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Archives for 2020

Riverbond – Nintendo Switch Review

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Gather some friends and prepare to hack, slash and blast your way through Riverbond, the latest title from the team at Cococucumber.

Riverbond is a funny, energetic, adorable and frantic voxel based, dungeon crawler. Up to 4 players can join together for some couch co-op fun and journey through 9 different dungeons on an epic adventure to restore peace and order to the land. Each dungeon is themed differently and enemies can range from different animals like pigs or crabs to cannon wielding parrots and bomb throwing books. Each dungeon is made up of a handful of areas with simple tasks or objectives before players must battle it out in a boss arena battle. Defeating enemies, talking to NPCs and opening presents are rewarded with points that go towards each players score. At the end of each dungeon, players are ranked on how well they do, this feature adds some nice competition between players but can be ignored for friendlier play sessions. 

Players will collect a number of different weapons to defend themselves, these are often placed along the major pathways in each dungeon. Exploration is rewarded though, as hidden within each level is even better weapons to use and new player skins to unlock. Weapons include swords and guns of various varieties but certainly lean towards more humorous options like slapping fish, ice creams, umbrella spears and foam dart guns with over 50 in total to find. Before each level begins, even mid dungeon, players can choose a skin that suits them ranging from fruit, sushi, animals, special guest characters and content creators. With over 100 different character skins to choose from, players will most certainly spend a fair bit of time switching and choosing skins depending on their personal preference.

Each dungeon is beautifully themed and well laid out with lots of nice little touches and secrets for those with a keen eye. Levels are also highly destructible which we found to be joyously cathartic. Early levels can be a little slow at times but this helps to get new players familiar with the controls and the general game mechanics. Difficulty seems to be at a set level though which means that having more players will work in your advantage but having less or playing solo will prove to be more of a challenge.

Full of mischief and mirth, Riverbond is a fantastic couch co-operative hack and blast with a nice competitive streak that is best enjoyed with friends. Players of any age will surely love all that Riverbond has to offer. 

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Mat Panek, Chief Reporter
Retromancer – Collector, repairer & fan of retro games & tech. Atari to Amiga, Nintendo to Sega! LD, Zip, Beta and a proud dad! One half of the TiredParents on Twitch.

Follow Mat on Twitter and Twitch

 

 

Disclosure: Riverbond [Nintendo Switch eShop code] was kindly provided by Stride PR for this review.

 

 

Royal Mail Video Games Stamps

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Whoa, how darn awesome is this – Royal Mail (Australia Post equivalent in the UK) has announced their latest special stamp set based on iconic and classic UK-designed video games from the 80s and 90s!

There are quite a few items to choose from this special Royal Mail Video Games stamp set; from presentation packs, framed stamps, collector’s sheets, to postcards, collector packs, souvenirs and stamp books, there is something for everyone and for every budget.

These special stamp sets go on sale on January 21, 2020! If you want more info or would like to pre-order these cool stamp sets, go here.

PS: We wouldn’t mind some of their Star Wars stamps too 😉

image source: Royal Mail

 

Bus Simulator – PlayStation 4 Review

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Please have the exact fare ready as it is time to play Bus Simulator on PS4 from the team at Stillalive studios.

Bus Simulator is a game in the ever expanding genre of “Simulator” titles that has you start off with humble beginnings and go on to forge a mighty business empire. Players start off by learning the basics in a bus supplied by your new city council that wishes to develop more public transport. Starting off with a single test route outside of the main city, players learn all the knowledge required for the daily operations of a bus driver. As a driver, players are required to maintain a bus route correctly by stopping on time, opening the doors, lowering the bus, taking fares, giving change and deal with any disruptive passengers. While this may all sound rather dull it actually takes quite a bit of concentration. After learning the basics though it is possible to hire other drivers and buy extra buses to create more routes. After showing the city council what a wonderful job you are doing it is possible to expand your routes to various other parts of the city or create whole new ones.

Buses are naturally far more complex machines than the usual vehicles we are all used to driving and every single button on the controller is used to its fullest. Between the use of actual buttons and a pop up radial wheel, controlling the lights, wipers, turn signals and doors are all spread out in a way that can at first feel daunting but becomes second nature after spending a bit of time with the game. Various buses are available to unlock and buy from the simple double door design buses to full accordion buses that take some serious skill to maneuver around the city. Buses can be customised with different paint jobs, colour schemes and decals to make each one unique or make your fleet all superbly uniform. It is also important to note the deep and rich business sim aspect of the game that will have serious entrepreneurs weighing up every buses positives and negatives to make sure their business is profitable and each route is planned perfectly for maximum efficiency.

As with other games in this genre, the vehicles are finely detailed but the environments are simple and basic while still feeling like a natural city. There is a lot of good humour spread throughout the world too and some of the little details are fantastic, well worth the time to leave the confines of your chosen bus and do a little exploring when possible.

