HIGH The Dark Grip power up is a blast.

LOW It’s a roguelike, so expect some runs to be complete write-offs.

WTF Dashing forwards doubles as a deflecting move?

Absolum takes place in a fantasy world where certain types of magic are militarily suppressed by a tyrant known as the Sun King who enforces his rule by locking up or murdering anyone who gets in the way of his ambition. Our heroes set off on an adventure to fight back and topple this system, only for things to go badly wrong roughly ten minutes into their mission.

Said heroes do have an ace up their sleeve though — while they can technically die, it doesn’t last long until they’re reborn in a sanctuary hidden away from prying eyes. So, after being stabbed, bludgeoned, bitten or burnt to death, they’re able to dust themselves off, power themselves up with various goodies from their previous attempt, and have another crack at taking down the Sun King.

Most of the enemies are a standard fantasy medley of orcs, goblins and humans poking at things with spears for the most part. That description also fits the playable characters who are a decent enough cast of misfits, and personable enough once they get talking. That said, Blaze Fielding levels of character design excellence are not to be seen here.

My main choice was the sword knight Galandra, a strong all-rounder. There’s also a Dwarf with stone-hard fists and a blunderbuss, a frog sorcerer who floats around the battlefield unleashing magical justice and a patchwork rogue type who seems the optimal choice for anyone looking to perform freeform combos. The first two are available from the outset, the latter two must be discovered on the journey.

While Absolum is definitely a roguelike, it offers a mostly-traditional 2D side-scrolling approach. Stroll from the left side of the screen to the right mangling anything that gets in the way, pick up gems and loot to either help in current or future runs, and choose a preferred path through the chaos.

If the setup is standard side scrolling fare, then it’s fair to say that the developers have pretty much nailed the combat. Players can run around, dash towards enemies to deflect their attacks, dash up or down to avoid them as well, and use a large variety of special moves to mince through enemy hordes. There’s even the occasional Golden Axe-style mount for added lethality and protection.

One twist to this formula is the addition of Rituals. After nearly every encounter in a given location, the player is offered various rewards ranging from gold and gems to Rituals that can substantially change their playstyle with tweaks such as punches setting foes aflame or well-timed dodges blasting them with lightning.

There are also character-exclusive perks like the Dark Grip, which I fell completely in love with since it turns out that strangling dudes in Absolum is totally awesome. Stroll up to some dirty-looking malcontent, hoist them up into the air by their throat and wait until they turn blue and die, coughing up large chunks of mana in the process.

It should be mentioned that the benefits of some options aren’t always exactly clear, as Absolum is often missing basic information in info panels such as how much damage being choked actually does (lots) to enemies or how effective a floating spectral sword is at stabbing dudes, but experimenting with new discoveries is all part of the experience.

In fact, ‘discovery’ is a watchword here as Absolum shows strength through the variety of things hurled at players. Especially in the early runs, there’s almost always some twist coming out of nowhere to open up new routes, make new friendships or reveal new enemies and bosses lurking in the shadows. One time I was waiting for a lift to another area, only to have a bunch of grenades hurled at me instead. I’m not sure if this was due to the character I picked or not, but my Dwarf didn’t get a warm welcome in that zone.

Of course, this variety in conjunction with the random nature of roguelikes has a downside. When scavenging for life-replenishing food after rough battles, it’s often (literally) a feast or a famine — pointlessly abundant one run with waste aplenty, then an absolute void of sustenance the next. The same goes for abilities and power-ups — one run offers perfectly synchronized Rituals that complement each other, and the next is nothing but a ramshackle collection of redundant nonsense that doesn’t mesh.

If I had a complaint besides the random awful luck of roguelikes, I’d have to say that I’m getting sick of seeing boss characters that borderline cheat by being slathered in hyperarmor that allows them to ignore player attacks until it shatters. It comes across as a bit lazy, honestly — there’s one Warlord boss in particular that takes nasty advantage of this with huge grab windows that last too long, able to snatch players out of combos, mid-attack. It’s not exactly game breaking, but I’d be happy to see it toned down or binned completely moving forward.

I’d also hoped for something to add replay value after killing the true final boss, but Absolum doesn’t introduce any new features that I’m aware of– no randomizers, no new skill tree unlock, and no surprise bonus characters. Given how generous the devs are with content up to that point, it’s a little strange to see the content feed suddenly stop dead like that. Rolling credits feels almost anticlimactic a result.

