After feeling light on content last year, the official F1 game returns with a fully-comprehensive career mode that spans 10 seasons. It also features a broad array of racing options, rivals mode, multiplayer for up to 22 participants, safety car and formation laps and, most importantly of all, really close and exciting competition. It all adds up to a thoroughly entertaining racing game that should please F1 and driving enthusiasts alike.
Overcooked nails local co-op multiplayer gaming perfectly. It's incredibly easy to pick up and play, yet coordinating its myriad of seemingly-mundane tasks requires its players to constantly communicate. What transpires is riotous and often hilarious gameplay that's simply great fun to play. Unfortunately, it's not quite as entertaining as a single-player experience, but if you have friends and family to play with, Overcooked is highly recommended.
Lifeless Planet is an interesting mash-up of genres, blending a walking simulator and platform-puzzling with a mysterious and quite gripping premise. Its slow pace mightn't be for everyone, but if you enjoy action adventures, are partial to tricky third-person platforming, and like classic sci-fi yarns, it's worth checking out.
The single-player aspect of Tricky Towers is challenging, but can get rather frustrating due to its random elements. However, as a multiplayer game, Tricky Towers works really well. Its tower-building gameplay is incredibly easy to pick up and play, and it delivers fierce and fun competition that offers plenty of ways for players to mess with one another. Definitely recommended as a party game, or if you have friends and family to play with.
Insomniac Games' Song of the Deep is an excellent metroidvania whose underwater setting gives the genre a nice twist. Its map is impressively large, and it packs many inventive puzzles that are fun to solve. It looks and sounds brilliant too. The boss battles are a little on the weak side however, but they don't take the shine off what is otherwise a thoroughly enjoyable and very sweet exploration game.
Full Mojo Rampage is challenging, but entertaining. It might have some stiff competition in the form of similar games like Binding of Isaac, Enter the Gungeon, and Crypt of the Necrodancer, but its voodoo theme, four-player co-op, and twin stick chops help give it its own identity. Ultimately, it's a fun game that might occasionally be frustrating, but it looks good, sounds great, and plays well.
This port of the popular PC prison-building game has been nicely executed to deliver a deep and compelling experience on consoles. Its complex menus and mechanics present a fairly steep learning curve, even with the game's effective tutorials, but once you get over it, Prison Architect is a challenging, entertaining, and surprisingly addictive game that offers plenty of potential for long-term play.
Combine a highly compelling visual narrative with superb puzzles and brilliant platforming, and you have Inside, one of the most intriguing, addictive, and beautiful-looking games of this generation. Its only downside is that it's quite short, but while it lasts, it's absolutely glorious.
Pac-Man 256 takes the original coin-op's gameplay and gives it a clever new twist to create an endless muncher that's hugely fun to play. On the surface it looks simple, but its gameplay has surprising depth that makes it fiendishly addictive - and highly challenging to master.
Deadlight: Director's Cut looks fantastic and has a very intriguing storyline. Its platforming puzzles are also generally really enjoyable to solve. However, a few annoying gameplay flaws, occasionally awkward controls, and very short running time really take the edge off the experience, and ultimately the game falls short of its considerable potential.
Fenix Furia is a hardcore micro-platformer that somehow manages to be incredibly challenging, yet still enjoyable to play. Some of its levels will have you cursing out loud due to their high level of difficulty, but when you beat them, you'll whoop with joy. It's definitely not for everyone, but if you want to test your reflexes and coordination to their limits, Fenix Furia is a game that does just that.
At its best, Dangerous Golf is an addictive and enjoyable game of wanton destruction. Its levels are challenging, and destroying the beautifully-rendered interiors is just plain fun. However, a few flaws are evident in the gameplay that take the edge off the enjoyment, making it just a good game, rather than a great one.
Score Rush Extended might look and sound a little generic, but it's a solid, back-to-basics shooter that truly tests your arcade skills. Its bullet hell gameplay is nicely tuned to be highly challenging and addictive, and it's just plain fun to play. If you're a fan of hardcore shooters, definitely check it out.
A weird hybrid of downward-scrolling shoot 'em up and platformer, Downwell is a challenging, but highly addictive arcade game that's a great test of your concentration and reflexes. Its gameplay does lack variety, but when played in short bursts, it's a lot of fun.
Lumo packs many different challenges and puzzles into its oldschool isometric 3D platform adventure format. It can be tough at times, but it's nevertheless thoroughly enjoyable - riffing on many classic British games of the 80's that you mightn't know, but will enjoy discovering.
Soft Body is a very unusual release whose abstract gameplay starts out addictive and entertaining, but soon becomes fiendishly challenging. Its high level of difficulty means it's not for everyone, but if you have superb reflexes and coordination, and love action-puzzle games, it's worth a look.
Homefront: The Revolution is a very ambitious game that has all the ingredients of a blockbuster, but somehow doesn't quite feel fully-baked. The single-player game has aspects that are interesting and challenging, but unfortunately it's let down by average gunplay and flawed AI. Add to that a multiplayer mode that's fun, but limited in scope, and you have a game that falls short of its considerable potential.
id Software has taken its original, no-BS Doom formula and very successfully repackaged it for the modern era. The result is a thrash metal loud, gloriously gory, blisteringly fast, and thoroughly entertaining oldschool shooter. Both the single-player and multiplayer modes are basically throwbacks to simpler times, but are wrapped up with contemporary trimmings to create a package that fans of the original Doom games should really enjoy.
id Software has taken its original, no-BS Doom formula and very successfully repackaged it for the modern era. The result is a thrash metal loud, gloriously gory, blisteringly fast, and thoroughly entertaining oldschool shooter. Both the single-player and multiplayer modes are basically throwbacks to simpler times, but are wrapped up with contemporary trimmings to create a package that fans of the original Doom games should really enjoy.
Shadow of the Beast takes the original Commodore Amiga's platform-combat gameplay and brings it bang up to date with plenty of exploration, and a more sophisticated fighting system. The result is a thoroughly enjoyable platform game that features an interesting story, entertaining combat, and excellent audio-visuals. The main campaign doesn't take too long to beat, but the game packs enough secrets and unlockables to keep you coming back for more.