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Within the Blade is an action-adventure game with various stealth elements. I stalked my foes through the tall grass, dashed from rooftop to rooftop, and strangled my foes mercilessly. Prepare to watch yourself get mangled in this macabre journey. Is it fulfilling? Find out in this Rapid Review.
One year after its debut on PC in Febuary 2020, Backworlds joined the list of puzzle games available to Nintendo Switch users. In today’s Rapid Review, we dive into the adventure this game brings.
I had previously heard people talk about Monster Train First Class without really paying too much attention. Then I heard a review code was available for the Nintendo Switch version, so I gazed at it a bit closer. Deck-builder, rogue-like with a bit of tower defence sprinkled in, has someone been peeking at my Christmas list? Monster Train First Class sounds like everything I want from a portable Switch game, so, let’s get into it. All aboard!
Side-scrolling beat’em ups are going through a renaissance at the present time. Spearheaded by the nostalgia driven Streets Of Rage 4 there’s been no end of titles released to try and capture the same feelings. The latest of these is Mayhem Brawler. Developed by Hero Concept, Mayhem Brawler takes everything that makes the genre great and adds a supernatural twist.
Bamerang is an action-packed party game featuring boomerangs. Prepare to compete against your friends as you face off in this silly feud to please an almighty goddess. Is this game perfect for game night? Or will it leave you wanting more? Find out in this Rapid Review.
The simulator genre has certainly been busy over the past few years. Farming Simulator has made a name for itself through its emphasis on realism and “hard work”. Meanwhile, Goat Simulator is a deliberately nonsensical parody, turning the genre on its head.
Have you ever played a game that you didn’t hate, nor like, but just felt like nothing? Shakes on a Plane gives me that feeling after playing it from beginning to end, and it doesn’t do anything wrong but it just gives me this feeling of “okay, I beat this… now what?”
Fire: Ungh’s Quest is an excellent experience burdened by some substantial drawbacks. Even with an excellent gameplay loop, a game without tight controls is a game I find myself playing sparingly.
A Tale of Synapse: The Chaos Theories is an education game that mixes learning with the action-platformer genre. Play as Nero on her quest to collect the four sacred books, learning math along the way. Is this mashup twice the fun? Find out in this Rapid Review.
I’m on my first of many road trips in DigixArt’s “procedurally generated road trip” game Road 96. I’m trying to cross the border of the authoritarian country of Petria and I’ve found myself in the passenger seat of a young hacker’s car. His name is Alex and he’s making a new arcade game: “Furious Tanks”. We play a few rounds; I make some suggestions on how to improve the game and we go our separate ways. I run out of fuel and my escape attempt comes to an end.
With billionaires going on sub-orbital day trips and the climate crisis worsening by the day, it’s hard not to think about the state of our planet. More importantly how we can save it, or leave it. After all the billionaires are trying to, right? But how can we, the average individual, ever prepare for the inevitable collapse of our planet? By playing video games, of course; or should I say one video game.
The 2D Platformer genre is not a newcomer to the gaming scene, of course our Italian plumber friend is a prime example of that. Neither is the Top-Down Puzzler genre, though perhaps not as widespread as the former. So, what can be done to make these genres new and exciting? Merge them together of course!
Ayo the Clown is an action-platformer that follows Ayo on his quest to retrieve his lost dog. It clearly takes inspiration from Super Mario Bros., Yoshi, and Little Big Planet. With such iconic franchises cited as inspiration, these developers have big shoes to fill. Luckily, Ayo is a clown, and he is accustomed to wearing big shoes. Is Ayo the Clown a standout entrant in the Nintendo Switch catalogue? Or will it be soon forgotten? Find out in this Rapid Review.
The term “grid-based” often brings up feelings of top-down RPGs or turn-based RTS titles. The ridged movement of these genres offer a somewhat tactical style of gameplay as your team moves between each tile on the map. Heading further back into gaming history, the grid style was fairly common in older PC titles – mainly games they allowed you to play is School. These educational games would often see you traversing a dungeon within a first-person viewpoint whilst solving reading puzzles or the dreaded mathematical questions. Vaporum: Lockdown is one of these games.
The F1 2021 season was meant to signal a significant change within the sport. With new regulations being introduced to streamline races, and a wealth of modifications to the titular Formula 1 racing car too. However global events put a dampner on these changes and as such the F1 2020 season was largely modified.
As a fan of emotive music and story-driven games like the Life Is Strange series and Tell Me Why, I was excited to see a title like Of Bird and Cage appear on the market. It seemed to promise a blend of deep narrative and powerful music. After watching the trailer, my interest had well and truly been piqued. Check out my rapid review below to find out if this musical endeavour delivered on its promises.
Virtual Reality and rhythm games are a dime a dozen. There are VR staples like Beat Saber, Synth Riders, Pistol Whip, and now Ragnarock joins the ranks. In Ragnarock you are a captain of a Viking ship tasked with beating drums as runes stream towards you. The runes stream down four paths from left to right. Hitting the runes in time results in a power meter going up. Viking knots on the side of your hammers light up with each successful hit. When you hit your stride and combo enough runes together you can activate a powerful point multiplier.
Sun Wukong Vs. Robot is a short Metroidvania adventure. Instead of journeying far and wide to uncover upgrades and fight challenging enemies, this game will have you exploring a small area that still follows the Metroidvania tropes. Is this brief adventure still worth your time? Find out in this collaborative Rapid Review written by myself and Brent Gass.
It’s been a long and stressful couple of years, and finding distractions has been a difficult business. The most effective games I’ve found have fallen into one of two categories. My first category includes involved games that require you to pay attention, like The Dungeon of Naheulbeuk. As for the second, it’s been peaceful, hand-drawn games like Wind Peaks.
World’s End Club is a puzzle action-adventure game that takes you to the end of the world. Originally launched on Apple Arcade in 2020, the full experience has now landed on the Nintendo Switch. With plenty of ideas and a cast of likeable characters, is World’s End Club a club worth joining?