Review: Dark Nights with Poe and Munro

Jonah Ehlers
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Review: Dark Nights with Poe and Munro

Welcome To August

Dark Nights with Poe and Munro is the game in question today. A collection of six interactive episodes following the odd and eerie escapades of the titular duo. But while you’re a part of the journey, your control only goes so far.

Set in the presumably fictional town of August, Poe and Munro are two local radio hosts that tackle dark mysteries and dangers when not on the air. The partners take on a missing persons case in one episode, and find themselves held hostage by a painting in another (Yes, you read that right). There’s never a dull moment in their company, and all these adventures make for an entertaining collection of stories. I can genuinely say I enjoyed playing through them all.

Out Of Control

When I refer to Dark Nights as an interactive game. It’s exactly that, essentially just an interactive experience. There’s no choosing your own adventure, or drastically changing the outcome of any episode because of the choices you’ve made. Too many of my choices felt superficial or perhaps like I was deciding the flavour of a milkshake. At the end of the day, whatever choice I make, it’ll always be a milkshake. Regardless if it was chocolate or strawberry-banana.

One expects a certain level of control in the progression of the plot when playing a game of this nature. While generally in choose your own adventures there’s an overarching narrative that’s set in stone. By the end of it, the world state, which characters are still around, who hates or loves you can all change. 

In this way the story sprouts out from the ground like a tree trunk set in place and immovable to the individual. However, there are a multitude of branches. With variations in the way the arms of the tree jot out, or the number and locations of leaves. 

Which Flavour?

This kind of variation, branching, and control felt lacking in Dark Nights. It felt like too much of the plot just happens and the player just observes. Or perhaps I’ve just been spoiled by the level of influence one has in games like Until Dawn. However, as harsh or negative as this point sounds. The branching that does take place is still enjoyable in its own way. When you make one choice instead of another, you get alternate dialogue that adds interesting layers to the conversation. Your choices can lead to extra scenes that might take the story in darker directions. Like the first episode that has the potential to end in murder. Although, even this alternate ending is essentially just a different flavour to the vanilla. It still ends up as a milkshake.

While the destination may remain the same, the scenery on the road there may be entirely different. You may even gain some information early that would have otherwise been revealed later. Such as a big reveal in Poe and Munro’s relationship that can be uncovered as late as the fifth episode or as early as the first. 

Dynamic Duo

Speaking of Poe and Munro, I was a big fan of their dynamic. The two leads Klemens Koehring and Leah Cunard had great chemistry and played off of one another really well. They make for a believable couple, if not a bit heavy on the innuendos. Honestly though, that just made them all the more entertaining to watch. 

Munro was an instant hit for me. Leah nailed her performance, especially in the fourth episode, where she delivered some killer monologues. I have to admit though, at first I was not the biggest fan of Poe, especially his line delivery. It just felt a little forced; but it didn’t take long for him to grow on me. Soon I started to love his dramatic way of talking. As if he was constantly on the stage of a community theatre. 

While most of the additional cast did a fairly good job. There were a couple of questionable performances. Especially in those moments when the scene calls for intense emotion or nuance.

Do It Again

Dark Nights with Poe and Munro may be a bit on the short side when you first play through. Episodes are about 20-30 minutes in length. However, with it being an FMV you’re more than likely to run through each episode a couple of times to experience every little bit of story you can. 

Overall Dark Nights is a pretty enjoyable series of adventures. It’s shot well, it’s lead by two likeable characters and it has healthy doses of mystery and the supernatural. If you’re a fan of interactive games and FMVs, then there might be something here for you. 

Review: Sheltered 2

Charles Ombler
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Review: Sheltered 2

Sheltered 2 meticulously selects elements from a multitude of other games with the selectivity of a cherry-picker picking cherries in an orchard full of particularly cherry-looking haemorrhoids and marries them together with the care and attention of a vicar marrying Kim Jong-un to a velociraptor. It takes aspects from The Sims franchise but getting into violent knife fights makes it a LOT easier to kill the characters under your control without resorting to removing any ladders from any swimming pools. There are bits of Sid Meier’s Civilisation games in there except without the troublesome ‘civilisation’ bits and a focus on the faction relationships and the existence of hexagons. There are also strong Fallout Shelter vibes but where the expectations coming from mimicking that entry in the Fallout series are subverted by Sheltered 2 being good.

In Sheltered 2 you control an emerging shelter-dwelling faction of survivors in a post-apocalyptic wasteland. Much like The Sims, each of your survivors has needs that must be fulfilled: food, water, hygiene, etc. You can either let your faction members deal with their needs themselves, dropping whatever tasks you’ve given them to go and get a drink or use the bathroom when they need to. Or, if you want them to only indulge their needs when you say so, you can go into a menu and turn off their free will, a piece of technology Jess Bezos is undoubtedly working on implanting into his warehouse workers as we speak.

However, unlike The Sims, where you can place a shower to deal with an infinite number of ablutions, everything is a lot more difficult to build and maintain in the resource-scarce wasteland of Sheltered 2. Loosely speaking, this is where the game borrows from Fallout Shelter, where you can expand your factions shelter by building rooms and populate those rooms with the vital pieces of equipment needed for survival. After all, a survivor is going to struggle to empty their hygiene meter without a shower and some of those little soaps from a fancy hotel. They’ll need food to empty their hunger meter but what happens when the vault runs out? They could build a snare to catch rabbits but what are they going to make that out of? You’ll need resources to build and repair the stuff your survivors need to continue being survivors. This is where you’ll need to leave the relative comfort of the underground shelter and go on expeditions to raid (hopefully) abandoned locations for resources.

To set up an expedition you need to choose who you’re going to send, what they’re going to take and where they’re going to go on a hex-like map. There’s a risk-reward system here. You can send your whole faction but then there’s nobody around to defend the shelter against attackers, the place will slowly degrade without people to maintain it and, when your away team returns, everyone will need to fulfil all of their needs all at once. But the benefit of sending more people is a greater amount of inventory space to bring resources back to base and more hands/knives/bees available to fight off any violent locals you might run into. I found the best early-game tactic was to send out Matthew, the most expendable member of my faction, with a very specific shopping list of resources to bring back and minimal survival rations in case he did get jumped by overwhelming combatants.

There are a range of likely looking combatants roaming the wasteland but a significant portion of those potential opponents are made up of other factions. However, you don’t have to be enemies with those factions. Much like the Civilisation games, once you’ve encountered another faction by bumping into one of their expeditions in the wild, you can talk with them via the shelter’s radio. Those relations can become unfriendly very quickly but if you manage to keep them on-side by trading resources and building your trust with them by completing loyalty missions, you can build up some strong allegiances with the groups with whom you’re sharing the wasteland. Alternatively, you can send Matthew into their main base and attack the faction leaders armed only with brass knuckles and a plucky disposition. This isn’t advisable.

