Poison Control starts off with a meeting in the not so pleasant sounding Hell Realm. You end becoming soul mates with Poisonette. The two of you working together start purifying the Hell Realm where the goal is to try to achieve enough purification so you can enter the Heavenly Realm. Unfortunately you don’t want to go to the Heavenly Realm, you’d rather stay in the Mortal Realm however Poisonette has other ideas.
Poison Control plays like a 3rd Person Action Adventure game, your character/characters have to run around various levels and clear up the poison to progress. In the Hell Realm poison oozes out of the toxic emotions of the girls who fall there, they’re called Belles Hells. Clearing the poison from these levels will free them from their situation. Some of the themes are particularly dark so just be prepared for some mature content, it’s not just teenage angst in Poison Control. Completing these areas means you get stickers, these stickers act as payment for a ticket into the Heavenly Realm. The main enemies are Klesha which inhabit the levels. Your character is able to shoot the Klesha but Poisonette is the only one who can clean up the poison and purge the area, so you do need to strategise a fair bit. Becoming Poisonette leaves you vulnerable to attack so Poison Control is somewhat a balancing act.
Poison Control has a fairly repetitive mechanic of shooting the Klesha whilst you clean up the poison. There are different weapons you can uncover as you progress whilst you’re also able to level up certain attributes through a novel way. There is something called a Heart to Heart with Poisonette and depending on your answers one of your attributes will level up like your health points. Poison Control effectively played the same from the first minute to the last, so if you enjoy the first 15 mins then you’ll enjoy the rest of Poison Control.
Graphically Poison Control is visually impressive throughout relying on good mash up of pink and purple worlds that mesh together perfectly. Even the menu is a sight to behold and Poison Control is definitely a game you won’t forget quickly. Dialogue and musically Poison Control excels as well with an intriguing mix exciting upbeat tones.
Poison Control is a fun game most of the time, it suffers from something primarily that a lot of shooters suffer from and that’s the repetitive nature of shooting constantly. The story and dialogue of Poison Control is really interesting and involving. You won’t quite find a game like Poison Control because visually it’s quite stunning whilst the mature content will make you want more.
With the bluster of another polish-developed Cyberpunk title stealing the headlines in 2020, you’d be forgiven for overlooking hardcore FPP title Ghostrunner, where, as a freerunning katana-wielding ninja robot, you attempt to slash through your enemies faster than they can shoot you in a one-hit, one-kill adrenaline-pumping slashathon.
Despite being similar in origin and appearance, Ghostrunner could be said to be the antithesis of Cyberpunk 2077, whose focus on a pure gameplay experience contrasts with that of one promising the world, and it comes out all the better for it. This may have been dictated by indie developer One More Level’s budget rather than their ambition, whose studio is so small they needed co-developers to help them with the project, but the end result is a masterclass of a singular focus producing highly addictive and stylish gameplay.
An amusing reference to Cyberpunk 2077 and just one of the hints to other genre influences in the game. Akira’s motorcycle is another you’ll come across.
The story places you in control of the Ghostrunner as you wake up in a futuristic world with a sword in your hand and a voice in your head telling you that you are being chased. The voice is the Architect of the Dharma Tower, a huge monolith of a building made as a safe haven for humanity in preparation for a cataclysmic event that would destroy the world. In the following years, those in control became tyrants, oppressing the tower’s citizens and threatening humankind once again. Initially created as a tool for peace, it’s your job to defeat the oppressor, key master Mara, and allow humankind to flourish once again.
Armed with your katana and a slow-motion ability that allows you to dodge bullets and extend your jumps, you use the environment around you to kill everything that moves. Grapple hook devices, ziplines and wall-running become your best friend as you search for the best location to launch off, slow-motion around your foe, and slice them in half to quite literally hand their ass to them, or alternatively, chop their head off and watch it roll past you as you paint the neon-lights red.
The stunning visuals that wow, but feel underused in the blander looking levels.
With excellently designed environments built to facilitate the best possible string of moves, the game dangles success in your face before unceremoniously ripping it from your grasp by introducing new challenges and different elements in each new area that require you to adjust your approach. As split-seconds are the margin of error afforded to you, learning how to attack a room from scratch results in more than a few missteps that cost you your life.
This is what makes managing to pull off a succession of perfectly timed moves so immensely satisfying to the point where you’ll consider intentionally dying just to repeat certain sections. The first area that introduces the time-restricted but unlimited ninja star power-up was one such moment of badassery, where wall-running across the length of a room and killing the entire populace with ninja stars before your feet hit the floor is so amazing that I recorded it and died numerous times just to experience it again.
Death occurs as often as you draw breath as the game wants perfection, or beautiful chaos, to motivate your progression. Amusingly your character is referred to as being ‘special’ but in reality is about as robust as a wet paper towel, dying with every single attack.
The blue circles on the walls are grapple hook holds and can be zipped to with L2 which then propels your wallrun around the room. This helps getting around the shields of the enemies. Not that it matters in this screenshot though, with a bullet a split second away from defeating me.
‘Harsh but fair’ is often used to describe hardcore games without a difficulty setting, with enemies so difficult that only a very specific set of actions can be used, learned by dying over and over, but this can’t be said for Ghostrunner. In fact, it’s near on impossible to say that the AI is playing fair as enemies track your movements through obstacles and will commence firing as soon as you are in their line of sight.
Rather than these overpowered enemies being a negative, it forces you to use your abilities and the map, which provides numerous potential strategies, wisely. The generous autosave feature within each stage also helps ease your pain, meaning that you can focus on the area in front of you instead of worrying about clearing the entire stage from the start.
I died on 2,289 occasions during my 10-hour playthrough, which embarrassingly works out to giving up the ghost about once every 15 seconds – I grant you permission to laugh – but with no loading time between you and your next attempt and the promise of more satisfying slicing and dicing ahead of you, there’s little opportunity for frustration to build.
A nice addition to the action is the introduction of long-range abilities and existing ability upgrades that add further variety to your attacks as you progress. The upgrades use a small Tetris-like puzzle that forces you to choose from a selection of those upgrades, making you consider the best options to use in certain situations. Adding extra dashes to your repertoire for dodging and jumping is certainly as astute choice, but my favorite gives you the ability to deflect enemy projectiles back at them with your sword, requiring perfectly timed strikes. It’s like playing ninja tennis and makes you feel even more like a badass when you string more than a few together.
Part of the puzzle/tutorial gameplay that looks nice, but slows the pace down a bit too much.
Ziplines and vertical platforms act as your path to the next area, but with nothing but a gaping chasm to break your fall, the leaps and dashes have very little room for error. The first-person view that puts you at the center of the action, works great for swordplay, but when it comes to leaping between vertical platforms, not being in third person makes your learning curve a little steeper as you’re never 100% sure of the exact moment of contact and where your movements will end you up.
With its arcade-like replayability that can be counted in speed runs and fewest deaths, gameplay is king here. The remaining elements are therefore less important in the grand scheme of things, but even so, deficiencies with the narrative and gameplay variation do exist.
The story, unfolding through conversations overlayed on top of the action, infuses a sense of mystery but is given little opportunity to shine over the game’s short runtime. This is also the extent of the title’s world-building with no cutscenes, and 2 non-enemy NPCs representing the only interactivity outside of the action and some unnecessary tempo-slowing puzzles.
