Tag: Mini Reviews
Mini Review Among Us (PS5) - Social Deduction Sensation Is Best with Buddies
Sus'
Among Us is fashionably late to the PlayStation party. The game – which became a social sensation a couple of years back – has largely waned in popularity since exploding on streaming sites like Twitch, but with a price point less than a skinny latte and full crossplay compatibility, is there anything sus’ about this overdue port? Well,...
Mini Review Cricket 22: The Official Game of the Ashes - Not Bad But Won't Bowl You Over
A not-so sticky wicket
Ah, cricket. It’s a sport so steeped in tradition that when Australia and England come to blows, they compete not over silverware but a small urn. Cricket 22 has released just in time for the Ashes, and if Big Ant Studios was banking on an exciting series to drive sales for six, well, it’ll be scratching its head watching...
Mini Review Praey for the Gods (PS5) - A Commendable But Heavily Flawed Take on a Classic
A shadow of its inspiration
Praey for the Gods will no doubt look instantly familiar to PlayStation veterans. Developed by No Matter Studios, the team has always been open about the game's stark similarities to Shadow of the Colossus, one of Sony's most iconic games. It largely follows the same structure, tasking you with traversing a frozen...
Mini Review Aeterna Noctis (PS5) - A Solid Yet Familiar Metroidvania
Nothing hollow about this
Right away, Aeterna Noctis feels familiar. With its grim, dirty visuals, melancholy music, and deadly enemies, the overall vibe of the game is remarkably similar to Hollow Knight. There’s a temptation to label Aeterna Noctis as an overly safe homage to its inspiration and call it a day, but thankfully there’s enough...
Mini Review Gynoug (PS5) - Another Ratalaika 16-Bit Shmup with Two Easy Platinums
He's not the Masaya, he's a very Wor-ty boy
A distinctive art style can elevate a retro game into becoming engraved in our memories, for example many shoot-'em-up fans vividly remember the visual design of the Bydo Empire, with its biomechanical theme, and bosses like Dobkeratops as a defining part of R-Type. In 1991 magazines, like Issue 113 of...
Mini Review Shovel Knight Pocket Dungeon (PS4) - A Puzzlingly Great Spin-Off
For Shovelry!
If you’re hoping for a platformer like Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove, you won’t find it here. For Shovel Knight Pocket Dungeon, Yacht Club Games and VINE have created a falling block puzzle game with roguelite elements. Working as a sequel/spin-off, Shovel Knight’s been transported into the Pocket Dungeon after encountering a...
Mini Review Serious Sam 4 (PS5) - Mental Breakdown
Seriously disappointing
Serious Sam 4 almost immediately disappoints. That’s not to say it’s bad — it's another generally playable slice of carnage in the long-running series — but it’s also yet another prequel, a fifth game in which the villain, the tastefully named “Mental”, does not make an appearance. It's another shooter much like...
Mini Review Heavenly Bodies (PS5) - Zero Gravity Adventure Frustrates as Much as It Entertains
Manned mission to madness
We shouldn't need to tell you how scary the dangers of things going wrong in zero-g are; the movie Gravity eloquently made that point already. Heavenly Bodies takes itself less seriously, but the peril of floating off into nothingness still looms over an otherwise goofy, intentionally awkward game. Playing alone or with...
Mini Review Chorus (PS5) - Stunning Space Exploration with Slick Combat
Sing it with me
If there's one thing developer Fishlabs knows well, it's space combat and exploration. Despite little previous experience with PlayStation hardware, its PS5 debut Chorus shares many similarities with its long-running mobile series Galaxy on Fire. As a result, Chorus is a confident first stab at a high profile release for the team,...
Mini Review Evil Genius 2: World Domination (PS5) - A Compelling, Cat-Stroking Tycoon Title
Excellent
Evil Genius 2: World Domination pairs traditional tycoon gameplay with tactics to create one of the more unique strategy titles on the market. As one of four cat-stroking wrong’uns, your task is to build an evil underground empire in a spy-fi thriller that, when executed effectively, will see the world bow to your reprehensible plans...
Mini Review Death's Door (PS5) - Indie Darling Is a Tightly Designed Joy
Open up
Death's Door released to rampant critical acclaim on other platforms earlier in the year, and it's easy to see why. This is a lovingly crafted isometric action-adventure, stacked with engaging exploration, tense action, and a wonderful atmosphere. It draws obvious inspiration from The Legend of Zelda as you journey across an interconnected...
Mini Review A Short Hike (PS4) - A Sweet, Simple, Animal Crossing-Lite Experience
A walk in the woods
A Short Hike's title does an awful lot of heavy lifting when it comes to describing this game. It truly conveys the core experience in a way many game titles don't. Playing as Claire, an anthropomorphised bird, you are tasked with, you guessed it, going on a short hike. You can jump, fly, and climb, all of which you’ll need to...
