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Showing posts with label Transvaal. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Transvaal. Show all posts

21/03/2024

Cannibal Abduction Xbox Series X 7/10 “Leatherface Upstairs, Having a Quick 40 Winks” ๐Ÿ  @selewidev @transvaalgf #IndieGame #GameDev

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CANNIBAL ABDUCTION Xbox Review
In Cannibal Abduction, you play as Henry - a man who has borrowed his father’s car and is looking to spend time away from his parents; let his hair down, drive the open roads etc. and all was looking good until the engine blows and he is stuck in the middle of absolutely nowhere. 

His luck picks up when a very friendly man offers to take him back to his house and fix the car. Henry agrees, and off to the house they go. Whilst the man fixes the car, he notices tools in Henry’s car and asks about them, he learns that Henry has carpentry experience and asks if he could do him a favour and fix his wife's wardrobe upstairs. It’s a fair deal - he fixes the car, Henry fixes the wardrobe.

Now, on the one hand it was nice of Henry to help, but personally I have a rule in life - if a house looks like Leatherface may be upstairs having a quick 40 winks, I refuse to enter and run as fast as I can in any direction to get as far away as I possibly can. 

I understand that Henry would have to explain to his dad what had happened to the car, but I think that any truly loving father can understand that dodging a possibly cannibalistic family is more important than his nice car. Sadly for Henry, he doesn't live by my rules and well, spoiler alert! He gets chased by a cabbalistic madman.

19/03/2024

Alisa: Developer’s Cut PS5 Review 8.5/10 “Made in Heaven” ๐Ÿš️ @TransVaalGF @CasperCroes #IndieGame #GameDev

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Alisa Developer's Cut PS5 Review
When I watched the trailer for Alisa: Developer's Cut, I thought, “ah, this game definitely has an early Resident Evil vibe”, then as the trailer was coming to an end there is a shot-for-shot remake of the first time you see a zombie in the original Resident Evil, so that absolutely confirmed my thoughts.

Now, over the last few years I’ve played so many ‘We wish we were still in the late ‘90s, playing Resident Evil, when tank controls and fixed camera angles were all the rage and will never ever be replaced’ that it really at this point should be a category on Steam, so many games have tried to capture survival horrors past - with varying degrees of success - and I found that the more of them I played, the more the nostalgia wore off.

Nostalgia can only take you so far and underneath these games you needed to capture the past but also bring your own flavour, as well. With these thoughts in mind, I was understandably elated when that was exactly what Alisa did. Yes, it very much wears its Resident Evil one influence on its heart, but it adds enough interesting twists to feel fresh.

13/03/2024

WWE2K24 PS5 Review 8/10 “Time to play the Game” ๐Ÿคผ‍♂️

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WWE2K24 PS5 Review
Yearly wrestling games - and yearly games in general - have always had a ‘one step forward, two steps back’ problem. In years’ past, match types and modes would be added in just to be removed in the next instalment, so this year’s edition has rolled around, and I was very eager to see if we were still heading forward… or if we were about to take an unfortunate step back.

Well, it may not be a huge stride forward but I’m pleased to say the WWE2K series is moving forward. Now, if you looked at the gameplay it will feel very similar to last years’ game aside from a couple of small tweaks such as super finishers and the ever-popular ability to throw weapons being added, but largely it remains the same and as DDP would say, “it's not a bad thing, it's a good thing”. The base gameplay is good, the lighting and character models are great, some gimmicks are outdated - but that's going to happen with how much wrestlers change in a year. The matches and combat have been a highlight since 2K22, you don’t need to reinvent the wheel. 

26/02/2024

Persona 5 Tactica Nintendo Switch Review 8.5/10 “Let me in your heart again” ๐Ÿ‘ฆ๐Ÿ‘ง @Atlus_West #Persona5 @TransvaalGF

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I have a very strong attachment to Persona 5, it was released at a time that I would comfortably describe as one of the worst periods of my life. Everything had fallen apart, and for a while, everything seemed a bit hopeless.

Luckily, I have been a huge fan of Persona and the Megami Tensei series as a whole since the PlayStation 2 era, so, just as everything seemed bleak - enter Persona 5, a game I had pre-ordered the special edition for, and it made me feel good. I spent 128 hours playing it with nothing but joy in my heart, it was the thing I needed - it wasn't just a distraction, it really felt like an old friend, and the story and the cast of characters really resonated with me, so every time this universe gets expanded, I’m always hopeful that special feeling will still be there.

16/01/2024

The Kindeman Remedy PC 6/10 “Shock and awe, or shock and bore?” ๐Ÿ’‰ @_Troglobytes_ #IndieGame #GameDev

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“The most blasphemous, diabolical and insane management game ever created!” – a quote taken directly from the trailer of The Kindeman Remedy, and the main reason I wanted to play this game, now granted I’m not sure how blasphemous or diabolical other management games are, so I was just going to have to take their word for it. That said, it’s an interesting hook, and I was dying to see just how insane this game was.

04/01/2024

Transvaal’s 2023 Games Of The Year List ๐Ÿ“…๐Ÿ… #GOTY #goty2023

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The legend of Games Freezer that is Transvaal gets to grips with a list of 5 wonderful video games that crossed his path in 2023. 

