Open world Tokyo hosts ghost-fighting, soul-collecting and a little too much flimsy busywork in between.
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.
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.
One man’s musical mission is an audio visual delight, but there’s not enough room for expression or mastery.
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.
For better and for worse, Shenmue III is a perfect continuation.
Gears 5 left my belly nice and fat, and keen for the next course.
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.
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.
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.
Strip away the framing and this is a throwaway JRPG that never finds its bite.
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.
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.
A hugely entertaining love letter to Breath of the Wild let down by uneven performance that scuppers the game’s ludicrous highs.
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.
When it gets on with the bun-lobbing antics of classic BurgerTime, this is a great reminder of an arcade gem. But too many co-op cooks spoil the broth, and the recipe is overstuffed with extras that detract from the core flavour. That said, any game that lets you leave a trail of murdered pickles as you fight up the online leaderboard can't be all bad. Just a tad overcooked, perhaps.
While it's good to see Nintendo stepping out of its comfort zone, Captain Toad isn't versatile enough to compete in the big leagues. It'd be a budget no-brainer, but feels too slight at a higher price.
Like any swordsman learning their craft, Ishin! starts unsteady and builds in confidence. Some ideas struggle to earn their place in the overstuffed mix, but with a propulsive tale, told by some of our favourite gaming characters, it’s easy to get swept up in Like A Dragon: Ishin!’s samurai cool.
Learn to move at Tassing’s sedate pace and patience will be rewarded as a seemingly simple murder mystery makes way for a rich portrait of village life and the difficult choices that come to define it.
While some ideas get lost in Bayonetta 3’s endless sprint to keep you entertained, there’s no other action game with this imagination, wit or style. Prepare to explore its mad depths for weeks.