As for the combat, I won’t go into too much detail here as I tried to avoid it and be as peaceful as possible (attempted assassination aside) and I wouldn’t say the combat system is a main thrust of the game. That said, it is more than competent. The combat is turn-based and you have several options for what to do on your turn depending on your equipped weapons, your character’s skills and your available stamina. Your odds will be significantly increased with a larger party, just by virtue of having more turns per enemy turn. There isn’t anything particularly groundbreaking here but what’s there is challenging, fun and solidly put together.

As much as there are a lot of similarities in mechanics to other games, Sheltered 2 brings them together in a way that is more than the sum of its parts. There’s a complex collection of game mechanics on offer here, bridging base-building, survival and exploration in a way that each mechanic complements the others like a wine pairing with a boeuf bourguignon. There is a comfortable sense of familiarity in Sheltered 2 which it manages without throwing away the crucial factors of novelty and intrigue. Now, if you’ll excuse me I have some tense relations with a faction to repair while arranging a funeral for Matthew. Well, what’s left of him.

Review: Crisis Wing

Daniel Waite
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Review: Crisis Wing

Shoot-’em-ups should be the staple of any gamers diet. These fast-paced and menacing titles test dexterity, accuracy, reactions, patience, and more. When I was offered, Crisis Wing. I dared not to refuse! It offers the chance to experience old-school gaming with a modern polish, so what’s not to like?

Developed by Pieslice Production and Eastasiasoft Limited and published by the latter, this is a vertical shoot-’em-up game. Set across seven brutal stages, you can play solo or with another player. You control a spaceship that evolves into a high-powered killing machine. You’ll dodge projectiles, collect power-ups, and shoot everything in sight.

Can you take down this gargantuan beast?

Crisis Wing: a nod to a glorious era. 

Shoot-’em-ups are a timeless classic and Crisis Wing has captured its moreish and challenging essence perfectly. The simplicity of its concept is what captivates its audience and demands you to keep playing. As you progress through each stage, your opposition becomes tougher, larger, and more imposing. This culminates in a tough boss battle that tests your skills and reactions. The agonisingly tough gameplay will frustrate many as death is all but guaranteed. However, I loved these rage-inducing mechanics and I couldn’t put it down.

If for whatever reason, you tire of the main story, you can attempt to take on the Boss Battle or Time Attack modes. The latter is an unlimited lives challenge that pits you against an array of enemies. You have a set time to rack up a high score and see how you compare on the leaderboard. The Boss Battle, however, is an eye-wateringly challenging option. Death is inevitable and failure is guaranteed, so best of luck.

Power-ups and teamwork. 

A shoot-’em-up would be hollow if it wasn’t for the booming power-ups. Machine guns, rockets, bombs, and more assist you on your quest. Collecting these vital tools is essential to your success, and they look cool as hell. I loved it when the screen was filled with projectiles and my foes exploded into pieces. The ultra-aggressive weapons never got old, and I enjoyed annihilating everything in sight. 

I enjoyed the faithful mechanics and dated mindset incorporated within Crisis Wing. Yet, I appreciated the modern twist and two-player mode more. Playing this with a friend quickly became messy, but amongst the confusion and clouds of bullets was a thoroughly enjoyable game that kept me entertained for hours. Sharing the challenge with another player vastly reduced the difficulty, and this was another reason why I loved it. This option was more user friendly and allowed you to hone your skills.

Drop that skull bomb.

Crisis Wing is retro, so give it a CRT filter. 

Few modern games can pull off a CRT filter, but Crisis Wing did it beautifully. This optional extra transports you to the prime moment of this retro genre. It looked fantastic with its vivid colours and pixelated imagery. The fast-flowing backdrops blurred as the ships raced by. Subsequently, the messy screens appeared overcrowded, and this added to the hectic nature of the gameplay. It was a wonderfully vibrant blur that will fill you with energy as you take on each stage.

The dated aesthetics are enhanced by the loud FM soundtrack. The ear-piercing audio rattles your brain as you blast your way through the levels. The upbeat sound matches the fast-paced action and its hypnotic style will have you hooked. You’ll wince at the booming sound effects that overpower the loud music. First, it’s the roar of your engine and the scream of your weapons that captures your attraction. Lastly, it’s the crashing sounds of your fallen foes that’ll bring a wry smile to your face.

Many enemies and dozens of projectiles!

A wonderful tutorial. 

Most of Crisis Wing’s controls are self-explanatory, and I liked its straightforward style. Yet, for those who need a helping hand, the developers have kindly incorporated a thorough tutorial. So, whichever approach you take, you’ll enjoy responsive controls that are well mapped out. 

Its three game modes, solo and two-player options, and moderately difficult achievement list add to the addictive gameplay. If you love the genre, you’ll get hooked on this. Casual gamers will also enjoy its moreish ways and quick levels.

Crisis Wing is an old-school classic with a modern polish. 

Crisis Wing captures everything that makes this genre wonderful. With its old-school charm but modern polish, it’ll tick many boxes for most gamers. I enjoyed what was offered and recommend you to buy it here! Team up with a friend, collect your power-ups and blast everything you see. 

Review: Blind Postman

Daniel Waite
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Review: Blind Postman

The inability to stop yourself from moving is inconvenient. You start your journey only stopping when a wall gets in your way. It’s not the quickest way to get around, and all those bumps on the shins and face must become tedious. Yet, this is the life of the Blind Postman!

Developed and published by DillyFrame, it’s an ice-sliding puzzle title. This follows on from their array of tricky rabbit-based puzzle games. You control a visual impaired postie whose aim is to collect letters and exit the neon-infused maze. Other than this, there is no further mention of mail or packages to deliver, so the postman link is a little tenuous.

Vast spaces and many obstacles.

Blind Postman doesn’t break the mould.

Ice-sliding puzzlers are a great test of the mind, but there is little new ground to tread. You slide up, down, left, or right until you strike an obstacle. You must then study the map, plan your route, and slide again. This is Blind Postman in a nutshell, and sadly its evolution is limited by its simple concept.

However, the challenge of planning your route and staying away from dead-ends is intriguing. I enjoyed how the difficulty increased with new mechanics gradually being added. Whether it was movable blocks, proximity mines, or specific coloured walls, you must remove it made the game much harder.

It missed a trick. 

