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Two Point Museum review | PC

25/2/2025

 
Two Point Museum - busy museum

In the future volumes of gaming history, the delightful Two Point Hospital will no doubt go down as one of the greatest spiritual successors in gaming history.

​A few years later, the Two Point Studios team proved they aren’t just a one-hit wonder with a successful spin-off
Two Point Campus, that saw you taking charge of an inspiring university instead of a chaotic hospital.
Picture
by James Michael Parry

Picture

​@james_parry

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Developer: Two Point Studios
Publisher: SEGA
Platforms:
PC, Xbox Series X|S, PS5, Linux, Mac
Players: 1


Now, they’re at it again with Two Point Museum, challenging you to make the most inviting and exciting journey through years gone by as the new museum curator.

Those familiar with the series will feel right at home, since the visual style and user interface carry across from the other titles, and even if you aren’t, the game is very warm and supportive in getting you up to speed.

Your first challenge is to get some exhibits, which involves setting up expeditions to far-flung regions across the world. These meta-game-like elements lend a unique challenge for this game in particular, since you can set up your team for success with staff training, items, and deciding to do a more detailed or careful survey.

Occasionally, the survey team will run into trouble and you’ll be greeted with a dilemma, forcing you to make a decision which affects the outcome of the trip. You can give yourself more options by taking team members with different skills, but ultimately you have to put their safety on the line in search of these treasures.

Of course, there’s always an element of chance, and so your explorers may come back with an injury or two, but fortunately there’s a handy all-in-one healing item for the staff room that can nurse them back to health – no need to send them to a nearby Two Point Hospital.
Two Point Museum - prehistoric zone
Building your museum is largely the same challenge as building a hospital or campus, a careful balancing act between keeping guests, staff, and the bank manager happy, while bringing depth and variety to the experiences.

It’s not enough to have cool exhibits, they need to be properly preserved and maintained, which, in some cases, will involve keeping them frozen in the huge blocks of ice they’re discovered in, as well as decorated and organised in a way which gives the museum a natural flow.
Two Point Museum has that great quality of being easy to try and difficult to master, and you can definitely play it at your own pace – literally in the sense that you can speed, slow, or even stop the passage of time...
Those who remember the 90s classic Lemmings might appreciate some of the micro-management you can get into here, since you can add one-way doors to construct a journey through the museum from beginning to end, and create designated zones, which also helps with keeping things staffed properly, as you can make sure they stick to a specific zone as well, as needed.

Digging into the finances of museum management does paint a stark, albeit realistic, picture of the state of these amusements in 2025, since you’ll earn far more cash from the gift shop, drinks machines, and even the donation stations than you will from ticket prices.
Two Point Museum - Ghostology zone
It would be easy to get drawn into a cynical mindset about how to create the perfect museum, were it not for the myriad of other aspects of the game keeping you guessing and pushing you to make the experience better and better for visitors.

One new challenge which you’ll encounter fairly early on is that families start bringing their children to the museum. While information boards are fine for imparting knowledge to adults – a measure which can dictate how highly they rate and review the experience when they leave – this isn’t the case for kids.

Since they are easily bored, you need to create interactive areas to keep them occupied, and later more and more specific needs and requests start to add up, as each individual visitor has a dream visit, and these become increasingly possible to grant as more options become available.

The staff keeping things run smoothly are a very multi-talented bunch, with most roles having a job in the museum and something to do out on expeditions as well. If you aren’t careful, you’ll quickly find yourself short-staffed if you send off a large expedition, leaving ticket booths unmanned and bins piling up with rubbish.
Two Point Museum - A guest is scared in Ghostology
This comes back to the balancing act of the game and constantly has you asking somewhat non sequitur questions like “Do I need to build that interactive dinosaur or is a gift shop more important?” or “Does this assistant need training in customer service or flying a helicopter?”

As you progress through the game the safe and familiar Night at the Museum-esque setting gives way to more unusual locations, such as supernaturally-stricken mansions or industrial complexes, which open up different specialisms and bring their own unique challenges.

While at first the game feels like just more of what we love about management sims, the depth and variety really start to ramp up to 11 as you get into the meat of the game.

There’s plenty to put your stamp on in terms of customisation of your museum as well. While there are plenty of functional decorative items, which you will no doubt start to find your preferred options to splash around exhibits, there are also options to change walls or floors, and an opportunity for real creativity in how you make the space your own.

The atmosphere in general is already great fun, with the series sense of humour and cheerful soundtrack back in full effect this time as well. While some might be tempted to get stuck in on ground level to some of the challenges, for us the beauty of this type of game is that you have that overseeing presence, which lets you spot when guests are getting caught in one area and you need to shift an exhibit or knock down a wall.
Two Point Museum - helicopter off on an expedition
Two Point Museum has that great quality of being easy to try and difficult to master, and you can definitely play it at your own pace – literally in the sense that you can speed, slow, or even stop the passage of time.

It would be easy to get overwhelmed as a player, or feel like the team are just throwing every idea they have at this game, but it’s clear that after three games and various expansions, these talented folks have struck a balance which takes you to places you don’t expect and brings rewards that keep you wanting to play just a little bit longer.

So grab your explorer’s hat and give it a go, who knows, maybe you’ll build something worthy of being preserved for years to come – or maybe it will just get overrun by defrosted bees and impatient children.

