Category: Game reviews

Rally Car Mechanic Simulator PlayStation 5 Review

Rally Car Mechanic Simulator was sent my way by Ultimate Games, which is always appreciated. The game’s concept is very simple. You fix rally cars either for your team and your driver races them. After each stage, you fix things he breaks, feners, breaks, windows, whatever.

The game thankfully has multiple difficulty settings for how in-depth this goes; you can basically find the part, hold a button, and watch the magic happen as you take off each piece or go full-blown mechanic with no help and try to find each broken piece and screw yourself. I played on easy because I am not a car guy by any means.

All you really need to know about this game is: does this sound interesting to you? If not, nothing I am about to say will matter; skip it and save yourself $20. If you are still with me, you are probably wondering how it functions. Truth is, not bad. I have played a few of these games, and I have certainly played worse. I did have some issues with buying new items, but admittedly, that could be more of a user issue. If it is, however, it is because the game’s UI really could use some tweaks; certain things really aren’t very clear. The game is still a 7/10 experience, and while I didn’t much care for it, fans of the genre will. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Disk Golf Masters Steam Review

Disk Golf Masters is developed by Spinoff Games and published by Bonus Stage Publishing. However, the game was actually tossed my way by Bram of Gametaste, so thank everyone involved in getting me a copy of this one.

Full disclosure, one many of you will have noticed, I don’t cover a lot of sports games. It isn’t that I don’t like sports; I have played most major sports on a team at some level, except hockey. I was even a professional wrestler for a while. So when Bram offered me Disk Golf Masters I said sure, I will take the easiest sport ever of throwing a frisbee.

So I played the tutorial and discovered that it isn’t easy to throw a frisbee in a video game, grabbed my daughters and ran outside to prove this game was lying to me and discovered that despite that at the age of 41 still having the ability to throw an 70mph knuckball pretty accuratly, I in fact can not throw a frisbee to a small chil across the street.

I still managed to throw 2 under par in my first round. I unlocked a few things and went back for round two with newfound confidence. This was very misplaced, as my second round went much worse. While you can’t really bounce your disk off other people, you can hit it off trees, or toss it off a cliff. Don’t worry the game won’t make you throw it from the bottom of the cliff.

Round 3 got a bit better, as with anything practice does make perfect, and the game gives you plenty of reason to keep playing. There is plenty to unlock, and with multiplayer, it is a great game to relax with friends and just have fun. Much like golf, you can play it anyway you want. Sitting in discord having some beers on a rainy day cracking jokes would be my prefered way to enjoy this one, but I can definetly see this being the kind of game the competitive scene would love. One last thing to note: the game does tell you to play with a controller, and my xbox series controller worked flawlessly. If you like sports games, this one is hard to beat for $25. It is a 9/10 experience, and when it leaves early access is sure to be even better. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Soulblaze Steam Review

Soulblaze is a new creature-catching roguelike with some interesting mechanics attached to it. This one was sent my way by Cosmic Mocca, which I always appreciate.

The gameplay, of course, follows the same general loop as most of these games. Pick a starting creature, pick a path, and on your way you go. While you go along this path, you can battle and capture new Animons, level up, learn new skills, collect new items, ,defeat bosses and when you die, use currency to buy permenent upgrades.

You start being able to access just the one Animon as a starter, but as you capture more, it will unlock different types. Not the ones you capture, really, just different animons you can choose if you capture enough of certain types. Some of the other things you can unlock include (but are not limited to) extra starting items, more health, and an assortment of things to make the early runs much easier. The loop isn’t bad and is fun in its own way.

The game, however, like many early access titles, has its share of issues. For example, despite being well above even the recommended specs, I suffered from frequent crashes, slow downs andd issues. The game is, however, made by one person and as an early access title that is fun too play I do give it some leeway. It is still kind of hard to recommend at $14. The game is a 5/10 title, one that needs a few more updates before it is ready for most people to buy. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Shadows of Adam PlayStation 4 Review

Shadows of Adam came out in 2021 and was published by Something Classic Games, yes, the same folks who sent me Quartet last year. Now they never sent me Shadows of Adam; in fact, I didn’t even realize it was the same people until someone mentioned it while I was playing Quartet. I recently wanted to play an old school RPG and figured, since I will hopefully be playing Quartet again on PS5 when that hits, I would replay Shadows of Adam since it has been a few years.

This was always a fantasic turn based game. The village of Adam was tucked away from most of the world, deep in the misty woods, protected from all the bad that had happened. The perfect place to raise a family and just exist. 10 years have passed since the Wraith war, and Adam has pretty much been at peace. Orazio, however, had vanished, and that peace is suddenly gone. Orazio, the hero, is probably the only person who could save them. So his son and adopted daughter decide it is time for Orazio to explain a few things and make it their mission to trace his steps, solve his dark secret, and save him and the world.

What follows is a combination of humor and action on a 16-bit level we rarely get anymore. I don’t know how Something Classic does it, but they always manage to publish some amazing old-school RPGs. Their updates for their games always add things to keep you playing, from New Game+, which is more than just playing again, to new items and more. This was one of their first games I fell in love with, even before I knew who they were. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Deathbulge: Battle of the Bands Xbox Review

Deathbulge: Battle of the Bands was sent my way by the fine folks from, well, Deathbulge. It is always appreciated, and since I love a good turn-based RPG, this was a special treat.

