Mini Video Game Review 2025 #3
- Matt Quill
- Jun 1
- 4 min read
Updated: Jun 29
A Rundown of my thoughts on all the games I've played during May & June 2025
Title: FragPunk
Developer: Bad Guitar Studio Genre: Shooter Released: 29/04/2025
Online hero shooters have become commonplace in recent years, with so many titles duking it out for our attention. You have the likes of Overwatch, Paladins, Valorant, Apex Legends, vying for attention. Now, two more titles, Marvel Rivals and FragPunk, have been released in 2025, trying their best to cement themselves as new (and hopefully) long-lasting choices for players.
I've dabbled in all the games, and oddly enough, the one that I stuck with the most ended up being Paladins, but even then, outside of booting it up on the Switch, I didn't stick around for too long. I tried Marvel Rivals on release, but it didn't grab me in as much as I'd hoped, even with its appealing roster. Instead, it's Bad Guitar's FragPunk and their innovative shard card system that has pulled me into the hero shooter world.
The free-to-play game is a blast to play. There are rotating game modes, including Team Deathmatch and One Shot, but the primary mode is Shard Clash, which plays like a souped-up version of the classic Counter-Strike game mode. The gameplay is rock solid, with weaponry feeling responsive and impactful, and it's backed by a nice roster of unique characters, each with their own array of powers.
The card system is where the game truly shines. There's just something so addictive about experimenting with the cards and seeing how each will impact the game that continues to keep me hooked on the shooter. I can't say if I'll still be here in a year, but for now, I'm confident I'll enjoy FragPunk for a good while yet.
Title: Max Payne 3
Developer: Rockstar Games Genre: TPS/Adventure Released: 15/05/2012
Created by Remedy Games, Rockstar Studios took the reins of Max Payne for his third outing, swapping the dark and grimy streets of New York for the vibrant and crime-ridden slums of São Paulo, Brazil.
Set several years after the ending of Max Payne 2, Max is now working as private security for the wealthy Branco family. As you'd expect, things go south pretty fast following a kidnapping, and Max finds himself at the heart of a much deeper conspiracy.
Considering the game released in 2012, Max Payne 3 remains an amazing game to play through. It has an incredible Neo-noir story that is up there with the best narratives on the PlayStation 3, the stylised gameplay is both addictive and rewarding, yet presents a good amount of challenge requiring you to manage ammo, cover and bullet time to you best ability if you're to stand any chance against the armies of enemies looking to take you down.
I'll likely write a more in-depth article, as I loved playing through it in my youth and still love it just as much now, all these years later. Max is a brilliant character, and the central story is an intriguing can of worms that continues to keep you gripped. The gameplay is fantastic, and the incredibly satisfying bullet time never ceases to be a showstopper. Max Payne 3 is a phenomenal game, one that remains worth revisiting 13 years on.
Title: Driver: San Francisco
Developer: Ubisoft Reflections Genre: Racing/Adventure Released: 01/09/2011
There's been a good amount of Driver games, and oddly enough, the only one I've played is Driver 76, a spin-off title for the PSP. Everything I'd seen about Driver: San Francisco was positive, but for one reason or another, I never took to the wheel back in the day. Eventually, I picked up a copy last year, but it wasn't until June that I decided to boot the game up and finally take it for a spin.
Now that I've played through the main story and experienced nearly all of the game's open world, I can say without reservation that Driver: San Francisco is a great game, and one I wish I hadn't slept on for so long.
Driver: San Francisco puts you back in the shoes of John Tanner, as he and his partner work together to stop escaped convict Jericho and his accomplices. Early on, Tanner is involved in an accident, placing him in a coma, with the game playing out in his head. The story remains continually interesting, and the gameplay mechanics enabled by the coma world evolve, elevating the gameplay the more you play.
The game imbues John with a shift ability which sees him able to boost or charge-shunt in any vehicle, but he's also able to leave his body, take a bird's eye view of the world and transport himself into any other vehicle. It's a great gameplay mechanic, and one that never gets old. You're constantly pushed to keep shifting to get the upper hand, whether that be taking cars in opposing lanes and crashing headfirst into opponents, or manipulating buses to turn, blocking off large portions of the road.
The story is solid, and the variety of missions, side activities and dares (Mini challenges) in the open world is a great deal of fun to tackle. So much so, I often found myself getting constantly distracted by the new missions popping up on the map and unlocking more and more new cars in my garage.
Driver: San Francisco is a fantastic driving game. It took me a few hours to adjust to the drifty car handling, but once I got to grips with it and settled into the core gameplay loop, I was hooked and couldn't put it down. I'd highly recommend it for any driving fan who has or hasn't experienced it before, and I'm fairly certain I'll still be playing it until I've hit 100%.
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