Simply put, DOOM Eternal is a breathtakingly awesome shooter which both refreshed the FPS Genre but quite frankly kicked it right in the nuts and left every shooter fan eager for more. It is firmly in my top ten games of 2020 and perhaps even my favourite shooter experience of this generation of console gaming with just two weeks before the Series X│S and just over three weeks before the PS5 all launch. When it was announced that DOOM Eternal was going to feature two story expansions, I have to admit I was more than a little excited for them as someone who actually did like the more narrative element to Eternal which sought to bring a new continuity and story timeline to the entire DOOM series. The Ancient Gods Part 1 is the first of those expansions and boy was I not only ready to jump back into the world of DOOM Eternal but this DLC would remind me just how good it was.

This DLC picks up events right after the end of the main campaign to DOOM Eternal and on the main game menu actually sits as a separate option which like the base game, also has 3 individual save slots so you can switch between the expansions and the main campaign when you choose, very handy for those still wanting to clean up the collectables and secrets in either. At the end of the main campaign and after DOOM Guy has slayed the Khan Maykr, Earth is finally safe from the demon invasion but it also left an imbalance of power that threatens all of creation. The legions of Hell have razed the heavens, threatening to expand their control across dimensions. DOOM Guy must enlist the help of an old ally and fight his way back to Urdak to end the threat once and for all, it is time to grab a shotgun and get back to ripping and tearing until this new mission is done.

The Ancient Gods Part one adds three stages with DOOM Guy having to complete a certain task or objectives to clear that stage often with a challenging final sequence or boss level fight to overcome in order to clear the stage. Now this does have to be said from the start that this DLC absolutely assumes you have played and completed the main campaign because they have upped the difficulty quite a bit from what was already a challenging game no matter which difficulty you chose to play on. The reason for this is clear as you go into the DLC with all the weapons, their upgrades as well as all the Praetor suit upgrades all ready to be used. There is an expectation that the player is more than ready for the DLC challenge.

The reality is, the change in pace and difficulty is very welcome if you have finished the campaign but if you are for whatever reason, stepping into DOOM Eternal not having completed the base game than this is going to be quite a shock to the system. There are more enemies at one time that almost every encounter feels like a Slayer gate challenge and not just in numbers, but the DLC throws all the big enemy types at you from the beginning just to show the player that this DLC is not for the timid. These fights will test even the mightiest of DOOM Guys as they are longer and far more intense and the base game never made me bring up the weapon’s wheel as much as this DLC as I tried hard and fast to equip the best weapon to tackle whichever demon stepped up next to get stomped.

The stages you visit continue how visually stunning DOOM Eternal is and benefits from HDR enabled TVs and monitors. Starting off with an oil rig gave me flashbacks to exploring the UAC in DOOM 2016, every stage just looks incredible and every fight is satisfying, even the ones that kick your butt a little more than you will no doubt feel did a little too much. All the elements from the main campaign crossover to the DLC including secrets to find, extra life to gather and Slayer Gate challenges in fact everything that made Eternal just so bloody good have been continued with a focus on keeping those great things intact. Sadly, it also meant doubling down on the more annoying elements without making any attempt to improve them or fix them

Of course by this I mean the platforming and precise jumping sections that not only have returned but the very fact they chose not to improve any aspect of it feels more like the dev team decided to purposefully keep it in just to be a frustration but the problem with that is that it also brings with it another annoying aspect which is a real shame, forcing the speed to slow. By having every fight encounter feel like a war rather than a skirmish, when the platforming sections force you to start that section over and over because the precision requirement is often something the mechanic itself is unable to allow players to have, it forces you to stop and stopping is not what DOOM Eternal taught players to be.

Ever since DOOM 2016 and especially with DOOM Eternal, the one thing that made DOOM so different from any type of shooter from the original DOOM to Eternal, is how kinetic the game wants players to be. You are trained to always keep moving, to keep slaying demons and to keep moving forward to get that much needed ammo pack, health or armour pack and to never stop moving until the slaying is done. This DLC however often keeps you contained at times, forcing you to stop due to the sheer volume of enemies coming at you or the platforming sections which drop the pace down to a crawl. The very final boss fight of the DLC is where this problem came close to derailing the experience which up to that point had been satisfying even with the toughest battles just felt all of a sudden…cheap.

The frustration of that final boss encounter was only saved because of the twist at the end which I will absolutely not be spoiling in this review but heading into the 2^nd expansion in 2021, I hope that feedback will lead to some refining of these negative elements because so much of this first part to The Ancient Gods DLC is a celebration of DOOM Eternal and it nearly, so very nearly manages to almost out do it by keeping the momentum of the base campaign and dialling up enough elements to 11 but sadly the frustrating elements so very quickly put the brakes on just when it needed to let the player feel like the badass Slayer they should.

