HIGH Kreia remains a high point of writing and voice acting in videogames.

LOW Launching without the cut content restored. 

WTF Several crashes resulting in lost progress!

I said in my review of the The Force Unleashed that certain games in the Star Wars franchise did a great job of exploring the mythos, moving focus away from the Skywalker dynasty and instead looking at how the force and the Jedi/Sith wars affect the galaxy. Knights of the Old Republic 2 is one such game. 

As a quick history lesson, the first iteration of KOTOR 2 was released in 2004 and developed by Obsidian, not Bioware, who crafted the first KOTOR. Because Obsidian was only given a year to develop a sequel, the result became known as an often-broken, unfinished and unpolished experience. For an in-depth look at the game, you can read the full GameCritics review from 2005 here.

As a result of this rushed development, I didn’t enjoy it as much as the original. However, over the course of a handful of replays I grew to appreciate it, despite its flaws. After learning that this port would reintegrate cut content that was missing from the original, I figured it was a good time to revisit.

Unfortunately, this version takes the concept of ‘faithful port’ and runs with it to an almost-comic degree — much like its original release, during my time with it I found it to be crash-prone and I lost progress on more than one occasion. There were even widespread reports of players being unable to progress the story due to a bug. For a game as infamously rough as this one, releasing a port in this state is unbelievable.

There’s also a big missed opportunity regarding the original’s cut content, which has been available for the PC version via mods.

Part of the selling point of this Switch port is that this content will be included — emphasis on “will.” That’s right, it’s not actually in this port yet! The word is that it’s to be available sometime in Q3 2022, but nothing concrete as of yet. As a result, the ‘unfinished’ feeling of the original’s plotline is carried over here with notable script gaps still left unfilled.

The state of this port, both technically and artistically, is a shame because it would otherwise be a great companion piece to the original, with the story being its biggest plus.

This adventure tells the tale of the Exile, whom the player controls. They’ve been cut off from the Force for unknown reasons, and the Jedi are almost wiped out as a result of a Sith-led hunt. The Exile is then tasked with finding the last of the Jedi council and bringing order to a broken galaxy.

This is a fine start, but where KOTOR 2 truly excels are the characters. The Exile is an interesting (if typically cypher-like) representation of whoever the player decides they are, and shaped by choices that align them to the dark or the light side. However, the supporting cast soars thanks to a return of a couple of favorites, such as the homicidal assassin droid HK-47 and others serving as fascinating deconstructions of Star Wars archetypes, such as the Wookie Hanhurr, and the resentment he holds towards his life debt.

Apart from those, the true highlight has to be one of the best-written characters in the whole Star Wars saga, Kreia.

Kreia plays the role of the Exile’s mentor. However, unlike other role models who extol the virtues of the force, whether light or dark, Kreia detests the Force and its hold over people’s freedom. Via excellent voice acting, Kreia often expresses disgust to the player character if their actions land too far on either side of the light/dark side divide, and there are many times when she’ll interact with side characters without the Exile’s knowledge, manipulating them to her will. It’s refreshing to have someone openly question the Force in a way that’s rarely done elsewhere in the franchise, and because she is such a fascinating character, she had a permanent place in my active party.

Gameplay-wise, this port of KOTOR 2 retains the trademark Bethesda gameplay loop seen in the original KOTOR and many of their other titles — visit a new area, pick up side missions, continue the story and move to a new area. It’s familiar, but remains interesting due to the well-acted and well-written dialogue.

The turn-based combat involves players lining up actions such as weapon- or Force-based abilities to attack enemies. Players can also switch between characters to use different abilities. This aspect hasn’t aged as well as the story, as it feels far too simplistic (I often found myself sleepwalking through combat by spamming the “Flurry” ability) but it’s inoffensive and functional.

KOTOR 2 did move away from its prequel by introducing a system where the Exile can influence party members by carrying out actions that will appeal to certain characters while also repelling others. This serves as an interesting addition to the light/dark system by forcing the player to consider how teammates may react to their choices. Successfully increasing influence levels result in companions revealing more about themselves and their pasts, but can also result in non-Force characters becoming Jedi. Ultimately, it leads to a good degree of replayability as it’s almost impossible to gain influence over every character on a single playthrough.

Despite 18 years passing between the original and this port, it feels like not much has changed at all — it remains a heavily flawed but interesting work. Unfortunately, I was hoping that it would right the wrongs of the original version, especially in terms of the additional content, but fails to do so. That’s a bit disappointing, but even with the game being re-released in the state it is, it remains more enjoyable and refreshing than most of Star Wars‘ more recent offerings. 

Disclosures: This game is developed by and published by Aspyr.  This port is currently available on Switch but is also available on PC and Xbox. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on Switch. Approximately 50 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 and contains Mild Blood, Mild Suggestive Themes, Violence. The official ESRB description reads as follows: This is a role-playing game in which players assume the role of a Jedi struggling to reconnect with the Force. Players explore fantasy locations, interact with various characters, perform missions, and engage in melee-style combat in a sci-fi setting. Characters use blasters, swords, and light sabers to fight enemies (e.g., droids, republic soldiers, Sith figures). Battles are highlighted by blaster fire, impact sounds, and explosions. A handful of scenes depict corpses with bloody wounds and burn marks. Some female characters are designed with revealing outfits (e.g., low-cut tops, deep cleavage, partially exposed buttocks); the dialogue also contains brief suggestive material (e.g., “No tougher than enduring your false sympathy while you’re staring at my chest.”).

Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes available. 

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: This game offers subtitles. (See examples above.) They cannot be resized. As a turn-based game during combat, KOTOR 2 does not require fast reactions or audio cues. This experience is fully accessible.

Remappable Controls: No, this game’s controls are not remappable. This game does not offer a controller map diagram, but movement is on the left stick. Camera is the right stick. L pauses the action. R switches player characters. ZR and LR switch between non playable characters. Left and right on the d-pad switches between types of abilities. Up and down on the d-pad switches between abilities in that category. A is the action button.

The post Knights Of The Old Republic 2: The Sith Lords (2022) Review appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

HIGH Integrating shooting mechanics into the gameplay is interesting.

LOW It gets the basics wrong, and its few fresh ideas are flawed. 

WTF Releasing this game so close to the defining example of the genre!

I’ve sunk countless hours into From Software’s Souls games over the years. Dark Souls and Bloodborne are ranked at the very top of my favorite games, and I enjoy the style so much that I replayed Dark Souls 3 after sinking 90 hours into Elden Ring just to keep getting that fix.

Unfortunately, From Software only makes a new game every few years, so I try other entries in the Soulslike genre, but I find these often fall short. The same holds true for Dolmen.

Developed by Brazilian developer Massive Work Studios, Dolmen is a Soulslike with a sci-fi twist. The player explores a planet filled with what is described by the gaming blurb as “Lovecraftian horror”, on a mission to find and bring back samples of diamonds called Dolmen.

