Published by Ultimate Games for the Nintendo Switch, Together is a bright, fun, multiplayer puzzle game. Tasked with battling enemies, collecting various items, and most importantly working as a team, this game is fun for all ages. Learn each character’s abilities, find new places to explore, but most importantly – stick together.
So much potential, yet no execution
Together has a fantastic concept behind it. All characters are linked with an elasticated line, and if that snaps and you are disconnected for five seconds it’s game over. But with endless amounts of holes and traps to fall into this isn’t as easy as it seems. Upon first picking it up, this is an amusing and tense mechanic. But after a few rounds it loses its charm. Together lacks any sort of personality and drive. It’s hard to stay focused when you don’t even know what you’re fighting for. The story as to why isn’t really explained, you just dive right into it. Which is a shame, because the concept of being constantly connected would make for a great, hilarious gaming experience.
The game also has a low-budget look to it. Colours are bright, certainly, but animations are low quality and it just looks empty. Although the whole point of maps being black and white is for you to colour them as you progress, even that lacks the wow factor. Rather than being an intense, action packed adventure, you just sort of bumble along until you can begin the next level. There isn’t enough to keep me entertained, where there definitely could be. It’s such a shame, as this game has a lot of potential.
B-tech Battleblock
Together feels very heavily influenced by games like Battleblock Theatre. Which excelled due to the personality and charm of the game. But Together doesn’t quite carry that out. Despite having a multitude of similar features and mechanics, such as collecting a number of specific items in order to finish the level, it is still lacking in comparison. Obviously games like Battleblock had a large team behind it, and though Together probably doesn’t have something similar, for a game that so closely mimics the gameplay of Battleblock Theatre, you’d think they would implement some of the charm. Even the characters don’t get explained. There’s nothing to attach yourself to in Together (which is rather ironic), and this makes it incredibly hard to stay interested.
It just feels unfinished. Controls are simple, the soundtrack is repetitive and there’s not really much to grab hold of. There’s a short backstory provided at the beginning of the game, but it’s never explained. Rather than being narrated, it’s in a comic book strip style. So you sort of need to know a little bit about it before you’re even introduced. It’s incredibly hard to keep tabs on all the characters when you can’t even put a name to the face. None of the game is narrated, and sound effects are kept to a minimum. Rather than feeling like a console game, it appears similar to a mobile game you’d get an advert for. I’d argue that Together isn’t quite worth the price tag, there is just not enough to justify it.
Final thoughts
It’s not all bad news though. Together initially is a fun, fast paced game to pick up with friends. It was fun to learn the special attacks of all characters and be able to switch between them during each level. There are several elements of Together which I did enjoy, such as the variety of levels and the sheer amount of them. But it wasn’t enough to sway my opinion on the game as a whole.
Are you a boat nerd? Does the idea of building and fighting modern military craft make your fuzzy bits feel all fuzzy? Do you remember which one of port and starboard means left or right? Well, in that case, I have some good news: Waves of Steel might be the perfect game for you.
Waves of Steel is a free-form ship builder combined with a naval combat simulator. You’re given a ship, you customise it, and you fight some bads. As an elevator pitch, it makes basic promises and then absolutely delivers on them. The ship customisation is simple enough to get your head around but complex enough to build some unique and specialised ships. The combat simulation is more along the lines of Forza Horizon’s simulation rather than Forza Motorsport’s simulation. It’s a little arcade-y and casual, not a hardcore simulator where you’d be micromanaging the bilge pumps and bow thrusters to get as many knots out of the sails as possible (as you can probably tell, I know nothing about boats).
The ship builder screen is a top-down view of your ship with rectangles representing all of your equipment, weapons, smokestacks and the like. There is also a second layer of this that shows what’s happening below decks, with the rectangles representing engines, reactors and everything that makes the ship go. There’s a really nice system here where you need to balance everything you take with you. If you want to load up your ship with weapons and become some kind of torpedo based Poseidon you can. But, there is a maximum mass your ship can take and still float, so you’ll need to sacrifice some armour and engines to make that happen, leaving you slower and more vulnerable to counterattacks. Equally, you can upgrade your engines to make you The Flash of the sea. But, engines produce fumes that you’ll need to vent to the surface, reducing the space on deck for weapons. It’s a nicely balanced system where you can focus your build towards the sort of player you are. You’re constantly unlocking new upgrades and parts that will draw your attention back to the builder to reoptimise your ship.
Once you’ve got your ship just the way you like it – teabags near the kettle, socks in the sock drawer, doormat shaken off and set by the front door (again, I know nothing about boats) – it’s time to take it for a spin and attack some other rubbish boats. This part plays exactly as you’d expect it to. It isn’t too complex – forward and backward increase and decrease your speed with left and right turning you around. You also have a boost mode to get you to fights faster and a dodge mode to make you more manouverable. Once you’re at a fight you will automatically lock on to the nearest enemy, with buttons to scroll between other enemies in range. Then you can fire your equipped weapon, with the ability to swap between your other weapons when needed, with some weapons needing specific arrangements of enemies to fire. For example, the torpedoes will only fire when enemies are to the side of your ship. As a last-ditch attack, there is also a button to ram the enemy in front of you which was undoubtedly my most used button in the game.
An important thing to mention is accessibility. The game has a real focus on being as accessible as possible which is always nice to see. It lands on the correct, non-gatekeeping side of the difficulty-in-video-games debate and actively encourages playing on whatever difficulty you want, with a loading screen message of ‘Play on the difficulty that’s the most fun for you – there’s no bonus to increasing the difficulty’. You can also set all of your weapons to autofire so you can just focus on the sailing of the ship if controlling the weapons simultaneously is a bit of an overload. You can also customise the hell out of everything, rebinding controls or changing the UI to whatever works best for you.
