Some 29 years since its initial arcade release, the latest in a long line of Puzzle Bobble titles lands with Puzzle Bobble EveryBubble!. Featuring Bub, Bob and a whole host of pals to bring order to an out of control bubble epidemic on Rainbow Island.

Bringing familiar puzzle gameplay we’ve come to love since the early 90’s, Everybubble features a wonderfully wacky Story Mode, local 2v2 battle and four-player co-op modes, on top of this you’ll delight in the all-new on-line multiplayer and the ever-so-fun Puzzle Bobble vs. Space Invaders bonus game.

My time was mostly spent in story mode, which is divided up over a map, on which the stages sit (250 to be priciest). Each stage has three stars to earn, each being dished out based on the speed at which you clear any given level, and once you’ve earned all stars, you can replay the stages at “EX” level – the “EX” meaning “EXtra Hard” supposedly!, again attempting to get the top reward.

Clearing stages throws up numerous challenges, each combated with different special power-ups. These come in all sorts of flavours, like those which clear a particular colour type, or bomb bubbles which clear all surrounding it. The key to 3-starring any level is knowing when and how to use your arsenal to its fullest and most effective, and this is where much frustration can occur. A lot of the game is based around trial and error, and this extends well beyond when you think you’ve mastered the game. There is plenty of luck at play with colour rotation of bubbles etc, so strategising is a key part of EveryBubble!.

I found that when coming back to the game after a stint away I would often forget what special bubbles actions were, and whilst there is a help section on the main menu screen which provides this information, there appears to be no in-game guide to help, a seemingly glaring over-sight meaning you must know what everything does prior to playing a game.

There are an array of cosmetic character customisations at hand in the game to busy yourself with, and no DLC / Store shoved down your throat, which honestly in 2023 feels so very refreshing. Coupled with the wonderfully cheery overall aesthetic and bouncy music accompanying the game, this really is proving to be my go-to game for Summer 2023.

The bonus game Puzzle Bobble Vs Space Invaders is incredibly enjoyable, mixing the gameplay mechanics of each classic arcade smash into one would seem like a bonkers idea which surely couldn’t and shouldn’t work, but my word it works. And it is incredibly enjoyable. Watching the bubbles inch their way along the screen, dropping lower, row by row as you fire off bubbles trying to demolish it in time, all the while trying to avoid enemy fire – simply genius, however, again a quite glaringly obvious omission – this mode has no scoreboard, either local or online. I’d be sat on this mode until the cows came home if it did. Yet it doesn’t. So I don’t.

With so much on offer here Puzzle Bobble EveryBubble! is actually a great purchase. It can get very frustrating at times, but equally is such good wholesome fun and rewarding when overcoming a seemingly impossible challenge. There is a little bit of luck at play at times, but with the game being so delightfully charming this can certainly be overlooked. Puzzle Bobble remains a brilliant arcade classic which hasn’t changed a whole heap, nor does it need to. It’s greatness is in its simplicity.

You can pick up the game right now on Nintendo Switch either digitally or physically via Strictly Limited Games .

Developer: Taito Games
Release Date: May 23, 2023
Platform: Nintendo Switch
Publisher: Inin
Genre: Arcade / Puzzle

TGS would like to thank the publisher for the review code supplied for the purpose of this review. For more information please e-mail info@thegamesshed.com

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Mystery dungeon adventure Dungeon Drafters has been something of a breath of fresh air to me – pushing me well and truly out of my comfort zone. I don’t tend to go any way near card based strategy games, in fact you’d often find me as far as possible away from anything remotely card or indeed strategy related in the video game realm, however Dungeon Drafters not only held my attention, but did so very well.

This top down 16-bit looking dungeon crawler gives you 6 characters to choose from: Monk, Explorer, Mage, Bard, Shinobi and Brawler, each getting their own unique starter deck with which to do battle.
You are afforded the ability to customise your deck later should you wish to, so don’t get caught up on who to initially go with.

The core of the game revolves around dungeon crawling across a number of biomes. Each biome having different floors, each floor providing a bigger challenge than the last. Entering each particular dungeon and battling the given monsters in turn-based strategic combat, utlising the cards you have to attack, defend of counter any affects you have been dealt. Cards offer up different ranges of attack, heals, buffs, counters etc.
Enemies are wild and hugely varied, each bringing unique battle abilities which you must use every inch of your brains capacity to overcome. You can directly attack, or force enemies into an elaborate environmental hazard, the real challenge in Dungeon Drafters is your creativity.

