REVIEW: Lake on Xbox One

Review by GamingCouchPotato.co.uk Staff

Lake is what I would call a pallet cleanser game. It is a story driven game, whereby you play as Meredith Weiss, a graduate from MIT who has come back to her hometown of Providence Oaks, Oregon in 1986 to help out her father while he is on vacation. And how do you help out? well, you take over his job for a few weeks as postman (Mailman/Mailwoman) to the town that surrounds the lake.

From working in the big city at a software company, to a sleepy town, driving a mail truck, and talking to the locals. That is the game.

And this is why I call the game a pallet cleanser. This game is not so much about delivering mail, or even driving a mail truck, it is about talking to people, old friends you knew growing up, as well as new people. Helping people out, doing favours for people, you can even start a romantic relationship. As you meet people you are given choices of how to answer, no right or wrong answers. But since the whole point of the game is the story, if you just avoid conversations, meetings, or helping people, then the game will be very short and very boring. And at the end of the game, you have to make a decision, to return to the city, or stay in the sleepy town you grew up in.

Driving the truck is nice and easy, you can't kill anyone, or be killed, you can't even drive into the lake. (I tried) You can even put the auto pilot on and just sit back and enjoy the view.

This really is a game that is you, just taking part in the life of someone over a two week period.

In many ways the game is boring, and it is supposed to be boring, but the word boring does have a lot of negative connotations to it. Sometimes just driving around a beautiful lake, with stunning views, is just fun to do. From playing games where you constantly feel either frustrated, stressed or exhilarated, here is a game you can just sit back and relax playing.

It is the ultimate pallet cleansing game. Whether you sit and complete it in one go, or just play it for a few minutes here and there, it doesn't really matter.

The Good

The graphics are stunning, such a beautiful game to play. Easy to play, great soundtrack. 

The Bad

I imagine people wanting more of an "gameplay" experience will be disappointed.

Overall

This is a tough one to score. If you know and understand what the game is about, what it is trying to give you, and that is something you want, then it is really quite a relaxing and enjoyable game. But if you just play it expecting it to be more of a "game" than a story, then you will be disappointed.

Personally I enjoyed it, I liked the change in pace, and sometimes I don't need to shoot zombies, or drive off a cliff to have fun while gaming.

I score Lake a solid 8/10

Out now on Xbox One

https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/p/lake/9n5glftt40sn

PREVIEW: Moo Lander on PC (Steam)

Preview by GamingCouchPotato.co.uk Staff

I was asked to take a look at the new demo for Moo Lander, an upcoming action adventure "platform" game. I put quotes around the word platform as you play as The Lander and fly around in his spaceship. The story has you taming mighty ancient cows, fighting all manner of alien life forms, solving puzzles and exploring alien worlds.

Now here is the big gimmick. MILK! Yes milk! Milk is your main objective here; you are in search of the source for infinite milk. Milk powers everything, your spaceship's shield, your weapons, everything is milk related. After "The War", all milk has been lost, so you need to recover ancient devices that are capable of producing infinite amounts of it. 

The mighty ancient cows I mentioned earlier, well they are your "boss fights". Well, if you can reach them, you see each level will have you exploring and trying to unlock routes to get to the end. Did I mention milk? From early on you will see that you need milk to replenish your weapons, or even upgrade them. A milk saber not only sounds good, it is surprisingly efficient in destroying alien plants that are trying to kill you. Milk gun is also good, but I prefer the milk saber. And of course, a milk shield.

Since the full game is not out yet, I was not able to enjoy the full story, but from what I did play, I did enjoy.

Control of the space ship is easy, and the milk weapons are fun to use, especially the milk saber. You will find yourself needing to solve basic puzzles to open the path to progress further, as well as avoid aliens trying to kill you. All in all a fun game so far.

The graphics are all hand drawn, everything looks and sounds great.

As Demos go, this is worth a look, it is free, so what do you have to lose.

Give it a play. Let me know what you think.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1080040/Moo_Lander/

REVIEW: Struggling on XBOX One

Review by gamingcouchpotato.co.uk staff

Struggling is one of the more bizarre games I have ever played, instantly memories of the disgusting failed experiment in the original "The Fly" film comes to mind.

You play as "Troy" a deformed monster created from Hector and Achilles, two heroes who were horribly conjoined, so two separate arms connected to a head. That is your character. Each arm is controlled independently, and to move, you throw one arm out and grab on to a surface, and then drag yourself along. This game can be played as a two-player game, but I played it only in one player mode. And to say the controls take some getting used to is an understatement.

Luckily if one arm is torn off, you can grow it back. This is a physics-based platformer, and you really need to learn the method of movement to progress at all in this game, from within the first moments of play you will be screaming at the game, it is incredibly frustrating, it is a huge "Struggle" I guess.

As you progress through the game, you will go through weird levels, with other deformed creatures, and seemingly impossible obstacles to pass.

Luckily you will also unlock some upgrades to your character, these include slowing down time, which allows you avoid various traps or hazards. You can detach your arms and use them to crawl around, and even use your separated body parts to attach to various obstacles which you can then use to complete the level.

Now let me make one thing very clear, this game is tough, very, very tough, at no point do you ever feel totally comfortable with the control system, but I guess that is the point, it is called "Struggling" for a reason. The game will drive you made, but when you do eventually overcome that seemingly impossible chasm or obstacle, there is a strong feeling of accomplishment.

