The longevity for HTTOYM is not great. It comes from a developer who deserves more recognition and might finally be getting it after all of their hard work they’ve invested in the series. But this isn’t a true remaster with updates to visuals and sound, and it shows through cropped images with the UI (pause menu option) and the audio issues in the intro. I don’t agree for the price range on this title, but that is expected in comparison with other titles in the genre. Most of the people interested in this title will be playing it for buffing their gamerscore total since it can be done in less than an hour with a guide. However, if you’re interested in the graphic novel genre, then you might enjoy the brief few hours journey of this steamy love story.

Technically speaking, the game handles well and performs well, but due to some baffling design choices and an inconsistent difficulty curve, Verlet Swing is a lot more frustrating and a lot more restricting than it needed to be. That being said, if you’ve the patience and perseverance to overlook said drawbacks, you’ll find quite a bit of fun to be had here. Just, be sure to check the warranty on your controller first.

Retro gamers or those of a certain vintage will find something to enjoy here, but if you’re outside of that demographic this is a title that’ll likely not last a long time on the hard drive.

Haimrik’s interesting concept is ultimately held back by its weak story and some poor gameplay elements. The game is certainly distinct, that much goes without saying, but its mechanics often fail to blend together particularly well. This isn’t a bad game by any means, on the contrary, it’s actually quite a competent puzzle-adventure game when it wants to be, but it’s hard to overlook these issues when they’re frequently in your face.

As a remaster, it’s well done if basic; some upspuffed visuals, a few QoL improvements, and an easier way to revisit the game. But unfortunately the game itself is showing its age, with obtuse objectives and maps and combat that rarely feels fun or exciting to engage in. One for old fans, and cautious new players looking to see what the series is all about before the new Onimusha: Way of the Sword next year.

Overall I enjoyed Micetopia more than most pixel platformers published by Rataliaka. Personally I like feeling like I got something of value for my money and don’t like spending $5 on a game that takes less than an hour to complete. If you don’t follow a guide Micetopia will take roughly 2-3 hours as long as you have some platforming experience – there’s not really any replay value but one playthrough leaves you fairly satisfied. A somewhat decent game and a quick completion aren’t bad for a fiver. I look forward to seeing what the developers do for their next project.

All in all, God Bless, or Goddess is an odd curiosity. On the one hand it has some decent special effects, some interesting characters and some added gameplay elements you wouldn’t normally see in an FMV title, as well as some tongue-in-cheek humour. On the other, it’s clearly aimed at a certain (mostly male) audience for certain, obvious reasons, and the plot and characters can become a tangled mess of names and proper nouns that are hard to keep track of, especially with the rapid pace of the subtitles going by.

Hovership Havoc is exactly what its title suggests; you steer your hovership around the enemies and navigate areas of complete havoc. The game starts very tough, though that is by design as you would get bored if it was too easy. It is a competent arcade twin-stick shooter for skilled gamers, stick at it and upgrade wisely, and you will start to get a knack for things.

Despite some early potential, we came away from Steel Seed underwhelmed by its muddled gameplay style and not all that compelling tale. It has its moments, but players looking for either stealth or action gaming are best off looking elsewhere.

Excellent atmosphere and horror tricks and an initially intriguing tale can’t make up for the lacklustre pay off and slow, tedious plodding back and forth around the hotel. Fans of titles such as Gone Home will likely get the most enjoyment out of it, but it also falls far short of that high bar unfortunately.

Despite its lack of depth and its somewhat wonky handling, Bouncy Bullets isn’t half bad. The game sports quite a bit of content and a nice degree of replay value, but falls slightly flat in regards to its fluctuating difficulty curve. Still, for those looking for a Lovely Planet-like game that offers up silly, vibrant, and senseless fun, you cant really go wrong here.

Astor: Blade of the Monolith is a game that has some great art direction, but needed some more time spent figuring out what its core tenets were beyond the well realised world.

Rugby 22 is probably the only rugby game out there, so there is little to compete with. That being said you can tell they have put a lot of effort into it and with it being a tough game to simulate to begin with, they have done all the right things. A few things need fleshing out, but once you’ve got your head around it, you will be having lots of fun.

