Now Playing at SUPERJUMP, Issue 34

We're back with a brand new Now Playing. Since we last saw you, Gamescom brought some fresh game announcements, and excitement is rising for a busy fall for game releases. As everyone takes a breath before all that excitement, our team is playing their usual assortment of big titles and unique indies. No matter what we're playing, we want to share with you and maybe send you down the path to try something new. Let us know in the comments what you're playing and what news has you excited for the future!

Alexander Joy

Panzer Dragoon: Remake

Finally, a game that answers the question, "What if your ship in Star Fox were ungainly and difficult to maneuver?" (I'm only half-kidding). I prefer aerial rail shooters where your aircraft doesn't control like a cinder block with wings, but I can respect how this seeming imprecision actually helps mimic the feeling of riding a living creature like your dragon instead of a piece of machinery like an Arwing. That said, I'm not sure how biologically conscious this game really is, since most of its stages involve laying waste to the local wildlife. Sure, they're attacking you, but you're the one invading their space!

Other than these quirks, there's a lot to appreciate about PD:R. It's short and sweet, and far too easy for a SHMUP, but it's exquisitely crafted. The level design is a pronounced strength, offering well-timed breathers to allow taking in each level's lush, aesthetically appealing scenery. The dev team's love and respect for the original Panzer Dragoon are palpable throughout, too.

Pocky and Rocky Reshrined

I can't recall ever playing a game that forced you to unlock its two-player mode. And I really question the wisdom of gating that feature in a series celebrated for couch co-op. Might as well call it "Pocky or Rocky!" At least there's a push-button cheat available to open two-player right away: (enter the following d-pad sequence on the title screen to do so: LLLL RRRR LRLR LRLR.)

That single bit of strangeness aside, Pocky and Rocky Reshrined is outstanding. It's a strategic run-and-gun with lots of surprises, and its five playable characters represent appreciably different weapon loadouts and tactics. The beautiful pixel art teems with life, channeling the most soulful titles of the 32-bit era, with the breathtaking background details of the second stage among the many high points. I'll be revisiting this one as frequently as the SNES original.

Fumes

This is vehicular combat for people who grew up with Halo instead of Twisted Metal and the like (the Vigilante 8-shaped hole in my heart therefore remains unfilled). The game's twin-stick driving/combat mechanics are chaotic in a way that I don't especially like (imagine manning a Halo Warthog's turret and steering wheel simultaneously), but the results manage to capture the same frenetic energy that powers the car battles in Mad Max films. Fumes isn't what I wanted, but I expect fans of shooters and racing games will find plenty to enjoy.

Charlotte Huston

Battlefield 6 Beta

I've always been more of a casual fan of the Battlefield series, so I figure my thoughts are better placed here than in a full piece. That said, the game is fantastic. I was utterly floored by how good Battlefield 6 is so far, and I thoroughly enjoyed the Beta experience. I found myself logging on to it more than I thought I would across the two weekends, and genuinely couldn’t stop playing it. It simply feels so delightful to have a good Battlefield game once again, you know? DICE has always been talented at crafting these masterclass experiences of military immersion in the AAA space, but they really felt like they lost that over the last few games, namely Battlefield 2042 and Battlefield V. Both of those games significantly improved after launch, don’t get me wrong, but they weren’t necessarily what Battlefield fans wanted.

The last game in the franchise I truly gelled with was Battlefield 1 (2016). Even if it wasn’t historically accurate, it was brilliant in terms of immersion and nailing the other aspects of the setting so well while also being so wonderful to play. Battlefield 6 returns to a modern military setting, finally, the first time it is doing so since Battlefield 4 in 2013. The gunplay feels very quick and twitchy at times, but I think the TTK really works, and I found the weapon selection to be really intriguing. I particularly enjoyed using the AK-205, for I was surprised at how good the recoil was while also feeling satisfying to use. Sound design is excellent as always with Battlefield.

I do think the beta made a mistake with using three urban maps and only one large open map as its first impressions. The urban combat feels as immersive as you’d want it to be, though at times it tends to feel as if you’re getting shot from angles you don’t expect. Liberation Peak is the only open map in the beta where actual aircraft are able to be used, but the map ended up being a haven for snipers, which wasn’t so fun, especially in the Breakthrough mode. I believe a second open map would’ve given us a good idea on whether the sniper issue is a map-specific thing or a problem in general. Still, it was an excellent time.

