If you’re a Switch owner with a passion for RPGs, you’re spoilt for choice. A handful release every month, which is a remarkably different situation to the GameCube era. When Nintendo’s purple cube had its plug pulled, it had only a dozen to its name – some of which never made it to Europe, including …
This interactive visual novel, henceforth just called Inescapable, is set on a tropical desert island. You find yourself kidnapped along with ten other seemingly unrelated individuals and forced to participate in a six month long social experiment. Think Love Island with a murderous Big Brother twist. At the end, as the last person standing, you’ll …
World of Horror is an unsettling but interesting myriad of genres, twisting together Lovecraftian themes with a Junji Ito inspired art style, and packaged together as a 1-bit text-based cosmic horror RPG rogue-like. And what a blessed mishmash – everything has been intricately created in MS Paint with a chiptune soundtrack. Ahh the olden days. …
Recently revived publisher Sunsoft released an incredible number of licensed games during their heyday – covering everything from Batman to Road Runner. When it comes to creating retro collections nowadays, this is largely problematic, limiting the number of potential re-releases. Coupled with the fact that Blaze is more than likely holding back several titles for …
The Official PlayStation 2 Magazine played a pivotal part in generating hype for EA/Criterion’s 2006 first-person shooter Black. They claimed it would progress the shooter genre significantly, comparing its shootouts to Burnout’s crashes – every bullet had the potential to ricochet, bouncing off surfaces and into explosive barrels, causing unforeseen chain reactions. For the most …
This deductive strategy card game pits players against each other to deduce their opponent’s cards and take the crown as Logic King – or Queen. Players each have 10 cards numbered from 0-9, and on the face of things seems quite simple, but there is some strategy and tactical planning required. Think Battleships but with …
In life, nothing is certain other than death and taxes. Over in the world of video games, you can always bank on yearly Call of Duty titles and annual sports sims from Activision and EA, along with regular inexpensive 2D shoot’em ups from indie specialists eastasiasoft. RedRaptor is their latest, being a vertical affair with …
Vincent the thief steals a treasured necklace from a powerful witch believing he was simply robbing a wealthy old lady. As punishment, she condemns him to spend eternity in Whateverland, the witch’s personal purgatorial prison, where she sends just about anyone for a good enough reason. In this point and click adventure, we embark through …
Publisher Ultimate Games are best known for their line of simulators – with previous works including Demolish & Build, Aquarist, Castle Flipper, Fishing Simulator, and the disastrous Deadliest Catch: The Game – yet, and as the name suggests, Anthology of Fear takes the form of a psychological horror adventure. Stepping outside of their comfort zone …
Inception, the 2010 grown-up blockbuster, is the best comparison I’ve got for Cocoon. Not just because they have similar mind-bending worlds-within-worlds structures, but both credit their audience with a good dose of intelligence, and trust that they can keep up. If anything, Cocoon is the more mind-bending, and the clever of the two. There’s no …
Thanks to the self-explanatory title, the premise of this pixel art tower defence battler doesn’t need much elaboration. A trio of mechs located on the left on the screen must protect a shielded wall, ergo the citizens behind it, from the kaiju monsters that emerge from the right. Think Plants vs. Zombies only super-sized and …
Camelot, of Arthurian legend, has fallen. A great thirst for power, the collection of the mythical Holy Grail, and a cataclysm of giants unleashed. They defeat the knights of the Round Table, even Lancelot who’s the best one. In his quest to put things right, Merlin transports Camelot to an in-between realm – The Astral …
What’s the opposite of a precision platformer? An ‘imprecise platformer’ would be the logical answer, but that doesn’t seem the correct terminology, almost suggesting a game’s controls are in some way loose. Whatever the correct answer may be, it describes Bang-On Balls perfectly. This 3D platformer is set in vast and vivid open worlds, where …
Admittedly, I’m a little jealous about the vast number of wholesome games aimed at the younger generation nowadays. Growing up in the ‘90s, choices were limited – if you asked a game store clerk for “something wholesome” they’d probably suggest pre-ordering The California Raisins on NES. The good news is that most modern wholesome games …
Peru-based Bamtang Games only have the Nickelodeon Kart Racers titles to their name – a series where each installment has seen improvement over the last. When it comes to working this newfound expertise into another Nickelodeon franchise, a lot has been asked of the developer, we feel. Quest for Balance falls into a completely different genre, …