Pros
  • A new take on a tried-and-tested formula
  • Expeditions bring a fresh twist to getting new old things to display
  • Kids bring a different way of thinking and up the stakes

Cons
  • Hand holding early on can feel a little limiting
  • Repetition can creep in, but only if you don’t push yourself
  • The controls and navigation can be fiddly

8/10
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Company of Heroes 3 Mini-Review | Xbox One X|S

5/6/2023

 
Company of Heroes 3

It's been 10 years since the second iteration of Relic's famed gritty World War 2 RTS Company of Heroes released and finally the third game is here with new features, factions and for the first time a console edition.
White on red pass the controller logo
by Jordan Thomas

Blue Twitter bird logo

​@james_parry

So what's new?

Well, the obvious change from the previous two games is a change of scenery, portraying the African and Italian fronts of the war, the latter being much less well covered in WW2 media. An added bonus of this is that it is quite colourful for a WW2 game with the abundance of sand and lush foliage, instead of the usual drab greens and grey often seen.

The setting also means that we see the Italian army show up, as well as units of Gurkhas and Indians - who seldom get represented. In terms of gameplay it's mostly a case of if it ain't broke don't fix it, but one nice new addition is the 'Tactical Pause' function for single player, which halts gameplay and allows you to issue  orders to your units without worrying about the enemy bearing down on you – this makes it much easier to manage large battles and micro-manage individual units.

​There's also a new conquest-style campaign - a turn-based map control mode with strategic decisions and different factions to support.
Company of Heroes 3 in the desert

a PC port then, how's the console controls?

For the most part, it's a fairly successful carry over, utilising the 'press LT' to show options wheel that most RTS games use for console. We found nearly all the commands we wanted were easy to access and there weren't too many to remember.

That said, we did have some issues with selection as
A both selects and deselects units (click on empty terrain), except in some circumstances when it's not and B deselects the order  - it would have been simpler to stick to the normal A to select B to deselect formula. Relatedly we found unit selection could be oversensitive and a single click would select multiple units without our intention.

​There's also no quick way to jump around the map for console either, and we couldn't work out how to chain orders when playing online or outside of Tactical Pause. One jarring act of laziness is that you can't remap any of the controller buttons, but a full keyboard remap option is available.
​
Company of Heroes 3 in the forest

Well not quite ideal, but what's it like to play?

One thing this game has going for it is that it's an exciting RTS to play by virtue of the amount of work that's gone into the visuals and environment interaction (or more aptly, destruction). The graphics by and large are decent but the main focus is the chaos of battle: Explosions kick up huge amounts of dust and debris, almost all scenery can be reduced to rubble and after a lengthy battle the ground will be mostly craters and blood stains (the game does not shy away from showing violent deaths) which unlike most games do not fade so the end of a match is a messy sight. Infantry animations have been improved since the previous game and running, vaulting and such all looks pretty smooth and natural.

​The AI performs fairly well for the most part, but some of the path-finding is a bit wonky and we frequently found our tanks advancing into combat facing backwards negating any armour advantage. With regards to the enemy AI it's not the smartest in terms of flanking but it makes up for it in aggression – even in a standard difficulty skirmish we found ourselves swamped with enemy attacks within minutes unable to break out or build up forces. Like most RTS games there is an element of RNG to combat which helps prevent instant death but can also lead to some almost comically long battles with troops metres apart missing constantly (think that Viva La Dirt League skit).
​
...there was a bit of dubious tone discrepancy with gameplay being us fighting for the Germans while the cutscenes tell us about the awful things the Germans are doing...

Is there much content?

There's three main gameplay modes to choose from: the newly added dynamic campaign for Italy, a standard story missions set for the Africa front and your typical skirmish/multiplayer map control modes. The dynamic campaign is an interesting idea combining an Advanced Wars like turn based top down strategy game with RTS gameplay battles for capturing points, and there's choices to make in terms of your route which will please or displease three faction leaders – however this feels a little tacked on as it's not like you're choosing your own route but instead essentially choosing which upgrade tree you want to go with which is basically what each leader is, albeit with more bickering than a normal upgrade tree has. It's a decent premise but we feel it would have worked just fine as a normal cutscene and mission mode.

Speaking of which there's the Africa Operation, in which you help Rommel charge his way through Africa, with decent mix of assault, defence and infiltration missions. It feels a bit short though, cutting off after a handful of missions at El Alamein – a missed opportunity to swap to the British side as they push him back to let us use some different vehicles and new scenery. We also felt there was a bit of dubious tone discrepancy with gameplay being us fighting for the Germans while the cutscenes tell us about the awful things the Germans are doing.

​The two skirmish options are a capture all points or elimination mode for up to 8 players/AI (4v4), though it's a little disappointing how despite their appearance in the story the Italians are not a playable faction, instead we get the Germans twice (in grey or yellow flavour), and will presumably have to buy the Italians as DLC later. It's also exceedingly hard to come back from getting pushed back to base with little point in even trying when you have next to no resources coming in by default – speed and aggression is key.
Company of Heroes 3 in the desert

And the verdict?

Overall we've enjoyed our time with this game, though we spotted a few control issues, visual bugs and minor historical quibbles it's a solid addition to the rather sparse console WW2 RTS market, and though PC is clearly the intended way to play it performs well enough and offers an exciting dose of visually spectacular war action. Though with Sega laying off numerous Relic staff post release we'll have to wait and see what new content it gets down the line.
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Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope review | Switch

27/10/2022

 
Peach takes out a bunch of enemies with a flash of yellow-green lightning from her boom-brella

There’s something about turn-based battles which make you feel like you’re being tactical. Perhaps it goes back to our younger days of playing Civilization II, where, frequently outsmarted by the AI and ambushed from multiple sides at once, the methodical, considered attempt at strategy was, at least, reassuring.
James Michael Parry
by James Michael Parry

Blue Twitter bird logo

​@james_parry

Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope cover art
Developer: Ubisoft Milan, Ubisoft Paris
Publisher: Ubisoft
Platforms: Nintendo Switch
Players: 1

In Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope, the second in the IP mash-up series after Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle back in 2017, which combines the Mushroom Kingdom’s favourites with the now Minions-esque, rabbits-on-catnip, from Rabbids Ubisoft games of old.

