While usually not as chaotic as your typical shoot-em-up of a similar genre, Earth Atlantis does provide a certain unique ambience that is a joy to be a part of. Being maxed out with weaponry feels good, killing a giant sea monster feels great but the clutter that’s in between does eventually feel like work. Which makes this game best played in short burst. If you hunt a monster a day to keep the apocalypse at bay then Earth Atlantis is great fun and well worth a gander, but if you dive in too deep too soon, then you may fatigue long before you reach the surface.
Just Dance 2018 does the job it intends to do on its annual basis. The minor additions don't really warrant a full purchase as the Just Dance Unlimited feature is starting to make the rest of the content feel a little redundant. However, it's a great little party burner and the kids seem to love it.
Transcripted can get very tough, even on the medium difficulty, but the more casual settings can provide well for those who doesn’t want to be punished. With 25 levels, 10 online score challenges, and medals to earn on each level, it is pretty good value for its low price point. Just don’t go in expecting it to be a particularly exciting shooter.
Time Recoil is a fun game that feels rewarding in triumph and moreish in failure. Sure, the graphics are rubbish and the plot seems written by an eight-year-old after a newfound discovery of 80s action films, but there is a fun and rather stylish shooter contained underneath its overall cheap presentation.
At first glance, Lichtspeer: Double Speer Edition does appear as a wolf in sheep’s clothing. As it happens, over time it grows to be a fun little title that is pleasingly addictive that will fill those small gaps of spare time nicely. No paywalls, no ads, and no brainless screen tapping. Just a small independent project by an equally sized development team obviously having a bit of fun with a simple concept that works.
One Piece: Unlimited World Red Deluxe Edition has so much potential to be a great game. It’s attractive, colourful, and well written, with a stack of content and a great soundtrack to match. I can’t lie, I really did enjoy this title a lot. But, the limited combat and poor camera control do underwhelm. As a Deluxe Edition for a five-year-old game, there was plenty of opportunity to build on these foundations to truly make it the definitive version.
League of Evil is a fun little game and still satisfies that craving that it set out to do several years ago. It doesn't quite have the personality and flair that Slime-san possesses and even back in the day it was never in the same league as Super Meat Boy, but it does have its own little charm and style. There's still plenty of addictive fun to be had that will certainly test your skills and patience. Add that with the added cross-play level editor and you're unlikely to run out of challenges as long as the community keeps the creativity alive.
It may not be as pretty, deep and fluid as the bigger titles it aspires to be, but it definitely did take me by surprise with how much I actually enjoyed it. With its fair price tag and replayability hook, Implosion happens to be a great little bit on the side.
As a multiplayer title, Astro Duel Deluxe is an absolute blast. It works gracefully in tabletop mode and brings the golden age into the 21st century on the Switch. You may not get hours of gameplay per sitting but I could imagine this being the go-to game to settle disputes within some circle of friends.
Perception is a game that holds all the basic elements to make for a decent horror game. The idea is unique, the sound is atmospheric, and the story does have potential. It’s everything that’s in between that, sadly, lets the whole experience down. The gameplay hook that it rides upon never really feels as interesting as it wants to be and the stalking mechanic just slows down what is already a laden-footed ordeal. If you are into your ghost hunting TV shows then this may very well be up your street, but, if not, then there’s a chance that you may find the adventure to be underwhelming.
While Her Majesty’s SPIFFING holds a promising start to what will, hopefully, be an amusing series, its relatively high price point in comparison to the game’s overall length may very well discourage many. Considering that you can actually get this title for the fraction of the price on Google Play, it could potentially hurt its popularity on Nintendo’s hybrid console. Although to be fair, playing it on the Nintendo Switch will undoubtedly be the better experience, and a bit less harsh on the old phone battery.
All in all, Stern Pinball Arcade is a decent pinball package. While its presentation and visuals are quite lacklustre compared to Pinball FX3, the recreations themselves are decent enough to have fun with. There’s plenty of hours to kill depending on your approach to the format, and future plans to update some of the more important issues could eventually strengthen the overall experience. It’s definitely worth a download, even if it is just to take advantage of the free table. Whether you decide to dive into it further, is entirely up to you.
Typoman: Revised is a good little game to kill a few hours with. It would have been nice to see more use of the platforming component and a bit more variety in how the puzzles are handled. Its atmosphere works well within its motive, if not a little too close to LIMBO. I did have fun with it all in all though, along with one or two real head-scratching moments. Just don’t expect it to last that long, or even really care when it does finally come to a close.
This is what Slain: Back From Hell suffers most with. While it’s blatantly attractive to look at, the reliance on being too old-school in the hack ‘n’ slash department makes the game struggle to feel anything above mediocre. This doesn’t mean that I found it terrible by any means. There are a few decent surprises present and I am sure Slain: Back From Hell can be that guilty pleasure for some in its own right. I just didn’t find it nearly as fun as I had hoped it would be, especially considering the potential that can be seen within the half a dozen hours it takes to beat it.
In a nutshell, Neon Chrome does set out what it aims to do by giving you a decent top-down shooter that is fulfilling enough to play through at least once. The randomised level layout keeps the action diverse and can drive some to keep playing a long time after you first see the credits roll. It may look very low budget in presentation but what it lacks in visuals, it makes up for in atmosphere.
Now that the dust has settled from the successful trailblaze left by Sonic Mania, Freedom Planet gets to have another crack at filling the withdrawals left behind by the blue blur. In this regard, Freedom Planet does enough to serve that cause while presenting a decent amount of gameplay changes to stand on its own feet. It’s just more unfortunate that its core gameplay style is so inevitably comparable to the classic formula.
Octodad: Dadliest Catch is quite a hard game to actually recommend but, at the same time, it’s worth a dabble for a cheap laugh. While the original was praised for its interesting proof of concept, this rendition of trying to flesh out the idea further can feel a bit stretched. However, there is a charm to this game and its very short length ensures that it doesn’t outstay its welcome too much, and, if you want, you can always try and coordinate the lovable protagonist with a friend for some squits and giggles.
There’s a need for extra content to fill out what’s currently on offer, as My Friend Pedro could easily benefit from a much-needed encore with a bag full of boomsticks and a few more bullets to the head.
I appreciated the way that the lid finally closed on the Telltale’s The Walking Dead, and the decision to wrap everything up in just four episodes felt, to me at least, the right choice to make. While collective distractions and over-saturated plot lines can seem all too familiar with the franchise as a whole, to finally see the nail hammered into the coffin on a strong note is a far braver achievement made when compared to its peers.
Shred! 2 happens to be a cracking freestyler that’s ideal for both quick commutes and long journeys. If you are into your stunts, speed, and nose-bleed jumps, then it’s is worth every penny of your spare change.