lithiumproject
2011
MK7 walked so MK8 could fly.
2021
An action/adventure with a core gimmick based on surfing the ocean with your feet. It's a gimmick that works well and between the scale of the ocean and the facial animations, it's riffing hard on Wind Waker (and doing a fine job).
It's a good game, but not necessarily a great one; combat is severely lacking and the overall flow the game brings falls into a fairly routine pattern quickly.
It's a good game, but not necessarily a great one; combat is severely lacking and the overall flow the game brings falls into a fairly routine pattern quickly.
A star and a half for the soundtrack.
Only 3 licenced robots, a miserabl grind-y economy, and bad gameplay.
There's totally a 25 quid modern day indie spin on the Robot Wars idea that would rock - this ain't it.
There's totally a 25 quid modern day indie spin on the Robot Wars idea that would rock - this ain't it.
A fantastic remastering of a Gamecube classic. However, in the 20 years or so between its release and this new version, 2 things have become apparent. First, the game is a bit rough with its save points, which is not a total dealbreaker, but there's stretches where you can go an hour without being able to save, which can be a pain.
Crucially, though, this game can become incredibly tedious with its backtracking. You'll be seeing those Magmoor caverns 50 fucking times before you hit credits, and a fast travel system between save points wouldn't have hurt.
Crucially, though, this game can become incredibly tedious with its backtracking. You'll be seeing those Magmoor caverns 50 fucking times before you hit credits, and a fast travel system between save points wouldn't have hurt.
1995
A slightly more methodical but solid platformer from the tailend of the mega drive. It suffers from some bonkers random difficulty spikes across but the level design is creative.
Worth checking out if you've never played.
Worth checking out if you've never played.
2023
Easily going to top a bunch of 'best surprise' lists come the end of the year, both for its launch and the fact it's a Tango Gameworks game.
The first few hours are a blast, with a fusion of PS2/Dreamcast era cel-shaded visuals and a soundtrack that would also fit around that time. However, around the middle section, it treads treading into ‘cult of the lamb’ territory, where you feel it won't stick the landing. There are a couple of chapters where HFR runs out of ideas and escalates the difficulty by throwing more enemies at you. Unfortunately, the more enemies on the screen, the quicker the game falls into the trappings of a standard hack n slash-style brawler; when this happens, the enemy design simply isn't interesting or varied enough to compensate for this.
But oh man this game nails the landing, and the last few chapters ties everything together, gets you actually to care about these characters and used some inspired needle drops (I say inspired, it just went through the most played songs on my iPhone from 2011) to end Hi-Fi Rush on an undeniable high.
Hey now, you’re a rock star.
The first few hours are a blast, with a fusion of PS2/Dreamcast era cel-shaded visuals and a soundtrack that would also fit around that time. However, around the middle section, it treads treading into ‘cult of the lamb’ territory, where you feel it won't stick the landing. There are a couple of chapters where HFR runs out of ideas and escalates the difficulty by throwing more enemies at you. Unfortunately, the more enemies on the screen, the quicker the game falls into the trappings of a standard hack n slash-style brawler; when this happens, the enemy design simply isn't interesting or varied enough to compensate for this.
But oh man this game nails the landing, and the last few chapters ties everything together, gets you actually to care about these characters and used some inspired needle drops (I say inspired, it just went through the most played songs on my iPhone from 2011) to end Hi-Fi Rush on an undeniable high.
Hey now, you’re a rock star.
2022
A short and sweet bullet hell / shoot 'em up with effective low poly visuals, an array of different enemies requiring fast reflexes and constant shifts in your tactical approach, and an overall solid feedback loop for the player.
Doesn't outstay its welcome but would have welcomed more content.
Doesn't outstay its welcome but would have welcomed more content.
A classic of 90s arcade coin munchers. Has a number of cheap spots to steal a few lives from you, but overall it holds up well and the soundtrack is secretly incredible (but you would barely be able to hear it at the arcades)
1989
I'd be lying to myself if I gave this anything less than 5 stars, even with that dog's body of a final boss fight.
2023
A competent roguelike marred by a lack of content or variety to the levels. It shouldn't take more than a few hours to see the end boss, but past that, it doesn't offer enough to its core experience to warrant further runs.
However, everything here is polished to a fine sheen and for roughly a tenner there are far worse ways to spend an afternoon.
However, everything here is polished to a fine sheen and for roughly a tenner there are far worse ways to spend an afternoon.
2021
The ham sandwich of video games.
2017
A perfect game. No notes.
2022
A thoroughly charming exploration game that uses BOTW as its framework but on a bite-sized scale and lacks a fail state.
Simply wandering around the world, you'll stumble into an array of characters with quests and adventures on a smaller scale (a girl cosplaying as a vampire wants an ice cream but won't leave her cave) and it's all delightful. The simplicity leads to its biggest fault - a lack of challenge, but it's an easy 3-4 hours to sink your teeth into.
Simply wandering around the world, you'll stumble into an array of characters with quests and adventures on a smaller scale (a girl cosplaying as a vampire wants an ice cream but won't leave her cave) and it's all delightful. The simplicity leads to its biggest fault - a lack of challenge, but it's an easy 3-4 hours to sink your teeth into.
2022
A fascinating mess of a video game, one that highlights all the ways the very basics of game development are necessary for a solid experience, and one that fails on nearly every single aspect of these.
But you know what? They fucking gave it a go... whatever 'go' is.
But you know what? They fucking gave it a go... whatever 'go' is.