As firm fans of the first game, it’s fair to say we came into this with some anticipation. The simple concept, that some hijinks caused the two worlds to collide and now both the Rabbids and Mario and co. need to work together to clean up the mess, is still here.

What’s missing is the clever setup from the first game, which saw a experimenting youngster zap various merchandise in their room and a washing machine to fuse the worlds together. This time a large space ray, the animal rather than a beam of light, turns up and starts goo-ing up the place, as it searches for Sparks, a combination of rabbids and the tiny star-shaped creates from Mario’s outer space adventures.

Another noticeable change is that the Rabbids can talk now. Possibly to avoid the comparison with the Minions, which, of course, they predate by many years, there’s a passing reference to a translation-related invention and then it doesn’t really come up again.

In practice there’s little difference, since the Rabbids’ humour has always been more slapstick and observational, but hearing the odd voiceline still feels a little off for some reason, and given it doesn’t seem to add anything, why go to the trouble?
Mario shoots two different enemies at the same time
There’s also a voice for our favourite floating Roomba, Beep-o, which is a little too eccentric for our taste, though the performance for the new spaceship’s AI (more on that in a moment), Jeanie, who acts as a tutorial for new players, is spot on.

The gameplay itself is a series of turn-based battles with various enemies on a set board where you have a variety of objectives from simply defeating enemies to destroying large, creepy Darkmess eyes, formed by the space ray’s inky, gooey impact on the world.

Movement is more free than it was before, as you can move anywhere in a set space at any point throughout your turn, which might let you dash attack an enemy and then throw them at another for additional damage.
the developers have taken chances by changing things rather than just warming up a five-year-old game...
One way this makes it a little harder than before is that your characters don’t snap to cover as strongly as they did before, so it can be difficult to know if you’re in the right place or not. Previously while the movement could feel a little rigid, that structure made your movements feel very deliberate. The benefit is that your characters feel more flexible and it makes you think about moving them at different times to make the most of your various abilities.

Speaking of which, hero abilities also make a welcome return, offering up special moves on a several turn cooldown, but here there’s also the Sparks themselves, which you can slot into each character to provide another limited-time active buff and a continuous passive buff. With 30 to discover in the game and recruit to your team, it offers a lot more variety when combining them with different team members.
Rabbid Peach poses amid a meteor shower
For example, one Spark called Aquanox gives your weapons water damage and a splash effect which knocks enemies back. This makes them particularly nasty for, you guessed it, fire-type foes, as well as making your team member immune from the splash effect themselves.

Weapons have had a spruce up as well. Instead of damage increasing as you unlock new skins, which are now in their own menu, and the characters’ ability points deal with damage as well as all manner of other upgrades like movement and abilities.

Each of your favourites have new weapons to get to grips with, which have a bit more variety and help give each character their own strengths and weaknesses. Luigi is still a long-range specialist, but has swapped his sniper rifle for a bow, while Rabbid Mario now has a pair of gauntlets rather than a basic shotgun.
Peach's palace in the Mushroom Kingdom with Rabbids and a statue
Enemies too have changed, leaning into the elemental variations offered by the Sparks and levels rather than feeling like just reskinned variants from other locations.

​
Progressing through the game is still linear but with a series of hub world sections, similar to a traditional Mario title, which disrupts the environmental storytelling which was one of the highlights of exploring locations last time around. It’s still here, to an extent, but not knowing what order you’ll come to certain things means it doesn’t gel as much with the action you’re taking.

You’ll also find random encounters, which can sometimes be avoided if you’re quick enough, but often need to be tackled to complete side objectives and collect planet coins, which then let you unlock not only a secret bonus area, but different cosmetic options specific to that world.
Mario and a Spark hide behind a wall from a red-eyed enemy
To make the most of a game like this you need to feel like it’s operating at the right difficulty level. Fortunately here you can adjust the settings at the beginning of each encounter, whether that’s respec-ing your character or taking the enemy aggression down. This should prove to make the game as a whole more approachable and fun to play with youngsters, who will no doubt appreciate the effective use of a colourful, cartoony presentation.

It might not quite be the Mario + Rabbids game we remember fondly, but there’s a good sprinkling of new ideas to be found here, and the teams at Ubisoft Milan and Ubisoft Paris have taken chances by changing things rather than just warming up a five-year-old game.
Rabbid Peach, Rabbid Luigi and Mario run through an icy overworld
There’s a lot of replayability, with a huge number of combinations of team members, weapons and Sparks to use, and, most importantly, the battles themselves are both fun and really satisfying to finish. Even the levels, despite falling into familiar tropes here and there, use verticality and environmental details to keep things interesting all the way through.

If you’ve been hankering for some silly fun and games, especially on the go with the portable power of the Switch, then look no further.

