REVIEW: Death Ray Manta SE on Nintendo Switch

Review by Jon Donnis

Death Ray Manta SE is a twin stick shooter, you play as a Manta with Death Rays! You blew up your house and now you live in fish space! Yep, it is that old cliche!

This is what you call a truly fast paced shooter, (think geometry wars, but with neon graphics) the level starts, and within moments the level is filled with enemies, shoot them with your laser beams, collect gems for bonus points and try not to die. Pretty simple.

There are 32 levels, and it is non-stop. Clear a level, a new level starts, rinse and repeat. 

The left stick controls the mantra, the right stick controls the firing.

Everything is very colourful, bright, neon graphics, there is a synth-wave soundtrack to keep your ears happy.

You don't need to worry about upgrades, or leader boards, you just play. Watch the trailer, and you can instantly understand the entire game.

The Good

I like the graphics, although things do get busy on screen, it is not too confusing. The soundtrack is fun too, very 80's synth which I enjoy. The game has also recently dropped in price. Which is much more realistic for what you are getting.

The Bad

There is not much to the game, it is very simple. As I mentioned, watch a few seconds of the trailer, and you already know everything about the game.

Overall

For a couple of quid, this will give you short bursts of fun, when you just want to blast on a game for less than a minute. You won't sit down and play this game for hours. It really is a short, sharp, shock type of game, pick it up to waste a few seconds, then back to normal life.

The game is fun, it is bright, it is colourful, it is cheap. I score the game a neon-tastic 7/10

Review by Jon Donnis

Get the game now from the Nintendo Shop

https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Games/Nintendo-Switch-download-software/Death-Ray-Manta-SE-1858523.html

REVIEW: Fantasy Friends on Nintendo Switch

Review By Jon Donnis

One of the hardest things to do when reviewing games, is to review a game that is totally not meant for you. I am a grown man, and Fantasy Friends on Nintendo Switch is clearly not aimed at me. So, what I did was give the game to my friends 7-year-old daughter, and let her play it, I then asked for her opinion. This is simply put the best way to review such a game. But before we get to what she thought, let's take a look at the general idea of the game first.

"Fantasy Friends takes place in a gorgeous fantasy forest where anything is possible! With the help of Aurea, the magic fairy, you will care for 12 adorable new pet friends! Take care of them and make sure you give them all the love they need. If you do, your pets will grow up and play with you!

The more you care for them, keeping them happy and healthy, the more mana you will earn. Use your mana to get new creatures, buy them new clothes or even cooler toys to play with, and decorate the forest with incredible fun items!

From a flying panda to a rainbow unicorn, discover 12 incredible creatures you'll love to cuddle and play with. As soon as they hatch, all of them will need your attention."

Put it simply, this is a digital pet game. There are lots of skins and colours and so on, you can play with your pet and look after it, it will become more and more unique. You can even decorate their surroundings.

But now we have to get to the opinion of a 7-year-old.
The first test with such a game is the simplest one. Give the child the game and see what they do.

Well, I am happy to say that the child played the game, didn't get bored, and didn't ask for any help. In other words, from the start, the game is easy to pick up and play, and has enough to it, that it can keep the attention of a child. I asked her if she thought the game was too babyish, and she said no.

Next up I asked directly what she liked about the game.

"I like the colours, I like the dragon, I like that you can name the pet and play with them".

Is the game her favourite? No

Has she gone back to it, after putting it down, or playing something else? Yes.

So, there is definitely something here that not only keeps the attention, but also draws the child back.

That is basically as much as we could get out of her as she had more important things to do.

The Good

Bright colourful game, that entertained a 7-year-old on more than one occasion.

The Bad

This game is firmly directed at young girls between the age of about 3-7. That is a tiny market for a game, I think girls older than about 7 might find it too babyish, and girls under 5 might simply not want to play video games.

Overall

If you have a young child that likes Unicorns and digital pets, and want to give them a game that will entertain them and keep them busy for more than 5 minutes at a time, then this might be the game to do that. Will it break any sales records or become a cult classic, no.

