Showing posts with label review. Show all posts
Showing posts with label review. Show all posts

29 Nov 2024

Taito Milestones 3 Nintendo Switch Review 8.5/10 "A Glorious Collection of Classics" 👾 @TAITO @TaitoCorp #Retrogaming

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Taito Milestones 3 Nintendo Switch Review
The third entry in Taito’s ‘Milestone’ series, this selection of solid gold feels the strongest overall in terms of the games included here.

The ten games included are Bubble Bobble (1986), Rainbow Islands (1987), Rastan Saga (1987), Rastan Saga 2 (1988), Dead Connection (1992), Cadash (1989), Champion Wrestler (1989), Runark (1990), Warrior Blade (1991), and Thunder Fox (1990).

28 Nov 2024

49 Keys Nintendo Switch Review 8/10 🗝️ @2Pcom @49chiavi

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A game based on a celebrated Italian gamebook titled ‘49 Chiavi’, released in 2022, 49 keys has been adapted for consoles adapted by the original author, and hits all the right notes as a slow-burning text-heavy adventure title.

Set in 1520, your character travels to a distant abbey - following the last wishes of your former master - on a quest to unveil the secrets held within. Presented as if in the form of an ancient manuscript, 49 keys features incredibly evocative writing, crisp visuals and puzzles that will get your grey matter pulsating. Keening, aching music will accompany you as you make your way around the island, collecting items and taking notes – all the while getting closer to the centre of the mystery.

26 Nov 2024

World of Horror Nintendo Switch Review 9/10 "A Must For Horror Fans" 🔪😱 @panstasz @YsbrydGames

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World of Horror Nintendo Switch Review
World of Horror has been on my radar for quite a while, the 1-bit visual style reminded me of the incredible Return of the Obra Dinn, and the Japanese-centric horror backdrop is always appealing to me, there’s something enticing about an alien culture combined with horror, you already have a sense of being an outsider, and out of your comfort zone – before the horror even kicks off!

After playing the game, I feel pretty confident in saying that this is a title that will be raising its head again in my GOTY article in a few short weeks.

22 Nov 2024

Monarchy Xbox Review 6.5/10 "Monarchy of the Glen" 👑🐎 @brainseal #IndieGame #GameDev

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Monarchy Xbox Review
Brain Seal quickly became ones to watch for me ever since covering Dark Quest 3 last year, a game I really clicked with, and spent a lot of time diving in for ‘one more run’. And so, I was quick to check out Monarchy.

A 2D game that involves resource management, combat, and base-building – but all in a very brisk arcade style - the game tasks you with building up your little village until you gain enough gold in your coffers to finish the level (of which there are several available).

The game begins with a tutorial, which is somewhat abstract in how it’s entirely wordless – this is charming and fine…but this is game that could really have done with a little more depth here, and after showing your little horse-seated monarch how to complete the basic game mechanics, it ends with an emblem on the screen. I thought the game had crashed, as the tutorial had clearly finished, but none of the buttons on the controller did anything to move past this greyed-out screen. It turns out that I had to press ‘start’ then ‘new game’ and the main levels were now playable, it’s this slightly esoteric approach that makes the game seem a bit more involved and daunting than it actually is.

Monarchy Xbox Review

The visuals are bright and cartoony, the animation smooth, and the music lilting and gentle - before ramping up a touch in the night-time sections that is, where the combat happens in earnest. During the day, you move left or right, adding folks to your tiny army, searching for chests and coins to afford various builds and defences. Then, when the night comes, you have to fend off small waves of sword-wielding attackers. The game ends if your main tent is demolished, or you get struck by an enemy whilst not holding any coins (they act as a sort of health bar), as this causes you to fall of your horse, ending the game.

Monarchy Xbox Review

The premise and presentation is great, but I found the game limiting in a lot of aspects. You cannot directly control anyone aside from yourself – and you can only attack by turning away from the enemy and kicking them with your horse (an automatic action)– but they will pretty much always strike you at the same time, taking a coin away from your treasury.