Our man loves himself some JRPG shenanigans topped off with some mainstream and indie horror scares...

21/12/2023

Fate/Samurai Remnant PS5 Review 8/10 “There can be only one” ⚔️ @FateSR_Official @TransvaalGF #IndieGame #GameDev

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Fate/Samurai Remnant PS5
Fate/Samurai Remnant  is set in Japan during the Edo period (1600s), you play as protagonist Miyamoto Iori, a young Ronin who spends his time helping his town doing odd jobs in any way he can, but suddenly his life gets turned upside down. No, he doesn’t get in trouble and have to move to Bel Air, he is instead chosen to take part in the ‘Waxing Moon Ritual’, whereby seven fighters compete to the death, with the winning fighter getting to have a wish granted.

20/12/2023

Christmas Massacre PS5 Review 8/10 “Bad Santa” ๐ŸŽ… ๐Ÿ”ช @PuppetCombo #GameDev #IndieGame @transvaalgf

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Christmas Massacre PS5 Review
Puppet Combo has been a revelation this year, Stay Out of the House and Night at the Gates of Hell have been real highlights of 2023, which is saying something when taking into account how great 2023 has been for gaming.

Seeing that Christmas Massacre had been ported to the PS5 was a nice, early Christmas present, one filled with screams, horror and a very eager, bloodthirsty Christmas tree.

31/10/2023

Anthology of Fear Xbox Series X Review 4/10 “Five Minutes on YouTube” ๐Ÿฅ @AnthologyofFear #IndieGame #GameDev

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Anthology of Fear Xbox Series X Review
Walking down corridors and having something shout “boo!” is great, but they do wear thin after a while, and as much as I love horror, I definitely need a break from the horror walking simulator genre. Well, after playing Layers of the Fear a couple of months ago, I booted up Anthology of Fear put on my walking shoes and headed down the creepy corridors.

27/10/2023

Baten Kaitos 1 and 2 HD Remaster Nintendo Switch Review 9/10 “Two Under Rated Games, Brought Back To Life” ⚔️ @BandaiNamcoEU #Retrogames #HDRemaster

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aten Kaitos 1 and 2 Hd Remaster Nintendo Switch  Review
Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and The Lost Ocean and Origins have been in my collection for a long time, they were both some of my favourite JRPGS growing up. It was a real shame they didn’t sell well as they had good reviews at the time and I think they were good games with interesting plots and a good battle mechanic, hopefully, these HD remasters will bring some new eyes to these underappreciated games and fingers crossed for Baten Kaitos 3.

18/10/2023

WrestleQuest Xbox Series X 8/10 “One Hell of a Slobberknocker” ๐Ÿคผ‍♂️ @megacatstudios #IndieGames #GameDev

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WrestleQuest
WrestleQuest is two of my absolutely favourite things combined, wrestling and classic RPGs.

When I first heard about the game my excitement level was off the charts, it became one of my most anticipated games of 2023. So, after waiting all this time, will it be a 7-star match in the Tokyo Dome? Or will it be jobbing out in the opening match?

At this point in the review, I will warn you I’m going ALL IN on the wrestling references, there will be NO MERCY, so I suggest opening a ‘Steveweiser’ and preparing to smell what the Games Freezer WrestleQuest review is cooking.

02/10/2023

Daymare: 1994 - Sandcastle PS5 Review 6.5/10 "Backtracking to the ‘90s" ๐ŸงŸ @transvaalgf @InvaderDevs #IndieGame #GameDev

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The original Daymare lives in infamy to me. When originally reading about it, the developer had published a list of features for the game and within said list was ‘backtracking’. I found it very amusing, as although I loved old school horror, I never had nostalgia for running back through areas I had already been through, but to my surprise, when I finally joined Twitter and engaged with Twitter horror gaming fans I found that yes, people did indeed love a bit of backtracking!

If you search for ‘horror game backtracking’ on Google, Reddit pops up with a lot of pro-backtracking articles, and the third hit is a thread entitled ‘I love backtracking (especially in horror games)’ so I realise that, although it is something I have never thought about, it was genuinely a feature to some and in the case of Daymare - a very important one, as the game is completely sold on nostalgia. Its biggest selling point is it’s going to try to take you back to the good ol’ days of survival horror.

19/09/2023

Rainbow Skies Nintendo Switch Review 6.5/10 “One For The Die Hard Fans” ๐ŸŒˆ @RainbowSkiesRPG #GameDev #IndieGame

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Rainbow Skies is a strategy RPG and a sequel to 2012’s Rainbow Moon. Rainbow Skies was originally released in 2018 but has now been ported to the Nintendo Switch. I somehow managed to miss both of these games on the PS Vita, which is weird as I’ve owned the console since 2012 and I’m a fan of JRPGS - and there are only about six games available for the Vita - so I’m bewildered at how they got past me!

I was a bit sad that I wasn't picking up my dusty old Vita and bringing it out of retirement, but instead, I picked up the Nintendo Switch and set out to see what I had been missing out on for a number of years. 

