Tag: Mini Reviews
Mini Review Namco Museum Archives Volume 1 & 2 - A Basic Trip Down Memory Lane
Double trouble
Namco Museum Archives Volume 1 and 2 bring back classics in two separate collections, each offering 11 games. Titles originate from both arcade and home console, and span an acceptable range of genres, as well as including its most famous IPs, such as Pac-Man and Galaga. Perhaps unsurprisingly, both volumes lean into the shmup genre...
Mini Review Star Wars Episode I: Racer – This Old Favourite Still Has Some Magic
This is in fact Podracing
Star Wars Episode I: Racer is a downright classic. Launching on the N64 and PC nearly 20 years ago, the game was a brilliant realisation of one of the most compelling scenes from the deservedly lambasted The Phantom Menace. That doesn’t necessarily mean it would stand the test of the time, but luckily -- and with the help...
Mini Review Evan's Remains - Pretty Puzzler Has a Story Worth Telling
Lust for life
The puzzle-platformer and visual novel genres probably couldn't be further apart from one another, but Evan's Remains is proof that the two can live in harmony. While it is by no means perfect, Maitan69 Studios' first major title is one well worth experiencing if you have even a passing interest in either style of game. Told entirely...
Mini Review Project Warlock - A Slick Homage to the Retro FPS
The 90s are back, baby
Over 25 years after Wolfenstein 3D and DOOM blasted it into the mainstream, the 90s FPS is revived by Project Warlock, a slick genre homage that benefits from modern improvements that make it near impossible to put down. Such additions include a between-level workshop where RPG upgrade points can be used to improve stats,...
Mini Review 1971 Project Helios - A Tactical Title with an Interesting World
Don't get frostbite
A turn-based strategy game that takes a few pages out of XCOM’s book, 1971 Project Helios is a pretty solid excursion if you’re looking for a few hours of distraction. Presenting a post-apocalyptic world coated in ice and snow, you guide a collection of interesting characters through hordes of enemies to rescue a scientist...
Mini Review Monstrum - A Procedural Game of Horror Hide and Seek
Don't even breathe
Monstrum crafts a genuinely frightening game of procedurally generated hide and seek. As you awaken on a derelict cargo ship and explore its halls, it quickly becomes apparent something else is there with you. Monstrum falls under the run-and-hide genre of horror titles, giving you relatively little with which to defend yourself...
Mini Review Those Who Remain - Horror Has Never Been This Dull
As above, so below
Those Who Remain is almost everything the horror genre has tried to get away from for the past couple of years. With gameplay that teeters between mundane, aimless puzzle-solving and the hide and seek loop which put Outlast on the map, this experience feels dated the moment it releases. It doesn't do anything terrible -- it's just...
Mini Review Concept Destruction - Destruction Derby with Cardboard Cars
Crash dummies
Concept Destruction’s name tells you much of what you need to know about this pen-and-paper PlayStation 4 racer. It’s a combat game inspired by PS1’s legendary Destruction Derby, and it’s effectively a proof of concept. In many ways this feels like half a game, as you smash your way through Drawn to Death-esque arenas,...
Mini Review Thy Sword - Thou Shalt Enjoyeth This Roguelike
Live by thy sword
Roguelikes are dime a dozen on PlayStation Store, but Thy Sword appeals in spite of the genre’s ubiquity. This single-screen side-scroller sees you clearing out enemies in different locations to progress to different levels, many environments culminating in larger-than-life boss fights. There’s a casual mode which makes the...
Mini Review Ticket to Ride - A Basic But Fun Version of a Classic Board Game
Who is John Galt?
If you’re thinking to yourself, “Wait a minute, didn’t this come out years ago?” you would be correct. But given the pandemic and the fact we never actually reviewed it, now seems like the perfect time to draw some attention to Days of Wonder’s digital version of the renowned board game, Ticket to Ride. While the...
Mini Review SuperMash - Genre Melding Experiment Is Novel But Shallow
Will it blend?
