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The slow pacing, along with unskippable story and dialogue, detracts from the experience. The game’s main redeeming quality is the distinctive, somewhat memorable aesthetics in certain chapters, like the Train, Noir, and Paper themes, which stand out from the rest. World of Goo 2 feels like a remastered version of the original game but lacks the charm and atmosphere of its predecessor.
Sofie: The Echoes needed more development time before being released. Having to reboot the game several times to clear bugs, restart a run due to being stuck in unwinnable situations, suffering multiple crashes to the desktop, and having to reinstall the game to force assets to appear as intended does not make for an enjoyable experience.
Running Fable has taken the concept of kart racing games but made it slower and shorter. With children being the targeted audience, it does not really have a difficulty setting and can be finished quickly, but it feels like there is no reward for winning – you just unlock a decorative item, but it’s something everyone gets. If you were able to change the colour of them, atleast you would be able to stand out a bit more.
Trials of the Dragon King gave a great boost in difficulty that will challenge the end game players, but as a whole, it felt empty and seeing how the DLC can not be bought separately, it did feel like a bit of a letdown for the story driver players as they would’ve bought the season pass to find that the new content is locked behind a massive grind before they can even start it. I personally don’t mind a grind in games but the lack of new bosses and areas is a big letdown in my opinion, but hey, at least we got a summoner job, so there has been some hope from this for all players to enjoy.
There isn’t any reason to return to Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour; with minimal replayability and no way for completionists to get 100% without buying peripherals and a 4K TV, the game’s shelf life won’t stand the test of time.
‘Completely Stretchy’ is a delightfully odd and quirky adventure that is good-silly-fun. I would love to say that I can highly recommend giving this a play, but in its current state, I am hesitant to do so. I am certain that with more love and some much-needed patches, you’ll have lots of fun getting into some sticky situations.
Synduality Echo of Ada is a generically average game with the single-player story locked away so deep, that after many hours of play, I was still unable to experience it.
Metro Simulator 2 is sound technically on the Xbox Series X. The tunnels look like tunnels, the stations look like stations, and the inside of the two trains looks like what you would expect a train in Russia would look like.
There are moments where the narrator delivers some zany one-liners that do land and there’s surprisingly dark, profound, and confronting moments, especially in flashbacks, but mostly these moments fall flat. The most beautiful moments in the game for me were through the music by the talented team of composers, fantastical orchestral music with some Asian instrumental influence tied to its martial arts inspirations.
The graphics are a beautiful cartoony hand-drawn art. It reminded me of what a child would do with a combination of charcoals and coloured pencils. It was expertly presented with a dinginess and brightness that complimented the tone of the game, and while the cutscenes between gameplay are done in the same style, they are presented in a comic book style.
For long-term Smurf fans and younger audiences, The Smurfs – Village Party might tick several boxes on your party must-haves. With a nostalgic feel and loving tribute to The Smurfs, there’s plenty to entertain. Still, it all depends on whether you’re keen to attend despite the party’s little problems.
LEGO Brawls was initially designed as a mobile game and can be an enjoyable way to kill some time playing online matches. As a console game that doesn’t add anything new to the gameplay, it’s just a generic platform fighter with little to no excitement. This wouldn’t be a bad thing if the game was cheap or just free, but it’s shockingly priced at $60 AUD which makes it impossible to justify. There are tons of indie games out there that offer so much more at a cheaper price. Even with some interesting ideas, LEGO Brawls offers very little and is probably more fun to watch than play, but the novelty wears off really quickly. The biggest letdown overall is its generic gameplay that just isn’t much fun at all. Non-fighting game players often describe the genre as button mashers, and this game accurately fits that description and is a poor representation of the genre. Even stepping on a LEGO piece is more entertaining than this.
While the environments do give off a retro eeriness to them, the sound design and general graphics are dated with awkward polygons and jarring instrumentals. The run animation in itself is comical not a feeling wanted from a survival horror title but here we are. The inspiration is clear but an over-reliance on nostalgic gameplay such as a fixed camera and tank controls doesn’t necessarily add to the fun factor. While the throwbacks to classic horror games start strong, it isn’t strong enough to survive among more modern mechanics. SENSEs: Midnight shows promise in theory, but in practice, it doesn’t stand up to its spiritual predecessors.
Truck Driver: The American Dream makes some minor improvements to the original game from 4 years ago and is a small step in the right direction, but the series still has a long road ahead before it can be taken seriously as a truck driving simulator. Players seeking the ideal trucking video game experience will have to look elsewhere.
Grandma, No! was enjoyable, and thankfully just long enough to escape without having your cheek flesh pulled from your jawline. It’s full of weird and wonderful characters, devastatingly hilarious situations, and fun minigames, and while jokes were hilarious at first, they started to feel like you were listening to someone suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease.
If you’re looking for something different and can forgive the outdated presentation, there’s a compelling experience underneath the grime. Just know what you’re getting into, and maybe consider waiting for the sequel if polish and modern features matter more to you.
For horror fans, it has some new ideas but not too many and uses some old cliches with the story and jump scares. You will want to check it out as an experience, but unless updates are made it will put off the majority in the gaming space.
It’s clear to see the potential that Police Shootout could’ve had, but it does injustice in just about every single aspect. For a game that should make you feel like a fine policeman working to protect and serve, you end up just feeling like an average mall cop on minimum wage.
Moons of Darsalon has a lot of creative ideas but has too much going against it. The game can be fun, but constantly losing can be discouraging rather than urging you to keep trying. The controls need a lot of refining as they can dampen the experience.
Ambulance Life: A Paramedic Simulator is an immersive experience that allows you to dive deep into the life of a paramedic and everything that comes with the job, including the good and the bad.