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Inspired by nostalgic retro games you know and love, Thunderflash will drop you into the combat zone top-down, and the intensity will never let up. Play a solo mission or with a partner, and choose from bad boy commandos Rock or Stan, and go up against an army of mercenaries, military weapons and more!
The Kashmir is being occupied by a criminal organization known as Bloody Wolf, and your job is to make your country proud by taking them all down. Fight your way through waves of soldiers, explosives, vehicles and drones, and bosses, and collect more powerful weapons.
Show that you have what it takes to be a hardcore warrior!
Review by Jon Donnis Xuan-Yuan Sword VII is the latest Action role-playing game from Yooreka Studio, a game plot that is set firmly in Chinese history and mythology set in the Western Han Dynasty.
Your character is called Taishi Zhao. Let's take a look at the official synopsis
In the last of Western Han Dynasty, the powerful prime minister of China superseded his emperor and build a new dynasty called Xin. In this year, words appeared on the boulders, stone cattles appeared in fields, and ancient tombs cracked, tremendous signs appeared, told a time of peace and prosperity will come. A peculiar bamboo slip in the crypt of Marquis of Liu was delivered to Court Astrologer's hand.
Unexpectedly, Taishi Mansion was badly damaged by a bizarre fire that night, and all his family was killed in the fire and the bamboo slip disappeared.
Ten years later, the prosperity mentioned in the prophecy has never come. A decade of war and famine, the people were miserable, and the chaos had spread among the country.
Ok, so Xuan-Yuan Sword VII is an Action RPG, using my preferred third-person perspective to play, this game is story heavy, and that is good if you like to feel emersed in the history of the story that is being told.
Combat seems a bit basic, but for what it is, it is perfectly fine, but you will just find yourself using heavy attack over and over and will win every fight pretty easily. You can also cast some magic spells, but you only really get two spells, so it's pretty basic in that respect. But let us be honest, swinging a sword is always more satisfying. You are also accompanied by your little sister, who has her own powers which you can call upon in times of need, but mostly you will just leave her to do her own thing.
You will come across various puzzles in the game, some easier than others, although once you try for long enough you can just skip them if they are too hard, and it doesn't affect the game as far as I can see. You can upgrade your character as you would expect, better weapons, amulets, the usual stuff. You also have access to the Elysium, a magical plane of existence whereby you can craft things which will really help upgrade your character.
The graphics are stunning and the music is beautiful, and the voice acting, although not in English, just sounded right to me.
The Good
Easy to play, great graphics and music.
The Bad
The combat at times can be a bit unbalanced on a difficulty level, and some of the translation as I read the subtitles is a tad off, but nothing that will really cause more than an eye roll on your behalf.
Overall
A fun game that you will fly through, if you like ARPG and you like Chinese history and mythology, then give this game a look. I am enjoying it so far.
GraviFire is a logic puzzle game, whereby you have a mixture of gravity, mechanics and those old sliding picture puzzles, all come together to make a very good little game. You control "The Green Fire" who has been abducted by aliens, who force him to solve puzzles, you need to push blocks from one point to another, get all the blocks in the right place and you pass the level, sounds easy right? Wrong! You also have lasers you need to avoid, all the while you have to worry about and control gravity to help you along, suddenly what seemed like a really easy game, needs you to use every braincell you have to figure everything out.
With 50 levels to beat, lovely pixel graphics, and a decent learning curve, this is a very addictive game. Once you get into the flow of things, you will complete it pretty quickly, but that said you might find yourself seeking out help on the "Youtubes!". Check out my gameplay video below, this was recorded live, as I played levels 5 through 10. The rest you can figure out yourself!
The Good
Simple gameplay mechanics, easy to learn and master, logic-based puzzles, cute pixel graphics, and a catchy soundtrack.
The Bad
Nothing really, it's a great game, maybe more levels? Ok I have one complaint, I completed the game, but never got the achievement for level 50. This may be because I used the skip function on a couple of levels.
Overall
If you like simple logic-based puzzle games, then you can go wrong with GraviFire. Excellent game. I score it 9/10
Review by Jon Donnis
GraviFire will be released on PlayStation®5, PlayStation®4, Nintendo Switch™ and Xbox One on March 3'rd! Price is 4.99 💵 everywhere!
Dungeons & Bombs is billed as a challenging puzzle game, where by you need to save what I can only describe as a princess with a beard. I will avoid any trans jokes here as I don't want to be "cancelled" by the humourless mob.