Dicey Dungeons (& Dragons)
Just in time to gear us up for the 2022 launch of Tiny Tina’s Wonderlands, one of the best Borderlands expansions ever is back to dazzle with all its D&D delights yet again. Repackaged by 2K as a “One-Shot Adventure”, Assault on Dragon Keep returns as its own standalone release. But who exactly is it for? We ask...
Dragon it out
Available as either a full release priced at £47.99 / $49.99 or as a discounted upgrade to 2016's Special Edition, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - Anniversary Edition is quite simply the best version of Skyrim to ever grace a PlayStation console. Although, admittedly, that's not saying much. The original game on PS3 was and still is a...
Mini Review Epic Chef (PS4) - Silly Culinary Life Sim Mostly Hits the Spot
Kitchen quest
Epic Chef mixes together varied ingredients to create something rather tasty. It's a story-based adventure game about a man named Zest moving to a new town and rising through the culinary ranks, but the gameplay isn't just about cooking. While you'll concoct numerous recipes using weird and wonderful ingredients, the game is as much a...
Mini Review Panorama Cotton (PS4) - Technically Impressive 16-bit Rail Shooter in Unloving Port
Welcome to the infamy zone
It's pleasing that United Games Entertainment is working alongside ININ Games, and Ratalaika Games on port programming to bring Japanese only retro games to modern consoles, like the Mega Drive's Space Harrier-esque rail shooter, Panorama Cotton. It's magical to witness on ageing 16-bit hardware — which unimpressively...
Mini Review Demon Turf (PS5) - Fresh 3D Platformer Blends Old and New with Style
Speed demon
In some ways, Demon Turf is quite old-school in design. This is a 3D platformer that wouldn't be out of place alongside your favourite PS1-era classics, with hub worlds containing numerous levels, collectibles to find, and bosses to beat. However, it evolves the formula with some interesting twists that modernise its gameplay, making it...
Welcome, foolish mortals
There’s a real craft that goes into the best of PSVR’s horror experiences, and Wraith: The Oblivion - Afterlife is masterfully executed. You play as a photographer — well, more accurately, the spirit of one — trying to solve your own murder as well as escape from an estate you seem to find yourself trapped in. But be...
Mini Review Carrion (PS4) - A Grotesque Metroidvania with an Incredible Atmosphere
Feed the birds
Ever watched John Carpenter’s The Thing and thought how cool it would be to play as the organism? If so, Carrion is the game for you. You play a small organism that escapes from a holding cell. Upon reaching the vents you find yourself in a massive, sprawling research laboratory with two goals: spread your infection throughout the...
Mini Review Doctor Who: The Edge of Reality (PS4) - Rickety Time Travel Title Struggles to Dazzle
Not quite the trip of a lifetime
Playing through Doctor Who: The Edge of Reality, we can't shake the feeling we've been here before. Maybe it’s because we’ve just travelled backwards in time. More likely, though, it's because this is an enhanced version of a previously released VR experience — only now with added David Tennant! Knowing this...
Mini Review Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars (PS4) - A Memorable JRPG That Loses Steam Later On
Between Bliss and Blight
Don't let the name fool you — Voice of Cards: The Isle Dragon Roars is not a card game. You're not building a deck or duelling opponents for a chance at winning their prized possessions. Instead, you're going on a very traditional, surprisingly straightforward role-playing adventure. Voice of Cards is a turn based Japanese...
Mini Review Pumpkin Jack: New-Gen Edition (PS5) - Halloween Platformer Is Four Hours of PS2 Era Fun
Jack's back
Pumpkin Jack is an action platformer that harkens back to simpler times. It released for PlayStation 4 last year, but we foolishly missed out on the fun. Thankfully, we've been able to catch up with Jack on PS5 thanks to the New-Gen Edition of the game, which runs at a silky smooth 60 frames-per-second, and features load times that last...
It’s about family, and that’s what so powerful about it
While innovation often leads to some truly creative endeavors, there's something to be said for taking an established formula and doing it really well. That’s what Röki sets out to do: take the traditional elements of a point-and-click adventure title, and elevate the experience in...
Mini Review Backbone (PS5) - Escalating Mystery Bites Off More Than It Can Chew
A dog eat dog world
Backbone makes a great first impression. This is a noir, narrative-driven game in a world inhabited by anthropomorphic animals, all living their lives in a dystopian city. Playing as Howard Lotor, a private detective who's barely making ends meet, you take on what appears to be a simple job, but it soon leads you to a much...
Mini Review Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water (PS5) - Remaster Is More of a Trick Than Treat
Camera shy
Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water wasn't anything special back in 2015 on Nintendo Wii U, and it's no better six years later. A sub-standard remaster ports the horror title to PlayStation 5 to conveniently coincide with Halloween, but for as creepy as it can be, it's not a particularly enjoyable game to actually play. If we were offered...
