It’s coming up on the month of L-O-V-E and you know what that means – time to curl up with your loved ones and play some video games.
You’ve heard of Netflix and chill, but here at GameSpew we’re all about video games and chill. February is the perfect time to tell your loved ones that you care about them and, on February 14th, pick up a romantic game like Doom or Gears of War because nothing says “I love you” like blood and carnage.
But while we wait to reach that romantic day that comes around but once a year, the GameSpew team continues to be hard at work playing loads of diverse games. Check out what we’ve been playing this week.
Rich: This week, I’ve been getting dirty with Monster Energy Supercross 3. It’s undoubtedly Milestone’s best Supercross release to date, but it’s a shame that the career mode have taken a step back. I’ve also played Ash of Gods: Redemption, which has a solid story but sub-par turn-based combat. It’s worth giving a go if you like The Banner Saga though.
On Switch, I went retro with SEGA AGES: Fantasy Zone which, although I’d never played it before, turned out to be a lot of fun. Most of my time this week, though, has gone into Zombie Army 4. My review will be out tomorrow so you’ll have to wait ’til then to see my thoughts.
Kim: I reviewed Journey to the Savage Planet at the beginning of the week, which I absolutely adored. I finished the story, but there’s still reason to jump back into the game to sweep up some side stuff, so I’m looking forward to picking it back up soon. I also reviewed Bookbound Brigade which, sadly, I did not love. I had high hopes for it based on a preview at last year’s EGX, but the full game was a let-down.
I also previewed Conan Chop Chop, which is out later this month. It’s simple and cute – but it’s devilish. I had fun though, so I’m looking forward to playing the full game.
Becca: It’s been a strange week this week. I started out by playing the fantastic platformer The Pedestrian where you play as the expressionless people that we all see on road signs. It’s a truly unique twist on a 2D side scroller. I also played some of Cook, Serve, Delicious 3 now that it’s in early access. The game is still as fast paced and stressful as ever with new added elements making it possibly the best of the series yet.
Finally, I played through Kentucky Route Zero TV Edition which includes all five acts of the main game as well as its four interlude episodes. You’ll find my full thoughts on the game in my review tomorrow, but I will say that I found it be a real work of art despite being a real mystery to me.
No Dead by Daylight, Overwatch OR Stardew Valley? *The crowd gasps*
Stan: I’ve been collecting cards non-stop this week. Are they Gwent cards? Nope. Are they Ultimate Team cards? Nope. Are they Pokémon cards? I wish, but nope. I’ve been collecting premium (dude, premium, duuuude) Rugby 20 cards to add to my collection. I have a team that’s managed to beat France, Argentina, Wales and England. I feel like a complete boss at Rugby 20 – let’s hope I have the same feeling when watching the Six Nations…
I also played two games on Football Manager 2020. I lost both. I quit. It was a whole thing. I want to go back to management; maybe even need to go back. I can’t stop thinking about my Portsmouth side, but I’m struggling so much this season and it hurts me. Why do you hurt me so? Why?
Diggy: I’ve been away from home for half the week, but since I got back I have managed to play through Bulkhead Interactive’s sci-fi puzzler The Turing Test. I reported earlier in the week that the game would soon be landing on Switch, and it sounded fairly interesting, so when I noticed it was on Xbox Game Pass I decided to give it a try.
What can I say? It’s pretty good, I suppose. It has some decent narrative ideas, even if it didn’t dive quite as deep down the rabbit hole of ethics and artificial intelligence as I hoped it would. I’ve certainly seen worse puzzles too; I wasn’t completely sick of them by the end but I wasn’t exactly longing for more either (you can see me break down what makes a good puzzle game on Youtube here).
It’s also quite short, which I’m getting more and more convinced is a vital component of a decent puzzler. After all, how many times in your life have you sat down and finished an entire Sudoku puzzle book?
Chris: Fortnite entered my life this week. No, I’ve still not played the actual game but I stumbled across Fortnite Monopoly in a charity shop and snatched it up for the princely sum of 50p. Between that and the dodgy bootleg figures (shelved alongside ‘Toy Story 5’ boxed sets) we’re talking full cultural saturation.
Speaking of online games, I played and reviewed Cuisine Royale. I had a lot of fun with it, though the pay-to-win, or at least pay-to-get-an-edge, elements didn’t sit quite right with me. I’m still after a online game – winning would be a matter of sheer luck but the game would be so bananas that no-one would really care. Hey, it can’t be worse than Agents of Mayhem.