Pros
  • Colourful, fun and chaotic excitement with Mario and co., perfect for platformer-phobes
  • Tons of tools to make things easier or harder and give a variety of experience
  • Satisfying combat in a package filled with good humour and hidden depth

Cons
  • Voice acting is a little sporadic and doesn’t add a lot
  • The panic at throwing stunned bomb-ombs before they explode is stressful
  • We’re still pressing the wrong button and shooting before we’ve finished moving

9/10
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Two Point Campus review | PC

9/8/2022

 
A giant pizza in Gastronomy - Two Point Campus

Summer holidays or not, it’s time to head back to school at the illustrious Two Point Campus for a university spin on the Two Point Hospital formula.
James Michael Parry
by James Michael Parry

Blue Twitter bird logo

@james_parry

Two Point Campus
Developer: Two Point Studios
Publisher: SEGA
Platforms: PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Switch
​Players: 1

It’s time to swap your hospital administrator hat for that of campus administrator, putting together a university to rival the likes of Oxford, Cambridge or Hull. The format is reassuringly familiar, but with enough differences to keep it from feeling like you're just building another hospital.

You start simple enough with the tutorial – also the first level – with just one course, Scientography, which requires a lecture theatre and, shockingly, a Scientography classroom, but by year two you'll be adding a second.

The fun and games come from the ingenuity and fun which stems from the more elaborate equipment needed to deliver the various classes, from Knight School to Wizardry to Gastronomy.
​

Once you've put your colourful rooms together, you'll need an enthusiastic teacher to mould those young minds. Unfortunately, there's no opportunity to create teachers of your own, which feels like it would be a fun way to bring some customisation to the experience.

That said, the auto-generated faculty do the job, and have a combination of strengths and weaknesses. Later, of course, you can train them up to be experts in their field, or multiple – if you really feel like it.

So, with the rooms and educators at the ready, you need some eager young things, so time to open the doors and see if you can attract some students.

This is one area where things start to diverge from
Two Point Hospital, since rather than getting patients in, cured and out as quickly as possible, the aim of the game, and indeed your success as an administrator, is tied to how well they do in their classes.
​
Knight School in Two Point Campus
Students adhere to a list of archetypes, including swot, clown and goth, and each have their own wants and needs in terms of the environment and how they learn.

For example, there are various items which are relationship-building between students, such as a heart-shaped love seat, and some students will call for different new items which match their archetype, such as a spooky Goth chair or a rose garden, which one pair of students will not stop bothering me about every month.

Herein lies the most frustrating part of the game so far. Some of us will have put hundreds of hours into Two Point Hospital, unlocking a wide range of items and decorations, and the process for unlocking new things is the same – kudosh.​
Cheeseball in Two Point Campus
Unfortunately, the amount you get is tied to in-game challenges and rewards is quite low, so you find yourself being asked to unlock three or four items at a time, and are frustratingly limited.

Another lack of flexibility, which is particularly apparent in the early stages, and no doubt by design in the vein of simplicity, is the inflexibility of teaching options. Any changes you want to make won't come into effect until the following year, and moving teachers around can be fiddly, leaving you being asked to recruit extra staff and having nothing for them to do.

Sometimes you want to be able to dig into the detail right away, and the game holds you back, which can lead to you feeling impatient.​
The fun and games come from the ingenuity and fun which stems from the equipment needed to deliver the various classes, from Knight School to Wizardry to Gastronomy...
Humour has been a big part of these sorts of games, and the tannoy quips, and resident DJ, are back this time to keep you chuckling here and there.

The world map offers a range of campuses you slowly take over, and you can either max them out up to three stars, or push on to the next adventure.

There is something a little repetitive about starting from scratch each time as well, not to mention you feel like missing out on the vast wealth or even pro teachers from your previous, a little unfair, but at least the items you've unlocked are unlocked everywhere.​
Wizardry in Two Point Campus
The fun and games come from the ingenuity and fun which stems from the equipment needed to deliver the various classes, from Knight School to Wizardry to Gastronomy.

There's a joy in seeing a little character animation, or a cheeky pun or reference which you know the game is jam packed full of. You almost feel like they've been hidden in there just for you.

The built-in downtime of the summer break can mean you're less tempted to constantly stop time to make changes during the year, which certainly has been an issue for us for our hospitals in the past, but the chaos seems to ebb and flow rather than gradually building to a nightmarish panic of queue lines everywhere.​
On campus in Two Point Campus
The madness itself can be endearing, but at the same time in some areas there's not enough depth. In others there seems to be too much, but once you get your head around it all there's a really good time to be had here. No doubt there's nooks and crannies, such as student clubs, we didn't explore as much as we wanted to either.

Overall, the gamble of remixing the formula and throwing in a dash of new ideas largely works, giving us that hit of fun and frantic management we have been craving but still managing to surprise us.

Pros
  • Colourful fun and games in a fresh setting
  • Inventive courses show the continued genius of this team
  • Core gameplay remains as addictive as ever

Cons
  • Fiddliness and frustration creep in more than they should
  • Varying levels of complexity leave you wanting
  • Repetitive voice lines can start to wear thin

7/10​
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Pokémon Sword and Shield | Review | Nintendo Switch

22/11/2019

 
Pokémon Sword and Shield | Review | Nintendo Switch - Pass the Controller

​The road to the Galar region has been a rocky one for Nintendo and Pokémon fans alike, but when it comes to deciding how this pair of new Nintendo Switch games fare, we'll be focusing on what is here more so than what isn't.

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​by James
Michael
​Parry

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@James_Parry

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Developer: Game Freak
Publisher: Nintendo
Platforms: Nintendo Switch
Players: 1
As the first mainline Pokémon titles on Switch, expectations were high coming into Sword and Shield - which we’ve lumped together here due to them being largely identical. The overall experience is ultimately very, very familiar to regular players, with a more traditional gym badge structure returning after Sun and Moon's departure from the well-trodden format, and battles pushing the nostalgia button hard by leaning into familiar tropes.