The environments are incredibly detailed in bright, beautiful sprites, accompanied by a gloriously comforting soundtrack which hums along befitting of the mysterious world you explore.

Dungeons hold cards, secret rooms, puzzles etc. and the game also packs mini games away to break up the pace and drop some calm on you.

In the main hub world outside of the dungeons you’ll find an array of NPC’s with which to speak and learn the lore of the land, some of which will task you with in-dungeon objectives. There is so much to see and do that the game can quickly become all consuming.

The battles provide a great sense of achievement especially when seemingly overcoming the odds – pitted against vastly more powerful enemies by using cunning and carefully planning out your attacks. You will be punished if you don’t plan out your attacks carefully – I know this for a fact!

For those of you who love your Steam Trading Cards there’s a heap of these too, so grind away and earn yourselves those little tokens of goodness.

Whilst I will say that the genre isn’t one I gravitate toward, I found the game certainly held my hand and didn’t introduce overly complex mechanics and it generally left me to get on with it, and I very much enjoyed learning it’s ways.

I did try to play this on Steam Deck too and whilst it certainly ran on the handheld it did have some trouble picking up the native controls, so this is something to consider.

If you’re looking for a charming adventure title this week, you should very much contemplate the wonderful Dungeon Drafters.

Title: Dungeon Drafters
Developer: Manalith Studios
Publisher: DANGEN Entertainment
Genre: Mystery Dungeon Adventure
Players: 1
Price: 24.99 USD
Release Date: April 27, 2023 (PC), Consoles TBD

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Hunt the Night is a top-down souls-like dungeon crawling adventure RPG (..and breathe) title some are comparing to classic Zelda games and Bloodborne, but what do we think of this curious clash of genres?

At the heart of Hunt the Night is a story of Vesper, a hunter charged with well err.. hunting the Nigh, the titular evil which has spread over the lands, once kept at bay by the magical Seal of Night, now broken and spread throughout the world, engulfing it in darkness and evil. You must collect the fragments of the seal to return the light and restore balance.
Developed by Spanish start-up Moonlight Games who pride themselves on their love of retro – specifically 16 bit games, the game absolutely drips with 90’s charm. Every on screen pixel is utilised to execute a beautifully realised gothic horror setting, shrouded in darkness where unspeakable things wait at every turn.

The battle and movement mechanics excel with a combination of ranged attack such as shotgun, handgun, crossbow (all upgradable), and melee weapons, paired with a dash mechanic (which uses a stamina bar) giving you not only a speed advantage in battle but a number of frames of invulnerability to execute devastating punishment on foes, and magic with which to dish out beatings. You do have limited ammo for your ranged weapons, but this is topped up through close quarters melee attacks, meaning you’ll not be able to cheese your way through encounters from distance. You’ll quickly find your rhythm in Hunt The Night and encounters will swiftly become almost as balletic as they are furious. The only real downside I found was that there was no map to consult, so I’d be backtracking to places over and over in a state of confusion at times.

Most puzzles are straightforward enough and involve finding items or moving / opening things in a particular order, all easy enough if you’ve explored thoroughly and consulted the various journals / writings / conversations.

Boss battles will test your mettle as there are typically no punches pulled affair, but as with all games of this nature you’ll soon learn patterns and be able to swiftly deal with whatever nasty you face.

The game runs as well on a Steam Deck as it does on a desktop / laptop PC so is the ideal retro-RPG affair for on-the-go-gaming.

I’ve really enjoyed my time with Hunt The Night and at just £16.75 on Steam this really isn’t a gamble you can lose, especially if you hanker for ARPG’s of yesteryear, which seep love from every inch of its design. Just note, there is very little handholding in this game and it can be brutal at times.

You have been warned!

