Matt Cox
One of the most captivating games I’ve ever played.
Overall, Chimera Squad is solid.
The characters may be inventive, but everything else is bleeding out on the floor.
We’re in a good place, Dunderlords and I. We’re comfortable, though you’d never have caught me using that word when I started.
Doom Eternal is a lot like the last game, but better.
Some games are like chips. Even if you’ve got pals to play with, maybe wait until this one comes as cheap.
Whether Might & Magic: Chess Royale can grow to the point where I’d recommend it to everyone rather than just genre newcomers is a different kettle of spuds, though. Perhaps more toppings will spice up the potato, but what’s here is tuna mayo. Predictable and nice, if you like that sort of thing, but quick to go stale.
In my experience, AO Tennis 2 doesn’t do justice to tennis either, even though I wouldn’t exactly give tennis itself a glowing review.
It’s got heart, that puppy, but it needs more brains.
Bum-bo may have to deal with a lot of crap, but it’s all well worth pushing through.
Abandon Ship can’t escape FTL’s shadow. It’s too similar to avoid being judged based on the high bar its spacefaring cousin set, but it falls far too short of that bar for me to like it. Turns out those water pumps aren’t worth manning after all.
In 2019, a massive and meticulously-crafted open world just doesn’t cut it. Any life breathed into Ghost Recon Breakpoint will have to be pumped into it by you and your friends, and you’d do better to save your breath for other games.
The only good part of Code Vein is its combat, but for me, that turns out to be enough.
It’s such a warm game. Touching and heartfelt, masterfully capturing the cosy excitement of the places and stories we explore as children.
For me to enjoy turn-based sneakery, I need more information. Naughty Police is a game where simply moving from A to B is riddled with uncertainty, and the cost of being spotted too often boils down to repetitive busywork. It’s not a price I’m willing to pay.
It’s a game where old-school decisions too often trump good ones. A blast from a past I never lived through, where puerile humour and “area complete” screens tease you about not being a “real player”. Ion’s tongue might be in its cheek, but I’ve got little interest in what it’s saying.
Even if you don’t care about disjointed storytelling, repetitive levels or cringe-worthy jokes, I can’t recommend Youngblood.
The parts I like far outweigh the parts I don’t. I’ve got my weirdo NPCs, my Ark hunting, my Whoopinkoffs and Dimbledicks. I’ve found every Ark, now, but I still plan on gambolling between side activities. I still want to explore, even though I wish I was exploring a world that had been less generically destroyed.
There is a demon, and I’m going to kill it. With style. I’ll shoot and slash and somersault, chaining together increasingly outlandish combos while listening to electro-metal where I only catch the odd word like ‘sword’ or ‘death’.
Apex goes so much further, reaching into every corner of a well-trodden formula and lavishing it with saucy new ideas.