Crappy

For those who have never played a fully fledged Farming Simulator title, the game simply throws you into a fully working farm where you have complete freedom to do what you please. Whether it’s to work hard planting and harvesting crops, becoming the king of livestock, or in this particular game, become a top-notch lumberjack. There are no rules, but at the same time, there are no real instructions. With that, you can easily feel in over your head with the game, but that’s okay. For beginners the game offers you enough to start with so you don’t feel so out of your depth and there’s plenty of room for mistakes. I would recommend however to search the many sources online so you don’t find yourself buying attachments and parts for vehicles you don’t yet own. It’s also worth having a thumb through the digital manual too. It is however very easy to pick up the basics and have the farm working for you in your favour. Much like the past Farming Simulator titles, you can hire workers to complete the long-winded tasks (and do them a million times better too), while you work on selling produce or completing some of the missions presented on the information boards dotted around the map. Soon enough however you’ll quickly fall into the rhythm of ploughing fields, sowing seeds, watching your crops grow, which at normal speed can feel like an actual decade, harvesting those crops, tipping them into your storage, and then going back to the start. Though it seems like a bit of a drag, once you begin to see some return from your (read: your workers) hard work, the game feels oddly compelling. About 30 hours in however, I feel like I’ve barely touched the surface and have racked up a ton of in-game debt in the mean time. You see, though successfully harvesting crop and tending to your chickens can offer some form of satisfaction. You’ll find that one simple task can take you hours to complete. Though time does fly, once you realise you’ve been at it for three hours and you’ve only managed to harvest one field. It all quickly starts to feel like you’ve wasted a lot of your time. Granted, the game time can be increased to allow things to grow quicker and days to go faster, there’s just this overwhelming guilt that you’ve wasted a ton of in-game time too as three days have essentially passed and all you’ve managed to do is sell 4,000 tonnes of wheat. Of course, this is Farming Simulator 15, what else did I expect to be doing? Though at times the game can feel like a bit of a drag, and short sessions really do make the game feel much better, if you’re wanting to progress to something more, you’re going to need to start taking out loans to purchase the equipment needed. Graphically, Farming Simulator 15 apparently has a new physics and graphics engine making it the best looking game in the series. Sadly I can’t comment on past games, but there’s just something about the way the game looks that’s just a little off. The field of view is poor, and there’s a lot of texture pop-ins when you’re travelling a long distance. Fields do look pretty from a distance, but as soon as you get closer you soon realise that they’re still just flat texture sprites which you can easily drive through without causing any harm. The game’s controls are at times also a fair bit fiddly, though with each vehicle having so many different controls, it comes as no surprise that Giants Software have tried to cram all they can onto the fairly limited controls of an Xbox One controller. Probably where the game exceeds is the multiplayer, the part of the game where you can either open up your farm to other people, or join other players to help them complete tasks. Some have taken the initiative to request players for certain jobs, others just bark at you to do this or that. If you’ve got a couple of friends with the game, this is when it can become a little more fun as you can all work together to create a smooth running farm, raking in the cash by sharing all of the work. I don’t want my hand being held, as that would be too much, but perhaps some prompts, or a way of letting the player know that a certain tool can’t be used just yet.

I came into Titan Souls with little knowledge of the game itself, beyond hearing it was pretty hard, and I’d watched a brief YouTube video that, if I’d paid more attention, would have demonstrated I was setting myself up for a fall. As you might recall from my last review, Keebles, I struggle with too much of a challenge and lack the patience to keep one’s controller intact after many cheap deaths. However, I was taken in by the sweet pixelly graphics of Titan Souls. The game opens with your little guy wandering around in a temple area, with just his bow and single arrow to defend against some pretty nasty enemies. I initially started out using keyboard controls, but quickly found that to be both frustrating and physically painful, so I spent an extremely irritating amount of time figuring out which console gamepad I could use. After several failed attempts, I managed to get my PS4 controller working with Steam and away I went. The first enemy I fought was a bouncing blob with a heart inside. It was clear I needed to release the heart from the blob, and then shoot it, but of course, it wasn’t that easy. Each time you shot the blob, it divided (and became more aggressive), and so you then had to contend with multiple enemies. After several shots, you could end up with a large amount of small (and fast) bouncing blobs each leaving slime trails to trap you. If you were hit by a blob, you were instantly dead. I spent far too long yelling at my screen about this, and nearly got to the point of giving up, but I persevered and it eventually paid off. And I must say: the satisfaction you get from destroying your first enemy after dying so many times was so worth it. Feeling like I was getting the hang of it, I moved on to the next enemy, which was a brain inside a block of ice. Again, this was a very aggressive enemy (sensing a theme here). A flame would regularly spurt from the centre of the room, and due to playing many RPGs in my life, I instinctively knew that I needed to shoot my arrow through the flame to hit the enemy’s ice shield, thus leaving the brain unprotected. I took out this enemy in short order and derived great satisfaction from absorbing its soul. The final boss of the level was a stone golem with two very smashy fists. One fist would pursue you, while the other protected a jewel in the golem’s chest. Some fancy ducking and weaving is necessary before expertly (or luckily, in my case) timing your shot just as the fists swap places. For some reason I thought that was the end of the game and I was considering it a bit of a rip-off, until I realised that no, there are more levels to play – the game has a total of 20 bosses, in fact. The doors to the first level opened, and in I went, stepping on a floorplate, to be lifted to a new area – one with far more places to explore and pixelly scenery to admire, including a range of different environments (I explored a snow area with a stark beauty). Despite my frustration at the difficulty of Titan Souls, I do understand that’s a big part of its appeal to many gamers. After 80 minutes of gameplay, my death count was 62, so that’s probably a good indicator of what to expect. The game requires patience and practice, and if you stick with it, you’ll be rewarded with a satisfying payoff. I would definitely insist you play with a gamepad because the keyboard controls are just not responsive and fine enough for some of the fast dodging and shooting you need to do. The gamepad gives you greater range of movement and your tendons will thank you later. The graphics are sweet and nostalgic, and the lilting piano score is subtle and ambient. Little touches like wind swirls, and trees swaying give a nice amount of movement to the scenery. Don’t forget to take a dip if you come across a body of water.

