HIGH First character maker in a Sonic game? Sweet!

LOW The level design, story, and gameplay are shockingly underwhelming.

WTF Avatars can wear a hat that says “Gamer”.

Sonic Forces has many interesting gameplay ideas and a dynamic character creation feature in this visually stylish package, but is constantly held back by a lack of creative level design, a lack of polish in its controls, and a story that fails to engage.

Shockingly, Dr. Eggman has defeated and imprisoned Sonic with his new mysteriously masked jackal comrade, Infinite, who bends reality using the Phantom Ruby. Now, with Eggman’s tyranny throwing the world into an apocalyptic state, a resistance team of Sonic’s friends must rescue our hero and save the world, with help from a Classic Sonic from another dimension and a rookie soldier — the Custom Avatar.

While this seems like a more mature premise than Sonic usually offers, the storytelling jarringly flip-flops between upbeat and serious, with tone-killing one-liners making things even worse. This incoherence shows that the story doesn’t know how to make players feel about the characters and story.

Additionally, many potentially interesting and dramatic plot points feel underdeveloped, and Infinite, the new enemy, lacks character development and any interesting use of his powers – are they real or just an illusion? It seems like even the writers don’t know the answer. In terms of play, Sonic Forces combines mechanics from previous entries – Modern Sonic’s fast-paced 3D “boost formula” and Classic Sonic’s 2D side-scrolling with the addition of Sonic Mania’s Drop Dash.

All of these elements are easy to pick up, and it can be entertaining to speed through stages while destroying hordes of enemies. Unfortunately, it all feels too simplistic too soon, making the gameplay loop feel repetitive.

Offering some variety, the Custom Avatar character wields “wispons” — weapons containing the superpowered aliens from Sonic Colors, which have various special attacks and powers. Occasionally, the Custom Avatar even teams up with Sonic in tag team stages.

Creating a character is a cute novelty with hundreds of pieces of clothing to be unlocked and seven species options, each with their own benefits (the bird species has a double jump, and so forth). Each Wispon has its own strengths and weaknesses, as well. A favorite was gaining insane speed from the Drill Wispon after mashing the trigger button.

Unfortunately, no matter what character the player chooses, the controls feel noticeably stiff, the running buildup too quick, and the jump too floaty – it all feels rushed and lacks the momentum and fluidity that made the classic 2D games rewarding to master. The stages, while linear, have some interesting obstacles – things like platforms that zoom forward when landing on them. A few even have alternate pathways, encouraging replayability with different Wispons that can aid in saving time or rewarding players with
hidden Red Star Rings.

But yet, it’s another mixed bag!

Most levels are much too short and don’t space out obstacles well. Excessive automated sequences remove player control and agency, and the potential of 3D gameplay is undercut in favor of basic, blocky 2D sections. Despite having 30 main stages, the the experience feel short-lived and repetitive. A smaller number of longer, more developed stages with fully fleshed-out mechanics would be a vast improvement. Visually, Sonic Forces again lurches one way, and then the other. The graphics and art style blend both cartoony and realistic, and the slick animations are a feast for the eyes while embodying Sonic’s cool, fast, and stylish qualities.

On the other hand, the animation during cutscenes gives characters wooden expressions and static movement, which is off-putting and immediately disengaged me from any potential drama. There’s also been a decent effort made to convey the world’s apocalyptic state through its original levels, with giant Death Egg Robots tearing up the city in Sunset Heights and flames burning around Luminous Forest. I wish the whole adventure was as original as these bits though, instead of otherwise mostly reusing past levels to pander for nostalgia — if Green Hill Zone is absolutely required as a level, it could have at least been altered to fit with the rest of the world in turmoil.

Overall, Sonic Forces’ potential for interesting storytelling, gameplay and level design are undercut by a lack of length, depth, and polish. Younger or casual players may enjoy Forces’ simplicity, but die-hard Sonic fans are better off playing Sonic Generations or Mania instead.

Rating: 4.5 out of 10

— Thomas Greeney

Disclosures: This game is developed by Sonic Team and Hardlight Studios and published
by Sega. It is currently available on PS4, XBO, Switch and PC. This copy was purchased as a
paid download and reviewed on PC. Approximately 4 hours of play were
devoted to the single-player mode and the game was completed. An extra 3 hours were spent
on the side content, from a total of 7 hours of gameplay to review the title. There are no
multiplayer modes.

Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated E10+ and contains Fantasy Violence.
According to the site: Sonic Forces is an adventure platformer in which players help Sonic
and his friend defeat Dr. Eggman and his evil plans. As players speed through different
landscapes, they collect items (e.g., gold rings), avoid hazards, and use spin attacks to defeat
robotic foes and bosses. Players can also use a created character to fire grappling hooks and
other cartoony weapons (e.g., fire blasters, electric whip) to defeat enemies. During some boss encounters, players can perform close-up finishing blows that knock opponents out in dramatic fashion.

Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes available.

Deaf and Hard of Hearing Gamers: Sonic Forces offers subtitles for cutscenes and
gameplay, and there are hints players can read. Text cannot be resized or altered. Other visual
elements will guide players through levels like button prompts and markers to indicate
enemies. This game is fully accessible.

Remappable Controls: Yes, Sonic Forces offers fully remappable controls.

The post Sonic Forces Review appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

HIGH Well-crafted homage to a classic murder mystery.

LOW Few locales in the campaign, resulting in visual boredom.

WTF Petting street rats?!

Agatha Christie: Death on the Nile sets out to translate a well-known murder mystery novel onto today’s gaming consoles, putting players in the shoes of famous fictional detective Hercule Poirot as he struggles to untangle a well-thought-out and well-executed homicide case. Set in the ‘70s and unraveling mostly on the S.S. Karnak with the Nile river sparkling in the background, this point-and-click adventure presents a series of meaty logic-based puzzle challenges, forcing the player to don their thinking cap right away.

Unlike other cross-media iterations of this popular novel, Agatha Christie: Death on the Nile spices things up by introducing a second playable character that isn’t part of the source material — namely, a budding detective named Jane Royce, who works alongside Poirot while investigating a different death on her own.

At first, I cringed at this inclusion, given that I saw no need to deviate that much from the established plot. Also, as a character, Royce is the exact opposite of Poirot in several regards — he is male, she is female. He is white, she is black. He is hetero, she is lesbian. He refers to himself in the third person, she speaks normally. This play on stark contrasts didn’t do much to lure me in… at first. 

Yet as the chapters rolled on, I got accustomed to and enjoyed controlling Royce as much as I did Poriot. Her sections take a different, more ‘hands-on’ approach and she even stars in several stealth and action sequences, while Poriot mostly moves around and speaks. However — and most importantly — her arc deftly complements the novel’s highpoints, adding to the narrative in a manner fitting for the medium of videogames. As a result, this character never felt like someone competing for the spotlight, and Nile’s runtime proved sufficient to leave even the most cost-conscious consumer satisfied. 

As for the gameplay, it’s comprised of curated, tough-to-crack logic puzzles while also being rich in varied mini-games.

For instance, when a character refused to share info unless she heard her favorite song, I had to meddle with an old jukebox’s interior electronics, altering pieces to allow for proper electric flow. Later, while inspecting why the smoke coming out of the boat’s chimney suddenly turned black, I had to get familiar with how the Karnak’s furnace worked via an iteration of the classic Pipe Dream path-making formula.