In conclusion, Waves of Steel is a nicely put together game for a pretty specific audience. If you’re a boat nerd then Waves of Steel is probably already on your radar (sonar?) and you’ll likely have a great time with it. Personally, boats aren’t really my jam but I still objectively enjoyed having a play around with the builder and blowing up some bad guys. I’m also always behind a development process that puts accessibility first, so I have some very positive feelings for Waves of Steel and TMA Games.
I love a good psychological horror thriller! The constant twists and turns and the repeated jump scares, get the blood pumping. Yes, they can be clichéd, and occasionally the plot can dip into the realms of absurdity, but I still adore them. Night Book ticks all those boxes with its outlandish story and tense setting.
Developed by Good Gate Media and Wales Interactive and published by the latter, this is a cinematic visual novel with limited choices. As with most VNs, you’ll sit back, relax, and watch the story unravel. You have some limited choices to make that influence the story and alter the central path, but the outcome isn’t always clear. It’s very disjointed, has a distinct remote feel to it, but this oddly matches the central concept.
How will she deal with the pressure?
Night Book is a bizarre story filmed during the Covid pandemic.
The Covid pandemic ensured the world came to a grinding halt, but Night Book’s developers bucked this trend. Filmed entirely through remote methods, the team and the actors produced an incredible performance that enhanced the creepy nature of this story. Shown entirely through a selection of webcams and video calls, you’ll sit back and watch the horror unfold. Depicting scenes of violence and suicide, a clear warning is displayed at the start of the action. Depending on your choices, the victims of these horrific ordeals will change and that’s part of the beauty of this game.
You control Loralyn, who is a talented linguist employed to translate a variety of languages. The heroine is heavily pregnant and her partner is working on a remote island on the other side of the world. She is left to care for her “mentally ill” father, who complains of voices and a curse from the island that the plot revolves around. CCTV has been installed throughout the flat and it’s through these lenses that we see the story unfold. Loralyn’s decisions slowly push the plot to its inevitable ending and the Butterfly Effect ripples through the tale.
Great acting tainted by veiled decisions.
With fifteen different endings and two hundred and twenty scenes to witness, this is a short story with plenty of content. You’ll uncomfortably watch the drama flit from camera to camera as the unnerving story trickles away. You feel powerless to direct the tale how you want as the crucial plot points come randomly and infrequently.
When the options to influence the story arise, you rarely know how your decisions will impact the plotline. This was frustrating, especially when you replay the game to manipulate a different ending. Alongside the veiled decisions were the unexplained gaps in the story that were confusing, and this undermined the final product.
Will the curse touch your family and friends.
Night Book is well written, produced to a good standard, and has likeable, realistic characters.
Using movie-like cinematic at its core will always be tough. However, the blend between live-action and key moments was smooth enough, but it had its problems. With the action hanging slightly at critical moments, it was noticeable, and this impacted the immersion ever so slightly. I was impressed with the use of special effects to highlight the plight of the protagonist and subsequent characters. The presentation via monitors and mobile devices was excellent and added a cold and isolated layer to the gameplay.
Subtitles were available throughout, which helped in key scenes. However, they weren’t always necessary and acted as a distraction. This was no more apparent than the moments when subtitles were used on instant messaging scenes. Having the written words displayed twice was ridiculous, and it made the final product appear unfinished.
When you read a visual novel or watch a film, you want the script to be well written and the characters to be believable. Night Book offers that and much more. The acting is delivered to a good standard and you’ll love and loathe the array of characters. Using haunting music and creepy sound effects helps to create an eerie and dark atmosphere during each scene. You’ll soak up the horrendous twists and turns as you go along for the ride.
Take care when you read the passages.
Pressurised decisions and ample replay value.
The gameplay in Night Book forces you to sit back and watch it unfold. The controls are therefore understandably basic and easy to pick up. Yet, there are moments where you must think fast and you’ll be pressurised into deciding. Loralyn has some tough decisions to make, and this is reflected using a quick-moving timer. Tick-tock, tick-tock, make your choice and see how it impacts the gameplay.
Having fifteen different endings to observe is fantastic, and it does wonders for the replay value. The developers have thankfully added in a skip button for any previously seen scenes and this mercifully cuts down the expected feeling of deja vu. You observe some grim moments when you experience every finale and the extra effort is well worth your time.
Night Book is a “pleasant” break away from normal visual novels.
I’m not a visual novel aficionado, but I know what to expect when I play one. Night Book was a “pleasant” change from the norm and I was captivated by it. Sadly, there are some unpolished elements, but it’s a well-produced title, mostly. I enjoyed it and I recommend you to buy it here! With an island curse, demonic beings, and tough decisions, a pregnant woman shouldn’t be put under this sort of pressure.
Sitting at the side of a riverbank or lake and watching the sunset or rise is a wonderful experience. You lounge around with your line dangling in the water, waiting for a fish to take the bait. The hunt for your prey can take hours and sometimes you leave empty-handed, but it matters not. The fun is in the chase and the ability to relax in peace and serenity. Fishing Adventure allows you to experience all the high points of this calm and tranquil sport. You’ll cast your line, wait for a bite, and reel in a whopper of a fish.
Developed by MasterCode and published by Ultimate Games, this is a relaxing fishing simulation title. Originally released for Steam in 2019, it received a mostly positive return for its gameplay and overall style. Console gamers now can see what the fuss is about as they take to an array of lakes to catch monstrous fish.
Fishing Adventure leaps straight into the action like a salmon up a stream.
As I loaded in, I expected to be welcomed by a fun, but well-trodden tutorial. I was shocked when this didn’t happen and I had to leap into action like a salmon up a stream. Armed with a fishing rod, bait, and a basic hook, I looked for a “suitable” spot and went to work. The simplicity of the gameplay took me back and left me wondering how deep the gameplay would be and if it would venture far from its core concept.
