Big Rumble Boxing: Creed Champions is like a 90's game: good for short sessions of play, with only few modes, a cheating AI and a lot of pressing the same button over and over. Despite all that, it manages to be entertaining for a few hours, but you'll soon get bored of fighting the same boxer but with a different skin. The strange, over the top narrative Arcade is enjoyable, but with just one more mode (Versus), there's no way to get to the twelve round without getting tired of its basic mechanics.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Road 96 is a nice revelation. The slow start gives the wrong impression of a game similar to many recent narrative adventures: well written, but without that peculiar something that can make it shine. Instead, its formula based on the repetition of the paths and on the procedurality of the encounters proved to be a great strength in the long run, capable of adding depth to the game and distinguishing it from its (valid) predecessors. More than this, it's the perfect game for summertime: a good song on the radio, the long road ahead of us, sunglasses on and a future where plenty of choices await.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Minute of Islands is an adventure where the story and its themes get the main stage, while the gameplay is mostly there to get the story going, but it stands among other games thanks to the depth of its narrative. The added value are the outstanding illustrations, sort of a mix between Attack on Titan and Adventure Time, that manage to create a fresh, colourful, intriguing, but at the same time disturbing world, just like Mo's adventure.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Super Soccer Blast: America vs Europe is a small, arcade soccer game that is super entertaining to play, at least for the first hours. As almost every other arcade sport game, when you learn to master all of its mechanics it gets a little less entertaining, but you can always use it as an old-style 1vs1 couch game with friends. Few rules, a fast pace and hilarious names are everything the Euro (or Copa America) summer needs.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Virtua Fighter is still a great game, no doubt about it. And Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown fully re-proposes the old-but-gold original combat system, enhanced by a Training mode that explains in depth everything there is to know about it. What's inexplicable in this operation is the poor care paid to the multiplayer, penalized by an old and poorly performing netcode, which heavily limits a game designed to be SEGA's first step towards esports.
Review in Italian | Read full review
I honestly don't know if Wonder Boy IV was a real blast in 1994 since I could not play it then. What I know is that Wonder Boy: Asha in Monster World is not a blast today. It's kinda average in everything it does, but what I really can't bear is how the new art style feels like a significant downgrade over the magical 16-bit pixel art.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Despite its ups & downs, it's hard not to love Miitopia and its quirkyness. Even the most generic and basic RPG story suddenly becomes a compelling tale if you use friends-shaped Miis as characters and Miitopia adds to this formula a large amount of humor and weirdness that fills the void when the rhythm slows down. If I had a child, this would be the first RPG I'd play with him (or her).
Review in Italian | Read full review
The Wardrobe: Even Better Edition for Xbox is a good conversion. The transition from mouse to gamepad is almost painless. Years after his first release, the game is still good thanks to its iconoclastic humor and many, many geek references.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Say No! More is such a strange game it can barely be considered one: you just need to press the spacebar to get to the end (even if there's a moment when you need to *not* press it and I almost got stuck). Despite this, it is indeed a funny game that smashes the "yes man" workaholic culture, and it does it under a beautiful SEGA-blue sky. Perfect if played after eight hours in the office.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Oddworld: Soulstorm is an imperfect game, like many other, but unlinke most of them it accepts the idea of taking risks to achieve something different. Unfortunately, it only sometimes happens, but it was worth trying. As Abe knows well, there's no way other than fighting (or jumping, or chanting…) to achieve what you want.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Sometimes, less is more. Chronicle of Innsmouth: Mountains of Madness is a game that knows its limits and strives to do its best with the resources it has. The story is short, but well written and fascinating, the English acting is good and background illustrations are often inspiring. Considering that the team is small and so was the budget, their work deserves to be praised.
Review in Italian | Read full review
While Paradise Lost has everything to be a great game, it ends up being just good. Its background story is strong and intriguing, but you can't feel it that much in the game. Locations and objects are well crafted, but invisible walls keep you from feeling them as if they were real and alive. Everything is in his place, but by the end nothing leaves you wanting more. This four-hour adventure is worth playing, but it won't change your life.
Review in Italian | Read full review
After playing Adios I felt like I did when I first saw No country for old men, and I can't imagine a greater compliment. Graphics are definitely not its strongest suit, but they do a decent job at supporting Adios' touching story, that shines thanks to its fantastic voice acting. A couple simple minigames add a little variety to this walking simulator. All in all, Adios lasts a little more than an hour, but it's an hour that is totally worth experiencing.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Cyanide & Happiness: Freakpocalypse is a game made for C&H's fans, rather than point&click lovers, and it's okay. The game's mechanics act as a stimulus, prompting the player to talk to all the characters and examine every single part of the setting, enjoying the surreal dialogues and absurd descriptions that dot the game. I don't know if everybody can appreciate it, but if you like dark humor and you're not afraid of BDSM teachers, bullies and delusional weirdos, this is a point&click adventure that may fit your lovely taste.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Surviving, nowadays, is hard. It's DAMN hard. So it's good to find a survival game like The Wild Eight that does not enjoy punishing the player without reason. I still don't know if this softer approach is an attempt to offset some design issues (like the combat, or the clunky inventory) or if it was meant to be like this since the beginning. Anyway, The Wild Wight feels like a survival game approachable even by players that usually don't like survival games so much, and at the end of the day this feels like good news.
Review in Italian | Read full review
When a new idea arises in a genre where recycling is the new normal, it's always good news: and this is the case with Gods Will Fall, who reminds us that challenging the gods is quite the gamble. Unfortunately, even if the idea is clever enough to be appreciable even when it causes anger, it does not appear to be supported by an equally valid gameplay. The boss fights with the giant gods are quite entertaining to play, but the tons of repetitive battles against uninteresting enemies that you have to face to get there feel way less intriguing.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Olija is more than just the sum of its parts. Its action-platform-with-a-bit-of-metrodavania formula is nothing new, like its art style or the mechanics made available by the mystic harpoon. But when every single part works in conjunction with the others, Olija becomes a super rewarding game, where puzzles make you feel smart and fights make you feel strong: not every game needs to be super difficult.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Unto The End is able to build an entire universe using almost no words. Every gameplay element is part of its narrative of a wild, brutal and unfair world. Sadly, its combat system feels (and probably is) unfair, making the entire experience sometime unbearable.
Review in Italian | Read full review
What a surprise Call of the Sea was! Out of the Blue's debut title shows off its own well-defined personality through a very accurate artistic direction and attention to details. All puzzles have their own logic and the idea of proposing them in blocks, separating the adventure into sealed chapters, helps to focus attention on a limited number of elements. With its crazy atmosphere and an eight-hours duration, which prevents any kind of fatigue, Call of the Sea is a highly recommended game for adventure's (and Lovecraft's) lovers.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Ringfit Boxing 2 is a strange mix between WiiFt and Just Dance, but it works. Since you can't get out a lot nowadays, if you like training having a fitness app you can use and enjoy everywhere may be a good idea. Motion detection is quite accurate and the daily training program has a good variety of exercises. It won't last forever, but it should do its job until the lockdown ends.
Review in Italian | Read full review