Review: Get Packed

Daniel Waite
-
0
Review: Get Packed

Corporations taking over the world is nothing new. When they see a good deal to be had, they step over everyone and everything to make a profit. Get Packed uses this heart-wrenching plot as you pick up the pieces left behind by a monstrous conglomerate.

Developed by Moonshine Studios and Coatsink and published by the latter, this is a solo and multiplayer physics-based title. Like its peers Moving Out and Overcooked, Get Packed focuses on teamwork and fast-paced action. With many challenges to overcome and bizarre levels to work through, there is a lot for everyone to enjoy.

Who needs gravity when packing boxes?

Get Packed is strange but hilarious.

The plot in Get Packed plays second fiddle to the wonderful gameplay that unfolds before your eyes. The bizarre story is hilarious from the first moment and takes you on a journey of twists and turns. A greedy salt mining company takes over your town, Ditchlington. Every resident, including yourself, is evicted, and this is where you form a genius idea. You take control of a group known as Last Ditch Removals, your intentions are good yet you profit from people’s misery. As every house is emptied, the work dries up and the removal team must think of whacky ways to make a living.

I won’t ruin the later stages of the game for you, but you’ll love every moment. The excellent level design and challenges keep you thinking throughout. You aim to complete as many tasks as possible while raking in the money. Each episode is ranked up to three stars and the amount of cash you earn is the deciding factor. You receive a bonus if you can complete certain objectives, and keeping the damage to a minimum is a must. It’s hectic, will drive you insane, but it’s ridiculously moreish and excellent with friends.

A simple concept that is agonisingly tough.

Racing through the game and opening up every chapter isn’t too difficult. Where the challenge arises is when you aim to complete each objective and get the three stars. Perfectionists will love the rewarding feeling, but will also get frustrated. Many minor elements work against you to make the gameplay agonisingly tough.

Guards, prisoners, and wrecking balls will send you flying. Cars, lorries, and trucks will run you over and smash every item you hold! If you then chuck in the ridiculous physics-based mechanics, there is potential for disaster. Your perfect plans will continually be thwarted by the surrounding environment and you’ll have to adjust to each unique stage.

Each location has special items that must be loaded into your tiny removal vehicle. You can flatpack each object or chuck them in the back as quickly as possible. You choose to pack whatever you wish, but grabbing each highlighted item earns you a cash bonus. This is essential to be awarded the highest score and is foolish to overlook.

Creep around the museum and don’t get caught!

Teamwork and co-op action make this a must-play title.

Get Packed is great as a solo venture but as a co-op game, it truly excels. This can be played locally or online with friends. The madness that ensues is crazy and you’ll shout, scream, and holler at each other as everything goes wrong. Yet, no matter how heated the situation gets, you’ll chuckle as you fall down stairs, blow yourself up, or leap through windows.

Communication and teamwork are key to success and playing with random gamers can be difficult. You must work like a well-oiled machine and staying silent only adds more obstacles. There are few games where I look to avoid strangers, but Get Packed is one of those titles, sadly.

Not only can you play the campaign mode together, but you can also battle it out across a range of multiplayer games. The core concept remains the same, but you must go head to head to be crowned champion. This was excellent fun and was a welcome distraction from the stresses of loading up the moving vehicle.

Get Packed has a great cartoon aesthetic and whimsical audio.

I love a game that uses cartoon graphics and comic book cutscenes. The hilarious story is told through some lovely still images that highlight your plight and silly choices. The isometric viewpoint gives you a clear understanding of the surrounding area, but it’s challenging to see the whole map. When time is of the essence, it’s annoying when you cannot see where key objects are positioned. This causes you to run around like a headless chicken and ensures more unnecessary arguments with your teammates.

The bright colours and brilliantly detailed levels were great to explore and look at. The developers have made the most of each stage and have cut no corners in ensuring a unique experience every time. The gameplay is extremely smooth, and I had no issues even when the action got a little heated.

Before I started playing, I knew what to expect from the audio… I wasn’t left disappointed. The fun and whimsical soundtrack were complemented nicely by the narration of the story. The crashes and bangs of furniture breaking were great, and I loved the noises the NPCs made as fights broke out. The sound effects support the gameplay perfectly and though it was a little OTT, it was very enjoyable to listen to.

Can you move an alien spaceship?

The physics-based mechanics make the controls feel sloppy. 

If you’ve played any physics-based game, you’ll know how loose the controls can feel. Your character rarely reacts to your command and this can be disconcerting. Get Packed suffers from this and getting used to it takes a strong mindset and plenty of patience. Playing with others enhances this annoyance, especially if you both grab the same item in error. However, once you are familiar with the control system, it’s great to play and you’ll love its difficulty curve.

The genre screams replay value and this title is no different. It’s addictive, fun, and challenging in equal measures. With a large and tough achievement list, many objectives during each stage and three stars to be awarded per level, you’ll return for more. There are also hidden trophies to find, and each character has custom options so you can make the removal person of your dreams.

Get Packed is up there with the best multiplayer games.

With so many great games in this category, Get Packed has its work cut out to stand apart from the crowd. It’s up there as one of the best multiplayer games from the genre and won’t disappoint gamers who give it a go. I loved it and recommend you to buy it here! When life gives you lemons, make lemonade! Be an optimist and don’t let “the man” bring you down. Run your business, clear the houses and get rich at the same time! 

Review: HighFleet

Davide Roriz
-
10
Review: HighFleet

I only became aware of HighFleet’s existence very recently, thanks to the reappearance of MicroProse. However, I’ve actually played the developer’s previous game, Hammerfight, which was released back in 2009, and was probably one of the first indie games to hit Steam. They are very different games, but they do have some similarities, particularly the developer’s love for weighty aerial combat.

So, what exactly is HighFleet? HighFleet is a pretty unique game that combines a great deal of strategic planning with aerial combat. Still, I think that you could actually compare a lot of aspects of the game with something like the Silent Hunter series. 

HighFleet takes place during a crucial and desperate conflict between the Romani Empire and a group of rebelling noble Houses that have declared independence. It all happens in what seems to be an alternate timeline, where Humanity tried to reach for the stars, but that only brought doom to everyone. Now, everybody has to live in a desolate deserted world. As for the player, you play as the commander of a fleet of the Romani Empire, and you represent the last hope for the Empire’s survival. 

Although trailers for the game seem to focus on the aerial combat, HighFleet is much more than that. When you’re not flying a ship and fighting against a couple of enemies, you’re leading your entire fleet across the desert in a last-ditch effort to save your beloved Empire. It’s no easy task.

There’s a very specific set of games whose UI is an intrinsic part of how the game looks and plays. HighFleet is one of such cases, with the diegetic interface being seamlessly implemented. From the command center of your fleet aboard your vessel, you plan and draw your flight path across the map. Here, not only you can find nearby towns where you can resupply and acquire new ships, but you’re also able to intercept enemy strike groups that are actively hunting you down. 

As the commander, you have to keep an eye out on your radar and various other electronic instruments that allow you to detect nearby ships. Most often than not, you’ll be able to intercept enemy messages by tuning your instruments to the right frequency. This not only allows you to predict enemy movements, but it also allows you to hijack transports and sell them for money. However, the enemy will eventually start to use coded messages and you’ll have to find a way to decipher them.

I like to think of the strategic layer of HighFleet as a game of cat and mouse. This is because you’re constantly being hunted and you have to learn how to avoid the enemy whenever you can. Sure, you’re mounting an offensive against the enemy capital, but that doesn’t mean that you always have to pick a fight, you must be strategic about it. If you have your radar always on, the enemy will easily detect you and alert the rest of their fleet. If that happens, you can expect to see enemy strike groups closing in on your position, and they’ll most likely keep sending cruise missiles your way in an attempt to quickly wipe you out.

This is where HighFleet can really shine, as it presents the player with the tools to take on threats in a multitude of ways. Let’s say that you’re able to pinpoint the approximate location of an enemy strike group. In this situation, you can either take them head-on by sending your ships to face them, you can send tactical missiles their way in the hopes that they actually hit their target, send an aircraft carrier to intercept the enemy, or you can actually trick them in order to slip by undetected. 

