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Review: Moving Out DLC – Movers in Paradise

Daniel Waite

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Mar 2, 2021

Review: Moving Out DLC – Movers in Paradise

I have recently told you all about my love of Moving Out by developers, DEVM Games and SMG Studio, and publisher Team17 Digital LTD. This crazy solo and couch co-op title has you working together as a team of house movers. You must lift boxes and items of all shapes and sizes, aiming to get them to the removal van quickly and safely. Sadly, not everything goes to plan, and you must work around many obstacles to succeed and gain each gold medal.

I will not go into anymore detail about the base game, but if you want to know more, then read my review here! What I’m looking at today is the latest DLC released to enhance this wonderful title. Moving Out – Movers in Paradise was brought to the market by exactly the same team as the original, so it’s fair to assume that this will match up to the high standards already set.

Even tropical islands need a removal crew.

We’ve moved all the furniture from one house to another, spending all our time in a town setting, so what happens now? Work hard, play hard, so it’s time for our well worked team to take a break on a tropical island. Well, not entirely correct, it’s time for them to have a rest after they have moved all the furniture in this beautiful archipelago. New setting, new mechanics, but same glorious gameplay!

This DLC adds another layer of quality gaming to the brilliantly laid foundations. So what do you get for your money? 23 new levels, 4 new movers to use, and 1 buried treasure to unearth. After all, it wouldn’t be a desert island without any treasure to unearth. Packmore Island is a great backdrop for the madness that ensues, you are guaranteed to; laugh, cry, and scream at loved ones as you desperately try to move suitcases, trunks of gold and more.

This family friendly game is great to play with gamers of all ages, but be prepared to lose your cool as your well made plans get ruined by the kids’ inability to follow orders. If you then consider the new mechanics; moving platforms, ladders that create new paths and the crabs. This new addition is more challenging than the base game.

New mechanics will make you cry!

The moving platforms are easy to navigate in theory, but when you have many people trying to jump them while holding furniture, it takes plenty of agility and dexterity. You’ll need patience, great communication skills, and plenty of luck on your side.

The ladders like the moving platforms should be easy to use, but if you misplace them, they can fall into the chasms they span, and you will follow them into the depths, shortly followed by your untimely death. You may think “well place it correctly then!” With time ticking away, and your team screaming at you to move faster, that’s easier said than done.

Crabs……those annoying pincer wielding crustaceans! They get in your way, move the items you are looking for, and kindly unload your van for you. If it isn’t your children you want to scream at while playing this, it will be the crabs for sure!

These new mechanics add a greater depth of difficulty. It was nice that the developers made the game harder. I dislike when DLC is released that adds little content, and next to no game time. Fortunately, Movers In Paradise has a full achievement list, and will push the most adept players to their limits.

Don’t let those crustacean’s make you crabby!

A similar look, but a calmer audio.

Little has changed with the visual approach from the developers. It’s a case of if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it. The brilliant cartoon style and vivid colours work perfectly with the tropical setting. The new character models look great, and there were no issues with performance even when the action was hectic. I loved the use of warm colours, it made this add on stand out from the cool tones used in the original city.

Movers In Paradise has moved away from the game show music experienced in Moving Out. You are now treated to a delightful Caribbean themed soundtrack that is relaxing, fun, and will bring a smile to your face. It was a little strange that this chilled out style played out as you ran around like a headless chicken. Though it was weird, it worked well with the theme and the mad style of this game.

Easy to play, but you may smash a controller!

You begin your trip to Packmore Island with a straightforward tutorial. This follows the same process as before, but gives you a quick overview of the new mechanics. That is with the exception of the crabs, they are a nasty surprise that comes later. I said in my Moving Out review that 4 and 6-year-olds can play this, I stand by that, but this doesn’t mean they will be much help in your moving team. Many smashed controllers may be the side effect of playing this with the youngest members of your family, so just remember you have been warned!

If you keep all your peripherals intact, you’ll get to play through 23 new levels of madness and fun. These stages all use the timed scoring system, so to gain all the gold medals will require many hours and a high level of skill. Add to that the full 1000 Gamerscore achievement list, and you have a lot of reasons to return to play. At £5.99 it proves to be great value for money, and a worthy addition to your couch co-op gaming library.

DLC isn’t always worth it. How about this one?

I have purchased many DLC packs in the past and several have disappointed me. Happily, I can say that I wasn’t let down by Movers In Paradise. Though the concept hasn’t changed a lot, the addition of 3 main game mechanics makes this worth playing. If you love Moving Out, you won’t be disappointed with this, so buy it here! Grab your passport, jump on the boat and help the people of the Packmore island move house.

Review: Moving Out

Daniel Waite

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Mar 2, 2021

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Couch Co-op games are massive business. The last 18 months have had families locked in their houses with little more to do than; home school, argue, and play games. So why not combine 2 of those things and take part in a guaranteed fight by playing one of the many couch co-op games that are available?

Moving Out by developers; SMG Studio and DEVM Games and publisher Team 17 Digital LTD is a fast-paced and hectic family friendly game about a moving company attempting to complete many jobs. I first discovered this at EGX 2019. We laughed and played it for 1 hour straight as we screamed at each other for failing to move furniture and boxes correctly. From that moment I was champing at the bit to get my hands on a copy. With its release on Gamepass for Xbox and PC, I played it to death, and now I return to it because of its newly released DLC Movers in Paradise.

Fun, frustration, and plenty of fights.

The concept of this is straightforward. Go to your job, move the required items to the van, and go home! If only it were that simple, though. Each job has many hurdles to overcome, with pitfalls around every corner wanting to catch you out. Animals run amuck, chasms will appear, obstacles will block your path and more.

That’s one way to cut the tape from these boxes.

You are a team of workers, and you must join forces to move the objects quickly and safely. Lost or broken furniture is unacceptable, and certain pieces require multiple bodies to move it. It’s a logistical nightmare, and one that will test your patience and communication skills. Alongside your day job, you are expected to complete secret tasks to be awarded medals.

Break windows, move turtles or garden ornaments, chuck boxes and so forth. These additional challenges add an extra layer of difficulty and shouldn’t be taken lightly. To get them all, you are likely to have; lost friends, gotten a divorce, and developed a nervous twitch. Don’t say you haven’t been warned!

It’s exactly what you want from a couch Co-op.

When I look at family friendly games, I still want it to contain a challenging element, and Moving Out has struck that balance brilliantly! With gameplay modifiers that can assist a solo player or a struggling team, to the aforementioned additional challenges, there really is something for everyone.

To add to that, each stage can be approached in manageable chunks. You needn’t worry that your little angels will get bored as rounds can be finished in minutes. You can play as seriously or as casually as your team of movers likes, and this makes it accessible to gamers of all ages and abilities.

Why on earth would you want to move a boulder?

It’s awash with colour.

Like many of its peers; Overcooked 1, 2 and Tools Up, this is a bright cartoon based game that is a treat for the sense. The plasticine style character models with their many skins allow each player the freedom to express which best suits their personality. The level designs are ingenious with many quirky touches, and each has a unique look. I particularly enjoyed the world map. It wasn’t just a method of moving from one mission to the next, no, it held its own secrets and objectives if you looked close enough.

