John Hansen

“Terminator 2D: No Fate is a nostalgic throwback to the time when Terminator 2: Judgement Day was released, and it feels very authentic to that. The shooting and action carry this game, making it feel like it was a tie-in released alongside the movie, but the short length and repetitive nature of it may weigh on some people and cause some questioning of its price tag. Regardless, even if you have never watched any of the Terminator movies, you may come away enjoying what this game is in its short spurts.”

“Overall, Escape From Duckov is a game that doesn’t have any jokes aside from the fact that you’re playing as a duck, but anyone who loves extraction shooters will probably enjoy it. All of the basic mechanics are there, alongside a base building progression that feels rewarding to go through. Retreading the same locations continuously can get tiring fast, though. The single-player nature makes this an experience you can shut your mind off to more than its multiplayer predecessors, but that doesn’t mean it’s a calming experience. If you enjoy the grind, this is a game you can take flight to.”

“In short, Yooka-Replaylee is a brilliant remake of the original game. It expands and improves upon so many areas that it leaves the original release in the dust. It took a long wait, but Yooka and Laylee finally have a 3D platformer worthy of the Banjo-Kazooie comparisons.”

“Bubsy in: The Purrfect Collection is Atari and Limited Run bringing back some pretty bad games and bundling them together with features that make them minimally better, but not good. If you are a Bubsy mega fan who has played any of these games since the '90s, you will likely enjoy this collection. For anyone else, the only real reason you’ll want to buy this collection is curiosity about how bad this series has been.”

“It doesn’t do anything that'll have you absolutely amazed, but the time you spend getting to know your surroundings here will be a worthy venture as your store expands and gets more products.”

“Unless you have a group of friends that you trust to have a good time with, I can’t recommend playing Among Us 3D over the regular game. The player count seems to be quite minuscule compared to original, which makes sense considering there is no integration with console platforms here. Playing the game in first-person is really cool the first time, but you quickly see how you’re still playing the same game at the end of the day. I wish I knew other people that had the game so I could possibly have a better experience, but my time with Among Us 3D was nothing more than annoying and quite the waste of time spent hopping between lobbies just trying to find a decent game. I would say you’re much better off sticking with the 2D game over this.”

“Haste: Broken Worlds is a game that thrives on its gameplay feel, even if there isn’t much outside of its main missions that might catch you. Zoe and the rest of the cast might not have caught my imagination from a story standpoint, but knowing I can return to this game at any time to get new procedurally generated levels is the highest selling point for this game. Listening to the music as you speed through courses with tons of obstacles thrown at you is a high octane rush that I wish I could get more of in video games.”

“Everhood 2 is an indie game that I can see a very niche group of people enjoying heavily. The music for the most part was really good, and I enjoyed the battling for what it was. Walking around these worlds being completely lost was not enjoyable to me. I would be interested to see how many ways this game branches off for players to have unique runs. I don’t think I have it in me to try another run through a campaign, but if it’s heavily tailored towards giving everyone a unique experience, that is definitely commendable.”

“Luck Be a Landlord may be entirely luck based, but it forces you to think carefully about the bets you make on it. The simple nature of it makes it something you can play for just a few minutes or get engrossed in for quite a bit longer. Learning the symbols and how they interact together is very rewarding when you get it to work properly and I appreciate learning when it is best to keep a symbol and when you should get rid of it or skip it all together.”

“Squirrel with a Gun is a chaotic time that is always looking to place your rodent in the most insane positions to make them look like an action movie star. It is quite janky at times and can wear on you fast, so we don’t necessarily recommend trying to knock all of its content out at once, but for a side game that you can go to when you need a break from everything else, Squirrel with a Gun is worthy of your time.”

“Rugrats: Adventures in Gameland is a title that I came away from my first playthrough very frustrated. I found it far too easy to take damage, and while I love the HD art style, there were many times the levels just didn’t feel good to get through. Switching to the 8-bit style to find missing tokens was a little better because the janky gameplay matched the old graphic style. It’s not something that typically felt great, but it was more manageable.”

“Crossy Road Castle is a fun time on console, especially with friends. The cooperative grind to get through as many rooms as possible will keep you coming back for more, but that’s about all this game offers. Overall, the content well here is very shallow, but the water it does have tastes very good.”

“Exhausted Man is not really a game that'll wake you up at all. It begins feeling very samey fast and, outside of planning where to place items before a level each time, there's not much of a strategy to be had. While it has a unique play style, there are plenty of other everyday-life indie games we think should be played before this.”

“Trepang2 is a very fun shooter that sometimes loses its focus and wants to be a Swiss army knife that does everything. It aims to be a run-and-gun military game that's also a stealthy horror title at the same time. It’s good to try and mix in variety, but the only tool we want to use is the one that makes us feel like an unstoppable killing machine.”

“Tenebris Pictura doesn't ever supplant itself as a game you feel you must see all the way through. The world and puzzles may intrigue you, but the combat made me continually want to walk away from the game.”

“While the Game Gear games in Sonic Origins Plus don’t look, sound, or play great, the problem comes down to these games not being that good originally — not that they're bad ports. Buy Sonic Origins Plus for the Genesis games and to play as Amy, but don't expect the Game Gear games to run away with your heart.”

“Disney Speedstorm is a fun game that we're glad to see has quite a bit of quality to it. There are some reservations about how well the free-to-play monetisation will work as we move forward, but looking just at the game itself, it's not a bad time. There is room for this title to become very popular, especially if the right additions are made. At the very least, this can become a fun game for friends. If you're a Disney fan, it's a good way to mash together some of your favorite old movies and battle it out on the racetrack.”