I don’t know why I downloaded this, it doesn’t look like something I would enjoy. I have a backlog full of probably much higher quality games but I spent some time on this. It’s free on PS plus that’s why and I thought, ‘what’s the harm in giving it a go, it might be fun?’

I shouldn’t be supporting games like this, even if I don’t spend money on it and it’s just a free download and some time put in. I wouldn’t even have PS Plus essential if I didn’t need it for online play. Now I have a bunch of games I feel somewhat obligated to try every month so I feel like I’m getting my money’s worth. Thanks Microsoft for making paying for online multiplayer the norm. You got into consoles because you were afraid Sony would take over everyone’s living room. You somehow convinced everyone to pay for online, while dead 360s were being stacked sky high at your doorstep. You abandoned your core audience and took a hard turn into Kinect. Then you had an interesting Xbox One reveal, that required a lot of back tracking and fixing your image. I haven’t played everything but it seems like you mishandled or messed up every successful series you had. You failed at providing healthy competition that would have been beneficial to us consumers. Now you are pushing the all digital/subscription future. Uncle Phil isn’t your buddy looking out for gamers interests he is the CEO of Microsoft Gaming. How is Xbox Game Pass really that different to what they were trying to do back at the Xbox One reveal? They just realised that you need a spoonful of sugar to help the medicine go down. It’s funny and sad watching people laugh at or criticise the Xbox One reveal and then talk about how good of a deal Game Pass is. People don’t make the best decisions when they think they’ve got a good deal or are getting something for free, myself included. I already wasn’t planning on getting an Xbox Series console and their current direction, plus recent news, has strongly solidified that.

At least it wasn’t all bad. I still have my older Xbox consoles and I have good memories of games like Halo, Project Gotham Racing, Amped, Jet Set Radio Future, Ninja Gaiden, Forza, even Gears of War which I’m not the biggest fan of, and several others. Farewell Xbox…

Oh yeah Foamstars, let’s get back to that, I guess.

Foamstars is like a microwavable frozen meal. It lacks quality and quantity and it’s pretty questionable whether you should actually get it and try it. But sometimes you just don’t have the energy. You want to pull the packaging off something and press a button and just eat something because it gets the job done.

Foamstars is a lazy game you can throw on and not put any effort or much thought into. It’s an online multiplayer game you can play lying down. You don’t need to worry about communication or any of the negatives that come with that. You don’t need to worry about being competitive or not doing well. Don’t worry about skill, strategy, violence or language. Just put your feet up and shoot some bubbles. Sometimes a brainless activity like this can be beneficial. Sometimes you just need a break and there is some fun to be had here.

The monetization though. Wow. When I looked at the cost of things I laughed but then thought about how this game seems targeted at a younger audience and realised this is diabolical. It is like villain level stuff. Imagine making a game that, when you’re not hunting whales, you’re trying to separate children from their allowance, in a greedy, unfair way. Or you’re just relying on parents to not supervise their kids spending. That’s enough about this, don’t worry I won’t go on another tangent.

Apart from those issues Foamstars is so inoffensive that it’s almost offensive. It’s so bland and forgettable. It’s so bright and colourful and over the top but makes you feel nothing at all, except maybe slightly annoyed. But then you find out the characters actually secrete foam from their bodies. Think about that the whole time you’re playing, you’re welcome. I know I’m not the demographic they were going for but there isn’t much to like about the presentation, characters, dialogue and what little story there is. There is unskippable stuff too. But it’s got some quirks and the music isn’t bad.

The gameplay is okay, it’s four versus four, with a few different modes and there’s also a four player co-op mission mode or single player ones too. You have a main gun, two skills and a special and each character has their own set unique to them. None of it is really that good or satisfying to use. You need to foam up the map in your teams colour so you can surf around quicker while also taking on the other team at the same time. You have to keep hitting opponents until they are in a ball of foam, then they can be taken out or revived by a teammate. Obviously it’s not completely devoid of skill and a bit of strategy but there isn’t enough here. I wish you could move a bit more, like a dodge and a double jump would be cool. The missions are pretty bare bones, where you just face waves of enemies and there is a serious lack of variety in the versus modes too. It’s often too visually chaotic and takes too long to get back into matches as well. It is a bit of stress free fun but it isn’t good enough and has no lasting appeal. I had to change the region in the options to consistently get in matches too, so you might want to get in quick if you’re keen on trying this.

Is Foamstars a good use of your available free time/gaming time? No, no it’s not, but also kind of yes because sometimes you just want to chill, although there are most likely better ‘chill’ games available. It’s not a good game but when I’m in the right mood, I don’t mind getting foamed up.

3.9/10

Vanquish is an over the top, silly, action packed, Sci-Fi, third person shooter, directed by Shinji Mikami, that seems like a response to the stop and pop, waist high cover based, third person shooters of it’s time. So it should be an absolute winner and the type of game I’m going to love and it mostly is. However, Vanquish is a bit underwhelming in some ways and has a few flaws too that keep it from being everything it could be.

Vanquish is somewhat comparable to those lovable 80s and early 90s American action films and it is also a very videogame-y videogame. But for something with this kind of vibe it can be unexpectedly bland. Where’s the personality, the charm, the charisma, the style, the camp? Okay maybe I’ve started off a little too harsh here. It does have its charm and is a bit cool. It is likable and excessive. I like the characters and the way they talk. I like that the main character, Sam, smokes as much as he can and it’s used in gameplay too. The game isn’t really short on crazy moments; it opens with San Francisco getting micro waved from space. There’s one instant when Sam say’s ‘this is like a videogame’ and the tutorial includes a bit about how you can’t jump in just because you’ve read the manual. It’s got something and is fun, but after Resident Evil 4, God Hand and Platinum’s other game Bayonetta this just doesn’t compare and it feels a little bit more flat than it should be.

This can be seen in the games visuals that are a bit of a mixed bag. On one hand I think Sam’s Augmented Reaction Suit looks great and so does the BLADE system, which is a transforming weapon that can change into three different currently ‘held’ weapons. Sam looks awesome in motion too. Boosting around, flying out cover and how he melee attacks was really well done. Slow motion is excellent looking as well and I need to give a special mention to the grenade throws. The fantastic animation is helped by good sound effects too. I think the robot enemies look pretty good and some of the characters like the villain, Victor, the Lieutenant Colonel Robert Burns, who you often fight alongside, and your assisting character, Elena, get good enough character designs. Along the way you’ll see some nice views and a real highlight of the game is that it is set in what is essentially a cylinder floating in space, so when you look off in the distance the environments curve up and go above you. There are some really cool action sequences in cut scenes and the action during gameplay is the right kind of visually hectic. Vanquish has nailed the most important visual aspects for a game like this and the performance too.

