Review: The Last Soldier of Ming Dynasty

Jax Sun
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Review: The Last Soldier of Ming Dynasty

“The Japanese pirates have terrorized the Ming Dynasty for generations. You’ve devoted your life as a soldier to fighting the. And now you are in their turf, alone with your sword; the last soldier in pirates’ land in this 3D-action game inspired by traditional Chinese ink painting landscapes.”

The Last Soldier of Ming Dynasty is created by a team of passionate game developers origins from China. Its campaign background is set in historical Ming Dynasty.

Official Trailer Credit: 2P Games

Souls-Game

Player plays as the last surviving member of an army belongs to the Qi Army, an army exists in Ming dynasty history. Our protagonist, Haiping. Finds himself awake on an island controlled by Japanese pirate force. Player begins to start the tutorial to understand more about the game mechanic. The game mechanics pattern is easily identified as Souls-game, an identity that is named by the community. Player has to progress to a certain checkpoint, then rest at place to save. The enemies are strong and powerful. Player could be one-hit killed if not prepare properly. In order to face more challenging enemies, player has to collect the collectibles or obtaining the equipment from the enemies. As player progresses further, the stronger the boss they will encounter. It often takes player to die a few times in order to recognize the enemies’ battle combo patterns.

Combat System

Image credit: Circuit_Art

The combat system is inspired by Sekiro Die Twice from From Software. Player’s main move are stab, cleave and sweep. Most important is parry. However, the parry mechanic isn’t as simple as blocking the attack during i-frame. Player has to anticipate the enemy’s moves(stab, cleave and sweep) in order to parry. Once parry matched, player will dodge immediately and strikes back accordingly. Furthermore, you are offered to use close-combat weapon like sword and spear or long-ranged weapon like bow and arrows. Last but not least, player can practice to use apply different moves as a combo to unlock an ultimate combination attack. These ultimate combination attack consumes the Qi(aka Mana point) in order to deliver deadly strikes to the enemies.

Visual Art Style

Image credit: Circuit_Art

Last Soldier uses the authentic Chinese painting graphic style as the game art direction. Player will be exposed to traditional calligraphic art in UI and during battle. Which it is visible when player uses their heavy attack or ultimate combo during combo. Furthermore, they apply this art style to the world-map as well.

Menu List

Image credit: Circuit_Art

In the menu, we see a list of categories listing many important information for our players. We have Weapon, Gear for defense, Skill for combination of attacks and ultimate moves, Task for objective, Codex for memo, Map and System. The menu allows player to prepare themselves for combat while the task and codex reminds player of the current and past events and engagements. Player will obtain more powerful weapons and gears as they progress.

Dream World

Image credit: Circuit_Art

Player can access Dream at save checkpoint. Once enter the Dream world, player can train and practice their moves to unlock the battle skill. Player will be appointed with an officer who served with you and he will be your instructor. Player also can practice their combat skills by fighting with Nemesis. Nemesis mode will be unlocked once player has defeated enemy’s boss fight. Player can also understand more about Haiping and Qi Army through seeking answers from the officer.

So What’s Wrong ?

Image credit: Circuit_Art

The game bugs are astonishingly many and some can even make the gameplay experience bad. During my personal gameplay, I’ve experienced my character’s body being dragged once I perform an ultimate skill. The only solution I found is restart the game. Next, I cannot use my bow and arrows even after I’ve equipped them in my inventory. Furthermore, I’m unable to hide behind obstacle because the enemies’ arrow can penetrate through obstacle and damage me. Beside of that, I do experience stuttering during the beginning of the game and some in-game location as well. Also, I found there are so many object decorations at the surrounding however I’m unable to interact with them nor even destroy them. The only object I can interact are the collectibles. Finally, the game’s UI Language design are confusing. By default, I play the game in English but there’ re some words still displays Chinese which is confusing.

In Overall

Image credit: Circuit_Art

The game itself is fun if players can overlook the bugs and issues. I believe the game is still patchable if the developer team still polishing the game. Thus, the game is still a recommended piece for souls-like lovers to give a try.

Farmer’s Father: Save the Innocence: Review

Dashiell Reynaldo
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Farmer’s Father: Save the Innocence: Review

Farmer’s Father: Save the Innocence is a World War 2 survival farming simulator by developers FreeMind S.A. Although it is a follow-up to their previously successful title, Farmer’s Life, utilizing many of the same assets and mechanics, this new prequel attempts to be considerably more historical and intense. While this new atmosphere often uniquely elevates this game, Farmer’s Father: Save the Innocence also leaves out many elements crucial for survival and farming games alike.

The best parts of this experience were the parts I assume to be borrowed from the previous title. The simulation of cutting trees, harvesting wood, caring for farm animals, and even hunting and fishing can be satisfying systems to interact with. For this reason, despite the faults of this game, its structure is still all built on a competent foundation. Sadly, other than the atmosphere of the war-torn snowy mountains, much of the benefit of this new setting is lost by lackluster gameplay and broken user experience.

Table of contents

Decent Survival Gameplay

One of the most competent aspects of Farmer’s Father is the primary survival gameplay loop. I’ve always immensely enjoyed the starting hours of new survival games, where you are down on your luck trying to make something out of scraps. The introduction of escaping your burning farm to go live deep in the woods with your wife and newborn child is a mighty motivation for survival gameplay.

Once you’re in the forest, scavenging for scraps and making an entirely new life is quite satisfying. It’s hard to forget the first time you take down a deer or find a buried stash of supplies. The snowy setting is also compelling for survival, as it always feels like you’re one second away from disaster.

