🚗 Crash Drive 3 | Xbox Series X | Review | 9/10 | "It's an open-world, cross-platform arcade stuntfest" 🚗 @M2Hgames #IndieGames #GameDev

I wasn't really sure whether an open world MMO racing game on a budget would actually be any good. I mean, I've played and enjoyed the Forza Horizon games, but they have huge amounts of money thrown at them and are very, very shiny (to the extent it kind of stops being that much fun after a while, as they take themselves a bit seriously). 

Crash Drive 3 does not have this problem. It's an open-world, cross-platform arcade stuntfest where you tear about in a huge array of vehicles in amusingly varied environments. And it's fun.

👁️ Intrepid Izzy | Dreamcast | Review | 9/10 | "I’m off to punch a giant sea creature in the eye." 👁️ @SenileTeam #GameDev #IndieGames

I do love covering new releases on classic systems. When I received the accompanying press kit for Intrepid Izzy from Wave Game Studios, there was a statement in which the game was described as a blend of Sonic the Hedgehog, Castlevania and Streets of Rage.

I wasn’t sceptical so much as squinting into the distance, trying to visualise what that mash up would look like.

It looks like Intrepid Izzy, as it turns out.

💚 Where the Heart Leads | PS4 | Review | 9/10 | "A warm-hearted tale of life and all its possibilities" 💚 @ArmatureStudio #IndieGames #GameDev

When I was asked about reviewing Where The Heart Leads the only knowledge I had was that it was a dreamlike, narrative adventure with a lifetime of choices, which are words that fill my heart with glee.

Making decisions is probably my favourite thing to do in terms of mechanics, I love it. Having to contemplate things like morality, ethics and predicting outcomes are things I enjoy in other media as well as life in general, so I was very excited for Where the Heart Leads.

☁️ Cloudpunk: City of Ghosts PC Review 9/10 ☁️ @Pixel Hunted @ionlands #IndieGames #GameDev

Cloudpunk has proved to be a marmite game. You play a delivery driver piloting a flying car in a vast dystopian metropolis. With heavy influences from Blade Runner and The Fifth Element, you swoop through a perpetually rainy metropolis, past gigantic neon billboards, and weave through oncoming traffic.

🏚️ Creaks | Review | Xbox Series X | 9/10 | "Characterful Presentation Perfectly Fused with Classic Puzzle Gameplay" 🏚️ @Amanita_Design #IndieGames #GameDev

Machinarium is such a wonderful, wonderful game. From the soundtrack to the oddly powerful, wordless tale that unravels for the player, it’s a game that won me over with all of the above combined with a gorgeous hand-drawn art style combined with a perfectly pitched, idiosyncratic soundtrack.

Over the last decade, I have transitioned from PC gaming to pretty much pure console gaming, and so almost a decade of the work of Amanita Design has completely passed me by due to their PC exclusive nature. It was only whilst half-drunk one night - and trying to buy the Machinarium soundtrack on vinyl - that I discovered that they had released a game called Creaks that was available on Xbox…and so our love affair resumed.

💥 Huntdown | Review | PC | 9/10 | "Buy This Game" 💥 @HuntdownGame #IndieGames #GameDev

Buy this game

It's hot outside as I type this. Hotter than sunbathing in South Sudan in a foil-lined sleeping sack. As a result, I'd rather be al fresco with a chilled glass of Vimto and a side of onion rings than here writing reviews. Hence the three-word summary above. But, my esteemed colleague Britt is breathing down my neck (he thinks it's alluring) to pressure me into adding in a LITTLE bit more detail.

So, here goes.

🕵️🔪🩸 Hitman 3 | PS5 | Review | 9/10 | "A Fitting End To The World of Assassination Trilogy" 🕵️🔪🩸 @Hitman @IOInteractive

The Hitman series is one that I've played and loved for about 15 years and the 2006 entry Hitman: Blood Money specifically is one of my favourite games of all time.

The series has always been about the creative kills; drop a piano on an unsuspecting criminal, poison the mob boss’ morning gin, dress up as a clown and beat a villain to death with a frying pan at his child's birthday party etc.

It’s a series about creativity, of how cunning or sadistic can you be? My strategy would always be - try to plan something clever. Fail. Panic, ending up with bursting into a room, shooting the target and then hiding in the nearest bin. 

