Category video game

Mopeful Games is a small indie studio responsible for a new FPS that is called FPS or Fashion Police Squad. Did these three designers pull off a win?

In Fashion Police Squad you play as Des, an officer with the local Fashion Police with a penchant for the dramatic and the fabulous. Your first case of the day sends you into an area besieged by men in drab business attire and you must correct these crimes against fashion. Your weapons consist of guns and belts that make your enemies more fabulous once defeated. This is the first title Mopeful Games has created that I am able to find and what a way to hit the scene.

This is Des himself. Our hero and purveyor of fashion related puns. He is damn hilarious. I legitimately laughed out loud, alone in my living room while I played. His puns were masterfully crafted and delivered. If you hate puns though you may want to avoid this game.

Gameplay is smooth and intuitive, whether switching weapons or making the perps fabulous. Visuals are in a retro style that exceeds the quality of the old school like Wolfenstein 3D or even Doom. If you are looking for something that will make you laugh while still giving a challenge then this is a great choice. I don’t remember the last time a game was THIS enjoyable!

Ziggurat have ported the classic Prison Tycoon sequel Under New Management to current generation consoles and have included free dlc with it!

Ziggurat brought back the classic Prison Tycoon Under New Management to current generation consoles along with the free dlc Roll Call. This dlc allows players to edit the appearance of prisoners and guards alike. Players are literally building the prison from the ground up. This includes running electrical lines, building bathrooms and some rooms that you typically wouldn’t see in a proper prison. I’ve never heard of a prison that had a dance floor, especially one equipped with neon lights and a DJ. Well, maybe in a cartoon but even then I’m not so sure.

Tycoon games rarely convert over to console very well due to most involving a user interface that is simply too complex for the system. Prison Tycoon is one of the rare exceptions. The navigation between the menus (without using a tutorial) felt surprisingly intuitive. Graphics leave something to be desired on “next gen” consoles but they aren’t bad either. The most difficult thing to figure out is how to optimize your income and I can tell you the trick, or at least what worked for me. Focus on the cells themselves, the nicer they are the more income you’ll bring in per prisoner. Once you realize that it becomes quite simple. That brings us to the second largest hurdle- building the perfect prison itself. Finding a balance between each of the buildings and their amenities is where the real challenge lies.

Overall I found the game to surprisingly entertaining as I tried to build the craziest prisons I could while still turning a profit. My biggest complaint though is the engagement level. Playing in smaller doses helps because maintaining the prison itself becomes quite repetitive as you continue to fine tune the prison.

Ohsat Games has released their love letter to 90’s platformers with Go Go Pogo Girl, a game about a girl and her stolen pogo!

Ohsat Games is a company I never heard of until I played this game. Their entire catalogue looks like games that would have been made for the consoles of the 90’s and Go Go Pogo Girl is no exception. The world around our pogo jumping hero looks very similar to the original Green Hill Zone in the first Sonic the Hedgehog but will a more limited color pallet. The enemies are mostly little blobs that run around or jump in your path. The game is very forgiving when getting injured, allowing the younger crowd to play the game without fear of a game over.

The story follows our hero as her prized pogo is stolen from the trophy case while she sleeps. This begins her journey to reclaim the toy, collecting gems along the way. The controls are simple and intuitive as is the story. The graphics are smooth despite the retro nature of the graphics. I found the game to not only be enjoyable but loved the fact that it was so easy to play that my youngest would be able to enjoy it.

THQ Nordic’s hit Roleplaying Game Risen has returned on the latest consoles and it has been remastered!

A classic RolePlaying Game from THQ Nordic has returned and not only remastered but it has been divided to allow more control over your character’s fate! Risen starts with you stowing away on board a ship of Inquisitors and are shipwrecked on a mysterious island. Recent quakes have pulled ancient temples to the surface world and unleashed monsters on the island’s populace. A hero is needed and you need work. More importantly you need to not become a slave of the Inquisitors. Sounds like a cheerful place.

