Comprehensive Game Reviews

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From AAA titles to indie games, we cover it all. Our comprehensive reviews provide detailed insights to help you find your next favorite game.

Mouse: P.I. For Hire Review - Rodent NoirThere's no shortage of boomer shooters out there for those looking for some retro-style first-person action: Cultic , Ion Fury , Prodeus , and Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun , just to name a few. Yet only one of these nostalgic shooters meshes the genre's arcade sensibilities with the black-and-white rubber-hose visuals of cartoons from the 1920s and '30s and the unmistakable trappings of film noir. Originally released as a tech demo that quickly went viral in 2023, Mouse: P.I. For Hire is now a fully-fledged game--one that oozes style and doesn't lack substance either. It's both familiar and incredibly niche at the same time; an endlessly charming game that I found a joy to simply behold, even before the cartoon bullets started flying. Unsurprisingly for a game about furry rodents, Mouse: P.I. is all too fond of cheese-based puns and wordplay, so it makes sense that you should slip into the stylish trenchcoat of one Jack Pepper. The titular P.I. is a former war hero-turned-private dick working on a missing-persons case. As is par for the course, the investigation quickly spirals out of control, escalating into a complex web of intrigue and corruption that spreads to every sleazy corner of the city of Mouseburg. Continue Reading at GameSpot

GameSpot - Game ReviewsApr 14

Mouse: P.I. for Hire ReviewAn amusing FPS that's weakened by its haphazard marriage of noir storytelling and boomer shooter action.

IGN PC ReviewsApr 14

Pokémon Champions Review - It Hurt Itself In Its Confusion Reviewed on: Switch 2 Platform: Switch, iOS, Android Publisher: The Pokémon Company, Nintendo Developer: The Pokémon Works Pokémon has persisted for decades for many reasons – cute characters, a popular anime, lucrative trading cards – but chief among them is the game series' consistently satisfying turn-based battles. Pokémon Champions captures this highly refined system, cuts out much of the grinding necessary to train a viable team, and puts a thrilling competitive battling system in the hands of players around the world. The features around those battles, however, are often confusing and uneven, and despite a solid core, Pokémon Champions fails to reach its full potential. As a longtime observer of the competitive Pokémon scene, I am glad to play a game that sidesteps the dozens of hours of legwork necessary to even participate in ranked play. Mainline games require you to catch, level up, evolve, and EV train monsters, sometimes even sourcing them from past games in the series. In Champions, there are no levels, and swapping natures, abilities, movesets, and stat spreads is as easy as clicking menu options. After years of watching, I'm finally able to participate, and that alone is worth commending. Champions includes single and double battles, each in ranked and unranked modes. There is not much content on the surface, but for a free-to-play game, infinitely playable multiplayer is plenty to satisfy me. Each format includes its own strategies, and building teams catered to either style is one of my favorite parts. Champions sees the return of mega evolutions, which allows one Pokémon per team to become more powerful for the battle's duration. Recent competitions have centered around Scarlet and Violet's terastallization mechanic, so the return of mega evolutions shifts the meta in a fun, fresh direction. Series veterans can import their favorite companions from Pokémon Home, a cloud-based Pokémon storage system, but the available options are shockingly limited. The series has over 1,000 creatures, but only around 190 are available in Champions. Held items are also severely limited, with many major items like the choice band, assault vest, or life orb nowhere to be seen. For a game billed as the new future of competitive Pokémon, it's surprisingly restrictive. A limited spread of options is more appealing to newcomers, however. Even then, the onboarding process for someone completely fresh is lacking. In true Pokémon fashion, the tutorial explains the most basic concepts, with instructions aimed at true beginners. Past that tutorial, however, it's a little overwhelming. How do you build a team? Which items are best with which Pokémon? Which Pokémon are even good? Anyone seriously interested in answering these questions can access plenty of vast, free resources on the internet, but Champions teaches such basic building blocks that it implies it can be played in a vacuum. That is not the case. The microtransactions also disproportionately affect new players. VP, the game's currency, is needed for just about everything. Cosmetics understandably cost VP, but so does unlocking held items and mega stones. Collecting Pokémon is free once a day, but keeping them permanently costs VP. Training them to have different moves or stats costs VP. You gain VP by playing battles (winning gets you bonus VP), and Champions is generous in the opening hours. Still, for a game so seemingly focused on pulling new players in, it's hard to shake the feeling that you should have been buying and playing the main series games this whole time. It's never been easier to get into the competitive Pokémon scene, and playing Pokémon Champions has been a highlight of my last week. Champions seems to be designed for people like me, who are familiar with competitive battles and want an easier way to participate. However, it also makes moves to cater to completely new players and extremely seasoned players, and by trying to satisfy all three audiences, it fails to properly serve either. With minimal content and a pressure to collect Pokémon in mainline games, it works best as an additional mode for the main series. As a standalone product, it's a game confused about its own goals. And much like the in-game status condition, that confusion only hurts it in the long run. Score: 7 About Game Informer's review system

