Roadwarden Review (Switch)

Roadwarden, originally came out on the PC in 2022 and was universally praised for it’s rich story telling and world building. Now, a few years later it has made the jump to the Switch. With the market flooded with Metroidvania and Rogue-like games it’s great to see something a bit different and it’s even better to see something forging a more original path that will actually captivate and engross you. Roadwarden is all these things and more, despite a few performance issues.

The basic premise is that the game is a sort of choose your own adventure, text based, game with some RPG element. You play a new Roadwarden, sent by the merchants’ guild to keep trade moving through a fantasy peninsula filled with monsters and strange happenings. You can pick from a few different variations of your character and then it’s off into the pixel illustrated world to investigate and carry out quests. Your overall goal can be decided on by the player from a host of different options and it’s really up to you to explore where you want over the course of forty days.

The play screen in the game is split into three sections. You get an illustration of your location on the left, the main text description and selectable options in the middle and then access to information about your status and other information on the right. This is navigated by using the Switch control stick or arrow buttons or pressing one of the shortcut buttons. It’s a bit clunky compared to the PC but it does work. We can’t help but feel some kind of virtual mouse cursor may have been a better option though.

Both the illustrations and text set the scene of the harsh fantasy environment well. The text is often lengthy but interesting and there are a normally a host of options to choose from. You can normally even pick from different tones and emotions to use in your replies, all of it adding up to giving the player different paths to follow. This tied to the forty-day time frame means there is a decent amount of replayability here for those who really get into the game and want to play for longer. You certainly can’t do everything or go everywhere in one play through, and the selectable goals also means different priorities are needed for each run.

Once, players leave a location they enter a larger map screen which fills in as they explore. It can feel a bit daunting, but characters are good at giving you information about locations that are in different directions and where you might want to head. This means you are rarely in a situation where you are unsure of where to go or what to do. Instead, the game relies more on a sort of risk versus reward system with the player knowing what’s ahead but also what they stand to gain or lose by doing certain things.

While you are traveling you need to keep an eye on a host of things to keep your character going. There is nourishment, health, tiredness, armour and even appearance which all tie into different aspects of the game and add or remove options if they fall too low. If your appearance is too dishevelled for instance characters are less likely to interact with you, but resting and cleaning takes up precious time which you may not be able to waste.

There are various skill checks and elements of chance you’ll have to face as well. This is very much in the mould of an old school dungeons and dragons RPG, just with a bit more direction. Whenever something which requires ‘chance’ is an option the game will highlight it for you, so you are always have the information you need before making decisions. A well implemented tutorial which pops up naturally as you progress also helps to gently integrate player with the various systems the game runs on.

If there is a criticism it’s that the game runs pretty inconsistently on the Switch, at least in handheld mode. We had a fair few start up crashes when trying to launch and the very first time we played there was even errant code on the screen and an error message about memory. Luckily these disappeared once it seemed to get running but anything that moves is jerky and moving around your options on the play screen comes with a certain amount of lag. It certainly isn’t running in the most optimal way, lets put it that way. Despite this though it remains incredibly engaging and interesting.

Overall, Roadwarden is something both different and rather excellent. The world and atmosphere the game creates with its pixel art and lavish writing really helps to build the feel of a living place. Each interaction is interesting and there is more than enough ‘game’ here to keep people happy who would shy away from other visual novels. It’s closest to something like a digital Fighting Fantasy book, just with more options and systems running. Even with performance issues we really liked it and at the modest price, it’s very easy to recommend.

Overall 8/10

50 Indie Games that Changed the World Review

 

We’ve been covering Bitmap book releases for a fair while now. Most of them compile genres or specific games systems but every now and then you get something a little different. We’ve seen this before with the ‘Secret History of Mac Gaming’ and ‘A Gremlin in the Works’, 50 Indie games that changed the world may not be as far from the usual output as that, but it certainly takes a different view of the industry.

In terms of content, it’s a fairly straight forward set up. There’s a short preface explaining the goal of the book and what it’s featuring, a foreword by Thomas Was Alone developer Mike Bithell who adds some context to the indie scene and how development works and then an introduction which talks about what indie games are as a wider genre and concept. After that it’s a straight list of the 50 games with a few honourable mentions at the end. Surprisingly, there aren’t any more interviews are other features but then the book is pretty laser focused on what it’s trying to do and as it tops out at an impressive four-hundred and fifty plus pages so we aren’t really complaining.

Each of the fifty games is looked at with a considerable amount of depth. Generally, the games in these books get one of two pages maximum. A few special ones might justify four but here most of the games get around eight pages, split across text, screenshots and art work. Each also has a breakdown of why the game should be considered as a game that changed the world. It’s an impressive amount of focus to put on each title and if you aren’t sat there making a list of games to buy as you go then we would be amazed.

The games included are wide reaching. There are obvious inclusions such as Fez and and Axion Verge but also more modern games such as Vampire Survivors and some you may not be expecting like Among Us and 80 Days. It means there’s a wide range of titles covered from different years and spanning multiple genres. There will of course be a personal favourite left out somewhere but it’s hard to argue with any of the inclusions. The fact that Futurlab’s Velocity is here makes us particularly happy as the game and the studio are vastly underrated and you should probably all be out there downloading it right now. It even means we will overlook the fact none of the Pixeljunk or Bit Trip games are in here.

Despite the mass of pages and games included it would have been nice to have a few features in here. Something on key indie genres would have been welcome – even if it was only a few pages. That might have taken some focus away from the key theme of the book though and it’s not like there is a lack of content here. There is some mention of genres within some of the games covered as well. The piece on Dead Cells in particular highlights how Metroidvania and Rogue games dot the landscape.

Overall, 50 Indie Games That Changed the World works beautifully as a love letter to some of the most creative and innovative games the industry has to offer. Chances are you may well be aware of most of them but there are always those one or two that you will have overlooked. It also acts as a perfect place to start if you want to move away from AAA video gaming or even if you want to jump from retro gaming back into something more modern but which channels that old school aesthetic. We loved it.

Click Her for the Bitmap Books store

*image from Bitmap Books website

Chronicles of the Wolf Review (Switch)

The Switch is awash with Metroidvania clones but that doesn’t mean that many of them aren’t both good, and also capable of putting new ideas into the mix. Chronicles of the Wolf falls very much on the Castlevania side of the spectrum and also tries to take influence from one of the more obscure titles in the series in Castlevania 2.