Graphically the game may be remastered but I feel like the label may not be quite right. Typically remastered games are major improvements on the original but this still looks like it did originally. Porting a game over does not make it “remastered”. Combat feels a little slow and cumbersome and the controller tutorials don’t do much to actually teach you how to play until you’ve already figured out most of the controls. Story is slow paced but feels like it has some deep bones as you continue to play. If you were a fan of the original this may be worth diving into again but for new players to the franchise I’d advise to save your money on this one.

It’s World War One and you are a soldier stuck behind enemy lines in what appears to be an abandoned trench. Can you survive the experience in Trenches from Steelkrill Studio?

Steelkrill Studio shared their indie game Trenches with us and they exceeded our expectations. The game follows you wandering through a seemingly abandoned trench behind enemy lines during World War One. When I was first asked if I was interested in trying the game the single image I saw didn’t look too exciting but the description had me interested in giving it a shot. Graphically it meets the expectations of most indie titles but doesn’t have that crisp look of most next gen titles.

The controls are quite simple early on, basic mechanics feel very natural with walking, crouching or interacting with things. Just be warned there are some things that SHOULD NOT be interacted with. As you wander the trenches you stumble on some photos with message scrawled on the backs or letters regarding something happening to the troops.

The audio on this game is where it really excels. I highly recommend playing this in the dark with the sound turned up. With the audio and map virtually empty of other people, the game is simply unnerving. It feels like the original Silent Hill games but with out the guy with pyramid helmet chasing you or the bandage faced nurses.

With the purchase of some magical mermaid tears Spongebob and his friends go on a wild ride in THQ Nordic’s The Cosmic Shake!

THQ Nordic has shared their latest Spongebob Squarepants game– The Cosmic Shake with us for the Xbox One Series X. For each game review I play a minimum of one hour, this game got four. Fans of the show will enjoy the fact that it features the ENITRE original cast and you can hear it. The team behind this game not only took the time to get the cast but they crafted a gorgeous game. This is one of the cleanest and highest quality animated games I have seen. Seriously.

The story begins with Spongebob and Patrick on their way to Glove World but visit a traveling merchant along the way where they purchase magical mermaid tears. These tears are used like a bubble solution where Spongebob makes wishes on bubbles he blows shaped like each of his friends. Suddenly the world goes bonkers and Patrick gets turned into a balloon. These mermaids tears very much seem like a monkey’s paw because each of the wishes are twisted.

The game is a 3d platformer full of enemies to slap and jellyfish to catch. Controls are simple to learn and master but on occasion some of the abilities don’t always register with holding the button, specifically this is referring to the glide controls. The good news here though is the game is very forgiving, allowing you to easily replenish your health if you make a mistake because of this. From a control, graphics and gameplay standpoint this is a fantastic game but for me I am simply not a fan of Spongebob. I have never seen an episode I found to be entertaining and most of the characters annoy me. Because of this it was hard to find the game enjoyable over all but when they aren’t talking it is much easier to look past that.

Something sinister waits in the forest around the town, hunting the Children of Silentown. Can you save the children and put an end to the threat?

Elf Games and Luna2 Studio have partnered to bring us Children of Silentown, a hand drawn point and click adventure where you control Lucy. Lucy is a young girl who thinks she’s old enough to investigate the disappearances around her town. It’s up to you to prove her right! What’s interesting about this game is that it wasn’t a game during it’s inception. It was first an animated short that evolved into this game later on. I love that. You start with one version of the product and over several edits it is not the same as it was.

You start out being awoken by a nightmare and as most kids would do, you transition quickly into playing games with friends. The town is plagued by the monsters in the forest at night but during the day is quite peaceful. Can you save the town?

With it being a point and click adventure the controls are quite simple but at times you may have a couple items overlapping and selecting the correct one can get a little annoying. The story coupled with the art draws you in and leaves you wanting to know more. The game’s art style itself is captivating and I hope we see more from this team.