Manical bio engineered humans who explode when close to you. Definitely some Doom vibes.
With the release of some post-release game patches, issues that existed with the PS4 version have now been fixed, with the unreal 4 engine providing wonderfully desolate and futuristic visuals and running at an impressive and buttery smooth 60 fps (bar a few enemy heavy sections).
With the requirement of clearing each room of enemies in order to progress up the tower, plus its dark atmosphere and breakneck action, Ghostrunner has some Doom vibes about it. While its inclusion may have contrasted too greatly with its theme, one aspect I wish Ghostrunner further borrowed from the popular FPS, is its heavy metal soundtrack as Ghostrunner‘s 80s synth audio feels like one looped track from the menu to the end credits. Concentrating is hardly made easier with it playing in the background, so I turned it off entirely and only checked in occasionally to see if it ever improved, which unfortunately, it didn’t.
Ghostrunner is an unexpected triumph, whose highly addictive gameplay boasts some of the most satisfying moments I’ve ever experienced in video games. Outside of the highlight reel action, there are some underdeveloped or unnecessary inclusions, but other than the difficulty potentially scaring off some fans, there’s almost no reason not to give Ghostrunner a try – it’s a cut above the rest.
Puzzle-platform games are two a penny these days. Indie developers are churning them out quicker than I can play them. Yet, when I get the chance, I’ll always give one a go. The casual gameplay and familiar mechanics make playing them an easy and enjoyable experience. 0 Degrees uses all the tried and tested mechanics and is a colourful yet simple indie title.
Developed by Nerd Games, Kiddo Dev, and Eastasiasoft Limited and published by the latter, this is a basic platform game that spans forty levels. Set in an icy world, you control a pixel hero who must traverse icy surfaces, leap chasms, and shoot ice blocks to overcome spiked traps. There is nothing complicated about this, and its lack of difficulty makes it accessible to gamers of all ages and ability.
Blocks and portals.
0 Degrees won’t wow you with originality.
You’ll note the game lacks originality. Yes, the setting is fairly unique, but everything else is well established. This familiar style allowed me to jump into the action with little concern, and I flew through the opening stages with relative ease. As new elements were added, the difficulty increased slightly, and you had to create a plan that uses precision placement to avoid the traps you encounter.
As you advance, you must place blocks and create icy platforms. This was a well throughout element that needed an accurate approach. Each stage allowed for a maximum of five blocks, so wasting them was a major mistake. You had to study the level, and choose where to place each one. This became especially tricky when you had to create floating platforms. You had to time your shots to freeze each block, which wasn’t as simple as it sounds. You’d miss, waste a block and restart each stage repeatedly as you tried and failed for the nth time. It was frustrating, yet this small layer of difficulty was enough to keep you interested from beginning to end.
A spike overkill.
0 Degrees is probably not enough for hardcore gamers.
With the casual audience in mind, and trying to be as inclusive as possible 0 Degrees has alienated the hardcore fans of the genre. With no collectables to gather, this may be overlooked, and that’s a shame as its style is charming, and its ice mechanic is unique.
What I particularly enjoyed was the lack of friction when walking across each surface. Sliding around was both fun and dangerous. Your plans were constantly thwarted as you shuffled closer to the edge of each surface. One millimetre too far and you fell to your untimely death. It was maddening, especially when you were inches from the portal to the next level.
A fixed screen and pixel art.
The fixed screen 2D perspective worked well. Its restrictive nature allowed you to plan, and it was nice that there were no nasty surprises. Your character and the environment lacked detail, but this mattered not. as it was colourful enough to make it enjoyable to look at. The pixelated style wasn’t original, but it worked with the theme.
The chilled (pun intended) atmosphere was enhanced with a calm and slow-paced audio. The airy music matched the icy world the game is set in and added no sense of urgency. This mellow approach differed from many puzzle platform games I’ve played and I liked the serenity it created. It was oddly paired up with a basic selection of sound effects. Simple noises matched the actions and seemed strange when combined with the well thought out music.
Risky icy platforms.
A child could play it.
With few buttons to focus on, and straightforward level designs, a child could easily play 0 Degrees. This isn’t an insult, it’s more of a backhanded compliment. Not every game in the world has to be challenging to play, and the developers have focussed on making this as simple as possible. With responsive controls, a handy crosshair for aiming, and limited mechanics to master, you’ll be an expert at this in no time.
A lack of collectables and a quick playthrough reduces its replay value considerably. Luckily it is fun to play, and it’s inexpensive, so it shouldn’t be written off. The achievement list is unlocked through natural progression, and you’ll be awarded your 100% status in two hours or fewer.
0 Degrees limits its appeal.
With no additional game modes, and a straightforward approach, the traditional fanbase may be put off. 0 Degrees will appeal to gamers who wish to have an easy, and no fuss casual experience. I had fun with it and recommend you buy it here! Become an explorer, overcome traps and don’t slip on the ice.
A large army doesn’t guarantee your victory. Brute force and all the will in the world will not outsmart tactical nuance. Battles are finished by the warriors on the field but won by the generals controlling every move. This is the premise of Guards. It’s a deceptively addictive game that’ll trick you with its simple approach, colourful graphics, and jovial music.
Developed by Battlecruiser Games and published by Drageus Games, this a short but tough turn-based strategy title. You control a small band of heroes, comprising unique styles. You must overcome waves of enemies as you journey across the land, aiming to annihilate the gargantuan overlord.
Guards will eat up all your spare time.
Guards was released on PC five years ago, but yet I’ve not heard of it until now. When I loaded in, I had low expectations of what I’d experience. I intended to give it a short go to get an idea before playing it later. Before I knew it, hours had flown by and it had eaten all my spare time. From the first battle it had me hooked, and even the inevitable taste of defeat wasn’t enough to put me off.
The game is set in a fantasy land that has some oddly named places; The Forest of Gloom, Troll Land, The Mists of Dead and more. The aim is to win each fight and eventually arrive at Spirit Rift, the home of the Chieftain. Here you must use everything you have learned to overcome his waves of minions and kill him. This is no easy task, and unless you are prepared, death is guaranteed.
Don’t let the rain stop a good fight.
A simple premise, but it’s confusing to begin with.
I couldn’t believe how simple it was to play once you got to grips with it. You open with a small amount of trial and error, learning the fundamentals and familiarising yourself with your enemies. Once you are comfortable with what is required, you’ll plan each fight to the finest of details, getting the most out of each hero.
Each battle uses a strict formation of three fighters on the front line, and one shielded at the rear. A turn will not begin until one hero is moved. Whether you are sending them back to recovery or swapping them along the front line, you must make the right call. This simple idea makes Guards so challenging and enjoyable. You must move your fighters constantly, placing them where they can utilise their skills. Some have ranged attacks, some close-quarter melee, and one can heal.
Alongside the standard abilities, each has a special attack that can turn the tide of war in your favour. Whether you shoot a booming grenade, stun your foes, lace them with poison, or shoot a barrage of arrows, there is something for every occasion. You may also use items from your inventory at the start of each round. You can boost strength, use guardians to protect you, increase your health or defence, or carry runes that will bring you back to life. Using the right equipment at the right time is paramount and you will find the correct ones that match your style.
Stock up on those essential items.
Guards is all about heroes, upgrades, missions, and perks.
