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To be honest whilst I have pretty much watched most if not all of the Doctor Who series I am not a serious “Whovian” by any stretch of the imagination. I do however consider myself a fan and was really looking forward to playing Doctor Who: Edge of Time. Whilst there are many nods to the Doctor Who Universe and lots of fan-pleasing enemies and elements included, the game in my view failed to live up to it’s potential. What you have is a fairly generic bog standard puzzler with the now slightly cliched VR jump scares wrapped in a Doctor Who skin. It is by no means a bad game and I did enjoy my time with it however I was left slightly disappointed that yet again the potential of making an excellent Doctor Who game has been missed. It’s definitely worth a look if you are a fan and only the most fanatical and obsessed Whovian will find fault with what is in effect a deliberately fan-pleasing effort. All in all an opportunity wasted but hopefully, the devs will add some further adventures by way of DLC and therefore lengthen the game and add a bit of variety.
Hardcore Mecha has balanced itself just right. It is graphically impressive, It’s audio is excellent, and it gives you that golden oldie feeling with a modern control scheme. Harcore Mecha gets a Thumb Culture Gold Award. It’s a great game and you should give it serious consideration for your games library.
WarpThrough is a charming game, with its simplistic story about destroying monsters and collecting warps. The art style is simple and retro-inspired; the controls take a little bit of getting used to but are incredibly easy to learn. Available on Steam as of December 19th, 2019 for $11.99US, £5.79GBP. WarpThrough earns the Thumb Culture Silver Award for the value of gameplay to dollars spent.
In short, AO Tennis 2 isn’t for everyone. Some may complain about its difficulty, struggle with its mechanics and not enjoy the slower paced realistic approach to the sport. Others will love it. I fall in to the latter category and can firmly say that this is an ace! I award the game a Thumb Culture Gold Award!
To conclude, this is a tough one for me, I personally would give ETS 2: Road to the Black Sea a platinum award, no question. As a fan of the truck sim games and simulation games, in general, it ticks so many boxes for me. Also, I applaud the continued dedication and support shown by SCS Software who are constantly releasing patch’s which bring new features to the game asked for by their loyal community of fans, adding quality of life additions and also updating older area’s of the map which haven’t seen much change since the game launched back in 2012. I struggle to think of another single-player game of its age which is still receiving patches and content. and I’m already looking forward to the announcements of the next planned map expansions. However, I have to think of the wider community of gamers when giving my recommendation, which is why I still stand by my opinion of highly recommending the game to everyone! Whether you enjoy simulator games, driving games or you’re just looking for a relaxing game to take a break from first-person shooters, the ETS 2 series and it’s latest DLC Road to the Black Sea is, in my opinion, a must-play and I firmly believe it deserves the Platinum Thumb!!
Interrogation is a good game. It lacks the cut and thrust of a shoot ’em up, or the intensity of driving an F1 track. But for what it lacks it makes up for in atmosphere and pressure. I really enjoyed playing Interrogation, but I felt that it would be a very good part of a bigger game. All the other aspects could have been more interactive to make the game grow. Maybe Critique Gaming will expand upon the idea and go bigger and better. Fingers crossed, because I’m definitely on the look out for what they are going to do next. I have decided to award Interrogation: You Will be Deceived a Thumb Culture Silver Award.
Overall, I did enjoy my time with Sparklite. It’s a lovingly crafted game with buckets loads of charm. However, it just doesn’t have enough variety to make it stand out from its peers. That said, Red Blue Games have shown a lot of promise here, and I truly look forward to whatever they do next. For now, though, I’d recommend Sparklite to fans of the genre looking for a short game to play over a weekend. Just don’t expect something you’ll keep coming back to. With this in mind, I award Sparklite a Thumb Culture Silver Award!
I love the fact that I could go back to it a few weeks later still understanding the mechanics of the game. I genuinely thought the gameplay all the way through to the mechanics were great. Not only that they really did make an amazing soundtrack.
To summarize: Mechwarrior 5: Mercenaries is exactly the game I’ve been waiting almost 15 years for. It ticks all the boxes. It made me feel like a kid again, stomping around in big robots in a sci-fi setting. I couldn’t stop thinking about what ‘Mech builds I was going to try out next, and just couldn’t get enough of the gameplay. I gave Mechwarrior 5: Mercenaries the Thumb Culture Gold Award because in my opinion, it’s an absolutely fantastic game. However, it doesn’t quite get the platinum, but only because I know that the BattleTech universe isn’t for everyone (just the absolute coolest people, ha).
AVICII Invector is a brilliant and challenging rhythm-action experience and is very different from a lot of the games that are currently out there. I found the game to be refreshing, and considering the heartbreaking tragedy of AVICII during the making of it. This stands as a legacy to the amazing artist which will stand forever. Hello There Games should be proud of what they have achieved for AVICII’s fans, As well as the support they are giving towards the Tim Bergling Foundation. I give AVICII Invector a solid Thumb Culture Platinum award.