06/09/2023

Mordhau Xbox Series X 8/10 “Fun and frustration” ⚔️๐Ÿ›ก️ @mordhaugame #IndieGame #GameDev

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I'm going to start my review by admitting that although I thoroughly enjoyed Mordhau, god I suck at it. The expression ‘as useful as a chocolate teapot’ really does sum me up when it comes to this genre! The first thing I did when I loaded up the game was to laugh at the idea of playing through the tutorial, and instead jumped straight into a large battle. Within the first thirty seconds, I had pressed the button to un-equip your weapon, and had swapped my sword for my fists - I was in trouble, but luckily I only had that problem for about forty seconds before a kind person stabbed me in the gut and put me out of my misery. Instead of re-spawning, I decided that it was probably best to quit out and actually play the tutorial.

09/08/2023

Layers of Fear Xbox Series X Review 6/10 “Constant corridors and predictable scares” ๐Ÿ˜ฑ @Layers_Of_Fears #IndieGames #GameDev

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Layers of Fear is an enhanced remake of - you guessed it - Layers of Fear, but it’s not just an enhanced remake of the first game, it also includes a remade version of the sequel as well as ‘The Inheritance’ DLC, and two new additional stories – ‘The Writer’, and ‘Final Note’.

I have never played any of the original series, although I have heard of them, and had an idea of what they were about - but I never went ahead and gave them a go, so with this release, it seemed a perfect chance to jump in and experience them in all their new Unreal Engine 5 glory.

08/08/2023

AEW: Fight Forever Xbox Series X Review 6/10 “Great in-ring action, but certain areas need more depth” ๐Ÿคผ‍♂️ #AEW

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AEW Fight Forever is the new wrestling offering from developer Yukes, upon its first announcement it was made clear that this game was going down a different path, it would not concern itself with the more simulation style of gameplay, instead opting for a more arcade-orientated approach. For me this was music to my ears, as  I’ve complained for years that arcade was the way to go, opting for fun over realism.

I’m happy to say that the gameplay is the game’s biggest strength; it’s fun, brutal, and packs a punch. Matches are about building momentum and damaging your opponent, you use a combination of strikes and grapples - strikes are a combination of punches and kicks, which can be chained together for maximum effect; grapples can be done in a variety of positions and take many forms, they are easy to execute and have a nice variety. There is a nice fluidity to all of the combat giving a fast pace to matches. 

24/07/2023

Stay Out of The House PS5 Review 8.5/10 “The home of sleaze, gore, madmen, slashers, and maniacs” ๐Ÿ”ช๐Ÿฉธ @PuppetCombo #IndieGames #GameDev

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Stay Out of the House is the new game from developer Puppet Combo, now I must admit that I’m not familiar with any of their work, although when I went on to their website it pretty much told me all I need to know, this is a quote from the website –

“PUPPET COMBO is the home of sleaze, gore, madmen, slashers, and maniacs.”

Stay Out of the House is split into four sections; the first act is named Night Shift, whereby you go to your character’s night shift at a gas station. Things start out pretty normally, you clean up, deal with customers etc. the store also has an arcade cabinet in the corner which you can play when the store is quiet - oddly enough the arcade game is about a killer chasing you, and you must collect things in order to escape. I really liked this introduction it was a nice build-up of suspense, and even though you can see what’s coming, it still made me jump.

13/07/2023

Amnesia: The Bunker Xbox Series X 7/10 “One Element Away From Being a Stone-Cold Classic” ⏱️@frictionalgames

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Something Alanis Morissette might find ironic is - even though I’ve played every Amnesia game, I realised that I couldn’t remember a single thing about them, which isn’t because the games aren’t worth remembering, just my poor memory; so I set out and went through them all again to jog my ailing mind and I’m glad that I did as it really helped cement my opinion of this game in that I think it does so much so well, and one thing very poorly.

28/06/2023

Homebody | Xbox Series X | Review | 8/10 | “With Death Comes Knowledge” ๐Ÿ”ช @HomebodyGame @Rogue_Co @GameGrumps #IndieGames #GameDev

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Homebody is the newest game from the YouTube channel Game Grumps and Rogue Entertainment, the game is a psychological horror with fixed camera angles, retro graphics and a love for some good old-fashioned puzzle solving.

12/05/2023

Arcana of Paradise - The Tower Nintendo Switch Review 6.5/10 “A game full of charm that just needs more variety” ๐Ÿ—ผ @TheTowerEN #IndieGames #GameDev

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I picked this game purely on the strength of its trailer and the interesting concept. Several children suffering from amnesia are stuck on top of a gargantuan tower, the top of the tower is in ruin and the kids are barely surviving, but in their minds lies a thought that if they can reach the bottom of the tower and escape - they will enter paradise. It’s an interesting set-up, so I was eager to play, I then learned it was a roguelike deck-builder, which are two words I understand but have never seen together, so I was excited to dive in.

Right out of the gate, Arcana of Paradise has a very ethereal feel thanks to its wonderful art style and gorgeous music. You feel you are in a strange - almost dreamlike - world, the combination of both really paints a vivid picture, and I was sucked into its vision very quickly.