FingerGuns
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Soulless and boring, Street Power Football offers nothing back for its ridiculous asking price. Vote with your wallet and leave this one on the shelf.
Snakes and Ladders on PS4 is a functional, child friendly recreation of the timeless board game. It has a few convenient features which make it easy to play and the board you play on has some 3D snakes which give the game personality. For the asking price though, the real world alternative is much cheaper and just as enjoyable. There’s no innovation here and the game doesn’t take the opportunity to explore what a digital Snakes and Ladders could evolve the game into.
The concept of Waking is an admirable one. To place the player at the centre of the narrative and mechanics of a game, tailoring it to their choices, is a lofty goal and one that it falls well short of. Rough visuals, clunky and repetitive combat and a narrative that spectacularly misses the emotional connections it attempts to evoke, Waking makes you want to do anything but.
As it is now, whilst it’s not unplayable, it’s not far off. It’s trying too hard with its story scenario hopping all over the shop, coupled with an inventory management system that just doesn’t work in this kind of game.
WarriOrb is a painful experience, and your enjoyment levels will depend on how masochistic you are. I found no impetus, no driving force to get the wisecracking Orb from A to B through any more sorry-looking levels. Very quickly I had had enough of retrying broken platforming sections two or three dozen times, for what is essentially no reward, except more of the same relentless, slow, monotonic boredom.
Super Toy Cars 2 is one of the worst examples of this genre I’ve played in the past few years (surprisingly not the worst). The visuals, much improved over its predecessor and a decent soundtrack are its only saving graces.
Not even fans of the genre should put themselves through this, let alone casual racer fans. Whilst it may be too niche a concept for a mainstream company, there’s a lot more that could be done with it than this terrible offering. For the mean time, if you want some decent offroad-ish racing, give Wreckfest a try instead.
Holfraine is a bare bones Hero shooter that’s launching with as little content as possible. With one game mode, one map to play on and six heroes, it just about justifies its £3.99 asking price. It’s obvious what the aim of Fluxart Studios was to emulate the best in the Hero shooter genre on a budget and you can see why it was recognised as the “Best Online Multiplayer Game” in the PlayStation Talents Awards 2017 competition. It has potential. At launch though, it’s not fulfilling it.
With simplistic systems, a run time of less than an hour and sections that feel unfinished, Dreaming Canvas is a relaxing yet shallow experience. There’s virtually no replayability with you being able to see everything this game has to offer, warts and all, in a single sitting. It’s environments are gorgeous at first glance but a lack of content means this game becomes bland and uninspired very quickly and it’s aim to inspire creativity falls flat.
What is here and working – the fantastic art style, the smart banter between Ted and Teddy, the first-person FMV’s – shows that Headspun has a tonne of potential but right now, too many rough edges and bugs mean it’s in need of further rehabilitation.
The shameful thing is that had Gungrave just been re-released with a lick of paint for the PS4 I probably would have bought it and enjoyed it as I like these types of games. And you can tell even while craning your neck to see the bad dude behind you, there is some good old-fashioned shooting/slashing gameplay to be had if it wasn’t in VR. But alas in VR it is and you’re left with a game that will either make you feel ill or give you cramp before you get past the first couple of levels. Which is a shame when you know that if this game was more traditional, it would be much better for it.
Crimson Keep has very few redeeming qualities. The reflective light effects on the monsters look great, the procedural generation means that each new run is different and the music is pleasant enough. That’s about it. Roguelike purists that can dedicate enough time and effort to overcome this game’s hefty challenge might get a kick out of dying repeatedly here – but in a genre that’s becoming ever more accommodating and innovative, the luck dependent progress, sluggish combat and deeply punitive nature of the game feels archaic compared to its modern day peers.
Roarr! Jurassic Edition on PS4 is a budget title for a budget price. It’s 5-6 hours of family friendly, repetitive button mashing in a clean but simplistic world set to a half-decent soundtrack. The occasional bug, the difficulty that goes from too easy to cheaply unfair and zero replayability beyond butting a dress on a T-Rex mean any potential the game has is squandered however.
Vroom Kaboom occasionally shows glimpses of an enjoyable, strategic game and an ingenious twist on the tower defence genre. Unfortunately, these glimpses are buried beneath a near impenetrable learning curve, an over powering AI and some poor design choices. I can only really recommend this game to those with a huge amount of time and patience, those that have a masochistic desire for hours of trial and error and those willing to forgive a lack of polish.
It’s all a bit crap then, but to be honest there are laughs to be had. I can’t recommend you go out there and buy this game. In a July like this there are so many actually good games to go out and try and that you can’t be spending money on turgid nonsensical garbage like Guts & Glory.
The Shape of the World is an experience so I can’t really review it as a game. But as an experience, it fails to ignite my imagination in any way. I was bored very quickly and there isn’t much on offer either with only a limited number of chapters to explore.
Devious Dungeon is a weird combination of classical Roguelike mechanical elements and attempts to make the genre more accessible. Unfortunately, it’s a mix that results in a shallow, monotonous procedural platformer that might as well not be a roguelite at all. Visually pleasant but uninspired with fast paced combat that gets boring very quickly, Devious Dungeon is a game that I can only recommend to trophy hunters thanks to the easy Platinum on offer.
Island Time VR has some terrific bright visuals and peppy voice acting, and you can see that there is a fair bit of charm about the game. It’s just a shame that the entire game is just too limited.
Assault Gunner HD Edition is a game filled with substandard visuals, repetitive, unvaried game play and a plethora of small niggles which really mount up. The game might have received some positive reviews on the PSVita but the jet boost to the West and to the PS4 has not been kind on this game.
Rugby 18 is as painful to play as a Chris Robshaw blindside tackle.