The Games Machine
HomepageThe Games Machine's Reviews
Wo Long is a well-packaged, fun and satisfying soulslike in execution, however there is a general laziness, a lack of novelty together with assets and skins taken from Nioh, together with a game balance that manages to work only in the final stages.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Scars Above is an excellent TPS with a plot that plays a leading role without stealing the show to the action. Due to a wave of alien monsters or some environmental trap and the above-average difficult, Kate Ward's every step is likely to be her last. Character growth is not as important, but anyway it remains a game that entices us to progress just to find out what new surprises are awaiting.
Review in Italian | Read full review
void* tRrLM2(); ///Void Terrarium 2 with a well-designed dungeon crawler section could have been a great game. Unfortunately, the roguelike is far too simple and the new features added to the first chapter are really few, and mostly concentrated in crafting, making the gap with the rest of the game even clearer: you will really have to love Toriko like a daughter in order not to give too much weight to the shortcomings of everything that is not found inside the Terrarium.
Review in Italian | Read full review
A return to the past (in every sense) for Kirby, who brings back his old adventure for Nintendo Wii by adding to the original an updated audio / video sector, unpublished mini-games, an additional adventure brand new and much more. An unmissable "package" for fans of the character and for those looking for a platformer pure and simple... maybe even too much.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Returnal might not be the mind-bending masterpiece that I was, perhaps mistakenly, expecting after the praise I'd heard from friends and colleagues, but it's still an excellent roguelike with clean gameplay and a beautiful presentation. Word of warning though: the lenght of each run combined with the difficulty might make it frustrating for some, and graphical optimization relies heavily on the use of supersampling technologies.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Atomic Heart suffers from that flavor of "already seen" that ends up a bit 'to distort the workmanship, an important element that could affect the experience of anyone, precisely because of the inability to create empathy with characters lived, in the end, almost as extras. A set of clichés that, however, does not penalize the success of the work in its entirety. The show staged by Mundfish has all the credentials to set good starting points, which in the post-launch could find more sense. We'll see: the potential of the setting is more than those actually exploited.
Review in Italian | Read full review
If you consider the Final Fantasy soundtrack worthy of being counted among the heritages of humanity, then Theatrhythm Final Bar Line is the music game for you. Rich in tracks and truly suitable for everyone, with a very well-calibrated level of difficulty. Too bad they haven't modernised the aesthetic, distinctive but undeniably little more than functional.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Company of Heroes 3 is a convincing new chapter in the beloved RTS series, and certainly a far cry from a certain, grim-future-related misstep. Four factions, a new dynamic campaign set in Italy, a classic, linear campaign where we command the DAK, and tons of units to go around, mixed with the classic gameplay we've come to love over the years. However, it feels like quantity came at the expense of polish – some animations are a bit wonky, there's some graphical issues here and there, and the AI… well, let's just say that the new (and welcome!) tactical pause feature might not be all that necessary.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Octopath Traveler II is the worthy second chapter of a series that made the history of the genre to which it belongs. The influences deriving from the predecessor are more than obvious, but the filings made to the formula, the additions and the large amount of content make it one of the best JRPGs out there.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Tales of Symphonia returns to the market with a rather lazy remastered. The combat system has aged badly and the polygonal models deserve more, but it still remains one of the most exciting chapters of the Tales of franchise ever.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Recovering from the mists of time an old game like a Dragon: Ishin! may be a risky choice, but the restoration operation can be considered perfectly successful. Perhaps the overall variety doesn't quite reach the heights of insanity of the very latest chapters, but the fun offered by the classic arcade combat system is still very much up to date, classifying Ishin! as a successful exponent of the celebrated series.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Wild Hearts is an innovative, interesting hunting game that explain the mass genocide committed by hunters. Net of a few camera defects and too many reskin, it is a solid game that brings a breath of fresh air to a genre that is a little too scared of Monster Hunter's shadow.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Horizon: Call of the Mountain cuts the starting tape of PS VR2 with a beautiful game, conceived as a showcase of the advanced features of Sony's new virtual reality system and, at the same time, to honor an already celebrated post-apocalyptic world from a new perspective. Perhaps it is not a really killer application, those role could fall to Resident Evil Village VR, but is still unmissable for those who love the world of Horizon and faces for the first time on PlayStation VR 2.
Review in Italian | Read full review
The original Pharaoh came in 1999 towards the end of a generation of city builders. In 2023, Dotemu's Pharaoh: a New Era retains the classic gameplay, but the lack of innovation weighs more than ever as it competes with a new generation of games in the same genre.
Review in Italian | Read full review
While not having the quality and personality shown by the greatest boomer shooters, Dread Templar is a fast-paced, fun and deep enough retro FPS that knows its stuff.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Wanted: Dead features a very fun combat system mainly based on the use of a blades, full of ultraviolence, combos and devastating final techniques, but it lacks a bit in everything else: the AI is inefficient, the mini-games are sometimes a pointless break between missions and the plot though interesting to follow constantly breaks up the action. Can this blade galore be enough to justify its purchase? Definitely yes, if you loved slashers of the very early 2000s, otherwise you may find the offering a bit sparse.
Review in Italian | Read full review
95% is a bit of a miserly score for a game as outstanding as Metroid Prime Remastered, but those who have already played the original might consider themselves satiated and save money for a work that shows no particular additional content compared to the original. Everyone else should put it at the top of their shopping list, in no uncertain terms.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Deliver Us Mars is a sequel that follows in the wake of the previous title. Excellent narrative and environmental puzzles functional to the story, but it is a game without novelties and with absolutely mediocre cutscenes, animations and polygonal models.
Review in Italian | Read full review
SpongeBob once again stars in a 3D platformer that rests its gameplay on well-established stylistic features, offering few surprises but still providing a fun and enjoyable experience.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Everything is very simple and fun in SpellForce: Conquest of Eo due to the bare-bones 4X gameplay, where the important thing is almost exclusively to come out victorious in battles in order to advance in the main story and side quests. Turn-based combat is the game's highlight, tactical but fast-paced. The offering probably won't please all SpellForce fans, but it will certainly enlist new ones.
Review in Italian | Read full review