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13 May 2022

REVIEW: Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising on PC

Review by GamingCouchPotato.co.uk Staff
Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising is an action RPG set in the same world as Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes. This game acts as a prequel / companion game.

The main goal of Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising is to rebuild the town of New Neveah that was decimated by an earthquake. During that disaster several ruins we uncovered, each full of treasure.


You play as CJ a scavenger; you will speak to various characters and collect materials they need to rebuild. Once you have the requested materials, new buildings appear, and soon the town will transform from a destroyed mess to a new beautiful town.


Each time you help someone, you get a stamp for your stamp book, as you get more stamps, you upgrade, which in turn brings more people to the town and more quests to complete. You can also exchange stamps at a trading post for things you will need, for example an explorer's license, which allows you to investigate the ruins or building materials.


There are of course enemies, and early on the combat is pretty simple, with one button attacks. As you progress through the game you can unlock new abilities, and upgrades for your weapons and armour. 

On the default difficulty settings, everything is pretty easy, and you will quickly progress through the game. Unfortunately, the hard mode isn't available from the start and is only unlocked after your first playthrough.

Sadly, gameplay gets tedious pretty quickly, there is a LOT of back and forth fetching of materials, which just isn't that much fun.


The Good
Everything looks great, the controls are simple, and you will pick up the game pretty quickly.

The Bad
Tedious, repetitive gameplay ruins what should be a really fun game. Way too easy on the default settings, and the game is relatively short too.

Overall
There is a good game in here, it is just hasn't been developed enough, and almost feels rushed in parts, there is a lack of effort in creating the depth that a game like this needs.

I score Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising a poor 4/10 could and should have been much better.

Out now on PC (Steam) for £12.99

11 May 2022

REVIEW: Aaero on Nintendo Switch

Review By Jon Donnis
Aaero is a futuristic music based, on rails, rhythm shooter.

You control a spacecraft, and you need to follow ribbons of light, if you trace the line of the ribbon, you get a higher score, all the while you need to evade obstacles, shoot enemies, and fight against giant bosses.

My first thought when playing Aaero, was that it reminded me of AVICII Invector, there are similar elements to the gameplay, you need to follow a certain course to get more points, but where Invector relied solely on your abilty to press certain buttons at the right time, Aaero takes a slightly different approach, in that you have to shoot enemies, as well, which brings in a whole new gameplay element to what is in essence a rhythm game. 


When you come across enemies, you use the right stick to select them, and then press the trigger button to shoot off rockets towards them, at the same time using the left stick you need to control the spacecraft, this quickly becomes a really tricky thing to do, and a challenge to even the most experienced of gamer.

With this being a rhythm game, the banging soundtrack is just fantastic, the EDM (Electronic dance music) in this game is quite the collection, and you will find yourself turning the sound up loud and enjoying it. Some of the artists include Noisia, Flux Pavilion, Katy B, Neosignal, Astronaut & Barely Alive, and although not household names, they will catch your attention after playing this.

There are 21 challenging levels to complete, each level crafted to the music playing, 4 different difficulty settings, Normal, Advanced, Master, and Chill-out. Choose chill-out if you just want to enjoy yourself and the music.


The Good
If you enjoyed AVICII Invector, then you should like Aaero, it offers a similar, but more challenging type of gameplay. The graphics are decent, the music is great, and the game although tough is easy to pick up.

The Bad
Playing this on a Nintendo Switch Lite, I have to say I have never enjoyed the positioning of the trigger buttons, and since they are needed in this game, while also concentrating on both sticks, it can be a bit difficult to coordinate, and I have pretty big hands too. This will probably play better with a standard controller.

Overall
A pleasantly surprising game, much better than I expected, and as such I score Aaero on Nintendo Switch a solid 8/10

Out now on Nintendo Switch at

With limited physical editions available at 

Aaero: Complete Edition contains all DLC content in one package and will be available as a boxed Limited Edition and Special Limited Edition, only at Strictly Limited Games.




6 May 2022

REVIEW: Trek to Yomi (PS5)

Review by Jon Donnis
Trek to Yomi is advertised as an ultra-stylised cinematic action-adventure, and the first thing you will notice when playing is the monochrome graphics, basically black and white.

The game is set in Japan, in the Edo period, you play as a young Samurai Warrior called Hiroki who after making a vow to his dying Sensei, goes on an epic journey to confront the people responsible for destroying his village.


This side scrolling game is very much a one player journey, Hiroki must face wave after wave of enemies, and avenge his Sensei.

Although the visuals are stunning, the combat is rather bland, you have two modes of attack, light and heavy attacks, you can block, break guard, lunge etc, but in essence it is very simplistic. As you progress through the game you will unlock more weapons, Ninja Stars, Bow and Arrow etc.


