We stepped into Dora: Rainforest Rescue expecting a tidy, comforting adventure for very young players, and for the most part that’s exactly what Artax Games and Outright Games deliver. The plot is pleasantly simple – Swiper and a misfired Super-Duper Duplicator have scattered magical leaves and sprouted mischievous clones – and the story’s lightness is a feature, not a flaw: it keeps goals clear and gives children an immediate reason to explore without any real peril or distress. Parents will recognise the gentle callbacks to the show while newcomers can jump straight into the world without prior knowledge. At times the narrative feels a touch formulaic and underwhelming for grown-up tastes, but the charm lands with the intended audience, who will laugh at Swiper’s antics and enjoy the silly encounters with the Grumpy Old Troll. Continue reading “Dora: Rainforest Rescue review and interview”
Port roundup: The Cabin Factory, Reus 2, Hell is Other Demons & Bloodshed
Today we’re checking out a selection of recent ports that cover very different corners of the gaming spectrum. On PlayStation 5, The Cabin Factory and Bloodshed take opposite approaches to tension – one through eerie restraint and environmental unease, the other through relentless waves of retro-styled chaos. Hell is Other Demons sharpens its arcade precision for another round of punishing, rhythmically charged combat, while Reus 2 brings its intricate, slow-blooming god game systems to Xbox with mixed but ambitious results. Together they form a snapshot of how smaller developers continue to refine and reintroduce their work across consoles, highlighting both the strengths and quirks that define these distinct experiences. Continue reading “Port roundup: The Cabin Factory, Reus 2, Hell is Other Demons & Bloodshed”
Painkiller review
We stepped into Painkiller’s reimagining with an expectation of pure, unrepentant chaos, and for large stretches the game delivers exactly that: a visceral, arena-driven shooter that prizes momentum and mayhem above all else. The framing – condemned souls in Purgatory enlisted to stop the fallen Azazel and his monstrous children – is serviceable rather than revelatory, a scaffolding built to carry extended sessions of slaughter rather than to invite attachment to characters or plot. That choice sits at the heart of the experience: narrative exists, but not as a driving force, and the result is a campaign that feels both brisk and thin. Continue reading “Painkiller review”
Dispatch review (PS5)
Dispatch opens with an irresistible twist on the superhero formula. After a career-ending defeat, former mech-suited hero Robert Robertson finds himself behind a desk rather than on the front lines – working at a dispatch center for the very heroes he once fought alongside. What unfolds is a sharp blend of satire and sincerity, exploring what it means to stay heroic when stripped of power and status. The writing captures this tension with wit and empathy, turning mundane office chatter into moments of surprising humanity while poking fun at the bureaucracy of heroism itself. Continue reading “Dispatch review (PS5)”
Chicken Run: Eggstraction review (PS5)
They step out from the claymation shadows with all the slapstick charm you’d expect: Chicken Run: Eggstraction places the film-series’ familiar personalities into a family-friendly stealth romp that leans hard on Aardman’s comic timing and character work. The plot is straightforward – a rescue-and-escape setup that picks up the tone of the recent film – and it mostly serves as a thin stage for short, self-contained infiltration missions rather than a twisting narrative. The writing’s warmth and the recognizable voices do the heavy lifting in terms of personality, which means players who know the franchise will get more from the story beats than newcomers might. Continue reading “Chicken Run: Eggstraction review (PS5)”
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