In Tidbits we cover games that are difficult to cover in our regular review template. In this Tidbits, we review Animal Rivals: Up In The Air, Gravitar: Recharged and Q.U.B.E 10th Anniversary.
Animal Rivals: Up In The Air | 45% – Animal Rivals: Up In The Air was developed by Beast Games S.A., published by Console Labs S.A. and is a flying party game about strangely cuboid animals racing or battling in the skies. You can dive straight into either game type with extra varieties such as time trials and capture the flag respectively which you can play alone, online, or couch co-op with up to four friends. It is, however, likely that you’ll be playing solo or couch co-op as I’ve not seen any online lobbies when I was reviewing the game. There are a few colourful tracks that sadly feel like they all share the same soundtrack, making for a limited amount of replay value. What gave me probably the most of that was the career mode, which puts you in 40 different scenarios where you’ll go through all the modes on all the stages. It is also here that you get rewarded with parts to customize your plane in the garage. These parts all come with different stats you can choose to turn on, as well as some paint options. Overall, it pains me to say that while Animal Rivals: Up In The Air isn’t particularly bad, it’s got very little going for it. With simple controls and easy-to-game AI opponents, I actually got bored very quickly. So while it might be different with other human players, I, unfortunately, cannot recommend Animal Rivals: Up In The Air.
Written by: Thomas
Reviewed on: PC
Gravitar: Recharged | 40% – Gravitar: Recharged is one of Atari’s “newest” games in their repertoire. Although new is not what I would call this one. It’s a homage towards the old cult classic. One that really didn’t receive a lot of attention back in the day because of its wonky controls and really back-breaking difficulty scale. Though I commend Atari for trying to bring back cult classics, I really didn’t see the point in reviving something that wasn’t really well received in the first place other than with a small enthusiastic crowd. Though, to give credit where credit’s due. The music is downright amazing in terms of modern standards. With some slapping tunes, you can easily see that they really did an effort on making it pass as a viable new game. Alas, the game cuts short in any form of a fun factor with atrocious handling and controls combined with a laggy camera. While I get that the whole game revolves around you navigating through different planets, stations and debris fields with varying gravitational fields, that still does not excuse the game to suddenly jerk your ship around if you’re already compensating your speed to suddenly change and straight up crash your ship without any reason… I wish that I could rate this one higher, but I’d be lying then. A good soundtrack and some fancy visuals don’t excuse a poor attempt at reviving an already dead game… so no, I can’t recommend Gravitar to any new players other than real die-hard fans of the recharged series.
Written by: Alexis
Reviewed on: Xbox Series X
Q.u.b.e 10th Anniversary | 70% – Honestly I had never heard of Q.U.B.E before. But this actually is a game that was released way back in 2011 and did receive quite some attention back then. Now, it’s back again with updated visuals and some extra stuff here and there and since I like me some puzzle games I gave it an honest try. And actually? I was quite surprised by how fluid the gameplay and visuals were. It didn’t give much explanation of how to play the game. But it doesn’t have to because it actually is fairly straightforward. With easy-to-figure-out visual queues, you’ll quickly find yourself traversing around these dainty little levels. Though don’t be fooled, because it may look simple to start off with, the timings and complexity steeply rise the deeper you go down this crazy rabbit hole. The game’s story is told to you over radio transmissions and wants to make you believe you’re there in the last hope to save the Earth’s mission. But as most puzzle games go, they sadly end up being cut short. I ran through this one in around 3 hours while in this version an extra sector is added, which adds another 5 hours worth. So if anyone out there is hoping for a quick and relaxing puzzle game? Then be sure to give this one a try!
Written by: Alexis
Reviewed on: Xbox Series X
Hello, I’m Victoria. I’m from the UK and have been playing video games for as long as I can remember; back on DreamCast. I’ve pretty much fallen for Xbox since I was around eight years old and remember BioShock being my first game on the Xbox360. Although I find it thoroughly enjoyable to not only experience gameplay, I also find comfort in getting lost and engrossed in the online worlds that sometimes differ greatly from what we know. Another side of my Xbox passion would be achievement hunting and gamerscore. I thrive when I hear the little sound of one popping up on the screen and I’m always finding ways to work on my backlog when possible. Horror is my favourite genre so if you have any recommendations, don’t be afraid to send them my way!