Since the enemy is pretty good at detecting you if you have a radar on, you can exploit that by building a custom ship with one and then use it to lure the enemy away, thus allowing your main fleet to proceed unharmed and undetected. Still, you always have to keep an eye out for fuel, ship’s morale and fatigue. If you’re not careful, you might find yourself stunlocked when trying to repair and refuel while enemy squadrons are closing in on your position, leaving you no way to safely escape. It’s easy to let your guard down and pay the price for it.

Even though settlements are the closest thing to a safe haven in HighFleet, they can be quite tricky. Sure, they are the major places where you can repair your ships, refuel them,  retrofit them (there’s also a ship editor in the main menu), acquire specialized ammunition, and even recruit allies to your cause, but they also pose a threat. Not only they’re always defended, but the enemy is also constantly patrolling the routes between each town. Furthermore, if you spend too long docked, someone might just alert the enemy to your presence. If you think you can just lift off and leave, then you’re wrong, as refuelling and repairing take a lot of time, sometimes days, so you have to plan carefully. It might be worth it to leave your ships unrepaired if the enemy is closing in on you and you have enough fuel to make it to a safe harbour.

Just like the strategic layer, the combat element of HighFleet is also pretty robust. At first glance, it might look like a regular 2D side-scroller where you’re just flying around and shooting enemies down, but there’s more to it than that. Each encounter tends to be pretty short, and you can only control a ship at a time, even if you’re facing multiple enemy ships, which I have to admit is somewhat odd at first. If you lose a ship, or if you choose to retreat to avoid losing it, you’ll immediately go right back into combat with the next ship from your lineup.

In combat, movement is key, as you must use your thrusters to move around and avoid enemy gunfire. It’s important to keep track of enemy fire and anticipate its trajectory. Likewise, you must also lead your shots to make sure that they hit their target. By moving carefully and positioning yourself properly, you can even use enemy ships as meat shields and trick enemy missiles into hitting their own allies. Combat can be difficult at first, but it’s pretty satisfying once you start to hit your shots and witness your enemy go up in flames. In that sense, the combat feels extremely rewarding once you get the hang of it.

Even though I think that the core experience of HighFleet can be pretty compelling, unfortunately, the game isn’t without its issues. For starters, the tutorial, which also serves as a prologue to the campaign, leaves a lot of things unexplained. I’m not only referring to game mechanics here, but also to the overall strategy that’s required to play the campaign reasonably well. It’s only by continuously playing the game, or reading guides and the forums, that you’ll come to realize some of the game’s intricacies.

Additionally, for a game where your mouse is a vital part of the gameplay, it’s also pretty odd that the mouse behaves pretty erratically. I’m pretty sure that the game has a ridiculous amount of mouse acceleration, for whatever reason. It’s really annoying and gets in the way of the gameplay, particularly when you’re aiming during combat. Although I managed to get used to it, there are still times where it can mess your aim during combat. On top of that, the combat can also be complicated due to the fact that the direction that your weapons are facing are represented by these really small arrows that orbit around your ship. When there are a lot of explosions, or when your ship is on fire and smoking, it can be pretty hard to spot these arrows and know where you’re actually pointing.

In any case, it can’t be denied that HighFleet looks absolutely beautiful. The game has a very distinct and striking look, the inside of your main ship, the flaming thrusters, and the numerous projectiles flying during combat, all these things culminate in a wondrous visual spectacle. Likewise, sound design is also on point. Even the weakest weapons sound exceptionally powerful. Each shot fired sounds menacing and daunting, and ultimately, each combat engagement sounds like a loud thunderstorm of gunfire. It’s a joy to listen to. Still, while the game certainly looks stunning, sometimes, the number of visual effects on the screen during some fights can be disorientating.

Despite my complaints, I want to stress that, under the hood, there is a brilliant game here. However, the game isn’t the most approachable, and so it may rub some people in the wrong way. The systems needed to succeed are in the game, but initially, it might feel like there is little room for error, it might seem like things are hopeless and that the game is almost impossible to beat. 

I have to admit, I found the game to be overwhelming during my first hours with it. Still, I’m glad that I pushed through and learned its inner workings. It’s so worth it. Nonetheless, I also feel that I should emphasize that, if you saw clips of the combat and that’s all you’re interested in, then you might end up frustrated due to how heavily that part of the game relies on how well you perform on the strategic layer. I also feel like the standard ship designs aren’t the best. I think you’re encouraged to play around with the editor and come up with your own designs that better suit your playstyle.

With that said, it’s not like you can just slap a bunch of weapons on a ship and call it a day. Parts add weight to each ship, weapons require ammunition autoloaders, ships need crew quarters and fuel tanks, and armour is obviously always a nice addition, despite the extra weight. There’s a balance to be struck on each ship that you build. It’s crucial to have various ships with different purposes, as it’s pretty much impossible to have a ship type that excels in everything.

In any case, there’s no denying that HighFleet is a niche and time-consuming game. This isn’t something that you can pick up and quickly learn how everything works, or what the most optimal strategies are. This fact alone will certainly make some people cross off HighFleet from their list, but it will also surely please many others. Nevertheless, if you can push through its faults, HighFleet is one hell of a game that I thoroughly recommend checking out.

Review: Apple Slash

Daniel Waite
-
0
Review: Apple Slash

Everyone dreams of a peaceful life, a beautiful house, and serenity. However, this rarely happens, especially when your land is invaded by monsters! What would you do if this happened to your homeland? Would you sit back and allow it to happen, or would you fight back? Apple Slash is an old-school monochromatic game that tests your ability to defend your home.

Developed by Agelvik and published by Ratalaika Games, this is a retro 8-Bit action-adventure title. You are a mighty apple knight who wields a god-like sword! Your murky swamp may be considered foul by some, but to you, it’s home. When mysterious blob-like creatures invade your land, you grab your weapon and slash away.

Can you unlock the secret door?

Apple Slash is a quick and simple adventure.

Like many games from a bygone era, Apple Slash is a quick and simple adventure. I admit I flew through this in well under an hour. Strangely, I wasn’t disappointed with the short gameplay, instead, I was left frustrated as I desperately wanted more. This has plenty of potential with some unique combat mechanics, fun and adorable NPCs, and interesting monsters. Sadly, however, its short tale will leave you feeling cheated.

The combat’s hack ‘n slash nature is moreish, and I loved how the monsters repeatedly spawned back in. You’ll take on acid-spitting frogs, tiny blobs, and monstrous creatures. As you flail your weapon madly, you’ll decimate each of your foes. This was fantastic fun and never got old. Yet, you’ll beg for it to move on from its simple foundations. Each battle follows the same pattern and you’ll wonder why the developers failed to capitalise on their creation.

Fun puzzles and interesting abilities!

The key concept of new abilities opening up previously locked areas was fantastic. I loved how exploration and secrets rewarded you with new abilities. Most revolve around stronger and more bizarre attack methods. These can be combined to kill wave after wave of monsters or to hack down bushes and vines. You’ll also learn how to create magical bridges to reach previously inaccessible places. I liked how this helped to connect the paths in the swamp, but it made a tiny world just that bit smaller. It was a shame, as it made a semi open-world feel very restrictive.

The developers cleverly sneaked in some fun yet basic puzzles. The combination of switches and new paths were nothing new, but it was constructed accessibly. Each puzzle funnelled the gameplay to the one massive blob that acts as the end game boss. This was great, but came far too quickly, even though there were plenty of humorous moments along the way.

The boss tests your ability to combine each skill while avoiding his minions and blows. Once you learn his simple attack pattern, you’ll annihilate him with ease. I wish Agelvik made this fight much tougher while combining many of the brilliant exploration elements that make this game really enjoyable.

Find and destroy all the eggs

Apple Slash has nice indie graphics and surreal sounds.

The mainly monochromatic colour palette and simple imagery were lovely to look at. With a dank world to explore and contrasting tones, it was easy to navigate around the small maze-like environment. The Gameboy-style perspective emphasised the retro approach and the limited view helped to make the swamp feel larger. The gameplay ran smoothly and even when there were large numbers of enemies there were no problems.

The strange nature of Apple Slash is reflected in the surreal soundtrack. The airy and mystical music was supported by loud and OTT sound effects. The swoosh of your blade as you sliced through monsters was ridiculous but brilliant. Sadly, there is no acting for the weird conversations and this is the only element I would have liked to be different. If acting was added it would have made the humorous interactions funnier still.

