Dominic Leighton
- Fable
- Fire Emblem: Awakening
- Xenoblade Chronicles
Dominic Leighton's Reviews
Devil May Cry 3 Special Edition has learnt some new tricks on Nintendo Switch. It might be a bit creaky in places visually, but with the new Freestyle Mode spicing up its already brilliant action, this is the new definitive version of the game.
As an experiential piece of software, and one with a fantastic sense of place, Eclipse ticks a lot of PSVR boxes, but don't be surprised to come away wanting for a bit more.
AO Tennis 2 is a bright, likeable tennis sim with bags of room to grow, and as it stands is easily the best tennis game of this generation.
An enjoyable addendum to The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance, Tactics offers hours of strategic fun, though those familiar with the source material will get the most out of it.
A fun and funky sequel, Patapon 2's bolstered roster of cheerful eyeball folk make for another welcome trip soundtracked to the beat of Pata Pata Pata Pon. It's a shame then that the remaster feels incomplete, offering an experience that's fundamentally less comprehensive than the PSP original.
A rollicking space adventure, Journey to the Savage Planet has the smarts to make you laugh out loud while taking shots at consumerism and big business.
Barring Sol Divide, this is a great collection of shooters from one of the best in the business. If you're a fan of the shmup that hasn't made the leap into these titles on Switch, now's the perfect time to do so, even if it does only just manage to justify its price versus picking up the games separately.
Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE Encore feels particularly timely. The world hasn't been the brightest, most hopeful place in recent years, but leading a team of cheerful, committed teen pop idols against demonic entities makes it feel that much brighter. This is a game that's dedicated to hope for the future, and that creativity is an integral component of that. I'm willing to believe them too.
PC players have been rewarded for their patience; Monster Hunter World Iceborne on PC is the definitive version of one of the best games of the last decade.
With this latest batch of DLC, Frontier have taken Jurassic World Evolution to its natural conclusion. All that budding dinosaur park owners ever really wanted to do was create their own Jurassic Park and now they can, buoyed along by the deeply welcome return of the franchise's most recognisable stars.
AVICII Invector proves to be something of surprise. Edge of the seat rhythm action, great visuals and a varied and moving soundtrack make this a fantastic retrospective of a genuinely unique artist.
Planet Zoo is simply wonderful; a bright and breezy park builder that gushes with enthusiasm for its charges. There's depth to spare here, pushing further than either of Frontier's most recent management games have, and it leans into its own identity, with a keen eye for the importance of education, animal welfare and preservation.
Turning the Terminator franchise into an enjoyable game experience should be doable, but not on the budget Teyon have tried to do it on. Last-gen issues make this a time traveller that nobody wanted to come back.
It’s definitely channelling Sonic, even beyond those homing attacks. From the opening’s lead guitar lick and the vibrant blue sky of the title screen, it feels like an homage to the Sega classics of old. The colourful and chunky art style, much like the recent Mechstermination Force, straddles the line between modernity and retro cool, and it’s a visual treat for fans.
For Switch-owning sports fans there's nothing that comes close to NBA 2K20. Boasting great visuals, stellar gameplay and a feature-rich range of play types, there's something for everyone, and while VC is still a 'feature' that we'd rather didn't have a place in modern sports titles, it's been balanced back in the favour of actual gameplay.
New Super Lucky's Tale isn't so much a port as the true definitive edition of the game. A number of improvements to the controls, frame rate, level design, and overall structure of the game has resulted in a title that completely surpasses its origins. It isn't challenging, or very long; but what is there is joyous, frivolous fun until the credits roll.
Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 brings a raft of new and returning events with it, but manages to both reduce and overcomplicate everything to the point where it simply isn't that fun to pick up and play with others. Younger fans may get a kick out of a few of the events, but overall this is a tiresome and drab tie-in that you'll have forgotten about long before the real world opening ceremony next July.
Overwatch on Switch offers the same, fantastically competitive experience that players have been enjoying on other formats for the past few years. While the necessary drop in frame rate is disappointing, it's clearly helped to maintain the quality elsewhere, and does nothing to diminish Overwatch's position as one of the best games of all time.
Rain of Reflection: Chapter 1 has a winning formula of narrative and gameplay that, despite not being a traditional pairing, form an excellent symbiosis. The systems will all be familiar to fans of interactive storytelling games and XCOM-likes, but they've all been implemented so cleanly that they feel fresh. The only real negative is its short runtime, which leaves you wishing the developers had waited to release the entire game at once.
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.