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Play as the female protagonist in this Visual Novel, a great game if you are new to the Visual Novel scene. Story starts out with you on a hiking trail heading towards a mountain house with your friends when suddenly a landslide causes you to go off course, injured you try to find your way back and recover.

You meet three boys, one shy, one doctor and one rude all with different coloured hair and personality. As you stay in their mansion longer your trust grows, or weakens as you become sceptical and anxious about the haunted blue flames around the area and harsh rainfall events when you try to leave.

Are these three boys trying to take advantage of you? Is there some underlying reason why you hear strange voices and witness strange occurrences? There has to be some explanation out there, where are your friends, why is this place so peculiar? Uncover the answers to these questions as you venture into this visual novel.

The game is a Halloween themed novel with four characters; yourself –lee, Viktor, Vonn and Vern.

Viktor
The oldest of the three brothers with brown hair and eyes who cares for his two younger brothers at the mansion, you encounter this individual several times cooking, cleaning or helping you out. A bit of a prankster as well.

Vonn
Middle child of the three brothers with artificial blonde hair and brown eyes, often the rudest and most in-polite character in this novel but does have a soft side.

Vern
The youngest of the three brothers with black hair and brown eyes and is the shy type which appreciates your company. A supportive friend in your time of need and jokes around once you warm up to him.

Once Upon a Hallows Eve runs smooth on my average PC specifications, played with Steam Link mobile to game while lying down, Autosave, save functionality available but isn’t needed unless you want to aim for the other endings.
This game has four achievements for each four different endings you can encounter, the story lacks depth and real emotion both verbally and visually however, for free you cannot go wrong with a short 3-4 hour, okay novel!

As a first time recording software user, found this to be easy to use with easy to input key toggles, for gameplay recording. Was able to record fullscreen or reduce the screen recorded for indie titles, crystal clear sound and no performs well as a lightweight editor as a side function. Webcam functionality is neat to use in the future to record commentary live through gameplay sessions, pre-added on using the "Dub" feature.

The introductory tutorial is neat but managed to figure out what to do easily without any assistance "Export", icon labels, "Split", "Delete" and "Undo" buttons just to name a few. The software also allows you to directly upload to YouTube tm with a simple "Cloud Icon" for upload, adding typical descriptors there such as title, description, tags without needing to use external software.

The editor section includes various "Intros (18)", "Transitions (20)", "Sound Effects (60)", "Filters (14)" templates which are useful but the core value is the ability to import your own media, You can download previews of Intro's/Audio but do need to download these through the easy "+" icon, great to keep the core software size down. I have to admit the included intros are somewhat generic (Yourself is the best intro for any video in my opinion), but giving credit where it's due it isn't bad.

Overall GoPlay Editor is easy to pick up and user for any first time Video sharer or even game enthusiast.

*Note I received a copy of this software in exchange for my honest opinion/feedback of the product and doesn't influence the rating of this review in anyway*

Remember the Star Wars Episode 1 Racer N64 title? Well this is a modern approach to create a more full-fledged 800+kph experience. There are three ways to play the game; Online, Quick Race or Career mode where you aim to become the very best ‘Redout Racer’. Don’t expect any genuine story to this game; it’s all about the pure racing experience against your friends or Ai which are fiercely competitive. Don’t be too overconfident in corners as you will end up gliding into the walls damaging your vehicle.

First off the detail, the game creates a detailed yet arcade backdrop experience with wide open racetracks to enjoy. The vehicles dynamically change to visually show aerodynamic changes to downforce and flight adding to the immersive racing experience. Everything is detailed from the neon lights to the reflective elements on the vehicles with scenery changing rapidly as you travel over 800kph this game is soaking in fast visual depth you simply can’t stop loving it!
Racing in this game is unlike any other current racing game, every corner you’ll take different approaches rationally, challenge yourself and vehicle, pushing to the limit making the most of any moment. It’s a visual tribute to what racing games should and can become without the stereotypical real world limitations. Races are quick relative to competitive racing titles, but this is only an arcade racer. Although damage can put you out of a race the game doesn’t quite have the depth that a realistic racer would offer such as dynamic damage. Redout would really be something if your wing would get broken off or a booster flew off when damaged just like my nostalgic self expects from N64 but that’s just me. This game also have an element of racing management; using boost when the time is right, take corners slow to avoid hitting walls with an element of health which takes a few races to get used to whilst pushing to beat personal records and reach new speeds. Furthermore, you can control the height in which the racer levitates off the ground to utilise downforce or lift when overcoming loops and with boost points this game really takes some skill to master.

