REVIEW: A Winding Path on Nintendo Switch

Review by Jon Donnis

A Winding Path is a hand-drawn 2D platform game of sorts. With a totally unique monochrome look, you play as a character exploring a world, the rain has stopped, crops are dying, rivers are drying up. Your job is to explore and complete small tasks in the hope of uncovering the mystery, and restoring balance to the world.

You will explore ancient ruins, forests and settlements, you will speak to various people, and help them solve their troubles.

Although the graphics look super simple, you literally control a stick man, everything is actually really cleverly done. You could argue that it is actually harder to animate in this way, using hand drawn sketches etc, than it is to animate in a more classical way.

The controls are super easy to get used to, interact with people, solve their problems, find a flute, make it rain and so on.

This really is quite a sweet little game, that you can just tell when you play, that has had a lot of love and time spent on it.

The puzzles and tasks you have to complete do have enough of a challenge to keep you interested, but are never too hard to put you off.

A nice little touch is also the way you can adjust the colours on screen. If you don't like black on a white background, you can change it to white on a black background. As well as lots of other variations, all have nice names like "Nightfall" which is black on a kind of pink background, Slate and Crimson, which is red on a light blue, and so on, basically you can find the colour scheme you like, or whatever suits your eyes and play that way. It makes no difference to the gameplay, but is a nice touch.

The music is very relaxing, melodic, the kind of thing you can just listen to while doing something else.

The Good

A super chilled out, enchanting type of game. Offers enough of a challenge to keep you coming back, a nice storyline and easy but fun gameplay. Not to mention a unique hand drawn world that just shouts at you that it was drawn with love.

The Bad

Perhaps might not appeal to hardcore gamers, or platform gamers who are more interested in spectacle and fancy graphics.

Overall

Some games can just be described as being really nice. This is one of those games. It is just simple and fun to play.

What more can you want.

I score A Winding Path on Nintendo Switch a strong 8/10

Out on the 27^th of October

https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Games/Nintendo-Switch-download-software/A-Winding-Path-2240845.html

REVIEW: World CHAMPIONS: Decathlon

Review by GamingCouchPotato.co.uk Staff

Back in 1983 we were introduced to a game called Track and Field. Fast forward to 2021 and we have World CHAMPIONS: Decathlon. A true homage to not only Track and Field, but all of the Olympic type sports arcade games of the 80s.

The graphics are full retro style, and the sounds are as if you were stood in an arcade in the 80s.

We are back to button bashing greatness.

There are ten events to choose from, which you can take part in one at a time, as well as all ten in succession in the Decathlon mode.

You have...100 metres, Long jump, Shot put, High jump, 400 metres, 110 metres hurdles, Discus throw, Pole vault, Javelin throw and 1500 metres.

You can play in single player mode, or person vs person mode, local and online, however when I tried online I couldn't find a match.

The controls are simple, you have two buttons for speed, and then one for an action, for example to jump. And that is it, everything is super simple and easy to play.

There are leader-boards and achievements to unlock. Each event will have at least 3 achievements to get. One will be to beat a certain score, then an elite achievement where you have to beat a better score, and of course an achievement if you get the world record. There are even a few bonus achievements you can get, for example, spot a UFO or complete the 110m Hurdles in a certain time, without jumping.

And I will say that the 1500 metre race is gruelling, tapping buttons as fast as you can, non stop for 3+ minutes sounds easy, but your fingers are gonna get a workout that's for sure.

The Good

A proper retro Track and Field style game, it really does have everything you could want.

The Bad

This is a small complaint, but I think that when you have two buttons you need to press to run, they should have to be pressed alternatively, where as in this you can press both together, this makes things much easier than it should be. I also think that a lack of control on the jumping events, again makes things too easy.

Overall

I was a huge fan of Olympic style games in the 1980s. I love a good button bashing game. I think there are a few tweaks that could be made to this game to make it a bit harder which in turn makes it more of a challenge. That said I thoroughly enjoyed playing, and it brought back some great memories of my youth.

