Vostok Inc. | Nintendo Switch | Review15/12/2017 Everyone likes money. Making a game hopelessly obsessed with it, focusing on grabbing as much of it as possible, seems like a simple enough idea. Vostock Inc. combines a space exploration experience with a simple, Monopoly-esque construction sim to create a game with a wider variety of experiences compared to your usual idle clicker. While you wait, there’s the twin-stick shooter aspect of the game, which can be a bit more of a mixed bag than the polished balance of the Moolah-making. You can take out asteroids and crates in space for bonuses, save managers and executives for bonuses, or even take on huge enemy bosses for, you guessed it, bonuses - generally in the form of lots and lots of yellow pieces which your tiny ship can lap up and add to your total. Enemies spawn a little too frequently at times, sometimes appearing before the graphic congratulating you for defeating a big baddie has even left the screen, but this feels like a deliberate attempt to keep you playing and striving on to the next challenge, rather than a lapse in design. A few times we’ve found ourselves taking massive damage by being physically stuck between two enemies and bouncing between them at high speed. Fortunately, if you should blow up all is not lost, you have a tiny life pod (which can also protect any executives you’ve collected) that’ll offer some protection as you scatter back to the Motherbase for the system to regain health. Even being destroyed completely only chops away a swathe of the cash you have on you, rather than having any long-lasting implications. To defend yourself you’ll need to use one of the game’s colourful weapons, which range from a simple machine gun to a laser unicorn attack squad and graviton aperture gun. In practice, merely upgrading the weapon you get on best with works for most encounters, providing you have the dexterity to keep mobile, and providing you invest money now and again, the enemies are rarely overwhelming. If that wasn’t enough to keep you busy, there’s also plenty of upgrades to Motherbase, your ship and your radar, which can certainly make your life easier - depending on what your priorities are - and there’s the aforementioned executives to look after. These overpaid fat cats (well, one of them literally is a cat lady) are only around to boost your productivity, but they’ll need to be furnished with lavish gifts to be kept happy and let you reap the rewards. Vostok Inc. consistently punches above its weight, giving compelling gameplay and humour without layering in unnecessary systems and cluttering the experience. Each has their own personalised 8-bit mini game, varying from driving sims to first-person shooters to Flappy Bird clones, which give you the opportunity to pick up these items, but most are pretty challenging, so you’re better off obliterating a few enemies and asteroids instead. The games themselves are a welcome distraction though, and fill out what is, on the surface, quite a basic experience.
Whether this is a game for you will depend on how you like to play. It’s at its best with a degree of passiveness and patience, waiting for the money total to tick up so you can grab that upgrade before you dash downstairs for dinner. Passing the time before bedtime with the game was initially an exercise in real-world stealth, as destroying asteroids and creating buildings set off the Switch’s overzealous rumble, putting the good night’s sleep of significant others everywhere in jeopardy, but fortunately there is an option to turn this off hidden in one of the multiple options menus. For something which might look like it only belongs on a mobile phone at first glance, Vostok Inc. consistently punches above its weight, giving compelling gameplay and humour without layering in unnecessary systems and cluttering the experience. The later game may feel more drawn out, as everything takes longer to happen and you’ve explored all of the six systems available, but the thirst for more and more money is strangely addictive - but hopefully in a fun way, rather than the more negative real-world consequences… Without a doubt, for the price (£12.99), this is one well worth snapping up. Pros
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9/10 Tricky Towers | Xbox One | Review24/9/2017 As you can probably tell just by looking at it, Tricky Towers takes a hefty chunk of inspiration from a certain classic title; anyone who’s ever played Tetris will be immediately familiar with the challenge of rotating, moving and stacking different shaped block pieces together as they drop from the top of the screen. If you can gather enough people in the same room, then we can see Tricky Towers being an excellent party game. WeirdBeard have made sure to cater to those who do prefer a more methodical approach however, by way of the game’s Survival and Puzzle modes. Survival takes away one of three lives whenever you drop a block, and Puzzle mode tasks players with using clever designs in order to keep their tower under a certain height limit. Needless to say, we didn’t fare quite so well in these modes. When battling it out with other players, you’ll occasionally be awarded spells that can be used to aid your own progress or impede your rival’s. Helpful spells include locking in a block to make your tower more stable, or zapping away one that’s badly placed, while the harmful ones can be used to attach balloons to other player’s blocks or enlarge them, making them harder to handle. On occasion spells don’t have the desired effect - like when we dropped a piano on an opponent’s tower and it only served to make it more structurally sound, rather than toppling it over, as was our intention - so you’ll need to use them wisely.