Upon starting Dolmen, it quickly becomes clear that like so many FromSoft imitators, Dolmen misses what makes the formula so compelling.

For example, Dolmen leans hard on the ‘difficulty’ angle, and I found myself constantly dying and making very slow progress from the start. Despite being so prominent in the marketing, From Software games are generally not difficult for the sake of being difficult — in these games difficulty reflects a theme of hopelessness, death and triumph, and this in turn is woven into meticulously-crafted gameplay and environmental storytelling. Dolmen lacks this sophistication, and is instead just a difficult game, exacerbated by a poor combat system that leads to needless deaths.

For example, in combat there’s a general lack of weight to the weapons and poor strike feedback, and this continues to be the case even after having access to larger weapons.

Dodging is unreliable due to questionable hitboxes and hard-to-ascertain enemy wind-up animations.

The stamina bar drains quickly and takes an age to refill, and the parry system is unreliable. It’s far too risky to use.

With all of these issues in mind and a character that continued to feel weak as the game progressed, I found myself trying to grind for EXP in order to get past some tricky bosses, but the levelling system rewards players with pathetically meager stat improvements. Toss in cheap enemy ambushes, and I found the combat — a key aspect of any Soulslike — to be incredibly frustrating and dull.

As Dolmen is Sci-Fi oriented, there is also ranged combat in addition to melee. It’s an interesting addition that works fairly well. The aiming system is decent and using firearms causes damage that also fills up an enemy’s stagger bar, allowing extra damage when filled.

Sadly, it’s a case of one step forward and two steps back with these guns thanks to how Dolmen uses its energy system.

Besides the genre-standard health bar and stamina bar, Dolmen has a third energy bar. This temporarily drains through weapon use, but will slowly refill. Healing is also tied to this same bar, but when used for healing, the energy spent will not refill. Instead, it must be refilled by consumable batteries. While healing is instantaneous, using a battery is time consuming and leaves the player open to enemy attacks.

I can see how tying both gun use and healing to one bar may seem like an interesting idea — on paper it will provide a mechanic that forces the player to think strategically, I’d assume. In reality, it leads to a war of attrition against bosses consisting of quick bursts of shooting followed by a period of inaction and keeping one’s distance to allow the bar to refill, ensuring that there is always enough left to heal if needed. With melee combat being unreliable and having to manage the energy bar, boss battles are long, slow and frustrating. 

Aside from these gameplay issues, Dolmen is a bland-looking run with environments that are basic and lack imagination. Character animations range from stiff to glitchy, and enemy design ranges from dull to laughable — to describe the aliens here as Lovecraftian is ludicrous.

Despite the lack of graphical complexity there is a noticeable anti-aliasing effect in certain areas, with jaggies most noticeable in the hub area. Improvements are found when turning on the optional “quality” mode, but then the framerate slows to a crawl and the minor visual improvements are rendered pointless. 

The loading times are so horrendously slow that on the rare occasion the player finds a shortcut, any potential time saving is canceled by the interminable loading screens. 

Dolmen also includes a weapon and suit construction mechanic with customizable options which would be an entertaining diversion if it wasn’t for the unworkable menus in which it is hard to tell what is highlighted. Also, some weapons and armor are gated behind grind that requires bosses to be beaten three times before the player can get the parts needed for successful crafting.

To be brutally honest, Dolmen seldom has anything to add to the Soulslike genre, and when it does, it shoots itself in the foot with how poorly the ideas are implemented. In a post-Elden Ring reality, I felt like my time was being wasted constantly — after 23 hours and repeated deaths against the penultimate boss I checked out. The Soulslike genre is a tough one to crack and offering mediocrity is simply not enough. Without nailing the basics and successfully bringing something new to the table, there’s little reason to play.

Disclosures: This game is developed by Massive Work Studio and published by Massive Work Studio, Prime Matter, Koch Media. It is currently available on XBO, XBX/S, PS4/5, PC. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher download and reviewed on the PS4. Approximately 23 hours of play were devoted to the single-player mode, and the game was not completed. 0 hours of play were spent in multiplayer modes.

Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated T for Teen and contains Blood and Gore, Violence. It reads on the website:

This is an action role-playing game in which players search an alien world for samples of a unique crystal. From a third-person perspective, players search various facilities while looking for clues and battling hostile aliens in frenetic combat. Players use swords, axes, and pistols to kill insect-like enemies. Combat is highlighted by gunfire, impact sounds, and blood-splatter effects. Cutscenes occasionally depict characters stabbed through the chest, and some environments depict mutilated/disemboweled alien corpses. Alien limbs can also be seen on the floors of some environments.

Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes available. 

 Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: This game offers subtitles. Subtitles cannot be altered and/or resized. Dolmen is full of unfair enemy ambushes – without audio cues these are even more unfair. Additionally, those with eyesight problems will really struggle with the poorly implemented menus and unclear highlighting. As a result I would say that it is not fully accessible. 

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

The post Dolmen (PS4) Review appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

HIGH It nails the power fantasy of being a Jedi or Sith.

LOW Button prompts for every single boss battle.

WTF Erm… it seems that Starkiller is the most powerful force user ever?

I have a love/hate relationship with Star Wars. 

I have no issues with A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back being lauded as great films, but for such a popular and well-regarded series, there’s a large percentage of bad-to-average entries. I also feel the obsessive fandom has led to toxicity like what we saw with The Last Jedi when it actually dared to do something different with the franchise.

Despite this, I’ve often thought that Star Wars is great material for videogame adaptations — the films are audio/visual spectacles, different aspects can be lent to a variety of genres, and sometimes games can go in interesting directions that the films are too stale and safe to explore. However, The Force Unleashed is not a title that takes advantage of these angles.

The Force Unleashed was originally released in 2008, with the current Switch port developed by Aspyr. Set between the events of Revenge of the Sith and A New Hope, The Force Unleashed tells the (at the time, this was canonical) tale of Starkiller, a secret apprentice of Darth Vader tasked with finding and killing the last remaining Jedi.

To be fair, the adventure opens in a strong way, and it doubles as one of the best tutorials I’ve ever experienced — basically, we’re introduced to third-person realtime mechanics such as various force powers and lightsaber abilities by taking control of Darth Vader as he slaughters countless wookiees. It’s an incredibly enjoyable way to come to grips with the action as the player lets loose with the full use of the force. At the end of this tutorial Darth Vader meets Starkiller and decides to train him as his apprentice. A lot of titles struggle with openings and particularly with tutorials, but I feel The Force Unleashed nails it.

This section also shows the main strength of The Force Unleashed — namely, the combat flow and the number of powers the player can use as Starkiller.

Once beginning the game proper, it offers a steady and repetitive loop which sees Starkiller making his way through linear levels while contending with waves of enemies and finally facing off with a boss in a duel. The enemies don’t pose much challenge, but this works in its favor since it means the player has ample opportunity to employ their array of abilities. It certainly fulfills the power fantasy of being a force user.