Mini Review Youtubers Life 2 (PS4) - Trend Chaser Is Tedious
Swipe left
For many, the concept of Youtubers Life 2 alone will be enough to turn them off. This is a fairly straightforward life sim, which breaks the fourth wall and sees you assume the role of someone who beat predecessor Youtubers Life OMG and is subsequently invited to Newtube City to forge a new career as a social media superstar. You’ll be...
Mini Review Gleylancer (PS5) - Solid 1992 Mega Drive Shmup Shines Again
Bust out the Busterhawk for two easy Platinums
From its July 1992 release, Masaya's Gleylancer didn't initially shine as a single player shoot-'em-up. It received a mixed reception, with Issue 2 of Mean Machines SEGA magazine describing it as unoriginal and tedious in a 48/100 scoring review. For years Gleylancer was more renowned for its reputation...
Mini Review The Dark Pictures Anthology: House of Ashes (PS5) - The Best Game in the Series So Far
Trapped between Iraq and a hard place
After the crummy Man of Medan and the better-but-not-quite-there Little Hope, The Dark Pictures Anthology has finally started hitting its stride with House of Ashes. Set in Iraq in 2003, the invading United States army is looking for weapons of mass destruction wink wink. Satellite imagery has alerted them to a...
Mini Review The Good Life (PS4) - SWERY's Latest Is Baffling, Broken, and Brilliant
Life is beautiful
In an industry that champions violence and gore, it's always refreshing to play something that favours nature and nurture instead. Sure, punching a goblin in the back of its weird head is great. Cathartic, even. But sometimes, just for a change, it'd be nice to have a lovely wander down a quiet English lane before enjoying a...
Mini Review Actraiser Renaissance (PS4) - SNES Remake Is a Game of Three Thirds
Generous, gabby god game
Praised for being "A Game of Two Halves" in issue two of Super Play, gaming magazines like CVG and Mean Machines were consistent in applauding SNES ActRaiser in the early 1990s for combining two contrasting gameplay styles. This effective structure is preserved in PS4 Actraiser Renaissance, as this remake retains the...
Mini Review Art of Rally (PS5) - Proof You Don't Need to Reinvent the Wheel
Not a burnout
Not every game needs to reinvent the genre. Sometimes, a game’s hook can be as simple as gently tweaking the preexisting formula. Instead of turning rally racing on its head, Art of Rally uses its great atmosphere to stand out from the crowd. Upon booting up the game, the game grabs the player with its incredible visual style...
Mini Review KeyWe (PS5) - Two Birdbrains Are Better Than One in Quirky Co-Op Title
Birds of a feather work together
KeyWe has about as left field a premise for a game as we've ever heard, but somehow, this co-op game about running a postal service as a pair of kiwi birds makes it work. Two players control Jeff and Debra, new recruits to the Bungalow Basin telepost station who also happen to be New Zealand's native flightless...
Mini Review Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl (PS5) - Featuring Absolutely No Trace of Doug
Nicked from Nintendo
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 a top party fighter with Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl, and that’s an achievement that shouldn’t be sniffed at. You hit hard and fast, with movement that’s snappy and...
Mini Review Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania (PS5) - Sony Potassium 5
Ooh, chimpanzee that, Monkey Reviews
These monkeys have a problem. Well, a succession of problems, really, but the main one is that they've been trapped inside giant spheres for no reason. And they're beloved, these monkeys: since the GameCube days, Super Monkey Ball has been (perhaps bafflingly) popular, with increasingly diminishing returns across...
Mini Review AWAY: The Survival Series (PS5) - Life Finds a Way, Far Away
Sweet and sour
On paper, AWAY: The Survival Series sounds like a really interesting experience. It’s set in a post-apocalyptic world where humanity has died out and only pockets of life remain. You get to play as an adorable young sugar glider who is trying to survive in a dangerous and hostile environment with his family. It all sounds like...
Mini Review A Juggler's Tale (PS5) - Unravel Meets Limbo in Pleasant Platformer
No time to Playdead
The PlayStation Store could be considered overflowing with 2D puzzle platformers at this stage in its lifespan, and yet A Juggler's Tale from developer Kaleidoscube has still managed to find a teeny tiny feature to call its own. It's Punch and Judy come to life, with strings that both save protagonist Abby's life and get in the...
Mini Review Aragami 2 (PS5) - Nin-Jolly Good Stealth Action
What we do in the shadows
It may seem obvious, but stealth games tend to live or die on their clarity. Not just that of your protagonist as they sink their blade into an enemy’s jugular, but of their systems, the rules that govern the whole experience. There’s nothing less enjoyable in a sneak-‘em-up than getting caught without knowing why, so...
