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Swords & Soldiers II Shawarmageddon | Nintendo Switch | Review

17/3/2019

 
Swords-&-Soldiers-II-Shawarmageddon-Nintendo-Switch

Following its launch on PC and PS4 late last year, Ronimo Games (Awesomenauts Assemble!) have brought their side-scrolling strategy title to Nintendo Switch.

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by Liam
​Andrews

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@liam_andrews5


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Developer: Ronimo Games
Publisher:  Ronimo Games
Platforms: Switch, PlayStation 4, PC
Players: 1-2

If the name sounds terribly familiar, that’s probably because it first launched exclusively on the much-maligned Wii U back in 2015. Along with the new Shawarmageddon subtitle, Swords & Soldiers II arrives on Ninty’s hybrid console with a number of “tweaks and improvements” to gameplay and added online multiplayer.

​Campaign mode follows Redbeard the Viking and his army on a series of comical adventures to hunt down missing sheep, accidentally uncovering a sinister plot involving everyone’s favourite meat-based snack in the process. At around 10 hours in length, there’s a sizeable chunk of strategy-based humour on offer here, but, as particular fans of ridiculous character names and terrible puns, we could happily have spent another dozen or so hours with Redbeard and co.

All the action takes place from a 2D perspective, with players battling left-to-right along lanes towards an enemy base or current objective. Resources, either mined or picked up from the battlefield, are used to research and purchase a variety of ground units and abilities in order to accomplish this.

New enemy factions gradually enter the fray as your crusade unfolds, each featuring a range of unique units and powers to help set them apart. You have powers of your own, of course, which cost mana to utilise and are incredibly useful tools for turning battles in your favour. They’re also unconventional, our personal favourites being to bribe powerful enemy units into switching sides, or, when we couldn’t spare the cash, temporarily transforming them into harmless sheep.
Apart from units actively mining resources, which remain at your base unless commanded to collect pick-ups, all units begin marching towards enemy positions immediately once purchased. They give no thought to their own safety or the size of the challenge facing them, therefore, players must manage resources carefully to ensure troops are sent forth in groups, rather than individually. This leads to some interesting strategization, as you’ll want to find potent combinations that best complement each other.

Missions generally feature at least one main objective along with one or two bonus objectives, which encourage you to experiment with tactics or challenge yourself by deliberately making things harder, adding variety to the straightforward level layouts. Main objectives range from simply destroying enemy bases to more memorable tasks like navigating a limited number of troops through environmental obstacles. Occasionally, you’ll also come across Bonus Battles; these one-off skirmishes give you the freedom to build your own army from all of the units you’ve unlocked thus far.

​Both visually and technically, Shawarmageddon fares well on Switch. Frame rates occasionally drop during the largest of battles, but (naturally) Nintendo’s hybrid console offers the most ways to play - docked, handheld and touch - to easily counterbalance that. There’s seamless switching between the latter two, which makes targeting individual units a doddle, though, as we’ve found before, the balance, weight and shape of the Switch just doesn’t lend itself well to this one-handed style of play for long periods of time.
The versatility of the Joy-Cons also facilitates spontaneous bouts of local multiplayer, both docked and on-the-go, with portable play intelligently taking the unconventional approach of splitting matches vertically for optimum use of the Switch’s limited screen space.

​Online multiplayer doesn’t hold up quite so well, unfortunately, as you’ll likely struggle to find another player even during peak hours. After just a handful of successful matches (many of which were against the same opponent), we found ourselves ranked 23rd on the global leaderboards, which suggests this mode has a very limited following.

Despite the dearth of online competition, Ronimo have catered their charismatically simple and engaging take on the strategy genre to all play styles on Switch, making it an attractive purchase.

Pros

  • Simple, engaging gameplay
  • Lighthearted story featuring brilliantly bad puns
  • Decent variety of units and special abilities to choose from
  • Switch version offers a variety of ways to play

Cons
​
  • Lack of competition all but renders online play obsolete
  • Could’ve used a lengthier campaign

8/10
0 Comments

ToeJam & Earl: Back in the Groove! | PS4 | Review

13/3/2019

 
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Bust out the hi-tops, gold chains, fluorescent trousers and square hair, gang, for it’s time to revisit the beloved 90s world of ToeJam & Earl. That’s right, the titular twosome are Back in the Groove.

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by Rob Holt
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​
@acousticmagic

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Developer: HumaNature Studios INC
Publisher: HumaNature Studios INC
Platforms: PS4, Xbox One, Switch, PC
Players: 1 - 4
Those familiar with the previous SEGA Mega Drive/Genesis incarnations - Toejam & Earl and Panic on Funkotron - will know exactly what to expect here, as not much has changed in 20 years (take that as you will). Whether you know the series or not, though, you’re in for a serious nostalgia trip, albeit not without its flaws...