That said, it is by no means a precise system — it can often feel messy and loose due to an unreliable lock-on system and a poor camera. However, being able to combine different abilities, such as force choking an enemy before zapping a group with force lightning, ensures that the gameplay loop remains enjoyable despite the limitations and lack of variety.

I wish I could say the same about the boss battles. Each one starts off like a normal fight, but concludes with button prompts that must to be completed in order to finish them off. Any mistake results in the boss regaining health and the player having to restart the button sequence. I’m never a fan of QTEs or button prompts like these, but their use in The Force Unleashed is infuriating to say the least.

Back when it was first released, I recall that The Force Unleashed received a huge amount of hype as it was meant to fit into the canon of Star Wars. Playing as a Sith apprentice is an undeniably interesting scenario and it does peripherally mesh with the events of the films to a degree, but one much-advertised setpiece sees the player using the force to crash a star destroyer. Such a colossal display makes Starkiller seem like the most powerful force user in the entire franchise… which is ultimately pretty ridiculous considering how insignificant he ultimately is. After all, when’s the last time you heard anyone mention him since then? Besides that faux importance, Starkiller is a pretty bland character — he’s just a short-haired, moody white guy of the kind that was in vogue at the time, and he comes with a vocal performance that is irritatingly monotone. 

Speaking of monotone, Unleashed has a visually drab art style with uninteresting, basic level design. It couldn’t have been great back then and it isn’t great now, and this port only reveals how lacking in detail the environments are.

Other issues include Starkiller often getting stuck in level geometry, the poor camera issues that I mentioned earlier, and an inconsistent framerate. I can’t imagine that this port is the best way to play this game — it feels like some polish is still called for here.

Overall, The Force Unleashed is a fairly ordinary game that is bolstered by its IP. If not for the Star Wars connection, it would have been forgotten long ago. Going wild with force powers does have its charm, but that’s not enough to elevate it into must-play status, by any means.

Disclosures: This game is developed by Aspyr and published by Krome Studios. This specific port is currently available on Switch, and the game is also available on PC, PS2, PS3, PSP, Xbox 360, Wii. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher download and reviewed on the Switch. Approximately 10 hours of play were devoted to the single-player mode, and the game was completed. 0 hours of play were spent in multiplayer modes.

Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated T for Teen and contains Violence. There are depictions of violence in The Force Unleashed – things like Sith powers, such as the force choke. However, it is bloodless and is no more violent than depictions of violence in the films. If you’d let your children watch Star Wars, then they’re probably fine to play this.

Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes available. 

 Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers:  This game offers subtitles. The subtitles cannot be altered and/or resized. Having played the game with no sound, I feel that there are no particular issues that hinder gameplay. The story is fully shown in subtitles and there are no audio cues needed for successful play. As a result, I feel this is game is fully accessible.

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

The post Star Wars: The Force Unleashed Review appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

HIGH Simple (but effective) animation with a lot of heart.

LOW Toggling between furniture/objects is sluggish.

WTF  The inhuman (and vaguely horrifying) faces of the characters.

There was a recent comment here at GameCritics asking why so many reviews were being awarded with 7s and 8s. Our editor, Brad Gallaway, pointed out that as volunteers we generally self-select what we’d like to cover, and as such, will naturally gravitate towards games that we’re interested in.

This made me reflect on my own choices and how I initially chose to write for GameCritics to broaden my gaming horizons. This has happened — to a degree — but I noticed that I was trending towards first-person shooters and narrative adventure games. I felt like my choices were getting too predictable, so I picked a puzzle game instead. However, in reality this was a ridiculous choice as I get incredibly frustrated with puzzlers and lack the patience I used to have. So here we are.

In My Shadow is a puzzle/platformer. The player character is a young woman called Bella who’s looking back at her memories and seeking some answers. The game takes place in different rooms of her family home, each with a particular theme/relationship and a set of puzzle/platform sections to complete. The player controls a 2D silhouette of Bella starting on the left side of each room, and she must try to make it to the other side by jumping, avoiding obstacles, and collecting pages of a book along the way.

For me, puzzlers live and die by their central mechanic, and In My Shadow has a novel one. Rather than being a standard platformer, the silhouette comes into play as the player must switch and rearrange various objects/furniture in each room. There’s a light source at one side, so these objects create shadows that create platforms and surfaces Bella can use to progress her silhouette through various challenges.

For example, players can increase the size of an object by moving it closer to the source of the light, or can sometimes spin them around to cast a differently-shaped shadow. In My Shadow typically starts simply but quickly becomes more complex as the player progresses by adding multiple light sources or objects that collapse after the player lands on them.

While this is a novel concept, I became quickly exasperated. I appreciated that it felt like there was more than one solution to each section, but my patience wore thin partly due to how exact the shadow adjustments have to be, and also due to how sluggish switching between Bella and cycling through the various objects feels — a problem I often come across in console ports of puzzlers where mouse controls would clearly be more intuitive.

To be fair, as I age I have less time for gaming and work a stressful job. This means that unless I’m playing something exceptional, I resent sessions where I don’t make tangible progress. When I hit roadblocks, I feel frustrated and sense my precious free time slipping away. Ironically, my engagement with the story of In My Shadow only contributed to this frustration as I wanted to rush through the gameplay segments to get to the story parts. The developers have helpfully included the option to skip puzzles, but as a reviewer I felt duty bound to ignore this option.

While the gameplay wasn’t a home run for me, In My Shadow tells an emotional story that I resonated with. Through Bella, the player looks back on her memories and how certain choices affected her relationships. There is a great pang of regret around it all, and it made me reflect on my own relationships and regrets.

The tale comes via short cutscenes featuring an art style that is simple (but often horrifying) with crudely-rendered human faces appearing alien. However, the dialogue is well-written and simple animations (such Bella bowing her head when she reaches her dog) are moments that go straight to the heart and express things that I think everyone can connect with.

This all leaves me in a tricky position with In My Shadow and I almost considered covering it as a This Is Not A Review, partly due to my current relationship with videogames in general. Overall I think it’s fine for a puzzler. However, I resonated with In My Shadow on an emotional level and walked away feeling like I got something out of it despite my frustrations with the gameplay.

Disclosures: This game is developed by Playbae and published by Playbae, Alcon Interactive Group and OverGamez and is currently available on PS4/5, PC, XBO/X/S, and Switch. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher download and reviewed on PS4. Approximately 6 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 and contains Fantasy Violence. There is no official description provided by the ESRB but I feel that this is safe for kids. There are mature themes around regret that may not resonate for children and mild depictions of violence (such as Bella landing on cartoonish spikes) but these things do not feel excessive or brutal. 

Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes available. 

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: This game offers subtitles. The subtitles cannot be altered and/or resized. (See example above.) In My Shadows does not use audio cues and playing with no sound didn’t change my experience. It is fully accessible.

Remappable Controls: The controls are not remappable.

The post In My Shadow Review appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

HIGH The inspired idea to merge Norse mythology and science fiction.