Game Informer ReviewsApr 14

Review: Volontes Is an Otome That Doesn’t Feel Very Romantic Volontes is an otome that feels like it had a lot of people hoping for the best. After all, about 900 people contributed ¥6,784,322 (~$42,626) to fund its localization on Kickstarter . But after playing, I find it a bit disappointing. While the character designs and CGs are gorgeous and premise intriguing, the visual novel itself feels low-budget in the same way Loca Games’ previous project Yukar from the Abyss did, it’s quite short, and the romance in almost every route feels like it’s tacked on. Fiena’s origins are surrounded in mystery. People in a small farming village found her in the center of destruction, as she was the only survivor of some incident that left apparent heretics and the soldiers pursuing them dead. One of the women with the group that discovered her took her in alongside her children as essentially an extra pair of hands. However, she always had remarkable red hair and the strange ability to see shades after situations when people died like after a plague. After going to market one day for her family, she returns to find soldiers again decimating and burning down the village. She manages to escape, and finds herself discovered by the king of Ombrelle’s sorcerer Olivier Paquet. He declares her the Moon Witch, an oracle who people of the island’s religion look to for guidance. However, this isn’t an immediate happy ending, and danger still threatens to cut Fiena’s life short in new ways as she learns more about Ombrelle’s secrets. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9CgABOmP4M Oh, and along the way she might find love with Olivier, a suspicious noble and heir to the throne named Emmanuel de Beaumont, the royal doctor Ismail, and the bard and knight named Melodie. Though in most of the routes, it can sometimes feel sudden shift from professionalism or even possible disdain to abruptly being in love with no build up or moments showing the two connecting and growing as a possible couple. I was as shocked as Fiena looks in some CGs when the dudes would suddenly be coming on to her after showing no interest prior to that. So first off, Volontes’ UI and general presentation is very simplistic. It sort of reminds me of some of the mobile-to-Switch otome game adaptations we’ve seen from Voltage that go for a sort of “passable” appearance. It’s clunky and feels like an indie. Which isn’t bad, but given it is an almost $50 game, I’d expect the same degree of quality as an Aksys or Idea Factory International release. Images via Loca Games I have mixed feelings about the script for Volontes as well. I’m not sure if it’s just that the original story was awkwardly written or it’s a stylistic choice from the editor behind the localization, but it often reads quite awkwardly. Add that to the fact that there is little romantic build-up and it is very easy to get bad endings, and it can break the immersion. Combine that with the storylines being so short that going for one of the characters might only take you about four or five hours if you’re a fast reader, and it’s can be disappointing. While that is a shame, I do appreciate how many endings there are for each character. Basically, there are three for each one of the four leads, with one being “good” and the other two tending to be more tragic. It’s interesting since completely seeing everything can offer some additional insights into the otome game’s lore. It also can be challenging, since you might need to say also build up a bit of a relationship via choices with Olivier when going for Emmanuel. Images via Loca Games I love the idea behind Volontes and think the character designs are gorgeous, but it isn’t a strong otome game. The focus feels much more on the lore and mysteries surrounding Ombrelle and its Moon Witch. Combine that with a localization that sometimes reads a bit awkwardly, short paths, and an overall presentation that sometimes feels like it was thrown together in Ren’Py with little fanfare, and it is a bit disappointing. Volontes is available for the Switch. The post Review: Volontes Is an Otome That Doesn’t Feel Very Romantic appeared first on Siliconera .