You might think it’s okay to insult someone based on the outfit they are wearing and not worry much about the outcome of doing so, but if said person turns out to be the daughter of the devil himself it might have been best to not insult her at all, because now comes the punishment. She will likely start by locking you in place with a bear trap and then unleash a giant hammer to hit you square in the face sending you flying onto a springboard that will bounce you through the air and into a basketball hoop. Welcome to Deception IV: The Nightmare Princess. Believe it or not that elaborate display of sadistic behaviour is what makes up the core gameplay of Deception IV: The Nightmare Princes and ultimately what is the single factor between a satisfying experience and a forgettable announce. Deception IV: The Nightmare Princes see you taking up the role of Valgyrie who is the second daughter of ‘the chosen one’ or simply the devil, and who must harvest the souls of humans in order to bring about the devil’s great return. Deception IV: The Nightmare Princes takes place shortly after the end of Deception IV and is in a sense an expansion of that game. In fact Deception IV: The Nightmare Princes comes with Deception IV as well so you can experience both the core game and the Nightmare Princess all in one nice package. The main difference with the two however is that Deception IV is a more linear level based game with Nightmare Princess being quest based along a quest tree with many different paths that at times is a bit overwhelming. Once you are past the story cutscenes and set up page where you pick your traps and abilities, alongside checking enemy information, it is time to begin the stage. This is where we run into the first gripe I have with Deception IV: The Nightmare Princes and that is the timer. Stages are more often than not timed with a 300 second timer. Plenty of time once you know what you are doing but when you’re facing harder to kill enemies it can sometimes be a close call. Each stage however has three objectives you can complete to unlock new traps and routes on the quest tree. Some of these can be a right challenge to work out but once you do it is a rather proud moment. Other than that there isn’t a lot to Deception IV: The Nightmare Princes other then looking at the backstory of your enemies and studying their weakness so you can ensure the most effective and sometimes psychopathic method of torture. It’s worth noting as well that each stage is themed in a different way and offers a number of different stage traps you can use as part of your combos. These range from castles to children’s playgrounds and even a school gym because honestly, why the heck not? Your placement of traps is down in a pause screen of sorts when you place your traps like chess pieces using the on screen information to create a good flow to then unpause and lead your victim into. I’m personally fond of using the garden rake as a start point for my combos as the victim is smacked in the face becoming confused and dazed as they walk into the next installment. Speaking of traps there are three categories of traps available to you throughout the course of the game: ‘Elaborate’, ‘Sadistic’ and ‘Humiliating’. These add up at the end of each stage to give you an overall score but it does not affect the game much more than that. A number of multipliers are available as well that add to your score and increase your combo. This included things such as a mid-air hit or using a trap to trigger another trap and so on. There are a great deal of options available to the player to use including the option to just straight up kick your victim in the face if you really want to. The only downside is that after a few levels it can start to get repetitive. Generally speaking though the only real issue I have with Deception IV: The Nightmare Princes is the AI. Some of the later stages become a nightmare (pun intended) to deal with because of how crazy some of the enemies you face are. What I mean by that is anyone who can heal himself should just go away. Forever. The problem is that some enemies when given even just a second of alone time are able to fully heal their health, and given that stages are timed it becomes a bit stressful. More so when your options to heal are very, very limited. Deception IV: The Nightmare Princess is an odd game and there really isn’t much I could add. It is overly fun to play and makes you free great when you pull off insane combos with even more insane objects just to kill a gym teacher but that is about it. The story alone is interesting enough but if you’re hoping for something to keep you interested for a long time I would suggest looking elsewhere. Deception IV: The Nightmare Princess is an average title that is worth a look if nothing else. Still, rakes to the face are and will always be funny.

When it comes to mobile games, nothing keeps me hooked more than tapping games, this new generation of mobile games which requires you to simply tap on the screen to achieve a certain goal, whether it’s to mine bitcoin, dig deeper underground, or in Tap Quest: Gate Keeper’s case, destroy enemies. Most of these games take on a fairly simplistic pixel aesthetic and are simple games which require little to no real concentration, yet for some bizarre reason I find them oddly compelling and I just want to play them over and over and over until I get sore wrist and fingers. It’s a curse. Help me. So, Tap Quest: Gate Keeper is a brand new tapping game which offers a little more of a challenge than simple tap to mine games. You’re required to protect a small platform in front of a tower from oncoming enemies from the left and right of the play area. As soon as they enter this platform they begin to conjure the dragon, and when they do, game over. So it’s up to you to tap either left or right in order to send your little adventurer swinging into the horde of enemies, taking them out one by one and pushing them away from the platform. Progression is simple, wipe out all of the enemies, move onto the next stage, there’s ten stages in each level which get harder as you progress until the tenth level where you’re faced with a boss character. As you mash the screen to kill the various creatures you’re presented with you earn coins, these coins can then be used to purchase upgrades for your characters, the chance to unlock and upgrade a fairy who helps take down the odd enemy, as well as unlock and upgrade the tower’s own defences. You can also use coins to purchase chests which come with pieces of armour and weaponry to make your little hero stronger, and finally coins can also be used to upgrade your hero’s special abilities which are activated during play. Oddly impressive is the game’s sound design, the developers haven’t opted for an overly 8-bit soundtrack to accompany the game, though there is some chiptune in there, there’s also a number of other more musical tracks which work really well. Also, each level has its own soundtrack which perfectly suits the theme of the level. For example, the Ancient Forest level has a fairly angelic and light song over the top, but the Lava Ground has a more darker upbeat heroic electro feel to it. In fact, I’ve managed to play the game and close the game out of choice before actually hitting the allotted 10 lives, which is pretty good for a free-to-play game. Now, in total there are only 9 levels before you’ve essentially completed the game, but the game’s difficulty curve is so high you’ll likely be playing for some time before you get that far, even when you do there’s added replayability in the form of collectable relics which reply on you repeating older levels in order to find crates with the relics inside. Overall, Tap Quest: Gate Keeper is fantastically addictive with the right amount of challenge. The visuals and sound suit the game perfectly, and the lenient in-app purchases make playing the game without actually spending a penny, pretty fantastic too. As someone who loves the simplistic yet addictive nature of these games, I’d recommend Tap Quest: Gate Keeper to anyone. It does however get slightly frustrating when one of the little buggers sneak past you and manage to conjure the dragon..

