A wasted opportunity to make a brilliantly crafted anti-grav racer remotely playable, with a difficulty level that has no learning curve and is thoroughly unrewarding. The visuals and innovative track design cannot be faulted and there's an enormous amount of content awaiting anyone with the patience of a saint and a metabolism of a teenager full of sugar. Otherwise, the aging but perfectly judged WipEout Omega Collection should still be your go-to anti-grav racer.
Codemasters have dutifully updated their F1 template with the new car designs and the up to date roster of circuits whilst ditching the Story Mode for an entirely unrelated and pointless avatar clothes shop featuring microtransactions. While the racing itself remains superb, there's an increasingly hollow corporate veneer which undermines the core of the well-crafted game engine. I'd be inclined to stick with F1 2021 until the nouveau riche supercars and furnishings are jettisoned for 2023.
Firefighting Simulator: The Squad has significant flaws with the single player AI who are practically useless at anything other than menial tasks, and there's a distinct lack of urgency involved in the missions once you realise the people inside can't die and the building never razes itself to the ground. Despite these glaring issues, it's actually a really enjoyable and rewarding experience with a zen-like quality akin to vacuuming a filthy carpet. There's a great deal of satisfaction to be had in extinguishing the wide variety of different fires across the city map, and completing the objectives with friends (or strangers) online only enhances the sense of achievement.
Zen Studios clearly know what they are doing when it comes to Pinball, and this collection available to purchase via the new free to download Pinball FX hub is evidence enough. The tables now look and play faultlessly and have been rebuilt from the ground up for the current generation of consoles. The downside is that any previously purchased tables must be paid for again and amongst the vast array of superb tables available, there are some unremarkable and dull ones. However, as demonstrated by the one free table created by the developers shows, the original creations deserve to be played and the addiction factor is such that many an enjoyable hour can be whiled away in the company of Pinball FX.
On the face of it, Peppa Pig: World Adventures looks the part, immersing your little one in their beloved world from the TV show with loads of countries to visit. But then the black screens appear. And the aural scrapings. Oh the scrapings. And the inexplicable loading times. And the curious audio mix which buries the dialogue. And the strange appearing and disappearing characters. So on the flip-side of the face of it, it's time to bring home the bacon and NOT Peppa Pig: World Adventures.
Hot Wheels Unleashed 2: Turbocharged is a fairly decent approximation of toy car racing, with the added bonus of being able to customise your car collection and design your own tracks. However the karting / arcade gameplay doesn't quite click in either direction, and the failure to make the game accessible for younger children adds to the feeling of mild disappointment which pervades the whole game.