Review: Nioh 2 – The Complete Edition

Jonah Ehlers
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Review: Nioh 2 – The Complete Edition

Nioh 2 is special to me. It became a turning point from my rigidity toward challenging games. It also proved to me, if nothing else, that I’m able to meet almost any video game’s challenge. Provided I’ve got enough patience, and a willingness to fail miserably a couple of times first.

Difficult ≠ lmpossible

Anyone who knows me, knows that I have had more than one disastrous foray into the souls-bourne series. I’ve played every entry outside of Sekiro. And I’ve yet to finish any of them.

Slowly over this year however, things have been changing for the better. It started a few months ago when I played a game called Mortal Shell. A souls-like title in more ways than one. When I found out what I was in for. A feeling of dread hit me. However, something unprecedented happened. I not only finished, but enjoyed it. Me, of all people.

It laid the foundation of where I find myself now. Loving Nioh 2 more than I ever thought I would. Even when I want to tear my hair out after my 7th death to the same boss.

Who am I, and what is going on?

Nioh 2 has you play as Hide, a hybrid samurai. You are half-human and half-yokai, a supernatural entity in Japanese folklore. While your human half gives you the tenacity to make it in this demon infested world, your yokai heritage grants you access to abilities that provide you with a welcome edge in combat. 

While your backstory may be set in stone; your character Hide is mostly customizable. Leaving you free to embody whatever kind of warrior you can imagine. Whether a samurai warlord or an Onna-Musha, there’s a great range of options at your fingertips.

You’ve also got the option to delve into the Nioh community’s character codes. Making your way through Japan, battling all manner of yokai as Obi-Wan Kenobi, Zuko, 2B, or Ciri. Hell, Billie Eilish is an option, even if some may not be the most accurate replications.

Sengoku-era Japan is your battleground. Featuring historical figures from this feudal period such as Oda Nobunaga and Imagawa Yoshimoto, the cast is positively star studded. Your human father is even Saitō Dōsan. Nioh 2 hits many notable events in Japanese history, but even so it takes a couple of steps to the left of historical accuracy. Nioh dives into the deep end of the supernatural, using this to explain major events as strings being pulled by evil forces of the dark realm. Forces which have sown chaos across Japan. 

Enemies galore

Crawling with enemies both human and of the dark realm, there are no shortage of battles to be had. Nioh 2’s wide range of enemies make for a multitude of different combat scenarios. Amongst the horde of foes you will inevitably come across are yokai such as the Yoki, a brutish demon that hacks at you mercilessly. Or the Karasu Tengu, a bipedal bird-like creature carrying a spear to descend upon you from the sky. Those are just two of more than 30 different yokai you’ll find yourself fighting, not even counting the unique Bosses. 

Every yokai and every boss has their own style of combat. Some may be swift, closing distance between the two of you in the blink of an eye. Others are slower, dealing devastating damage to those unfortunate enough to find themselves on the receiving end of their rage.

These different combat scenarios incentivise you to learn your own strengths and your opponents weaknesses. A big bulky enemy will be at the mercy of fast attacks and quick movement. A faster enemy may be better dealt with at a distance. It’s your responsibility to make yourself familiar with the many different combatants you’ll encounter.

Dancing with the yokai

Lengthier boss battles become something of a dance. Your first few encounters might not result in anything other than your timely demise. However, there is a benefit to failure in Nioh 2. Every time you perish and respawn at a shrine, you’ve gained valuable knowledge. As time goes by and the battle tally rises, you learn the telltale signs of your opponent’s movement. Whether they raise their head before a sweeping attack, or climb a tree before unleashing a ranged blow.

No matter how insurmountable a fight may seem at first. Before long your enemy holds no more surprises for you. You’ll come to know every move they’ll make. You know how to bait them, exploit their animations and counter at crucial moments. These fights evolve into a well-choreographed dance that just requires a bit of focus and patience. Your opponent steps forward as you dash back. They attack as you position yourself for that perfect opening that you know all too well is coming. Even the most difficult fights can be unpacked and analysed to find the most efficient route to victory. It makes combat extremely engaging and fluid in its rhythm, grabbing and holding your attention to fully immerse you in the battle.

While yokai form a huge chunk of your enemies. Humans are also in the mix. They can be simple in theory, but may just surprise you when making use of their wide range of weapons. Humans take up many of the weapon types available to you. From dual swords, to axes. Some of them, such as spearmen, do not prove to be much of a challenge. While others, like switchglaive-bearing opponents can overwhelm you with their relentless barrage of blows. However, humans are rarely more deadly than the yokai. 

Take your pick

It must be abundantly clear by now that combat in Nioh is fantastic. You make use of three fighting stances. Low-stance has the lowest stamina consumption, allowing you to dance around your enemies effortlessly to deliver a flurry of quick attacks. While sacrificing damage output, you have more freedom of movement to compensate. Perfect for embarrassing slow enemies with your fancy footwork. Or just keeping up with a particular quick opponent. High-stance is all about damage. You dash, dodge, and attack more slowly, using more stamina in the process. However, every hit that lands is that much harder on your enemy. These are perfect for weaker enemies such as the gaki and other one-on-one fights. Mid-stance strikes the balance, allowing for a more well rounded range of attacks and movements.

Nioh 2 supplies you with 11 potential weapons of which you may choose 2. Between the tonfa and odachi, there are many play styles you can adopt. You might enjoy a healthy mix of ranged and close quarters weapons like the dual swords and Kurasigama. You may wish to challenge yourself with a strictly ranged or close weapon loadout. Or you can be the ultimate badass and take on demons barehanded. The choice is yours.

That’s not even mentioning the projectile weapons. The longbow, rifle and handcannon all give you the option to deal damage at a distance. You can take out bowmen before they see you, or ninja hiding in bushes. Even take pot shots at big enemies to give you an advantage between going head-to-head. With all this variety, you don’t even have to stick to your two initial choices. At any point you can switch out your katana for a splitstaff and get to work. 

However, switching comes at a cost. There are 8 attributes ranging from constitution and heart, to skill and magic. You’ll want to commit to a set few to get the most benefit. Of course there are ways to respec your points. Although, sticking to a choice few allows you to increase your damage output with certain weapons. For example the more points you have in constitution the more effective you are with a spear. While I’d love to be able to switch weapon types on the fly with less consequence. This does work incredibly well with setting up specific builds for the best possible damage output. It also makes for great replay value as you can choose drastically different weapons and attributes the second go around.

There’s almost too much

The depth to Nioh 2 is absurd in the best way possible. 30 Hours from the starting point and you’re still more than likely to find something new. There are A LOT of items in this game. Honestly it can be overwhelming when you first dive in. Just have a look at this list of usable items in-game, it’s crazy. You’re constantly picking up new stuff, but don’t be too intimidated. Every once in a while, take a gander at the item descriptions. Or even experiment with them at random. Before long you’ll have your favourites. Whether Jutsu and Onmyo magic, necessities like antiparalytic needles, or helpful items like stones to toss at enemies, baiting them.

Between the weapons, enemies, and usable items; Nioh 2 is overflowing with content. Yet there are still a number of systems within the game that provide even more depth to an already deep experience. Such as the revenants and benevolent graves. Revenants are AI-controlled spirits of fallen players you can do battle with, if you feel like there isn’t already a legion of enemies to fight. Defeating these revenants drops loot and glory, a currency used to unlock items and cosmetics. But most importantly they drop Ochoko Cups, which are used to summon spirits to join your fight. These spirits are called upon at benevolent grave sites left by other players, yourself included. This can come in handy when you need some backup. Or just to use as cannon fodder. 

And yet, there’s more

We’ve already established a number of different ways to go on the offensive from weapons, to jutsu and magic. But even with its generous range of options Nioh 2 still has ways of adding even more. Specifically through soul cores. Whenever you defeat a yokai, it has a chance of dropping a soul core containing its unique ability. You attune a soul core to your guardian spirit, allowing you access to their powers at the cost of your anima gauge. A Nure-Onna core will give you the ability to paralyse enemies. A Waira core will allow you to dive underground, bursting out from beneath your opponent to deal damage. There are soul cores for just about every yokai type. Giving you a wide range to choose from throughout the campaign.

One of the most helpful abilities available in Nioh 2 however, is the yokai shift. You channel your half-yokai side, which you inherited from your mother. Transforming you into a supernatural being. Much like normal combat in this form you have the ability to switch between stances that provide different combat approaches. You can even execute multiple soul core attacks in this state as they are no longer tied together by the anima gauge.

