Back in the day, we gave the Wii version a crushing 4/10 score and said 'if the controls were good then you could double the score'. Little did we know that over a decade later, our words would ring (almost) true. With more usable controls you can finally enjoy this batch of 100 levels for what they are, but the wider game is let down by weird leaderboard decisions and those lacklustre mini-games. The best monkey-in-a-ball game since Super Monkey Ball 2, sure, but not quite a return to the series heyday.
A hugely entertaining love letter to Breath of the Wild let down by uneven performance that scuppers the game’s ludicrous highs.
While it’s weird to see Nintendo deliver such a safe sequel, there’s no denying the continued pull of Splatoon’s splotchy skirmishes. Seasoned inklings can dive straight in; casual dabblers might find it a bit bare.
Bayonetta Origins sometimes feels like an idea half explored. In combat two sets of fists are better than one, but adventuring never ignites in the same way. There’s a level of invention and style we’ve come to expect from the studio, but this isn’t quite Pure Platinum.
Strip away the framing and this is a throwaway JRPG that never finds its bite.
While it's possible to get into the retro groove of Prinny's perilous platforming, neither game does anything interesting enough to earn your patience. And collecting two games together only reveals how much of the same ground is covered by both. If anything, additions in the sequel water down the formula. If you simply must experience an unathletic penguin falling to its death again and again, stick with the simpler original. Or better yet, search for 'penguin falling over' on YouTube. Cheaper and a lot more entertaining.
It didn't have to be this way. WayForward has worked minor miracles with licensed fare before – see Aliens: Infestation and The Mummy Demastered. But this is work for hire of the most rotten kind, showing total contempt for the fans it hopes to lure in with a bright, likeable licence. Trollhunters is one of the less enjoyable things to happen to us this year. Given what a year it's been, that is quite a feat.
Obra Dinn asks you to tease out social lives from a freeze frame of murder. It doesn’t take the little grey cells to realise this is remarkable stuff.
Gears 5 left my belly nice and fat, and keen for the next course.
For better and for worse, Shenmue III is a perfect continuation.
But take that initial pass as a warm up lap, inuring yourself to some frustrations to come, and what follows finally delivers on the fun of the cyber ninja fantasy. Death number 1424 beckons.
One man’s musical mission is an audio visual delight, but there’s not enough room for expression or mastery.
1200 years before your dad did that booze cruise to Calais, a viking travels to Paris for some solid assassination fun, and all the usual flab that comes with it.
Some will find it agreeably smooth, I’m sure, but you can only sand so much off of chaos before it becomes ordinary. Come the real zombie apocalypse we should all be so lucky to face a world this trudgingly well behaved.
Open world Tokyo hosts ghost-fighting, soul-collecting and a little too much flimsy busywork in between.