Forget Sonic, I think SEGA may have a new mascot on their hands, and that’s the badass ass kicking mammal, Tembo the Badass Elephant. For the first time in a number of years I’ve been reminded of the frustration found only in Sonic the Hedgehog titles from the Mega Drive era. It crams in that feeling with the joy of experiencing something new, and considering it’s made by the developers of the Pokémon games, they’ve done a great job. Tembo the Badass Elephant is your typical fast-paced, lack of spacial awareness, hero who lets nobody stand in his way. He’s tasked with saving the world by smushing one goon at a time while also collecting trapped civilians. After around 10 minutes with the game I already felt at home with the controls, the way Tembo moved, and the overall concept of the game. To me it felt like a mixture of Sonic the Hedgehog mixed with Rayman. So, as Tembo, you’re sent through a series of stages each with its own unique styling in this fantastic looking 2.5D world. Each of these stages are set in Zones too, which also gives Sonic another swift kick out the door. Each level is filled with a series of traps, goons, crates of peanuts, and trapped civilians for you to rescue, and while the game is wholly linear, there are some aspects of freedom in terms of exploring corners of each level for hidden items. The replayability of past levels isn’t all that appealing either, as you’ve probably come across a part of the level which frustrated the hell out of you, and having to trawl back through that once more to tackle and area you might have missed, or to find a bad-guy you’d rather avoid, does become pretty tedious. Fortunately the game’s cartoonish charm does keep you coming back for more as the joy you get from smashing vehicles, boxes, and enemy contraptions is just too fun to give up. There are however points, especially after a couple of hours play, where the game starts to lose its lustre and fails to keep you hooked as you probably would with platformers like Mario or Rayman. Overall Tembo The Badass Elephant offers a pretty good challenger to the likes of Sonic and Rayman, but sadly fails to keep the charm found in your first hour or two of gameplay. It’s an absolutely fantastic platformer in its own right and it can be as fun as hell to play, but it can become a bit of a drag after a lengthy play-session. In short-sharp bursts the game can actually be a lot of fun, but it does quickly become one of those games you’ll open and play a few times, only to close it and glaze over it when looking for something to play.

When I first got the game, I was interested to know what the graphics and gameplay would be like. The Xbox One and PS4 versions are so heavy in terms of graphics, it obviously couldn’t be replicated on iOS. What you do get is still good though. The 3D moving backgrounds are here but you can’t do extra stuff like grab outside objects and use them as weapons like on the console. The way you fight is something a bit more underwhelming though. To attack your opponent, you tap and to block, you hold with two fingers. If you tap frequently enough, a “Swipe” option comes up and it completes a combo attack. However, it means that the game lacks a bit of imagination in the fighting aspect, the cold truth is it’s just a lot of tapping and holding. It was great to see the app was free but not surprisingly, there’s a whole host of in-app purchases. In addition to koins, there are also souls. With the souls, you can (eventually) buy gold characters. However realistically, it would take you way too long playing the game to earn enough souls to buy even the cheapest gold. Considering you normally get around four or five souls for completing a tower (sometimes more), it would take you tens of hours to even come close. The cheapest gold characters are Stunt Double Johnny Cage and Noxious Reptile, who are both 200 souls. So what’s the quickest way to get them? In-app purchases. You can buy koins as well. I wanted to try out a gold character so I essentially bought Johnny Cage. I initially thought he was really average and at the time, I much preferred Scorpion. However after playing with Cage continuously, I began to understand how to properly use him and his attributes significantly improved every time he levelled up. Now, he is by far my best fighter and is often my go-to man when I’m struggling to win a battle. But unfortunately, if you want to get him or someone better, realistically you have to pay I was testing the game on a first generation iPad Air, so not really an old device. The performance was very good more often than not, however on some occasions there was noticeable sound lag, which I found odd. ‘Some’ meaning maybe four out of every ten times you play the game. I also experienced a couple crashes. It didn’t stop me from playing and one would expect these issues to be addressed in future software updates. Overall, I really enjoyed playing Mortal Kombat on iOS. The graphics impressed me and I enjoyed the gameplay, even if it was a little simplistic. I’m also looking forward to when the new game modes arrive. It’s not all good though because of the occasional sound lag and the fact that you almost have to spend real money to get the gold characters. However, you really can’t go wrong with this game because it’s free and you don’t need the better fighters to enjoy it. So I would fully recommend you give it a try