For the uninitiated, Castlevania 2 is the NES game that tried to create a sort of 2D adventure template where Belmont moved around the countryside and visited various towns. It’s not dissimilar to the second Zelda game or the more obscure Battle for Olympus. It was never universally praised but we have always liked it and playing it via the Switch makes the game an awful lot more enjoyable.

Chronicles of the Wolf keeps the template with information coming from villagers that points you in the right direction of areas of interest. There are often buildings or caves which then act as mini levels and give up an object that allows you to progress further after. There are also some light RPG elements with levelling and the ability to acquire and change your gear.

In its homage to Castlevania 2, it is mostly successful. The game looks great, and the music is excellent and varied throughout. The level of detail on the sprites is pretty impressive and there are a host of different enemies even in the early stages. It is incredibly difficult though. Normal enemies can easily take you down and this does add a grinding element to the game at times which is a shame. This is compounded by a sever lack of places to save. There needs to be at least double the amount of saves in the game and they are placed in really strange locations.

What it means is that after defeating a boss or travelling a large distance you will often die and then must repeat too much of the game to be comfortable. There is a fine balance to be struck with save points and here it’s simply a cause of frustration rather than one of challenge.

For a Metroidvania styled game, your progress is actually quite linear. Sometimes there are multiple routes you can go but one will nearly always end in a dead end pretty quickly, so exploring off the beaten track becomes a bit of a chore rather than something players are encouraged to do in order to find new shiny things. Couple this with the fact saves are spaced so far means it can be a costly and unforgiving experience.

The bosses are well designed and exciting battles though, and they are mostly significant in both their size, look and arsenal. They are also fair to deal with so it gives a good sense of achievement when you take one down. You can see the boss’s health bar as well so at least you get an idea of progress when you are repeatedly being killed. Early on you take on a giant hornet type creature who exemplifies the strong design, it looks great, has some varied attacks but also displays clear patterns for players to be able to work around while still being fairly weak.

Overall, Chronicles of the Wolf has a lot of competition in the market but still has a lot going for it. It’s different to a lot of the clones out there (and the official Castlevania games), in that it’s taking Castlevania 2 as it’s core inspiration and it’s clearly had a lot of care put into it. It’s also a different tone to games like Infernax so there really is room for everyone here. If you are a Castlevania fan it offers something a little different and is well worth checking out.

Overall 7/10

Citizen Sleeper 2: Starward Vector Review (Switch)

The first Citizen Sleep was a resounding success, with its space styled cyber punk aesthetic and the mixture of rich storytelling and board game and RPG elements. In fact, it garnered a dedicated following and even had a card game version appearing. It’s not a massive surprise then to see a second game in the series.

There is no direct link to the story of the first game here. Continuity wise it is set a little later in the time period, but new players won’t feel left out if they start here first. To add to this, your character is a malfunctioning android who has no memory of anything either so it’s very much about discovering the world for the first time.

There are a handful of classes to choose from, and you can also upgrade skills and buffs as you get points from completing various missions and objectives. These then add modifiers to your dice or allow you do things like create rerolls or fix them should they become damaged.

The premise is simple, at the start of each cycle (or day) , you get a number of dice that are randomly generated with which to carry out actions. The higher the number of the dice mixed with your affinity for carrying out certain type of task will decide if you are likely to be successful at it. Once, you have used all your dice you can end the cycle and start again with a fresh set.

Of course, things are never that easy and there is normally some kind of cycle timer counting down to a major story event that you need to be aware of. Time is very much essential so resetting a day just because you have bad dice is never really an option. On top of this you need food and need to think about damage caused by stress to your body. There really are a whole host of things keeping you on the edge of anxiety and always watching the clock.

You’ll spend much of your time investigating around space stations or out on salvage operations. The interface is simple, pick the location to move to and then the options of what you can do will show up when you get there. There are options to work or find food, as well as hunt for clues or interact with the population. When you are off the station for salvage missions you need to also think about fuel and the amount of supplies you have with you. These missions are normally perilous as the hulks you try and get salvage from tend to breach and fall apart, just in case you needed yet another time clock to think about.

The initial goal is simply to stay one step ahead of the people chasing you. After that the mystery deepens and you’ll also encounter new characters and crew with their own skills and agendas to deal with. The human interaction element is key to the games philosophy as you will live or die by your network of crew. In this respect it’s important to think about how you are interacting as you’ll want as many options as possible as you venture on your space road trip.

Overall, Citizen Sleep 2 is a beautifully thought out and refined experience. It’s certainly tough but can be progressed through with careful thinking (and there are easier difficulty settings as well). It’s quite unique in its approach to the genre and still manages to stand out from the crowd. If you are looking for an immersive sci-fi adventure with a twist, then this comes highly recommended.

Overall 8/10

Yasha: Legends of the Demon Blade Review (Switch)

We reviewed Hades what feels like a lifetime ago now and remarkably few games of its type have appeared since. We were expecting a wave like the ever-enduring Metroidvania’s but it never came. Maybe that’s because Hades pretty much perfected the formulae or maybe it’s just taken some time for companies to catch on.

Yash: Legends of the Demon Blade does follow the Hades template; all be it in a slightly gentler way than its source material. It changes the ancient Greek setting for that of Japanese mythology, which is presented in some beautifully drawn and constructed environments. This game is certainly big on the looks department.

That isn’t to say there isn’t depth here. The rogue elements are very much in play. There are numerous long-term and short-term buffs and bonuses that can be acquired by defeating enemies or bought at vendors. The range of these is vast and covers simple things such as health boosts to bonuses relating to stacking attacks and general speed and agility. There’s also an element here of quick first time upgrades that soon become much more expensive when looking to expand them further.

Away from upgrades to your character you can also unlock and upgrade a host of different swords. Again, these range from focusing on light or heavy attacks to those that require certain elements to function. There are no weak weapons so it’s all down to personal preference and two can be taken with you on any run. Once within the game temporary buffs can be applied as well, meaning there are a host of combinations you can play around with.

Combat is simple to grasp, with light and heavy attacks, a charge attack and the ability to dodge, parry and counter. These simple commands can be combined and manipulated into something much more devastating though so don’t be fooled into thinking this is a standard hack and slash affair. There is nuance here and you’ll need to get to know what swords work for you if you are going to progress past the first few areas.

