Mike

About Mike

Mike gets all the racing games because he understands that stuff even though he doesn't drive.

Sometimes, it’s worth not judging a game by screenshots. My first glimpse of The Serpent Rogue had me making assumptions about what kind of game it was going to be. As it turns out, this effort about crafting and discovery turned out a lot more mellow than I was expecting. […]

The Serpent Rogue – PS5 Review

May 10, 2022 in PS5 / Reviews tagged adventure / alchemy / crafting / hunger / potions / quests / sengi games / smelting / the serpent rogue by Mike

I don’t think I’ve seen a motorsport as unpredictable as MotoGP in the last couple of years. Even without the pandemic, Marc Márquez’s self-inflicted arm injury has led to a genuine power vacuum at the top of motorcycle racing. Combine this with Valentino Rossi’s retirement and you have a grid […]

MotoGP 22 – PS5 Review

May 2, 2022 in PS5 / Reviews tagged career mode / grand prix / historical / milestone / moto2 / moto3 / motogp / motorcycles / motorsport / racing / time trial by Mike

The Playstation Talents initiative has managed to steer itself away from some dubious quality. Whilst I do appreciate student projects will have limitations, these are commercial products that are sold for money. The latest to cross my path is TAPE: Unveil the Memories. Coming from Madrid’s Black Chili Goat Studio, […]

TAPE: Unveil the Memories – PS4 Review

April 20, 2022 in PS4 / Reviews tagged b-movie / black chili goat studio / horror / monster chase / PlayStation Talents / spanish / story-driven / tape unveil the memories / time trickery by Mike

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein has seen countless adaptations since it’s publication over 200 years ago. It’s fairly common fodder to discuss existentialism, what it is to be human and play God. Even when not being directly quoted, it has been the inspiration for many, many stories from many different people. Today, […]

The Wanderer: Frankenstein’s Creature – PS4 Review

April 11, 2022 in PS4 / Reviews tagged classic literature / existentialism / french / god / la belle games / mary shelley / narrativelty-driven / the wanderer frankenstein's creature by Mike

I know games sometimes like to cover civil unrest, protest and it’s consequences but they largely don’t concern themselves too much with ethical quandaries behind the curtain. There’s always a greater good and the good guys usually win out. Vengeful Heart has a fairly obvious cause to fight for but […]

Vengeful Heart – PS5 Review

April 4, 2022 in PS5 / Reviews tagged cyberpunk / dystopia / eco-terrorists / insurgency / l / narratively-driven / salmon snake / vengeful heart / visual novel by Mike

FMV games are always a fun thing to dig around. There’s something about an interactive medium featuring physical actors which always brings about some interesting results. The latest of these to come my way is Who Pressed Mute On Uncle Marcus? Coming from Wales Interactive, this is a product that […]

Who Pressed Mute on Uncle Marcus? – PS4 Review

March 18, 2022 in PS4 / Reviews tagged adventure / family quiz webchat / full motion video / Murder mystery / narratively-driven / poison / wales interactive / who pressed mute on uncle marcus by Mike

I haven’t play a WWE wrestling game since Smackdown 2 on the Playstation but I’d always heard in passing about Visual Concepts tribulations with the license. I’ve been aware of the animation glitches, the bugs and the general sentiment that the games became too complicated over time. This all […]

WWE 2K22 – PS5 Review

March 13, 2022 in PS5 / Reviews tagged fighting / rey mysterio / royal rumble / tag team / visual concepts / wrestlemania / wrestling / wwe 2k22 by Mike

It’s been a while since a proper one of these. Gran Turismo 7 is Polyphony’s Digital’s return to the mainline series and effectively celebrates the 25th anniversary of a very specific product. With that comes a lot of familiarity but a few new tweaks that do add some flavour to […]

Gran Turismo 7 – PS5 Review

March 9, 2022 in PS5 / Reviews tagged cars / digital polyphony / drifting / driving / gran turismo 7 / online multiplayer / racing / rallying / time trial by Mike

A while back I reviewed Strawberry Vinegar and it was arguably the moment where I really, really started to sound alarm bells about the visual novel genre. It was probably one of my first introductions to the fiction that is, ostensibly for weirdos, by weirdos. I knew Ebi-Hime had written […]

Blackberry Honey – PS5 Review

March 1, 2022 in PS5 / Reviews tagged blackberry honey / ebi-hime / love story / narratively-driven / victorian housemaids / visual novel by Mike

It’s been interesting to see puzzle games find their way into my rotation lately. A lot of them have been of an indie persuasion and they haven’t been especially enduring. A puzzler with a good hook or some interesting ideas will always grab me and In My Shadow manages to […]

In My Shadow – PS4 Review

February 25, 2022 in PS4 / Reviews tagged house / in my shadow / jumping / narratively-driven / playbae / puzzle platformer / puzzles / rooms / saws / spikes by Mike

Occasionally, adventure games catch my drift and The Song Out of Space seems right up my alley. Coming from Pixel Noire, the tale of extra-terrestrial interference, murders and Cold War tensions do tick a lot of my boxes. Unfortunately, it all seems rushed and doesn’t linger on the intrigue to […]

The Song Out of Space – PS5 Review

February 21, 2022 in PS5 / Reviews tagged aliens / cold war / fbi / narratively-driven / pixel noire / point and click adventure / the song out of space / visual novel by Mike

It’s another day in the visual novel dungeon for me and this might be the first time a direct sequel has landed in my queue. Kansei: The Second Turn HD is the middle chapter of Sakevisual’s Green Tea Line narrative. Following on from Jisei: The First Case HD, our nameless […]

Kansei: The Second Turn HD – PS5 Review

February 9, 2022 in PS5 / Reviews tagged green tea line / kansei the second turn hd / Murder mystery / narratively-driven / police procedural / sakevisual / visual novel by Mike