On the other hand this world and the levels can be kind of uninspired. The places you move through are forgettable and blur into each other in your mind at least up until act 3, or maybe act 4 in particular, but this is only a 5 act long game. There’s a lot of bland looking space marine dudes running about and just a lot of ‘okay’ looking stuff. Plenty of the cut scenes have over the top action which is great but the way it is framed often isn’t. The camera likes to move a lot, often having that shaky hand held technique and there are times with lots of quick cuts and zooms. I know what they were going for but I don’t like it, I prefer to see action clearly, in all its glory. I guess they were maybe inspired by Hollywood at the time, in that post Jason Bourne, Transformers era. I wasn’t a fan and think later scenes in the game that focus on Sam in action work better. There is some level of deliberately being bad going in this game as it is aiming for a dumb American action movie, mixed with a Japanese developer’s style, kind of aesthetic and mood. Perhaps there’s a reason why this is focused on what truly counts in a game like this though.

Vanquish is about some Russian bad guys taking over a giant American space cylinder colony, that has a giant microwave gun on it. The Russians use it to wipe out San Francisco and then threaten New York next. America doesn’t surrender, they send in space marines and Sam from DARPA also gets sent in, with his fancy battle suit, and a special mission to rescue a Doctor. It’s simple, a bit of fun and gives you reasons to do a whole lot of shooting. Unfortunately though it’s not very good or interesting or fleshed out, even if there are some bits of info dropped in loading screens, and you’ll probably figure out the reveals/twists before they come. The characters are definitely action game/movie characters but they are fun to watch. I particularly liked the dialogue and dynamic between Sam and Burns. There are some well known voice actors here like Gideon Emery, Steve Blum and Kari Wahlgren and they deliver lines just as you’d want them to for a game like this. The music is fine too but not much stood out to me. The game ends really abruptly and feels like there should have been another hour or two or more likely a sequel that we never got. It’s quite a short game and feels short, with the last two acts in a five act game going by much quicker than the previous three acts. Overall I just don’t have much interest in re-watching the cut scenes or going through the non gameplay moments of this game again. Maybe there is a reason, beyond just time and budget constraints, for this purity, simplicity, focus and short run time. Maybe everything is done (or not done) to service the gameplay; the fun, fast paced, action packed, very re-playable, reason that you’re actually here, gameplay.

Vanquish is a third person cover shooter that doesn’t want you in cover playing it like a cover shooter. It’s about speed and movement and what happens when you’re not in cover. If you play this game like a normal cover shooter you will probably come away from the game feeling dissatisfied and I’m not even sure if this would be that viable on harder difficulties, so get out of cover and get into it (not that I’m saying you should always be out of cover). You have a boost knee slide to rocket around the battlefield, to flank or get behind enemies. You have a dodge roll and you can use it as much as you need. There’s a good variety of weapons at your disposal and it’s enjoyable to mess around with all of them. The weapons upgrade in an interesting way too, that you need to learn to work with. They upgrade by picking up more of the same fully stocked weapon you have, and some random upgrade drops, but if you die the upgrades drop back down a bit. Added to this is the ability to heal injured Marines fighting along with you for more weapon drops. Sam can go into Augmented Reaction mode (slow mo) to kill multiple enemies quickly with accurate shots, to get in quick heavy amounts of damage, to shoot rockets out the air and to move around the bullets slowly ripping by. The slow mo also activates when you take a bunch of damage too so you have a chance to save your arse. You can do really cool melee attacks, that vary based on the weapon you have equipped, and do good damage but leave you vulnerable. Which leads to how energy is done in this game; the boost, slow mo, melee and health all share a pool. So you have to balance things while still being aggressive. Something else that needs a quick mention is how well Platinum usually does difficulty. Vanquish is both accessible and not short on challenge. You can choose the easier modes or normal depending on what you’re comfortable with and have fun. Then there is Hard, God Hard and challenges for the challenge seekers and those looking for depth will find it.

Vanquish works really well and the elements of its gameplay come together to create something special. Reading my brief description you can probably already guess this is about risk/reward. The joy of Vanquish comes from playing on the edge. The line between being an unstoppable force on the battlefield and dying or being forced to cower in cover is small. The other thing that is so enjoyable is learning to play and diving into these simple mechanics to discover the depth here. When you play Vanquish you should mess around with it, have fun and get creative. See what you can pull off and then try to link that stuff together so you can get into a very cool looking and feeling flow. It doesn’t matter if you die a lot for while and don’t let this stop, frustrate or worry you. Vanquish isn’t about just getting through it and seeing the story. It’s a videogame with a capital V. So get into it and ‘play.’ Leap over cover and trigger slow mo in the air and rain down bullets on the robots trying to hide. Boost dodge your way through the chaos. Throw a grenade into a pack off enemies but use slow mo to shoot your own grenade in the air when it’s right above them. Boost slide melee attack into an enemy and then trigger slow mo in the air off this and use the sniper rifle to hit an enemy in the distance that thought they were safe. Jump into cover when you need a reprieve and take a ciggy break then watch as Sam flicks the cigarette away which distracts the enemies, creating the perfect window to jump back into the glorious action. Experiment and see what can be done, then look up what others have found and add it to your arsenal. And I almost forgot to mention there are some entertaining set pieces and a tasteful use of quick time events. Simple, fun, brilliant, that’s Vanquish during combat.

Outside of combat there’s not a whole lot going on and I have to mention some negatives after all that gushing. It doesn’t have good downtime sections or anything else to break up the combat and maybe help with pacing. There are some gold statues to find and shoot. It has these little, unskippable forced walking and listening sections. Don’t worry though; they aren’t bad compared to other games and they are brief. Speaking of wasting time, you are often waiting for stuff like doors and what felt like a whole lot of elevators. When not in fights it really mostly just boils down to moving though linear spaces or waiting. Also a lot of stuff in the combat sections has been a bit tired for a long time now in both first and third person shooters; like being on a turret or getting through an area with a silenced sniper rifle but at least it’s trying to throw in some variation. I wish the rating system was a little clearer and better too. But again I must say this game is aiming for a pure simplicity.

This was my first time going back to Vanquish since I first played it around the time it launched on PS3. I have thoroughly enjoyed coming back to it and realised I should have done so sooner. Vanquish isn’t perfect and it might be a little underwhelming or undercooked. But its simplicity, focus and shortness are its strength too. It is so fun, highly re-playable and rewarding. Maybe Vanquish doesn’t need skill trees, unlockables, a more open or interesting world, or a good story because it is too busy just being kick arse. Vanquish is a must play action game and one that should be learned from, I highly recommend it.

8.4/10

What is the best PS4 game? Bloodborne? The Witcher 3? Persona 5? Red Dead Redemption 2? Rocket League? 13 Sentinels? Resident Evil 2? Devil May Cry 5? God of War? Uncharted 4? Nope it’s none of these, it is Nier: Automata, and it isn’t even that hard of a choice. Nier: Automata achieves what many games should be trying to achieve – A perfect marriage of gameplay, visuals, story and sound.

