Akhil Arora
Given the various aforementioned troubles, it's tough to recommend buying L.A. Noire on the Switch, especially if you own a Sony or Microsoft console.
For those looking to rise through the ranks from amateur to professional football, or start at the elite clubs and prove your mettle, Football Manager 2018 provides more immersion – and demands even more dedication – than any other game in its class.
It's not in all its glory, but it's still many steps ahead of other console ports, and a great addition to the Nintendo line-up ahead of the crucial holiday period.
A game that was either rushed out, or was never given the development time it needed. There's nothing memorable about Super Lucky's Tale, be it the fairy-tale story about talking foxes taking on varying cats, or the platforming bits that make up most of its gameplay.
There's still a lot to admire here, especially the attention to sound design – from the satisfying clink of the cuffs every time you apprehend an offender, the patter of rain on windows and the windows themselves being drawn, and the jazz offering that accompanies and soothes you as you try to put an end to gruesome happenings. Unfortunately, once those turn into background wallpaper, the omissions only hurt more.
For those that crave football action wherever they go, be it waiting in queues or at the doctor's office, it's an exciting addition to the Switch line-up.
The end-to-end gameplay of Pro Evolution Soccer is a double-edged sword. It's the reason it's so exciting to play – goal fests are, by their very nature – but it also contributes into making a game that feels unrealistic at best. And then there's Konami and its licensing troubles, which seems to further deteriorate each year.
Ultimately, Hiveswap is a let-down for fans of point-and-click adventure games, but much more so for fans of Homestuck, especially for those that contributed the millions that went towards its making.
All in all, Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle is a fantastic addition to the Switch line-up, and it's also a great strategy game that brings fresh ideas to the genre.
Life is Strange: Before the Storm shows that it understands what pulled people into the nostalgia-fuelled Arcadia Bay, and creates an emotionally-charged intriguing opening chapter to a story that we'll be keeping an eye on.
Ultimately, Phantom Trigger lacks any new ideas out of its own, and fails to be more than a passing imitation of the classics that spawned this genre, or be visually appealing like its contemporaries.
Ultimately, it makes for a new Dirt chapter that doesn't share the ethos of its numbered predecessors, and it doesn't feel right for the game to be called Dirt 4. That's not to say the game isn't good; fans of Dirt Rally, Project Cars, and other simulation titles will find enough to enjoy here. But if you're getting into Dirt 4 to relive the joys of the earlier hits, this is the wrong game.
Although there are pieces of a good arcade basketball game here, it lacks polish, and seems to have been rushed out the door. Playgrounds is inherently fun because it lets you play out outrageous dunks, but it just doesn't do enough to stand up to the greats of its genre, let alone push the bar in any way.
For what it's worth, 'Tangled Up in Blue' does do a good job with its emotional beats, and it's going to be interesting to see where it leads.
Overall though, the ex-LucasArts game veterans have created an appealing, and effective love letter to the movement they started back in the day. If you loved growing up with those titles, your decision has most likely already been made. For everyone else, Thimbleweed Park's darkly humorous and self-referential approach, in combination with its oddball bunch of characters – everyone will have a different favourite – makes it an adventure well-worth pointing your cursor at.
For Honor is a truly engaging experience when you're out on the battlefield, and playing mind-games with your opponents. It goes beyond its contemporaries by adding depth to combat in a way that feels true to reality. But all of its niceties threaten to be overshadowed by the poor taste of the non-playable elements, which seem to be becoming a bit of norm with top-tier video games.
If what you want is to plonk down a bunch of rides, be creative with your layouts and create a happy mini-universe for guests and yourself (you can go on the rides too, in first-person view), which brings out and caters to your imagineering side, then Planet Coaster is the game for you.
Firaxis has done a good job making its long-running franchise leaner than before, while introducing new things (such as Districts, Eureka and Inspiration) that make Civilization VI more straight-forward, in a bid to appeal to a broader audience.
Much of what the game shows or talks about has been discussed elsewhere in the past. That too in a better fashion, to be completely honest. Nevertheless, it's present here in a well-packaged puzzle entry that is by no means revolutionary, but still manages to do enough to not come across as a poor rehash. Helped by terrific voice acting and accompanied by a tense soundtrack, The Turing Test is an admirable effort.
Owing to the shift in development course, Champions of Anteria comes off as a confused title. It’s got its fingers in two completely different pies, and it can’t pull off even one of them properly. Its cookie-cutter approach to battles, along with the highly constrained city building elements, make it a rather forgettable experience.