Strap a baby to your chest, lob some grenades made of out your own urine, deliver a pizza, zipline across America, laugh, cry, die, and then take a nice dip in a hot spring that helps your bowel movements. It’s nuts and it’s still brilliant, but with 60fps and a new gun or two.
Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart is the PlayStation 5 showcase you have been waiting for. Instantaneous travel to worlds thanks to the SSD, thumping 3D audio, ray tracing through the gorgeous levels, and clever use of the DualSense bring the many locations to life. Paired with classic Ratchet & Clank gameplay, this game is a riotous feast of explosions, platforming, and fast paced action.
I've played R-Type across many systems since 1987, and Final 2 is not the glorious swan song the series deserves. It's still R-Type, so fans will find some things to like, but it has flat, dull presentation and some odd design choices that diminish the shoot 'em up great.
Dark Nights with Poe and Munro is, as a drama, objectively terrible, but there's a chance it could be a cult hit. It's like watching an amateur dramatics presentation in your local village hall, but on a PlayStation 5. If you can grab some friends, copious amounts of alcohol and embrace the ridiculousness, you will have some fun.
It's rather obvious, but if enjoyed the first Little Nightmares then you will enjoy the Little Nightmares II. While some new elements have been added it is more of a next chapter to the story than a full blown sequel. The attention detail is incredible, bringing the story to life without a single spoken word. It's unsettling, creepy, darkly amusing, and at times a little frustrating, but immensely enjoyable. Another little, slime covered gem from Tarsier Studios.
As a port, the Turrican Flashback collection cannot be faulted – these are perfect conversions of some all-time greats. Although the collection is missing some of the others in the series, £7.50 per game isn't bad value and given the difficulty, getting a perfect run is going to take many hours of playtime.
Beyond Light isn't going to change anyone's mind about Destiny 2. Either you love the weekly grind, the increasingly complex lore, and pushing your mates off a ledge in a Raid, or you don't. For those who do, there's a lot to discover and plenty to grind for with the added benefit of the reworked game engine. They, like myself, will no doubt be sinking hundreds of hours into this over the next year. A solid, well executed update to Destiny 2, with even more content on the horizon.
As a single player game Bubble Bobble 4 Friends is utterly pedestrian, lacking the frantic pace of the original. Most of the repurposed features such as power ups and jumping on bubbles detract rather than enhance the experience, but add in some friends and it's still fun, especially if you want to be devious and sabotage the other players.
For the moment, despite my DJ diva heckles being raised to the highest point, I can say it’s pretty good.
If there was ever a time to sit down with some friends and play a scary game, it's Halloween 2020. Little Hope fits the bill perfectly. The annoyances found in Man of Medan have been almost completely removed leaving a spooky tale with jump scares to giggle about, heart racing action, and tonnes of atmosphere. For £25 Little Hope is an absolute steal and highly recommended.