As a spin on air hockey’s basic premise, Power Disc is decent, but it’s also frustrating, and that’s even if you can figure out how to perform necessary advanced techniques.
Unfortunately, too-simple presentation, an absence of personality, and just seven events also means there’s next to no long-term value to this. You’ll be done with it in about the time it takes for an Olympic event to finish, so it’s up to you whether you consider that’s worth a couple of dollars or not.
This is naturally a comical game in tone, and while it’s not written particularly well, the nods to genre classics, from Dragon Quest to Final Fantasy and onwards, are a nice touch for long-term genre fans.
Brut@l is a modernisation and homage to truly pioneering games that were addictive before graphics were even a thing. It’s a hugely entertaining, visually striking experience, and has instantly become my favourite multiplayer title on the PlayStation 4. It does represent how some corners of the modern gaming industry is pushing visceral action over complexity, and that is disappointing on one level, but at the same time I can’t really complain that the developers have gone with the times, especially when it’s this much fun.
[Bound is] for the people that want something thoughtful, meaningful, and intelligent. For that audience, this game is about as good as they come. As a member of that audience myself, it’s right up there with my favourite games of the year.
This is a game that actively sets out to be a generic FPS with a medieval humans-vs-orcs theme. It doesn’t even try to be a good one. The developers know, surely, that the game isn’t remotely competitive with the better examples of the genre – even in the indie FPS space.
Ubisoft has done everything it can to dress Urban Assault up and give fans a reason to dip again, even if they already own vanilla Risk on their PlayStation 4s. The game itself is a quality take on the board game. It’s just unfortunate that there is such structural issues with Risk itself that it’s rapidly losing relevance, even in the board game scene. I would like to see Ubisoft turn its development skills here to give us a really killer console adaptation of Catan, or Agricola, or Ticket to Ride, or similar.
The production values, coupled with the genuinely entertaining multiplayer, help to make this one of the better “casual” games you’ll play this year.
The ability to learn how to draw Donald Duck of Princess Jasmine easily makes this the most nostalgic and entertaining Art Academy product that Nintendo has produced to date.
Although the satire doesn’t localise as well as I might have liked, the game’s not as straightforward in its perversions that a surface level analysis makes it seem, and I’ll be disappointed if there aren’t at least some people that recognise this.
I’m not going to pretend that Daydreamer is a good game, because it isn’t. But then it’s also quite brilliant in its feverish commitment to tearing at the fabric of game design. I had a great time playing this, because it completely transcends the “so bad it’s good adage” to be a creative entity that is in a league so completely of its own that it almost feels unfair to give it a score at all.
Ninja Pizza Girl is a fine little 2D platformer with a personality all of its own, a good sense of humour, and a strong message to share. It feels at home on console, played on the big screen television and with a controller in hand, and Disparity Games has on its hands an IP that deserves continued development into the future.
This game, which is about sorrow, provides us with a mournful look at humanity and yet also gives us hope that there is good in people, even in the darkest of times. The game itself is a nostalgic hymn for so much of what we’ve lost in the JRPG genre as it pushes ever closer to visceral action. Wrapped together they make for one of the most heartfelt and meaningful games that you’ll play for quite some time to come
I ended up having a lot of fun with Dex, though playing it through at the same time that I was reviewing The Technomancer was a bit unfortunate for it. In belonging to the same narrative genre as a game that will be right up there with my favourites this year, Dex’s pulpy and limited narrative was disappointing. Thankfully, as an RPG/platformer, it still largely works, and will certainly help you kill off a rainy weekend or two.
The team writes intelligent, worthy scenarios and narratives, and then they do the best they can to build gameplay to support that concept. Spiders never quite gets there with executing to vision, but I don’t mean this as a backhanded complement; I genuinely appreciate what this team does, because it’s unique and interesting and I wish more developers had the gumption to try something like The Technomancer.
There aren't many games that make voodoo a central theme. Full Mojo Rampage isn't exactly a genuine look at the mythology and aesthetic of voodoo, but the name drop of Baron Samedi and the other Loa lords is a nice touch. Still, it's hard to imagine you'll get much from this. Not when there are so many other great roguelikes out there.
I can't say I exactly enjoy Downwell, as it's really not my kind of game, but the design and style of the game nevertheless has me playing it over and over again. It's addictive, it's charming in its retro design, and it absolutely has the "just one more go" thing about it that can turn a short play session into a marathon.
Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness will probably not be remembered as one of the PlayStation 4’s finest. It’s greatly let down by technical issues with a camera that actively works against the game’s strengths: the epic sense of scale and the beautiful presentation. Dig beneath that, however, and you arrive at a game with an enjoyable narrative, fun characters, and a solid action JRPG combat system – all the stuff that’s actually important, in other words.
Ultimately what sets Battle Cats apart from the many (many) similar games of similar depth and strategy is that hugely creative edge. This game gets to be the distinctive and memorable example of the genre because the artists had the sense to do something that makes no sense, but we end up looking forward to each new level just to see the insanity that it brings. That, right there, is good design principles for mobile gaming, and it translates across to the 3DS perfectly.
It’s so good to see these kinds of serious strategy games on console, as it’s something that has been all-but exclusive to PC over the past couple of generations of hardware. With a comprehensive tutorial system, Romance of the Three Kingdoms is the best fit game for people new to the genre to wrap their minds around it. Equally, for more experienced strategy fans, the superb balance that made the historical events the game is based on so fascinating also make for the near-perfect strategy game.