Minor quibbles aside, Absolum is an excellent beat-’em-up full of cool combos, neat build variations, random events and enjoyable roguelike power evolution spearheaded by a team that Absolumetely knows what they’re doing when it comes to crafting quality content. For fans of roguelikes or side-scrollers, this is one to check out.  

Rating: 8 out of 10

Disclosures: This game is developed by Guard Crush/Supamonks and published by DotEmu. It is currently available on XBX/S/PS5/Switch and PC. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on the PC. Approximately 17 hours of play were devoted to the single-player mode, and the game was completed. 0 hours of play were spent in multiplayer modes due to lack of available players pre release.

Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated E10+ and contains Fantasy Violence, Mild Blood, Mild Language, and Use of Tobacco. The official description reads: Absolum is rated E10+ for Everyone 10+ by the ESRB with Fantasy Violence, Mild Blood, Mild Language, and Use of Tobacco. This is an action-adventure game in which players assume the roles of rebel heroes battling a fantasy villain. From a 2D side-scrolling perspective, players use swords, spells, and melee-style attacks to defeat creatures and human enemies (e.g., goblins, raptors, captains, ghosts) in “beat-’em-up”-style combat. Battles are highlighted by impact sounds, colorful light effects, and cries of pain. A red puddle of blood is depicted on one ground level. One character is seen smoking a pipe. The words “damn” and “hell” appear in the game.

Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes available.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: This game offers subtitles that cannot be altered or resized. I don’t recall anything in the game that would require the use of hearing for successful play, so I’d say it’s fully accessible.

Remappable Controls: Yes, this game offers fully remappable controls.

The post Absolum Review appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

HIGH The new boss fights are challenging, creative encounters.

LOW Things can get a bit too hectic with four players.

WTF There should’ve been an “easy online” mode from the start…

Casey Jones & The Junkyard Jam is the first piece of paid DLC released for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate, a competent roguelike from 2024.

This DLC is a fairly priced expansion to the base game that doesn’t alter its fundamentals, it merely allows a few more ways for players to find enjoyment while re-treading Splintered Fate’s chaotic stages. Hence, everything said in the full game’s review stands today, so readers should definitely check that out for full details.

Casey Jones & The Junkyard Jam DLC adds Casey as a new playable character. There’s also a new biome, complete with altered enemy types and two new bosses. Plotwise, the DLC revolves around a car theft committed by the Punk Frogs, prompting the team to head to their junkyard and look for clues with extreme prejudice.

The entire DLC will take around 10 minutes of a run’s time, as it’s merely a stage that we can opt for in lieu of the usual Bebop and Rocksteady stage that crops up. While that isn’t a lot of content per se, given the repeating nature of the title, spicing things up with a new biome is exactly what players need to disrupt the monotony. On top of that, the DLC introduces a few more shimmering portal types, allowing players to add punishing modifiers like limiting the number of dashes they can perform to gain heftier remuneration later on.

As with the base campaign, everything in Junkyard Jam is fully voiced and true to the source material — Casey Jones fans will surely feel glee as they step into the shoes of the hockey stick-wielding youngster, ready to aid the turtles in their never-ending quest.

As Casey is a human without a turtle shell on his back, his silhouette is easily discernable during play, which is important as two players can’t pick the same character during a run. Casey’s also no slouch, but selecting him offers a more calculated way to dominate Splintered Fate — while swinging the hockey stick is slow and cumbersome, he comes with a well-rounded skillset built around creating short windows for bestowing lethal damage. If done right, his combo can nullify a screenful of enemies in seconds, which makes him a popular choice in any combination of characters.

Junkyard Jam also brings other welcome changes — water damage has received a revamp, and some synergies have been tweaked, encouraging further experimentation. 

However, the most important change to the core experience comes with a free patch that the devs had rolled out prior — there’s finally an easy way to jump into an existing run!

Given that Splintered Fate was made for co-op, it was baffling that the game lacked an option to instantly connect with a random online team. This omission marred the entire experience and created a significant barrier to enjoyment. Now there’s a “Find Public Run” option that simplifies matters. Thanks to this patch, I was only playing solo for a small fraction of the review time, a stark difference to my previously lonely evaluation period. As such, the ability to quickly and easily join others boosts value of this title immensely. 

Casey Jones & The Junkyard Jam DLC isn’t a game-changer, but the asking price is low and the recent option to quickly join players online improves the entire package’s quality. As a result, those who might have given Splintered Fate a pass before might find themselves now intrigued by the possibility of slapping ninjas and robots around with three other players, at least for a few afternoons.