With slick gameplay and limited solutions, Blind Postman missed a trick. It failed to include a speedrun element or a score for each stage. This sadly reduces any competitive element and makes the gameplay far too casual. 

I’d have loved to blitz through every level, testing my logical prowess while completing each puzzle efficiently. What I got instead was a calm futuristic game that doesn’t penalise you for mistakes or slow progress.

Choose your path and don’t change your mind.

Blind Postman sparkles with its clean-cut style.

Though the gameplay doesn’t offer any surprises, the art style is fantastic. The futuristic world that is filled with neon colours is great to look at. The labyrinthine stages become more complex as new elements are added and require thorough planning to break through. The bird’s-eye perspective makes planning each stage trouble-free, and I loved how the maps merged.

The calm and slow-paced action is complemented by the soft piano music. The odd-sounding tunes are juxtaposed with shrill mechanical sound effects that enhance the futuristic theme. Somehow, it was an interesting blend of styles that strangely worked. I did, however, like how it never overpowered the puzzles, and this was a clever decision from DillyFrame.

Letters and bombs.

Bump, turn, run, bump!

Get used to running into walls and objects, as you’ll be doing this a lot. You’ll also be forced to restart each stage repeatedly when minor mistakes occur. With no rewind button, this can be infuriating, yet, fortunately, the simple controls mitigate most errors. You must focus on the direction of movement and nothing else. It’s extremely easy to pick up and play, and fans of the genre will dive straight into the action.

Thanks to its expansive catalogue of levels and array of envelopes to collect, there is replay value. However, the aforementioned lack of a competitive edge reduces longevity considerably. You’ll return to play if you appreciate the challenge of the later levels, and its moderate achievement list is difficult to complete.

Blind Postman is good but could have been better.

I enjoy this genre, and like the logical planning required. Yet, I’m in the minority and many gamers demand more variety. Sadly, Blind Postman fails to evolve past what its peers offer and this leaves you wanting more. I enjoyed it and recommend you to buy it here! However, be aware of its limitations. Collect the envelopes, solve the puzzles, and complete every stage. 

Review: Dojoran

Daniel Waite
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Review: Dojoran

All life forms are intelligent, it’s just some are smarter than others. Take, for example, pigs and dolphins. They are intelligent creatures full of emotion. However, would you consider a frog to belong in this category? I wouldn’t, but Dojoran tells the tale of a smart amphibian who relies on his ancestors’ guidance to survive.

Developed by Nautlaunder and published by Ratalaika Games, this is a retro puzzle platformer. Using a basic side-scrolling style and a mainly monochromatic palette, this old-school title will challenge you while filling you with nostalgia.

Cling on for dear life.

Dojoran offers nothing new, but it’s well constructed.

Dojoran’s core mechanics are well-trodden and familiar and a good deal of indie titles use the basic ideas. Subsequently, this, sadly, means it offers nothing new. However, playing it didn’t feel tiresome or boring! It’s well constructed and the level designs were interesting. 

The aim is simple: you control Dojoran, a large adult frog who grows up in a specific location by chance. He must use the knowledge of his ancestors to complete each stage and to survive. You face twenty-eight challenging stages that become gradually more challenging. New mechanics are drip-fed and a timer constantly monitors your performances. 

Just a frog on a moving fist.

Enemies, collectables, and special powers. 

Dojoran isn’t an aggressive creature, and he doesn’t attack his foes. He must avoid conflict, or leap on their heads to eliminate them. This isn’t challenging, as your enemies are slow-moving. However, these aren’t the only dangers he faces! No, spikes, pits, moving platforms, and more must be overcome.

These obstacles are difficult to traverse until you receive your special powers, that is. An apple and a fly are used to leap gaps and stay alive. They are essential to completing each stage and to find every collectable.

Gold coins and talismans are found on every level. You must jump chasms, cling to walls, and risk your life to gather them all. You can ignore them if you wish, but what’s a platform game if you don’t find every collectable?

Dojoran is pleasant to look at. 

Indie titles are being churned out daily! This relentless endeavour is creating poor games that look terrible and run poorly. Nonetheless, Dojoran is unashamedly retro and its rough exterior is a throwback to a classic gaming era. Its monochromatic appearance is striking and is pleasant on the eye. I loved its style and its varied and well throughout stages. Moreover, it has a simple design that doesn’t overcomplicate the matter and allows you to enjoy the action. 

The high energy synth wave music emphasises the retro inspiration. Yet, the shrill sounds don’t overpower the other elements, and it strikes the right balance. The old-school sound effects were crass, but they brought a wry smile to my face. Its no-nonsense approach won’t win awards, but it’ll entertain you for the short amount of time you’ll play this.

Utilise the apple power.

So simple a child could play it. 

Unlike tougher platform titles that require button combos and the ability to remember many controls. Dojoran is straightforward, and it asks you to cling to walls, leap on mushrooms, avoid traps, and use special abilities. These are completed with a simple press of a button and it’s so user friendly a child could play it. 

With no penalties for missing collectables and short and simple levels to overcome, Dojoran, unfortunately, lacks replay value. I would have liked more emphasis to be placed on the speedrun elements. This would have demanded I played more and increased the challenge tenfold. Its small achievement list is a completionist’s dream and can be finished in under an hour. 

Dojoran is a glorious journey to a wonderful era. 

The weird froggy theme and basic style were admirable, and I loved the nod to a bygone era. I appreciated the striking monochromatic look and 80s synth wave music. The simple controls will be a hit with many gamers, yet I wish it was more challenging. I enjoyed it and recommend you to buy it here! Explore the dangerous levels and use your ancestors’ knowledge to stay alive. 

Review: Embr

Daniel Waite
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Review: Embr

There are plenty of dangerous careers to choose from and whichever is selected, you’ll be considered a hero. However, the one that stands out for me is the life of a firefighter. Dealing with blazing infernos, falling buildings, and screaming humans is a recipe for disaster. Embr allows you to take this role and enjoy the dangers from the safety of your home.

Developed by Muse Games and published by Curve Digital, this is a first-person action-adventure title. The hectic gameplay can be tackled solo or with three friends and you’ll scream, shout, and laugh as you extinguish fires, rescue people, and steal goods. 

Embr has a simple concept, but it’s challenging to play.

I adore it when a game has a simple concept. I don’t want to spend hours learning the finer details, as I simply want to get on with it. Luckily, Embr does just that and you’ll be knee-deep in flames and water in no time. The concept is straightforward, as you must complete tasks to earn money to buy bigger and better equipment. Your missions become more complex and the solutions aren’t always obvious, but this is half the fun. 