Hack through the vines to create a new path.

The awkward controls quickly become second nature.

I was surprised by how awkward the straightforward controls were to master. Selecting abilities and aiming with the analogue sticks was fiddly, to begin with. Yet, after a small amount of practice, it quickly became second nature. Once you get to grips with the control system, you’ll note it’s a pleasure to play. Until that point, it’s frustrating and will leave you feeling annoyed.

Another area this short title is lacking is replay value. Comprising around one hour of gameplay and no reason to return, this won’t push you to keep playing. However, this makes it a completionist’s dream, as the small achievement list is unlocked with ease. As previously stated, I loved what I experienced. I simply wanted much more. I wish the developer created more lands to explore as this would have made Apple Slash much more interesting.

Apple Slash is enjoyable but it could have been fantastic.

Apple Slash is a great, short indie title that I thoroughly enjoyed, yet it fails to reach its potential. With so much going for it, it could have been fantastic. I recommend you buy it here, but be aware it’s extremely short. Learn some new abilities for your god-like sword and remove the monsters from your beloved swamp. 

Enjoy the review with some in-game footage.

Review: Song of Farca

Charles Ombler
-
0
Review: Song of Farca

Song of Farca is a morally grey detective game where you play as private investigator Isabella Song as she takes on a weird and wonderful range of cases that might not be as disparate as first appears. Being under house arrest for a crime she absolutely committed won’t stop Izy as she hacks into the technological infrastructure of the near-future city, using the internet, cameras, drones and her friendly AI companion Maurice to collect evidence and build a case against the nefarious wrong-uns who plague the city. With nemeses as wily as those Izy is locking horns with, evidence alone won’t be enough so it’ll be up to your keen wits and detective skills to draw conclusions from the data you find and use it to turn the tide of interrogations against those who deserve it. Not easy when it can sometimes feel like the whole city is against you.

Much like Q from the Bond films, Izy does most of her damage on her laptop, sitting in her pyjamas before her first cup of Earl Grey. And this is where the game starts us off, with Izy sat in her apartment (pictured along the top third of the screen) waiting for a call to come into her computer, (the screen of which takes up the remaining two-thirds of the screen). Here the game introduces you to a minor mechanic that shows how much thought and effort has been put into the development process: You can’t use the computer or interact with anything until Izy is sat at her computer. You can’t even move the cursor. This immediately focuses your attention where it’s meant to be, on Izy, and prevents you from getting distracted on the computer playing minesweeper or writing 80085 on the calculator, whilst also adding a sense of realism. It’s such a tiny touch that only comes up a couple of times throughout the game but it shows how solidly the game is put together and reminds you there’s a ‘real’ character that you’re embodying here, not just a conduit for you to interact with your fancy Minority Report-style laptop.

But, enough on how you *don’t* interact with Song of Farca, time to talk about how you do. The first of the two key phases of the game is the evidence-gathering phase. Here you are trying to untangle the complex web of a criminal conspiracy through every means available from your computer. Your client gives you the basic outline of the case, including what happened, where it happened and an idea of the key players. You can start by doing some basic internet research on the suspects. When you click the ‘do research’ button the game will bring up a couple of important articles with the key information highlighted, which you can click on to add to the case file. The key information is always quite self-contained so I love that you don’t have to read the full articles if you don’t want to. Attention span? What attention span? The game also tells you how much important information there is to find so you don’t waste time trawling for clues that aren’t there.

Once you’ve got a good foothold in the case, it’s time to switch gears and go and do some spying. But of course, you’re under house arrest so you’ll be doing all of that virtually (what is it, 2020?). You’re given a floorplan of the area you’re going to investigate and the location of one camera to get you started. When you hack the camera, any technology within its cone of vision is available to be hacked, allowing you to daisy chain to more and more cameras, revealing an increasing percentage of the map. You can also hack drones and other moving platforms with cameras to expand this range and routers give you access to a camera you cannot see. Your goal is generally to hack your way to a tablet or computer with some juicy evidence in its memory banks. But, you can’t hack these devices when people are nearby so you’ll need to hack distraction devices around the area to draw them away. This hacking mechanic is simple but absolutely brilliant. It’s a self-contained little puzzle that’s really satisfying to solve – for two minutes you feel like a real spy-come-private investigator.

The evidence you gather in the section might be documents, photos or videos – all of which will add to your case file, expanding your knowledge of the case. As ever, the game will tell you how many things there are to find so you’re not fruitlessly searching an area once you have everything. There are a range of puzzles to solve involving the evidence you’ve collected. For example, if the evidence is a video there is a zoom and enhance cliché mini-game where, for three different frames of the video, you need to select from three options what the zoom and enhance might be seeing. The game tells you how many of the three you have correct but not which ones so you’ll need to employ some trial and error to find the correct three images and complete the video.

Once you’ve got all of your evidence together it’s time to ask some scary people some difficult questions. The conversation will go ahead like an interrogation, with you asking the questions and showing your evidence when they deny anything – think of a cross between Phoenix Wright and LA Noire. However, evidence isn’t the only thing you can present to get your suspects to confess. You can also make deductions from all the other information you’ve gathered through your investigation. You’ll need to link two statements together in your Sherlock Holmes-style mind-palace to form a true deduction. For example, if you know that your suspect studied schematics for a device and that the device was frequency hacked, you can link those facts to deduce that they worked out how to frequency hack the device from the schematics (okay, Liz isn’t exactly Poirot but it’s a start). After enough evidence is thrown at a suspect you’ll either be able to tell they didn’t do it and have some new leads for your investigation or they’ll confess and you’ve solved the case.

All of the cases you’ll face in Song of Farca are tied together by the organised crime in the city’s underbelly and the morally bankrupt corporations in their ivory towers. Through the game, you’ll be taken on a narrative journey where you question who’s good, who’s bad and where you sit on that sliding scale, considering the dubious means by which you undertake your pursuit of justice. An absolute sea of grey morality awaits you in Song of Farca.

Song of Farca is an exceptional game. It has great mechanics that draw you into Izy’s world, a thought-provoking narrative and attention to detail up the wazoo. All of this is tied together by a gorgeous cyber-punkey/neon art style that fit the game beautifully. I had a brilliant time with Song of Farca and would really recommend it. If you want to feel like a detective in a high tech future, I’m not sure there’s anything better.

Review: Super Magbot

Michael Hoade
-
0
Review: Super Magbot

Super Magbot is a challenging 2D platformer with one hell of a gimmick: no jumping. 

Yes, you heard that right.

The exclusion of such a foundational feature for the platforming genre is an audacious move – to say the least. It is like imagining a shooter without any guns!

Thankfully, the absence of the jump button comes with an interesting trade-off. To navigate the world of ‘Magnetia’, Magbot – our games hero – utilises both positive and negative magnetic properties (denoted by the colours blue and red) to navigate through the very challenging platforming levels. 

This design choice underpins the game’s core formula, and it is undeniably a gamble from the developers.

I guess the question is: does Super Magbot manage to successfully innovate within the platforming genre?

Play to your strengths:

The story of Super Magbot is a simple one, acting as largely background filler to provide a hook to get you from point a to point b.

Your system is under threat. There is a big bad villain. Only you, Magbot, can save the day.

Nothing particularly complex here – but the story – and simple macguffin of collecting all the fragments to save your home planet, MagTek, works because of the emphasis placed on the game’s fundamentals.

Super Magbot plays to its strengths: tough platforming, married with a progressive rise in difficulty – that peaks at brutally hard – provided the hook that kept me going ‘just one more run’ throughout my playthrough. 

The simple visual design also supplements the experience: the colour scheme often corresponds nicely with each element. Furthermore, the design also acts as a helpful indicator for gameplay, such as ice meaning a more slippery surface. 

Audiowise, the music was fairly forgettable. Nothing distractingly bad, but at the same time, nothing all too memorable. 

A progressive, fair, challenge:

I am by no means a platforming aficionado, however even I can recognise the difficulty curve. 

The initial difficulty emanates from the movement system; with the left thumbstick functioning as your run button, and the right being your aim. Coupled with the triggers – which let you choose whether to use positive or negative – there is a high level of precision to basic movement. 