Tamashii is an addictive 2-D retro puzzler bringing great design and solid gameplay even though it may fall behind in the graphics department. With plenty of challenging puzzles and a horror theme screaming WTF!. It was a hair pulling experience I enjoyed and hope others find pleasure in this title also.

Chess Knights: Viking Lands is a fun and very challenging puzzle game. Not one for achievement hunters unless you find a walkthrough, but that kind of kills the joy of the game. For its price, it is quite an attractive looking game and the Viking theme stops it from looking bland. For those familiar with chess and who enjoy tricky puzzles, this could be one for you.

Last Mind Standing is a fun little throwback, that I think has potential for those that like their challenges retro and offbeat. Those are the people that will persevere with the game’s peculiarities, probably even thrive in them. For most others, the onboarding is too punishing that they will not get past the open levels to be able to find the fun.

All in all, we ended our time with Gray Dawn having enjoyed its grim tale, but it’s also not something that will live long in our memory, or have us clamouring for a second play through. One for those looking to sample a new thriller, having exhausted other options already out there.

The game’s greatest drawback is that of its structural imbalance. Whilst its Groundhog Day-esque choice-driven narrative remains deep and engaging, its lack of content variety and depth ultimately paves the way for repetition. The combat, on the other hand, remains satisfying throughout, which is further upheld by the game’s entertaining RPG elements. Overall, it’s a fairly decent adventure that’s only fun until the novelty wears off.

There’s enough here for fans of the Sherlock Holmes style detective games, though for me the constant back and forth between menus and uneven movement through the world left me uninspired to continue playing.

Whether Reed 2 will be your cup of tea ultimately rests on how you feel about near constant death and a high difficulty. Some less than precise controls don’t help matters, but even so I found myself still coming back to try, try, try again. Achievement hunters will no doubt persevere, though it’s probably one of the tougher Ratalaika titles to get that elusive 1000G.

AlienCruise is a decent side-scrolling shooter that does well with the little content that it serves up. The game’s commendable variation of interesting enemies, together with its few colorful and distinct locations, collectively ensure that player interest is maintained whilst repetition is held at bay. Despite some cheap deaths and its generic audio presentation, fans of the concept are unlikely to be dissatisfied with what’s on offer.

Steamroll manages to get a lot right with the few systems that it consists of. The game’s well structured puzzles are relayed through its clever level design, together with its interesting steam-based concept and its balanced micromanagement. The big drawback is that it’s all tethered to a story that’s about as interesting as watching paint dry, with visual and audio design that’s equal to that.

Rival Megagun’s competitive spin on the shmup formula is a bold move indeed, and although it pays off for the most part, the game is not entirely without fault. I take issue with the game’s lack of depth, its desolate online component, and its inconsistent damage detection. That said, its aggressively fun concept, its thrilling local multiplayer, and its decent character selection, collectively makes this a fairly worthwhile shoot ’em up.

This, at very best, is a decent take on the arcade days of old. It’s a game in which you’re merely dropped into progressively difficult bouts of twin-stick shooting mayhem. Nothing more, and nothing less. Whilst appealing more to the hardcore player than the casual player, and despite a very straightforward structure, some poor design choices, and a few localisation issues, Super Space Serpent SE really isn’t half bad.

Convoy: A Tactical Roguelike, although simple in its graphics and audio, is very accomplished in its tactical gameplay. The story isn’t too thorough, but it’s enough so you know what to focus on. The random encounters make things fun and exciting, and the tactical combat has the right balance of difficulty. The game also seems to rely on the philosophy that if at first, you don’t succeed, try, try again.

Warlock’s Tower isn’t half bad for a retro-fueled puzzler. The game paces itself rather well through the steady introduction of new mechanics, and although it somewhat struggles to remain interesting in the long-run, one has to commend its solid difficulty curve. You’re unlikely to be blown away by what’s on offer here, but you’ll certainly be getting your money’s worth, especially if you’re a fan of the genre.

If you’re looking for accessible arcade fun, Legendary Eleven isn’t really a bad choice. The game’s field of play and its fairly robust features remain well set for the most part, allowing even newcomers to sink right in and score some outlandish, memorable feats. Unfortunately, however, the game’s bugs, its technical issues, and its constant screen tearing, massively holds it back from greatness in the long run. Wait for fixes.