One thing that is unusual in this genre is that the levels aren’t randomly generated. Each run sets you against the same environments and enemies with he same bosses at the end. There is only one exit out of each arena type level so things can get repetitive after repeated plays. That said, the longer you play and stronger you become and the quicker you slice through the earlier rounds, and we found we got further we each play through.

The bosses are big and colourful as well and varied in their style. You start out taking on a giant crab, but before long all manor of crazy demons are turning up with each behaving in a unique way. The boss battles really are a highlight and allow you to show off your skills without seemingly being unfair or insurmountable.

Overall, Yasha: Legends of the Demon Blade is a really nice surprise. The Japanese folklore setting lends itself perfectly to this type of game and it looks beautiful most of the time. The action is fast and slick and even the story is passable. It comes highly recommended to both hack and slash fans and those looking for more Hades style action that’s unique enough not to feel like a copy.

Overall 8/10

Sonokuni Review (Switch)

Every now and then you get something that appears out of the blue with little fan fare or hype that proves interesting enough to take a deeper look. A top down biopunk and Japanese mythology based, Hotline Miami, inspired indie game certainly fits the bill.

The Hotline Miami inspiration is obvious in terms of the games look and style. You enter buildings and move through the levels room by room in a series of sort of mini arena sequences. Each room contains a set series of enemies that all need to be approached in different ways to defeat them. This adds a sort of puzzle element as well as there’s normally only one way to get through without dying.

What is helpful is that if a certain enemy kills you too many times, then a video will pop up at your death showing how to deal with them. In terms of your arsenal, you have a spin attack, a deflection shield and the ability to slow down time for brief periods. Some enemies need shots deflected back at them, some need to be hit directly, while others may need to be dodged first or hit within a certain time. Knowing which order to do things is the key as one hit and you die and will need to repeat the room from scratch. The auto save is pretty good though, so you’ll be instantly back in the action without much time passing.

The biggest issue with the game though is the absolute crushing difficulty. Hotline Miami at least allowed some fluidity in how you could take enemies out. The closed arena nature of the rooms here really means it is a case of learning the pattern of each one and then making sure to execute it perfectly. And it does have to be perfect or else you will die and have to start again. This means if you do get stuck in a particular place it can soon start to get repetitive and frustrating quickly.

Some levels have boss fights as well. These tend to end up more like bullet hell shooter sequences where you must alternate between dodging attacks and deflecting and reflecting different colour bullets at the enemy. These are well handled and general walk the line well between challenging and fun.

There’s a good attempt at story telling and lore building as well. There are some great looking comic book style sequences and between levels you can explore a 2D village which acts as a small hub area. Here you can talk to other characters before heading off to the next level for more destruction.

Overall, Sonokuni is a fun attempt at trying to bring something a touch different to the Switch. It’s going to appeal to gamers who want games based on lightning fast reflexes and quick thinking. If the controls and pacing were tightened a little it would be an addictive masterpiece. As it is its good fun but veers more towards frustration than that ‘one more go’ ethos just a little too often.

Overall 7/10

Glover Review (Switch)

For a good few years now PQube has been tracking down and acquiring the rights to many cult hits and underappreciated gems across a host of retro platforms. The latest acquisition to be given a new lease of life is Glover, more specifically the N64 version of the game. The game also, impressively, has been released on the Evercade.

Glover follows the model of the standard 3D platformers of the day. You have fairly large, open levels to explore, lots of collectibles and a slightly frustrating camera to fight with. The game has been given a slight graphical overhaul which makes it look good enough on modern displays. The general blur vision of the N64 is long gone, so at least eye strain is kept to a minimum. This does of course make the levels look a bit empty and brown but then that’s just a sign of times.

We were a bit surprised to see that nothing else has really been added here though. There are none of the normal extras you now find on pretty much all retro releases. So, there’s no rewind or filters and most importantly, there’s no quick save feature so you are tied into the game auto saving at checkpoints. This is disappointing as the Switch by its very nature is portable, so quick saves should be standard on pretty much anything.

The controls have been mapped well to the Switch though and the game doesn’t feel particularly awkward. It is arguably even a bit smoother than many of the games on the Switch Online N64 service. This is handy as the game is complex to navigate as you are controlling a giant glove moving a ball around.

A lot of the platforming and puzzles require you to get the ball to various places by batting it, bouncing it or walking on top of it. All these things require practice to get right and early on you’ll likely be frustrated as you watch your ball role away for the hundredth time. When you get used to it though, it allows for a far more original take on the genre than many other games.

Aside from the ball physics, the other main gimmick is that you can switch around what type of ball you are using. You start with a standard beach ball, but you’ll soon get others made of materials that break on impact or that can traverse certain terrains. You’ll need to work things out quickly though because every time a ball bursts you’ll lose a life, and you only have five which seem to degenerate quickly.

Overall, Glover is a perfect example of an interesting but flawed game. The concept is clever and original, but you’ll need to put time into mastering how everything works in order to really appreciate what the game has to offer. It certainly has a charm and if you stick with it, it becomes a rewarding and fun experience. A quick save would have really helped though.

Overall 6/10

X-Out Resurfaced Review (Switch)

Recently, we have been seeing the Amiga back catalogue brought back to life. The Evercade has had several Amiga carts released and a handful of other games have made it to modern consoles. Now, we have a remake of 30 year old X-Out, a side scrolling shooter in the style of games like R-Type.

X-Out has a few things that try and set it part from other side scrolling shooters. In terms of it’s design it is set under water so everything has an aquatic theme to it. The other key thing is that you have the option to buy your ships and equipment at the start of each level. This creates a unique risk and reward dynamic where you need to decide if buying one super ship is better than having three or four less equipped ones. And it is a key decision because once your last ship is down it’s game over. There are no continues.

On that note, it’s a real surprise that X-Out Resurfaced doesn’t really cater for new gamers in any way despite being rebuilt from the ground up. There are none of the concessions that most retro remakes now have. You can’t save, there is no rewind function, and you can’t alter any settings such as lives or money. While it’s refreshing to see something stick to its roots, it also makes the game crushingly difficult. Your ship has a life bar but will explode instantly on impact with anything so some of your playthroughs may last minutes to begin with.