I Score World CHAMPIONS: Decathlon a solid 8/10

Review by GamingCouchPotato.co.uk Staff

REVIEW: Amberial Dreams on PC (steam)

Review by Jon Donnis

If there is one thing I like, it is 2D physics-based precision platformer, and what do we have here? Yes, it is a 2D physics-based precision platformer. 

You control a ball or as the game calls it a sphere, and you have to get from point A in a level to Point B, in as fast a time as possible. You can only move the ball left or right, so have to make use of the environment to cleverly move you around the level. For example, hit a ramp at speed, or move onto a bouncing platform, move through an antigravity area and so on. Apparently, this is the 5^th game in the series, but as far as I know this is the first time, I have played any of them.

With 50 levels to beat, with varying difficulty, the game presents quite the challenge. Each level offers 3 achievable points. First to pass the level, second to pass the level in under a certain time, and thirdly to do that while also collecting a moon icon, that is usually positioned in a difficult to reach place. Do all three, and you have fully passed the level.

There is a story too, 

"Follow the story of Amber as she wakes up from her long slumber, alone, to find her former idyllic world transformed to the core. Incarnate her avatar and explore 4 different biomes, each with their own gameplay twists and narrative. Change the world as you progress and uncover hidden secrets. Where are your missing sisters and why did everything change so drastically?"

There are a few things that separate this game from other similar games. For example, there is not just a simple menu with the levels listed, instead levels are placed across an area, as you beat certain levels, others are unlocked. There is much variation between the levels too, for example a few of teh more unusual levels are like you are playing on an arcade machine, so offer slightly different mechanics. Some levels have areas with lower gravity, or even hit a button and gravity completely flips. Throw in all manner of traps, and obstacles, and completing this game is not an easy task at all.

There is also a handy statue thingy (sorry I cant recall the name) that when you approach will list all the available levels, your score and completion rate, and if you have discovered them, allows you to choose to play the level from that point.

And just when you think that is enough, there is even the option to create your own levels, and play levels created by other users, which in turns leads to a potentially never-ending number of levels to play.

Despite the game being listed as "Early Access" it is already very far along and has huge potential as more players join the game, more levels are created, and so on.

The gameplay itself may not be very original, but it is presented in a totally original format, with enough variety to keep you very busy, and an almost endless amount of user created levels to enjoy.

The graphics are as good as you would expect in a game like this. The sound effects and music are also decent.

The Good

Endless potential, already a very solid base, with enjoyable, addictive gameplay, and when I say addictive I mean it, when you miss the challenge time by a second, you WILL keep replaying a level until you get it, the hook is strong here, very strong.

The Bad

Perhaps the level layout might put off some people, especially those who are used to just seeing a long list of levels from the start and expect a linear approach. I personally liked having something different.

Overall

This is already a high-quality game, despite being in early access. It can only get better; I look forward to seeing user created levels explode once the game is fully released.

I don't usually score early access games, but I will make an exception here.

I score Amberial Dreams on PC (steam) a very strong 8.5/10. And I can guarantee that when the game exits early access, and gets the full final release, that score will automatically go to 9/10, purely because I know the amount of content available for the game will grow massively.

Released on October 18^th at

https://store.steampowered.com/app/917140/Amberial_Dreams/

REVIEW: Pnevmo-Capsula on Nintendo Switch

Review by Jon Donnis

Pnevmo-Capsula finally gets its console release on the 19^th of October, after being out on Steam for a year or so.

Set in an alternate utopian atompunk world in what looks like anywhere between the 1930s to the 1960s, you control a small trolley that delivers mail, your job is to traverse a series of rails, tracks and pipes, and ultimately deliver the mail.

Of course, things are not as simple as they might seem, in your way are obstacles to get past, barriers to overcome, dead ends, and maze like structures to find your way through.

The various levels are laid out across interesting backdrops, "caretaker's booth" on a power pole, made of sleepers; "Air platform" with houses at a height; "The artist's hut", fixed directly on the power line, and so on.