Developer: Moonlight Games
Release Date: Apr 13, 2023
Platform: PC, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation & Xbox (Console release date TBC)
Reviewed On: PC
Publisher: DANGEN Entertainment
Genre: Dark Fantasy Action-RPG

TGS would like to thank the publisher for the review code supplied for the purpose of this review. For more information please e-mail info@thegamesshed.com

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What The Bat is entirely a ridiculous VR physics experiment, with a rather silly twist – you play a character with baseball bats in place of arms & hands. You start each stage unable to move your lower body, only your head and arms and you must find a way to complete each stage using nothing more than trial and error.

There are no instructions, no guidance, nothing. Each world you start on introduces you to the style of challenge each stage within the world will throw at you, but largely it’s a case of try and see what happens.

The stages usually revolve around locating a hidden trophy, or knocking an in-sight one to the floor, but how you do this wildly changes from stage to stage.

The stages you inhabit are as bonkers as the concept of the game too with nods to other video games and popular culture along the way too.

One particular level I enjoyed put me in an art gallery. Looking around I was presented with a sign which indicated no photography was allowed. I could also see numerous seagulls taking photographs of the artwork on the walls. I push a button on a plinth and a baseball is presented, floating in the air. I ready up, take a swing and fire the ball down the gallery hitting a gull. I continue to do this until I’ve hit every bird. I complete the level by ridding the room of photographers. I found it incredibly amusing.

From standard household tasks like making toast and brushing teeth, you’ll venture outside of the home to partake in space battles, farming activities, fishing, directing traffic, retail work, and even shooting some hoops.

The developers had a wild time creating some of these wacky stages and as brief and unchallenging as they may have been I know they will stick with me as cherished gaming memories for some time. I was especially overjoyed at seeing pinball table type representations of Space Invaders and Breakout.

There’s no real difficulty challenge here, nor a great deal of content – equally if you are a trophy hunter you might be disappointed to learn there is no platinum on offer. What there is in What The Bat is fun, and heaps of it. Additionally all can be done standing in one single spot, ensuring this game does not require the use of an entire room!

The game is short and most of the joy comes from partaking in the challenge for the very first time, meaning there’s sadly no real replayability and you might want a little more at £19.99 considering other PSVR 2 titles coming in at the same price such as Synth Riders – Remastered Edition, Pavlov, Zombieland: Headshot Fever Reloaded & Ragnarock which all have near endless replayability.

That said, this is easily one of the most accessible titles and something you really should try out if you get a second. I find it to be the perfect gateway into VR for newcomers. Pop the headset on a guest to your house and let them crack on.

Summary:
If you’re looking for something to amuse you or for a family friendly VR title, perhaps you have some guests coming over who may not be too deep into gaming, then grab this and go wild. It is heaps of fun, never gets boring and is completely daft – just don’t go and expect anything deep, meaningful or that you can return to over and over, because there’s nothing beyond a single, short playthrough. The game listing states over 100 stages, which might seem a lot, but many can be completed in seconds. The entire game takes around 4 hours and I did it in 2 fairly casual sittings. Certainly something you should experience, but maybe hold out for a sale before committing to a purchase because there is a great deal more value (and in all honestly fun) out there at this price point.

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I’ve always hankered for that arcade lightgun feeling at home. Those feels I used to get when stood in a dimly lit noisy arcade on London’s Oxford Street in the late 1990’s pumping coin after coin into House of the Dead 2 with my pal, perfecting our headshots, nailing each bad guy without missing a single shot, shooting all extras and generally being John Wick well before John Wick was John Wick.

Fast-forward over 20 years and I slap on my PSVR 2 and boot up Zombieland: Headshot Fever Reloaded, not for the first time. It occurs to me that this game has completely overtaken every other PSVR 2 title and PS5 title for my attention. I don’t entirely know why at first, It isn’t the most graphically beautiful, nor the most inventive, technically incredible or amusing – and then it hits me. I’m transported back to that arcade where I mastered HOTD2. I have the same urges of taking down zombies with perfect execution. I want to master the game. I want to be humankind’s saviour – and look cool AF doing it.

Zombieland: Headshot Fever Reloaded sees you join the film franchise original quartet as the newest member of their zombie takedown squad, tasked taking down stages of the undead in ever more increasingly difficult situations, leading to the end game sporting event called the ‘Zombieland Invitational.’