This means that you have to rely on the archers that follow you around, and more often than not, they’ll get distracted by shooting at a passing rabbit or deer. The base building is also quite functional, and almost feels like a ‘lite’ version of itself, I found it hard to get engaged in the game, as I spent most of the evening standing still in my fort (the days / nights pass quickly, so it’s only a few minutes) then in the day, wandering around trying to find something to do, the lack of text in the game sort of hampers it, as sometimes the on-screen icons aren’t particularly clear.

Monarchy Xbox Review

Monarchy also has a two-player co-op screen where the other player can be another friendly monarch assisting you, and this adds some fun and extra tactics to the game, but even then it feels oddly slight, as if there’s something missing to really get me engaged. It almost feels like a mobile game in this aspect, as it’s such a breezy experience.

SUMMARY

Whilst I much preferred the depth in Dark Quest 3, I get the feeling that I didn’t quite ‘get’ Monarch, and I hope that other players will click with the game more.

As it stands, I’ll still play with my young son – as he quite liked the characters and simplicity – but Monarch does – to me- feel like a game that needs a little fleshing out in order to stand up above the crowd, and pull plyers in for the long haul.

6.5/10

💧MELTING💧

21 Nov 2024

Predator: Hunting Grounds PC Review 5/10 "The devil is in the details" 💀 @IllFonic @PHGTheGame

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Predator: Hunting Grounds PC Review
You can see why they thought this would work. Asymmetric horror-themed multiplayer is IllFonic’s bread and butter and the much-missed Friday the 13th: The Game did an incredible job of putting you in the sneakers of hapless Camp Crystal Lake counsellors… or wielding the machete of Jason Voorhees.

If you were perusing other 1980s IPs looking for something to fit into the Friday the 13th mould, Predator makes a lot of sense. The all-timer 1987 Predator sees a group of macho characters who already feel like they’ve been lifted out of a video game battling against a single powerful adversary - the ideal recipe for asymmetric multiplayer.


And so Predator: Hunting Grounds was born.

20 Nov 2024

Mining Mechs Xbox Review 7.5/10 "A budget title that drills down deep into the well of fun" ⛏️ @DelayedVictory_ @eastasiasoft #IndieGame #GameDev

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Mining Mechs Xbox Review
It’s always fun to cover smaller games that are under a fiver, as it’s always pleasant to be surprised by a game that may otherwise have passed me by. Mining Mechs is a game that was released on Steam in 2023 and has now been ported to consoles. I played Mining Mechs on the XSX, and was quite won over by the core gameplay loop, surprisingly catchy music, silly humour, and pixel visuals.

19 Nov 2024

The Story of Thor: A Successor of The Light – Britt's Vinyl Review 💿📀 #vgm #videogamevinyl #vinyl #vinylrecords #OST

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The Story of Thor: A Successor of The Light Vinyl Review

Originally released on the Sega Mega Drive back in 1994, as part of the 30-year celebrations, Wayo Records have released this deluxe 2-disc vinyl set, with audio captured as purely as possible for absolute authenticity.

Known as Beyond Oasis in North American markets, the game was Ancient’s take on the Zelda formula, and tells the story of Prince Ali, who has found a golden armlet and must travel the land of Oasis, visiting four spirits in order to gain the eventual powers and abilities to defeat a rising evil who has located the corresponding silver armlet.

The music for The Story of Thor was composed by the mighty Yuzo Koshiro, someone that Wayo Records have previously worked with in their release of ActRaiser, and I’m sure is a luminary that our readers here will be very much aware of from his incredible resume of solid gold on the 16-bit machines. Heck, we named our son after one of his characters!

18 Nov 2024

Liberte Xbox Review 5/10 "A promising premise that has issues throughout" 🫡🗼 @LiberteGame #IndieGame #GameDev

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Liberte Xbox Review
A Lovecraftian action-adventure game with horror elements set in 17th century France, Liberte was subtly on my radar for a little while leading up to its release, and I was quite intrigued as it had been a while since I’d played a game in the action-adventure genre.

Unfortunately, Liberte has quite a few technical issues that bear down on a game that ends up feeling feels unrewarding and unfortunately – a missed opportunity.

