Will Freeman
Thanks to the skill of the M2 team, two very important shmups have enjoyed a range of thorough and brilliantly authentic ports - as have two Toaplan oddities. But compared to many of the previous ShotTriggers releases, Toaplan Arcade Garage appears just a shade less ambitious. Still, if you enjoy purebred '80s 2D shooters, obsess over the shmup form, or have a soft spot for arcade preservation, it absolutely deserves to take up a little of your shelf space.
30 years after the arcade original debatably debuted the bullet hell concept, Toaplan's best shooter is back in an imperfect port of a port.
Inconsistent Kinect controls dampen the fun once again in this latest attempt to compete with the masterful Wii Sports
That retro approach is Tembo's greatest strength – and weakness. While levels are impressively designed, and the task of defeating every enemy soldier and finding each citizen adds a satisfying challenge, it also feels like a remix of titles you'll have already played. Fantastic animation and great visual humour provide saving graces.
There is a sense that with just a couple of updates, Lego Worlds could leap from a captivating proposition to an essential purchase. But for now, the very loose framing that allows Lego Worlds and its players to be free from stifling game design conventions has equally made the experience sometimes ungainly and directionless, leaving its protagonists stranded in a world that is as full of confusion as it is ideas and potential.
The best bits of this dino-business-management game roar into action when disaster strikes, but too much of it is repetitive
It's a satisfying experience as you glide gracefully over the ocean, but too often the dogfighting and bombing runs play out as erratic scrambles
If you like fishing in reality – and are also open-minded to digital pursuits – there's a very good chance you'll be delighted by the detail Fishing Sim World delivers. There's enough reel, bait, line and rod types to keep you busy exploring your hobby for hours, and plenty of reasons to use the gamut of hardware available. If you sit in that audience you'll likely find that Dovetail's creation suits numerous shorter play sessions over many weeks. And throughout, you'll be delighted by all the fishing authenticity.
Dakar 18 is a curious creature. It absolutely delivers something truly distinct in the wider racing genre, and though the core gameplay isn't immediately accessible, it can be greatly rewarding to those that take a chance on tackling it properly.
R-Type Final 2 makes an authentic if flawed contribution to an iconic shooting game series. Many of the problems seem technical, so hopefully an update could do plenty - especially if it lets you lock that camera pitch. All we can hope for, then, is that we are still in the beginning of R-Type's final phase, and that what Final 2 gets right is allowed to rise to the top.
Ports don't trump arcade hardware originals, do they? M2's elaborate build of Cave's brutal genre masterwork thinks otherwise.
OlliOlli2 remains very faithful to the template its forbearer set, down to the additional Spot and Daily Grind additional modes that focus attention on deliberately brief scoring challenges. Cautious as its updates initially seem, it is another superb twitch game, obsessed with the currencies of difficulty, speed and score. Best of all, it manages to capture so much of the movement and feel of skateboarding without ostracising players who have never touched a board in real life.
A bullet hell barrage that wants you to be a better player, Gunvein brings a confident blend of thoughtful elegance and unyielding intensity.
Raiden 5 is a peculiar, scrappy yet refreshing diversion from the genre norm of bullet hell.
Platinum's modernisation of the classic shoot 'em up form has delivered something thrilling, distinct ‒ and in need of a bit of a polish
Imperfect, unkind, and rough round the edges, Session captures more of real skateboarding than almost any game that has come before.
A quartet of classic arcade shooters from a genre powerhouse get a decent modernisation, capturing the moment the genre strutted towards bullet hell.