Essentially this is a series of timed stages whereby you must kill all zombies and make it to the end as quickly as possible. You can reduce your overall time you place by activating the games ‘Adrenaline Mode’ – a slow motion state which is triggered (excuse the pun) by planting two or more (depending on particular enemy type) headshots in quick succession in any given zombie. You can extend Adrenaline Mode by consecutive double-taps or shooting thrown objects out of the sky.

There are multiple enemy types, from huge tank-likes requiring an entire clip of 12 bullets to be pumped into their heads, to screamers, throwers (who lob stuff at you to temporarily stun you), small girls, affectionately called Ferals who run at you. The variety of enemy types will keep you on your toes, planning every encounter carefully as you take the enemy down.

The heart of this game is its global scoreboard. The quicker you complete a level, the higher up you place. This in turn will make you play each level countless times, trying to chain double-tap’s together, nailing every single bullet, always thinking several shots ahead at any given time.
There are a multitude of weapons and added perks to choose from too, adding plenty of variety to each run. You carry a handgun as your main weapon, which you reload by flicking down on the control stick to remove the original clip then bring the gun rapidly down to your waist area to reload a new clip. You also have a secondary ‘special’ weapon on your hip which deals lots of damage but is less accurate and has limited ammo. These special weapons range from sub machine guns to shotguns and can really help out when in a tight situation. I tend do keep mine on my hip opting for a double handed grip on my pistol (I find this far more accurate), only grabbing for it when I’ve either mistimed my reloads or get in a slight panic and end up being confronted by 5 very close up zombies.

You can upgrade your guns by collecting currency during each stage – the currency at hand is toilet paper (because it is a zombie apocalypse). There’s a lot to earn, but you will need heaps in order to not only upgrade every weapon, but also partake in the end game invitational event. This event costs 100 TP, so stack them up.

As previously mentioned there are perks you can also unlock and assign to your character. You can use up to three perks at once and you can pick and choose depending on your particular playstyle. There’s everything from double TP earning to laser pointer weapon attachments, a perk which stops you being affected by the throwers to one which increases your special weapon ammo.

There are lots of levels to perfect with each one having a number of special in-game tasks unique to a particular level to achieve. These range from getting a particular combo multiplier, to shooting hidden objects, beating certain times etc. and once you think you’ve mastered them (check the leaderboards) each has it’s own ‘b-side’ remix you can unlock. These remixed levels also offer you challenges but you’ll only be able to access the remix levels once you have beaten the its standard levels A-Grade time requirement.

There are no human survivors to rescue as in HOTD and the like and perhaps adding this would be beneficial. As is, there are dopey zombies who if hit do give you a time penalty, but adding a particular perk can see you not penalised for hitting these guys. I’d find more gratification in being rewarded with a time bonus from saving someone,.

If you are looking for more there is also a gun range with challenges where you can practice and hone your skills.

The PSVR 2 port has benefitted from receiving three new remix levels, a new story level, completely new guns, perks and unlockable gun skins, as well as offering up controller haptics and adaptive triggers to make the guns feel more real, headset rumble and eye-tracking (used for moving from point to point seamlessly).
The game has also polished the art-style, brought in new character models and animations, added new lighting new music, a new hub and generally improved on the original VR release in every way imaginable.

I bought the game on Oculus Quest when it first came out and spent a little time with it, but it never sank its teeth in to me, but Reloaded has got me well and truly hooked.

I’m having so much fun with Zombieland: Headshot Fever Reloaded that I’ve lost countless evenings to it, clawing my way up the scoreboards and knocking out PlayStation trophies galore. It’s become something of a guilty pleasure and dare I say it, possibly on par with late 90’s arcade lightgun feels.

Developer: XR Games
Release Date: Feb 22, 2023
Platform: PSVR 2
Reviewed On: PSVR 2
Publisher: XR Games
Genre: Shooter

TGS would like to thank the publisher for the review code supplied for the purpose of this review. For more information please e-mail info@thegamesshed.com

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I reviewed Ragnarock on the Oculus (Meta) Quest 1 back in July 2021. The game was effectively in beta, unreleased on the official Oculus store, but sat in its “App Lab”, a place where you can buy and download as yet not fully signed off and approved titles for the Quest. At £18.99 at the time the beta impressed me so much that I suggested it was perhaps the best fitness game on the platform.