LOW Some save points are too far apart.

WTF How ridiculously dark it is.

It’s safe to say that there’s recently been increased interest in Norse mythology. This can be seen in the Marvel cinematic universe with Thor or with the God of War series moving from a Greek to a Norse mythology setting. It’s even been used to explore less obvious themes, such as mental illness in Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice. Hellblade also incorporated horror (as have a few others) but I haven’t seen many take the Norse foundation and marry it to a futuristic setting — not since the infamous Too Human, at least. Apsulov: End of Gods does this now.

Apsulov, developed by Angry Demon Studio, is played from a first-person perspective and at times seems to fit into the genre of a narrative-driven adventure (otherwise known as a “walking simulator”). There are some key differences though, with the inclusion of shooting and horror elements. However, like those narrative-driven adventures, Aspulov has a heavy focus on story, which begins with the well-worn trope of the player character not remembering who they are. The main character wakes up in a dark research base full of crazed enemies, with no idea what’s happened or why they are there.

As the tropey setup suggests, Apsulov is pretty derivative. This becomes clearer as the player finds and listens to the various audio tapes (another worn-out trope) and learns that discoveries were made and scientists messed with things they shouldn’t be messing with, echoing countless games like Doom 3 and Dead Space.

There isn’t anything particularly new in the gameplay either. The elements that push Apsulov away from being a typical walking simulator — namely, the horror and the shooting – are lackluster, especially when considered on their own. For example, the shooting is slow and cumbersome, relying on a charge mechanic powered with very limited resources. 

Apsulov is also not an especially scary experience. Enemies boast basic and unimaginative character models, contributing to a lack of terror despite how quickly the player character can die. Rather, gameplay leads to situations that frustrate more than terrify, such as one instance in a corridor filled with enemies, which I was obviously supposed to sneak through. After many frustrating deaths and all sense of tension evaporated, I ended up just blindly running through the area. Blindly is an apt word – Apsulov is a very dark game.

This can give it a heavy sense of atmosphere and lend a striking appearance in places, such as one instance where the piercing glow of a giant axe cuts through the darkness. However, it can also make Apsulov an absolute chore to play. There is an augmented vision mode, that helps in some areas, but in others it doesn’t make anything much clearer. Indeed, Apsulov became nigh-impossible to play due to screen glare on a sunny day, here I found myself stumbling around in the dark, dying because I just couldn’t see. What’s worse is the spacing of the save points — sometimes too far apart, and dying between saves only added to my irritation.

While what I’ve written so far may make it sound like I didn’t enjoy Apsulov, I actually enjoyed my time with it overall.

It’s true that the elements of Apsulov ’s gameplay don’t stand out when considered on their own, but the variety did help to keep the game fresh, and this was further aided by a welcome game length of around 6 hours. Despite my frustrations with the darkness and how it combined with other factors to make it a chore, I found myself eagerly continuing to play due to the story which truly brings it all together and makes it stronger than the sum of its parts.

This may seem in contradiction to my description of the setup as derivative, but ultimately, I found the combination of science fiction and Norse mythology to move beyond surface-level integration, with a surprising level of faithfulness to the source material. This allows the story to go in an interesting direction that I won’t spoil here, and although some of this is well-telegraphed ahead of time, I still got a kick out of it. 

There is no question that Apsulov is a flawed work that can sometimes be incredibly frustrating to play, but by fully committing to marrying science fiction and Norse mythology, it ends up in a good place. I can be forgiving of gameplay faults if the overall experience is as enjoyable as it is in Apsulov and it is safe to say that I thoroughly enjoyed the ride.

Disclosures: This game is developed by Angry Demon Studio and published by Digerati Distribution. It is currently available on XBO, XBX/S, PS4, PS5, Switch and PC. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher download and reviewed on the PS4.  Approximately 6 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, Strong Language. The site reads: This is a survival horror game in which players assume the role of an amnesiac woman who finds herself in a facility overrun by monsters. From a first-person perspective, players explore the facility, interact with characters, solve puzzles, and attempt to avoid monsters. Some encounters with monsters can result in players getting slashed and bitten; one sequence depicts monsters dismembering a character’s arm. Additional instances of intense violence include an impaled character’s neck getting snapped and a character drilled in the face. As players explore dark environments, they can encounter large blood stains and dismembered/mutilated corpses with exposed organs/viscera. The words “f**k” and “sh*t” are heard in the game.

Colorblind Modes:  There are no colorblind modes available. 

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: This game offers subtitles. The subtitles cannot be altered or resized. Due to Apsoluv‘s reliance on darkness, sound cues with no visual component are frequently used to reveal enemy positions. As a result, this game is not fully accessible.

Remappable Controls: Certain functions are remappable.

The post Apsulov: End Of Gods appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

HIGH Fast, smooth shooting that feels timeless.

LOW Burying the Nine Inch Nails soundtrack in the audio mix.

WTF Being unaware of motion controls and thinking my controller needed replacing.

Quake was a game that passed me by.

Unlike Doom, it hadn’t been released on every console in existence, and by the time I played it on PC around 2000, it felt archaic in a post Half-Life world. In fact, I’ve always seen it as Doom’s less charismatic relation and the brown color palette hinted at a lack of a clear identity which the inconsistent sequels seemed to confirm. However, Quake’s influence on gaming is not in doubt, particularly due to it pioneering fully 3D graphics and online multiplayer. Its relevance is clear, and this omission from my playlist has always felt like a gap in my gaming CV, now rectified.

Originally developed by ID Software, this remaster is handled by Nightdive Studios. Players make their way through levels filled with enemies while avoiding traps and finding colored keys for locked doors, all in first-person. It includes the original campaign, the two subsequent expansion packs, another that was developed as part of the 20th anniversary, and a brand-new one developed for this release. 

Remasters like this one can be tricky to review as they need to be faithful to the original release while having enough improvements to make them more palatable to modern audiences. Nostalgia is a powerful thing and memories become distorted with age – I would say a successful remaster should offer an experience that emulates how someone thinks they remember an old game looking and playing, and Quake does a good job of achieving this.

When I think about classic ID Software games, I think about fast, smooth and responsive first-person shooting. For me, this is what makes them timeless and enjoyable to this day. Quake has these qualities in spades, now bolstered with a higher, more stable framerate. Slowdown only reared its ugly head when I moved onto the first expansion pack. It also looks how I remember Quake, with grotesque-looking enemies in large (usually brown) architecture, yet appearing sharper than ever in 4k and with subtle improvements.

This is all well and good so far, but my problems with Quake Remastered are holdovers from its original release.

While the fully-3D environments were groundbreaking at the time and added verticality to gameplay, I feel these environments lack character. There is an overuse of brown in the color palette (common to games of the period – I grew tired of this ‘look’ years ago) which results in drab, plain-looking levels. The lack of a plot isn’t really an issue, but levels seem to be randomly-ordered and there’s no feeling of a progression, mechanically or narratively, though the expansion packs rectify some of this.  

