FingerGuns
HomepageFingerGuns's Reviews
The grandmaster of difficult action games is back. The Ninja Gaiden Master Collection pulls no punches, nor does it change or cater to modern sensibilities. It’s as classic as it was in 2004, with some crow’s feet doing little to tarnish it. It’s still absolutely nails, but if you’re a fan, you can’t go wrong with Ninja Gaiden Sigma 1 & 2. Oh, and the third game is in there too.
With a different gameplay focus, bright and breezy presentation, a simple yet effective match engine and a long overdue women’s football management mode, We Are Football does a pretty decent job of setting itself apart from Football Manager. However, a cluttered and messy UI, when combined with a frankly overwhelming amount of information to process, served to be pretty off-putting and left me pining for the relative simplicity of FM Touch.
Chicory is the kind of game that reminds me why I enjoy gaming in the first place. It takes innovative, artistically driven mechanics and makes them accessible and intuitive. It combines them with a narrative which is emotionally charged and truly engrossing. This is all topped off with a fantastic world that houses oodles of charm, a top class soundtrack and puzzle design that challenges the player while rarely becoming frustrating.
Overboard is a 2D puzzle murder mystery, and is infectiously intriguing with a quirky art style. If you love murder mysteries and choice based games, you will have a lot of fun with this short snapshot version of one suiting it’s release on Switch and IOS/Android. Your patience may run short replaying 35 minute sections from the beginning however.
The frame rate can slow down, it occasionally crashes and there are aspects of Necromunda: Hired Gun that don’t live up to their potential. For fans of the 41st Millennium’s most infamous planet however, the fast paced FPS combat, detailed game world and strong narrative that Streum On Studio have created, all steeped in Warhammer 40K lore, will be compelling.
An absolute cluster of poorly written dialogue, terrible technical misses and infuriating puzzle mechanics, Protocol is a dreadful experience that will test your patience along with your capacity to put up with absolute trash to see a somewhat satisfying ending to a story you’re barely paying attention too. You deserve better.
An asymmetric multiplayer espionage adventure, Operation: Tango is a game that demands co-operation and requires good communication. The non-linear difficulty curve can make some puzzles feel out of place but that doesn’t prevent it from being a gratifying, fun frolic through a charming series of missions.
Tapping into old school horror with several modern twists, Song of Horror is a surprise hit for fans of the genre. A few little face values issues do nothing to ruin the very well crafted filling, for fans and newcomers alike.
Stonefly is a strong indie featuring tiny humans in tiny mechs vying with the bugs of the forest canopy for resources. Its tale is enough to drive you through a 10-hour campaign with little embellishment, and its mech-customisation and mineral-gathering systems are satisfying, intuitive, and purposeful. Pacifist bug combat is fast and frenetic, but also plagued with fiddly controls and a few too many abilities to be comfortable.
The World After is a product of a very interesting time in video game history, set and produced during a pandemic. Combining sci-fi trappings with the French countryside in a hybrid of FMV and point-and-click adventure gives this game an entirely unique thematic feel. There’s questionable narrative decisions leading to an anti-climactic story arc but for fans of FMV games, The World After will fill an evening or two.
Lydia is an interactive story telling point and click, the story of a young girl surrounded by substance abuse. The game is short, and from that, the scenes of the narrative can blur and become confusing in which message it is trying to convey. Visually pleasing, and delivers a good atmospheric dark tone, but difficult to recommend for ‘fun’. However, this is an important game in the awareness of substance abuse.
Beautiful Desolation may have some gorgeous pre-rendered backgrounds, but its impenetrable plot, two-dimensional characters, maddening indirect quests, and cryptic puzzles make it very hard to recommend to anyone but diehard fans of obtuse point-and-click adventures.
A fun and simple affair, Aluna harkens back to classics like Gauntlet and Diablo, but in a much brighter setting. However, any fun in this action RPG is stifled by technical issues on the Switch and just some simply terrible voice acting outside of the main cast.
Bake ‘n Switch is a multiplayer couch co-op which strangely works better as a solo journey. Adorable yet mighty, it can not be denied this game has a lot of content with 100 levels under its belt. However, this game comes with frustrating mechanics that let the party vibe elements feel lackluster. It does not hold up against the party favourites such as Overcooked or Jackbox.
In short, Handball 21 is a poor imitation of the real-life counterpart it tries to emulate. With janky, inconsistent mechanics, comical goalkeeping AI, lifeless presentation and shallow gameplay, there’s little to recommend to anyone other than the most hardcore of handball fans. The greatest compliment I can give it is that while the game itself made me question my existence, I did at least watch a couple of actual matches of handball, which were far more enthralling than the virtual version. Stick with the real-life sport on this one.
A decent enough sequel with plenty of work still to do, Wet Dreams Dry Twice sees Larry learning about the modern world and his place in it, whilst longing for the love of his life. To say I’m surprised I didn’t despise every second is an understatement, though there’s not quite enough under Larry’s bed sheets to warrant a return visit.
An effective story, some excellent performances from its cast, and very good production values do much to cover up its minor flaws and, as such, help Erica stand out from the crowd, when it comes to full motion video games. With a nice tight runtime, it’s also a game that doesn’t outstay its welcome. More of this kind of thing, please.
LOVE is a charming game that ties a time bending puzzle box to a lattice of interwoven dioramas that await the player’s intervention. It’s like a Rubik’s cube but instead of coloured tiles, there’s bite sized narrative adventures to uncover. Not all of the stories are impactful because they’re told exclusively though character gesticulations rather than text or vocal performances but more than enough stick the landing to make this a satisfying experience.
Pathway is a serviceable roguelite built around the fun idea of tailing Nazis across the desert in a jeep. However it lacks personality, character and narrative worth getting invested in. Its combat will satisfy for a time but quickly becomes too familiar for genre fans, and too dull for anyone else to jump aboard.
Biomutant is an ambitious animal populated open-world with so much to do most players could spend 60-70 hours exploring without seeing everything. However, size is its downfall. The player will get lost, and bogged down in the morass of thousands of side quests, thousands of superfluous items, before they realise there’s not much plot to hang it all from. Add a number of glitches at launch, no lock-on in combat, and a narrator that will drive many players to distraction, and sadly Biomutant does not live up to its lofty ambitions.