Despite the prevalence of underhand tactics, this is most definitely a game that’s best enjoyed with others, especially in couch co-op. Tricky Towers does feature online multiplayer, but the servers seemed to be permanently deserted (at least whenever we tried to find a match), really leaving local as the only viable option. There’s also a single player element involving the game’s three main modes, plus a surprising number of trial-type challenges, but, unless you’re really into climbing leaderboards, they’re no substitute for multiplayer. If you can gather enough people in the same room, then we can see Tricky Towers being an excellent party game thanks to its colourful, cheery visuals, catchy soundtrack and simple, yet challenging gameplay. It would have been nice to see more cosmetic options (you only get four character skins and three block colours in the base game), but if you’re just looking for something fun to pick up and play with a good group of friends, then Tricky Towers fits the bill. Pros
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7/10 Serial Cleaner | PS4 | Review6/9/2017 Blood, guts, stealth, disco, flares and Cillit Bang; if this combo-platter sounds superb to you, strap yourself in for the latest game from master indie publisher Curve Digital: Serial Cleaner.
100%ing everything is a big challenge, but well worth it for the bonus movie-themed levels and comedy costumes - John Travolta’s Saturday Night Fever outfit, anyone? Before long you migrate from small maps with plenty of cover and a few sluggish cops, into tight corridors where you’ll have to use sound decoys (boom boxes and PA systems) and larger areas with heavy patrols, in which shortcuts and moveable objects (vehicles and sliding doors) come in very handy in avoiding the rozzers. As you advance through the game you’ll find the police become much more unpredictable in their patrol patterns, with the size of their vision cones and their movement speed also swelling to propel the difficulty skywards. Be sure to keep your eyes peeled for the sanctity of hidey holes like shrubbery, Metal Gear-parodying cardboard boxes and oil drums to avoid them. Getting caught resets the current level you’re on, which in turn leads to a new randomly-generated objective layout for the map, with bodies, evidence and the like now in different places to keep you on your toes. This adds a lot of replayability - 100%ing everything is a big challenge, but well worth it for the bonus movie-themed levels and comedy costumes (John Travolta’s Saturday Night Fever outfit, anyone?) you’ll unlock - whilst also aiding in improving your strategy, which is a big help when it comes to the tenacious later levels. Developer ifun4all have not only spoilt us with sublimely simplistic story and gameplay, but also a gorgeous graphic novel visual style. Framed from a top-down perspective, you’ll be treated to what we can only describe as a retro-futuristic style; almost as if the characters from Dexter’s Laboratory had been passed through a meat grinder. Each level has its own harmonious colour scheme too, adding to the overall diversity. Serial Cleaner really does deserve a comic book series, if anybody in the know happens to be listening... And then we have the music, oh, how we love the music! The 70s setting provides a sumptuous musical period to plunder, and Serial Cleaner takes no prisoners in dropping cop show-style themes, disco, funky brass-riddled numbers, screechy heavy metal solos and cock rock. Every piece of music is a gem; believe us when we say, the game is worth getting for the soundtrack alone. So, as we hide Henry the Hoover back in the cupboard, and peel off the Marigolds, we’re left with nothing but praise for Serial Cleaner. For a first time console developer to carry out such a simple premise with such character and panache is a truly admirable feat. We’d have loved a multiplayer cops vs cleaner mode, but we really can’t complain: £11.99 is an absolute steal for what is, personally speaking, the only game that’s come close to Breath of the Wild this year.
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10/10 Cars 3: Driven to Win | Xbox One21/7/2017 The once-prominent film tie-in has been on the decline for a number of years now, which is largely considered a good thing, as shedding the often oppressive schedules has allowed licensed games to flourish. Cars 3: Driven to Win, however, is a rare exception; a good ol’ fashioned film tie-in that’s also legitimately fun.