I was pleasantly surprised at how varied and creative these challenges were, and the constant evolution in their difficulty is perhaps the most confident example of Nile’s quality — it simply never dropped the ball with any lackluster obstacles. 

Throughout Nile’s chapters, I also had to diligently inspect 3D pieces of evidence before spending hours within the main characters’ “mind maps” (accessible via menu) where all hard-earned deductions are stored and comprehensively arranged. Then, I had to carefully connect the scattered info into rock-solid conclusions that rose above all of the obfuscating layers smothering the truth.

This process often involved pointing out which character could or couldn’t have taken a particular action due to their physical location at a precise moment in the scenario, as corroborated by other passengers on the Karnak. Oftentimes, Nile supported this by arranging all of the uncovered facts into an easy-to-follow timeline where we get to rearrange NPC positions, tracking each of their movements minute-by-minute until we have logically reverse-engineered the undisputed paths and actions all of them surely followed.

Obviously, the difficulty of these segments depends on the number of suspects present at a given scenario, as well as on which of Nile’s three difficulty levels the player chooses. For me at least, untangling these timeline challenges was a triumph in and of itself, leading to unsuspected revelations and coveted resolutions to tricky mental knots,  an experience not unlike solving challenges in any number of other, more puzzle-focused experiences.

Between deductions I was able to freely inspect locations like a nightclub in London, a fancy hotel in Egypt, and a few other places that I won’t reveal here. Of course, chatting with and interrogating the dozens of primary and secondary characters gives Nile much of its richness, almost making me overlook how little variety in locales there is here – a few more areas wouldn’t have hurt things. Luckily, the craft of outsmarting the myriad of multilayered characters is a triumph on par with the way the same process unfolds in the source material itself. My victory here was delicious.

Anyone willing to get knee-deep into exercises like inspecting a vase until they spot the tiny crack that proves the villain must’ve hastily knocked it over in the middle of the night will surely find much to love in Agatha Christie: Death on the Nile, and in the end it stands as an excellent example of the right way to adapt classic material for the modern age and its new mediums.

Rating: 8 out of 10 

Buy Agatha Christie: Death on the Nile: PC – Switch – Xbox – PS

Disclosures: This game was developed by Microids Studio Lyon and published by Microids. It is currently available on the Nintendo Switch, PC, Xbox Series S/X, and PS4/5. This copy was obtained via publisher and reviewed on the Switch Lite. Approximately 30 hours of play were devoted to the game, and it was completed. This is a single-player only title. 

Parents: This game has received a T rating from the ESRB and contains Alcohol and Tobacco Reference, Mild Blood, and Mild Violence. The official ESRB summary reads: “Agatha Christie: Death on the Nile is a seek-and-find mystery game in which players search for specific items/clues on a screen full of objects. Players – as detective Poirot – search through several rooms and interview suspects to find clues to solve a murder. In one room, the partially visible body of the victim is shown as well as a letter “J” written in blood above the victim. Wine is featured in the opening cinematic, while some of the items (selectable and background) include alcohol and tobacco products (e.g., cocktail glass, liquor bottle, cigarettes). Cutscenes depict images of a gun held to a woman’s head as a flash appears when the weapon is fired. Another sequence depicts two characters in silhouette and still frames shooting themselves in an apparent suicide pact.”

Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes available.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: All dialogue is shown via textboxes, and I found the font to be easily readable at all times. While some of the puzzles lead the player to identify sounds as a means to a resolution, there are enough visual indicators to allow any player to figure them out without relying solely on audio. Plus, players can ask for a hint at any moment at the push of a button, which will prompt the game to reveal the solution instantly. I’d say this game is fully accessible. 

Remappable Controls: This game offers a controller diagram, and the controls are not remappable. However, they are intuitive and easy to get used to, with the movement assigned to the sticks and the face buttons used to make choices and interact with the environment.

The post Agatha Christie: Death On The Nile Review appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

HIGH An excellent upgrade of a beloved PS1 classic!

LOW A bit too faithful to the decades-old original.

WTF One boss is a merger of a lizard and a cactus?!

It was 1997 when Croc: Legend of the Gobbos made waves as one of the most noteworthy 3D platformers on Sony’s PlayStation 1 console. As a member of the “gamers-in-midlife-crisis” category, I actually have memories of playing the original release back in the day, though Croc 2 pulled me in more — and fingers crossed that one gets a revamp too! Now, almost three decades after the fact, the little light-green crocodile that likes to exclaim “Ker splat!” when doing a tailwhip is back with an improved control scheme, the same selection of awesome tunes, tons of behind-the-scenes content, and… the same discouragingly high difficulty. 

So, those who are old enough or retro enough to already be familiar with Croc know what to expect from the remaster — it’s the exact same game, save for the removal of tank controls that have been replaced with a far more intuitive control scheme. This time around, Croc actually goes where we point the analog stick — a crazy concept back in 1997!

As for newcomers, Croc: Legend of the Gobbos Remastered features the titular character who aids the tribe of Gobbos (small furry creatures who raised him as their own) by standing in the way of Baron Dante’s evil plans to conquer all of Forest Island. To do so, Croc has to complete a handful of jumping-challenge oriented stages spaced across four distinctive biomes.  

Croc: Remastered’s presentation is fitting given the setting — the cute, colorful theme immediately put me in a good mood, and I also cherished that all of the extra content is unlocked from the get-go. Players can freely inspect a hefty opus of developer video interviews, sketches of the potential (but never realized) Croc TV show, listen to the soundtrack, or check what types of merchandise and other promotional material were produced to bolster the original release. As a result, even those who come across Croc for the first time will instantly get a good sense of how big a deal the game was back in ’97. More importantly, they will also find out why it remains beloved to this day. 

In my opinion, Croc: Legend of the Gobbos is one worthy of being called a classic — it’s not just an old title that gets a free pass due to being a member of a dying breed. Even in 2025 (albeit, thanks to the greatly improved and modernized control scheme) controlling Croc is infectiously entertaining.

Clearing chains of increasingly-difficult platforming sections is satisfying due to the healthy amount of challenge present throughout, and there’s a varied scope of enemies, too. Some move in obvious patrolling routes (like bees and worms) while others hold their ground and wait for Croc to make the mistake of landing just in front of them – then they fire a magic blast!

Similar to the ‘rings’ system in Sonic the Hedgehog, Croc can carry up to 100 diamonds in his backpack, and if he gets hit, they spill in all directions. He might not get them all back, but he can grab at least a few before they disappear forever. Of course, getting struck while no diamonds are on Croc’s person will result in loss of a life, but collecting 100 more diamonds grants us another chance. Croc can also scour the levels to find extra lives, although they do tend to remain well hidden. 

While Croc has a lot going for it, especially for those who can enjoy the games of previous generations, it’s not a total home run. For instance, most of the bosses are far too simple to be memorable, and a good chunk of the later levels rest on a “trial-and-error” philosophy, practically forcing the player to fail once or twice before finally making it through — though to be fair, none of the levels overstay their welcome.

It’s also worth noting that for a game ostensibly created with younger audiences in mind, the set of challenges needed to unlock the ‘real’ ending is far too much. During the endgame, the final pickup of the stage is usually locked inside an elaborate challenge map that must be completed as fast as possible, and we are only given a single try to do so. If we do not reach the goal in time, we cannot attempt the challenge again unless we opt to replay the entire level from scratch. Needless to say, this puts an immense amount of pressure on the player as the final levels are no joke. Thankfully, completing these gauntlets is not necessary to roll credits.

