Recent reviews by The Lab Video Game TV

Rise: Race the Future is a fast paced, arcade racer that's just exploding with style. Now this is an old one, but believe me, it's worth the revisit. I first got it on the Switch, and back then, I knew this game was something special, it looked and felt great, but I somehow just never got into it, but now, well today I'm reviewing the PCVR version, and let's just say, as good as the flat version was and still is, VR once again raises the bar. Rise Race the Future VR is a whole new beast.
My full video review here https://youtu.be/KZE4VyOQis0

I'd like to make this crystal clear, this game does not take itself seriously, and neither should you. Although for what it is, I'm going to say, it's well made, it's also a well-made satire. It's like an intentionally cheesy, M rated comedy. It's a cheesy, adults only game that I was always curious to give a shot
Full video review here https://youtu.be/hI10x3ScULo

Requisition VR is an ambitious new coop zombie title that's so far doing an admirable job of using a tried and true formula, while still changing things up a bit in a bid to differentiate this one from the sea of other Left for Dead like games out there.
My full video review here https://youtu.be/-GyRrKCquww

Shadow of the Guild seems to be an indie title that's a mash up of various genres. The best way I can describe it, Shadow of The Guild is a short, RPG with platforming, hack and slash, and stealth elements. And for a small indie team's first game, while not without its flaws, I'm going to have to say, Guild Studio pulled it off pretty well.

I've had my eye on this title long before release, based on its art style alone. The hand drawn, comic book, graphic novel style, real nice. The stealth kills, truly entertaining. All isn't perfect mind you, as playing this, you will see where Shadow of The Guild lacks a certain triple A polish, the animations are what took the biggest hit. I am aware, from playing games like Sense: A Cyberpunk Ghost Story, that this is possibly an intentional animation style, but if it is, I can't say I'm in love with it.

The animations look like they're missing several needed frames. You can really see what I'm talking about when the characters walk and fall or get up from a fall. But other than that, I'm really digging these visuals, in game and the cutscenes, real nice.

In the sound department, the composer deserves a bonus. I love the score, the overall package here, the story, the visuals, the gameplay, well put together, but the score really brought everything to life. Unfortunately, there is no voice acting, text only. I'm thinking though, if this had some quality voice acting, things would have really gone up several notches. The sound effects were also good, but while going through a few of the exploration sections, I did notice the ambient sounds, like the background chatter seemed to be on a short loop. This may be nitpicking, and I may be wrong, as that's kind of hard to pin down as fact, but it really did sound that way.

I played through this entire game, and although I saw some room for improvement, I can still say, I was not disappointed. This is Studio Guild's first game, and I can see the passion, I can see the love they put into it, and it's appreciated. I enjoyed my time with Shadow of the Guild and do look forward to the other chapters in this interesting and ambitious series. I expect major improvements with each installment. I don't know how many others Studio Guild's got planned, but I'll be there with you guys for the entire ride.

Full video review here https://youtu.be/SOUdO0ZHOqI

If you’re into casual, psychological, light puzzle games with a slight rogue lite element to it, that wraps up quickly, you’ll like this. With its Limbo/Inside look and feel, I enjoyed it thoroughly .

The Takeover is a beat em up title that wears it’s admiration for games of old on its sleeve. Playing through this title I saw nods to Final Fight, Streets of Rage, Mortal Kombat, Killer Instinct, King of Fighters, After Burner, Outrun and probably a few others. The takeover is clearly one big love letter to 90’s gaming.

Now while the Takeover leaves a lot of room for refinement, I can safely say, this is one of my favorite games of 2020.

The first thing that drew me to The Takeover were its visuals, this game is beautiful. Yeah, the graphics have this shiny look to it, but it works for me, I absolutely love the way this looks. I also love the size of the characters. At first I thought they might be too big and end up hogging the real estate, but no, it really worked fine. There were a few times where it looked like the game would have benefited from the camera zoomed out a bit more, especially when you found yourself fighting enemies off the screen, but for most parts, it worked.

I didn’t expect much of a story here, and I didn’t get one. What was here seemed like a mosh pit of a few games from the nineties. The two lead character’s daughter has been kidnapped by some gang and you team up with two other characters to get her back. I like the way the cut scenes were done in a comic book style. Reminds me of Shank. Another thing that reminded me of Shank, was the blood, I like this.

The voice acting was decent B-Movie, nothing to write home about, but nothing to complain about either. Sometimes I think developers deliberately create these cheezy sounding dialogues to add to the nostalgia.

The game play. You’ve got the basic move set, what’s expected, you can punch, kick, grab, throw, mix up some combos and the special moves. The two specials I know about are one, a room clearing special and two, a rage meter. The room clearer doesn’t do as much damage as I’d like, and while it’s happening, other than seeing people still walking around unharmed, you can also get damaged by said people. The Rage gauge is cool, it deals a major amount of damage and although it’s timed, it takes a decent amount of time to run out.

The controls are a bit stiff, this is one of the sections that could really use some of that triple A refinement, it just didn’t seem as fluid and seamless as it should be. And here’s my biggest gripe, hit detection. This is the lowest part of The Takeover, it is so bad that if you’re really not into this game the way I am, you will rage quit. It’s straight up ridiculous. I understand this is a 2.5D game and as such, you may experience difficulty lining your character up with whatever you’d like to interact with in said 2.5D space, but this got downright absurd. It felt at times like you were expected to be precisely in line with the enemy in order to make impact, and then other times, you’d be flailing about landing hits. This got really annoying in the later levels.

The Takeover also tries to spice things up a bit by offering somewhat of a change of pace with bonus stages that reminds me of Outrun and Afterburner. These stages offer you the opportunity to cop an extra life, should you survive till the end.

Flaws and all, The Takeover is still one of my favorite games of 2020.

Indie greatness.

This game is a love letter to action stars and movies between the 70’s to the 90’s. In order for you to have the same or even a close level of appreciation for this release as I do, you’ll have to be one of two persons, or both. You by necessity must have a great love and appreciation for old martial arts movies or a genuine love for martial arts. Because even if you’re not interested in video games, if you’re at least one of the aforementioned, this game will spark your curiosity.
Shaolin vs Wutang is a fighting game where you duke it out as various action movie icons, Expendables style. None of the characters carry the names of their movie star counterparts, but it’s as clear as day what’s going on here. We have Jet Li, Jackie Chan, the IP man, that crazy kung fu master from Kill Bill, Van Damage is here in all his glory as Frank Dux from Bloodsport, there’s the great Bolo Yueng, Bruce Lee and a lot more.

The visuals, this game is absolutely beautiful in its own indie kinda way. It’s clear to see it’s a bit rough around the edges, this is particularly noticeable with fabrics. You can see some inconsistencies with characters who wear long clothing. But other than that the game looks great. The characters are designed with incredible detail.

Gameplay wise, Shaolin vs Wutang totally works. It has an easy pick up and play vibe, nothing as complicated as an MK or Street fighter.

Shaolin vs Wutang is on my list of personal games of the year. And contender for one of the best fighting games I’ve ever played.

Indie Excellence!