REVIEW: Curse of the Sea Rats on Xbox

Review by Jon Donnis

Another day, another review, this time Curse of the Sea Rats on Xbox, which is described as a "ratoidvania", basically a platform game with anthropomorphized rats as the main characters.

Everything is hand drawn with 2.5D animation, and looks fantastic, you can tell that a lot of time and love as gone into the animation. Main characters are 2D, with the backgrounds being 3D.

"Embark on the epic journey of four prisoners of the British empire, transformed into rats by the notorious pirate witch, Flora Burn. To regain their human bodies, they will have to fight dangerous bosses, uncover the secrets of the vast Irish coast, and ultimately capture the witch who cursed them."

You start off the game Shipwrecked on the coast of Ireland in the 18th Century, although you started off as prisoners, the captain begs the gang to rescue his captured son. You can choose to play as one of four playable characters, David Douglas (classic sword action), Buffalo Calf (Uses dagger and knives), Bussa (fights with his fists), and Akane Yamakawa (uses a spear). Each character as a unique fighting style and skill set. You can play in solo mode or with friends in a local co-op mode.

Gameplay consists of classic platforming action across a somewhat non-linear world, you will still need to beat certain bosses to progress, with lots of different routes to take, treasures to find, kidnapped children to save, curses to reverse and enemies to beat. As you progress you will be able to teleport back to other areas, and as you level up you can unlock new skills in the skill tree. For example, increasing your hit rate, health bar, new magic powers, double jump, dash and so on.

The levels are well designed, lots to explore, passages to find and so on. As you meet NPCs if you choose to talk to them, they will often give you a side quest to complete, for example something to find and return to them.

All in all, a decent platform game.

The Good

Beautifully designed and animated. Gameplay can be challenging at times, but the more you play and unlock, the easier it becomes.

The Bad

The game is a bit buggy at times, but I am assured that the developers are listening to the players, and fixing things as fast as they can.

Some enemies seem unusually hard until you have levelled up, and upgraded your character, a few shots and you are dead. The balance seems a bit off, and there needs to be more save points, and perhaps difficulty options.

Overall

Curse of the Sea Rats on Xbox has a lot of potential, and hopefully after the balancing issues and a few of the other bugs get fixed, this should be a great little platform game for people of all ages.

I score Curse of the Sea Rats on Xbox a fair 7.5/10

Out Now on Xbox

https://www.xbox.com/en-GB/games/store/curse-of-the-sea-rats/9n0wtxhcgdjw

REVIEW: Formula Retro Racing - World Tour on Nintendo Switch

Review by Jon Donnis

A few years ago Formula Retro Racing was released, and I reviewed it on Xbox, I called it the spiritual successor to Virtua Racing. Well fast forward to 2023 and we have a sequel called Formula Retro Racing - World Tour.

Let's take a look at the official blurb.

"Players can drive, drift and draft their way across 18 unique tracks, including Japan, London and Paris. Multiple gameplay modes provide hours upon hours of replayability, with corners to master and endless lap times to overcome through the online leaderboards. This expanded sequel also adds new vehicle types to the mix, each with their own distinctive feel and handling properties.

Low-poly models and assets now look crisper than ever before thanks to 4K visuals and 60fps performance. Every aspect of the game has been designed with performance in mind, ensuring a consistent feel as players dive headfirst into corners at breakneck speeds. It's retro gaming as players remember it, but with a modern twist.

Relive the glory days of sharing the settee with 4-player split-screen in Formula Retro Racing: World Tour's multiplayer mode. Players can take the clean driving line, draft behind competitors or take the chaotic route and push friends into the wall  - just remember, the only place that matters is first.

For those looking to add an additional dimension to their racing experience, Formula Retro Racing: World Tour is also fully playable in VR. Incredibly immersive, and not for the faint of heart, this mode allows players to experience the thrill of racing from the most authentic point of view, the cockpit."

Since I am playing this on a Nintendo Switch Lite, I have not been able to try out the VR mode!

At first you might not notice much difference between this and the previous game, the menu looks the same, the graphics are basically the same, but there are some differences, the main ones being new tracks and a new set of drift cars. Everything else is pretty much the same as the previous game.