The fact there’s no continue option or level select is also frustrating. It’s true that each time you play you’ll likely progress a little further, but it can take seconds to lose all your craft and then you are right back to level 1 again. It’s something that seems unnecessary, especially with a game that isn’t always the most fluid to control. A lot of these shooters at least have level trainer options once you reach certain stages, but not here. 

Overall, X-Out Resurfaced is a strong but crushingly difficult game. Fans of games like R-type will feel at home, but the game really needed some options to try and get new players to connect with it. Anything past the first level is a real challenge and it’s likely a lot of players will spend most of their time in the early stages before feeling they can’t progress. While we are glad to see the game on the Switch, is could have been a lot more fun with more options for players to tinker with.

Overall 6/10

 

Rage of the Dragons NEO Review (Switch)

Neo Geo games have been hitting the Switch at a rapid rate. Many of them get the ACA treatment, but every now and then we get something slightly different. Rage of Dragons Neo falls into the latter category and is obscure even for the hardcore SNK fanbase.

Most of you will have heard of Double Dragon and know something about the legacy of the franchise. You may even be aware that a one-on-one fighting game was developed, though it wasn’t received particularly well. Well, the original plan was for this game to be a sort of follow up to that. At some point rights were lost and it continued development under a different name.

This re-release has had some work done on it. It comes with an online mode and a host of video and audio options. There is also a training mode to help get yourself familiar with the games more intricate systems. There’s also a challenge mode for those few out there who might think the game is too easy for them.

The combat takes the form of a two-on-two tag fighter. Characters can dive in and out when a tag bar is filled, and this forms a key part of your strategy. The game is tough with the computer a fairly merciless and brutal opponent. Luckily you have unlimited continues and the option to save your progress as you go. The biggest challenge is the sheer amount of damage you can be hit with in one combo. One mistake can you see an entire life bar wiped out if you aren’t careful.

It follows the familiar SNK template in terms of both look and combat buttons. If you think about a hardcore The King of Fighters with two on each side, you wouldn’t be a million miles away. The combat itself is precise, and the move sets of the characters are varied and will take a serious amount of time to master. Although certain names and designs have been changed, it’s also pretty easy to see which characters are meant to be which when it comes to Double Dragon.

The graphics are suitably detailed and impressive as well. Characters are well animated and well designed and the backdrops are full of action and life which helps to make each fight more of a spectacle. If you can crack the difficulty and systems, then this is likely to become a favourite among fight fans.

Overall, Rage of the Dragons NEO is going to appeal to a niche audience. It’s far more complex than a lot of both SNK’s and Capcom’s output and there’s no real easy way to get used to it. You are likely to be pounded down over and over until you work out a few things to help you hold your own. If you stick with it long enough to get into it though you’ll find an incredibly deep and rewarding game that is well worth sticking with.

Overall 7/10

Voidwrought Review (Switch)

This will shock you, but Voidwrought is an indie Metroidvania game on the Switch. It’s fair to say that Nintendo’s hybrid has no shortages of games in the genre (including Metroid and Castlevania), so anything new must really do something to standout.

It’s a good thing then that Voidwrought really does try to do things a little bit differently. The first thing you’ll notice is that the game looks incredible. Everything from cutscenes to the general level design is presented in a gorgeous dark comic book style. To match this, the flow of movement is as smooth as the visuals with the games trademark being that it’s a fast-paced take on the genre. In these respects, it really does stand out in a positive way.

The general look of the design is a sort of comic book inspired mashup of Deadcells, Blasphemy and Dark Souls with a mixture of both technological and biological terrors inhabiting the environments. It definitely has a continually brooding and menacing tone to it that works well with the general bleakness of the game’s difficulty.

The steep learning curve may put some gamers off, the environment is harsh to navigate, and most enemies take a considerable amount of damage before they go down. This is all fine until you end up repeating sections multiple times. There are save points of course but they aren’t that prevalent. One concession to this is that any major object collected, or event triggered, will still have happened when you die and respawn at your last save point.

In a game which is generally difficult the bosses are, perhaps surprisingly, quite well balanced. There are certainly sticking points but once you have learned how they behave they don’t take crazy amount so damage before going down which helps to keep the game flowing.

There are a few issues though. First of all, the plot doesn’t really carry much of an impact. We would struggle to tell you what you are doing and why beyond the obvious Metroidvania exploration. We had no real idea what the overall goal was. Perhaps more concerning, the game also isn’t very good at giving you clear feedback regarding things like getting or damage.

The cartoon style is beautiful, but it does give things a lack of weight and impact, so it can be difficult to know if you are being hit or how hard you are hitting yourself. The health bar is also an issue. There is one of course but it doesn’t stand out that well and there is little other visual feedback to give an indication you are about to die. This led to a fair few deaths when healing was otherwise available.

Overall, Voidwrought succeeds in bringing something slightly different to the Metroidvania template. This is impressive enough when you consider how many games there are out there in the genre. It never fully clicked with us though in the way some of the other games have. That moment when you are just zooming around feeling like a super being never really came and, in the end, the few flaws did start to wear away at us. It’s a beautifully crafted game that runs amazingly well, but it is also perhaps one for gamers out there looking for a more hardcore experience. If you are into the genre though, this is well worth checking out as it’s somewhat unique in a crowded market.

Overall 7/10

The Karate Kid: Street Rumble Review (Switch)

Of all the retro inspired sub-genres to have a comeback recently, we weren’t expecting 80’s nostalgia-based side scrolling beat’em ups with cartoon graphics to be one of them. We’ve had various Turtles games, Double Dragon: Gaiden and there’s the upcoming Toxic Crusaders. You can now add The Karate Kid to that mix. The Scott Pilgrim game has certainly had an influence.

The game does look great though. Locations are initially a bit dull but get better as you progress and take in the familiar locations of high school, beach, arcade and other areas around Reseda. The jump to Japan for the second film offers up some lovely sprite work and though the general designs of characters does repeat, everything individually looks pretty great.

Perhaps a little surprisingly, Street Rumble follows the plot of the first three movies instead of the more recent Cobra Kai series. You get to pick from four characters – Daniel, Ali, Mr Miyagi and Kimiko. Each character has the same basic set of attacks, but they range in speed and strength and have individual signature moves. So, there’s just enough here to make players try a few different playthroughs to find their favourite.