With two game modes to explore and no story to experience, Fishing Adventure relies on you enjoying its simple mechanics and relaxing slow-paced gameplay. Both the career and challenge modes use the same assets and elements, but the latter option is more competitive. It gives you something to aim towards and was where the developers should have focussed their attention. The career option grabs the slow nature of the sport by the horns and demands that you invest hours to increase your level and earn cash. If you fall for its charms, you’ll love casting your line repeatedly. I, however, lost the desire to play within around two hours. Luckily, I persisted as the frustrations of the early game melt away to leave you with an interesting and more challenging fishing title.
Grinding away to gain small amounts of cash was soul-destroying, and the early game was extremely imbalanced. You’ll purchase new equipment to hunt for bigger fish, but this will break, be eaten, or won’t be suitable for the location. Moving to a different venue requires cash and a minimum level and, you guessed it, this takes hours to achieve. It was a vicious circle that I couldn’t break no matter how much I wanted and it left me wondering what the Steam community enjoyed about it?
Catching fish in an icy wilderness.
Thank goodness for challenge mode and the additional venues.
The answer to that question became apparent as soon as I tried the challenge mode. This is Fishing Adventure’s saving grace! You must catch specific fish and other challenging scenarios with five tasks per location to win money and earn XP. The ticking clock adds pressure and the once relaxing experience becomes an egg timer of doom. You’ll desperately search for your trophy fish, but you’ll repeatedly catch the wrong species! You’ll curse your luck and cast again, praying for a different result.
Not only will you have set goals to achieve, but you must arm yourself with the correct equipment to complete the task at hand. Purchasing new rods, reels, lines, hooks, baits, or lures is no mean feat. Everything costs a fortune, but the rewards for improved equipment quickly pay off. You’ll forget about miniature 1lb fish and you’ll struggle to reel in the beasts that lurk beneath the surface. Fishing Adventure truly excels in its latter stages, but the struggle to get there will put off many gamers, sadly.
If you can stomach the grind, you’ll visit up to seven large fisheries based on real-world locations. You’ll venture across the globe and try your luck in a variety of environments. Each area has a specific range of fish to catch and the further afield you go, the large the prey becomes. There are over thirty species to catch and many combinations of equipment for you to try. You can stay on land and fish from the banks or hire a boat and get to previously inaccessible locations. I’m not sure how much this affects the fishing mechanics as the fish spawn anywhere and are not restricted to set underwater environments. This was extremely unrealistic and tainted the simulation experience!
Micro lakes and massive fish.
Fishing Adventure looked dated in 2019 and in 2021 it looks rough!
Graphics don’t make a game, but Fishing Adventure looks rough! The animations are robotic, the grass appears blocky, and the textures leave a lot to be desired. The fish ghost through the boat and land when caught, and an invisible wall makes a vast area inexplicably smaller than it needs to be. It’s all serviceable and you quickly become accustomed to it, but until you do, it’s pretty awful to look at. However, it’s not all bad. The combination of colours is nice and the ripple effects of the water are realistic. I also enjoyed the rain and storm effects, as this added a layer of depth to the gameplay.
Fishing Adventure relies heavily on sound effects and saves its music for the menus. This was a good decision, as music would have been an unwelcome distraction during the slow-paced action. The wonderful natural sound effects were great to listen to, and I thoroughly enjoyed floating on the water while hearing birds chirping and the wind blowing. The change in weather fronts allowed the developers to be experimental. Using loud claps of thunder and the constant noise of rain falling added an aggressive dynamic tone to an otherwise calm game.
Fishing in paradise.
It’s so simple I hoovered the house while fishing.
I rarely get to multitask successfully, but Fishing Adventure is so simple I could clean my house and play at the same time. With the correct equipment selected and the bait taken, you can easily reel in your prey while doing other tasks. I hoovered the ground floor of my house while happily landing fish after fish. I’m not sure this is exactly what the developers had in mind, but it worked for me. As the game progresses, it becomes much harder and you must concentrate on lure position and tension on the line. I enjoyed these added layers, and they went hand in hand with the later venues and larger sea life.
If you love fishing games, then you’ll fall for the relaxing nature of this title. The rough edges won’t offend you and you’ll enjoy working towards each new venue. There are probably better fishing games on the market if you are on the fence, but they will cost you more money to buy. The gameplay comprises a high level of replay value if you can get over the initial hurdles, but I fear many won’t make it that far. The challenging achievement list requires many hours to be invested, making this a completionists nightmare.
Fishing Adventure is a slow-burner that focuses on the wrong elements.
Fishing Adventure should have been a fantastic competitive game that allowed you to slow things down in a sandbox mode if you wish. Instead, the developers focussed heavily on the wrong elements and this was to the detriment of the final product. The challenge mode is great, the audio works well and elements of the graphics are nice, however, it falls short in other categories. I can see why people would enjoy it, but I’m not one of those gamers, unfortunately. The grind put me off and I won’t be recommending it today. However, if you want to buy it, you can here! Select your equipment, find your spot, and fish to your heart’s content.
Racing, in whatever format is enthralling and gets the heart pumping. If you have a vested interest you’ll scream, jump up and down, and beg for your racer to win. What happens if you are the competitor? How does your demeanour alter when you are vying for that gold medal position? Skydrift Infinity allows you to answer that question as you take to the sky in a plane laced with weapons.
Developed by Digital Reality and published by HandyGames and THQ Nordic, this is a deadly racing, flying title. Set in a random parallel universe, Skydrift Infinity demands that you put aside your morals and win every race using any method possible. You’ll dodge projectiles, shoot your foes, and boost past enemies. It’s enthralling and you’ll love the fast-paced action.
Stay high and stay out of trouble.
Skydrift Infinity sucks you in with its simple concept.
Like in most racing games, Skydrift Infinity uses a simple concept. Effectively finish first, or dodge missiles and survive the longest. However, things are mixed up a little because of the introduction of a class system and different modes. There are five different races to select from, sixteen planes and eight-player multiplayer events.
