Tag: Mini Reviews
Uncanny Ani
Talking to StarWars.com on the 20th anniversary of the first Star Wars prequel film, George Lucas was clear that, "The films were designed for 12-year-olds." Big Ape Productions mustn't have got the memo when developing PS1 Star Wars Episode I - The Phantom Menace though, because a steep difficulty curve, and bewildering design ensures...
Mini Review Ghostbusters: Rise of the Ghost Lord (PSVR2) - Teamwork Makes the Scream Work
Bustin' makes me feel good
Ghostbusters: Rise of the Ghost Lord has you take up the role of San Fransisco's newest addition to the Ghostbusters crew. Its fluid, intuitive, and satisfying controls create an enjoyable and immersive experience that will hook fans of the supernatural series, even when the action becomes ever-so-slightly repetitive...
Mini Review War Hospital (PS5) - Triage the Wounded in Grim Wartime Sim
Casualties of war
We seem to be experiencing a new era of bleak realism in management sims. The likes of This War of Mine and Frostpunk eschew optimistic growth in favour of grim survival at all costs. The latest in this cycle is War Hospital, a WWI-era triage-'em-up that has you overseeing a medical compound under relentless assault from enemy...
Mini Review Immortality (PS5) - An Exceptional FMV Mystery
Two thumbs up
What happened to Marissa Marcel? That's the central crux of the splendid video-game-slash-interactive-movie(s), Immortality. It's a rare treat, anchored by an exceptional lead performance from the actor Manon Gage, in which you attempt to solve the mystery of what happened to a promising actress who starred in three movies, none of...
Mini Review The Cub (PS5) - Short Platformer Oozes Style
Radio apocalyptica
One of the toughest things about making a 2D platformer must simply be making it stand out amongst the thousands of others. The Cub, from Golf Club Wasteland team Demagog Studio, at least gives itself a leg up in that regard, then, with stylised visuals, a moody soundtrack, and a persistent radio show that plays over the whole...
Mini Review Toy Trains (PSVR2) - Ex-Superhot Devs Deliver Tranquil Train Fun
Tracks in the attic
Something Random is made up of former SUPERHOT developers, but the studio's debut game couldn't be more different. Toy Trains is a cute, relaxing game that lets you relive the simple fun found in building model train tracks, and it does so quite successfully. A train set in a dusty attic just so happens to be home to a tiny...
Mini Review Vertigo 2 (PSVR2) - Phenomenal VR Shooter Shares a Lot of DNA with Half-Life
The life of Brian
What a pleasant surprise Vertigo 2 has turned out to be. Waking up in a cell, held captive by the omnipotent — and possibly sinister — Brian, you are eventually let loose to explore a massive scientific facility housing a quantum reactor. The similarities to Half-Life are striking and immediate, but dev Zulubo hasn’t shied...
Mini Review Breachers (PSVR2) - One of the Best Shooters for Sony's VR Platform
Once more unto the breach, dear friends
Released on Meta Quest VR in April 2023 to widespread acclaim, Breachers is a Rainbow Six Siege-style 5v5 tactical shooter that's now available on PSVR2. You and four teammates assume the role of either 'Enforcers' or 'Revolters'; the former team is tasked with infiltrating the location and disarming bombs,...
Mini Review Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising (PS5) - Re-Released, Rollback Fighter Is Top Tier
Rise again
Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising is essentially an enhanced re-release of the ill-fated Granblue Fantasy Versus — a really good fighting game that had its competitive scene smothered by the coronavirus pandemic, while shoddy netcode meant its online community was all but dead on arrival. Rising, then, feels like a deserved second chance...
Mini Review The Lord of the Rings: Return To Moria (PS5) - Survival Adventure Not Worth Treasuring
And they call it a mine, a mine!
Free Range Game's hairy spelunking simulator comes hot on the heels of The Lord of the Rings: Gollum, a low point of the year and a horrible adaptation of Tolkien's IP. While it isn't as abjectly awful as Daedalic's folly, The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria is, sadly, also a disappointment. This is a survival...
