REVIEW: Endzone – A World Apart (Early Access) on PC (Steam)

Review by Jon Donnis

Endzone: A World Apart is a city building game, now before you roll your eyes and say "oh no, not another one" please read on.

2021, a group of Terrorists have blown up nuclear power plants all across the world, and well I am sure you can imagine the rest. Luckily some people were able to seek refuge underground in facilities called "Endzones". 150 odd years later and it is time to return to the surface and this is where you step in. You see, you are in charge of the rebuilding process.

Now things would be easy if the world wasn't full of radioactive round, acid rain and climate change run amok. I am guessing already you are seeing that this is not your average run of the mill city building game.

You will start off with a nice tutorial mode that will talk you through things and get you used to everything, and as someone who is nearly always moaning about tutorials either being too over detailed or completely inadequate, I can say that Endzone gets it just right, I am not a big player of city building games, so any such game really needs to work hard to make me a fan and get me interested, and the tutorial did that perfectly. And once completed I felt confident enough to jump head first into the game proper.

You start off with your little bus and camp, and slowly slowly, you need to start setting up a production of food & water, then you will need to collect wood from the trees, and any scrap you can find. As you start to progress you will research and unlock more and more buildings, over 50 by my last count.

Sounds easy so far, right! Well, you need to keep your people happy, they are going to have kids, so you will need a school, parents will need to relax so you might need to build a pub, oh and since some parts of the land are radioactive you might need a tailor to craft gas masks and so on. As soon as you think you have a handle on things, something will come up that you need to overcome, luckily there is a handy "tasks" tab which tells you what you need. You can even pause time or speed it up, depending on if you need to plan something before disaster strikes, or you just want that building built quicker.

This game is not as easy as you think, and the first few games you attempt you will make mistakes, but you will learn from them, and that is a great thing about this game, you will learn the more you play, and you will want to start again to get things right. Imagine creating the perfect little town and then it gets wiped out by a dust storm because you never quite prepared for it. There is always a challenge.

The Good

Stunning graphics, detailed but easy to learn interface. Enjoyable and challenging gameplay.

The Bad

The balance can be hard to judge sometimes, things can get out of hand a bit too quickly, however this game is in Early Access so little things like this will be improved. 

Overall

I am not a person who plays City Buidling games very often, but I really enjoyed this, and I look forward to playing it more, as well as new updates from the game makers. I don't usually give scores to early access games, but I will make an exception for Endzone, I score it 8/10.

Out Now on Early Access

https://store.steampowered.com/app/933820/Endzone__A_World_Apart/

Review by Jon Donnis

REVIEW: Bloody Rally Show on PC (Steam)

Review by Jon Donnis

Bloody Rally Show is a top-down view, combat racing rally game, but it is also much more than that.

Tracks are procedurally generated, meaning that every time you play you are playing on brand new tracks.

There are daily challenges to take part in, a campaign mode, multiplayer online events, as well as quick play modes and so on.

And just when you thought you had seen it all before this game throws in nitro boosts and weapons for your car as well as blood! Yes blood!

You know those annoying people who stand at the side of rally tracks, who usually get out of the way of your car at the last second?

Well now you know why this is called "Bloody Rally Show", hit someone on the side of the track and they explode in glorious gore.

Ok it is cartoon gore, but still, it is fun to see.

You can also get a track and car editor in the full version of the game which adds even more to this.

The Good

The cars are easy to control, drifting around corners is fun, and taking out an opponent with a rocket on the last corner giving you the win is incredibly satisfying.

The Bad

Getting taken out by an opponent on the last corner and losing. Ok that is not really a bad and just part of the game.

Overall

A fun game that has a lot to offer, is regularly updated, and has a good community.

I score this game a respectable 7/10

Out now on PC Steam

https://store.steampowered.com/app/926860/Bloody_Rally_Show/

There is also a free version of the game that has some limitations, but it offers enough for you to know if you want to pay for the full version.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1435090/Bloody_Rally_Show_Prologue/

Review by Jon Donnis

REVIEW: Another Sight - Definitive Edition on PC (Steam)

Review by Jon Donnis

Another Sight is a fantasy adventure platformer set in London at the end of the 19th century.

You play as Kit, a young girl who awakens in a London Underground construction site after the tunnel she had been exploring collapses, she has lost her sight, but luckily for her a mysterious cat called Hodge has appeared and is willing to help her escape this strange world.

You take control of both Kit and Hodge and are able to swap between them at will, between the both characters you will solve puzzles which allows you to move through this surreal fantasy land, and along the way you will meet some of the world's greatest inventors and artistic minds, including Claude Monet, Nikola Tesla, and Thomas Edison.