Being able to return to your wife and child in your shelter after a hard day of working in the snow makes the cabin feel extremely cozy, and you feel compelled to go out and collect supplies for their sake. The way models appear buried in snow when set outside is also a good touch.

The game’s building and cooking systems have surprising depth. Preparing ingredients, collecting fuel, and cooking food were fairly well created. Many building options are also available, which would be very pleasing for those interested in creating their own unique survival encampments.

Sadly, once I hit a certain point, surviving became a cakewalk, as supply stashes were always hidden just a walk away from my base. Additionally, there were never any crucial threats I was forced to deal with. Neither the frozen temperature, enemy soldiers, nor even harsh wildlife threatened me in my everyday routine, making the survival gameplay after the first few hours a breeze yet oddly unenjoyable with the lack of struggles.

Horrendous Story and Quests

At first, you must become accustomed to the base survival gameplay, completing quests and stories tied to rebuilding your animal farm and home base. After this, you begin some quests, such as following fellow soldiers and completing tasks around the map for them. These few quests mostly involve using the base survival mechanics to help out people in need.

Similar to the majority of this game, there is little depth here. Many of the stories are uninspired, with one breaking, so I couldn’t see the text that the abandoned soldier was supposed to say. Other than that quest, the only other quest is one where you help another surviving family. This questline also broke halfway through, as, for a while, the NPCs I needed to talk to vanished.

While the stories, the context behind them, and the entire game make sense, it feels like every element needs so much polish to be complete. There also is a lack of general story content to complete in the game itself. Additionally, as someone who loves World War 2 and its history, I find that this game barely takes advantage of it other than the initial explanation of the setting.

I’ll Make My Own Fun Then

Once I reached the end of these questlines, I told myself that to give this game the best chance, I’d do my best to give it a go, true survival game style, and make my own fun out of the chaos. And thus, I started walking in the opposite direction of where I had been going before.

In the wild, you’ll notice it becomes relatively easy to find wild deer, stags, and boars to hunt, as they seem to spawn in a perfect area around you as you walk. While you must be stealthy while hunting, stumbling across animals to kill for food isn’t hard.

As I walked around, I found a ditch in the ground that I dug supplies out of, and later found a fishing rod next to a pond. This all made me think, hey, this isn’t too bad. I scoured an abandoned building for supplies and continued to make my way in the wild, finding points of interest and enjoying the limited yet engaging exploration.

Then I stumbled upon something I’d been anticipating for a while: an enemy base. Sadly, this became one of the game’s greatest letdowns.

Utterly Broken

After stealthily approaching an enemy, lining up the shot, and firing directly into his skull, where a cloud of red mist appeared in conjunction, the enemy turned to look directly at me and started running. In combat, enemies run directly at you until they are a certain distance away, where they then stop to fire. Yet, your running speed is always greater than theirs, so you can just run away, fire as they are still approaching, and then run away again to reload, never even letting the AI go to an attack animation. Enemies are also much greater health sponges than expected, so this process repeats repeatedly if you try fighting an enemy.

While the utterly unfinished combat was the final nail in the coffin to me, this entire game is filled with lackluster AI, user interface, and user experience.

Often, the in-game text is broken, and the wording, which I assume is translated from another language, requires multiple glances to understand. There is no voice acting, but that’s okay because the dialogue spoken by NPCs is basic and bland regardless.

The way you complete a quest is entirely obtuse. You have to find out how to properly tick the box that you did whatever task you were supposed to. Although I luckily could complete almost everything independently without outside help, it would sometimes take multiple attempts and questioning frustration to realize, oh, I needed to place this in a specific box or click on this NPC to complete the quest.

Additionally, the user interface, like the stove cooking element, feels half-baked and needs more polish. To place wood in the stove, for instance, it took a few tries to realize that you can’t simply place the wood in the tab that says place wood here, but it has to be on the actual words themselves, or else it won’t transfer.

Visually, the game can look pretty good in the best circumstances, but at its worst, it reaches levels of jank lower than even the most unpolished Bethesda experience. NPCs sit in the air and have bad path-finding. Unappealing and, quite frankly, creepy textures and models litter this game.

Yet, what’s even worse than all this is how broken the game is on a deeper level. I ended up crashing a handful of times, and as I played, there were constant stutters and minor frame rate hiccups that seemed to grow and grow. The worst part is how long the load times are to enter the game. While fast traveling is very quick and seamless, I would often wait minutes for my saved game to load to get into the game itself, so after getting killed due to a falling tree to find out if it would hurt and later dying while testing the incomplete combat, I would have to withstand minutes of loads to further punish my actions.

A Farmer Who Doesn’t Farm?

The most heinous offense about Farmer’s Father: Save the Innocence is that farming isn’t even possible aside from the few animals you gain. There is no planting crops, watering soil, or harvesting plants at all in this experience. In a way, this means it doesn’t even live up to its title.

This game doesn’t have absolutely nothing going for it. It has many fascinating survival elements mixed with a unique story. While I wouldn’t say that this game is complete in its current state, if you enjoy these types of survival games or the previous game, Farmers Life, then possibly give this game a go if you’re interested. Sadly, I can say that otherwise, it may be best to give this experience a pass, at least until they fix the nonfunctional aspects.

Review: Dragon’s Dogma 2

Daniel Waite
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Review: Dragon’s Dogma 2

Dragon’s Dogma 2 is a fun but often silly dive into a medieval existence. The massive world, colourful characters, and flawed bugs make you laugh and smile in equal measure. However, its story doesn’t hold the same charms as its more serious counterparts. Consequently, this may annoy the toughest and most battle-hardened individuals. However, if, like me, you love an interesting and stunning world that twists and turns, then this will be right up your street.

