That said, the show must have been on a hell of a lot, as the moment I booted up the game and heard that theme, even I was surprised how much of the show I remembered, from the voices, character names and family members, it all came flooding back. Heck, maybe I did watch it more than I can recall! Or perhaps it was such a cornerstone of culture at the time that it just permeated my very being.
Going in without any nostalgia was going to be interesting as I felt the Battlefront remasters were held up entirely by nostalgia, and so having had no previous experience with it, would Bounty Hunter hold up in 2024 or should it have been left in 2002?
Shadows of Doubt is game that I’ve been following for a while, the premise of being a private detective in a dystopian future comprised of glorious voxels, spending your days solving cases and scouting for clues very much appealed to me. When it was announced for consoles, my trousers were neatly folded in a drawer, hopefully to never be needed again.
The vibrant music, tasty pixel art visuals, and platform-based side-scrolling action presented in super-smooth 8-bit fashion all had me twirling my moustache in anticipation, but upon actually playing the game – it became clear that there were too many factors working against my enjoyment to really make this a keeper.
Running at 60fps on Switch, this is an extremely light and calming 1st-person adventure game about completing daily tasks such as photographing butterflies, befriending animals and re-hanging fallen lanterns etc.
With relaxing music, a slow pace and zen tone, Flutter Away is a decent enough escape for an hour or two, but is probably best enjoyed by younger players. Or hardcore butterfly enthusiasts!
Roxy Raccoon’s Pinball Panic begins with a story involving a witch and her evil animal cohorts teleporting away, with Roxy following in pursuit – leading to a series of pinball challenges wherein a balled-up Roxy will need to bounce around myriad tables to collect all of the available gems in order to proceed.
But we all make mistakes.
Bio, Inc is not that game, and nor is it a sequel. Neither is it made by Ndemic Creations, instead coming out of software house DryGin Studios. However, it is (to me, at least) a spiritual successor to Plague, Inc and shares a lot of its mechanics (and both have shared origins as mobile games), but with a few significant differences. It’s hard not to make comparisons between the two games, but I’ll do my best. Because I love you. Anyway, elephant done.
Life in medieval times was tough. The local lord or royal type wouldn’t think twice about forcing peasants to work for 28 hours a day in the fields, before sticking a spear in their hand and making them go and stab a peasant from a neighbouring village. All in the name of expanding the fiefdom and extending the empire of their glorious leader.
And Rising Lords lets you be that ‘benevolent’ ruler. This game has been loitering on PC for a few years, going through lengthy development stages before launching on consoles in its current form. A form honed and perfected to be a sleek mix of Risk-style battles and Civilisation-esque resource management, right? Right?
Wrong. Sadly.
Enter Arizona Sunshine 2. The first game released in 2016 across multiple VR platforms and, while an utterly boilerplate zombie shooter, at least delivered on its promise of letting you mow down hordes of the undead with a variety of high-powered weaponry.
We’re now eight years on and the sequel has finally arrived. So, what’s changed?
