All these improvements — permadeath, DualSense, and most of all, the graphical upgrades — come at a significant cost.
Ultimately, the new Mario + Rabbids game is a solid sequel to the five-plus-year-old Kingdom Battle, though Ubisoft's attempts to give it an open world spin end up with mixed results.
Its insistence at not providing answers and straying away from the safety of regular rewards can be off-putting. The Witness wants to be more than a game filled with puzzles, but Blow's singular vision lets it down.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
A Hat in Time won't wow you out of the gates, but if you can plough through the mud, you'll find an enjoyable 3D platformer with a goofy personality.
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 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.
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.
That said, there are aspects of the game that don't need that kind of money to be made better – be it gameplay that's stuck in a weird balance of realism and arcade-y fun, the nonsensical transfers or the lacklustre presentation – but it's starting to feel like PES might have conceded one too many.
For a debut effort, ... it's proof that Indian studios with the right push can deliver titles for major consoles, and not be stuck in the free-to-play mobile mess that dominates Indian game development.
Mafia: Definitive Edition is crying out for a stronger hand at the wheel and a deeper rethink, for in its current state, it's oblivious of the fact that it's been 18 years since the original. That's a long time for any piece of entertainment, more so in video gaming, and Mafia: Definitive Edition is a long way from what it needed to be.
If the sticker price isn't a concern, in Spider-Man: Miles Morales, you'll find a game that is lacking in originality but thankfully built on a solid core that needs a few tweaks. It's a successful expansion of Insomniac's Spider-Man universe, but it's a new paragraph, rather than a new chapter. Hopefully it will give us the latter next time around. And though it's also good for representation, it still has a ways to go. (Though the game wasn't anything special, Marvel's Avengers gave us a Muslim-American lead in Kamala Khan / Ms. Marvel.) Hopefully we can get Spider-Gwen from Insomniac next, or a Spider-Verse game, though given the lack of setup, either seems unlikely. For now, Miles continues his upward trajectory. He walked in 2018, so he could fly in 2020.
When it all comes together, Outriders can be good fun. The gunplay felt a little stilted and laboured to me early on, but I've found it to be really satisfying at times, especially when you empty a volcanic-charged cartridge into an enemy's head — and they plop to the ground. And Outriders keeps you on your toes as you're constantly balancing various elements: where to find cover, dodging grenades, when to jump back out, who to target first, how to maximise your powers, and working with your squad. Outriders was built with co-op in mind and that's when it comes alive. It's nice to have a friend to lean on, and that goes for Outriders too, as they can help revive you. In fact, some of our most intense conversations have come out of debating when it's a good time to attempt to revive someone.
It's been a polished experience otherwise, yet again proving that games are better delayed than rushed. Psychonauts 2 has faced a long uphill battle, but its release is proof that some battles are worth the slog.
Rather than a new Uncharted game then, what's more likely (unfortunately) is a PS5 version of Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection, the PS4 remaster of the first three Uncharted PS3 titles. A studio like Naughty Dog shouldn't be ground down into churning remasters of its old games — it should be looking ahead to new entries or new IP. But this is just the world we live in.