Dominic Leighton's Reviews
Relaxed and thoughtful, beautiful and moving, Concrete Genie is a delightfully different game that plays out like an interactive animated movie with bags of character.
A functional and attractive sim that's the best serious Switch racer in a vacuum of serious racers. The genre itself has taken a step forward since the game's original release though, and seasoned racing fans will likely crave more excitement than Grid Autosport offers.
Truly incredible, Sayonara Wild Hearts is a pop-culture gem that celebrates music and games in a passionately individual way. There has never been anything else quite like it, and if you have even a passing interest in gaming’s inherent value you need to play it. And then play it again.
Super Dodgeball Beats' manga-influenced visuals are sure to draw you in, but sadly aren't backed up by its middle-of-the-road rhythm action.
You could reel off the array of influences you might see in Creature in the Well, but ultimately this is a unique, beautiful game that forges its own path amongst them. Simply put, it's astoundingly good.
Monster Hunter: World is deservedly Capcom's most successful game to date, and the Iceborne expansion amplifies everything positive about it. More incredible monsters, new lands and a wealth of ways to upgrade your Hunter will have fans in rapture, while new players yet to experience the delights of monster hunting can rest assured that there's never been a better time to join the hunt.
Astral Chain boasts the same winning elements of Platinum's finest work – exhilarating combat, characterful visuals, and a compelling story – but it loses a bit of personality. Where Bayonetta and 2B provided an emotional centre point for the fantastical storytelling, Astral Chain's unnecessarily silent protagonist is a charmless creation saved by an utterly charming world.
Madden 20 provides another year's worth of well-crafted gridiron action. It's a shame to say goodbye to Devin Wade and the Longshot narrative, but QB1 does a decent enough - if short - job of framing your own rise to fame. The rest of the package is as slick and smooth as you'd hope. Should you upgrade? If you're an avid fan, you probably already have. For everyone else, both Madden 18 and 19 still play a fantastic game of football.
Pawarumi is a vital, beautiful and utterly enthralling entry in the Shmup genre. Its trifecta of concepts might seem daunting at first, but this is an instinctual shooter that will blow fans of the genre away.
With the Switch's delightful dual abilities, Three Houses fittingly bookends the series' triumphant run on the 3DS and becomes the first big-screen outing in over a decade. It also surpasses them all. A masterpiece of strategy, story-telling and intertwining relationships, Three Houses deserves to make Intelligent Systems a household name.