This Kickstarter-funded revival begins when ToeJam and Earl crash their spaceship into none other than our fair Earth, blasting the ship into ten separate pieces conveniently scattered across a truly bizarre depiction of the planet. They’re ready and waiting for you (plus potential chums) to find, on a journey which sees you discover mini-games, power-ups, stitch-ups, and a seriously kooky cast of characters in a collect-a-thon of radical proportions!

In true 90s arcade fashion, each Back in the Groove session begins with the tricky task of selecting one of the nine available (three of which are unlockable) characters. Once that mountain has been conquered, your quest to find the pieces of your ship begins. Those looking for dense story and deep gameplay should probably walk away, right about now - this one’s not for you.

​Each level of BITG is presented as a collection of isometric islands, all simply suspended in space. Some levels contain ship parts for you to find, others do not, but each stage always has worthy characters to seek out before unearthing the lift to the next level and riding it up to the proceeding piece of floating land.

The yes-of-course-he’s-dressed-as-a-carrot Wiseman character serves to level you up from the lowly rank of Cabbage, right through to Poindexter and the dizzying heights of Funklord, in a fun, but not particularly meaningful, RPG-lite system. There are healers (self-explanatory), sushi chefs (they’ll knock you up something tasty and rejuvenating for a fee), dodgy dealers (item tradesmen) and perhaps our favourite, Gandhi, who makes the surrounding area peaceful and vibrant.
​Let’s not forget the baddies, though: the cast of irritants and nasties feature earthlings of all flavours, encompassing autograph-hunting fans, FBI agents, and even sharks. That’s neglecting to mention the likes of ghostly cows, that corpulent, bald casanova, Cupid, and tornadoes that’ll knock you off the edge of a level, back down to the previous one. These foes are rarely threatening, mind, as there’s always a Sunflower forest to hide away in, playing a sublime little jingle whenever you walk into one.
Waltzing around as a bodacious alien, dressed as Vanilla Ice, bopping to a superbly funky soundtrack, is quite the treat in itself.
Now, you could be forgiven for reading all of the above and wondering what the point of the whole shebang is. A fair assessment, perhaps, but that’d be to miss the essence of BITG completely. Waltzing around as a bodacious alien, dressed as Vanilla Ice, bopping to a superbly funky soundtrack, is quite the treat in itself.

Yes, the core gameplay of searchin’ ‘n’ findin’ might not lend itself to the most thrilling of loops, but throw into the mix procedurally generated levels, different difficulties, the kind of laughs that only local co-op play can provide, and mini-games that break up the monotony - on that note, the dancing game is great, but the auto-runner isn’t so much - and there’s scope for even the non-nostalgic to enjoy themselves.
Visually, ToeJam and Earl have thankfully been dragged punching and hollering into the can-only-meet-people-via-an-app age. Gawping at the cartoony wonder of trees, water, snow, desert and caricature-style NPCs is a dream, so it’s a real shame that performance can suffer on occasion, when, in all honesty, the game really isn’t pushing the limits of modern hardware. The mid-level elevator scenes are a prime example of this: fantastic Fresh Prince-inspired backdrops that chug and wheeze as the next level loads.
​
The undeniable presentational standout here, though, is the absolute funkathon of a score. Squelchy, popped ‘n’ slapped bass smashes through the speakers, throwing some serious aural shapes alongside subdued, crunchy beats. Kickstarter backers had the opportunity to get a copy of the soundtrack on vinyl, and of that fact we’re considerably jealous.

Where does all this leave us though, folks? In reality, ToeJam & Earl is as anti-mainstream as ever, and we appreciate that. If you like local multiplayer games, adore funkadelic basslines, or just have a hankering to revisit 1991, you’ll certainly have fun with Back in the Groove. Comrades with short attention spans, or who find early 90s pop culture and/or the basic trappings of dungeon crawlers abhorrent, though, should breakdance right outta here. PEACE.

Pros

  • Absolutely killer soundtrack
  • Gnarly visuals
  • Stays the right side of nostalgic rehash
  • Couch co-op is jolly entertaining
  • Good, old-fashioned dumb fun
  • Random and hard modes provide longevity, but...

Cons

  • … Core gameplay has the potential to get old quickly
  • Lacks depth
  • Frame rate issues
  • Might be too pricey (£16.99) for those on the fence

7/10
0 Comments

The Wizards - Enhanced Edition | PS VR | Review

12/3/2019

 
The Wizards - Enhanced Edition | PS VR | Review - Pass the Controller

Carbon Studio’s award-winning spellcaster has made its way to PlayStation VR in “enhanced” form - now featuring a new stage, new cutscenes, checkpoints, performance improvements and more - but do these tweaks see the game hold up one year after its initial launch?