You must rescue people, jump from burning buildings, tackle electricity, gas, explosions, and more. Armed with an array of equipment, you must be quick, proactive, and brave as you complete each task. As the jobs become more complex, the gameplay becomes more challenging. You’ll grind out missions to earn money to improve your apparatus. Though the best gear is essential, it doesn’t guarantee victory, and a heck of a lot of luck is also required.

This is not the time to poop!

An array of missions and loads of equipment. 

I loved the range of missions that spanned each of the three locations. You’ll travel each area completing a selection of tasks to earn money, gold coins, and blue gems. These are used to buy equipment and to upgrade it (more on this shortly). The range of tasks asks you to save civilians, salvage goods, destroy properties quickly, rescue all the cash, save a specific item, and more. Each requires a different tactical approach and a unique loadout.

This excellent idea from Muse Games ensured the gameplay stayed fresh throughout. Each property you visited has many tasks to complete and has a maximum ‘Embr score’ to obtain. This challenges you to push yourself to the limit and will test your competitive side. 

The difficulty of the missions is vastly reduced when new equipment is purchased and upgraded. You can buy extinguishers, hoses, attachments, trampolines, clothing, axes, vehicles, and more. These increased health, power, speed, the ability to carry more, and so on. Soon your firefighter becomes superhuman, and tackling each blaze is as simple as blowing out a match.

Why won’t you help me?

Multiplayer and unique challenges.

I was unable to experience the madness of multiplayer, but this hectic mode will enhance the already excellent gameplay. Working together will cause arguments, but it’ll also add tactical advantages not seen in the solo mode. If you have a great group of friends, this will be a game you’ll want to play together. 

Daily and weekly tasks have been incorporated into the action to add further challenges, and to keep you playing. These missions aren’t for the faint of heart but are well rewarded if you succeed. I love it when developers keep you coming back for more and this was an excellent move by Muse Games. 

Embr has basic graphics but interesting levels. 

Combining the look of Rec Room and Secret Neighbor, Embr has basic visuals that use a simple but striking colour palette. I liked how the flames engulfed the buildings and the panic on each person’s face. Thanks to its first-person perspective, it was easy to navigate the array of interesting 3D levels. The action takes place over many floors and it was great to explore each burning maze while completing the objectives.

The audio enhances the drama. The crackling sound effects and the buzzing of electricity fill you with fear. Then there are the explosions of barrels and the cracking of wood as buildings tumble. It brilliantly represents the danger firefighters face, and I thoroughly enjoyed the horrifying nature of the audio.

I’m not sure an axe will extinguish those flames.

Excellent UI and responsive controls.

With many tasks to focus on and lots of equipment to use, this could have been challenging to play. Fortunately, it’s excellent and well laid out UI makes selecting the correct tool an easy task. Also, the responsive controls ensure that every command is blindly followed. You’ll love jumping from buildings or throwing people onto trampolines as you dive deeper into each burning mess.

The aforementioned multiplayer mode and weekly tasks demand you keep playing. I adored the challenge of getting the maximum score and the difficulty of the later levels. You’ll invest hours to unlock all the equipment and to complete each mission. The achievement list is just as tough and completionists will struggle to finish this title. 

Embr is a fantastic and hectic title that’ll push you to your limits. 

Embr tests your planning, reactions, and patience. You must upgrade your equipment, alter your loadout, and hope for some luck. It’s excellent solo, but I’m sure it’ll excel as a multiplayer title. I enjoyed it and recommend you to buy it here! Become a firefighter, improve your tools, and tackle every blaze.

My video review with footage captured from my Xbox Series X, enjoy!

Review: Foodtruck Arena

Michael Hoade
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Review: Foodtruck Arena

A new entry into the car combat / football sub-genre, Foodtruck Arena places you in the shoes of a number of zany characters, as they aspire to become the world’s greatest Chef. To do this, they have to win a tournament where the Chefs compete against one another in a – certainly unique – rendition of football. 

As you can imagine from the name alone, you control various different food trucks as you attempt to guide a tomato (football substitute) into the net.  

This is broken down into two base game modes: tournament (the story) and free match. 

Inspired by the success of Rocket League, is Foodtruck Arena able to use this inspiration to carve out a tasty new side-dish in this genre?

The Bad news:

No.

Look – there is no way to sugarcoat this: Foodtruck Arena is not good. 

I went into this game intrigued – excited even – by the promise of a fun, humorous experience with solid gameplay and a unique style. 

Unfortunately the game doesn’t ever get going.

The absence of a tutorial, combined with extremely clunky movement, means that the game presents an instant wall for the player to overcome. Whilst the game itself has a very minimalistic control scheme, with basic movement options, as well as a jump and skill move button, the sheer awkwardness of simply directing and moving your truck makes the experience immediately painful.

Add in a lack of a tutorial to properly explain the different Chefs abilities (that do actually have strategic value), this game put me off straight away. 

All of this leads to incredibly sluggish and slow gameplay. You then add in the long loading times between matches, and it just gets worse.

The story and characters were an aspect that I was looking forward to. You start off with being able to play as four different characters (you unlock a further four as the game progresses), who all have incredibly distinct and inspired designs (albeit, very stereotypical). You also get a small biography on each character, that briefly details their backstory and motivation for wanting to be the world’s best Chef. 

There are also really cool comic strips that play at the end of each tournament. 

Sadly, this is the pinnacle of the game’s storytelling. There is no real story here, with the gameplay being the priority. Whilst I enjoyed learning how to use each truck’s skill, the sheer painfulness of just trying to steer the damn tomato into the net sullied any enjoyment I could briefly get from this game.

When the base gameplay just doesn’t feel good, this deeply affects just about every other aspect of the game. This was the case for me, sadly.

Constant own goals:

A recurring theme with this game is that whenever I found a positive – that I so desperately tried to latch onto – it was immediately undermined by a number of negatives. 

The cel-shaded design is cool, but when actually playing the game it looks kinda cheap and mobile game-esque.

The music for each character is actually quite good, but there just aren’t enough characters or modes to keep the gameplay loop interesting. Limiting the gameplay to a maxim of 2V2 doesn’t help. 

There is certainly a strategic aspect to gameplay, with the different abilities all offering unique advantages for the player, and the various arenas also having their own variables that affect gameplay. But this isn’t fun to experience when the base gameplay is so clunky.

Couch co-op and being able to map the control to a single Joycon is definitely a plus, but the fun of playing with friends is mostly just laughing at how frustrated they get with the game’s controls.

Also, there is no online play. The absence of a real competitive skill-climb is really disappointing, and again, makes this game pale in comparison to the likes of Rocket League.