14 Nov 2024

Bitmap Books – A Tale of Two Halves: The History Of Football Video Games | Britt's Review ⚽️📘 @bitmap_books #RetroGaming

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Bitmap Books – A Tale of Two Halves: The History Of Football Video Games
Image Credit: www.BitmapBooks.com

We have covered many of Bitmap Books’ fine releases here at Games Freezer, with the most recent being Dave Cook’s rather wonderful Run ‘n’ Gun tome. This, their latest, is a very different beast, tackling a genre that has existed since the early ‘80s and was very much been twisting and morphing for decades before settling into (mostly) more sedate, incremental releases in recent years.


The book covers the football (or ‘soccer’ depending on your geographic location) genre from its nascency in the early ‘80s - when the games were effectively variations on the Pong theme - right up through the modern generations where the majority of the releases are ultra realistic and pretty – but perhaps lack the character and individuality that previously made the football genre a more interesting beast, with some incredible goals, some near misses...and some that deserved a red card, and a kicking in the car park.

13 Nov 2024

EDGE OF SANITY Xbox Series X review 7/10 "Is that a horrible tentacled thing ahead?" 🐙 @Vixa_Games #GameDev #IndieGame

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EDGE OF SANITY Xbox Series X review
Edge of Sanity is a game that brings together those obvious bedfellows of Lovecraftian horror and inventory management.

I jest, slightly, given that this is a survival horror, which is very much in keeping with a lot of games inspired by HP himself. Set in the wilds of Alaska following a mysterious industrial accident, you play Carter, sent in by the company to find out what's happened and, possibly, save the day.

12 Nov 2024

Looney Tunes Wacky World of Sports Xbox Review 6.5/10 "Looney Tunes return (the serve)" 🏀🎾⚽️ @BamtangGames #IndieGame #GameDev

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Looney Tunes Wacky World of Sports Xbox Review
The premise of an anarchic Looney Tunes sports collection felt oddly nostalgic, and I was quite keen to dive into the game in multiplayer at home, as we are all familiar with the characters, and as the game supports up to four players locally,  numbers wouldn’t be an issue. Whilst the visuals, characters and functionality is there, the games all feel a little too flat to be a recommendation, unfortunately.

11 Nov 2024

Purpose 1951 Xbox Review 5/10 "These boots are made for walkin’ (and simulatin’)" 🥾 @TongucBodur #IndieGame #GameDev

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Purpose 1951 Xbox Review
Purpose 1951 is a brief little game that blends walking simulation with extremely light puzzle elements. Clocking in at around an hour in length as the character muses about the situations that have arisen to bring him to his current predicament.

Presented in a 1st-person POV style, Purpose 1951 is a very slender game in a lot of ways, you follow a mostly linear path – with the only branches areas leading to what are effectively ‘trophy points’ - as the narrator monologues as you trek.

8 Nov 2024

Gori: Cuddly Carnage Xbox Review 8.5/10 "Gory, gruesome, and great fun!" 😼🛹 @GoriCarnage @AngryDemonGames @wiredp #IndieGame #GameDev

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Gori: Cuddly Carnage Xbox Review
I’d been following the development of Gori: Cuddly Carnage for a while, and was hoping that the promised blend of cutesy innocence and uber-violence, combined with the neon, graphic-novel visuals would scratch my turbo-arcade itch...and yes, yes it has.

7 Nov 2024

Hot Wheels Monster Trucks: Stunt Mayhem Xbox Review 7/10 "Stunt fun for the young ‘uns" 🔥🛻 @GameMillEnt @3DClouds #Indie #GameDev

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As the father of a three year old, I’m very familiar with Hot Wheels, and, whilst the Hot Wheels Unleashed games are a permanent fixture on my Xbox, the promise of a game more suited to the monster truck side of things – and with a simpler, more child-centric focus – was definitely tickling my gherkins.

Moving away from the primarily race-driven previous Hot Wheels games,  Hot Wheels Monster Trucks: Stunt Mayhem instead leans towards – as the title suggests – stunts in various arenas.

5 Nov 2024

Pinball M Camp BloodBrook DLC Review "A Slashing Good Time!" 🔪⚪️ @zen_studios #IndieGame #GameDev

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☝In this video we take a look at the Pinball M Camp BloodBrook DLC on the PC. 👆

Camp Bloodbrook is a thrilling pinball game that brings a slasher classic vibe from the 80s to life. It's part of the Pinball FX and Pinball M series, developed by Zen Studios.

