Latest Reviews
Mini Review Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story (PS5) - A Trippy Odyssey Through a Yak's Brain
Drama Llama
Part of its lovingly curated Gold Master Series, Digital Eclipse’s exploration of Llamasoft is a comprehensive and fascinating package. Essentially an interactive museum, Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story presents documentary snippets, archival materials, and, most importantly, the games. A truly singular voice, Minter has been...
Mini Review Contra: Operation Galuga (PS5) - Run-'n'-Gun Series Back to Its Best
Bill Rizes to the occasion
It's weird that Konami has taken this long to ship Contra: Operation Galuga, which is the classic Contra game fans have been asking for. After the damp turd that was 2019's Contra: Rogue Corps, the publisher handed the reins back to WayForward, the team behind 2008's Contra 4. Turns out that's all that was needed to get a...
Mini Review Akka Arrh (PS5) - Next-Gen Port Brings a PSVR2 Mode to the Table and Little Else
If it ain't broke
If the visual insanity of Jeff Minter’s wild Akka Arrh slipped you by last year when it released, you’ve got a fresh opportunity. We rather enjoyed our time with the PS4 version when it launched, so we were more than happy to dive back into a next-gen port of the vibrant, exhilarating retro title. The core gameplay experience...
Review Unicorn Overlord (PS5) - An Utterly Brilliant Strategy RPG
Follow the white horse
Vanillaware doesn't miss. We've been spouting that line for ages, but with the arrival of Unicorn Overlord, it rings truer than ever before. Following up on the superb 13 Sentinels was never going to be easy, but the Japanese studio has somehow manged to produce an equally excellent game three years later — and it's not even...
Mini Review As Dusk Falls (PS5) - Creative Character-Driven Drama
From dusk until dawn
Interior Night has taken pages from the books of Don't Nod, Supermassive, Telltale, and Quantic Dream to craft a choice-driven character drama with As Dusk Falls. The game's stylistic flourishes take time to acclimatise to, but it provides a unique tone and perspective that still stand out in a genre that’s becoming...
Mini Review New Star GP (PS4) - Refreshingly Modern Retro F1 Racing
Championship contender
New Star GP goes beyond a fitting tribute to SEGA's arcade classic, Virtua Racing. When tracks bear striking similarities to Interlagos, Silverstone, and more — never mind that you're fighting off-brand rivals like Michael Schildhauer and Niki Laube — New Star GP takes clear inspiration from Formula 1 to deliver a...
Mini Review Dragon Ball FighterZ (PS5) - Anime Fighter Is Still Godlike, Despite Dodgy Online
Your wish is granted
When Dragon Ball FighterZ first released in 2018 for PS4, it was hailed as one of the greatest anime fighting games ever made — and rightfully so. Crafted by the genre experts at Arc System Works, FighterZ was and still is a masterclass in how to adapt an existing franchise. The team-based brawler is both highly accessible on...
Review The Outlast Trials (PS5) - Online Scares Work Well Enough
Night vision for four
Converting a traditionally single player IP into one meant for multiplayer too is a process with just as many hits as there are misses, so developer Red Barrels will be delighted it's landed on the right side of history. With up to three friends along for the ride, The Outlast Trials is a slightly different ballgame to its...
Review WWE 2K24 (PS5) - Another Confident Entry in 2K’s Robust Wrestling Series
Continuing the story
As the calendar rapidly approaches WrestleMania 40, the eyes of the world are once again trained on WWE’s big house of muscular lads and lasses. With The Rock’s involvement in this year’s shindig raising the event’s profile to even loftier heights, WWE and 2K have pulled out all the stops to try and ensure the latest...
Mini Review Ufouria: The Saga 2 (PS5) - NES Sequel Is Jennifer's First Metroidvania
Fabric Sunsoftener
There's something special to a retro gamer about the resurrection of a cult classic, as it either gives a hidden gem a new lease of life, or it introduces gamers to a series they've never heard of before. Sunsoft has capitalised on this idea, as Tasto Alpha has developed the single player platform game, Ufouria: The Saga 2, which...