Reviews Articles and News - SiliconeraApr 14

Mouse: P.I. For Hire Review - A Monochrome Mystery Worth Solving Platform: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch 2, Switch, PC Publisher: PlaySide Studios Developer: Fumi Games Rating: Teen With its black-and-white rubber hose animation, lively jazz soundtrack, and gripping detective noir setting, Mouse: P.I. For Hire serves up a refreshing 1930s-inspired experience in the seedy city of Mouseburg – a name that makes perfect sense given its population of anthropomorphic mice. Here, players control a gumshoe named Jack Pepper (voiced by Troy Baker), as he unravels an increasingly complex missing persons case sporting all the usual suspects from crooked cops and slippery politicians to charming socialites and tenacious reporters. This tale's smart, humorous writing and enigmatic characters play into hardboiled fiction cliches in amusing ways that kept me hooked throughout the dozen or so hours it took to reach its high-stakes finale. Despite casting you as a detective, Mouse shies away from letting you use your intuition to crack these cases yourself. It's a largely guided experience wherein Jack automatically places clues where they belong on a board in his office and quests update with where to go and who to talk to next. I would've loved to do more of my own sleuthing to get to the bottom of things, but the game is primarily interested in its stylish action, for better and worse, so it keeps you consistently moving along to new, visually distinct locations. Mouse: P.I. For Hire Video Review:   Levels range from opera houses to swamps to production studios, each overflowing with classic slapstick comedy. I frequently chuckled when glimpsing a web in a corner featuring a drooling, derby hat-wearing spider rubbing its knife and fork together while eyeing its catch, or when an enemy killed with an explosive barrel would break into a hilariously exaggerated death animation before crumbling into a pile of ash with eyeballs. None of it is presented as parody, either – it's a sincere tribute to century-old cartoons like Steamboat Willie, albeit with more adult themes spread throughout. Exploration is a blast, too, thanks to cool unlockable traversal abilities and plenty of secret areas with money and collectibles, as well as items or photographs needed to complete side quests you receive from the denizens of Mouseburg. These optional requests are worth seeing through, as they do a good job of expanding upon Jack's various personal relationships and feature some of the funniest dialogue in the game. Still, my primary reason for checking every nook and cranny was to find extra baseball cards to use in an fun turn-based card game at the bar downtown. I lost a few hours and some in-game money on these strategic clashes, but I don't regret a second of it. The action combat lacks depth, however. The gunplay and movement feel fantastic, but too many enemies fall into one of two categories: "Guy with a blunt weapon who charges at you with reckless abandon," or "guy with a gun who stands still and shoots at you." As a result, most encounters lack the dynamism of other fast-paced shooters by which Mouse is clearly influenced (namely, Doom). Even with my growing arsenal of comical weaponry, a bit of fatigue eventually set in by the last third of the game. Conversely, boss battles are the highlight, offering delightfully wacky and challenging showdowns that test all of your skills at once. One of my favorites featured a fellow who cycled between windows on various floors of a house, forcing me to line up timely cannon shots while simultaneously fending off his lackeys outside. Another required using a flashlight to deal damage to an apparition that flew around a graveyard before splitting into multiple copies to disorient me. These moments, combined with the fascinating vintage visuals and music, make it easy to overlook the areas where Mouse wastes some potential. Sure, I'd have liked more meaningful investigative mechanics and fewer reskinned baddies, but I was often too busy tapping my toes to jazz tunes and laughing at the riotous cartoon antics to be too bummed about it. Score: 8 About Game Informer's review system

Game Informer ReviewsApr 14

Windrose Early Access Review So FarTaking to the high seas in a buccaneering survival crafter with deep combat.

