Dominic Leighton's Reviews
Hand of Fate 2 is a welcome reminder that RPGs don't have to fall into one of two categories, and its heady mix of deck building and Arkham-esque combat make for a unique experience. Arriving on Switch it's found its perfect home, and its bite-sized story and action that are ideal for gaming on-the-go.
The Mooseman is a unique, significant, and often beautiful indie game that proves there's room in the video game space for all kinds of different experiences. There's every chance you won't have heard of the Perm region of Russia or its pagan mythology, but this is a game that places you within its traditions and iconography with sympathetic artistry.
In The Persistence, the team at Firesprite have concocted a rogue-lite survival horror whose atmosphere and hard hitting combat feel fantastic in VR. Thanks to an impressive array of comfort options it's also amongst the best PSVR experiences we've had, and for owners of Sony's headset it's damn near essential.
I'm all for taking the spirit of a beloved classic and bringing it up to date, but you have to be prepared to be judged utterly against that original game. Under the right circumstances Earthfall is capable of capturing the frantic teamwork of Left 4 Dead, but there's too much wrong here to maintain it for long.
For fans of Ward, Sperry and Ross' previous work, Danger Zone 2 is the closest we've come to a new Burnout experience in years. Crashing into things hasn't lost any of its base appeal, and while we're waiting for Dangerous Driving to bring things full circle, this is more than worthy of your time.
Nintendo's continued run of Wii U ports has to have a finite end, but while Switch players are getting games like Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker then its best just to bask in it. Gloriously cheerful, charming and enthralling, it's only diminishing features are its slightly short length and lack of difficulty for seasoned players.
Antigraviator has tons of potential, and there's every chance that it could attain it a few updates down its spiralling road. However, as it stands there are too many problems with the game's underpinnings that the fantastic visuals can't quite cover up.
Mario Tennis Aces looks and performs as well as anything you'd expect from the House of 'Tache, but its family friendly appearance disguises a brutally difficult single player experience that will surely alienate younger players.
The fact that Street Fighter 30th Anniversary Collection gives players a thorough insight into Street Fighter II, III and the Alpha series is recommendation enough, but when they're so well presented it makes this more or less essential for fight game fans. Add in the Switch's portability, and on-the-go multiplayer opportunities (if you're both willing to forgive the limitations of the Joy-Con) and this is everything a Street Fighter fan could hope for.
Business management games don't come much cooler than Jurassic World Evolution, and as subject matter goes it has done the the franchise proud. The dinosaurs look fantastic, the park building is easy and coherent, and the ensuing chaos when it goes a little bit off the rails can be frantic and enthralling. It's pacing where the game struggles a little, with a few too many sedentary moments stretching your patience, but you're not likely to get any closer to building your own park packed with once extinct animals than this.
Just Shapes & Beats is the best EDM compilation album you can play, and assuming the music floats your ear-shaped boat, it's an absolute treat. Challenging, engrossing and exhibiting a purity we so often forget, this is a genre mash-up where everybody wins.
A dark and twisted fantasy RPG which uses elements of survival games to great effect, Smoke & Sacrifice is a beautiful piece of indie software. Tonally and physically challenging, the artistry on display sets it apart from its peers, creating a foreboding world that's well worth being drawn into.
Yoku's Island Express is a beauteous, aurally delightful treat that riffs off the Metroidvania template and pinball tables in a smart and playful manner. It's somewhat tempered by the dual frustrations of the pinball mechanic's need for constant precision and a lacklustre fast-travel system that leaves you having to cover the same ground over and over, ultimately taking what could have been an amazing game, and making it a good one.
If you're looking for a compelling and atmospheric take on the zombie genre that's more Walking Dead than Left 4 Dead, State of Decay 2 is an imperfect but enjoyable sequel to the superior original. The gameplay loop of scavenging, crafting and killing can begin to wear thin, but the human element is capable of pulling you back in. Tackling the world with others in tow may decimate the game's carefully constructed atmosphere, but those multiplayer shenanigans will probably be wild enough to distract from the host of technical issues that simply refuse to die.
Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition takes a great game and makes it greater, though it's fair to say that for anyone outside of Legend of Zelda or Warriors series fans it will undoubtedly feel less special.
A variable frame rate is an out and out killer for any racing game, and despite Trailblazers' clear potential it's impossible to see past that. The overall concept, of merging F-Zero and Splatoon, is a fantastic idea, but perhaps it needed a bit longer in development in order for it to be fully realised.
Project Nimbus: Code Mirai is a frantic mech shooter that ticks all the right boxes, but is ultimately let down by a lack of variety. The combat never fails to set your pulse racing, and I'd love to see more from the team and the series, since, for a short while at least, this is the best mech combat we've seen in years.
The tactics and tactility of a good tennis game remain amongst the purest of gaming experiences, but AO International Tennis is not a good tennis game. Overly complicated and bereft of any emotional resonance, the positive elements, including the detailed character creator, will likely be as swiftly forgotten as the game itself will.
Taken on its own it's a feat of cardboard engineering tethered to a technically impressive, but ultimately shallow game.
Humour is a tough aspect for games to get right, but Super Daryl Deluxe nails its dry, surrealist American-indie tone. Despite the inherent repetition of the RPGvania match-up, the writing, graphical style, and imagination that Dan & Gary Games have packed in here mark it out as a wonderfully weird indie gem.