All of this action is taken up a notch as you are no longer defined by a 2D plane. Soaring through the air, skimming the ground, and swooping through crevices got the adrenaline pumping. The claustrophobic stages have you performing death-defying moves as you twist and turn around the winding courses. You may think, “why risk your life? Just get on and race!” The answer? The more stunts you perform the more energy you gain to help fill up your afterburners.
It’s not all mindless racing.
Fans of the genre will know that racing games are all about skill and memorising the tracks. Skydrift Infinity is slightly different, however. Arming yourself with the correct power-up for any given moment is essential. With six to choose from and the ability to carry only two, you must think wisely. If you lead the race, you’ll want to think defensively: shields, EMPs, and repair kits are key. Deathmatch and elimination battles change your thought process and you’ll grab homing missiles, machine guns, and bombs.
Weapons are all good, but finding the correct plane is essential. With an array of stats that vary per vehicle, finding the right one for you is easier said than done. Will you blast through the air with your rapid plane, or soak up the missiles with a slow but heavily armed vehicle? The choice is yours, so think wisely and consider the track you are racing on.
Hot stuff coming through!
Skydrift Infinity will test veterans with its tight stages and various locations.
I’m not the biggest fan of traditional racing games as I tire of the similar track layouts. Yes, I love the realism and I see why fans adore it, but it’s not for me. Fortunately, Skydrift Infinity is different! It has run with its fantasy roots and created wild tracks for you to enjoy. You’ll race through canyons, across icy tundra and above molten lava. Combining this with tight racing lines made a fast-paced game, faster still.
I also enjoyed the ship designs, the array of unlockable liveries, and the clean UI. The visual presentation is super smooth and enhances the gaming experience to no end.
A futuristic fantasy racer was always going to be infused with high tempo music. The hard-hitting beats push you to go faster and are only bettered by the booming sound effects. Machine gun fire fills the air as bombs and missiles explode. Listening to this through high-quality headphones was fantastic and completed the aggressive experience. The audio is great but predictable. This isn’t a bad thing because the options available to the developer are limited in this genre.
Brrrrrrrrrrr!!!!!!
So much to do, but easy to do it!
As I loaded in, I jumped straight into the tutorial. Here I was met by a wall of information and I thought I was in for a complex nightmare. I chuckled within seconds as I quickly realised it is super easy to play and I shouldn’t jump to conclusions. You’ll master the fundamentals of accelerating and braking in moments, and the twin-stick controls are intuitive. Firing your missiles was as simple as aiming and pushing a button and with a little practice, you’ll be competing for first place and challenging the online community.
I was shocked by how much there was to do. Badges and medals are unlocked during races and this enables new skins for your planes. There are plenty of stages to try and of course, there is the thrill of online play. A challenging achievement list will take ages to complete so replay value is at an all-time high.
Skydrift Infinity is a glorious and aggressive experience.
If you tire easily of traditional racing games but love the thrill of the chase, Skydrift Infinity will be right for you. The fast-paced action and aggressive combat demands you keep playing and you’ll love the tight yet varied stages. It captured my attention and I recommend you to buy it here! Pick your plane, choose your power-ups, and race for the gold medal.
Here is the above review in video format with in play footage.
The world and people on it are travelling at a million miles an hour. No one has time for each other and family moments are short and precious. Wouldn’t it be nice to sit back, relax, and enjoy the closest people in our lives? We all need time to unwind and appreciate our nearest and dearest. Inbento runs with this idea with its surreal nature and relaxing puzzles.
Developed and published by Afterburn and 7Levels, this is a colourful, casual, puzzle game. It tells its tale through a range of still images and uses bright puzzles that require logical thinking. The surreal story comprises a group of cats who highlight the difficulties of family life.
Inbento will test your mind with its small but well thought out puzzles.
I love to test my mind, but Inbento occasionally pushed me to the edge. With its small puzzles and minimal movements, you quickly become tied up and make repeated errors. You are shown a recipe on screen that must be replicated with ingredients found in a separate pot. Different methods of movement are introduced, and these vary from plucking blocks and twisting shapes.
Each world introduces new colours and new methods of working. As you progress, they combine and you become inundated with choices and different solutions. This is where the challenge ramps up, as you must think several steps ahead to ensure you are successful. You may think this sounds stressful? It really wasn’t! Even though I struggled with some solutions, the Eureka moment was worth the effort.
Don’t let the easy puzzles trick you.
Food, glorious food!
The game spans fourteen worlds and comprises one hundred and twenty puzzles which is not unusual for an indie puzzle title. What was strange, however, was the use of Bento dishes to create each puzzle. The traditional food was painstakingly recreated with rice and vibrant ingredients being used as key elements. It was a little bizarre, but it matched the theme of each still image at the start of each world.
I loved the challenging stages but my favourite element has to be the little cutscenes. These heartwarming images will make you smile and chuckle, especially if you have a young family. The cats clearly love their food as this forms the backbone for every scene. With no spoken or written word, you are left to interpret the meaning of the pictures and this was thoroughly enjoyable. The developers have done a great job of letting your imagination run wild while cementing every element together.
I’m a sucker for a difficult game, but sometimes a small helping hand is much appreciated, sadly, Inbento doesn’t agree with this thought process and no hints are available. There were several moments where I was stuck for a solution and I was close to quitting. It’s an area that should be addressed as it would be a shame to miss out on much of the game if you fail to see the solution.
So much colour in one box of food.
Brilliantly vibrant but needs a shakeup!
This is fantastic to look at. The cutscenes use a cartoon style reminiscent of old-school children’s programs and the fixed screen perspective gives you a clear oversight of the action. Sadly, though, Inbento stagnates slightly as it doesn’t alter much from its opening stages. Yes, it becomes more colourful and new ingredients are added, but; the imagery needed a shakeup to prevent it from becoming repetitive. The food theme is great and the developers should have run with this and created levels using other traditional items.