Fast-forward a year and a half and there I was, on the day before launch of the PSVR 2 and all I could think about playing on my new hardware was Ragnarock. Until that very evening no official comms had been published on bringing the game to the system, but as if a gift from the Norse gods themselves an announcement was made and the game was added to the launch day lineup. Happy me.

The premise is very simple. You must beat a set of four drums to the on-screen indicators – here being runes, which should ideally be hit when directly on top of their respective drum, all set in time to a rather wild array of rock tracks. You stand at the stern of a Viking longship above your crew manning the oars. Your timely beats of the drums spur your crew on to race faster and faster. The more accurate and timelier your drumming the faster your crew will row, resulting in your ship travelling further distances over the course of the song – the overall aim being to travel the furthest distance and thus setting a place on the global leader boards.

A long successful series of hits will result in a powerup, enabling you to hit a 5th or 6th drum (stationed off to one side – also not actually drums but shields). Once you trigger a powerup you grant your crew a temporary boost in power. You can however forego the initial powerup by continuing the combo steak to try to achieve a maximum powerup – this (when hitting the side drum) will result in an even bigger power boost. Be warned, if you mistime a single beat whilst trying to get the big boost you will lose the entire combo, having to start over, so the key is determining if the gamble is worth it.
You can adjust your drums to suit – either bringing closer or moving further away, or you can also adjust the height. You are able also to manually adjust the position of the 5th and 6th drums.

The killer feature in this game is its utterly quality tracklist. Featuring 30 tracks from the get go, all hard rock from bands such as Alestorm, Gloryhammer and Saltatio Mortis to name but a few. I am far from a rock fan, but this game has seen me add a number of the featured tracks to my Spotify playlist. There’s also multiplayer for up to 6 people, so you know!

Those familiar with the game from other VR platforms do not expect a great deal of change here – higher resolution being the main one, but just to have this as a launch day title on PSVR 2 means nearly all of my rhythm game dreams are realised on the platform. I have found that latency issues and stuttering which I experienced sometimes on the Quest have all but vanished.

Priced at just £19.99 this is a must own title. It is brilliantly simple, totally addictive and a crushingly brutal workout for the upper body.

Developer: WanadevStudio
Release Date: Feb 22, 2023
Platform: Oculus (Meta) Quest / PCVR (Steam & Viveport) / PSVR 2
Reviewed On: PSVR 2
Publisher: WanadevStudio
Genre: Rhythm

TGS would like to thank the publisher for the review code supplied for the purpose of this review. For more information please e-mail info@thegamesshed.com

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The name Toaplan is synonymous with classic arcade shoot-em-up video games. Chief among their roster are the run ‘n gun stunner Out Zone, the oft’ meme’d Zero Wing, the infuriating Twin Cobra and the brutal Truxton.

These four particular games have been lovingly brought to PC via Steam and GOG from developers Bitwave Games on Valentines Day 2023 and we can confirm never has there been a more apt showing of love.

These arcade ports have been carefully and accurately ported including an absolute excess of new quality of life features to please even the fussiest of retro gaming purist.

Although this collection of games is actually four individually sold titles, each is priced at just £6.69, or all four for the ridiculously low £16.59.

With the four individual games you get two vertical top down shoot-em-up’s in Twin Cobra (Toaplan’s 4th ever shoot-em-up) and Truxton (known in Japan as Tatsujin – which translated to English means “expert”, a small nod to the brutality of this game!), one horizontally scrolling shoot-em-up with Zero Wing (the arcade version of the home console game which featured “All your base are belong to us”. Originally the arcade port did not feature this screen nor any of the hilarious others which are so often meme’d, but curiously developers Bitwave Games has been promised as a future patch – making this a very obscure arcade port) and one vertically scrolling run-and-gun title in Out Zone – all showcasing some of the very best in shmup styles.

Each game packs global leaderboards so you can mark yourself against other players along with an array of screen filters (scanlines, smoothing, steps, pixels), assist options such as a decreased hitbox (the area which an enemy projectile can make contact with you), increased health, auto dodge, auto fire etc. There is also the ability to rewind the game whilst playing, to iron out any mistakes. Do note, if you tinker with any of these assists you will have your score relegated to an assist only scoreboard, rather than the elite no-assist boards.