There’s also a lack of enemy variety which can be attributed to the limitations of technology back then. However, the situation is made worse by Quake pulling some of the same tricks as Doom — things like spawning enemies behind the player character after grabbing up a power-up.

However, Quake does manage to stay interesting in how each enemy provides different challenges. For example, the Ogre is deadly at short range with chainsaws, but can also shoot grenades from a distance. Some enemies (such as the Vore) cross the line from challenging to irritating thanks to spamming homing missiles, but I found Quake to be a fair challenge overall. For those looking for stiffer resistance, the expansion packs increase the amount of enemies onscreen at once, but sometimes at the cost of slowdown.

Quake Remastered sees the triumphant return of the original Nine Inch Nails soundtrack, which had previously been missing due to licensing issues. As a longtime fan of the band, finally getting a chance to hear it in game was exciting. Ironically, I was disappointed early on — it sounded basic and lacked depth. However, after turning down the sound effects and turning up the music volume, I began to appreciate it. It’s a shame the default audio mix buries it, because it really is a fabulous, throbbing soundscape of disconnected audio that gives Quake more of a horror feel than Doom. Once I was able to foreground the soundtrack, the tension rose notably.  

Quake is also famous for its multiplayer, and I felt duty-bound to at least try it, despite my disinterest in playing with others. I spent two fruitless hours dying a lot, with not a single kill to my name. I was completely out of my depth, with fellow fraggers skilfully jumping around and killing me with ease. I therefore cannot give an opinion on Quake’s multiplayer aside from commenting that it is stable and I was able to be matched with others without many issues. 

Apart from being repeatedly blasted to atoms by the pros, I enjoyed my time with Quake. It doesn’t have the same nostalgic pull for me that Doom does, which may contribute to a sense that it’s Doom’s less charismatic relative. That said, it’s a remaster done correctly, feeling like the original with technical improvements that help to showcase its timeless, quick and smooth gameplay.

Disclosures: This game is developed by Nightdive Studios and published by Bethesda. It is currently available on XBO, XBX/S, PS4, PS5, Switch and PC. This copy of the game was obtained via paid download and reviewed on PS4. Approximately 10 hours of play were devoted to the single-player mode, and the game was completed.  2 hours of play were spent in multiplayer modes.

Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated M and contains Blood and Gore, Violence. The official description reads as follows: This is a first-person shooter in which players assume the role of a soldier that travels through time to stop an evil force from destroying humanity. Players traverse through maze-like medieval environments and use shotguns, nail guns, and grenade launchers to kill various enemies (e.g., zombies, demonic forces, scorpions, humans) in frenetic run-and-gun combat. Battles are accompanied by gunfire sounds, screams of pain, and large explosions. Large blood-splatter effects occur frequently, and several attack cause enemies to explode into bloody chunks. Some areas depict mutilated body parts on the ground or falling from ceilings.

Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes available. 

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: This game does not offer subtitles, but has no dialogue in game. At the end of episodes, the ending is described via text. This cannot be resized and could be hard to read against the background. Playing without sound revealed that without sound cues, gameplay can be affected – for example for clues for enemy placements, being able to react to ambushes and hints at other traps. Due to reliance on audio-only cues, this game is not fully accessible.

Remappable Controls: Yes, this game offers fully remappable controls. Movement is left stick. Camera is on the right stick. Jumping is X and L2. R1 is weapons wheel. R2 is shoot. Up on the d-pad switches to shotguns, down switches to projectile weapons, right to needle guns and left to melee/special weapons. Clicking left stick centers the screen.

The post Quake Remastered Review appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

HIGH A ’90s throwback with fast and smooth gameplay.

LOW The uninspiring and repetitive levels.

WTF Great (but minimal) music on a constant loop.

As a gamer in my mid 30s, I have a soft spot for ’90s era of first-person shooters. I loved the quick, smooth and simplistic gameplay that sometimes gets lost in modern titles (I’m looking at you Doom Eternal!) and I’m clearly not the only one who feels nostalgic for this style since as there are now similar throwback shooters flooding the market, Exodemon being one.

Developed by Kuupa, players control a scientist in a laboratory at the edge of the universe who has been infected by a symbiotic entity. She has been able to control this entity, and as a result now sports alien claws used for melee attacks and for shooting. Players then use these claws to fight their way through 18 levels filled with enemies. 

Exodemon makes a good first impression. The play is fast and smooth, and has a slightly different feel compared to other first-person shooters due to the claws. These each have their own corresponding shoulder button and it felt intuitive to to slash with one claw and shoot with the other. Exodemon also incorporates its UI diegetically by placing the health and ammo bars on the claws themselves. I always like it when developers are creative with UI implementation, and it helps ensure that there’s a nice, uncluttered look to the proceedings.

The graphics are simple but colorful, featuring blue security bots as enemies. The laboratory setting initially looks drab as it largely consists of grey corridors. However, I was sure that as the game went on I would find more interesting enemies and levels, but sadly, that never happened. 

With a few exceptions, the entirety of Exodemon is set in the same drab and grey laboratory levels. The enemies do change, but these continue to have designs that are lacking in creativity and simple to a fault.

I did not expect Exodemon to live up to the visual fidelity of contemporary games, and it shouldn’t, but the best shooters from the ’90s used interesting designs whilst working within the limits of the era’s hardware. I had high hopes for a visually appealing experience, but instead Exodemon ended up being an ugly game, and it’s hard to feel any kind of tension from visually boring enemies.

Like the graphics, the gameplay also fails to develop over time.

Exodemon is fast and smooth, and using the claws adds an interesting wrinkle. However, the player simply doesn’t feel powerful. Rather than offering a power fantasy, the slash attack doesn’t do enough damage and actually leaves the player prone to taking damage. As such, Exodemon encourages the player to keep their distance and play it safe. Sadly, the shooting lacks impact thanks to tinny sound effects and an absence of discernible feedback when the enemies take damage.

Surprisingly, what Exodemon does well are the platforming elements. I have never been a fan of platforming in first-person shooters, but here it feels fine. The jumping isn’t too floaty, and whenever I misjudged a jump it felt like a mistake that was my fault, and not the game’s.  

Sadly, decent platforming is not enough to save Exodemon. I was looking forward to a dose of ’90s era nostalgia offering visceral shooting at high speed, but what I got was a drab-looking project which is far too simple and greatly lacking creativity in art design. It may seem competent at first, but Exodemon lacks anything to keep it interesting past the first few levels.

Disclosures: This game is developed by and published by Kuupa. It is currently available on XBO, XBX/S, PS4, PS5, Switch and PC. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on the PS4. Approximately 6 hours of play were devoted to the single player mode and the game was completed.

Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated E and contains Fantasy Violence. Whilst Exodemon is a shooter, it lacks any overly violent or explicit imagery. Overall, I’d say Exodemon is safe for kids.

Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes available. 