When you play with 4 players, it’s all hands to the pump, and the action gets hectic, items fly everywhere, but the gameplay never stutters or falters. It’s incredibly smooth and though you’ll want to scream with rage, it’s never because of performance issues.

An 80s inspired game show style audio plays out as you desperately try to move all the boxes. The upbeat synthesised pop music gets you and the team ready for some heavy lifting. It was a great choice as its playful tones matched the light-hearted nature of the gameplay. This was then married up with ear splitting crashes and bangs from dropping boxes, breaking furniture and smashing glass. It’s sensory overload, but man did I love it.

So simple, a child will play it.

Why aim a game at youngsters if you are going to make it hard to master? This must have been considered by the developers, as this is one of the easiest couch co-op games I’ve attempted. If my 4 and 6-year-olds can play it, then anyone can. Just be warned that your patience will be pushed if you try to involve young family members, and you’re likely to scream out loud.

A sign of a great game is that you’ve loved playing it, and you can’t wait to play it again. Moving Out ticks both these boxes and more. With its variety in stage design, difficulty choices, ability to play solo and the multitude of challenges, this one has a lot of replay value. To buy it outright at £19.99 it’s great value for money. If you subscribe to Gamepass, you get to install it for free as part of your subscription.

Moving furniture has never been such fun!

Who’d have thought that furniture removal could be so enjoyable? Yes, there’s a lot of heavy lifting, you’re likely to lose friends, and you may finish with one less child, but you had fun on the way. Moving Out is a simple concept executed brilliantly, and I can’t help but recommend it. Download it on Gamepass or buy it here! Go from job to job with your team of movers. Remove everything without destroying the house, unless of course your secret objectives ask you to! Complete the tasks, gain all the medals, and become the best movers in town.

Review: Radical Rabbit Stew

Daniel Waite

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Mar 1, 2021

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Why is it that rabbits get the rough end of the stick in nearly every computer game? In Rayman Raving Rabbids they are shown as insane and are constantly battling one another. In my latest review, Radical Rabbit Stew, the poor beasts are the main ingredient for our chef’s menu.

Developed by Pugstorm and published by Sold Out, this retro puzzle game will tweak nostalgia-filled heartstrings with its simple gameplay and 16-bit aesthetic.

Puzzling has never been so easy.

You control a chef whose only aim in life is to capture every rabbit he finds and cook it in a pot. “How does he do this?” He has a massive spoon and the world around him to hit them on a course of no return. Once every pot is full, the level is over, and you must do it all again on the next stage.

It’s puzzling, but on an easy scale. Failure isn’t a concern, and if you knock a bunny into the nether, you start again and learn from your mistakes. Think of it as a giant “Whack-a-Rabbit”, they keep popping up and you smack them over the head.

Fun, but repetitive.

The initial stages are fun, and until you familiarise yourself with the mechanics, they offer some challenge. New upgraded tools are chucked into the mix to add extra dimensions, and the levels get bigger and more complicated. However, it’s repetitive and becomes dull quickly. Even with introducing boss fights, it never gets off the ground. All the new ideas revolved around the chef’s spoon and didn’t develop any further.

To overcome this, Pugstorm added a level editor and a local multiplayer mode. These acted like a plaster over a decapitated limb. These were nice additions, but they failed to overcome the obvious shortcomings in the main concept.

The level editor was fun to use, but wasn’t user friendly. No tutorial is offered, and it has a learn as you fail model. Once you get to grips with it, you can design some tough and gruelling levels that will test you to your limits. The multiplayer is on par with the single-player mode, but is reliant on up to 3 additional people wanting to cook up rabbits in a competitive manner Unfortunately, this rarely happens, and neither adds much to this simple game.

16-bit retro inspiration.

If you’re a fan of the old-school pixel art style, then you will love how this is presented. A colourful, vivid and blurry world awaits you in this simplistic title. The stages all lack finesse, and I was reminded of early SNES and Mega Drive endeavours. Bold colours dominate the landscape, and though each area has its own look, they all had a familiar air to them. The graphics won’t blow you away, but they work with this style and in this context.

The audio goes hand in hand with the visuals and uses a simple synthesised sound. The music is retro, screechy, and annoying. The sound effects were, however, great. The noises will make you chuckle as you smack your bunnies around the head, or you get chased by them, and they bite you.

Swing and a miss.

Swing, swing, swing! You will swipe and flail away at the rabbits, constantly missing. It was frustrating, a bit of a mess, but something that must be accepted if you wish to play this. Other than timing issues, it’s easy to learn and handle, and players from all age groups and skill levels can play it without issue.

Because of its repetitive nature, and the lack of development in the multiplayer mode, I wasn’t keen on playing this for too long. Initially, it did enough to keep me focussed, yet it quickly lost its shine. This affects the replay value and will prevent gamers from wanting to return.

A sad result for the bunnies!

You get cooked in a pot, and no one wants to play with you. It is truly a sad day for rabbits everywhere. The difficulty of the puzzles was lacking, and new elements failed to build on a weak concept. Unfortunately, not much of this piqued my interest past the initial world. Do I recommend this? Not really. If you do like retro puzzle games, you may wish to buy it here! Become the chef and cook every rabbit in sight. It’s not a tough task, as every puzzle is a piece of cake to solve.

Review: Shakes on a Plane

Charles Ombler

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Feb 28, 2021

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Is Overcooked getting cooked over?

Shakes on a plane is a co-operative cooking game where you take orders, prepare food and drinks and serve it to the customer in a tight time limit while the environment, chaotic controls and corporealness of other players are all working against you. If that sounds hauntingly familiar, like a popular game whose name rhymes with shmover shmooked, that’s because it’s almost a carbon copy of that very game.

For legal reasons (read: fun reasons) I won’t be referring to That Other Game by name (except in the subtitle because the joke was just too good). But, it’s almost impossible to review Shakes on a Plane without talking about it because they are just so similar. Any comment on the quality of the game has to be taken in reference to The Elephant in the Room because they’re both available on the same platform at the same price. It’s a direct competition for the same market, the likes of which I can’t say I’ve seen before.

The part that Shakes on a Plane nails is the feeling of chaos and any vestige of control gradually slipping through your fingers over the duration of a round until you become a passenger on a road paved in the poor decisions of your younger self. You find yourself running frantically from one end of the plane to the other, trying to will a coffee to brew quickly enough for you to add it to your tray and dash it over to the customer in time for the three-second deadline while bashing your teammates out of the way. The game has duplicated that hectic charm from You Know What almost perfectly.

Unfortunately, that’s where the favourable comparisons to the Game That Shall Not Be Named end. The most jarring disappointment for me is the style of the game. The game has a very generic aesthetic with assets and models that look like they were ripped directly from a Unity asset market, all paired with a very washed out and muted colour pallet. It feels like the game as absolutely no soul, which doesn’t look good when it’s compared to the vibrant cartoony aesthetic of Overson McCooked.

The game also doesn’t tell you enough about how ready your food and drink are to serve. For example, even the worst of the bad fast-food restaurants have worked out that you need to cook a burger before taking it to a customer. However, in Shakes on a Plane, the uncooked burger and cooked burger models just look like ready to eat burgers, with nothing on screen to tell you whether they’re cooked or not. That’s fine when you’re taking a burger directly from the dispenser to the oven to the customer, but the hectic nature of the game means that you rarely have that luxury. A drastically different item for the uncooked and cooked versions of food or an on-screen prompt for where you need to take it next would have been nice (like is done in ‘certain other games’) but Shakes on a Plane omitted that quality of life feature.