Once you understand what you are doing, your focus will be on who you pick, their upgrades, and which perk to select. Eight heroes are at your disposal, you’ll select; a Peasant, Sorcerer, Archer, Witcher, Knight, Rifleman, Assassin, and Amazonian. They all have strengths and weaknesses, and your selection will be based on your approach and who you favour. Upgrades make all the difference and add a further layer to your tactics. You’ll earn mithril during each playthrough, the further you progress the more you earn. The stronger your team becomes, the easier the game becomes, so upgrades are an easy decision.
The missions give you an alternative focus from the main quest and reward you with items and mithril. They are not overly complex but were enjoyable to attempt, nonetheless. Then there are the perks which add extra inventory slots, an increase in magical power, and additional guardians. Each of these elements keeps you thinking and allows you to play how you wish. It was wonderful that such a basic concept had such depth to it.
A dated appearance, but it still works well.
When this was released in 2016 I would have said the graphics were dated. Five years on, and they are looking their age. A simple art style and a bird’s-eye perspective allow you to focus on the action that takes place. The game board comprises three paths with your team one end and the enemy the other. It’s easy to follow, and well-marked out grids distinguished the zones for every action. Each attack has smooth animation, and each enemy has a unique look, so it’s easy to plan.
Every battle was matched with an upbeat and aggressive song. The style was familiar and sounded like most RPGs and tactics games I’ve played in the past. The developers also used a classic selection of sound effects. Using tried and tested audio didn’t disappoint, but I would have liked something original. Guards sadly suffers from some issues. If you play for a while the music will cut out, and you’ll be met with silence. It was odd, ruined the atmosphere, but was also an intermittent fault. It doesn’t ruin the game, but it’s noticeable and annoying when it happens.
4 Vs 6, I like those odds.
So much replay value.
It’s always pleasant when the controls are easy to pick up. Having been on PC I worried it would be clunky, but this never materialised. It’s smooth, simple to understand, and you’ll not struggle to play. The clean-cut UI certainly helped and using menus or items was a piece of cake.
Guards is ridiculously addictive. In fact, I want to stop writing and start playing again. With three difficulties to select, a survival mode to beat, a tough achievement list to unlock, and any combination of heroes to pick. This keeps you coming back for more! However, completionists are in for a tough time as only the most hardcore of gamers will defeat “hell” difficulty.
Guards gets the balance just right.
I can’t help but love how well balanced it is. Grinding through the early levels makes the Chieftain battle all the much easier. Yet, ramp up the difficulty and you’re back to square one. You never get too far ahead of yourself, and this keeps the gameplay challenging throughout. I adored it and recommend you buy it here! Eight heroes, waves of enemies, and one Chieftain. Select your team and take them down!
The gaming industry is at its prime in 2021. From all corners of the world, people use their smartphones, tablets, consoles, and PCs to play games every day; either by themselves (solo) or with other gamers via multiplayer.
Because gaming has become such an integral part of life, there is a strong demand out there for it to be as accessible as possible. Essentially, people want to be able to play from anywhere, be it when they’re out on the move, at work, or on a lunch break at school. It helps to keep the day entertaining and provides a nice little dopamine rush when you need it.
After all, there’s no greater feeling than knowing you can reach into your pocket at any moment, grab your iPhone or Android, and play a game.
However, being able to play your favorite games anywhere isn’t always easy. With that said, here are some tips for how you can keep playing your favorite games anywhere, any time.
Find the best internet provider you can
Most people are concerned with their gaming devices or what specific games they’re going to play and consequently forget about the importance of strong internet.
Quite simply, gaming from anywhere is not possible without a good internet/Wi-Fi connection. So, if you’re expecting to be able to game whilst traveling around the country with a poor-quality internet provider for your phone, it’s simply not going to happen.
To ensure you have the best internet, research the providers who have the best network coverage in your country. Even if it means paying a little extra to join them, the instant connections anywhere and lack of in-game lag will make those costs worth it.
For example, when you play online casino games such as video poker and roulette, you’ll never lose connection. If you’re interested in playing an online casino, which is extremely popular at the moment, check out onlinecasinos.co.uk for a comparison of the best ones.
Download companion apps
If you’re a console gamer (PS5, XBOX Series X/S), you obviously can’t carry your console with you everywhere.
However, some console games have downloadable companion apps available in the app stores for both iPhones and Androids. These companion apps allow you to play the games from your phone or at least access certain features. For example, FIFA 21 has a companion app, as well as Call of Duty.
This way, you can still play when you don’t have access to your console.
Carry a Bluetooth controller and earphones in your pocket
When you are gaming from different locations, it’s important to carry a Bluetooth controller and earphones with you so that you can still have an immersive experience.
There are many Bluetooth controllers you can buy that you can attach to your phone. Similarly, there is a wide choice of wireless earphones on the market. You can buy a pair that are specifically enhanced for gaming or just general earphones (such as AirPods). Remember to keep them safely secured when you’re not using them as they can be easily lost or damaged!
The Messenger is a beautiful realisation of retro 2D platforming that proves that these games still stand up as gamings very best. The Messenger is a retro 2D platformer that leans on past ideas to create a fresh new platformer. That is outstanding for all intents and purposes.
Platforming Magic
When I first started The Messenger, I was instantly transported to a bygone era of the late 20th century where 8-16 bit platforming gameplay was all the range. You, the player, find yourself as a young Ninja, destined to transport a message across your home island. In the hope of saving the world from the apocalypse.
The game is stunning and breathtaking from the get-go in terms of graphics and art style. The Messenger leans on classic retro 2D 8-16 bit graphics and creates a familiar and new aesthetic. Aesthetically, the game is outstanding and is one of the very best looking games in the genre. The game also has excellent level design and variety, making every section of the game feel fresh and new. Furthermore, the game has a stellar story with one of the best narratives in the genre. Likewise, The Messenger has a fantastic variety of enemy types adding further variety to the gameplay and challenge.
Classic 2D Platforming
Ninja Reflexes Required
Thus, the game is challenging from a gameplay perspective and will challenge even the most veteran platforming players, which is a good and bad thing. The game is adhering to the challenge of its predecessors. But is far too hard for the casual gamer and will become quickly frustrating for many. Thus the game is best suited to hardcore fans of the genre.
Hardcore fans of the genre will enjoy the classic 8-16 bit tunes of platforming present throughout the game’s entity. The soundtrack is outstanding, with beats being catchy and a musical master class in retro bit music. The combination of classic retro graphics, music and excellent gameplay make for an outstanding game. It rivals and matches the classic 2D platformers of the retro era. It is hard to describe how nostalgic this game is. The game delivers on everything it sets out to do, staying faithful to the 2D platforming games of old while making the game relevant enough to make the genre stand out in the present age.
Although The Messenger is challenging, limiting its accessibility, the game is an incredible piece of art and should be recognised for this. It is a game chock full of retro era nostalgia that quite simply makes you feel warm inside.
Varied Level Design
Verdict
Overall, The Messenger is an outstanding game that stands out amongst games within the current era of gaming and amongst its predecessors. The game is the perfect package of retro 2D platforming nostalgia and successfully executes every element of 2D platforming that we love. Despite it being a challenge at times in terms of its difficulty, you have to pick up this game. You owe it to yourself as a gamer to play one of the best 2D platformers out there.