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: Exodemon has no dialogue. Its minimal story is told between levels in text. This cannot be resized and features white letters on a black background. There is an audio advantage from being able to hear enemy fire from outside the player’s line of sight, and this fire has no visual cue.

Remappable Controls: Certain functions are remappable. There is no control diagram. Players can invert Y and can adjust sensitivity. This game does not offer a controller map diagram, but movement is on the left stick. Camera is the right stick. Jumping is X. Slashing with the left claw is R2 and shooting with the right is L2.

The post Exodemon appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

HIGH The satisfaction of clearing a stage with minimal pauses.

LOW Input lag and speed of the comet make the pauses hard to time.

WTF Directing a comet towards paw prints in order to rescue a cat devoured by a black hole!?

I like big, grandiose experiences as much as the next guy. If done properly, a big-budget title with high production values can really suck me into another world. I find this level of immersion to be one of the main appeals of videogaming, but sometimes I’m simply not in the mood for something intense. I might find myself too tired after a day of studying or working, or maybe I just want to play something a bit smaller. Developed by Emil Markiewicz, Graviter is a small-sized physics-based puzzler that fits the bill for just such a mood. 

In this title, players control a comet — though in reality they have little direct control over it. Each level consists of a single screen, with the player’s goal being to hit paw icons placed around each area. Once the player sets the comet in motion, it’ll shoot quickly in a straight line. In order to change direction, the player can shrink, enlarge, jump between or move planets in each level, manipulating the trajectory of the comet via gravitational pull. The player also has a set number of pauses to stop the comet to and make further adjustments.

This may sound complex, but in practice the mechanics of Graviter are straightforward. After an effective tutorial, manipulating planets and changing the direction of the comet becomes second nature.

At times it can be challenging, as should be expected from a puzzle game. When I did hit the odd roadblock, such as one level where I had a minimal space to curve over a large block and back again, it could be very frustrating. But for the majority of the experience the solutions felt logical, engendering a sense of achievement whenever a stage is passed.

However, if it does get too frustrating, Graviter provides ways around it. At the end of each level, the game rewards the player with points that can be spent on minor cosmetic elements (such as the color of the comet tail) but they can also be spent on extra pauses or skipping troublesome levels, ensuring that Graviter remains a pleasant, casual experience. The Switch is a fantastic platform for this type of project — it feels right at home where I was able to pick up and play whenever I wanted, although using the joycons to cycle through the selection of planets can feel awkward and cumbersome.

Also, I did have some problems with the pause mechanic. As stated, the comet moves quickly once it sets off, and timing a pause can be tricky — it almost seems that there’s some input lag, and in my most frustrating moments with Graviter I found myself constantly restarting a stage due to mistiming a pause that caused my comet to repeatedly crash into a planet. This aspect feels imprecise at exactly the time when it needs to be. 

In terms of aesthetics and presentation, the developer matches the simple gameplay with a colorful art style that is both pretty and functional. (For those wanting a more striking style, there’s a black and white option.) Graviter also boasts a peaceful, relaxing soundtrack, and the paws in each level have to do with the narrative — it’s something to do with a cat getting devoured by a black hole, leaving behind prints for the comet to follow. It seems like utter nonsense and a wholly unnecessary addition, but this is a minor quibble.

Graviter offers satisfying, addictive mechanics that come in bite-sized sessions. Aside from some minor frustrations with the pause, it’s a joyful experience that proves videogames don’t always have to be audiovisual extravaganzas to be worthwhile. 

Disclosures: This game is developed by Emil Markiewicz and published by No Gravity Games. It is currently available on Switch and PC. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on the Switch. Approximately 5 hours of play were devoted to the single-player mode, and the game was completed.

Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated E. Early on, there is a depiction of a cat being pulled into a black hole, but this is not shown in a way that means to be horrifying. Otherwise, there is nothing in Graviter that makes it an unsuitable game for children.

Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes available.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: This game does not offer subtitles per se, but offers instructions with a minimal amount of  in-game text. This cannot be resized, but text is large and presented in a clear way. The game does not require the use of audio cues, so is therefore fully accessible. 

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

The post Graviter appeared first on Gamecritics.com.

I had a strong year of gaming in 2020, although this was almost exclusively based on games released from other years. Trying to come up with a top 10 of releases from 2020 proved impossible — many new releases I played were poor, and I have yet to play certain high-profile releases (and in some cases, never will). Therefore, I have fudged this a bit and gone for a Top 5 released this year and a Top 5 games I simply played in 2020.

My Top 5 2020 releases

5 – Doom Eternal

Doom Eternal makes my list almost by default. It is by no means a bad game, but with the standard set by Doom (2016) it falls short due to some design choices. The minute-by-minute gameplay is still enjoyable — fast-paced shooting and visceral violence are key parts of what Doom Eternal does right. However, this is diluted by an increased focus on lore and platforming sections.

I have always seen the Doom experience as one about fast and simple gameplay, but for me, Doom Eternal moves too far away from this formula by adding too many systems. Compounded by infuriating platforming and lore that I had little interest in, Doom Eternal is bloated, and my biggest gaming disappointment of 2020 despite making this list.

4 – Final Fantasy VII Remake

The original release of Final Fantasy VII is one of the most important points in my gaming life, helping to turn a child’s hobby into a lifelong love. It was a spectacular experience that transported me to a different world. However, it has not aged well due to blocky characters and an awfully translated script, and so was an ideal candidate for a remake.

In some ways the developers do a great job. For example, Midgar looks amazing, and having a new over-the-shoulder perspective gives the city an oppressive feel.  In other ways, it finds a perfect balance between the old and the new, as demonstrated by an updated and reworked soundtrack and combat which successfully blends real-time and active-time elements.

However, the developers fail to maintain this balance in the story. In particular, I’m thinking about the changes that occur during the endgame. I have no problem with story changes, but I don’t see who these changes serve. For newcomers without the context of playing the original, the significance of these changes may lack impact while fans of the original may become disgruntled after expecting a faithful remake. It adds to the sense that the Final Fantasy series is going through a bit of an identity crisis.

With the Final Fantasy VII remake only covering the first section of the original game, there are questions about where this is going, and given Square Enix’s recent track record I do not have much confidence in them. There were times I felt that familiar love I had of the original, but at other times I felt frustration at the direction Square Enix went in.

3 – Doom 64

As a long time Doom fan, I’ve always felt like there was a Doom 64-shaped hole in my life — a feeling that only increased when I replayed the classic Dooms at the start of the year. When I heard that a port of Doom 64 was going to be included with a preorder of Doom Eternal, I pulled the trigger.

It was an interesting contrast to play Doom 64 concurrently with Doom Eternal — it highlighted the flaws in Doom Eternal and how it departs from the rest of the series. Where Doom Eternal has a bloated feel, Doom 64 has the simple gameplay I craved and I ended up enjoying my time with it more than the newer one.

