If you loved the remastered Tomb Raiders I-III released last year, then you'll definitely want to grab IV-VI remastered as well. The nostalgia and the novelty of revisiting the old Tomb Raider games is certainly worthwhile, but with IV-VI you're witnessing three Tomb Raiders that gradually lose track of what the series was all about. The Last Revelation and its new ideas are successful, and you'll enjoy your explorations in Egypt, but Chronicles and Angel of Darkness reek of missed potential and both of them come off as rush jobs. The remaster efforts are good enough in terms of uplifting these relics visually, and the framerate is crisp as well, but you'll still need to wrestle with terrible design choices inherent within these three games, and the pounding desire for these Tomb Raider games to be remade for a contemporary audience.
Much in the same way as the previous two Two Point entries, Two Point Museum is a delightful and cheeky, yet deliciously approachable management sim that's top of the class when it comes to comedy, irreverence and accessibility. While Two Point Museum continues the series momentum rather the delving into something entirely unexpected, it still contains many subtle and not-so-subtle new features that improve the entire Two Point franchise. The variety of exhibits, the discoveries and treasures you can uncover from undertaking expeditions, as well as items, structures, personnel, and children, keep Two Point Museum plodding along as an entry that fascinates as memorably as attending a real museum. Although you're continuously extinguishing the problems of running a successful gallery of grand exhibitions, you're rewarded with unlimited progression, and you can move along at a pace that serves you more than ever before. Now that's the third great Two Point experience in a row to savour. Undoubtedly, Two Point Museum is a Jurassic success.
If you've got room in your catalogue for another giant and glistening RPG, then you can do much worse than Avowed. The glowing and diverse environments give off a unique hue that does look majestic in its own particular way, the combat is satisfying and meaty, and the story is layered with intrigue and political tensions. However, Avowed is let down by an experience that's a bit too generic and toothless when compared to the stalwarts of the RPG genre. The sacred and special sparkle that fizzes up the best of the genre is missing in Avowed, as it fails to scintillate in its initial hours. Avowed gets better the more you commit to it, but when there are many RPGs that fly out of the gate with memorable opening gambits, it's comparatively a bad indictment for Avowed to drone along in an uninteresting way until you plough a handful of hours into it. Don't allow these negatives to diminish the positives though, Avowed is a strong RPG that will please anybody looking for a good and tasty role-playing steak to tuck into, it just deserved to shine as bright as its beautiful setting, instead of wallowing in middle-tier purgatory.
Even with its rechristening, Dynasty Warriors: Origins brings to the war table, it's hard to shake off the feeling that this latest entry in the long-running franchise isn't doing enough differently to truly distinguish itself from its predecessors, despite the sense the series is starting afresh by calling itself Origins.
Altogether, Sniper Elite: Resistance is a fine entry in the Sniper Elite franchise which gives us more insight into Harry Hawker, as well as a shiny protagonist spotlight for him to be recognized in. The meat and potatoes (or should that be bullets and bones?) of the Sniper Elite experience is all here and accounted for, and although there are various new locations to be in awe of, and navigational options to test out, Resistance fails to truly push the envelope in exciting directions despite shifting the focus onto a new hero and a new story.
Altogether, Call of Duty Black Ops 6 is a return to form for a franchise that has struggled to regain its footing over the past several years. This is a strong entry in the franchise and deserves your full attention. Black Ops 6 certainly doesn't have the best campaign or multiplayer in the franchise, but it does what Call of Duty does best, and is thus in the upper echelon of the series. Now go raise hell in the Persian Gulf and nab those juicy killstreak combo medals to rejoice in Call of Duty returning into the book of good graces.
A worthwhile retro survival horror experience that utilizes every inch of its three-to-four hour runtime while paying homage to the greats. Even though it's lacking in scares, it manages to enthrall with its excellent brain-scratchers and deft design decisions. A small and successful slice of survival horror.
Everything you enjoyed from Dead Rising is here and the flurry of meaningful enhancements to the core game make it the complete package. Sure, some lingering quibbles remain from the original game like the time-sensitive gameplay, the pop-in, and bosses that repeat the same predictable attack patterns, yet this remaster refines many of the drawbacks of the original game, and fine-tunes it for a game befitting of the year 2024. Now get out there, snap photos, mow down zombies, and savor all the juicy lunacy Dead Rising has to offer - cos it's a real treat.
On the outside, Tiebreaker looks impressive with its plentiful roster blossoming with talent, a dedication towards providing the most authentic tennis game experience, and a presentation that wraps you up into the star-studded allure of a tennis icon. However, it all starts to unravel when you actually play it with its frustrating physics, its lack of non-generic modes, and the overall feeling it's just another me-too tennis game. Forget a tie-break, this one couldn't tie Novac Djokovic's ASIC's, which isn't the kind of impression that a new tennis game contender would want to make, yet Tiebreaker sadly fails to be anything more than just another pretender to Top Spin's crown.
Closer The Distance almost catches you by surprise with how relatable it is, with a warmth at its core that smooths over its jagged edges enough to make it more than a worthwhile experience.
