GameSpew's Reviews
It’s not going to redefine what it means to be a 3D platformer, but Kukoos: Lost Pets is a pleasant enough addition that fans of the genre will enjoy. Bright and colourful, and with a nice mixture of collecting, platforming and puzzles, there’s plenty here to keep you invested. It’s just a shame that co-op is held back by some technical issues and its visuals aren’t quite as sharp as they ought to be.
It might not be your usual Dragon Quest adventure, but it’s well worth your time.
For fighting game fans, The Rumble Fish 2 is worth a try at its budget price. It has a varied roster of characters, multiple single player modes including arcade, time track and survival, and online multiplayer with rollback. It’s an interesting but dated curio that’s not going to take the gaming world by storm, but some will appreciate it nonetheless.
If you love arcade-styled games that challenge your skills and draw you in time and time again in order to set a new high-score, Swordship is very much worth playing. It’s a simple concept but one that’s been executed rather well. And it is somewhat fun outwitting your enemies and making them destroy each other as you vie to collect valuable cargo.
Criterion has certainly made its mark with this latest entry in the Need for Speed series, injecting a bit more fun and polish into the template created by Ghost Games. The result is an arcade racer that truly stands out from the crowd thanks to its visual flair and thrilling police chases. Providing you take the time to tweak the handling to your preferences, and you don’t mind the hip hop-driven soundtrack, Need for Speed Unbound is likely to be the most entertaining racing game you’ll play this year.
As HD remasters go, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion goes above and beyond what’s expected in many regards.
But if you’ve played Saints & Sinners, and can forgive the Quest 2 version’s occasional graphical shortcomings, you’ll be in zombie-wrangling heaven with this follow-up. Being knee deep in the dead has rarely been this much fun.
Beautifully presented and with thoroughly enjoyable puzzles that will challenge even the most astute of minds, there’s a lot to love about Railbound. While they start off nice and easy, its puzzles soon get fiendish, and solving them is so very rewarding. This is the perfect game to cosy up with this winter, particularly if you like giving your noggin a workout.
The Knight Witch is a game that has a lot to offer both fans of twin-stick shooters and Metroidvanias. Its moment-to-moment action is enjoyable and exciting as you avoid enemy bullets and try to counter them with your own attacks, and there’s a great sense of exploration. It’s a shame that some systems perhaps don’t quite hit the mark as they should, but anyone who can appreciate a game that takes some risks will very much enjoy this quirky adventure.
Overall, there’s nothing particularly impressive about Last Days of Lazarus. Its story is perhaps the main reason to play it: it lacks real impact, but it’s so corny and unhinged that you can’t help but get drawn into it. Outside of that, the gameplay is mildly entertaining but not really clever or challenging. Add in its middling presentation, and you have a game that can be enjoyed for a few hours but is utterly forgettable.
Whether you’re a fan of strategy games or the Marvel universe, Marvel’s Midnight Suns should be considered a must-have. Even more so if you’re a fan of both. This is an ambitious title that offers dozens of hours of engrossing gameplay, full of battles that will have you on the edge of your seat, and party building that will have you carefully weighing up your options. One of the best superhero games ever made, Marvel’s Midnight Suns will grip you from the outset with its unpredictable story, and its gameplay makes you feel like the one with all the power.
Is Iron Man VR the best VR superhero game out there? No – that honour has to go to Megaton Rainfall. But it’s still up there, and thanks to the Quest 2’s superior tracking, this is a much better experience than it was on PSVR. And so, you’re a Meta Quest 2-owning Marvel fan, you won’t regret stepping into Tony Stark’s iron underpants.
Succubus With Guns is a terrible game with terrible controls and terrible design. We would have given this a 1/10, but on our scale, that denotes a game that is broken to the point of being unplayable. Unfortunately for all involved, you can play Succubus With Guns. But you absolutely, definitely should not.
It’s debateable whether most players will have the patience and persistence to see Do Not Open through until its end. It’s a shame, because the premise here is interesting, and the puzzles themselves are mostly clever and fun to solve. The entity is its downfall, an ill-conceived obstacle that’s relentless and a little bit broken. Rather than make Do Not Open scary, it makes it needlessly frustrating.
It’s clear that Saint Kotar has tried to draw inspiration from the likes of Broken Sword. From the way its exploration works to its dark themes and eerie environments, it really wants to be a point and click game worthy of cult status. That’s highly unlikely to ever happen, though. While interesting at times, its story is too poorly told to ever be truly enjoyable. And the ugly visuals, awful voice acting and budget interface mean most players are not likely to stick around.
If you’re a fan of the series and you can hack constantly pulling the right trigger as you slowly push forward through linear environments, there’s some fun to be found in Gungrave G.O.R.E, for sure. But for most, it’ll prove to be too repetitive. There’s simply not enough variety to be found in this action-packed third-person shooter. Eventually it begins to feel like a test of your endurance rather than your gaming skills.
Team 17 has brought us some absolutely fantastic roguelike games in recent years, such as Rogue Heroes and Neon Abyss. It’s also responsible for publishing some excellent co-op titles, including Overcooked! and Moving Out. With Ship of Fools, both genres are combined, mixed together to make an absolutely excellent seafaring adventure that we’ve struggled to put down. This is one we’re going to be dipping into for many months to come.
With the combat being the heart and soul of Evil West, it’s a relief that it’s so engaging and enjoyable throughout. It’s just a shame that a better balance hasn’t been struck between performance and visuals, as neither mode is particularly ideal. It’s still very much worth digging into Evil West, however: if you can look past the blurry visuals at 1080p, there’s a lot of fun to be had in this old-fashioned action-adventure – and you can even bring a friend along for the ride.
Marvel’s Spider-Man: Miles Morales was a brilliant game when it launched in 2020, and it remains so now. Its origins as a standalone expansion means it’s noticeably shorter than Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered, but it has a more enjoyable story and improved gameplay. It makes swinging through the streets of New York City, combating crime as you go, an utter delight. And this PC port is pretty much flawless.
Rarely putting a foot wrong in terms of production and storytelling, we’ve loved every moment we’ve spent with The Devil in Me, an absolutely wonderful conclusion to The Dark Pictures Anthology’s first season. Its story is the most captivating and the most well-realised; so much work has gone into crafting characters and locations, and the sheer goriness will delight and horrify in equal measures. Supermassive Games continues to go from strength to strength, and with The Devil in Me, the studio has cemented itself as a master of the horror genre.