In addition, Croc‘s four biomes don’t merely introduce a new color coating – they all come with fundamental characteristics and ‘flavors’, making exploring them a joy. For instance, the snowy levels make controlling Croc much more difficult due to slippery, frozen surfaces, while the last biome (by far the best one, in my opinion) hides the most diverse set of stages, adding ‘haunted castle’ ideas into the mix beautifully.

All in all, Croc: Remastered is a lovingly crafted, updated version of a high-quality 3D platformer that should please players even without the nostalgia factor. While there are no gameplay changes or new levels, the phrase “if it ain’t broken, don’t fix it” holds true here.

Rating: 8 out of 10 

Disclosures: This game was developed by Argonaut Games and published by Titanium Studios. It is currently available on Switch, PS4/5, XBO/X/S, and PC. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on the Switch Lite. Approximately 5 hours of play were devoted to the game, and it was completed 100%. This is a single-player-only title.

Parents: This game has received an E rating by the ESRB and contains Mild Fantasy Violence. Croc: Legend of the Gobbos was definitely made to attract younger players, but some of its challenges are quite… challenging. It’s pretty standard platforming hop-and-bop stuff except for the steep difficulty at times.

Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes available.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: There is no written or recorded dialogue in this game — all characters are anthropomorphic animals who communicate via pointing and physical contact. 

Remappable Controls: This game offers a controller diagram, but the controls cannot be altered. The control scheme is very intuitive, though, with the analog sticks controlling movement and the camera, and the face buttons are for jumping and attacking. 

The post Croc: Legend Of The Gobbos Remastered Review appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

HIGH Snow Bros. finally gets a successor!

LOW Camera controls are severely lacking.

WTF The final gauntlet…

Those with an affinity for spending coins at their local arcade back in the day will certainly rejoice to see likenesses of Nick and Tom (actually, their offspring) in a brand-new Snow Bros. title — it’s been a long wait since the 1990 original! As one of those fans, I was immediately hit by a warm wave of nostalgia upon learning that Wonderland existed.

The original Snow Bros. was a 2D action-platformer featuring co-op play where snowmen avoid baddies before taking them out with well-timed snowballs that roll down platforms and engulf anyone in their path. It had a perfect philosophy, a hefty dose of challenge, and — most importantly — a masterfully designed set of levels.

Fast forward to the end of 2024, and we have Snow Bros. Wonderland, a title that aesthetically continues the theme of two snowmen stopping a villain’s plans to turn the world into a lava land.

Our heroes Nick Jr. and Tom Jr. (sons of the original duo) are now in 3D and possess their parents’ ability to throw an unlimited supply of snowballs into foes, quickly turning them into giant rolling balls. Once that’s accomplished, players can find the best use for these enlarged snowballs, whether it be simply kicking one into other foes, riding it to reach higher elevations, or throwing it like a basketball to hit a distant pressure plate.

Snow Bros. Wonderland is framed like a fairytale and told via short animations that play out between each of its worlds in which we steadily clear out a set of stages and end with a boss fight. Unfortunately, Wonderland‘s setting and approach to storytelling leave a lot to be desired, due in equal parts to the lack of clever plot twists and lack of characterization.

Aside from the titular duo, only Winda – the mandatory “waify-material” character (unlocked as a playable skin at the end of the campaign) makes regular appearances, though not the substantive kind. Also, the aforementioned cutscenes after bosses are presented in a bafflingly meek manner. They’re animated stills where only the characters’ lips move in accordance with voiceover, and nothing interesting happens regardless. I’m not sure why they were even included. However, Snow Bros. has never been about story or worldbuilding, so it’s not that big an issue.

Of course, this leads me to gameplay. Pelting an enemy with snowballs turns the foe into a large snow boulder with a reticule showing which direction the ball would rush if I was to kick it. I was satisfied with this inclusion, as it clearly displays an understanding of the original Snow Bros. mechanics. Being able to track where exactly the ball will roll in a 3D world is essential, and upon giving it the boot, it acted just as I hoped — it does indeed flatten the nearest enemies and eventually sends them off into outer space.

I was curious to see where the devs would take this awesome idea next and how much further they could evolve it, but there was no such luck. What soon dawned on me was that the mechanic of engulfing enemies in snow and using them against their brethren is actually not the core of the Snow Bros. Wonderland experience. Instead, what we have is something more similar to a standard 3D platformer along the lines of the modern Super Mario games. Unfortunately, the content can’t meet that standard, and also suffers from some bewilderingly outdated choices that negate the rose-colored affection I have for the original. 

Primarily, proper camera and controls for 3D platformers like Snow Bros. Wonderland are crucial. Nearly thirty-year-old titles like Super Mario 64 and Banjo Kazooie got it right and led the way, but Wonderland’s camera controls are nonexistent. The available view provides an acceptable perspective most of the time, but it’s also prone to letting moving platforms obscure the player’s view. 

Also, while I did beat the game, I was never at ease with the finicky platforming and never felt particularly ‘in control’ of anything. Worse was when camera and controls both worked in concert to increase the difficulty — tasking the player with jumping to a platform at the deep end of the screen while level geometry makes gauging the distance a pure guess is not a good experience.

Moreover, there’s a hidden timer present throughout each level. While the original punished players for not being able to defeat all enemies in a given time by spawning an unbeatable reaper-like character, it was perfectly acceptable back then given its 2D nature and the ability to observe the entire screen at once. In contrast, Wonderland features much larger 3D stages whose plains and elevations enjoy overlapping each other, and being cornered by a ‘punishment’ entity like a reaper who can one-shot players who weren’t able to make it through a given course of dastardly jumping challenges quickly enough — well, it’s not exactly cool. (Pun intended.) 

Luckily, dying doesn’t carry many negative consequences, as we merely lose a small portion of accumulated currency that’s used to unlock upgrades like being able to run slightly faster or to kick a ball further away than before — all aspects that are mostly helpful, yet Wonderland’s combat won’t be a thorn in anyone’s side, even without them.  

Progression-wise, Wonderland introduces new moves (like a mid-air twirl attack reminiscent of a certain Italian plumber) and new types of obstacles with each new biome — things like lighting strikes or floods that limit the player’s movements or trap them, contributing to a palpable spike in difficulty. While none of this sounds bad on paper, what’s readily apparent is Wonderland’s inept execution. 

For example, many of the levels task the player with transferring a snowball across significant space while riding on a platform big enough for both of them only if the player were to stand on top of the ball. Since running on top of the ball is a learned skill here, the catch is to get in position while figuring out how to keep the ball frozen during the entire trip. Easier said than done as the character’s weight makes the ball move ever so slightly, immediately causing a fall? Worse, this movement is inconsistent — it sometimes happens but not always. Once the player manages to finally get it done, they’ve likely wasted so much time that the reaper appears, adding insult to injury.

Such a wide range of inconsistencies results in an experience that never feels right — Snow Bros Wonderland is ultimately a game that’s on par with trying to squeeze a marshmallow through a keyhole. Even if one succeeds in doing so, it’s definitely not worth the trouble in the end. 

Rating: 5.0 out of 10 

Disclosures: This game was developed by TATSUJIN Co., Ltd., Toaplan and Bitwave AB, and published by TATSUJIN Co., Ltd., Clear River Games, Toaplan and Toaplan Co., Ltd. It is available on Switch, PS4/5, and PC. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on the Switch Lite. Approximately 7 hours of play were devoted to the game, and it was completed. The game supports co-op multiplayer for up to four players. 