As long as you don't expect anything genre-defining, Bo: Path of the Teal Lotus is a breathtaking Metroidvania experience. The art style is gorgeous, the action-platforming is fast and satisfying, and the sweet modesty of its tale is though-provoking and gentle. Path of the Teal Lotus is a little heavy with the tutorials at the beginning, boss battles later on get frustrating, and it doesn't do anything remarkably new, but fans of Hollow Knight will find this a gratifying curio that's well worth diving into, even if the pool here is a little bit shallow.
There's the sense EA are keeping F1 video games' true potential under lock and key, as there's plenty of room to make a significant evolution of the brand, but F1 24 really isn't it despite a raft of subtle and appreciable improvements.
No excuses can be made now, this is the best time to give Braid your attention and respect is right now, thanks to this commemorative upgrade known as Braid: Anniversary Edition. The cleverness and ingeniousness of Braid's design, puzzles, and the way every interconnected element weaves a thought-provoking tapestry is irresistible and deserving of your admiration. There's no better time to revisit this classic in its restored state, so go and pay respects to one of gaming's most groundbreaking titles.
If you have a PS5 and have always been curious by Grounded when it was shoehorned to Xbox/PC exclusivity, you'll find Grounded: Fully Yoked Edition to be a fantastic surprise. There's a lovely and expressive attitude and plenty of meat on its crafting and survival bones.
Many pretenders and contenders have attempted to lay claim to Contra's run-and-gun throne over the years, with some glowingly successful and others failing abysmally, but Contra: Operation Galuga largely preserves its legacy with this faithful recreation of the much-loved 1980s classic. While Operation Galuga won't offer fans anything shocking or out of the ordinary, it's still a pleasing upgrade they'll be clamouring for. There's plenty in here to relish, and it's not bloated with new features and ideas that could otherwise jeopardize this renewed relic. Yes, more could've been done to reinvent the classic gameplay, but one shouldn't fix what isn't broken, and so Operation Galuga is a successful if formulaic return for one of gaming's most hardcore franchises.
A breezy and affordable South Park curiosity, South Park: Snowday! Is a delicious slice of immature humour pie that sits comfortably in the stomach. Turning to an action-RPG experience away from a turn-based one isn't an entirely successful one, as the lack of the unexpected will become noticeable throughout, but the pleasure of slashing your way through a short, affordable and gratifying South Park adventure will win out. Snowday! Is ultimately a nice and welcome treat as long as you keep your expectations in check.
Pacific Drive is a strange and unique survival experience that should receive plaudits for pushing the boat out creatively, and inserting you into an unnerving climate with a battered old whale of a hooptie to tour about in. Where Pacific Drive can falter is that it proceeds to force you into performing manual busywork with little payoff, but this is offset by the inherent mystery surrounding it all. As long as you don't mind refurbishing a rickety four-wheeler, collecting resources, and becoming prey to all the threats you'll find in the Olympic Peninsula, then you might just be in for a treat, but everyone else might want to tear themselves away to do the frustrating repetition of it all. But go on, give this old jalopy a go.
As a relatively modest strategy title, Classified: France '44 accomplishes much more than you might think considering its rather low-key pre-release reception. Anybody who is up for a good lean tactical strategy game is in for quite a treat here, as Classified delivers an experience that gives you a good hearty taste of what a simple and effective strategy game should be, while adding new and forward-thinking features that address some of the qualms of the genre. The new Morale system is a novel new mechanic that adds a layer of depth to strategy, the missions are good and place emphasis on smart strategic play, and although the story and personalities fall short, the illustrated cutscenes are an admirable embellishment that gives Classified its own distinctive panache. Classified might seem rather plain and ordinary to many, and yes it does represent itself in that fashion, but underneath there is a compelling and satisfying strategy title here that's worth a look for anybody who is intrigued and wants to get rid of hordes of virulent Nazi scum in L'Hexagone.
Another year another WWE 2K game going through the motions, although some of those motions are pleasing. For every good step this year's game has taken to add fan-pleasing features, it does so on unsteady feet like it's been stuck in Boston Crab for an entire week. 2K24 is attempting to tread waywardly onwards towards some kind of fully-featured salvation ensnared in a vivid vision of the ultimate WWE game, but doesn't have the ingredients to realize it. The new 2K Showcase of the Immortals mode is a delicious offering with many new matches to replicate, despite the ancient 2K Showcase formula showing its wrinkles and grey hairs related to its dreary Simon Says antics . The new match types are exciting and worthwhile inclusions despite some minor gripes pertaining to how they've been implemented. And then you've got a boatload of subtle additions and tweaks that show admirable improvements, yet are still far too small to make a tremendous impact. WWE 2K24 is a fine game and it is showing Rhodes towards the wrestling videogames promise land, but right now it's nowhere near the Head of the Table.
A sequel’s primary objective should be to evolve its predecessor in every way that matters, and in most ways, Ghostrunner 2 accomplishes this to great effect. There’s a plethora of new and explosive special abilities, better interactions with characters and gameplay that’s as dynamic and viscerally satisfying as ever. It provides a tough but fair challenge that’s never too difficult and can be overcome with persistence and changing things up. Ghostrunner 2 is an example of a model sequel that improves on almost every facet of the first game. Yes, the dark, concrete arenas and rooftops grow stale, and there’s still more room to make the characters and story more substantial, but what’s here is refined and even more badass than what came before. If the first Ghostrunner put you off, you should give this one a slash.