SuperMash has a neat central idea, but the game unfortunately can't quite deliver on it. You and your friends have discovered a strange console that's capable of blending two genres together, and you use it to stock the shelves of a game shop. Silly narrative aside, you select two of six genres, fiddle with settings like length and...
Mini Review Fury Unleashed - Comic Book Action Is Almost a Page-Turner
Gypsy king
Fury Unleashed doesn't live up to the name of its developer, but it may still be worth checking out if you’re into Spelunky and Dead Cells. This comic book-inspired rogue-lite is packed with so much action that it quickly becomes the experience's defining trait. Despite it not doing anything new, Fury Unleashed is an enjoyable, if all...
Mini Review Construction Simulator 3 - Cowboy Builders
Needs more work
Simulation games are a bit of a sore point on the PlayStation 4 at the minute, given the overwhelmingly negative reaction to May 2020’s free PS Plus games. Nevertheless, the genre has become a strong source of entertainment for workaholics, with Sony’s system playing host to dozens of virtual careers, including farming and...
Mini Review HyperParasite - A Roguelike with a Smart Twist
Mutant blobs attack
Tired of indie roguelikes releasing on the PlayStation 4? That was this author’s initial reaction when he recklessly volunteered to review Troglobytes’ love letter to The Thing. Fortunately, there’s more to HyperParasite than repetition and 80s references, as this is a rather creative twin-stick shooter-style take on a...
Mini Review Gun Crazy - Super Nintendo-Esque Shooter with a Short Shelf Life
Crazy in guns
Gun Crazy has modest ambitions, meaning you should calibrate your expectations appropriately before giving it a spin. This is a Super Nintendo-esque side-scrolling shooter, in which you commandeer a blue-haired bad ass through a breakneck 30 minute-ish campaign against a variety of tyrannical robots and green blobs. It features all of...
Mini Review Moving Out - PS4 Couch Co-Op at Its Most Literal
To me, to you
Moving Out successfully gamifies the otherwise highly stressful process of relocating. As employees of a somewhat questionable removal company, you and up to three other local players are tasked with shifting all the marked goods out of each building and into your truck as fast as possible. It's daft, easygoing fun. Levels start...
Mini Review Help Will Come Tomorrow - Survival Sim Best Left to the Cold
Frozen
With the independent scene continuing to thrive on PlayStation 4, perhaps the worst thing a smaller title can do is fail to make itself stand out from the ever-growing pack. Help Will Come Tomorrow has fallen victim to that -- a somewhat competent resource management simulator that doesn't do anything you haven't seen before. It's not a bad...
Mini Review My Friend Pedro - Stylish Action Stumbles on Rigid Design
Flash in the pan
My Friend Pedro has finally brought its zany 2D shooting gallery to PlayStation 4, and it's a strange beast. Ignoring the fact you play a character devout to a sentient and bloodthirsty banana, the game feels at odds with itself on quite a fundamental level. It's aiming to make the player feel like a John Wick, gun-fu master at all...
Mini Review Random Heroes: Gold Edition - A Side-Scroller with a Massive Cast
Not-so random really
For a game being sold on its eclectic cast of characters, Random Heroes: Gold Edition really doesn’t do anywhere near enough with its heroes. This is a 16-bit style side-scrolling shooter where you take control of, well, pretty much anyone. There’s a cyborg, a clown, a truck driver, a man in a suit… You pretty much get the...
Mini Review Super Destronaut: Land Wars - All Style, No Substance
Space invaders
Super Destronaut: Land Wars is developed by a team named Petite Games, and anyone who understands French should take that as an indicator of what to expect. This is probably the most simplistic first-person shooter you’ll find on the PlayStation 4, as you sprint around neon environments shooting gigantic Space Invaders-inspired...
Mini Review Rush Rover - Simple Roguelike Shooter Is Fun Timewaster
A kind of rush
You’ve already played a game like Rush Rover, but that doesn’t mean this little timewaster should be ignored. A dualstick roguelike, the shooter borrows liberally from various recent releases, delivering a wholly unoriginal yet generally well-executed experience. Playing as a mining machine, your role is to clean up randomly...