There’s a decent amount of content here to boot, with 23 cars (which are purely an aesthetic choice) and 21 tracks (some of which are rehashes) playable across the 5 event types to keep your 20 or so hour journey towards the Hall of Fame mostly engaging.
When you also take into consideration the pleasant visuals and fun local multiplayer, available in cooperative and competitive varieties, Cars 3: Driven to Win is a surprisingly comprehensive game. It doesn’t do anything particularly innovative, and falls short in some areas, but is still a very solid example of its genre, which is far more than most film tie-ins can boast. Pros
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7/10 Nex Machina: Death Machine | PS421/6/2017 Nex Machina is a top-down twin-stick shooter from Resogun developer Housemarque. Its arcade-style design harkens back to retro classics like Robotron and Smash TV, which is no surprise considering the famed designer of those projects, Eugene Jarvis, was aboard the development team. Nex Machina demands speed and precision to the point we find ourselves playing perched on the edge of our seats, leaning into the screen with a laser-focused gaze. That’s a lot to tackle, especially with no tutorials or hints of any kind, but by bravely leaving you to uncover its many nuances through observation and trial and error, Nex Machina ensures its self-learnt intricacies are cemented in your mind. The gameplay communicates information fluently, steadily introducing an evolving range of baddies to illustrate what attacks you can and can’t dash through, what you do and don’t have to kill to progress, or who’s the biggest overall threat and resulting primary target of a given wave. Knowing how to correctly manage enemy types to stop them controlling portions of a stage is integral to your survival, while identifying those that target helpless AI humans and dealing with them quickly will work wonders for both your score and your conscience. That said, choosing whether or not to save humans is a constant risk vs. reward minefield; you’ll need to put yourself in harm’s way to grab them and gain the associated points to climb the online leaderboards, but, if you die in doing so, you’ll end up worse off than if you'd left them to their doom and saved your own skin. Any single blow is fatal in Nex Machina, and death carries some significant repercussions. Not only do you lose a life and a chunk of the score multiplier you’ve worked to build - along with your all-important, trance-like flow - but you’ll also drop one of the upgrades (increased range, bullet spread, etc.) or secondary weapons (these range from a sword to a rocket launcher, with use limited by a brief cooldown period) you've collected. This often leads to multiple consecutive deaths as you foolheartedly rush to pick it back up from the spot you died, or just struggle on in its absence if it was something you were relying on. All too often we’ve been on a perfect run only to lose multiple lives and upgrades successively to the mechanic, leaving us caught in a rut and faced with besting that same difficult section now at a marked disadvantage. You can keep retrying while you maintain a stock of continues, but when they run dry it's a legitimate game over and you have to start back at square one. Whilst that’s somewhat jarring by today’s standards - especially when you consider the fact you also can’t save, so you’re in it for the long haul when playing Arcade mode, the game's main attraction - forcing you to replay sections helps to develop your skills, which will see you glean more from the game in the long run. It might seem irritating if you don’t remember a time when this was the industry standard, but the extra practice really does make perfect. You’ll never actually be at too significant a loss, mind, as the game only takes around two hours to play from start to finish. Despite what you might be thinking, that isn’t any real cause for concern when it comes to Nex Machina’s value proposition, as it’s massively replayable. Memorising enemy spawn patterns and the location of secrets unearthed by destroying environments is endlessly rewarding, allowing you to implement that knowledge into future runs to achieve lofty new high scores. Arcade and Single World modes (the latter allowing you to practice Worlds out of sequence) can be played in co-op if you have a nostalgia-hungry pal to hand, which we mean literally, as it’s fittingly (though still disappointingly) local only. The suite of modes is rounded out by Arena, which tasks you with meeting gold, silver and bronze score thresholds whilst wrestling with modifiers like limited timeframes and increased tempo. They take place in the same familiar Worlds, but are just about different enough to provide an engaging break from the main thrust now and then, which is perhaps how they’re best consumed, with only eleven challenges on offer.