Then you factor in how you need to approach each magnetic force. Movements have different properties, such as sliding or jumping. Initially, this felt quite awkward, and I died – a  lot. But, after enough runs, the magic of muscle memory kicked in and I found myself intuitively navigating through levels. 

Incredibly satisfying (I still died a lot).

To Magbots credit, the control system itself remains simple throughout the game. Creativity comes from new interactable items that can be found as you progress levels. These items all lend themselves largely to navigation, which is important in helping you keep up with the game’s breakneck pace.

As you progress, levels become decidedly more hostile: the floor becomes lava; unforgiving blades and spikes necessitate quick-thinking and reflexes, which adds to both thrill and despair. Thankfully, unlimited lives and super-fast respawning encourages the player to keep going back. 

(Many) Trials and errors:

Super Magbot offers an impressive amount of levels. Because of the forgiving respawn system, I felt encouraged to experiment with each level. When combined with the environmental challenges; different items to use and collect, each level became a playground for me to express my creativity.

On a slightly less positive note, sometimes the game attempts to use two screens or more in the levels can be seriously frustrating. Because of the game’s frenetic pace, the one screen approach is damn near essential in trying to progress.

As an overall package, Super Magbot offers a new approach to the platforming genre: one that is initially quite difficult, but through progressive challenge and a simple control scheme, quickly becomes instinctive.

The game’s nature is fast, frantic and ultimately forgiving, which encourages the player to be creative when approaching each level.

Overall, a really fun experience and addition to the platforming genre. If you’re unsure, there is a free demo on the E-shop.

Review : Cris Tales

Alex Chessun
-
1
Review : Cris Tales

In my last review, I recommended you cast aside rational thinking to judge a book by its cover. For Cris Tales, a beautiful storybook-like RPG with a time travel mechanic, however, you might want to forget that bit of advice.

With an action-packed trailer with exploding colors and animation, you’d expect Cris Tales to be just that – an action game. Not only does this description miss the mark by quite a margin, but it highlights its least interesting elements.

As an unwitting time-traveling prodigy that discovers her powers at the start of the story, it’s up to Crisbell to fulfill her prophecy and save the world. In a very Disney-like manner, she pairs up with a talking animal, approaches bad guys in castles and makes friends on her journey to end the war ravaging the world around them. Her powers are a fun little time travel mechanic that has different features for each part of the gameplay.

In the towns, you can see its past, present and future by simply walking through it giving it a layered quality not possible in most games. It’s the best interactive part of this art piece and allows a unique approach to world-building allowing you to resolve issues and complete quests in the present from a combination of the past and future. It’s a brilliant mechanic and one that I wish was expanded further with more residents and areas.

Like three camera lenses looking at three different time periods – The left side is the past, the middle the present and the right is the future

I’m sure you’ve realized this already, but this Unity-developed game is quite the stunner with a clean and simple art style and smooth animation that you can’t help being blown away by as you walk around the beautiful towns dotted around the world. What this unfortunately did for me, was produce unreasonably high expectations, only for them to slowly sink into a malaise of mediocrity, as I realized that everything else on offer was simply average in comparison.

The visuals, worthy of their own cartoon network show, are supplanted by frequent loading screens, unsatisfying battles and voice-acting so awful I felt compelled to mute it. The Unity engine is likely both thank and blame for at least the first issue as it produces that specific look at the expense of engine resources extending the loading times.

Each town is full of interesting residents looking for change from the elite ruling class

The action takes place in the form of rather standard turn-based battles but allows you to use Crisbell’s abilities which can send enemies to the past and future changing their age and strength on one hand and gives you an opportunity to infect and affect them on another. Sending enemies to the past and poisoning them, for example, before returning them to the present magnifies your attacks.

The biggest downside to the battle system though is not the disappointingly standard animation in the battles, nor the singular audio track or even the overall affair being rather bland, but it’s the fact that they appear out of nowhere far too frequently through random encounters and there is no way to avoid them.

It’s so frustrating to have the screen turn white for no obvious reason with no sound effects and no warning only for it then cut to a loading screen as if you are moving into a new area. After this happens a few times, of course, you know full well that even after you beat the bog-standard battle in front of you, another is sure to come and there’s nothing you can do about it. 

Invoking the future crystal would send the enemies on the right into a future version of this field and potentially change the outcome of the battle in the good guys favour

Another interesting mechanic facilitated by Crisbell’s ability is a situation where you are forced to make a decision between helping one of two parties in the town with the decisions having their own consequences and further affecting the town. This is also true for the number of side quests that you do within each location – the more you do, the more it changes – and this fosters and brings to the fore the personality of each areas’ characters.

Despite everything pointing to Cris Tales being for a Saturday morning cartoon audience the Teen-age rating and some awkward dialogue make this choice confusing, like the presumably intentional but completely out of place moment where one of the characters calls another a ‘pr*ck’ and seems as appropriate as Winnie the Pooh whipping out a machine gun and mowing down a honey thief in a spray of sweet-scented death.

Cris Tales is undoubtedly special, but how special is in the eye of the beholder. In my opinion, the RPG battle system spoils the sky-high potential afforded by its presentation and central mechanic. I mean, why would you even bother fighting when you could just manipulate time? Furthermore, it may have been better to expand the great town-based consequence-forming gameplay loop to something more similar to the tremendous system used in Where the Heart Leads.

Overall then, if you bear the unnecessary grinding of Cris Tales, there’s potentially something special waiting for you. I, on the other hand, will be jumping into a Delorean to see if the developer makes an improved sequel. Until we meet again…

Review: The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles

Christopher McNally
-
0
Review: The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles

The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles is the latest or arguable earliest instalment of the Ace Attorney series of games acting almost as a prequel. Made up of two games The Great Ace Attorney: Adventures and The Great Ace Attorney 2: Resolve that were released a while back in Japan they’ve finally received the western treatment and make their debut in the UK.

You play as Ryūnosuke Naruhodō who is supposed to be an ancestor of Phoenix Wright, yes the very same Phoenix Wright. The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles is set in the Japanese version of the Victorian period known as the Japanese Meiji period. At the beginning you are thrown onto the legal stage and have to defend yourself. The plot of The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles double adventure has you following Ryūnosuke Naruhodō, a young Japanese lawyer who has made his way from Meiji period Japan to Queen Victoria’s England to learn about the British legal system, which at that point is telling the world it is the greatest legal system on the planet. Luckily he is not along and has his legal assistant Susato Mikotoba help him attempt to defend those in need of legal help in several courtroom battles.

Although The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles explains Ryūnosuke is Phoenix Wright’s very old ancestor, there really isn’t much connecting these two games with the previous editions. The British environment gives a different taste to both the kind of cases and how they are dealt with, so even if you’re an experienced ace attorney, The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles does offer something a little different. There are several colourful characters in The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles who you will interact with many times, these include Baron van Dieks otherwise known as the ‘Grim Reaper of the Old Bailey’, Scotland Yard Officer Tobias Gregson and Herlock Sholmes who you may have guessed is based on Sherlock Holmes.

Compared to previous games The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles tries to change things up. Herlock Sholmes can go off sometimes so you need to help him keep his focus via a series of mini games, they’re more like deduction mini games but they are somewhat different to the usual evidence gathering you would normally do as Phoenix Wright. The courtroom antics have also changed, no longer just a judge to contend with you must convince a jury of your peers. Multi witness testimonies are also part of The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles, you think you would need to keep an eye on how other witnesses react to another witnesses answer but it’s pretty blatant to see.

The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles has an autoplay mode, so if that is selected then it will just automatically run until a decision is required similar to your standard visual novel set up. You can also choose to play Story Mode which will allow you to skip the many puzzles and decision making processes, if you play it this way then The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles doesn’t really play like a game but a televised court room drama. The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles does lack what previous games have had and that’s the issue of defending friends and family, in The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles it’s less involving because there are a fair few characters you won’t be particularly bothered about. The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles isn’t a particular difficult game to get through, you’ll be on the receiving end of many a hint.

