Adrian Burrows
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Writing For
TheSixthAxis Latest Reviews
Marvel Cosmic Invasion is a nostalgia-soaked love letter to nine-year-old you. A side-scrolling beat ‘em up that looks like it just stepped out of a 90’s arcade, Cosmic Invasion features the character design of Marvel’s comic heyday, pixel-art visuals that ape Capcom’s Super Hero fighting series, and a tag team mechanic that is pure X-Men vs. Street Fighter. In short, with this much 90’s nostalgia powering it, how can Marvel Cosmic Invasion possibly fail?
Isn’t it nice when a game comes out of nowhere and totally blows you away with its brilliance? GigaSword is one such game, a completely gorgeous nostalgia-soaked love-letter to the NES gaming era and metroidvanias.
Lynked: Banner of the Spark is perhaps the cosiest video game I can think of. It’s like a digital snoodie. One of the one’s that’s so soft it envelopes you entirely in a cloud of comfort. But don’t let Lynked’s 3D cartoon styled visuals fool you, this game is no pushover, offering an addictive and compelling dungeon-crawler experience.
Absolum may have its issues, but combat is definitely not one of them. This Rogue ‘em up by Dotemu, Guard Crush Games and Supamonks offers the best 2D side-scrolling fisticuffs I’ve ever experienced. Slick, responsive, kinetic, and satisfying, the combat in Absolum is utterly beguiling. If I could just have the walking and punching, and not all the roguelite stuff wrapped around it, then Absolum would be my perfect game. As it is, there is a whole lot of roguelite shenanigans, and they’re not always that successful.
I’ve always been enamoured by the legend of King Arthur and his Knights of the RoundTable. I blame Disney. Ever since watching the animated classic ‘Sword in the Stone’ I was a full-on überfan. King Arthur T-shirts, a Guinevere action figure, Lancelot emblazoned underwear, a plastic Excalibur with light-up glow-in-the-dark action (AA batteries supplied separately), heck, I even wrote slightly questionable fanfiction. Well, no, not really. But I still really like the Arthurian Legends, so when the opportunity to review Sworn, a roguelite inspired by near-forgotten British legends, I leapt at the chance.
The Lego franchise has tried its tiny-clawed plastic hand at nearly every video game genre going. We’ve had platformers, shoot ‘em ups, racers, co-op adventures, puzzlers, even a Super Smash Bros clone. But, rather oddly, never a party game. That’s where Lego Party comes in, offering fun, frolics and laughter for all the family across its impressive range of silly yet satisfying mini games.
LEGO Voyagers might just be the cutest game ever. As my partner and I guided our adorable single-block Lego pieces though this co-op puzzle platformer, we emitted many a coo of ‘ooohhhh’ and ‘aaahhhh’, and thankfully it wasn’t followed by running and screaming. But is there more to Light Brick Studios’ latest LEGO adventure than looking disarmingly delightful?
Can you ever have too much of a good thing? Ubisoft certainly don’t think so. After providing players with over one hundred hours of Shinobi-lurking-in-the-shadows action in Assassin’s Creed Shadows, they’ve returned with another 15-hours or so of DLC Samurai shenanigans. This time, Yasuke and Naoe head to the island of Awaji – an entirely separate environment, comparable in size to a region in the main game – to kill a whole load more people in as gloriously gory over-the-top manner as possible.
Ever since Hades set a new gold standard for the genre back in 2020, the mechanics and structure of the isometric action RPG roguelites have become somewhat staid. The maze of rooms, the choice of exits, the array of collectables, the slowly progressing unlockables, the narrative that teasingly develops after every run; let’s face it, most of us could play a new genre entry in our sleep. Sure, we’d die a lot, but it’d be doable. So, it’s refreshing that Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree attempts to do something new with the standard formula, even if it isn’t always successful in the process.
The humble scrolling beat ‘em up has been experiencing something of a golden age in recent years, with the indie-scene enjoying a resurgence in the old-school coin-fed darling. We’ve seen modern reimagining’s of arcade classics, beat ‘em ups with roguelite elements, and even attack inputs controlled with a thumb-stick. Now, with Ra Ra BOOM, we’re witnessing a scrolling beat ‘em up combined with a scrolling shoot ‘em up. Oh, and it includes space cheer leaders.