TheGamer's Reviews
Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss is, crashes and caveats aside, an excellent game. Key is a triumph, the puzzles are imaginative, and the final chapter earns everything it demands of you. I’ve spent about 12 hours with it and I find myself wanting to talk about it with everyone who has ever shared even a flicker of an interest in Lovecraft with me. It’s a cosmic horror that brings classic tropes into futuristic dressing and manages to do that well. What’s not to like?
The more you put into this game, the more you’re going to get out of it. For me, it already feels like it has all the ingredients to become another cult classic masterpiece that will go down in history.
Sad Cat elegantly depicts these themes, and I believe anyone who plays Replaced is going to have an enlightening experience, which I imagine is exactly what the studio was going for.
Mouse is an enjoyable and visually stunning shooter with just enough uncapitalized potential to make me mourn what could have been. It looks amazing, the music is spectacular, the voice acting is top-notch, and it feels great to play in the moment, but its unwillingness to put up even a semblance of challenge is its biggest downfall. I’d still very easily recommend it, but sticking it on the hardest difficulty is almost a requirement.
It’s got big ambitions, a big heart, and two big and beautiful characters leading the charge on an intergalactic adventure like no other. Cheese and cliché aside, Pragmata is a rare triumph.
Regardless of what you specifically look for in a cosy game, there’s a little something for everyone here. Even with my nitpicks, I’m unlikely to forget the stories I pieced together to tell Tabitha’s life story anytime soon.
Throw in all the quality of life features that let you either play these games as they were intended, or with mod cons so that you can actually finish them, and this collection is a fantastic celebration.
Even when Super Meat Boy 3D had me moments away from rage-quitting, occasionally thanks to a death that wasn’t my fault, I couldn’t help but smile as I bashed my head on whatever wall I was struggling to jump off. Meat Boy’s legacy is a very particular one that won’t appeal to everyone but, even with some wobbles, 3D proves itself to be a sequel that’s worthy of standing next to the original masterpiece.
But a game is only as good as it feels to play, and this one too frequently asks you to fight its systems rather than inhabit them. The frustrations are not deal-breakers in isolation; cumulatively, though, they erode the goodwill that the presentation so diligently earns.
The Star Force Legacy Collection brings back the underrated spin-off in the best way possible. It looks and plays better than ever while also featuring a number of worthwhile bonuses both hardcore fans and newcomers alike will appreciate. There are a few remaining flaws to take into account, but seldom did these truly infringe upon the experience.
Mario Wonder’s Switch 2 Edition adds an awful lot to what was already a fantastic game. New boss fights and training courses for those playing alone, and a whole wing of multiplayer options for those who want to play with others. It is, without question, a better game on Switch 2 than it was on the original Switch.
It’s highly ambitious and one of the most intriguing triple-A games I’ve played in years, but I just wish so many parts of the whole weren’t inherently flawed. Now my journey in Pywel has come to an end, I’ll be leaving this one on the shelf for a while.
Not enough time is spent with characters to sympathise with their plight, while the narrative itself discordantly jumps between several themes without committing to a singular vision. It’s not helped by a middling combat system and exploration that is too simplistic and predictable for its own good.
John Carpenter’s Toxic Commando focuses on delivering a very specific pleasure. Four buddies, a towering horde of undead, and a soundtrack that sounds like it escaped from something covered in dust in your basement. It identifies that particular itch perfectly, and it leans into it with a sense of gleeful, gory enthusiasm.
I just hope that it's realised that, with some more time and care, this series could be so much more than a decent tribute act to better games. GreedFall is a rich world, and so much love has gone into it. But that love is spread unevenly throughout The Dying World.
You’ll be perfecting your monstie team long after you’ve rolled the credits, and I’m hoping it will have the same amount of post-launch content as the last title for us to throw our monstie teams at, because the game is so good that I just want even more of it.
It raises the bar when it comes to puzzles and challenges, while giving us some much-anticipated answers as to where Mui came from and the more technologically advanced society that existed in the ancient past. Lana is more grown-up here, and so the darker story feels right at home as we continue this journey with her, and I’m now left in anticipation of her next chapter.
The just fine writing and exploration that doesn't add as much as I hoped mean that Scott Pilgrim EX isn't quite a genre-defining brawler like the stand-out Shredder's Revenge and Absolum. Instead, it's closer to Cosmic Invasion, a great beat 'em up that does a lot right with plenty of style and love for the source material, especially as an unabashedly biased fan. If this is as much of a sendoff to the series as it feels, then it's a worthy last hurrah.
As ever with Pokemon, there is enough charm to see it through, and the mechanics aren't shallow, even if they're used in aid of the same few tasks over and over again. It's Pokemon's take on a bunch of other villager games it's not quite as good at, but if you persevere there is a game waiting for you here. You just have to get the actual game over with first.
While I can’t speak in specifics, Capcom has once again assembled multiple new pieces on the series’ board that I cannot wait to see it start moving. I want to see where these beloved characters go and how stakes continue to be taken to places once thought unimaginable.