Ken Talbot
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Writing For
Nintendo Life
Push SquareLatest Reviews
Tetris was and is a global phenomenon that remains pick-up-and-play perfection to this day, and its history is lovingly chronicled in Digital Eclipse's latest: Tetris Forever. It charts the franchise's entire history, from the brainchild of Alexey Pajitnov to its popularity explosion as a Game Boy pack-in and beyond. A far cry from the dramatic sensationalism of the 2023 Tetris movie, this is a fascinating journey through a transformative period in the industry we all love.
A funny, goofy shooter that ultimately feels just as much of a missed opportunity as it did in 2010. Visual inconsistencies and frustrating mechanics aside, Shadows Of The Damned can still offer a good time for those looking for one, but it’s a shame that this remaster doesn't do enough to polish Grasshopper’s cult gem and make it palatable to modern audiences.
Beyond Galaxyland is a well-written, artistically diverse space adventure which mixes several different flavours of RPG with puzzling and semi-open exploration. The story is filled with well-rounded characters and emotional narrative payoffs and, as much as Enright's galactic adventure is a collection of stylistic and mechanical homages, it doesn't feel like a patchwork of fan service. For all its influences and adherence to specific genre execution, Doug’s journey through multiple worlds is still very much its own thing.
Earth Defense Force feels like a relic of a bygone era. An era of arcade shooters with the sole purpose of throwing shapes, colours and sounds in your general direction. Ever since 2003’s Monster Attack, franchise dev Sandlot has gathered a faithful fanbase, who ignore the technical shortcomings and revel in a varied class system and wealth of customisation options. Oh, and mindlessly destroying thousands of giant insects.
It’s strange to think that Beyond Good & Evil was a failure on release. It was critically well-received but sales were poor, and it took years to gain a cult following. Now, it’s revered as a masterpiece, gathering a devoted fan base that still pines for the sequel that’s all but passed into legend.
If you give yourself over to Warhorse’s muddy opus, it will reward you with a hundred hours of grueling and enjoyable trial and error. It’s buggy and rough around the edges on Switch, but Kingdom Come Deliverance is a singular RPG experience. The pacing and constant juggling of mechanics is not for everyone, but invest the time and you’ll experience an engrossing, grounded adventure.
After almost two decades of setting the standard for WWII real-time strategy on PC, Relic Entertainment's venerable series reaches PS5 with Company of Heroes 3. Burdened by a hefty legacy, it's another valiant attempt at streamlining the genre's interface for controllers. It succeeds in part, but the masterful combat is at odds with a weak campaign experience.
An alternate history set in the wake of World War II. A technological utopia hiding terrible secrets. A square-jawed, bloodthirsty protagonist. Mick Gordon spewing fire from the speakers. You'd be forgiven for thinking Bethesda just stealth-dropped another Wolfenstein. Alas, this isn't a new adventure for the Blazkowicz family, but it does owe a great debt to that franchise.
To say that video game adaptations of the Alien franchise are hit and miss is a bit of an understatement. On the one hand, we have genre-defining classics like Alien vs Predator (1999) and Alien: Isolation. Then there's Aliens: Colonial Marines, a release besmirched by industry lies.
The World Ends With You launched in 2007 on Nintendo DS and quickly gained a cult following despite that year being packed with a seemingly endless supply of classics. Designed by Kingdom Hearts director Tetsuya Nomura, it was a darker variant of the usual Square Enix RPG formula. Taking a modern setting, a prescient focus on memetic culture, and satisfying touch-based combat, it remains an undersung classic of the genre. A Final Remix version made it onto Switch in 2018, followed by an anime adaptation last year.