On first play though, Island of Spirits certainly is interesting and requires some thinking ahead to be able to complete. It ticks enough boxes for the making of a good game, but it could definitely benefit from some development if the creators wanted to appeal to a wider audience or to increase replayability.

For a puzzle-specific game, Hexologic isn’t half bad. The game’s short length and its lack of any real challenge will no doubt deter player favor, though, in the face of its decent pace, its accessibility, and its constant introduction of new mechanics, these flaws are somewhat bearable. It’s a game that’s easy to recommend for what it gets right, but I would caution against picking this up if you’re simply looking to be tested.

Concept Destruction is a simple, well-executed idea and that is fun for all ages. It’s basically Destruction Derby but at a budget level. It’s easy to pick up and play, and even with the limited game modes you will still have a good time.

For a 2-hour story extension and 6 unlockable characters, 3 of which are only available at some point in the future, £39.99 seems a steep price to pay. So, unless you’re desperate to play the fun but way too short expansion story and try the new characters out, in the meantime the free Animalities will be fun to play with until the inevitable sale down the road.

Trollhunters: Defenders of Arcadia is a game that knows it audience and caters to it. It stays true to the story and delivers an okay yet shorter experience that I’m sure kids and fans of the show will enjoy.

I don’t know who Dynasty Warriors 9 Empires is for. The base game has a big fan base and the 1 vs 1000 combat is always fun to wade through. That’s no exception here the combat is still as fun as it ever was but unfortunately, the maps all feel the same and that battlefield rarely changes. I can’t get any joy from the strategy element and for me, it sucks a lot of life out of the game for little reward.

Guntastic is a fun battle game with an affinity with speed so things don’t get old too quickly. The rounds are fast, the action is faster and if you find friends to play with I am sure it will be highly competitive. Some may not enjoy the fact it largely favours luck over skill but I think that brings a little bit of balance to the non-hardcore gamers to give them a fighting chance. But battle games do usually suffer from a short lifespan, so unless it can keep its online play thriving, which may prove difficult, it may not last long in gamers minds.

The Long Reach’s drawbacks sit with the game’s lack of structure, its counter intuitive puzzles and its infrequent readability issues. Though, even with those frustrations in mind, the game still provides creepy, simplistic entertainment. The game’s atmosphere rarely wavers, which is upheld further by its beautifully crafted pixelated visuals. It’s not groundbreaking by any means, but it does enough to stand out.

While there isn’t anything definitively wrong with the game, there isn’t anything that On a Roll 3D can particularly brag about either. It’s your run of the mill side-scrolling platformer, one that seemingly trades innovation for simplicity. If you’re a speedrunner, a leaderboard buff, or generally enjoy ease-of-use games of this type, On a Roll 3D is for you. If, on the other hand, you appreciate something deeper and more robust, look elsewhere.

Hide and Seek doesn’t do enough to stand out alongside its predecessor, nor does it attempt to build upon the franchise outside of its plot movements. Despite the game’s various locations, the absence of depth and the lack of evolving functionality only opens the door to repetition. That said, the game’s performance and its core structure remains well set, offering bite-sized fun that will no doubt please fans of the series, far above all else.

Overall, Super Toy Cars Offroad is just not good, at least not for me. I enjoy a goofy arcade racer intended for children occasionally and love classics like Mario Kart and Cruisin’ USA. This sadly lowered the bar of expectations for me from this developer in their near future. The last game took around 4-5 years to develop while this one was less than two years. It feels rushed when racing through the tracks and learning the levels becomes a chore with trying to manage the dreadful physics on top of normal map memorization. This makes it even more luck based having one lap work flawlessly, then getting thrown around and hitting invisible hitboxes taking the same path lap 2. At least the power ups aren’t overpowered and not a huge threat, which is sad to say about any racer with item usage and combat mechanics. The game isn’t hard, just needs more polishing to work out the issues. I would pick this game up only on new game sale if you love this genre or wait for a better sale in the future. You would have more fun just playing the second Super Toy Cars game, as I believe that’s the best entry yet. The shoddy gameplay for Offroad allows the music and visuals to outshine, even if they aren’t a beacon of light to bathe in.