In the career mode there are several types of races including Arena Race, Pure Race, Elimination, Time Attack and Tournament all which incentivise you to race by a level-class system with virtual dollars. As you work your way through this mode you’ll unlock vehicles from new classes to buy each with unique traits from different racing teams. Vehicles can be upgraded and liveries can be selected with Steam In-Game items which drop whilst playing the game. All racing modes are self-explanatory except arena race which is based on whoever gets the fastest lap under race like conditions. The progression in this game engages you to play more especially with the fast-reaction nature of this title to push to go faster, be faster and race cleaner. Each track takes time to learn with some blind corners making clean racing challenging for the first time but the in-race tutorial is helpful to the credit and this can be all overcome with some genuine practice.

This game is fast, fun and full of entertainment value, remember to push yourself, race faster, smarter and learn the tracks. However, if you haven’t played any racing game before or have little experience then I’d recommend looking elsewhere first then coming back to buy this fantastic game. If you are an avid arcade racing fan like myself who loves to progress as a driver, build your own racing machine, beat personal records and friends then this game is for you.

This game was provided to me by Yolo Army but that does not influence this review in any way.

Bike of the Wild is a free roaming physics based mountain biking game which is challenging to complete. Honestly the game lacked something…. That something is a bland game with little to no character apart from the classical music. I do recommend to have a reasonably high spec pc for this game as I experienced frame dropping with my 960 and also a controller to play optimally (although note I couldn’t get pc controls working effectively).

Progression in this game doesn’t correlate to any sense of accomplishment, apart from earning a new colour bike and progression statistics nor any real naming. Say you reach the end of any given mountain, terrain or landscape… good luck bragging to a friend! A game of this type NEEDS some kind of competitive elements whether it is ranking, multiplayer or friend leader boards but quite frankly there isn’t much entertainment value here anyway to showcase.

That aside the core gameplay mechanics have potential, with quirky controls that make this game challenging yet equally FUSTRATING to complete. Remember to read the tutorial on the side wall as you go through the first stage as it is required for you to successfully pass that section. After completing this area you are able to free roam through different terrains using your skill and game mechanics to pass them.

This game is aimed at a niche group who’d enjoy mountain biking with difficult controls, but honestly I cannot see myself replaying this game nor recommend it to anyone I know regardless of any price involved.

This game was provided to me by Yolo Army but that does not influence this review in any way.

Mille Bornes interestingly is a card board game style family game which involves up to four players to race to the finish line (Distance Marker 1000). Using the turn based game mechanic strategically throw wildcards at your opponents to impact on their vehicle or use some to speed towards the finish line, use repair cards to help yourself get back on track.

One hour is enough to complete every track giving an extra challenge for all players however; the single player experience is lacklustre especially for the questionable 4.99USD price tag. Credit to the developer Payoff Technologies,. this game was bug free, fun, simple without any need to read the instructions just download and play with several languages supported! Mille Bornes at the current retail price, satisfaction and with achievements only on Asmodee’s site instead of syncing with steam, I simply cannot recommend this title.

Nana in the Dark is a small story driven adventure game which bases off the ‘survive each night’ scenario. First thing that stood out whilst playing this game was the calm relaxing music when you begin the game, unfortunately day doesn’t last forever… At night you have to defend yourself with your dog side companion Candy who fetches you batteries to help survive the night.

Interestingly the ghosts, unidentified things attack you; the torch is used as a weapon to burn these creatures but their never ending all night! The game restricts you from staying inside the apartment for too long which is a great game mechanic, especially when you are searching for sparkles to forward time. Time after time I kept replaying levels because simply they were too challenging, found the game addicting as a result.
To the developer’s credit ‘Nana in the Dark’ is fun, challenging with user controlled cut scenes. But there are some features which should be nerfed and implemented to improve the overall gameplay experience.

- Firstly, the unidentified things spawn too often which can cause performance issues and makes the game too challenging at times especially when retreating indoors.
- Secondly, Candy provides batteries too often making it rare to run out
- Lastly, the map is too small with little area to move

Unfortunately there are some slight performance issues on my GTX 960, sometimes the game would slow down or freeze but fixed itself.

Overall Nana in the Dark is a game with fun, addicting core game elements and room for improvement, if you have a day spare, don’t mind the price and like what you read in this review I would recommend picking the game up.

Zombie Waiting isn't much of a game, it promises content that it vaguely delivers. Gameplay feels less than generic and is "what you see is what you get" from any trailer posted by the dev. You want a game? Well here is one, nothing more, nothing less there is not real value here.

