty improves and expands on the original arcade shooter in every single aspect...
Mini Review Fall Guys (PS5) - Free-to-Play and Still a Blast Despite MTX Meddling
Free fallin'
Fall Guys exploded onto the scene in 2020, immediately rocketing to stardom thanks to its lovable jellybean characters, simple premise, and addictive structure. While enthusiasm for the 60-player party platformer has cooled, it's remained popular the last couple of years and Mediatonic has supported it well with multiple seasons full of...
Gaps in the Wonder years
In Retro Gamer Issue 124's 'A Westone Retrospective' feature, Westone co-founder Ryuichi Nishizawa stressed that he wanted to create a feeling of pressure for the player when developing 1986's arcade game Wonder Boy — the first of four retro games in Bliss Brain Corporation's Wonder Boy Collection, which compiles two...
Mini Review Tekken 2 (PS1) - Broken and Awkward, But Still a Classic Fighter
Tekken it to the next level
The original Tekken was Namco's first attempt at a 3D fighting game, and boy did it show. There was undeniable potential at the 1995 title's core, but the game as a whole was incredibly raw, both on a visual and mechanical level. It wasn't until Tekken 2 that the now record-breaking franchise would find its footing. The...
Mini Review OlliOlli World: VOID Riders (PS5) - Extraterrestrial Expansion Is a Fun Return Trip
A skate odyssey
We suppose you could argue OlliOlli World: VOID Riders is simply more of the same. That's not really much of a negative, though, when the game is already so great. This is the first expansion DLC for OlliOlli World, the wonderful skateboarding side-scroller, bringing a whole bunch of exciting new levels that spice things up with a...
Mini Review Redout 2 (PS5) - Eye-Meltingly Fast Racer Can Be Finicky to a Fault
Stick it
Redout 2 is a futuristic racer that demands perfection. It's basically WipEout if WipEout was even more difficult, and had a control scheme that, at times, made you want to punt your DualSense off the nearest wall. This is just about as hardcore as anti-gravity racing games get, and while we can appreciate the challenge — and the joy of...
An AI for an Eye
AI: The Somnium Files - nirvanA Initiative [Good grief - Ed] is the sequel to the 2019 detective-themed adventure game and things are just as crazy and weird as ever. This time around you play as a detective called Ryuki as he tries to solve a series of gruesome murders known as the Half Body Serial Killings. Ryuki is a rookie but...
Mini Review Gravitar: Recharged (PS5) - Good Glow Up for Iconic 80s Atari Shooter
It pulls you in
For as infuriating as it is to play today, no one could label Atari’s 1982 intergalactic excursion Gravitar – also known as Lunar Battle – as unambitious. Utilising the same “rotate-and-thrust” control system as the iconic Asteroids, designer Mike Hally – making his debut – added real gameplay depth, allowing you to...
Mini Review Resident Evil 7: Biohazard (PS5) - Basic Upgrade for a Great Game
Bayou glow up
Of the three recent Resident Evil PS5 upgrades, Resident Evil 7: Biohazard is the most interesting. While the original PS4 version had very little in the way of graphical issues, it was the first title to utilise Capcom's RE Engine. The publisher really stepped up its game in later iterations (Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 3), and...
Mini Review Final Vendetta (PS5) - Brutal Beat-'Em-Up Will Kick Your Ass
Oh my car
To be honest, there’s something comforting about a game that knows exactly what it is and who it’s aimed at. Final Vendetta doesn’t pull any punches: there’s been a kidnapping, and the title’s trio of rough-and-ready heroes are here to save the day. Replace notorious gang Syndic8 with the Mad Gear and you’ve basically got a...
Mini Review Resident Evil 3 (PS5) - Disappointing Remake Looks and Runs Much Better
Nemesis Inferno
Ah, Resident Evil 3. A PS5 version isn't going to restore all that cut content, but at least the game looks and runs better on Sony's new system. Just like Resident Evil 2, Capcom hasn't exactly pushed the boat out in terms of enhancing its remake of the underappreciated 1999 title. However, there's little to really complain about:...
Mini Review Super Perils of Baking (PS5) - Charming Old School Platformer Rises to the Occasion
Hell Soufflé
Ladies and gentlemen, girls and boys, People of all gender persuasions, Cats and dogs and goldfish too, You join us on quite the occasion. We're here today for a Push Square first, A review written entirely in rhyme, A review for Super Perils of Baking, A two dimensional good time. The story of Super Perils of Baking, Is told in...
