Adrian Burrows's Reviews
When I first heard of Stray Gods, I was intrigued. A video game musical might not totally work, but at least it would be interesting to play, I thought. How wrong I was. The concept of Stray Gods is the most interesting thing about it, but the execution is boring to the extreme. If you want a fun musical video game experience, you're better off watching Singing in the Rain whilst repeatedly changing the volume on the remote. That way you'll have better songs, a more enjoyable story, more interactivity, and a greater sense of player control than Stray Gods provides.
It's hard to be anything but disappointed by AEW: Fight Forever. The AI is game-breaking, the roster is lacking, and online play is in the doldrums. If you are purchasing AEW: Fight Forever to play local with mates then it might be worth a look, as there is a lot of arcade fun and silliness to be had here, but for everyone else, this one is best avoided.
Crash Team Rumble is an accessible and terrifically enjoyable online platforming battler, and as more seasons of content are released, it could become a pretty essential multiplayer game. In the here and now, though, it's a bit too limited and features too little content to be anything more than throwaway fun.
With its wonderful hand-drawn aesthetic Death or Treat looks like it should be fantastic. Never judge a video game by its visuals however, as those visual delights disguise a bland and repetitive roguelite. Death or Treat? More like Death or Trick.
If you are looking for another Dead Cells, another indie souls-lite-vania, then you might be disappointed by Nuclear Blaze. If, on the other hand, you are after a fast, fun, 90's styled action adventure firefighting puzzle game, then you'll love this game as much as I do.
I'm sure Wolcen could be a good isometric hack-and-slash adventure. The problem is, this console port does its utmost to hide all of Wolcen's positive qualities with a constant barrage of crashes and performance issues, rendering a game that should be escapist fun into a frustrating slog. In time this might be worth your attention, but significant patching will be required for it to be so.
Fueled Up may be an Overcooked! clone but it nonetheless has some intriguing ideas that set it apart from other games in the genre. Unfortunately, the issues with pacing, poor tutorials, haphazard controls, and difficulty spikes make for an uneven experience that will not suit many players. If you've done Ghost Town Game's finest to death then Fueled up might be worth a look, otherwise, forget fuelling spaceships and go fry some burgers instead.
With thoroughly inconsistent combat and painful platforming, The Crown of Wu has earned itself the unfortunate and distinctive demerit of being the worst video game based on the Journey to the West.
After a thrilling opening, Alfred Hitchcock Vertigo descends into utter farce. This awkward attempt at a narrative adventure is hampered by ridiculously long loading times, terrible animation, and awkward vocal performances. Give this one a wide birth and just go watch the film instead.
As a wrestling fan, I want to create five-star classic matches, with back-and-forth action, near falls, and iconic moments, but ultimately WWE 2K23 cannot facilitate that. Messy and overly complicated controls hamper those efforts, but it's 2K's obsession with players winning matches that ensure this professional wrestling game misses the point entirely.
Helvetti has buckets of charm, offering delightful 2D visuals that will impress any player with ease. Unfortunately, the feathery, button-mashing combat is less appealing, whilst the uninspired rogue-like mechanics never really click.
Little Witch Nobeta makes for a fun old-school action shooter. It's just a shame that this particular witches' brew is filled with so much unnecessary and bland garnish that serves only to dilute the taste.
The Forest Quartet is a gorgeously emotive game, one that explores the complex emotion of grief with empathy, nuance, and understanding. This jazz-inspired puzzle game is an experience to be relished, one that will live long in the memory.
The Knight Witch could have been fantastic. It was so dang close to being something very special thanks to its fantastic visuals, great gameplay and compelling story, but it's instead plagued by frame rate issues and awful difficulty spikes rearing their slappable faces to ruined the fun. Fingers crossed Super Mega Team takes the time to thoroughly patch The Knight Witch and make it the game that it deserves to be.
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection is a must for any Turtles fan. The emulation here is flawless and the range of accessibility enhancements is very welcome. In fact, the treasure trove of behind-the-scenes content is worth the asking price alone. Sure, there's a some 'classic' games included that won't live up to nostalgic memories, but ignore the dross and you'll have a blast with the near-essential selection of scrolling beat 'em up TMNT goodness.
The plentiful issues of Sword and Fairy Together Forever make it hard to recommend; lacklustre graphics, eye-numbingly long loading times, and uninspired combat do not a great action RPG make. And yet, and yet, if you can look past the problems you'll find a charming RPG with fantastic mythology and an intriguing world to explore.
South of the Circle is a fantastic exploration of a complex and realistic character. The engaging and multi-layered story kept me engaged and definitely helped me forget I wasn't actually doing much playing. Unfortunately, the ending rather takes the shine off the rest of the game's eminent achievements. Just like the drunken pilot crashing his plane in the opening scene, South of the Circle fails to stick the landing.
I've been eagerly anticipating Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge ever since it was announced. My lofty expectations were ridiculously sky high and surely a bar that could never be reached. So, it is a statement of the game's quality that it exceeded even my wildest dreams. This is the best scrolling beat 'em up since Streets of Rage 4 and in the top ten of all time. A nostalgia-injected nunchuck whack of love to the brain, Shredder's Revenge It is not to be missed. Cowabunga indeed.
ANNO: Mutationem's sublime blending of 2D and 3D visuals is a delight to behold and a joy to experience. Fast-paced combat and competent RPG systems all deliver so, as long as you can accept the incomprehensible plot and naff dialogue, there's a lot to enjoy.
If interactive narrative adventures are your thing, then you won't find a better experience than Steve Jackson's Sorcery! This is a glorious achievement, epic in scope, crammed full of meaningful choices, and tremendous fun to play. Highly recommended.