Combat is solid and fluid, with players able to mix light and heavy attacks together smoothly to create their own combos. You can add your signature attacks to this as well, meaning there’s good opportunities to juggle enemies or switch to new targets as required. You can also grab and throw enemies. The overall movement is limited but then that goes for about ninety percent of these types of games. One notable thing is that you can’t pick up weapons, so combat is really about keeping your combo meter going for as long as possible with the moves you have.

There’s an interesting health system in play as well with the player only taking proper health damage when their special meter is empty. This means you can take the odd hit without it causing too much trouble as long as you are on the offensive. Once you lose your three lives in a stage though you are done. Even if you are at the boss, it’s back to the beginning. This is well balanced though but can still be a touch frustrating as some of the stages are a touch long.

There’s also a low level exp grind at play where your characters can level up and gain new signature moves and other bonuses. The main way to do this is via secondary challenges within the levels. These normally come down to beating enemies a certain number of times with certain attacks or not taking health damage. It’s a pretty basic part of the game that lacks much invention, but it gives something for the box tick completionists to do.

Overall, The Karate Kid: Street Rumble is a well put together and good-looking game that plays nicely. The only real issue is that it can get repetitive quickly and some of the levels are pretty long and uninspired in terms of design. For short bursts it works really well and there are some nice systems here. It will be good enough for fans of both the films and side scrolling beat’em ups though. There’s also a lot that could be built and expanded on if they decide to move forward into other Karate Kid properties as there’s a really solid foundation in the design here.

Overall 7/10

Yars Rising Review (Switch)

Atari’s raiding and revitalising of its back catalogue continues unabated with one of its most bizarre and ambitious reboots yet. Instead of just updating the graphics and mechanics of one of its arcade games, Yars Rising takes the world of the famous Yars Revenge and attempts to expand it out into, of all things, a Metroidvania.

The original Yars does make appearances from time to time in the form of hacking mini games that need to be completed in order to open doors and disable obstacles. These play around with the conventions of the original game but basically amount to charging a meter then blasting a target with a super shot. Sometimes there are barriers, sometimes there are mines to avoid or other enemies to defeat but it all amounts to a single screen take on the original arcade style experience.

These hacking games become more and more complex as the game progresses. But if you feel you have really had enough of them it will let you skip if you fail a certain number of times. On the flip side you can also access them from the main menu if you just want to play them over and over.

The main bulk of the game has players take control of Emi Kimura who has been hired to break into the QoTech corporation. This plays out in the classic Metroidvania style with players exploring the 2D environment and picking up new skills along the way to let them through previously unpassable barriers. There are boss fights as well which normally need to be finished off with a hacking mini game or they will spring back to life.

In terms of design, the environments are a fairly generic, sterile, future sci-fi setting. It does help to keep things clear and easy to see but there’s not a huge variety between the looks of each location which can make traveling around a touch dull at times. Enemy design is very much in the realms of robots and technology which shares the same clear but not inspiration feel (with the occasional Atari reference). In a nice touch, all the characters are voiced, and Emi will chime in with her own commentary on how thing are going from time to time (this can be turned off if it gets too annoying).

Much better, is the general feel of the game. Emi controls well and it’s easy to get her to execute whichever move you are trying. This means you can get a good flow while traveling around the environments, allowing for speedy trips across the map. There’s also a well-balanced mix of action and stealth with a few areas requiring you to hide in doorways or vents to avoid invulnerable enemies. It’s not exactly Metroid: Dread but it helps to break things up and all the mechanics work well. The music is also excellent with a host of jaunty, anime inspired tunes present.

Overall, Yars Rising is a fun and inventive take on an IP that may have otherwise struggled to survive the expectations of modern audiences. The classic Wayforward vibe is in full effect and while this may not be anything revolutionary, it is certainly fun and breezy and there’s nothing bad here. If you feel you need another retro tinged Metroidvania then this makes a good choice, even among the mass of competition of the Switch.

Overall 7/10

Iron Meat Review (Switch)

Unless you’ve been under a rock for the last few decades you may have noticed there are quite a few indie games which are moulded in the ‘Metroidvania’ way. There also a fair few pixel platformers out there but, perhaps surprisingly, there are far fewer run and guns games inspired by the Contra series and other games of its ilk. Indeed, aside from Blazing Chrome it’s been remarkably quiet, that is until now.

The plot of Iron meat is as hilarious as it is basic. There have been some strange experiments going on, on the moon and now an iron hungry meat mass is mutating and destroying everything in a post-apocalyptic future. This is basically an excuse to merge iron and meat together to create horrific monsters to blast like a giant meat train boss with teeth.

Iron Meat unashamedly takes inspiration from Konami’s classic series in the best way. It is tough, but it’s not quite as brutal as Contra or Blazing Chrome, so it at least lets players get used to it before really ramping up the challenge. Levels are creative and well designed and provide a good deal of variety. In a further concession to the difficulty, any unlocked stage can be started from when you die, meaning you can practice the tough later levels without needing to blast through the others first.

As always with games of this type, the controls are key. We are pleased to say that everything here is tight. Your little dude who looks like Robocop is nimble and responsive and it’s also easy to blast in the direction you want to. That’s handy as the later levels require constant and precise movement to survive. As a nice touch your character can be quite heavily customised with unlockable skins and parts as well to mimic some famous characters.

There’s also a host of powerups available that keep blasting fun and you can carry up to two of these at a time. There is another small concession to the difficulty here in that when you die, you’ll keep whatever weapon loadout you weren’t using at the time.

The game looks beautiful as well. There are some amazing, animated cut scenes throughout and the levels themselves are detailed and full of character and touches such as sparks and flickering lights. In this respect the Switch doesn’t seem to be lagging. There’s no evidence of slowdown or poor performance either. Matching the visuals is an adrenaline pumping soundtrack and top level foley. This really is well thought out and presented excellently.

Overall, Iron Meat is a top tier run and gun game. There is an argument that it might be more fun than the recent Contra: Operation Galuga. It’s big, bold and intense but also gives you enough to feel like you can make progress and have a chance against what you are blasting. Retroware seem to have a host of retro inspired games coming and long may it continue if they carry on being at this level of quality.