Mini Review Pac-Man Museum+ (PS4) - Meaty Compilation Provides Plenty to Chew On
Don't ghost it
Ignore all the Ms. Pac-Man legal issues – awkward! – and it’s hard to imagine Pac-Man Museum+ being much more comprehensive than it is. There are absentees, of course – long-time power pill poppers may lament the lack of, say, Pac-Man World from the PS1 – but across 14 titles, you’re effectively getting the career...
Mini Review Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl (PS5) - Featuring Absolutely No Trace of Doug
Nicked from Nintendo
Republished on Wednesday 1st June 2022: We're bringing this review back from the archives following the announcement of June's PlayStation Plus lineup. The original text follows. This is the best Super Smash Bros. clone we have ever played. Let’s lead with that, because it’s absolutely true. Developer Ludosity has turned in...
Mini Review Silt (PS5) - Deep-Sea Diving at a Premium Quality
Swim with the fishes
It's estimated roughly 80 per cent of the Earth's oceans remain unexplored, and Silt revels in that. An underwater puzzler from indie newcomer Spiral Circus, its outstanding visuals and unsettling sound design set the scene for a fascinating deep-sea dive into the unknown. You play as one such snorkeler, who has the power to...
Mini Review Cotton Fantasy (PS4) - The Shoot-'Em-Up Fan's Cute-'Em-Up
A tea-rrific time, or too much Silk cut?
You wait ages for a Cotton game, and then six arrive on PS4 at once, celebrating the series' 30th anniversary in 2021. Welcome to the Fairyland, where developer Studio Saizensen has in the cauldron boiled and baked Cotton Fantasy: Superlative Night Dreams (Cotton Rock 'n' Roll in Japan) as an all-star...
Mini Review A Monster's Expedition (PS5) - Chill Out with This Relaxing and Intelligent Puzzler
Logging on
All good puzzle games are built upon a simple, singular idea, and A Monster's Expedition is a perfect example of that philosophy. This game is all about pushing down trees and moving the logs in order to cross to the next island. However, doing so can be much tougher than that sounds, as developer Draknek & Friends gradually, and...
Mini Review Salt and Sacrifice (PS5) - Change Isn't Always Good in This Disappointing Sequel
We got salty, alright
We all played Salt and Sanctuary, right? It was a solid two-dimensional 'Soulsborne' style action RPG, with a high difficulty level but a strong sense of balance and consistent feeling of progress. Enthusiasm, then, was somewhat prevalent for this sequel, Salt and Sacrifice. Unfortunately, we're a little disappointed with this...
Transylvanian Families
Vampires get a bit of a bad rap, we think. Thanks to a few rotten apples like Dracula and Kristen Stewart we've grown accustomed to seeing vampires as insidious creatures of the night, but there's lots of fun vampires, too. Count Duckula, for example, and the one from Sesame Street that goes "Ah-ah-ah!" Anyway, what we're...
Mini Review Unpacking (PS5) - Making Chores Fun
What’s in the box? What’s in the box?!
Unpacking’s title marvellously — and succinctly — informs you of what to expect. You inhabit the life of a young woman across a number of years, living in her shoes solely through unboxing her worldly possessions. One year you might be decorating your college dorm room, the next moving back home to...
Mini Review Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising (PS5) - Attractive Action RPG Struggles to Rise Above
On Runebarrowed time
Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising acts as something of a prologue to the crowdfunded Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes, which is aiming for a 2023 release on PS5 and PS4. It's a side-scrolling action RPG with an emphasis on character-switching combat, but it also dabbles in Metroidvania-esque exploration and even town building. An...
Mini Review This War of Mine: Final Cut (PS5) - Sombre Survival Hits Hard
War, what is it good for?
Originally released on PC in 2019 for the original game’s fifth anniversary, the acclaimed survival game This War Of Mine: Final Cut has been repackaged in a for new-gen consoles. Hitting PS5s with remastered versions of the original and DLC locations, This War of Mine gives a harrowing and to the point view of war from...
Mini Review The House of the Dead: Remake (PS4) - Faithful Arcade Recreation Is a Bit of a Misfire
Goodbye, Curien
Playing the likes of Point Blank and Time Crisis on PS1 was a novelty unlike any other. Bringing these predominantly arcade experiences, often replicated immaculately, into your living room felt incredible at the time – especially if you were lucky enough to own a G-CON 45 or any of its alternatives. That magic was often enough to...
Mini Review Samurai Bringer (PS4) - The Price Is Right for This Randomised Roguelike
Bring it
Samurai Bringer exceeded our expectations. It's a fairly simple roguelike at its core, tasking you with hacking and slashing through procedurally generated stages. But in its skill system, which promotes a near ridiculous level of experimentation, Samurai Bringer can flourish into something that's seriously addictive. Defeated enemies drop...