The atmosphere and emotion are shown beautifully through the soft music that accompanies the gameplay. A change of pace and tone represent more stressful moments and a relaxing soundtrack supports the rest of the action. Its inoffensive nature emphasises the family ethos and creates a calm ambience.
Which block will you start with?
Picking up food has never been so easy!
Though the visuals were repetitive, they helped to ensure that the control system was simple to handle. The fixed-screen enabled you to focus on the puzzles and the clear markers on the blocks made it simple to understand what you were doing. The relaxing gameplay was helped by a lack of time restrictions allowing you to slowly work through each problem. Moving the blocks to their correct location was simply achieved with a combination of button presses. It was user friendly even if the puzzles were tough to overcome.
Though the story is great, there are unfortunately limited reasons to return. The lack of variety and no NG+ mode reduces the desire to return to this. This is compounded further by the simple achievement list that is completed as you run through the game. Fans of the puzzle genre will enjoy each challenge they face, it’s just a shame it doesn’t inspire you to return.
Inbento: The heartwarming game with a tricky and bizarre core!
Inbento’s unique style won’t be for everyone and the lack of dialogue will confuse some and other gamers will dislike the basic style. However, I appreciated its bizarre approach and touching story. The still images were great and allowed me to interpret a unique tale. Some puzzles were tricky and the developers should have added a limited hint system to lend a helping hand. I enjoyed its strange offerings and recommend you to buy it here! Relax, take some time out, and build fond memories with your cat family.
Amid intense competition to capitalize on the incredible demand in the arcades in the 80s, developers had to boil video games down to their purest form, creating addictive and fast-paced gameplay loops with seemingly achievable goals kept out of reach with tough difficulty levels.
It’s for this very reason that games like 1986-made Darius have changed very little since – formula-wise they simply don’t have to, as they are already perfect pickup-and-play titles.
This hardly does wonders for its sales though, and because releasing the same title on every console for the last 30+ years is Nintendo’s job, after one remix and two re-releases following the original PSP version, Dariusburst, itself the 7th installment of the Darius series, you might wish they made some larger changes, even if EX+ does have some bite to back up its bark.
Avoiding obstacles, picking up power-ups and shooting everything in sight is obviously the name of the game here, but there are certain characteristics that have followed the recent Darius entries that differentiate from others in the genre.
Everything is so small, my poor eyes can barely see it all.
Firstly, large mecha sea creature bosses feature at the end of each stage (of each Original mode) which branch out to a total of three different stages offering to end humanity’s subjugation, and secondly, the atmosphere is one of an oppressive space opera with drab visuals and ethereal tracks teasing foreboding events, giving the game quite a distinctive feel.
So consistent is the difficulty and atmosphere across the stages though that it’s actually quite hard to tell whether you are in the first or last stage of the playthrough. Unfortunately, this is also true across each of the game’s four modes. Original and Original EX is effectively the same mode split in two covering 6 different difficulty levels, while Chronicle and Event modes, the latter of which contains arcade-only released missions, are basically just individual missions.
So while EX+ does not lack content, nor does it suffer from any debilitating bugs or issues, it does suffer from leaving any lasting impression. I prefer my shoot em’ ups vertical-scrolling, with big colorful explosions and exaggerated sound effects, much like AngerForce: Reloaded, but EX+ is understated and underwhelming in comparison.
The boss is a bit of a beast….literally.
Different to other Darius games is the inclusion of the Burst weapon, which allows your laser weapon to be rotated (in some cases) and moved to engulf enemy fire and protect yourself during your battles.
Elsewhere, the game’s chosen resolution keeps large black bars above and below the action (originally used for stretching the video over 2 or 3 screens in the arcade) and does the game no favors as it’s unable to show any real detail and the backgrounds are almost always dark and soulless.
The audio, as mentioned previously, gives it a feeling of scale and suffering, but it doesn’t build drama the way that I hoped it might. Funnily enough, Nier Automata, which has clearly been heavily influenced by games like Dariusburst, has its own side-scrolling and vertical-scrolling shoot ’em up sections, but the game’s dark story justifies its surreal soundtrack and creates an incredible oppressive energy that imbues the entire experience. Perhaps comparing it to an Open World game is unfair, but Ex+, with its shrunken screen and miniature-sized, well.. everything, fails to match the tone of the soundtrack until the bosses arrive.
Mind your wallet before purchasing this one.
As I simultaneously dodge and carve a path to progress through the carpet of enemies, I found myself wondering when the addictive quality of those 80s games would appear – something that would have me itching for one more retry – but it never materialized. Infinite lives, another of the game’s features, is likely to blame for this as it removes any tension from your playthroughs. Never once did I feel worried about returning to the beginning of the stage following a mistake.
My experience would certainly give me pause for thought on whether to buy this title, but muddying the waters further for newcomers is the sheer number of Darius alternatives on offer with Dariusburst Chronicle Saviours (an enhanced port of Dariusburst Another Chronicle) containing a mode with 186 Stages and a large amount of DLC from other shooter franchise series’, Darius Cozmic Collection Console Edition with 8 past console releases, Darius Cozmic Collection Arcade Edition – 6 past arcade games and Darius Cozmic Revelation (though currently only on sale in JP), includes both G-Darius HD and Dariusburst Another Chronicle EX+.
Putting aside this title’s lack of ingenuity and the superior alternatives for a second, and you have yourself an action-packed content-filled game that fans of side-scrolling shoot em’ ups are bound to enjoy, it’s just hard to recommend given the fact that it’s seemingly here to just make up the numbers.
