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Game Review: Killer Frequency

Back in the 1980s, there was a TV show called Midnight Caller about an ex-police detective who became a late-night radio host. He would get calls from listeners and use his detective skills to solve their problems and various crimes. It was an interesting premise but not one that would really work in the form of a video game… or would it? Killer Frequency is developed and published by Team 17 and the basic premise of the game is very Midnight Caller.

“Killer Frequency is a first-person horror adventure that puts you in the shoes of Forrest Nash, a late-night radio host whose callers are being stalked by a mysterious killer. Solve puzzles, save lives and run the switchboards, all while listening to a jukebox of retro ‘80s tunes!”

Set in 1987, you play as DJ Forrest Nash. Once on a very popular station in Chicago with millions of listeners, you now find yourself doing the graveyard shift on a tin-pot station who are happy to get 35 listeners, in Gallows Creek. A small town where a lot of nothing happens. The last time that anything of note did happen in Gallows Creek was 20 years ago when a serial killer known as The Whistling Man was found dead.

However, when the police station is attacked, leaving the Sheriff dead, you are deputised into acting as 911 and begin to take calls from the town’s residents. The calls start to come in and it seems like The Whistling Man is back from the dead. You have to try to save people from being killed and work out who The Whistling Man is and how has he returned from the grave.

I may have likened Killer Frequency to Midnight Caller in my introduction, but aside from the idea of being a radio DJ solving crimes, they are tonally different. Killer Frequency is a horror game with a very interesting twist, you don’t see the horror. At first, you are stuck in your DJ booth and your only (non-caller) companion is your producer, Peggy. Now, since the news that The Whistling Man has returned, Peggy has locked herself in her own production booth and refuses to come out. Still, she is more than happy to help you out running your radio show, all while you deal with calls from people being stalked by The Whistling Man.

The way the basic gameplay works is that you are having to host your radio show and you still have to play records and ads, all while you get people calling in. As The Whistling Man’s killing spree continues, you’ll get calls from people who are being stalked by the killer and it is up to you to do your best to talk them out of the situation they are in. Each caller has their own scenario that you need to get them out of. For instance, I had one where I had to talk a caller through how to hotwire a car so that they could escape. Another had me guiding someone out of a maze. One had me having to give a stab victim second-hand medical advice. The scenarios are quite varied and offer some pretty fun gameplay.

I honestly loved these little scenarios and they really give the game a unique twist to a horror game. Because you are stuck at the radio station, you don’t see anything and everything is delivered to you via dialogue. It’s really effective too. You don’t see any blood or gore, there are no cheap jump scares (save a very telegraphed one during the opening tutorial, which I’m sure was put in there by the devs to make fun of cheap jump scares). You have to rely on your ears and sometimes what you don’t see is more terrifying than what you do see.

Killer Frequency does a fantastic job of building tension and fear. It also does something else, it’s genuinely funny. Yup, this is more of a horror/comedy over a straight horror. With you having to deal with prank callers and even a really annoying (but bloody hilarious) pizza restaurant owner. This game takes the 80’s horror vibe and has fun with it. While you are in your DJ booth, you can play around with volume sliders and you even have a sound effects board. You can sit there, taking a call from a terrified victim being stalked by The Whistling Man, and hit the button for a cheeky jingle, a laugh track or even the classic ‘ba-dum-boom-tish’ drums. It’s stupid but really great fun.

The game starts with you being stuck in your DJ booth but as the story progresses, more and more of the radio station becomes available. Outside of all the calls, you do get to walk around a fair bit. You’ll soon be exploring the staff office, reception, the staff room, the basement and your boss’ office. You even go outside to the back alley for a short spell of the game. What seems to be a relatively small playing area slowly opens up the more you play and there’s quite a lot to discover too. There’s a ton of 80s horror references, the town map alone is crammed with notable names. There are hidden records to add to your play list and tapes to find. Even though there’s a killer on the loose, there’s still time for some classic gaming exploration.