There are other cosmetic items too which really allow you to tailor each game to be the game you want – including score / stat overlay, showing how many bombs you’ve triggered, which types of weapons you have favoured, how many enemies you’ve downed. You can also overlay the game instructions too, to mimic many arcade machine surrounds.

One slight point of frustration for me personally is that the games are all held separately, without a unified game launcher. I know it is a minor gripe, but it doesn’t feel like a collection, rather a series of individual releases. A Toaplan Collection Vol. 1 launcher would have been ace for me as my Steam library is sat close to 1000 games and these 4 are scattered among them, rather than neatly contained together.

Odd too was the lack of additional museum-type content one tends to see with this type of collection, more surprising is the fact that Bitwave supplied an exceptionally brilliant Press Review guide when sending out codes for this review. Each guide for each game packed with information on the game as well as listing out all new features. It feels as though some of this could have been added to the sub menus within each game, along with pictures of original arcade machines, some history on the original and current games, some Toaplan history and the like.

Whilst Toaplan may have only developed titles between 1984 and 1994 there is a whole heap of love for their games, with numerous ports and collections being released – from home console, remade 16-bit carts, Evercade collections and now this, we must say this particular collection is the absolute pinnace, with total utter devotion to fan-service and preservation being front and center.

Bitwave have done an exceptionally amazing job with these four titles and we hope they are given further games to develop in the Toaplan catalogue – the “Vol. 1” in the naming convention of this collection would certainly suggest more are on the way, and we will be first in the queue when they touch down. Fingers crossed for a launcher and some history!

TGS would like to thank the publisher for the PC review code supplied for the purpose of this review.

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Mega Man Battle & Fighters is a game I gave up hope on upon original Nintendo Switch release in August 2022. I’ve loved each and every Neo Geo Pocket Color game release on the Switch to date, but this was different.

I have returned to it for this review some 5 months post-release, fueled by a renewed love for the Neo Geo Pocket Color, which I have been tinkering with over the festive season and buying up original games for.

One of the games which crossed my radar was Rockman Battle & Fighters. The game in question is an 8-bit port of arcade games Rockman: The Power Battle & Rockman 2: The Power Fighters. I thought I’d look at adding a copy to my somewhat small NGPC physical game collection – currently sat at 5 titles (Turf Masters, Neo Geo Cup 98 Plus, Pac-Man, Fatal Fury Contract & Samurai Shodown 2). A quick look on eBay confirmed that I would never own Rockman Battle & Fighters, unless I wanted to part with roughly £150 for an unboxed copy, or around £200 for a boxed copy.

I then recalled several months prior I had obtained the port on Nintendo Switch and for some reason hadn’t spent a great deal of time with it. Several sessions later and here we are, I’m sat at my PC once more frustrated with the game, yet still intrigued enough to want to express my feelings.

Firstly, I will dive in to the core game, which is actually very appealing. It is a Mega Man 1v1 fighter. Each character is a Mega Man boss. Unlike traditional fighters, this sets itself apart by opting for pattern attack approach of its big game counterpart. Learn the patterns and defeat the boss. The catch here is you only get the single life bar, meagerly topped up after each win. The challenge being to defeat each opponent essentially only on the one life bar. The original arcade games here are separated into two individual games in Battle & Fighters, and each has slight variations, for example in the second game the bosses drop health pickups whereas in the first health is only granted post-battle.

Due to the limited buttons on the Neo Geo Pocket Color your button layout was a little convoluted. A for normal attack, B for jump and you could access a special move by slapping the tiny option button and selecting the special from a sub menu. Sadly this is also where the wheels start to fall off with the Nintendo Switch port, you see rather than assign a dedicated button to special attack and program in the move they have directly ported the option button / sub menu selection. You might say this doesn’t matter, it is a quirk, let’s learn its mechanics and get on with it. Well, yes, that’s all well and good, until you also discover that absolutely no translations have been attempted on this game. There is no English option whatsoever. All menus and sub-menus are in Japanese. The below screenshot showing the option button special attack selection screen. Additionally the main game menu also still contains the original ports’ “Transfer” option, which would allow you to connect one Neo Geo Pocket Color to another via a cable to swap player data. This option when selected in the Nintendo Switch port is met with the message “Trading is not available in this version of the game”, which confirms that this is near enough a copy paste of the original cart, without any consideration or effort to address the seemingly minor issues which could have been ironed out to make this a great port.