You should go into this knowing as little as possible so I’ll keep things brief. The story is one of the best ever. It is phenomenal and so effective. It’s the type of story that can only be done properly in video games. The soundtrack is beautiful and one of the best ever. The game doesn’t have the biggest budget visuals but the art direction more than makes up for it. The game play is great. It is an action RPG inspired by hack n slash games with lite shump sections and regular perspective shifts. It’s made by Platinum Games, the developers of Bayonetta, Vanquish and Astral Chain.

So why am I not giving this a high 9? Unfortunately due to the way the game plays and how the story is told there is too much repetition. You fight the same enemies and see the same locations often. Then on top of this the side quests can be bland and add to the repetition. But of course all of this is really nothing compared to how good this game is.

Are video games art? Yes, Nier: Automata proves this. Are video games on the same level as great literature and films? Yes, Nier: Automata proves this. If Roger Ebert was still with us Nier: Automata could have changed his mind on video games. Nier: Automata has the power to change you or at the very least be thought provoking and moving. Yoko Taro, the games writer and director, is a genius.

Yeah I know this review sounds hyperbolic but Nier: Automata deserves it and if this little review convinces one person to play Nier: Automata then it has been more than worth it. If you love this medium then you need to play this.

9.4/10

Maybe one day I will write a proper review of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. A lot has already been said about this game as well though so for now I’m just going to leave these ramblings.

Zelda: Ocarina of Time is one of the most important games ever and is considered the best of all time by many for good reason. I think it might be one of the greatest hero’s journeys humans have ever created. It’s also a great coming of age/facing adulthood experience too. There’s a reason why, even if you have never played it before, if you play it today for the first time ever it will still feel nostalgic.

The gameplay and controls were an important breakthrough and a stand out for the time. It left an influence that can still be seen today, I think pretty much all 3D action/adventure games since owe this game. It still holds up too and is great to play now. It’s great game design and ridiculously impressive when you remember it was Nintendo’s first go at a 3D Zelda.

Visually it was breath taking at the time and surprisingly holds up really well for an earlier 3D game. It doesn’t matter how much graphics have improved since it has a great art style and so much charm and atmosphere.

The soundtrack is phenomenal and I would happily throw out entire, well known and liked game franchises to keep it. And those classic sounds, like opening a chest or finding a secret, god damn, so good.

It has one of the best beginnings to any game ever as well. The opening cinematic is great and the village and Deku tree work as a perfect tutorial. By the time you run out onto Hyrule Field the game has perfectly introduced you to the world, the story and gameplay and filled you with wonder and anticipation. The great pacing continues throughout as well.

There are some flaws though, I’m not completely blind. Navi can be annoying and the owl is way to chatty but nostalgia has rounded off this problem. It’s also too easy, although I didn’t think this as a kid. There is also some quality of life improvements needed, like being able to change items/equipment quicker. It has this weird issue too, were at times the game can feel too hand hold-y but then lean more obtuse at other times.

I think this game is pretty much as good as it could possibly be when you factor in the limitations of the time and the N64 hardware.

Zelda: Ocarina of Time blew me away as a kid when it was new and I played it a lot. I played it again as a teen and fell in love and developed a deeper appreciation for it. I played it again as an adult and it solidified its place as the best, even if there are other games I like more. I revisited it again more recently and I still love it. I will be playing this game at least every ten years until they bury me.

Zelda: Ocarina of Time was one of the key games that made me fall in love with this medium. I think it might be time to do another play through.

9.8/10

The Bayonetta and Vanquish 10th Anniversary Bundle is a fantastic package that comes with two of the best action games available and is a must have for Platinum fans. I have thoroughly enjoyed revisiting both games through this remastered double pack and have put up reviews for both.

For Bayonetta I wrote that it is one of the greatest games of all time with a few niggles and gave it a 9.5/10. I gave Vanquish an 8.4/10 and said that despite some issues it is still a fun, must play action game. Each of these games is a must buy on their own, so a nice package that has both is one of the best things a PS4 or PS5 owner can buy. And this is a nice package. It comes in a beautiful steel case with artwork from both games, that has a cardboard slip cover on top with all of the game info you need and its own nice art too. Both games are on a single disc but they are separate games. They are installed individually and come with their own trophies, which is great. Unfortunately no manual, which is the norm now, it just has a little insert with health, safety and customer service info. Given that this is a 10th anniversary release maybe a little booklet with some developer interviews and art would have been cool. The other thing that needs a lot of praise is how good of a deal this is. This bundle was the same price as the recent physical Metroid Prime remaster. It was less than what the upcoming Paper Mario and Luigi’s Mansion remasters are going to be. Its price point is the same as or less than most other remasters and it contains two games with a steel case. The industry needs to learn from this.

It is two must play action games, in a nice package and at a good price. The Bayonetta and Vanquish 10th Anniversary Bundle is something that should be sitting on just about every PS4 or PS5 owner’s shelf (it’s available for Xbox too). I’m pleased to say that (at the time of posting this) it is still easy to find and has not gone up in price, in fact I found copies that are less than launch price, so go grab a copy if you’re interested, especially if you’ve never these games.

I think this now takes me past 5000 words for this bundle/games, so a big thank you to anyone that read everything.

Daymare 1998 started off as a Resident Evil 2 fan remake before becoming its own thing. So it is heavily inspired by older Resident Evil games and survival horror, but plays like something a bit more modern, and is crammed full of 80s and 90s references. It is very ambitious but also unfortunately very rough and doesn’t come close to what it is trying to copy. I kind of like it though, maybe even love it a bit.

Jank, awkward and occasionally frustrating, Daymare 1998 is in severe need of more time and polish. The environments and objects look good but they are let down by everything else. The zombies stumble towards you, limbs passing through things they shouldn’t, with weird rubber necks causing funny and unpredictable reactions to head shots. That’s if these zombies figure out which direction to move in, as they regularly spin on the spot and struggle to navigate doorways. And that’s if they’re not quietly hiding right behind a corner ready to try and jump scare you for the 20th god damn time when it didn’t work the first time. The best scare in the game came when I killed a zombie in a doorway and then as I walked through the doorway the zombie somehow got caught on the door and dragged upwards to become face to face with the character. The tougher zombies, who I think are known as Correct Form, just look goofy in movement and appearance. The Melted Man is generic and the bosses aren’t much better. There’s not much enemy variety here and none of them are intimidating or scary. The whole game isn’t scary or atmospheric either. The humans in this game aren’t a whole lot better. They just look low budget. Things get worse when you hear the dialogue and voice acting too. Anything emotional or dramatic falls flat not that these characters and their choices could be taken seriously anyway. Sadly the game never achieves a charming style of bad. A lot of it is just subpar and bland.

The gameplay has problems too. Exploration is often very straight forward. It rarely has that satisfying survival horror experience of slowly working your way deeper into a location by finding keys, solving puzzles and backtracking. Daymare 1998 is more linear but with roadblocks, there is nothing here that comes anywhere near close to the mansion from RE1 or the police station from RE2. The hospital is probably the area that comes closest to this except it still feels rather simple. Things are made worse by how long and tedious the game can feel at times; some of those chapters just drag on. It has a limited inventory, inventory management and its own brand of save rooms and items boxes but they don’t feel well implemented. Save checkpoints plus a small number of save rooms? Just pick one and do it right. There’s limited item space but not limited enough that I cared. It has a very basic hacking game that requires an item that will break if failed. It is pointless when you have checkpoints to abuse not that you’ll fail the hacking often anyway. There are pointless items and crafting and trading that don’t really add anything or get used well.

