Tim Reid
Darksiders Genesis marks a return to form for the series, with a classic experience underlying the shift in camera perspective and budget price tag. Some minor issues with controls during puzzles and navigation aren't enough to dampen enjoyment of this surprisingly great prequel spinoff.
A fantastic sense of speed and exciting night-time racing help make Need for Speed Heat the best entry into the series in a while, even though the online component is mostly dead-on-arrival and progression can feel like a grind at times due to a stingy economy.
With relevant and humorous commentary on corporate greed and bureaucracy underpinning this smaller scale but highly replayable new IP, The Outer Worlds excels as a Fallout-style RPG thanks to great writing, interesting choices and memorable characters.
Compared to its predecessor, Ghost Recon Breakpoint takes one step forward then tumbles down a hill.
Borderlands 3 sticks to the formula established in previous games. Despite suffering from technical issues and some pretty obnoxious characters and dialogue, the improvements to core mechanics, a great variety of locations and enemies, and series-best procedurally generated loot make it a more than a worthy sequel that should enthrall fans for dozens of hours.
Crytek have made something that feels truly distinct with Hunt: Showdown. The tense, high stakes PvP action blends well with southern swamp-horror PvE to create a fresh and compelling multiplayer experience, though the extreme lethality of the combat and a current lack of content might leave you hunting for a sale.
Guiding a clan of primates through generations as they evolve certainly makes for a unique experience, and there are times when Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey comes together. But a lack of guidance on basic gameplay mechanics, as well as some clumsy controls and unsuccessfully executed ideas, make for a highly uneven game.
After releasing ‘Quantum Break’ exclusively on Microsoft platforms, developer Remedy is back with their third-person action-adventure title, Control. In the game, you play as Jesse Faden, whose search for her missing brother has led to a place known as the Federal Bureau of Control (FBC).
Blade II: The Return of Evil is a mobile born game that has been revamped and introduced to the Switch for its second instalment.
Establishing and expanding a colony while defending against increasingly difficult hordes of infected makes for a very engrossing experience in They Are Billions, though some questionable design choices make shambling through the lengthy Singleplayer campaign a bit of a slog at times.