Rating: 7 out of 10 

Buy Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splintered Fate: PC – Switch – iOS

Disclosures: This game was developed and published by Super Evil Mega Corp. It is currently available on Switch, PS5, PC, iOS, XBX/S, and Mac. This copy of the DLC was obtained via publisher and reviewed on the Switch Lite. Approximately 10 hours of play were devoted to the original game and four more hours with the DLC, and the content was completed. The game features an intuitive hop-in/hop-out multiplayer mode, and up to four people can play at a time. 

Parents: This game has received an E rating from the ESRB and contains Fantasy Violence. The game features the titular cartoon characters as they battle through hordes of enemy ninjas and robots in an attempt to track down and save their kidnapped master. The writing, action, and art direction are all fateful to Nickelodeon’s long-running Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles series. 

Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes available.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: All dialogue in this game is shown via textboxes and fairly well-acted voiceovers, so they’re easy to keep track of, even mid-fight. Text cannot be altered or resized. All enemy attacks are clearly telegraphed on-screen with easy-to-note areas of attack. I’d say this game is fully accessible. 

Remappable Controls: This game doesn’t offer a controller diagram and the controls are not remappable. However, the controls are displayed at all times at the screen’s corners (i.e., on the Switch, the face buttons are for striking, using special attacks, and dashing in and out of danger, while the left stick moves the character)

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HIGH Shooting golden turds via toilet gun.

LOW Trying to jump behind objects.

WTF Shooting golden tur- wait, did I already say that?

Years ago I dedicated a generous percentage of my free time to hunting down the weirdest indies I could find. Titles like Galah Galah and Will You Come Home are forever stuck in my mind. Wildbus seems to be made of similar stuff.

At its core, Wildbus — despite being described as an RPG — plays more like a 2D side-scrolling beat ’em up, except… we’re in a bus. As in, stuck in it, and it’s impossible to disembark. The only way is forward, exploring the world and looking for things to do. The bus-centric beat ’em up soon becomes a shoot ’em up, as we’re soon allowed to mount weapons on both the front of the bus, and on its roof.

The weapons themselves give a pretty clear idea of the project’s wackiness via things like toilet guns, dragons that spit fir, old-style cannons, mounted drills, a boxing glove, and more.

The overall design seems to take some inspiration from classic beat ’em up Kunio-kun (known in the West as River City Ransom) since movement can happen on both the Z and X axis in a world that can be freely explored. Setting out on a journey in a post-apocalyptic wasteland, the player is tasked with killing strong enemies and bosses to proceed. There are quite a few quests to be done, but they only revolve around finding and disposing of foes.

Along the way it’s possible to get NPCs to join our bus, which will give a bonus to attack or defense. The player can also switch bus skins, which do things like make the vehicle harder to hit or resistant to water — this latter one is pretty useful for traversing the lakes that surround some of the cities we’ll visit.

Despite there being little story to speak of, it is possible to talk with anyone we meet, including the ghosts of the enemies we’ve killed. Dialogue is usually just for laughs and not really to construct a narrative, even though — as is the case with the indie titles mentioned above — some of the weirdest lines slowly reveal a story.

All wacky dialogue and odd characters aside, the meat of Wildbus is just firing away at enemies to kill them, getting money, buying better weapons, and then rinsing and repeating. This does not make for gameplay best enjoyed in long sessions, but then again I don’t think that was ever the objective of the developer since Wildbus can be completed in around 90 minutes, at most.

Wildbus is an interesting little timesink which entices the player to visit its strange world and rewards them with plenty of oddball dialogue and weird NPCs, but it doesn’t have much to offer beyond its status as an oddity. I wouldn’t recommend it to the average person looking for something to play, but connoisseurs of the strange will want to look into it.

Disclosures: This game is developed and published by Wildbus Studio. It is currently available on Switch. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on Switch. Approximately 1.5 hours of play were devoted to the single-player mode and the game was completed. There are no multiplayer modes.

Parents: The game is rated T by the ESRB, for Crude Humor, Use of Tobacco, Fantasy Violence and Suggestive Themes. Despite the violence being really cartoonish, the humor tends to fall on the adult side. As such, I would recommend it to a teen audience.

Colorblind Modes: there are no colorblind modes.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: This game does not feature spoken dialogue, nor are audio cues used to communicate enemies’ attacks. Text cannot be altered or resized. In my view, the game is fully accessible.

Remappable Controls: the controls are not remappable.

The post Wildbus Review appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

HIGH Unique characters that demand teamwork to be used effectively.

