HotShot Racing is a must buy if you are looking to rekindle your love affair with arcade racers. Just be prepared to battle the rubber banding for the finish line.
The Darkest of Times stark and sobering reminder of how lucky we are, and what sacrifices were made for the greater good. As basic as you can get for a strategy game but it’s all the better for it.
Descenders is a game that once you get to grips with can be a lot of fun, unfortunately, it probably has one too many flaws for it to be considered great.
SUPERHOT: Mind Control Delete is an exquisite game that ticks all the boxes of what a sequel should be. I loved my time with this game with some playthrough's taking me into the wee small hours of the morning. (If you know me and how much I need sleep, this is quite the accomplishment) What this game does beautifully is condense all the flare and pageantry of a full-on FPS into a few minutes of intense bullet-time action which will leave you smiling from ear to ear.
If a slow paced beautiful walking simulator is your bag, with an added bit of shooting then you may find some enjoyment here.
Darius Games are regarded by some as the best shooters ever made, but do you really want to pay nearly £50 to play the same game nine times? That’s a lot to ask even the most avid fan.
Gamers who like a cruel, twisted challenge to keep them awake at night whispering just one more jump over and over again will find a decent game and one almighty almost insurmountable challenge here.
Streets of Rage 4 is not here to redefine the genre. It’s here to give fans something they have waited over 2 decades for and it doesn’t disappoint.
Null Drifter is a simple, fun, but ultimately shallow shooter, which is fine if you want a quick blast.
There are some amazing examples of the genre out there, Ikaruga, Sine Mora and going further back, the wonderful Axelay on Super Nintendo. These are what I’d call the Prince William and Kate of the shooter world. Loved and held in high esteem. Sisters Royale I’m afraid is the Prince Andrew, dull and too busy hiding in Pizza Hut to be of any use to anyone.
Everything is here and had the potential to be proper Terminator cannon being a ‘prequel’ to both films. Instead, we’re left with a game that if it was a colour would be grey. Just there, nothing special, nothing stand out, just part of the colour spectrum, and easily forgotten over brighter colours. (How’s that for an analogy?) however it has its moments and if you can find it for a few quid then it’s probably worth picking up otherwise it’s the perfect game for Xbox Game Pass or PlayStation Now.
You can tell that Bungie are trying their best to refine the base foundations of Destiny and that must be applauded considering how well the game has played for the past 5 years. If you are well buried in the franchise then you’ll no doubt lap this up, if you’re new to the series or looking for something that will finally shake up the stale gameplay, you’ll be left wanting. Shadowkeep is a small stone in a big pond, I’m still waiting for that boulder to make a real splash.
Clearly this type of game is targeted at a certain type of gamer, it’s definitely not for the main stream, perhaps a VR mode would have helped that, a strange omission to be fair but don’t be put off giving Bus Simulator a go if you fancy something completely different to what you’re used to.
Ninja Saviours: Return of the Warriors may be out to save the world from brain washed humans, but they may just save a dying genre of games that I miss something chronic.
Solo should have been two separate games really, one a standard cutesy platformer that you can throw on PSN and let people who enjoy puzzle platformers if that’s their bag and the other should have been a more meaningful journey where you do find out stuff about your past or present love or even if you’re suffering heartbreak. Being asked a question about sex and having such a personal question add nothing to the game is a bit of a bitter pill to swallow.
Although everything looks great and some of the weapons are a bit of fun, plus there are some good ideas sporadically dotted through the game, destroying Nazi’s in a bloody great big mech should be the best fun ever - but it’s simply not.
The whole package is just as near damn perfect as you could possibly ask for. This has gone straight on the list of my Game of the Year Contenders.
Observation is a game that is dripping with potential, and starts brilliantly, but the further you go through the game the more your desire to keep playing drains, a bit like a leaky space suit with oxygen depleting issues. It is worth a play through to soak up the brilliant atmosphere and gasp at the visuals. But only the most hardened walking-sim gamer will find much game in this.
World War Z has plenty of rough edges and for love of god it really REALLY needs an evade button, but it’s a small price to pay for such a video game event.
Outward is billed as a survival RPG and that it is. The survival elements do make it an interesting adventure to an extent but sometimes it goes overboard and frustrates. The fighting is awful, the spells are too confusing and convoluted and as mentioned it’s really hard to give a crap about your character. Massive kudos to Nine Dots for embarking on a game of this magnitude and there is some great ideas here to make it stand out from the glut of other fantasy RPGs.