Graphically The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles is great to look at. The cinematics as you accuse or have to prove your point are really slick. Objections are met with crescendos of orchestral music and there are plenty of slow plans to various characters as more information comes to light. Musically The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles is just as good as it’s graphics. The music gets louder just as big reveals are made and the whole musical accompaniment works well in The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles. There’s roughly 40-50 hours worth of gaming depending on how quickly you crack the cases. Games like this are bit of a slow burner but once you’ve got past the first hour or so you’ll get fully engaged.

The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles is an excellent and clever prequel to the Phoenix Wright series. The insight into the British legal system and changed dynamics makes The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles are noticeably different experience to it’s previous incarnations. Whilst The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles may lack that personal touch there are so many interesting and fun things to do. If you’ve enjoyed the Phoenix Wright series in the past then The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles is a worthy entry worth several hours of your legal time.

Review: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

Kara Phillips
-
0
Review: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

I have adored The Legend of Zelda since I recieved my first DS Lite and played Spirit Tracks. Since then, Link and I have accompanied one another on uncountable adventures around Hyrule. We’ve defeated Ganon hundreds of times, we’ve found more Koroks than I like to admit, and I can confidently say that we have smashed more pots than I like to admit. When looking for an adventure that will always welcome me with warm arms, The Legend of Zelda is always there for me. When Skyward Sword was released in 2011 for the Nintendo Wii – I obviously sprung into action as fast as I could. Similarly when it was announced to be re-imagined for Nintendo Switch, the little girl inside me nearly burst out to celebrate.

A time before twilight

To anyone who is new to the franchise, or anyone who is as baffled by the Zelda timeline as me, Skyward Sword takes place as the first installment of the timeline. We are transported back to a time before we really knew our hero and heroine, no matter how many Legend and Zelda games you have played. Trying to go into Skyward Sword with fresh eyes ten years later was something I thought would be impossible – but as soon as the game is booted up and I heard the Great Fairy Fountain, I felt like a kid again. Nintendo manifest something magical when it comes to transporting their players back to a childlike state of mind, and that is definitely something I adore most about the company.

My first experience with Skyward Sword was watching my brother play on the Wii. As you can imagine, two competitive siblings meant I never really got to have a go. So being able to pick it up now and experience it both again yet for the first time is honestly magical. There is so much substance to an installment in the Legend of Zelda timeline. For a franchise built up with so many games you’d expect at least one of them to seem repetitive or boring, but as a lifelong fanatic I can assure you that this just isn’t the case. Skyward Sword is a masterpiece in terms of the original release and the re-imagined version.

It’s dangerous to go alone

It wouldn’t be an installment to the franchise if you didn’t have a (somewhat annoying) companion for your adventure. From Navi, to ghost zelda, to phantoms, The Legend of Zelda really does provide it all. Within Skyward Sword you are accompanied by Fi, a spirit embedded within your sword. I found Fi rather amusing as she still continues the traits of a Zelda companion. Interrupting you when you’ve already found your way just to let you know you’re on the right track. Stopping you mid battle to let you know that there’s an 89% chance you might be in danger. As frustrating as this is, it just adds to the foundations of a Zelda game.

Link’s usual antagonist isn’t what you’d expect in Skyward Sword either. We are used to the brute force and ominous energy of Ganon, but luckily for our mute hero he is no where to be seen in this game. Instead we are given a breath of fresh air, Giriham. A perfect combination of sassy and challenging, we feel as if we have to take him head on just to knock him from his pedestal. Skyward Sword, although the first installment of the timeline, is a new experience for all Zelda fans. Even if you have played the original when it was first released. If like me you haven’t touched it in 10 years – maybe sit down to revisit Skyloft and remind yourself of the world before twilight fell.

A timeless classic

As anyone would do when their favorite game is re-released on a modern console, I assumed that it wouldn’t be as breathtaking as it was when I was younger. Nintendo have a positive track record when it comes to revisiting old classics, even with the NES Online arcade, it still feels authentic yet looks the part. Skyward Sword is definitely a supporting example for this.

Rather than keeping the blocky, outdated graphics of the original version, they have been polished and buffed to suit the Nintendo Switch. Essentially, it’s like playing the original Wii version with Nintendo Switch graphics. Everything is smooth and colourful, and as I keep mentioning it feels like playing it again for the very first time.

Even controls are kept the same. If you decide to play Skyward Sword with joycons rather than a controller, motion control settings are still in place. Even if you do play the majority of the game with a controller, I really recommend relying on motion controls for at least one hour. There’s something so fulfilling about flailing your controller around in combat, yet doing an impressive impression of swatting a fly in real life. Nintendo are so wonderfully capable of bringing childhood joy to life in exhausted adults, in every way imaginable.

Challenge after challenge

There’s something about Skyward Sword which feels far more challenging than other, more recent Zelda games. Games like Breath of the Wild require more technical skill, Skyward Sword really focuses on the puzzle aspects. Whilst combat is still challenging, puzzles are far more intense. There were several occasions where I felt genuinely frustrated at the game. But it is all part of the Zelda experience. You spend hours in one temple, half the time on one puzzle, and then realise the key was something as simple as spinning your sword in a circle. With puzzle based games like this, the only skill level comes in combat. So puzzles are significantly difficult throughout. Once again this transported me back to my younger self, watching my brother in amazement as he knew exactly what to do. I, ten years later, definitely remained as baffled.

Final thoughts

If you are looking to revisit the wonderful world of Skyloft, then I cannot reccomend this game enough. Even for first time players, this is a wonderful experience for all. The Legend of Zelda is the gift that keeps on giving. And no matter how old, young, or new to the franchise you are – you simply will not regret playing this.

Review: Death’s Door

Daniel Waite
-
0
Review: Death’s Door

As one door shuts, another one opens is a favourite saying from the optimist in your life. It means no matter what happens and no matter how bad things seem, there is always the chance to move forward. What would you do if this wasn’t the case? If you failed at your last opportunity and this prevented you from moving forward! This is the concept behind Death’s Door, a game about sombre scenes and melancholy situations.

Developed by Acid Nerve and published by Devolver Digital, this is a puzzle adventure title with a deathly twist. Using Zelda-like exploration and maze-like dungeons, you’ll lose yourself in this expansive world. You control a fledgling crow who epitomises the symbol of death. He wanders around a grey land devoid of human life, collecting souls to power the doors between realms.

Death’s door!

Death’s Door is a touching tale of failure and redemption.

You work for the Reaping Commission and your only task is to collect the souls of your vanquished foes. If you haven’t been assigned a job, you are immortal. However, the moment you walk through a door to complete a task, the ticking clock of life starts moving. The only way to stop it is to collect the giant soul that controls that realm. If you fail, or the soul escapes, your door remains open and death ebbs ever closer. 

Sadly, this predicament forms the backbone of Death’s Door. While completing a simple job, a giant and aged crow steals your prized possession. You are now trapped in limbo and transported to a strange world that contains the oppressive titular door. This enormous locked barrier requires the fledgling crow to undertake three challenging adventures. You’ll adore the in-depth levels and constant back and forth as new abilities unlock new areas. Like Zelda, you’re forced to remember inaccessible locations to return to them when the time is right.

I loved the unveiling of these secret areas and though it had the potential to make the game tiresome, it rarely did. Using your newfound abilities made the gameplay refreshing and introducing mini-bosses adds a layer of complexity to the combat mechanics.

A complex story told with simple but effective mechanics.

The core concept will resonate with most gamers because of its simplicity. The wonderfully dark and charming story muddies the waters, but the murkiness is worth it for the fantastic experience. The game simply asks you to use arrows, magic and swords in each combat encounter. As you progress, they become gradually more challenging and tactical nuance is required to better your foes. Your limited health will be put to the test and a small supply of plants can stop you from dying. This was ingenious, as this extra layer made you gamble on the moment to use your seeds or to power on, regardless.

On top of the fighting were the puzzles that relied on switches, fire, and explosions. Though there was little offered that can’t be found in other titles, the blend of abilities and the use of environmental obstacles was fantastic. During the main chapters, you’ll unlock fire, bombs, and a hook. These tools are key to solving each problem and uncovering the aforementioned secret locations. You’ll enjoy unlocking each skill and discovering how much it expands the already vast world.

Don’t upset the giant frog.

Big bosses and souls well spent.

