Tag video game

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.

Take up your sword and mechs in Chained Echoes, a roleplaying game that feels like a love letter to classic RPGs like Final Fantasy.

Ark Heiral crafted Chained Echoes, styling it to be similar to the classic Role-Playing Games from the SNES (Super Nintendo Entertainment System). Visually the game looks and feels like those classic games, the characters especially remind me of the early Final Fantasy games. Those were some of my favorite games and this felt like the perfect homage to them. It was only missing a Chocobo and a character named Cid. Maybe I missed them in the game? Of course one big difference is the mech pilot combat.

The game follows a mech pilot and his comrades as they try to tear down the tyrant. With the mechs though your opponents will sometimes take to the skies, allowing you to enter the mech and go after them, adding a unique layer to the combat itself. Each fight is centered around the classic turn based JRPG styles prevalent in the industry but feels less clunky than others that have adopted it.

Overall I found the game to look and feel exactly like I hoped it would. However, it’s story didn’t suck me in liked the RPGs of the past did. This could be due to my no longer hoping every game was styled like this and the fact that even in an open war the action felt a bit on the light side, leaving me wanting more from it.

Swordship is a high speed boat ride that will push your reflexes and driving skills to the max. Do you have what it takes to deliver the goods?

The world has essentially ended, polar ice caps have melted and almost the entire world has been flooded in Swordship from Thunderful Games. The areas that aren’t flooded are barren wasteland and megacities have been build below the surface of the water. This game is centered around threats showing up to try to kill you and prevent you from collecting containers that you are trying to deliver to outcast groups. Each container can be traded to those groups for a higher score or used to unlock abilities and give you an extra life.

During gameplay the graphics are quite simple using mostly three dimensional geometric shapes for many of the enemies. You don’t have any real weapons so speed and quick reflexes will be your saving grace. Technically this isn’t a bullet hell game but sure as hell feels like it at times. The game can get truly nuts at times but the challenge of the stages leaves you wanting to keep trying it until you complete the level. My only real complaint with the game is the level up system. When you earn your first 500 points you gain a level, the next 500 is another level. That’s pretty standard. What’s not is the fact that if you die and have to start over your next level in that life will be 1000 points. This means you must be really good to get to higher levels. Despite this I found the game to be a ton of fun and more challenging than I expected.

Mode 7 and Ground Shatter are behind Fights in Tight Spaces, a game where you use cards to determine your actions in a brawl.

The folks at Mode 7 and Ground Shatter were kind enough to share a copy of Fights in Tight Spaces with us so we could share our thoughts. The game follows Agent 11 as he/she completes training and then works to take down various groups that are deemed too dangerous, starting with the Deaths Head biker gang. Each turn players are given a hand of cards, each card has an action that allows them to combat their opponents. While travelling across the campaign map you must balance your damage output with your total health.

Overall the gameplay is simple to play but hard to master. Much comes down to luck of your draw and energy conservation to execute the combos you need to win. Through the map you will find locations to improve either your deck or your health. Improving either requires money earned by completing each location within a certain number of turns. Meaning the faster you defeat the enemies the more money you make. For new players this game is really difficult but as you earn more cards and money it becomes a bit easier in that regard. The difficulty quickly climbs to meet your improved skills though.

Controls are quit simple with just a simple click of the mouse or using Q and E to rotate your screen. Graphics are simple but crisp, allowing the combat to be fluid. Overall we found the game to be a solid worth the play. We’d even love to see it translated as it is into an actual tabletop game as well.

Geography of Robots and Raw Fury bring Norco- a narrative adventure game that is unlike any other modern game we’ve played.

Norco is my first experience with the Southern Gothic genre, at least where it was labeled as such. Where Gothic stories and games focus on suspense and the supernatural, Southern Gothic focuses more on the darker side of humor. It is meant to focus on exposing societal problems through the creation of complex characters. Isolation is a common theme in the genre and is a central theme to the game itself from Geography of Robots and Raw Fury.

The game centers around your brother Blake’s disappearance after the death of your mother. Teaming up with a fugitive security robot you follow the clues to find him. Along the way you learn more about your mother’s time leading up to her death. Near the very start of the game you have the opportunity to fight the former employee of the gas station- do it, seriously. I think the story would force it eventually but still do it. He’s a douche and deserves it, plus you earn an achievement for it. Who doesn’t like achievements? I know I do! The combat system is rather straight forward too.

The controls are simple, the entirety of the game is a point and click adventure where you need a cursor and a single button. Graphics aren’t the best but some of the scenes stand out as a fantastic use of the style they’ve chosen. The game’s slow pace was a bit distracting but the attention to detail in the story was much higher than I expected. Overall I would say the game is worth trying out at the very least if you can.