Parents: This game has received an E rating from the ESRB and contains Fantasy Violence. The game features cartoony characters and snow-day aesthetics, while the focus is mostly on platforming challenges rather than combat encounters.

Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes available.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: All dialogue in this game is shown via textboxes, so they’re easy to keep track of at all times. All enemy attacks are clearly telegraphed on-screen with enemies signaling when they will strike next and in which general direction. No audio cues are necessary. This game is fully accessible.

Remappable Controls: This game offers a controller diagram and there are two control presets to swap between.

The post Snow Bros. Wonderland Review appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

HIGH It’s endlessly charming. The new soundtrack is fantastic.

LOW The extra features are not explained. The museum lacks polish.

WTF Tomba keeps items in his stomach, like Snake did with cigarettes in Metal Gear Solid…

Tomba! Special Edition is a reminder of the bygone days of the PS1, when developers took experimental approaches to the then-new Sony console. Tomba!, a 2.5D game from 1997, defied the logic that 3D was where every developer should be heading. What resulted was an experience that still looks beautiful, has a ton of charm, a cult following, and remains enjoyable more than 20 years after its debut.

Tomba! Special Edition is an action-platformer with light RPG elements. The titular character must defeat the evil Koma Pigs to recover his stolen bracelet. Along the way, Tomba will encounter and befriend many creatures and people who need help, while also carrying out objectives to advance the story, finding ways to the evil pigs’ lairs, or opening new pathways to needed items in this fairly non-linear adventure.

The characters are all endearing and charming in their own way. From standard fantasy dwarves to wilder fare like mouse cowboys, each area was packed with unique and colorful characters. Each map is bright and picturesque, and the music has been wonderfully enhanced with a remastered soundtrack that pops.

Looking at the gameplay, platforming is the star of the show here, as Tomba is given various methods to traverse the world, such as a parasol for slowing down his fall rate or a grapple line to grab and swing from various objects. The 2.5D aspect also allows Tomba to go into the background and play in a different part of some levels. This was a pretty clever way to add… depth…. to platformers, which often didn’t use background layers like this. In this aspect, Tomba! excels.

To dispatch enemies, Tomba must jump and grab onto them, so that he can then fling them. Sometimes stunning them is necessary first, and combat never became dull since different enemies required unique strategies. The boss pigs in particular were a highlight, as each has their own arena where the objective is to throw them into an Evil Pig Bag. (Yes, it’s called that.)

As Tomba! Special Edition is an updated release, there are some great quality-of-life features that I found incredibly helpful during my time playing. For starters, there’s a helpful rewind feature that allowed me to move the game back anywhere from a few seconds to a few minutes. This allowed me to retry difficult platforming sections without losing progress or health. There’s also a way to save at any time, which made the challenge even more friendly to new players of the series, like myself.

In addition, a museum feature allowed me to view art and documents, such as advertisements and manuals. There were also videos with Tokuro Fujiwara (director and creator of the series) about the development process of the original Tomba! and a music player where any of the tracks can be listened to.

While this new version of an old classic seems great as I’ve described it so far, there are a few issues with both the game and the supplementary material.

For example, with the historical videos, there’s no way to rewind or even pause the playback. This seems like a pretty standard feature in 2024, and the omission of any controls here is pretty annoying.

In regards to the game itself, it suffers from long load times between areas. In many cases, this isn’t really noticeable, but when having to many between short screens in succession, it became an annoyance. There’s also noticeable frame juddering, particularly when weather effects are present.

Also annoying is that the rewind and save features are not explained to the player beforehand. I figured them out by pressing random buttons, which is hardly optimal. New features like these need to be explained, so people will know exactly how to take full advantage of them. (The music also cuts out for a few seconds when using rewind, taking me out of the mood.)

Mechanically, Tomba! Special Edition suffers from some wonky physics, although these issues were present in the original. When swinging between platforms, it’s common to miss the next one due to how easy it is to overshoot an object and how little time to correct there is. Jumping also feels imprecise, often feeling too floaty.

Finally, mission design is often a bit too obtuse for its own good. For example, sometimes it’s necessary to talk to unassuming NPCs several times despite not having any reason to do so. There’s also a good deal of backtracking to be done, and sometimes I felt frustrated wasting time looking for answers, only to find that something else needed to be done first. Clearly, we’ve learned a lot about signposting and quest structure since the game was originally designed.

Tomba! Special Edition is a charming reminder of the experimental days of the PS1 era, and the cute characters and wonderful soundtrack still appeal. However, the flaws in this port and some of the game’s original issues might make it a bit tough for newcomers to fully embrace this beloved cult classic.

Rating: 7 out of 10

Disclosures: This version of Tomba! is developed and published by Limited Run Games. It is currently available on PS4/5, XBO/X/S, Switch and PC. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on PS5. Approximately 8 hours was devoted to the game, and it was not completed. There is no multiplayer mode.

Parents: This game has an ESRB rating of E10+ rating for Alcohol Reference, Crude Humor, and Mild Fantasy Violence. The ESRB rating states: “This is an adventure platformer in which players follow a hero (Tomba) attempting to retrieve a stolen keepsake from evil pigs. From a side-scrolling perspective, players traverse whimsical environments while collecting fruit, performing quests, and defeating animal/monster enemies. Players use a spiked ball to knock out enemies; player can also grab and toss pigs into other characters. One mission involves fixing a pump to provide wine for a village. One level depicts pixelated cherub characters urinating on the ground; the cartoony cherubs’ pelvic regions and buttocks are briefly depicted. ”

Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind options.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: The game offers subtitles, but only during gameplay. Subtitles cannot be resized. (See example above.) This game is not accessible, due to a lack of subtitles during voiced cutscenes.

Remappable Controls: No, this game’s controls are not remappable. A screen will appear before the game is started that explains the controls. On PS5, circle attacks with the equipped weapon, X is for jumping and can be used to scroll through text, square is for interacting with objects and NPCs, triangle opens up the items menu, the touchpad opens the entire menu, L2 opens the rewind menu, and R2 opens the emulation menu. The first areas of the game will also explain them. However, there is no way to reference most of these controls without either restarting the game (since backing out to the main menu is not possible) or going back to the tutorial areas. The rewind and save anywhere features are not explained at all.

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HIGH Supreme visual artistry and fantasy aesthetic. Dense, layered worldbuilding.

LOW The large-scale puzzles are hugely demanding.

WTF The “fast travel system.”

Cyan Worlds’s Myst etched a permanent sigil onto my brain. That hardly makes me unique, of course, and I was well behind the curve – we got a copy in ‘95 or ‘96, after Myst was a certified hit and soon-to-be mother to a thousand imitators (including P.Y.S.T., a direct parody of Myst featuring John Goodman in his one and only FMV performance!)

However, none of that impinged on my relationship with Myst. I was a kid when it came out, and like nearly everything I encountered as a child, it existed in a kind of holy vacuum, complete unto itself. I played it in short, wayward sessions with no eye for goals and no ear for plot — I was merely clicking around, wondering what’s this rocket ship doing here? Why is this model ship in the well? If I stand in the woods long enough, will creatures peel themselves from behind the skinny pines and come slouching towards me?

That brief, lambent encounter counted for the totality of my experience with the Myst series for decades, but every so often I’d feel a twinge, revisit the little room in my memory palace dedicated to that strange world, and desire to go back — which I finally did this month, in the form of Riven ’24, a revision/remake of the 1997 sequel to Myst, following on from Cyan’s reboot of that game in 2021.