IGN PC ReviewsApr 13

Super Meat Boy 3D Review – Death Perception Reviewed on: Xbox Series X/S Platform: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Switch 2, PC Publisher: Headup Developer: Team Meat Rating: Teen When a 2D platformer leaps to 3D, the results can vary wildly. Mario stands as the poster boy for what the most successful 2D-to-3D transition looks like, as the plumber flourished in the third dimension. Conversely, Sonic the Hedgehog has often stumbled since making the same jump, and, in my opinion, never truly found his footing. Team Meat admirably tries its hand at reinventing Super Meat Boy in the same way, and the result hovers somewhere between the highs of Mario and the lows of Sonic. Super Meat Boy 3D is a respectable and often fun translation of the series’ tight platforming, but its style of play sometimes clashes with the demands of a 3D world to frustrating degrees. Super Meat Boy 3D’s dozens of levels have a linear 2D framework, but with depth that lets you move towards and away from the screen. Some levels put the camera above Meat Boy in an isometric view, behind him as you explore straight ahead, or take a traditional sidescrolling perspective. I fell in love with the original Super Meat Boy when it launched in 2010, thanks to its skin-tight controls, expertly tuned yet demanding platforming, and forgiving respawn system that eases the sting of failure. I’m impressed with how well 3D adventure retains most of these traits – sprinting to hit long jumps to bounce off of walls, sliding down surfaces, all while navigating deviously placed hazards that require split-second reactions to avoid can be a blast.   Meat Boy largely controls well, and when a stage clicks, I feel confident in my ability to deftly leap over spinning buzzsaws, adjust in mid-air to avoid landing on a spiked floor, then quickly wall-run to cross a pitfall. The brief but impressively varied stages can be completed in seconds with the right mix of skill, timing, dexterity, and a pinch of luck; reaching the captive Bandage Girl at the end (only for her to be routinely re-abducted by the evil Dr. Fetus) creates an emotional high, accompanied by a sigh of relief, that few platformers provide. Super Meat Boy’s signature instant respawns make it easy to try again (and again), and watching the post-level replay of Meat Boy clones, which represent failed runs, barreling through a level looks even cooler in a 3D game. Completing stages fast enough to earn an A+ rank unlocks a Dark World variant of the level, which basically means an even tougher but wholly different take on the stage. Some may say that acing a tough stage only to be rewarded with an even harder version of it is nigh masochistic, but that’s part of Meat Boy’s appeal and a bonus treat for invested players. Decently entertaining boss battles are similarly succinct, varied, and challenging. I like dodging the homing missiles of a robot in a sidescrolling stage or hopping between a circular array of platforms to avoid the tentacles of a slime-like beast in the center. One boss, a rat that chases Meat Boy while launching attacks you must evade while running, drives me nuts due to how tricky it is to perceive your positioning in the world due to the perspective. This foe represents my biggest recurring problem with Super Meat Boy 3D: knowing where you’re jumping can sometimes be tricky as hell. I can’t remember the last platformer I played where positioning and depth perception became such a recurring headache. Certain camera and platform angles, combined with the zoomed-out view, can sometimes make Meat Boy tough to read and leads to frustrating misses you don’t realize are such until it’s too late. I routinely asked myself, “Am I actually facing this correctly?” when taking certain jumps because I thought I kept thinking I was good… until I wasn’t. A red ring below Meat Boy helps in determining his landings, but it does nothing to telegraph forward horizontal movement. Free camera control would mitigate these problems, but with a fixed camera, you must suddenly adjust to odd and hard-to-read angles in microseconds due to the breakneck and unforgiving pacing. In many 3D platformers, you have time, if only a few seconds, to adjust and line yourself up before jumping. Not in Super Meat Boy 3D. Sitting still for even a second often means death, and while that worked in a 2D template, it routinely clashed with the positioning variables introduced by 3D. I also wish the soundtrack were better. The playlist of bland, mute-worthy metal tracks does no justice to the zany world Meat Boy routinely showers in his blood. Despite these hardships, both intentional and otherwise, I eagerly fired up the next stage, excited to test my skills and get angry all over again. When stages click, it’s a deliciously fun challenge. When the perspective makes it tough to even tell how to proceed, it can be frustrating. Still, Super Meat Boy 3D makes a strong argument that Team Meat’s formula can work in three dimensions, but it needs to iron out some kinks before it reaches the same heights as its 2010 classic. Score: 7.5 About Game Informer's review system