The Reaping Commission is desperate to have the souls to power their doors. But, they are generous to the crows that work hard collecting them. You’ll upgrade four stats that help to balance the monsters increased strengths in the latter stages. The fledgling quickly transforms into a super bird who is strong, nimble and full of vitality.

Magic and health boosts are also hidden around the grey oppressive world. These shrines contain pieces that must be collected to receive a much-needed boost. You’ll see the hidden locations positioned behind “impossible” to find paths. Only when you have all the abilities unlocked will you be able to gain access to them all. Until this moment you’ll make a mental note, vowing to return at a later date.

As well as increasing your stats to defeat the normal monsters, you’ll need to be as strong as possible to overcome each enormous boss. These pains in the arse beasts test your patience and gaming ability. You’re likely to face your untimely demise and this will feel unfair. Yet, you’ll keep coming back until you learn the best way to take them down for good. Destroying all three will unlock Death’s door, and from here you’ll continue to put your nightmare to bed.

Death’s Door makes the most of every environment.

Some games look fantastic, have awesome stories, and have interesting characters. Yet, they fail to make the most of their incredible environments. Fortunately, Death’s Door utilises its 3D space perfectly. You quickly adjust to life in this bizarre world, scanning the horizon for hidden paths on all plains. You’ll soak up the charming and dark imagery as the striking lines and grey palette enhance the melancholy tale.

The graphics are supported fantastically by the eerie piano music. The haunting soundtrack adds to the sense of despair, leaving you in little doubt that death is just around the corner. With excellent but predictable sound effects, you’ll love the constant blanket of noise. 

The developers have complimented their wonderful story and environments with excellent imagery and audio. This is a fantastic example of an indie title finished to a high standard.

Find the horn and bring music back to the village.

Drip-fed skills and a simple UI.

Death’s Door does a great job of ensuring every aspect is easy to understand. A well laid out UI helps you quickly identify the required skill, and a basic approach to combat and using items make any situation simple to manage. Flitting between abilities is smooth and the only concern is when you run out of magic or ammo. Even this issue is simply resolved with a swing of your sword, so the developers have made this as user friendly as possible.

There are plenty of reasons to keep returning with shiny things to collect and ample hidden locations to find. Once you defeat the final boss, you’ll come back for more as you slowly tick off the mental list of secret places. You’ll invest around fifteen hours to complete it and you’ll thoroughly explore every corner of this odd world. Achievement hunters will need a keen eye for detail and a logical mind. Getting the 100% status is challenging and won’t be for every player.

Death’s Door is spectacular from start to finish.

Death’s Door is captivating from start to finish. This is a high-end indie title with its fantastic graphics, excellent and melancholy audio, and brilliant yet weird storyline. A mix of complex and straightforward mechanics will test veteran and new gamers to the genre. I adored it and recommend you to buy it here! Death is ebbing closer and your only escape is through Death’s door! 

Review: Very Very Valet

Wil Raterman
-
0
Review: Very Very Valet

Do you thrive in fast-paced work environments? Do you love the comradery of the service industry? Are you an Overcooked veteran? Then this may be the next best title of the couch co-op party game genre. Very Very Valet takes all of the elements that work in this particular style of game, and simply changes the job. Toyful LLC and Nighthawk Interactive bring an easy to learn, yet rage-inducing personal parking experience to life. This title, much like the others of the same realm, is best played with others, so be sure to have your friends over when you boot this one up.

Those Cars Ain’t Gonna Park Themselves

Upon opening the game, the player will be greeted with very familiar sounding flute and string music. It’s heard in places such as It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. This is a clear indication that the melodic and optimistic city tunes are used in juxtaposition with the frenetic gameplay. Hearing the elegant sounds just adds insult to injury when you fail. Select your character model, and color, and get to work! The first couple of levels serve as a nice introduction, and a sick awakening if you’re masochistic enough to play these games alone like I did for a lot of the time.

Off to a great start with angry people on the first level.

Play as the valet parking team for restaurants, clubs, bowling alleys, and more creative environments later on. Customers line up and hop out of the car for you to park, and return after some time for you to bring the car back. If a customer is waiting too long at either of the two points, then a frustration meter will fill up. If it reaches max capacity, you will get an X, thus docking one of the three stars from your level rating (yes it’s one of those three star games). Three X’s and you guessed it, failure!

Things will quickly escalate as you progress in the game. More street traffic is introduced, along with teleports, and other hazards on the road in urban settings. Seeing how the world gets more creative, and challenging is half of the fun when playing games of this genre. There’s enough to motivate the player to see what is next, which is a good incentive to keep trying. Now does this reinvent the party co-op genre? Not, not at all. However, since the formula is basically there at this point, there’s not much need to deviate from the norm.

Engine and Paint Job

Controls usually make or break a title such as Very Very Valet. While Overcooked is also a challenging playthrough, the controls never feel too stiff or loose. For the most part, all mistakes justly fall on the player as a result. In this case, there are a few different driving options to use, but they all feel kind of awkward. This is less of a knock to the button layout options, and more to the car physics. There are times where driving feels a bit too loose to break and turn. This makes some of the special levels, where you drive and knock down a series of bowling pins, a bit frustrating. With more players, the issue becomes less about perfect precision and execution, and more about not getting in each other’s way.

The presentation is nice. The graphics are clean and cartoony, and the humor is not juvenile at all. Positively, this game can be appropriate for family night, or a gathering of inebriated friends in the college dorm. There’s not much to complain about the interface either. It’s easy to navigate around and figure things out as it should be.

Choose Your Highlights

What may be Very Very Valet’s best incorporated idea is the choice of specific highlights from each level to choose to save and watch later. Some random clips will appear, for the player(s) to vote on, to save for each level. This adds a little extra fun and competition to a co-op game by creating a small popularity contest. And for single player, it’s fun to choose the silliest real and raise eyebrows to your friends about how you actually made it as far as you did solo.

Bottom Line

While not much has been reinvented, the best elements of the couch co-op party genre are represented here. Very Very Valet is a slick and easy to learn title that’s good for all ages. The minor inconveniences are nothing to write home about at all. I still view the Overcooked series as the best of the genre, but I would much rather play this game than Tools Up! or Moving Out.

Review: Labyrinth City: Pierre the Maze Detective

Krissy
-
0
Review: Labyrinth City: Pierre the Maze Detective

Labyrinth City: Pierre the Maze Detective is an interactive puzzle game reminiscent of Where’s Waldo and the I Spy books.

Adapted from the children’s book series Pierre The Maze Detective, this whimsical game is available on Steam and Nintendo Switch.

Gameplay:

In Labyrinth City: Pierre the Maze Detective, you are tasked with the challenge to find the perpetrator who has stolen the Museum’s precious maze stone! The criminal is non-other than Mr. X, and he’s turned everything into a maze! Play as Pierre as you put your detective skills to the test as you traverse through many colorful mazes to track down the notorious Mr. X!

The gameplay is pretty simple. You control Pierre with the directional buttons and use the action button to interact with the environment and characters. The mazes aren’t made of simple walls but feature many obstacles, from traffic jams to little pups chilling on the street. Many of the interactions are silly animations and conversations, which gives the player time for exploration. Making your way through the maze, you can also find collectibles and treasures.

One of the most charming points about this game is the art design. The hand-drawn art style and paperlike animations make it feel just like a picture book! It’s so bright and inviting you can’t help to want to explore and see what will happen next! For a children’s game, I think the art style is perfectly fitting and eye-catching.

However, for a puzzle game, I really wished Labyrinth City was a bit more challenging. While I don’t think every game needs to be challenging to be fun, I do feel that this game was a bit too guided – even for kids. Also, unlike its unique levels, the gameplay felt too repetitive to the point of losing interest in the game. If there were more elements to the gameplay and the mazes, I really think it would take this game to the next level.

Pros:

  • Simple controls
  • Absolutely charming design that really feels like a picture book

Cons:

  • Lacks challenge
  • Gameplay is repetitive

Conclusion:

Labyrinth City: Pierre the Maze Detective is a really relaxing game that’s perfect to play with the little ones before bedtime – especially if they are fans of the series. If you’re looking for a more challenging puzzle game for yourself, I’d say that’s the only area where the game misses the mark. But if you’re looking for some relaxing wholesome fun, I totally recommend getting lost in this cute maze.