One final minor note that doesn’t ruin the gameplay but does give a really bad introduction to the game. In the menus, the button for select/yes/enter/whatever moves around, seemingly at random. During the character selection menu, it moves from A when selecting a slot, to B when selecting a character and Y when selecting an AI character, with the button that was previously ‘Select’ becoming ‘Back’. It’s possibly the worst UI design that I’ve ever seen. It’s obtusely unintuitive and a bold decision to get the player frustrated with the game before they’ve even started playing it.

Overall, Shakes on a Plane is inherently pretty average. It has a great premise with some less than great execution in places. However, that great premise is directly ripped from another game and, as the old saying goes, if you come for the king you better not miss. Shakes on a Plane didn’t exactly miss its swing for the co-op cooking game throne but the strength of the swing was equivalent to an ant swinging a toothpick at a giant. If you’re looking for a chaotic game to play with friends to beat the lockdown blues, there isn’t much to promote Shakes on a Plane over the king: Overcooked.

Review: Thunderflash

Daniel Waite

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Feb 28, 2021

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We all have our favourite eras. Maybe it was the peak of your youth, or you liked the fashion or music. Whatever your choice is, no-one will alter your thoughts on it no matter how hard they try. For me it was the 80s, and though I was only a young child, I now watch TV programs from that time and get sucked into the terrible costumes, and over the top stories.

Thunderflash from developer SEEP and publisher Ratalaika Games, is an 80s inspired action solo or two player game that lives up to the best films and TV programs that were available during the period. Bright colours, pixelated graphics, painful audio and a barely believable story are all chucked into the mixing pot to produce this all action shooting title.

Cliched story.

An evil villain is planning on taking over the world. Kashmir is being overrun by a criminal organisation known as Bloody Wolf, only two heroes can save the day; Rock and Stan. These muscle bound action men love nothing more than to get strapped up and kill bad guys. Shoot helicopters, cars, boats and anything else that crosses your path. Humanity needs a hero, and you are more than happy to step up.

Like all old-school titles, this one is simple to play. Choose between several modes; Story, boss battle or survival. Select the number of credits you wish to have and finally pick standard or hardcore. Once you setup your game, you are thrown in at the deep end, with some missiles and a pistol. Wander around each stage, grab power-ups and new weapons, and shoot anything that moves.

The story mode has a loose plot, but allows you the freedom to go along with whatever drama is thrown in your way. Boss battle can only be accessed at the end and lets you test your skills against the enormous machines that you have taken down already. Survival is all about destroying bots, picking up new weapons and staying alive for as long as possible.

Vertical and side-scrolling action.

Like all the great shooters of the past, Thunderflash has used a simple approach to move from point A to B. The action flows around you as you walk past a constantly fluid industrial backdrop. Enemies approach from all directions, and it is your task to take them down one bullet at a time. The gameplay comprises 5 levels, each broken down into further segments. Like its peers, this has you tackling a variety of end stage bosses. Each of them gets bigger and more challenging than the last.

The boss battles are the exception of the scrolling action, and these encounters must be undertaken on a fixed 2D screen. It vastly reduced the difficulty of overcoming these overpowered tyrants. With a small amount of practice you can highlight the weaknesses and then pounce on them like a cat on a mouse. I found the ease at which I overcame these bosses disappointing; I don’t want it to be Dark Souls difficult! But I wanted it to push me more.

The difficulty increased considerably during the hardcore setting, mainly affecting the amount of damage incurred per shot. Yet, even this wasn’t much of a challenge. If you wished, you could simply run past every enemy from start to finish, like the A-Team, you needn’t fire one bullet or hurt one person on your way to victory. This somewhat tarnished both the all action approach and the retro gaming style.

Straight from the arcade.

This top-down shooter wouldn’t be out of place in any seaside arcade. The smooth action and CRT imagery screamed retro gaming. It made this stand out from most indie titles who try to replicate this era. The pixelated graphics and over the top sprites were well designed and made for a classic gaming experience. The backdrops altered slightly as you moved through each level. But the lack of details meant that they all blurred into a very samey image.

I’m sure all the TV directors from the 80s had a memo saying “make the soundtrack LOUD and AGGRESSIVE!” So this is what they all did. SEEP clearly received the same document as the high-tempo music gets you ready for a fight. The sound effects are just as in your face and over the top. The banging of rockets, the hissing of the gas from a flame thrower, and the thud of the bullets from your gun all rattle around your head as you look to complete the stage.

That’s one way to keep warm when floating in the clouds.

Old-school simplicity.

The lack of training may be a worry. Will you get your ass handed to you? Will you die immediately? Fear not though, as you’ll sail through the early stages without issue, and this carries on in every game mode, and against each boss. This reduces further still if you add in a second player, and you begin mowing down all your enemies with ease. If I was to be really picky, the weapons lack accuracy. But this is overcome when moving your hero around.

Played it, done it, got all the achievements! This is the standard response to a Ratalaika Games title, but this one adds a little more to get you coming back. Not all the story is told on completion, and you must finish it in one sitting, to see the entire plot. For players who wish to get full closure, this will add some challenge, and a few more hours of gameplay. The survival mode adds the most replay value, and is fun for a limited time. The high-score element adds a competitive edge, allowing you to challenge friends to beat your total.

Should this have stayed in the 80s?

This doesn’t go down as my favourite indie title that I’ve played recently, but I enjoyed my time with it. I chuckled at; the absurd plot, the badly translated text, and that every character is humongous. It captures the essence of early action games perfectly, and is worth a look at if you want a quick casual game, or you love the genre. Buy a copy here if you want a trip down memory lane! Can two heroes destroy a criminal organisation and save the day? Grab a gun, choose your character, and mow down anything in sight in this fast-paced old-school shooter.

Review: Ancestors Legacy Conqueror’s Edition

Alex Chessun

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Feb 28, 2021

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Review: Ancestors Legacy Conqueror’s Edition

Ancestors Legacy Conqueror’s edition is a real-time strategy game that gives you the opportunity to control 4 different groups – Viking, Anglo-Saxon, German or Slav – and plunder, pillage and conquer your way through 30 ‘expansive’ history-inspired missions. Resource management and tactical nous is advertised as king here with missions that mostly consist of capturing bases to claim as your own before moving onto the next one. With a large selection of maps that provide different ways to approach each battle and with each army having its own unique characteristics, the game manages to live up to its expansive billing, despite the lack of control you’ll feel during it.

As someone who is utterly useless at strategy games, I was happy to be reintroduced to its mechanics via the tutorials and the game’s clean and efficient user interface, but soon came to realize that there isn’t a great deal left to impress with repetitive and unrewarding gameplay that gives the player little reason to keep coming back for more.

This is due to the most frequent part of the action being as inflexible as the axe you wield. Confrontations, while starting off small, often form into one large hackathon, but with no effective way to change your position mid-battle, the victor is decided before they even lock swords. The inability to move your units when ‘engaged’ is especially frustrating when they are stacked behind each other, and the only way to disengage their idleness is to force them to retreat halfway back across the map, before being able to call them back – if the units don’t end up in the exact same position that is, as they often decide your commands are a suggestion rather than a requirement. It’s highly cumbersome and puts the success of entire missions down to luck, even in easy mode.