Although the combat was quite dull and the puzzles were basic. I really enjoyed my time on Trover Saves the Universe, The game nails the humour. Due to this, I played the game with a permanent smile plastered across my face. It’s a flawed game but it’s fun romp in a dark, demented world and due to this, I give the game a Thumb Culture Silver Award.
Summing up, Ultra Off-Road 2019: Alaska on the Nintendo Switch is probably a game to pass on. It might play better on other platforms because the Switch isn’t as powerful as the others. I’m gonna give it the Bronze Award because I didn’t enjoy my time spent with the game, and I honestly don’t think I’ll ever pick it up again. I was hoping for an epic off-roading game and what I got I felt was sub-par. Maybe my expectations were just set too high.
SuperEpic won’t be for everyone, but it’s perfect for gamers who enjoy action platformers with a Metroidvania structure. The gameplay can become repetitive but I never found that it stopped being fun. The challenge is pitched just about right to encourage you to save up for those upgrades which give you a couple more health points or a more powerful weapon. I give it the Thumb Culture gold award.
The foundation of Construction Simulator 2 is solid, and there’s an enjoyment to be found in the simple, repetitive nature of the game. And at £17.99, there is a lot of content packed in. However, the game suffers from a lack of ambition. Of the many missions, there’s limited variety. There’s no real management of your company, and no challenge to keep things afloat. Having a bigger scope, and a lot more polish to the game, it has the potential to be as beloved as a game like SimCity or Theme Park. However, as it stands, I can only recommend this to fans of the genre already. As such, I award Construction Simulator 2 US – Console Edition a Thumb Culture Bronze award.
Simulacra is an enjoyable experience, even if it is not the best example of the genre. You’ll find an interesting but ultimately rather shallow story. The concept could have been taken further, with more exploration surrounding what it means to broadcast your identity through a device which fits in the palm of your hand. A device which can be lost or compromised and used against you. In spite of this, I had a good time with Simulacra, and I give it the Thumb Culture silver award.
Star Ocean First Departure R is an absolutely fantastic JRPG and should be included in any fans collection. For the price tag, it’s tough to argue with buying it. Even though I received a code by Square Enix to review this game, I plan to get it on the Nintendo Switch. This is only because I prefer to have my JRPGs mobile these days. I’m giving Star Ocean First Departure R the Thumb Culture Gold Award! It’s a very excellent game, but if you’re not into JRPGs it’s probably not going to be a good game for you.
Arise: A Simple Story is a special game and it deserves your attention. The narrative, although like the title suggests is ‘simple’, how it’s told is not, and the game deserves to be lauded for this. The puzzles are fun with suitable challenge allowing you to progress through the game and experience the unique chapters with a smile on your face. If you’re a fan of artistic indie titles such as Brothers: A Tale of two Sons, Rime and Limbo then do yourself a favour, and check out this game. Not only does this game get the rare Thumb Culture Platinum Award, it’s also a game of the year contender!
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order is a great game to grace the Star Wars Universe and to be honest all through the gameplay I just had a smile right across my face. Its pure Star Wars fun and you won’t be disappointed. It’s actually great to have some good news coming to games based on Star Wars. With great characters, especially BD-1, you feel like you are playing through an epic story, and you are constantly reminded that this is Star Wars Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order receives the Thumb Culture Platinum Award
Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes is without a shadow of a doubt a good game. But, it doesn’t try and push the boundaries of game making though. Without the Travis factor, this game would be fairly average. So the non Travis fans will not have as much of a good time as the fanatics. As much as it pains me to say this, I am having to judge this based on how good it is, rather than how much I liked it. Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes has been awarded a Thumb Culture Silver Award.
So, here we answer my questions from the start of this review… Shenmue 3 couldn’t possibly have lived up to the hype and expectation surrounding it. This doesn’t mean the game is bad, it’s just people wanting perfection. It’s very much a game as I thought it would be, something given to the fans by a developer who clearly wants this story told as much as the fans want to be a part of it. This was clearly based on the speed at which the Kickstarter fund reached $1 million. Anyone thinking of starting out with Shenmue 3 because perhaps they aren’t old enough to have played the originals, go back and get the HD remaster, DO NOT start the story here. I promise you will not enjoy the game if you do. Shenmue 3 is a game out of times, it feels like a game created 15 years ago and locked up inside a time capsule until today. But as someone who has spent the best part of 30 years enjoying games, I say welcome back old friend! I give Shenmue 3 a Thumb Culture Silver Award as there is no doubt this game is going to be loved by the fans, but is most definitely not a game for everyone.