Matt Gander 
If you’ve played Nintendo’s monochrome marvel Zelda: Link’s Awakening, then you may feel a sense of familiarity with Time on Frog Island. Specifically, Link’s Awakening’s optional trade quest that entailed swapping items with certain characters, starting with a Yoshi doll won from a claw machine. Time on Frog Island takes the concept of ‘trading …
You know it’s a quiet time for the Switch eShop when the only noteworthy offering is an Arcade Archives re-release. That said, a few of the other new indie releases do show some potential. That Arcade Archives re-release is an important one – Taito’s classic single-screen platformer Bubble Bobble, which was a huge hit in …
Cast your mind back to last Thursday. You may have been wrapping presents, last-minute shopping, or getting ready to set your emails to ‘out of office’. Indie publisher PID Games (Plug in Digital) was busy too, showcasing their 2023 line-up in their ‘No Rules, Just Games’ conference. The games shown span all kinds of genres, …
The chilly weather has seemingly impacted the UK chart, with the top ten mostly remaining frozen this week. This means FIFA 23 is no.1 for a second week running, with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II, God of War: Ragnarok, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Pokémon Violet, and Nintendo Switch Sports following behind. At #7 it’s …
I have in my mitts the first festive issue of Sonic the Comic, dated November 27th1993. It wasn’t the closest issue to Christmas, but it did come with a cardboard tree decoration. Now seems a good time to talk about this issue, the history of Sonic the Comic, and my relationship with Fleetway’s fortnightly publication. …
The Xbox Store and PSN are about to enter a yuletide lull, with just a handful of releases due over the course of the week. On the Switch eShop, it’s business as usual – another thirty-odd games are vying for your time and money. WRC Generations – The FIA WRC Official Game heads to both …
If you read our weekly new release round-ups, you’ve likely noticed that Square-Enix releasing a new RPG almost every week has become a running joke. The joke being most RPGs tend to be vastly timing consuming, while aimed at a certain audience. It’s a mystery how anybody could possibly find the time to play them …
It must be risky pitching a comical experience to a publisher. Humour is vastly subjective – it can take all sorts to make an individual laugh, be it something clever, droll, sarcastic, or crude. Then there’s the matter of humour not travelling well, or being impossible to translate into different languages. Indeed, the fact that …
The UK Christmas chart always boils down to a battle between FIFA and Call of Duty. 2022 just so happens to be a FIFA year, something the World Cup no doubt played a key part in. FIFA 23 being available on Switch likely helped too. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II settles for #2 while …
It’s Christmas week! What treats can we expect other than gift cards, selection boxes, and shower gel sets? Not much more than a few retro re-releases and a handful of belated conversions, it would seem. Square-Enix’s has one final re-release for RPG fans – the PSP’s Valkyrie Profile: Lenneth for PS4/PS5, with quick saves, a …
I sometimes wonder how familiar today’s gamers are with the past. Gori: Cuddly Carnage reminded me of Trickstyle on Dreamcast and, consequently, its spiritual successor AirBlade on PS2. These games are now over two decades old, and neither is frequently mentioned nowadays. But when it came to thinking to think of a more modern counterpart, …
This short space-themed adventure is billed as an experimental experience. What that means, in this instance, is that it doesn’t look or play like a conventional video game. Think of it as an interactive abstract art museum, or a virtual kaleidoscope filled with particle effects and deep space scenes. If the sound of that doesn’t …
If our email inbox is anything to go by, January is looking surprisingly busy for new releases. We can now add the Anniversary Wonder Boy Collection to that ever-growing list. A digital-only release from Bliss Brain, it’s an expanded version of Wonder Boy Collection, which we awarded a 7/10 back in June. It’s set to …
Square-Enix’s Core Crisis: FFVII Reunion could possibly be the last major new Switch release of the year. If this is the case, then we’re about to go out on a high – this PSP remake has been very well received, with the Switch version gaining 8/10s from Nintendo Life and Pocket Tactics, along with a …
This week’s UK top 40 sees two new arrivals. Possibly even three if we count Just For Games’ Instant Sports, which launched in May 2021 but has somehow belatedly entered the top 40 at #38. IAM8BIT’s anticipated physical release of Cuphead took #18, putting it one position higher than the recent NFS Unbound at #19. …