Voletic

Netflix’s Cowboy Bebop Misses The Mark

Whenever a studio announces a reboot or a remake of a beloved property, people always get up in arms and are worried it’s going to be terrible, but I gave this one a fair shot. Didn’t make any judgements until I had seen it, watched all ten episodes before I started writing, and really I wasted my time. Everything I was worried would happen did happen, and I should have saved myself those…

JARS - Review (PC) - JARS is a charming, fun hybrid of the puzzle and tower defence genres #JARS @MoustrapG

JARS is a tower defence/puzzle hybrid that takes place in a spooky basement, filled with all sorts of creepy crawlies. As the name implies, JARS is all about it’s jars. The setup of each stage is fairly simple. You will be faced with a set of shelves, each containing a number of jars. You can click on these jars to break them, which will release whatever is hiding inside. Inside a jar, can be a…

Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania - Review (PC) - the return of Monkey Ball is an extremely enjoyable rolling romp and is worth a play!

Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania is the latest entry in the classic SEGA series, in which you play as a monkey inside a transparent ball, collecting bananas. You do this by tilting the stage, and rolling around like a marble, avoiding hazards and trying not to fall off. It’s a simple design, but that simplicity is what makes the series so endearing. Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania is absolutely…

The Controversial WipEout Poster - featuring historical context and an interview the designer, we take a look at the poster that caused outrage.

When Sony launched the PlayStation, they aimed for a different audience than other consoles before it had. In August 1994, Sony Computer Entertainment employed a marketing manager called Geoff Glendenning. Glendenning recognised that gamers who’d grown up playing on the Mega Drive and SNES wanted to continue playing games, but would be more attracted towards machines that were targeted towards…

Tales of Arise - Review (PS5) - whilst this action-rpg is not revolutionary, it does push the genre to its absolute pinnacle in its current form. #talesofarise

Tales of Arise is an action-rpg developed by Bandai-Namco and released for the PC, PS5, PS4 and Xbox consoles in September of 2021. This review will have very minor spoilers, all information that is revealed within the first hour of gameplay. In Tales of Arise, you play as a character called ‘The Iron Mask’ who later gets a name as Alphen. He has been living as a slave in the fiery mountainous…

Starlight Alliance - Review (PC) - a fairly basic yet ambitious budget action-rpg about a pair of outcasts taking down an out of control drone network.

Starlight Alliance is a third person action-rpg set in a dystopian earth, in which everything is automated and run by a drone network. You play as two characters, Cyris and Lea, who get caught up in a mystery when the drone network starts failing, and nobody knows why. I’ll preface this review by stating that Starlight Alliance is an indie game, and it’s a a budget one – it’s going to go on sale…

Jack Axe - Review (PC) - Jack Axe is a fun yet challenging puzzle platformer, with colourful retro inspired graphics and a nice soundtrack. #jackaxe @jackaxegame

Jack Axe is a puzzle platformer inspired by Norse and Filipino mythology, for PC and Nintendo Switch. The main character is Jack, and she lives in a Norse village, and ends up going on an adventure. There’s really not much story apart from that, near the start of the game you find a mythical axe whilst chasing after a friend, and then decide to go on an adventure. From that point, the game just…

Bonfire Peaks - Review (PC) - a calm and satisfying puzzle game about putting all your belongings in bonfires, it's a great purchase. #bonfirepeaks @_coreymartin @Draknet

Bonfire Peaks is a puzzle game developed by Corey Martin and published by Draknet for PC, Switch, PS4 and PS5. In this game, the aim is simple – burn your belongings. You do this by picking up a crate of belongings, and putting them in a bonfire, usually on a peak. Hence the name. The core puzzle mechanics are fairly simple. Everything is set up in a grid, and you can pick up and put down boxes.…

Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl - Review (PC) - Whilst this one does look quite nice, it's severely lacking in content and not worth the current price of entry. #NickBrawl

Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl is a new fighting game developed by Ludosity and Fair Play Labs, and published by GameMill Entertainment for the PS4, PS5, PC and Xbox consoles. It is, essentially, a Super Smash Bros clone. It takes the mechanics, level layouts, even button commands of Smash and incorporates them into this new setting. This isn’t the first game to do it, notably PlayStation All-Stars…

Hearts of Iron IV - I've played this game now for a thousand hours since it came out. Do you think that makes me an expert? It does not. #hoi4

Hearts of Iron IV is the game that I have played the most in my life, and am a few hours away from reaching 1000 hours play-time on Steam. This was accrued over the course of five years, having owned the game since it came out in June 2016. Having played a game for over a thousand hours, you’d assume I was an expert right, a master with nothing left to learn? Well, you’d be wrong. I think…

Xuan Yuan Sword 7 - Review (PS4) #PS4 #XuanYuanSword7

Xuan Yuan Sword 7 is an action RPG set in a semi-mythical version of Ancient China, rich in folklore and legends. You play as Taishi Zhao, a hunter that becomes intertwined with battles with gods and monsters to try and save the land, and his sister. Xuan Yuan Sword is a series of games developed by DOMO Studio in Taiwan, all of which have similar themes and legends, but don’t necessarily follow…

The Last Friend - Review (PC) - a very combination of tower defence and beat 'em up action makes this one a win. #Thelastfriend

The Last Friend is a cross between a tower defence game and a side scrolling brawler. You play as Alpha, a bearded redhead who is travelling across a post-apocalyptic wasteland in a caravan, saving dogs. Those dogs repay the favour, as they man all the turrets and defences. Together, man and dog battle the evil bandits that are capturing the worlds furry friends. The core tower defence mechanics…

Rogue Lords - Review (PC) - An excellent dark fantasy turn based rogue-like that we very much recommend. #RogueLords

Rogue Lords is a dark fantasy turn-based RPG roguelike, in which you play as the Devil, utilising your disciples to take over the world. The game is split up into different books, each of which are a different chapter in the story. The characters are all taken from gothic fiction and folk tales, featuring such characters as Dracula, Dr Frankenstein, Bloody Mary, The White Lady, Lilith and more.…

Crisis Wing – Review (PS5)

Crisis Wing describes itself as a ‘mid-90’s style arcade shoot ’em up with frantic fast paced gameplay and colourful pixel graphics’. It’s a vertical shooter, set in space, and is available on the PS5, PS4, Steam, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch. In this review, we’ll be taking a look at the PlayStation 5 version. I really enjoy 90’s and mid 90’s arcade shooters. Console schmups in particular I’ve…

SAMUDRA – Review (PC)

SAMUDRA is a game in which you play as a young child ‘Trip’ in an adventure across the bottom of the ocean. Set in a future in which pollution has overrun the world, requiring all who remain on land to wear breathing apparatus, Trip must try and travel back to the surface, encountering plenty of creatures and dangers along the way. Developed by Indonesian developer Khalayan Arts in conjunction…

G-Darius HD – Review (Switch)

G-Darius was originally released by Taito in 1997, as the first entry of the Darius series to feature 3D polygonal graphics. Now, developer M2 has released a remastered version of that game for the Nintendo Switch and PS4, in G-Darius HD. In G-Darius HD, you take control of a ship known as the Silver Hawk, in a mission to defeat an evil empire or alien invaders or something. It’s a space shooter…