While the world is the main draw in Riven ‘24, it’s also a puzzle game of the sort descended from ’80s point-and-click adventures and computer RPGs. These were titles that demanded players solve riddles, unravel ciphers, and make formidable leaps of logic based on careful, minute observation, sometimes accumulated over weeks of play. That’s all here in Riven ‘24. Players explore a series of connected islands, ferreting out the problems with each and solving them using a simple point-and-click interface. In a major departure from the standard adventure game format, however, there’s no player inventory in Riven ‘24; all the tools needed to solve the islands’ puzzles are in the world itself, or contained as clues within several discoverable documents and logs.

Like the Myst remake, Riven ’24 takes the ‘97 original’s world — which consists of painstakingly layered, pre-rendered images interspersed with FMV elements that were clicked through forward and back — and brings it into lush, realtime Unreal Engine 5 3D. Players can now walk around the world of Riven as they would in any modern first-person title….

…And it is a world.

As was the case in ‘97, the broken land of Riven is an aesthetic achievement in creating its vivid, deep, uncanny dream-place. Like all great fantasy work, Riven ’24 touches something universal through its impossible vistas – a shrine hidden by a wall of towering, waving fronds, a meadow of dun-colored moths that flutter away at the player’s approach, a lagoon bristling with eruptions of sharp rock and spires of twisting horn, an impossibly huge sword driven into a stone plateau…

The newfound 3D solidity is where the remake justifies itself… mostly. Exploring these incredible spaces fluidly and looking at anything from any angle and any perspective sheds a new light on the Fifth Age – a new light, but not, critically, a better one.

I’m critical towards modern remake culture. I think it’s damaging, I think it’s manipulative, and I think that it’s leading to some bad places for the art form. Now, there’s nothing cynical about Riven ‘24– in fact it seems to’ve been made with joy and love and reverence, but, like most remakes, it doesn’t really need to exist. Everything that makes Riven ’24 truly beautiful is fully present in the original, and if I had to choose one version of Riven for posterity, it would be 1997’s without hesitation.

Why? It comes down to the aesthetic. The new 3D is striking, undoubtedly, but it is less distinct than the original’s pre-rendered look. There is something painstaking and handmade-feeling about Riven’s original pre-rendered tableaux, and I don’t think it’s merely nostalgia speaking when I say that. In moving towards more traditionally ‘realistic’ graphic styles, we lose an element of artistic interest, no matter what else we may gain.

But we don’t have to choose, so Riven ’24 can (and should!) be enjoyed alongside the original. Control-wise, Riven ’24 will also be more palatable to gamers who aren’t down with the UI archaisms of the ’90s (clicking laboriously from place to place, and angle to angle, does get old) and some puzzles have been retooled, including the two biggest ones in the game.

Now, the puzzles in Riven ‘24  begin gently enough and most are quite satisfying to solve, but these two ‘capstone’ challenges nearly broke me. Solving them became a slog – the kind of ravenous, cancerous slog that devours the goodwill a game builds up in its best bits. I turned to a walkthrough, but this was of limited use because, in a change from the original, Riven ’24 randomizes key elements. In other words, even if one does know what to do, they’ll still have to break out pen and paper and do the work.

In a roundabout way, this is praise for the puzzles because this is not a case of the kind of nonsensical ‘moon logic’ that helped drive the genre to near-extinction, but instead a dense, intricate mystery asking for something most games do not – someone’s total, undivided attention.

As players progress through Riven ’24, they’re learning about this disintegrating world and the nature of Gehn, the tyrant who brought it to its current low state. They’ll find long journals, and are expected to read them – in fact, they need to read them as pivotal clues are hidden in seemingly throwaway lines.

Players also have to understand not only the physical space of Riven, but its people, its numerals, and the metaphysical powers at work. Then, these two end-game puzzles demand players bring everything they’ve learned and observed up to that point and bring it all to bear in order to solve them. It’s immersion on a level that modern titles simply do not dare require – for good or for ill – and it caught me off guard, frustrated me for a long time, and then, in the end, kind of impressed me.

Ultimately, my advice to anyone interested would be to try Riven ’24, but to give it only quiet evenings, with nothing on in the background and a notepad at hand. Savor the world, take in all of its wind-kissed, sea-girt coasts, jewel-like lagoons, and its bright stone facades cut with geometric planes of sun and shade. Prepare to go slowly, prepare to think, and prepare to synthesize. Also, prepare to get stuck. Even with its modernizations, Riven ’24 is an uncompromising experience, though it has incredible things to show those willing to make the journey.

7.5 out of 10

— Ben Schwartz

Disclosures: This game is developed and published by Cyan Worlds, Inc. It is currently available on MacOS, Meta Quest, and PC. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on PC. Approximately 11 hours of play were devoted to the single-player mode, and the game was completed. There are no multiplayer modes.

Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated E 10+ and contains Mild Language and Mild Violence. The ESRB summary states: This is a puzzle-adventure game in which players search various islands and worlds in order to rescue a character. From a first-person perspective, players interact with characters, solve puzzles, and perform actions that affect the story. Some actions result in failure scenarios in which players are shot by darts as the screen fades to black. One area depicts a body on the side of a cliff. The word “damn” appears in the game.

Colorblind Modes: The game offers Color Context Subtitles which are recommended for those with moderate to severe colorblindness.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: This game offers subtitles. The subtitles cannot be altered and/or resized. There is a separate toggle for Sound Context Subtitles which display important sound cues for puzzles as subtitles on the screen. I’d say it’s fully accessible.

Remappable Controls: No, this game’s controls are not remappable.

The post Riven Review appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

HIGH It’s a fine franchise choice to work out to.

LOW There’s no Japanese voiceover option, and the alternatives aren’t great.

WTF Kenshiro claiming that my punches are every bit as good as his. Uh… no.

Oh God! I’m not sure if anyone’s aware of this, but NUCLEAR WAR OCCURRED AT THE TURN OF THE CENTURY AND MOST OF THE PLANET IS NOW A SCORCHED WASTELAND! Oh no!

Bandits! Pillaging! Wanton slaughter! Bad words! Survivors rummaging through the wreckage for irradiated rats to feast on! It’s horrible, and only the successor to the Divine Fist of the North Star Kenshiro and his knowledge of boxing exercise techniques can save the day for all the wafer thin, malnourished victims tottering around the ruined Earth scavenging for meagre scraps of food.

Well, sort of. It’s made clear during the introduction that players are rediscovering the lost art of pre-apocalypse exercise instead of the murderously explosive art of Hokuto Shinken, so don’t expect to be able to waltz down the street blowing up passers-by at random in real life after a few sessions on the Switch.

In gameplay terms, anyone who’s played any of the Fitness Boxing titles should be able to slide right in here. Standing upright and holding the Switch’s nunchuck controllers in each hand, players will mimic the actions of their chosen onscreen instructor as they follow an exercise routine from start to finish, optionally warming up and cooling down at the end of each session. Sessions typically last between twenty to forty minutes depending on player choice, and range from “This Isn’t Bad, Actually” to “Oh Sweet Jesus I’m Gonna Die Help Me Help Help Help” in terms of intensity.

After the workout, each instructor will give out some advice or observations on the player’s performance. Kenshiro mentioned that I had an amazing jab and he couldn’t do better himself — and considering he can punch through someone’s skull and atomize the person standing behind them, I found this to be quite a compliment. Either that or he just lied straight to my face.