The content in the games current state is on the short side compared to other titles, without any major updates from the developer since my initial review. It would be best to stay clear of this game unless you intentionally want to play a bad game, which I unfortunately did...

Zenzizenzic is an in your face action shooter with retro-style shooter game elements that you will recall from the game asteroids. But this is no Sunday walk in the local arcade, but instead, a bullet hell shooter that is as challenging as it is to pronounce the games name! well if you want a challenging game, this is it. When you cannot even pass the first level like myself you know that you are in for a long night of action packed, ultra-addictive fun. As shown on the steam store page, the screenshots are quite the spectacle and yes each coloured box can hurt you, grey boxes give you points. These points are rewarded upon death or level completion and can be used towards upgrades and special abilities which specify how hard the ability is to master.

Fast gameplay is not a flaw as the game runs smooth as silk on my 3-year-old laptop however, I do not recommend playing this while transit or your head will spin. Jokes aside, there is a second mode in the game called Macro Mode which is an open world mode which is entertaining for 20 or so minutes. The Macro mode becomes more difficult as you move along the world, but don’t worry in both modes you can bring a buddy along to play with you locally. Also in macro mode, you can move over chests to upgrade on the fly at a cost. On any level, there are upgrades mid game that drop randomly by killing enemies, easy to talk about, but actually getting the upgrade usually is a challenge due to the slaughter house of bullets ambushing every inch of your monitor. In short, the developer bitHuffel (Ruud Koorevaar) has made a stunning heart thumping title as advertised and is a unique game where you practice endlessly your technique to complete each level.

*Please do note that I have received this game for the purpose of reviewing it*

Marble Duel is a casual mobile style game created by the indie developer Hero Craft. Taking a refreshing approach to the puzzle genre, this game is similar to Zuma’s revenge. Although, while the latter is based on the concept of spheres being thrown to stop a moving line of spheres reaching the boss in each level, Marble Duel instead sets a game up with stationary spheres making for a slower paced game than alternatives, each colour sphere can deal damage, heals, shield or launch special attacks. The catch is, however, you and your opponent are given certain spheres to use in each game which you can switch using the right mouse click. For many of you out there, who are quick to be irritated- just a heads up: I found it quite frustrating when the game forced me to heal in a turn.

The game’s simplistic design allows for quick loading time which is ideal for mobile gaming while moving about. Thought has been made in designing the artwork for the game with typical fantasy characters. Dialogue between characters add another level of immersion as you play through levels, hence the RPG tag under the game. Despite this label, the game is misleading because little role playing elements were implemented. Instead the game has little to no storyline choice other than winning or losing a battle which can be replayed if lost. Upon completing each level, you are rewarded with gems which you may use to purchase buffs in a duel when spheres clash such as healing, health or damage. Gems are rewarded according to the turns you take in completing a level and can be replayed, obviously, the fewer turns you take- the more gems you receive! You are able to reset upgrades allowing you to prepare for another opponent where you may be better off focusing on healing upgrades for example.

Each sphere in the game applies something different for your character to do, green spheres heal, blue spheres shield an attack and red spheres attack. The concept is easily understood for a new user and the game does introduce more colour spheres and further abilities gained by upgrading later in the game for a greater challenge. To apply the above trait in a turn you need to clash two or more of the same colour spheres by launching a sphere. There are combos which you can get by breaking the same colour in the middle of three of the same colour on the outside, when a combo is made you are allowed to make an additional turn. Green and Blue spheres affect your own attributes and overheal is not in this game so bear that in mind when healing at max health! Red spheres are your fighting power and deal damage to an opponent in every game, therefore your upgrades are usually focused on attacking.

In each duel the opponent has different levels of upgrades as well as different spheres to choose from. Early introductory games were easy to complete, however the challenge of completing each level gets harder and harder until the point later in the game where completing a level is next to impossible. The difficulty is also determined by your own upgrade choices so by collecting gems from previous levels and the game makes it so that later in the game it is crucial to replay previous levels for gems. The game also has bonus rounds where you do not face an opponent and need to complete an objective such as stop a circle of spheres from hitting a beam of light. These bonus games were far from challenging and if anything became like a chore, these could be easily beaten by simply breaking spheres without mistakes by not colour matching them. The rotation of the circles made these bonus levels unnecessarily longer than needed, which is a shame as the game is brilliant in the main levels. While we are on the train of complaints the background music when starting up the game and dialogue deterred from the overall experience, this was not appealing to listen to but sounded familiar to other music I have listened to. Sound effects in this game however were superb and triggered dopamine in my brain that made me want to play more and more for the reward of hearing the sound again, ridiculous… I think not!

