Yearly Archives: 2022

GigaBash is a multiplayer-focused action brawler from Malaysian studio, Passion Republic. Mainly melee-focused (albeit not exclusively), this crazy party game feels like a mix of Smash Bros. and Powerstone but with a satisfying cast of Kaiju and Kyodai archetypes stomping around creating chaos in deliciously crumbly environments. With the influence clearly […]

GigaBash – PS5 Review

August 17, 2022 in PS5 / Reviews tagged brawler / couch multiplayer / gigabash / kaiju / party game by Richie

When I see the Ratalaika logo pop up, I’d like to think now I haven’t an idea of what I’m in for. It’s usually visual novels or quick arcade-ish experiences and Arsonist Heaven did appear to be the latter. Coming from Omegacore, this simple platformer about a hazmat-wearing pyromaniac does, […]

Arsonist Heaven – PS5 Review

August 12, 2022 in PS5 / Reviews tagged 2D Platformer / aliens / arsonist heaven / flamethrower / gunplay / liquidator / omegacore / pyromaniac by Mike

Following on from Turrican Anthology Vol 1 (well, actually coming at exactly the same time), Turrican Anthology Vol 2 is, as you’d expect, a compilation of more Turrican games and if you’ve not read our previous review, the Turrican games are some classic 16-bit run and gun titles with plenty of shooting, platforming and exploration. The […]

Turrican Anthology Vol 2 – PS4 Review

August 12, 2022 in PS4 / Reviews tagged 90s / compilation / run and gun / shoot em up / turrican by Richie

Voyage is the latest from Ratalaika, developed by Swedish brothers Johan and André Steem, otherwise known as Venturous. Originally known as Yonder, Voyage is a game with a long gestation having been around since at least 2015, if not longer. Voyage is something of a departure from Ratalaika’s usual fare […]

Voyage – PS5 Review

August 11, 2022 in PS4 / PS5 / Reviews tagged desireless / obtuse / ratalaika / voyage by Ian

Hang on! Didn’t we already do this? Back in 2021 our friend and resident Turrican expert, Mark Newton (RIP, brother) reviewed Turrican Flashback which was a compilation of four games from Factor 5’s famous 16-bit run and gun series. Now, we’re not quite as qualified as Mark when it comes to this series […]

Turrican Anthology Vol 1 – PS4 Review

August 9, 2022 in PS4 / Reviews by Richie

Now, this is a tricky one. Thunderbolt Collection is another retro-collection from QuByte. They previously brought us the Humans Collection and have now dug even further into the archives to pull out this collection of two little-known shoot ’em ups. What you get with this collection are Thunderbolt Fighting Plane and Thunderbolt II. Now you’d […]

Thunderbolt Collection – PS4 Review

August 5, 2022 in PS4 / Reviews tagged console / megadrive / NES / retro / shoot em up / thunderbolt collection / vertically scrolling by Richie

South of the Circle is, as its name might suggest, a narrative-led adventure set on Antarctica for the most part. Originally developed for Apple’s heavily moderated Arcade service by State of Play and published by 11 Bit Studios on consoles, South of the Circle is very much the well-crafted thing […]

South of the Circle – PS5 Review

August 5, 2022 in PS4 / PS5 / Reviews tagged anotha day anotha baller / cel shading / cold war / nuclear wessels / south of the circle / state of play by Ian

Aniquilation is a twin-stick shooter from Colombian coders R-Next that offers over thirty levels of 3D shooting action with a similar viewpoint to Nano Assault and Super Stardust Ultra in that each level is a small sphere, essentially a mini-planet. As you traverse the level, your ship appears to stay in place as […]

Aniquilation – PS5 Review

August 5, 2022 in PS5 / Reviews tagged aniquilation / or 'annihilation' according to every auto-corrector out there / planetoid / shoot em up / twin stick by Richie

A few years ago I reviewed Sword and Fairy 6 for PlayStation Country. I still hold it up to this day as the most technically broken game I’ve reviewed, even though the game itself was fairly competent. You can read the review to get the details (though testing it on […]

Sword and Fairy: Together Forever – PS5 Review

August 4, 2022 in PS5 / Reviews tagged action / chinese / real time / rpg / sword and fairy / together forever by Gareth

Avenging Spirit was a 1991 action/platformer arcade title that was originally known as Phantasm to Japanese coin-op players. Little known in the West at the time, we became aware of it thanks to MAME, the famous arcade emulator. It was one of those hidden gems that looked great, had really interesting gameplay […]

Avenging Spirit – PS5 Review

August 2, 2022 in PS5 / Reviews tagged 2D Platformer / arcade / avenging spirit / coin-op / port by Richie

There must be something in the water lately. Another lone developer effort has landed on my lap. This time around, Broken Mind is the game in question. Coming from 2Bad Games, this 5-year passion project has finally hit the Playstation 4. It’s a dark budget horror that, whilst it doesn’t […]

Broken Mind – PS4 Review

July 31, 2022 in PS4 / Reviews tagged 2bad games / adventure / broken mind / detective work / first person / guns / melee combat / puzzles / stealth / survival horror / tony de lucia by Mike

Train Valley is a puzzle game from Lithuanian developers Flazm Interactive and it takes all of the content from the original 2015 PC game and incorporates DLC content too. It looks a little like a city-building strategy game with railway management elements but this has more in common with those […]

Train Valley: Console Edition – PS5 Review

July 29, 2022 in PS5 / Reviews tagged puzzle / puzzler / railway / strategy / train valley / trains by Richie