Review Expeditions: A MudRunner Game (PS5) - An Absorbing Vehicular Puzzler
Complex manoeuvres
If you've ever looked at a stretch of abandoned road, overcome with mud and muck, and wondered whether your little two-door compact could make it through, MudRunner might be a series you already know. From Spintires to SnowRunner, it's a lovely little franchise that seems to be surviving capably, and its latest is Expeditions: A...
Review Final Fantasy VII Rebirth (PS5) - Strong Sequel Seeks a New Direction
Cloudy with a chance of pain
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth feels like a natural progression. Free from the steel skies of Midgar and its corridor-style design, this direct sequel to 2020's Final Fantasy 7 Remake fully embraces that sense of adventure found in the original Final Fantasy 7, as Cloud Strife and his ragtag group took their first few steps out...
Review Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons Remake (PS5) - Cult Classic Shines Through Technical Troubles
It can't all be for nothing
Years before becoming a household name thanks to a hilarious, impassioned speech at The Game Awards, Josef Fares — alongside Starbreeze — was already releasing quality games. His first venture, Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, is an emotional excursion that sees two brothers set out on a dire journey. Now, Avantgarden...
Mini Review Penny's Big Breakaway (PS5) - Unique Yo-Yo Platformer Has Its Ups and Downs
Yo with the flow
Penny's Big Breakaway comes from some of Sonic Mania's key contributors, and you can certainly see and feel the influences. This 3D platformer encourages speed, using momentum to your advantage, and exploring colourful, open levels, much like SEGA's mascot series. Despite the through-line, however, this game's core mechanics set it...
Mini Review Pentiment (PS5) - A Slow-Burning 16th-Century Murder Mystery
When everybody plays, we all win
Set in 16th-century Bavaria, Pentiment tells the tale of the small Alpine town of Tassing and the simple people that dwell there. We play as a Nurembergian artist named Andreas Maler who is living in Tassing while he completes work on a piece for the local monastery, and through him we meet the residents of the town...
Slay the Sunshine
We could gobble up our allotted Mini Review word allocation merely recapping the background behind deckbuilding roguelike Yohane the Parhelion: Numazu in the Mirage, but all you really need to know is that this is based on the Love Live! Sunshine!! anime spin-off, which casts the eponymous idol as a fortune teller. It’s not to be...
Mini Review Balatro (PS5) - Roguelike Poker Ain't No Joker
You wanna know how I got these cards?
Balatro is a fantastic roguelike deckbuilder that hides delicious depth behind its simple, recognisable exterior. With a deck of 52 standard playing cards, you need to earn enough chips to defeat each Blind, and to do so you must play valid poker hands — to start with, anyway. The game quickly shuffles away...
Review Skull and Bones (PS5) - Solid Sea-RPG Ships First-Rate Naval Gameplay
Stranger tides
Skull and Bones is, despite half a dozen delays and some lingering dark clouds, one of the most addictive and vibrant piracy simulators we've ever played; not that many exist. It offers a surprising amount of freedom in how players approach it, and it looks and runs beautifully on PS5, even during large-scale fleet battles. Developer...
Review Pacific Drive (PS5) - The Car Is the Reasonably Priced Star of Deep, Dense Survival Game
Here in my car, I feel safest of all
Cars are inanimate objects, but if you drive one, you've undoubtedly formed a relationship with it. Perhaps you've named your vehicle after the way it looks; maybe you'd be more concerned if it didn't have that indiscernible rattle; it could be falling to pieces, but you've never known a more dependable...
It's probably not appropriate, y'know
Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? Familia Myth Battle Chronicle – also known as the much faster to say DanMachi Battle Chronicle – is a console port of an Aiming-developed gacha game which released on mobile last year. Inspired by the light novel series of the same name, the free-to-play...
