Konami has spent the last decade or so periodically releasing retro compilations, even grabbing the rights to TMNT to bring back some much-loved bodacious classics. While the time will likely come one day, their cherished Parodius franchise – an eccentric parody of Gradius – goes untouched despite having enough entries to populate a collection. With …
2012’s Painkiller: Hell & Damnation was a moderate success on Xbox 360 and PS3, offering relentless satanic shooting at a time when every publisher had a dull military-themed FPS to their name. An infallible experience it wasn’t, however, gaining criticism for mindlessness. Rather than bring Painkiller back from the grave in the form of a …
Sensing Déjà vu when playing something is never a good sign, as it usually means the developer has been rather brazen with their inspiration. That, or you’ve somehow bought the same game twice on different formats. I couldn’t shake that feeling when jumping into Ultimate Zombie Defense, leading me to flick through my digital catalogue …
When taking on the persona of Van Helsing and gunning down countless horror-themed enemies, in a bid to reunite the hunter with his prized pups, I thought I’d be done and dusted in a few hours – leaving just the score chasing element to return to. But here we are, several hours of playtime later …
If you go into this surreal survival horror without knowing it comes from a solo developer, you’d easily believe it was created by a modestly sized studio. Solo developed games tend to be personal small-scale projects, or relatively simple pixel art adventures and platformers, making this a rare exception. Andrei Chernyshov has spent the last …
As the name suggests, this modern single screen arcade game is intended to look and feel as if it came straight from 1985. It’s perhaps a bit more advanced than it lets on though, much to its credit. Amongst the highest grossing arcade machines of that year were Commando, Kung Fu Master and Karate Champ, …
We’ve reached the point in the Vampire Survivors fuelled auto-shooter craze where developers are imagining how the genre would have looked and played decades ago. It’s the original Diablo that provides the bulk of inspiration here, sporting similar detailed 2D sprites and a quasi-isometric viewpoint. It isn’t difficult at all to imagine somebody playing Halls …
Considering even arcades themselves are seldom seen outside of busier seaside towns, it’s always pleasing to see GameMill bringing one of Raw Thrill’s bold and brash arcade games to consoles. Raw Thrills of course being one of the few companies left producing arcade machines that aren’t ticket/prize redemption based. Bootleg keyrings and mini pots of …
Conceptually, Acre Crisis sounds really promising. It’s a PS1-era style first-person shooter with a similar plot to the original Resident Evil, only taking place on a dinosaur filled island (a la Dino Crisis) instead of inside an eerie mansion. It promises a brief 2-3 hour playtime, which pairs well with its arcade sensibilities such as …
Allow me to introduce you to Schrödinger’s cart. Unlike the previous two AVGN games, which favoured 16-bit style visuals, this new endeavour transports us back to the past and into the 8-bit era. The reason behind this, aside from nostalgia, is that it’s due a physical NES release in the future. It exists as a …
As one of the first commercially available microcomputers, arriving in 1982, for many ‘80s youths the ZX Spectrum was a gateway to a whole new dimension – especially those who spent their dinner money playing the latest arcade games. The humble computer was soon superseded by its rivals yet captured the minds of a generation, …
This surreal and aptly named shooter commences in a war zone, revealing a soldier faced with enemy troops advancing on their position. As they draw closer, they find themselves too terrified to even pull the rifle’s trigger. Upon being captured the screen fades to black just as their inner monologue brands themselves a failure. What …
Publisher Kalypso has spent decades nurturing the Port Royale series, recently re-thinking and modernising the franchise entirely with Tortuga – A Pirate’s Tale. Every title has been an improvement over the last, with later entries even finding their way to consoles. It has taken a long time for the franchise to get where it is now…only …
Beloved beagle Snoopy was a gaming mainstay in the ‘80s, with even Nintendo acquiring the Peanuts license for a range of Game & Watch handhelds. The ‘90s however ushered in a new wave of gaming, fuelled by fast paced and often violent action titles. In fact, it took a CGI movie for the Peanuts gang …
Researching this vertical shooter franchise led me to discover that the notorious Phoenix Games handled Sonic Wings Special on PS1 in Europe, releasing it as late as 2004. That’s the same publisher behind such low effort guff as Snow White and the Seven Clever Boys and Winky the Little Bear. It was a time when …