Housemarque proved themselves capable of keeping arcade-style games relevant in the modern marketplace with the release of Resogun, but in partnering with Eugene Jarvis on Nex Machina they’ve surpassed themselves. Filled to the brim with pulse-pounding, nail-biting and addictive action on a gorgeously impressive scale, never skipping a beat, constantly complemented by the standout, retro-infused soundtrack, the game is a modern shoot-’em-up masterpiece that stands shoulder-to-shoulder with the 80s classics that inspired it. Pros
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9/10 Injustice 2 | Xbox One24/5/2017 A fighting game based on pitting DC’s biggest and best superheroes and villains against one another was never going to be a hard sell. We’ve all pondered age-old questions like whether Batman or Superman would win in a round of fisticuffs, and 2013’s Injustice: Gods Among Us provided a tool with which to play out these fantasies, seeing critical and commercial success as a direct result. Selling a sequel, however, can be a much harder prospect, but one that NetherRealm and Warner Bros. have managed to surmount by meaningfully building on the original’s strong foundation. Whether you’re a DC fan and a genre novice, or a fighting game aficionado with no attachment to the roster, Injustice 2 caters to your niche. If you elect to hoard your power and fill the Super Meter entirely, you can trade it all in for one devastating Super Move. These signature sequences are an over-the-top spectacle, equivalent to Mortal Kombat’s visceral x-ray attacks that, while far less graphic in their depiction, are, undoubtedly, no less deadly. The tutorial does a sterling job of teaching the above mechanics and more, but integrating these skills against an opponent that actually fights back is a whole new kettle of fish. You’ll need to experiment extensively to figure out what combinations of attacks work, where and when they work, and against who. Though time consuming, it’s part and parcel of the rewarding learning process. Story Mode is a good place to start out and familiarise yourself with a range of characters, as each chapter sees you take control of someone new to get a taste of the different combat styles on offer. What’s more, the narrative is genuinely engaging and presented with abundant production value, making it the premier attraction when it comes to solo play, as compared to the throwaway nature of the mode in so many other fighters. Continuing where Gods Among Us left off, Injustice 2 challenges expectations by turning heroes rogue and villains good, though, with Earth’s future in peril at the hands of Brainiac, the sides strike a temporary alliance. The high-stakes tale is brimming with fan service and boasts a seamless, filmic presentation that culminates in an experience that, as cliché as it might sound, is akin to being a part of the latest summer blockbuster. The lavish presentation really can’t be understated, with gorgeous character models animating fluidly against bustling stage backgrounds that help the visuals pop - especially if you have an Xbox One S and a supporting TV to play with HDR. Injustice 2 is equally enticing for audiophiles as well, with a seasoned and recognisable voice cast complementing the rousing and bombastic soundtrack. Progress is rewarded with Gear, which can then be equipped to influence a relevant character’s appearance and stats - strength, defence, health and ability - provided they meet the level requirement to use it. You level fighters simply by taking them into battle, earning experience points proportional to your performance at the conclusion of each bout, win or lose. The wide range of character-specific Gear and Shaders available is somewhat staggering, allowing you to extensively adapt each combatant to make them truly your own in terms of both their look and play style. For purists that don’t like the sound of tinkering with the game’s balance, it can also be kept purely cosmetic (which is standard in ranked online play). The wide range of character-specific customisation options are somewhat staggering, allowing you to extensively adapt each combatant to make them truly your own in terms of both their look and play style. Gear fiends will definitely want to spend some time in Multiverse mode, as that’s where they’ll see the highest payouts. Multiverse, a universe-hopping staple of the DC comics, is a nice way of contextualising the transition of Mortal Kombat’s Living Towers, with new multiverses constantly cropping up for limited timeframes, each home to a string of encounters against new takes on existing heroes and villains under differing rulesets. Mother Boxes are rewarded for beating a multiverse and function in much the same way as Overwatch’s Loot Boxes, dishing out a random selection of items for a random set of characters when opened. Mother Boxes can be bought with in-game credits, which you’ll earn a steady stream of and can sell unwanted Gear for, while items you’re fond of can be refreshed with Regen Tokens to bring them up to your current level. The rare Source Crystals, however, which serve to change an item’s appearance while maintaining its stats, are a more premium commodity, requiring you to part with some cash if you want to make frequent use of them. Thankfully, Gear is earned at a fair clip, so you should never be left wanting enough to feel pressured into it. Joining a Guild is a direct route to more loot, with all members working towards specific objectives in order to share in the victory spoils. Guilds are also a good place to meet like-minded players with which to play online, as, unfortunately, both ranked and player bouts suffer imbalanced matchmaking and opposition that spam the same few attacks.