Credit where it’s due, 80’s Overdrive tries its Rubik’s Cube-shaped heart out when it comes to immersing you in classic 1980 arcade racing and Outrun-styled action. It’s a fast and challenging slice of speed-demon action that’s all too brief and marred by a tedious economy, a paper-thin level editor, and one-note thrills which will start to tire you out before the game’s ending. The soundtrack and attention to presentational details do give 80’s great aesthetics, if only they were fused together with a better arcade racer than this.

As a big Kevin Smith fan, I was looking forward to reviewing this game as I thought it might be reference heavy. It was, but some were more subtle than others and required you to know about most of his catalogue to get the references. It was an OK playthrough but that was more because I enjoyed the Double Dragon nostalgia feel. This feels halfway between a hard-worked fan-created effort and a cash grab of reskinning an older game.

The finale to Minecraft: Story Mode Season Two lacks the quality and care that Telltale have produced elsewhere. The conclusion to the plot is passable, but despite some solid voice acting and decent visuals, this episode hardly packs anything that breaks new ground. Perhaps the most irritating thing here is that this is merely an average serving from an otherwise very capable developer.

My Memory of Us, despite its stellar narration and its wonderful visual design, is a game that’s far too simplistic for its own good. The game’s puzzles rely on tired concepts that take little more than common sense to overcome, with added stealth elements that remain equal to that. The end result makes for a journey that aims to be both deep and emotional, but ultimately fails to meet its intentions.

Nintendo has Super Mario Odyssey and PlayStation has Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy, which is why I was really hoping that Super Lucky’s Tale would be more than what it is. Instead it’s an overly simplistic platformer that comes with annoyances such as limited camera control and forced replay value. Super Lucky’s Tale desperately wants to immerse you with how stunning and diverse it looks, but fails to totally captivate you due to how damn easy everything is.

Whilst this game has interesting gameplay and the ship upgrade system can be fun, it will take a while for someone to get into it. Yes the game is long, but long doesn’t always mean good. Some missions can be tough, seemingly at random, and you will need to find the right upgrade to proceed easily. It is repetitive by design and unfortunately, because there are so many missions, I found myself bored very quickly.

There’s not really much to complain about with Hoggy 2. While it’s hardly likely to set the world on fire, what’s here is a cute, simple, but challenging puzzle game that is a fun way to spend an evening. The overly bubblegummy visuals and music get a bit much after a while, and the kid mode could’ve done with being a tad bit longer, but overall if you’re in the market for something short and sweet, you can much worse than this.

Despite housing a generous amount of content, the game’s core systems lack depth and variety, and whilst DayD: Through Time makes a few functional improvements when compared to Gnomes Garden, it still falls short due to its tedious loop. That said, if you’re a fan of this simplistic concept, DayD is certainly going to be serviceable. If, on the other hand, you prefer something robust and challenging, look elsewhere.

It won’t keep us playing for too long, and it can be a bit hard to keep track of, but Save Your Nuts is a fun little arcade game that is good for keeping the kids (both big and little) entertained for an hour or so while we’re all stuck at home.

Overall I think that even though the game isn’t very fun it is mildly therapeutic and even quite educational to an extent, making it a decent bargain at the cost of $16.99. I would love to see a multiplayer version where you and a friend could work on a car together.

Scribblenauts Showdown is a lot of fun to begin with, but it doesn’t take long for repetition to sink in due to the lack of content. Despite how innovative and deep the summoning dictionary is, the price tag is too steep to justify a wholehearted recommendation. Nevertheless, this is still a solid family game that’s sure to please gamers of all ages.

Airheart isn’t a bad game, but it could have been much more than what it is if the developer had spent more time refining the gameplay’s systems to better feed into one another. The end result makes for an experience that sounds more compelling in description than it actually is in practice. Still, with its difficulty spikes, its squandered potential and its lack of story to the side, there’s some fun to be had here.

Swordship is fun in very short bursts but it soon begins to get too repetitive for my tastes.