Players are also graded on their performance and how well they kept up with the onscreen action and given a bunch of stats showing estimated calories burned, punch success rate and the like. It all gets jotted down into a permanent gameplay record so users can track their exercise sessions over time, and each workout also doles out a little cash for buying new music, instructors and outfits along the way. Want characters like Mamiya or Raoh to teach fitness boxing instead? Go for it.

The other, more original, half of this package revolves around battles where Kenshiro works his way through multiple rounds of bad guys to square off against enemy bosses such as Shin and Southe… sorry, Thouzer. This mode isn’t that different from standard workouts as far as gameplay goes, but there are new victory conditions attached to the workout. Perform combination instructions correctly and the bad guys get defeated, get it wrong and they stay on their feet.

Bosses are slightly different, with both Kenshiro and adversaries like Shin having a health bar as well as attacking and defending phases. Hit the combos precisely during either sequence and Kenshiro’s opponent will get smacked and whiff their attacks, fail and he’ll be the one getting hammered into the ground instead.

Like I said, it’s basically the same mechanics as in the standard workouts, but there’s definitely something more engaging about ‘winning’ the workout as enemies fall by the wayside. That said, this is an all ages title. Adversaries seem to collapse in a weird sweaty explosion when defeated as opposed to having their intestines rupturing like they accidentally scarfed down a pack of military grade semtex.

The music seems mainly comprised of original pieces, though some of the more recognizable themes such as Tough Boy and Ai wo Torimodose also make an appearance… minus their lyrics, which is slightly disappointing. Songs can be set to each individual phase of the workout, so there’s also no danger of being forced to listen to a single song on repeat for more than half an hour.

Annoyingly, there’s no option to choose the Japanese audio for dialogue and the English voiceovers are inconsistent to put it mildly. Kenshiro and Raoh sound pretty much okay, even if their line delivery lacks dynamism. Toki sounds like he’s reading entries out of a phonebook and Rin’s performance simply confuses me, like it was meant for another character entirely. There are French and Italian options, but it’d have been nice to get the original Japanese dialogue given the origins of the franchise.

Included with our review copy was a code for some DLC — essentially, a few side games which can be played to unlock music and outfits for instructors. One of these minigames involves repeatedly punching Kenshiro’s rotund adversary Heart a multitude of times to blast through his blubber, then keep doing it over successive rounds until fatigue causes failure. The other event involves taking control of Raoh and punching bandits as far into the distance as possible through a combination of correct timing and swift punch speed. They’re a neat addition to the package that add some variety, but they’re hardly vital.

In summation, Fitness Boxing: Fist of the North Star delivers on its given premise. It’s still an exercise program first and foremost, so don’t expect the game aspect to distract from the fact that players are working up a sweat and fatigue is setting in as continual combinations of hooks and uppercuts slowly take their toll.

Even so, there’s definitely something to be said for performing fitness routines to visuals of rambunctious post-apocalyptic punks being smacked in their stupid faces to keep players engaged. And hell, if Kenshiro himself can’t get players to burn off some excess calories, who can?

Rating: 6.5 out of 10

Disclosures: This game is developed and published by Imagineer. It is currently available on Switch. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on the Switch. Approximately 15 hours of play were devoted to various workouts. There are no multiplayer modes.

Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated E (10+) and contains Mild Violence and Language. The official description reads: This is a rhythm/fitness game in which players perform boxing exercises by following timed prompts along with music. Players match an on-screen character’s movements (e.g., jabs, uppercuts, dodges) to earn points and achieve fitness. In a Battle Mode, matching movements correctly results in players punching opponents (e.g., outlaws, rivals) until they are defeated. Players can also use special techniques to unleash a flurry of punches against an opponent. The word “bastard” appears in the game.

Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes available.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: This game offers subtitles. (See examples above.) The subtitles cannot be altered and/or resized. There are no audio cues needed to successfully play the game. This is fully accessible.

Remappable Controls: No, this game’s controls are not remappable. There is no controller map. Most motions are performed using the player’s body to punch, with very little typical use of the controller outside of menus and the like.

The post Fitness Boxing: Fist Of The North Star Review appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

HIGH A well-produced interactive documentary with a wealth of info and playable prototypes.

LOW A nearly 10 minute video on the music will be inaccessible to the Deaf.

WTF The “bad” ending of Karateka is pretty funny, if a little frustrating.

In late 1984, Jordan Mechner released Karateka and introduced many elements to videogames that players now take for granted, such as in-game cutscenes and musical leitmotifs.

The game became a hit in 1985, and players were amazed at the seeming blend of movie and game. This fusion led to a revolution in development and many aspects became standard in videogames that came after.

Digital Eclipse, the developers of many classic compilations such Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection and Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration, decided to take Karateka and use it as the focus of a new type of interactive documentary. Dubbing this new docuseries style of historical video games, interview footage, and development materials the first in the “Gold Master Series”, Digital Eclipse has delivered The Making of Karateka.

I had never played the original Karateka, as it debuted on old hardware that was tough to access by the time I had gotten into playing videogames in the ’90s. However, through The Making of Karateka, not only was I able to play the game for the first time, but I also gained appreciation of what Jordan Mechner’s work brought to the medium. As such, it’s good to give players like myself an appreciation for not only this game, but also for other titles developed during the ’80s.

What helps this documentary is the sheer quantity of historical artifacts — particularly the video footage. The clips are comprised of interviews between Mechner and his father, Francis, but also from former personnel at Broderbund Software (Karateka‘s publisher) and industry leaders like Raph Koster, lead designer of Ultima Online, Tom Hall, co-founder of id Software, and John Tobias, a designer for Mortal Kombat.

The more intimate conversations between Jordan and Francis were my favorites, as they help to flesh out how important Francis’ support was to his son. Francis was the composer of the music, using his experience as a classical pianist to create a score reminiscent of Wagner’s operas, particularly The Ring Cycle. This helped to cement the cinematic quality of the experience Jordan was hoping to accomplish. Francis also assisted by being the target of the rotoscoping capture footage used to give the game its fluid animations. This is fascinating, since Jordan’s use of rotoscoping was a primitive form of motion capture. The drawing, rotoscope footage, and spritework can also be viewed in the Rotoscope Theater in Chapter 3 to see how all of this work translated to the game itself.

The presentation style of the documentary is laid out so that players can experience it in any way that they like. For example, I focused on the videos first, then the images, and finally the games. Besides these options, the staff at Digital Eclipse also released a remastered version of the original Karateka, with optional commentary that will stop the action and Mike Mika will narrate on various aspects of the development and why certain design decisions were made to replicate the experience of the original, and why that was important to the team.

However, this remastered version of the game is not the only way to play Karateka. There are three official versions (Apple II, Commodore 64, and Atari) plus various playable prototypes. These are important for preservation, but they also help paint a picture of the development cycle of older games like this. It’s not often players get to experience these early versions, so these are a nice treat.

Also included are several prototype versions of an arcade title Mechner never released, Deathbounce, as well as clones of Atari’s Asteroids he developed, Asteroid Blaster and Star Blaster. There’s also an option in nearly every game to watch a playthrough of each title, which is helpful to players who may not be good at older, and often more difficult games such as these.

The overall package has to be commended for its value to videogame history. By choosing to focus on the documentary, a fuller picture of the Karateka’s development and success is allowed to be told, and it’s also incredibly helpful to have the wealth of preserved development documentation, as these are things we generally don’t see from this early stage of gaming history. The footage also insures that everyone has a chance to relive a piece of gaming cultural heritage, particularly since the lessons from Karateka were later applied to Jordan Mechner’s next and most popular work, Prince of Persia.