Yes, the usual bells and whistles have been included for those familiar with the slate of recent retro ports, such as the ability to rewind the game to undo mistakes and the inclusion of game surrounds to fill the blank areas of the screen – although these are all Neo Geo Pocket Color slim models, with no original model Color skins being added (butthurt OG owner / fan). They have also included a filter to emulate the NGPC screen, which although a nice idea actually comes across as fairly distracting. There are no save states included with this port either which one would expect.

Whilst many of the above points make this game out to be a crime, the news isn’t all that bad. The game is actually thoroughly enjoyable. The sprites are beautifully clear and chunky and the fighting is (although simple) really fun, which is kind of all that matters I guess.

I’d like to see future ports of Japan exclusive games in Western markets actually address language barriers at the very least and remove non-working elements of games. Yes it is good to keep the game as it originally was, but do we really need menu options which fully cannot work?

Grab your copy of Mega Man Battle & Fighters from the eshop here

It is only £7.19 and whilst slightly jarring in places it still fills that nostalgic void.

The post Mega Man Battle & Fighters Review / Nintendo Switch appeared first on The Games Shed | Retro & Modern Gaming.

I recently had the opportunity to try out the Nware cloud gaming platform, and I have to say, I was impressed. The platform is designed to allow users to play their PC games on a variety of devices, including computers, smartphones, and tablets, without the need for expensive dedicated gaming hardware.

The standout features of Nware is the wide range of games available on the platform – presently listed at more than 20,000. The platform offers access to your game libraries from Steam, Epic, Ubisoft, Roblox and Minecraft Launchers, including everything from AAA blockbusters to indie gems, making it easy to find something for every type of gamer across an almost impossibly large array of devices.

Nware offers two subscription options. The first, titled “base” (priced at €8.99 a month) provides users access to their Steam library across Windows PC and Android devices whereas the second “premium” tier is an upfront annual subscription (priced at €99.99 – coming in €8 cheaper a year than the base tier and giving you 250gb storage) or €10,99 per month (for100gb storage) and allows users to access their Steam games as well as Ubisoft & Epic games. On top of you will be able to use Minecraft and Roblox launchers.

In terms of performance, Nware delivers a smooth and seamless gaming experience depending on internet capabilities. The platform takes advantage of advanced cloud technology to stream games to users’ devices, and I was pleasantly surprised by how well the games ran on my older laptops and smartphones / tablets. The platform also offers a variety of graphics options, allowing users to adjust the quality of the stream based on their internet capabilities / screen size. I used two low-powered very much outdated laptops to run my gaming sessions along with two newer Android phones and a high end PC and the process on all devices was thoroughly impressive and enjoyable. I would recommend using an ethernet connection if gaming on a PC (as I would with any online experience as it is by far the best type of connection, and the most stable).

You can resume your game from one device to another simply by pausing the game on the first device and logging into Nware on the second, which is incredibly useful if playing across shared devices or wanting to take your progress onto a larger screen for example.

Having access to my library of games across the Epic Launcher, Ubisoft Launcher, Minecraft or Roblox Launchers is also incredibly beneficial, however I did find that where having to log into Epic using an email address or password which used symbols was particularly challenging due to Nware’s virtual instance being defaulted to non-English keyboard, meaning I could not find the desired symbols on my keyboard. This meant I had to open a window within their virtual instance, navigate to Google and find the symbol using a convoluted search, then copy-pasting into my username / password. Far from ideal, but this is the nature of a beta test, so issues are to be expected.

As mentioned above, presently Nware is only in beta phase, meaning it is not a final finished product, and it does show occasionally. I personally found the user interface to be slightly less intuitive than I was used to, with my Steam library of some 800 games especially difficult to browse with there being only 36 game tiles per page. You can use the search box if you know what you want to play or click the Browse All Games button (which seems to be a mix of pre-determined Nware supported free-to-play titles mixed in with your own library) and sort these games by Trending / Recently Played or Genre, but no way to sort the games into playtime / purchase date / alphabetical. Hopefully this feature will be included in a build very soon.