Gangsta Paradise is sort of a misnomer, you end up killing all the gangsters so I don’t know how that could be a paradise for them, and the game as a whole is not a paradise either – it’s more like a purgatory, completely middle of the road, nothing great about it, but nothing terrible either. With the exception of the enemies, there isn’t much variety. The game is somewhat bare-bones and a one-trick pony, but the trick it performs it does adequately, getting a new gun just in time and mowing down enemies is satisfying. Overall I had an alright time playing the game, especially in co-op. It could use a few more modes, perhaps an endless mode, or a hard mode, and the game should really have included a few more playable character options, one doesn’t really cut it.

All in all though, I’m not sure really about whether I enjoyed Paratopic enough to recommend it. It’s fairly priced for what it is but at the same time, and much like Baltoro’s Fatum Betula, it seems to layer on the weird for the sake of it, hoping that there can be some more depth or meaning pulled out of it by the player. If you like a bizarre tale that won’t take long to be then check it out, but the average player is probably going to be put off before they even begin.

Lost Ember has so much potential to be a real gem but is let down by it’s overwhelming performance problems. There are glimmers of the experience that could have been, if these problems were to be ironed out, especially as the game progresses and the story gains momentum. Lost Ember is well suited to players looking for a casual experience with simple mechanics and an intriguing narrative but only if they are also able to overlook some of the game’s unfortunate issues.

Excuse the cliché but Pupperazzi is not the dog’s bollocks – it’s the dog’s dinner. This isn’t to say Pupperazzi doesn’t possess some bright points, as its accessibility and the novelty of photographing dogs doing outlandish things is where the game’s charms shine through. However, once you dig deeper and deeper into what Pupperazzi has to offer, all that remains is a drove of simplistic and weightless objectives with no character or spirit to help salvage it. If you want a cheap and cheery photography game to spend a few hours with Pupperazzi will do in a pinch, but like an ageing show dog, the longer it goes on the more it loses its ability to entertain you.

Serious Sam 4 almost had me with its fast gunplay and over the top action, but a reliance on sheer, overwhelming numbers and repetition meant that I began to get bored and frustrated far too quickly.

The Tunes are back in videogame form, which is great to see however this compilation of sports mini-games falls a bit short for the wacky world in my opinion. I love getting to see and play as some of the Looney Tunes but the sports themselves feel too basic and sometimes even clunky to really want to go back or even introduce it to friends or my kids. Golf was good and tennis was not bad but at a 50% okay rate in terms of fun, it’s a hard recommend to seasoned gamers.

Deep Space Rush is a short game with some enjoyable, if not deep gameplay and is fine for its budget title release. The developers didn’t attempt to make a masterpiece and so they don’t ask for a lot of your money. Also, the publishers have a reputation for easy gamerscore and completions, and if that’s a motivator then the game doesn’t disappoint. Expect to enjoy the game for an hour or so before the lack of progression stifles the desire to keep playing.

The Skylia Prophecy is a mixed bag for me. A couple more tweaks and this game would have been much more enjoyable. The graphics, controls and the boss fights here capture the nostalgic feels of past classics very well. But some other decisions that were made keep pulling the loose threads and unravelling the game into a bit of a confusing mess. Action-platformer fans will still get some joy from this but they may end up being frustrated at more than they can bear at the small quality of life choices made.

Ultra Goodness 2 is an OK top-down shooter. The time-slowing feature is nice but doesn’t really do enough to make it stand out. The awkward Armageddon button needed more work and I’d prefer the screen be a little more zoomed out, or at least give us the option to change it. It will take you about an hour or two to play through the whole game, though it is challenging enough to make it enjoyable so fans of this genre won’t be too disappointed picking this up.

What the Box? lacks originality and depth. The ability to utilize the game’s bot support is a necessary touch, because in honesty, I highly doubt that this game will maintain a strong enough online community to uphold it in the long run. For its price it’s an absolute steal. There’s some neat functions present and I did have fun during the initial stages of play, however, there’s no denying that it becomes repetitive before long.

The Prince of Landis has some redeeming qualities, most notably the art style and the story/setting, and adventure game fans might find something they like here, but ultimately it falls short, mostly due to the shallow gameplay. The short length of the game is beneficial to the overall experience (as well as for all the achievement hunters playing the game), but I would recommend waiting for a sale to pick it up.

