REVIEW: Thunderflash on Xbox One

Review by Jon Donnis

Back in the 1980s we seemed to have one "run and gun" game after another, these were perfect arcade games, put your 10p in and play to your hearts content, classics like Commando and Ikari Warriors were often found not just in arcades, but in your local chippy. Well fast forward nearly 40 years and we have Thunderflash, a game that is inspired by these great games.

You are dropped into a warzone, and through top-down viewpoint, you have to fight your way through a seemingly never-ending horde of enemy fighters, drones, vehicles and bosses, to try to free "The Kashmir" from a criminal organization known as "Bloody Wolf".

As you play you will collect better and more powerful weapons, pick up gold and medals, and generally try to stay alive while destroying the enemy.

You can play solo or with a friend.

The controls are simple, your stick or pad controls the movement, and two buttons control your normal fire, or rockets. And that is it. You fire in the direction you are running in, just like the classic run and gun games of the 80s. Something that younger gamers might find a bit tricky to master. It is not just top-down view though, there is a scrolling left to right view on some levels, as well as other levels that might have you driving a speed boat, or a motorbike. It gives a nice bit of variety to the gameplay.

Everything is pretty straight forward, there is a normal mode or a hardcore mode. Check out the video I put together below for a selection of the different types of level you will play.

There is also a survival mode, where you are in one room and enemy after enemy spawns, and you just have to survive as long as you can, as well as a Boss mode, whereby you can take on bosses you have beaten in the main game.

The Good

If you are old enough to remember the classic run and gun games from the mid 80s, then you will take a lovely trip down nostalgia lane with Thunderflash, I can imagine this game fitting in really well at the arcade.

The Bad

Although retro graphics are the in thing right now, I feel like a slightly larger pallet of colours for this game would have improved the overall look, that said, this game is a retro style game, so not sure I should complain too much.

Overall

I was a big fan of Commando in the mid 80s, I spent all my pocket money playing it, this game brought back some fond memories for me. I love it.

I score this a Retrotastic 8/10

Review by Jon Donnis.

REVIEW: Stellatum on Xbox One

Review by Jon Donnis

Stellatum is a classic scrolling shooter from Satur Entertainment, you control a battleship, and you have to kill all of the enemies to progress to the next level.

Now we have seen thousands of scrolling shooters, some great, some not so great, so where does Stellatum fit in what is already a very crowded market?

Quickly the basic story, you are part of an alien race, ready to conquer the galaxy. Nice and simple.

The first thing that makes this game a little different is the ability to upgrade your ship. As you progress through levels you collect various components and when you have enough, between levels, you can craft upgrades and attach them to your ship, I was pleasantly surprised with this, as there is some depth to the upgrades, not just better weapons, but even the way your ship moves, is affected with the various upgrades. The weapons are also quite varied, and it is more than the usual upgrades of just more firepower, there is differences, rocket barrages, burning lazers, and so on.

There are 80 levels, or missions to complete, each separated into little constellations, each constellation has a different look, and different enemies and bosses to beat.

The graphics are fine, nothing ground breaking, but exactly what you would expect in a scrolling shooter. As with many games like this, it sometimes can be confusing knowing what is trying to kill your, what can be destroyed and what you need to collect, but you will figure things out quickly, and then it no longer becomes a problem.

Although things can get very busy on screen, it is never over the top, and while you may sometimes find yourself concentrating on your ship, and firing blindly while trying to avoid enemy bullets etc, this doesn't happen too often, so is a perfectly fine part of the game.

The Good

As scrolling shooters go, the gameplay is good, the upgrades to the ship as you play are very good and really do make a difference.

The Bad

The soundtrack is uninspiring, and the general sound effects aren't great, very generic sounds. Personally, in any game like this, I want to hear a fast, aggressive soundtrack that gets the blood pumping, and sound effects that almost make me want to duck. Sadly, this game is lacking in this area.

I also do not like the name "Stellatum", every time I say it, I hear Skeleton.

Overall

I am a fan of scrolling shooters, I have been for over 3 decades, so this game is right down my street.

I enjoyed playing it, and the good far outweighs any of the bad.

I score this game a strong 7/10

Review By Jon Donnis

Stellatum is out now on

PC Steam

Xbox

Nintendo Switch

Playstation

REVIEW: NieR Replicant™ ver.1.22474487139...

Review by Jon Donnis

I was lucky enough to get sent a review code for NieR Replicant™ ver.1.22474487139... by the excellent people at Square Enix Ltd.

Now for the sake of time and effort, I will from this point on refer to this game as NieR, mainly because I am lazy.

Regarding the name, I have seen a lot of people complain, saying it is confusing, too long, and so on. As someone who has worked in marketing my whole adult life, I actually think it is a stroke of genius. Firstly, NieR is an updated version of NieR Replicant which was released in Japan about 10 years ago. And there were also a few slightly different versions released on different consoles over the years. So, by giving the game a slightly ridiculous name, it created a talking point. And if people are talking, then people are buying, it is that simple.

With all that said, we are not here today to talk about the name, but instead talk about the game.

NieR is a prequel of sorts to NieR Automata, now I have played that game too, and one of my biggest complaints about that game was the lack of saving points, meaning you could play an entire part of the game, die and then have to play it all again. Or if you simply had to leave the game for some reason, you would lose all your progress unless you left the game running.