History is littered with tales of good vs evil and classic rivalries. These stories define us and the brutal and sometimes silly outcomes stick in our minds. We all remember The North vs The South, Coke vs Pepsi, Burger King vs McDonald’s and so on. MouseBot: Escape from CatLab tells a story of the age-old rivalry between cat and mouse.
Developed and published by Vector Unit, this is a fast-paced racing puzzle game with a hint of humour. The gameplay revolves around a robotic mouse who must avoid traps while collecting lumps of cheese. It’s all very clichéd, but it’s oddly addictive. With many objectives to focus on and challenging time trials to complete, you’ll be kept busy for hours.
MouseBot: Escape from CatLab is simple, hectic, and moreish.
MouseBot: Escape from CatLab is a basic arcade puzzle game. Spanning eighty-eight levels, you’ll focus on the same goals during each stage. You’re asked to collect lumps of cheese, a heart icon, stay alive, and finish under the set time. Trying to achieve each of these goals in one run-through is impossible and this forces you to play it repeatedly.
You’ll be driven insane by the fine details and small movements you must use to be successful. You must then consider the traps that lay in wait for you during each stage. As you progress through the levels, the obstacles become more elaborate. The race from A to B becomes hectic and increasingly dangerous. You’ll avoid the classic baited traps, rollers, circular saws, mines, and more. The traps quickly combine to make it a headache to traverse each stage, let alone trying to complete each objective.
Racing through nuclear waste is risky.
Crazy cats and drip-fed mechanics.
MouseBot: Escape from CatLab doesn’t contain a complex plot, and this isn’t a bad thing. I’d have hated to be focusing on an intricate storyline while avoiding near-certain death. You’ll enjoy what little story there is as you slowly unravel the evil cat’s plans. The robotic mouse is a thorn in the cat kingpins side and he cares not what method he uses to stop you.
It’s not all doom and gloom for the mouse protagonist, however. Anything the cats can do, the mouse can do better! As new obstacles are introduced, additional mechanics appear. The robotic rodent quickly becomes a leaping, strafing, and dodging beast. Combining the new elements was a challenge, but it was a joy to experiment even when you die repeatedly.
The challenge in this title doesn’t come from complex mechanics or an in-depth overarching story. No, it’s the constant demand for perfection and memory recall that’ll test you throughout.
Leap the lasers.
MouseBot: Escape from CatLab looks great and has a fantastic polished finish.
When I first installed this I didn’t have high expectations. I thought it would be another top-down title with basic and rough imagery. I couldn’t have been more wrong! The wonderful 3D world and excellent character model were great to look at. The traps move smoothly and everything flows as you’d expect. With a fantastically polished finish, every element pops. With vivid colours, sharp lines, and contrasting tones, this is a treat for the eyes.
The stage design was great, but each world was sadly repetitive. Luckily, however, the developers created some amusing cutscenes that broke up the action. It was a pleasant break from the hectic pace, and each one made me chuckle.
The audio was a bit more run of the mill and this disappointed me. A synthesised soundtrack wasn’t particularly special, and the sound effects were lacking. In a world full of danger everything felt flat and I wanted more oomph. The circular saw blades were particularly poor and reminded me of a cheap hair dryer being used. The audio isn’t terrible and won’t put you off, I just expected much more.
Customisation time.
Practice makes perfect.
When speed and precision are two key concepts, you know it’s going to be difficult to master. This is all about the fine details and mistakes matter. The adage: Practice makes perfect is relevant and you’ll get sucked into this crazy perfectionists world. This was helped by the excellent explanations when new mechanics were added, ensuring that understanding the basics wasn’t an issue. Using them correctly, however, is no mean feat.
The addictive nature of the gameplay caught me by surprise! I expected a fun little game, but the challenges, hidden Easter eggs and mountains of cheese to collect made me come back for more. Combined with the tough achievement list, arcade mode upon completion, and cosmetic options, MouseBot: Escape from CatLab contains plenty of replay value.
MouseBot: Escape from CatLab is simple, repetitive, but worthy of your time.
Vector Unit was risking their game becoming tiresome when they repeatedly used the same objectives. Fortunately, I never tired of attempting each goal. The addition of new traps and the desire to speedrun each level overcame this obstacle. I enjoyed my time with it and recommend you to buy it here! Can you rekindle this age-old rivalry and uncover the evil cat’s plans?
Here is a video review for the above article with in game footage, I hope you enjoy!
Corporations taking over the world is nothing new. When they see a good deal to be had, they step over everyone and everything to make a profit. Get Packed uses this heart-wrenching plot as you pick up the pieces left behind by a monstrous conglomerate.
Developed by Moonshine Studios and Coatsink and published by the latter, this is a solo and multiplayer physics-based title. Like its peers Moving Out and Overcooked, Get Packed focuses on teamwork and fast-paced action. With many challenges to overcome and bizarre levels to work through, there is a lot for everyone to enjoy.
Who needs gravity when packing boxes?
Get Packed is strange but hilarious.
The plot in Get Packed plays second fiddle to the wonderful gameplay that unfolds before your eyes. The bizarre story is hilarious from the first moment and takes you on a journey of twists and turns. A greedy salt mining company takes over your town, Ditchlington. Every resident, including yourself, is evicted, and this is where you form a genius idea. You take control of a group known as Last Ditch Removals, your intentions are good yet you profit from people’s misery. As every house is emptied, the work dries up and the removal team must think of whacky ways to make a living.
I won’t ruin the later stages of the game for you, but you’ll love every moment. The excellent level design and challenges keep you thinking throughout. You aim to complete as many tasks as possible while raking in the money. Each episode is ranked up to three stars and the amount of cash you earn is the deciding factor. You receive a bonus if you can complete certain objectives, and keeping the damage to a minimum is a must. It’s hectic, will drive you insane, but it’s ridiculously moreish and excellent with friends.
A simple concept that is agonisingly tough.