Ninja Rabbit Studio brings an homage to classics like Mega-Man with their latest game- Panda Punch!

One of my favorite games from my childhood was Mega-Man and for those that have never played it is a side scroller where you fight robots using various powers stolen from other robots. Panda Punch looks and feels exactly like the earlier versions of that franchise. The game starts out with robots attacking your home and you set out on a quest of revenge. Those pesky robots must die!

Game controls are easy to pickup and feel just like playing the side scrolling platforms of the past. Visually it matches the same 8-bit style but with a red panda instead of the blue helmeted robot we’re used to. For an action side scroller the game was a bit heavier on the story dialogue than I would expect and distracted from the gameplay a bit. The game was slow and the action drawn out. This game gets a skip from me.

Jitsu Squad is a fighting game styled after the classic brawlers from the 80’s and 90’s like Streets of Rage or Golden Axe!

The villain Origami has assembled his forces and it’s up to the Jitsu Squad to put a stop to it. The gameplay looks and feels like the classic brawlers I grew up with as well as more recent titles my kids played when they were younger. When I say “brawler” what I specifically mean is games like Streets of Rage, Golden Axe or Castle Crashers. If you’ve played any of those then you know exactly what to expect from the base mechanics. Most brawlers however don’t include special attacks that you have to charge up before use like this one does. Each character has a special attack they can do and they are devastating.

Visually the game is gorgeous. Each character is hand drawn and colored. That attention to detail really makes the game stand out. Control mechanics are intuitive but also nothing new or exciting there. It’s a simple formula that has been mastered by many games over the years and ININ Games have executed perfectly. Even better is the music which is composed by gaming veteran Johnny Gioeli who some may know as the composer of the music from SONIC! Gameplay is fast paced and a ton of fun. At $69.99 for the collector’s edition and $29.99 for standard editions the pricing is quite reasonable as well (if you play on Switch or Playstation)! Xbox players won’t be able to purchase from Games Rocket but can still enjoy the standard edition through the Xbox Marketplace. Overall this game is chocked full of WIN and I can’t wait to get the squad together and take Origami down!

In Path of Titans you play in an open world as one of many dinosaurs like my favorites, the T-rex or the Triceratops.

Alderon Games understands that just because you are getting older you don’t lose your love for dinosaurs. They crafted an open world game where you can choose between carnivores and herbivores. In Path of Titans players start with four small dinos, two of each of the ‘vores. Of course neither are favorites but they aren’t bad either. They are some of the weaker but faster options in the game. These four dinosaurs are the only ones you will get (at this time) for free. There are multiple payment options to get new models to use. This includes packs that include them or coin purchases. We were provided a code that gave us access to the full list of dinos available to make reviewing easier/cheaper.

When playing in single player the map has animals generated to interact with (or hunt if you’re a carnivore) and multiplayer does the same but allows you to interact with other players. What else would you expect from multiplayer? Each map can have up to 200 active players in addition to the NPC creatures. Most of my time was spent in singe player and these animals were so few and far between it felt like I was wandering with nothing or no one to interact with.

The time I spent in multiplayer was not what I expected. Most games like this you usually find players that have been around longer than you dominating the map and making it difficult for newer players to get started. This was not the case. The map I was in only had about twenty players total but the veteran players were offering to place themselves as meals for the new carnivore players or to guide the new players how to ramp up their skill level quickly. I have never seen this from an open lobby in ANY game before. It was a great way to be introduced to the multiplayer version of the game. This is how I want EVERY multiplayer game to treat newer players.

Visually the attention to detail on both the dinos and world itself far exceeded my expectations. My only real complaint with the game is the lack of player base. The maps are simply too large with too few players in them (at least the ones I played). Controls are intuitive and work well with the characters. Even better is that the game is continuing to be updated with new models regularly. Despite the inactive server I have to admit I not only had a great time playing but my daughter (who is obsessed with dinosaurs) enjoyed watching and playing as well.