Shooting enemies doesn’t always go well because of the enemy issues I already described and other weird little things like a shot will go off but then there is a strange delay before the enemy gets hit. The enemies grab attack is a very long lunge that is a god damn homing missile that pretty much always requires sprinting to avoid. Don’t even get me started on the three stage tedious final boss that can be completely broken and silly in stage one and three if you take advantage of the pathetic enemy AI. The game never feels natural to control and this is coming from someone that loves tank controls and thinks they are excellent. There’s more to go through (bugs, technical issues, animations, gameplay issues) but I’ll stop here. You get the point – Daymare 1998 is not a completely awful, broken mess of a game, it’s just not very good in many ways.

However, I never once considered dropping it. Not only that I actually played through it twice. It’s rough, low budget, not great and was Invader Studios first game. On the other hand it is a likable game that is so ambitious, overflowing with passion and has good ideas. Imagine making your first survival horror game and not just focusing on a single location and character. Imagine going, nah we’ll have a few playable characters, multiple locations and shoot for something as good as our favourite game series. This is where all the problems come from. A tiny team shot for the moon on their first try and I can’t help but love and appreciate that even though Daymare 1998 ended up like this.

I really liked a bunch of the puzzles. I loved a lot of the ideas in the story and loved the effort put into the lore and documents. I liked the reveals at the end and the way things came together. I liked the environments and the zombies (when nothing is going wrong with them). I enjoyed the references throughout and that it is set in the 90s. One of the characters has a condition that causes hallucinations, which means getting attacked by false enemies. I loved that it’s viable and encouraged to try to dodge enemies and run past to save ammo. There is even a little melee attack that lets you clumsily bonk zombies, pushing them back and stunning them so you’ve got time to shoot or get away. I like that one type of the collectables and the secret rooms are found by sound. I like that they offer multiple difficulties and two modes. There is a classic mode and a modern mode that is a bit simpler and doesn’t use the games ammo management. Ammo and reloading is interesting as it requires you to combine bullets with the magazine, then when reloading there’s a slow reload and a fast one. The fast reload will drop the magazine on the ground and you need to pick it back up. It’s a cool idea that can add tension and could add to inventory choices and it feels like it belongs in survival horror.

These good ideas, and the ambition, the passion and that it is a type of game I like was enough to carry this experience for me. Daymare 1998 isn’t a very good game but it’s worth playing and there was more than enough here that I am going to purchase Invaders Studios follow up, the prequel Daymare 1994. Don’t let my score or the many other less than impressive scores this game has received scare you off. While I wouldn’t recommend this to everyone I would say that if you like survival horror then you should give this a try.

5.0/10

Silent Hill: The Short Message is not just, not what I want from Silent Hill it’s also a bad game. And it’s not just a bad game, it’s also embarrassing. I really hope this is not what we can expect from modern Silent Hill. I also need to ask, do people need to leave this one installed?

I’m going to get the good out of the way first because that won’t take long. It’s free and only around two hours long. The visuals, sound and monster design is pretty great.

That’s it let’s move on to the problems. The writing isn’t good and the performances don’t help. It handles the subject matter poorly. There’s no subtlety or nuance. The main character talks too much and a lot of stuff is delivered through text messages, which is really irritating. This in game phone needed a silent mode or maybe the messages could have just appeared on screen while you continued to play. There are warning/help screens that pop up throughout the game. While I appreciate the sensitivity, it hurts the experience. Perhaps a warning at the start and then this screen at the end would have been enough.

Silent Hill: The Short Message is a horror game with not a lot of atmosphere, no tension and no scares. The gameplay is just slowly walking, looking around the environments and reading documents and your messages. It’s very linear, so exploration is limited and straight forward. There is only one time where you get something that you could maybe call a puzzle. This is all occasionally broken up by awful chase sequences or cutscenes. That’s it, no stealth or hiding or combat. I don’t have a problem with ‘walking sims’ and enjoy them if they excel at what they’re trying to do but this just doesn’t.

Okay it isn’t completely a lost cause. Every now and then you might notice something and go ‘that’s kind of cool.’ There is also one brief section that made me think ‘this section isn’t a bad horror experience.’ But then this game is only two hours long and that still felt like too much, I actually found myself hoping it would end soon a couple of times. There were times when I groaned and one moment that actually made me laugh out loud. It’s also hard not to be cynical and not constantly think you’re just playing through an advertisement they were hoping the streamers would play.

Look, I know it is free, but what the hell is this? I guess it’s just a test, so hopefully they get what they need and we don’t see something like this again. At least they proved they still know how to do visuals, sound and monster design. I don’t know, maybe I’m out of touch and too cynical. Despite this being free and two hours it is hard to recommend. But I would still say give it a go, at least to quench your curiosity.

2.9/10

Silent Hill: The Short Message combined with the recent trailer we got for the Silent Hill 2 Remake has only increased my fears for that remake and the future of this series. Oh well, at least we have really good quality remasters of the classic games everyone knows and loves… wait, oh no. Not to worry, anyone interested in those games can go grab a used copy. Let me just go check the prices of a PS2 Silent Hill game on Ebay… for fuck's sake. At least this series is at the point where they can no longer do any further harm.

So I went out to my local videogame retailer and they didn’t have it. Then I walked around to the next one and they didn’t have it too. I checked online and I couldn’t order it either. I found out its digital only. Fucking gross, I threw up a bit in my mouth and went home empty handed. At least I got some exercise and had a nice coffee while I was out. It is a shame because this game looks like it might be pretty cool and is getting a positive response. But for now my copy of the first Alan Wake remains lonely.




Haha, seriously though this game should not be digital only and I lost all interest in this game back when they announced this. The push to digital is being done for the benefit of corporations not us consumers. They are trying to screw you. This is about profits and control. Letting corporations control the media/entertainment/culture/art we enjoy and when, where, how you play/access it and how much it costs doesn’t seem wise. Digital is already bad enough but is anyone at all concerned that digital is just a stepping stone to streaming/subscription only where you don’t even get a digital copy?

Remedy stating that this will help keep the price down, the market has shifted to digital and it is more convenient is a load of crap and sounds disgusting coming from them. The price on the Australian Playstation store for a PS5 version is $90.95 and the deluxe edition is $120.95. I bought big games like RE4 and Elden Ring day one physically for $89. I could then get a big chunk of that money back if I sell it after playing. So because the market has changed the remaining consumers get screwed or forgotten. Is turning your back on the passionate consumers that care enough to buy a physical copy of your game a good long term strategy, especially when they are willing to pay more to get that physical copy? The positives of having a physical copy far outweigh any convenience of digital and a physical copy comes with its own set of conveniences. I’ve never had a problem with games needing more than one disc if that would be required in this case. They also said going all digital would give them more time for polish but the game still launched with a bunch of reported issues. It was also delayed slightly. Doesn’t this game have some kind of high requirements for PC too?