Sun and Moon, alongside Let's Go Pikachu and Let’s Go Eevee, brought new elements to the table. In Sword and Shield, however, normalcy and familiarity consume about 80-90% of the game, leaving little wiggle room for the few new elements to shine.

One returning feature is the ability to Dynamax Pokémon, overpowering and over-sizing them for three turns of badassery to surpass previous features like Mega Evolutions and Z-Moves. The novelty is initially impressive, but after a few times it wears off as you impatiently ride out the lengthy and unskippable animations.

Some Pokémon also boast Gigantimax forms, which function in much the same fashion only while also tweaking the visual design and granting a signature move to Pokémon. Nintendo made a song and dance about the “new” Gigantamaxing feature, yet this song is barely a remix.

​What does strike up a new tune is encountering significantly over-levelled Pokémon in the Wild Area. Coming up against these presents a chance to push your battle skills early on, but also shows off creatures in something more approaching a natural environment. While Pokémon do prowl about as you wander elsewhere in the game, the large evolutions present in the Wild Area carry an exciting visual impact that brings back memories of the Safari Zone, recapturing some of the child-like wonder of early Pokémon series exploration.
A cross between Teletubbyland and Breath of the Wild's rolling plains, the Wild Area itself could use a bit more intricacy. Biomes and various weather effects seem to shift from hail to sun and back again largely without rhyme or reason, but you'll lose plenty of time pottering about nonetheless. For the collectors amongst you, it's also a great opportunity to fill your Pokédex and diversify your party early on.

The story is by the numbers as usual, so those hoping for a deep, meaningful conversation with an NPC hanging out in a Pokémon Center will continue to be disappointed. A cheerful tune greets you whenever you do visit, though in this region there doesn't seem to be any Poké-helper for the nurse.

Elsewhere, the soundtrack is an awkward mix of sound effects we've been hearing for years (decades even), an increasingly archaic lack of spoken dialogue, and some charming new themes composed for the Wild Area and various cities. So fun are these latter spins on British culture, visually as well as musically, that you might find yourself spending longer than you should lingering in any one location.
​

While some rockstar Pokémon like Pikachu and Eevee get full sound effects - the creatures often saying their own names with a springy sense of joy - most don't have as much aural character, instead relying on adorable animations to help you bond with them as you play together in camps.
Animations overall are a strange mix, though. Even brand new additions like the three available starters (Scorbunny, Sobble and Grookey) have either well-choreographed displays for their unique moves, or completely generic ones which don't seem to match the move at all. You can go from the delight of a bespoke Wooloo "Tackle" to Scorbunny merely jumping on the spot to covey a "Double Kick" – even when it kicks merrily for some other moves.

Shortcomings don't end there, as the game also struggles to make the most of its new platform. Some locations and scenery really shine in terms of their design, but generally you'd be forgiven for assuming that Sword and Shield were 3DS ports.

That might still be enough for many players; after all, it’s almost impossible to escape the joy of setting out on an adventure to go from Pokémon zero to hero. Getting properly invested in a team and playing with their movesets to feel like you have all the bases covered is constantly rewarding, in spite of the eye-watering number of type combinations that are now available.

Hopefully the development compromises and sacrifices felt across Pokémon Sword and Shield will allow Game Freak to reassess and build on their successes to push the envelope in the future. In the meantime, there's a solid and enjoyable experience here, just not a new one.

Pros

  • New Pokémon have some great designs
  • The Wild Area is somewhat game-changing
  • Riffs on British culture are heartwarming

Cons

  • Only a handful of new elements
  • Human characters continue to be dull distractions from the titular stars
  • Many popular Pokémon don’t return, including some of the original starters

7/10
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Tinymetal: Full Metal Rumble | Nintendo Switch | Review

26/7/2019

 
Tinymetal: Full Metal Rumble | Nintendo Switch | Review - Pass the Controller

​The world of strategy has been simmering away under the surface of the mainstream for a few years now. Long since the heyday of Westwood Studios, which ruled the real-time strategy genre with its Command & Conquer and Red Alert series, it’s been turn-based games which have been all the rage, thanks to the rise of Firaxis’ excellent XCOM revivals.

Picture
 
​by James
Michael
​Parry

Picture

@James_Parry

Picture
Developer: Area 35
Publisher: Area 34
Platforms: Switch,
Steam
Players: 1 - 2
Between the two eras was nestled a little gem - Advanced Wars on Nintendo DS - and its from that franchise which Tiny Metal: Full Metal Rumble draws the most inspiration. Not just from the look and the two different viewpoints you’ll encounter (one for movement and one for battles), but even the units and its futuristic, Japanese parody of US military bravado.

There’s a lot to take in from the get go, especially for those who aren’t Advanced Wars acquainted, so initially games can feel slow to get going. After a couple of campaign missions - which attempt to trickle in elements at a slow pace, but seem to tutorialise them the mission after you really need them - things pick up as more diverse unit options are introduced to bolster your arsenal, but also the tactical range of your enemy.

Units themselves have some character, cheerily riling off their canned lines as they move and attack, with the most personality saved for the 16 hero units, who carry their progression between battles. The generals too each have their own colour scheme, but besides from a fairly straightforward superpower a piece, which might boost attack power and capture speed for a couple of turns, aren’t as exciting in their own right.