Mini Review Chernobylite (PS5) - This Dark, Oppressive Survival Shooter Radiates Quality
Exclusion Zone, Act 1
Survival is difficult enough as it is, but doing so within the heavily irradiated grounds of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone? That's a whole different kettle of fish, and you don't even have a kettle in Chernobylite. Or, indeed, any fish. And you're also able to open wormholes and travel through time in order to change the past...
Mini Review The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe (PS5) - A Surreal, Hilarious Trip into Madness
Meta quest
Reviewing The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe is borderline impossible. Not without spoiling everything that makes the game so unique, at least. We'll do our best, but know that this is absolutely one of those things you should experience with no prior knowledge. Frankly, you should probably stop reading this and just play it for yourself...
Mini Review Curse of the Dead Gods (PS4) - Dungeon Crawler Lights the Way with Unique Mechanics
A curse and a blessing
Republished on Wednesday 27th April 2022: We're bringing this review back from the archives following the announcement of May's PlayStation Plus lineup. The original text follows. In Curse of the Dead Gods, you explore randomly generated maps in a cursed dungeon. Light is your best friend, as you take more damage in the dark...
Mini Review Ganryu 2 (PS4) - A Brutal Tribute to Retro Side-Scrolling Action
Die by the sword
Ganryu 2 is an often brutally tough side-scrolling action title — the kind of game that harkens back to a simpler time when we'd be willing to smash our head off the hardest of challenges over and over again because we didn't know any better. And in that sense, this is a truly faithful sequel to the original Ganryu, which released...
Mini Review Road 96 (PS5) - Political Trek Gets Our Vote
My way or the highway
At the height of an intense, fictional presidential election, Road 96 is about both escape and discovery. Procedurally generated scenarios dictate your objective to leave the country by crossing its northern border, but the characters you meet along the way make those journeys fruitful ones. While repetition does start to creep...
Mini Review Lake (PS5) - Mail Sim Stuck Between First and Second Class
Still better than Hermes
Death Stranding may not be considered the instigator of a new genre just yet, but the earnest mailing simulators roll on. Lake, from developer Gamious, is a much more grounded attempt at replicating the career path. There are the usual letters and parcels to deliver, and you interact with actual humans instead of holograms...
Mini Review Nobody Saves the World (PS5) - Fun, Unique Premise Shines Through the Cracks
Spoiler: Somebody does, in fact, save the world
Esteemed readers of Push Square, we present to you the first game review produced entirely through random generation. Quench. Sycamore. Lithe admonishment. Right, done. Seven out of 10. Hang on, that wasn't very satisfying, was it? See, that's the issue with anything randomly generated — it's about...
Mini Review Slipstream (PS4) - OutRun 2022 Makes a Real Splash Wave
More than a Passing Breeze
Back in the mid-1980s, video game veteran Yu Suzuki went on a short sabbatical around Europe, researching the exotic backdrops for stylish arcade smash, OutRun. Almost three decades later, the series’ distinctive blue skies and sparkling oceans have become something of a racing sub-genre; much like WipEout, there’s a...
Mini Review Agent Intercept (PS5) - Modern Spy Hunter Is Shallow But Satisfying Fun
Mission absolutely possible
Agent Intercept is an extremely accessible game, but that's not to say it doesn't deliver some thrills and spills. This modern, Spy Hunter-esque title is an easy breezy good time that aims to put a smile on your face, and we'd say that's mission accomplished. Gameplay is very basic; you simply steer, boost and drift with...
Mini Review Paradise Killer (PS5) - A Wild Murder Mystery That Puts the Player in Charge
Nani the hell?
The core conceit of Paradise Killer is so brilliant and yet so simple: the player dictates how the whodunnit story plays out. This first person adventure title drops you into a fantastical island setting where you must solve a mass murder, but the responsibility rests with you. There's little guidance — you simply need to explore...
Mini Review ANNO: Mutationem (PS5) - Cyberpunk Adventure Is More Style Than Substance
Pixelated puddles
ANNO: Mutationem has always looked good, with its mix of pixelated characters and 3D environments. The question was, could it deliver an engaging experience to match that style? It sort of does, but it has a few too many rough edges. The game is a mix of two quite different parts. There's 3D adventure gameplay, in which you...
Mini Review Submerged: Hidden Depths (PS5) - Perfectly Fine Boaty Exploration
Keep Rowin' Rowin' Rowin' Rowin'
Submerged: Hidden Depths is a fine game. It's not fine as in a fine wine, nor is it fine like the little dog from the meme sat in his burning house saying, "This is fine." Submerged is fine fine. It's neither impressive nor offensive, never quite boring but almost certainly not exciting. There's nothing here that...