So the same old crap only now without the benefits and option of a physical copy. It comes across as treating your customers with disdain and shows a lack of confidence in your product.

I’m still looking forward to playing Alan Wake 2 one day if they release a physical copy or when it is put on PS Plus essential or when it is available digitally for like $15 or less.

This is all I have in the face of the digital tsunami - this shitty little ‘review’ and not buying it. So I guess I have basically nothing but complaining quietly while something I have loved for decades dies slowly in front of me with a sliver of hope that people will realise the significance of what’s being lost.

(This was a knee jerk reaction to remembering this game came out. It was meant as a crap joke followed with a serious message but I may have botched it. I thought writing a silly joke review would be a good way to open before getting into my thoughts on the digital only release. The idea I had was for a joke review of the experience of trying to buy a physical copy (that doesn’t exist). The other idea I had was to write a joke review of the experience of watching a streamer or Youtuber play through. I quickly realised there is no way to do this without it coming off as a cringe-y review bomb. I may lack writing talent and didn’t put much time or thought into it so that didn’t help as well. I removed anything relating to a score and rating and cut down the joke review but still left a bit at the top. Maybe this still belongs somewhere more discussion centered rather than a place for reviews. Anyway, hopefully I haven't undermined the point that the digital only release is shit too much).

Onimusha: Warlords is a game I have been interested in playing for a very long time. I may have been interested in playing this game longer than some people reading this have been alive. So I finally got around to playing it and god damn it I should have played this sooner. Onimusha: Warlords is a short dose of greatness straight out of the golden era of gaming. 2001 just keeps on giving.

Onimusha: Warlords borrows a lot from the survival horror games of the time. It has tank controls, pre rendered backgrounds, fixed camera angles, puzzles, a bit of back tracking and using items to unlock your way through the game. But instead of being a survival horror it uses these elements to make an action game. So you could kind of say it falls somewhere between Resident Evil and Devil May Cry. However it doesn’t have as well designed locations and puzzles as the best survival horror and the action isn’t on the same level as a Devil May Cry or Ninja Gaiden.

First of all I want to address the controls. There is the option to use the stick but don’t do that. Use the direction buttons that controls like this were made for, it’s just better. I know there are probably plenty of people that will see fixed camera angles and tank controls and say things like ‘outdated’ or ‘slow and clunky’ or ‘needs modernising.’ To these people, please take a small amount of time and effort to learn to play it. Games should not have to bend to your comfort zone, low effort and taste. It shows a lack of understanding for how things like specific input methods, restrictions or limitations can create amazing gameplay experiences. Videogames were more interesting when we didn’t have standardised controls and it allowed for more unique experiences. The controls in Onimusha: Warlords are excellent. After a brief time getting comfortable with it you will find yourself running smoothly through the environments and weaving your way past enemies without getting touched. Then when you use R1 to lock onto enemies the controls change. Now the directions do quick forward/back/side steps. Perfect for dodging attacks, creating space or closing the distance. It works really well and you’ll be dancing with these demons in no time.

The combat is a bit on the simple side but it's satisfying and I didn’t tire of it across multiple play throughs. Combined with the controls I just explained you use a sword for basic combos and there is a block, thrust, kick, ground stab and upward slash. You can also perform counters if you attack or block at just the right time. The other attacks you have are magic which is great for tough enemies or dealing with groups but it does run out. Finally you have your ranged weapons, the first one being a bow, which is great for the floating enemies or just attacking from a safer distance. At first I found weapon swapping to be annoying as you can’t do it while attacking or moving but then I remembered this is an old game and you just pause to use the menu to instantly swap equipment or use items. Occasionally you’ll switch to another character which while similar to control is geared more towards evading enemies as they can flip over their heads and they don’t have an incentive to kill enemies.

There are also some other interesting things going on that I liked. First there is the risk/reward constantly in combat. The enemies drop souls when they die which is your currency for upgrades, or health and magic depending on the colour. They float around for a while before disappearing and you need to absorb them. This means stopping and being defenceless during battle or just letting them go but obviously you really need them. Then there is health. Herbs fill some health but medicine works way better. But upgrading an herb to medicine costs souls you need for upgrades. Some upgrades are actually required to unlock some doors as well. Once you are good enough you can actually play through the game without using any health items and without upgrading many things. Despite progression appearing simple and straight forward they found a way to make it interesting and give you more challenges on further play throughs once you’re more skilled. Speaking of further play throughs, I love the way this game progresses. You fumble your way through the first time and then get better and better and faster too with each play through. Then there is also an unlockable mini game, Oni Spirits, and another difficulty unlocked after that.

Onimusha: Warlords is set in 1500s Japan but with horror and demons, so of course it looks cool. It’s also one of the strongest looking early PS2 games and as far as I can tell they’ve done a good job with this remaster. It has great looking backgrounds, characters and enemies and the atmosphere is superb. I have to give a shout out to the CGI cutscenes as well, these would have blown me away back then and are clearly a bit ahead of their time. You play as a samurai, Samanosuke, and a ninja, Kaede, working together to defeat some demons and rescue a princess from becoming a sacrifice because her blood will make Nobunaga, who has an agreement with the demons, much more powerful. It is a solid enough story, with good characters, that is really well paced. It’s fleshed out further by reading the documents found throughout the game. The voice actors do a great job and the soundtrack is good too. I played in Japanese as that just felt right but the English has its own charm as well. By far the biggest problem here is that most cutscenes are not skippable. This is a huge sin in a highly replayable game and could even harm a single first play through if you die too often. I don’t have a problem with the cutscenes but I didn’t need to see them this often and it was frustrating.

Onimusha’s biggest problem though is the length. There is just not enough here. Your first playthrough will likely be less than six hours possibly even less than five. Then further playthroughs will probably be three or under. It feels like a short, small game much more so than the Resident Evil’s of this time. Onimusha: Warlords really needed more everything; more locations, more weapons, more puzzles, more enemies, more documents, more items, more upgrades and more unlockables. I think a couple of hours longer would have been the sweet spot but at least it’s really replayable and it is fun to blast through in one sitting. It is a bit of a shame because Onimusha: Warlords isn’t that far off of standing alongside the GOATs. If only there was more to it, skippable cutscenes and more impressively designed locations and puzzles.

I’m so glad we got this remaster and I hope to see the next Onimusha game get the same. How has this series not been fully revived, remastered and remade? Onimusha: Warlords may not quite be one of the all time greats but it’s still fantastic and not far off. Let me make things really simple. I am off to order an original copy of Onimusha: Warlords and the sequel, Onimusha 2: Samurai's Destiny, which I am really looking forward to. If this game looks appealing to you I would recommend you do the same.