Entertainment: 5/10

Replay value: 4/10

Graphics: 10/10

Sound: 6/10

Kid Friendly: Yes

Platform:Steam
Developer:Darjeeling
Publisher:Pixmain
Released:June 22, 2021
MSRP:$11.99
ESRB:Everyone

Review: Trigger Witch

Daniel Waite
-
1
Review: Trigger Witch

For some of us, life has no plan! We do not know what we are doing from one day to the next, and we love the random nature of our life choices. Other people, however, have their lives planned out for them by their parents. The school they will attend, the friends they associate with, and the career they will undertake. Having limited choices must be frustrating, but having everything selected for you allows you to excel in your field. You channel all of your energy into achieving your goal and if it goes well, you’ll be seen as the leader in that role. Trigger Witch uses this idea to form its old-school 16-bit inspired title.

Developed by Rainbite and published by Eastasiasoft Limited, this is a colourful and magical pixelated adventure title. With a SNES and Mega Drive aesthetic, this will tweak the nostalgia strings of retro gaming fans. Set in an open world, you are free to explore to your heart’s content while taking on many missions in this cute fantasy tale.

You control Colette, a young witch who graduated from “The Stock” to become a fully-fledged member of “The Clip”. She prefers firepower over magic spells and uses her trusty pistol and other weapons she acquires. Her graduation ceremony is ruined after a mysterious man invades her realm and her life is turned upside-down. She is the heroine in this tale and must use everything she has learned to stop this mysterious stranger before it’s too late.

Brrrrrrrrrrrr don’t freeze in the ice dungeon.

Trigger Witch uses the best mechanics from old-school games.

Many indie games come with the strapline “Inspired by retro games”. Some do well to capture the essence of that classic gaming era, but many fail and the gameplay feels hollow. Trigger Witch has taken the best mechanics and style out of many early console games to create a genuinely interesting retro title.

With many weird and wonderful characters to interact with, vast dungeons to explore, and a simple but enthralling story to work through, this captures your interest from the off. It’s a twin-stick shooter that requires quick reactions and accuracy. It will test new players to the genre but it’ll be a walk in the park for veteran gamers. Trigger Witch has an array of weapons to choose from and your arsenal increases as you find them on your journey. These basic guns can be improved with old parts that are found in chests and gems that you collect from killing monsters. The simple weapons quickly go from being pea shooters to overpowered cannons in no time at all. Arming yourself with these ridiculous tools was fantastic and you’ll be chuckling as you mow down every monster you encounter.

Something seems off about this king.

Well laid out dungeons, evil monster, and couch co-op.

An old-school adventure game wouldn’t be complete without fantastic dungeons to explore. Luckily, Trigger Witch has this covered. These labyrinthine areas are full of twists and turns and puzzles that require logical thinking, and quick shooting. You must destroy every enemy you encounter or unlock doors by hitting switches. This concept is simple and gradually increases in difficulty the further you progress. It’s sadly a little repetitive, but I never tired of the action. The monsters became more aggressive with different methods of attack, so rushing in all guns blazing isn’t always the winning solution. You must study their weaknesses, use the surrounding environment to your advantage, and clear each dungeon of monsters.

As well as the brilliant dungeons, you’ll encounter massive bosses that want to destroy you. Whether the battle takes place in a tiny arena or while riding a broom, the aim is the same. You’ll dodge their attacks, select the right weapons, and chip away at their health. The bosses offer little in the way of a challenge, but I liked the grand setting and the build-up to the fight. The battles were easy, but they were nicely intertwined with the story, so each one felt relevant and necessary.

I enjoyed many aspects of Trigger Witch, but my favourite had to be the “drop-in” multiplayer gameplay. A second player can join the action by simply connecting a controller. This was fantastic and captured the retro gaming scene perfectly. If the second gamer stopped playing it matters not, as their character leaves the world and you carry on, regardless. This seamless layer was excellent and made it much more accessible than many of its peers.

Trigger Witch captures SNES imagery perfectly.

Pixelated gaming is all the rage and I’m one gamer that loves it. Trigger Witch stands out against recent indie titles because of its vivid colours and accurate retro aesthetics. The viewpoint is reminiscent of old-school RPGs, and the cute but deadly monsters are fantastic to look at. The game uses simple imagery to create a magical world that is fun to explore and easy on the eye. I enjoyed the varied landscapes and the different enemies associated with each area. The changes sometimes were subtle, but they offered enough variety to keep things interesting.

The dynamic soundtrack and shrill sound effects were great to listen to. The deafening boom of the weapons and the twang of magic spells added to the fantasy theme. I liked how different areas had their own music and the tone and pace changed to reflect the mood. The basic audio delivers enough variety to prevent boredom and helps to create an exciting and magical adventure.

Ready…..Aim…….Fire!!!!!!

Shooting is easy when you have a laser sight. 

I’ve written about enough twin-stick shooters for people to know I suck at them. Yet, I found Trigger Witch easy to play. Is this because I’m improving at this genre? No! With a permanent laser sight for aiming, no one will miss the target. I really liked this approach, and it made the fast-paced action much more bearable. Alongside this user-friendly idea was the well-designed controller set-up that made learning the basics a walk in the park. Players from any skill set can master this in minutes, which made the multiplayer option even more appealing.

Though the game allows you to explore its open world freely, the story follows a mainly linear structure. This sadly impacts the replay value as the plot doesn’t change when you return for a second playthrough. If you are a completionist, you’ll find reasons to return as the achievement list needs patience and an eye for detail to unlock them all. 

Trigger Witch is captivating, brutal, and exactly what you want from a retro game.

Trigger Witch has many interesting layers that make it a wonderful retro experience. Its story is simple but captivating and its combat mechanics are brutal. Some elements are repetitive, yet its mix of characters and interesting dungeons ensure you’ll want to keep playing. I enjoyed my magical experience and recommend you to buy it here! Grab your gun, defeat the bosses, and hunt down the mysterious stranger. 

Review: Samurai Warriors 5

Alex Chessun
-
0
Review: Samurai Warriors 5

Put down your gamepad and pick up your sword, Samurai, we’ve got a castle to burn. Back from a 7-year absence the hack and slash Samurai Warriors mainline series returns with a 5th entry, with an all-new story and new character designs. 

Title covers don’t often follow through with their promise of awesomeness, but Samurai Warriors 5 is the book cover you can judge – it’s as good as it looks.

Samurai Warriors 5 follows feudal lord Nobunaga Oda and his clan on their quest to unify the warring states of Japan, spanning from the end of the Ōnin War to the Honnōji incident providing a more in-depth look than previous games at the events and relationship with Mitsuhide Akechi that lead to Nobunaga’s downfall.

With an anime art style accentuated by Sumi-e Japanese painting highlights and a soundtrack containing traditional instruments paired with modern guitars, this title does everything to make the historical events as entertaining as possible while keeping the overall details accurate. There are only so many ways to tell the most told story in Japan, so there are some liberties taken especially with the over-the-top Hollywood-like ending when in real-life it was more like an anticlimactic betrayal, the motivation of which is shrouded in mystery due to Mitsuhide’s own demise not long after.    

One of the many great cutscenes showing Nobunaga Oda – whose name I’ll never get tired of saying – and his plans. Nobunaga Oda. Rolls right off the tongue.

Plowing through your enemies on large castle battlefields takes place seemingly in real-time with constantly changing objectives giving the standard ‘mow down everything’ gameplay style a realistic twist with a boatload of tension and unpredictability. The size of the opposing armies gives it a great feeling of scale, and the many different mini battles dotted around the map feel like small dramatic movies happening all around you, especially as you are constantly communicated to about the shifting and updating battle from your allies.

I’m gonna knock all those guys over on my horse, because I can, and because its awesome.

Spiking your enemies in a gloriously overpowered game of human volleyball is done with two different characters – a main and a partner – to achieve the chapter objectives. It’s a great system where different fighting styles can be combined to defeat enemies while also effectively acting as fast travel across a map as you can assign your partner to attack other targets. Alternatively, you can dash across the map on horseback after receiving a desperate call from friends (presumably on their 1600s smartphones) and this allows you to see the tide of the battle change in front of your eyes. Despite you being the lynchpin in all the proceedings, it makes it feel like you are a small pawn on a very large and well-produced chessboard, and it exudes awesomeness.