When you do find applicable human competition, the game takes on new life, with mind games that wouldn’t necessarily be utilised by or against the AI coming into play. Unpredictable use of cancels, delays and cross-ups keep everyone on their toes, making for some edge-of-your-seat encounters. While infrequent and only occurring at peak times, it’s just unfortunate that spotty netcode can occasionally throw a spanner in the works. As is the case with any precision-based fighter, anything other than flawless online performance renders the game near unplayable. Despite that, Injustice 2 has dethroned the mighty Mortal Kombat X as king of our hill, in the process cementing NetherRealm’s place atop the genre. Sumptuous presentation, unrivalled storytelling, deep customisation systems, endless Multiverse possibilities, and a mostly solid online experience that can only improve with time make Injustice 2 the full package. Pros
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9/10 NBA Playgrounds | Xbox One23/5/2017 Channelling the ghosts of the past, NBA Playgrounds aims to play a game of charged-up arcade B-ball, but, like Dennis Rodman’s hair, it has some great moments, though falls short of reaching the play-offs. Get some friends over, however, and you’ve got yourself a cracker of a party game. Elbowing a friend to the floor as they look certain to score a dunk is glorious, as is activating the score x2 multiplier when you're not on the receiving end. It’s a shame that the single player elements of the game don’t carry the same wonder, but not surprising considering the market that Playgrounds is pitched to. Online multiplayer is almost equally as fun, provided you can find an opponent who doesn’t rage quit, but it lacks the divisional tiers that make the likes of FIFA or NBA2K such enjoyable time sinks. Get some friends over, however, and you’ve got yourself a cracker of a party game - elbowing a friend to the floor as they look certain to score a dunk is glorious... Playgrounds’ visual presentation is a definite highlight, with both the players and the playgrounds themselves really shining. The chunky, cartoony character models exaggerate the features of each player, as well as gifting them comically bulging muscles to provide some real laughs. Courts add to the fun factor by playing on recognisable stereotypes, from Shanghai’s cherry blossom trees, to New York’s graffiti, to Westminster with the London Eye. Shooting from deep, the game also scores on the audio front. A cracking hip-hop theme tune plays in between games, with a vocoder-infused voice blasting lines about being “a high flyer” against a backdrop of rhymes like “alley-oop to the hoop”. The fun doesn’t stop there though, as each venue has its own theme tune, again riffing on the stereotypes of that country - Paris has accordion in its tune, par exemple. NBA Jam had classic commentary phrases as legendary as its gameplay, and Playgrounds aims for the same territory here. Jam’s very own Ian Eagle is present, along with co-commentator E.J. Johnson, creating a mostly hilarious pairing. Lay-ups are met with comments about finger rolls, jelly rolls and butter rolls, and they also take great pleasure in breaking the fourth wall with nuggets concerning your ability with the controller, which usually bring about a chuckle. While initially entertaining, the verbal bashings get old rather quickly, mind; we’ve lost count of the number of times Mr Eagle has ended a game harping on about his own skills on the hardwood. Playgrounds is proof that new isn’t always better than old, with nothing coming close to the genius, childhood-defining delivery of “BOOMSHAKALAKA”. So, as the shot clock ticks down and the game nears its close, it’s obvious that, although Playgrounds can be fun, it certainly isn’t the new NBA Jam. If you’re a huge fan of NBA Street et al then you’ll get your £15.99’s worth, but for everyone else, the ball will hit the rim and bounce back out. Pros
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Score 6/10 Saber Interactive were good enough to provide us with a copy of the game for review.