Mini Review Toem (PS5) - Photography Puzzler Is a Picture Perfect Adventure
Say "cheese"
Toem is an extremely refreshing experience. The scope of the game is rather small, but that's allowed developer Something We Made to double down on its novel premise. The end result is a relaxing, joyful adventure about taking photos and meeting loveable characters at every turn. You set off on a pilgrimage to find the titular...
It's a livin'
Fans may rightly rue the lack of arcade sports games on the market right now, but imagine being into boxing: even EA Sports’ uber-popular Fight Night franchise has been put on hold while it flirts with the more commercially viable UFC. Survios’ movie tie-in Creed: Rise to Glory was a rare stand-and-bang outing on PS4, but its...
Mini Review F.I.S.T.: Forged in Shadow Torch (PS5) - Awesome Metroidvania Punches Above Its Weight
Show me the bunny
The absurdly titled F.I.S.T.: Forged In Shadow Torch begins in Torch City; a dirty, dieselpunk dystopia, inhabited by anthropomorphic animals, and a few years prior to the beginning of the game invaded by the robotic Legion and their 'Iron Dog' army. Our hero is a gruff rabbit named Rayton - a former ace pilot in a slump,...
Mini Review Golf Club Wasteland (PS4) - Post-Apocalyptic 2D Golf Game Is Well Above Par
I'll have a tee please, Bob
It's the future, and all is not well in Golf Club Wasteland. In a totally unexpected turn of events, the Earth has been rendered inhospitable by an ecological disaster that nobody saw coming. How were we supposed to know that using liquefied dinosaur bones to power our cars was bad? If those egghead scientists had told us...
Mini Review The Medium (PS5) - One of the Best Horror Experiences on PS5
Anything but medium
With all the rumours about Bloober Team potentially working on a new Silent Hill game, it's easy to forget why the team rose to fame in the first place. Its most recent project, The Medium, has finally made the jump to the PS5 and it could very well be the best psychological horror experience on the console. The story follows...
Mini Review Overcooked: All You Can Eat - Remastered Culinary Co-Op Is Still a Tasty Treat
Fill your plates
Republished on Wednesday 1st September 2021: We're bringing this review back from the archives following the announcement of September's PlayStation Plus lineup. The original text follows. Overcooked: All You Can Eat is like enjoying your favourite meal while wearing newly prescribed glasses. Sure, you've had this plenty of times...
Mini Review Quake (PS4) - New Coat of Paint for Legendary FPS
You got the nails
Quake is one of the shooters. Part of id’s holy trinity alongside Wolfenstein and DOOM, Quake is the newest of the bunch and, depending on who you ask, the best. This newest delivers the experience you remember, with a whole lot of added value. This is quite the bundle, packing in five campaigns – including both Machine...
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 Islanders: Console Edition (PS4) - Simple Builder Is Brilliantly Effective
Island paradise
What a lovely little game Islanders: Console Edition is. It's the kind of game that you can boot up for five minutes of fun, or you can spend hours zoning out with. The goal is to populate procedurally generated islands with homes and facilities, creating miniature pockets of civilisation. In High Score mode, everything that you...
Mini Review King's Bounty II (PS4) - Turn-Based Battler Not Fit for a King
Not so bountiful
King’s Bounty II from 1C Entertainment is the long-awaited sequel to 2008’s fantasy roleplaying game King’s Bounty The Legend. You take control of one of three characters each destined to be the hero of the realm of Nostria. Warrior Aivar, descendant of a noble family and knight of the king’s guard, Mage Katherine, Countess...
Mini Review RiMS Racing (PS5) - Attempt for a More Realistic Motorcycle Sim Falls Flat
This bike needed more time in the pit stop
As the racing genre strives towards being as immersive as possible, the added realism can sometimes come at the cost of being enjoyable. RiMS Racing is the perfect example of this, as to simulate what it is like to be a motorcycle racer, the game adds tedious elements of motorcycle maintenance that ruin an...
Mini Review Recompile (PS5) - Digital Metroidvania Has Style But Little Substance
Hacked
Recompile is one of those games that shows extremely well, but the reality is an experience that doesn't quite stick the landing. Playing as a virus with the intent of infiltrating and fixing The Mainframe, a computer system that's gone awry, this is a 3D action game that looks great, but doesn't quite have enough to back it up. The...
Mini Review I Am Dead (PS5) - Posthumous Puzzler Is a Bittersweet Treat
Dead and loving it
I Am Dead is a quirky puzzle adventure game in which you play as Morris Lupton, the deceased curator of a museum in the island town of Shelmerston. It's an unusual premise, but it's one that developer Hollow Ponds pulls off with style and care. A game about tracking down ghosts and learning about inhabitants of the island could've...