📷📺🐿️ NUTS | Review | Nintendo Switch | 9/10 | "Squirrel Detective Simulator 2K21" 🐿️ 📷📺 @joonturbo #GameDev #IndieGames #BestIndieGames

When you can’t stop thinking about a video game then you know it has the special ingredient that is going to keep you coming back to it.

The special ingredient here is NUTS.

🏰⚔️👹 Ghosts ‘n Goblins Resurrection | Review | Nintendo Switch | 9/10 |"The Boxers are Back" 🏰⚔️👹

There’s no beating around the bush here, Ghosts ‘n Goblins has a really rich history for both Capcom and myself. 

The Mega Drive version is one of the most played titles in my entire game collection and I have a lasting memory of being in Leeds for a Play Expo and staying up until 4am in my hotel room on the Friday determined, DETERMINED to finish the game (which I did, #justsayin’).

🌟 Anodyne 2: Return to Dust | Review | XBOX Series X | 9/10 | "A Beautifully Realised World With a Wonderful Tale To Tell" 🌟 @analgesicprod #IndieGames #GameDev

It was only a few weeks ago that I noticed a comment on Twitter, lamenting how few games there were that were presented with PS1-era polygonal visuals.

Fast forward a few days to me watching a trailer for Anodyne 2: Return to Dust, a game which not only featured such visuals…but looked so interesting that I had to seek it out as soon as possible, it was my destiny.

🎮 STEALTH SP-C100 V PS5 Twin Charging Dock (White) | Review by Transvaal | 9/10 | "At this price it feels like a must-have accessory for your PS5" 🎮 @StealthGameNet

The Stealth SP-C100 V is a very nicely made, high-quality accessory for your PS5 at a low cost. 

🛋️ Moving Out | Review | X Box Series X | 9/10 | "An extremely fun and silly party game that will clearly remain installed for a long time to come" 🛋️ @smgstudio #IndieGames #GameDev

Upon seeing the trailer for Moving Out, I initially assumed it was some sort of mobile port due to the top-down viewpoint and colourful aesthetic. 

I’m VERY glad that my intuition won out and I ended up playing the game, however, as it’s an extremely fun and silly party game that will clearly remain installed for a long time to come (especially as there is imminent DLC!).

🛸🚀 Habroxia 2 | Review | Nintendo Switch | "After a ‘mental reboot’, I realised the subtle genius of the design" 🛸🚀 @LillymoGames #GameDev #IndieGames

Upon initially playing Habroxia 2, the game didn’t quite click with me and it was very much my fault. 

After a ‘mental reboot’, I realised the subtle genius of the design and from that moment onwards, my trousers were very much down.

🎮 Borderlands 3 | Review | X Box Series X | "My First Next-Gen Experience" 🎮 @Borderlands #XBOXSERIESX

This Borderlands 3 review may seem like a weird one as it’s effectively written for a game that’s well over a year old but the Borderlands series has always been an oddity for me.

📯⚔️ Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla | Review | PS4 | "A Game That Definitely Gives Me The (Viking) Horn" ⚔️📯 @UbisoftMTL @Ubisoft_UK #AssassinsCreedValhalla

Game Title: Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla

Developer: Ubisoft Montreal

Platform Reviewed: PS4 (base)

Rating 9/10

My personal history with the Assassin’s Creed series is pretty chequered, I played the original but didn’t really click with it and, following this, the constant releases, spin-offs and other media just alienated me slightly as the lore seemed to get ever-more dense.

I did dip back in with Black Flag on the PS3 at a friend’s suggestion but it seemed to run pretty sluggishly and once again, I didn’t connect with it.

It was actually earlier this year during lockdown that the stars aligned and teased me once again with the franchise.

My brother mentioned how much fun he was having with Odyssey and heartily recommended it just as I was after an open-world RPG to lose myself in (after completing The Witcher 3 for the second time as well as Kingdom Come: Deliverance) plus my fiancée was somewhat obsessed with the various soundtracks on Spotify, I was being attacked from all directions and so I decided once again to give it a try, and I’m glad I did.

🚀 Jets N Guns 2 | Review | Nintendo Switch | "A Tooled-Up Shooter That Shines in Co-Op" 🚀 @rakeingrass #IndieGames #GameDev

Game Title: Jets N Guns 2

Platform Reviewed: Switch

Rating: 9/10 (ICE COOL)

Jets N Guns 2 Developer Rake In Grass has delivered unto us one of the finest side-scrolling shooters ever made.

*sigh* I suppose I’d better say more.