This role-playing adventure title was developed and published by Capcom. Furthermore, it has a sense of online action as you “borrow” pawns from other players. Yet, this wasn’t an element that I fixated upon. As I begged, stole, and borrowed helpers whenever I wanted. It was this sense of freedom and fluidity that helped an otherwise punctuated game flow nicely. Moreover, your companions’ jolly and sassy nature will brighten up the darkest days.

Dragon’s Dogma 2 tells a tale of redemption. 

Having your heart eaten by a pissed-off dragon is everyone’s nightmare… Well, maybe not everyone’s, but it certainly was a blot on the protagonist’s day. However, this slight setback is the catalyst for an unlikely set of events. As the dragon is laughing and joking about its victory, you somehow rise from the dead. With no heart to pump your blood, you are now known as the “Arisen”. You are a chosen entity that must complete its preordained path and rule the kingdom.

This fantasy story is as outlandish as it is vast. On top of this, is a host of characters, side quests, and exploration elements that rivals its peers. Furthermore, the day and night cycle is bloody deadly and being caught in the darkness is asking for trouble. As such, preparation is essential if you wish to fulfil the prophecy. 

The story is just noise. 

Dragon’s Dogma 2 does a great job of setting the scene. The “ye olde” English is as amusing as it is confusing. Subsequently, I ended up shutting off to the ramblings of each merchant. Alongside this, the cinematic rolls on for days as every layer is well explained and narrated. Yet, when time is short, and you just wish to slay ogres, trolls, ghosts, and goblins, it gets in your way. 

It was unfortunate that the story was just background noise that got discarded. If you have time and the desire, you’ll probably adore every bizarre twist. But if you are like me, you’ll get the basic idea and quickly move along. 

My lack of story focus didn’t detract from the overall experience. Instead, it allowed me to venture into the world with an open mind and a sense of despair. This dangerous edge was fantastic, and I adored the blend of combat, suspense, and exploration. 

Different characters.

Where Dragon’s Dogma 2 excels is its character creation. Both the hero and their pawn can be created from scratch. Every layer of their appearance, race, and skill set can be adjusted. Moreover, you may select the class that supports your style and complements your weaknesses. It is this level of detail that draws you into a personalised experience.

If you struggle with your character limitations, you may hire pawns to help balance up each encounter. This was a little random, but I adored the flexibility of this gameplay mechanic. Additionally, it allowed you to test different combat styles without breaking away from your normal preferences. 

Vocations. 

We’ve all played those rigid RPGs where your class is your class. Accordingly, if you wish to break from this path, you’ll have to reset your gameplay and lose your progress. Dragon’s Dogma 2 is different! As you explore the world, you may wish to mix things up. Well, you can, as your vocation alters your combat and playstyle in one impressive move.

This adjustable concept is phenomenal as it allows you to blend your pawns’ abilities with your hero’s strengths. Consequently, you can be ready for any situation without breaking a sweat.

Dragon’s Dogma 2 looks great despite 30 FPS.

A low frame rate is a big no for many gamers. I don’t mind this issue as it rarely bothers me. However, at times, Dragon’s Dogma 2 stutters and stalls badly. This wasn’t what I expected from a next-gen game. Additionally, when you consider how smooth the combat is and how great the world looks, it is disappointing.

If you can overlook the 30 FPS, you’ll adore the incredible world. The vast open spaces are immense. Moreover, the brutal nature of nighttime and its deadly consequences will keep you on your toes. As such, this is as dramatic as it is suspenseful.

If you love being followed around by a permanent narrator, then you’ll cherish every moment. Honestly, the constant blah, blah, blah of your pawn will drive you to distraction. The little turds will not stop chatting and moaning about their slave-like existence. Yet, this annoyance to one side, Dragon’s Dogma 2 sounds amazing. The dramatic soundtrack is fantastic, and the sound effects work perfectly with every weapon, spell, and monster. 

Smooth controls. 

With many vocations to pick from and a seamlessly never-ending stream of quests, I worried about the controls. I expected this to be messy and challenging to play. However, the tutorial is thorough, well-paced, and interesting to tackle. Furthermore, though the UI can be overbearing, once you understand the fundamentals, you’ll be slaying monsters like a pro. 

Dragon’s Dogma 2 takes time to grow on you. The action evolves nicely, and you shouldn’t judge it too early. Once you understand its finer points, you’ll love its medieval charms. Moreover, the character creation is one of the best I’ve experienced. Subsequently, this has both replay value and longevity.

Dragon’s Dogma 2 is a fun and different fantasy experience. 

Though hardcore RPG lovers may not be so impressed, I enjoyed the fun and unusual elements of this title. Furthermore, the world is massive, the quests are interesting, and the vocation mechanic was an excellent choice. Accordingly, I love this and I recommend buying it here! Can you fulfil your potential? Grab your pawn, explore the world, and get your revenge.

Review: Darkest Dungeon II

Daniel Qi
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Review: Darkest Dungeon II

Even for a soul-like fanatic like me, Darkest Dungeon II is still one of the most painfully engrossing and addictively tormenting games I have ever encountered. There you have it, the one line that might just trigger some challenge-lovers to immediately hit that purchase button.

The biggest lie that DDII might sell you is it’s theme: tossed within a decaying world overrun with despair and you set on a journey with nothing but your four battle-forged mortal champions, a stagecoach and the unwavering hope that no matter how many times you have lost, the next run might save the world. Crude, typical and idealistic, right? At least not all hope is gone. Well bare with me, albeit Darkest Dungeon II is a ridiculously cruel and dark turn-based roguelite that is insanely enjoyable for a game that focuses so much on making me suffer, it is not simple nor typical, and certainly doesn’t offer hope.