All of this is a real shame. I think on paper, the premise of this game sounds really fun. Combining food with trucks and football sounds like an absolute blast. With smoother gameplay, a proper tutorial and online play, I could see myself really enjoying this game. 

Unfortunately, the developers have failed here to translate a good idea into a fun gaming experience. 

A tough one to recommend. 

Review: LoveChoice

Daniel Waite
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Review: LoveChoice

Relationships are tricky and they take effort to make them work. When you first meet someone, it’s an exciting, yet nervous time. You want to be yourself, but you also want to impress. Mistakes are made, but how you deal with them shows your character. LoveChoice explores the highs and lows of meeting a new partner and you control how each situation blossoms or fails.

Developed by Akaba Studio and published by Ratalaika Games, this is an interactive visual novel title. It’s the winner of indie prize Asia 2019 for ‘best narrative’, so I was excited to see what was on offer. The gameplay comprises three short novels about young love. You’ll witness the early stages of each relationship and guide the process with your dialogue choices.

So messy!

LoveChoice loses its emotion in translation. 

I’ve played many visual novels across an array of themes, and the common mistake is poor translation. I worried that this would be the case with LoveChoice and was concerned about how much this would affect the story. Sadly, my concerns were realised almost immediately! The flow and pace of the text failed to match the theme, and most of the dialogue felt cold and disjointed. This callous style worked well with the moments of hatred or sorrow, but when adoration or love was expressed, it failed abysmally.

The core concepts regarding mini-games, dialogue choices, and outcomes weren’t impacted. However, there was a distinct lack of emotional integrity, and I failed to build a rapport with the lead characters. It’s a shame as the main elements were interesting and made it a fun interactive novel to read through.

How will the relationship end?

Short novels, multiple endings, and unusual mini-games. 

The bite-size novels with their unique views on love were intriguing to read. I loved how the blossoming relationships were shown and how relatable the choices were. Akaba Studio captured the ups and downs and pitfalls perfectly and this made the lack of emotion much more frustrating.

Like other visual novels, LoveChoice has multiple endings for each of its volumes. You experience positive, negative, and neutral finales, and reaching them requires some trial and error and logical thinking. Yet, unlike other VNs, you are free to interact with the scenery, move characters, and discover hidden Easter Eggs. This was fantastic and made me want to keep playing, even though I felt no emotional attachment to the plot. I enjoyed how it dropped the usual voyeuristic manner and broke the fourth wall.

The interactive elements were also aided by the unusual mini-games and point and click mechanics. You’ll grab floating musical notes, pick restaurants, match faces, search for clues, and so forth. They’re not groundbreaking by any stretch, but they broke up the flow of the story and encouraged you to be part of the narrative.

LoveChoice is emotionally sterile, but its visuals are beautiful. 

I may not have fallen for its written charms, but I loved the visual presentation. The soft colour palette and interesting backdrops were beautiful to look at. The hand-drawn images represented illustrations from a paperback book and supported each scene. The variety shown across each chapter was surprising, and I liked how it represented different eras and cultures. If the game was emotionally sound, these images would have been breathtaking. 

The audio encompasses the theme magnificently! With its slow and touching sounds, you’ll admire the surrounding beauty. I enjoyed how a variety of songs and sound effects were used to highlight the poignant emotions. It was interesting to see the developers using nothing but music and sounds to enhance what should have been touching moments. Nonetheless, it fell flat because of the poor translation.

A romantic walk among the stars.

A slow-moving cursor, but easy to play, mostly. 

Usually, visual novels are my go-to genre when I want to relax. The simple and limited controls allow me to enjoy the mindless action. However, LoveChoice demands more attention! This wasn’t a problem as the controls are simple to learn, yet, sadly, the slow cursor impacts the mini-games and makes this element more frustrating than I’d have liked.

Thanks to its three stories and multiple endings, LoveChoice has some replay value. Sadly, though, you are unable to skip through previously seen dialogue, and this was tedious. A moderate achievement list requires you to find all Easter Eggs and see every ending, so completionists must invest a considerable amount of time. 

LoveChoice is well written but poorly translated. 

The feeling of being lost in translation is something we all experience. Sadly for LoveChoice, it dominates its core concept. Devoid of emotions and with no rapport with the protagonists, it feels soulless. Even though it’s flawed, I enjoyed many elements and recommend you to buy it here! Will you play Cupid, or will you watch love fail? 

Review: Draft of Darkness

Frances Addison
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Review: Draft of Darkness

When facing down a zombie hoard, you might not be all that comforted to know that your only defense is a deck of cards. Regardless, that is exactly where Draft of Darkness puts you.

The game casts you as one of a selection of characters deep in the heart of a unique, procedurally generated map filled to the brim with monsters just waiting to tear you limb from limb. Players are tasked with exploring the map in search of items and allies to increase your strength, fighting through ghoulish creatures and hostile robots with every step.

Combat is turn-based and is mediated through your card deck. All characters involved in the fight will be placed in a turn order as dictated by their speed. On each playable character’s turn, you’ll be able to spend your limited pool of action points playing cards, switching weapons, or using items. Different cards have different effects, such as dealing damage or applying status effects, with more powerful cards typically costing more action points to play.

Expanding and refining your card deck is the primary gameplay loop of Draft of Darkness, and it adds a substantial level of complexity to what could otherwise be a fairly straightforward system. More powerful cards can give you an edge in combat, but they typically also cost more action points and thus have to be used more sparingly. In contrast, if you fill your deck up with low-powered cards to ensure you always have something to play, you’re less likely to be able to draw the heavy hitter you need to finish off your opponent.

Adding to the game’s complexity is item economy. Winning battles and looting chests can recover various useable items, such as pills to recover lost health. Making this system more strategic, however, is that some items will do different things in and out of combat. For example, the healing pills will recover more health if used outside of battle, but as a single-use item, you may regret using them up if one of your characters has a sudden run of bad luck in a fight. Deciding when and how to use the few items you can scavenge is a vital part of keeping your party alive.

Together, these systems build in a surprising level of strategy to your actions. Combat can feel a little slow-paced, particularly some of the harder encounters, but the constant focus on planning ahead really helps to keep you in the moment.

Outside of combat, there are also quests and puzzles to explore. As well as a nice change of pace from the card game, these aspects help to keep pushing you forwards and making you explore new areas. Given the somewhat repetitive and laid-back nature of combat, the puzzles in particular are an excellent change of pace, and give you a nice bit of variety in the type of content you’re engaging with. The puzzles are never particularly difficult, but they’re a fun addition all the same.