Pirates are a scurvy bunch! They prey on the weak, steal whatever they want, and cause problems for whomever they encounter. It takes a brave person to tackle them head-on, a person who fears nothing and has an overwhelming sense of right from wrong. Yet, it’s not just the feel-good factor that drives these vigilantes, there is also the bonus of a bounty when each filthy dog is blown to smithereens. Skycadia asks you to play the part of a bounty hunter in its pixelated homage to Nintendo’s 1993 hit Star Fox.
Developed and published by Studio Nisse, this is a brightly coloured first-person flying shooter. You control three different heroic pilots who aim to clear the skies of the never-ending threat of insect pirates. You soar through the sky avoiding projectiles, Kamikaze bugs, and buildings. Your aim is to shoot down as many foes as possible, collecting the gold they drop, while staying alive for as long as possible.
Skycadia is a blast from the past.
The moment the game loads in you instantly get a twinge of nostalgia. The dated graphics, the arcade-style logo, and the rasp of the synthesised music all make for an eye-catching and overwhelming experience. You are given two options to enjoy in Skycadia. The first is Bounty Hunt. This is the main mode where you will spend most of your time. Second, you can fly freely in the Cruisin’ mode, where you’ll enjoy every low-poly image at your own pace.
Bounty Hunt is an endless mode that asks you to fly freely around a large ocean map. You must search for your foes, shoot them out of the sky, and take every piece of gold they possess. Each pilot has a specific ship with its strengths and weaknesses. Captain Sanders is the all-rounder, Big Bucket flies a hefty crate, and Lord Yolka is nimble and agile. The quicker they are, the less health they have! Lord Yolka must use his speed to avoid bullets and enemies that want to kill him, whereas Big Bucket can take a beating and still keep flying.
I loved the idea of using the quickest ship, darting in and out of the fight, picking off each pirate. In reality, however, it was tough to distinguish between foes, making the faster pilots nigh on impossible to use. This trait also transferred to the choice of weapons. You start with a machine gun, and you then unlock a Scattershot (a Shotgun) followed by a Chargeshot (a high-powered laser). The first was too weak to be useful, and the last was too slow to overcome the hordes of bugs, meaning the only viable option was the Scattershot.
Whata smug bug!
An illusion of choices.
As you look at your choices, you are given the illusion that you’ll be able to select the vessel and weapon that suits your style. Sadly, this isn’t the case! Skycadia gives you the freedom to pick whichever pilot you like, and you can select your loadout, but you will always return to the highest health, and most useful gun. Big Bucket and the Scattershot will always be selected to give you the best chance of success.
So, what is deemed as a victory in a game with no story? In short, the amount of money you collect before you are destroyed. Each short game comprises lots of explosions, dodging, and collecting of gold. Once all your health is depleted, it’s game over, and you either restart to try again or return to the tavern.
You can see your stats in the tavern, how you compare on the global leaderboard, and how many times you have been killed in the Bounty Book. It was interesting to read but added little to the gameplay. It was nice to see how I compared to my friends or the big boys around the world, but I would have preferred a focus on another game mode to get my teeth into.
Argghhhh a flying centipede thing!
Skycadia has dated graphics that were great to see butare problematic.
The low-poly style will certainly not be to everyone’s liking. The garish and jagged lines aren’t pretty to look at, nor are the sharp and contrasting colours. Yet, there is something wonderful about this old-school experience. It sucks you in and transports you to the genre’s heyday. Unfortunately, though, I have to take off the rose-tinted spectacles and realise that this art style caused many issues. It was hard to see the opposition, depth perception was nonexistent, and the scenery was challenging to make out.
These issues are not going to go away. They cause you to be hit more times than I care to remember, end your playthrough, and generally annoy you throughout! But the pain is all worth it, as you soar around a wonderful pixelated sky, trying to pin down your opponents.
If it isn’t the bright colours giving you a headache, it will definitely be the synthesised audio. With high pitched electronic sounds, an upbeat soundtrack, and tinny sound effects, it was brilliantly reminiscent of early 90s gaming. Bugs flying into you made awful crashing noises. The rasping sound of your weapon crunching your enemies armour, and the inevitable explosion as you failed your mission were all great to listen to. Though the sound wasn’t always pleasant, but it carried the action perfectly and suited both the style and theme to a tee.
The pirates still attack at Christmas.
What, no brakes!!!!!
Who has heard of a plane with no brakes? The oversight was maddening! You can boost, roll, and shoot to your heart’s content, but try to slow down…..hell no! I admit, it’s not the end of the world, but it was a bit strange not having this option. It removed a necessary tactical element and made the action much harder in the process. If I put this to one side, the rest of the controls were great. You can choose to invert the analogue stick, and other actions use a couple of buttons. So other than the lack of brakes, it was easy to play.
With only one viable game mode, Skycadia’s replay value is dented, somewhat. Yes, the Cruisin’ option was fun, but this soon became tiresome. Bounty Hunts were always fast-paced and enjoyable, but I wanted much more of a challenge, and this sadly never materialised. If the developers had added a time trial, power-ups, squadron battles, or any other tangible option it would have gripped its audience much more. If you are a completionist you’ll spend no more than five hours on this, and that’ll get you your 100% status.
Skycadia is a fun casual experience that needs a bit more bite.
Skycadia’s gameplay, style and presentation are all great, mostly. Retro gamers will fall for its charms and will get lost in its low-poly world. It’s an excellent albeit short casual experience that will transport you back to the 90s. There are a few areas that need improving, but overall I recommend you buy it here! Help the three heroic pilots take down the swarm of bug pirate scum. It’s a never-ending battle, but at least you are paid handsomely for your efforts.
Blaze Entertainment is delighted to announce a brand new arcade range of Evercade cartridges.
The four new cartridges will feature arcade games exclusively, from classic hits to some rediscovered greats. These new cartridges follow the now traditional Evercade formula of providing something everyone loves and something new to discover.
All four cartridges will be available individually to purchase and are playable both on the Evercade Handheld and the Evercade VS. All cartridges are also going to support save states, just like the existing collections. The new purple spine denotes the separation from the main console-focused collections of Evercade cartridges and the numbering system is reset for this new arcade line. But it still has the same great attention to detail with the cartridges coming with a bespoke manual and cover and provided in a bespoke plastic clamshell case, to fit in with the rest of the Evercade line.
The price point of these cartridges is also in line with the existing Evercade price point of £14.99/$19.99.
All these collections have been curated by hand and feature the latest in commercial arcade emulation, and all games have been officially licensed from the license holders to provide Evercade gamers the most accurate and playable experience available.
These collections will be available for Pre-Order on May 28th and will be released alongside the Evercade VS on November 3rd 2021.
The four collections feature some of the greatest hits of the arcade era with titles such as Double Dragon 2 and 3, Bad Dudes Vs Dragon Ninja, Crystal Castles and many other great titles that became synonymous with arcade and home video gaming. This has also meant that Evercade has been able to delve into the vaults to provide some great games to rediscover. Including a selection of games from the Gaelco back catalogue, a Spanish arcade developer who operated in Europe from 1985 to the early 2000s, and some great titles that you might not expect from the world-famous publishers of Technos, Data East, and Atari.
Stories of romance and tragedy have been told through the ages. People are fascinated by other’s pain and misfortune and vie for the underdog to save their one true love. This theme is as popular today as it always has been. Karma Incarnation 1 has jumped on the bandwagon, using this heart-wrenching concept at its core.