Work death balance
There are so many roguelikes and roguelites now that it's getting harder and harder to stand out, and that's something Have a Nice Death doesn't quite overcome. By and large, this is a perfectly decent side-scrolling action game, but it doesn't reach the upper echelons of this competitive niche. You play as Death, fatigued by his...
Mini Review Final Fantasy XVI: Echoes of the Fallen (PS5) - A Short But Explosive Dungeon Run
Tower power
We're weren't totally convinced that Final Fantasy 16 needed story-based DLC, but now that we've played through Echoes of the Fallen — the first of two promised expansions — we're actually glad it's happening. If nothing else, this additional slice of adventure is a welcome reminder of how flashy and downright fun 16's combat can be...
The grass could do with a cut
Arashi: Castles of Sin Final Cut is a stealth, action-adventure, virtual reality title from developer Endeavor One and publisher Skydance Interactive. You take on the role of deadly assassin Kenshiro, setting out across feudal Japan in the hopes of defeating six terrorous bandit leaders who have devastated the lands for...
Mini Review The Last Faith (PS5) - Competent Metroidvania Scratches That Bloodborne Itch
Provided you have the appetite
The Last Faith is a solid gothic fusion of Metroidvania and Souls-Like, mashing mechanics from two relatively crowded subgenres into something that stands out thanks to gorgeous pixel art. Fans of tough, 2D platformers will likely find a lot to like here, doubly so if you are one of those tortured souls afflicted by a...
Mini Review Flashback 2 (PS5) - Disastrously Buggy Sequel Diminishes 1992 Classic
From Con-rad to Con-traversal
Flashback fans curb your enthusiasm, because Microid's 2023 Flashback 2's not even a 2D cinematic platform game. This PS5 pseudo 3D adventure doesn't have any of the subgenre's gameplay traits that Push Square noted when reviewing a title like Another World. It also doesn't continue in the tradition of great sci-fi...
Mini Review KarmaZoo (PS5) - Co-Op Is Key in This Novel Multiplayer Platformer
Going loopy
KarmaZoo from Pastagames says that online co-op with strangers needn't be the painful exercise it usually is. A co-op platformer you play online with random players (or friends if you like), groups of up to 10 must work together to get through a short series of levels, and it works a treat. The design is pretty ingenious. After grouping...
Connect more
With its gigantic character roster, original story mode, and fairly expansive 'History' mode, Naruto x Boruto Ultimate Ninja Storm Connections just about manages to justify its existence — even though, at its core, this is pretty much a repackaging of previous Storm titles. Featuring every playable character from past games alongside...
Mini Review Astral Ascent (PS5) - Fight Your Star Sign in Robust, Pretty Roguelite Actioner
Zodiac killer
Astral Ascent is a roguelite, side-scrolling action game that places you in an attractive, fresh fantasy world. Held inside an astral prison, you need to defeat your jailers — the 12 Zodiacs — in order to break free. It's a clever setup; we're surprised it's taken this long for the star signs to be turned into a series of boss...
Mini Review Teardown (PS5) - Delightful Voxel-Based Destruction
Train go boom
Teardown lets you loose in ridiculously destructible environments with impressive physics and a sizeable arsenal, all while performing remarkably well on PS5. It takes mere seconds in the directionless sandbox mode to get the appeal; watching these detailed destruction systems do their thing is immediately captivating. For those...
A Grend old time
The year is 2023, and formulative 1970s anime UFO Robot Grendizer has just been revived as a modern action game. Developed by French studio Endroad, UFO Robot Grendizer: The Feast of the Wolves has a clear reverence for the source material, and although it's an undeniably rough product in terms of technical performance, fans of...
Mini Review Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 (PS5) - A Tighter, More Focused Platform Fighter
Super Smash Bros Brawl 2?
Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl 2 is a follow-up to 2021’s one-to-four-player Nicktoon platform fighter of the same name. This time with a fully-fledged roguelike campaign and a weighty overhaul to the combat, the Nicktoons must rescue their fellow fighters from Vlad Plasmius’ mind control and restore the Nickelodeon...