Although Kit and Hodge exist in the same world, their abilities and how they perceive that which is around them differs greatly, Kit is blind for a start, but through sound and feel, she is able to experience her surroundings, and when Hodge is close by, her senses increase.

This is a platform game but it is also a very smart almost dual experience. The gameplay hinges on the fact you really need to use both characters, for some areas to be passed you will need Kit to pull a level, which Hodge climbs up high to unlock another door and so on, although this is a 2D platformer each character moves through the environment in a slightly different way, which really gives the game an added dimension.

When you are playing with Kit the screen will turn darker, your field of vision is greatly reduced, but when you swap to Hodge everything is clear.

The Good

This is a really clever platformer/puzzle adventure game. The soundtrack is fantastic, the graphics are beautiful, and all around this is a fun game.

The Bad

The puzzles are relatively easy, so there isn't as much of a challenge here as perhaps there should be.

Overall

I'm still playing it, I will keep playing it, and I am enjoying it.

I score this game a solid 8/10

Out on PC Steam now

https://store.steampowered.com/app/888630/Another_Sight__Definitive_Edition/

Review by Jon Donnis

REVIEW: Broll (Early Access) on PC (Steam)

Review by Jon Donnis

The following are my thoughts on the Early Access release of Broll, (out now on PC Steam)

As with all Early Access releases the game is not complete and may or may not change further. So please keep that in mind.

So what is Broll, well the name stands for "BROken ragDOLL", you control a character that can run and jump, but most importantly they can collapse, basically as if they were a rag doll, and that is the gimmick of this game, the challenge is to try to reach places on a level to unlock secrets and achievements, but to do that you might need to get over a high obstacle, or under something, and often the way you do that is by collapsing, and when you do that on certain surfaces you stick to them, when you "un-collapse" you will become unstuck, and sometimes you will use this to squeeze through a tight space by sticking to a moving  object, or sometimes when you un-stick you are thrown in the air. Sounds strange right? It is. But it is also incredibly addictive.

This is early access, so the graphics can be a bit raw at times, and the game play can also be frustrating, when you just can't quite get your character to go where you want it to, but that is all part of the challenge. And the simple fact of the matter is that as frustrating as this game is, as raw as it is, it is also insanely addictive. One of the most instantly addictive games I have ever played, and as the game is developed, improved, more levels added and so on, it can only get better.

The Good

Addictive, the is truly the best thing about this game.

The Bad

This is early access, and I really look forward to the full finished article, but for now the bad is purely that it is early access.

Overall

A fun addictive game, did I say "addictive" enough yet? I am really excited as to where this game can go, and what it will finally become.

I won't give the game a score out of ten as that would be a bit unfair for an unfinished game, but I would hope from my comments you can understand that I am liking this game a whole lot.

Get it now from

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1265300/Broll/

REVIEW: Rogue Aces Deluxe on PC (Steam)

Review By Jon Donnis

Rogue Aces Deluxe is an old school, old fashioned arcade game, this is the kind of game that back in the 90s you would walk into an arcade and spend all your coins on. The basic story is that you have joined a group called the "Rogue Aces" and your job is to the liberate some islands from "The Baron" and his army.

You have 3 planes which are basically your 3 lives for a mission, you take off from an aircraft carrier and have to complete short missions, usually be trying to shoot down enemy aircraft in dog fights, bombing enemy buildings and shooting rockets at tanks and other dangers on ground level. Once you have taken out your enemy you can take over their airfield. When you have taken too much damage, or used up your rockets and bombs, or even running low on fuel you just return to your aircraft carrier or a land base if you have captured one, and get fixed up, refuelled or top up your weapons, and before you know it you are back up in the air and taking out the bad guys.

As you would expect the missions start pretty easy and get progressively harder.

You can control your craft with a mixture of your mouse and the keyboard, or preferably with a controller, I tried both and found that the controller is best, although playing with the keyboard and mouse is perhaps not as hard as you would expect.

Taking off from the aircraft carrier is easy, landing however does take some practice, although there is an auto land option, which I embarrassingly have to admit I started to use as the manual landing does take some practice and skill.

This game has a few nifty tricks up it's sleeve too, for example if your ship explodes you eject and can parachute to the ground, try to avoid the enemy and survive and while falling you can drop grenades too, but also if you eject you can land in an enemy plane and steal it mid-air!

The game also has a multiplayer mode, with up to 4 player local death match modes.

In the death match modes there are some fun options whereby you can fire laser beams, use a flame thrower and so on.

The Good

This is a fun arcade game, that really took me back to my youth, standing in the arcade and spending all of my 10p coins.

Their is enough in the game to keep your playing for a while too.

The Bad

Nothing really that practice doesn't fix. 

Overall

Enjoyable game that ticks all the boxes.

I score this game 9/10

Review by Jon Donnis