Around £21 and is available now for Steam, Meta Quest 2, PS4 & PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S/X and the Switch, basically everything. Killer Frequency is a tough game for me to review and sum up. I love it and think it is brilliant. A fantastic story with some wonderful characters and very clever and funny writing. But… it’s just not £21 good. The price point is a wee bit high, I feel. I got to the end credits in just over 4 hours and saved all but one victim. Now, I didn’t rush through this, I took my time. I explored the radio station, found all the hidden records and such and I still only got a little over 4 hours out of it with an almost perfect playthrough.

Despite my not saving everyone (one person died) I felt no pull to go back and go for another play and to go for 100%. Perhaps if for your initial run, you do worse and have multiple deaths, it may be worth another go to try and save everyone. But for me, not so much. Really, Killer Frequency is a bit too easy. Aside from one puzzle near the end of the game where I had to cross-reference clues and become a real detective, everything else is really straightforward and even a bit ‘hand-holdy’. There is nothing terribly taxing here and the puzzles are all too easy to work out. But I still adore this game and might even go so far as to say it’s one of the best I have played this year.

I have no problems with a short game, in fact, I welcome them over several dozen-hour slogs. However, a short game (depending on the price) really needs to offer you something to come back and play again. Sadly, I didn’t get that with Killer Frequency and that £21 price is not exactly welcoming. Maybe pick it up a bit further down the line when it drops in price? But still, get this on your radar and give it a play, because it really is great fun. I bet it’s awesome in VR too.

(Guest) Game Review: Super Dungeon Maker

LBoG: Game Overviews

Friend of the site (and mine), Dave Corn is back with a guest review. Taking a look at a title that could best be explained as Zelda meets Super Mario Maker. From developer FIRECHICK, comes Super Dungeon Maker.

“Super Dungeon Maker is a creative pixel art dungeon editor inspired by the best 2D adventure games. Choose however many levels, enemies, secret rooms, traps and items you want. Challenge your friends and the community to master your dungeon or play the countless dungeons of the community.”

Super Dungeon Maker, from developer FIRECHICK, isn’t exactly a straightforward title to review. It has no story to speak of and the protagonist is a chicken. That’s that. What you get here is a community-driven dungeon-creating and sharing game in the style of the SNES’ The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. Unfortunately, this game has none of Zelda’s charm or personality. There is no start and no finish and it really boils down to a very hollow experience which, on putting down your controller after playing, leaves you with a sensation of just being a massive waste of your precious free time.

The game itself launches with a tutorial, the personality-lacking main character ‘The Chicken’ appears and you are taught how to use the game’s crafting mechanic. How to use the tools and how to navigate the in-world obstacles. Then, you are shown how to build and create. Creating in this game (as the title suggests) is focused on dungeons, Zelda, 16-bit style dungeons.

As a fan of retro games, there is a certain warmth that I feel towards this style and to an extent, when it is done well, one that sometimes yields a bit of extra favour. Super Dungeon Maker is a creating and sharing tool (and good at being that) bolstered by a community which has already embraced it with some very impressive creations. I found myself, in many a dungeon, just bemused by the creative ways that players have found to kill each other off. The frustrating tricks and almost domino-like precision of some of these custom-made maps would leave Jigsaw and his cohorts from the Saw films positively green with envy.

If you are like me and gaming time is limited, picking up a game and playing for a few minutes, then this probably won’t be the game for you. Tuning themselves in on the Minecraft/Terraria audiences with as much time to put into the community, as you take out, seems only fair. While there are creative games out on the market already, such as the incredible Dreams on the PlayStation, it makes you wonder if there’s any more room for a title like this. Super Dungeon Maker isn’t really anything new. Sure, it’s simple but I think gamers tend to embrace intelligent design, new ideas and forward thinking. Lemmings let you design your own levels back in the 90s, this isn’t really much of a jump forward.

