If you've got the DOOM reboot then I heartily recommend you just go and play its Arcade Mode instead. This was added as a free update back in October last year, and it's everything you want from a score-attack shooter and then some. Failing that, and if you've never played Bulletstorm before, then it's worth a play-through should you spot it at a deep discount further down the line.
Ultimately, V-Rally 4 is a solid if comprehensively unremarkable rally racing game. It offers neither the simulation depth of Dirt Rally nor the arcade racing hijinks of Dirt, straddling the line somewhere between the two. It can be moderately entertaining despite its dry personality, but up against stiff competition, it's an all too forgettable entry. Perhaps V-Rally was best left in its nostalgia-fuelled haze.
Ultimately, State of Decay 2 has proven a disappointment. Undead Labs laid the groundwork with the original, but it's failed to build upon this to any noticeable degree. It's a much prettier, just as buggy, State of Decay 1.5. To some, just having more may be enough, but it would've been nice to see them push the boat out just a little bit more. Perhaps they should've done that MMO zombie survival game after all...
Everything about Seven is just a bit of a shame. Fool's Theory has come so close, and in doing so proven itself the jack-of-all-trades, master of none. A game of this budget lives and dies on having one or two insanely unique or memorable standout features, and yet Seven lacks in this area. With the thousands upon thousands of games now at our fingertips, it's never been harder for devs to get noticed. None of Seven's particularly bad, it's just not especially memorable.
The three game modes mean there's probably something in here for everyone, but it's doubtful many will get their money's worth when you take the short campaign and the obligatory map pack into account.
That's not to say there's nothing to get out of Detroit: Become Human. At a superficial level it looks fantastic, your choices can often feel hefty and impactful, and the overall presentation value is comfortably in the very top tier of adventure games. But it is a game you may have to enjoy through gritted teeth; either raging or outright laughing at the clunky metaphors and hamfisted messages. Enjoy it I did though, honestly, even if it wasn't perhaps for the reasons Cage may have been hoping for.
It breaks my heart a little to slap a relatively low score on this. Both The New Order and The New Colossus were fantastic reinventions of a venerated gaming franchise, delivering satisfying gunplay with surprisingly touching narrative hooks. Youngblood still has that great feel, it's just wrapped up in a co-op focused bubble which detracts from the traditional flow of the game.
But there's something about Darksiders 3 that still sort of works though. It's a B-tier production, without a shadow of a doubt, but it's the sort of thing that doesn't actually come along all that often these days. Fans of the series will no doubt get a kick out of the continuing story and there's just enough here to help Darksiders 3 stand out and make for an entertaining playthrough. It's no God of War, but it's not the harbinger of the apocalypse either.
Overall Observer is good at what it does, but it's not the sort of place I overly enjoyed being in. Rather than pelting headlong down the horror route, it straddles an awkward thriller line that didn't overly entice me. At no point was I desperate to boot it up and find out what happened next, no doubt partly due to the busy, often dizzying art style that made me feel like I was sat in the back of a hot car on a long journey. For those after a narrative driven, cyberpunk fix Observer certainly fills a hole though, provided you can deal with yet another take on technologies potential impact on humanity.
In the absence of a better alternative, and I'd say Formula Fusion and Redout are neck and neck, FF may scratch that anti-grav racing itch. Just don't expect it to be the game to keep you occupied for weeks on end.
One look at Close to the Sun and you’ll have a fairly clear picture of whether it’s for you or not.
The core of the game is sound, it just needs to be more upfront with the player about what it's doing. It's really frustrating for me because I keep booting it up and I keep playing it, but eventually tangled web of systems gets the better of me and I've got to close it in a rage.
For all the fervent hatred of Konami that forms the current gaming-hate-bandwagon of choice, based on its own merits, Metal Gear Survive isn't a terrible game. It's not a great one for sure, and certainly not near the pedigree we expect from a Metal Gear product, but it's a serviceable enough survival game that benefits greatly from layering in a few of The Phantom Pain's systems. It won't scratch that same itch of sneaky badassery that has made Snake a household name, and it's almost certainly not worth the full $40 / £35 asking price, but there's definitely fun to be had here even if it doesn't come close to troubling the series' heights.
Which leaves me in a bit of a conundrum, and Sundered with a name that couldn't be apter. The core of Sundered is fundamentally flawed from the outset, and randomly generated levels are often a bugbear of mine. But layered on top of this is a fantastic, gorgeous action game with heaps to do. All told you're looking at a good 15-hour run through, and those whose thirst is still not quenched as the credits will no doubt be pleased that each playthrough is different. If the thought of eating a beautiful crunchy red apple appeals to you, and you don't mind the worms wriggling inside, Sundered might be worth a shot.
Usually, I let my past experiences inform the present, but with Assassin's Creed Odyssey I'm attempting desperately delink my own fatigue with the quality of the end product. At the end of the day, not everyone will feel overwhelming by another AC less than a year after Origins. Or indeed there may be plenty picking up Odyssey that have never played Origins at all. For those players, Assassin's Creed Odyssey is a feature-packed, incredibly lengthy belter, but a colossal time sink in the same breath.
In all, Jurassic World Evolution doesn't offer a simulation quite deep enough to appeal to the more hardcore management fans.
For now, it's wholeheartedly recommended you dive in with a crew of friends, provided they're willing to take the long-term approach. The horizontal progression means players won't be punished for not playing, which could make Sea of Thieves fantastic to dip into as and when the content updates arrive.
If you put plenty of time into Nidhogg and you're pining for something to freshen it up, Nidhogg 2 should do the trick. If you're new to the series and on the look out for an excellent party game then I see no reason to look further than the budget-priced original. By making the original so fantastic, Messhof has fallen on its own sword in making a sequel.
All in all, Dirt 4 is an undeniably fantastic racing experience wrapped up in a dull procession of events known as a career mode. At its absolute best it can be a white-knuckle thrill ride that hardcore racing fans would do well to give a try, but those after a more consistently adrenaline-filled arcade experience may want to look elsewhere.
If you aren't overly familiar with some of the immersive sims that are out there right now, you'll be in for a heck of a ride. There are precious few games right now which do what Prey is trying to do, preserving the core single-player FPS experience for those who don't want to just blast everything in sight. I wouldn't say Prey is the thinking man's FPS, but it's certainly got plenty of substance. In the absence of BioShock 3, this is going to be as good as it gets.