GameSpew's Reviews
Whether you’re a fan of Strider or a keen retro gamer who’s happiest when jumping into an obscure and hard-to-find title, Cannon Dancer – Osman is definitely worthy of your time and money. Thanks to its electrifying action and strong visual design, it’s a blast from the past that’s genuinely entertaining from beginning to end.
Overall, Curse of the Sea Rats is a perfectly playable metroidvania that feels rough around the edges. Mechanically it can feel a little unfair at times due to things like stiff animations and unfortunate enemy placements. And while its four protagonist set up is a neat touch, it can be a grind to upgrade skills if you do decide to change. Still, fans of the genre are likely to enjoy their time with it.
If you’ve got a creative streak and a taste for vengeance, Meet Your Maker will have you cackling, plotting and cursing well into the night. You’ll shun daylight, surrounded by an ever-growing field of 3D printed skulls, each representing in in-game kill. And at the end of the day, isn’t that what gaming’s all about?
Marfusha isn’t the most visually interesting game, and for some it might quickly become overly repetitive. There’s something about its simple gameplay that makes it strangely captivating though, tempting you to return to protect its border gates time and time again. With such a wide range of cards available, and multiple characters in Challenge Mode, no two runs are quite exactly the same, either. If you’re fan of shooters that you can dip in and out of, it’s well worth adding to your library.
With a fantastic art style that immediately charms you, and engaging gameplay that will keep you coming back time and time again, we love Wildfrost. It’s a very welcome entry into the roguelike card battler genre, offering challenging but fulfilling combat that we can’t get enough of. If you’re a fan of games like Slay the Spire, we urge you to try Wildfrost. You won’t be disappointed.
Dredge is one of those rare treasures: a game unlike anything else that completely captures your attention with its intriguing world and simple yet captivating gameplay. We could keep hunting for rare fish forever, and we only wish there were more secrets for us to uncover; new parts of the world for us to explore. But when our only complaint is “we want more of it”, it’s clear we have something rather special on our hands.
Is Peppa Pig: World Adventures better than Peppa’s first game? Yes and no. Its young fan base will undoubtedly lap up another opportunity to star alongside Peppa in their very own episode, and its character creator is better than ever by letting kids create their own families this time, too. There’s also way more content, and the worldwide locations are bound to delight and inspire. If your little one is a Peppa Pig fan, they will love it. But as adults, we simply wish there was more educational value here.
While this review may sound very negative, you can have some fun with The Dark Pictures Anthology: Switchback VR. The problem is, we just expected it to be better. While we didn’t find it scary at all, some might. We at least appreciated that a number of its scenarios put us under pressure. It’s perhaps apt that it puts you on a rollercoaster, as like a real rollercoaster ride it’s full of highs and lows, both technically and mechanically. At the end of the day, there are better on-rails shooters available on PSVR 2 already. And the unique elements on offer here just aren’t accomplished enough to draw us away from them.
For most players though, it’s the main meat of Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe – the platforming adventure – that will draw them in. It might not be the most revolutionary game – after all, the original is 12 years old – but it’s a charming platformer that’s as joyous as it always has been. And with the addition of Merry Magoland, this is a sizeable package with essentially endless replayability.
Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty shares some elements with Team Ninja’s Nioh games, such as randomised loot and challenging combat, but ultimately it feels very much like its own game. It’s faster-paced, has a unique morale system, and pushes players to deflect enemy attacks in order to succeed. What lets it down ever so slightly is that some of these new features often feel poorly explained and a little underdeveloped. Otherwise, this is fresh take on the Soulslike formula.
Playing Company of Heroes 3 is a great experience if you like dynamic, tough, tactical RTS games that revolve around utilising the terrain to your advantage. But if you’re expecting a major evolution from the previous games in the series, you’ll likely come away disappointed. If you’re a fan of WWII strategy and somehow haven’t dived into the series yet, you’ll have a great time. But otherwise, you may as well stick with the original Company of Heroes.
Atomic Heart leaves a lot to be desired, but its unique setting, varied gameplay and often inventive enemies go a long way to keep you interested in your traipse through its ruined utopia. Just bear in mind that while it may look like a AAA game, it’s not; Mundfish has achieved a great deal here, but there are signs of corners being cut and a considerable lack of polish. And so, you might want to wait for a patch or two to sort out some of its unfortunate bugs and other blemishes, but you could do a lot worse than venture into the hostile world that Atomic Heart offers.
Was it really necessary to remake Like a Dragon: Ishin!? It’s questionable, but we’re glad it’s finally available in the west in some form. It’s not the best Like a Dragon game – in fact, it might come quite low in the pile – but a good time can be had with it nonetheless. Its world might not be all that attractive, and its story a slow-burner, but it has the usual charm and a bucketload of interesting activities to carry it.
If you’re not put off by its grave challenge that all too often feels unfair and its general rough-around-the-edges nature, you might have a good time with Wanted: Dead. Most, though, are likely to become disheartened and infuriated by it. It tries to do something new with the genre and we applaud it for that, but the execution isn’t quite there. We love its characters and its quirkiness, and even its mechanics, but they’re in a game that at the moment only sporadically feels fun to play. Hopefully Soleil can make some post-launch changes that point it further in the right direction.
Avalanche Software and Portkey Games have done an impressive job of creating something original within a much-loved franchise. Hogwarts Legacy is the closest any of us are ever going to get to actually attending Hogwarts, and what a magical experience it is. It’s clear that it’s been created with love, and the attention to detail here is phenomenal. It’s not without its issues, of course, but there’s few that get in the way of the overall experience. It looks gorgeous, it’s a joy to play, and being a wizard is just about as fun as we’d always hoped it would be.
If you’re a fan of rhythm games or simply love quirky adventures, consider Rhythm Sprout an essential purchase. This is a game that has snuck up on us from nowhere but has thoroughly rocked our worlds. Combining comedy with rhythm-based gameplay, it’s tickled our funny bones and tested our timing while also making us tap our feet and bob our heads. And we’ll certainly be revisiting it for a long time to come.
Dead Space is an accomplished remake that not only brings new life to a classic, but hopefully paves the path for more entries in the series in the future. While much of the game will be familiar to those who have played the original, the meaningful updates and additions go a long way to keep the experience feeling fresh, modern and unpredictable. So, whether you’re already a Dead Space fan or new to the series, this is well worth your time and money – as long as you have the nerves for it. For some, it’s even likely to be an early game of the year contender.
There’s something special about the power that Season: A Letter to the Future gives to the player; the freedom you have to explore, to document, to see and do exactly as you wish. Free of threat and any real time pressure, you’ll simply become absorbed, seeing everything for the first time just as your protagonist is. For the action-oriented amongst you, that might sound a little dull. But we can’t overstate just how wonderful it feels to play something like this, a game that really doesn’t mind what you do or how you do it, as long as you’re doing… something. It’s freeing, wholesome, relaxing but evocative. And we wish it didn’t have to end. Let us explore more corners of this enchanting, mysterious world, please.
Still, whatever flaws you can find with Dread Templar, one thing counters them all: it’s hellishly fun to play. The speed of the action, your impressive arsenal, the pounding soundtrack – it all combines to create a thrilling first-person experience that you can’t help but lose yourself in. As far as retro-inspired shooters go, Dread Templar is up there with the best of them.
Does Tortuga – A Pirate’s Tale fulfil all our piracy-based fantasies? Not really – we’d kill for some sort of additional on-land adventuring. For those who’d like to focus on sailing the seas, however, it’s sure to tick many boxes. Especially so if they gel with its unique turn based battles that really reward thoughtful movement and positioning.