3/5 Review

Aniquilation is almost a case of style over substance - a game that looks flashy and full of pizazz, but is a bit lacking where it counts.

Wave Break unapologetically rips the core gameplay from Tony Hawk’s games, changes the skateboard to a speedboat, adds in some almost superficial gunplay and reckons that is enough.

We Are the Caretakers deserves heaps of praise. You can point to the world design, story, depth of gameplay and themes of conservation and find something to fall in love with. But it needed longer in Early Access.

If you want to be transported by an RPG, or demand a dungeon-crawler with some colour, sass or story, then Ultimate ADOM - Caverns of Chaos won’t do anything for you.

While its sharp-edges are enough to make it a wary recommendation, hardcore puzzle fans (or players who come for nostalgia) might find that NEScape! is at least worth a Blockbuster rental.

It’s certainly worth considering slapping the suncream on, jumping on your camel and heading out to see what Starsand has lurking under the sand. 

When Tetraminos - Xbox Series X|S sticks to delivering Tetris on a budget, it’s an acceptable alternative. Four-player Tetris, alongside three single-player game modes, is a healthy bundle of stuff.

There are two games in Castle Renovator, and neither of them involve renovating castles.

Oxyjet does bring a new idea to the party table, but playing solo is very dull, and while knuckling down with a partner against the AI is better, it still misses the ultimate competition that comes from a real live adversary.

Crossovers by POWGI is another example of what the POWGI games do best; take existing puzzle types and mash them together for something fun and unique.

Firefighting Simulator - The Squad manages to capture something of the dangerous (and dare we say) exciting profession. However, there’s not enough here to prevent it from ending up as a flash in the pan.

There’s a killer idea at the core of Swordship, and so much presentational care has been put into supporting it. What would happen if you ‘pulled a Mirror’s Edge’ and made a shooter completely pacifist? The result would be Swordship, a dodge ’em up that’s overloaded with potential. In execution, though, it slowly capsizes.

There is a pleasantly fun puzzle platformer found in Dobo’s Heroes - if you can see it through to the end, it will put a smile on your face.

We’re under no illusions: Bloody Samurai is far from a spectacular action-platformer.

EDENGATE: The Edge of Life is essentially a walking sim, however developers HOOK have described it as an interactive experience; either way, you know pretty much what kind of game to expect. But is EDENGATE: The Edge of Life a narrative masterpiece that will keep you hooked, or does it ultimately fail to captivate?