Mini Review Little Goody Two Shoes (PS5) - A Flawed But Unique Spin on the Life Sim
Little red dying hood
The first thing you'll probably notice when booting up Little Goody Two Shoes for the first time is its distinct art style. If you grew up watching 90s anime such as Sailor Moon or the original Pokémon series, the game does an excellent job at lovingly recreating that specific vibe in its presentation, narrative, and overall...
Mini Review Ebenezer and the Invisible World (PS4) - Gorgeous Metroidvania Burdened by (Bah Hum)bugs
Nightmare before Christmas
Ebenezer and the Invisible World is a 2D Metroidvania-style platformer based on A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. You explore London as Ebenezer Scrooge, on a quest to return the industrial capitalist, Casper Malthus, to his good-natured self after a visit from the Ghosts of Christmas appear to have corrupted him. In...
Mini Review Tennis On-Court (PSVR2) - Solid Gameplay Surrounded by Technical Issues
Double fault
The first thing that happened to us upon launching Tennis On-Court was a hard crash. Even before we saw the main menu, we were on the error report screen. The game would only crash a couple more times, but it was a worrying start. Worse than the crashes is an annoying bug where, if you hit the tennis ball at just the right angle, it'll...
Mini Review Headbangers Rhythm Royale (PS5) - Musical Party Game Is Frustrating and Fun
Let's get this bread
Glee Cheese Studio's Headbangers Rhythm Royale is the latest in a growing roster of battle royale party games. Heavily reminiscent of Fall Guys, the game sees floppy-headed pigeons duke it out in rhythm-based puzzles. Thirty competitors fight to earn the coveted title of master headbanger. You'll be familiar with the format by...
Mini Review Frog Detective: The Entire Mystery (PS5) - A Hilarious, Hopping Mad Trilogy
The Adventure of the Solitary Scooterist
Frog Detective: The Entire Mystery comprises three of the silliest, most charming detective adventures you could hope to play. As the titular amphibian investigator, you'll receive calls from the Supervisor about a haunted island, an invisible wizard, and a bunch of missing cowboy hats. After you grab your...
Mini Review Inescapable: No Rules, No Rescue (PS5) - Slow-Burn Visual Novel Gets Going... Eventually
All filler, very little killer
The beginning of Inescapable: No Rules, No Rescue feels very much like a Danganronpa-style death game. 11 strangers get abducted and sent to an abandoned tropical island resort where they’re forced to stay for six months. It’s all part of some twisted reality TV show where the abductees will be given €500,000 at...
Mini Review Wizard with a Gun (PS5) - This Co-Op Survival Adventure Is Worth a Shot
Machine gun Merlin
Wizard with a Gun is a one-or-two-player, twin-stick shooter, survival game from Galvanic Games and Devolver Digital. You play as a time-travelling wizard who's been tasked with preventing the Collapse, a cataclysmic event that split the world into pieces scattered throughout time. By exploring various procedurally generated...
Mini Review CRYMACHINA (PS5) - Interesting Worldbuilding Can’t Save This Dull Action RPG
It’s the end of the world as we know it
The end of humanity has finally happened; partly due to disease but mostly due to war over a scarcity of resources. In one of the last acts of a dying species they created a vast structure in space, known as Eden. Outfitted with eight self-evolving artificial lifeforms known as Deux Ex Machinas, the hope was...
Mini Review Agatha Christie: Murder on the Orient Express (PS5) - Murder Mystery Kills It
Fresh like a Daisy
A timeless classic, Agatha Christie: Murder on the Orient Express is one of the best-loved and most famous murder mysteries of all time. Originally released in 1934, the story has been refreshed and updated for this 2023 release — think Poirot with Internet access. The acclaimed detective finds himself aboard the Orient Express...
