Shinto is one of those things that most people who know anything about Japan have some vague concept of, but don’t really know anything about. From experience, they’re also rarely interested and that’s depressing. Tourists in Japan do cheerfully visit Shinto shrines, before mistaking them for Buddhist temples (and vice…
Read More
Hello Kitty faces serious competition nowadays. Once the darling of Japan’s deep and beloved mascot culture, Kitty is under serious threat of being replaced by her direct rival, Rilakkuma. It’s almost poetic. Hello Kitty is the creation of the mascot company, Sanrio, Rilakkuma is the creation of the mascot company,…
Read More
What a wonderful thing 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim is. Developer, Vanillaware, is known for its quality 2D action games, from Dragon’s Crown through to Odin Sphere, but in general, those games are about the stunning visual engines and tight action. The developer has never been known as a storyteller in…
Read MoreVideo by Matt S. I really think 13 Sentinels will be one of my favourite games. Vanillaware’s latest is a brilliant blend of art, apocalypse, time travel, science fiction, character narrative and tower defence… and somehow, for wearing all those hats (and then more) it’s all cohesive. For this preview…
Read MoreReview by Harvard L. Over the past few years of Switch ownership I’ve become a kind of a connoisseur of “bewildering” games – games which I enjoy not to play for myself, but to witness the abject confusion and frustration in the eyes of someone else playing it. The easily…
Read MoreVideo by Matt S. I’ve been a fan of Rock of Ages since right back at the first. ACE Team’s surrealist blend of tower defence, Monkey Ball and Monty Python should not by right work and yet… it works so, so well. With Rock of Ages 3, ACE Team delivers…
Read MoreReview by Matt S. With Rock of Ages 3, ACE Team is done. That’s not a criticism of the game, but rather an acknowledgement that there’s just nothing more to eke more out of the formula. As an eclectic blend of tower defence, Monkey Ball, Monty Python and party game,…
Read MoreReview by Matt S. For a time the tower defence genre was a giant. It was when there was still space for premium-priced phone games, and people latched on to the simple – but challenging – strategy of tower defence as an the ideal time killer to make the daily…
Read MoreNews by Matt S. ACE Team has been busy. Having just announced The Eternal Cylinder, the Chilean developer has now also announced Rock of Ages 3: Make & Break. The big hook in this one, over and above the brilliance of the previous titles, is that in Make & Break…
Read MoreVideo by Matt S. Lock’s Quest is an often-forgotten, but rather lovely example of the tower defence genre. From its origins on the Nintendo DS, it has had a HD re-release on all the modern consoles, and for people who discover it, it’s something of a hidden delight! In this…
Read More