LOW Occasionally beating my head against a wall due to difficulty.

WTF Should they have tried to make this Minotaur so… sexy?

Local co-op games seem to be getting fewer and farther between these days, and what we’ve gotten lately has been uninspired and stale. The latest from Cellar Door Games aims to change that by not only offering couch co-op, but by delivering some soul, quirky humor and satisfying gameplay.

Full Metal Furies is a hack-and-slash action RPG inspired by Greek mythos where up to four players control women who call themselves The Furies in their quest to stop evil Titans from ruining mankind. Players will need to work together to defeat waves of enemies and fight powerful bosses to save the world from total annihilation.

At first glance FMF may appear to be a standard fantasy action RPG, but where the game immediately diverges is in its character selection. While most entries in the genre feature teams of characters that use the same styles of moves with slight variations in elemental affinity or speed difference, FMF has four completely unique characters that vary greatly, and the characters are divided into two styles — one pair focuses on ranged combat, and the other specializes in melee.

With the two ranged characters, one has a close-up pistol and the other has a sniper rifle that covers the entire screen. The two melee ladies also differ — one is quick and strong for heavy hitting, while the other focuses on tough defense and tanking hits for the other members of the team. The dodge move available to each one also shows unique differences as well. Alex, the assault character, jumps over enemies and lands with a damaging shockwave while techie Erin rolls through enemies and does no damage, but boosts her own stats.

Also unusual for the genre, if players want to go solo, FMF still manages to shine. When playing alone, the game requires players to pick two of the four Furies to switch between, giving players opportunities to experiment with team composition. With this in mind, FMF brings a significant difficulty curve to the table.

There aren’t any trash mobs in Full Metal Furies — everything is deadly and eager to kill players. The bosses have massive health bars and difficult sets of attacks. And yet, the game never feels unfair. Each enemy telegraphs their moves and players have the tools to be able to fight them. For example, enemies occasionally have shields that vary in color. The color determines which character will be able to deal damage to them, requiring the player to swap between teammates. Switching between characters also causes more damage with teamed linking abilities. Little touches like these emphasize teamwork in a way that I haven’t seen in a beat-’em-up before, and it’s executed perfectly.

While games in this genre are usually brief, Full Metal Furies offers players a mastery system that incentivizes replay. During the adventure, players will gain experience for abilities and weapons used. As they increase in levels, they’ll gain bonuses like increased health, speed or damage. Not only will their favorite character get these benefits, but the other characters will also profit by upping three skills each, with further variations to be earned.

Other small touches make FMF stand out from the beat-’em-up crowd as well. The camera, for instance, locks the borders of the fighting area for each encounter. This seems like no big deal but earlier beat-’em-ups allowed enemies to be thrown or hit offscreen, causing delays or letting them get ranged hits in where they couldn’t be reached. Since FMF keep enemies locked in where the player can see, these issues are sidestepped in a smart way.

Also, while grinding characters up never feels necessary, FMF does reward replay — there are a load of secrets to find which give extra gold and experience for character abilities. Additionally, players don’t lose EXP or gold if they fail a mission. This allows players to always work towards new abilities and upgrades even when failure strikes. There’s always a goal to look forward to and to work toward.

It’s also worth noting FMF‘s settings and accessibility. The game uses colored shields on enemies, but also provides a colorblind mode that will physically draw a line to show which character can deal damage to an enemy if it has a shield around it. There are also tweaks for Deaf players via extra information to make sure they can find secrets without audio cues. If players don’t enjoy the story or don’t care for the humor of the character interactions, there’s also a tweak to turn off the plot and just play through the missions.

Grab a friend or three and make room on the couch — Full Metal Furies is a fantastic romp through an ancient world of titans and their mythological minions. The emphasis on teamwork, unique game tweaks, and humorous (and sometimes depressing) story has left quite a big impression on me, and got my gaming year off right. Rating: 9 out of 10

Disclosures:This game is developed and published by Cellar Door Games. It is currently available on XBO and PC. This game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on PC. Approximately 18 hours were spent in single player mode, and the game was completed. The game offers co-op for up to four players, but no time was spent with this mode. Yet.

Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated E10+ and contains Fantasy Violence. It’s a hack and slash game. There’s no blood, so it’s just the fighting itself that pushes the game just above having an “E” rating. Nothing awful here, so it’s good to go for all players.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: The game’s dialogue is all done through text boxes, so those that are hearing impaired will not miss anything from the main story. The game does have an option for the hearing impaired which helps in locating secrets. It’s fully accessible.