​​While there’s a cost for producing new units in the game, all take just a single turn to appear, leaving you to decide which factory to spring a tank (known as a Metal) from for maximum tactical advantage. Learning which units can attack which takes time, making the difficulty curve not exactly steep but bumpy, and it takes a while for games to feel satisfying as you’re rapidly surrounded in the early game.
Soon, such is your efficiency at producing and preserving units, either by merging wounded squads or healing them at a player-owned city or facility, you’ll quickly find the map overrun and units begin to block each other from moving around effectively, leading to a major risk of bottlenecks if you aren’t too careful.

While the game works well in docked mode, this title has more of a handheld feel, and the turn-based nature lends itself to pulling it out for a few stops on the bus or morning train commute. Matches themselves, even early in the campaign, can easily last over half an hour a piece as games run across 15 or 20 in-game days (or turns) before one team’s HQ is ultimately vanquished.

Tinymetal’s music is fairly unmemorable and doesn’t get across the sort of drama and excitement you might hope for, especially compared to some of those iconic Red Alert or XCOM tunes. It should be noted that we haven’t unlocked the additional tracks with in-game currency, however. Visually, it’s fairly straightforward, but certainly more stylised, exciting and accessible than the somewhat similar Tiny Troopers Joint Ops XL.
Those looking to scratch a strategy itch won’t be disappointed here, with fun and games to be had for a budget-friendly asking price, but the repetition of the experience will start to grate for some before too long.

On top of the main campaign there’s Skirmish, where you battle AI using custom maps and settings, and also an online multiplayer component - but seemingly one too sparsely populated to find a game, even during peak hours.

In the end, Tinymetal: Full Metal Rumble on Switch is a fun little way to spend some portable gaming time, but doesn’t do too much to be exciting or bring a new twist to the genre or platform. There’s little to master, other than the patience for slow-moving and resource-limited units, but there’s still something endearing and easy to enjoy about the game.

Pros
​
  • Nice aesthetic brings the battlefield to life
  • ​Isometric blocks hiding the fog of war present challenging sightlines
  • A multitude of accents and quirks do enough to make units interesting

Cons

  • Hero units aren’t the silver bullet they’re made out to be
  • Repetition can set in quickly
  • Online multiplayer is barren

7/10
0 Comments

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

Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden | Xbox One | Review

6/12/2018

 
Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden - Xbox One - Review - Pass the Controller

Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden takes the turn-based tactics integral to its tabletop namesake and mixes them with real-time stealth and exploration, giving life to a hybrid brand of gameplay which fittingly mirrors the title’s overarching themes.

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by Sam Sant

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@SlamShotSam


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Developer: The
Bearded Ladies

Publisher: Funcom
​Platforms: Xbox One,
PS4, PC

​Players: 1
Developed by some of the talent behind Hitman and Payday, it’s perhaps easiest to liken Mutant Year Zero to the thoroughly excellent Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle, in that combat heavily channels XCOM and encounters are separated by spates of third-person adventuring as a party of three. While the anthropomorphic, oddball cast of mouthy mutants in Road to Eden are likeable enough, they really can’t hold a candle to Mario and co., so it’s fortunate that the game does a better job of tying its seemingly disparate styles of gameplay together.

Combat and exploration are seamlessly married here, as, rather than simply crossing the threshold into a designated arena to kick things off, you’ll utilise stealth to ensure you have the greatest possible advantage before manually triggering a battle. Using silent weaponry, it’s possible to pick stragglers off to gradually thin core groups of enemies and allow access to advantageous positions - like full cover or high ground - in order to better plot and execute a meticulous ambush on the main, unmoving force.

You’ll need to build that plan around your character loadouts and abilities, in addition to enemy weaknesses, as a carefully considered approach is all but compulsory. If you’re careless and get spotted in the act, you’ll forfeit good cover and the first turn, which means you’ll quickly feel the opposition's full force. At that point, you most often might as well forfeit, as MYZ is pretty punishing even on the lowest difficulty setting.

By nature, random chance can also play a part in turning the tides either in or against your favour, but there thankfully isn’t a great deal of scope for missing at point-blank range here, with hit likelihoods kept to nice 25% increments. Still, you’d need to be a bit of a masochist to tackle Hard and/or Very Hard, especially with the Iron Mutant permadeath modifier enabled...

The level of challenge does help every victory feel hard earned though, which is a feeling then compounded by rewarding incentives. You’ll gain experience points to spend across refreshingly concise character skill trees, often in addition to Scrap to spend on gear and weapon parts used to upgrade your arsenal.
Straying from the main path to explore offshoots in the game’s “post-human” take on Earth allows you to uncover these materials in abundance, as well as new weapons and armour, plus even the odd side quest. The latter pair with collectibles to flesh out an intriguing background for what’s a rundown-yet-lush world reclaimed by nature; environments are thick with fine visual details, noticeable even from the game’s somewhat removed, isometric perspective, which makes it a shame that the camera can’t be zoomed in to appreciate them to their fullest.

After any stint outside the one remaining safe haven, a hub area known as the Ark, you can return to tune your kit before heading back out into the Zone, which encompasses the rest of the uncharted world, except for the vague promise of Eden. It’s this illusive, titular paradise you spend the game seeking, initially just as Dux and Bormin, a squabbling and lovable duo comprised of (shockingly) a duck and a boar respectively.