Racing through the game and opening up every chapter isn’t too difficult. Where the challenge arises is when you aim to complete each objective and get the three stars. Perfectionists will love the rewarding feeling, but will also get frustrated. Many minor elements work against you to make the gameplay agonisingly tough.
Guards, prisoners, and wrecking balls will send you flying. Cars, lorries, and trucks will run you over and smash every item you hold! If you then chuck in the ridiculous physics-based mechanics, there is potential for disaster. Your perfect plans will continually be thwarted by the surrounding environment and you’ll have to adjust to each unique stage.
Each location has special items that must be loaded into your tiny removal vehicle. You can flatpack each object or chuck them in the back as quickly as possible. You choose to pack whatever you wish, but grabbing each highlighted item earns you a cash bonus. This is essential to be awarded the highest score and is foolish to overlook.
Creep around the museum and don’t get caught!
Teamwork and co-op action make this a must-play title.
Get Packed is great as a solo venture but as a co-op game, it truly excels. This can be played locally or online with friends. The madness that ensues is crazy and you’ll shout, scream, and holler at each other as everything goes wrong. Yet, no matter how heated the situation gets, you’ll chuckle as you fall down stairs, blow yourself up, or leap through windows.
Communication and teamwork are key to success and playing with random gamers can be difficult. You must work like a well-oiled machine and staying silent only adds more obstacles. There are few games where I look to avoid strangers, but Get Packed is one of those titles, sadly.
Not only can you play the campaign mode together, but you can also battle it out across a range of multiplayer games. The core concept remains the same, but you must go head to head to be crowned champion. This was excellent fun and was a welcome distraction from the stresses of loading up the moving vehicle.
Get Packed has a great cartoon aesthetic and whimsical audio.
I love a game that uses cartoon graphics and comic book cutscenes. The hilarious story is told through some lovely still images that highlight your plight and silly choices. The isometric viewpoint gives you a clear understanding of the surrounding area, but it’s challenging to see the whole map. When time is of the essence, it’s annoying when you cannot see where key objects are positioned. This causes you to run around like a headless chicken and ensures more unnecessary arguments with your teammates.
The bright colours and brilliantly detailed levels were great to explore and look at. The developers have made the most of each stage and have cut no corners in ensuring a unique experience every time. The gameplay is extremely smooth, and I had no issues even when the action got a little heated.
Before I started playing, I knew what to expect from the audio… I wasn’t left disappointed. The fun and whimsical soundtrack were complemented nicely by the narration of the story. The crashes and bangs of furniture breaking were great, and I loved the noises the NPCs made as fights broke out. The sound effects support the gameplay perfectly and though it was a little OTT, it was very enjoyable to listen to.
Can you move an alien spaceship?
The physics-based mechanics make the controls feel sloppy.
If you’ve played any physics-based game, you’ll know how loose the controls can feel. Your character rarely reacts to your command and this can be disconcerting. Get Packed suffers from this and getting used to it takes a strong mindset and plenty of patience. Playing with others enhances this annoyance, especially if you both grab the same item in error. However, once you are familiar with the control system, it’s great to play and you’ll love its difficulty curve.
The genre screams replay value and this title is no different. It’s addictive, fun, and challenging in equal measures. With a large and tough achievement list, many objectives during each stage and three stars to be awarded per level, you’ll return for more. There are also hidden trophies to find, and each character has custom options so you can make the removal person of your dreams.
Get Packed is up there with the best multiplayer games.
With so many great games in this category, Get Packed has its work cut out to stand apart from the crowd. It’s up there as one of the best multiplayer games from the genre and won’t disappoint gamers who give it a go. I loved it and recommend you to buy it here! When life gives you lemons, make lemonade! Be an optimist and don’t let “the man” bring you down. Run your business, clear the houses and get rich at the same time!
I only became aware of HighFleet’s existence very recently, thanks to the reappearance of MicroProse. However, I’ve actually played the developer’s previous game, Hammerfight, which was released back in 2009, and was probably one of the first indie games to hit Steam. They are very different games, but they do have some similarities, particularly the developer’s love for weighty aerial combat.
So, what exactly is HighFleet? HighFleet is a pretty unique game that combines a great deal of strategic planning with aerial combat. Still, I think that you could actually compare a lot of aspects of the game with something like the Silent Hunter series.
HighFleet takes place during a crucial and desperate conflict between the Romani Empire and a group of rebelling noble Houses that have declared independence. It all happens in what seems to be an alternate timeline, where Humanity tried to reach for the stars, but that only brought doom to everyone. Now, everybody has to live in a desolate deserted world. As for the player, you play as the commander of a fleet of the Romani Empire, and you represent the last hope for the Empire’s survival.
Although trailers for the game seem to focus on the aerial combat, HighFleet is much more than that. When you’re not flying a ship and fighting against a couple of enemies, you’re leading your entire fleet across the desert in a last-ditch effort to save your beloved Empire. It’s no easy task.
There’s a very specific set of games whose UI is an intrinsic part of how the game looks and plays. HighFleet is one of such cases, with the diegetic interface being seamlessly implemented. From the command center of your fleet aboard your vessel, you plan and draw your flight path across the map. Here, not only you can find nearby towns where you can resupply and acquire new ships, but you’re also able to intercept enemy strike groups that are actively hunting you down.
As the commander, you have to keep an eye out on your radar and various other electronic instruments that allow you to detect nearby ships. Most often than not, you’ll be able to intercept enemy messages by tuning your instruments to the right frequency. This not only allows you to predict enemy movements, but it also allows you to hijack transports and sell them for money. However, the enemy will eventually start to use coded messages and you’ll have to find a way to decipher them.
I like to think of the strategic layer of HighFleet as a game of cat and mouse. This is because you’re constantly being hunted and you have to learn how to avoid the enemy whenever you can. Sure, you’re mounting an offensive against the enemy capital, but that doesn’t mean that you always have to pick a fight, you must be strategic about it. If you have your radar always on, the enemy will easily detect you and alert the rest of their fleet. If that happens, you can expect to see enemy strike groups closing in on your position, and they’ll most likely keep sending cruise missiles your way in an attempt to quickly wipe you out.