Game Informer ReviewsApr 13

Review: Pragmata Feels Inspired by Sci-fi Blockbuster Movies Some video games feel like popcorn flicks. You go in expecting the big explosions, some over-the-top elements, and storytelling that wouldn’t feel out of place in movies like Armageddon or Transformers . You know what I mean. Big blockbuster style atmosphere designed to entertain. Pragmata feels like the kind of video game designed to entertain. Is it a revolutionary experience that’s going to inspire a whole genre? I doubt it, even though its quirky hacking mechanic is more fun than I expected. Will it be remembered forever as one of the pinnacles of a console generation? Even though it’s quite fun, no. Will I, in the coming months and years, tell people they should play this Capcom game in the same way I badger them to try Enslaved: Odyssey to the West ? Absolutely. I think we're looking at a new cult classic. Hugh Williams is part of a team of agents sent to the moon to check in at a station with a gigantic printer and facilities designed to use Lunum Ore’s Lunafilament to create anything from cars, vehicles, and buildings to robots and electronics. The problem is, nobody’s heard anything from the facility, and when trying to make contact for their landing there seems to be nobody around and signs that things fell apart. A lunar quake exacerbates the situation, putting everyone in danger, but also leading an injured Hugh to finding a Pragmata android named Diana. His goal is to find a way to reach Earth to advise people of the situation at the base and return home. However, the IDUS AI running the place designates him as an enemy, putting the two in danger. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TzBtbtOghV0 The first thing that stood out to me in Pragmata is that the storytelling and narrative feel very cinematic. It feels like the sort of dialogue, pacing, and direction you’d see in a typical type of space odyssey. Considering the otherworldly situation, Hugh’s dialogue comes across as being realistic considering the situation he’s in, and we see genuine growth both for him as a person and with his relationship with Diana. Especially in the downtime when the two are in the safe-space base. Meanwhile, Diana herself is also delightful and feels eerily human given she’s established as an AI at the outset of the story. The script also features some foreshadowing and commentary on things like corporations, humanity, and artificial intelligence that feel like they ring true given the current state of things. To be honest, the options with Pragmata ’s gameplay also feels like it’s an attempt to perhaps reach out to a wider audience and offer a quirky fun type of time while still playing within the confines of third-person shooters. On the lunar base, Hugh needs Diana’s hacking abilities to get past IDUS and actually deal meaningful damage to foes. This means occasionally bringing up the hacking puzzle that involves using the action buttons to move through a grid to pass through certain points and reach a goal for benefits. While there is a more challenging difficulty, even the standard mode felt a bit forgiving to me in order to make that additional element feel more manageable. Yes, trying to go for headshots and playing efficiently by grabbing appropriate weapons, deploying things like nets to slow foes down, and using items to allow for multi-targeting is deal. There’s a strategic element to it all. But it’s also designed in such a way that it doesn’t feel overwhelming when you consider the other factors. Images via Capcom Of course, that sort of fits in with other elements of Pragmata . While this is a third-person shooter, there are times when I would say calling it an action-adventure game with gun-based combat wouldn’t be out of place. There are platforming elements, and they feel much better than I expected. Part of this is due to the fact that, in the settings, you can judge the distance between the camera and Hugh. It allows for ease of comfort, but at the same time doesn’t have a negative effect on difficulty. There are actual puzzles to work out and solve, though I didn’t find them too difficult. If you are looking for a challenge, it is possible to also find it in Pragmata . The higher difficulties can pit you against formidable foes who hit hard. There are also Unknown Signals to challenge you. It is also possible to face bossed Hugh defeated again, which can provide a fun twist. It feels like the sort of game you can return to after you’re very familiar with the hacking gimmick and weaponry. Which, ideally, is exactly what you want from this type of title. You want an excuse to return and get more out of the experience later, and Capcom gives it to us. Images via Capcom All that said, Pragmata gameplay can get weird! The hacking element can be a lot, especially in more frantic moments. Even after getting five hours into it, I’d sometimes forget and default to the typical D-pad directions instead of the necessary action buttons when hacking. The nature of it also means if things are critical enough, I sometimes prioritized just getting through it instead of maximizing damage to ensure I could keep up my assault while also dodging and aiming, Also, while the lower difficulty levels feel quite well balanced, I sort of feel like the most challenging one could perhaps use a bit of rebalancing. Pragmata is a quirky, fun game with likable leads and the kind of story you’d expect from a summer Hollywood blockbuster. Capcom did a great job of blending skill-based shooting with puzzles. However, it is unusual and the hacking mechanic takes getting used to. That could result in the more challenging difficulty levels feeling unreasonably difficult or some encounters leading to someone not taking full of the thing that makes it truly unique. Pragmata will come to the Switch 2, PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC on April 17, 2026. We may earn a commission if you purchase from certain links. Learn more here . The post Review: Pragmata Feels Inspired by Sci-fi Blockbuster Movies appeared first on Siliconera .

Reviews Articles and News - SiliconeraApr 13

Pragmata Review - Capcom's Next Great FranchiseYou don't see games like Pragmata very often. Big-budget single-player shooters aren't as common as they once were, and even more rarely do they launch new franchises. They often come with trade-offs--a game might nail the fundamentals, or have some surprising new hook, or have a resonant story, but rarely do you get all of them at once. Pragmata is the total package, a blend of tense and satisfying combat elevated by deep underlying mechanics and strategic choices, all in service of telling an impactful tale that spends time nurturing the relationship between its memorable characters. It's one of my unexpected surprises of 2026 so far and an early shoo-in for one of my favorites of the year. You play as Hugh Williams, an everyman astronaut dispatched to a corporate medical research colony on the moon. There's an eerie stillness to the base that suggests something isn't quite right, but before you and your crew have any time to investigate, a moonquake rocks the base and leaves you as the only survivor. Now stranded and beset by legions of hostile robots, you're befriended by a mysterious android girl who helps you to survive by hacking the otherwise near-invincible robots. When she tries to give her alphanumeric name, Hugh calls her Diana to make it easier, and the two are joined at the hip from that point forward. Continue Reading at GameSpot

GameSpot - Game ReviewsApr 13

Pragmata ReviewCapcom's sci-fi hack-and-shoot debut is just good, chunky fun, weaving in a fresh gameplay system to make it stand out.

IGN PC ReviewsApr 13