It’s also very much its own game. On its original release, there was a feeling that this was yet another port of the original Doom and that may have contributed to it being overlooked. However, it has its own sense of style thanks to with brightly-colored 3D levels, skies filled with animated flames, and a sense of atmosphere bolstered by an ambient/horror soundtrack, although this is undercut by dated enemy sprites.

Dated enemy sprites aren’t the only flaw found in Doom 64, though — the simple shooting may feel antiquated to modern players, and ironically, it also has its own annoying platforming sections. Despite these flaws, I loved Doom 64, and since it was the first game I reviewed for Gamecritics, it will always be a special game for me.

2 – Superliminal

I’m always on the lookout for games that inject mindbending elements into their gameplay. Videogames seem the perfect medium for these types of experiences so I was keen to try Superliminal, especially since Corey and Carlos gave it such a glowing review on the So Videogames podcast, not to mention that it was development by a Gamecritics alumni.

It’s a hard game to describe, though to put it simply, it’s a game designed around forced perspective puzzles where items can be resized via camera manipulation. If you place an item and view it from a perspective that makes it appear larger, it’ll change to that size. This central mechanic is one that the developers mine for lots of creative puzzles, and for the majority of Superliminal these are logical and satisfying to solve.

There have been some criticisms that suggest that Superliminal doesn’t take advantage of its dreamlike setting with mundane environments, but I would argue that these heighten the times when something strange does happen. It also means that the player is constantly surprised and pays off in a big way at the end when Superliminal fully embraces a psychedelic experience. This last level has remained near the top of my game experiences of the year and deserves to be enjoyed by as many people as possible.

1 – Hypnospace Outlaw

Since I began writing for Gamecritics, I’ve been hoping to unearth a few gems by taking a chance on games I would normally overlook. Hypnospace Outlaw is that gem and makes the awful games I played through worth it.time.

Hypnospace Outlaw is basically a pitch-perfect satire of late ’90s internet. For someone who experienced this period firsthand I could see how accurate it was, not just in terms of the amateurish style and wonderful musical parodies that echo the likes of Kid Rock and Linkin Park, but also the feeling of excitement amongst its users in coming to grips with this new way of communicating,

However, what elevates Hypnospace Outlaw is how it also appears to be a comment on contemporary internet and social media. With the player taking the role of a Hypnospace enforcer, there are several instances of issues of harassment, bullying and culture wars which are very much a part of the internet we experience today. The story also starts to go down a conspiracy route, and whilst this plays on Y2K paranoia, it finds modern reflections in the unchecked power and influence of platforms such as Facebook.

Hypnospace Outlaw is a special game to me and will always be one thanks to being able to review it for Gamecritics and accidentally finding such a strong and unexpected experience. I can only hope that as I continue to review games that I will find others that live up to its high standard.

The Top 5 Non-2020 Games I played in 2020

5 – Call of Duty World War 2

In the late part of 2020, I found myself playing through the Call of Duty series. I loved Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare but checked out of the series soon afterwards — I didn’t like the idea of paying full price for a short campaign, particularly since I had no interest in multiplayer, not to mention the dodgy politics of these games which I didn’t want to be supporting. But now, where I am always appreciative of shorter games, and where older iterations of the series can be found for less than £5 for used copies, I was ready to revisit the series.

Black Ops proved to be a high point in this revisit — I can see why it has such a great reputation and it was due to make an appearance on this list until I was able to purchase a used copy of World War 2 for £6 and is now my second favourite game of the series.

A lot of this is due to the return of the World War 2 setting. I thought I had moved on from the setting, but by returning to it, it feels like the developers have been able to strip off some of the excess of other titles in the series to tell a more grounded story. It still has those big over-the-top set pieces and won’t be winning any prizes for its narrative, but it looks like there was a genuine attempt at telling a story.

4 – Red Dead Redemption 2

I have become disillusioned with open world games in the last couple of years. I think they can be aimless and repetitive experiences that often come at the expense of a strong story. But, I ‘ve always loved the Western genre and the original Red Dead Redemption remains one of my favourite games. This didn’t stop me from putting off playing its sequel — I had read that it was slow-paced and had a massive open world, and I always find reports of development crunch distasteful. However, I got it for my birthday and could no longer avoid playing.

Red Dead Redemption 2 is a gorgeous-looking game — it’s incredibly lifelike and the amount of detail is impressive. Being a lover of westerns, I got completely sucked into this world, and was able to play out my fantasies of living in the Wild West (although it’s set more in the East). I got hooked on buying new outfits from the various shops and mixing and matching them at the start of each day. I would constantly take pictures in front of open plains, mountains and setting suns. I would style my beard and hair in lots of different ways and spent a lot of money on hair tonics, which help to quicken hair growth. It is safe to say that I fell in love with Red Dead Redemption 2.

It also happens to have one of the best narratives I’ve come across in videogames, with the inevitable fall of the main character, Arthur Morgan and his gang playing out like a tragedy. I liked and cared for Arthur and the members of his gang, all of whom are well-written. Its narrative is one of the reasons I was able to ignore my usual problems with open world games. I was also able to ignore the slowness of Red Dead Redemption 2, I often get angry at games that waste my time, but here it felt immersive and a deliberate choice. This is not an easy way to live, and the cumbersome gameplay reflects it.

So why isn’t it higher in my list? Sadly, Red Dead Redemption 2 outstays its welcome. Just as the game comes to a logical and satisfying conclusion, the player is confronted with a post-credits epilogue that lasts another 8 hours. It’s already a big game, and I was emotionally exhausted by the time the credits rolled. I was already emotionally exhausted at this point, and with it being such a big game, it felt like overkill and dampened the experience.

3 – Blasphemous

Blasphemous is proof that good graphics do not require photorealism. It’s a beautiful game with artwork that draws on Spanish and Catholic imagery for a strange mix between beauty and the macabre. 

Gameplay is also a strength of Blasphemous. The combat has a slow and methodical feel, offering a satisfying block/parry system. I love games that give a feeling of weight to combat, and Blasphemous does this well.

However, the reason it makes this list has a lot to do with how strange it is. This is partly due to how it looks, but also in the story it tells. There were times I was flummoxed by Blasphemous with a story that often felt impossible to decipher, and laden with dread, but it helped to draw me into its odd but bewitching world.

2 – What Remains of Edith Finch

2020 was the year I got into narrative-driven games, and What Remains of Edith Finch has been the best of these. I’ve always been a fan of strong narratives in gaming, and sometimes a focus on gameplay can get in the way of this. Complaining about too much gameplay may seem daft, but sometimes I just want to play in a relaxing way and drink in the narrative. This genre is perfect for that, and 2020 was the year to enjoy games in a relatively stress-free way.

I say relatively, because What Remains of Edith Finch is an emotional, and at times upsetting, journey. The central conceit involves exploring a large and oddly-designed house belonging to the titular character’s family. Each member of her clan — all deceased — have their own room in the house, and upon finding them, the player goes into a section that outlines the circumstances of their deaths. These can often be distressing, with one particular section involving a baby. But what really lends a bittersweet tone to the proceedings is the creativity in each of these vignettes with constant changes in gameplay style and presentation.

