I recognize Nightdive Studios’ successful effort in porting PO'ed to modern platforms and I’m sure this game has a fanbase. Sadly, I am not part of that fanbase. I had frankly a miserable experience with the core game. Outside of its jetpack gameplay, the combat was horrid and the level design was headache-inducing. If you have a hankering for classic FPS you’d be wiser to pick up other Nightdive re-releases such as Rise of the Triad. PO'ed: Definitive Edition is the best way to play a game that I wouldn’t recommend anyone play.
I love Capes. It’s a great game and it’s staggering just how much they got right, especially just how gripping the characters and narrative were. A massive shout-out to the writers for that. That said, it’s significantly lacking in a few areas especially when compared to similar titles. Capes is going to satisfy the hole in your life that calls out for comic books and strategy games for a good while. I do hope a sequel comes around and the developers get really wild with the team-ups, locations, and superheroes. But even if what we have now isn't perfect, it could be a fantastic origin story for this series.
Rainbow Cotton is fortunately a much better product than Panorama Cotton, the closest title I can compare it to. Sadly, beyond that little accolade and the fantastic soundtrack, it just feels rather limp when compared to the more traditional Cotton titles on offer for similar or even lower price points. I’ll never say no to more Cotton. If you are a fan of the franchise, then the HD graphics, English translation for the cutscenes, and lock-on feature make this an ideal way to play the game. But, if you are new to the franchise and want to know why there is seemingly a re-release every 6 months I would suggest looking at Cotton Reboot and considering picking this curio up on sale down the line.
SaGa Emerald Beyond is a curious beast of a game. The global release, demo, and marketing would have you believe this is going to be an ideal game for newcomers. It's not. Making this your first SaGa title could easily put you off the franchise for life. It’s a quirky and obscure adventure where many of its mechanics are hidden. It feels completely random at times and you’ll be hours deep into it before you feel semi-competent at the battle system. As much of a “JRPG” as this is, it's not what most gamers would expect from a game of this genre at all. The game requires a lot of attention, experimentation, and tolerance for confusion. It’s tough for me to suggest to anyone who isn’t familiar with SaGa Scarlet Grace, even for those of you coming from Romancing SaGa or SaGa Frontier might not click with this one. Like most of the franchise, this is one you’ll either love or hate, and the fact that there's a demo will be invaluable here to many players.
Once again, Nightdive has released an official, definitive way to play another classic FPS with Star Wars: Dark Forces Remaster. It may seem like a basic FPS even by the standards of its original era, but it still looks and feels authentically Star Wars and makes for a fun as heck playthrough.
Phantom Fury is a fine homage to the late 90/early 2000s first-person shooter game and a fun game in its own right. The issue is that, compared to Ion Fury and Aftershock, it just doesn’t quite stack up due to how soft combat feels and repetitive enemy and puzzle variety are. Fortunately, it’s not quite as bland as Bombshell, and has a fun and well-paced campaign for any fan of the genre or Shelly “Bombshell” Harrison for at least the one playthrough. The game clocked in for me at just over 14 hours, though this is likely to come down on subsequent playthroughs as there were a few sections where the difficulty spiked quite high. The game is well paced and there is plenty to see and do throughout Shelly’s road trip, but go in knowing the ride is going to be a little bumpy, so put that seatbelt on.
It pains me as a huge Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fan to have written this review, but in an age where titles like Turtles in Time and Shredder's Revenge exist, Wrath of the Mutants just isn't worth any more than the quick 10-minute play I gave it on those half-broken sticks back at the arcade.
Dragon’s Dogma 2 is an amazing experience if you have the patience to deal with its jank and demanding immersion aspects, it holds your hand more than the original does, but its large world, plethora of combat options, and overbearing pawn system may still be a bit much for some players. Performance issues do harm this title, and the rather mediocre story certainly didn’t keep me around. The moment-to-moment gameplay on the other hand certainly still had me climbing on the back of monsters and polishing off side quests long after the 20-odd hour main story. I highly recommend Dragon’s Dogma 2 for gamers who want to get stuck into their adventure and focus on the violence and viscera of fighting mythical beasts, rather than picking attack options or dealing with run-of-the-mill combat.
While not a complete triumph, falling down in the same places as many other survival horror titles, and a rather iffy last act to boot, there is still so much to fall in love with in Alone in the Dark (2024). It is a must-play for horror fans and would also make an excellent pool to dip your toe into if you're new to the genre, with the fantastic options on offer to make the game as accessible or as masochistic as you need it to be Alone in the Dark (2024) is exactly what this dormant series needed after the deathblow that was Alone in the Dark: Illumination. It sticks to what made the series famous with classic horror clichés, hammy acting, a great atmosphere, and an engrossing mystery. It's not only a fantastic stand-alone title, but is in the upper echelons of reimaginings, leaning on the original title where it counts, but not enough to make it a crutch. It adds its unique ideas to further the experience and gives gamers a true dark-fantasy horror that would please any avid fans of Lovecraft.