A picture of the stagecoach which is on the road, riding towards it's inevitable fate.

Learn to Enjoy not only Losing, but Suffering

Losing is an essential part of any Roguelite, that is how you tend to learn the battle system and hopefully to do better in the next cycle. But DDII not only make me lose, it made me suffer. 

Unlike a normal turn-base, DDII does not have a card-drawing system or mana system that restricted champions from using their skills, as long as they are in the right positions they can do whatever I wanted them to do. But instead, there is a pressure system. Quite self-explanatory, the pressure system indicates each champion’s stress-level. This stress level increases when an enemy lands a critical hit or some heavy damage move, when facing unfortunate obstacles on the road and when seeing their fellow champions die. At the first few play throughs of this game, the pressure system alone has caused me most of my failing, since once the champion’s stree-level is maxed out they are at risk of a meltdown. And yes, just like a meltdown in real life, it is no joke. Not only will this meltdown immediately decrease their HP to a critical level but also negatively affect their relationship with their companions.

The picture of the cahmpion "Occultist" suffering a meltdown

Since I mentioned it, there is also the relationship system, which is likewise such a charm. (no it’s not) Each champion will have unique relationships with other champions in the same team, which is essentially how they would feel about each other. If they feel negatively towards each other they may form a negative relationship which will literally tear your team apart from the inside. Although reaching a negative relationship as a result is not as easy as a meltdown, it is still something I had to watch out for. It is much easier to form negative relationship than a positive one through meltdowns, taking decisions at locations which not every member approves and simply just bad conversations along the road: after all, it is simpler to get people to hate you than to like you. Sometimes it is merely inevitable.

The picture of the champion "grave-robber" and "Hellion" forming a hateful relationship

And mind I mention the cherry on top of all of that, which is the permanent death system matched with the zero-health-restore after battle and lack of viable HP restore options. There have been times where I finally reach the next inn, which is a checkpoint in the game, but had only one or two champions left and were forced to consider the option of quitting.

I know these systems feel like a lot, and in fact they are quite overwhelming for anyone who hasn’t played DDI (which I haven’t). But undeniably those systems also help, in an incredible way, to make the desperate world so much more realistic and the game so much more immersive. After a few cycles of clueless death I actually started to enjoy the suffering, which I believe is the true magic of DDII. It puts an overwhelming and seemingly impossible task in front of you, but allows you to chip away at it little by little, and through this, hooks you tiger to its grasp. The game only gets more enjoyable as the hour accumulates.

A Grand, Bloody Banquet for your Eyes and Ears

Albeit consist of only suffering and almost no reward, I couldn’t manage to stop playing even within the first few hours. It is true, what better way to get a gamer’s attention than to grab their eyes and ears?

DDII’s grotesque and retro comic-like aesthetics is so intriguing that I couldn’t move my eyes from it at all. Sometimes it is immersive and epic, like when I am about to embark onto a new map it paints the four heroes staring into their fate; sometimes it is disturbingly creative when it painted a knight-like enemy who has stag-horns growing out of their eyes throw the creeks on their helmet which is made out of wook; sometimes it is just straightforward cool as hell, like the killing blow my champions deals are always executed in such a brutal and bloody animation. In general, the iconic art of DDII not only fits the ambiance of the game perfectly, but its unique style makes the game visually so much more expressive, impactful and abhorrent, all of which made it impossible for me to stop exploring further.

Picture of the four starting champions staring into the burning city.

Not only visually, the narration of DDII, which has followed me through the whole game no matter what I am doing, is also a major attraction of the game. The narration lines are a mixture of dark humor, extravagant poetry and acute philosophy, generally written in a pretentious and medieval style yet brought to life by that signature, epic voice of Wayne June, who is widely renowned in the industry. This narration creates such an engrossing atmosphere that during my playthrough I had to turn off the volume in the middle for a short while and almost immediately I could feel that emptiness like something was missing from the game. It is not a far stretch to say other than everything else, what paints the picture of DDII the strongest is the narration, which is saying quite a lot, given how addictive the picture itself is.

Don’t Tell a Story, Show One

The story of DDII is intriguing, this is not to say that the plot itself is truly mind-blowingly revolutionary: it is good, but rather how the story is told. Fragmented and served, DDII didn’t really tell me much about what happened about the world but let my imagination did most of the work itself. This is a very effective but difficult way of storytelling, too much or too little information then the audience might lose all interest at once. But the one thing I liked about DDII is that it starts unveiling the background slowly, in pieces, at the start of every expedition, which only makes me want to find out more.

What is really impressive about the storytelling must be the independent background story every champion has unique to themselves. Other than the conventional flashbacks, DDII tells you those stories through battles. For example, in the second chapter of Audrey, the grave robber’s story there was not a single passage to read, but rather just a battle between her, her ex-husband and a food trolly. The dialogues screamed by her husband, his actions and actions allowed for Audrey which changed from placation to back-off and hiding in the shadow to poison his drinks did all the work. It is the ultimate way of “showing not telling” in storytelling 101.

Picture of the four champions resting in the inn, tired and battered.

Conclusion

Darkest Dungeon II is a great game that is not for everyone. I know usually that is how the game works, some audience will like it more than others, but DDII has almost strictly separated those demographics through play-times. For gamers that likes a great challenge and don’t mind taking constant humiliation and failure along the way, DDII is a great game for them; on the other hand, for gamers that likes a smooth difficulty arc, accumulating through constant progress and enjoy beautiful fantasy with the feeling of accomplishment along the way, DDII is probably not your game. But whichever population you belong to, devote a few hours in it and I gurantee you DDII might just be your next addiction.

Review: South Park: Snow Day!