Where this game really excels is in its atmosphere. Draft of Darkness is sold as a horror experience, which you may not expect to mesh particularly well with the slow, measured pace of a card game. In some ways this is true – the monsters you encounter along your journey don’t offer much terror beyond the occasional surprise attack – but in terms of sheer dread, the soundtrack really sells it. Even when you’re exploring enemy-free rooms, the continuous, discordant music and sounds is always there to keep you on edge. It’s not so oppressive as to be overwhelming, but the sound design really works to back up the narrative.

All that said, Draft of Darkness isn’t a perfect game. There’s quite a steep learning curve initially to get used to the type of cards on offer and the general flow of combat, but once you’ve settled into things it does get a lot smoother. On the more technical side, the walking speed can feel quite slow, particularly if you’re using a keyboard to navigate rather than a mouse.

The biggest concern for me as the game currently stands is that it can start to get old quite quickly. There are special events and encounters that really help to make you want to push on, but at the moment they’re quite scattered and due to the random nature of procedural generation, it’s impossible to say if early-game players will stumble across the content they need to get hooked into the narrative.

Overall, these issues really are minor. Further, the game is currently in early access, so it’s likely that further changes will be coming to Draft of Darkness that may resolve them altogether. Horror game or not, there’s not a lot here to scare players so if that isn’t your type of thing, this title may still be worth a look. On the other hand, if you go in seeking something very dark and tense, then the slow pace of the combat is likely to dash your expectations pretty quickly. As it stands, I’m excited to see where this game goes in the future; parts of it still feel a little underdeveloped, but the existing content is definitely a solid promise of good things to come.

Review: Dustwind: The Last Resort

Alex Chessun
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Review: Dustwind: The Last Resort

Out of a pandemic and into the apocalypse, Dustwind – The Last Resort is an action RTS that’s going to have you scratch and claw your way through warring factions, plungers, and more bleak outlooks than you can chase Mad Max with.

Originally released on PC in 2017 as Dustwind, this real-time tactics/team deathmatch title has seen some improvements over the years, including a single-player mode and now further changes in its port to consoles. Similar to Fallout Tactics in tone and theme this apocalyptic RTS is an isometric sandbox of toys where you can pause and plan your strategy step by step or run around like a headless chicken and shoot everything, the choice is yours!

The established game (Skirmish mode) provides a detailed attacking system that goes as far as letting you focus on specific body parts and it goes hand in hand with its quickfire missions where the goal is simple – choose a team of 4 rugged mercenaries with varying guns and stats that best fits the mission and defeat the enemy post haste. Scoping out an area before cleaning out the entire area with your team, is satisfying and feels like a polished formula – if not a bit rough around the edges in its actualization. It is, however, highly accessible and is appealing in bite-sized chunks.

The tutorial, strangely, is keen to introduce overpowered deaths and amusing quips in short minute-long missions as if its trying to sell you something completely different to what’s actually on offer. The truth is laid bare following said tutorial though as a series of disappointments each worse than the last begin to show themselves.  

The joy of the skirmish mode missions (which includes 6 modes such Last Team Standing, Team Deathmatch, Free For All and Capture the Gas) comes to an abrupt halt with a Campaign mode that abandons the pick-up-and-play format completely and awkwardly attempts to fit the gameplay system into slow RPG progression and poor storytelling. This forces the gameplay and controls – which were already teetering on the edge – over the cliff of playability, producing boringly narrow missions and sluggish gameplay. 

There’s also no avoiding the 2nd, but still post apocalyptic-sized, elephant in the room – its visuals – which despite using the Unity engine make it look like it could run on your 10-year-old low-spec PC with all the graphics settings turned down. Poor graphics are far from a reason to discount a game entirely of course, but what can are the long loading screens for small maps filled with few enemies and a poor frame rate.

Kill the frog pigs. You must, even if you don’t want to.

Despite all this, the biggest transgression this port makes is the number of glaring omissions from the PC version. You might think that online multiplayer would be the first and most obvious inclusion considering it’s been the main feature of the PC version ever since it launched, but you would be wrong – it hasn’t even been included at all! Offline single-player-only is a slightly bizarre choice when it shuts out the option of playing other players across multiple consoles and expanding the game as a whole, but what even of the map editor that features in the original version? That might make for some fun times when all by your lonesome? Wrong! Out the window with that, you, the screaming baby and the bathwater. 

The skirmish mode is the only mode worth playing and that alone, especially being single-player-only, is hardly worth the price of admission. One can only hope that those who do end up purchasing this version receive an online update.

As is almost always the case for a PC port the controls are a bit of a mess, with way too many features forced to fit the PS4 controller to make sense. The rigid and jerky movement of the characters suit a point-and-click control system down to a tee, but with a joystick the poor animation and lackluster attacks make it feel like a stop-motion movie with stickmen wailing away at each other with almost zero feedback. Knowing that you’ve got a long road of grinding ahead of you makes it that much less appetizing. Moving the map, an essential part of the entire experience, can also only be accessed and adjusted in the start menu rather than during the action like on PC, slowing down the action even further. 

It takes cajones changing the entire make-up of a game and for that, credit where credit is due, but this title should have further developed the decent deathmatch formula instead of stripping down its best parts and offering it for the same price.

Dustwind – The Last Resort has all the trappings of an enjoyable RTS if you consider fewer features, poor controls and a boring single-player mode but minor issues. While I am unable to confirm whether this lazy port runs better via backward compatibility or not on the PS5, its barely worth your consideration as your money is far better spent on the superior PC version, and as such the console version should only be chosen as – you guessed it – the last resort.

Review: Wake’n’Shake Dynamite Alarm Clock

Andrew Edney
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Review: Wake’n’Shake Dynamite Alarm Clock

Here is our review of the Wake’n’Shake Dynamite Alarm Clock from Geemarc.

Features

  • Extra loud alarm (95dB spl at 1 meter)
  • Red extra bright flash (12 LEDs)
  • Time format : 12/24 hours
  • Programmable alarm
  • Duration of alarm : up to 1 hour
  • From 5 to 60 minutes snooze
  • 5 alarm settings :
  • Off
  • Vibrator
  • Ringer + Vibrator
  • Vibrator + Flash
  • Ringer + Vibrator + Flash
  • Lamp function (red light)
  • Large red display
  • Dimmer switch (Low/Mid/High)
  • Volume and tone control (3 levels)
  • Vibrator control (2 levels)
  • USB charging for smart phones and other electronics


What’s in the box?

The box contains the clock, the shaker, a manual and a power supply.

A Closer Look

Final Thoughts

When you first see this clock you think its a bit of a novelty, but it’s much more than that. A lot of people do have trouble waking up in the morning, no matter how many alarms they have set. And for a phone alarm or normal alarm clock you could probably sleep through it, even if it was going for a while.