Unsurprisingly, this inflexibility also applies to the enemy AI who will let your units retreat mere meters away to your base during battle and reform your entire army. I, hardly the master of strategic thinking, was defeated more times than I’d willingly admit due to this issue because I didn’t think the enemy AI would provide such an obvious affront of logic. Satisfying victories can certainly be had with a few well-placed archer units or a pincer attack to blindside enemies, but these strategies are soon overwhelmed by the inflexible battling system and a rather high enemy refresh rate.

The developer Destructive Creations ran the gauntlet a little here as their previous title attracted a lot of negative press for excessive violence and shock advertising, and while you can still kill villagers for absolutely no reason, it’s mostly accidental due to its mindless and unintentionally suicidal villager AI.

This theme of poor implementation can be seen throughout, with its decent features squandering all the opportunities its potential affords and ultimately finds itself a spot on the Venn diagram of forgettable gaming experiences. A prime example of this is the action that can be viewed through a shaky close-up camera which shows its well-animated action cinematically, only for a bug to cause fighters to stare fixated offscreen as they are fighting, to swoop in and ruin the illusion.

Perhaps the best compliment I can give the game, albeit backhanded, is that Ancestors’ poor voice-acting and lack of any story-based tension – echoing that of a factual Sunday morning cartoon but with bloody visuals – forced me onto its free battle and multiplayer modes, which are by far the best this game has to offer, with a nice selection of maps and adjustable options that provide replay value to the title.

Ancestors legacy Conqueror’s Edition makes historical accuracy the hill it wants to die on but refuses to build any depth with its narrative, segmenting it into ample missions with minimal context. Its crisp graphics and efficient user interface belies a game with inflexible strategic gameplay mechanisms and poor AI, that ultimately makes this title recommendable only in its accessibility rather than its overall quality.

Review: SNK vs. Capcom Match of The Millennium

Bryan Applegate

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Feb 27, 2021

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Review: SNK vs. Capcom Match of The Millennium

Is this game a true match by today’s standards? or does it lose by KO?

INTRO – A SNK Cult Classic Returns to Handheld

SNK vs. Capcom: Match of the Millennium launched in November 1999 for the Neo Geo. It’s a crossover 2D fighter featuring 26 characters from various Capcom and SNK games, including the Art of Fighting, Fatal Fury, King of Fighters, Samurai Shodown, and Street Fighter series. It just recently got ported to the Nintendo Switch. While we wait for news on whether The King of Fighters XV Comes to Switch or not, lets see if this game is a crossover dream come true, or a nightmare that never should’ve came about.

STORY – A evil SNK-Capcom team up from 2 Dimensions

Now, crossovers having stories is nothing new. However, the story for this game is rather light in comparison to modern crossovers like Blazblue Cross Tag Battle. Basically, a tournament is organized by Geese Howard and M. Bison to determin which character(s) will serve as members of their Shadaloo pan-dimensional army. Their efforts are rebuked, Geese and M. Bison are beaten, Evil Ryu/Orochi Iori serves as the final boss, and the rival character of whoever you picked saves you twice over from Vega before the credits roll.

For a Crossover, the story here is rather straightforward. I appreciate that. (Screenshot taken via Nintendo Switch)

The story is simple, and I like it for its’ simplicity. It’s not complicated like Blazblue Cross Tag Battle, or any fighting game for that manner. One clicheI’m surprised they didn’t go with was the whole “Villains team up only to argue and then backstab one another when cornered” cliché. Geese and M Bison instead worked well together and fought well together. With that said, how does the gameplay holdup? Let’s find out.

GAMEPLAY – Two-Button combat returns

Terry vs. the 3 clone Guards. (Screenshot taken via Nintendo Switch)

In this game, you have the 4 directional buttons for moving and jumping, and the A and B Buttons for attacking. jumping up then pressing down and A/B at the same time as you reach the apex of the jump executes your down attack.

You also have a special meter which fills up as you land and take blows throughout your battles.
Speaking of battles, your character’s opposing series rival will save you from Vega in Stage 5 before challenging you to a battle that’ll determine your ending in advance. Winning secures your character’s good ending, and losing secures the bad ending.

In terms of characters, you have 18 at the start, and 8 to unlock. You get get 1-3/4 puzzle pieces at random when you beat the game’s final boss (depending on the outcome of the rival fight in Stage 5).
Repeatedly playing the same mode with different characters over and over is the only option on the switch to unlocking these characters as far as I know, since there doesn’t seem to be a transfer option for points earned in the Olympics mode.

The Olympics mode features characters from other SNK and Capcom properties such as Ghosts ‘N Goblins and Samurai Shodown for example. The soundtrack and graphics are very well down for a Neo Geo game. However, the 1 vs 3 guards fight was easily the hardest in the game for me, regardless of difficulty. It took me 3-4 tries to beat, which is why my first playthrough took me nearly 30 minutes. Also, who goes first in that matchup as well as who’s used is random.

CONCLUSION – A Timeless SNK-Capcom Classic

This game may be short, but the features, hidden characters and supers, Olympics Mode, and adjustable difficulty settings will keep you coming back for more and more. It’s a true, and very timeless, classic gem. It truly lived up to its’ title of Match of the Millennium (heh!)

Review: Kill It With Fire

Daniel Waite

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Feb 27, 2021

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For many people, the thought of spiders brings them out in a cold sweat. These eight-legged, hairy beasts are the stuff of nightmares. Usually those that suffer with Arachnophobia would turn the opposite way when presented with one of these creatures. Now you can stand your ground and smash them into a million pieces.

Kill Them With Fire is a tongue in cheek first-person action adventure game. It focuses solely on the decimation of every arachnid you face. Developed by Casey Donnellan Games LLC and published by tinyBuild, this amusing fighting game has you running around many levels. You’ll rip apart its contents, and beat the crap out of anything that moves.

Potentially shallow.

Let’s be honest for a moment, it doesn’t sound the most complex or in-depth concept I’ve ever come across. Effectively, it’s; explore, ransack, hunt and destroy, though not necessarily in that order. Though the premise is simple, there is a lot more to it than meets the eye.

Yeah, I think throwing that plant away would be best!

Each stage contains a multitude of objectives and hidden objects. Doors are locked until you the hit the spider killing target, and many of the items are hidden behind the objectives that you must complete. Alongside all of this, you will also obtain new; guns, projectiles, make shift flamethrowers, and several melee weapons. Each allows you a different approach, and some have limited uses. This ensures that some thought process must be applied to how and when you use them. You will also be able to upgrade equipment to increase character attributes and inventory size.

Mindless fun!

Admittedly, it has more going for it than I first expected, yet it still has that undertone of mindless fun, and I loved it for that. Though each level was small and easy to navigate, it was packed with detail. There were plenty of hiding places for spiders and lots of objectives to complete.

Although it has much to do to keep you entertained, it doesn’t offer much in the way of a challenge. At least not if all you wish to do is run through it as quickly as possible. The spiders come in many shapes and forms, but they are more afraid of you, than you are of them (maybe it’s the flamethrower pointed at their head?) The ransacking of each area takes little to no time, so success is all but guaranteed. You will fly through level after level; squishing, shooting and burning everything in sight, and you will laugh like an insane evil genius. It’s childish, inane, but so much fun.