Mini Review PlateUp! (PS5) - Co-Op Restaurant Roguelite Serves Up a Treat
Cooking like a chef
Inevitably, a game like PlateUp! will be compared to Overcooked, purely because both are restaurant-based games. Where PlateUp! differs from any of its foodie stablemates is that it has roguelite progression, and encourages players to stray away from chaos rather than embrace it. You and up to three others (locally or online)...
Mini Review A Little To The Left (PS5) - Sorting Out Those Cosy Vibes
Watch out for that cat
There's nothing quite like a cosy game, and A Little to the Left is a perfect example of how a simplistic premise can deliver a comforting experience. In this relaxing puzzle game, you sort and organise basic household items, such as documents, books, toys, and anything you'd consider requiring a bit of a sort out, really...
Mini Review Arzette: The Jewel of Faramore (PS5) - A Charmingly Shoddy CD-i Sendup
Jewel love it or hate it
Arzette: The Jewel of Faramore more or less nails what it sets out to do. Inspired directly by a pair of infamously bad Zelda games for the Philips CD-i, this fresh interpretation carries much of the same pseudo-bootleg energy that fans have come to love over time. The poorly animated cutscenes, awful voice acting, static...
Review Tomb Raider 1-3 Remastered Starring Lara Croft (PS5) - The New Standard for PS1 Re-Releases
A Lara love has gone into these
Tomb Raider 1-3 Remastered Starring Lara Croft may just set the new standard for PS1 re-releases. Aspyr, a developer which has a long history with the iconic platforming property, has done an outstanding job reimagining these 90s classics for a new audience, without losing any of the magic that made them iconic to...
Review Helldivers 2 (PS5) - The Best Co-Op Shooter on PS5
For Super Earth
Helldivers 2 is some of the best fun we've had with friends on PS5. It's a simple and broad statement to start a review with, but in many ways Helldivers 2 is a simple game. This satirical bug-squashing shooter has its upgrades and customisation, but it's at its best when you're holding the trigger and not letting go. This game knows...
Review Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden (PS5) - Storytelling Great Has Gameplay to Match
Goodbye my lover
Ever since Life Is Strange properly put the developer on the map, story over gameplay seems to have been the mantra at DON'T NOD. That's no bad thing; it gave rise to Life Is Strange 2 and Xbox exclusive Tell Me Why. However, with the likes of Vampyr and Jusant also in its back catalogue, there's always been potential there for the...
Review Ultros (PS5) - Trippy Metroidvania Tangles with Great Ideas
Its ambition is boundless
This is already turning into a bumper year for Metroidvania fans. With the excellent Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown having kicked things off beautifully, Ultros now arrives from a smaller publisher but with no small hype of its own. With a gob-smackingly unique art style and a fungal, miasmic tone, it certainly looks like...
Review Jujutsu Kaisen: Cursed Clash (PS5) - Cursed Trash Solely Exists to Grab Your Cash
Salmon woe
As arguably the biggest anime and manga franchise on the planet right now, all publisher Bandai Namco had to do was put together a serviceable adaptation of Gege Aktusami’s modern-day sensation and reap the rewards. Regrettably, the dismal Jujutsu Kaisen: Cursed Clash is the worst kind of tie-in: a vapid cash grab clearly developed on a...
Review Foamstars (PS5) - PS Plus' Sudsy Shooter Is Good, Clean Fun
What kinda game is soap?
Foamstars doesn't deserve the hate. Hand-waving comparisons to Nintendo's Splatoon are shallow; beyond both games featuring weaponry that fires something other than bullets, they're two quite different experiences. Square Enix's new multiplayer game is more of a hero shooter than anything else, and while its launch content...
Review Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League (PS5) - Rocksteady's Big Gamble Just About Pays Off
Arkham blues
Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League isn’t quite what anyone expected to follow up the revered Arkham trilogy. In fact, it’s steadily become a controversial release, as terms like “endgame” and “post-launch content” have understandably riled up the fanbase. From Arkane’s disastrous Redfall to the now-canned Naughty Dog...