The story is quite simple to start. You play as Faye, Ian, and Briff, a 3 piece band that Faye signs up for a battle of the bands to win the right to go on tour with the biggest band of them all. What she didn’t know was that this would curse them to fight to the literal death to win this battle of the bands. Now she and her bandmates must go on an adventure to break the curse.

Obviously, that is only the start of the story, and I won’t go into any more depth to avoid spoilers; I just like to wet your whistle a bit. Besides, the story means very little if it is presented poorly or the battle system is poorly executed. The battle system is a bit weird to me, as you get three characters but can only use one each turn. The two you aren’t using sort of sit to the side and replenish their action points. You can swap them around freely, however, with no repercussions. In fact, the game encourages this. Faye for example was my fastesst character, so I would often use her to bring my turn around faster and then swap her into with Ian to hit hard or Briff to heal.

Another neat thing is that status effects don’t affect people; they affect the turn bar. So burns hurt everyone, so a burn will hurt all of the enemies or all of your team. Boosting your speed or a slow debuff will speed up or defuff the entire group. This also brings me to my complaint. While you are forced to make the decision about who will fight, the enemy does not have this issue. If you are fighting 3 enemies, it basically becomes 3 turns to 1 of yours. The best you can hope for is 1 versus 1 when it comes to turns. Luckily, they did a great job balancing most encounters.

The writing is also great, Ian really stole the show for me in terms of humor. This is truly one of those games that I probably would not have picked up on my own, but I am very glad I got to play. It is an 8/10 title that RPG fans should pick up. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Flesh Made Fear PlayStation 5 Review

Over the weekend, Assemble Entertainment hooked me up with a treat called Flesh Made Fear on the PlayStation 5. Now, when I first saw this game, my first thought was, ” Don’t review this game. It represents a lot of things I hate.” I have always hated tank controls, for example. The number of games that try to play homage to Resident Evil but are just rip-offs, by the way, is simply mind-boggling. People need to realize you can respect a series and want to show that love with a similar game, and not just steal its stuff. But how does Flesh Made Fear manage to walk this line?

Truth be told, it doesn’t really walk the line. It knows exactly what it is, and it doesn’t even try to hide it. I am not saying it is some sort of shot-for-shot remake or anything of the sort; it isn’t. But it embraces what it is, and lets you enjoy that rather than hiding behind some imaginary wall of its homage, not copying. The characters definitely are not Chris and Jill from Resident Evil. Who you choose, Natalie or Jack, will determine how parts of the story play out, and if you start with a bigger inventory (Natalie) or more health (Jack), which probably sounds familiar.

The horror is also pretty top-notch, from the very start, the camera angles are used in great ways to create tension, but are rarely used to screw the player. This was a complaint I always had about early games in the genre: you can create tension without placing enemies in such a way that players scramble with controls that are switching as the camera changes angles at weird times.

This brings me to my two major complaints about the game. The tank controls, while not the worst I have ever used, make the combat hit or miss, regardless of the character you are using. Not enough to ruin the game, but enough to be frustrating and has gotten me killed a couple times, causing me to have to restart from a previous save point.

I still enjoyed the game far more than I expected, and it may be the best of this throwback genre. It is an 8/10 game that fans should definitely experience. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

The Scroll of Taiwu: Beyond the Dome Steam Review

The Scroll of Taiwu: Beyond the Dome recently hit 1.0, and Conchship Games was nice enough to send me a copy to check out. This game has been on my radar for a while, but admittedly, I couldn’t play it because, honestly, I don’t speak Chinese. However, the English localization was introduced with 1.0, but you will have to work a bit to enable it since the game is natively in Chinese. Don’t worry, plenty of people will happily tell you. Basically, just skip the opening scene and click the globe-looking thing, and it’s the third option to bring up the languages. (This may change by the time you read this)

Now the game itself is quite simple; you play as the leader of the Taiwu clan, and you are on a mission, which I won’t tell you about, to avoid spoilers, of course. This mission can take generations. The game is a strange mix of RPG and Crusader Kings, as you will have to manage and build up where you live, take care of your companions, and obviously choose an heir. All this while finding resources and fighting battles using the martial arts you learn.

Recent reviews are mostly negative, with English reviews being mostly positive, with the majority of the negative reviews coming from the same issue I had. There is no manual save option. It saves at the end of every month, and with so much to do, especially as you get deeper into the game, this gets really frustrating. Some of the English translations are also pretty awkward, for example, the insistence of the intro character calling the man Foster Father in every sentence. While I understand many languages have honorifics like the Japanese San or Sensei, English doesn’t really do the whole foster thing; we would most likely use Sir or Mr if not calling them some form of dad or father.