Developed by Other Kind Games and Auralab and published by ChiliDog Interactive, this is a puzzle game with a humorous narrative. It’s bizarre, surreal, confusing, and mentally taxing. A short game that offers very little in the way of hand-holding. You are left to solve each problem in this strange tale.
Disco time.
Karma Incarnation 1 tests your logical thinking and observation skills.
Part adventure, part point and click puzzle title, Karma Incarnation 1 isn’t a walk in the park. You must wander around many levels of an alien environment, helping the locals, and slowly moving towards your end goal. You are required to scan the surrounding environment, looking for clues, and finding further puzzles. Like with many of these games the problems and solutions are obvious, but this doesn’t make working them out any easier.
It tells a tale of astral beings who have found love in the most unlikely of places. The pair are inseparable until one fateful day when evil monsters ruin their peaceful existence. The pink entity is swallowed whole as the white one escapes with his life. He is told that his love is alive, and can be saved if he reincarnates as a dragon and destroys the monster. Willing to do anything, he begins his transformation only for an error to occur. His soul has been reborn as a worm named Pip, not a fearsome beast.
This sets the tone for the whole game. Throughout you are tickled with; humorous cutscenes, interactions with odd creatures, and strange tasks to help the locals.
Funky space aura.
Pip’s appearance changes depending on his actions.
Karma Incarnation 1 isn’t a straightforward linear tale. Yes, the action follows a set path, but depending on how you behave, and the things you do, influences others. Karma affects all beings, but none more so than Pip. If he’s bad, his appearance alters, impacting how others interact with him. This idea was simple, but sheer genius. The narrative of the game alters depending on what you do, and this opens up additional storylines for you to enjoy.
Alternatively, this can be quite a confusing aspect to understand. It isn’t always clear if a behaviour or action is good or bad. And this can sadly alter your gameplay unintentionally. What is also frustrating is the lack of guidance. It can be tough exploring stages when you have zero idea of what to do, or how to proceed. There is a hint system, but it seemed to offer advice when it wanted, and not when it was needed. This difficulty was rewarding in a sadomasochistic sort of way. There was lots of time wasted and many profanities muttered, yet it was worth it when the solution was found.
A stunning yet bizarre look.
You are instantly struck by how beautiful this looks. With hand-drawn images and contrasting tones and colours, it looks great! The small areas you explore vary in look and design and you quickly flit between shadowy caves and bright icy tundra. The dream-like theme continues with the characters appearance and the odd thought bubbles that convey the dialogue. There is a lack of complexity to the images and much of it appeared tribalistic in its style.
The gameplay is split between two views, and the first is Pip’s worm vision that sees the world as it should be. The second is a psychedelic space aura that sees an alternative reality. Both add to the weirdness of this game, and you will flit between the two to help overcome the many puzzles you face.
The audio continues this bizarre theme. There is a lack of dialogue, instead, you hear inaudible ramblings. These emphasise emotion and progress the story alongside the thought bubbles. There is a nice variety of sounds and music depending on which zone you visit. I particularly enjoyed the environmental sounds as Pip slid his way around the world. The developers took a minimalist approach, and this was great as it let you focus on each puzzle.
Beat the drums and make the flame burn.
Oh, how I hated the controls.
Karma Incarnation 1’s controls are awful, as they are clumsy, unresponsive, and badly mapped. Undoubtedly they’d work better with a Mouse and Keyboard, sadly you are stuck with a controller. It was just about serviceable, but you are constantly reminded how clumsy they are. You’ll experience slow movement, button-mashing to perform actions, and plenty of mistakes as you select the wrong action. It was disappointing, as it tainted an otherwise very enjoyable experience.
This is a short game and will take between four and five hours to complete, which includes all the achievements. This quick playthrough alongside a lack of additional modes dents its replayability. Other than the aforementioned control issue, you’ll really enjoy it. Though it lacks a reason to return to it, it’s still worthy of your time.
Karma Incarnation 1 is odd, enjoyable, and a great indie title.
I love when a game does something unusual and Karma Incarnation 1 certainly does that. With a bizarre story, surreal aesthetic, and challenging puzzles, this will keep you working until the end. I won’t sugarcoat it, the controls are terrible, but the rest of the elements work well, so this setback is forgivable. I really enjoyed it and recommend you buy it here! Solve the puzzles, overcome the monster, and bring the lovers back together.
HONOR has officially announced the global availability of the upgraded HONOR MagicBook 14 and HONOR MagicBook 15. Available with the latest 11th Gen Intel® Core processors and Intel® Iris® Xe graphics, the new HONOR MagicBook Series offers an upgraded user experience and unparalleled performance, all packed into a lightweight and powerfully compact body. Boasting 10.5 hours12 of battery life, an Eye Comfort HONOR FullView Display for enhanced eye protection and supported by the latest Wi-Fi 6 and a 2X2 MIMO dual antenna design for faster and smoother wireless transfer speeds, the HONOR MagicBook 14 and 15 Series is now available in UK, Germany and France starting from 849.90 €.
“The all new HONOR MagicBook Series reflects our ambition to become a global iconic tech brand by offering innovative, high-quality products with proven reliability” said George Zhao, President of HONOR. “Featuring one of the world’s best processors for thin-and-light laptops – the latest 11th Gen Intel® Core™ Processor, the new HONOR MagicBook Series offers enhanced performance and is the ideal device to help users supercharge their work, study, and entertainment.”
Safeguard your Digital Wellbeing with Eye Comfort HONOR FullView Display for Enhanced Eye Protection
Featuring a 14-inch stunning Eye Comfort HONOR FullView Display, 100% sRGB colour gamut and a screen to body ratio of 84%, the new HONOR MagicBook 14 delivers an immersive viewing experience, bringing vivid colours and true-to-life imagery to help users capture every detail on their screen, whether it be for study, work or play.
Perfect for those who spend long hours in front of a screen, the new HONOR MagicBook Series comes equipped with TÜV Rheinland Low Blue Light Certification, TÜV Rheinland Flicker-free Certification and all new DC Dimming technology. Designed to minimize harmful blue light, the combined features relieve eye fatigue and strain, safeguarding the digital wellbeing of users and ensuring enhanced eye protection and a comfortable viewing experience all day long.
Superior Portability in a Sleek and Lightweight Design
Boasting a sleek and lightweight design, the HONOR MagicBook 14 weighs just 1.38 kg3 and is only 15.9 mm4 thin, easily fitting in most bags and allowing users to enjoy ultimate portability and unparalleled performance on the go. The 1920 x 1080-pixel fully-laminated screen reduces the reflection of light off the LCD panel, creating an immersive and true-to-life display even under direct sunlight. Available in Space Gray, the lightweight aluminum body with a azure blue chamfer design ensures a sleek finish to make it compact, slim, and stylish, perfect for any occasion.
HONOR MagicBook Series Gets a Boost with Powerful New Processors Available with the latest 11th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-1165G7 processor5, the new HONOR MagicBook Series takes performance to a whole new level. Compared to the previous generation, overall performance is up by 21% percent, with a maximum frequency of 4.7 GHz.
Designed to support heavy duty and complex tasks, the all-new Intel® Iris® Xe graphics delivers richer gaming experiences and greater speed for designers and creators when processing multimedia files, including photos, videos, and different editing software, in addition to 16 GB of DDR4 dual-channel RAM6 and 512 GB of large storage.
