Matt Gander 
Around twenty years ago, a fellow gamer asked me to look out for a reasonably priced copy of Tomba. Some two decades later, it’s a request I’ve been unable to fulfil. Since vanishing from store shelves in the late ‘90s, Tomba (and its 1998 sequel) have been tricky to track down. Although they were published …
Talk about perfectly timed. Natsu-Mon: 20th Century Summer Kid is, as the name brazenly suggests, set during the hot summer months. Published by Spike Chunsoft, you play as the son of a circus ringmaster and spend your days exploring the town where the circus currently resides, talking to townsfolk, fishing, bug catching, and watching the …
A few things about this side-scrolling survival adventure are immediately obvious, such as the fantasy setting and its resource gathering/crafting elements. These two features alone are enough to draw early comparisons, with it resembling the 16-bit renditions of Castlevania – even having a vampire-esque character within its playable character pool – but playing more like …
There isn’t much going in within the UK retail chart this week, with all the usual faces present in the top ten and an absence of new entries, so let’s talk about no.1s briefly. In both the all formats top 40 and the Switch top 20, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe takes the top spot. This …
In 2002 the shooter genre was in a pretty good place. We’d just had a double-whammy of Halo and Metroid Prime, while the PS2’s Medal of Honor: Frontline set the foundations for a new wave of WWII based titles. Over on PC, the influences of 1998’s Half-Life were still being felt. The PlayStation 2 was …
Canadian developers Itzy Interactive are about to enter the console market with Mad Devils: Damned-finitive Edition – an enhanced version of their arcade-style co-op shooter that’s about to leap over from PC to PS5 and Xbox Series. Mad Devils is set during a twisted rendition of WWII where the betrayal of an allied special forces …
Sequels! The cornerstone of the industry, intended not only to improve and expand upon their predecessors but also capitalise on their success. As much as we appreciate new IP, a follow-up to a renowned title can be just as exciting, if not more. Three sequels are on this week’s agenda, no less. Volgarr the Viking …
With so many of Capcom’s recent titles setting tills ringing – or whatever the digital storefront equivalent is – it isn’t a huge surprise to see new IP on the agenda. Chances are the coffers were full enough to allow for a smaller, more experimental, project. Sorry, Mega Man, Onimusha, and Dino Crisis fans – …
Presumably due to the kids being off school, the Switch eShop is cluttered with shovelware this week. Not just shoddy looking mobile conversions, but a bunch of adventure style games with trashy AI generated art. One of these is even trying to pass itself off as an official Disney tie-in. Madness. There is at least …
At what point does a mini-game become a full game? It’s a question fans of the Yakuza/Like a Dragon franchise have likely asked themselves at least once, with each entry brimming with distractions – some of which are surprisingly in-depth, such as the competitive remote-controlled racer Pocket Circuit. I’d argue that the playable arcade games aren’t …
Blaze has opened their magic pockets and penned a deal with IP holders Rebellion to secure a new Evercade collection. The Bitmap Brothers Collection 2 will include five Amiga games and one from the PlayStation. It seems that original collection featuring console games over the Amiga originals didn’t go down too well with fans. For those …
The sights and sounds (maybe even the smells) emanating from an old timely inn must be beyond compare. Imagine the mixture of gallant soldiers returning from or heading to war, a rotation of ladies of the night, flea-bitten beggars, and wanted men or varying notoriety passing through the doors. Rather than lean into the aspect …
There’s a new entry within the UK all formats top five, and it’s one you may not have seen coming. The Sims 4: Lovestruck swooned in at #2 in the retail chart, with Hogwarts Legacy holding onto no.1. The rest of the top ten mostly remains unchanged. EA Sports FC 24 dropped to #3, Mario …
A new month is (almost) us. August isn’t looking too shabby for new releases, offering plenty of variety. Next week gives us Konami’s shoot’em up CYGNI: All Guns Blazing, pixel art action platformer Volgarr the Viking II, and the nautical adventure SteamWorld Heist II. Then towards the end of the month, there’s Quantic Dream’s Dustborn, …
Well, this is uncanny. This school management sim bears a startling resemblance to Two Point Campus, especially when it comes to planning and decorating rooms. Be sure to add a window and a radiator, along with a plant or rubbish bin. Indeed, certain aspects are almost identical – it’s just like revisiting Two Point Campus, …