What makes this ability for me though, is the fact that your HP is not linked to the Yokai form’s. Meaning once your Yokai gauge is depleted, you revert back to human form with your HP exactly where you left it. Yokai shift has been my saving grace on more than one occasion, taking me from near death panic to unearned confidence.

You have a choice between three yokai forms, brute, feral and phantom depending on your chosen guardian spirit. And later in the game you even gain access to a second guardian spirit. Allowing you access to another form that you can switch to during a shift.

Man, do I love Nioh

Nioh 2 has a lot to offer, and succeeds at basically everything it attempts here. From combat to its many systems, it’s almost too much content. As blasphemous as that may sound. But with enough time spent, it becomes clear that it is an expertly crafted title. Everything that worked in Nioh and games of its calibre has been curated and refined into this magnificent piece of work. 

At times it may be unforgiving, and not always as welcoming to newcomers. But if you stick with it for a while, the rays of genius come shining through every pixel.

From ravaged villages and labyrinthian caves to the enemy design, Nioh 2‘s world is a pleasure to gawk at. Hours upon hours in and you’ll still be finding new environments to explore and baddies to put down. I struggle to find things to hate. Well, maybe just one thing. After your 8th death, a boss’ theme song can become a bit grating. But hey, that’s on me for dying so much.


Clearly there are very few things I find myself complaining about in Nioh 2. It’s an absolute banger of a game, even for those not traditionally into difficult titles. However, if you happen to be a fan of a challenge, you’ll get exactly what you desire and then some. Nioh 2 is the full package.

Review: Castle Flipper

Daniel Waite
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Review: Castle Flipper

Its medieval times and the idea of having oodles of gold is a dream that you’ll never achieve. Living in your mud hut, you are more likely to die from a horrendous disease than you are to become rich. You decide that you’ve had enough of the oppressive regime and the only way to make it in life is to work hard. You put your skills to the test and take on cleaning and building jobs to earn as much gold as possible. If you save enough, you can build a castle and be the lord of the manor. This is the dream that is realised in Castle Flipper! So don’t shy away from work thrown your way and prove “the man” wrong.

Developed by Pyramid Games and published by Ultimate Games, this is a ye olde house clearance and renovation simulator. You are a peasant who is down on his luck. Fed up of having little to be proud of, you gather your tools and start helping the elite of society. The jobs keep flowing and the gold builds up. Pretty quickly your fortunes are turned and that dream castle becomes a reality.

Castle Flipper, a standard simulator with some amusing twists.

Now, house renovations games have been available for quite some time. People love to get to grips with wrecked properties. Adding their creative flair, they allow their imagination to run wild. Castle Flipper has all the standard mechanics you expect, but its crazy quests add depth and character to a familiar prospect.

What I particularly enjoyed was that many of the jobs were intrinsically linked. For example, one person would ask you to smash up their neighbour’s house because of money owed, or a hatred for one another. The next quest you are given you return to the scene of the crime only to be paid to rectify the damage caused. It was brilliantly amusing, if not a little repetitive revisiting the same location so soon.

It’s drinking time!

A world that’s devoid of life.

When I was shown the medieval landscape, I was hoping this would be a game full of life, dirt, and disgusting characters. Sadly, other than the dirt, the rest failed to materialise. The game adds new shops for you to unlock blueprints and to exchange or sell goods, but interactions are restricted to ledgers and numbers. It was frustrating as it’s an opportunity that slipped the developers by. The world should be alive with people milling about, but it’s quiet and serene.

If you love the meticulous nature of the genre, you won’t mind the emptiness, but I would have preferred quests to be offered by real people, rather than a quest board found by your house. The flow of jobs was nicely balanced, and you always received a blend of different objectives. You may have to build a house for an Earl or repair a castle for a Lord. Whatever task you had to do, it was thorough, comprised plenty of minor jobs, and kept you entertained throughout.

The world is split into two distinct areas; the free play section and the quest section. The first is where you may build your house/castle, become a landlord, and purchase materials. The second transports you to different locations where a list of tasks is shown on the display. You’ll have to; mop up stains, repair walls and furniture, clean rubbish, and destroy broken furniture. It’s repetitive, but the variety of jobs and the different locations prevent this from becoming monotonous.

Could you knock up a house like this?

Gold and skill points.

Money makes the world go round, and Castle Flipper has bags of gold on offer. Materials are expensive but gold is never scarce. If you wish to make more money, and who doesn’t? Build some small huts, fill them with peasants, and become a medieval landlord. After all, what is the point of having a mighty castle if no one is there to admire it?

As you complete each task, you earn XP for a job well done. As you level up, you are free to upgrade skills to help you work faster. No one likes to spend hours scrubbing floors, hammering nails, or cutting down trees, so improve those abilities and get the job done quicker. This is a standard mechanic for this genre, and I would have liked Castle Flipper to have done something original. Maybe the chance to hire surfs, or to subcontract work to make more money. Either of these ideas would have been interesting and would have added a twist.

A gritty medieval world turns into a fairy tale.

What I loved about Castle Flipper is the grimy dark world you live in. The medieval land is wonderful to look at and its earthy tones set the scene perfectly. This poor existence quickly alters to become a glamorous and regal landscape. With plush furniture, grand walls, and flowered gardens, it moves from a nightmare to a fairy tale in a flash. It’s by far the best looking house renovation sim I’ve played and it ran like a dream.

Now, I wish I could say the same for the audio. Yes, it was apt and screamed ye olde vibes with its light stringed soundtrack. But it quickly became annoying and tedious. I had to turn the sound down to eliminate the repetitive tunes. Once I removed the songs, I appreciated the realistic sound effects. This was where the audio shined and I wish Pyramid Games had added a variety of songs to listen to.

Who doesn’t want a dead animal hanging on their wall?

Simple to play, with good use of hotkeys.

This had the potential to be a pig to play. Loads of tasks to complete and mammoth stages to explore were all a recipe for disaster. Luckily, the simple UI and the great use of hotkeys made this a joy to play. My only gripe was with the furniture placement. It didn’t snap to the allotted spaces, so if you wished to create a tidy room as intended, it was pretty fiddly and time-consuming. I ended up dumping the furniture and walking away. I’m not sure this is what the developers intended, but it worked nonetheless.

If you love the genre, you’ll adore this. With loads of quests and the chance to build a castle, what’s not to like? Earn money, increase skills, become a landlord, and more. There is a large achievement list to work through and lots of blueprints to unlock. Simply put, there is plenty to keep you playing.

Castle Flipper: The medieval builders dream!

I didn’t know what to expect with Castle Flipper, but I thoroughly enjoyed myself. Its variety in gameplay, in-depth quests and building mechanics make it a dream to play. It’s a must-have game if you love the genre, so buy it here! Don’t let “the man” crush your dreams! Work hard, save your gold, and own that castle you’ve always dreamed of.

Ubisoft Forward 2021 – All the News and Trailers

Sean McCarthy
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Ubisoft Forward 2021 – All the News and Trailers

E3 2021 season has begun and Ubisoft is holding its own annual digital event to showcase hopefully new games as well as updates for current games available and those soon to be released. As per the norm now sadly, some aspects have already leaked ahead of the event in terms of potential DLC for Far Cry 6, a delayed game only recently given a release date but this is a time for many Ubisoft fans to get excited to see what they have in store for them for the next 12 months and beyond. Below you will find all the news and trailers from the event:

Rainbow Six Siege: Extraction – Cinematic Reveal Trailer

As the threat grows, our Operators rise to meet it. In Extraction, Rainbow Six has been united under REACT. Their mission: learn about the enemy, stop its spread at all costs… and leave no one behind. Hibana has gone Missing in Action. See Operators Ela, Lion, and Nomad, under commands from Eliza “Ash” Cohen, mount a daring rescue mission, as they use intel, teamwork, and improvisation to save one of their own from a dangerous new enemy. Who’s Got YouR6?

Watchdogs Legion: Bloodline – Announcement Trailer

Aiden Pearce is back! Discover Bloodline, the expansion that brings Aiden and Wrench back to Watch Dogs! Set before the events of the main game, Aiden Pearce leaves Chicago for London where he will take over a contract and reunite with Wrench and his nephew Jackson. Caught between a powerful military robotics corporation and a returning DedSec member with an opposing agenda, Aiden must rely on his grit and experience to navigate a hostile city, try to outmanoeuvre his enemies, and keep his family intact. Bloodline is part of the Season Pass. Available 6th July.

The Crew 2: Year 4 Reveal Trailer

The Crew 2 is getting new content for its 4 year! Starting with Motorflix third season this summer: You have your spot on the starting grid of the U.S. Speed Tour, the fastest rally around the East Coast.