With the advice of a 7-year-old, I score the game a simple 7/10

Review by Jon Donnis

Out Now on Nintendo Switch

https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Games/Nintendo-Switch-download-software/Fantasy-Friends-1863207.html

Patron, survival city-builder with deep SOCIAL aspect announced

Just received some info from Overseer Games on an interesting new "survival city builder" game. This could have some serious potential. Released in the third quarter of 2021.

Looking at the images and trailer, so far so good in my opinion.

Take a look at the blurb, and Alpha Footage below.

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Patron is a survival city builder with a unique social dynamics system. Gather and produce resources, build your fledgling village into a prosperous city and navigate the intricate social tensions before they reach boiling point.

Key features:

A survival city builder with a unique social dynamics system

Gather and produce resources

Establish sustainable production chains

Build your fledgling village into a prosperous city as you construct and upgrade buildings

Manage your people and steer your citizens towards needed professions

Balance social issues: Class strife, Immigration, Religion, Health, Safety, Loyalty...

Plan growth through an extensive Research Tree and unlock technology, policies and upgrades

Plan production and overseas trade to support your economy through difficult times

Genre: Survival city builder

Platform: PC Windows

Release data: Q3 2021

Developer: Overseer Games

For more information check out https://www.patronnewworld.com

and Wishlist the game on Steam - https://store.steampowered.com/app/1538570/Patron/

REVIEW: A Glider's Journey on PC (Steam)

Review by Jon Donnis

One thing I have missed in recent years, is the kind of game that just relaxes you, but still offers up a challenge. A Glider's Journey seems to fit right into that genre.

You play using the mouse or a gamepad, there is no accelerator or brake, you just glide. The idea of the game is to get from your starting point, to the finish which is identified as a landing spot.

The problem being that gliding alone won't get you there, so you need to collect power ups that are conveniently placed around the flying area, each one gives you enough power to reach the next. Miss one or two and you will run out of power and crash.

Luckily for me, there is a "very easy" mode, whereby the physics of the game are simplified, and you will never run out of power, so you are free to glide along to your hearts content. Miss a power up, just do a U-turn and pick it up.

Want to just fly around for a bit and listen to the cool chillout music, you can do that too. But at the end of it all, you do need to reach the end of the level, if you want to unlock the next level, and you also need to collect enough of the power ups to activate the landing spot.

There are 15 levels in total, all of various landscapes and locations, and depending on how quickly you pick up the game, you should be able to finish it all in a few hours. 

The Good

Easy game to play, I liked the simple polygon graphics. And the music really is very relaxing.

The Bad

There are some moments when you have to fly underground that you can easily lose your bearings and not know which way is up or down, but this is solved when you have tried the level a few times.

Overall

Although the game is quite short, it is fun, and if you truly want the most relaxed experience, just put it in Very Easy mode, and just chill out.

I score the game a solid 8/10

Review By Jon Donnis

Out Now on Steam - https://store.steampowered.com/app/1102500/A_Gliders_Journey/

REVIEW: Spooky Chase on Xbox One

Review by Jon Donnis
Spooky Chase may very well be the toughest platform game ever, and in part YOU are to blame! For your every move is then replicated by the monsters, over and over again. Imagine a game whereby you know exactly where the monsters will go, yet you still die!

The general idea of the game is to collect flags, when you collect the flag, the level resets and you start again, this time the flag is in a different place, but now there is a monster, and he is following the exact route you took in the previous level.

Suddenly you find yourself on level 10 in search of the golden flag and you have 9 monsters all repeating your previous routes to glory.

It is insanely hard, but in a really good way, because you are in control of where the monsters will go, it really makes you think and plan where you will go. Add to that the difficulties of levels that are half in darkness, or smoke covering holes in the ground, traps, trap doors, and so much more, and you have a challenge that I don't think I have ever found before in a platform game.

The graphics are fun and simple, very retro style, the music is annoyingly catchy, the controls work perfectly. There are various areas to complete levels in, Graveyards, castles, dungeons and so on, and extra things to collect to keep you busy.

All in all, a very fun, but deviously difficult platform game.

I loved it. Make sure to check out my gameplay video below.

8/10

Review by Jon Donnis

Available now on multiple formats, here is the link to buy it on Xbox. Worth checking out.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/p/spooky-chase/9p45tq1d1pt1