Sadly, this issue also rears its ugly head again, but it is not as bad as with Automata, so if that frustrated you about the last game, then rest assured it is not as bad here. It is still annoying that there is no auto save, but we just have to live with it.

You play as NieR and your mission is to eventually find a cure for your dying sister, Yonah, who has something called the Black Scrawl, along the way you will have to fight evil monsters called Shades, as well as all sorts of other monsters. Early on in the game you come across a sentient floating book called Grimoire Weiss, that gives you magical powers, or the book has the magical powers, anyway, when you have the book, you can cast magic spells when fighting enemies, you can collect Sealed Verses which in turn increases the powers of the book. 

You will get most of your directions from a person called Popola, who you will have to return to, each time you complete a main quest. Why can't they have a mobile phone?

You have your main quest that you can follow as well as side quests, unfortunately the side quests can get a bit tedious, there is a lot of running back and forth, which gets boring, quick. What is worse is that you cannot pick and choose which quests to set as the active quest, so at times you will find yourself, not really knowing where to go or how to complete the quest, and you will end up forgetting about them, and sometimes even completing them, without realising. 

Once you complete the game, you are encouraged to play through it again, you actually start at the second act on the second playthrough, and although you have to do many of the same things again, there are new cut scenes to see, and new dialogs, that help further tell the whole story. In many ways the second playthrough is better than the first. And to see all of the different endings, then a third playthrough is needed, but I imagine only the hardcore fans of this game will bother with that.

The soundtrack is great, and the voice acting is very good, no complaints there. The graphics could be better, I think NieR Automata is better in that regard, it is interesting how your viewpoint will change in some locations, for example, you may go from the free camera view, to a side on almost 2D type view, sometimes to a static Resident Evil style view, to a top-down view. It is all very clever, and does create something different visually.

The Good

Easy to play, entertaining story, great characters to meet.

The Bad

Side quests are a bit of a trek, and not the most entertaining, the lack of an autosave is also a major annoyance.

Overall

To be brutally honest, NieR Automata is a better game, but NieR Replicant™ ver.1.22474487139... is also a good game, and if you are a fan of RPG games mixed with puzzles, and action adventure.

I score NieR Replicant™ ver.1.22474487139... a solid 7/10

Review by Jon Donnis

Out now on...
PS4 - https://amzn.to/2R7FlOX

Xbox - https://amzn.to/2QzIZkK

PC - https://store.steampowered.com/agecheck/app/1113560/

REVIEW: OVIVO on Xbox

 

Review By Jon Donnis

OVIVO​ is one truly unique game. First of all everything is in black and white. You play as "OVO" a small round ball. And you have the ability to switch from black to white and back again. Your controls are left and right, and then a button to switch from black to white. 

As you move about, you use gravity by switching between the colours as a way to propel yourself through the level, collecting icons and symbols.

There are no instructions. No text, no real menus. You just have to figure it out for yourself, and somehow that works perfectly.

In the video below, I am playing just a couple of minutes of the first "level", as you progress through the game, things get trickier, there is no real rules to what you are supposed to do, there are hidden images, and everything is very metaphorical in it's approach.

A fascinating and unique game, I am looking forward to playing more of.

The Good

The soundtrack is very cool, the game is easy to pick up and play, and the monochrome, ink blot style graphics are really very nice.

The Bad

The game can become a little too frustrating at times.

Overall

A unique game for unique times. I really am enjoying it, like nothing you have played before.
I score this game 8/10

Review by Jon Donnis

Available on Xbox now!

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/p/ovivo/9nd4dmps8j7j

REVIEW: Death Ray Manta SE on Nintendo Switch

Review by Jon Donnis

Death Ray Manta SE is a twin stick shooter, you play as a Manta with Death Rays! You blew up your house and now you live in fish space! Yep, it is that old cliche!

This is what you call a truly fast paced shooter, (think geometry wars, but with neon graphics) the level starts, and within moments the level is filled with enemies, shoot them with your laser beams, collect gems for bonus points and try not to die. Pretty simple.

There are 32 levels, and it is non-stop. Clear a level, a new level starts, rinse and repeat. 

The left stick controls the mantra, the right stick controls the firing.

Everything is very colourful, bright, neon graphics, there is a synth-wave soundtrack to keep your ears happy.

You don't need to worry about upgrades, or leader boards, you just play. Watch the trailer, and you can instantly understand the entire game.

The Good

I like the graphics, although things do get busy on screen, it is not too confusing. The soundtrack is fun too, very 80's synth which I enjoy. The game has also recently dropped in price. Which is much more realistic for what you are getting.

The Bad

There is not much to the game, it is very simple. As I mentioned, watch a few seconds of the trailer, and you already know everything about the game.

Overall

For a couple of quid, this will give you short bursts of fun, when you just want to blast on a game for less than a minute. You won't sit down and play this game for hours. It really is a short, sharp, shock type of game, pick it up to waste a few seconds, then back to normal life.

The game is fun, it is bright, it is colourful, it is cheap. I score the game a neon-tastic 7/10

Review by Jon Donnis

Get the game now from the Nintendo Shop

https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Games/Nintendo-Switch-download-software/Death-Ray-Manta-SE-1858523.html