This is where HighFleet can really shine, as it presents the player with the tools to take on threats in a multitude of ways. Let’s say that you’re able to pinpoint the approximate location of an enemy strike group. In this situation, you can either take them head-on by sending your ships to face them, you can send tactical missiles their way in the hopes that they actually hit their target, send an aircraft carrier to intercept the enemy, or you can actually trick them in order to slip by undetected.
Since the enemy is pretty good at detecting you if you have a radar on, you can exploit that by building a custom ship with one and then use it to lure the enemy away, thus allowing your main fleet to proceed unharmed and undetected. Still, you always have to keep an eye out for fuel, ship’s morale and fatigue. If you’re not careful, you might find yourself stunlocked when trying to repair and refuel while enemy squadrons are closing in on your position, leaving you no way to safely escape. It’s easy to let your guard down and pay the price for it.
Even though settlements are the closest thing to a safe haven in HighFleet, they can be quite tricky. Sure, they are the major places where you can repair your ships, refuel them, retrofit them (there’s also a ship editor in the main menu), acquire specialized ammunition, and even recruit allies to your cause, but they also pose a threat. Not only they’re always defended, but the enemy is also constantly patrolling the routes between each town. Furthermore, if you spend too long docked, someone might just alert the enemy to your presence. If you think you can just lift off and leave, then you’re wrong, as refuelling and repairing take a lot of time, sometimes days, so you have to plan carefully. It might be worth it to leave your ships unrepaired if the enemy is closing in on you and you have enough fuel to make it to a safe harbour.
Just like the strategic layer, the combat element of HighFleet is also pretty robust. At first glance, it might look like a regular 2D side-scroller where you’re just flying around and shooting enemies down, but there’s more to it than that. Each encounter tends to be pretty short, and you can only control a ship at a time, even if you’re facing multiple enemy ships, which I have to admit is somewhat odd at first. If you lose a ship, or if you choose to retreat to avoid losing it, you’ll immediately go right back into combat with the next ship from your lineup.
In combat, movement is key, as you must use your thrusters to move around and avoid enemy gunfire. It’s important to keep track of enemy fire and anticipate its trajectory. Likewise, you must also lead your shots to make sure that they hit their target. By moving carefully and positioning yourself properly, you can even use enemy ships as meat shields and trick enemy missiles into hitting their own allies. Combat can be difficult at first, but it’s pretty satisfying once you start to hit your shots and witness your enemy go up in flames. In that sense, the combat feels extremely rewarding once you get the hang of it.
Even though I think that the core experience of HighFleet can be pretty compelling, unfortunately, the game isn’t without its issues. For starters, the tutorial, which also serves as a prologue to the campaign, leaves a lot of things unexplained. I’m not only referring to game mechanics here, but also to the overall strategy that’s required to play the campaign reasonably well. It’s only by continuously playing the game, or reading guides and the forums, that you’ll come to realize some of the game’s intricacies.
Additionally, for a game where your mouse is a vital part of the gameplay, it’s also pretty odd that the mouse behaves pretty erratically. I’m pretty sure that the game has a ridiculous amount of mouse acceleration, for whatever reason. It’s really annoying and gets in the way of the gameplay, particularly when you’re aiming during combat. Although I managed to get used to it, there are still times where it can mess your aim during combat. On top of that, the combat can also be complicated due to the fact that the direction that your weapons are facing are represented by these really small arrows that orbit around your ship. When there are a lot of explosions, or when your ship is on fire and smoking, it can be pretty hard to spot these arrows and know where you’re actually pointing.
In any case, it can’t be denied that HighFleet looks absolutely beautiful. The gamehas a very distinct and striking look, the inside of your main ship, the flaming thrusters, and the numerous projectiles flying during combat, all these things culminate in a wondrous visual spectacle. Likewise, sound design is also on point. Even the weakest weapons sound exceptionally powerful. Each shot fired sounds menacing and daunting, and ultimately, each combat engagement sounds like a loud thunderstorm of gunfire. It’s a joy to listen to. Still, while the game certainly looks stunning, sometimes, the number of visual effects on the screen during some fights can be disorientating.
Despite my complaints, I want to stress that, under the hood, there is a brilliant game here. However, the game isn’t the most approachable, and so it may rub some people in the wrong way. The systems needed to succeed are in the game, but initially, it might feel like there is little room for error, it might seem like things are hopeless and that the game is almost impossible to beat.
I have to admit, I found the game to be overwhelming during my first hours with it. Still, I’m glad that I pushed through and learned its inner workings. It’s so worth it. Nonetheless, I also feel that I should emphasize that, if you saw clips of the combat and that’s all you’re interested in, then you might end up frustrated due to how heavily that part of the game relies on how well you perform on the strategic layer. I also feel like the standard ship designs aren’t the best. I think you’re encouraged to play around with the editor and come up with your own designs that better suit your playstyle.
With that said, it’s not like you can just slap a bunch of weapons on a ship and call it a day. Parts add weight to each ship, weapons require ammunition autoloaders, ships need crew quarters and fuel tanks, and armour is obviously always a nice addition, despite the extra weight. There’s a balance to be struck on each ship that you build. It’s crucial to have various ships with different purposes, as it’s pretty much impossible to have a ship type that excels in everything.
In any case, there’s no denying that HighFleet is a niche and time-consuming game. This isn’t something that you can pick up and quickly learn how everything works, or what the most optimal strategies are. This fact alone will certainly make some people cross off HighFleet from their list, but it will also surely please many others. Nevertheless, if you can push through its faults, HighFleet is one hell of a game that I thoroughly recommend checking out.