The HONOR MagicBook Series comes packed with a Supersized Cooling Fan and dual heat pipes, enabling efficient heat dissipation to maintain a manageable temperature even during intense gaming, while Performance Mode (Fn+P) is available for heavy duty tasks, such as using advanced design software, boosting productivity to the maximum. With Microsoft Windows 10 pre-installed (including a 1-month free trial of Microsoft 365), users will be able to utilize many of the most popular productivity programs and games in the market with the HONOR MagicBook series.
Powered by a massive 56 Wh high density battery, the new HONOR MagicBook Series offers superior all-day battery life7 boosted by 65 W fast charging to supercharge study, work, and entertainment. With 10.5 hours8 of battery life for local 1080P video playback on a single full charge, users can rely on its durable, first-rate performance, enabling all day productivity. For those on the move, the new 65 W Fast Charger weighing at just 200 g can power the device up to 44% in just 30 minutes9, while Reverse Charging is available when the HONOR MagicBook Series is shut down, helping users charge their smartphones and other devices while on the go.
Cross-device Multitasking and Multi-Screen Collaboration
The HONOR MagicBook 14 and 15 are both equipped with Wi-Fi 6 and a 2X2 MIMO dual antenna design, enabling wireless transfer speeds of up to 2400 Mbps, approximately 2.7 times the speed of Wi-Fi 510.
Complete with multi-screen collaboration, it’s easier than ever to work between your smartphone and laptop. Users can do cross-collaboration between their HONOR smartphone and HONOR MagicBook Series with a simple tap. Multi-screen Collaboration allows users to view their smartphone screen and files on the laptop; users can simply drag, drop, and edit their files, using the same keyboard and mouse11. The laptop also allows users to pick up exactly where they left off without having to jump between devices, making multi-tasking easier than ever. A handy fingerprint reading power button enables instant access when starting up the device for a more secure and effortless login experience.
Pricing and Availability
Starting from May 18th, the HONOR MagicBook 14 11th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-1165G7 16GB+512GB and i5-1135G7 versions will be available to purchase in UK, Germany and France via UK, Germany and France at an affordable price of 1199.90 € and 849.90 € .
For those looking for a larger screen, the new HONOR MagicBook 15 comes with a stunning 15-inch Eye Comfort HONOR FullView Display, 100% sRGB colour gamut and a screen to body ratio of 87%, weighing just 1.56 kg and available with latest 11th Gen Intel® Core i5-1135G7 processor. Starting from May 18th the HONOR MagicBook 15 will be available in UK, Germany and France via UK, Germany and France at an affordable price of 949.90 € .
For more information, please visit HONOR online store at www.hihonor.com.
Golden Force is a game that sets out its stall very early on. When starting up a new playthrough, players will be dropped onto a ship in a storm and confronted with a handful of minor enemies against which they can learn the three main attacks: strike, slide, and dash. It may appear at first as a standard tutorial, with the ship’s captain calling out the various controls, but that illusion is broken inside of a minute when the ship is attacked by an enormous kraken and you are plunged into the first boss battle.
Given the difficulty of this game – players can only take a total of five hits before it’s game over – this is a pretty high barrier for entry and it may end up turning a fair few players away. That being said, it’s also a good indicator of what Golden Force has to offer and it does serve to let players know what they’ll be getting into; if you find yourself having a bad time taking on a difficult fight from the offset, you’re not going to have much fun in the rest of the game.
For anyone who does get through the opening challenge, the rest of the game takes the form of a series of platforming levels, with each island consisting of four main runs and one bonus one. Each fourth main level is home to its own boss, which players will need to defeat to unlock the next island and progress through the game. Individual levels aren’t particularly long, but the firm limit on the number of hits you can take and how uncompromising your own hitbox can be can make them very challenging. Occasional checkpointing does help to prevent players from losing too much progress too often, but there isn’t ever a lot of room for error.
To make things a little easier, there is a levelling system of a sort via the shop, which allows players to spend collectables to permanently improve their health or combo length, or to buy temporary buffs to damage or health. While the permanent improvements can prove very useful, obtaining the necessary collectibles to unlock more than the first level of each demands an extensive amount of work and time. Similarly, the temporary buffs, most of which only last for a couple of seconds, are extraordinarily expensive in contrast to the amount of gold you can collect in each level.
In part, this is likely to encourage replayability, something that is also backed up by the ranking system present in each level, but the prices are so high that many players are likely to ignore the temporary items entirely.
Outside of the game’s mechanics, there is technically a storyline – that the eponymous ‘Golden Force’ team is on the hunt for more money – but it’s so inconsequential to the gameplay that it doesn’t really matter. It gets a minute or so of screen time at the very beginning, but after that players are free to ignore it entirely and go about the business of beating up waves of enemies.
Overall, Golden Force’s main draw lies in its challenge. Despite ostensibly being a platformer, traversing each level never gets particularly unique or difficult; instead, the focus is combat. Simple though the controls and enemies may be, the precision with which players will have to navigate each level is going to be appealing to anyone who likes that kind of perfectionism.
Not all of this challenge is entirely earned, however. Golden Force has a number of technical issues that hamper its ability to really shine, most importantly some slight imperfections in registering inputs correctly. This is most notable with the dash, a darting directional attack, which can be very slow to read changes in the directional keys being used, leading to the avatar moving in the wrong direction. In a fight, that isn’t much of a problem, but for sections of platforming, it can lead to unavoidable deaths.
The same minor imperfections can be found on some platforms wherein the invisible structure contained within the game’s code that the player is standing on doesn’t entirely match up with the artistic structure drawn by the game’s graphics. While this was a problem I only encountered a few times in several hours of play, each time it led to the loss of one of my very limited lives through my being unable to see where the edge of the platform I was standing on really was.
A separate issue, though no less frustrating, is the intense frame drop problem that appears whenever too many enemies or items spawn in the level. This is particularly prevalent in boss battles when there are a lot of projectiles and mini-enemies to dodge, and whenever you uncover a gold goblin, which drops coins as it runs away from you.
The problem is only magnified if you try to use the co-op multiplayer system, which allows two players to connect remotely and work together to get through a level. The performance trouble here was so bad, in fact, that I was entirely unable to play a complete level in co-op and so I can’t reliably review the system’s merits or failings. Unless a future update manages to patch out the severe lag and frame drops currently bugging it, Golden Force’s multiplayer is a non-starter.
In many ways, Golden Force is a solid call-back to the earlier days of platforming, complete with beautiful retro graphics and a killer soundtrack, and if you remember those old games fondly, give this title a shot. However, that being said, this isn’t a nice, easy game to relax with at the end of the day and that is only compounded by irritating performance issues. Hopefully future updates will resolve the latter, but if you’re not looking for a challenge, I’d suggest searching elsewhere.
It’s time to take a look at another early access title. Black Deck Crewand Gamera Interactive, let you finally live your dreams of running your very own tech startup. You will spend your day-to-day answering emails, managing finances, assigning projects, and recruiting new employees. This is all presented in a cartoonish visual style, influenced by social media and flash games. While the tasks in Go To IT seem mundane, things will really begin to stack up once your business grows. Being Mr. Manager may not always be as glorified as it is coveted. But how do these real-life emulations hold up when captured into a simulation game?
