Yearly Archives: 2024

From Warsaw-based developer Gruby Entertainment and publisher Crunching Koalas comes cyberpunk themed FPS Deadlink. As has become vogue, or de rigeur if you will, it has roguelite elements. The schtick is that you’re the blunt instrument sent by the Corporate Security Agency to keep the megacorps by cracking open a […]

Deadlink – PS5 Review

August 20, 2024 in PS5 / Reviews tagged arena shooter / deadlink / fps / rng / roguelite by Ian

I do enjoy racing games that focus heavily on self improvement. Give me a marker to beat and I’ll happily bang my head against it for enough time to be annoyed. Coming from Ghosts, Phantom Spark looks to tap into this compulsion and, whilst it really nails the controls and […]

Phantom Spark – PS5 Review

August 16, 2024 in PS5 / Reviews tagged chill vibes / ghosts / local multiplayer / Momentum / online leaderboards / phantom spar / racing / time trials / trackmania / wipeout / zen by Mike

From developer Coal Supper (aka James Carbutt and Will Todd) and publisher Panic, comes game of the moment, Thank Goodness You’re Here! deliberately released on 1st August 2024, to coincide with Yorkshire Day. Superficially similar to Panic’s 2019 hit Untitled Goose Game in terms of the being a miscreant to […]

Thank Goodness You’re Here! – PS5 Review

August 15, 2024 in PS5 / Reviews tagged barnsworth / coal supper / everything's ten bob / matt berry / on ilkla moor baht 'at / panic / the marrow song / this is yorkshire people are sensible by Ian

Arranger is an adventuring puzzle game from Californian/Argentinian studio Furniture and Mattress, a coding super group with credits on games like Guacamelee, Celeste and Braid. And, unlike a lot of games that we review, this one genuinely has a fairly original core mechanic. You play as Jemma who, after being abandoned as a […]

Arranger – PS5 Review

August 13, 2024 in PS5 / Reviews tagged arranger / denki blocks / indie / puzzle by Richie

Tiny Pixels Vol 1 – Ninpo Blast is a ninja-themed vertically-scrolling shoot ’em up from the ever-prolific budget publisher eastasiasoft. As with the vast majority of their shoot ’em ups, this utilises a 16-bit style of presentation to offer up a retro-styled experience. That’s well within eastasiasoft’s wheelhouse. We’ve reviewed […]

Tiny Pixels Vol 1 – Ninpo Blast

August 13, 2024 in PS5 / Reviews tagged eastasiasoft / Ninpo Blast / Tiny Pixels Vol 1 / vertically-scrolling shoot em up by Richie

There’s always a question of commerce versus preservation when remastered are involved. There will always be technical reasons why a game sees a re-release but how long does it to take before the classics are all dealt with? Star Wars: Bounty Hunter is not a classic. LucasArts’ original 2002 release […]

Star Wars: Bounty Hunter – PS5 Review

August 11, 2024 in PS5 / Reviews tagged aspyr / droids / jango fett / jetpack / Lucasarts / platforming / space opera / star wars bounty hunter / third-person shooter by Mike

CYGNI is a vertically-scrolling shoot ’em up that comes to us by way of Scottish studio KeelWorks and famed publisher Konami who have surprised us somewhat by putting out an original IP. The game has had quite the media push over the last few months with it landing on the […]

CYGNI: All Guns Blazing – PS5 Review

August 6, 2024 in PS5 / Reviews tagged action / arcade / cygni / keelworks / twin stick / vertically-scrolling shoot em up by Richie

From Adelaide-based developer Exbleative aka Jay Weston and publisher Future Friends comes interplanetary exploration game Exo One. If we were lazy reviewers we’d say that it was Journey crossed with mid-80’s film Flight of the Navigator, only without the pseudo-mysticism of the former and Pee Wee Herman voicing the ship […]

Exo One – PS5 Review

August 4, 2024 in PS5 / Reviews tagged buck rogers / interplanetary / jupiter / my god it's full of stars by Ian

Earth Defense Force 6 is a third-person action shooter and is developed by Japanese coders Sandlot. It’s the latest in a long series of games that have a true cult following and we count ourselves as fully paid up members of that cult. But now that the series is two […]

Earth Defense Force 6 – PS5 Review

August 3, 2024 in PS5 / Reviews tagged ants / earth defense force / edf / grind / sandlot by Richie

From Spanish solo developer ViJuDa and publisher Eastasiasoft comes Super Woden GP II, the follow-up to 2022’s Super Woden GP that our man Richie reviewed. If you played that, this is more of the same and that’s no bad thing if we’re honest. Quite why it’s Super Woden, we’re not […]

Super Woden GP II – PS5 Review

August 1, 2024 in PS4 / PS5 / Reviews tagged isometric / not gran turismo / rally / super woden gp by Ian

The indie space is full of search action games that don’t always manage to set themselves apart. Frontier Hunter: Erza’s Wheel of Fortune comes from IceSeaTeam and, after a long spell in early access, the full product is available for Playstation 5. What arrives is a fully-baked effort that, whilst […]

Frontier Hunter: Erza’s Wheel of Fortune – PS5 Review

July 31, 2024 in PS5 / Reviews tagged 2d exploration / frontier hunter erza's wheel of fortune / gunplay / iceseateam / loot / melee combat / metroidvania / search action game / turret sequence by Mike

RPM – Road Punk Mayhem is a vertically-scrolling shoot ’em up from Panda Indie Studio who, along with publisher eastasiasoft, have been responsible for a few shoot ’em ups in recent times. They’ve had mixed results though with Z-Warp and the Project Starship games being okay but with Feeble Light and Excessive […]

RPM – Road Punk Mayhem – PS5 Review

July 21, 2024 in PS5 / Reviews tagged road punk mayhem / RPM / shoot em up / vehicle / vertically-scrolling shoot em up by Richie