Rocksmith + : Interactive Music Learning – Reveal Trailer

Learn to play acoustic, electric, or bass guitar with Rocksmith+, the only subscription service that offers interactive music learning using official song masters and personalised real-time feedback. Rocksmith+ has been built upon the proven Rocksmith method which has helped almost 5 million people learn how to play guitar.

Riders Republic: Official Deep Dive Trailer

Riders Republic invites players to jump into an exhilarating massive multiplayer playground where they can experience the thrill of outdoor sports through some of the most breathtaking landscapes the United States has to offer! Riders Republic will run at 60 FPS on next gen consoles and display more than 50 players simultaneously live on screen. With the game’s very intuitive character and camera control combined with an innovative trick system, all players, casual and hardcore, will have the chance to experience untapped joy from the very beginning.

Rainbow Six Siege: North Star Story Trailer

Love, wisdom, bravery. It suits her. On June 14, look to the skies for help from Thunderbird in the new Season, North Star.

Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Breakpoint: 20th Anniversary Trailer

2021 marks the 20th Anniversary of Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon. It’s thanks to the fans continuous support that Ubisoft celebrating this milestone. Stay tuned! There’s still lots to come!

Just Dance 2022: Reveal Trailer

Launching 4th November 2021, Just Dance 2022 will make you dance, exercise and share unforgettable moments!

Assassin’s Creed Valhalla: Upcoming Content Trailer

Curious to know where your journey with Assassin’s Creed will lead you in the coming months? Learn more about Assassin Creed Valhalla’s upcoming second expansion, The Siege of Paris, as well as free updates, Discovery Tour, and more in this Upcoming Content Recap.

Ubisoft Movies and TV Shows Updates:

With the quarantine finally over, the new season of Mythic Quest finds everyone back in the office (well, almost everyone), attempting to build upon the success of Raven’s Banquet by launching an epic new expansion, but Ian (Rob McElhenney) and the newly promoted co-creative director, Poppy (Charlotte Nicdao), struggle with the game’s direction. Meanwhile, C.W. (F. Murray Abraham) reconciles some unresolved issues from his past, the testers (Ashly Burch and Imani Hakim) test the bounds of an office romance, and David (David Hornsby) loses yet another woman in his life as Jo (Jessie Ennis) leaves him to assist Brad (Danny Pudi).

WEREWOLVES WITHIN is a feature film based on the Ubisoft VR title of the same name. Directed by Josh Ruben (“Scare Me”), and written by screenwriter, bestselling author, and Ubisoft Women’s Film Fellowship Recipent Mishna Wolff (“I’m Down”), “Werewolves Within” is set in the small town of Beaverfield. When a killer terrorizes the snowed-in residents of the small town, it falls to the new forest ranger to find out who – or what – lurks among them in this hilarious horror whodunnit The ensemble cast includes Sam Richardson, Milana Vayntrub, George Basil, Sarah Burns, Michael Chernus, Catherine Curtin, Wayne Duvall,, Harvey Guillén, Rebecca Henderson, Cheyenne Jackson, Michaela Watkins, and Glenn Fleshler. Werewolves Within opens in theaters June 25 and on VOD July 2.

Far Cry 6: Meet the Villain Anton Cinematic Trailer

Escape isn’t an option from Yara. Watch as Giancarlo Esposito plays the most powerful Far Cry villain yet. In Far Cry 6, players are immersed in the adrenaline-filled, chaotic world of a modern-day guerrilla revolution. Welcome to Yara, a tropical paradise frozen in time. As dictator of Yara, Antón Castillo is intent on restoring his nation back to its former glory by any means, with his son, Diego, following in his bloody footsteps. Become a guerrilla fighter and burn their regime to the ground.

For the first time in franchise history – become the villain. You are Vaas. You are Pagan Min. You are Joseph Seed. Play as past villains with the Far Cry 6 Season Pass. Watch now and learn more.

Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope: Cinematic World Premiere Trailer

Team up with Mario, Rabbid Peach, and their friends on a mission to save the galaxy! Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope, coming 2022 on Nintendo Switch. Cursa, a mysterious and malevolent entity seeks out energy to further its nefarious plans, plunging the galaxy into chaos. Twisting the planets with its evil influence, it’s determined to consume all the energy of the Sparks, uncanny creatures formed by the fusion of Lumas & Rabbids, and destroy all who stand in its way. To bring order back to the galaxy and save the Sparks, Mario and friends team up with Rabbids heroes in a journey through mysterious and ever-surprising planets.

Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope will be available for Nintendo Switch in 2022!

….and that’s a wrap following a word from Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillmort, paying tribute to all the developer teams following the difficult year that was COVID and giving credit to the millions of Players and Fans for their support in their game’s communities but closing the event with the first look at….

Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora Reveal Trailer

Coming in 2022 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, PC, Stadia and Luna.

My Thoughts…

Very little on big surprises but overall, a very solid and steady event from Ubisoft that will no doubt have fans of their iconic game series looking forward to the year ahead. Interesting to see that AC Valhalla is going to be supported through it’s second year with more expansions no doubt pushing the next AC Game to 2023. Plenty of things for fans of Rainbow Six Siege to get excited for with Extraction being a potential fun one to see experienced players stream. Surprised by the lack of focus on titles like Watch Dogs Legion: Bloodline expansion, just a trailer during the pre-show and mention briefly during the show.

But yeah, a solid and great start to the E3 eekend and for me, keeping it simple and safe was probably wise considering the amount of delayed games they have had to deal with in this challenging last 12 months.

Review: Battle Hunters

Jeremiah Foo
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Review: Battle Hunters

Battle Hunters is your typical adventure RPG game set in an unknown faraway kingdom in need of saving. On your quest to save the kingdom, you run into many different characters that eventually join your party and become playable characters. Boasting over 36 different characters to choose from, Battle Hunters’ simplicity and accessibility allow players to form squads catered to their own preferred playstyle.

The variety of characters presented is pretty neat, ranging from your typical knight in shining armour to elusive rangers and spell-slinging wizards. I was so spoilt for choice with the characters that were presented to me, as a party could only consist of three battle hunters and any given time. I guess a downside to the character system that I noted was that each character gains experience points separately. This meant that if I wanted to switch up my playstyle or heroes in the middle of my playthrough, I had to train my hunters all over again.

Battles and their mechanics are straightforward to understand, making the game really accessible for kids and casual gamers. Players issue commands to their characters separately to try and defeat the monsters during battle. The game is forgiving because the battle pauses whenever the player is issuing commands so that the player does not need to overly stress about micromanagement within a strict time frame. The combat is highly intuitive, which allows players to dive right into the heat of battle without the need to read up or study any fancy tips and tricks. However, this begets the issue that the gameplay can get really repetitive and mundane after a while. The combat system is thus also very restrictive, in that players are only given a limited set of actions which prevents creative strategies and playstyles.

Issuing commands during battle

My first impressions of Battle Hunters upon launching the game honestly gave me shallow expectations of what to expect. The game started off with overly simple dialogue and storyline, what one would expect in a children’s game. This, coupled with a visually unappealing user interface, made me feel like I was playing a mobile game made by an overzealous game producer with little to no budget.

First impressions are undoubtedly important, but the gameplay is usually the deciding factor as to whether a game is even worth playing at all in the first place. Unfortunately, the gameplay itself was OK at best. I found the battles very repetitive and boring as they were not interactive at all. Because of the game’s simplicity, all I did was issue commands and watched as my characters fought to the death. It was a simple brainless process, devoid of thought that a kid would have probably enjoyed. The maps and dungeons were not aesthetically pleasing either, which did not alleviate the overall mundaneness of the game. Quests were repetitive and unexciting, while the background music was just forgettable and unimpactful.

Battle Hunters felt more like a mobile game that you would drop after a week or two. The aesthetics of the game, combined with its overly simplistic gameplay, didn’t do much for it as a console port. It is definitely enjoyable to a casual audience and is excellent for just killing time. However, for $16.99, there are surely better games out there that could better make your money’s worth.

Review: Beautiful Desolation

Alex Chessun
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Review: Beautiful Desolation

Beautiful Desolation is a District 9-like isometric Sci-fi RPG adventure that has made its way to consoles following its Steam release in 2020.

Trapped in an unknown world, you need to collect items and make tough decisions in an attempt to find your way back home. Initially without the resources and knowledge to do so, you’ll require the help of the planet’s eclectic inhabitants, with who you’ll communicate or threaten to achieve your goal. It’s these characters, and the choices that affect them, that make this a unique, if not under executed, game. 