I have to admit that I am curious to see how long this game will be supported for. However, I won’t be coming back to Super Dungeon Maker. For me, it felt a little soulless with very little to offer that hasn’t been done better before and with more personality. See Nintendo’s Super Mario Maker.

To sum up.
Gameplay 2/5. Relying completely on community content gives this one a limited shelf-life and something better will soon come along.

Graphics 1/5. Very Simple, 16-bit style, but not attractive with it.

Value 3/5. If you enjoy this style of game then you will most probably play this endlessly. If you are a guest reviewer, you will force yourself to play for another hour and another hour and another, because you have some sense of journalistic integrity, or because you hate yourself.

(Mini) Game Review: Wobbledogs

LBoG: Game Overviews

I’m very much a dog person. I have a really annoying, but awesome and loveable mutt myself. Put a dog in a game and I’m instantly interested. Do you know what I don’t like? Virtual pet games. Wobbledogs, from developer Animal Uprising and publisher Secret Mode is a dog-based virtual pet game, so this should be interesting.

“A 3D pet simulation where you raise your own personal hive of mutating dogs, physically simulated all the way down to their guts! Wobbledogs is a casual and chill sandbox for players of all ages who want to care for their very own virtual pets in a surprising, unique, and stress-free environment.”

The quickest way to describe Wobbledogs is to imagine Nintendogs crossed with Viva Piñata. Yes, you’re raising and looking after dogs, but these pooches aren’t your ‘normal’ four-legged friends. You won’t see a Golden Retriever, German Shepherd or even a Dachshund here. The canines of Wobbledogs are a bit more, well… ‘wobbly’. Bizarre animals that share a lot of traits with a household dog, but also have this tendency to look like something from aSalvador Dali fever dream.

There’s a brief tutorial that introduces you to the controls and very bare basics of the game. Then, you’re left to play and experiment with the dog’s DNA. What you feed these Wobbledogs will change how they look and act. You can cross-breed, play around with their genetics and the end result can be as funny as it can be terrifying. The bright pastel colours and overly cute graphics steer this one from veering into horror territory. But still, you can create dogs with (basically) ‘deformities’ that would make David Cronenberg green with envy.

Do you want dogs with elongated bodies, multiple legs (I mean more than the usual 4), dogs with mismatched legs, tiny heads and more? You really are creating mutant dogs and if this had more realistic graphics, it would be one of the most visually disturbing games I have ever played because you can really create some true abominations. Everything takes place in a simulation, so not of this is ‘real’, which does take some of the sting out of the monsters that you are responsible for.

There is no story to follow, but Wobbledogs does come with some basic goals to reach for. You can build and customise the dog’s living area, unlock new items and cosmetics and train them to do simple tricks like sit and roll over. Other than that, this is all about messing around with genetics to make the most abnormal and peculiar dogs that you can.

With a £16 price tag and out now for PC and all the consoles, Wobbledogs is very hit-and-miss. As I said at the start of this review, I don’t really like virtual pet games, but I can appreciate them. The trouble with Wobbledogs is that there isn’t a lot to do. You mess around with the genetics and create new dogs, you unlock items and cosmetics, and that’s it. You do actually do anything with the dogs themselves. You can’t take them outside and interact with the world, everything takes place in the location where you create these things. There is no main goal, no dog show where you could try to breed the most insane dog or whatever. No NPCs to interact with or even the chance to show off your creations to other players. Wobbledogs needs something to give it a lift and a reason for you to play.

I’ve been playing the Xbox version and the controls are very imprecise too. Trying to do something as simple as picking up an item is very fiddly and needs pixel-perfect precision. You can tell that this was designed for PC or touchscreen play. Overall, Wobbledogs plays more like a distraction that you would find in a bigger game, over being its own thing. There is just not a lot of playability here and it soon becomes very tiresome. It’s certainly a very chilled and relaxed game, and that’s a good thing. There’s just not really a great deal to enjoy.