Mini Review Biped - Cute Co-Op Puzzle Platforming That's All Too Brief
Doing the robot
Biped gets its name from a duo of diminutive robots, sent to Earth in order to reactivate a series of beacons. You and another local player will guide these little guys through a series of stages, working together to overcome various obstacles as a pair. Co-op concepts don't get much more straightforward than this, but the game...
Mini Review Below - A Stunning But Disappointingly Empty Journey into the Depths
Finding beauty in negative spaces
While available on Xbox and PC for over a year, Capy’s latest title Below took its sweet time arriving on a Sony platform. Luckily, this extra time was taken to craft a whole new mode, and ultimately this ends up being the best version of the game you can play. The problem is, even in this form, the release leaves...
Mini Review Creature in the Well - A Unique, Stylish Spin on Arcade Action
Pinball hazard
Creature in the Well is a striking indie game in more ways than one. This action title makes a strong first impression with its dreamy music, beautiful art style, and smooth performance, but it holds your interest beyond that with an intriguing tale and some pretty interesting gameplay. A town is trapped in an everlasting sandstorm,...
Mini Review Operencia: The Stolen Sun - Old-School Dungeon Crawler with a Modern Feel
Praise the Sun
Zen Studios has crafted a delightful first-person dungeon crawler with Operencia: The Stolen Sun, giving strong nods to classic games such as Wizardry while also putting its own modern spin on things. This is a gorgeous looking game that places as much emphasis on its Central European folklore-inspired story as it does on exploring...
Mini Review Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy - A Wonderful Treasure from Star Wars' Glory Days
Jedi business
Coming hot off the heels of the acclaimed Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast, Jedi Academy is a surprisingly robust experience given its short development cycle. Stepping into the boots of Jaden Korr rather than the series’ usual protagonist Kyle Katarn makes for an interesting change of pace. You play as a student, learning...
Mini Review Moons of Madness - A Lovecraftian Snooze Fest
Inter-smellar
Secret World Legends developer Funcom dives into the ready-made well of creativity of H.P Lovecraft in Moons of Madness, a single-player cosmic horror title using modern generic tropes. Unsurprisingly, it takes similar thematic and aesthetic cues to last year’s Conarium, though in its mission to become the cosmos’ answer to...
Mini Review Roundguard - Peggle and Dungeon Crawling Makes for Unusual But Potent Mix
Tough bouncers
Peggle is possibly one of gaming's biggest guilty pleasures; the simple joy of clearing dots and racking up points is an addictive and satisfying time-waster. This simple puzzle template has remained largely untouched, but Roundguard builds upon the fun with dungeon crawler and rogue-lite elements, and it's kind of genius. You select...
Mini Review DOOM 64 - After More Than 20 Years, DOOM's Oft-Forgotten Third Instalment Packs a Punch
It's been 64 years
It’s easy to forget that DOOM 64 is not simply a port of the original DOOM to Nintendo 64, but a fully-fledged sequel that was developed Midway Games. It’s even easier to forget that this was actually a pretty impressive step forward. While aiming is still archaic – lateral aiming only – the level design represents a...
Mini Review Twin Breaker: A Sacred Symbols Adventure - A Fun Adaptation of Arkanoid
Beyond
Colin Moriarty has been one of the most prominent names in PlayStation fandom for over a decade now, so it’s perhaps no surprise that Lilymo Games’ alternate take on Arkanoid goes above and – ahem – beyond to squeeze in the heroes of the popular Sacred Symbols podcast. Accompanied by his co-host Chris Ray Gun, this arcade brick...
Mini Review Hidden Through Time - Cute Hidden Object Game Is Harder Than It Looks
Find your way through history
Hidden Through Time is an ultra-simple game about finding objects and people in numerous busy scenes. If you've ever stared at the colourful pages of a Where's Waldo book, you'll feel right at home. The difference here is that you're not looking for just one specific character; each level gives you multiple things to...