Matt Cooper
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Review: South Park: Snow Day!
After finding success with its previous two games South Park returns with Snow Day! But is it a worthy entry in this legendary franchise?

Schools out, Mmkay?

After the runaway success of ‘The Stick of Truth’ and ‘The Fractured But Whole’, South Park returns with Snow Day! Developed by Question LLC in collaboration with South Park Digital Studios, Snow Day takes the franchise into the fully 3D realm in this hack and slash adventure game. Taking place after the events of the previous two entries in the series, Snow Day finds the town of South Park engulfed in a deadly snowstorm, causing school to be closed. You take on the role of a player-created character (as in previous games) who once again is the new kid in town. It’s the easy option to assign the player the role of new kid but one they could have innovated from the previous games, mixing up the formula. Character creation has a decent amount of customization options to help you design your player, but could have used more unique outfits for the player to utilise.

The story of Snow Day is pretty simple: Cartman has prayed for a day off school, resulting in an intense blizzard covering the town of South Park. With school cancelled, the town’s kids decide to play a game together, but the kids are split into factions and are at war with one another. Donning fantasy costumes, Cartman humorously informs you that the new kid has broken the rules in the past two games, (a fun reference to Stick of Truth and Fractured But Whole) resulting in brand new rules for this game. Besides a couple of moments later on in the game, this is quite literally the plot. The game is set over 5 different chapters which boil down to defeating each main South Park character: Stan, Kyle, Kenny and Cartman, with an iconic character being revealed as the main villain at the end of the penultimate chapter. Unfortunately, it’s a way to shoehorn all characters into the game which I found lazy and uninspired. Stick of Truth and Fractured But Whole loom large over this game and if anything, this shows how good and unique the stories for those games were.

The story suffers greatly from the staggering lack of comedic moments and dialogue from the characters. No real gross-out moments, risky commentary or crude humour make their way into the game, bar for a few moments. As a fan of the show and a huge fan of the previous two games this is a real disappointment. There is only so many reused Cartman and Mr Hankey lines to carry the humour as far as it can.

Into the 3D unknown

Graphically speaking, this is a new venture for the franchise as the game has been created and made in full 3D. This decision could have paid off and created a new unique look for the South Park universe but ultimately, I found the 3D visuals bizarrely uglier than the deliberate 2D design. Characters look like cheap knockoffs of the beloved characters at times, the choice for 3D is an understandable one, considering the gameplay but it just looks and feels off.

Environments look bland and bare, with no real care or time taken to create unique moments for the player or cool little easter eggs for fans of the show. I can appreciate the developers trying something different with this game and its art style but I feel as though it hasn’t paid off and bizarrely has made the town and its inhabitants look worse. It’s not all bad though; the cards which give you abilities are animated with childlike drawings which actually looked unique and stood out from the rest of the game. In terms of sound design, the classic characters are voiced faithfully, still giving you that unique connection to the franchise and its legacy. The enemy sound design can vary, with some enemies just regurgitating and repeating the same line of dialogue every time you defeat them. The music of the game is a strong point, with varying soundtracks for the five chapters making each chapter feel different in tone and scope. The developers have done an excellent job making a fun soundtrack for the game.

Dark Matter, Matters

Unlike the turn based combat in the previous entries, Snow Day attempts to create a hack and slash beat ’em up style combat system for the player, with disappointing results. Playing this game, the combat feels sluggish and repetitive; at best it feels serviceable for the player while at its worst it is just downright button mashing. Whether it’s the axe, sword or daggers, each weapon feels virtually the same with its 3 set moves. Bow, staff and wands can create some variety in how you want to approach the enemies but ultimately it just feels so repetitive it can become boring incredibly fast. Levels consist of fighting enemies in an area and then moving forward, only to fight enemies again before leading up to the boss at the end of the level. Powers within the game are unlocked through completing combat tasks and story completion and are unique to the South Park universe. Whether it’s using fart gas to jump up high, or use cat piss to revive the dead, the developers have at least brought the unique humour of the show into the game.

It’s worth noting this game can be played in online co-op or solo. I completed the story in co-op which was enjoyable at least to play with friends and mindlessly attack enemies. It was only when I played solo after the story did I discover the horror of the AI. The AI companions are some of the worst AI I have come across recently. They mindlessly walk into enemies, getting stuck in environments and they eventually get downed by the enemies. They are utterly terrible, the less said about them the better. Conversely, the enemy AI is also wildly inconsistent with some enemies stun locking you, making it impossible to escape.

The only mechanic within the game that changes up the pace and leads to some unique gameplay moments is the card ability system. At the start of each mission, the player must choose an ability card from a set of three. Dependent on which weapon and power they have selected in their loadout, the cards can increase their effectiveness, allowing the player to test different abilities on different levels to find what suits them best. Players are also given the selection of powers for the level, with my personal favourite being laser eyes. These have limited uses but can help in a tight spot. Along with the ability cards are the bullshit cards, a humorous and unique way to show the player the enemies’ abilities specific to the level. These can range from bubble shields making them harder to kill, or giant size, creating tougher enemies for the player to defeat. While these are welcome additions, they cannot save the core gameplay from feeling stale. At least the cards are delivered with humorous lines from Jimmy.

Roguelike Smoguelike

The game tries to sell you on the fact it has some roguelike inspired elements but these are few and far between. Classing each attempt at a chapter as a ‘Run’ is generous at best, as in reality, the game just doesn’t have a checkpoint system, therefore you are required to play each chapter start to finish. The addition of the dark matter upgrades from Mr Hankey are welcome as they act as permanent upgrades for the player. Whether you want pure damage upgrades or speed upgrades, the developers have created a varied skill tree for the player to select if they so wish, providing the player can force themselves to play long enough to unlock all these perks.