(Mini) Game Review: Filthy Animals: Heist Simulator

LBoG: Game Overviews

I do like a good heist game. I really enjoy planning, carefully picking the right tools for the job and carrying out a robbery causing as little chaos as possible. Professional and clean. Then there’s Filthy Animals: Heist Simulator, developed by Pewter Games Studios & LoPoly Games and published by Green Man Gaming Publishing. A heist game that is far and away from planning and carrying out a professional and clean job.

“Filthy Animals is a chaotic single-player/co-op heist game for up to 4 players. Become a mutant animal working for criminal mastermind Tony as you steal, fight, fall over, and eat tacos. Solve puzzles and avoid security before making off with the loot, ya Filthy Animal!”

If you have ever played games like Gang Beasts, Human: Fall Flat, Totally Reliable Delivery Service and so on. You know, those physics-based, ragdoll games, then you’ll feel at home with Filthy Animals: Heist Simulator. Yup, this is a wacky, wobbly controls, (up to) 4-player clash of silly physics and humorous calamity. You play as one of four mutant animals getting used to upright standing and bipedalism, hence the wobbly controls. Overseen by a crime boss called Tony. Tony sends you out to grab loot from a variety of locations, spread over 21 levels.

On your mission to steal loot, you’ll have to contend with security systems, locked doors, overzealous guards and more. There is more utter chaos here than fine-tuning a careful plan. Each level will give you main objectives to complete and several side objectives. The main objective is usually to steal a set amount of money. Side-objectives vary from having to eat tacos to collecting letters to spell out F-I-L-T-H-Y.

Pretty much everything can be interacted with as you try (and fail) to be stealthy. This isn’t a game where sneaking around is going to help you out. Filthy Animals: Heist Simulator is stupidly over-the-top, a game where picking up a table and throwing at a security guard is encouraged. A game that offers buffs via drink that can make your character fart and go speeding around the level.

Speaking of the levels. You begin (after a tutorial) by robbing a small convenience store and build up to bigger places like banks, high-security secret bases and you even go to outer space. As I say, stupidly over-the-top. This is utter nonsense and a game created to give you a bloody good laugh along the way.

Around £17 and is available now for PC, PlayStation and Xbox. Filthy Animals: Heist Simulator can be played solo, but it really is designed to be played with a few mates. Honestly, I’ve never been much of a fan of these physics-based, ragdoll games. I’ve tried to play several and just never got on with them. This though, this is different. I really enjoyed my time with Filthy Animals: Heist Simulator and had a good chuckle too. It’s stupid but great fun. Get together with some mates and have a good laugh being the most unsubtle mutant animal thieves that you can be.

Game Review: Dogfight: A Sausage Bomber Story

LBoG: Game Overviews

Sometimes, a game comes my way for review and I put a request based solely on the title. From developer Katsu Games and publisher Hound Picked Games comes Dogfight: A Sausage Bomber Story. A game that I put a review request in based solely on the title.

“Arcade shoot-’em-up action is back! Team up with the entire family for explosive action, signature humor and thrilling adventure. Join the Sausage Bomber Corps for daring missions to defend the nations of Relishtonia and more against the world-conquering ambitions from the mysterious Vega Nation.”

From what I gather, Sausage Bomber was a mobile game released back in 2017. It was a simple ‘one-click’ type game and a bit like Angry Birds… but with sausage bombs. Dogfight: A Sausage Bomber Story is a spin-off/sequel that switches the genre to a classic, arcade 2D shooter. And if there is one thing that I have a weakness for, it is a classic, arcade 2D shooter.

Bright and cartoony graphics, up to 4-player local co-op, multiple characters, unlockable weapons, changeable weapon combinations, massive boss fights and more. Dogfight: A Sausage Bomber Story really is a celebration of the glory days of the side-scrolling shoot ’em up. All topped off with some food-based humour.