After the appearance of a UFO spacecraft named The Penrose a few years before, two brothers look to uncover the secret of why it came to earth and its purpose. Placed on maps with rudimentary RPG transaction-like gameplay, functionality is limited, with your character only able to run and initiate interactions. Interaction like in isometric adventures Disco Elysium and Desperados is noticeably absent and will likely leave you wanting. You do get a talking robot dog though, so it’s not all bad – even if you can’t pet it.

No animals were harmed in this review

As you discover new areas, you acquire an airship and can use a hub map with areas you can access. This, plus smaller areas of exploration, focus more on the interactions between characters and allows the world to pulse with personality.

This isn’t how the game starts though, with a beginning that suffers from poor pacing and the game’s worst adventuring sections to the point that I would have given up if I wasn’t reviewing it.

Firstly, it’s not always immediately obvious what to do, which, while par the course for these types of games, is unaided by the game’s areas that are burdened with a design that makes its depth imperceptible – you can’t even tell if areas can be accessed directly in front of you. 

This is the most you’ll see of your human character, but it won’t matter much as the scenary looks rather nice.

Unfortunately, the controls haven’t been optimized for consoles, using the same collision detection for as the PC’s mouse point and click system, meaning that it will automatically try to run around an obstacle if it hits one. This makes sense if you are clicking further down the map using a mouse as you’d expect this delayed movement to automatically move around obstacles, but for a controller that requires immediate input/output, this makes the character movement unruly and takes unexpected detours when you make contact with the edge of the map – which is especially easy as you have no idea where they are. This is made worse by sluggish control response times and it results in a highly frustrating experience. 

As mentioned before, however, when the story gets going the interactions between characters are amusing and memorable, providing mystery to the world. With a multiple-choice conversation system and choices with a great deal of gravitas, there is a real feeling that the game has something special – only for it to let itself down. As a big fan of being given choices with consequences, I was slightly disappointed by its implementation as time is spent creating a scenario with potential for tension and intrigue, only for the immediate consequence – the equivalent of a shrug – to drain all emotion from the situation and feeling like its inclusion was simply to set-up multiple endings. 

Erm…..so where am I exactly?

If you can forgive these issues the voice acting is excellent and its profanity-filled convo choices are right up my street. Let’s be honest, who hasn’t tried to swear in a South African accent?

Ultimately beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but in my mind, this title’s elements aren’t integrated nor interactive enough to fulfill the potential built by the story and the world and therefore is far from an essential purchase – it just feels too empty and void of gameplay. The lack of a consistent soundtrack that could’ve helped create more emotion and even minigames to assemble items or unrelated side missions that would delve more into the main character’s background would have added more variety missing from the final product. 

Despite all this, Beautiful Desolation will appeal to an RPG fan looking for a short and unique adventure with some replayability, its just likely to come up short for everyone else. 

Review: Mayhem in Single Valley

Davide Roriz
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Review: Mayhem in Single Valley

Mayhem in Single Valley is the second game developed by Fluxscopic Ltd., and published by the lovely folks over at tinyBuild. The developers describe their game as a “fast-paced, puzzle-loaded action adventure”, and although I completely agree with that description, I’d also add that a key part of Mayhem in Single Valley is its charm and loveliness.

In Mayhem in Single Valley, you play as Jack, a random kid from Single Valley. Now, what is it that makes Jack special? Truthfully, nothing, but it just so happens that he started the apocalypse, or at least that’s what pretty much everyone in town is led to believe. In an effort to both clear your name and save the world, you step out of your own backyard and venture into the world.

It all started with a spillage of a mysterious substance in the local water supply. Upon consumption, the local wildlife and the townsfolk immediately became vicious and attempted to kill or transform anything and anyone in their path. As you travel the surrounding areas, you’ll traverse a multitude of environments, bat-infested caves, a desert, a private zoo, your own school, the town itself, amongst a few places.

Throughout your journey, you’ll meet several quirky characters that will aid you in your quest to save the world. However, although your interactions with the various characters are funny and memorable, and even though the game has plenty of charming moments, overall, I, unfortunately, didn’t find the overarching story to be that interesting. The game definitely has its moments and surprising twists, sure, but it wasn’t really the driving force that pushed me to keep playing the game. What kept me going through the game was the fact that it constantly presents you with new challenges and small gameplay dynamics. Because of that, the gameplay manages to feel fresh throughout the whole game. 

Now, upon first glance, Mayhem in Single Valley might look like a game with some degree of combat, but actually, that couldn’t be further from the truth. While there will be plenty of enemies in your way, you won’t actually be fighting them directly. Instead, you either run past them as fast as you can, dodging if necessary, or you distract them with bait. Most enemies have a unique kind of food that they like, and if you manage to drop or throw a piece of it, they will gladly leave you alone while they eat it. In any case, there isn’t any penalty to dying, other than just restarting at the last checkpoint, so you can easily try again.

Meanwhile, just as a huge part of the game revolves around avoiding enemies, another huge part of it is puzzle solving. Now, if we’re being real, the puzzles are very minor, and this is coming from someone who doesn’t play puzzle games at all. Most of them are pretty typical, requiring you to move boxes and hit switches with your slingshot, but, most importantly, none of them feel forced. That’s one of the main reasons why I had such a good time while playing the game. Pretty much every gameplay mechanic, no matter how small it is, feels natural within the game world.

It’s worth pointing out that the game features a huge amount of collectables, but the overwhelming majority of them are optional. With that said, there are upgrades that you can get if you manage to find duct tape. Still, it’s fairly easy to acquire all of the upgrades even if you’re not looking in every nook and cranny. The upgrades themselves are pretty useful, not because they do things like increasing the number of items that you can carry, but because they increase your movement speed. This is my biggest complaint about the game, the fact that, by default, you move extremely slow. Fortunately, this is only a real issue during the early phases of the game, because once you get the speed upgrades, the whole game becomes much more fluid.

In terms of how the game feels, I must say that I was pleasantly surprised by how great it plays with a keyboard and mouse. At the same time, I was also astonished by how good the game looks in motion. Based on the screenshots that I had seen prior to playing it, I was expecting Mayhem in Single Valley to feature some finely detailed pixel art, but it actually goes beyond that. The game also boasts some rather meticulous lighting effects and dynamic shadows and reflections. Sure, it’s no ray tracing, but I feel that the developers have definitely put in work to make their game look the best it could.

Mayhem in Single Valley is a great example of why I love indie games. It perfectly shows what video games can be when developers don’t have their creative freedom restricted. They can bring to life ridiculous premises that can end up being incredibly witty and fun to play. In an age where the overwhelming majority of games either focus way too much on action or whatever their genre is best known for, Mayhem in Single Valley feels like a breath of fresh air.

Although far from perfect and despite having a few, albeit minor, bugs and crashes, as a whole, I found Mayhem in Single Valley to be a compelling experience. It took me around 5 hours to beat it, but that could probably be stretched over the 6-hour mark if I went back and hunted down every single collectable and achievement. For 12,49€, I think that Mayhem in Single Valley is definitely worth your time. It has some pretty creative ideas which you don’t see on a lot of games, it’s funny and charismatic, it plays great, and the soundtrack is a banger.

Review: Legend of Keepers

Kara Phillips
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Review: Legend of Keepers

We are so used to playing as a ruthless hero, how often have you stopped to think about what it would be like to step forward as the enemy? Legend of Keepers presents this opportunity, and finally you get the redemption all villains crave. With a multitude of opportunities to slash and slay the heroes, you are tasked with protecting dungeons. A simple task, really. But it definitely doesn’t come easy. With dungeon crawlers rapidly becoming an overpopulated genre of game, Legend of Keepers provides a breath of fresh air. 

The game begins with a pretty blank tutorial. Obviously with practise it is pretty easy to pick up controls, but the tutorial is VERY fast. There isn’t much to explain, but this definitely misses out some key elements to the game. Each ‘run’ of a dungeon carries over the statistics of the previous, but you are still presented with a clean slate to work with. As far as enemies and tools are concerned. 

Monsters on monsters on monsters

As a fan and previous DM for Dungeons and Dragons, I felt like I was revisiting old campaigns within this game. Taking on the role of wreaking havoc to heroes, there’s something so refreshing about villainy. Turn based combat controls each encounter, and you must think strategically about how to defend your place and treasure. You’re presented with three open slots to assemble your crew of criminals, and a wide variety of characters is available for selection. Depending on your room or location within dungeons, the roster reflects. There are different villains for different places, so it’s rare you’ll get to assemble the same group time and time again. Every time a monster is successful in defence you are rewarded. This reward can then be used to buy more monsters or traps to continue your success. 