8.7/10

God of War (2018) is a really good game but it’s hard to not be cynical, disappointed, frustrated and annoyed. This is what happens when you put presentation and story above gameplay and player experience.

First of all I have to say that anyone that ever said anything like ‘God of War is grown up now’ or ‘God of War is now mature’ has a bad memory, didn’t play the older games or is being dishonest. Second, why is this a God of War game with Kratos? I get that using that name and character brings some history, depth and built in fan base but this could have been its own new IP with new characters. We all know how much the AAA gaming industry likes to take risks so of course they are rebooting something instead. Third, why the hell is this being considered as one of the greatest games of all time and getting such high praise? God of War is the perfect game to pair with popcorn and soda. It is a blockbuster game – big budget, fun, highly polished but kind of shallow and not really special, amazing or interesting. If God of War is peak gaming then are good super hero movies peak film?

Let’s get the obvious out the way this game has really high production values. It looks and sounds excellent and made my PS4 Pro roar like a jet. The voice acting, sound effects and music is great. Everything is highly polished but it’s not that interesting. I’m not a big fan of the games art direction, a lot of the environments feel very similar and level design is kind of bland. It mostly loses the original God of War trilogy’s personality, variety, epicness, scale, over the top action and gore.

The story is fine but left me a bit cold. It starts off okay, although too slowly, and it ends well. However the majority of the game is just meh. I didn’t connect with things at all and wasn’t interested in the characters. Don’t get me wrong there were some good moments, humour and I liked seeing their take on the Norse mythology, unfortunately though it’s mostly forgettable and this why the ending probably didn’t hit as it was intended to for me. Also Atreus is annoying.

The game play has some problems and choices I just don’t get and didn’t enjoy. The commitment to the camera and the close over the shoulder view just doesn’t work for the gameplay. Not being able to see what you need too isn’t fun and it gets even worse in close spaces or near walls. Why can’t Kratos jump? It removes verticality from level design and combat and means platforming is just put in the bin. Kratos climbs so slowly too. Puzzles are underwhelming. The difficulty curve is poor with spongy enemies at first and then things just get too easy. There is all this different stuff to find and so much for Kratos to equip. Why is this crap even here, what does it add other than monotony and padding? I do like the way combat feels. The axe is fun and it hits hard. Everything feels like it has great weight and momentum to it. It doesn’t reward you for playing well though and starts to feel like you’re just going through the motions before the games end.

I think the original God of War trilogy is better than this and enjoyed those older games a lot more. It’s sad to see God of War lose its personality and uniqueness and become another big, homogeneous, cinematic, story driven, single player experience like the others by Sony. For me God of War (2018) is kind of forgettable and doesn’t have any replay value. Of course it is a delight for your eyes and ears. Of course it is impressive. Of course it is enjoyable, worth playing and I recommend it. But it is definitely not top shelf gaming or deserving of a place next to the all time greats.

7.8/10

Resident Evil 4 is pretty much as good as gaming gets. It is the pinnacle of action-horror. It was an absolute revolution for 3rd person shooters, action games and gaming in general.

The gameplay is near perfect. The controls are excellent because the whole game is designed around them. The over the shoulder camera keeps the action at the perfect distance. The weapons using laser sights and having so much punch to them. Fast, accurate aiming with just enough weapon sway, inaccuracy and enemy threat to keep you on your toes and trying to hit your shots. The way enemies consistently react to getting shot and the incredibly satisfying headshots. Following up with a kick or suplex. The game just constantly rewards you for playing well. Taking on enemies with just a knife whether it's for fun or to save ammo or to slash projectiles out the air. Watching enemies fall off edges after being shot. Pushing the ladders while enemies try to climb it. Shooting through doors. kicking doors open to damage enemies on the other side. Getting enemies to group together and throwing an incendiary grenade into them. Leaping out windows. The set pieces and bosses. Crowd control. Repositioning when needed and not knowing exactly what's behind you while doing so. Using the environment to your advantage. Getting your head taken off in one horrific hit. The enemy variety. The weapon variety. They somehow made you not hate escorting another character. The list goes on and on and god damn it's all so good. The pacing is so well done as well with the game constantly throwing cool new things at you but also knowing when to slow things down a bit. The developers didn't even stop after creating a brilliant, lengthy, highly re-playable main story, they went and did more. The Mercenaries mode is really addictive. Then there's Separate Ways and unlockables too.

The story, characters, dialogue and cut scenes are ridiculously entertaining and well directed. It's so goofy and fun. God damn it's all so fun, remember FUN? It's like the only questions asked when making this game were - Is it fun? Is it entertaining? Does it play well? Does it fit in? If yes, then put it in the game. It's like they had no fear of risks and were just totally confident in what they were making, which is surprising if you know the story of this games development. The tone and atmosphere is handled perfectly. Seriously how did they do this? The game can be silly and/or over the top one minute and then have no problem being more serious the next. It also can be genuinely creepy at times, or surreal or bleak. It definitely delivers on the body horror and gore too.

The game looks and sounds top notch as well. It was one of the best looking games available when it came out. The art direction is fantastic. The village is cold, bleak, isolated and hostile with something gruesome around every turn. The castle is surreal, sinister and uncomfortable. It's so opulent and ornate but something is very off about it and there are traps everywhere. It kind of reminds me of the mansion from the RE 1 remake. The Island is grimy, dirty and industrial and does have some great creepy sections but it's visually more generic and forgettable unfortunately. They nailed the character and enemy designs too. The voice acting is exactly what was needed. The enemies sound harsh and scary. The guns hit hard and all the gross noises are spot on. The soundtrack is superb and so are the ambient sounds.

However no game is perfect and Resident Evil 4 is no exception. The worst thing about this game is that it wasn't survival horror and it put an end to Resident Evil being a survival horror franchise as they went down the action-horror path from here on wards. The puzzles are also not the best but I guess really good puzzles would have bogged down this games action focus and pace. The Island is also not as good as the first two locations. I think this is mostly due to the first two areas setting such a high bar, the industrial setting feeling more generic and maybe being a little too action heavy at times. Looking back at the game now I think it did overuse the quick time events as well. As cool and well done as they are it gets a bit much, especially when your on like the 20th play through.

If you have never played it before do yourself a favour and play it now. I highly, highly recommend Resident Evil 4. I still remember buying my collector's edition just after launch, which is still on my shelf, and playing it all day. Then I bought the Wii version and played it to death again. Then the PS3 and then the PS4. I think I am going to be playing this once every five years or so until I die. Some people try to dismiss this game's high praise with statements like "It's just nostalgia" or "You just think old good, new bad." But they are wrong, Resident Evil 4 really is just that good. This is what lightning in a bottle looks like.

9.8/10

Extra notes:

I think it comes across in the review but just to make things clear. This is a general review of Resident Evil 4 and not for any specific release.

Here are a few thoughts on the different versions

The GameCube release is special for me because that was my first experience and the game was built for the GameCube and that controller. I think the GameCube version is harder too; I’m not sure if they messed with the games balance or if it’s just me but the original feels more challenging. I also have the collector’s edition which came with a very cool bonus disc with behind the scenes stuff. But this version misses out on the extras added later and it is on two discs.