Oda’s progress is detailed through cool-looking maps like the above and with a voiceover worthy of every action film trailer ever.

The action itself is loose and free-flowing but rather than being a downside, in comparison to more polished articles in Nier Automata and Devil May Cry 5 for example, it allows for the quick mowing down of small armies as you can more easily adjust your attacks. The only issue you might encounter is the camera which is entirely manual, apart from a not-so-great lock-on feature, and can lose track of the action that occasionally moves behind the camera. Some may call the action ‘rough around the edges’ with less than smooth horse riding animation, and enemies falling through walls or popping up as you approach them, but like an all you can eat action buffet that gets more delicious the more you have, you’ll likely be enjoying yourself far too much to care. 

Facilitating this are 37 playable characters with skill trees, and 14 different upgradeable weapon types such as swords, spears and even a drum. While the traditional harbingers of death certainly suffice, it’s the less conventional ones that I enjoyed the most such as a tiny drum or the bow – the latter of which I’ve always wanted a video game to morph me into Legolas from The Lord of the Rings and finally I’ve found a game that makes shooting arrows feel as awesome. Nō, Nobunaga Oda’s wife, has a kick-ass bow that really lets loose with some epic combos at great speed making me feel like an Elf in a kimono and pleasing me to no end. 

This scene, or any scene for that matter, with this many enemies creates a great sense of anticipation and rarely disappoints. Especially with Nō at the helm.

The upgrade system for the characters and their weapons is addictive but it’s locked behind a ‘my castle’ system that has a blacksmith, a dojo, horse stables and a shop that all need upgrading in order to further upgrade your characters. This means that you are forced to play a secondary defend the castle mode – Citadel Mode – but it doesn’t have the same allure as the story and perhaps more could have been done to differentiate it in terms of gameplay. An explorable castle showing the cool details teased in the background of the game’s maps and a more interactive way to explore the game’s relationship meters would have been nice to delve into.  

Caused by a fox mask-wearing ninja rising like a phoenix engulfing enemies in a tremendous explosion of speed, fire and stupendousness. The arcade-like action here is super addictive and is a game I can see myself returning to over and over.

Normally I would say that most Japanese games don’t need a dubbed audio, but unfortunately, the lack of an English track affects the flow of your battles somewhat as you receive updates from your allies in Japanese and English subtitles, meaning that for you to understand what’s going on, you’ll need to divert your attention from the fight. It’s not always an issue as updates will sometimes come after you’ve defeated your foes in that area, but receiving them during the action is not exactly optimal. The soundtrack on the other hand salvages the audio presentation somewhat with addictive tracks peppered throughout and makes visiting the soundtrack feature in ‘the vault’ a pleasure rather than it simply making up the numbers. 

Despite covering a shorter period in history – the previous games also covered the Toyotomi and Tokugawa shogun reigns – there is a lot of replay value in the story mode. Not only do completed missions allow you to replay missions with characters non-story related in a ‘Free Mode’, but it took me 16 hours to complete the 6 chapters of the main story, and I only completed 22% of the total objectives. Beyond that there are the 6 chapters of Mitsuhide Akechi’s story and a ‘What if’ section, so there is a great deal of content for those wishing to delve more into the game. 

And if, after all that, the single-player experience isn’t your thing then you could always try the local co-op or online modes for more of the same full-scale warfare, but with friends.

Samurai Warriors 5 may not be winning any awards, but Koei Tecmo and Omega Force have more than done themselves justice with their basic action formula tremendous fun in short bursts and the over-the-top hack and slash battles playing out like small cinematic war dramas. The reimagining of Japan’s most famous struggle is also now more palatable to newer audiences with its revamped visual style blending perfectly with the action and representing a good time for all that give it a shot.         

Review: Just Die Already

Frances Addison
-
0
Review: Just Die Already

The first thing I did when I received a review copy of this game was to google the title, only to find myself faced with the tagline ‘You are old and angry and you’ve just been kicked out of your retirement home.’ Needless to say, I was instantly intrigued.

Further investigations revealed that Just Die Already is the most recent game from the developers of the widely popular Goat Simulator. It shares a lot of traits with its predecessor, so if you were someone who enjoyed the chaotic hircine mayhem from the last game then you’ll be sure to find something worth your time here. Of course, at the other end of the scale, if you didn’t enjoy Goat Simulator’s lack of real plot or cohesive narrative, this isn’t the game for you.

Being kicked out of your retirement home is a very literal process

The story of Just Die Already, such as it is, is that you are a pensioner who has been kicked out of your retirement home for causing too much trouble. Apparently enraged by this new development, you are then free to explore the city, causing as much chaos and destruction as you can along the way. To keep track of your exploits, you’re given an appropriately named Bucket List that provides rewards when certain objectives are achieved.

Conceptually, that’s all there really is to Just Die Already. As with Goat Simulator, the game is a sandbox with an incredibly loose physics system and a lot of destructible items. The only real guidance players have is their bucket list; otherwise they are entirely free to explore the world and discover the small self-contained scenes the developers have put together. To help add to the mayhem, the entire experience can be played in four-player co-op.

Easily this game’s best feature is its visuals. The environments are bright and beautiful, and different regions of the city have distinct visual styles that make navigation surprisingly easy considering the size of the map. The cartoony design really helps to sell the gloriously bonkers action, and there are a lot of art assets that make for great visual gags. In many ways, wandering around the city and just looking at things is the main draw the game has – unfortunately, that leads onto the core problems this game has.

Health regenerates over time, but missing limbs stay gone until you respawn

Just Die Already has two major issues, one more fixable than the other. The first is that the controls just aren’t up to what the game requires of you. Trying to grab items can often take several attempts and using melee weapons with any accuracy is impossible because of wildly inconsistent hitboxes, weapon range, and attack time. In some ways, that’s the point; your avatar acts and handles like a vaguely sentient boneless mass of flesh, and that’s part of the joke. Unfortunately, instead of being funny, it mostly serves to frustrate the player when they’re actually trying to get something done.

Which brings us neatly to the second problem Just Die Already has: the game isn’t very fun. For all that I deeply enjoyed discovering the game’s tagline at the very beginning, that sense of bizarre humour very rapidly wears off when you’re playing the game. There are certainly a lot of interesting things to discover and some of them are worth a laugh, but the paper-thin objectives aren’t enough to carry the game for more than an hour or two. Playing with friends through the co-op system can extend that, but even then the enjoyment is more coming from hanging out with people you like than from any inherent success of the game.

The bucket list book can guide you to objectives, but it does also run the risk of spoiling interesting things to discover

There are a few more minor problems to consider too. The overexaggerated physics can mean that your character gets stuck in the scenery from time to time, but there’s a quick reset button that respawns you relatively close by so it’s not a huge detriment.

More strange for me was the general lack of background music; this seems to be a game that would lend itself to a solid soundtrack as so much of the game is spent running around a city with no dialogue interruptions. Instead, aside from some sound effects, I spent a lot of my time with this game in silence. It was so weird that I’m still not entirely certain if this was intentional or simply a glitch, though from checking out some gameplay trailers and footage, it seems to be the former. If so, it was perhaps an indication that this game is meant to be played in co-op with players chatting to each other, but that’s not really an excuse not to have something in the single-player mode.

Some of the best jokes Just Die Already has are contained within small environmental details

It is important to note that Just Die Already isn’t being marketed under a triple A, £40 price tag. Going into this game expecting something that you could sink 30 hours into isn’t a realistic starting point and to criticise it for not meeting that level of content would be grossly unfair. With that said, however, I would still caution anyone buying this game that its charm wears thin incredibly quickly. If you have friends to play with then you might be able to stretch it out for a few hours, but despite the multitude of bucket list items to cross off, there is very little compulsion to keep playing for long.

If you did enjoy Goat Simulator and want more of that style of game, then go for it. Just Die Already certainly scratches the same itch, and it has a lot more polish to recommend it than its predecessor. For everyone else, though, you’re probably better off saving your money for something with a little more substance.

1...329330331...1,616Page 330 of 1,616