No method to your madness

Aside from defending deeply buried treasure, you do get some quality time with your cast. Each dungeon run (I am becoming extremely tempted to refer to this as a Rungeon.) lasts about two weeks. Not real life time, don’t you worry. But these ‘weeks’ tend to be spent with an assorted amount of tasks. In this time you can take your monsters to work out and gain skill levels, or give them a captured victim from the dungeon for a delightful boost of confidence. Like I said though, these tasks are randomly generated. So it is a little difficult to devise any sort of plan. Every six weeks a new hero shows up, letting you apply all your newly found skills. 

Every time you encounter a new hero, you can choose from a select few in correspondence to what reward you seek. Aside from payment, you can also gain new traps. These are vital in refusing the glorious return of the heroes as they encounter your evil teams. But with high reward comes high risk. Heroes differ in level the same way you’d expect enemies too. So don’t bite off more than you can chew. Although an extremely powerful shiny new trap seems super inviting, you won’t be able to win straight away. As you’d expect from any dungeon crawler, you need to grind to get there. 

Final thoughts

As a whole, the first 10 to 15 hours of Legend of Keeps is extremely fun. Learning move sets and utilising each monster’s abilities is exciting and new. But once you’ve gotten to a certain point, there seems to be a sense of repetition. It’s definitely fun for a few hours at a time, and I’d recommend it to anyone who has enjoyed D&D in the past. So why don’t you try and play the opposition for a change?

Review: Train Station Renovation

Daniel Waite
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Review: Train Station Renovation

Do you see dilapidated buildings and think how has this happened? Can you look at these wrecks and picture what they would look like in their heyday? They are beautiful structures that have been; burnt, smashed, and covered in graffiti! Can you restore these architectural masterpieces to their former glory, or will mother nature swallow them up? Train Station Renovation asks you to clean and repair old station buildings before it’s too late. Take your time, painstakingly restore and lovingly decorate each building.

Developed by Live Motion Games and published by Ultimate Games, this is a relaxing simulation title that expects you to have an eye for detail. With fifteen stations to look after and a grading system to perfect, this is no easy task. You will walk around rural halts and grand city locations, looking at the wonderful architecture and assessing the damage. Graffiti, dirt, rubbish, damage, and missing equipment all ruin these iconic structures. You must scan the local area, strip the buildings back to the brickwork, and rebuild each room. It’s time-consuming, hard work, but worth the effort when you see the final product.

Train Station Renovation taps into the House Flipper market.

If you’ve played a House Flipper game, you’ll feel very familiar with the mechanics found in this title. In Train Station Renovation you are given a tool belt loaded with equipment. You are a jack of all trades, and no job is too big for you. As you delve deeper into the renovation scene, new mechanics are added that require specialist tools. Luckily, these are explained to you in great depth and your truck is always on hand to help you carry the new equipment.

As you load into each stage, you will not know what to expect. A list of tasks is presented to you, but you are free to tackle each one as you see fit. Like all these types of games, the levels are graded in a percentage format. To simplify things, the developers added a star system where 100% will score you the maximum points. You need not aim for the maximum score and only perfectionists will attempt this. As long as you complete the main aims, you can move forward to the next station.

I liked this system as it allowed more adept players to focus on harder gameplay, whereas beginners or younger players can simply enjoy ticking the boxes and moving on. There is nothing complex about the renovation work, but the latter stages require a lot of micromanagement and this may overwhelm some players.

Breathe some life into this beautiful place.

Rubbish, recycling and upgrading your tools.

Live Motion Games has added a sense of morality to their gameplay with the insistence that recycling is key. You will bag up the rubbish, placing glass, plastic, and paper in their own bins. This wasn’t just great for the planet, no, it was also good for your bank balance. Keeping yourself cash-rich was essential, as renovating each station isn’t a cheap hobby. All the items you place down are expensive, so you must put some thought into what is essential to buy and what is nice to buy.

Some items can not be reused and these must simply be binned. Skips are purchased and filled with bulky items and this can be difficult to manage. You must plan what items to throw away first otherwise you’ll waste space and lose all-important money. Rubbish management, the unexpected task when renovating a site, great fun, eh! It’s not all doom and gloom though, as cash is awarded for progress on each level. The more stars you earn, the more money you are given. So pick out the easy jobs, place down cheap items, and increase that completion percentage slowly.

So why earn those stars? Our jack of all trades starts with basic equipment. A paintbrush, sponge, yard brush, and so on. As you earn stars, you can improve your equipment. Your sponge turns into a mop, paintbrush a roller, and yard brush a hoover. It makes each job easier and quicker to complete, and this is essential when you hit the later stages. Working alone is hard enough work as it is, but hand scrubbing graffiti is more bearable when the job is simplified.

So much rubbish to deal with.

Your tools are magical and the rubbish doesn’t quite add up.

The gameplay is pretty well thought out, and each task is well balanced. Yet, it was amusing how certain tools could be used for multiple reasons. The crowbar essentially smashes everything and anything; boarded windows, check. Broken doors, check. Massive vending machine needs destroying, check, check. It was a tad unrealistic, but amusing nonetheless.

This silliness continued with the non -recyclable rubbish. Your character has no problem with placing building blocks and large pots in his pocket but rightly has to carry pallets and oil containers straight to the skip. So far, so good. What was hilarious was the inability to bag up small toys such as rubber ducks. You’ll find one lying down and have to drag it across the map to heave into the bin. Bizarre, absurd, but it brought a wry smile to my face.

It didn’t break the game, but it reduced the realism factor that was otherwise pretty high. I would like to have seen the requirement to carry a toolbox, purchasing objects, and the need for a multitude of different tools. Though this would have made the gameplay harder and possibly tedious, I think it would have been the right way for this title to go.

Train Station Renovation works well on console.

Whenever I look at this genre of game, I automatically associate it with PC gaming. Yet, when one comes to console I’m instantly interested in trying it out. Fortunately, Train Station Renovation works well on console. Graphically it’s not the most advanced game that you’ll see, but the levels look great, the buildings have a nice layer of detail to them, and there is an array of furniture and equipment that looks lifelike. A nice mix of colours add depth to the images, and the gameplay runs smoothly with no issues.

A relaxing game requires a laid back and calm soundtrack and that is exactly what is presented. A mix of jazzy piano songs and airy tunes add variety to what is a slow-paced affair. You will enjoy the sounds of your footsteps as you walk around each station, and every task has appropriate noises attached to them. Like the graphics, it won’t wow you, but the amount of songs that play prevents the game from feeling monotonous.

Get out the mop and bucket and give that a scrub.

A great port from PC.

With many tasks to complete and lots of items to select, this could have easily been a mess to play. Luckily, it’s smooth and easy to understand. The radial menu makes tool selection simple. And I liked how it was aimed at gamers of all skill sets. The UI has been redesigned for console gaming and it shows straightaway. I applaud the developers for their consideration when porting this from PC and this makes it a much more enjoyable experience.

Can there be much replay value in cleaning up old stations? Yes, yes there can. There are loads of jobs, new mechanics, and five stars to collect on each level. So, there is plenty to make you keep playing. A large achievement list asks you to get every star and so this may be out of reach for younger gamers. If you love the railway, or you enjoy DIY this will keep you busy for hours.

Train Station Renovation; a welcome slow-paced break from the norm.

With so many shooters, sports, and all-action games, Train Station Renovation is a welcome break from the norm. There are plenty of tasks to complete and beautiful locations to renovate. It’s relaxing and can be played at a mellow pace. It was enjoyable and there is a market for it, so I recommend you to buy it here! Grab your tools, clear out the rubbish and bring these architectural beauties back to life.

Review: Sun Wukong VS Robot

Daniel Waite
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Review: Sun Wukong VS Robot

Game genres come in and out of fashion all the time. One that has been ever-popular and a mainstay around the indie world is platforming and Metroidvania. These tough precision titles ask you to wander around labyrinthine worlds with little guidance or knowledge of what you will encounter. The monsters you face are evil and love nothing more than to kill you on the spot. Sun Wukong VS Robot captures each of these elements in its pixelated gameplay.

Developed by Indienova and Bitca and published by Ratalaika Games, this is a mini retro pixelated Metroidvania game inspired by old-school classics. You must run, jump, fight and explore the dank surrounding dungeons. The world you live in is dangerous and every new corridor and room could be your last. You must observe each section, think fast, and make it out alive.

Sun Wukong VS Robot is short but horribly difficult.