The Wii release is my favourite because it’s the same RE4 but with the extra content and Wii controls. Playing with the Wii remote makes an already incredibly fun game even more enjoyable. Aiming feels great and shaking the controller is a nice change from the button pressing QTEs.

The PS3 and PS4 HD releases are the same awesome RE4 and I loved them but I think they should have put more time and attention into them. Capcom could have done a much more thorough remaster.

The discourse around The Last of Us Part 2 went really well didn’t it. On one side we have many mainstream critics in their own world that didn't critically engage with the game well and ended up just giving it 10s. Then on the other side we have a large chunk of the gaming community behaving the way they did and being unable to deal with a piece of media/art. The truth is The Last of Us Part 2 is a well made and ambitious game. But unfortunately the developers may have bit off more than they could chew and the game is a bit of a mess that didn’t land right.

The most important thing to say about The Last of Us Part 2 is I am so glad they tried and that they were allowed to try. Most games in the AAA space are so safe. The fact that nobody stepped in at any point to say just give us a safe, predictable sequel and that Naughty Dog was permitted to do their thing is excellent. Naughty Dog could have just given us a basic journey across the country with Joel and Ellie on some simple revenge quest but instead they aimed higher and tried to deliver a grand, ambitious game about hate. I really hope the backlash to this game doesn’t cause future AAA games to be even more risk averse because that would be sad to see as AAA games are already, typically too frightened of interesting characters/stories, challenging and/or new gameplay, real puzzles, bold style, old genres, etc.

The most obvious thing is this game looks phenomenal. This is as good as it gets on PS4. The attention to detail is staggering. The number of unique objects and animations in this game is ridiculous. I cannot stress enough how impressive it is. I don’t think anyone else is even close to being on the same level as Naughty Dog. All aspects of the presentation including visuals, attention to detail, atmosphere, sound, acting performances, how well it runs, etc, is all top notch and if this was the only thing games were rated on then maybe a 10/10 wouldn’t be so silly.

The gameplay is exactly what you expect if you have played the first game. It is solid and enjoyable but not exceptional. They make a number of sensible improvements over the first game, like going prone to hide under things and to crawl through grass. I really enjoyed that the areas are larger and more vertical which allowed combat encounters to be more dynamic and free. Resources are just limited enough to keep you changing up your weapon and approach. The combat is very violent and visceral and the AI reacts pretty well to what you are doing both verbally and mechanically. I had a good time jumping out of stealth causing some horrific carnage and then diving back into stealth. The environmental puzzles felt more varied this time too. However the game regularly wasted my time and the gameplay just isn’t enough to keep me coming back for multiple playthroughs. It also feels like a missed opportunity. They could have done more with the gameplay especially with two playable characters.

Now for the games biggest issues; story, characters and pacing. First of all this game is a bloater, god damn why is it so long? An editor needed to come along a just cut so much fat off this game. The pacing is a complete mess and most of the time feels too slow. It starts off way too long and slow. Then there are two middle sections both of which are a little too long, then a long lead up to the end and then the actual end. The returning characters are great but the new ones are just nothing. I still remember Tess, Bill, David, Sam, Henry, Marlene and even Ish from the first game. But I can’t remember the names of these side characters and I don’t care enough to look them up. The story is a mix of highs and lows there are some excellent moments and I really liked the ending. But there are plenty of moments that just do not land at all and so much that I just didn’t connect with. The whole thing is too contrived as well.

The other big issues I have are no multiplayer and no replayability. The Factions multiplayer was so damn good in the first game and I know a lot of people won’t understand it but for me it was one the best multiplayer experiences ever and a big part of why I bought the remaster. It hurts that it just isn’t here and still to this day there is no new multiplayer released. I also can’t bring myself to play through this more than twice, which was enough to get the platinum trophy, even though I finished the first game 7 times. It’s too long and bloated and wastes too much time and the gameplay isn’t enough to pull me back in.

The Last of Us Part 2 is a must play for anyone that played the first game and if you haven’t then what are you doing here, go play the first one. You really should play this for yourself. Don’t listen to the mainstream critics or the angry gamers. Play it and form your own opinions. I think it is a really good but uneven game and I would still easily recommend it.

7.5/10

13 Sentinels is one of my favorite pieces of science fiction ever, across any medium.

Go into this as blind as you can. This one of those games you want to experience with very little knowledge of it before hand, so I don't want to say too much.

The story is one of the best in gaming history. The characters are excellent and all shine brightly despite the large cast. It's looks and sounds absolutely beautiful. If you've ever played a Vanillaware game you'll know what to expect.

Unfortunately I can't praise the gameplay as highly. The gameplay isn't bad, it's just not as compelling as the narrative, art, characters, etc. It's fun but not interesting enough and lacks challenge.

I highly recommend 13 Sentinels and it's one of those games that everyone who loves this medium should at least try. It definitely deserves more love and attention than it has currently received.

9.0/10

After wrapping up Bayonetta and before starting the next game I just had to come back to Wanted: Dead. I love it and wanted to try it out again now that it has been updated.

At first I needed to re-adjust to this game, as I kept hitting the wrong buttons for dodge and reload and was playing kind of awkwardly, but after a bit of time it was clicking again. Quickly sprinting and rolling around as Hannah Stone while ripping, shooting and parrying your way through enemies is so much fun. The charm and characters of this game are still great too. So what’s new or different?

First of all are the fixes and improvements. I played through the game on PS5, on normal difficulty. Then I got the itch to keep playing this again and did Hard and Japanese Hard, which takes me up to 8 play throughs now. I had fewer issues and no crashes but there were still performance problems, particularly during Kowloon Street. So it’s a smoother experience but still needs a little more work and of course this game still has its bit of jank.

There is a big change to difficulty. The first ninja now has three Stimpacks right in front of him and all the tougher enemies drop them too. I don’t know how I feel about this. The game already has an easy mode, which is now easier to access. It feels like the game lost its edge a bit and like the creators have compromised their vision. It seems a bit late too, all the reviews are out and the game has been on shelves for over a year. Is this really going to pull in more people? I almost managed a no death run first go despite not playing it since last year and not trying for it. During the last chapter there were just a lot health drops that I was leaving behind. The game just feels quite a bit easier. At first I thought no problem normal difficulty has been made more accessible, which is fine, but new players will be missing something. However these changes were made to hard and Japanese hard as well. Holy crap why did they lower the difficulty of the entire game? Now if I want to play the game as the developers originally intended and how I enjoyed it I need to not install the update, which means playing a buggier version that likes to crash. It’s still an incredibly fun game and I know many will prefer it now but it has really lost something. I liked that it demanded you learn how to play, it was rewarding and the journey to getting better was one of Wanted: Dead’s highlights. I liked that you had to be on your game or get punished. I liked the tension and palm sweats the difficulty and checkpoint system created. I liked that it made you learn to get through strings of encounters rather than just one encounter at a time with heaps of health or checkpoints in between. I want more people to play Wanted: Dead so maybe this is going to be good in the long run but I don’t like that it’s been toned down either, it does negatively impact the experience and there was no reason to change the higher difficulties. Surely there was a better way to get new people on board.