Marble Duel offers a highly addictive game similar to Zuma’s Revenge made by Pop Cap but is far more strategic and slower passed than this alternative. I love both games, however I prefer this turn-based variation of the sphere clashing style of gameplay. This game is a brilliant choice and to be honest I have been long awaiting another game bearing this the sphere clashing style of gameplay since I got bored of Zuma’s revenge for IOS. I recommend this game for anyone who wants a fun game to play on a laptop or tablet device in their spare time. This is an excellent choice to buy.

This key was provided to me by Yolo Army but that does not influence this review in any way.

GRID 2 is a half-simulator, half arcade style racer that is a genuine balance between both styles of racing genre and can be categorised in a league of its own in terms of car handling and circuit design. Interior view has been removed from the original GRID which is disappointing as I feel that this camera view adds authenticity to a racing game, even if it is rarely used, I would’ve liked to switch views mid-race to know that my driver was steering the car. The music being added at climatic points in each event adds immersion in the racing experience, unlike games such as Forza or Gran Turismo which have static tracks played all race. This game is a minor step down in drifting compared to GRID 1, however city circuit tracks for regular racing seem to have a realistic transition between brick, asphalt and kerbs unlike the games predecessor.

Codemasters has created World Racing League ‘WCR’ were your job is to race a variety of racing clubs from the US, Middle-East, Europe and Asia to attract ‘fans’. The inclusion of ESPN a well-known sport commentating channel in the US adds a layer of mirrored fame found in real life and adds depth in the single player experience, which helps new players to the genre engage in this racing game. The addition of displaying short story clips of your racing fame across YouTube, the WSR in game website and SMS messages motivates you to aim for a greater number of fans. While story typically lacking in racing games, Codemasters has pulled of a story mode that doesn’t ruin the experience of racing or feel that there is any difficulty in progressing to the next race as skipping events is optional. As you near completion of a race, overtaking a threat (another popular driver), complete a race or experience damage issues your crew chief will annoy you which adds to the enjoyment of the game but gets repetitive as you progress through the game. Throughout the game the same tracks, modes and simular challenges were reused however the difficulty of driving a faster vehicle in the later stages of the game compensates for this. Codemasters could pull some of the officially licenced world class circuits from the F1 series into Grid 2.

In short the singleplayer provides a decent range of content despite the large amount of additional content and will give at least 24 hours of gameplay in the base game*, additional tracks including the extravagant demolition derby has been brought from GRID 1 in a free DLC which is brilliant for local multiplayer fun with friends and family. The demolition derby features only one car to choose from that is kitted out just for demolition events which you can select in the quick race menu for single or multiplayer modes. It was disappointing that Grid 2 features the same tracks as its predecessor, which feels like Codemasters reworked the handling of the vehicle in this mode to be significantly easier to control, making it harder to slide out.

*Please do note that I have played this game for console on release week. *

In GRID 2 online unlike the ‘WRS’ singleplayer mode you can purchase and upgrade vehicles performance. The new rivalry mode allows users to set up randomly assigned online players which compete for XP to crown the ‘better racer’, this mode I feel is underused at the time of writing this review but is a great feature that I believe GRID should integrate with the main multiplayer mode of future titles. There is also a global challenge that ranks your account on various tracks against world times and a full featured online mode which has typical lobby matchmaking as you would expect. With some interesting indicators for racers which prefer to drive aggressively indicated by traffic light colour exclamation marks next to their profiles. Also by purchasing the DLC you get no advantage over users who have not purchased the DLC other than the specific vehicle, and all tiers are able to be used from the start in multiplayer however if you want more cars they need to be purchased unlike the singleplayer. Grid 2 is a graphically enhanced GRID 1 with several race types such as checkpoint, time attack, endurance, face off, drift, touge, races that change each lap and regular races found in the single payer as well as the multiplayer.

GRID 2 is a well-priced game to buy standalone during a sale event, do not be pressured to purchase the DLC’s on offer for this title as the content is not worth what you pay for. The free DLC of demolition derby is to be expected as it features the same tracks and cars from the previous title, but I found that the gameplay was more enjoyable for the demolition derby races than in the original GRID. The lack of cockpit view is a major letdown and detracts the simulation aspect found in the previous title. Both GRID 1 and 2 are great games and if you prefer a more Arcady family and friend gaming experience than GRID 2 is the game of choice out of the two which is an easy game to get into for beginners. Overall GRID 2 is a brilliant game that can be set apart from the previous title in ways, however there has been key gameplay features removed and missed from the original game.

*Please do note that I have received this game for the purpose of reviewing it*