The Ancient Gods Part 1 is more of what made the main game so much fun and a stand out game of 2020 but it does feel held back by its own stubbornness to stick to the frustrating problems which should and could be ironed out. The ending sets up something very special to come in 2021 and it did remind me just how brilliant DOOM Eternal is if you had perhaps put it down since release but as 2020 comes to a close and silly season is about to launch some heavy hitting games and new gen consoles, this DLC is a perfect “remember why you loved me” reminder for fans of DOOM.

Video Games based on popular TV shows or Movies can very hit and miss and often it depends on multiple factors in order to give the fan an experience they would expect. These games can often lead to either very cheap tie-ins which take a standard game genre and just sticking the characters from the show or film in them with little fan service or attention to detail or they can go full on adaptation and try to deliver that “if the player was in the actual show/movie” style. So, it can be a rather mixed bag when approaching such a game which is where Peaky Blinders: Mastermind comes in and it is a very interesting take on the show that I personally did not see coming.

This really is a very unique take on the Peaky Blinders TV show and not the one that would automatically come to mind especially if you have played a GTA or MAFIA Remastered recently. I actually really like the take on the show for this game and appreciate the effort to step outside the box in terms of using characters and their traits in such a way that fits surprisingly well into a puzzle game. It was a weird sensation at times playing this and not all the mechanics worked well for me but there was certainly enough with the game to make it an enjoyable if limited experience as a fan of the show.

The story itself is set right in the early days of the Peaky Blinders, around the events of Season One which allows the game to focus on the family still trying to build their presence in the city. Split across ten levels, the gameplay will have the player controlling one or more of the Peaky Blinders, using their unique talents to complete objectives. As you move towards the later levels, the objectives get a little trickier and is really where the game starts becoming a worthy challenge for the player. It is certainly fair to say that this game is a puzzle adventure game which is what surprised me the most, certainly was not the genre of game I would immediately picture coming from the Peaky Blinders TV show.

Visually I love the story board almost comic book style of telling the narrative, reflective of the budget more than anything because this was not made by a massive studio, but it does suit the show for me and the animation and character designs represent their real-life counterparts in clothing perfectly. Audio in terms of the music is just spot on, where it does fall down a little comes in the dialogue between characters which sadly too often has that “not recording in the same room” feel to it but this is just a niggle more than a major complaint. When in the levels you do feel like you are in the world of the Peaky Blinders as you play, helped very much by a fantastic soundtrack to the game.

Gameplay is rather interesting here as well and naturally focuses on Tommy Shelby, taking his ability to evaluate a situation and persuade people to help create or resolve a situation. Other members of the Shelby gang feature and have their own talents such as Arthur’s ability to kick down doors or Finn’s ability to crawl through small spaces to get around obstacles. Understanding each character and their abilities is how you will solve the problems each level throws at you. How you control each character is truly what took me by surprise as the solution to each level requires the player to control one or more of the Peaky Blinders and to position them and use their talents as required. The surprise feature comes in the way that each level has a time limit and your main task is to ensure the job is done which can often require the use of the “time rewind” feature so that you work to set one character doing or completing their role but then having to rewind so that you can control another character to perform their tasks. Whilst this happens, the characters you have already used will play out the actions you completed for them so it really is a case of almost getting plates spinning and doing what it takes to prevent them from crashing.

So, this can mean positioning characters for example, to open a door or activate a switch in order to allow another character to progress or to take care of enemies in order for another to secure an item. The time rewind is a very clever mechanic and, in the end, it made me feel like the director or editor of the TV show as I managed each character to make sure they all completed their tasks in the time provided to make sure the level was completed. The only downside to this is that all too often there is a scripted solution to the level meaning that there is no real freedom or multiple paths available to complete the objectives which limits the replayability factor for the game. The early levels all feel like a tutorial as you would expect but the real meat and challenge to the levels fails to kick in until levels 7-10, which is quite a long wait to put into practice everything you have learned.

If you are a fan of the TV show than this really does have some fun aspects for you and you will get a kick out of the characters you can play as. It is just that this feels overall like a trial run, to test to see if this style suits the show and that fans will embrace. This format will work well to use more storylines from the later seasons of the show, bringing them to life via the game and it would work well if adapted in this fashion. When all the puzzle solving, character controlling and time management elements come together, this can be a really fun game but it is a shame that it is only in the final levels that you really get to combine them all in a satisfying way. Perhaps if there is a sequel they can focus on that far more and a lot earlier.

I can Peaky Blinders: Mastermind featuring in the upcoming end of year Christmas sales and this would be the best time to pick this up simply because of the very ‘one and done’ feel once you know how to complete the levels. But as a puzzle game, this certainly has enough clever elements to offer a fun experience particularly if you know the show and just as a puzzle game it works well. It just needed more substance to the earlier levels and the story to really make it stand out more and perhaps if there will be DLC or a sequel, they can focus on that and perhaps storylines from the seasons to help give the game the punch this sadly lacks.

