Online mode aside, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is yet another fantastic first-party title from Nintendo. It adds several refinements, new modes, characters, and racetracks to an already awesome game.
Overall, The Sexy Brutale was a pretty enjoyable puzzle game. It reminded us of good point-and-click adventure titles of yore through a combination of a neatly executed story and the challenging puzzles. We wish the game had a little bit of hand-holding for newcomers, but experienced players are sure to love it.
There are several annoyances with the game, but, overall, BioWare has delivered yet another stellar role-playing experience with a fascinating story to boot.
The game still has a fair few bugs and an awkward story-based progression mechanism, concerns that should have been ironed out with its retail release. This game is essentially about building Lego wonders and we enjoyed it the most when we totally ignored the storyline. But if that's the kind of experience you're looking for, Minecraft is still the more polished alternative.
If you are going to be playing Don Bradman Cricket 17, you'll do so because it's a genuinely challenging cricket game. There are plenty of game modes to keep you engaged. You can start a player's career and defend like your life depends on it in a test match or start a five-over game and try to smash every ball for a six. There's enough variety here to keep you hooked for quite some time.
In so many ways this feels like a vastly improved and polished instalment in the Forza Horizon series. That makes us wonder where Microsoft will take this series after this. In the short term we can perhaps expect some expansion packs but what about the next instalment? Perhaps adding different kinds of vehicles and a different location will work, but the biggest challenge will be topping what's been achieved with Forza Horizon 3.
PES 2017 is not perfect or revolutionary, but it is a solid entry into the PES franchise that fixes some of the problems of PES 2016 and features enough AI improvements that make playing a bit more enjoyable. If you want a taste of how good the game can be, try the co-op mode at a higher difficulty level - that is how we enjoyed the game the most. If you've never played football games, PES 2017 is beginner friendly. Training modes and customisable controls are good enough for new players. Experienced players will also find enough of a challenge to have a blast this game. Its only major weakness is the commentary. If that doesn't bother you, then you should buy PES 2017.
Overall, we were very impressed with Hue. It's a good example of how a fresh mechanic makes a puzzle/ platformer game great. We can wholeheartedly recommend this game, which is available on PS4, Xbox One, and PC, with a PS Vita release in September.
At the moment, however, we just can't recommend Vanquish: The Adventures of Lady Exton. The game's art and music gave us a great first impression, but sadly as the game wore on, our excitement rapidly wore off. A better, more involved story, along with a rewarding rather than punishing difficulty curve could go a long way in improving the game.
The rich districts will only buy your paper if you publish news about celebrities, while the poor also need to know about the industries they work for. This is the tightrope that you must walk in order to survive in the world of journalism, and a few embarrassing typos aside, The Westport Independent does a pretty good job of simulating it.
Overall, The Deer God is a fun game with some frustrating flaws. Once its game-breaking bugs are fixed, we wouldn't hesitate to recommend it.