More humanoid companions are acquired along the way, but despite their appearance, everyone in MYZ is mutated in some way or another in order to survive the harsh landscape. All of the party characters are decent, but they only ever share playing third fiddle to the more charismatic leading duo; everyone at least maintains the pervasive air of silliness, quite humorously misinterpreting “ancient” technologies to cut through what can otherwise be quite a bleak atmosphere.
MYZ is a strange game, but in the best way - it’s a mechanics and lore-focused gamer’s game not requiring the sort of time and energy commitment many of its ilk do.
If you can put aside the somewhat cumbersome HUD and a few performance hitches - which aren’t too invasive, due to the game’s methodical pacing - there’s an awful lot both to get to grips with and to be gripped by. Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden is a strange game, but in the best way - it’s a mechanics and lore-focused gamer’s game that doesn’t require the sort of crazy time and energy commitment many of its ilk do. For a budget buck, or no extra cost to Xbox Game Pass subscribers, it’s one that fans of role-playing and strategy shouldn’t sleep on.

Pros

  • Ties turn-based combat & real-time exploration together through stealth
  • High level of challenge makes every victory satisfying
  • Bleak-yet-lush world is enticing to discover & explore
  • Strikes a good balance between being comedic & serious
  • Budget asking price for a game that outshines recent AAA disappointments

Cons

  • HUD can be cluttered & inaccurate
  • Frame rate takes the occasional hit
  • Random chance can undo a lengthy, hard-fought combat encounter

8/10
0 Comments

Valkyria Chronicles 4 | Xbox One | Review

11/10/2018

 
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Sega spawned many a classic during their Dreamcast-era days, but have struggled to stay as relevant in the ensuing years. The original Valkyria Chronicles appealed because of its gorgeous looks and Dreamcastian demeanour, but we never quite got round to it, so came to this latest edition with some excitement. Let’s cast nostalgia aside though, and answer one of life’s truly great questions: is it any good?

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​by Rob
​Holt

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​@acousticmagic

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Developer: Sega
Publisher: Sega
Platforms: Xbox One, PS4, Switch, PC
Players: 1
For those new to the series, Valkyria Chronicles 4 follows the same strategy-come-third-person-action combo platter of its elderly brethren, which Sega refers to as its BLiTZ system. Those familiar with games like Fire Emblem, any of Koei-Tecmo’s Warriors series, XCOM et al will find a great deal of familiar ground here, but Valkyria Chronicles 4 excels in creating a well-balanced mash-up: the command based tactics sections matter just as much as your choices in the third-person brawls.
​

Valk 4 (that’s right, I’m lazy) is set during the same fictional wartime period as Valk 1 - the second Europa war - but this time follows the trials and tribulations of the ingeniously named “Squad-E”, a faction of the Federation fighting back against the evil Imperial Army. Squad-E are lead by perhaps gaming’s most charismatic cardboard cut-out of an emo, Lieutenant Claude Wallace (get used to his huffs, puffs, never-on-the-ears headphones and difficult hair in the cutscenes...)

Claude is merely the tip of the fun when it comes to the hilariously stereotypical characters, though. Hold onto your hats: there’s Raz, the sweary-womanising-reckless-drinking-smoking bad-boy; Riley, the inappropriately-dressed-for-war-who’s-a-woman-and-don’t-need-no-boy/man; Miles, the quiet, dorky tank driver; 
and Aladdin, the self-confessed handsome bastard that has quite the resemblance to Billy Corgan. In any other game we'd struggle to be engaged by these characters, but here it all comes together and somehow adds to the overall experience (the haircuts alone are a joy to ogle).
Getting your tactics right and correctly reading the terrain will ultimately decide whether you prosper or fall. ​
So, the characters are amusing, but how does the dang thing actually play? To boil it down to its essence, each slobberknocker in Valk 4 sees you moving between a top-down map screen from which you issue commands (position/deploy units, request reinforcements, etc.) and the gloriously animated violence of the third-person running and gunning. We’ve played quite a few similar attempts at this mix, but none come close to the perfect blend achieved here. 

The sheer variety of choices on offer is astounding, really shaping how you tackle a particular situation or foe. Do you load up on the bazooka-wielding Lancers to take out tanks? Should you employ many-a-sniper to sneak around and take out the enemy crumb by crumb? Perhaps the protective nature of Shocktroopers is more to your taste? Whichever way you decide to go, you’re bound to have fun, learn from your mistakes, and ultimately realise the potential of classes that originally seemed one dimensional (man, the engineers and grenadiers come in handy).

​Vehicular combat also features prominently in
Valk 4, with regular use of Claude’s tank, The Hafen, at your disposal, alongside the incredibly handy APC, which allows you to transport soldiers across the battlefield. Whether it be vehicles or infantry, getting your tactics right and correctly reading the terrain will ultimately decide whether you prosper or fall.

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Much like the original Valk, version 4 boasts the same command points and action points gameplay system. Command points show you how many actions you can make per turn, whereas action points are relative to each individual unit (later on you can buddy-up groups to your sergeants for extra fun). You can only move/shoot freely until that unit’s meter runs dry, with certain units capable of moving faster/farther, adding extra tactical depth. Using your CP and AP wisely is vital to dominating the blasted Imperial Army.

​
Valk 4 also offers up a buffet of extras, including levelling up character classes, weapon creation, tank/APC improvements, and, best of all, squad building, which functions exactly as you’d imagine while opening up extra cutscenes and fights. All of the above add to the rich expanse of customisation available to the player, really helping to suck you into the story and gameplay on the whole.

Gawping at Valk 4 is simply sublime, too, amigos. The gorgeous watercolour style evokes a lost storybook feel, adding emotional depth to the characters and the horrors of war. It’s not just the perfectly animated and drawn characters and sets, but the tea-stained map and comic book bright text of moving foes in the command segments, all working in unison to add that extra layer of visual polish and personality.  