Fearful Symmetry & the Cursed Prince is intimidating and frustrating, but that’s precisely its intention. Fans of puzzle games will likely enjoy what’s on offer throughout the campaign, and it packs just enough content to justify the price point. Sadly however the only aspect of play that truly evolves throughout the course of the game is the difficulty. The visuals, despite being diverse, are far from interesting and the same can be said about the story.

A few of Yaga’s game mechanics cripple what would otherwise be an enjoyable pre-modern Slavic tale of witches, kings, magic and a one-armed blacksmith hero. Some core aspects of play aren’t explained fully or not at all, and ironically it’s these fundamentals which help drag the experience down. That element, coupled with seemingly arbitrary and crippling punishments tied to character death, robs the overall experience of much of why gamers game – for enjoyment. Yaga will frustrate you, and not in a good way.

What can I say about this title from Ratalaika Games… it’s surprisingly addictive and we all know Ratalaika knows their audience. So for a group of hardcore people this is a must game for them. Control mechanics are nicely implemented and the puzzles are well thought out – there are doorways which switch you to the other side of the room. The downside to some of the puzzles is if you misplace a barrel next to another one with no gap you can’t move them. So you will need to press that handy Y button to kill yourself.

Ubisoft know they can do much better, they’ve shown that various times in the past, but Frontiers of Pandora is helplessly mediocre, wallowing in better Ubisoft franchises in a vain attempt to conceal the disappointingly stale reality that it’s just not good enough to be anything more.

Baron: Fur Is Gonna Fly is a reasonably fun party game for friends and family to play. The planes steering dynamics take a little bit of time to get used to, but the controls are simple enough for most to pick up and play. I feel there is only a limited amount of variation here though, meaning you’re unlikely to get much longevity out of things. Online play would’ve helped, but really the point is to get some friends crowded round on the sofa.

Gnomes Garden 3’s asking price is a generous one, and I wont deny that there’s more than enough content to justify its cost several times over. However, that doesn’t cover up the fact that the game’s core loop just doesn’t maintain its initial excitement throughout. This is fun in short bursts, but everything you’ll see here has already been done a thousand times before, to a better degree, I might add. Pay a cheap price, get a cheap game.

Just Die Already with its launch on consoles is a great open-world game within the first couple of hours. Within time its fun factor begins to deteriorate, and there just isn’t much to laugh at anymore. The humor has just gone stale. The difficulty in its controls and lack of features doesn’t help its cause.

OFDP2 is straight to the point in what it is trying to achieve; a simple but challenging test of your reflexes and focus. While some will no doubt relish the challenge and try to test their ability, others may lose interest in the repetitive simplicity. There is no smoke and mirrors here though, so for those who want a no-nonsense pick-up and play fast action reflex game then OFDP2 is for you.

A dirty-pint of stereotypes, awkward situations and leery dialogue, this is a visual novel that somehow manages to become likable over its runtime.

This is a simple fast past side-scrolling shooter that holds a fair amount of challenge. For those who need a no-nonsense shooter then this could be a quick pick me up. Really skilled players might breeze through it though and it may not hold enough replay value. If the annoying scream doesn’t bug you when you die, you might get some value out of this bright arcade retro shooter.

OkunoKA Madness is not for the casual platforming gamer. A certain level of skill is needed to remotely get close to beating this game. Once through the levels, the game relies on ranks and time trials for replay-ability so I hope you enjoy what is given. OkunoKA Madness is guaranteed to drive you mad at least a few times as you will die a lot. Overall the game is a relatively short experience, skill depending, and could have tighter controls for the genre that it is.

Iro Hero is everything you expect with a vertical shooter in that it’s tough, fast-paced and repetitive. The extra mechanic of changing colour is fun to use, and it does test your reflexes and gives you a bit more chance of completing the game. There is not a great deal of content to keep you interested in the long haul, but it still a good enough game for you to jump in straight away and get going.

Once you get past the boredom and try to strategize your way through the race, Tour de France does have some depth to it. But because of the niche market for which it is made I don’t find it worth the price of admission. Even local co-op doesn’t save it. In my opinion, the developers could do well to package this with an exercise bike rather than a console release with gamepad controls.