Tomb Raider I-III Remastered Starring Lara Croft is one of the best remastering jobs I have seen. It's obvious from the second you boot the title up there has been a lot of love and care put into this one. The modern controls could do with some tweaking and the games themselves could be initially daunting for people who didn't grow up with Lara but there is a lot to love in this classic adventure package if you're willing to accept Lara Croft and her quirks. For those who have played the originals to death, there are enough additions and quality-of-life improvements to make this the essential way to now play these titles.
A fantastic yet brief adventure full of quirk and charm
I want it on the record that I love UNDER NIGHT IN-BIRTH II Sys: Celes. That said, I think to try and recommend picking it up at full price to anyone but hardcore fans is too much of a hard ask. Yes, if you pick the game up now you get access to Season 1 with three new DLC characters incoming, but it just doesn’t have the weight of a game released this side of titles like Street Fighter 6, Tekken 8, and Mortal Kombat 1 where they had a lot of worth to their offline portions. The gameplay is solid and the visual style is somewhat love or hate, but there is a lot here to love. It doesn’t feel like a major sequel so I would suggest that you either pick this one up on sale or pick an earlier one up first to see if you're new to the series and not convinced. If you’re a fan of the series this feels like a half sequel, but the rollback netcode and extra characters alone should be enough to entice you in.
A brilliant all round Shmup for newcomers and genre fans
Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising is the blueprint for how making the right tweaks in the right places can enhance a good experience to a great one, as long as you want to take that experience online that is. Despite the gutting of single-player content and the overly grindy nature, the core game is still an absolute thrill to play, and shot it back up into my rotation of fighting games. Granblue Fantasy Versus: Rising is a serious contender among fighting games and the leader of the anime fighting game faction.
Kingpin: Reloaded could have been a great way to experience a cult title, but frankly it's a poor, missed shot of a remaster in its current state. The excessive use of bloom and texture smoothing does a number on the aesthetic of the game, and at times hinders players. The core experience of Kingpin: Life of Crime is still a fun and unique few hours and there is still fun to be had if you enjoy classic shooters. The poor performance does this remaster no favors. Even with the option to play the “original” mode available, the changes made to the core systems of the game and performance issues persist. More patches are needed before I could even suggest playing this version over the original.
Gothic II Complete Classic is the best way to experience an all-time classic “Euro Jank” RPG out of the box without mods. The new graphic tweaks look fantastic and it has enough quality of life improvements to make it much more digestible than playing the original Gothic 2 release. Yes, the game controls are funky and you’ll die over and over again, in-game cutscenes might look daft because your character jumped on top of a chair as it triggered, and you’ll no doubt spend ages banging your head against brick walls trying to make progress. But, when it clicks, nothing hits quite like Gothic 2 and you’ll be growing dark bags under your eyes for nights as you get fully consumed by the role of the Nameless Hero. Gothic II Complete Classic is a product of its time presented in the easiest way to play it. No mods are required and you can indulge in the convenience of console or handheld with the hybrid nature of the Switch. It’s a treat for any classic RPG fan so long as you’re willing to wade through the swamp before you reach the treasure chest.
Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars has always had a strong following and this remake will only do wonders in introducing this game to a whole new slew of fans. The game features enough quality-of-life changes and feels much faster than the SNES version, making it an absolute joy to play. The pacing of the game is lightning fast and this will keep gamers glued to their Nintendo Switch, and they won’t feel short changed with the smaller-than-usual run time for the genre. Yes, the game is a condensed easy ride, but it’s fun from start to finish and manages to capture the fun of a Final Fantasy game whilst also perfectly representing the world of Super Mario. It’s an almost ideal “first” RPG for any budding gamer and a perfect palette cleaner for others.
While Turok 3: Shadow of Oblivion Remastered is technically the weakest of the original trilogy. But now that Nightdive Studios has put in the work and made this title available to players of all modern consoles, you can see that even at its weakest moments Turok was a series that had more than enough charm and gore to carry it through the generation. It’s the end of the original Turok trilogy and it is amazing to see how much love and care Nightdive has put into all three of the titles. Bravo to Nightdive for their work here and making this easily the most playable Turok 3: Shadow Of Oblivion has ever been to the point I couldn’t put the game down. You truly are the new Turok!
River City: Rival Showdown is a unique title in the River City franchise, sadly to its detriment at times. The balance is all screwy, the soundtrack repeating kills the pacing, and it takes far too long to open up in terms of combat. On the other hand, there is a lot here that fans of the series will love, and more River City is always a good time. Sadly, after the last two really strong releases, this one comes off as just a little lacking.
Rise of the Triad Ludicrous Edition is hands down the gold standard of re-releases. It runs beautifully, it has every single officially released Expansion pack and a brand-new one on top of that. It even has quality-of-life tweaks such as "Nerf the Monk HP" and every version of the soundtrack you need. It is frankly the definitive way to play Rise of the Triad. This is an absolute labor of love and if you are a fan of the older shooters this is an absolute treat. If you were a fan of Rise of the Triad back when it was released or even the remake then you need this game in your life. The love and respect the developers have for the original game just shine through every single pore of this title.