When it comes to Battlefield I like to call myself a veteran of the series. My love of large scale combat started off back in 2002 with Battlefield 2 and has grown ever since. I like to say that I’ve seen it all. From the highs of Battlefield: Vietnam, to the lows of Battlefield: Hardline, I’ve been there and – for Battlefield 3 – gotten the t-shirt (RIP Gamestation).
The first person shooter market is quite bloated. With FPS titles almost launching on a weekly basis, it’s easy for the odd diamond to get lost in the rough. With Call of Duty still being the FPS king, it’s also used as the benchmark for everything else. One title that’s aiming to take – or at least challenge COD’s supremacy is Insurgency: Sandstorm. Developed by New World Interactive, Insurgency: Sandstorm is a bare-bones multiplayer FPS that aims to highlight the brutal nature of modern warfare.
The original Actraiser was one almighty game. Originally released back in 1990 on the SNES (aka the Super Famicom) the game mixed action-platforming with a pretty in-depth world builder. Actraiser managed to capture your imagination and gave you the tools to literally play God. Since the initial release there’s been a less than memorable sequel – Actraiser 2 – then a few decades of slumber happened to our Lord of Light.
When you speak about racing titles, often it conjures up talk of high-octane racing across plenty of high-speed tracks, in some pretty impressive vehicles. It’s not often you’ll hear someone describe a racing game as a form of art. Yet, Art of Rally is exactly that!
Trigger Witch is the result of mixing The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Bayonetta, and a twin-stick shooter. From the creators of Reverie, Trigger Witch features a mixture of simple 16-bit gameplay with plenty of bullets, explosions, and gore. In a world where magic has had its day, bullets reign supreme.
For quite a few years the rally genre was dominated by Codemasters and their Colin McRae series – and later Dirt/Dirt Rally. Throughout every console generation, there’s been a competitor for the rally crown and after a few years of trying, KT Racing finally nailed it last year with WRC 9 (check out our Xbox and Nintendo Switch reviews). This year, the developer is back with WRC 10. Not only does it improve on last year’s already stellar title, it also adds plenty more to the series.
A Little Lily Princess is something of a rarity amongst video games. Where there has been plenty of games that have been adapted from films, comics, and television there hasn’t been many that have been inspired by a novel. The only title that springs to my mind is the original Rainbow Six. But even then the game was only loosely based on the Tom Clancy novel.
At first glance Guild of Darksteel can be mistaken as a typical side-scrolling action-adventure. Yet, it’s both and neither. What it is, is a pixel-based narrative adventure that’s been crossed with a rhythm-based game. If you think along the lines of Flashback and Guitar Hero then you’re not too far off track.
Side-scrolling beat’em ups are going through a renaissance at the present time. Spearheaded by the nostalgia driven Streets Of Rage 4 there’s been no end of titles released to try and capture the same feelings. The latest of these is Mayhem Brawler. Developed by Hero Concept, Mayhem Brawler takes everything that makes the genre great and adds a supernatural twist.
The term “grid-based” often brings up feelings of top-down RPGs or turn-based RTS titles. The ridged movement of these genres offer a somewhat tactical style of gameplay as your team moves between each tile on the map. Heading further back into gaming history, the grid style was fairly common in older PC titles – mainly games they allowed you to play is School. These educational games would often see you traversing a dungeon within a first-person viewpoint whilst solving reading puzzles or the dreaded mathematical questions. Vaporum: Lockdown is one of these games.
The F1 2021 season was meant to signal a significant change within the sport. With new regulations being introduced to streamline races, and a wealth of modifications to the titular Formula 1 racing car too. However global events put a dampner on these changes and as such the F1 2020 season was largely modified.
World’s End Club is a puzzle action-adventure game that takes you to the end of the world. Originally launched on Apple Arcade in 2020, the full experience has now landed on the Nintendo Switch. With plenty of ideas and a cast of likeable characters, is World’s End Club a club worth joining?
Death’s Door is one of those rare games that grab your attention straight away and keeps it for the length of its journey. At its core, Death’s Door is both a Zelda and a Soulsboune clone. However, the two-man team over at Acidnerve have crafted something that’s both an excellent mix of genres, whilst also remaining original. Death’s Door understands what makes these two genres great and rather than imitation, it refines and expands on these points.
Alphadia Genesis 2 continues KEMCO’s trend of re-releasing their mobile catalogue onto home consoles. Last time I reviewed Asdivine Cross on Nintendo Switch, which is another KEMCO title. Aside from the difference in name and slight gameplay variation, both titles could be mistaken for being part of the same franchise.
When it comes to professions that cheeky Nintendo mascot Mario, and his band of chums seem to have done it all. From Kart racing, playing Doctor, and even dabbling with DIY – Mario has been there, done that, and gotten the t-shirt. Now it’s over to golf with the recent release of Mario Golf: Super Rush. But does this all-star sequel head straight to the green? Or does it flounder in the fairway? Come with me as I find out.
Recently I’ve gone through a bit of a renaissance with playing a lot of old-school RPGs. What started as a replay of Final Fantasy VIII, has spiralled into the world of Y’s, Collection of Mana, and now Asdivine Cross.
Afterpulse is a third-person multiplayer shooter that made its debut on mobile devices. As a primarily free-2-play title, Afterpulse features your typical team deathmatch style gameplay with the added extra of buying extra cosmetics and weapons with your hard-earned cash. Afterpulse on the Nintendo Switch offers the same experience, yet asks for a hefty £17.99 upfront cost for the pleasure. So, is it worth it? Well, come with me as I find out…
Star Wars: Republic Commando has finally made its modern console release. The Star Wars-themed squad-based FPS was originally released back in 2005 for the Xbox and PC. Star Wars: Republic Commando follows a clone spec-ops team through a story set within the Star Wars Legends expanded universe. As Delta Squad you have to endure increasingly difficult missions set through the Clone Wars. But does the once much applauded FPS still hold up? Find out in my Rapid Review…
Rain on Your Parade is the weather-based equivalent of Untitled Goose Game. You play as a mischievous cloud – aptly named “Cloudy” – whose goal is to annoy anyone and everyone who happens to be standing under them. If you think raining on people is a little dull, when you add in thunder, snow, and copious amounts of acid, petrol, fire, and even a little “Tactical Espionage Action” then Rain on Your Parade brings a whole new meaning to “cloud-based gaming”.
All Walls Must Fall is an isometric tactics game that’s set in an alt-future Berlin. As a time-travelling secret agent, it’s up to you to travel through time to stop a rogue element deploying a nuclear device that destroys Berlin in the future. With only a single night to avert the attack, you’d best get those dancing shoes on…