Hardcore Gamer

• PS4
• 3.5 / 5
• États-Unis

Actraiser Renaissance is a worthy reimagining of the thirty-year-old classic. The action sequences were updated to look and feel modern while still retaining the essence of the original. The simulation portions were greatly expanded with mixed results. Given the brevity of the original game this was a wise decision, but it often feels like the developers went overboard and padded the experience more than was necessary. The Tower Defense portion is an interesting idea, but it’s implemented in a way it’s almost a spectator event that occurs more frequently than it should. The new additions of the legendary heroes also feel tacked on and don’t mesh with the tone. In a nutshell, it does a great job of improving and respecting many elements of the source material, but adds too much filler content. Actraiser Renaissance is far from perfect, but it’s a must play for fans of the SNES original.

• PC
• 4 / 5
• États-Unis

The idea that ACE Team’s less-appealing efforts are those that feel too conformed to expectation best surmises why The Eternal Cylinder is as successful a new IP for the Chilean studio as it is. For all the team’s expertise on the weird, the fact that this visual identity is far from the intended appeal should give you an idea at just how well the mechanics and overall reaction to such interlocking systems plays out. Most of which left to the player’s own imagination with how best to utilize said tools and similarly-spoken scenarios. But not for a second do ACE Team view an otherwise absence of comprehension as an automatic fail-state. Yet at the same time, managing to burrow enough of a temptation that failure in that regard will almost always be by the player’s own curious, sometimes greedy, hand. That level of confidence but more so lenience in its concept — an understanding on when and how survival mechanics can be implemented without feeling tedious or invasive — in the end is what makes The Eternal Cylinder as fascinating an adventure to decipher as it is to watch unfold with bated breath.

• SWITCH
• 4 / 5
• États-Unis

• PS5
• 3.5 / 5
• États-Unis

• PC
• 4 / 5
• États-Unis

• PC
• 4 / 5
• États-Unis

• PC
• 4 / 5
• États-Unis

While the leaderboards are wonky the rest of Centipede: Recharged feels just about exactly like you’d want the original game to be when dragged into the current year. It updates the gameplay flow to be more forgiving than its predecessor but still provides quick, punchy rounds where every second counts. The Challenge section adds a more focused set of objectives than the free-form arcade mode, and it’s a lot of fun to bounce between the two to blast bugs with wild abandon and then switch over to focus on a specific goal. While the gameplay itself isn’t particularly deep, it’s not supposed to be, and instead provides straightforward shooting action best enjoyed in small, but highly-satisfying doses. It’s been forty years since Centipede crawled into arcades, and it’s great to see a new version that’s so faithful to the long-gone shooter classic.

• PS5
• 4.5 / 5
• États-Unis

• PS2
• 4.5 / 5
• États-Unis

• PS5
• 4 / 5
• États-Unis

• PS5
• 4.5 / 5
• États-Unis

• PC
• 3 / 5
• États-Unis

• PS4
• 3 / 5
• États-Unis

• SWITCH
• 3.5 / 5
• États-Unis

• XSX/S
• 4 / 5
• États-Unis

• PS5
• 4 / 5
• États-Unis

• PS5
• 4 / 5
• États-Unis

• PC
• 2.5 / 5
• États-Unis

On the surface, Recompile might look and sound like an interesting, potentially unique, proposal. A game that aims to fuse Metroidvania-like exploration, logic-based puzzle-solving and combat in a way that is both mechanically as much artistically intriguing to engage with. Phigames’ delivery, however, misses the mark spectacularly in just how poorly-crafted and at times, off-putting both its level design and means of communication is in instructing the player on where specifically their next destination should ideally be. That’s not to argue against the idea of letting players free to discover and deduce on their own, but Recompile on many occasions feels like a game caught between two different directions on design. Between the suggestion of exploration and the necessity for linear platforming. In the end, neither direction winds up sufficiently well as one should expect. The game does occasionally muster some remnant of satisfaction with the way its world and aesthetic is structured. But a case of artistic vision overwhelming implementation leaves Recompile with a muddled, at times horribly-frustrating sense of progression.