Oh wow, Mortal Kombat X is a treat, perhaps one of the best games of the fighting genre of this year so far. Mortal Kombat X’s story takes place 25 years after the events of Mortal Kombat 9 and introduces a new type of story not seen in the game before. It is a non-linear game, the main story taking place in the present, but with events given context through flashbacks to fill the gaps of what happened to each of the characters during those 25 years. The new roster features eight brand spanking new characters, with a ‘main four’ who are all related to major players in the MK universe. You have Cassie Cage, daughter of Johnny Cage and Sonya Blade, Jacqui Briggs, Jax’s daughter, Takeda’s the son of Kenshi but was raised and trained by Scorpion and finally, Kung Jin, who is the cousin of Kung Lao. Easily the most diverse group of protagonists in any game of the moment! There are other new faces too, such as the badass insect queen D’Vorah and old western style sharpshooter Erron Black. The new Variation fighting styles that come with each character is definitely an interesting little feature. I can see these styles being better utilised by more competitive players rather than more casual players such as myself, but I can already see the benefit in the styles and how it can really tailor your experience as a player. Do you like fighting at close range? Then you’ll want to look at Cassie Cage’s Brawler or Jacqui’s High Tech variation. More of a ranged player? Try out Takeda’s Lasher or Raiden’s Thunder God variation. What’s neat about each of these is that a small part of the costume changes to signify the variation you’re fighting with or against. For example, Quan Chi’s Summoner has glowing red eyes and shoulder pauldrons and Kotal Khan’s eyes and tattoos glow orange in his Sun God variation. It’s a fun thing to try out, and each variation still keeps the base move set of the character, just with new special moves to buff them up. There are also more defensive variations out there, not all just about punching, shooting or stabbing such as Ermac’s Master of Souls variation which allows him to temporarily avoid damage. Story wise, the plot is pretty solid. It’s not mind blowing, but it’s not unsatisfying either. It clearly stands on its own two feet and with the flashbacks involved there is certainly more depth added in terms of character fluff to establish changing relationships between characters. There are some wonderful moments in the story, including old rivals coming together under a common cause and also darker moments that see old friends turn on one another. What’s great about the plot of this game, and I think this applies across NetherRealm’s last game as well, that you have a rich, lore heavy story that at the same time doesn’t actually leave you feeling lost at all. They lay it out for you in a way that makes it easy, but not just spouting out facts about the Earthrealm, Netherrealm and Outworld and their intertwining politics. For the tenth game in the series, that’s quite the challenge, but they’ve nailed it down pretty well. You won’t get any sharp plot twists or unexpected events, it’s all pretty linear but that’s absolutely fine in my opinion. It’s a game about beating the **** out of people at the end of the day, not everyone is going to be picking this game up for the plot, but it’s there if you want it. The voice acting really varies in this game, really varies. You have some superb voice talent amongst the newcomers, D’Vorah particularly stands out for me with her unique accent and resonance to her voice. Whereas characters like Raiden and Kung Lao fall a little short. I’m not sure if it’s the voice actors fault, or the writer’s fault on that one however. You can only do so much with what you’re given to make it sound good, but some of the dialogue just feels to me like it’s come straight out of a bad martial arts movie dub at times and when you have some excellent voice acting alongside, it makes the experience a tiny bit jarring. Of course, you do have that element of cheese there as well in the classic archetypes that the old timers have, like what I like to refer to as Johnny Cage’s ‘Duff Man oooooh yeah’ (10 points if you read it in the voice) type attitude and for a game like Mortal Kombat it absolutely works, has worked in the past and will no doubt continue to keep working in the future as well. The Living, Traditional and Online Towers are a brilliant way to burn a few hours and hone your skills. The innovative new Living Towers provide brand new and constantly cycling challenges that will constantly keep you on your toes. Not to mention the opportunity to find Secret Fights for secret achievements. You’ve also still got the Test Your Luck mode, which puts random modifiers on fights which always makes things interesting and of course the online fights as well. Online fights are something I personally steer clear of, simply because my skill level is so low compared to what I know will be waiting for me out in the big wide internet world that I’ll be torn to shreds in only a matter of seconds. I’d rather avoid that, really. Old features return to the game that you would expect to be there, including the Krypt where you explore the dark, haunted graveyard in search of secrets and bonus features such as skins and concept artwork in exchange for Koins that you collect through playing the game and winning fights in all modes of the story. Obviously the more expensive the secret, the better it will generally be. Over all however, the Mortal Kombat X experience is exactly what you would expect of a Mortal Kombat game. It’s face paced, fun and there’s no end to replayability as there will always be the chance to replay story mode and hit up the Towers. You’ve got plenty to play with and countless variations of characters to master. It’s a wholesome experience and definitely worth every penny

tinyBuild have come away from that with this, an Xbox One title that’s probably the most frustrating thing I’ve ever played in my entire life! With literally no time to explain, you dive right into the crux of the game which in short is sort of a twin-stick shooter but with a gun so powerful it sends our nameless protagonist flying across the map and it’s this which is the basis of how you move around the game. You’re given little to no instructions on how to play other than that the left trigger is to jump, the right is to shoot, and the right stick is to direct your plasma-rocket-rifle-thingy. Fortunately the first “level” acts as a tutorial as you discover how the game is put together. Simply put, you face a series of scenarios where you must get to the portal to rescue yourself from the future. You’re required to get to said portal by any means possible, and you’re given an infinite amount of lives to get there. Once you’ve completed said levels, you’re then thrown into a boss level where you must take-down the creature that’s holding your future self hostage. For those who played classic platformers such as Sonic the Hedgehog or even Mario, you’ll be instantly familiar with the way the levels progress. There is however the added confusion of parallel universes where players are often tossed a curveball which completely switches up the game, whether it’s a new character appearing from nowhere or a shift in the space-time continuum changing the creature that has your future self hostage. Also, those familiar with classic platformers, can you remember how difficult and often frustrating they were? Well times that by a million with No Time to Explain. I’ll be honest, I’m a rage quitter. I may have once in my life thrown a controller, and all though I’m not as pissy as I used to be. No Time to Explain brings that pissiness back out of me. Not to say that it’s a bad thing, it actually works in the game’s favour as more often than not you’ll want to beat the “stupid” game no matter how much it pisses you off. Speaking of nostalgia however, No Time to Explain reminds me a lot of those classic Flash games you’d find on websites like Newgrounds or Ebaums World which I often used to frequent in the early 00s. In fact, if you search online, you can find a very similar game, with a very similar name, playable on a very similar website, though I have no idea if it’s at all affiliated with tinyBuild at all. That being said, the Flash-like visuals do nothing to hinder my thoughts on the game, it’s actually a refreshing change from developers trying to match AAA graphics and it reminds me of my early teens which isn’t all that bad. In addition to the game’s 2D side scrolling, almost impossible to beat levels, No Time to Explain is full of little secrets in the form of hats. In each level, if you’re keen eyed or skilled enough, you can collect various hats that’ll allow you to change the head on your character. It may seem like a pointless addition to the game, but it actually works in the players favour with another part of the game. You know how they said that if you can remain friends after playing Portal 2 together, you’re true friends? Well with No Time to Explain, if you come out without a controller lodged in your scull, you really are friends for life. It probably doesn’t help that the game offers no differentiation between you and your local multiplayer buddies which often leads you you confusing your character with theirs and creates all sorts of chaos. Thankfully that’s where hats come into play. Not that it helps all that much, it’s something, right? Well done tinyBuild, you’ve managed to create the most rage inducing game ever. Have you ever considered using this as a method of encryption in banks?