I was really happy to see the game blow up so much on social media, for it is an example of what the AAA FPS genre really needs right now, at least when it comes to multiplayer titles. At a time when it feels like Call of Duty is losing its identity and people are very disillusioned with it as the IP, I think Battlefield 6 has real potential to usurp Call of Duty’s throne for the first time. Battlefield has historically never outsold COD, though it came remarkably close in 2016 with Battlefield 1, the year Infinite Warfare really caused the COD faithful to question purchasing the game at all.

We’ll see, of course, but I do think it’s something really interesting to keep an eye on. As someone who wants COD to be good, I really think they need to be humbled with something like Battlefield 6, a game that is absolutely ripe with potential to be fantastic as a shooter. I only hope it launches in a good state, so fingers crossed!

Cat Webling

I've gotten back into Stardew Valley (unsurprisingly), but this time, I'm playing with my child! My 9-year-old is very excited to learn all about the game, and with a decade of experience myself, I'm happy to show him the ropes and let him explore this world that I love. It's so fun to watch him discover everything from the characters to the map and the mechanics that I've started to take for granted; it's almost like playing for the first time all over again. What a joy it is to share the things I love with my son.

Ben Cantrell

I stumbled across Star Racer on my social feed and instantly had that “hold up, what is this?!” moment. A retro sci-fi combat racer with 16-bit pixel graphics, clearly riffing on SNES-era F-Zero? Oh yes. I bought it immediately on Steam, fired it up with a PS4 controller on my Mac (big shoutout for Mac support), and was hooked.

I’ve always been a sucker for this genre. I grew up on F-Zero, graduated to the Wipeout series (still my all-time favourite), and sank hours into F-Zero 99 on Switch. So you could say I’m squarely in Star Racer’s target market.

Lead developer Brennan Anderson is a former AAA dev and composer with credits at Riot Games and Disney. He cites F-Zero and Star Fox as his biggest influences, and the game feels like a hybrid of those two classics. It uses a mixed 2D/3D approach with vehicles and sprites straight out of the 16-bit era, while the tracks and flying sections model the polygonal style of Star Fox 64.

Like F-Zero and Wipeout, Star Racer has “air brakes” on the shoulder buttons, letting you strafe through corners for balancing speed and shields. Boosting drains energy, flying drains shields, weapons require limited energy pickups, and aerial segments let you soar through rings for extra speed. It's got that white-knuckle speed of F-Zero with the shields vs boost strategy of Wipeout 3.

Lead artist and comic-book veteran Maxim Mel gives the game an ‘80s comic vibe, which I absolutely love too, especially the colourful roster of characters (including an Aussie called Didgeri-Dingo). With unlockable vehicles, a track editor, and four-player local split-screen, there's a stack of replay value.

I’m just secretly thrilled Star Racer runs so well on Mac, though I can’t help thinking it would be perfect on Switch. The easy-to-set-up four-player split-screen would be sublime on Nintendo’s console. This is a game that nods firmly to yesteryear’s classics while standing strong on its own merits.

Nathaniel Kelly

FINAL FANTASY Pixel Remaster

This month I started and finished a game (wow!) Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster is a homage to the classic NES title that keeps close to its original form by forgetting that any extra content was added after its original release. Most people describe this as being a fun game to play for a while, to experience where the series came from. I came out of this game feeling more that I had played an upgraded tabletop RPG than a downgraded Final Fantasy game.

The story did very little for me, although knowing the significance of Garland in later games made his character a bit more intriguing, even though he only says about 10 text boxes of dialogue through the whole game.

The game offers this CRT filter and classic text option that I fell in love with. I wondered for a while, after about 15 hours of dungeon crawling, what made this game turn into the runaway success that it was. The easy answer, and why I was obsessed with this game from beginning to end, is the brilliant combination of Nobuo Uematsu and Yohitaka Amano. The awesome music and art take this game from being a mismatch of random monsters from the D&D Monster Manual next to swords named generic things like "Excalibur", to a unique experience that spawned an identity wholly its own.

Anyways, the game is so good that I decided to pick up the PSP version to play on my lunch breaks so that I could experience the expansive endgame. It's phenomenal, and the Pixel Remaster is the best way for a new player to give it a try. Don't let people tell you this one is too old or not worth playing anymore; it's a great remaster of a great game.

A big thank you to our writers for dropping by and to all our loyal fans for being here to check it out! Be sure to tell us what you're playing in the comments, and check back next month for more of what our team is getting into.