One downside to this collection is that there is a nearly ten minute section of the documentary focused on the music that may be inaccessible to hard of hearing and Deaf players. The narrator does try to discuss visualizations of the musical notations and shows them on screen with an oscilloscope. This can only do so much, however, so this one section can leave some players feeling left out. (The video can be skipped.)

It’s a bold strategy to focus on the documentary aspect of a game or series, specifically the features normally used as bonus materials in many game compilations. However, due to the nature of the subject matter, this is an excellent blend of movie and game, much like the topic of the documentary. The collection is packed with hours of video footage, images, documentation, a gushing fan letter from John Romero of DOOM fame, correspondence, early art, and even early prototypes of Mechner’s original versions of Karateka, as well as fully playable versions of other games Mechner developed, but never was able to publish. This is easily one of the best and most complete historical documentaries of a videogame, ever, and should be held up as an example for future collections.

Rating: 9.5 out of 10

— Justin Grandfield

Disclosures: This game is developed and published by Digital Eclipse. It is currently available on PS4, PS5, mobile devices, Xbox One, and Xbox Series consoles, as well as PC. This copy of the game was obtained via a publisher code, and reviewed on PS5. Approximately 5 hours were devoted to the documentary, and the game was completed. There is no multiplayer mode.

Parents: This game has an ESRB rating of T for Fantasy Violence, Language and Mild Blood. There is no official summary from the ESRB, but the games and videos included in the documentary feature a fan game called Karateka II, which featured over-the-top violence and blood. The speakers will speak profanities rarely.

Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes available.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: The game offers subtitles and closed captioning. The text size cannot be changed. (See examples above.) Captions can be added in the video documentary section. There is one section of the game that greatly focuses on the music of the games and may not be easily understood by hard of hearing or Deaf players. This game is not fully accessible.

Remappable Controls: Yes, this game’s controls are remappable. This can be done in each game.

The post The Making Of Karateka Review appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

HIGH Shodan is an outright creepy antagonist.

LOW The lack of guidance isn’t inviting to new players.

WTF There’s a gorilla-tiger hybrid!

System Shock is a remake of the 1994 first-person sci-fi classic of the same name. I had never played the original, but I was familiar with some of its spiritual successors, such as Bioshock. What I discovered when visiting this source material was that it’s a wonderfully moody experience, but one that also was confusing to navigate.

In System Shock, we play as an unnamed hacker meant to disable the ethical controls on a space station’s AI (named SHODAN) in exchange for an operation on said station. Predictably, this is a bad idea, as six months after recovering from the surgery, the hacker finds themselves face-to-face with the results. SHODAN has released a bioengineered virus which has either killed or mutated the station’s crew, and also turned the station’s robots against humans.

The experience is a lonely one, as the only interaction with other characters is via sparse comm chatter, and most of it is SHODAN antagonizing the player. Otherwise, the only company to be had comes from the legion of mutants, cyborgs, and robots hunting one down at SHODAN’s behest.

In combat, there are a variety of weapons to challenge the ever-increasing opposition, such as a wrench, an assault rifle, and even a rail gun. Most have alternate ammunition that can be switched in with the press of a button, dealing more damage to either biological or robotic targets as appropriate. However, System Shock imposes strict inventory limits on the player, so it becomes important to manage limited space – I had to be strategic with what I could carry. Thankfully, if players need to drop ammo or other items that aren’t useful at the moment, there’s a storage bin that can be summoned, or they can simply be dropped on the floor – they’ll still be there later.

System Shock has other gameplay elements besides combat to contend with, such as puzzle-solving, and hacking.

One task that players must usually complete on each floor is to hack a computer via a first-person, free-form shooter offering a full 360 degrees of movement. These hacking sessions challenged me to keep an eye on every possible direction while advancing forward and destroying connections that would open doors or bypass security in the physical space.

There are also puzzles to solve on each floor, such as rearranging pieces on a grid to make them form a pipeline between two nodes, or using wires to provide just enough power to a junction box.

Fortunately, the developers have included menus that can set the difficulty of all of these systems right at the beginning, which can help new players from getting overwhelmed by specific aspects. Similarly, veterans can custom-tailor their desired experience to be as difficult as they’d like it. I enjoyed being able to tinker with these settings, particularly with hacking, as it can be disorienting when moving around in all directions.

However, despite being able to set combat difficulty, the enemies in System Shock were still punishingly hard to deal with, even on the easiest combat difficulty.

Ammunition is plentiful, but as mentioned above, enemies require specific types of ammo to be brought down faster, and they simply became bullet sponges as the game went on. As such, I always found myself at a disadvantage, since health items were few and far between, and resurrection stations (which act as respawn points) were even more sparse. A poorly-timed death can result in both massive backtracking and an unskippable game over cutscene.

Another thing that disappointed me was how few quality-of-life measures were implemented in this title from nearly thirty years go.

For example, much of the text is difficult to read at times — particularly in menus — due to its small size.

Each level of the station is also a labyrinth, and it’s tough to reliably find one’s way through the twists and turns. Trying to find a specific location is even tougher. As such, the map should be better at helping the player understand where they are, but virtually nothing is labeled.

Another serious issue is that no objectives are available, even in the menu. With no obvious goals to pursue and only a few clues from audio logs, I found myself aimlessly wandering until I stumbled upon an elevator to the next level or into one of SHODAN’s many traps.

Controller support felt like a secondary concern. There are many minor issues with it, such as such as incorrectly-labeled button prompts — a button press meant to go back one screen pushed me out of the menu entirely, while it worked perfectly with the mouse.

System Shock is haunting and lonely, has an expertly-crafted oppressive atmosphere, intense combat, and a strong sense of immersion. Unfortunately, the obtuse nature of the campaign makes it to navigate and generally understand what to do. Returning vets may appreciate the upgrade, but I suspect that new players like myself will feel excluded and put off by the steep difficulty.

Rating: 6/10

— Justin Grandfield

Disclosures: This game is developed Nightdive Studios and produced by Prime Matter. It is currently available on PC. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on PC. Approximately 24 hours of play were devoted to the single-player mode, and the game was completed. There are no multiplayer modes.

Parents: This game is rated M by the ESRB rating with the descriptors Animated Blood and Gore and Animated Violence. There is no description of the subject matter on the ESRB website, but this game contains numerous dead bodies, human viscera, body horror, and other disturbing imagery, as well as some discussions of suicide by some characters that will not be suitable for young audiences.

Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes available.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: The game offers subtitles, and can be toggled off or on in the options menu. The subtitles cannot be altered and/or resized. Subtitles are toggled on by default. In-game menus and text can be difficult to read at times. No closed captioning is available for audio cues in the environment. This game is not fully accessible.

Remappable Controls: Yes, this game’s controls are remappable for the mouse and keyboard controls, as well as the controller bindings.

The post System Shock (2023) Review appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

HIGH Leon’s highly expanded moveset leads to tons of ways to approach each encounter

LOW It’s all so darn dour

WTF Am I the only one on Earth who actually likes well-done QTEs?

Darren, in his excellent review of the recent Resident Evil 4 Remake, labeled the game a “compliment” to the original release. I agree with his meaning, but disagree with that being a positive. Heads up, as this is a Second Opinion, readers looking for a thorough breakdown of the game’s nuts & bolts should click the link above and read our Main Review.