Being a fan of golf I welcomed 3D Mini Golf into my steam library looking forward to playing a few courses. Now I know that golf is not to everyone’s taste and given that golf, mini and crazy are all a bit different it would make sense. Each of those I find enjoyable in some respect but playing 3D Mini Golf I generally found myself bored dangerly quick in what I hoped would have been a solid experience. Visually 3D Mini Golf is not a bad-looking game as it offers a realistic style to ground the game in. You will find yourself playing mini golf on a beach, at a campsite and a park across a total of 54 courses. Everything sits together comfortably and no one objects stands out to break the visual style. My own complaint in regards to visuals would be that I felt that the backdrop for each course seemed a bit unneeded. This is more of a complaint when taking into account that most courses offer no unique feature. Sure some of them have rumps and tunnels, jumps and swinging platforms but nothing memorable that made me think ‘That’s brilliant’. Each course was a simple as it was forgettable in design with most of the enjoyable levels ending up being a quick shot to complete and with each course looking the same it gets old fast. Control-wise 3D Mini Golf starts to stand up offering simple but effective controls. One button for rotating the camera and another for swinging your club. One annoying factor however is how long you have to wait between each shot. It is understandable to wait for the ball to stop but seeing as it flies off so fast, then rolls slowly to a standstill I would have liked to have seen this whole process a bit faster. Additionally, some courses mix up the gameplay but having set rules applied to them. One example of this would be the annoying white boxes that if your ball stops outside of one, it is then taken back to the last white box you touched. It is a nice feature but can get annoying at times. On a positive however the course which give you two ways around to the hole are some of the better courses 3D Mini Golf has to offer. 3D Mini Golf does also offer local multiplayer that allows for turn-based games to be played on one machine with up to four players. Sadly, no online multiplayer this time around but the local gives you a good amount of fun if you and some friends are all sat in one room. Given that there are eighteen official tournament holes added to the mix as well may find a good amount of enjoyment from playing with friends. 3D Mini Golf is not a bad game but at the same time it is hard to say that it is a good game at that. Offering a fair amount of content which can be finished in around an hour or two with medals and local multiplayer being the main offering for replayability. 3D Mini Golf falls short at the final mark by not having that spice to make it stand out. What would make 3D Mini **** game other than a good game would have been to have seen a bit more of a focus and mix on courses with less on the backdrops. Few more changes to the gameplay and courses and 3D Mini Golf would be a lot more fun. As it stands however 3D Mini Golf is a solid mini golf experience even if being a bit short and forgettable but does stand tall when played with friends.

Have you ever wanted to have Monkey D. Luffy beat up Naruto Uzumaki only for Chitoge Kiriaki to come slap Luffy in his face just before Bobobo-bo Bo-bobo deals the final hit? Damn-why-not even throw in Son Goku with a Kamehameha just to bring everything to an explosive end. If this sounds like your kind of thing then welcome to the world of J-Stars Victory VS+ and is easily the best way to build your dream Jump team. With all this however can J-Stars Victory VS+ stand tall without simply being a manga and anime fans dream of a battle royale and offer a solid fighting experience? Having spent a number for hours with J-Stars Victory VS+ on PlayStation 4, it is time to find out. There are a number of game modes available in J-Stars Victory VS+ include J-Adventure, the single player story mode; Victory Road, another single player mode where players fight through predetermined objects within fights; Arcade Mode, for challenging fights back to back; Free Battle and Online Battle for quick access to fights for two player local and four player online action. Additionally there is a customise and shop section as well for unlocking further characters and items within the adventure mode and your J-Deck. The J-Deck is simply a mini game like mode where you place cards to buff your character in adventure mode. The adventure mode is where your spend most of your time as you pick one of four sets of character to play through the Jump world to partake in the J Battle Festival. The chapter you pick will set who your main characters are for the whole adventure. Though the Adventure Mode is a lot of fun as you take your party sailing around the world map battling foes and completing quests, it becomes rather old very quick. There is a lot of filler in the Adventure Mode which really does not need to be there. I personally felt no need to play and finish the remaining three adventures just out of frustration with the filler. J-Stars Victory VS+ truly is a dream for manga and anime fans giving you plenty of choice to build the ultimate team. It is a shame then that with all these characters that J-Stars Victory VS+ falls short on its gameplay offering For an example let me break down a standard fight against the AI for you. I mained as Luffy in the Adventure Mode as said before, and with him each fight is simple. Mash out a weak combo landing a good number of hits, closing and using a standard special for even more damage, refill my stamina and then repeat. If I then switch to say Medaka Kurokami from Medaka Box, it is again the same method of fighting. Mash out a weak combo with a few strong hits to break their guard and then unleash a few special attacks with one or two button presses. Unleashing your ultimate attack is not much better as you simply deal out enough damage to fill your victory burst meter, hit a button to enter the burst mode and then hit yet again, one more button press to deal massive damage In short, though the fighting system is solid and robust it is a very simple system at that which can sometimes leave you wanting more. Just make sure you learn how to guard and counter otherwise your be hit with long, inescapable combos. That being said J-Stars Victory VS+ is a good game, maybe even great. I think the best way to explain the game however is to simply say that it is subjective game in that if you’re able to overlook some small faults the game is stunning and solid. I personally enjoy the game even if I can only play in small bursts on the single player. Get a friend in and you’re sure to have a great time as you beat each other up with over the top attacks. Regardless, J-Stars Victory VS+ is a game worth your time even if it is not the most ground breaking fighting game out there. A few small faults make it fall short of being a great game.