Mini Review The 7th Guest VR (PSVR2) - Bugs Besmirch This Entertaining VR Remake
Stauf's toying with you
The 7th Guest VR is a virtual reality reimagining of 1993's puzzle title of the same name. Mysterious recluse and toy maker, Henry Stauf, has invited six guests to his gothic, puzzle-filled mansion for a party, offering a large sum of prize money. Taking on the role of an unidentified guest, you'll be exploring Stauf's...
Mini Review Hellboy Web of Wyrd (PS5) - Visually Striking, But Fails to Inspire as a Brawler
Don't mess with him, he's been drinking with skeletons
The tumultuous multimedia journey of Anung Un Rama continues with Hellboy Web of Wyrd — a roguelike brawler that might help wash away the taste of the abysmal 2019 cinematic reboot. Developer Upstream Arcade has attempted to transpose the visual style and narrative spirit of Hellboy from the...
Mini Review Lil Gator Game (PS5) - A Heartfelt Adventure That's Fun for All Ages
Don't stop believing
Lil Gator Game is a feel-good indie that'll take just a few hours of your time to get through. You play as the titular little gator, on a quest to convince your older sister to close her laptop and enjoy some fantastical playtime — just like in the good old days. It's not exactly subtle, but the game's all about growing up,...
Mini Review Saltsea Chronicles (PS5) - A Seaworthy, Choice-Driven Adventure
L'eau pressure
Saltsea Chronicles is another narrative-driven adventure from the makers of Mutazione, only this time, you're playing a whole cast of characters, not just one. With their captain missing, a group of friends set sail across the Saltsea archipelago to find her, only for the mystery to steadily grow much larger. This visual novel...
Mini Review Cricket 24 (PS5) - A Below Par Score on a Flat Batting Pitch
Not so Stoked for this one
With 2023’s Cricket World Cup kicking off in India this month, Big Ant Studios has taken the opportunity to release Cricket 24 alongside. Similarly with EA Sports FC for football and MLB The Show for baseball, Cricket 24 is a yearly instalment in cricketing video games but on a much lower budget than its stablemates. In...
Mini Review Scorn (PS5) - A Brilliantly Disgusting Puzzler with Gameplay Woes
Its structural perfection is matched only by its hostility
Scorn was announced by Ebb Software way back in 2014, so we've been waiting a while. After a successful (if critically mixed) launch on Game Pass last year, the game is ready for PS5, but is that a good thing? The answer to that is mostly a "yes". Inspired by the visual style of legendary...
Mini Review Trepang2 (PS5) - Great Run-and-Gun Shooter Misfires Its Attempts to Be More
A mix of DOOM, F.E.A.R., and a hint of Max Payne
While Trepang2 has a name that makes absolutely no sense to us, this fast-paced, single-player FPS often gives us the same exhilaration you would expect from a game like DOOM. No matter what weapons you have equipped, the super soldier you play as, 106, is always the strongest person in the room...
Mini Review Everhood: Eternity Edition (PS4) - A Truly Unique Musical Adventure
Bizarre hero
Everhood: Eternity Edition takes the cult hit indie game and brings it to PlayStation with some exclusive new battles to master. For those out of the loop, Everhood is an adventure game with disarmingly basic presentation that quickly pulls the rug from under you, subverting your expectations with outrageous visual flair, fantastic...
Mini Review Ad Infinitum (PS5) - An Intriguing Horror Premise, Poorly Executed
All average on the Western Front
Ad Infinitum is a survival horror title that sees you play as a German soldier trapped in the claustrophobic trenches around No Man's Land. Sometimes. The game is split down the middle between the horrors of the Western Front and your family's mansion. While the war half of the game is a compelling and refreshing...
Mini Review Super Bomberman R 2 (PS5) - A Step in the Right Direction for the Series
Ellons on another planet
Super Bomberman R 2 from Konami is a sequel to 2018's franchise revival. This time around the Bomberman Brothers must protect the home planets of the squishy creatures known as Ellons from being destroyed by the evil mastermind Fusel. As with most Bomberman titles, you have the option to play both online and offline in...