Bus Simulator is a terrific “podcast game” that will have you engaged enough to never feel bored but also relaxing enough to help players unwind after a long day with the help of a good podcast and a nice cup of tea. Fans of buses, Sim games and efficiency will definitely love all Bus Simulator has to offer.

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Mat Panek, Chief Reporter
Retromancer – Collector, repairer & fan of retro games & tech. Atari to Amiga, Nintendo to Sega! LD, Zip, Beta and a proud dad! One half of the TiredParents on Twitch.

Follow Mat on Twitter and Twitch

 

 

Disclosure: Bus Simulator [PSN Store code] was kindly provided by Homerun PR for this review.

 

 

CES 2020 Unveiled – Cool Retro Tech You’ll Want To Play With

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Before the big CES 2020 event kicks off, the CES Unveiled event showcases the latest products and trends leading up to the main event.

Three products caught our attention from Arcade1Up, iiRcade and My Arcade which we thought we’d share with you all below.

We can’t wait to find out more about these hot items, so stay tuned!

1. Arcade1Up 3/4 Scale Digital Pinball Machines

Arcade1Up has teamed up with our friends at Zen Studios to bring you a couple of pretty awesome three-quarter size pinball machines which include titles from Bally/Williams and other yet to be announced, big names in the pinball space! We love both the Star Wars and Attack From Mars machines and can’t wait to hear more about them.

image source: northvibe via pinside

2. iiRcade – The Ultimate Home Arcade

This new ultimate home arcade, iiRcade, with online capabilities, enables gamers to legally download and play their favourite officially licensed arcade games – no more shady arcade ROM sites! Gamers who want to enjoy their favourite retro arcade games or play modern games in the arcade environment can now have the full arcade experience in their homes, either in a full size stand-up or bartop guise, it is up to you. With iiRcade, gamers can select and purchase a game they want on iiRcade’s app store, which is then automatically downloaded and installed on their iiRcade machine.

image source: iiRcade

3. My Arcade Super Retro Champ Console

The Super Retro Champ console is the successor to My Arcade’s award-winning Retro Champ and enables retro gamers to enjoy their SNES, Super Famicom, and Sega Genesis/Mega Drive cartridges from a single console. The Super Retro Champ features a 7-inch screen and a built-in rechargeable battery that offers up to 5 hours of play time. Retro gamers can play the Super Retro Champ in handheld mode or use the 2 included wireless gamepads to play in tabletop and TV mode. An HDMI® output allows users to enjoy their classic games from the comfort of their couch.

image source: Games Press

 

Spin Rhythm XD – Steam Early Access Review

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Prepare to blast down the intergalactic note highway in Spin Rhythm XD from the team at Super Spin Digital.

Spin Rhythm XD is an intense and fast paced rhythm game where players can use a multitude of different input devices from a humble mouse or gamepad to a full on MIDI controller. Regardless of your chosen input method, players will have to spin, slide, tap and flick their way through various high tempo tracks in hopes of a perfect run and high score. Spin Rhythm XD is a new take on the beat rhythm genre that is more about positioning of the notes and the style and flair achieved to hit them. Players must line up an alternately coloured ring with the correctly coloured notes or bars while also spinning the ring when needed to rack up multiplier points. With numerous thumping electronic tracks available, it is certainly not for the faint of heart or those with slow reflexes.

Each track has 4 available difficulties, each of which will make the notes multiply and style vary immensely. Easy tracks usually involve positioning the ring for notes, a few tap bars and a handful of spins, as difficulty increases these become far more frequent and complex. Some tracks require players to spin multiple times in succession and quickly maneuver the ring to the next note as fast as possible. We played with both the mouse and gamepad, finding both feel fantastic to use but those with serious musical dedication will want to grab a USB or MIDI controller for a bit more finesse.

Although still in early access, Spin Rhythm XD shows immense promise and still currently being revised and updated regularly, giving electronic music fans a long overdue beat rhythm game to call their own.

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Mat Panek, Chief Reporter
Retromancer – Collector, repairer & fan of retro games & tech. Atari to Amiga, Nintendo to Sega! LD, Zip, Beta and a proud dad! One half of the TiredParents on Twitch.

Follow Mat on Twitter and Twitch

 

 

Disclosure: Spin Rhythm XD [Steam code] was kindly provided by Stride PR for this review.

 

 

Celebrating Our 8th Anniversary!

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It is amazing to think that we started ausretrogamer 8 years ago! How time flies when you are having fun!

When we started our site and social media channels in January 2012, we had no idea what was to come. We were pleasantly surprised to find so many like-minded people who enjoyed playing and talking about old games we used to play many many decades ago. Nostalgia is a powerful force that binds us all – long may it continue!

To all the people that have contributed and to those that are still contributing content and everyone that engages with us, thank you very much – you all rock our world!

Looking forward to another year full of retro gaming goodness 🙂