Jamie Collyer
It’ll be over in a few evenings, but what a few evenings it’ll be with KinnikuNeko SUPER MUSCLE CAT. The anime styling is very cool, and only enhances a solid set of levels and abilities that we have to play with. A few more opportunities to switch between buff and cat Neko at will would have been great, but as it is KinnikuNeko SUPER MUSCLE CAT comes very highly recommended indeed.
All in all, WWE 2K25 is pretty much all you’ll need for your pro wrestling fix in gaming. It has more modes and superstars than any one person can reasonably play with in a year, and while the Island is underwhelming, there is so much other good stuff it’s easy enough to overlook this. That it looks and plays better than ever in the ring is just icing on an already dense cake.
But really, it’s the tale we’re here for and this is Bloom & Rage - Tape 1 really is the old adage of being about the friends we made along the way. After a slow start, things pick up nicely, doing a great job of recreating that teenage feeling of the 90’s, with no mobiles or internet but more random happenstance that leads to unforgettable adventures. Bloom & Rage - Tape 1 ends at a point that I’m now chomping at the bit to see what’s next, and I just hope the big mystery gets the pay off it deserves.
Consider me a Monster Hunter convert. Wilds is a great entry point to the series for someone like me who’s never really gotten into it in the past, but there’s plenty of depth and nitty gritty here that fans will no doubt find enjoyable to get into. A lengthy and enjoyable campaign leads into a vast end-game that will keep me coming back for some time yet.
It won’t be for everybody, and even the ones it will be for will no doubt find grievances within its systems, but there’s no denying KCD2 is an incredibly deep and dense game that will reward those willing to invest the time and energy into getting the most out of it. A strong story pulls us through parts that otherwise might have been too much to persevere with, but there have certainly been enough times that we have found ourselves enjoying the game that we’d offer a cautious recommendation.
There is some fun to be found in Moons of Darsalon at times, and some of the more balanced levels offer a decent challenge. But too often I found myself cursing at the game for yet again killing me or making me fail more due to the fiddly mechanics than actual game design.
All in all, Things Too Ugly is a short, fun detective mystery, with a well written story and brilliantly designed puzzles.
Lonely Mountains: Snow Riders is a brilliant follow-up to Downhill, refining the flow of the gameplay and ironing out most of the issues we had with that game. A perfect blend of chill and rage inducing gaming that we can’t seem to put down.
All of this amounts to the exact type of praise we hoped we’d be left with; this is Xbox’s definitive game this year, and a perfect love letter to the original films. It captures what made them great in the witty tone, sense of adventure, and captivating mystery and expands it into a full on 30 hour videogame packed with fun and meaningful things to do in addition to the story. Some smarter enemies and a bit more of an expansion to the freedom to solve certain areas our own way would have been welcome, but other than a few minor quibbles Indiana Jones and The Great Circle is a brilliant adventure from start to finish.