Mini Review Nour: Play with Your Food (PS5) - A Tasty Snack, But Won't Fill You Up
Palette cleanser
If you've a taste for the experimental, oddball games from PlayStation Network's early days, Nour: Play with Your Food might satisfy that craving. This unusual title is a digital celebration of food, though certainly not table manners; it provides several gastronomical vignettes and lets you mess around to your heart's — and your...
Mini Review The Isle Tide Hotel (PS5) - A Criminally Tedious FMV Thriller
Hotel Hell
The Isle Tide Hotel's biggest crime is that it's not even so bad it's funny. It's just bad bad. Bad bad bad bad bad. There's no reason to play this game other than sheer morbid curiosity, and no reason to recommend this game to anybody for anything other than spite. But first, the formalities, so we can all get out of here. The Isle Tide...
Mini Review Bomb Rush Cyberfunk (PS5) - A Worthy Successor to Jet Set Radio
Team Reptile does what SEGA-don't
It's been over 20 years since fans have heard from the world of Jet Set Radio. Sure, the franchise has made small appearances, like in Sonic & Sega All-Star Racing and Super Monkey Ball: Banana Mania, but SEGA seems to have mostly put the franchise on ice. Enter Dutch indie studio Team Reptile, which brings us...
Mini Review The Many Pieces of Mr. Coo (PS4) - A Short Burst of Point & Click Madness
Through the hourglass
The Many Pieces of Mr. Coo is a strange point-and-click adventure game that gives a great first impression with its hand-animated presentation. The titular Mr. Coo finds himself in a surreal, Wonderland-esque realm in which he's unceremoniously chopped into three pieces. All he wanted was an apple. Characters are hand-drawn...
Mini Review Under the Waves (PS5) - Sad, Lonely, Occasionally Wonderful Deep Sea Drama
Finding emo
No good can come from going in the sea. Even just dipping your toes runs the risk of crabs and other weird creatures rubbing up against your feet, but the further you get in the worse it gets. Sharks, jellyfish, the Kraken — it's bleak in there. Under the Waves is set almost entirely underwater, and while it's not a horror game, it is...
Grey area
A prequel to Utawarerumono: Mask of Deception, the verbosely named Monochrome Mobius: Rights and Wrongs Forgotten is a fairly typical Japanese RPG. It follows the story of a young warrior named Oshtor, who, after a strange meeting with a mysterious girl, sets off on a grand adventure to uncover the secrets of his family's history. So far,...
Mini Review Chants of Sennaar (PS4) - A Terrific Translator Puzzler
Get lost in translation
Chants of Sennaar is a language translation-focused, puzzle adventure title from Toulouse, France-based developer Rundisc. You take on the role of a lone traveller that has been foretold will reunite the people of the Tower by translating their dialects and breaking down their language barriers. For eight to 12 hours,...
Mini Review Anonymous;Code (PS4) - Exciting Visual Novel, But Lacks Character Depth
Hacker's paradise
Anonymous;Code is the latest visual novel in the Science Adventure series. It takes place in 2037 Tokyo and focuses on Pollon Takaoka, a young hacker who's part of a group called Nakano Symphonies. Pollon doesn’t particularly enjoy being a hacker and isn’t even that skilled at it, but he does it along with his friend Cross to...
Mini Review Tenebris Pictura (PS5) - A Supernatural World That Kicks You Down With Its Combat
We can paint over this work of art
Starting Tenebris Pictura will have you scratching your head early on. You awake in a painting world, where you learn that you have the power to jump into paintings and walk around those areas. You can also split your spirit from your body, where most of the game is focused. As you continue, you will face various...
Mini Review The Making of Karateka (PS5) - A Wonderful Interactive Documentary for Gaming Historians
Kick! Punch! It's all in the mind
The Making of Karateka is a rare treat. It's part documentary, part archive, part collection of old games, and part remaster. It's also a wonderful example of just how far we can go with game preservation if we put the work in, and the gold standard for how we should approach collections of classic games going...