The rumours you’ve heard are true ㅡ Mario Kart is back. Of course, if you’re one of those brave souls (like Rob) who boarded the good ship Wii U (and continues paddling even as it begins to take on water…), Mario and friends never left. This new Deluxe version, only available on the Nintendo Switch, offers a few extra bells and whistles to try to entice the die-hards, but, putting that aside, this game threatens to be the definitive Mario Kart experience of all time. Now, if you’ve followed us up to this point and you’re enjoying your foray into Mario Kart 8 Deluxe so far ㅡ assuming you’ve worked out how to choose the right combination of controllers, as there’s no prompt to choose which control setup you prefer, regardless of what you’re using when you turn the game on ㅡ one thing you might not have yet realised is that this game literally plays itself. We’re talking about the auto drive and auto steer options, which are enabled by default and about more than just slamming on the breaks as you go careering into a corner, something which you might have experienced in the likes of Forza (though, admittedly, these games are worlds apart). In fact, the aids will effectively drive the entire course for you if you want them to, meaning the barrier of entry for the game has never been lower. This does make sense, as it’s a game which should bring families together in front of the TV (or crowded ‘round the Switch) like nothing other than Doctor Who or another ill-fated World Cup match has done in years gone by, but if you’re trying to get the feel of the game it can be distracting to notice the computer wrestling some of your freedom away. The story is the same with motion controls, which are oddly disabled by default, but work effectively in any controller configuration; that said, playing in portable mode with the Joy-Cons attached to the screen can be a tad disorienting. It might seem like things are a little bit hectic so far. Really this is one of the main emotions you feel when getting into the game for the first time, even on its slowest speed (and, therefore, lowest difficulty), as there’s an awful lot to take in. Does it get easier once you’ve got your head around it all? Yes, and it gets even better. Depending on how confident you are, a run through each of the 12 cups will give you enough experience to feel like you’re fully in control, and the confidence to believe that you aren’t actually half bad at the game. Upping the difficulty can make all the difference, of course, particularly when combined with the game’s mirror mode, which poses a mental challenge as all the courses are ㅡ you guessed it ㅡ mirrored. The AI unfortunately doesn’t share the same amount of personality and verve as the rest of the game, in that no matter who your rival in a given cup ends up being (it’s usually dictated by which character you choose), they all behave pretty much the same. Multiplayer helps remedy that issue, however, as you (and a friend, if you have one hanging about) can take on savvy human players the world over in online races (providing you can connect OK). Many of them will relish the opportunity to screw you over at the worst possible moment, which is all part of the fun, but the lack of voice chat and emotes stops you feeling connected to other players, making what could have been raucous fun just an adequate experience. There are also online tournaments, which Nintendo will hopefully use like the Global Missions in Pokémon Sun and Moon to bring players together, albeit more competitively. Players are able to tweak rules at their leisure, making AI more complicated or restricting what items are available to customise the level of challenge across the currently available roster. It’s a nice thing to have, but not the main event when you consider everything else the game has to offer. Speaking of which, we’re yet to talk about the revamped battle mode, which is probably the biggest change from the original Wii U release of MK8, and, in many ways, where the most memorable moments will be created. Getting four people together in a room, or more if you have additional Switches handy, to pummel each other with bananas is not to be underestimated. Getting four people together in a room to pummel each other with bananas is not to be underestimated. There’s no finish line here, only a variety of surprisingly diverse game modes which involve you getting up close and personal with items. The familiar Balloon Battle is present and accounted for, but there’s also the endearing Renegade Roundup, which pits two teams against each other cops and robbers style, with one team trying to gobble up the other with piranha plants and the others trying desperately to free their friends. Just to reiterate: It’s an absolute blast!