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by Sam Sant

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@SlamShotSam


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Developer: Carbon
Studio

Publisher: Carbon
​Studio

Platforms: PlayStation
VR, Oculus Rift, HTC
VIVE
Players: 1
You’re a wizard, as you might have already guessed, on an action-packed quest to eradicate enemies infesting the fantasy realm of Meliora. Anything deeper than that is mere narrative fluff, despite efforts to flesh things out with additional cinematics, as you’re guided by a sagely narrator similar in tone to the boisterous voice of Rebellion’s Strange Brigade.

As you travel throughout three distinct regions - spanning an idyllic township, dark mines and a stormy desert - you’ll encounter a variety of nasties to be dispatched with your arsenal of six elemental spells. This is where we’d assert that battle mage better describes The Wizards’ protagonist, considering just how lethal they are.

Casting isn’t limited by any kind of mana resource, allowing you to unleash havoc as quickly as you can whip out the nuanced hand gestures required to summon each of the game’s upgradeable magic tricks. Utilising two PlayStation Move controllers, you’ll motion to weave the arcane into existence while channelling your inner sorcerer; without this simple step - which poses an initial learning curve, but fast becomes second nature - the game would merely feel like a colourful iteration of your bog-standard shooter.

The often tangible feeling of power only grows as you level-up each spell individually, courtesy of gems found hidden in the environment and awarded in proportion to your score at the end of each level. As you gain competence and become all the more invested, you’ll begin to look more and more akin to a complete goof, but, inside that headset, you’re a carefree kid on a playground.

That’s an experience which has largely come to define the best that virtual reality has to offer, but, unfortunately, at times it can feel like The Wizards - Enhanced Edition is held back by the PlayStation platform, specifically the aged motion peripherals associated with it. Most motions translate well, though too often more complex spell gestures catastrophically fail in the midst of frantic combat. These situations aren’t excusable, but are at least understandable, though when a simple twist of the wrist fails to summon a fireball it’s hard to be as forgiving.
New to this iteration of the game is an optional head-tracked form of auto-aim, which is enabled by default and that’s definitely a good thing. Throwing is a motion that doesn’t often play well with the Move controllers, at least not with any real degree of accuracy, so the slightly sticky reticule is a must for reliably guiding your projectiles to their target. What’s more, it does a pretty good job of discerning exactly where you’re looking, allowing you to easily pick out priority targets in a crowd.

In-game movement and real-world comfort are handled well too, as The Wizards accommodates both teleportation and free movement, alongside seated and standing play. Expect to fiddle with your height settings if playing seated, mind, as we had to register at a minuscule 80 cm tall in order to align with the UI.
Utilising two PlayStation Move controllers, you’ll motion to weave the arcane into existence while channelling your inner sorcerer.
Getting this right also helps to achieve the perspective required to spot traps and puzzle elements, which litter the game’s eleven brief and fairly nondescript levels. Punctuated by a couple of visually impressive, but mechanically underwhelming boss encounters, the three-to-four hour adventure is fairly replayable due to the inclusion of Fate Cards. These gameplay modifiers are found hiding in chests and can be activated to turn the tides in or against your favour, most notably applying score multipliers to help with climbing the online leaderboards.
Then there’s Arena mode, which tasks you with defending three crystals, once again sights firmly set on outlasting the competition in order to climb leaderboards relevant to each of the three maps. It’s very familiar territory and, without co-op, it doesn’t really have legs.

At its best moments, when you’re fluently fighting off a swarm of ogres without feeling like the real battle is being waged with imprecise motion controls, The Wizards is an intoxicating realisation of any long-held magical fantasies. The PlayStation VR version can cause that illusion to crumble though, which is a burden not entirely shouldered by inferior hardware, as other games have managed to pull off the transition  just about seamlessly.

Pros

  • Satisfyingly gesture to summon spells from thin air
  • Auto-aim alleviates the pain of inaccurate throw gesture tracking
  • Accommodating comfort and movement options
  • Fate Card system lets you tweak difficulty to your exact liking...
  • … Combined with online leaderboards, that’s reason enough to come back for more

Cons

  • Motion controls are too often unreliable
  • Story falls flat, despite being “enhanced”
  • Run-of-the-mill boss encounters
  • Arena mode gets dull pretty quickly

7/10
0 Comments

Crackdown 3 | Xbox One | Review

10/3/2019

 
Crackdown 3 | Xbox One | Review - Pass the Controller

It's been a busy winter release schedule and things aren’t about to let up any time soon, yet that's not the reason you're only just getting our thoughts on Crackdown 3. That first reveal, way back at E3 2014, showed off an exciting level of destruction in what would surely be a triumphant return for a mistreated franchise. Surely. Right?