Instructions are kept to a minimum, as soon as you start you will only get a quick notice on screen, press A to electrify and press Y to speed up. You move the cart using the joystick, and since the rails go in full 3D directions, you will need to push in the direction you want to go, something that can be a bit tricky when the computer-controlled camera decides to swing around to give you a different view. And the lack of instruction also had me stuck at the absolute first screen, one of the things you will quickly need to learn is the electrify button, this in turn will activate different things, for example, it may lift a platform up, to help you cross an area, it may move a rail on the track so you can go to different heights and areas. It also allows you to interact with the puzzles, and turn lights on or off. Once you figure out how to use that A button, you are quickly on your way.

The game runs in a linear fashion, and the puzzles tend to be based in an observational manner, for example you will need to carefully examine advertising boards and instruction manuals, to figure out the answers, which you will then need to input into a mail machine. There is no hint option, so it is very easy to get stuck which will lead to a huge problem with the game.

When you are playing a puzzle game, and you get stuck, you have two options, give up and stop playing the game, or go online and find a walkthrough.

The game itself is relatively short, a few hours at most. But if you were to get stuck early on, and find a walkthrough, the temptation to go back to that walkthrough every time you get stuck grows and grows, the problem being that you then just complete the game in super quick time, and once completed, there is no real replayability to the game. Since it is a linear game, you will not have missed anything.

I played this at first on a Nintendo Switch Lite, I quickly learned that this game is impossible to play on such a small screen, and I had to play on the large screen instead, the reason is that sometimes the camera is very far away from the trolley, and as such it is virtually impossible to see where it is, throw in the issue with having a very small activation zone for your trolley to be, and you can imagine the problem.

The Good

Beautiful graphics and sound effects really did grab my attention. The puzzles really do need you to have a keen eye for detail.

The Bad

The controls are poor and the camera angles hurt the gameplay. Some of the puzzles are ridiculously hard, and may put off someone not willing to stick with a tough game.

Overall

I am a puzzle fan and I have played similar games before, and I faced some of the same frustrations, with that said I did enjoy the game, I completed it relatively quick, and once I got the hang of it, I started to feel pretty confident throughout that even when I got stuck, I would be able to figure it out.

Poor controls and camera angle issues really do bring the score down, as does the lack of any kind of hint system, which will just mean people will run to online walkthroughs.

I score Pnevmo-Capsula on Nintendo Switch a fair 6/10

Better camera angle, simpler controls, a hint system, and more levels, would definitely improve the score.

Out on 19^th October at

https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Games/Nintendo-Switch-download-software/Pnevmo-Capsula-2279177.html

REVIEW: Scarf - On PC

Review by GamingCouchPotato.co.uk Staff

Scarf is a puzzle/3D platforming, narrative driven game,

Not much of a storyline as such other than the taglines of "what it means to be a hero". The game's main gimmick is that your scarf is a living creature, when you first start it kinda looks like a dragon, then you collect an orb and make friends with it and it turns into a regular scarf that goes around your neck. Once you have merged with the scarf, you quickly learn that it is the child, and that the mother scarf, creature thingy, was ripped apart by bad souls, who then used her threads to make portals. Baby scarf tried searching for their mother to no avail. Finally, by merging with your character, the story can be told.

You are then off and running, on a search to trap the souls who have created their own worlds.

Look I was pretty confused too, so can we get past the nonsensical storyline?

Each area has its own unique qualities, and as you play you will learn new scarf-based abilities, and you will discover the secrets of each area while solving pretty standard puzzles, jumping to different parts, gliding and so on. Very generic stuff.

The Good

The game is quite pretty, everything looks and sounds fine.

The Bad

This is a short game, about 2 hours at most. The controls are clunky, and unfortunately a lot of the gameplay is quite tedious. At times it feels more like a walking simulator as opposed to a proper puzzle/platformer. And the fact you will complete it in one sitting and then have no need or want to play it again seems like not the best way to spend £12.

Overall

The game is not all bad, I just don't think any single element of the game is particularly good.
It has value more as walking simulator, something to pass the time instead of something to challenge.

I score Scarf on PC a 5/10. Could have been so much more. You could literally watch a 2 hour playthrough on Youtube for free and get the same out of it.