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Alfonzo’s Arctic Adventure manages to stay fresh throughout the entire experience – it finds a decent balance between challenge, frustration, and a sense of accomplishment upon completing a level. There’s not much to say about the plot – largely there isn’t one – but the brief bits of dialogue between the heroes and villains get a good chuckle every now and then. The gameplay takes centre stage, and it’s good and solid. Just be prepared ahead of time to resist hurling your controller through your screen as you lose yet another life to a bird shitting on you at exactly the wrong moment.
Tails of Iron is a solid, confident entry to the genre. The tightly focused encounter design, meaty combat and enjoyable world-building and storytelling with adorable rodents who think they’re people, I didn’t find much not to like. The difficulty may be a turn-off for some, but the game keeps to the core soulslike tenet of playing fair and making sure that when you die (and you will die), you’ll know what you did wrong to bring it about. If you’re looking for a challenging, rich adventure then I’d highly recommend joining Redgi to reclaim his kingdom and his crown.
Golf Club: Wasteland is a strangely compelling experience. I found the gameplay frustrating, yet your protagonist isn’t playing golf through the ruins of a post-apocalyptic Earth to “win”, and to get the most from this game neither should you.
Overall Minute of Islands is a deep, thoughtful narrative experience with just enough weight to its simple gameplay to keep interest as you push through to its conclusion. It deals with some difficult subject matter in an engaging and challenging story, and while there are aspects I’d have liked to see it go a little deeper on, for the length and scope of the game I really can’t fault it.
Lake is certainly not for everyone. It’s a very specific experience that tries as hard as possible to take as much ‘game’ out of the game and leave you only with the relaxing story element. And on balance, I’d say I enjoyed my time with Lake; I breezed around that leafy town not knowing if what I was doing mattered or if I really cared about that or not. It’s like having a day off work without any plans – the world is your oyster and there’s absolutely no pressure.
Narita Boy delivers in almost every facet and I thoroughly enjoyed my time facing down the Stallion threat. But while it’s positively dripping with 80s nostalgia and style, there’s a lot more to it than just a trip down memory lane – and the fun sword fighting and exploration into a spectacular universe is only the half of it.
Comparing Innsmouth with other games is a little bit like comparing apples and oranges. It’s certainly a well-made choose-your-adventure book and is perfect for a bus journey or train ride on a mobile gaming device, but is not something I would say is suited to a fully-fledged console experience like the Xbox One.
More than anything else I think the real issue with this game I have is the asking price. At time of writing it is going for around £30. You can get all four games in the series on mobile for just over a third of that, almost half of which is for the fourth (and newest) game. WitchSpring 3 on Google’s Playstore is priced at £3.87, a far more compelling price point for the title. Given how well it played in handheld compared to docked mode, and the implementation of the touchscreen controls, if you are at all curious about this game I would certainly recommend the mobile version over the Switch for price alone.
All-in-all, I was thoroughly impressed by everything Axiom Verge 2 offered and would probably have devoured the entire thing in one sitting had adult life not gotten in the way. Yes, the combat could have used more variety and the story was a little head scratching at times, but that’s entirely worth it for the masterclass in retro graphics and sound that you get in return, along with some thoroughly enjoyable world building and exploration too.
Just Die Already sounds amazing on paper; old people foregoing common sense and wanting to end their lives in the most over the top way imaginable. The overall look of the game is hilarious and there is some fun to be found in short bursts. It’s just a shame that the controls, as deliberately janky as they appeared to be, are so unforgiving to the point that they spoil the experience and sapped all of the energy from the game.
Ayo the Clown is definitely going to be one that will split peoples opinions based on personal preference on a couple of different gaming aspects. Do you like challenging (sometimes through bad controls rather than good level design) platforming and exploration for collectables? Do you like cutesy-wootsey characters and visuals? Are you a dog person? If you answered ‘yes’ to all of the above then this is a game for you, and one that you should enjoy. If you answered ‘no’ then avoid at all costs.
Cris Tales is a game with a lot of charm and good ideas that doesn’t quite deliver on its ambition. Some mechanics seem a little undercooked and the nostalgia for older RPGs will likely be lost on the younger players who seem, from the story and presentation, to be the game’s target audience.
Of Bird And Cage is a great concept for a videogame; real care and attention has been taken to produce a quality metal album that tells a story that provokes an emotional response. With a two hour run time and multiple endings, there is scope for replayability, but as the focus has been squarely put against the soundtrack, other areas suffer. Visually Of Bird And Cage does the job, but the gameplay elements felt rushed, and the lack of direction severely hampered my enjoyment.
Trigger Witch feels like it’s trying to blend too many styles together at once and doesn’t blend them well enough. The game can feel challenging due to overly strong enemies but the lack of good puzzles is disappointing. That said, Trigger Witch feels like the start to a solid franchise and at the price point it is an enjoyable game, but it has some flaws that just can't be ignored.
Worms Rumble is a fun time for anyone familiar with fast paced action shooters. It’s a shallow experience but it’s aiming to be fun, not to tell a story and it does a pretty good job with it. Although not a first person shooter or a true battle royale game, there are plenty of notes here for fans of those genres to enjoy, and it might scratch a part of your brain that’s been missing the flow state of a simple arena shooter. Worth a try if nothing else.
My time with Umurangi Generation Special Edition was a little like discovering an old photo album in the loft and opening it to find pictures that remind you of a painful break up. There’s the spark of excitement at finding something out of the ordinary, and wonderment at what you might stumble upon next, but flicking through the pages of blurry images only leaves you pining for what could have been had things been just a little bit different.
The Falconeer does what similar games wish they could; presenting a huge open world that is full of wonders to discover with a story that doesn’t overstay its welcome. It has an easy going air about the proceedings and doesn’t pressure players to progress to the end of the game. In fact, taking the time to explore the world and discover the various storylines offered more value than the journey to the credits. It helps that getting sidetracked offers lovely unlockables so that when it comes time to take part in the main story, the giant bird is equipped to do so.
If you’re looking for a tough as nails arcade shooter, R-Type Final 2 is the game of choice. The controls are tight and although not perfect, the environments are pretty enough to keep you entertained. R-Type Final 2 treads a fine line between too tough to enjoy and just hard enough to keep you coming back for more, and even on the easiest difficulty there is a steep challenge where casual players will struggle.
More like a firework than an inferno, Fire is pretty and will certainly make you smile, but is sadly over all too soon.
I thoroughly enjoyed my time exploring the broken landscapes of Glyph and resurrecting the ancient civilisation in the sand, and I’d definitely recommend it to players looking for something they can pick up and put down in small sittings. While it might be a little bit samey, I found it a charming experience that makes for a lovely change of pace in a genre often requiring pixel-perfect precision and outlandish reaction speeds.