Remappable Controls: Yes, this game offers fully remappable controls.

Colorblind Modes: Yes, the game does include colorblind modes.

The post Full Metal Furies Review appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

HIGH The disco dance party special attack.

LOW the never-ending second sewer level.

WTF What’s up with the turtles’ weird noses?

I don’t understand Platinum Games. Sometimes they create things which are simply wonderful–practically masterpieces–and then they go and create things that are decidedly not.

Are there two separate teams there, one with skills far superior to the other? Or are they accepting contract work and not fussed with how slapdash results impact their reputation?

I have no idea what causes the disparities between their releases, but it’s a little disconcerting to see Platinum’s name on a box and never know whether I’m going to get an action-packed gem or a piece of mind-numbing schlock.

Case in point, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants In Manhattan.

Although I have love for the turtles from way back in the day, I don’t think I would have given Manhattan a second glance if not for the release of Transformers: Devastation last year.

Also from Platinum, Devastation was an amazing piece of fanservice that doubled as an engaging beat-’em-up, and it got so much right that I figured the turtles would get the same high-class treatment. Turns out the joke was on me–although it’s not the worst game I’ve ever played, Manhattan is nowhere near the quality of Devastation.

As Manhattan begins, something weird is going on in the city and it’s up to the heroes in a half-shell to investigate. There’s not much more to it than that, and as someone who hasn’t followed the most recent iteration of the cartoon, I wasn’t familiar with this version past the basics. That said, story isn’t the focus here.

After a fairly thorough tutorial, it’s revealed that our four heroes can wall-run, perform stealth insta-kills, block, parry and more, but these things hardly matter because Manhattan is mostly about running straight into mobs of enemy goons and mashing buttons. It’s almost comical that the devs have added so much stuff that doesn’t feel like it belongs, even going so far as to add special moves that can be swapped and upgraded, charms that add minor effects (5% more experience, yay!), items to buy for use during battle and so forth, but it’s all superfluous when a player’s just attacking like crazy and trying to follow their character on screen amid flashy visual clutter.

Interestingly, solo players control all four turtles at once and can switch between them at any time. There’s no functional difference between them, but turtleswapping is a must since each one has four special moves that run on cooldowns. Whenever a boss or a big mob shows up, the most effective strategy is to fire off the current turtle’s specials and then switch to another one while the last one’s are recharging. It’s not exciting, and the bosses have so much life that there’s enough time for tedium to set in.

The level design is as dull as the combat. It’s mostly large, empty areas and hallways with boring textures. There’s not much environmental interaction happening at any point–these are just places to fight mobs. The worst was the second sewer level, which was so long and neverending that I genuinely thought the game had glitched itself into a repeating loop. Offering nothing but tunnel after tunnel, April O’Neil was incessantly chiming in with “Gosh, this level seems like it goes on forever!” I was already losing my patience, and hearing the developers repeatedly point out their own garbage level design was salt in the wound.

As a counterpoint to my downbeat perspective, I invited my seven-year-old son to sit down and play some levels with me. (In other words, I was hating life and wanted him to play so I wouldn’t have to.)

He’s also a Turtles fan, and although he’s quite capable of taking on games with more complexity than this, he was able to enjoy himself by switching from turtle to turtle and doing dance animations when not stabbing ninjas. It was enough for him for an afternoon, and by extension, it might be enough for other kids in a similar age range.

Getting back to me here, although I can see potential in controlling a team of four and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is a perfect fit for such a concept, Mutants In Manhattan feels like a rushed contractual obligation rather than something created out of love or inspiration from the source material. Platinum Games has already proven they’re capable of creating experiences far, far better than this one, and seeing them slumming is pure disappointment. Rating: 3.5 out of 10

Disclosures: This game is developed by Platinum Games and published by Activision. It is currently available on PS4, XBO, PS3, 360, and PC. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on the PS4.

Approximately four hours of play were devoted to the single-player mode, and the game was not completed. No time was spent in the online-only multiplayer mode due to being unable to find a match.

Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated T and contains fantasy violence. Everything here is on-par with the cartoons on TV–some ninja action, but bloodless and vague. It’s just a lot of weapon-swinging, really. There’s no salty language and no sexual content.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing: Subtitles are available for dialogue and there are no significant audio cues during gameplay. It’s accessible.

Remappable Controls: This game offers four different preset control schemes, but the controls are otherwise not remappable.

Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes available in the options.

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