Get To Work!
Start off by creating your character with a selection of gender-friendly aesthetics and professional attributes. Start as a Specialist, Businessman, or Founder & CEO and decide which time period in tech to operate in, from the 1990s to present day. It’s honestly hard to tell any differences from which time period you pick. You also get to choose whether your character is to be design, coding, or management heavy, and get to work. You will receive potential employee CV’s, project requests, and tutorials all via email. This looks nice, but a game that is information heavy presents important messages with relatively small font. The emails can also be a bit too text-heavy. It’s hard to sift through and tell find what’s important to retain. I found myself skimming through the emails and clicking on all of the projects without realizing the importance of reading everything.
You’ll spend most of your time on this screen. Employees on the left, projects on the right, and your workspace in the middle.
Eventually, it will be time to add more employees. You can use the PR tab to attract resumes. Candidates have positive and negative attributes, which is a nice touch. For Example, Emma Olson may be really good at completing projects without creating any bugs, but is claustrophobic and loses stamina faster in a full office. This creates a lot of unique personalities to work with and it’s intriguing to see how your team will mesh. Keep in mind, if someone is not a fit, there is no termination option. You can only allow a two-week notice. You won’t be able to immediately replace someone if they are not the right fit. The human resource side is Go To It’s biggest strength. Now, lets dive into the operations and financial areas.
KPI Dashboard
There are a lot of different types of services that your company may provide. A nicely designed KPI system within the game showcases money spent, projects completed, and other useful data that anyone familiar in an office setting would understand. Employees three main stat lines (design, coding, and management) can be increased depending on the tools you buy to help them perform. Project requests will show which of the areas that it leans towards. You can then make the decision as to whether to accept or reject. This adds some strategy since it may not be wise to accept everything and overwhelm your team, or waste time on a project you may not be able to finish.
The statistics are drawn nicely to show everything from money earned, to individual performance.
The issue here, is that the extra equipment you can buy for your employees doesn’t seem to have any real impact on their performance. Their base stats are what gets the job done here. For example, Dave has high Management, but low Design. Buying Dave a tablet, which is meant to strengthen Design, doesn’t really yield any real increase in practice. Or maybe it does, but the improvement is so minimal that I wasn’t able to notice during my playthroughs.
Net Gains And Losses
The main goal of Go To It is to yield profit. Completing projects will reward your company money to pay business expenses, employees, and monthly rental spaces. In the beginning I found myself staying even, but had issues staying above the surface each time I expanded my company. I wasn’t able to find a way to grow my business and pay for everything properly and had to resort to taking bank loans out. Then I couldn’t pay my loan in time and took another loan out to pay for my first loan, thus creating a vicious cycle. Either projects weren’t being offered quick enough, or they were too complicated to be able to finish in time, regardless of staff. All of that time and money spent was wasted.
Try not to go bankrupt
You will reach “Game Over” if your company goes bankrupt. This will happen on a first playthrough. When I played a second time, I paid more attention to the projects, staffing, and bank loans in the early game to avoid the same outcome. Sure enough, come expansion time, I wasn’t able to pay off my business expenses properly. This stopping point is where the difficulty curve may need some extra attention from the developers.
Bottom Line
While, the concept of Go To ITmay seem more trendy than creative due to the tech boom in recent years, there is some content here. However, it seems as if the developers put that extra love in some of the wrong places. I like the different attributes assigned to each person, and the chemistry or toxicity that ensues from assembling your team. On the other hand, a lot of important things, such as upgrading employees’ statistics seemed to lack any substance. I spent a lot of time just clicking around on the interface and not paying close attention to the details for these reasons and lost focus. While the issues I found may be fixable before the title’s full release, I’m not sure if this is everyone’s cup of tea. And if it’s your cup of tea, there are others out there with healthier ingredients.
The outcome of video game remasters seems to vary quite drastically from title to title. And, the distinction between a ‘remake’ and ‘remaster’ isn’t always that clear.
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 is undeniably a remaster of the immensely popular classics that came out in 1999 and 2000. However, this impressive package isn’t just a next-gen port, that only offers some subtle graphical and performance upgrades; it is perhaps one of the most faithful remasters out there.
A blend of old and new:
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All of the levels from the original two games have been faithfully recreated; retaining the spirit and structure that made these titles so popular in the first place. Change comes in the form of a modern palette; that perfectly honors the timeless style of these missions, whilst bringing the gameplay up to present standards.
This balance between old and new, is something that the developers have successfully achieved throughout nearly every aspect of this remaster.
The soundtrack, for example, features classics from the era such as “Guerilla Radio” and “Jerry Was a Race Car Driver”, but also adds more recent tracks, such as Fidlar’s “West Coast”, that still fit the game’s distinctive tone.
Unsurprisingly, the music is a core part of the game’s experience, and I found myself consistently impressed by the quality of depth within the soundtrack.
The gameplay itself is fantastic. The movement is responsive and weighty; every mistake; every ‘ollie’; every trick, feels deliberate. Such precision in movement and responsiveness in player input, adds an incredibly satisfying sense of responsibility; when you make a mistake; when you pull off a ridiculously awesome air trick(my skateboarding vernacular is lacking, I know), this is ultimately down to you as the player. I found this incredibly empowering.
Sticking to the principle of ‘blending the old and new’, the core gameplay loop harkens back to the ‘arcade’ style of the original games. You’re still, generally speaking, looking to hit high scores and collect certain objects, but there are a few nick tricks to play with.
Later additions to the series such as reverts, wall plants and spine transfers, are also included here. This adds more depth to the remaster, without detracting from what made the originals so great in the first place. The player has the choice to change the control scheme to only feature maneuvers from the original games, if you wanted to really take things back further.
As a matter of personal preference, I found that collecting different items across the arenas became quite repetitive. After a few runs, it started to feel like busy-work between trying to achieve high-scores. However, the engaging gameplay meant that this never became more than a minor, momentary grievance.
Simple to learn, difficult to master:
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Picking up the board, doing a couple tricks and rocking out to an awesome soundtrack was how I spent most of my time playing the game.
A deep tutorial, simple, responsive inputs and progressively more difficult maps provide an encouraging experience for new players. Simply speaking, you can very quickly reach a level of ‘competency’ within the games, but through increasingly more difficult challenges and map layouts, the game reminds you: there are levels to this.
Progression in this game is immensely satisfying. A deep roster of skaters, seemingly innumerable unlockable cosmetics and new maneuvers to master, mean that there is always something to be working towards. This is great. And when combined with fantastic gameplay, you quickly start to recognise the absolute brilliance of this remaster. Key word being ‘master’. This is absolutely the pinnacle of skateboarding video games.
I haven’t even mentioned the level editor(which whilst initially daunting, quickly showed its brilliance) and online multiplayer – which adds another layer of competitiveness.
As I am writing this -and becoming increasingly self aware of how much I am gushing over this game – I feel obliged to ‘try’ and point out one area that I felt the game was sorely lacking.
The game’s character creator is just not very good. Which is especially disappointing, because of how polished the game is in just about every other aspect. There is hardly any depth to the creator, with the bizarre absence of sliders meaning that you are working with pre-set choices.
Does this one blemish mar the whole experience? Absolutely not, but it does feel like a glaring oversight, in what is otherwise an absolute masterpiece.