In this game, you use your pinball skills to escape the clutches of Jacob Wells, also known as "The Wellbound" The game features various camp activities like nightly scavenger hunts, deadly hide and seek, and canoe adventures. It's available on multiple platforms, including PC, PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch.

4 Nov 2024

Total Extreme Wrestling 9 PC Review 9/10 “A Wrestledream” 🤼 @TransvaalGF @ArlesGreyDog #IndieGame #GameDev #TEW9

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Total Extreme Wrestling 9 PC Review
I've always been a huge fan of GM (General Manager) mode, a mode that for some unknown reason comes and goes from WWE games. Luckily, it is currently back in the last few games and I have spent many hours living out my dream of being a wrestling booker. The main criticism these games have is the lack of features, things that have been taken out, or should be have been in from the start. TEW9 doesn't have this problem, it was my first time playing this series and wow! Was my mind blown.

1 Nov 2024

Nikoderiko: The Magical World Nintendo Switch Review 8.5/10 "A highlight reel of classic late ‘90s platformers" 🐲 @GamesVea #IndieGame #GameDev

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Nikoderiko: The Magical World
I’d never heard of Nikoderiko: The Magical World before receiving it for review, but within seconds of playing, I knew exactly what treats I was in for. This is very much a game that tips its hat to titles such as Donkey Kong Country, and Crash Bandicoot, as we follow the adventurous mongoose duo Niko and Luna as they try to retrieve a magical artefact from the devious Grimbald and his army of ‘Cobrings’. 

30 Oct 2024

PowerA Advantage Xbox Wired Controller - Fortnite Midas 🎮 @PowerA

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PowerA Advantage Xbox Wired Controller - Fortnite Midas
Hot on the heels of our previous coverage of the PowerA Core Blush a little while back, we now take a look at the PowerA Fortnite Midas, a wired controller that makes an extremely stylish first impression.

Feeling similar to the Core Blush in how it fits in the hand, the first thing that struck me about the Midas was how it looked; the shiny detailing in the handprints, webs, skulls and flowers popping out from the matte plastic, and the ridged back of the controller providing grip for lengthier, more intense playing sessions.


The triggers are designed to be less spongy, shallower on the press than the official controller, so there’s a sense of snappiness in their use, giving more of an arcade vibe and a sense of quicker reaction time. This aspect is also adjustable, using the trigger locks on the rear to fine tune your experience.

29 Oct 2024

Nintendo Switch REMATCH GLOW Wireless Controller: Boo Hoo Review By Britt 👻🎮 @PDPgaming

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Nintendo Switch REMATCH GLOW Wireless Controller: Boo Hoo
I’ve covered a fair few controllers for the Nintendo Switch here at GF, and I find myself rotating between a few old favourites every now and again, but the arrival of the Boo Hoo controller has thrown things into disarray here at the Welsh branch of GF HQ, and I found myself becoming quite entranced with it during usage, and it has now become my ‘go to’ controller when gaming on the Switch.

21 Oct 2024

Drova: Forsaken Kin Nintendo Switch Review 9.5/10 "One of the RPGs of the Year" 🐻⚔️ @J2D_Interactive #IndieGame #GameDev #IndieGameDev

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Drova: Forsaken Kin Nintendo Switch Review
I’ll open by saying that, whilst Drova: Forsaken Kin ended up being one of my games of the year, during the review period there was a shaky few days where V1.0 of the game had some issues that made me think that this was going to be another case of Wasteland 3, Wartales, or Shadows of Doubt, whereby a gripping and fantastic adventure seemingly genetically designed for my tastes would be scuppered by myriad technical issues, breaking my heart into a thousand pieces and casting them into the ocean.

Luckily, patch 1.1 was released and completely annihilated all the issues that I was having with the game, transforming it into a title that will be with me for a long time. In fact, I don’t even really need to cover this game as my handsome, suave editor Rich is already covering it on PC (I can feel a pay rise coming on – ed), but I want to talk about it so much that I’m writing this review anyway, purely to spread the word and share my love of it. So yes, I liked it a lot.

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