1 – God of War

I tend to ignore triple-A games on their first release and purchase a cheaper used copy after the hype has died down. This also means that I generally can make a more informed choice about how I spend my money based on whether a game’s reputation has increased, or how overlooked issues have become more obvious. God of War was a game I had my eye on since release, and unlike many others, God of War’s reputation has only grown.

Having finally gotten around to playing it this year, I can say that for me, it lives up to its reputation. I found a gorgeous looking title — in some ways the best-looking I’ve ever played — with a visceral and weighty combat system that never got old. Whilst the rest of the series has had these elements, the change to an over-the-shoulder perspective ensures that the player is more immersed and it heightens these elements with a real sense of scale.

However, it earns its place at the top of this list due to the relationship between Kratos and his son Atreus. I was surprised that a game with a history like this one would have a father/son relationship at its core, and I was equally surprised by how well it’s written and how much restraint and subtlety was used in presenting it. I never thought I’d see a rage-driven Kratos reach out to his son in grief, but God of War has many moments like these.

There have been criticisms surrounding the length of God of War, and I understand these complaints, particularly since I’m constantly aware of how long games are and how I don’t like games wasting my time, but in this case, I think the length works in God of War’s favor. With this extra space, nothing about the central relationship between Kratos and his son felt forced, and was allowed to flourish and develop naturally. I never got bored of spending time with these two, and because of their wonderful relationship, God of War is my game of the year.

*

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HIGH Classic fast FPS gameplay.

LOW Has there ever been an enjoyable sewer level?

WTF Did I just hear a line that references… Dirty Dancing?

Whilst modern FPS titles often feature slower gameplay and overstuffed systems, those made in the old-school mold tend to keep things simple and generally offer faster action. This generation has also been one of bloat, so I’ve been enjoying classic-style titles as an excellent palate cleanser. With this in mind, Ion Fury caught my eye because it was developed by Duke Nukem fans using the engine from that game, so I figured it should fit the profile of what I’m after — and on a surface level it did, but in other ways it wasn’t what I was looking for at all.

Ion Fury is a first-person shooter developed by Voidpoint and published by 3D Realms. The player controls Shelly “Bombshell” Harrison in a futuristic setting through seven zones and 28 levels, plus a few bonus levels. The campaign is filled with a variety of cybernetic soldiers and robots as enemies, and the player uses a range of weapons such as a shotgun called the Disperser and a revolver called the Loverboy.

Upon starting Ion Fury, there was a clear sense of being transported back to the ’90s. The look and settings use bright colors, neon lights and basic textures. However, it’s a good-looking title with well-animated sprite-based enemies and offers nice touches – things like enemies on fire carrying on shooting while screaming. The music is a treat too, offering a techno-style soundtrack reminiscent of the era with a few tracks sounding like something The Prodigy could’ve released.

Ion Fury‘s gameplay is smooth and fast, though there were some noticeable framerate inconsistencies near the start of the game. After a few updates, this slowdown only occurred during boss battles, but it was mostly fine overall.

While what I’ve outlined so far means that Ion Fury is great as a throwback to FPS titles from the ’90s, it doesn’t add much to that formula. This is probably by design, but it also means that it can be a repetitive experience as enemy variations take a while to be introduced and some levels lack imagination. For example, the too-similar floors in an office skyscraper, and in particular the samey tunnels of the sewer levels. These outstayed their welcome, and I felt frustrated to be navigating an overlong labyrinth of pipes.

There is some variety in Ion Fury‘s weapons thanks to their alternate firing modes, though most aren’t exactly surprising. That said, I did enjoy the Penetrator (which sets enemies on fire) and its dual-wielding alt mode. After more enemy types are added to the mix, combat becomes more enjoyable since it pays to adapt to each situation with the appropriate weapon. The Loverboy has an alt that locks on to multiple foes and The Disperser’s grenade launcher alt works well for groups.

For a retro-style FPS the difficulty level is appropriately high, even on the default setting. Keeping multiple save files is recommended – after going through the first two areas with a lack of care, I found myself with a paucity of ammo and health packs against a boss, requiring me to start the second area again while being more frugal.

My initial draft ended here, but as a new reviewer, I refrain from reading about a game before I play in order to ensure that my opinion is not shaped by what I’ve read. However, I started to question that practice with Ion Fury.

In a Twitter conversation with fellow reviewers, I learned of a controversy from when Ion Fury was released in 2019 for PC. The game featured homophobic slurs and after some uproar the devs said they’d remove it, only to go back on their statement, citing that they would not be censored. The controversy was also heightened when the developers were accused of making transphobic and sexist comments on Discord. 

For me, the problem was that if I hadn’t noticed these slurs during my playthrough or was not aware of the controversy surrounding the developers, should I let this color my opinion of Ion Fury?

It seems that the common sense answer would be to review what I saw in front of me, but context is important – games aren’t created in a vacuum, and context has certainly changed how I look at some things.

For example, the one-liners in Ion Fury reflect a level of humor below even the dreck in Duke Nukem, which is one aspect of the ’90s I’m not nostalgic for. This writing made me cringe, used bizarre references, and immature sexual innuendo. It also reminded me why I never liked Duke Nukem as much as other shooters and by adopting this tone, Ion Fury pays homage to something that is no longer welcome in modern gaming. Taken in with knowledge of the slurs and the -phobic, sexist comments, it recontextualizes what I saw and heard, and gives the content a misogynistic feel.

Whilst I found Ion Fury to be enjoyable as an isolated piece of content, it’s impossible to ignore the context it’s in — as such, I find it hard to recommend.

Disclosures: This game is developed by Voidpoint, with console ports handled by General Arcade and published by 3D realms. It is currently available on PC, Switch, PS4 and XBO. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on the PS4.  Approximately 12 hours of play were devoted to the single-player mode, and the game was completed. There are no multiplayer modes.

Parents: The ESRB has rated this game M for Blood & Gore, Strong Language, Drug Reference and Strong Language. Though the retro style means that violence is less detailed, there’s still plenty of blood and gore, where decapitated heads can be kicked around and enemies scream when on fire. The game also features lots of swearing and includes some sexual innuendo and references to drug use.

Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes.

Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: There are no subtitle options in this game, so the dialogue and the minimal plot are inaccessible. However, there is a “read me” option on the main menu which outlines the plot, but be aware that this text is relatively small and cannot be resized. Fighting with enemies relies on picking up audio cues of gunfire rather than visual indicators — if the player relies on visual cues alone, it can often be too late to dodge incoming fire. This game is not fully accessible.

Remappable Controls: This game’s controls are not remappable. This game does not offer a controller diagram. Movement is on the left stick. Camera is the right stick. Jumping is X. Using items is Triangle or R1. Crouching is Circle or R1. Shooting is R2. Alternative firing mode is L2. Swapping weapons is up and down on the D-pad. Map is on the touchpad.

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