This is where the Wake’n’Shake Dynamite Alarm Clock comes into play. Once set and when the alarm goes off there are four alarm modes to choose from.

You can have just the shaker going off – this would be located under your pillow so that the shaking should wake you up – this should also mean that your partner won’t be disturbed.

You could also have the shaker and sounds go off, or the sounds and a strobe light, or for those who really think they need it, the shaker, the sounds and the strobe light. If this last option doesn’t wake you then nothing will!

Setting up the alarm and the snooze duration is very simple and you can adjust various other settings as needed.

You can also choose to charge your mobile phone from the USB port on the back of the clock, which is very useful.

If you need to really ensure that you wake up and get up when your alarm goes off and your current alarm isn’t cutting it, then take a look at the Wake’n’Shake Dynamite Alarm because you won’t sleep through that!

The Wake’n’Shake Dynamite Alarm Clock from Geemarc is available now priced from around £45.99.

You can learn more from the Geemarc website.

Review: A Day Without Me

Daniel Waite
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Review: A Day Without Me

Humans love to be social, and when they are isolated, their minds play tricks on them. Imagine waking one day to find your world is turned upside down! You are alone, there is destruction at every corner, and no one can tell you what has happened. A Day Without Me lets you experience this with its dark and sinister theme.

Developed by Gamecom Team and published by ChiliDog Interactive, this is a twisted puzzle-adventure title. With a dark and horrendous plot, you’ll spend your time confused and scared to continue your journey. Yet, somehow you’ll delve deeper into its murky and sinister plot.

Red means danger!

A Day Without Me is shrouded in mystery! 

I spent much of my time scratching my head while running around this small town. A Day Without Me offers little information regarding its plot, and this becomes no clearer at the end. The shrouded mystery is made up of many puzzles that force you to explore the town. You’ll search for clues, discover grisly sights, but the more you find, the muddier the water becomes. 

The gameplay revolves around demonic beings, voices in your head, and death. Burning and crashed vehicles litter the streets and blood is splattered as far as the eye can see. Subsequently, it’s a gruesome experience that blends fantasy with mental health problems. The protagonist is haunted by apparitions and hissing voices, and this makes for an extremely uncomfortable experience. It’s oddly addictive in a macabre way and you’ll play it to clarify what has happened.

Hopscotch of doom.

Confusing puzzles and plenty of deaths.

Gamecom Team wanted their title to be super confusing, and they succeeded. With limited guidance and cryptic clues, you’ll scramble around for answers to the many puzzles. You must play hopscotch, have fun in a park, activate switches, run from a boulder, burn graves, and more. Solving each problem sends you deeper into the madness that is A Day Without Me, and things quickly spiral out of control. 

Gentle souls and those with a weak disposition may find the gameplay very uncomfortable. With images of death and suicide intertwined within the action, it’s not the most pleasant title. Yet, these are key components that support this bizarre theme. As more layers are added, you’ll try to piece together the game’s meaning. However, its complexities and odd elements create a surreal experience.

A Day Without Me is dated and rough around the edges. 

The pastel tones and bloody imagery contain enough detail to create an interesting world to explore. However, its dated style won’t wow many gamers. It reminded me of a bizarre-looking Untitled Goose Game, but with considerably more gore. The demonic scenes are shown with consistent blood-red colour and this enhances the feeling of danger. The cold blues and soft greens highlight the protagonists’ isolation and this matches bits of the odd theme. 

Silence and the sound of nature are combined to increase the feeling of loneliness. The lack of noise and music is deafening, and the gameplay is filled with tension because of it. The fleeting moments of music are fantastic as they add drama and energy to an otherwise slow-paced title.

Stay away from the fire!

The controls are the least of your concerns. 

A Day Without Me has many confusing elements, but fortunately, the controls aren’t one of them. With well-labelled interactive items, you’ll easily pick up objects and move around the world. The buttons are responsive and the slow gameplay makes completing each task a cinch. 

Sadly, however, where this is lacking is its replay value. Once you work through its short story, there is little reason to return. There are collectables to find, but these add nothing to the game, nor were they a challenge to locate. You’ll need around one to two hours to complete this, and once finished, you won’t return for more. 

A Day Without Me: bizarre, surreal and very confusing!

I’m still reeling from the bizarre story and weird images contained within A Day Without Me. With no closure, I’m unsure whether I’ve interpreted the plot correctly and this annoys me. I did, however, enjoy its puzzles and gruesome ways and recommend you to buy it here! Solve the puzzles, complete your journey, and discover the surrounding mystery, perhaps!

My review with footage captured from my Xbox Series X, enjoy!

Review: WRC 10

Daniel Waite
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Review: WRC 10

Motor racing fans have an array of games at their disposal. However, followers of rally racing have a narrower field to select from. The go-to franchise has to be World Rally Championship and I’m fortunate enough to look at the latest iteration, WRC 10.

Developed by KT Racing and published by Nacon, this builds on an already exceptional racing franchise. Utilising its strong foundations, you experience a wonderful blend of modern and retro racing. Reusing its well thought out formula is a great idea that creates a nice comfortable consistency. However, it also replicates many of the minor irritations from previous titles.

Keep away from the obstacles.

WRC 10 shows the sports excellent historical roots. 

Whenever I play a sports game, I turn to the major franchises as this guarantees me a deep-rooted and interesting career mode. This always complements the other elements and creates a well-rounded experience. Skill levels are always considered and driver assists even up the playing field. Now, I was surprised when KT Racing took a slightly different route! The excellent Anniversary Mode ignores these rules and follows a dog eat dog idealism instead.

It makes for a baptism of fire and separates the men from the boys or the women from the girls. It was chastising and left me reeling in disbelief. Fortunately, though, you can experience the classic cars in quick play if you can’t overcome the shock difficulty curve. 

This would be fine if the most intriguing concept within WRC 10 wasn’t locked within the Anniversary Mode. The Private Team option and livery editor are both unlocked after tackling this beastly option. It was a little confusing and held me back from truly enjoying everything on offer.

Same mistakes, new game. 

I’ve been a sports gaming fan for years and yet I’m irked by the repetitive mistakes made by the developers. They treat every player like they’ve never played the game. It’s infuriating, as I don’t wish to recap the basics that I’ve covered for the last twelve months. WRC 10 assumes that every player wishes to start in the Junior or Series 3 events. In reality, experienced plays want to skip the apéritif and starter and go straight to the main course.