What you get here are nine missions spread out over a food-related map. There are four characters to choose from and plenty of bad guys to shoot down. You can equip two weapons at a time, which can be swapped and changed between missions. Usually, you’ll opt for a primary and a secondary weapon. Primary weapons come in all the usual flavours, from basic machineguns to multidirectional shots, spread, homing missiles and more. The secondary weapons are mostly sausage powered (hence the A Sausage Bomber Story sub-title), these come n the form of (sausage) bombs and even a nuke-thing.

However, you don’t have to stick to the usual primary and secondary weapon setup. Pick two primary or two secondary. Mix and match and find the perfect setup for each level. This is an element of Dogfight: A Sausage Bomber Story that I really enjoyed, the freedom to chop and change the weapons as you wish. Still, these weapons need unlocking first and the way to do that is to earn stars on each mission. You earn stars by performing well on those missions. To get the maximum stars, you’ll need to not only take out every single enemy, but also finish the mission without losing a life. Basically, you need to be perfect.

You can power up your weapons by shooting down special bonus enemies and collecting the icon that they drop. It’s all very easy to get to grips with and Dogfight: A Sausage Bomber Story is a game that oozes that ‘pick up and play’ style. Missions are really quite short and if I’m being honest, the game is really very easy on the default setting. As much as I do love the shoot ’em up genre of games, I don’t think of myself as being patricianly amazing at them. It did take me over 20 years to finish the arcade version of R-Type. Even so, I got to the end of this game in around 30 minutes or so.

Yup, Dogfight: A Sausage Bomber Story is a very short and a very easy game… on default. There are multiple difficulty settings and as I say, default is easy. Easy setting is a walk in the park. But, playing on the hardest (atomic) setting really took me back to classic shooters of the 80s. Far harder enemies and bosses to deal with, plus it also throws in one-hit deaths. Proper old school action. Then, there is also the option of a ‘speed run’ mode. This throws something a bit unique into the mix as the higher the speed run setting, the faster the game gets. See, as you take enemies out, the game speeds up. The more planes that you blow out of the sky, the faster and faster the gameplay gets (up to 160%). Take a hit and gameplay slows back down. Couple this speed run mode with the hardest difficulty and Dogfight: A Sausage Bomber Story suddenly becomes really bloody hard, especially if you are going for a perfect max star run. Plus, you can make the game even harder by not equipping the best and most powerful weapons.

Out now for all the consoles, PC and with a (roughly) £14 price tag. If you forced me to pick out a few niggles, the first would be that the controls feel a tad ‘loose’. Controlling your plane can take a little while to get used to and the plane drifts just a tad. You also can’t remap the buttons, something that just annoyed me a bit. I reviewed this on the Xbox and the fire button is A but the secondary fire is B. With how my thumb rests on the A button, it made pressing the B button a bit awkward. Having the secondary fire being the X button would’ve made more sense. However, the X is used to flip your plane 180° horizontally (oh yeah, you can flip to attack enemies behind you). Then, both of the shoulder buttons are also used to flip the plane (that’s three buttons assigned to the same thing), meaning that the X button is free to be used for secondary fire… but you can’t remap.

This lack of remapping is even more frustrating seeing as Dogfight: A Sausage Bomber Story comes with several great accessibility options which help to make the game, well more accessible, unless you want to remap the buttons. I do think that the short length will put some hardcore shoot ’em up fans off too. Still, this is a fun game while it lasts. The easy difficulty works as a great entry-level shooter for people not too familiar with the genre. That difficulty can be tweaked and increased for more experienced players too. Even so, you’re looking at around 3 hours to unlock all of the weapons and short of going back to try and better your score/time, there’s not a great deal of replayability.

A few more missions and gameplay modes really could’ve added to the value here. Overall, Dogfight: A Sausage Bomber Story is a great little shooter with a wonderful sense of humour with bright and colourful graphics. I’d love to see more games made as I think this could be a great franchise.

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