There is an awful lot to like about ACA NEOGEO Metal Slug. Charming graphics, unforgiving skill based gameplay, pad bitingly hard bosses and a touch of slowdown combine to make a heady brew. Again for the low, low price of £6.39, this is a slice of nostalgia that demands to be played.
All in all, the scope and fun of the game shines through, and if you give it a chance, Andromeda will reward you with an enormous amount of satisfaction.
All in all then, there’s really not much to criticise here at all, apart from the aforementioned fourth wall breaking, and this is a testament to the care and attention to detail that has gone into Thimbleweed Park. The story will hook you in and keep you playing, some of the puzzles will have you banging your head on the wall (or sneaking onto Youtube for a look at the solution), and the animation and personality of the characters will have you really caring what happens to them.
The Disney Afternoon Collection is a perfect conversion of the originals, so if you are a fan of super hard retro gaming, this will be right up your street. For everyone else, the pure, unadulterated gameplay that goes into these titles should be the main hook.
The Surge is a game that can be mentioned in the same breath as Dark Souls, something which is high praise indeed.
The first 15 minutes of Onigiri does all it can do to put you off. Press on through this however, and there is a surprisingly deep game to be found, one with a very good story centred around good and evil.
Victor Vran Overkill Edition is a worthy addition to the genre. It doesn’t out-Diablo Diablo, but thanks to the care put into the levelling and loot systems, it is undoubtedly worth the time to explore.
Phantom Dust is the very definition of a game of two halves. The underground hub sections are dull, with little in the way of signposting or hand-holding to make the time spent there as small as possible. The overground mission sections are fast paced, tactical and, above all else, fun to play with a myriad of ways to approach the missions. Add to this the online fight options and the scales come down on the fun side.
Offline, everything in Tekken’s garden is rosy, but online it looks like someone has been at it with the weedkiller.
Serial Cleaner is a very good stealth game. It controls well, the levels are well thought out and a real challenge, and the level of difficulty is just short of pad biting
This game is great for those younger players, but adults may find it a little too samey, a little too quickly.
If you want to get your drift on, this is the game to do it with.
All in all then and Path of Exile is an enjoyable game, held back by some peculiar design choices, both in game and in the UI.
If you are looking for a different gaming experience, and are willing to invest the time into finding out the story, then Knock-Knock could well be the strangest game you'll ever play.
Better writing, a story (and a good one at that) and a series of vast new worlds to explore make Destiny 2 a must play for anyone who like aliens, guns and shooting aliens with guns.
Battle Chasers: Nightwar is a throwback to classic JRPGs, but in many ways an improvement. It’s like Aliens compared to Alien; all the aspects that made the original great have been polished up, tweaked and turned up to 11 to deliver something that is arguably even better than the inspiration.
Forza Motorsport 7 regains its crown as king of the Xbox racers. Its slick presentation, tight and responsive controls, jaw dropping graphics and amazing sound effects catapult it straight past Project Cars 2 into pole position.
The story is a gem, and it’s worth playing through just to see what happens to Rogue and co, but the desire to replay any levels on a harder setting is just not there. Quirky controls (at the risk of being kind) and guns which lack both a decent feel or noise rob the game of a lot of impact. Sadly, Rogue Trooper Redux feels its age.
All in all then, if you are in the market for a puzzle game, Walk The Light could well scratch that itch.
If you were a fan of any of the games included in the 8-Bit Adventure Anthology the first time around, or if you want to experience what games were like in the good old days, this is a no-brainer.