Reviews

Vampire Survivors review

Claiming that gameplay will always be more important than graphics isn’t a particularly bold statement. Many will agree that this has been the case for video games ever since their conception back in the late ‘70s. Pong wasn’t much to look at, but it sold the concept of...
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8

Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration review

The Atari Flashback console series launched in 2017, bringing together 150 games across three volumes – with bespoke versions later launching for Switch and PS Vita. With this in mind, you may be wondering why Atari 50 has generated a buzz, especially when this latest collection offers fewer...
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8

Orbital Bullet review (Switch)

Have you ever found a game hard going before realising that you only had yourself to blame? That was my experience with Orbital Bullet for the first hour or so, finding myself in an early grave due to a penchant for power weapons. The likes of the grenade...
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7

Horse Club Adventures 2: Hazelwood Stories review

Here’s a child-tested review for you. In this family-friendly game, horse enthusiasts can catch up with Sofia, Lisa, Sarah, and Hannah at Lakeside Riding Stables. At the outset, you can customize your character and horse before taking on the main story. A tour of the stables, farm, and...

Lunistice review

Fair warning: I am in my early 40s, and Lunistice has hit me right in the nostalgia. For me it’s a lost Saturn game – and the Saturn specifically, for reasons I can’t quite put my finger on. I think it puts me in mind of Sonic R,...
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8

Save Room review

Resident Evil games are infamous nowadays for their ranking systems, revealing how well you performed and how much time your playthrough took. If the modern entries were to also reveal the amount of time spent managing the inventory, you would likely be surprised – it takes a degree...
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6

Evercade C64 Collection 1 review

The Commodore 64 is one of those rare formats, like the Amiga and Atari ST, where it’s impossible to count how many games were released for it. The 8-bit microcomputer launched in 1982 and was still knocking around in the mid-90s, even gaining conversions of Capcom’s Street Fighter...
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7

Police Simulator: Patrol Officers review

My greatest fear in life – other than physical media vanishing entirely and leaving us in a digital world where we can no longer share or sell things we supposedly own – is playing a simulator with a poor introduction or a barely present tutorial. This fear stems...
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6

Batora: Lost Haven review

I found this latest release from Team17 difficult to get into initially. But as the story advanced, things quickly became a lot more engaging, and I knew I was going to need to see it through to the end – even though I was struggling with the combat...
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7

Outshine review

I always enjoy discovering new typing games. I can max out my typing speed at around 110 words per minute, so not only am I good at the game itself but writing the review only takes about ten minutes out of my day. It’s very efficient. That’s not...
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9

Tanuki Sunset review

If you read lots of indie game reviews, you’ve doubtlessly heard the term ‘passion project’ before. Many indies are precisely that – labours of love, with countless hours poured into them to create a game somebody had the desire to share with the world. Tanuki Sunset takes this...
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7

Shatter Remastered Deluxe review

I can vividly recall seeing Breakout in an arcade for the first time. It was the late ‘80s, and even though far more impressive games existed, I could still tell that Breakout was special. It took the concept of Pong and created a more rewarding single-player experience. Simple,...
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8