The game itself is fantastic, but small translation mistakes that shouldn’t have been made, and the no manual save thing are very distracting. The game is an 8/10 and worth playing all the same. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

TheHunter: Call of the Wild’s “Peru Hunting Reserve” DLC PlayStation Review

TheHunter: Call of the Wild’s “Peru Hunting Reserve” DLC was once again sent my way by the fine folks over at Avalanche Studios, which I always appreciate, and I always love working with these guys on The Hunter series. This new DLC brings us to Peru for a whole new place to hunt, and it will set you back about $12. Now, the question that is always asked is, is it worth the money? Well, let’s be honest, 14 new animals in a beautiful and scenic tropical jungle, what can go wrong?

From a gameplay perspective, not much. The place is beautiful, every square inch of it is stunning. Peru quickly became my favorite place to just walk around and take in the sights. But if I get attacked by one more damn jaguar, I am going to hunt them to extinction. ( in the game, not in real life.) These things will attack you if you get too close to them, make no mistake. This is the first time playing this game where I felt like an animal actually hunted me. I can’t prove they do, but the only thing that has done more damage to me than the jaguars in Peru is me driving the quads like an idiot. This is not a complaint; it is amazing.

Also, don’t shoot the capybara. Nothing happens if you do other than make some money; I just like them. Such cute little guys running around, I once got attacked by my mortal enemy, the jaguar, just watching the capys hang out eating. Admittedly, that one was on me.

Even the places you sleep and adventure to are unlike anywhere else in the game. They have such character to them. This DLC is a home run. It is a 9/10 experience that every fan of the game should pick up. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

The Gate Must Stand Steam Review

The Gate Must Stand is a new tower defense game sent my way by Yogscast Games and Gamersky Games, both of which are always great to work with. The concept here is very simple: hack and slash your way through demons that are attacking your gate. Doing so will gain you experience and coins, which can be used to hire all sorts of help from the tavern, from different types of mages to guys with huge shields to distract enemies, and so much more.

Occasionally, you will be offered missions, such as guiding a transport to the gate, dealing a certain amount of magic damage, repairing the gate, or even keeping the gate at full health for a certain amount of time. These will reward you in various ways, such as increasing the level of your minions, giving you money or even just giving you free minions. These minions can then be placed on the map at key places to help you fight the enemies or combined with the same type to increase or promote them. For example, two level 1 fire mages to make a level 2 fire mage. Now, if the levels don’t match, they can still be combined to increase the level of the minion, which is nice. Once they reach level ten, they transform into an ultimate form.

Relics have all sorts of uses and will help you in all manner of ways, from increasing your speed or attack power to increasing stacks of bleed on enemies. These usually come from beating mini bosses or bosses throughout the run.

At the $10 price point, the game offers plenty of replay value and is quite fun. While the game is far from perfect, I really don’t have anything to complain about, except that it just isn’t as much fun as it could be. They really seemed to make the game harder than it needed to be simply to increase the time it takes to play it, rather than just making the game longer or adding more to the game to unlock. This will never sit well with me. The game is still a 7/10 experience and worth picking up. Best wishes, and may the gaming gods bring you glory.

Tomb Raider (2013)

Remember that time when everyone ran out of ideas in the late 00s, mid 010’s and we kept getting gritty remakes no one asked for? Torsten remembers. The Tomb Raider reboot found it’s way into my staggering backlog as did its sequels and I haven’t played them mainly because I assumed they would be Uncharted knockoffs- but edgy! Was I wrong?

Young archaeologist Lara Croft is part of an expedition to a island in search for relics about an ancient sun princess. A freak storm destroys her her ship, leaving her and her crewmates stranded on a island full of militarized zealots aiming to resurrect the princess. Can Lara overcome the odds, save her friends and escape?

Ok, let me be frank, I wasn’t invested in the characters or plot worth a damn. The game wanted me to take it seriously but I couldn’t. Mostly because of the gratuitous, over the top action scenes that made me wonder if this rendition of Lara Croft was a Kryptonian or was a X mutant the whole time. On top of that, some of Lara’s facial expressions during the few scenes that are supposed to be heavy or intense are unintentionally funny as hell. The characters are ok, nothing special, though Mathias, the main antagonist is a cookie cutter villain. I wasn’t expecting an unforgettable villain like Dutch from Red Dead Redemption 2 or Vas from Far Cry 3 but I wanted something more than his generic ass.

Speaking of Far Cry, the game feels like Far Cry, Uncharted, and a lil bit of The Last of Us gameplay went into a blender with a Michael Bay movie. The game is fun. Combat is smooth but simple. Platforming is pretty well done except some of the set pieces caused a few bullshit deaths. The survival instincts holds your hand bigtime when it comes to combat, puzzles, item finding, and platforming. Its a nice palette cleanser after weeks playing SystemShock. My biggest grievance with the gameplay is this game feels like a time capsule of every PS3 era gaming trope I can think of: QTEs galore, forced multiplayer, COD health regeneration, gritty paintjob on a existing IP, voice and motion controls no one asked for, blood splatter all over the screen after each stealth kill, and hunting akin to Assassin’s Creed 3 without purpose.

In the end, the Tomb Raider reboot is a fun product of its time. It’s not great but a fun, disposable playthrough worth checking out if you find it on sale. May the gaming gods bring you glory.