I actually feel rather spoiled this year as one of my favourite genres in gaming has had a bit of a resurgence. Side scrolling beat-em-ups are really the foundation of my own gaming background, having grown up playing a number of them in the local arcade and then at home on consoles. This year has seen the return of the majestic ‘Streets of Rage 4’ and even a remake of ‘Battle Toads’ in recent months and it has been quite frankly brilliant. Now we have another game that borrows a lot from those old school games with an element of fresh ideas but keeping the focus on that classic style of side scrolling beat-em-ups as new contender ‘9 Monkeys of Shaolin’ steps up to the plate.

It was thanks to the Summer Games Fest demo event on Xbox, that I first came across 9 Monkeys of Shaolin by Sobaka Studio and it ticked a lot of boxes for me. Visually the game is just stunning with flowing animation both in and out of combat taking you to beautiful environments from bamboo forests to mountain areas and village backdrops. It has such a lovely more feature animation style that it would not looks strange as an animated show on a streaming service. I love how the story boards drive the narrative between the levels, this game just presents a world that is lovely to be in.

That would of course, features our main hero, Wei Cheing, who is a humble Chinese fisherman who has been trained with enough fighting skills to defend his village from bandits. This is a fighting style handed down throughout his family and has been enough to keep the village safe for generations. However now a more formidable force has invaded and those Wei Cheing is able to use his staff technique to see off the standard attackers but in trying to save his Grandfather, Wei Cheing is easily put down by the masked leader of the invaders and left for dead. Found by some Warrior Shaolin Monks, he is taken to their temple to heal where they take him in and help refine his skills in order for him to take the fight back to the invaders.

The combat is a very nice yet deceptively simply system with a standard strike of the staff with Y to a thrusting move with B. You can doge with A and perform a vaulting kick attack with X and all can be combined together to put together visually impressive fighting combos. Each move is capable of doing damage but with some more designed for enemy types such as the staff thrust being able to stagger armoured enemies and the vault kick able to cut the distance between ranged enemies. I describe it as deceptive in that you can either stick to basic attacks or create your own combo fighting style throughout and once you master the parry system, you will genuinely feel like a badass especially once the Shaolin technique of boosting your attacks with your Qi adds another level to the fighting.

The story itself is split into acts and Wei Cheing is sent on missions for the Shaolin Monks to both aid in fighting back these invaders but also in protecting other Monks out there in the fighting. The levels are simply a move through this section beating up everyone and making it to the end with some having the objective of having to reach a certain character in order to save them before their health runs out to reaching a boss fight. Often completing the mission will give you a reward such as a better staff-based weapon or accessories, each with their own stats and can buff abilities if equipped allowing the player to help make a build for their preferred playing style. All levels can also be replayed as well which is a very nice touch as the skill tree, which improves and opens up more bonuses to moves for Wei Cheing are accessed by using the experience “cogs” from completing a mission and applying them to a section of the skill tree in a rather Borderlands 3 style of levelling up.

I do wish that completing a level would have more fanfare than they currently do with simply completing the final objective or reaching a point can end the mission which snaps you out to a completion screen even if you were in the middle of taken on a number of enemies and can leave a rather unsatisfying feeling to the success of completing it. There is also quite a sharp difficulty spike once you reach the third act as the style of “large groups of enemies attacking you” means you will need to respond faster than I felt the input system could really handle which can leave you taking cheap hits or being smacked out of a combo which again, is unsatisfying but sadly frustrating when it does not need to be forcing you to readjust again to it all. Boss fights have this aspect as well and you can find yourself getting your butt kicked simply because your playstyle needs to sharply meet this new overpowered threat.

A saving grace is the co-op mode which can be online or local and means a friend can join you and should you or they fall during the level, the other can revive them which removes the “complete or fail” style of solo play. I found the co-op system very much suited the crowd of enemy style of the levels and was very fun to team up with a friend to take on the more challenging missions later in the game. A lot of what makes the game so fun to play is the simplicity and very old school feel to it which is deliberate and it does not try to reinvent the wheel but use those classic systems in this way to tell a very lovely story in a beautiful setting.

9 Monkeys of Shaolin is a fantastic example of the side scrolling beat-em-up style of gaming and is great fun despite the niggles I had with it at times. Just as I did with the game I grew up with, I was lost it the combat and smacking enemies about as I tried to complete the levels and really like the skill tree with RPG element that enabled me to level up skills and moves according to what I felt my play style needed. Getting to share it with a friend in co-op was enjoyable as well and worked really well even with a story focused completely on Wei Cheing. The voice cast is really good and the musical score just compliments so well with a fantastic visual style.

Whilst not on the same level of Streets of Rage 4, I did enjoy this more than the over frustration focused Battle Toads. 9 Monkeys of Shaolin fits very nicely into a genre but it definitely could do with some quality of life improvements to fine tune more than fix some of the niggles I feel it has.