I’ve had trouble with some games on certain devices automatically adjusting the games resolution / aspect ratio to match that of the current device, equally some input issues have left me unable to operate games to their full degree (The Witcher 3 for example I could not terminate the application whatsoever).

All the above being said, Nware is an incredibly exciting prospect. I very much look forward to the day I can switch on my Smart TV, pick up nothing more than a wireless controller and have full access to my PC game library, with an entirely local native gaming experience. Although this isn’t quite that experience it certainly feels very close.

Overall, I would highly recommend Nware to anyone looking for a convenient and affordable way to play a wide range of games on either less capable systems or equally to play games on the go without having to lug around huge amounts of equipment. PC gaming experiences are now at hand via a tablet, a controller and an internet connection and that is something to be celebrated.

Thank you to Nware for giving us the chance to tinker with their software and do keep an eye on our feeds for more information on Nware as we get it.

The post Nware – Cloud Gaming With Your Game Libraries appeared first on The Games Shed | Retro & Modern Gaming.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt has arguably been one of the best games to hit the market in recent history, personally I have found it to be a genre defining game. Whilst CD Projekt Red have had their fair share of controversy of late (for those living in a cave for the past two years please look up Cyberpunk 2077), The Witcher has always helped keep the name CD Projekt Red one associated with customer focused work and that of generous game development processes. This fact alone highlighted in the newly released 2022 The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt (a game released 7 years prior) free upgrade for current generation platforms (for those owning the 2015 release).

There have been some big updates to the way the game handles and operates broken down below. The most immediate improvement has come in the form of the graphics (including the upscaling of textures for key characters such as Geralt Yennefer etc.), but also the ability to alter the frame rates to suit the users preference. There are two options within this category, 60 fps allowing for smooth gameplay whilst also allowing for a notable upscaling in the graphics from the last version of Wild Hunt.

The other option is resolution where 30 fps is the target but graphics and raytracing are prioritised so the visuals are stunning and meticulously detailed, but there is a compromise as the gameplay and feel of movement comes off more clunky and jarring. Personally the 60 fps option offers much improved graphics but also eradicates any clunky movement and adds a much more user friendly fluidity to the gameplay. Side note here, the graphics are improved to the level that my dog was very upset anytime a wolf was present as he was convinced they were real, ha!

You’ll pleasingly also see that hair clipping issues and other armor related clipping has been lovingly addressed, ensuring those immersion breaking moments are fewer and further between.

Other welcomed additions are the options to change the appearances of many of the characters you may encounter in the world throughout the storyline, although a small addition it’s a fun and nice option to have. The addition of a mission based around the Witcher Netflix series is a great nod to the multimedia nature of the Witcher franchise, from novel, to videogame, to series. It’s awesome to see the influence of the series now coming back to influence the game, expanded and additional missions in The Witcher are never a miss, that’s where the Witcher excels – the story and missions have always been exciting and varied and fresh at any stage or location of the game and the additional content is no different from what came before in that regard.

The inclusion of both developer and user mods is a brilliant addition to the game and another fantastic showing that CDPR are in tune and in touch with their fans and have them at the heart of changes they make and will actively involve the fans in improvements and developments where possible.

Another feature of which has been improved is the user control over protagonist Geralt. The old iterations of the Witcher 3 feel tanky, sluggish and heavy when revisited. At the time of the original release the movement controls were state of the art and therefore took nothing away from the experience, but as time has progressed and improvements to game play have occurred upon revisiting the control movements felt very heavy, this has absolutely been addressed and overcome in the newest edition of The Witcher, the movement and playability rivals any release of current generation third-person perspective games and propels The Witcher back into the forefront of open world games and enjoyable titles to play.

In conclusion I have loved The Witcher since I played it back on the PS4 7 years ago, and this update has done nothing to change that, it has only sought to make me excited and able to replay The Witcher and re-enjoy the storyline all over again, with a fresh set of graphics and user friendly controls and gameplay, with the addition of further excellent content and missions CDPR have absolutely smashed it out of the park.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Next Gen Update out now on PlayStation 5, PC, Xbox Series X|S

Reviewed by Callum Callaghan aka OldManChog

TGS would like to thank the publisher for the review code supplied for the purpose of this review.

The post The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Next Gen Update Review appeared first on The Games Shed | Retro & Modern Gaming.