I have to admit I tried the drift cars first, and they just felt a bit strange to play with. Feels like they may have been tacked on at the end just to add something different. I quickly went back to what I know best, that being the regular racing cars. 5 to chose from, from F1 style to Le Mans style. They all pretty much handle the same though, although there are slight differences in cornering and braking, but nothing that felt major. Once you choose your car, you can change its colour, and away you go.

Racing is very straight forward, no turbos or boosts, just basic racing, but keep an eye on your damage gauge, if not you might explode.

4 racing modes, Arcade, Grand Prix, Eliminator and Free Practice. 18 tracks in total.

The game plays just as well as the first game, it is good fun, the tracks look great in their low polygon style. The eliminator mode is still the most fun.

The only question that remains, is if this game has improved enough over the original for it to be worth purchasing.

The Good

Fun little arcade racing game, that could have come right out of the 1990s. The graphics are awesomely retro. The soundtrack is very 8bit which I like.

The Bad

The addition of the drift cars, although a nice idea, did not cut it for me, after a few goes using those cars, I had lost interest and went back to the regular racing cars. Since that is the main addition, it is slightly disappointing.

Drift cars but no drift mode? Car damage but no demolition mode?

Overall

First of all this game is 100% an improvement over the original, more tracks, more cars, leader boards, multiplayer grand prix events. But I am not sure it offers enough to make it a proper sequel, it feels more like an update, or DLC content than a seperate new game.

If you don't have the original, then this is worth a shot, it is a lot of fun, looks and plays great. If you do have the original though, I am not sure if this offers enough for you to buy it. 

I score Formula Retro Racing - World Tour on Nintendo Switch a safe 7/10. Just expected more after 2 years.

Out Now

https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Games/Nintendo-Switch-download-software/Formula-Retro-Racing-World-Tour-2335320.html

REVIEW: Martian Panic on Nintendo Switch

Review by Jon Donnis

I have not played an "on-rail shooter game" for ages, I was a big fan of the Virtua Cop and The House of the Dead games back in the late 90s which probably introduced me to the genre, well on-rail shooter games are back, (apparently), this time on Nintendo Switch. I played Martian Panic on a Switch Lite.

The Martians have invaded, and you have to stop them. Thats the story. No more, no less.

As mentioned, this is an on-rails shooter, for those unfamiliar that means that you are on a pre-determined route, and all you need to worry about is shooting the aliens, you don't need to worry about which way to go etc.

The main selling point of the game is the style, everything is done in a comic book style, with a retro 1950s feel.

There are 8 levels to beat, across various locations, movie theatre, the pyramids, a farm, outside a diner etc. There are 6 different weapons to collect and use, and 10 different types of enemies, there are also a number of powerups to collect. Other than the aliens, you can also shoot various objects that might drop a bonus. For example, shoot a scarecrow in the farm level and you might get a new weapon. Try to avoid killing the civilians who will undoubtably run right in front of you, get a high score, and try to get to the top of the leaderboards.

Between each level you have short movies which further tell the story, and within each level there are short cutscenes to give your fingers a break. Everything is done with a nice level of humour, and as mentioned earlier in a 1950s comic book style.

There are the usual difficulty levels, and you can also play with 3 others on one console although I was unable to test that, I am guessing that is for the Switch regular and not the switch lite.

The Good

This is a fun little game, great humour, nice voice overs, and a silly but fun story.

Fun bright graphics and I like the comic book style in the cut scenes.

The Bad

This game needs to played using a light gun, using the Switch Lite controller joystick to move the aim icon is tough, it is hard to be accurate, why on earth they didn't make this touch screen for the Switch Lite is beyond me, that is literally the only other way that you could get the best out of this game without using a light gun. Also you NEED to play this game with the sound on, I know many people like to listen to music or have the TV on, but without the sound it is hard to tell when you are out of bullets, watch the gameplay video below, and you will see how often I kept shooting when I had no bullets left. Also, when you do shoot someone, there needs to be more of a feeling that you have hit them. This game leaves you wondering at times if you have actually hit an enemy or not.

Overall

A fun game that just struggles on the Switch Lite, if you have a Switch regular, then I am sure this game will play better. I wonder if I can plug a regular PC mouse into the Switch Lite to play this game? Would definitely make it easier? No Bluetooth mouse though, will need a converter.

