James Cunningham's Reviews
A Highland Song is a wonderful adventure through mountains that were old before people arrived and will be there long after their ruins have eroded away. Moira's journey is as much about the Scottish Highlands as it is about her life so far, with history and myth being equally important to both. It can sometimes take some thinking and experimentation to find the way through a new area, clambering back and forth over rocks and cliffs to find a clue that points to the path forward, but the information is there for an attentive explorer to uncover. It all comes together to make for an engaging, unforgettable and frequently musical trek you'll want to make several times over to learn the histories and hidden paths of Moira's mountain home.
What makes While the Iron's Hot work is a combination of a pleasant series of tasks and quirky, entertaining characters in every new town and point of interest.
Radiant Silvergun is considered a classic for a reason, and it holds up today as strongly as it did on release.
Tevi is an exceptionally strong metroidvania-RPG, with a detailed combat system and a large number of enemies with varying attack patterns to use it against in intricate levels filled with hidden goodies.
Oddly enough, though, that's kind of the charm.
The ambition of the game design makes it easy to overlook Wildmender's technical flaws.
Disney Illusion Island is a great all-ages platform-adventure that works hard to appeal to players of any skill level.
Nova Lands isn't the deepest automation game around, but it's also not trying to be Satisfactory or Dyson Sphere Project so doesn't need to be.
Up until the Dread Lords, Doomblade is easily one of the best metroidvanias I've played in a long time.
Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun is a solid throwback FPS that makes up for being too generous with the resources by its excellent weapon, monster and level design.
Lunark is a strong cinematic platformer, more than good enough to hang with the classics of its genre.
Atomic Heart is an "everything and the kitchen sink" type of adventure that feels like it should explode from the weight of its ambitions, yet keeps it together through a combination of good pacing of new elements and a deeply likeable world.
Once the controls are sorted out, Akka Arrh reveals itself as an absolutely fantastic shooter that plays like nothing else out there.
The Knight Witch is excellent in a lot of ways despite its forbidding difficulty, the kind of game you'll be glad to have beaten even if the journey to completion is sometimes a bit much.
Sonic Frontiers is a hugely ambitious new direction for the series that comes close to hitting on all cylinders.
Even with the story not living up to previous entries, Yomawari: Lost in the Dark does a good job continuing the unique horror series.
Vampire Survivors initially feels like a nice bite-sized adventure, something to dip into now and then for the joy of orchestrating a little mayhem as the heart of bullet hell rather than its recipient.
Terror of Hemasaurus is an immensely entertaining monster-fest that, while never backs down from the carnage, makes the violence work with a layer of cheerful dark humor.
The basics of TombStar are well done, with nicely-frantic action that keeps the bullets flowing at a good pace.
While I found my playtime kneecapped by the physical hardware, Loud has nice tunes playing in sync to plenty of fun note tracks. Astrid’s tale isn’t particularly deep (what happened to her band?), but she’s a likeable character who grows into her music over the three years of the story. The twelve tracks have plenty of replayability thanks to the multiple difficulty levels, and there’s even an extra-hard bonus tune awarded in the free-play mode after game completion. Loud is a capable little music game with a lot of heart, but be aware you need either small hands or maybe a Pro Controller to get the most from it.