The downright worst part of the game is the horde mode. Tacked on and terrible, the horde mode plays like you would expect, fighting enemies wave after wave. What is utterly bizarre about this mode is some horde levels literally have a 7 wave limit. Who would choose 7 rounds?! Just a very odd choice by the developer. This mode really is the worst part of the game.

Verdict

Compared with how much I loved the past two South Park games, I am deeply disappointed with Snow Day. Mindless, boring and repetitive, this game could have really been a cool and different entry into the franchise. Instead, the art style, combat and story leave the player wanting so much more. Playing in co-op is fun for a time and while the music can be excellent, the game just makes me long for another RPG style South Park game. Mmkay.

Review: Monsters Domain

Dawid Wisniewski
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Review: Monsters Domain

When you sit down and start describing Monsters Domain , it honestly sounds quite amazing, all the ideas should combine into a fun hack ‘n’ slash that fulfils your every overlord dream that can only be quenched by the likes of 2007’s OVERLORD.

When I first booted up Monsters Domain I had a rough idea what I will be getting into. The unreal engine logo always makes me wary of cheap games with flipped or cheaply acquired assets from solo developers that want to make a quick buck on Steam. But I was pleasantly surprised when present the main menu and a settings menu with extensive options, even including voice chat options which may indicate a future co-op experience. With 3 difficulty settings to choose from (and one locked) I went in with the hopes for a new OVERLORD successor.

We are presented by a cutscene that shows a small band of explorers open an ancient tomb and releasing the ancient evil that was sealed away from the world, us. The in game cutscenes suffer the same visual problems that the main gameplay loop also does, it isn’t ugly , it’s just boring. The voice acting can only be described as ‘passable’ and really nothing to pay much attention too other than the fact that the audio does not match the subtitles with every other sentence. almost like the subtitles were a draft and the audio is what the studio settled on later.

At it’s core the game is a first person hack ‘n’ slash with a fun companion system that becomes tedious later on. You possess one of the poor souls that have let you outside the tomb in the beginning cutscene and you use their body to kill your enemies (with the option to switch and possess other enemies. At the same time you also resurrect two companions that you can gear up and command while going through the mostly linear levels and hacking away at mostly the same enemies. I say mostly as occasionally throughout the level you will stumble upon a large gate that will end either being a platforming dungeon to get through or a slightly harder enemy camp. The game very quickly introduces you to the mechanics of gearing up your companions, making them use a variety of weapons from one to two-handed melee weapons, to bows and even magic staffs. The combat it self is pretty standard, you can slash, block, parry and dodge, as long as levelling up and unlocking spells from a few elements. You have to manage your Health, stamina and mana as well as your minions health in order to over come your enemies which range from human knights and guards to goblins and hellish creatures.

As you go through the level you accumulate a massive amount of loot from chests and fallen enemies it a struggle to juggle around your minions and upgrading everyone’s gear one by one ( max 3 active minions at a time). I really wish I could save a substantial amount of time with a simple ‘auto-equip’ button. When I came across the first side objective enemy camp is where most of the problems presented themselves. Facing a larger group of enemies shows just how janky the game really is , with minions standing and taking all the hits with no retaliation, enemies ignoring all impact and spamming attacks, getting stuck on small objects and clutter was unfortunately persistent through out my entire play time. So my first ‘combat puzzle’ ended with a lot of frustration as my minions stood still in a group of enemies, perish and when left alone the 7 or so enemies spammed me with attacks that I ran out of stamina to dodge or block and ultimately resetting me to my checkpoint.

Another aspect of the game are the puzzles and at first I was presented with one where I had to use my minions to stand on multiple different buttons in order to activate a door. But that was re-used in the exact same way and so often that it quickly lost its charm. The other puzzles are the side dungeons I mentioned that are short platforming parts where you avoid Indiana Jones style traps, which are so predictable and easy that the only challenge is not being bored of waiting for the floor spikes to slot back into the ground. Going through this first area doing the same loop of , kill group , resurrect minions to fill my team if I lost any and spend 5 minutes looking through gear to give them and occasionally be slowed down by a basic puzzle to open a door. Now I finally come across a boss fight, the cutscene plays, a hellish being jumps out in a huge arena that finally stands out from the rest of the level and I get ready to battle using every mechanic I learned! And its dead. Because I went through all the enemy camps on the side I was clearly stronger than I should of been at that moment, sadly raising the difficulty didn’t really change that for future areas.

So now here I am going to a new area, hoping for the game to open up but really expecting the exact same loop as before. I was wrong, as the game just through base building my way and I could not be more excited. Immediately I was ready to ignore all the jank and clank of Monsters Domain so I can create my ultimate overlord lair.

Unsurprisingly my excitement was short lived as the mechanics of using minions to collect resources, as well as levelling them up with gear and souls to then send them on expeditions was all for a frustrating wave based defence section. The overall base area is ugly bland, so repetitive that a mini map cant help you not getting lost. the structures are basic and there’s no decorations apart from some gargoyles but there’s no reason to ponder at them as moving around is a slog. It’s made more annoying that when you place structures they are highlighted green that’s so bright you can tell which way they are facing. This is also where I realised there’s a crafting mechanic that the game never mentioned to me and honestly , I never used because the gear I found was sufficient enough and the lack of gear for my minions wasn’t the problem. It was the minion AI bugging out and standing still, staring at the enemy slashing away at them.

My excitement vanished entirely when my whole progress of upgrading and levelling up my minions crumbled on the battlefield of my first base defence. As again all my decked out minions stood there and took hits with no retaliation. After the battle was finished I got a cutscene telling me to go to the next area to continue my quest. Upon the cutscene finishing, the battlefield was cleared up, all the loot dropped from my fallen minions was gone as well as any enemies I could resurrect to fill out my ranks. I decided to give the game couple more hours to see if it redeems itself within the next area or two but in my opinion it didn’t.