The look, feel and handling of the game itself are all excellent. This is a series which has a lot of history, and Nintendo know how to do it right by now. Everyone has their favourite instalment of the franchise, and it’s nice to see a few things which had taken a break come back in this iteration, but for those coming in fresh, this really is everything Mario Kart has to offer. While there are flaws, considering Deluxe’s price in comparison to some other Switch titles (we’re looking at you, Super Bomberman R), there’s great value for money on display here. The courses are diverse and interesting, with very few including features that annoy and many boasting interesting tweaks ㅡ The Legend of Zelda and Animal Crossing-themed courses in particular are a bit of fun. In short, this is the second essential purchase on the Switch so far, closely following Breath of the Wild, and one which really re-enforces what the new system is designed to be ㅡ something which brings people together, in this instance to argue about who deserved to win after a carefully placed item and a bit of luck turn the tables metres from the finish line. Pros ● Looks stunning & plays brilliantly ● Full of content - good value for money ● Play as Link, but this time on a motorbike Cons ● Could do more to teach new players the ins and outs ● Limited communication options damage the online experience ● Those bloody blue shells! Score 9/10 Thumper | PS420/3/2017 The developers at Drool recently announced they were bringing their “rhythm violence” game, Thumper, to Xbox One and Nintendo Switch following a successful launch on PlayStation 4 and PC last year. This news was the perfect excuse to go back and finish what we started in October, which, while tardy, did lead us to encounter a number of new features introduced through excellent (and free) post-launch support. You guide a hurtling metallic beetle around a linear track suspended in neon nothingness. Thumper becomes seriously challenging with the introduction of new note types, lane hopping and frequent breakneck corners in its latter half - especially if you’re looking to land S Ranks for the accompanying achievements/trophies - but frequent checkpoints mean you’ll never lose a great deal of progress. The level of difficulty definitely helps drive engagement, but, as it can’t be tweaked, there’s a very real possibility you might not be able to complete the game if you tend to struggle with rhythm games at higher difficulty settings. As ever, practice makes perfect, and it’s in persistence that you’ll find yourself achieving flow and losing hours in what feels like the blink of an eye. There’s a Rez-like sense of synaesthesia that drags you into the illusive “zone” as your actions produce the addictive audio track, which, in turn, helps dictate your actions. This beat encourages a thrilling game of chicken that, should you choose to risk leaving actions until the last executable moment, offers rewards both aural and tangible (the latter by dishing out more points). When it’s so easy to play for long sessions, you’d be forgiven for approaching the VR mode with a degree of trepidation as some are subject to discomfort as a direct result. We didn’t experience any problems on that front, in fact, thumb-ache set in first. With no comfort downsides, sticking a headset on is the best way to play in our minds. The 3D display helps with depth perception to make your timings naturally more accurate, while endlessly sprawling stages and giant bosses inspire a sense of awe that’s lacking on the flat display of a TV screen. There’s a Rez-like sense of synaesthesia that drags you into the illusive “zone” as your actions produce the addictive audio track. Whichever way you experience it, Thumper plays like an absolute dream, boasting striking visual and audio design all the while. It's demanding level of challenge will keep you coming back, never failing to recapture that euphoric zen-state you can’t help but linger in. Throw in excellent post-launch support that ironed out issues we had with the original release, as well as introducing some very significant upgrades, and Thumper is an easy recommendation for fans of VR and the rhythm genre alike. Pros
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Score 9/10 If you're a PlayStation VR fan, enter our giveaway to be in with a chance of winning Double Fine's excellent adventure game, Psychonauts in the Rhombus of Ruin.
Rise & Shine | Xbox One18/1/2017 Rise & Shine is a gorgeously illustrated adventure that’s equally vibrant and violent throughout its short duration. Despite a strong aesthetic and solid mechanics, however, its shortcomings leave it placing no immediate demands on your time or money. Its self-aware brand of humour mostly misses the mark, unfortunately. Thankfully, gameplay fares better. Varied and engaging pacing is one of the game’s strengths, cramming a shoot ‘em up vehicle section, mini-games, edge-of-your-seat boss battles and more into a range of locales across a tight 2-3 hour runtime. Though it’s an enjoyable ride, there’s little reason to take it again unless you’re hunting achievements.
A serious visual treat, Rise & Shine’s gourmet presentation could be misleading. Lazy attempts at humour that rely on references without substance and an unsatisfying portion size make it more akin to gaming fast food. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing, we all enjoy it from time to time, just don’t expect anything more than a quick and dirty burger. Pros
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Score 7/10 |
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