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by James
Michael
​Parry

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@James_Parry

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Developer: Sumo Digital
Publisher: Microsoft
Studios
Platforms: Xbox One, PC
Players: 1 - 10
Of course, back then we didn't know about the many trials and tribulations which both Crackdown 3 and the Xbox One platform were poised to go through before the game would ever see the light of day. Boasting about the power of Microsoft’s Azure Cloud technology right out of the gate might not have been the best strategy in hindsight, as we now come to play a neutered final product that fails to match its ambition.

While we were optimistic that the perpetual march of technology would see its unrivalled chaos brought to life outside of just an E3 tech demo, reports later confirmed that Crackdown 3 would only feature cloud-powered destruction in competitive multiplayer. That’s right, in the campaign not even a vending machine need fear the hand of your mighty Agent!

Those who’ve played Crackdown before already know the score: a city under the thumb - this time of an evil monolith corporation called Terra Nova, rather than shady gangs or zombies - which you’ll tear through in order to inspire the locals and take the city back one area at a time. If it sounds like a tried and tested conceit, that's because it is, and one which doesn't bring a lot of new ideas to the table.

Once again you fill the role of an Agent, a soldier (most likely Terry Crews, though you do get the pick of several) employed by The Agency, an organisation once trusted with maintaining peace and order throughout the world. Hundreds of cities have been attacked simultaneously this time around, leaving New Providence standing as the final safe haven and the place you now call home.

​
Little of that actually factors in when it comes to gameplay, though. There's not a worrying level of overpopulation due to all the refugees streaming in, rather there aren’t many people around at all when you consider the context. The largely spotless aesthetic also fails to convey what should be a grittier vibe, greeting you with a maintained neon skyline during what amounts to the collapse of civilisation.
That skyline is peppered with large green orbs, which can be sought out in order to improve your character. Ah yes, the orbs. Probably the most compulsively addicting aspect of the series, these guys are super satisfying to jump around and collect, all the while increasing your agility level to allow for access to even more.

Other forms of experience are awarded when you perform their relevant actions. Fancy some fisticuffs? Smaller red orbs will spill from enemies and boost your melee damage, as well as periodically unlocking new abilities like a ground pound. If blowing things up is more your speed, then you'll begin to gobble up yellow orbs, and so on. The additional skills in each upgrade path are fairly elementary at first, but do start to add a little depth later on, so it’s worth adopting a varied play style despite nothing being supremely memorable.
Gunning down goons comes courtesy of a satisfyingly snappy lock-on function, which makes it easy to bound about as you wreak havoc and zip away from hostile fire.
​Core gameplay basically just involves clearing out enemies from specific locations, veiled in a number of different ways. When the locales are all pretty similar and their objectives rarely differ, the overall mission structure quickly gets repetitive. 

Gunning down goons along the way comes courtesy of a satisfyingly snappy lock-on function, which makes it easy to bound about as you wreak havoc and zip away from incoming hostile fire. At the same time it does also remove an element of skill, which, coupled with foes that are pretty standard fare, makes the level of challenge on standard difficulty fairly low.
Crackdown 3 review - Into the fray
Crackdown 3’s most fun aspect is probably traversing the world, scaling buildings at will, though even that isn’t without issue. Jumping will feel too floaty for many, plus there’s the odd and inconsistent inclusion of fall damage, which seems to either not occur at all or cut you down in a heartbeat. It can also be a grind to get to the point where you feel truly agile and/or powerful, in spite of there being an element of instant gratification here.

​
Multiplayer comes in the form of the standalone Wrecking Zone package, which shares the campaign’s flaws, only while presenting more intense firefights fought across compact maps with a focus towards verticality. The lauded cloud-powered destruction is frankly nothing to write home about and the pair of available modes won’t do much to keep you around for long.

As a somewhat throwback gesture you can also play the campaign cooperatively, but only with one fellow Agent, instead of three as was initially promised.

In the end, the Crackdown experience is much the same now as it ever was, even after countesses games raised the bar considerably in its absence. If you're picking this up as an existing Xbox Game Pass subscriber, there’s fun to be had without an associated fee, but it's certainly not worth buying the game itself or even subscribing to the Game Pass service specifically for.

