Stacie Cotton's Reviews
Flint: Treasure of Oblivion as I said is only 5 chapters so it is short, but was actually quite a decent albeit campy dive into the swashbuckling journey of Captain Flint.
Super Spy Racoon is a game I appreciated and enjoyed albeit over a short amount of time due to the lack of many levels.
Planet Coaster 2 is a sound addition to the theme park running sim genre. With fantastic customisation and unique rides, this was one great ride.
‘Empire Of The Ants’ is a refreshing and innovative look into the RTS genre. It had me hooked every step of the way, even if the gameplay variety sagged a little towards the end. The beautiful atmosphere created by the graphics and sound had me glued to the screen.
Call Of Duty: Black Ops 6 is an explosive edition of this much loved, often hated on, series of the Call Of Duty franchise. Honestly, I have played as many Call Of Duty games as I could over my gaming years, but I haven’t enjoyed them to this degree in a long hot minute. The culmination of the Campaign, Zombies and Multiplayer make an improved and memorable time.
Innesmouth 22 is interesting, but it ends as abruptly as it starts. It has the potential to be very moving, but due to some of the imagery and lacklustre sound design, it falls a tad short of being truly inspired by the allure of the sea that H.P. Lovecraft had so strongly built.
Nomada Studio, creators of one of my fave indie titles ‘GRIS’, brings you their newest creation, ‘Neva’. Similar to the stylings of anime, ‘Princess Mononoke’, this 2D platformer is an epic adventure of a girl and her wolf. With it, they answer the age-old gamer question… “Can I pat the dog?” The answer is a profound YES.
Starfield did not entice me to stay as long as any of my beloved favourite Bethesda titles. So after a year, I have hopes that some spit and polish has been put into their new expansive DLC, ‘Starfield: Shattered Space’ to light a fire under my ass to get back into it.
This expansion is incredibly good. It is so good, that I think the narrative is much more polished and intriguing than the base game’s ever was. It is so visually impressive with some captivating end-game scenes and bosses that I couldn’t get enough of it.
I love a gaming experience with a side of tear-jerking emotion. In saying that, by opening with the disclaimer of touching on hard topics, I knew ‘Copycat’, by Indie Australian developer, Spoonful Of Wonder, was going to be an interesting ride.
Much like most civilisation-building games, there is a tactical side to it too. You will, at times, be invaded or need to smoose with other nations to form allyships. Will you sacrifice precious resources with them to become friends, or will you raise a mighty army and charge in? History is up to you.
I’m in shock. ‘Downward’ the enhanced edition had no business being as addictive as it was. Just a typical first-person, parkour adventure title, developed by Caracal Games, this game was more than meets the eye as it thrusts you into a world turned upside down…wards.
The mechanics are pretty simple to master. You can walk around the many environments you are presented with and can access a shop menu using the R3 stick.
Metro Simulator 2 is sound technically on the Xbox Series X. The tunnels look like tunnels, the stations look like stations, and the inside of the two trains looks like what you would expect a train in Russia would look like.
Rise Of The Ronin is a deep insight into the history of Japan from the perspectives of many individuals while also carrying its own parallel narrative of your character. A massive feat in itself. The open world is full of things to do and the combat is strategically paced but also refreshing as you upgrade it with your stances, equipment and skill trees. Any issues I had with this title were very surface-level and didn’t ruin my time at all. Rise Of The Ronin was an intriguing horse in the race of games so far this year, and I lapped up everything it had to give. It might be more subtle from Team Ninja but it’s just as impressive.
In dark murky cues, colors pops will either mean danger or interactable objectives. There is no soundtrack thankfully as it would just divert the attention away from the environmental sounds of our man’s harsh breathing, the droning of enemy scouts, and the dire creaking of the trees and buildings around this desperate endeavour to just survive.
There is just so much about this fighting title they just do right, being highly accessible to beginner fighting game players, or even having the scope to be super entertaining for seasoned pros. There is so much to do in Them’s Fightin Herds that I just hope they keep adding content along the way.
For such an indie endeavour, Anshar Studios have created a cracker of an RPG adventure. While not perfect and restricted by things a Triple-A title might be able to access readily, ‘Gamedec’ had me logging in to the system over and over again to delve into this not-so-distant future where crimes online may affect reality.
The plot is the shining star of this game as you interact with a plethora of characters all developed with incredible backstories and details. The characters have their own unique personalities and charms, all laid out by expert futuristic writing. It is so beautifully pulled together through many twisting tangents that this space pirate-like community is very reminiscent of the cult class tales of ‘Cowboy Bebop’. Each cycle brings new and exciting revelations in the story.
As cliche and tropey as these types of revengeful samurai stories are and it is quite that in the beginning, once you peel the initial layer off it is actually quite a different story. In saying that, don’t we just love a traditional samurai story, especially with a mythological twist when presented in a classic Japanese arthouse style? You can’t help but eat it up over and over again as you bathe in these Japanese cultural elements all married together.