Stretchmo is free when you first download it. You get to play through a handful of tutorial puzzles that actually don't do a good job of showing what's in store when you purchase the full game. You can buy up to four themed areas separately or at once for a discounted price. If you're a fan of Pushmo then buying the whole package is a no-brainer. Stretchmo is played almost identically to how you would expect it to, but there's one twist that makes all the difference. Instead of just pushing and pulling back and forth from an initially 2D puzzle, you can now push and pull from the sides of blocks as well. Also, puzzles can now begin as 3D models which add even more welcome complexity to the previously established formula. I must say that this is a fantastic way to reinvigorate the series. I can't wait to see what the next game has up its sleeve. I don't know how they managed to do it, but Stretchmo is even cuter than other games in the series. As you traverse the park, various robots that represent each area show you the ropes. They each have their own personality as they teach you the tricks of the trade and get into all sorts of trouble. As a grown man, it's odd to say but I can't believe how adorable they are. I would even buy toys of them if Nintendo sold them. As with the other games, puzzles look sharp and you can freely rotate and zoom the camera to assist you with your plan for success. That being said, jumping around corners and in tight spots can still be a frustrating experience, but you can rewind time if you mess up. The included music is composed of the lighthearted orchestral flair that you're used to while sound effects offer even more frivolity to the equation. Overall, how can anyone not fall in love with something so uniquely charming on every level? As you work your way through puzzles, you'll unlock a ton of content that you can use to create and share your own puzzles in Stretchmo Studio. In the three non-Mallo areas, the puzzles are broken up into sections of ten. You can advance to the next section after completing five puzzles, but if you beat all ten then you get stickers that you can decorate your own creations with. Also, simply experiencing a new mechanic will unlock it in the level editor. Therefore, after playing for a while, you'll eventually be able to create 3D puzzles and apply mechanics such as manholes, pullout switches, and enemy spawn spots. If you're artistic enough, you can even apply Nintendo-themed stickers to the side of your puzzle to create classic game scenes. When you're done, you can share it with the world by a QR code. Maybe I'll get to play one of your inventive creations soon! I'm looking forward to it.

I'm still somewhat unsure how I feel overall about this one. As someone who played the first three and could enjoy them despite their flaws (the third being the least flawed and formulaic/repetitive to play), I just don't know if I can recommend this one. I'll start by saying that I came out of the third game impressed with how much the creator had improved in game design. You see, one of the major flaws with the first two games was that on harder nights it threw away the mechanic of checking the cameras just to be able to survive. They weren't even necessary in the first place, and those harder nights made it so that you couldn't use them at all without likely dying. So in the third game, he made it so that the cameras were the main gameplay mechanic. Defending against a single animatronic, you had to use the cameras to lure him into different rooms using sound effects. He could also go into vents and then you'd have to close them from the cameras as well. This game and it's mechanics were hands down the best thing in the series. The scares were weak, and you know what? I'm glad they were. Because that's not what it was about. The gameplay was rewarding, tense, and it was probably the game out of the series to do subtlety best. The fourth one completely threw away the cameras, something great and unique to the series, and replaced it all with one bland and unchanging mechanic: listening. That's basically all you do. Listen closely or screw up and be greeted with an overly loud jumpscare. In the first three, there were audio cues all the same. They helped you. Basically this game just removes everything surrounding the audio cues and leaves you with nothing but them and a couple of other time sinks. Aside from the animatronics which at one point replace the others and behave slightly differently, the core gameplay just doesn't change. Listen for the same sound over and over. If it's there close the door. Check your time sinks. Repeat. Which game would you rather play: one where you're trapped at the end of a maze and are forced to track down the zombified murderer coming after you so you can lure him away and prolong your death.. all the while having to make sure your systems that allow you to do so stay functional, or one where you just run around in a room doing the same repetitive and uninteresting tasks over and over?

