Stephen Tailby's Reviews
All-Star Fruit Racing is a relatively fun kart racer that has some good ideas, but it all goes a bit pear-shaped. Though it provides a decent amount of content both in single and multiplayer, the wavering performance, some iffy design choices, and a general lack of polish may spoil your appetite. If you're hungry for a simple kart racing experience on PS4, this may give you a bite of the cherry, but it'll sadly never be top banana.
Bubsy: The Woolies Strike Back is a wholly unremarkable experience. The presentation, controls, and level design are all lacking, and the handful of stages offer little variety. It's not the worst platformer ever – it's not even the worst Bubsy game – it's simply inconsequential, forgettable, and bland in every aspect. Fans of the original games may get a kick out of this, but even they may feel disappointed by the bobcat's latest, and probably last, adventure.
Caveman Warriors is a half-decent platformer with a relatively unique setting, but is sadly underwhelming in most regards. It plays fairly well and offers some quick and easy fun in multiplayer, but some questionable presentation and frustrating enemy encounters let it down. With a vast pool of quality 2D platformers to choose from on PS4, this game doesn't do enough to truly compete, and we fear it will subsequently be consigned to history.
What you end up with is a sci-fi exploration title that is, ultimately, dull. There's barely anything going on in Morphite. Once you've beaten the story and upgraded your equipment, there's very little reason to go back to previous locations, and new ones are too similar to offer any meaningful extended play. Myrah's adventure may pique the interest of genre die-hards, but the limited scope of the game makes it difficult to recommend.
Sonic Forces is a disappointing step back for the franchise. Uninteresting level design and subpar gameplay on all three playable characters make for a game that can be frustrating to get through. The nonsense story is poorly written and makes more tonal shifts than Mariah Carey with an ice cube down her back. The game is perfectly fine for the younger audience it's targeting, and we're sure they'll enjoy it for what it is, but in the wake of Sonic Mania's tremendous success, the problems 3D Sonic has always faced are becoming much harder to ignore.
Double Dragon 4 plays the nostalgia card harder than most, but its narrow-sighted reliance on this has left it feeling like a relic that perhaps shouldn't have been disturbed. The combat can be simplistic fun but is ruined by cheap AI, and the trio of modes don't offer much to stick around for. The presentation is a cool look back at the 80s school of design, but once the novelty wears off, you're left with a frustrating beat-em-up that inadvertently highlights the leaps in gameplay, animation, and visuals that games have made over the last three decades.
The Little Acre is an adorable point and click adventure that sadly trips up in some fundamental areas. The story leaves a lot to be desired and the easy puzzles won't pose much of a challenge to most. Genre aficionados might want to give it a try, and it's a decent family friendly title, but we can't recommend it to anyone else. The lovely art and animations aren't enough to gloss over the issues, and we're left with a game that has acres of room for improvement.
We really wanted Wander to be brilliant, but unfortunately, it comes across as half-baked, lacking in things to do, and underwhelming in almost every area. The developer, Wander MMO, had some grand ideas for this title – but for the most part, it's been poorly executed. There is potential here for a compelling experience – perhaps after some significant patching – but for now, it doesn't quite reach the developer's lofty, risky goals.
We really wanted to love Harold Halibut, and there are some redeeming qualities. Its wonderful aesthetic is unique and detailed, it has a great sci-fi hook, and there are some good moments throughout the story. Unfortunately, these aspects depreciate due to a prolonged runtime, most of which is filled with slow, repetitive treks from one scene to the next. The narrative is left to hold everything together, but it sadly doesn't quite stick the landing thanks to pacing issues and some iffy writing. This is one fish you might want to let get away.
From a presentation standpoint, the game has a lot of charm with its low-poly models and bright colours, and it runs perfectly at all times. The music and effects are also fairly old-school, but can be irritatingly repetitive. Overall, the game just feels quite flat; its central idea is good but levels don't really build on it, and some cutesy visuals can only take it so far.
Overall, it's a chilled out game with personality and charm, but there's not much more to it than that. While you may enjoy exploring the town and meeting its residents, there isn't enough substance here to keep things interesting.
RGX Showdown is a valiant effort in doing something unique with arcade racing, but the results are hit and miss. The frenetic, head to head races will provide some thrilling chases, and the drip feed of rewards for successive victories can be addictive, but it lacks polish. The presentation is rough around the edges and it feels pretty bare-bones, but there is the seed of a good idea here.
Lost on Mars is a decent sci-fi distraction from the main game, but it fails to really introduce any new ideas. The irreverent story is fine but isn't particularly memorable, and the silly humour accompanying the action misses more than it hits. The combat can be fun and frustrating in equal measure, while the various things to do don't exactly inspire. It's perfectly serviceable, but despite being set millions of miles away on our neighbouring planet, it's hard to shake the feeling we've been here before.
Jettomero looks and sounds great, and entertains for a few hours, but it's a little too shallow for us to wholeheartedly recommend. Stomping around as a big, clumsy robot is fun, however, and we enjoy the game's relaxed atmosphere. The lack of content, some control issues, and performance problems hold back Jettomero from meeting its potential, and the result is an experience that's quite throwaway, despite its charms.
World Series is a hollow shell of a Micro Machines game. Codemasters has focused on an undercooked Battle mode and online play to the detriment of the core racing. The local multiplayer is when the game is at its most enjoyable, and zipping around the colourful courses in miniature cars remains a fun novelty. However, some glaring omissions and the small number of tracks and cars means you probably won't stick around for long, and no amount of loot boxes will change that.
Birthdays the Beginning is an oddity: it's a relaxed, cutesy god game, but it also requires you to follow strict rules and pay attention to a vast array of stats, which can kill the fun factor to a degree. The free play mode makes for a more chilled out time, however, while the challenges offer more objective-based gameplay for those that want it. The creature capturing is initially compelling, but once you've seen everything, the game doesn't really have anything to draw you back in.
Full Mojo Rampage is a passable and challenging roguelike that, sadly, doesn't repeat the successes of the genre's best and brightest. While its premise is interesting and presented neatly, the gameplay isn't quite as engaging as it could be, and its difficulty may put people off long before the final stages. The online multiplayer is a nice idea, but is sadly a ghost town, and there is little else to get excited about. Roguelike fans may still find some value here, but for the majority, the magic will quickly wear off.
As fun as often as it is frustrating, Poncho is a hard game to recommend, even to 16-bit platformer super fans. You may be able to get some enjoyment out of it, and it certainly has an oddball charm, but ultimately, it fails to impress where it counts. The parallax layer hopping is neat and at times can be fun. Unfortunately, the game falters too often and descends into maddening tedium. Retro platformers may be stylish these days, but sadly, Poncho hasn't quite pulled it off.
There is so much squandered potential in Armikrog it hurts. The voice acting is great, but there's not enough of it; the visuals and animations are superb, but let down by repeated puzzles. Pencil Test Studios has created a fantastic claymation setting and fun characters, but in terms of gameplay it sticks too closely to the old-school point and click formula for its own good. Fans of the genre may get a kick out of the old fashioned style, but beyond a well-realised stop motion aesthetic, there's little here for anyone else.
Super Dungeon Bros is a strange case. It's a pretty good dungeon crawler, with decent variety in its gameplay and enough of a fun factor in its scrappy multiplayer to keep you interested. However, the rock theme is underplayed; it lends the game some personality, but is largely ignored, leading to a muddled presentation. Some bugs also hold it back, and the online side isn't very healthy right now, but this could still be a fun distraction in couch co-op with a few friends.