Now, I’ve always enjoyed this genre of game, but sadly it’s not my forte. My lack of skills compound the difficulty and this probably took me much longer to play than the standard gamer. The precision, accuracy, and dexterity required to succeed evaded me. So I took a methodical approach, slowly annihilated my foes and patiently worked my way through the maze-like levels.

Metroidvania games are renowned for their difficulty, and this one is no different. With foes that shoot, smash, and crush you where you stand, you must learn their attack pattern and avoid their strikes. This is compounded further with gigantic bosses that require both accuracy and tactics to overcome. Add in the requirement to have unlocked certain skills and you will lose your mind as you constantly search the dungeon you are trapped in.

Duck and jump.

Wukong is trapped in a mechanical maze.

Having to fight for your life is one thing, but being trapped by four jewels attached to your head is something altogether different. Each gem represents one of the four bosses you must defeat. These gargantuan robots are the key to unlocking the mechanical maze you are trapped in. The aim is simple, but achieving it is anything but straightforward. This is a title that will push the best Metroidvania fans and one that will keep you playing for hours.

The gameplay follows the standard approach for this genre. An unmarked map gives you no hints to the direction to take. You are free to explore with no idea about which path is easier or harder. You will backtrack to find each ability and new routes to each of the bosses. It’s confusing, frustrating, but above all an enjoyable challenge that keeps you coming back for more.

The skills allow you to take down your foes from afar and using them at the right time is essential. Failure to make the most of the abilities bestowed on you makes the game much harder and you are unlikely to progress. Alongside the abilities, you can spend your experience points on power-ups. These expensive boosts are essential to defeating the overpowered bosses, so grind out the XP and make Wukong as strong as possible.

Can you defeat the boss and his pet?

Sun Wukong VS Robot is a wonderful to look at retro title.

For all the realistic games that are coming out, I still love retro pixelated titles. The garish colours, blocky graphics and simple yet varied worlds are always great to look at. The sprites vary in size and shape and contain enough details to make them interesting to watch. I loved each of the bosses as they were absurd in both appearance and stature. The OTT nature of their build made the tiny hero look even smaller, and it was terrifying and amusing to witness. Sun Wukong VS Robot is the perfect representation of the modern Metroidvania title, with smooth gameplay and interesting stage designs.

The audio worked brilliantly to support the dark atmosphere and the ominous graphics. A haunting minor toned soundtrack plays out constantly, giving you an eerie and uneasy feeling. The music breaks away from this when facing each of the bosses. The beat picks up, and the atmosphere becomes aggressive. This change in style is instantly noticeable and helps to set the main fights apart from the rest of the action. The sound effects, however, were as expected. Loud noises accompany each of your weapons, and your jumps are met with thuds as you slam to the floor. The audio is well delivered and is one of the key elements that make this work so well.

Bats, robots and lasers….

Typical straightforward control setup.

Though there are many skills and power-ups to unlock, this is straightforward to play. Flicking through your abilities is easy to achieve, and moving accurately from each surface is helped by responsive controls. If it wasn’t for the games overbearing difficulty level, Sun Wukong VS Robot would be an easy title to complete.

On the face of it, this is a short game to play. The maze isn’t massive, and each section you explore is relatively small. You are held up by the army of enemies you must slay or avoid, and the constant supply of dead ends. Once you overcome the bosses and break the mind locker, there is little else to do. The achievements will all be unlocked and the only reason to return is if you loved the first playthrough. Sadly, this affects the replay value but as it’s inexpensive, it’s still great value for money.

Sun Wukong VS Robot a great little indie title.

If I didn’t suck at Metroidvania games so much I would have loved this! As it is, I still enjoyed my time and the challenge that is presented. I strangely wanted it to last longer and was disappointed when I defeated each boss. It’s a great little indie title that will push the best of players in the genre. With an unusual story and nice mechanics, I recommend you to buy it here! Sun Wukong VS Robot is an old-school inspired title that will have you addicted to its retro charms. Defeat the bosses, remove the gems, and escape the mechanical maze.

Review: Zombie Driver Immortal Edition

Michael Hoade
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Review: Zombie Driver Immortal Edition

Zombie Driver: Immortal Edition provides the definitive Zombie Driver experience. But, just what is that experience, exactly?

A product of its time:

–

I want to preface this review by reiterating that, fundamentally, this is a videogame that was developed way back in 2009. This game was created before Instagram; youtube boxing; and it even has the unflattering honour of being within the same release year as the god awful Transformers 2. The point I am making is: this game is old. 

As such, all aspects of this game are dated in some way. Duh. Graphically and mechanically this edition provides some minor repairs, but not a brand new model(… that was my best attempt at a car metaphor, apologies). So, when it comes to reviewing this game, I am going to focus more so on the content on offer; and how that holds up all these years later.

Thankfully, Zombie Driver is packed full of content. Three modes – with defined differences – help keep the experience somewhat fresh. 

Story mode provides the bulk of gameplay, with 31 missions, a bunch of side quests and optional objectives all set within a large city. Unfortunately, the city itself is fairly drab, and the mission variety isn’t all that exciting. 

You start out with a basic taxi, going around the city trying to save as many people as you can, amidst a zombie outbreak. On the way, you’ll fight through waves and waves of zombies and bosses interspersed through missions. 

Between defending installations, transporting cargo and destroying enemy nests, mission objectives do some good in terms of keeping the experience from becoming repetitive. That being said, the overall gameplay loop doesn’t change from just driving around and killing a load of zombies.

This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It’s just important to be aware that this is the core loop throughout the game. If you like the idea of that, then Zombie Driver has a certain endearing quality; cultivated through epic automotive violence. Some of the boss battles are pretty awesome, to.

Furthermore, the various new upgrades, vehicles and weapons that you can unlock as you progress, helps to add some variety and incentive to the experience. There is a power crawl here that is  definitely satisfying. 

Outside of the story:

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Story mode – even for a lack of general narrative – is still the best part of Zombie Driver, for me. 

Blood race mode, which focuses on offering an arcade style racing experience, suffers from the jankiness of the driving, as well as less overall objectives.

Slaughter mode, Zombie Drivers equivalent to a horde mode found in other games, takes you through nine different arenas, as you look to take out hordes and hordes of enemies . 

The problem here is that this mode magnifies the core gameplay that you will have already spent a great deal of time with during story mode. And for someone who found the gameplay to be increasingly repetitive as the story progressed, this mode did little to reinvigorate my interest.

I appreciate the effort that the developers went to offer a diverse package for players, but the gameplay unfortunately struggles to hold up across all of these modes and the many, many hours of engagement that they demand.

Some positives and a missed opportunity:

–

There is undeniably a certain niche that Zombie Driver fulfils. In small doses, Zombie Driver Immortal Edition provides a cathartic experience for players. 

The gameplay is serviceable, but the aged systems are stretched by the plethora of content that this game tries to offer. 

For better or worse, your enjoyment of the game is solely predicated on how much satisfaction you can derive from the core gameplay. 

Frustratingly, I think one area that would have definitely boosted this game’s longevity would have been multiplayer. The chaotic nature of the game lends itself to a shared experience, but unfortunately as a single player title, Zombie Driver doesn’t offer quite enough innovation or incentive.

Still, if you’re looking for some mindless fun, Zombie Driver Immortal Edition has it in abundance.

Preview: Nuke Zone

Daniel Waite
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Preview: Nuke Zone

No matter the era you live in, the secrets that the future holds are both worrying and intriguing. In the 80s we perceived our future selves as wiser beings who flew in hover cars and are healthier beyond measure. These ideas helped to form the plots for many much-loved films and video games. Nuke Zone takes inspiration from these titles with its destructive neon-filled robotic outlook.

Developed and published by Blue Wizard Digital, this is a sharp, vibrant strategy shooter title. You control a lone tank that must drive through danger-filled tunnels. You must fight wave after wave of robotic foes, collecting Nukonium while trying to survive for as long as possible.

Bide your time and destroy them as they spawn.

Nuke Zone is still in development.

Blue Wizard Digital kindly provided me with a demo key to give you this first look impression. Nuke Zone is currently a work in progress, so my one level taster gave me an idea of what we can come to expect. At this stage the gameplay is limited and the developers plan to add a lot more content. So with this being said, let’s look at what I saw, and then I’ll discuss the missing elements.

You are instantly struck by crisp lines and a Tron inspired look. The neon hues and symmetrical shapes make this a wonderfully retro title. Your weapons fire a trail of glowing lights and your enemies explode, leaving a fading pixelated cloud. It’s beautifully stylised and will capture arcade fan’s eyes immediately.

