Rice Digital
HomepageRice Digital's Reviews
There are plenty of interesting and unexpected twists and turns along the way — and plenty of references and homages to established detective fiction (including Sherlock Holmes, the Pinkerton Detective Agency and Cordelia Gray) from a variety of authors. This all makes for a thoroughly compelling game that any fans of mystery stories will have a great time with — so as long as you’re on board with the visual novel-centric nature of how the narrative is delivered, this is definitely a game worth adding to your collection.
So if you’re in the mood for something that looks and feels a bit like an RPG but isn’t really, and which you can easily beat in the space of a few days at most, The Longest 5 Minutes is an eminently worthwhile use of your limited time on this Earth. Just don’t expect to come out of the experience with dry eyes; the latter moments in particular go pretty hard on the emotions!
Ginga Force really is an excellent game. With well-designed stages, an enjoyable plot with decent voice acting, fantastic music by Yousuke Yasui and plenty of gameplay variety and longevity throughout, it’s one of the best value shoot ’em ups out there, and a great complement to the other excellent titles by Qute. Highly recommended.
On the whole, then, World Tour is a very good way to enjoy Street Fighter 6, particularly if you’re someone who typically plays solo. There are aspects which could be better — the non-Metro City locations you visit as part of your “tour” feel rather underbaked, for one, since most of them are just a very small “room” you can visit rather than a full open-world environment like Metro City — but in the grand scheme of things, World Tour is a brilliant example of how to build a compelling single-player mode into a fighting game.
Tears of the Kingdom delivers on the promise made in that opening screen in 1985, giving you a huge world of almost endless possibilities to explore.
Games like this give me hope for an industry that is becoming more homogeneous and, honestly, boring.
On the whole, I feel like Resident Evil 5, although an indisputably controversial entry in the series, perhaps isn’t as “bad” as some people like to make out. As with anything else, the game is best appreciated on its own terms without allowing other people to colour your judgement — so I’d encourage anyone who is at least curious about it to try it for themselves and make their own mind up.
Ridge Racer’s drift-heavy, arcade-style handling is as wonderful as ever, bearing little to no resemblance to actual driving but being all the more enjoyable as a result. And it’s an absolute delight to be able to return to this wonderful game on the big screen without having to faff around with the dodgy image quality from the PSP’s AV cables.
Humanity is an absolutely brilliant game that any fans of Mizuguchi or Nakamura’s work should jump right on. It’s the perfect antidote to the bombast of triple-A, a wonderfully contemplative experience if you allow it to be — and simply a well-designed puzzle game with some really interesting mechanics to engage with.
To put it bluntly, I found Lover Pretend a meandering bore. Considering the many difficulties behind the scenes and the way it changed hands in terms of writers numerous times, it’s perhaps not a surprise that the story turned out as poor as it did, and equally no surprise that the title as a whole is not exactly a resounding success.
Taken on those terms, Resident Evil Revelations fits right in, making it a highly enjoyable installment in the series — and one that shouldn’t be missed out on.
TrackMania is a superb game with potentially limitless longevity, and its release on console — along with the fact that the console versions support both cross-play and importing of your progress from the PC version — means that a whole new audience will be able to enjoy this fantastic racing experience.
ust ten hours in and I am in love with Tears of the Kingdom’s grand experiment. It is chaotic and silly and easily the most fun I’ve had with a game in years. While the graphics and the story are both near copies of Breath of the Wild, it makes up for it by trusting its players to entertain themselves. It is the best implementation of the sandbox game design philosophy I have ever seen, leaving me constantly itching to find out what is over the next hill.
On the whole, Otoko Cross: Pretty Boys BreakUp! is a solid addition to the Otoko Cross series, particularly if you enjoy block-breakers. It is a shame that it doesn’t do more to distinguish itself from Pretty Girls Breakers Plus, on which it is very obviously based, but taken entirely on its own merits, it’s a good game that is an eminently worthwhile addition to your casual game collection.
I may sound like I’m being quite critical of Resident Evil 4 here, but I’m doing so simply because the whole experience was brand new to me, and I was thus feeling particularly conscious of everything that was happening, especially because of how well-loved the original is. On the whole, I had an absolutely great time with Resident Evil 4 remake, and I fully intend to return to it to investigate the various bonus weapons and unlockable options once I’ve blasted through the rest of the series.
Death Stranding is one of the grandest, most optimistic adventures to be had in modern gaming. With its exploration of grief, loss, connection and resilience in the face of absolute adversity, the way the title effortlessly presents hope prevailing and the kindness of humanity continuing to exist even at the end of the world is beyond beautiful. Alongside gorgeous scenery, a stunning soundtrack accompanying your journey and even hot springs to be found along the way, Death Stranding is a sight worth seeing and losing yourself in. Maybe it’s just me, but it really is as wholesome and cosy as it is meaningful and well-intentioned.
So if you find yourself a little underwhelmed with Resident Evil 3’s remake after a single runthrough, don’t stop there. Unlock some of those bonus extras. Play through again, see if you can beat your time. Engage with all the additional elements included to provide the game with extra longevity. And you might just find there’s a lot more long-term appeal here than you initially thought.
The experience doubtless won’t be for everyone — but if you’re the sort of person who enjoys more chilled-out experiences in gaming, Ayre and the Crystal Comet is worth a look, so long as you’re running it on one of the more modern systems.
Regardless of how the development process actually went, the two games are eminently worth playing — and I was pleased to rediscover that Waifu Discovered 2: Medieval Fantasy doesn’t completely replace Waifu Uncovered, either. Waifu Uncovered presents a more straightforward, arcade-style experience that you just sit down and play, while Waifu Discovered 2: Medieval Fantasy’s added depth provides a little more meat on the bones as well as some additional polish to the experience as a whole.
Regardless of how the development process actually went, the two games are eminently worth playing — and I was pleased to rediscover that Waifu Discovered 2: Medieval Fantasy doesn’t completely replace Waifu Uncovered, either. Waifu Uncovered presents a more straightforward, arcade-style experience that you just sit down and play, while Waifu Discovered 2: Medieval Fantasy’s added depth provides a little more meat on the bones as well as some additional polish to the experience as a whole.