Last gen graphics.

For all of its enjoyment factor, and there really is a lot, the presentation isn’t one of them. Though it’s not terrible to look at, it doesn’t wow you either. The first-person perspective lacks detail and has few smooth edges. It reminded me of a last generation console game, or low end PC title. It’s perfectly serviceable, but won’t blow you away. The bright colour and tone was gaudy to look at, and the level designs are simple and fail to evolve much past the initial stages. It was a shame that more polish wasn’t applied to this element.

The audio is equally uninspired, with what can only be described as lift music pattering along in the background. I expected a variety of tempo’s and tones to represent the danger that you face from the spiders, and this happened with a sharp piano tune, but I wanted more drama. What I did like, however, was the sound effects for each of the weapons and the screech of the spiders that you faced. Each had a unique sound, so once you familiarised yourself with it, you knew which arachnid you were going up against.

Clumsy controls.

Having originally been released for PC, it’s obvious to me that the game was optimised for use with mouse and keyboard. Though it’s not terrible to operate, it can be clumsy, jerky and a bit of a pain on the finer details. Shooting your gun lacked finesse, and there was no way to look down the sights. Selecting objects was a challenge because of the accuracy of the cursor, and buttons weren’t as responsive as I’d have liked. You won’t struggle to play it because of this, you’ll just wonder why it hasn’t been tightened up in nearly every aspect.

If it wasn’t for the many objectives that you face, you’d argue that this lacks depth and replay value. Thankfully, the challenges that you face will make you replay each level, and you will aim to gather all the weapons and the upgraded equipment. A moderate achievement list adds a reasonable amount of game time, but will probably to be ignored by most players. Only the completionists among us will consider taking this task on.

Silly spider squashing fun!

If you jump onto this thinking that you’ll get a massively deep experience with lots of lore, and a rich story presented on a glorious tapestry, you will be sorely disappointed. It’s a casual, silly and fun first-person fighting game that doesn’t take itself too seriously. You have the freedom to explore, destroy and kill anything in sight, so make the most of it. Do I recommend it? Yes, if you want to have a light-hearted game in your library, then buy it here! Spiders are running wild, grab your weapon of choice, find where they are hiding, and take their lives.

Review: Golf with Your Friends

Sibonisile Motha

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Feb 27, 2021

0

It’s all about the game (and a disclaimer)

Naturally, I am the furthest thing from a golf fan. With that disclaimer out of the way, I am happy to report that as a gamer, I have played golf video games in the past (and yes, I was always Tiger Woods. Always.). This time, I got to play a quirky one called Golf with Your Friends. Developed by Backlight Interactive and published by Team17, Golf with Your Friends officially made its release across consoles and PC in May 2020.

As Golf with Your Friends is a sports game, the only major plot comes in the form of your journey to being number one on the digital green. From the humble beginnings to getting your initial putts to the betrayal of your friendship when your winning shot gets abruptly stopped by a planted trap, and finally your triumphant victory. Until the next course.

Gameplay: Shoot your shot

Gameplay may seem like simple golf, right? Wrong. Golf with Your Friends needs you to work for your win. How you play the game is up to you. From the course to difficulty – you choose. There are two ways to play: Online and Offline.

Online vs Offline

With Online you can either host or join a Golf with Your Friends lobby and play against other aspiring golfers – all with the bonus of a safe and socially distanced game. Online will also need you to play a smart and tactful game off-the-course. You can set traps and use rewards you earn during gameplay to create added advantages. You will soon learn how cutthroat this sport can be.
It is important to note that this is not realistic golf and there isn’t a large trophy with lots of zeroes in your bank account when you win, but you can get a Viking hat that your golf ball can wear to your next match. Just saying. Each completed course earns you a reward that you can use to decorate, help you and even give you the advantage over your opponents in your face-offs.

On the flip side of things, we have Offline play. This is a place to play and fail in peace. Without the added threat of a honey trap from an opponent, you can master your shots and avoid the natural humiliation that comes with taking more than 10 shots at a single hole only to forfeit it in the end (it can happen to anyone…). But this doesn’t mean it is any easier to win. Thankfully there is Practice available too. Practice mode is all about the vibes of playing the game – no timer no penalties, no restrictions, just you and the continual improvement of your shots.

Golf with Your Friends, Candyland course

The Course Experience

As of recently, there are 13 courses to play on. My personal favorites were Oasis (and not just because I scored my first Hole in One here), Twilight, and Candyland. Each course is designed to keep its theme running through each hole you will face. From the color schemes to the unique challenges, you will both love and hate each course for your reasons.

Onto the gameplay controls. Golf with Your Friends has simple controls which I appreciated. With the left stick, you can control the force and speed of the shot you take by moving it vertically. You can also control the spin you add to your shot which is very useful in those settings that require a the-Matrix-like-shot. The right stick controls your view and the camera as the hole isn’t always as straightforwardly visible as you might hope. Other buttons can be used depending on your selected game mode. You can choose from 5 available modes: Classic, Dunk, Hockey, Explore, and Party. And if you feel you want a unique mode to play, you have the option of creating a custom mode where you have adjusted the difficulty, timing, gravity, and even the shape of the ball.

Visuals and Issues

The visuals of the game are nice and do add to the charm of the game’s quirkiness across the board. I will give Golf with Your Friends points for that. The background music is also upbeat which is very necessary when you’re on your 14th shot at the same hole (yes, I’m looking at you sir Hole 16 of the Forest course – I WILL be back.)

There were a few technical issues I experienced in the game, however. The game would randomly glitch and cause problems by either obstructing my view or resetting me off the course, making it impossible for me to get back on track and completing the hole. In some instances, I would be forced to forfeit the hole just to overcome the glitch. As frustrating as this was, I still had some good moments with this title.

The verdict: To putt or not to putt?

My biggest takeaway from Golf with Your Friends is my newfound Golf lingo education – a hole in one, Birdie, Eagle, Par, Bogey, and Double Bogey – I finally know what they mean now (please refer back to the disclaimer at the beginning of this review).

At the end of it all, I can confidently say that Golf with Your Friends is a charming golf game that you can enjoy by yourself or with others.

Review: Ghosts ‘N Goblins Resurrection

Bryan Applegate

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Feb 27, 2021

0

Is Ghosts ‘N Goblins Resurrection as good as Arthur’s Gold armor, or does it just easily fall apart?

INTRO – My History With Ghosts ‘N Goblins

Before we get into Ghosts ‘N Goblins Resurrection, here’s my history with this series.

I recently have gotten into the Ghosts ‘N Goblins series in 2020. I first got exposed to this series thanks to the Nintendo Switch Online service. I first played the NES Ghosts ‘N Goblins through the NES Switch Online application on the Switch. Super Ghouls ‘N Ghosts and Demon’s Crest – the latter a spinoff of Ghosts ‘N Goblins and a sequel to Gargoyle’s Quest on Game Boy – were next on my list, through the SNES App. The SNES Ghosts ‘N Goblins game was enjoyable – far more so than the NES version. Demon’s Crest, on the other hand, was infuriating to get used to controls-wise, and playing as the Red Arremer known as Firebrand was.. an incredible experience that made up for the difficult controls.