Overall 8/10

Sam and Max: The Devil's Play House Review (Switch)

Written by Thomas G.J. Sharpe

I had briefly played the 2007 Sam and Max game by Telltale Games when it released, with all the appropriate eagerness of a rabid fan of Sam and Max Hit the Road and everything that creator Steve Purcell had a hand in. I bought Hit the Road in the US, in it’s full big-box, extra item-laden glory, at the height of the Lucasarts golden era. That game, with its full talkie CD-ROM treatment is a high point of the genre, to this day. The Devil’s Playhouse, as a part of the franchise that followed, has a nigh-on impossible job. This has been demonstrated for years after Monkey Island 1 and 2, where even the excellent Curse of Monkey Island, was burdened with the weight of nostalgia, historic success, and fan expectation. When I played through this post-Telltale remaster, I had to bat away much of this predictable and rather useless rose-tinted baggage. A team of ex-Telltale developers, under the moniker of Skunkape, have been breathing fresh life into this set of Sam and Max titles, that do a great job of capturing the essence of Purcell’s absurd creations. 

These are point and click adventure games of the generation spawned from Grim Fandango (the poster child of the post-2D world). While even Hit the Road had some 3D elements in it’s visuals, the whole way PnC could be played changed. Playhouse has scenes to puzzle through that operate and utilise the 3D-ness of the locations. The essential parts are there; inventory, dialogue options, and the modern squishing of action-verb tables or radials into a more succinct action prompt. There is a lovely comic-style feel to GUI and a charming little illustration of Sam when choosing some dialogue points on a radial. A key twist to this story is Max’s use of the Devil’s Toybox, which provide him with means to use all sorts of strange powers. This fits right in with Max’s frenetic weirdness, but in gameplay terms, keeps him much more engaged than previously. While Sam is still our straight-er man (dog), Max is less of a prop this way, or a means to deliver a psychopathic one-liner. Long and the short of Sam and Max as a concept, if you’ve not encountered it before, is a banjo playing, revolver wielding dog and an insane rabbit solve crimes in a bizarre bastardisation of the United States (that really just seems like the real United States a lot of the time).

After Sam and Max Save the World and then Beyond Time and Space, The Devil’s Playhouse appears to have some continuity, but not so much that I couldn’t enjoy it having not played the others. The episodic structure of the original Seasons is present, that feeds into the “case of…” detective schtick, and neatly providing some way to pace and metre out the plot points. As the scenarios are typically surreal and/or zany, they need to move fast. Most parts of this move at a decent whack, despite most of the entertainment of the thing being rooted in the classic point and click space of dialogue. There are consistent and reliable laughs in The Devil’s Playhouse, which is a relief given the IP. I didn’t expect to be amused this much. Often it was the dialogue itself, with it being quick and piercing to a great degree. This may lack the more scathing social satire of Purcell’s comics, there is enough of the absurd, the violent, and the indiscriminate about it. The sensibilities of both characters are dutifully flippant. They fight crime and cause more damage than the villains, and this is just how it should be.

There are memorable characters a plenty. My personal favourites were a set of talking radio gadgets, Sal the security cockroach, and the tin can army of Maimtron robots. The voice acting often hits the comedy mark instead of the lines themselves, and these are enthusiastically performed. Even at times, there is unexpected emotion and depth to what is inherently a very pulpy scenario. There is also a stand-out apex of the episodes here in “They Stole Max’s Brain” (“based on the similarly titled novel by Jane Austen” is one of the best lines in the game), where the drama ramps up and things get dark. Sam is always the best for me when he’s on tilt.

The graphics look great compared to the original game (from a little glance at some videos). The environments to have a slight sparse feel at times that does date it. These are remasters that will hopefully make the games up to date enough to smooth a modern audience into engaging. Subsequent Telltale games after these ones notched up the visuals, design and scene setting each time until it became the license hoover it did. I believe that these games will instantly be more accessible to modern audiences than any 2D PnC, however old feeling some of it is.

I will look to play the first two collections of episodes at some point as these feel they represent the true sequel to a beloved game of mine. You can feel the influence of the Lucasart era, and not just because of the closeness of some designers and writers, but just how well others have taken the characters and made them work in new but faithful ways. This is a great success that doesn’t have the baggage of a lot of the “cool” licenses that can get in the way of other Telltale games for me, and Skunkape have buffed it up real nice. Bravo.

Overall 9/10

Aero the Acrobat 2 Review (SNES)

We reviewed the first Aero game a little while back and found it to be a solid platformer that had enough character to stand out in a crowded market, For those that didn’t think the release of Aero the Acrobat was obscure enough though, here comes the even rarer sequel. We are pleased to say that while the general circus aesthetic of the original made it stand out in terms of setting, the sequel is generally a much better game overall.

Aero 2 is very much a looker of a game. The first game was bright and colourful, but everything here has certainly had an upgrade. Colours are brighter and pixels seems sharper and bolder. The environments may have lost their theme, but it gives much more variety to levels and allows for some fun design. In motion the game is incredibly slick as well and flows very smoothly.

The characters movement has also been tightened up. The first game was a little lose with some of the collision detection and the controls in general feeling slightly off. This isn’t the case for the sequel, and everything has been refined and tightened considerably. This makes the overall experience much more fun and coupled with the graphical face lift really helps to elevate the experience.

In terms of moves, Aero is still pretty much the same. You still have the jump and twist to hit enemies or extend your leap and you can still pick up stars to use as weapons. There are environmental changes though, such as bells to swing from and cogs that fling you around. There are also some levels which have you snowboarding or introduce other gimmicks that give the player something different to do and think about.

Overall, it’s really nice to have Aero 2 revived for a new audience. The character itself is fine and the first game is solid, but this sequel is one of the standout late releases of the SNES’ life. If you were to try and pick up an original cartridge it would set you back a small fortune, so to have it so easily available now can only be a good thing. It looks like the Aero love is continuing with the GBA game and spinoff coming soon. Long may this revival of more obscure games continue.

Overall 8/10

Shadow of the Ninja Reborn Review (Switch)

 

I don’t think anyone had relatively obscure NES game Shadow of the Ninja on their bingo card for a revival this year. But Atari, Natsume and others are going all out to squeeze every piece of equity from gamings now lengthy back catalogue.  We have played the original game though and it’s a fun take on the platform genre that tries to distance itself from the Gaiden series as much as possible.