Successful remakes fall into two categories — games that make the original completely obsolete (IE: Mafia: Definitive Edition, Shadow of the Colossus, Yakuza: Kiwami 1 & 2), and remakes that completely reinvent the game, which may keep the original release relevant to those chasing nostalgia but are generally usurped by the newer, definitive version made available to a wide audience. Capcom is familiar with the latter approach, as they’ve done that successfully with the remakes of Resident Evil 1-3.

Resident Evil 4 (2023) does not accomplish either of these positions. The thing I kept thinking of while playing the RE4 remake was Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes. Both titles significantly improved graphical fidelity. Both added modern controls and mechanics. Both have worse music and voice acting. Both have strange shifts in tone that compare poorly to the original. Neither have the spark of the title it’s based on.

The biggest problem, though? The original RE4 is still awesome.

Sure, it’s not what anyone would call modern, but the 2005 release is still infinitely playable and doesn’t feel anywhere near as dated as, say, 1998’s Resident Evil 2 did compared to its remake. For an 18-year-old effort, the first Resident Evil 4 is still an outstanding thrill ride that anyone can pick up and have a good time with. It just didn’t need a remake in the same way Resident Evil 2 or 3 did, and we still haven’t gotten an update for Code Veronica. A remaster that enhanced resolution, cleaned up a few assets, and made a few necessary quality-of-life enhancements like the recent Metroid Prime: Remastered would have been a perfectly serviceable and well-regarded release.

To be fair, there are plenty of legitimate improvements here. The parrying mechanic is fantastic and helps make up for the nerfing of the roundhouse kick. It’s also legitimately inspiring how Capcom was able to take the knife-fight QTE cutscene with Krauser and seamlessly integrate it into actual gameplay.

Also, the graphics are tremendous. Capcom’s proprietary RE Engine has been an exceptional canvas for their developers, and it shows its versatility again here. The character models are outstanding, weather effects are well implemented, the lighting is sharp, and it’s an exceptionally good looking game.

On the other hand, there are changes that don’t enhance things.

Yes, it was frustrating that Leon couldn’t walk while shooting in the original release, but that was a mechanic that added so much tension. There were constant split-second decisions being made as the player was either going to stand their ground or stop shooting and regroup elsewhere. This lack of mobility also factored into the level design perfectly. Now Leon is a full-on action hero far more capable of acrobatics, and the devs made the enemies more annoying to compensate for this. There were multiple situations where I was stun-locked into oblivion, and there seems to be a significant increase of enemies sneaking up behind the player with no explanation as to how they got there. The original was a difficult title, but I was never as frustrated as I was here.

Other attempts at ‘improving’ from the original land with a thud.

For the record, I never found Ashley’s presence annoying in the original release. It’s easy to tell her to stay put or hide at the start of an area, then go wreck fools and call her back. Now she has two settings — stay right behind Leon or… just kinda meander around the vicinity? This is unpredictable and led to Ashley frequently getting captured because she was somewhere I didn’t want her to be. Otherwise, keeping her close means she’s often fodder for various explosives.

In regards to Ashely hiding, she can only take cover in a few lockers strewn about. This is hardly a mechanic, as I counted three lockers in the entire game. If I saw the locker, I knew to stuff her in there because I knew some jerk with a chainsaw was coming, and it took all tension out because it was so obviously telegraphed.

The one thing I legitimately hated about the new release was the removal of laser sights on the guns. This, to me, was such an integral part of the original and how it felt to play. Yes they do have a laser sight attachment that one can buy, but it’s both expensive and only available for a couple of the starting pistols (it does come standard on one of the late level magnums). I find this fairly antithetical to the idea of a faithful remaster to Resident Evil 4.

Much has been made of the cut content in this release. Certain setpieces (and even a boss!) have been removed, but they were supplanted with bombastic moments of their own and I never thought I was missing anything integral. The Mercenaries mode came soon enough so that its omission at launch wasn’t bothersome, but the inevitability of Ada’s campaign being paid DLC is disappointing.

With that said, there is one thing from the original I miss that nobody else on the internet might agree with, but I miss the Quick Time Events. QTEs are something I’ve never hated, and they can be a fine addition when implemented well. Resident Evil 4 had awesome QTEs, and while the previously-mentioned Krauser knife fight is now better from a gameplay perspective, it also makes deciphering its exposition dump significantly more difficult because players will be too busy parrying to pay attention to what’s being said.

It’s easy to see that QTEs were likely removed because they’re associated with the goofier parts of RE4, like untying Leon’s leg from Del Lago, backflipping through motion sensors, or running away from a giant mechanical Ramon statue.

Of course, removing these bits brings us to the issue of a more serious tone, which now lines up better with the remakes (as well as the modern Resident Evil games), but it just isn’t the slap-happy good time the original is.

Leon has gone from quippy action hero to brooding and overly serious. It sticks out like a sore thumb from the start — the developers kept the absurd “Where’s everybody going? Bingo?” line as a nod to the original, but it now comes off as very out-of-place. I also miss the bad guys hijacking the radio signal to start a smack-talk session with Leon on occasion. Some characters do improve on their original iterations, though. Ashley’s mannerisms and tone better match someone who has been held hostage by bug-infested, backwater Spaniards, and they’ve given Luis a bit more screen time to better flesh out his motivations while toning him down from being a total perv. He’s still a perv, but not a total perv. Progress, I guess?

I want to stress that I didn’t hate my time with Resident Evil 4 (2023). Quite the contrary, actually, as I had a good time re-experiencing a true classic with a modern sheen. However, I don’t find it as impressive as any of Capcom’s previous RE remakes. The revised versions of Resident Evil 1-3 all took big swings and weren’t concerned with how they compared to the original. However, it feels like the devs played it safe here, and that’s disappointing. It’s not so disappointing that I wouldn’t recommend it, but seeing so many people call it the best remake ever compelled me to write this.

At the end of the day, ten years from now when I’m feeding on memberberries and looking to replay Resident Evil 4, there’s a good chance I’ll choose the original. That, to me, makes this remake not as successful as it could have been.

RATING: 7.5 Out Of 10

Disclosures: This game is developed and published by Capcom. It is currently available on XBX/S, PS4/5 and PC. This copy of the game was obtained via purchase and reviewed on the PS5. Approximately 19 hours of play were devoted to the single-player mode, and the game was completed. There are no multiplayer modes.

Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated M and contains Blood and Gore, Intense Violence and Strong Language. The official description reads as follows: This is a survival-horror game in which players assume the role of a government agent (Leon Kennedy) sent to rescue a character from a religious cult. From a third-person perspective, players explore a rural environment while searching for clues and fighting zombies and mutated creatures. Players use pistols, machine guns, shotguns, and explosives to kill enemy creatures in frenetic combat. Some weapons/attacks result in decapitation and/or dismemberment of enemies, along with large splatters of blood. Enemy attacks (e.g., chainsaws, tentacles) can also result in Leon being decapitated, blown apart, or impaled. Eviscerated animals and mutilated corpses are depicted in some environments. The words “f**k” and “sh*t” appear in the game.

Colorblind Modes: Colorblind modes are present.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: This game offers subtitles. The subtitles can be altered and/or resized. Furthermore, Capcom have gone above and beyond to make this game accessible to as many players as possible, with closed captioning often warning of nearby sounds such as beeping explosives, squeaking collectibles or the demented mutterings of nearby villagers. Excellent job, Capcom.

Remappable Controls: Yes, this game offers fully remappable controls. Well, at least on Keyboard and Mouse. Controller support has various presets available.

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