I’m a MOBA noob, I’ll be the first to admit that. I have no idea what or who a Gank is, I think I know what a Buff is, but I’m not overly sure, I just like the various different characters and outfits available in some of these games. With that said, I went into Vainglory with a totally open mind. Sure, I’d played League of Legends before and I’m only just getting to grips with Heroes of the Storm, but I’m still very much new to the game. It’s mostly because I’m not that much of a PC gamer. I’d rather relax in my bed, messing around with my iPad. So in comes Vainglory, the best of both worlds. It takes on a similar approach to PC MOBAs and throws it onto mobile, and it’s brilliant. You’re offered a select number of characters which are on rotation, you can either unlock them with real cash, or play the game to unlock them using Glory which is earned during play. These characters each have their own skillsets and play types, whether it’s melee or ranged, weapon based or magic based, and more. Initially you’re thrown into a fairly straightforward tutorial process which teaches you the basics of the game. You’ll be doing this for about half an hour, which for a mobile game demands a lot, but it’s totally worth it. Once complete you’ll then be tossed into the normal game mode which sticks you in a 3v3 PvP match. For those who want more lessons in Vainglory, the game also presents players hours and hours of videos showing off examples of gameplay and lessons for those who want to get into the thick of it. You can choose to play with other players, or dive into a game with bots. The latter game is considered more of a practice level than a co-op mode, which is a shame. The main mode however offers the most fun in either a Casual or Ranked game. Once five other players are found, you begin by choosing your character and being thrown directly into the game. Below the main lane is a forest with various different lane monsters each with their own buff (is that right?) once you’ve killed them. A little later on into the game three “mines” then open up. These mines offer two things. Two mines on either side of the forest, once claimed, further strengthen your minions, and one mine in the center of the map offers Gold bonuses and a chance to unleash the Kraken on your enemies. Well, there is a way to communicate, but it’s open to interpretation. Simply put, the game offers some auto messages in the form of emotes and icons. There’s a series of emotes from smileys, to thumbs up, to a simple “OK”, these can be used in response to situations or to other prompts such as arrows which can be pinged on the map, as well as targets, warnings, and question marks. Sometimes these emotes work, other times they can fall on deaf ears.. or should I say, eyes. In terms of how the games play out. MOBAs are all about clicking really so Vainglory translates pretty well on mobile though I only really have experience on the iPad version of the game, I can imagine on smaller phones it can be a little more difficult. The game responds to two finger tapping pretty well though allowing you to drag ahead on the minimap, and place a waypoint marker for your character to follow.

Coffin Dodgers, in short, is a kart racer with a very interesting story attached to it. It seems the quiet little retirement town is about to get turned upside down as Death is coming to visit and wants to play a game. That game, become the best mobility scooter racer or be faced with the harsh yet inevitable reality of death. In Coffin Dodgers you’re required to come at least in the top three in order to progress to the next championship otherwise your OAP of choice gets the kiss of death, and you’re required to start all over again. It sounds pretty simple, but a handful of mechanics have been put into place which makes progression pretty darn difficult. Think Mario Kart, but with oldies as the stars. You race around a series of tracks within this little retirement village collecting luggage filled with weapons to use against your pensioner pals. These are the usual array of things from targeted rockets, oil slick, a defibrillator, and a machine gun. These, like in other similar kart racers, are used for you to get the advantage, and are more often than not pretty unfair, but hey, that’s the race for you. There is however one more mechanic which made my blood boil. The ability to melee other racers to either slow them down a little, or if you have the time to charge it up, unleash a deadly swing that has their balding, liver spotted bodies flailing across the track. Though the range of the melee is short, it comes without warning and can at times completely ruin a race for you. It’s frustrating and I hate it. Visually however, it’s quite endearing and was one of the reasons I was hyped about the game when it launched on Kickstarter. It takes on a bright cartoon-like appearance with a lot of humour thrown in there. I mean, what other racer can you swing a string of sausages at a zombie version of your pensioner friend while you race around a retirement village in a mobility scooter with Nitrous Oxide strapped to the back all while racing against the Grim Reaper? Sadly it can get tedious fairly quickly and with the lack of multiplayer popularity, the very little content available, the game can be completed in a very short amount of time. There is a local multiplayer mode, which is a nice addition, but even then, with the lack of content and sometimes buggy AI, the game still feels like it could have some work doing to it. The only real way I can describe Coffin Dodgers is like that liquorice that’s sweet on the outside, but has a bitter center. In short bursts the game is a lot of fun and can offer the odd chuckle here and there, but after a little while it gets a little tedious and frustrating. Which is a real shame

I can safely say that the answer to that is a complex one. Splatoon is a really well made game, designed to be accessible for kids but still fun enough for the ‘hardcores’ to get into it. During my time with it, I became totally invested. I played the entirety of the singleplayer, found all the collectible sunken scrolls that show backstory, did half of the Amiibo challenges I’d unlocked and played up to level 10 online, with various weapons. So let’s break it down. The core of Splatoon is all about the competitive online multiplayer. When you boot up the game you design your Inkling and are then immediately encouraged to head into the multiplayer. There are currently two gamemodes – Turf War, a deathmatch-like mode where the real goal is to cover as much of the ground with your colour ink as possible, and the (currently ranked-only gamemode) Splat Zone, where you have to capture and hold two zones. Unfortunately the ranked mode is currently locked away until enough people have been playing the game and hit level 10. A huge and essential mechanic in battles is that you can squid jump to a teammate, letting you quickly travel into the heat of battle. No waiting around or slowly travelling to where you want to be – see a teammate on the Wii U gamepad and -WHEEEEEE- squid jump over there! The action is fast paced, the matches are short (only 3 minutes), it’s a perfect combo. Swimming through the ink is also a hugely important feature that speeds up your squid by a ton – but watch out, you can’t swim through your opponent’s ink! One thing I don’t quite enjoy about the multiplayer is how maps are handled. There’s plenty of maps available, but they’re on a constant rotation of two at a time every two hours. This is of course just my preference, and I haven’t really seen anyone else complaining about this. When the maps change, you get a quick and quirky cut-scene with Callie and Marie, the fabulous Squid Sisters who are essentially squid celebrities. These two characters are great, oozing personality and charm. You can even find their studio in the main hub of Splatoon and see them – they sometimes even wave at you. You start the game at level 1, with a standard ink shooter and low-level clothing. But fret not! You might feel like a squid in a barrel at first but after a couple matches and a few levels up, you’ll be the jetting to the top. There’s three unique weapon types; roller, charger and shooter. Chargers are sniper rifle-like weapons that require a brief charge before firing. Rollers are basically paint rollers that cover a huge part of the ground in ink as you move forward – you can also flick ink at your opponents with a quick tap of the fire button. Finally, the shooters are the generic ink guns. They come with all kinds of stat changes, such as with rapid fire or explosive ink shot abilities. My preference is the roller type weapons, but there’s a handful of shooters that I find exceptionally fun to use. You’ve also got the sub weapons. These include various kinds of bombs, homing bombs and support items like splash walls that allow you to fire out of them but don’t let opponents fire in. One of my personal favourites was the Squid Beacon that allows you and your team to squid jump to wherever you place it. The final part of your arsenal is special weapons. These include Inkzookas (self-explanatory right?), and the Bubbler, a bubble shield that blocks attacks for a short period of time. These are all in one loadout that can’t be changed. When you select a weapon, it comes with the sub and special weapons – this system is brilliant, it evenly levels the playing field for everyone and means that you have to play to that loadout’s strengths Your clothing is completely customizable though. You can mix, match or look completely odd, it’s all up to you. There’s a huge variety of clothing including actual Japanese branded clothing, and you can also unlock a handful of clothing and weaponry from the singleplayer and amiibo challenges The singleplayer is a series of 25 levels and 5 bosses against a mysterious enemy known as the Octolings. Each level has a hidden scroll that tells you more about the world of Splatoon, whereas each boss gives you a blueprint for a new, custom weapon. I’ll avoid spoilers so I won’t specify, but completing the game gives you two full sets of clothing (three pieces per set, 6 pieces per set). The singleplayer levels are very impressive though. Despite the campaign’s short runtime of about 2 to 3 hours, each level brings a new mechanic to the table and then experiments with it. For example, one level brings in the sponge block that you can fill with ink to expand it. Later, you have to use a path of them to traverse a gap. In later levels, you’ll have to climb sponge blocks while fighting off enemies that can shrink the blocks back d