As an update, Shadow of the Ninja Reborn is a strange sort of game. If you think back to the days of the NES, a lot of games were ported from the arcade. This take on the franchise looks to reverse the approach. Taking what was an 8-bit game and imaging how it would work as an arcade game. Changing its level design, how the game plays and boosting its graphics to be bigger and more colourful.

The game is pretty hardcore in terms of difficulty. Players can pick from normal or hard to begin with (pick normal), and once your energy bar has depleted you die and start the stage again. There are two or three checkpoints throughout levels though and normally one before boss fights as well. You also have unlimited continues and the game will also give you more health pick ups and items if you get stuck dying on a particular section, so at least it does try and keep players going. Despite the arcade nature of the game, you don’t have to play through from the beginning each time either as it’ll autosave your progress and unlock levels as time attack stages once completed.

In terms of your ninja, you have a couple of cool weapons at your disposal. You have your basic sword which can be upgraded to sort of fire swooshy things. It can also block a lot of projectiles that are fired your way which is a nice touch. You also have a sort of grappling hook weapon which has a decent range and can be used to attack enemies from different angles. This also upgrades to add length and extra spikes. You can also find a host of other weapons and items which are limited use. We did find most of them took far too long to use though so tended to stay with the basic sword and hook set up.

There are a few issues with controls unfortunately. The standard sword swipe and jump are fine, but you can also sort of wall run and jump but it never felt natural to pull off and sticking to surfaces also seemed a bit hit and miss. In terms of using items there’s an odd selection process. Pressing the shoulder button selects whatever your closest item on your inventory is. However, logically, pressing the button multiple times should really syphon through your inventory, but to actually do that you need to hold the button down and then use arrows to shift through. It is rarely practical to do this to the point it makes the inventory almost useless for large parts of the levels.

Level design and enemies though are generally pretty cool. There’s a wide range of opponents who attack you in different ways and the sort of sci-fi cyber design works well. Bosses are varied and creative and follow attack patterns which will need to be learned to down them. They are pretty well balanced though with just the right amount of health and work as highlights rather than annoyances.

Overall, Shadow of the Ninja Reborn is a fun and creative throwback to arcade games of the 90’s. it’s not perfect but the annoyances never stop it from being fun. The difficulty is something players will have to get used to, but the game at least tried to help you out when you start to really struggle. If you like arcade action platformers then this will likely be right up your alley. A very well thought out use of an old and obscure IP.

Overall 8/10

Aero the Acrobat Review (Switch)

There are so many Super Nintendo games out there that it’s inevitable that not everything would appear on the Online service. It’s proving to be a goldmine for retro developers, and we’ve previously looked at the Top Racer Collection from QUByte and recently enjoyed working our way through the Jurassic Park compilation brought about by Limited Run Games. Fresh from an Evercade release, Sunsofts Aero the Acrobat is the next to make its way to Switch (and will soon be followed by its sequel).

Fairly well received upon original release, Aero the Acrobat fell into the second tier of Super Nintendo platformers behind the Super Marios and Donkey Kongs. It also shifted decent enough numbers for a sequel and spinoff game. We can also age ourselves quite badly by telling you there’s an original copy of the game sitting on the shelf. Honestly though, this is the first time we’ve really put a significant amount of time into it and it’s certainly good fun.

The thing that will take players the most time to adjust to is how Aero controls. We are so used to either Sonic or Mario style implementations that anything else just feels slightly off. Aero is probably closer to the more slip, slidey Sonic approach but after a few levels it all came together. The

It’s important to note that Aero can’t defeat enemies by jumping on them as well. He needs to do a jump and spin attack or use one of the many pickups such as stars which can be thrown. Even then there are a fair few enemies that are immune to your attack and simply need avoiding. There’s lots of objects around the colourful levels to interact with such as unicycles and trampolines as well which fit with the overall circus theme.

Levels themselves are loosely mission based with criteria needing to be met before you can exit. These normally require the player to search out platforms to disperse or a certain number of hoops to jump through. Most of the time this is fine but if you miss one there’s a strict time limit so it can mean a restart if you are not careful. In all honesty, the levels would be fine without these restrictions.

In terms of additions for this re-release there isn’t much in terms of the core game. You get the rewind and save state upgrades most retro revivals now seem to have and a few screen and filter options. However, you also get a host of gallery extras including the original instruction manual and a host of design and production stills. It’s a decent collection of museum items and something that could have easily been overlooked. It shows that little bit of extra effort that has been out in and it’s much appreciated.

Overall, we are glad to see one of the better and often overlooked games from the sixteen-bit era make its way to a new audience. Aero is well worth playing and is more than a simple clone of a bigger franchise. It’s not as slick as the big boys but it remains inventive and fun throughout. Now, if someone could just get hold of Skyblazer and Shadowrun that would be great.

Overall 7/10

Volgarr The Viking II Review (Switch)

The original Volgarr was a bit of a cult hit on steam a few years back. In an emerging era of hardcore, retro styled, titles it managed to forge a path with its chunky, Rastan style, graphics and its heavy Conan the Barbarian influence it certainly caught the eye. Many players though struggled with the unrelenting difficulty. Don’t go expecting anything less than crushing toughness though, as the sequel forges the same unapologetically punishing path as its predecessor.

There’s little in the way of technical changes here. Volgarr has pretty much the same move set and attacks as before. You can attack with your sword, jump, roll and throw spears which can be used to stick in walls to create makeshift platforms. A sort of double jump can also be done which also swings your sword around, creating a sort of circle of death as well. Taking a single hit kills you but you can also pick up rare pieces of armour which gives you the ability to take more damage.

The game is tough, and you’ll die often, but when you die a certain amount you’ll enter dead mode which effectively makes you invincible, aside from deaths via pits. We found this to be an odd design choice. The game is very tough but effectively forcing an invincibility option onto players doesn’t gel very well. Once we had died enough to activate this, we found our interest in the game soon started to drift away and it became a real slog. We could have started the game again of course but it’s very frustrating that you don’t get this as an option that you can ignore if you so wish.

Admittedly, we didn’t make it to the end even with the invincibility option, but we found the level design and bosses to be somewhat weaker than the previous game. The first Volgarr was tough but has a certain logic to it. The sequel just seems unnecessarily frustrating and annoying in places. As a result, we found we really weren’t having fun a lot of the time and the levels soon became a slog.