Nonetheless, what truly excited me was the roster of vehicles at your disposal. Petrolheads will adore the championship-winning rides that are available to be selected. Audi, Lancias, Peugeot, Toyota, VW, Ford and more are available. These iconic rides add further depth to an already overflowing title. Moreover, it was enthralling to race in a selection of much-loved vehicles across world-famous venues.

The landscape is utterly beautiful.

Customise your co-driver and an odd choice of races.

Alongside some other minor elements, WRC 10 has introduced a customisable co-driver. This made an interesting twist on a character you spend many hours with and added a layer of realism.

Another element that added to this was the introduction of tyre strategy. Combining a selection of rubber based on the track you were facing was an interesting tactical twist. You can gamble for more speed, increased tyre life, or improved grip. This was, however, undermined by the bonus objectives. Therefore, it was bizarre that this was a key strategic element, yet the bonus system ignored this interesting mechanic. Nonetheless, this was shortsighted by the developers and perhaps they should have forgotten about the bonus tasks.

I was surprised by the selection of tracks on offer. With the introduction of the stunning Estonian and Croatian rallies, but the exclusion of the Arctic Rally, it seemed the developers missed the boat. There were also key tracks from previous titles sadly unavailable. I’m unsure why KT Racing decided to exclude some much-loved locations, especially as there is a tab highlighting ‘other rallies’. I’m not sure whether these will be added later, but for now, it remains a mystery.

WRC 10 looks incredible and runs fantastically. 

Whatever your thoughts on racing games, there is no denying the quality of WRC 10. Graphically, it’s fantastic and the gameplay is ultra-realistic. The tracks look amazing and the cars are mechanically sound. I love the dated liveries and the crazy crowds during the retro races. The claustrophobic nature of the tighter courses is great, and I adored the technical challenge within these courses. It retains the excellent quality I’ve come to expect from this triple-A franchise and runs smoothly with no glitches or frame rate issues. 

The fantastic visuals are supported by some ear-splitting and meaty sound effects. Somehow these have improved on last year’s efforts and I loved the roar of the engines and the squeal of the tyres. Every race is accompanied by the custom sounds of your co-driver. They bark instructions, shout when you crash and make the odd sarcastic remark. All of these elements combined heighten the sense of realism and make for a great experience.

Get through that cloud of dirt.

Reactive tracks and excellent controls. 

The car handling and reaction to different surfaces have always been wonderful in the WRC franchise. WRC 10 is no different, and I loved drifting on mud, sliding on gravel, and powering through tarmac. The cars skit and slip as you’d expect, and this adds to the challenge. The array of driver assists make the gameplay accessible and reduces the learning curve considerably.

Your desire to return will depend on your love of online racing or the detailed career mode. Both options offer hours of thrilling action and fans will lose themselves in this adrenaline-fuelled world. Completionists beware! Finishing this isn’t easy and you’ll need skill and determination to get every achievement. 

WRC 10 evolves from a wonderful foundation.

With a vast selection of modes, an in-depth career, and excellent online play, WRC 10 offers the full package. Its only let down is the Anniversary Mode that holds the keys to the best feature. I loved it and recommend you to buy it here! Choose your vehicle, select your track, and race your heart out. 

Review: Evil Genius 2: World Domination

Wil Raterman
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Review: Evil Genius 2: World Domination

It’s time to take over the world, again. Rebellion Games returns with the follow-up to 2004’s acclaimed Evil Genius. That’s a noticeably large gap in-between releases, due to studio changes and other logistics involved. The question is whether this will be a benefit or a detriment to the newly-released sequel. Does Evil Genius 2: World Domination live up to the expectations? Will it take an evil genius to make that judgement? There’s only one way to find out. (Disclaimer: I have not played the first release so comparisons will be based on observation over experience.)

In The Name Of Evil

Select one of four geniuses to plan your global conquest. Choose between an operational labor exploiter, a war mongrel, an almost robotic scientific egoist, or a spy villain. After selecting your anti-hero and choice of landscape to bas your lab out of, it’s time to get to work. You’ll see the contour boundaries of your evil lair filled with sediment, in which you can send your minions to clear corridors and rooms. It gives you an architectural sense of creativity being able to scale each and every room size. Just keep in mind you have the proper space for a door; doors are not sizeable.

It’s time to create a new world, but not necessarily a good world.

From there, via tutorial, you’ll be introduced to all of the nuts and bolts of Evil Genius 2, and there are quite a few. Learn about recruiting and grooming henchmen, going on scientific and global crusades, and gaining intel from prisoners with your technologically adept interrogation means. The tutorial lends itself well to teach you all of the mechanics with voice narration as well. However, I did find myself clicking around, building required rooms, and expansions to satiate the tutorial goals and losing a bit of focus during the process. This is mainly due to the specific sizes, positions, and general requirements to be able to construct certain things which aren’t always clarified.

A Wrench In The Machine

One mechanic that took me a minute to get used to was the [confirm all]. When carving corridors, laying down floor tiles, and installing engines, etc., be mindful to press [confirm all]. That way your changes will be permanent. When adding one thing to another, it gives the illusion that your edits are final, like in Sim City. I would complete objectives, and try to add to my expansions, and [confirm all] wouldn’t accept the changes. Either something was misaligned, a room wasn’t the right size, or other vague reasons. I would mistakenly revert the changes which deleted everything I did in the past few minutes. This created headaches and the feeling of having your time wasted, even after completing an objective. Similar to what I mentioned in the tutorial, this issue could be derived from my lack of competence, instead of the overall game design. Tt was still a huge paint point nonetheless.

You can add multiple things at once, but if you don’t ”confirm all” you can accidentally erase minutes of progress.

Evil Personality (or lack of)

While Evil Genius 2 has a lot going for it, in terms of bells and whistles, one area that could have been explored more was the overall presentation. The graphics are clean and in detail, and it’s captivating to watch all of the henchmen hard at work under your command, but the music, and personality don’t add much to the experience as a whole. The dialogue cutscenes are there mainly for the sense of being there. With the concept of playing a vibrant Evil Mastermind, I expected some jokes or one-liners to compliment the cartoony design. Sadly there wasn’t much there. The music isn’t very memorable either, which is important in games with an emphasis on building, scaling, and patience. This was a huge missed opportunity, and I wonder if the previous title had that spark I’m looking for in this one.

Getting some real Fortnite vibes from the visuals.

Bottom Line

Evil Genius 2 gets a lot right. The visuals are in good detail, and the overall gameplay is engaging and challenging. The issues come from whether that spark of joy is sustainable or not. The lack of a decent soundtrack and any humor or personality may sway those on the fence in the wrong direction. Those whom have experience playing both titles seem to prefer the first one, and I can understand why.

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