The graphics are all hand drawn and disgusting, the soundtrack is surprisingly good, clearly some time has been taken to really match the music to the gameplay.

The Good

If you enjoy really challenging physics-based puzzle games, then this is about as challenging as you can get. With the hand drawn graphics and great soundtrack, this is all very impressive, and you can tell a lot of work was put in.

The Bad

You will never get used to the controls, and you will be forever shouting at the screen. The fear is that people will just give up when they realise how hard it is.

Overall

As challenging, physics-based platformers go, this is one of the better ones in recent times. Frustratingly hard at times, but a good challenge should never be a bad thing.

I score the game a strong 7/10

Review by gamingcouchpotato.co.uk staff

Out now on Playstation and Xbox

https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/p/struggling/9ngd1f29jfqf

REVIEW: Golf Club: Wasteland on Xbox

Note: I updated "the bad" on my review, after playing the game some more, I realised I was a tad too harsh - 03/10/21

Review by GamingCouchPotato.co.uk Staff

We are in a post-apocalyptic world. The elites have run away to Mars, and only return to Earth to play a round of golf. And you are one of those people, so what do you get if you mix a 2D golf game with a narrative driven adventure game? Well, you get Golf Club Wasteland.

You play across 35 holes, each one has its own little story and puzzle to complete to make the perfect shot.

As you play you will see some familiar landmarks, and some not so familiar ones, all crumbling in this post-apocalyptic world. While playing if you see a pipe, send the ball down it for a nice shortcut.

Now I did mention that this is more than just a golf game, it is a narrative driven adventure, so each hole does tell a story, this is done not just through the visual aspect of the hole, but also through diary entries that you unlock, comics that you will read after finishing the hole, but also through the radio station that plays in the background. Everything is nicely connected to tell you the story of what is going on, and what has happened in the past. I am not gonna talk too much about the plot, the story, as a lot of the enjoyment of the game is unlocking it all, and opening your mind to everything that has happened.

There are plenty of pop culture moments that are instantly recognisable, and some adult humour thrown in too.

And if you decide to play over again to get achievements, there are some nice tricky shots you need to pull off to get them. Adding a nice extra challenge.

The soundtrack is really good, and after completing the story you can even download the songs through a helpfully provided QR code! A very nice touch.

There are 3 modes of golf that you can play, think of them as Easy, Medium and Hard. Easy mode is all about the story, and is not concerned with how many shots you take, Medium gives you a Par score to try to beat, and Hard or Iron Mode is simply put, no room for error.

You will probably start playing the story mode, and when you have completed the game, you will want to then try to play it again but by beating the Par score for each level. I've yet to complete the Iron Mode yet.

The game is incredibly easy to pick up and play and has a nice learning curve, but there are harder levels that are followed by easier ones and then back to harder, so you do have some nice variance on the difficulty, the way you play the golf shots is also very simple, aim and press power. It takes a bit of getting used to, but soon enough you will be playing the perfect shot to progress through each level.

The Good

The visuals and story are great, everything is very well put together.

The Bad

I decided I was too harsh on "the bad" when I first wrote this review, so after playing the game some more I wanted to come back with an update. I previously said that the golfing aspect let this game down, I think I was wrong, the golfing aspect is perfectly fine, and it does fit in well within the narrative of the game.

Overall

A fun game that I enjoyed. Plenty to see and enjoy. With a satisfying ending too, and lots of fun achievements to get, when you play through again.

I score Golf Club: Wasteland a strong 8/10

Review by GamingCouchPotato.co.uk Staff

REVIEW: Arcade Action Wrestling on Xbox One

Review by GamingCouchPotato.co.uk Staff

Arcade Action Wrestling is an old fashioned, over the top (literally) arcade wrestling game. Think the old Wrestlefest game and you get the idea.

Originally known as Chikara Action Arcade Wrestling, but since Chikara closed down, it is no longer associated with the game.

AAW has all your classic moves, Clotheslines, Piledrivers, Body Slams, Shoot Lasers, Wield Lightsabers, yes, all those classic wrestling moves you are fond of.

The game does not take itself too seriously as you might have already guessed, and the controls are super simple, with just a couple of buttons needed to perform the moves. A nice touch is that you can't just repeatedly use the same move over and over, as your opponent will learn and start blocking the moves if you over use them.

There are 30+ wrestlers you can choose from, and you can also create your own wrestler, which we all know means you are either creating yourself, or your favourite current Superstar.

All the usual game modes are there including One vs. One, Tag Team, Three-way match, Four-way match, 4-10 Person Elimination matches, Tornado Tag, Battle Royal, Trios. No career mode at the moment, and no cage matches, which is a shame.

As you play, you will upgrade your character's level, you can perform "spots" in the match which gives you extra points and so on. And of course, all of your favourite "foreign objects" are there to, ready to be used, tables, chairs, bats and so on.

The Good

This is a fun, old school arcade wrestling game, and I absolutely loved it. I hope that the game makers will continue to support and update the game, as it could quickly reach cult status, especially as you can download other wrestlers created by others. Meaning an endless supply of wrestlers, and whether you are a WWE fan, an Impact Wrestling fan or an AEW fan, you will soon have all your favourite wrestlers in place.

The Bad

The various game modes are a bit too similar, and a career/campaign mode needs to be added. There are a few bugs here and there but nothing too bad.

Overall

If you like wrestling games, but want something a bit more fun, then this is the game for you.

I score Arcade Action Wrestling a solid 8/10