Another key feature is the synth-wave audio that pumps out banging beats in the background. The electronic sound was a true delight to listen to, and I was amazed at how well balanced it was. It’s loud enough to catch your attention, but it doesn’t overpower the glorious laser and explosive sound effects. The graphics and sound work in perfect harmony, helping to create an old-school title that pulls at those nostalgia loving heartstrings.

EMP and explosions.

Dexterity and limited use of weapons.

The action quickly becomes fast-paced and unbelievably hectic. It fuses tank driving, warfare, and tower defence under its arcade umbrella. This eclectic mix of genres complements one another, but your success will be measured by your dexterity as a gamer. Your nimble tank can strafe, dodge, boost, and turn on a sixpence. It really is a delight to control, and this is helped by the simple combination of mouse and keyboard inputs.

What isn’t so simple, however, is judging your use of each weapon. The demo allows you to use; rockets, lasers and an EMP. Each has a cooldown system that prevents you from spamming the attack button. When all hell breaks loose, it was easy to lose your head and burn out your guns. Doing this was a big mistake and left you open to failure. I loved this strategic approach even if it made the gameplay considerably harder.

The weapons were wonderful and left me dying to know what the developers had planned. The balance of agility to power was just right. If they continue in this vein, they will have both a challenging, varied and enjoyable game on their hands.

Kaboom!

What does the future hold for Nuke Zone?

Currently, this is a great addition to the indie genre, but it needs more meat on the bone. So, what does that look like? A deep and interesting story that grabs you and drives you forward. Tank customisation and the chance to alter abilities. Purchasing of new weapons with your Nukonium. A varying difficulty, including a hardcore mode. Random item collection and inventory system. Level and objective selection. And finally, new musical elements that bring the world to life.

Nuke Zone’s view of the future is bleak and damning! But its own prospects are as bright as its neon colour scheme. The demo was fantastic, addictive, and left me wanting more. It was the tip of the iceberg and I can’t wait to see this evolve. A demo is available, so give it a go here! (Demo available from June 16th 2021.)

Summary!

It’s a massive thumbs up from me. The 80s inspired aesthetic, wonderfully sharp lines, and vivid colours make this great to look at. Challenging enemies and fast-paced gameplay make this an addictive arcade title worth giving a go.

(Reviewed on PC. Currently in development so gameplay may differ on release.)

Review: Paw Patrol: Mighty Pups Save Adventure Bay

Daniel Waite
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Review: Paw Patrol: Mighty Pups Save Adventure Bay

Parents around the globe will groan in harmony when they hear the phrase children’s entertainment program. Whether its; Ben and Holly’s Little Kingdom, Bluey, In the Night Garden, Paw Patrol, or others, they fill us with dread. These programs no longer simply exist on screen, they have leaked into books, magazines, toys, and video games. Paw Patrol: Mighty Pups Save Adventure Bay is one such title that aims to move its young audience from voyeurs to a player in its elaborate story and many missions.

Developed by Drakhar studio S.L. and published by Outright Games LTD, this is a colourful 3D open-world adventure title. Released in 2020, the second game in the series follows from the well-received Paw Patrol: On a Roll. Aimed primarily at families and a younger audience, there is little within the gameplay that will challenge the older player. But the difficulty is set just right to let the youngest family members have fun, and there is enough there to push older siblings.

Paw Patrol: Mighty Pups Save Adventure Bay tries to emulate the TV series, but feels flat.

From the opening scene, my kids loved everything about Paw Patrol: Mighty Pups Save Adventure Bay. The character models, the interaction with all the pups, and the ability to explore Adventure Bay. They were in their element, working through the basic missions, collecting every item, and ensuring that each chosen pup was doing his/her part. Sadly though, as an adult watching on it felt flat and lacked the energy that buzzes around each episode. The voice work sounded off, and it appeared very laid back and lethargic.

But what I thought mattered not! My three mini beasts couldn’t be swayed, and they were glued to it until I insisted that the fun had to end. Luckily, because of the simplicity of most of the tasks, I didn’t have to endure the action for very long. Offering my assistance was simply met with sighs and plenty of eye rolls (they must get that from their mother). The developers have gotten the balance within the missions just right, as my help was needed only a few times.

Don’t stop moving.

Little in the way of a story.

As I loaded in, I expected there to be some odd story that the kids would follow throughout. This wasn’t the case! A meteorite has crash-landed in Adventure Bay, the Paw Patrol are required to clean up the mess and help the locals, and here is where the ambiguous link between missions starts and ends. You’ll play through seven micro missions and several mini-games solo, or with another pup by your side in couch co-op mode. Each mission asks you to assist a character from the TV series with a selection of tasks. Different pups are chosen for their expertise and the player must choose which one completes each job. Each stage comprises a basic objective, pup treats, 3 badges to find, and a Mighty Pup mini-game.

The small open-world space gives you the impression that the world is vast. In reality, invisible walls keep you within the limited playing area. You will search high and low for each of the collectables, using basic platform mechanics to reach higher spots. This may be too difficult for the youngest of players, but missing out on anything doesn’t stop you from progressing. This was one element I liked as it allowed older gamers a challenge that could be ignored by anyone it didn’t interest.

Pup Pup Boogie.

Mighty Pups and mini-games.

Once you have completed the objective, you must use your Mighty Pup powers to finish the stage. The mini-game asks you to use a series of button presses to move objects, or fix items. The same method was used throughout, which made it repetitive from an adult’s perspective, but for the kids, it ensured that they had simple and familiar mechanics to fall back on.

Once the mission is complete, you will unlock mini-games specific to that stage. These comprise a fun game for each of the pups and some of the regular Paw Patrol characters. You will play “Pup Pup Boogie”, clear snow with Everest, search for food with Mr Porter, and more. Mastering the games is a must if you wish to collect all the pup treats, and I admit I had fun busting a move in “Pup Pup Boogie”.

Paw Patrol: Mighty Pups Save Adventure Bay looks dated and doesn’t have the TV series polish.

For as long as I can remember, film and TV adaptations to games have fallen short on visual presentation. I’m sure there are exceptions, but mostly they don’t live up to the hype. It’s with regret that Paw Patrol: Mighty Pups Save Adventure Bay falls into this trap. The kids didn’t seem bothered by the slightly dated looks and rough edges, yet they got to me instantly. The colourful imagery masks most problems, as do the nice environments you explore, but the finish belongs to an early Xbox One title. It’s fair to say it matched my expectation. I was just a little disappointed that the developers didn’t advance the presentation much further than Torus Games did for Paw Patrol: On a Roll.

The audio is where the game is most true to the TV series. With familiar phrases, the much-loved theme song, and upbeat tunes all coming along for the ride. You will hum along to each song, tap your feet to “Pup Pup Boogie” and hide a chuckle when Marshall acts the clown. Everything about the soundtrack and effects will make you smile, and the developers did a great job with this element.

Soar through the air as Skye the mighty pup.

A kids game needs a simple control setup, and that’s what you get.

My kids are very inexperienced with computer games. I rarely let them play as I have few child-friendly titles. So, when the chance arrived for them to give one a go, they did not know about the controller layout. Gladly this didn’t impact their ability to pick this up and play it. Only a few buttons are mapped for use, and each is clearly displayed on the screen. The mini-games all follow the same pattern, so all they have to do is remember a few buttons, and they can play. It was a relief as I expected to have to help throughout, and it was a joy to see them enjoying the freedom that this virtual world offers.

Depending on the age of the player and their ability, this will either be a quick completion or hours of fun. With many collectables to find, over seven thousand pup treats to collect, and many mini-games to master, there is plenty to keep you playing. The achievement list requires everything to be collected and all mini-games to be finished so this will be out of reach for the youngest players. You can expect to have this completed in a little under four to five hours for older gamers. Once you have everything polished off, there will still be the desire to return to play as your favourite pup. The addition of a co-op mode adds longevity and makes this a fun-filled game for all the family.

Paw Patrol: Mighty Pups Save Adventure Bay hits the right mark.

Something is refreshing about playing a game specifically aimed at a younger audience. Your children are safe while playing because of a lack of violence, smut, innuendoes or inappropriate content. With reduced difficulty, you are free to allow gamers of all ages free to try to complete each stage, though very young players will still require some help. Staying familiar with the TV series, Paw Patrol: Mighty Pups Save Adventure Bay does brilliantly to appease its fan base. My kids adored it and I recommend you buy it here because of their reaction! Clear up the aftermath of the meteorite strike and help the locals get back to normality.