Element Space is a very difficult game with good intentions but poor delivery. So much time was spent crafting out a storyline, using voice acting and putting some innovations into this genre that the main functionality of the game slips down. With clunky controls, high difficulty and such slow pacing, only experts at the turn-based strategy will make it through to enjoy the storyline. But they would need to be a glutton for punishment and have a lot of time on their hands.

HyperParasite has a really nice aesthetic style, with bright, chunky visuals complimented by a decent synth soundtrack. There are some nice ideas here too, being able to posses bodies to fight back offers up some fun gameplay and scenarios. But it takes for too long to unlock more bodies, and the combat and difficulty is too uneven to really get the desire to have ‘one more go’.

Played in short bursts 60 Seconds! has enough charm and wit to make the end of the world at least seem like a bit of a laugh. Sadly, reality kicks in sooner or later and we realise that our luck can be snuffed out at any moment. When we die yet again due to factors we couldn’t control, it becomes harder and harder to muster up the will for one more go.

Galacide must be commended on its attempt to mix up the Shmup formula; by adding in the Match 4 elements it provides more challenge than simply (ha, simply) dodging bullets and shooting down ships. Unfortunately this innovation comes at the cost of being able to easily read the screen, and accurately utilise the mechanics to progress. A worthy curio then, but not one to rush out and play.

Sometimes relics should be left in the past, and unfortunately the Tomb Raider Remastered Collection is one of those cases. There is some worth in preserving the base experience of these 32-bit classics for a modern generation of consoles, but calling this collection remastered is negligible, as it’s only claim to such namesakes comes from slight visual improvements and slightly modernised controls. This collection is best served as a history lesson and would do well in a videogame museum, but although it’s pleasantly priced, there are games that cost less that are longer and offer so much more substance than this. Feel free to take the history lesson, but whereas the original three games were celebrated and rightly so at the time, in 2024 it’s a case of history dooming itself in the present.

One Eyed Kutkh is short and sweet. It’s not a particularly challenging game, but it should please just about anyone that doesn’t expect too much from it. The gameplay remains simplistic throughout, making this a very accessible and easy to understand experience. Ultimately, the target audience is clearly focused at the younger gamer.

It’s short, the story loses grip, and the puzzles are far too easy throughout.

The Library of Babel has beautiful art and an intriguing story, but the game built on top of that lacks polish and evokes old-school design in the worst way.

If you like a challenge, you will certainly find your fill here, but the best types of hard games put the failures on you. Here, too often it feels as though your failure was as random as the level design / item placement / enemies / everything else. Fun in short bursts, but not one to spend hour after hour, trying to perfect.

Outward’s harsh difficulty, its hands off structure, and its constant stat management wont be for everyone. This is one hell of a demanding RPG, and as such, it can feel less like an adventure and more like a full-time job. Still, the game deserves a lot of praise for its ambition, its depth, and for its choice-driven structure, but in the face of its poor design choices, its awkward combat, and its lack of visual polish, it’s hard to wholly recommend.

Aluna: Sentinel of the Shards is an uncomplicated hack’n’slash action RPG. It has enough elements to make it visually nice and simple to play, but the lengthy levels and repetition may cause you to suffer burnout pretty quickly. It can be played differently if you want to try melee, ranged or magic focused but I can’t see many wanting to revisit the game to play it a different way as it offers little replay value. But in terms of content, I can’t fault it definitely has plenty of hours worth of gameplay.

If you’re starving for more Star Wars nourishment in videogame form and you haven’t given Star Wars: Bounty Hunter a whirl, there are far worse games that make use of the Star Wars license. It can be a blast to blast around linear levels with Boba Fett and his jetpack while repelling galactic grunts, but no matter how slick the remaster job is, it cannot hide how old this twenty-plus year old game is, and the frustrations inherent within it are too apparent to ignore. So Bounty Hunter isn’t the worst Star Wars outing and the remaster doesn’t do a bad job, but just like the original game, it might be worthwhile for Star Wars geeks to froth over, but it’s otherwise a despairingly middling affair. So go give Jango and go, but this one doesn’t steal the show and it sorta blows.

One Night Stand is a quiet game hidden amongst the large onslaught of the action genre, but those looking for this type of gameplay and story will find it a treat and something a little different.