To conclude my time with Monsters Domain I’m honestly just upset. I feel like every mechanic in this game is a promise of something great. Every minute of gameplay is like a sales pitch that gets you more and more excited about the final product and what you will get if you just stick around and then as soon as you go to grab this GOTY idea, it just walks away. If this was early access I would maybe suggest waiting and wish listing the game for later but since it’s the full release, I can only suggest giving it your time if it comes in a bundle you were going to buy anyway.

Review: Tube T31 External SSD

Daniel Waite
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Review: Tube T31 External SSD

SK Hynix is renowned for its internal storage solutions. However, recently, they have branched out to deliver external convenience alongside their reliable technology. I looked at the Beetle X31 and loved it. Consequently, when I was offered the Tube T31 External SSD, I jumped at the opportunity.

Though this drive isn’t spectacular to look at, it is rugged, well-built and wonderfully versatile. It can be used with any modern laptop or PC. Alternatively, you can use it to store data for your Xbox or PlayStation. Consequently, this is a fantastic cost-effective way to expand your storage. However, if you game on Xbox, you cannot play next-gen titles directly from the drive. As such, you will still need to transfer data to maximise the Series X gaming potential.

What’s in the box of the Tube T31 External SSD?

  • The packaging is slender and attractive. The eye-catching imagery juxtaposed the simplicity of the external drive. 
  • The Tube T31 External SSD is chunky and robust. The USB-A port is protected by a removable lid. Additionally, it has a dark and professional finish. 

Technical aspects. 

Whenever I invest in an external drive, I need it to be hard-wearing, reliable, and have lightning-fast data transfer. Thankfully, the Tube T31 External SSD delivers on all fronts! Thanks to the internal thermal control, the drive runs at optimal speeds no matter how hard you push it. With up to 1,000MB/s (10 Gbps) data transfer speeds, you are not left disappointed. Additionally, the 3.2 USB port interface creates a reliable and steady connection.

Where this drive excels is its write and read speeds. I utilised industry-standard tests to understand how the drive would work during small and larger file transfers. The tests I focused on were Blackmagic DST and AJA STL. These programs pushed the device to its limits whilst giving me the ability to observe critical data and temperatures. 

The write speed averaged around the 805MB/s range. Whereas, the read speed was an impressive 830-832MB/s. Finally, the temperature during the larger file transfers was not excessive, and I was happy that the device would perform admirably if pushed for long periods. These results are comparable to the X31 drive and sit near the top when compared with its peers. Accordingly, this is a spectacular return when you consider the financial outlay. 

Build quality. 

I liked the chunky and robust nature of the plastic housing. However, its plain appearance and use of USB-A may disappoint. The packaging paints an image of an attractive and unique amp drive. Yet, in reality, this isn’t the case. Now, appearances are the least of my concerns when it comes to my data. Consequently, the simple finish didn’t bother me. 

My interest is centred around the internal components. The use of a thermal layer to keep the drive cool was a stroke of genius. Moreover, the M.2 SSD ensures that this drive will be reliable for extended periods. On top of this, though the USB-A is dated tech, the 3.2 interface and the chunky and strong qualities are perfect for a portable device. 

Is the Tube T31 External SSD worth it?

Though this isn’t as attractive as its counterparts, it performs perfectly. With fast read and write speeds and excellent thermal qualities, this drive is ideal for small and large file transfers. Moreover, its versatility for console and PC tasks is incredible. Consequently, I love it and I recommend that you buy it here!

(More information on SK Hynix can be found here!)

The Tube T31 External SSD has been awarded the Movies Games and Tech Gold Award.

(Full disclosure! SK Hynix provided a sample for this review!)

Review: Holy Stick!

Xavier Berry
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Review: Holy Stick!

Games with a high focus on multiplayer have always had a hard time sticking with me. While I enjoy the implementation of local multiplayer, not having a single player option can really be off putting for players like myself. Holy Stick! Is a prime example of what happens when a game fails to capture an audience of players who enjoy playing games on their own, even if it is a frantic party game with interesting mechanics.

with no story or behind the scene motivation here, holy stick leans heavily into the party game genre and pits players against one another in a multitude of game modes that will have players destroying each other for all kinds of reasons. There is a ton of content to be found here With basic modes like deathmatch, Capture the flag, and Gun game to be found along with many others. Playing matches will have you collecting coins which can be used to purchase customization options for your stick figure. I love having the option to make my character stand out amongst the others but unfortunatly, that’s where the fun ended for me. 

First thing that I noticed was that the closest thing to a single player option you will find is a lobby full of CPU bots. I had no issues with this except for the fact that the CPU doesn’t seem competent enough to engage in an interesting match and had me running around just trying to learn how the game works. With no tutorial or introduction here, it is off to a painful start that has a hard time recovering. 

When your player gets dropped onto the map, you are given a gun and an objective that is voiced over in a childish tone. This does lean into the aesthetic that the game goes for since you are playing as stick figures that are drawn onto a map that looks like it is straight out a middle schoolers notebook but its charm wears off quickly. Your characters will shout and scream as the match progresses and it is full of adolescent humor and the sound of farting gas cans exploding doesn’t help. While this might be interesting with the right group of people, it is hard to find enjoyment here when playing on your own. 