Crackdown 3 is a disappointing end to a years-long saga fraught with anticipation and disappointment, and one which will hopefully be the final of Microsoft’s misfires this generation to hit the Xbox One.
Pros

  • Easy to pick up and enjoy for brief stints
  • Some instant gratification to be found
  • The narrator is back

Cons

  • Somewhat soulless and unsubstantial
  • Repetition sets in quickly
  • Terry Crews’ one-liners are either too hammy or not hammy enough…

6/10
0 Comments

Kingdom Come: Deliverance – Band of Bastards | Xbox One | Review

8/3/2019

 
Kingdom Come: Deliverance – Band of Bastards | Xbox One | Review - Pass the Controller

Band of Bastards is the third major expansion for Kingdom Come: Deliverance - Warhorse Studios’ medieval simulation RPG, which is holding up well a year after release - bringing with it a cluster of combat-oriented missions for battle-hardened players to get stuck into.

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 by Liam
 Andrews

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@liam_andrews5

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Developer: Warhorse
Studios
Publisher: Deep Silver
Platforms: Xbox One,
PlayStation 4, PC
Players: 1
Bandits are raiding the lands of Sir Radzig Kobyla, your liege Lord, and it’s up to you, along with a group of mercenaries who happen to owe Sir Radzig a favour, to restore order.
​

With battles often taking a backseat in the main game, where flashpoints are saved for random encounters on the road and set-piece skirmishes many hours into the campaign, we were particularly excited by the prospect of teaming up with the titular bastards and giving our sword arm a proper work out. Things wouldn’t be quite so easy, however.

This being a combat-centric experience, the developers (along with the bands’ leader, Sir Kuno) want to make sure you’re battle ready by having you overcome two obstacles. Firstly, players must have completed the main campaign’s Baptism of Fire mission - the first big fight which takes place about a third of the way through - and secondly, you need to beat Dangler.

Who’s Dangler? He’s one of the eight not-so-merry men you’ll be riding out on missions with, should you be able to prove your ability to the rest of the gang by beating him in single combat. While no Jaime Lannister when it comes to swordplay, we’d managed to hold our own so far, so one measly mercenary wouldn’t be problematic… Right?

​Wrong. We were massively underprepared for the confrontation; confidence, pride, armour and flesh were quickly cut to ribbons by our extremely dexterous foe, across multiple attempts. It took a lot of levelling, gear tweaking and combat practice to eventually take him down. Returning players with high-level characters shouldn’t have a problem, but those still working their way through the campaign would do well to give
Band of Bastards a wide berth for the time being.
So, once you’ve polished off Dangler and been accepted into the nefarious crew, what adventures await? With around five hours of new content, Band of Bastards is comprised of six quests - five main and one side - plus the opportunity to explore your new camp and get to know the mercenaries within it.

Each of these characters feel unique and well-rounded, sharing entertaining backstories about how they became members. Particular highlights are the tale of how Dangler acquired his moniker (that’s sure to have set your mind racing) and how Sir Kuno’s family fell from grace.

The DLC’s solitary side quest, where head bastard Kuno asks you to retrieve a ring that grants its holder unlimited booze in taverns, unfortunately proves to be little more than a series of fetch quests taking place entirely within the borders of the small camp area.

​
Main mission wise, four of the five on offer feature combat situations for players to get involved in, with some decent armour components up for grabs to those willing to pay the iron price. The action’s tied together by some impressive cutscenes, and, while the story may be relatively straightforward, it does explore the questionable morals and irresolute loyalty of a sellsword company.
Unfortunately, it’s over all too soon. Just as you’re growing emotionally invested in a character, the conversation options dry up, and the same goes for Band of Bastards’ narrative as a whole. More disappointingly, the big finale ends on rather a limp note; the game’s framerate tanks and enemies display bizarre behaviour, doggedly chasing you around the battlefield whilst ignoring the rest of your party hacking them to bits. Granted, it’s possible to avoid a brawl altogether and settle things in single combat, but doing so means you miss out on a lot of extra loot, including a significant amount of coin.
​

None of that’s to say we didn’t enjoy the new content, though. The opportunity to venture out with your own crew and battle loads of baddies is exactly what Kingdom Come: Deliverance needed - the problem is, it needs even more of it! Band of Bastards is good, but it could have been great. All the components are here - the memorable characters, backstories and adventures - they just needed a bigger stage to flourish upon.
Pros

  • Combat-centric gameplay
  • Memorable characters
  • Loads of good loot up for grabs
  • Explores the questionable morals of a mercenary

Cons

  • Inaugural battle locks out lower-level players
  • Disappointing finale
  • Framerate suffers during large conflicts
  • It’s over too quickly

6/10
0 Comments


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