With my personal history lesson on this series out of the way, however, let’s see if the newest installment, Ghosts ‘N Goblins Resurrection, is as good as the rest of the series, or if it falls apart at the slightest touch.

STORY – A retelling of a Ghosts ‘N Goblins classic

The Red Arremer, sometimes confused with Satan and known as Firebrand, awaits you after trying to ambush you by knocking a bell down off a ruined church.

The story of Ghosts ‘N Goblins Resurrection is a reboot. The forces of Hell have invaded a village and Princess Prin Prin is kidnapped. Arthur attempts to rescue her straight away, but is KO’d by the shadowy winged demon (presumed to be a Red Arremer). Arthur, undeterred,suits back up and sets out to rescue both Princess Prin Prin, and the Umbral Bees that fled the Umbral Tree due to the demonic attack. From there, the story is strsightforward.

Before anyone even asks, and this is a HUGE Spoiler, you get a credits roll, enemy highlight reel, and altered Shadow versions of whatever stage 1s and 2s you chose to clear on your first playthrough, so technically, the game can be beaten on your first playthrough with everything unlocked and completed (More on that in the Gameplay section).

It’s a simple, and effective story. The lack of having to play through the game twice for the true ending can be a turn off for hardcore fans of the series, and it probably is, but at least the game gives you the ending after the 1st playthrough for your hard work.

GAMEPLAY – The Classic Formula is Back for a New Generation

The game will keep track of how many times a Banner of Rebirth was used, and how many deaths you had in a given level. Way to mock us, game!

The gameplay for Ghosts ‘N Goblins Resurrection is PUNISHINGLY hard. If you’re playing on PAGE difficulty – one of four difficulties – you’re probably a newcomer to this series. In that case, I don’t blame you. Immediate resurrection (heh!) upon death is nice prospect. it does take from the challenge this series is known for quite a bit, though.

Squire gives you 4 hits before death and reduces the count of enemies on screen, though Stage 4 is still able to show a lot of enemies at the start if you’re not careful.

Knight difficulty gives you 3 hits to work with, and a familiar, but somewhat merciful, challenge with some checkpoints.

Legend difficulty gives you ONE checkpoint once you reach the boss. Die at ANY POINT beforehand, and it’s back to the beginning of the stage with you, just like the old archaic days of the 1980s.

But wait, there’s 7 stages in this game to complete. You’ll need to complete and memorize all 7 in order to gather all of the Umbral Bees and restore the Umbral Tree to its’ former glory. There are 2 Stage 1s, and 2 Stage 2s.

Also, if you die against a boss or tough section enough times, the game will generally give you hints on how to deal with it, even on the Legend difficulty. Here’s a picture down below.

The game will give you hints on how to beat the bosses, even on the hardest difficulty. What an insult to my pride!

The game, from a graphical standpoint, looks very beautiful, and the soundtrack compliments the gameplay as well. Each theme feels like was remixed from either the NES Ghosts ‘N Goblins or Super Ghouls ‘N Ghosts and sounds so freaking good!

On the subject of Umbral Bees, this game brings back magical abilities, first introduced in Ghouls ‘N Ghosts. As I noticed, a lot of elements got brought back from there into this installment.
From the tower boss rush to Lucifer – I’m sorry, “Loki”, to the Shielder, to the Golden Armor. This game is big love letter to the first two games, and it relishes in it.

I had nearly 200 deaths by the end of my first playthrough on Squire difficulty. I can’t wait to see how much that total goes up on he harder difficulties. . . Speaking of which, if you want to experiment with the difficulties in this game, then die on a higher enough times and it will give you an option to lower the difficulty.

CONCLUSION – Is it GOOD?!

Overall, despite the INFURIATING challenges this game will throw at you, it’s very enjoyable. I actually enjoyed myself playing this. Definitely way more so than the original. I do intend on playing on either Knight or Legend difficulty on a seperate save file, since you can’t change the difficulty mid-game unless you want to lower the challenge mid-level. It was very enjoyable, and I look forward to the next installment in this rebooted series.

NOTE:Ghosts ‘N Goblins Resurrection was provided to Movies Games and Tech by Capcom, and offered to me for review. I accepted.

NOTE: This isn’t my only review for this site. I recommend you read my review on City of Brass if you want a shorter review from me.

Review: Raji: An Ancient Epic

Wil Raterman

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Feb 26, 2021

0

Nodding Heads Games makes their developmental debut with this action-filled and acrobatic adventure. Medieval India has never looked so vibrant and colorful as you climb your way through a simply stunning visual experience. Obtain magical weapons, and learn elemental skills to fight dark manifestations from ancient Hindu Mythology. A once Nintendo Switch exclusive, this title has been ported to PC, thus satiating those who prefer different gaming peripherals. Raji: An Ancient Epic is an adventure worth picking up, even if the core gameplay is a little rough around the edges.

Raji’s Quest

The story revolves around the title character Raji, a circus performer whose brother has been kidnapped. She sets out to save him under close watch and narration of Vishnu and Goddess Druga. They bless her with mighty weapons and magical powers to fight off the demons that took her brother, Golu. The storytelling from above keeps the player company. You definitely feel the Gods’ support and guidance when you see illuminated ledges and beacons pointing you in the right direction. This was a clever way to incorporate hints into the game without breaking the fourth wall. The entities above paired with Raji’s strong resiliency create a feel-good Shonen style story. This is easily what makes Raji: An Ancient Epic stand out amongst it’s indie developed peers. So, how does this title play and feel?

Who Is Playing Who Here?

Stiff controls can make or break a title. In this case it honestly does both. I did enjoy the platforming challenge utilizing the tight controls. Running up walls and timing jumps perfectly with little room for error added a fun challenge. This is reminiscent of Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. Checkpoints are frequent so you won’t get set back too far. Being able to triple jump down a long corridor, like in Super Mario 64, kept my twitch control urges occupied as I ingested the beautiful architecture and landscapes. I really didn’t find any issue with the control style in terms of movement and acrobatics. This wasn’t the case for the combat.

There are different weapons, move sets, and special attacks that can tailor to your playstyle.

With a fair amount of moves, jumps, and attacks, you would expect to feel relatively free on the battlefield. In reality, some moves lock on to enemies and some do not. This results in Raji changing direction mid combo and looking a bit clueless. When another enemy is firing projectiles at you from afar while you’re stuck figuring out which target to lock on to, you will take damage. And die. Also, good luck running up walls and landing an aerial attack perfectly. A challenge is always welcome and accepted, but the mistakes should fall on the player, rather than the game. I tried switching from mouse and keyboard to a controller, but felt like I had even less control of Raji. This is a classic case of “the game is playing you” rather than the intended vice versa.

A Semi-Immersive Enviromnent

The narration from the gods above paired with the interactable murals in game teach India’s deities and religious history nicely. I was really enticed learning about all of the religious figures and customs taught through statues and puzzles that are a part of Raji’s story. This made enduring the clunky combat, to reach another platforming and explorational segment to advance the plot, worthwhile.

Raji: An Ancient Epic is a linear adventure. You are limited to climbing specific walls and jumping over only the intended gaps. Though the paths are marked properly to avoid confusion, it still felt weird. I couldn’t climb a specific wall, or jump into a certain window simply because the game told me so. Keep in mind only seven people created this title, and deadlines are no joke.

