Angry Video Game Nerd 8-bit (8.5/10)
The new house in rural Cambridge wasn't exactly what the Nerd had in mind.
Platform Reviewed – XSX (also available on Switch, PS5, PC)
We’ve been AVGN fans in our household for almost as long as the man himself has been uploading videos to YouTube, and over the years I’ve covered his previous games as well as their soundtracks. The news that another game was on the way was very much welcomed. I also have to say that even though I sort of knew what to expect, there were some very cool aspects around the game itself that blew me away!
From developer Retroware, Angry Video Game Nerd 8-Bit – whilst in the same genre as the previous games – feels a continuation of the genre as opposed to AVGN 1 & 2 a few years ago which came across as more of a highlight reel of it. This means that it feels like a lost game from the NES days as opposed to a purely modern spin on those classics. The music is as chiptune-tastic as you’d expect, and the difficulty ramps up nicely – in a Mega-Man-esque touch, you can also select the order in which you would like to play the game’s six stages, each ending with a boss that will be familiar to fans of the show.
A huge boon here is the games lengthy opening cinematic that is basically a full episode of AVGN, it was such a great – and surprising! - way to kick off the game that I actually forgot I was playing one, and just sat back to enjoy the ‘episode’.
The game is available on all modern platforms with a NES physical edition en route. For fans of the AVGN, this is a no-brainer, and even without that nostalgia, this is a fun and solid 8-bit platformer with some hilarious moments and a challenge that is not shy.
The Last Shot: Arcades (6.5/10)
Building my own airplane in my shed was proving to be a tough ask
Platform reviewed – XSX (also available on PS4/4, Xbox One, Switch, PC)
One of the stranger titles that I’ve played in a while, this one comes from Rumata Lab, a Russian developer that released their first game The Last Shot back in 2023. Set in a dieselpunk world, The Last Shot: Arcades is a sort of spin-off of that title in which there are 9 mini-games to play, spanning from a ‘dodge the traffic’ style driving game through to a single-shot 2D sniping title and various others. Whilst the mechanics of the games themselves are mostly lifted from other titles, what sets The Last Shot: Arcades apart are the visuals, which are truly eye-catchingly busy and detailed in a similar vein to the games of Amanita Design, ensuring that this really is a meal for the eyes. A wordless title, The Last Shot: Arcades is initially very confusing, with slightly odd control schemes and unclear gameplay mechanics meaning that your first few attempts at each mini-game will end in either confusion or failure. Whilst this is a design choice, it doesn’t really add anything to the game. Some of the included titles felt stronger than others, but the most overwhelming vibe I got from the game was that I loved the art style and was more interested in playing The Last Shot for it’s more fully-fledged story and world, which seems to work more towards Rumata Lab’s strengths.
All in all, this is a decent selection of mini-games with a strong visual aesthetic that makes it stand apart from the crowd. That said, I can imagine that this will be a mere stepping stone for players to the Rumata Lab catalogue, which I hope expands soon!
Bus World (5.5/10)
The school trip to London Zoo took a wrong turn and ended up in 1970!?!!?
Platform reviewed – XSX (also available on PC, PS5)
As the father of a four year old, I’ve played my fair share of bus/ forklift/ crane/ digger/ construction vehicle sims with... varying... degrees... of enjoyment, but Bus World stood out to me as it didn’t focus on your bog standard ‘trundle around a city and pick up folks, moving them from the shopping centre to the residential area’ but instead was about passenger transportation under duress, such as extracting citizens from a nuclear disaster zone, earthquakes and floods etc. It’s very much a simulation style game, and this kind of works against Bus World in some ways, as simulations require accuracy, strong visuals and immersion – little of which are present here. For example, whilst the premise of being involved in various evacuations is quite exciting and novel in this genre, the clunky controls, iffy collision detection and a difficulty curve that veers from breezy to insane – usually due to failure conditions and tight time constraints – it means that you are constantly battling the controls, repetitive scenery and mechanics as much as the elements and environmental risks. A very neat idea that unfortunately lacks in execution. The character models, dearth of atmosphere in the audio department, and odd stillness of everything in-game doesn’t help either.
Old School Rally (9/10)
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| Making the school pick up time was proving to be more dangerous every day! |
Platform Reviewed – Switch (also available on PC, PS4/5)
What a bloody wonderful game Old School Rally is. I caught wind of it whilst scrolling through social media and immediately got Sega Rally / Colin McRae vibes, good! Upon finally getting my hands on it and playing; the depth of gameplay, level of personalisation in the controls as well as the ability to adjust the visuals to alternate between a gloriously CRT Saturn / PS1 style or a more crisp hi-res Dreamcast / 2000’s PC style completely won me over*. Combine this with a gnarly vintage soundtrack and myriad unlockable, customisable cars that can be raced in over 22 tracks spread across 10 countries – each with varying weather etc. - means that the game isn’t just a flash in the pan. The difficulty also has you tightening your trousers, and every near miss or collision has you gritting your teeth, hoping that the precious wasted seconds don’t mean that you have to repeat the race.
Honestly, there’s very little to complain about here, developer Frozen Lake Games have really nailed the vibe they were going for, creating a game with beautifully crunchy visuals, nostalgia, and an awesome soundtrack with a perfectly saucy difficulty and a split-screen mode for those that want to challenge family and friends. If you are a Colin McRae, or Sega Rally fan – the past is here to make the present amazing.
*I honestly kept messing up my races because I was flipping between the visuals modes so much, I couldn’t decide which I preferred, I was irritating myself!
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