They added player stats so you can track your progress for some trophies. The severance pays trophy has been fixed as well and I unlocked it. I’m never getting that Platinum trophy though because of how damn hard it is to do really well at the mini games, seriously why is the ramen game harder than beating the game on Japanese Hard mode? They also added the ability to toggle in and out of cover with a button press. I’m not a fan of it and changed it back straight away. I want to move around quickly in this game and snapping in and out of cover just feels better.

I’d love to see more improvements and content added to this game like an even harder difficulty that changes up enemy placement, a boss run mode, chapter select and a ranking system. As much as I’m really happy this game got an update, it feels like two steps forward and one step back, when the game needed to be taken four steps forward.

The reviews and how they have almost certainly impacted this game’s sales and how it will be remembered by many (if remembered at all) really sucks. Some of the bad reviews I have read gave me God Hand 3/10 flashbacks, hopefully this game get’s some of the recognition I think it deserves one day. Overall Wanted: Dead is an amazing, addictive game. It’s hard to describe just how good this game feels. I’ve played it 8 times now and have it down to about 2 hours and no deaths, if I’m careful, and I’m still keen on playing it more. It’s just such a special game and I think if I were to review it again now I’d put it in the 8 out of 10 range, which for me makes it a must own and play game.

Added more after another update in April:

I had to go back to Wanted: Dead again after another big update released and this now brings me to ten playthroughs. It’s been further improved but also comes with the cost of difficulty being nerfed even more.

There’s actually quite a long list of changes. First up is an expanded skill tree with some new skills and some changes to previous skills. The biggest changes here are a quick little grenade toss, sliding attack makes enemies drop shields and adrenaline rush, which gives you slow mo after bullet time and you are more powerful during it. On top of this there’s been rebalancing to damage and stun and adrenaline seems to build quicker. The additions are nice but the changes are taking things too far. They simply make you more powerful and make the game easier.

There are additional fixes for bugs and improvements have been made to visuals and performance which is always very welcome but some performance issues still remain. You can now transfer your save from PS4 to PS5 as well.

The Space Runaway minigame has been made easier and one of the trophies for the Ramen minigame has been made easier too.

Wanted: Dead is fantastic and it is wonderful to see the game getting this much attention and improvement I just wish it didn’t come with the cost of lowering the game’s difficulty. It is especially frustrating when a lot these changes could have only been made to Neko and maybe Normal mode while Hard and Japanese Hard could have been left as they were. It is still an incredibly fun game but it has lost some of its edge and the experience has been negatively impacted. Tension is reduced and it no longer has the same good balance between challenging and rewarding. It is highly likely that new players won’t be pushed to learn to play. This means newer players may not discover what this game has to offer and that the rewarding journey of getting better will often be missed. This is really important as one of Wanted: Dead’s strengths is how good it is at making you feel good. It is disappointing that Soleil hasn’t been able make it more accessible without impacting how challenging and rewarding it was.

If you were put off by or dropped Wanted: Dead because of bugs, issues and/or difficulty then now is the time to jump in or jump back in. It is in a better state now (at least on PS5) and is quite a bit easier to play through. You will be missing something due to the easier difficulty of the whole game but I know a lot of people won’t care about this.

Wanted: Dead has become my favourite PS5 game, that isn’t some kind of re-release. I very, very rarely have wanted to come back and replay a game so much or so often since the early PS3 days, which is now around 15 years ago. If gaming is not doing well right now then games like Wanted: Dead is the medicine, even with the all the issues that were present in the game at launch.

I’m kind of surprised there isn’t a bit more discussion around the story, world and characters too but I guess not many people played it. I feel bad about how much I initially glossed over and didn’t think about it. It’s actually really good. This world is really cool, I love the characters and I’m really hoping for a sequel.




STOP READING HERE IF YOU DON'T WANT SPOILERS




It’s a cyber punk, alternate version of our world, set in Hong Kong but with a very international cast of characters. Meat is rare and there seems to be clear separation of the different classes of people. It is about a corporation convincing the public that they have made synths (= working class) but really they haven’t. The corporation literally owns people, has their own security force and seems to have a lot of control over politics and the police. Then there is the whole ending with the reveals and the anime cut scenes. I didn’t expect the game to hit this much and have a story this good after that opening diner cut scene. I was just expecting stylish, irreverent fun. There’s so many interesting deliberate choices as well, like the voice actors, only one karaoke song and it’s 99 Luftballons, Stone’s police car is a Maserati from the early 90s and there is one random Nems song. There’s just too much to list. I have so many questions as well, like how did this game even get made? Why is the technology the way it is in this world? Why are there live action cooking segments? Will Hannah/Emma find peace and/or resolution?

F-Zero 99 hits you with two doses of nostalgia straight out the gate. As soon as you fire it up you get the first dose from those familiar visuals and sounds. Then the second dose hits after a few races when you realize that this reminds you of the fun Death Race mode from F-Zero X. However, despite this healthy hit of nostalgia the game also feels fresh. F-Zero 99 may not be the F-Zero many were hoping for but it’s still a really good game.

F-Zero 99 plays how you would expect. You need to learn those tracks, know when to back off the acceleration, when to slide and when to boost. You need to time those spins because you can’t spam it. You need to nail those corners and keep that speed up. You have some control over the vehicles flight and landing too. It’s the same fast, slick racing you remember that rewards skill and practice. Only now this has been combined with the chaos and a little strategy of having 99 racers pushing hard for top spot.

At times things can be an absolute mess as you get smashed around the track by all the other racers and the tricky course itself. It sucks to receive a good bump and then get caught up in a shit storm which drops you back many places. It sucks to blow up just before the finish. But god damn do those top 10 finishes feel good. Weaving your way through the chaos and picking up places is rewarding. So is delivering your own good bump or getting a KO. KOs also get you a health increase. There’s also that bit of strategy I mentioned. You need to manage your health with boosting as it’s the same bar. You need to collect the little super sparks and hit golden vehicles to fill a meter to get that skyway, which means not always driving on the fastest or safest line. Choosing when to activate that skyway, so you can safely cruise above the competition, is important too as you can skip by the most chaotic parts of the track. Another important thing to consider is when to hang back a bit or when to push hard or when to be defensive. The whole thing is just good, satisfying fun, even when things haven’t gone your way. It has that very strong ‘just one more go’ energy.

Hopefully this game continues to exist with good support because I can see myself having at least a few races almost every time I turn on my Switch for a long time. I am also hopeful that this may lead to Nintendo finally giving us an F-Zero GX remaster or remake or a totally new game in this deserving series. My only real issues are it needs more content and Nintendo is going to have to find a way to keep it fresh so people keep coming back. If you can access F-Zero 99 there is no reason not to try it.

8.2/10 (for now)