With a game this difficult its vital the controls work well and in this respect Volgarr is excellent. Controls are responsive and each of the barbarians moves have a purpose and are easy to execute. It’s vital for players to get used to the distances and animation cycles of all the different moves as using the wrong one at the wrong time will almost always leave you open to attack and normally death. This is especially important on ropes as getting knocked off will almost always end in falling into a death pit.

A less drastic concession to the difficulty is that the levels now have check points. Each of the stages are sizable and it’ll take you between twenty minutes and half an hour to get through most of them. The original game made you do this in one go so at least here it’s not as severe. That said, if you lose all your lives, it’s back to the start of the stage you can expect to be seeing the start of some of these stages multiple times.

Overall, Volgarr the Viking II offers up more of the same and those who have beaten the original (there must be someone out there), will no doubt be keen to take on the challenge. For us, this sequel doesn’t quite have the magic of the first game though. It moves from ‘challenging’ into ‘frustrating’ far too often with too many niggly parts of level that you’ll end up having to go through multiple times. As a result, it’s difficult to really get a rhythm going. The almost invincible mode is also not wanted, we would at least like to see it become optional on the continue screen as it took much of the joy of progression away.

Overall 6/10

 

 

SCHiM Review (Switch)

It’s not often you get an original take these days. Most indie games have settled into the Rogue lite, Metroidvania, Soulslike mould or gone down the retro nostalgia route (or both), but SCHiM is actually trying to do something a bit different. It’s an arty, isometric platformer where you play a little shadow creature, separated from your human who needs to jump from shady spot to shady spot to find your way home.

The style of the game is the first thing that really draws you to it. It’s set out in a sort of clear, minimalist way with the environments mainly panted with a single colour and strong lines used for shapes and objects. This not only gives it a sort of ‘arty’ feel but also allows the shadows cast by the objects, people and creatures to be clearly seen as there is no clutter. It’s through these shadows that your little SCHiM creature must move in order to reach the goal at the end of each level. This is normally a bus or over vehicle which then takes it off to the next scene.

Levels start small and focused but soon get much bigger. This allows for some exploration to find hidden objects but can also be a bit frustrating as it can be unclear where you are meant to go at times. You can hold a trigger which will zoom over to show your next goal, but we found ourselves needing to this a little to often. Finding hidden objects helps other SCHiM creatures find their way home as well which is a nice touch.

The concept is simple. You need to jump from shadow to shadow and landing in direct light will see you die after a few seconds and revert to the nearest checkpoint. If there are connecting lines cast (such as lamp posts), you can zoom along these and as you progress, you’ll find things like telegraph lines cause you to bounce and objects such as signs and trampolines can be used to fling you around. You can also interact with objects to do things like turn lights on, change traffic lights and fly drones. It adds a distinct puzzle element which for the most part works well, although some checkpoints are a little too far away.

The jumping works for the most part but it can be difficult to judge where you are going to land. This can be frustrating as you don’t get much flexibility if you land outside of a shadow and when you are trying to jump from thin lines to other small areas it can prove clumsy. The isometric viewpoint doesn’t really help with this, and it can also be difficult to see where you are at times. You can rotate the play field around through some set angles, but we still found a few places where there just wasn’t an optimal line of sight. Generally though, everything works out fine.

Overall, SCHiM is a charming game that has a lot to offer to those looking for something a bit different. It’s certainly not as relaxing as it looks at first glance but there is a consistent logic to the game and a well thought out obstacle course of things for you get around on each level. It’s one of those games that is bound to be referred to as ‘charming’ in the weeks to come, and it is. But there's also a whole lot more here as well.

Overall 8/10

Rauniot Review (Steam)

Review by Thomas G.J. Sharpe

Finnish point n’ click Rauniot had me boycott it for so long, and so early that I wanted to uninstall it. I’m glad I didn’t, because once this throwback gets into its stride, there is something wholly compelling and unusual about it.

At once familiar and a bit off, this is a mutated bit of nostalgia. The game world reflected in it’s feel. There is some fun diegesis with menus and GUI that remind me of other effective retro-futurism-immersion like Alien: Isolation. For some mad reason, the next one that came up for me was Crusader: No Remorse (it is far prettier, no shade intended). Something about the perspective and the mid-late 90’s graphical smoothness. Rauniot hits notes of shareware slideshows on PC Gamer demo discs graphically, yet it’s whispered, violent world is more akin to S.T.A.L.K.E.R. or Disco Elysium. It is, however, no way near as garrulous as those two titles.

The pitch is you play as Aino searching for a companion on horseback. The world is a stalled 1970’s after an apocalyptic event. Some decent indicators that everything has gone to Hull in a handcart is the proliferation of dog food, the bleak and oppressive lack of trust, and a haunted, reverberant world. The protagonist is barely audible and spins an atmosphere more dissociative as Finnish is not a language my ears are lucky to hear very often. Whispering asides that brood and menace are the soup of the day.

The litmus test of any point n’ clicker is the puzzles. Immediately I feel into a trap of having to pixel hunt. An almost first encountered item eluded me for far too long, which gives our first pause; there are mild outline hints on rollover for items, but do not expected things to be pointed out with neon signs. Take this how thy wilt, I suppose. I personally would like items to be in places where I can guess where they may be through inference, not through clutter. Other puzzles are marred by gating each other but with little nudging. Again, we could enter the puzzle vs intelligence vs brootal-git-gud thing, and I wish to be above the left-right paradigm, don’t we all.

Where Rauniot shines is an uncompromising story of human interaction. The characters you meet as Aino, and her herself, are on the very edge, the absolute limit of their trust in anything. This is a love letter to staring over an interpersonal cliff and wondering if the thrill of descent is worth leaving others.

This world is packed to the grimy rafters with detail, and uncanny locations, that really sing this nearly old game vibe. The minor hiccups in puzzle design throughout, I can personally overlook due to the caustic writing, unnerving performances, and this thoroughly effective evocation of a bit of a lost point n’ click style. It should be noted there are modern quality of life touches, such as quick move and a sort of back-pack-y menu thing.

For those with a penchant for sadness, whispering, dog food and being worried about neighbours. A little mucky gem.

Overall 8/10