Review Solstice: Hotline Miami

Hotline Miami is such a different beast than any game that’s been released this year. It takes the grit and pace of any previous action game to date and takes out all the fat and crap in between. The game tries to be a much faster installment of the original Grand Theft Auto titles that were entirely in two dimensions, but of course without any driving and a fantastic 80’s vibe thrown in the mix.

Hotline Miami is most likely not a game you’ll enjoy, or stick with. It is however a game you need to try.

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Review Solstice: Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet

Insanely Twisted Shadow Planet is a space-ship shooter set in a world not too unfamiliar from Metroid. The game flaunts some absolutely stunning visuals and features a world of twists and turns with a massive map that may require some back tracking.

Shadow Planet is a wondrous game that features some deep exploration and some brilliantly polished mechanics that make it a joy to play. Destructible environments, enjoyable physics that allow you to lift and throw boulders, and some absolutely insane boss fights.

Review Solstice: Magicka

Magicka is an isometric action game featuring a magic system that utilizes the combination of elements and let’s you choose how you use the result.

Magicka is definitely a unique game – its magic system stands on its own head and the campaigns have a lot of comedy. By far the most stand out feature of the game is the online multi-player.

Meteors can hit allies.

Review Solstice: Sine Mora

Sine Mora is a beautiful 2D-shooter developed by Digital Reality that’s made in the vein of older shooters Gradius and R-Type (a personal favorite). It blends classic shoot ’em up mechanics with a contemporary presentation.

Sine Mora throws the player into a steam punk world where WW2 aircrafts never went out of style and they’re piloted by animals. Let’s take a quick look at this impressive title.

Review Solstice: Cave Story+

To be completely clear this is a review I’ve been wanting to write because this is one of my favorite games I’ve played this year. This game was already originally released in 2004 as ‘Cave Story’ and I’ll be reviewing ‘Cave Story+’ which was released some time after on Steam as an enhanced edition. If I spoil anything of the first few hours of gameplay for you I am not sorry – take it as judgement for not playing this undercover wonder.

Review Solstice: Awesomenauts

Where do I even begin with this game – it’s got so many miniature genres and mechanics shoved into such a tightly bound package I’d be doing the English language a disservice to try and put it all in one sentence. Actually that was pretty bad on its own. I already wrote a small piece on one of the characters in the game that really caught my eye, but after spending more time with it I feel it’s deserving of a properly written review; the word ‘properly’ being used loosely.