There are some cool boss fights to be had, against mythical creatures, and there are secret areas to uncover which will give you various bonus to health, stamina as well as weapons. Complete the game to unlock an extra hard mode.


One gripe for me was that to change direction you have to press X, this takes some getting used to, and at first you will find yourself striking in the wrong direction as someone is attacking you from behind.

The game is quite linear and should be easily completable in 5 or 6 hours.


The Good
Visually this game is exceptionally good, unlike anything you have seen before. Such a beautiful game.

The Bad
A short game with little reason to replay, if you don't rush through, you will find every collectable quite easily, and although a memorable experience, it lacks that interest to replay it.

Overall
Stunning game that tries to hide the bland gameplay with visuals. Way too short and no real reason to replay.

If you want a 6 hour experience that will stick in your mind, then this is the game for you.
If you want a side scrolling sword game that you will keep coming back to, then look elsewhere.

I score Trek to Yomi on PS5 a fair 7/10

You can download the excellent Soundtrack to Trek to Yomi at https://amzn.to/3w91ihh

3 May 2022

REVIEW: Sokobos on PC (Steam)

Review by Jon Donnis
Sokobos is based on the classic Japanese brain-twisting puzzle game of Sokoban, which I am sure all puzzle fans have heard of or played a variation of.

The basic idea of Sokoban is to push crates or boxes around, and into the final spots, the hard part being the limited amount of space you have to work in.

Sokobos takes on this format with a story inspired by ancient Greek tragedies, and as a Greek I am always happy to see anything that uses my culture for inspiration.

First the story
"Aeschylus took an oath to the Greek gods. He is granted inhuman strength and is tasked with building a temple worthy of the great Zeus, however he must do this by himself. If he succeeds, his father's town will prosper and outshine even Athens. However, Sokobos' story is a Greek tragedy, not everything will go according to the plan."


Instead of crates or boxes, you are instead trying to assemble Greek structures, think statues, pillars, even temples. You push each part into a set position, and when complete you finish the level and move onto the next. As you progress the levels get harder, you might need to build a bridge first, or activate gates, you might even need to paint pieces by moving them through coloured spots.

The game is pretty tough, but luckily you can easily walk back moves, so you don't need to totally restart a level if you get stuck. There are leader boards which show who can complete a level in the least amount of moves, as well as a colourblind mode with Trichromatic, Dichromatic and Monochromatic options.


There are 60 levels to beat.

The game starts off pretty straight forward, but here is a huge problem, the game gets very hard, very quick, now there is a skip level option, but I found that by level 5 which I got stuck on, I was already using the skip button. By level 10 I realised that this game is way harder than it should be.

I enjoy puzzle games, and I have played Sokoban games before, but never have I found myself stumped so early in the game, and this is a huge problem, especially if you are trying to attract new players to the genre.


The Good
I like the story, and some of the original gameplay elements to what is an old genre of game. The "undo" button is a welcome addition.

The Bad
Impossibly hard. Unless you are a Sokoban addict, then this game will frustrate you within 10 minutes of playing.

Overall
By having such an incredibly steep learning curve, this will instantly put off new players, who will either give up, or just go to YouTube and find solutions, which then makes the game rather pointless.

If you are a hardcore Sokoban addict, or someone who thrives on ridiculously hard puzzle games, then this if for you.
For everyone else however, you might want to think twice before purchasing.

I score Sokobos on PC a 6/10.
Out now on PC Steam

2 May 2022

REVIEW: Radon Break on PC (Steam)

Review by GamingCouchPotato.co.uk Staff
Radon Break or is that Radon Blast? It seems that the developers of this game can't seem to make their minds up on the name of the game, all the promotional material sent out says Radon Blast, but then start the game and it is Radon Break. Not a good start.


Radon Break is a game that is clearly modelled after the famous Arkanoid brick breaking game. Control a paddle, ball falls, bounce it on to bricks, bricks disappear, destroy all the bricks, level finished.

There are your usual power ups, speed, clone the ball, and extend the size of the paddle. There are also gun powers, a wall and a super ball that just destroys.

40 levels. Beat them all, try and get the best high score.

The only real difference this game has is that your paddle operates from the left in an up and down motion, as opposed to the classic left and right movement on the bottom of the screen. Despite claiming to have 3D graphics, it is definitely 2D. The levels are all pretty basic and bland looking.


The Good
It is an Arkanoid clone, and who doesn't love Arkanoid.

The Bad
It is unoriginal, brings nothing new at all to the genre. And it costs £4. 

Overall
Vastly overpriced when you consider you can get free browser-based games that are virtually identical.
This is a lazy game, that although plays fine, is simply no better than free alternatives.

I score Radon Break a poor 3/10

Out now on Steam