Alright so here’s the deal. I’ve played a few visual novels in my time, but Hatoful Boyfriend is some next-level **** Ask everybirdie and they’ll say the same. But here, c’mere let me lean in close. Ever wanted to date a pigeon? I’ve known about Hatoful Boyfriend for a long time, but with the upcoming release of the PS4/Vita version, I decided it’s time to get hands on and drop right into bird school. For those unfamiliar, here’s the basis for the game: You’re dropped into this world with no context as a human female high school student in a school for birds. All your classmates are pigeons, all your teachers are pigeons, everyone in town is a pigeon. The goal of your game is to continue down a storyline and pursue a pigeon. Everyone dreams of experiencing love, romance and courtship with a bird right? Your main character, default name Hiyoko Tosaka, is the only human and is also in her final year at bird school, and you experience the highs, lows, loves and losses of that last year. The thing is, this game doesn’t take itself seriously. That is key. I mean, except for the insanely real backstory of the game’s universe, but all that is completely dependant on the reader actually wanting to learn it. Hatoful Boyfriend isn’t afraid to be silly because, at heart, it’s a silly premise. As you get deeper into the game though, you’ll pick on some slightly chilling and really interesting subtleties that aren’t addressed, as if they’re normal It’s actually surprising that the characters are so likeable, considering they’re pigeons. Maybe I’m just one of those goddamn pigeon racists. Each character you meet has a unique personality with a fun comedic spin in some cases. Even the slightly more dismissive and quiet characters are written in a humorous way, which I really commend. It’s really hard to write likeable characters, this coming from someone who writes characters as a bit of a brain exercise (I’m trying to say I’m completely untrained and unskilled in that field and have no place critiquing anyone’s characters really but hey, games journalism). Admittedly, after playing through the game a couple of times I ended up on the wiki page and got more backstory than anyone could’ve hoped for. The actual plot of the game is absolutely insane. Really creative and unique, but written in such an accessible and often comical way. It’s no wonder this game earned “cult following” status. Admittedly, after playing through the game a couple of times I ended up on the wiki page and got more backstory than anyone could’ve hoped for. The actual plot of the game is absolutely insane. Really creative and unique, but written in such an accessible and often comical way. It’s no wonder this game earned “cult following” status. There truly isn’t much more to say about this oddity ****! At least, not without spoiling the story. Priced at £7.99 in the UK, I think you could easily get your money’s worth if you’re into visual novels or Japanese-style gaming. ...Also Nageki is my BAE SO DON'T GET ME STARTED!

This game is garbage! I wasted sixty bucks on this abomination. This game makes Sonic 06 look like Witcher 3: Wild Hunt in comparison. Although, there's a few, very few positives. The game gets the many monsters that have appeared throughout Godzilla history spot on. From Mothra to Rodan and Mechagodzilla to King Ghidorah, fans will adore seeing each kaiju pop up for a brawl from time to time. The monster roster's a decent size it's one of the title's strongest positives. What's more, each beast has its own set of unique moves, and you can even upgrade their abilities via Evolve mode, which sees you unlock upgrades on a skill tree by using collectible items earned from bashing other enemies. There's really no story here in the main King of Destruction campgain because I only did it in forty minutes. Gameplay is dull. All you do is destroy generators or either battle other kaijus. That is it! Really! Gameplay is too repetitive and I can't stop saying "He's a kaiju, not a god!" Oh yeah, I forgot! You need to complete the campgain numerous times to unlock other kaiju, which is full of bull**** The King of Kaijus mode is the best thing about this game. Although, no local multiplayer, you can choose to play as other kaiju (whom you unlocked) and play against the CPU. I'd give it a 2/10 if there was any emotion on this game but NOOOO! We get a horrible PS4 port of a horrible PS3 game... No effort at all. Also, why was Yoko Ono, John Lennon's wife involved in development of this game. Very confusing and funny. Maybe that's why this game flopped like a plate of jelly!! As a Japan fan, I'm heavily disgusted by this game.