Mini Review Glass Masquerade 2: Illusions - Jigsaw Puzzles and Chill
Picking up the pieces
Who doesn't like a simple jigsaw puzzle every now and then? There's something wonderfully satisfying about fitting all the pieces together and seeing the end result. There are a handful of jigsaw style games on PlayStation 4, and one of the latest is Glass Masquerade 2: Illusions. This indie puzzler has around 30 stained glass...
Mini Review Ganbare! Super Strikers - Tactical Take on the Beautiful Game
You'll get a kick out of it
Think of Ganbare! Super Strikers not as a sports game, but as a strategy campaign a little bit like Advance Wars or XCOM. That’s how this fusion of football and tactics works, adopting a turn-based format where you need to move your players into position, pass the ball, and, fingers crossed, score some goals. There’s...
Mini Review Knightin'+ - Zelda-Lite Is Too Simplistic with Just Dungeons
Trifine
Are we witnessing the origins of an all-new genre? Knightin’+ started life on itch.io and bills itself as a Zelda-lite. The gameplay is easy to describe: it’s Zelda in dungeon form only. This means that there’s no hub-world to explore, just a maze of rooms with keys to find, puzzles to solve, and bosses to beat. You’ll also happen...
Mini Review EarthNight - Gorgeous Auto-Runner Is Spiky as a Dragon's Back
Tread carefully
EarthNight has been a long time coming, and you can tell just by playing that it's been polished to within an inch of its life. It's a pretty simple game at its heart; you auto-run across the backs of invading dragons, hoovering up loot and stomping on baddies, until you inevitably die and start over again. However, it's been refined...
Mini Review Draugen - This Walking Simulator Takes a Fatal Tumble
Drab
Draugen feels like the opposite of Firewatch. Both games capture the imagination with a fascinating premise told against the backdrop of a stunning location, but instead of remaining rooted in reality, the Red Thread developed title gives way to lunacy at the first time of asking. It makes for an unsatisfying walking simulator which can only...
Mini Review Mosaic - An Intriguing Experience That Can't Stick the Landing
Big brother is watching
Much like with its previous title, Among the Sleep, developer Krillbite seems to have bitten off more than it can chew. Mosaic is an intriguing title with exciting ideas. Unfortunately, the ideas simply outpace the resources that the developer has available to realise them. But it’s not for lack of trying. Mosaic’s...
Mini Review Monster Energy Supercross: The Official Videogame 3 - Nights and Bikes
On yer bike
Monster Energy Supercross: The Official Videogame 3 – or, to give it its full title and pad out our word count, Monster Energy AMA Supercross 3 FIM World Championship: The Official Video Game – proves that Milestone may just be the most prolific developer of the generation. By our count, this is its 20th title on the PlayStation 4...
Mini Review Zero Zero Zero Zero - Hellish Monochrome Platforming
From zero to hero
Zero Zero Zero Zero reminds us of Sound Shapes – although the latter undoubtedly has a better name. Do you remember those dastardly single-screen stages in the aforementioned PlayStation exclusive outing? This monochrome platformer is like 100 of those, each rotating randomly every time you die. And you will die – again and...
Mini Review 7th Sector - An Intriguing Cyberpunk Dystopia
Electric avenue
If you're a fan of Playdead's mysterious 2.5D puzzle platformers like Inside, you may well be interested in 7th Sector. It follows a similar design template, although instead of playing a young boy, you'll take on the role of, er, an electrical current? It appears the player character is trapped within the electricity grid of some...
Mini Review Milo's Quest - Pixelated Puppy Stars in Simple Adventure Game
Oh my dog
Milo’s Quest could carry the subtitle ‘My First Adventure Game’ and it would all make sense. This straightforward isometric outing sees you take control of a lovingly animated pooch, and sees you embark on an adventure across a colourful landscape filled with marshmallow-shaped ghouls and bricks to push. It’s probably the most...
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...