While sim games are hardly rare, Megaquarium has a unique, charming spin on things that make it worth checking out. Some slight UI niggles aside, there’s enough charm and content here to give you a relaxing evening playing with the fishes.

Fallout 76 is akin to Ark: Survival Evolved, being that much of its potential is lost in the midst of its many technical faults. To be clear, at its core, this isn’t a bad game, in fact, there’s a lot of fun to be had in its padded world if you enjoy this type of gameplay loop. It’s a shame that in its current form, most of that fun is frequently interrupted by horrendous framerate, countless bugs, delayed rendering, and shoddy design choices.

There’s no denying that for its cheap cost, you’re getting more than enough content in return, but it’s content that ultimately becomes repetitive before too long. Much like each of its three predecessors, New Home fails to truly evolve its gameplay loop throughout its entirety. That said, I’ll credit the game for its simplicity and accessibility, but this means very little when innovation has been sacrificed as a result.

Twin Mirror is unfortunately bit of a mixed bag. With some great ideas and potential for a captivating story it’s a shame that the adventure was cut so short. It feels like the game was intended to be longer and this is evident in the relative potential. Sam’s mind place is a highlight and does provide a lift to the game in areas that are at times lacking substance. The foundation was set but fell short of the great detective story that Sam’s return to Basswood could have been.

If you are fond of classics from 30 years ago getting modern updates, System Shock will be a commendable trip to take. Plenty has been done to make System Shock an appetizing choice for the curious, and those who wonder where Bioshock‘s influences came from. However, the frustrations of exploration, the monochrome environments and the lack of interesting enemies smushes this remake’s momentum. Your enjoyment of this System Shock Remake will likely hinge on whether you can tolerate the rigidity of this classic’s design and how much you enjoy the story and the intrigue that exists within. Lamentably though, this remake sells itself on regression, meaning you’ll need to erase all the strides the genre has made in 30 years in order to fully appreciate it. Try this remake then if you’re curious, you might enjoy it, but although this remake is commendable, it’s still too disappointingly archaic to fully recommend.

After a decade away, it’s disappointing that Payday 3 feels so insubstantial and unwilling to evolve from its excellent predecessor. The heist variety and enemy types are cool, but the predictably rote objective-following and the continuing practise of shooting bullets into police is tiresome and without change-ups to make them entertaining. For seasoned veterans and newcomers, Payday 3 should grant you a worthwhile exhibition of heists across a smorgasbord of locations, but for everybody else, this’ll be an eye-rolling exercise of the familiar and the banal. If you can band together with three mates then there’s some valuable loot to steal here, but what maybe most apparent is how Payday 3 ironically steals your time without the valuable substance to go along with it.

Despite these misgivings though, I had a fairly enjoyable time with Terminator: Resistance. Sure, its mechanics, looks and technical aspects all feel as though the last 10 years of progression in gaming didn’t happen, but as a straight shooting FPS it does a passable job of entertaining. The campaign over stays it’s welcome, but along the way there are some quite likeable characters that make the journey more bearable. It would have been nice to have the death bringing army of machines feel more of a genuine threat rather than a pop up gallery; if the tension in that early scene could’ve been maintained we might have had something quite special on our hands here. As it is, we have a pretty bog standard shooter that feels a decade too late to the party.

I had high hopes for the original game but came away underwhelmed. Danger Zone 2, however, rights some of the issues with a much better visual style and far more interesting courses. Some wonky physics, repetitive, bland background detail and a lack of things to do, lets the game down on occasion. Though, the core gameplay loop is still as fun as it’s ever been, smashing through traffic and causing carnage is a blast.

Creepy Road is a mixed bag of pros and cons. Whilst it looks and sounds the part, handles quite fluidly, and comes with a diverse variation of enemies and weaponry, there’s just too many glaring issues holding it back. Chief among them being lazily designed boss battles, poor hit detection, and several environmental bugs. It’s a shame really, because had the developer held the game’s quality to a higher standard, this could have been a hit.

There’s certainly a charm to Georifters, from it’s sickly sweet visuals and audio to the at times clever use of its mechanics across the campaign. Said campaign is far too long though, made all the more elongated by some stodgy controls that make the action feel far more unresponsive that it actually is. Fun for a few hours and when we can have mates over again, but we were stuffed long before clearing our plate.