As you navigate the map, you will be tasked with eliminating the other team as you try to fulfill your goals. Each gun has a laser sight on it and a different firing pattern but unfortunately, the firing trajectory doesn’t follow the line setup since some guns have bullet drop-off. This would be a fine feature in a game that is more focused on a realistic approach to its combat but for a game with stick figures blowing each other up, I would have preferred that this be kept out. I often found my shots missing and by the time I figured out how to adjust for each weapon, I was extremely frustrated and ready to quit.

One of the more interesting aspects of the game involves the value of your stick man’s limbs during combat. If you lose the use of your arms or legs then you will find yourself at a disadvantage until you either die or find a med kit to fix your missing limbs. While this does add some tension to the fights, it is undone by the fact that health kits can be found throughout the map and regenerate after a period of time, taking away the weight of the loss and making it more of a minor inconvenience.

My time spent with holy Stick was not one that I can say I enjoyed due to the high focus on multiplayer and while you can match up with bots, there is no real challenge except learning how to actually play the game. The concept of hand-drawn maps in the spaces of a notebook is really interesting but unfortunately any good will this game earns is only dampened by a bad experience moments later. 

Postal: Brain Damaged Review

Ralph Heseltine
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Postal: Brain Damaged Review

The Postal series is really like no other. The release of Postal: Brain Damaged on the Nintendo Switch makes it a debut for the Postal series on the console. The game is an addition to the ‘boomer shooter’ genre which essentially means it’s an unrealistic shooter where you are given a massive weapons arsenal at your disposal. It is almost impossible to review or discuss this game without mentioning gruesome or explicit adult content. So, readers, you have been warned.

Postal Brain Damaged is pretty much the realisation of what strict anti-gaming parents imagine when they forbid their children from playing violent video games. It is so insanely violent, bloody and gruesome yet in a way that does not take itself seriously at all. You can literally burn people alive by urinating on them (after consuming a hot sauce) as well as a bow that shoots dildo’s rather than arrows.  In the first mission, you’re introduced to the game as a character who hates the suburbs and is quested with pretty much murdering everyone, hounds included. It’s not going to be easy though, red necks with pump shot guns as well as floating fat Americans, armed with pizza and burgers, will do their best to stop you. “Not in the Sister!” They cry after you successfully blow their brains out.

The majority of gameplay Postal Brain Damaged offers is through its campaign. You play as the Postal dude who in his sleep commits various atrocities. It deviates from previous open-world instalments of the Postal game series and is played through missions. The Missions themselves feel somewhat open-world and explorable though. There are various secrets to discover, and the Game incentivises you to defeat all enemies rather than speeding past them with an online leaderboard of mission performance. While there is some absolutely hilarious edgy/ironic humour in this story, it’s not really the game’s defining characteristic.

The game also has a survival mode which is a fun spin-off mode. You use all the weapons and perks in the game and fight most of the enemies in the game wave after wave. The usual round-based survival stuff. You get to play on 3 different survival maps which vary in size but are all pretty fun.

Overall, the fast-paced ‘shoot everything you see gameplay’ is admittedly lots of fun and doesn’t feel repetitive. The weapon variety is great. I never got bored of one of the first weapons you unlock which is a double-barrelled shotgun which allows you to hook onto enemies. The soundtrack is excellent and plays upon the general humour of the game, as the peaceful jazzy soundtrack quickly becomes heavy metal when you enter any combat scenario. The gameplay is as funny as it is enjoyable, as long as you have a taste for a gruesome combat style. It may be my inexperience with this style of shooter showing, but I found the game very difficult. I was met with a challenge even on the lowest difficulty. However, that only adds to the satisfying gunplay when you do get one hit kills and survive an onslaught with a single digit in your health bar. The movement is very sensitive. I found even on the lowest sensitivity setting, I was moving in very quick movements. This means for Switch owners, with Joycon drift, the game can be almost unplayable at times. I would personally recommend getting this game on another platform if you can. In total though, that did not detract much from the positive experience I had with this game.

News: Call of Duty Warzone Mobile

Daniel Waite
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News: Call of Duty Warzone Mobile

Call of Duty Warzone Mobile has been well-received. However, you may be concerned that you won’t be as competitive when playing on your mobile device. Well, worry not as Turtle Beach has you covered. This exceptional manufacturer has created some amazing peripherals for mobile gaming. Accordingly, you’ll enjoy an elite match-winning edge.

I’ve reviewed the Atom controller and the Recon Cloud controller. Consequently, I know how good both peripherals are. The latter is a more traditional approach that is larger and heavier than the Atom. However, the Atom is a compact and unique design that’s a real head-turner. Accordingly, whatever option you pick, you’ll love how it changes your experience.

Controller details to improve your Call of Duty Warzone Mobile gaming. 

Turtle Beach Atom Controller (iPhone and Android). 

The Atom Controller brings the familiar console-style controller feel to mobile gamers, with ergonomic handles that keep hands relaxed and comfortable during those hours-long gaming sessions. The Atom Controller comes equipped with full-size thumb sticks, a D-Pad, bumpers, triggers, and ABXY buttons, plus view and menu buttons for precise responsive controls.

Turtle Beach Recon Cloud Controller.

The Recon Cloud Hybrid Controller combines the best of both worlds for mobile gamers on Xbox and PC. Gamers can play longer and in total comfort thanks to the Recon Cloud’s ergonomic shape and cooling grips. The Recon Cloud’s adjustable phone clip securely mounts all compatible Android phones – nearly any sized phone, even in its case – above the controller, and when the clip is detached, it converts into a tabletop stand.

Where to buy the controllers?

Both controllers are available now from major retailers. However, the Atom controller can be purchased here, and the Recon Cloud controller can be purchased here! If you wish to improve your mobile gaming experience, then I suggest you look no further than either of these peripherals.

(More information on Turtle Beach can be found here!)

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