Keith Mitchell's Reviews
Vengeful Guardian Moonrider is yet another fantastic retro gaming experience from Joymasher, and it shows that the developer has really found its niche. However, with the game being way too short for it's own good, and speedrun games aren't for everyone, Vengeful Guardian Moonrider is in an awkward position. Great gameplay, great music, it's just too damned short.
Cruis'n Blast is a faithful port of the arcade classic, that suffers from the straight port of the same game. It's fun, it's fast, and will keep you entertained for hours. However, unless you're a huge fan of arcade racers, you may end up putting this down and never picking it back up. There's no substance and that hurts the game in the long run.
Streets of Rage 4 Mr. X is an interesting piece of content. If you’re a fan of Streets of Rage 4 and have put the game down, unless you are fine with grinding to unlock new moves and various other content, then it’s worth checking it out. However, if you were looking for something more, you want to pass up on this.
CAPCOM Arcade Stadium is full of classics that many arcade-goers will remember and enjoy in the comfort of their homes. Plenty of options to tinker with and the added benefit of unlimited credits will help everyone power through the games – even if it cheapens the experience. Sadly, the omission of a number of classic titles such as Dark Stalkers, Red Earth, and a few others does add a bit of frustration.
Disintegration is the effort of combing a First Person Shooter and an RTS together, something that has been tried in the base with moderate success. Here, V1 Interactive takes the concept one step further with several new ideas, yet ultimately aren't all fleshed out. I'm looking forward to seeing if and how the developer will correct these concerns in either a DLC or the follow-up to the game.
Kill la Kill The Game is all about the fan service. Fans of the anime and manga are likely going to love this game. While those who'd enjoy brawlers will also enjoy it. However, for those serious about fighting games, there may not be enough here to keep them entertained for more than a few hours.
This is Doom 2016 all over again. The action, the gunplay, the amazing gameplay is present. But this time, with Avalanche at the helm we also have this vast open-world fun of dynamic moments and plenty to do. Definitely don't sleep on Rage 2, because this is a game that doesn't let down as soon as you start it up. If only there was a way to get people out into the world outside of the story-based missions.
In the end, Rigid Force Alpha is a fun SHMUP. Sure, it doesn't reinvent the genre, but it nails the basics, provides a hell of a time and that's all any SHMUP can do. For being the first attempt from Com8com1, it shows that they've really listened to the SHMUP community and provided easily one of the best indie games I've played in a while.
Omensight attempts to combine the action of a hack and slash game, with an interesting on story-telling. While it succeeds in most areas, the game does have a few rough edges that made took my excitement level down a notch.
Ruiner is a fast-paced, hectic game of survival, cast in a cyberpunk filled future. A brilliant twin-stick shooter that is sadly riddled with control issues. Yet so full of fantastic artistic stylization, extremely pleasing visual and some pretty technical tricks. Definitely a good strong showing for Polish developer Reikon Games.
All in all, I'm happy that the port came out as well as it did, as to be honestly I wasn't sure what to expect. It also worried me that there wasn't any advertising for this game at all, and while that seems to be the norm for strictly PC games with minor exceptions, I feel that's a missed mark for Microsoft. PC gamers are still gamers and we like to see the full support of the company is pushing this game, so seeing a TV commercial or two, or even on YouTube would have been nice to see. Hopefully, this all has been a test run for the main course, which would be a port of Gears of War 4 for the PC platform as well. At least one can hope that this is exactly what it is.
If this is the first efforts from Awfully Nice Studios, it's a damned good one. While the Bug Butcher won't win any awards for innovation, it definitely will with how much fun you'll have with the same. Simple, frantic, charming and fun are easily the four best words to describe The Bug Butcher. It's also nice to know that Awfully Nice Studios is constantly fixing bugs (No pun intended) that are found in the game, so it's also nice to see that they're committed to making this the best experience it can be.
To my surprise, Attack on Titan: Wings of Freedom turned out to be perhaps the best anime adaption to ever make its way over to a video game. There's always a concern when a game is created around an existing license. Especially since those few games of recent that featured either an anime or cartoon didn't fare too well. Thankfully, this isn't the case with Attack on Titan: Wings of Freedom. It may be a bit too restrictive as it doesn't really stray from the anime or manga. In its defense, it really didn't need to as the world that was created is full of over the top action and a really odd-ball story, both of which are just fine for a video game.
This title cries "let's play" and would be right at home on a console, regardless if it's a past-generation or current generation title. That said, Arrowhead has gone on record and stated that there are no plans to bring this title to the consoles, a real shame. That said you can't go wrong with Gauntlet and while it is a bit short, it is a fun game especially when you're playing with others. The title is solid and I highly recommend it and a few friends to slash the night away.
Bravo to both Upper One Games and E-Line Media for putting this gem out there, this is definitely a worthwhile and enjoyable title for all ages to enjoy as well as learn from. I truly hope that this title does well or at least meets their expectations I'd like to see more from these companies in the same vein as Never Alone.
An enjoyable ride that ends way too soon and despite playing as one of the more interesting enemies in the game, you don't feel like the menace that the Keeper was when you originally encountered him. Thankfully the game makes up for its short duration in new game+ that includes more battles and something else at the end. What exactly, well that's up to you to find out. While not on the same quality as the previously two dlc titles, this is still worthwhile for The Evil Within fans.
I can't wait to see what FROMSOFTWARE does with the second and third parts of the DLC entries.
Zoria: Age of Shattering is an engaging CRPG that doesn't reinvent the genre, but does improve on a number of systems, but could benefit from adding gamepad/controller support and perhaps some multiplayer coop.
Contra returns in a new reimagining, with a very odd story but with the same great Run-N-Gun gameplay, the series is known for. Despite some issues with the audio mix and not being a fan of the visuals, this is the type of gameplay I've missed, and I'm glad to see that Konami has finally realized the Contra series had more than enough in the tank for another go.
Remnant 2’s first DLC, The Awakened King, is a change to how Gunfire Games tells its stories, and in that regard, it does a great job. However, adding a handful of new locations tossed into the pool of existing locations is frustrating as I encountered the older locations more than I did with the newer locations. This meant I constantly re-rolled my adventure until I encountered the new stuff. This needs to be addressed for this DLC to be worthwhile to new and existing Remnant 2 players. But outside of that, I enjoyed the DLC, and the closure to the storyline that started in the base game was refreshing.