We’re not finished with the positives yet, as you can also add the game’s audio into the mix (WHAT. A. PUN). Sweeping, swooping strings and stupendous orchestration follow Squad-E’s ups and downs perfectly, whilst the voice acting is charmingly corny.
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As much as we’ve enjoyed Valk 4, we’d be fool not to point out a couple of its flaws. The many, many, MANY cutscenes can leave you feeling foie-gras’d (you bet your rectum that’s a verb), as it often feels like you’re never going to get into an actual battle. It doesn’t help that voiceovers move too slowly to keep up with the subtitles, seeing us jam the A button on the reg in order to speed through another scene of Claude feeling emo about his weakling past (Scaredy Claude is his nickname, in spite of being in charge). There’s also no getting away from the fact that a Japanese-centric third-person strategy RPG is just an insy bit niche…

​
Despite those minor negatives, we came away thoroughly entertained by Valkyria Chronicles 4. Its tactics and combat are fun; the characters and story sway between cliche, humourous and melancholy; and the audio-visual presentation is outstanding. We’ve been blessed with some cracking games already this year, but personally, this goes straight to number one for little-old-me. A Dreamcastian delight: thanks Sega.

Pros

  • Gorgeous art style
  • Deep, varied & entertaining combat
  • Fun story, full of amusing stereotypes
  • Fantastic soundtrack
  • Twee voice acting is often hilarious
  • This is post-Dreamcast Sega at their best
  • Plenty of content & challenge

Cons

  • Pace will be too slow for some
  • Endless cutscenes can grate

9/10
0 Comments

Two Point Hospital | Steam | Review

5/9/2018

 
Two Point Hospital | Steam | Review - Pass the Controller

There’s a fine art to taking a beloved franchise and using it as a base to produce something new that can stand alone. Whether it’s The Last Jedi dividing a fanatical Star Wars audience or the latest superhero flick not being true to its source material, the process is fraught with danger and potential fan backlash. How reassuring to our faith in humanity then that Two Point Hospital is every bit the worthy standard bearer for a welcome return to the 90s’ management sim boom.

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​by James
Michael
​Parry

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@James_Parry

Picture
Developer: Two
Point Studios
Publisher: SEGA
Platforms: PC,
Mac, Linux
Players: 1
Best of all, it leapfrogs (or bullfrogs...) the technical constraints of that bygone era to deliver a title with graphical and performance settings up the wazoo, including a stonkingly high frame rate slider which goes so far in specific numbers we're pretty sure it's a gag.

In fact, the humour is something which gave the original game it's trademark Britishness, so you'll be pleased to hear that’s been brought through in top form. Over-the-top ailments - which you, as hospital administrator, must put doctors on the case to diagnose - are the most obvious example, though, tragically (or fortunately, for patients), Bloody Head and Slack Tongue aren't running rife in Two Point County.

More than that though, it's the little animations and character interactions that make the game stand out if you look a little closer, such as the frustrated nurse struggling to get her computer to work, or a lonely monobrow snaking its way around the hospital halls, waiting to be zapped by your all-seeing crosshair of doom.

​Despite the nods to
Theme Hospital, the game isn't at all closed off to newcomers, taking cues from the likes of The Sims in character personality traits and the ability to play with time, which can make things a lot less frantic. Offering up just a handful of conditions and different areas to manage in the first few levels, you won't be worrying about minor details like hygiene or temperature in your hospital until you've got to grips with the basics.
Two Point Hospital is every bit the worthy standard bearer for a welcome return to the 90s’ management sim boom.
A major plus this time around is that you have multiple locations to manage, so you can always revisit an earlier level and beef it up with more advanced equipment and items to boost your overall organisation's revenue. This metagame is a welcome addition, but, so far, hasn't seen different locations interact or crossover.

Repetition and busywork are the quickest way to kill the fun in a simulation game, but fortunately, thanks to the slow introduction of mechanics and a startling amount of depth when you start to dig into the more detailed menus on the information tab, Two Point manages not to be afflicted with this disease.

Given there are humans responsible for Theme Hospital involved with the project, it's no surprise that this and probably every other review mentions the game's connection to what was a mainstay of 90s PC gaming. Despite that, Two Point proudly stands on its own, with more than enough fresh ideas to make it feel like an entirely new game.

​
There are a few foibles to throw amongst the superlatives, however: AI behaviour of characters can be questionable at times, and in some aspects there's a lot of manual clicking of items to make sure they’re dealt with - particularly for the janitors, even though you can manually enable and disable specific tasks.

​Other elements seem very much up to chance as well, such as the panic-inducing emergency requests, which see six or eight patients with the same condition come in for treatment at the same time. In these instances, it often doesn't seem to matter how slick an operation you’re running - there are always casualties. You might have a plus-sized ward with enough empty beds and a more than capable senior nurse, boasting the relevant treatment specialist skills, but still find patients dropping dead on you. A less than encouraging outcome.

Still, these moments are few and far between, and the potential to add in new elements post-launch is now far more likely than in the CD-ROM era.

If you're looking for a surprising diagnosis for this game, then you'll need a second opinion, as we're here to confirm - despite a few minor flaws - that the Two Point fever sweeping Steam right now is every bit as intoxicatingly contagious as it's cracked up to be. If they'd got the original tannoy voice back, it might somehow be even better.

Pros


  • A welcome adrenaline shot of nostalgia
  • Improves on its inspiration and brings the genre bang up to date
  • Technically well put together and bags of options to tweak

Cons

  • Sometimes chance plays into things a little too much
  • Emergencies with zero deaths seem near-impossible
  • AI occasionally has a mind of its own

10/10
0 Comments
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