The best remaster ever?
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Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1+2 absolutely sets the bar for what a ‘remaster’ should be. Staying true to the original’s strong foundations, this remaster modernises the classics; managing to retain the best aspects of the originals and place them in a package more in line with our modern expectations.
This is truly the definitive skateboarding video-game experience. If you’re like me – desperately un-coordinated and comfortably not a ‘thrill-seeker’ – you can still experience the absolute adrenaline rush of the sport, within the comfort of your couch. Oh, and the soundtrack is full of absolute bangers – oh, I mentioned that already, didn’t I?
Few genres age well. Usually, the gameplay becomes dated; the graphics look horrific, and playing them quickly becomes a big mistake. RPGs, however, are timeless. The well-written stories, the memorable heroes, and the glorious quests are all worth another look. I don’t mind returning to an original game, even on a modern console, but when a remake is released, I jump at the opportunity to give it a go. This is exactly what happened when I saw Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance. This re-release has stuck to the original mechanics, settings, and story, but has a 4K makeover for 2021.
Developed by Black Isle Studios and published by Interplay Entertainment, this is a classic D&D RPG with a Hack ‘n’ Slash twist, that is viewed from a tabletop perspective. Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance is a great example of an RPG adventure title keeping things simple, allowing the action and the story to do all the talking. I remember when this was first released, I loved it then, and couldn’t wait to see how it would compare all these years later.
It’s chilly in such a skimpy outfit.
Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance shows its age.
I will not sit here and say that this is a masterpiece. Yes, in its day, it was well-received, was afforded plaudits from the gaming community, and was much-loved by its fanbase. Yet sadly, its whole premise is dated, the simple approach doesn’t push you enough, and recent RPGs have a lot more depth to them. This being said, I still adored my time with it, and once I got started, I couldn’t stop playing.
Originally released in 2001 for the PlayStation, Xbox and GameCube, this RPG adventure Hack ‘n’ Slash title was set in the Forgotten Realms campaign under 3rd Edition Dungeon and Dragons Rules. It was the first console release in a long line of Baldur’s Gate games, having been PC exclusive. It had a basic but well-written plot that finished on a cliffhanger ending, allowing the developers the freedom to create the much-anticipated sequel.
Using a linear quest line your hero must move through four acts of this fabled tale. You begin your adventure in the medieval town of Baldur’s Gate. From here, you will travel across the world to different locations. You are offered the opportunity to complete side quests for extra gold and items. These are free-flowing with the only restriction that they must be completed before each act ends. The plot tells of dark powers, friendships, love, loss, and treachery. It is not the most complex of affairs, but it keeps you hooked from beginning to end, and the twists and turns keep you thinking throughout.
Three heroes with their own style.
Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance allows for a few player-based choices. The main one is which of the three classes you wish to use for your journey. Archer, Sorcerer, or Dwarf. Each has unique skills, pre-set strengths, and methods of attack. You must select the one that best matches your gameplay style and try to make them as strong as possible. Like with most RPGs, earning XP and levelling up is a must if you wish to tackle the more powerful creatures. You can unlock traits that will help you en route, and at set intervals, you can choose to increase your attributes. The limited customisation helped to keep the gameplay balanced, but felt too restrictive and won’t be to everyone’s liking.
This short game attempts to increase its longevity with a range of difficulty modes. Four are available; Easy, Normal, Hard, and Extreme. There is also a mode known as “The Gauntlet” which only becomes available once the game is finished. The Extreme difficulty is accessed through a New Game Plus option and allows you to select an additional adventurer for the main story. Even with the extra settings, the gameplay doesn’t change, making the action feel repetitive in places.
Magic and lizardmen.
Weapon choices and healing potions.
The Hack ‘n’ Slash element will not be to everyone’s liking. During the easy difficulty, you simply slash away, mowing down enemies and looting their remains. How you wish to take them down is up to you, and an array of close quarters and long-distance weapons are at your disposal. Depending on who you have chosen, you will use magic to help eliminate your foes. The battles can overwhelm you, and a poor approach can leave you fearing for your life. Oddly, using your shield was a pointless affair. It takes so long to swap between shield and weapon that you may block the first attack, but further blows are impossible to avoid.
This is where plenty of healing potions come in handy. Get battered by each enemy, swig from a flask, and carry on. The lack of tactical nuance lends itself to the Hack ‘n’ Slash model but leaves you feeling unfulfilled. This was further emphasised with poor accuracy and enemies that flee as you approach. You’ll quickly discover that you lose more health through terrible accuracy than an inability to fight. You’ll also chase foes around a dungeon-like something out of a Benny Hill sketch. Yes, it was amusing, but it was also frustrating as you and the computer enemy ran around like headless chickens.
Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance’s 4K upgrade doesn’t polish out the dated presentation.
Whenever we hear the phrase 4K upgrade, we instantly expect a modern aesthetic. Sadly, this isn’t always the way. Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance certainly has a crisper more polished look, but it can’t escape its dated approach. Poor lip-syncing, robotic animations, and NPC’s that spin in circles all return to the fore. Yet, I still loved its look. The tabletop perspective makes crawling each dungeon a wonderful experience. The dank colour palette adds a sense of oppression and doom, and the character models have a classic D&D appeal. Your enemies are varied and walk around unpredictably. Sure, it isn’t the modern spectacle I was hoping for, but it brings the old game back to life and makes it appealing for new gamers and fans alike.
The glorious thing about older RPGs was the ability to build suspense and atmosphere with little music. The silence is deafening, and only the wonderful acting and sound effects can be heard throughout. The cutscenes and narration help to tell and push the story on at a nice pace. Though the acting was a little wooden, the variety of characters you meet overcomes this slight negative. What I loved, however, was the sound of the eerie wind blowing, the screams of monsters, and the OTT noises that came from your magic and swords. This is what old-school RPGs are about, and though it may be lost on the new generation of players, veterans will adore what is presented.
The beauty of 4K polishing.
The controls are still clunky!
When it was first released, I remember thinking that the controls weren’t as responsive as I’d have hoped for. There was always a feeling that it would be better with a Mouse and Keyboard. Unfortunately, time hasn’t changed these thoughts, as the remake is still as clunky as the original. Hitboxes can be a little off, and this impacts each fight. Yet these drawbacks won’t stop you from having a great time! The fundamentals are easy to learn, with a clean-cut UI, a simple inventory system, and an uncomplicated button layout. This is one game that you’ll master in no time.
The main positive is its four difficulty settings, and these truly add longevity to the gameplay. But this is also its major negative. The gameplay feels repetitive as you simply repeat the same story with no differences. Yes, the increase in the challenge makes you approach each act differently, but there are no surprises along the way. The achievement list also adds replay value, but will only interest completionists, or fanatics. If you wish to get 100% status, you must be prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice and try to complete it on Extreme! Best of luck with that.
Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance is a blast from the past.
With so many games concentrating on making non-linear open-world experiences, it was refreshing to be reined in by this old-school classic. Baldur’s Gate: Dark Alliance may be restrictive in its approach, but I loved how it pushed me along. With many short quests to undertake, a constant sense of achievement, and a modern polish, the developers have done a wonderful job in updating this much-loved title. I enjoyed my blast from the past and recommend you buy it here! It’s time to choose your hero, enter Baldur’s Gate, and save the world.