So, I guess this game tries to be a bit Bomberman and a bit Qbert. You need to get front point A to point B, reach point B and you save the Princess. You find monsters and traps in your way, and you have a set amount of moves to finish the level. If you encounter a monster you lose a move, if you stand on an active trap, you lose a move. I can see what they are trying to do here, and it is a good idea, the problem is, it doesn't work, like some levels are literally impossible to beat if you follow the rules of the game.
Now that might sound like a strange thing to say, and it is, because purely by accident, I found a huge bug in the game, a bug that upon quickly checking with others who have played the game have also spotted, and this bug basically lets you finish every level. When you drop a bomb, you have 3 moves until it explodes, as long as you don't walk on a trap or touch an enemy. If the bomb goes off as your move counter reaches zero, you then have a few seconds whereby you can quickly run to the Princess, touch them and you pass the level. You only get a few seconds, but clearly this is cheating, but because some of the levels are simply impossible, you will find yourself doing this just to get past them.
It is such a shame as this could have been a much better game, if they removed the set move amounts and just let it be more of a Bomberman clone.
The Good
There is a cool CRT mode, whereby the screen has an effect like you are playing on an old school TV. The Princess with a Beard also made me laugh.
The Bad
The flawed gameplay and "cheat" that literally everyone will find out, even if by accident.
Overall
I really wanted to like this game, and perhaps the first 7 levels out of a potential 50 did interest me, and I did enjoy them, but the huge bug in the game as well as impossible levels just spoil it.
I score this game 3/10. Hopefully they will release a fix as well as improve the levels.
By Jon Donnis
Dungeons & Bombs will be released on PlayStation®5, PlayStation®4, Nintendo Switch™ and Xbox One on February 26'th! Price is 4.99 💵 everywhere!
I thought I was playing Left 4 Dead but no, this is Warhammer: Vermintide 2, a completely different game, with different characters, in a different world! Ok, it's basically Left 4 Dead, in a different world with different characters. So, for people who have no idea what I am on about, let us pretend that we have never played Left 4 Dead, Vermintide 2 is a 4 player, online co-op, FPS, whereby you fight your way through linear levels, fighting hordes of disgusting creatures. You see! Completely different! If first-person, multiplayer, melee combat is you thing, then you will love this.
As I mentioned this is an online game, I think there might be a way to play this single player with AI controlled friends, but I couldn't figure that out, so don't take my word on it.
You can choose between 5 characters, each character has various weapons to upgrade, abilities to masters and so on. As you win battles you win loot boxes with better weapons, and your character level goes up, it is all standard fare.
This is a bloody game, so not for the squeamish, you will swing an axe and destroy your enemies face, so be prepared for that. With that said, there isn't much skill to this game, it is simple, hack-n-slash gameplay, and if you are coordinating with your friends as you play, everything is very straight forward, that does not mean it isn't fun or satisfying, because it is, it is incredibly satisfying if slicing arms, and decapitating weird creatures is your thing. There are also ranged weapons you can use, which in many ways end up being much more effective, that may be a Blunderbuss gun, or a bow and arrow.
Each level will take roughly 25-35 minutes to complete, the enemies spawn in different locations, so if you replay a level it is never exactly the same. Different levels will need you to do different things, one level will have you escorting a cart through a darkened mine, another level might be more of a "get from point A to point B" type affair. There is simply a lot to do as well as a lot to upgrade on your characters.
The Good
This is a fun game, the characters are varied enough that there really is a difference depending which one you choose, the weapons are varied, and when you find one you like it really will make a difference. The graphics are awesome, and the audio, everything from the music to the banter is all top notch.
The Bad
The in-game menus are rubbish, waste of time. And there are huge issues with the multiplayer, players will get disconnected, if the person who created the party disconnects you lose all progress. All in all, it spoils the game. I think if there is a single player mode (which I can't find) then that is what I would prefer, just having AI controlled friends on mission would play better.
Overall
I enjoyed the game, but this really needs 4 people who all know each other, and who have great internet connections, then you can get the best out of the game, without that the game feels a let-down at time and frustrations will creep in.
With that said, I see that it is also available on Xbox Game Pass, so I might download it there and see if it plays better on console.
For the PC version however, I score this 7/10 - Fun game, but let down by poor menus and poor multiplayer.
Out now on PC (Steam) and Consoles. (Free as part of Xbox Game Pass)