Review: Super Soccer Blast: America vs Europe

Daniel Waite
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Review: Super Soccer Blast: America vs Europe

Football or soccer for our American friends has long been considered “The Beautiful Game”. Followed by millions of people the world over, it never surprises me when I see new football games being released. Euro 2020 is around the corner and fans are champing at the bit to see the action kickoff. Everyone takes the game so seriously so it is refreshing when an arcade title is released that is a lighthearted affair. Super Soccer Blast: America vs Europe is all about quick matches and plenty of fun.

Developed and published by Unfinished Pixel, this is a colourful cartoon football experience. This one focuses on fun and scoring goals forgetting all the complexities that you find in the genre-leading titles. With no licence to fall back on, the developers have followed Pro Evo Soccer’s approach and made up the names of each player. This leads to some glorious and hilarious creations that serious fans will lap up.

What a glorious stadium.

Super Soccer Blast: America vs Europe has strong foundations.

Super Soccer Blast: America vs Europe isn’t Unfinished Pixel’s first attempt at a football game. In 2020 they released Super Soccer Blast which was well received by its audience. Using the main mechanics from this, their latest title has strong foundations to work from. With single-player gameplay and couch co-op options, this harks back to 80s and 90s gaming and I loved it because of that.

You won’t find in-depth career modes, Ultimate Team, or Pro Clubs. Instead, you’ll spend your time taking on the small number of preset tournaments or customising your own competitions. This is a no-thrills title that simply wants you to play as many matches as possible.

Worldy goals and a disregard of the rules.

The second you jump into a match you realise that there is little respect for the rules. Offside, forget that! VAR, who needs it? Yellow or red cards for fouls? Nah, leave them in the changing room. It’s insane! The action is quick and reminiscent of an under 10s game where no one knows what they are doing and everyone is chasing the ball.

On top of this, worldy goals are all but guaranteed. Shoot from forty yards out and watch as it hit the back of the net. There are no requirements to score sweaty cutbacks and a scoreline in double digits happens nearly every game. It’s mindless sporting fun where knowledge and skills can be shelved from the moment you switch it on.

Pick the right team for you.

A modern game with relevant ideas.

Equality is not an ugly word and I’m all for developers creating an inclusive environment for people to game in. Unfinished Pixels embraced the growing female following and player base by allowing gamers to create female avatars and mixed-sex teams. This was a brilliant move as it reflects the influence that women are having on the gaming industry and the sporting world.

Though, creating a male or female character had little impact on how the matches play out. Neither were more skilled than the other, and there were no signs of different attributes. Even so, this was definitely a step in the right direction.

Colourful cartoon players and vivid stadiums.

If it isn’t the bizarre disregard of the rules that hits you first, it’ll be the eye-watering vivid colours. The striking tones and cartoon imagery are fantastic to look at. What is also great is the caricatures of each major player. Super Soccer Blast: America vs Europe may not have a licence for naming rights, but it has artistic licence to make you chuckle.

The audio is an energetic affair with realistic sound effects and marvellous stadium noises. The whole sound file has been lifted from Super Soccer Blast, so you’ll know exactly what to expect. I have to say, I was hoping for new material so this was a little disappointing. But I guess if it isn’t broken don’t fix it.

Can you hold your nerve?

Tackle, run, score!

This is all you must keep in your mind while playing. The few buttons you use are well laid out and learning the fundamentals takes seconds. Becoming a football master is easily achieved, and this is a joy to play. Yet, sadly, there is one massive game-breaking bug! Occasionally you’ll lose the ability to control, pass, or shoot the ball. No one can tackle you and the only way to resolve the issue is to run it out of play. It didn’t happen often, but when it occurred it ruined the affected match.

Sports games have ample replay value and this one is no different. The short matches hold your attention and each competition contain enough rounds to sink your teeth into. There is a small achievement list that won’t take long to finish, though it is glitched at the time of writing this review. Once the issue is resolved, this will be an achievement hunters dream, and it’ll take around four hours to complete.

Super Soccer Blast: America vs Europe is such fun to play.

If you are going to give this a go, you’ll have great fun. Goals galore, plenty of fouls, and quick action is all found in this not so serious football title. Excellent to play both alone and with a friend, this is a game that’ll keep you entertained for hours. A brilliant addition to the series and I recommend you buy it here! Pick your favourite team, score some beautiful goals, and win everything.

Review: Bunny Factory

Daniel Waite
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Review: Bunny Factory

Whenever I think of a factory production line I picture lots of workers, robots, and plenty of frantic action. What I don’t imagine is a slow-paced environment filled with one rabbit walking around while wearing a giant robotic suit. Yet, this is exactly what you experience when you play Bunny Factory.

Developed and published by DillyFrame, this is a 3D puzzle game with bunnies, lots and lots of bunnies. You must work solo or with friends to fill puzzles with coloured boxes. The premise lacks a sense of complexity, but the puzzles quickly become more and more difficult. You must use a bit of luck and an awful lot of logical thinking to overcome each problem you face.

Change the colour and solve the problem.

Bunny Factory is the latest in a long line of Bunny games.

I have been fortunate to play and review most of DillyFrame’s games, and Bunny Factory is the latest iteration in a long list of titles. They normally focus on classic problem-solving ideas, such as; Mahjong, Sudoku, and more. This time they have broken their familiar pattern and focussed on a completely original concept.

The gameplay starts pretty easy. A pattern is shown on the floor and you must place the relevant coloured blocks to light up each portion. The blocks have arrows that highlight the path that they will fill, and you must jostle each one around until no tile is left unlit. It tests your spatial awareness and ability to plan. Its simplicity makes it so fantastic and each stage has that “just one more try” element to it.

The difficulty quickly ramps up.

As you complete each puzzle, you are awarded with a yellow cube that has a number on it. You must follow the arrows, place the cube down, and start the next problem. This doesn’t just work as a method to move the game forward. No, it encourages you to explore the factory, activate the equipment, and find the collectables that hide in plain sight.

The further you progress the more complex the puzzles become! Extra colours are added to the mix, and plain cubes must be painted to fill the pattern. It quickly becomes very difficult and you have to use more trial and error and forward-thinking to be successful. The higher the level, the longer each stage takes, so this forced me to only play a few levels at a time. The constant back and forth made playing this for long periods quite tiresome, so to ease this I played it in short bursts.

Work together to solve the massive puzzles.

Bunny Factory is the best game in the series.

With one hundred challenging levels, a massive factory to explore, and a reliable server to play with friends, Bunny Factory is by far the best game in the series. The original idea has allowed DillyFrame to shine and they have learnt from their previous mistakes. Whenever I played their previous games, they were all full of bugs, issues, and graphically they were a bit of a mess. Fortunately, I didn’t experience any of these issues and other than the time it took to complete the later stages, I loved every minute of this.

I was, however, disappointed that they removed the NPC bunnies and mindless sports from the game. Previous iterations allowed you to play football, attack passing rabbits, and cause general mayhem. Bunny Factory has some cool extracurricular activities that relate to the factory, but they sadly lack the immature nature found in previous games.

Standard indie graphics.

Compared to previous titles, Bunny Factory looks great! It’s more polished, the world is larger and has a lot more detail. The blend of neutral colours and bright tones make the puzzles interesting to observe and the bunnies have smooth animations. It is much better than what they have previously produced, but it doesn’t stand out against others in the field. It is nice, but it just won’t wow you.

The audio follows suit. It delivers an expected lighthearted soundtrack with an industrial edge. It matches the theme nicely and delivers a pace that doesn’t add pressure to the gameplay. The sound effects are amusing, especially when multiple people are playing. Kicking each other never gets old, nor do the noises each rabbit makes.

No puzzle is too difficult for this bunny.

A well thought out setup.

I appreciate it when developers create games that are simple to play, and this one is as straightforward as they come. You open with an image of the control layout, and with a little practice, it quickly becomes second nature. Everything is responsive, and moving the blocks was an easy task. Taking the role of a robot bunny factory worker has never been so easy.

With one hundred levels to complete, and a challenging learning curve, this will keep you playing. The multiplayer option was a great idea as it reduced the constant back and forth when sorting blocks. A small achievement list requires you to complete half the puzzles and to explore the whole factory looking for collectables. This can be achieved in around four hours, with the same again required to finish it.

Bunny Factory, the diamond in the series.

If you’ve not played the series, you’ll have to take my word for this, but this is by far the best one yet. A thoroughly polished endeavour that tests you mentally from start to finish. Yes, I was disappointed about the lack of NPCs and without them, it felt devoid of life. Yet, the overall package is very good, and this is an enjoyable puzzle experience. If you are a fan of the genre, buy your copy here! Solve each problem and get the factory back up and running. 

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