Bottom Line

What Raji: An Ancient Epic’s most notable point to take in is the limited personnel. Of course this debut title has a few cracks in the pavement, given the circumstance, but so was my audition tape to play guitar in a garage rock band. It’s exciting to see India make moves in hopes to secure relevancy in a growing global market. Support the artists here and purchase this game, so we can hopefully experience what Nodding Heads Games can accomplish under a full-scale operation.

PlayStation’s ‘PS Plus’ Games for March 2021 Announced

Gaming
News

Sean McCarthy

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Feb 26, 2021

0

PlayStation’s ‘PS Plus’ Games for March 2021 Announced

Well what a way to follow up a ‘State of Play’ event than to reveal the March 2021 line up of titles for PS Plus subscribers, and by giving Final Fantasy VII Remake for PS4 to all with PS Plus right off the bat. This is yet another strong line up especially for those fortunate enough to have grabbed a PS5 console:

Final Fantasy VII Remake, Maquette, Remnant: From the Ashes and Farpoint are your PlayStation Plus games for March: https://t.co/tQFJNoURI9 pic.twitter.com/cPOmwsKxHN
— PlayStation (@PlayStation) February 26, 2021

Final Fantasy VII Remake – PS4

Square Enix’s modern reimagining of its iconic RPG boasts unforgettable characters, a mind-blowing story and epic battles. Return to the city of Midgar as Cloud Strife, former member of Shinra’s elite SOLDIER unit now turned mercenary, lends his aid to the resistance group Avalanche. Initially executing daring raids against Shinra to fight back against its planet-threatening machinations, Cloud and his comrades are unaware of the epic consequences that await them.

Now some eyebrows have been raised with the news that the PS4 version of Final Fantasy VII Remake available to PlayStation Plus members is not eligible for the PS5 digital version upgrade. This will likely mean that the PS5 upgrade will be included in the DLC as an ‘Intergrade’ pack in June, which if you were going to get the DLC anyway, in my opinion makes this not an issue in particularly giving that by the time you complete the main game, you are definitely going to want the DLC!

Maquette PS5 Edition:

All that is tiny is simultaneously huge in this intriguing first-person puzzler designed around a Escher-esque recursive simulation. Making its PlayStation 5 debut as part of next month’s PlayStation Plus lineup, Maquette sets you in the center of a world the rules of which are very different from our own. Solutions to puzzles require you to twist the world recursively – manipulating the landscape of a diorama will see those changes mirrored in the life-sized version that surrounds you. If you get perplexed by a puzzle, you can call up PS5’s Game Help for helpful hints to solve Maquette’s tougher conundrums.

Remnant: From the Ashes – PS4

In this third-person survival action shooter, play as one of the last remnants of humanity attempting to retake a world overrun by monstrous, interdimensional invaders. Venture into dynamically-generated worlds alone or with up to two other survivors, scavenging for supplies and modding your equipment to strengthen your chances of survival when tackling over 100 deadly varieties of enemy and battling epic bosses.

Farpoint – PS VR

Some love being shown for PS4 VR with Far Point. Master an arsenal of weapons to keep yourself alive on a hostile alien world in this free-roaming, first-person PS VR shooter. Optimised for the PlayStation VR Aim controller and fully playable with a DualShock wireless controller, strike out towards your crashed space station solo or with a friend in online co-op. Trade alien threats for testing each other’s skills in a variety of Versus game modes.

These games will be available until April 5, 2021 to all with an active PS Plus Subscription and in the new tradition of giving people more time to grab a PS5, Destruction Allstars for PS5 has been extended to April 5th as well for this February PS Plus Title.

Source – PlayStation Blog

Review: Retrace: Memories of Death

Daniel Waite

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Feb 26, 2021

0

If you could change your present by revisiting the past, would you? You have the power to choose who lives and who dies, could you use it? These are the questions that you’ll have to answer in Retrace: Memories of Death. A single-player, logic-based puzzle adventure title that asks you to overcome many problems in a dark and sinister world.

Developed by Spider Lily Studios and Eastasiasoft Limited and published by the latter, this atmospheric game will test your ability to solve a variety of problems, and it’ll push your memory to its limits. You will experience part, or whole sections of the gameplay repeatedly as you slowly piece together the correct course to take.

Simple premise done well!

The idea of time manipulation and travel isn’t a new concept, but how it was utilised here was both interesting and enjoyable. The constant changes of direction within the narrative made you question your thought process and actions. The mystery surrounding the circumstances of the story are; odd, haunting, and keep you feeling uneasy. The plot isn’t a masterpiece, but it’s written well enough that you begin to empathise with each character’s plight.

So, what on earth has happened in this creepy game? Freya (the female lead) and her friends intend to take a ghost tour of their hometown. This cheesy event isn’t to everyone’s liking, however, the group plans on taking the trip, nonetheless. Before the bus arrives, an earthquake shatters the peace, and the group of 4 is thrown into another realm. A universe filled with; horrors, death and puzzles.

A menacing sentry walks silently around the mansion that is now your prison. The more you desire to escape, the higher the risk that he’ll find you and kill you. It’s a dangerous world and actions must be achieved in a certain order. Failure to do so causes death to yourself and your loved ones.

A deadly feeling of Deja Vu.

Options must be considered, and answers given. The correct choices will see you progress, but then you find you are stuck. You have forgotten to find keys, or collect objects for issues that arrive later. You must return to the void and start again. You’ll learn from your errors and won’t make the same mistakes again. This is the crux of the problem solving, and the simplicity is absolutely glorious.

“Ah, you idiot” will be muttered repeatedly as items are forgotten, or puzzles failed. Reloading back into key points is quick, and though there is a break in the action, you feel fully immersed in everything that is happening in the surrounding world.

Multiple endings are offered, each with its own depressing finale. You must work hard, observing the small clues, and piecing together each moment with every character to hit the true happy ever after finish. You may think “It seems repetitive and slow!” Repetition is a key mechanism in what makes this game work, but it’s far from slow or boring.

Hitting the right sequence, or uncovering a missing item, is fantastic, it’s a euphoric moment when you finally pass a section you’ve been stuck on for ages. This makes Retrace: Memories of Death great. It’s gentle pace, and small pieces of the jigsaw slowly put together to create the bigger picture. The mystery slowly unravels, and eventually you understand the world you now exist in.

The 16-bit retro look.

If I was told that this was a remake of a Sega Mega Drive game, I wouldn’t have been shocked. Every element screamed retro and old-school. The character movement and look was dated, but worked well. The subdued colour palette did wonders at creating a sinister vibe, and the gothic text style worked brilliantly with the dark theme. It won’t win any medals for beauty, but it was on point for this style of game.

The audio does brilliant job of enhancing the sinister, doomed atmosphere. The slow minor tones drag you through a range of emotions, and though occasionally you hit a high point, mostly its; sombre, melancholy, and depressing as hell.

It’s only a rotting corpse in the corner.

Walk crash, walk crash!

Get used to bumping into everything and anything as Freya likes nothing more than to meander into any person or inanimate object. To say its cumbersome and awkward is an understatement! It’s as if the use of analogue has been restricted to D-pad directional controls. It’s in keeping with the retro nature, however, I wasn’t a fan. It doesn’t ruin the game, I just wish it was sharper.