If you are a fan of On Rail Shooters and have a Light Gun, then this is definitely a game you should add to your collection, if only because there isn't that many out there. Would be great fun with young kids.

Doesn't really work on the Switch Lite which is a shame, but there is a fun game here if you have the right set up, which unfortunately I don't think I did.

Out now on Nintendo Switch at https://amzn.to/3NoxuWv and also pick up the accessory to turn your Joy-Cons into a gun like device at https://amzn.to/3CJHi8D, its not perfect, but until we get a proper light gun it will have to do.

REVIEW: SETTRIS on PC (Steam)

Review by Jon Donnis

The very good people at Zoo Corporation send me their latest game to review, called SETTRIS, just from the name you can guess that this is going to be a puzzle game with blocks.

The game has a simple concept, you have an empty puzzle board, your job is to place the pieces available onto the board, making sure there are no spaces, and everything fits perfectly. Trust me it sounds easier than it is.

You can rotate the pieces as well as flip them to help you, as you progress through the levels, they will get harder, and the puzzle pieces more complicated and harder to fit. Luckily if you get stuck you can clear the board and start again. You will find yourself doing this often.

In the "Stage Mode" there is no time limit, so you can just play at your own pace, take your time, and hopefully solve the puzzle. Once you have completed a puzzle you move onto the next. There are plenty of levels to complete, so will keep you busy for a while.

There is also a time attack mode, this is infinitely trickier than the stage mode, the job here is to complete as many puzzle boards as possible within the time limit. There are leaderboards too so you can compete for the fastest time against players from all over the world. There are 3 time attack modes to try to score high on, one has you trying to place 3 pieces, another 4, and finally 5 pieces.

The game has a simple layout with a sea background and feel.

Puzzles are well crafted, and a great challenge for any puzzle game fan, young and old.

The Good

Simple concept, well designed, the leaderboards will keep you coming back, and there are plenty of achievements to collect.

The Bad

Perhaps not the most original game, but for a few quid you can't complain.

Overall

A perfectly simple puzzle game, for fans of the genre. I like a nice puzzle game and I enjoyed playing SETTRIS.

I score SETTRIS a straightforward 8/10

Out Now on Steam at

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2297230/SETTRIS/

REVIEW: Pile Up! on PC (Steam)

Review by Jon Donnis

It has been a while since I have played a simple building game, so I was looking forward to checking out Pile Up! from developer Remoob.

Pile Up!" is a strategic building game set on a small piece of land, where your objective is to construct houses, keep the people happy, and manage risky buildings placed on a small area as you learn to build upwards instead of outwards. However, don't be deceived by the tranquil environment and the soothing music playing in the background, the game is designed in such a way that if you don't get the balance just right, everything will collapse, and you will have to start over.

Your primary aim is to increase the city's population by constructing risky buildings to their fullest extent. As the days pass, you will unlock new technologies and buildings. To utilize these new structures, you must construct factories. Each factory grants you access to a unique set of buildings, allowing you to expand your city even further. There are various types of factories, each will help you with different types of buildings as well as support.

With a plethora of buildings at your disposal, the choice is yours when it comes to stacking them up in your city. Experiment with different combinations, marvel at the results of your random creations, strategically place buildings in just the right spots, and cover up any mistakes you make along the way. Consult The Architect's Handbook to learn the functions of various buildings and discover creative methods to control your city's growth.

There are missions that you need to complete, which will reward you with various special buildings that may bend the games rules slightly, for example you destroy a building and then rebuild it and it becomes more powerful.

The game is still early access, so it is far from being a finished article, there needs to be more content, and at times it feels more like a block building game, than it does a strategic city builder. Due to the limited space, I feel like the game will end up forcing you to create the cities in a certain order, instead of letting your imagination run free which would perhaps be more fun.

The more you play the better you will get, and failure in many ways is part of the game, as you unlock more buildings.

The Good

Nice graphics, nice idea, just needs more content.

The Bad

Might leave you frustrated instead of challenged at times.

Overall

For an early access game this has a lot of potential. I'd prefer a completely free camera, as at times it is hard to know where you have put stuff.

No score for now as it is Early Access, but the game is worth a look. But keep in mind there are other games out there with the exact same name.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/2094910/Pile_Up