With the story diverging across so many paths, and the multiple endings, this will keep you playing for some time. Your progress heavily depends on your logic-skill and memory, so some gamers may find this considerably easier and shorter than others. A small achievement list is obtained through natural progression, and all endings must be uncovered to gain the 100% status. For completionists, this has a considerable amount of replay valve.

Deja Vu isn’t always a bad thing!

Wake, eat, sleep, repeat. If only it were that simple. Wake, deadly earthquake, horror realm, death! This is your life now, unless you solve the puzzles and break the cycle. An excellent testing game that will make you think outside of the box, and curse your inability to remember. You must piece together the many small parts of this mystery and try to save yourself and the others from this horror universe. It’s a game that I recommend you try, so buy it here! Can you help Freya and her friends survive their new prison? Logic and luck must be on your side in order to succeed.

PlayStation’s ‘State of Play’ February 25th 2021 – All News and Trailers

Gaming
News

Sean McCarthy

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Feb 25, 2021

0

PlayStation’s ‘State of Play’ February 25th 2021 – All News and Trailers

It actually feels quite a weird time for the first ‘State of Play’ briefing for PlayStation due to the on going issue with people actually being able to get hold of a PS5 console in multiple regions. But with the confirmation of PSVR for PS5 in the works, this would be a good time to get an update on games first announced in June 2020 when the PS5 was revealed…gosh that was so long ago. Going into this, I am not expecting big massive news or release dates for God of War: Ragnarok or Horizon into the West but….well, stranger things have happened.

Below you will find all the news and trailers and then my final thoughts on this 30 or so minute briefing:

Crash Bandicoot 4: PS5 Upgrade Features:

Toys For Bob dives into the enhanced features of Crash Bandicoot 4: It’s About Time on PlayStation 5! The PS5 version of the game is available on March 12, the PS4 version is available now. If you own the PS4 version of the game, an upgrade option is available at no cost. To upgrade the PlayStation 4 disc version of the game to the digital PS5 version, you’ll need a PS5 console with a disc drive. Owners of a PS4 disc copy must insert it into the PS5 every time they want to download or play the PS5 digital version.

Returnal: Gameplay Overview Trailer

The first PS5 roguelite shooter is almost here. Get your first look at some of the latest gameplay awaiting our hero as well as some of the awesome weapons, abilities, and enemies!

Knock Out City – Gameplay Spotlight Trailer

Welcome to Knockout City™, where the hits never stop coming—literally. Get your first look now, and catch it May 21, 2021, for cross-play dodgeball domination. Team up, define your style, and take on rival Crews in lightning-fast dodgeball matches all over the city, from the Concussion Yard to the just-announced Back Alley Brawl. Got skills? Good, you’ll need ‘em if you wanna win! Show off your moves and use Special Balls like the Sniper Ball to get an edge on your opponents and claim the win. For you brave brawlers out there, the introduction of Face Off mode lets you prove you’ve got the stuff one on one. Go on, now, hit them with your best shot! Join the cross-play beta: http://www.ea.com/games/knockout-city… Learn more about Knockout City: https://blog.playstation.com/2021/02/…

New PS5 Game – Sifu

Sifu is the new game of Sloclap, the independent studio behind Absolver. A third person action game featuring intense hand-to-hand combat, it puts you in control of a young Kung-Fu student on his path of revenge throughout the city. Coming out on Playstation in 2021. For more information head to https://www.sifugame.com

New PS5 Game – Solar Ash

Journey through a surreal, vivid and highly stylized world filled with mystery, wild high-speed traversal, and massive enemy encounters. Can you save your home from the Ultravoid? For more information head to https://annapurnainteractive.com/game…

New PS5 Game – Five Nights at Freddy’s: Security Breach

A glimpse of FNAF: Security Breach. https://www.steelwoolstudios.com/

Oddworld: Soulstorm

Get to know Oddworld: Soulstorm a little better in our latest feature in which we highlight just some of the things you can expect this spring when it arrives on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5.

Kena Bridge of Spirits: Release Date Trailer

A story-driven action adventure with a stunning visual aesthetic combining exploration with fast-paced combat. Players find and grow a team of charming spirit companions called the Rot, enhancing their abilities and creating new ways to manipulate the environment. Kena: Bridge of Spirits seamlessly blends action and narrative into an unforgettable experience. Travel with Kena, a young Spirit Guide on a quest to uncover the mysterious story surrounding the demise of the village.

Deathloop: Official Trailer 3

Is this déjà vu? Fall deeper into the mystery of Blackreef with a brand new DEATHLOOP gameplay trailer featuring PS5 next-gen gameplay and an original song by Sencit feat. FJØRA. Everyone knows the feeling of déjà vu – that sensation that you’ve experienced something before. For Colt, this feeling is near-constant. Trapped in a time loop, Colt has been experiencing déjà vu for as long as he can remember. Every time the day loops, it’s a struggle to remember everything and use the knowledge he has to push himself forward and, hopefully, off the island of Blackreef.

Final Fantasy VII Remake – Integrade DLC Reveal and PS5 Upgrade

FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE is coming to PlayStation 5 on June 10th 2021 as FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE INTERGRADE; a visually enhanced edition of the critically acclaimed and award winning game, featuring a brand new episode featuring Yuffie as the main character, and numerous gameplay additions for players to enjoy. Experience the city of Midgar like never before, with improved textures, lighting and atmospheric fog. Switch between the game modes “Graphics mode” which prioritises 4K high-resolution graphics, and “Performance mode” which prioritises smooth action at 60 frames per second and capture and share your favourite moments of this timeless adventure with a fully customisable Photo Mode. Enjoy immersive battles by using the DualSense PS5 controller with its hapic feedback integration. In the brand new episode featuring Yuffie, play as ninja Yuffie Kisaragi as she infiltrates the shadowy Shinra corporation to steal a powerful Materia and restore glory to her homeland. Play alongside new characters and enjoy an expanded gameplay experience featuring multiple new combat and gameplay additions. This adventure brings new perspective to the FINAL FANTASY VII REMAKE story that cannot be missed.

That is a wrap!

My Thoughts….

Well…..did not see the closing of this State of Play being a reveal of a full PS5 upgrade for Final Fantasy VII Remake as well as DLC for it, this was rumoured you may remember, to be revealed during the FFVII Celebration concert in Japan 3 weeks back but never happened. But yeah, as someone who recently fired up FFVII Remake on my new PS5 only to see it have no updated features at all compared to other titles, this news is huge and the new features and upgraded visuals looks stunning not to mention new content as well with Yuffie entering the story.

Other than that, having a release date finally for the beautiful Kena Bridge of Spirits is a welcome surprise, just before my birthday in September as well, thank you Sony. This State of Play was pretty much what I expected, few big surprises other than the FFVII Remake news and just an update really on soon to release games like Deathloop which is looking particularly awesome and Returnal which has enough roguelike gameplay to turn my head towards it more. Sifu is right up my ally as a fighting game fan and it certainly looks intriguing.

For the first ‘State of Play’ of 2021, this was the measured update event I expected it to be, nothing massively big but enough to have PS5 fans excited and hopeful this early in the year. Fingers crossed with many of the games shown tonight being for the middle of the year, more fans will have had the opportunity to pick up a PS5 console. Im still buzzing over that Sifu trailer and FF VII Remake news, should keep be going until the next State of Play.