Book Of Demons is an action hack’n’slash RPG that gets almost everything right. Inspired by the original Diablo, Indie company Thing Trunk have put together the perfect love letter to that game, mixing a range of challenging enemies to boot with a well-implemented card deck system. Unfortunately, the game is let down by some clunky gameplay and an awkwardly convoluted UI that’ll likely make or break the experience for you.
Much like Grand Theft Auto 4 before it, Red Dead Redemption 2 is likely to be one of those games that's looked back on with a more critical eye in years to come. The story and visual design of the game is near perfection and those things cannot be overlooked. How much you get out of Red Dead Redemption 2 depends on your tolerance with the controls and how much weight you put on gameplay as a defining feature of a title. For a game that achieves perfection in so many areas, the linear structure of missions and frustrating controls make Red Dead a title that feels as stubborn and set in its ways as the gang you ride with into the sunset. If that isn't a bittersweet sense of irony, I don't know what is.
Set in the Ancient Frontier universe, Steel Shadows continues the lore of the epic strategy RPG franchise with a new story and a return of the turn-based strategy combat that made the original so appealing. In doing so, Steel Shadows comes with the same flaws and questionable design choices the original had which may leave some fans a little disappointed.
Nickelodeon Kart Racers is a disappointing cash grab, a terrible celebration of Nickelodeon's contribution to cartoons and one of the worst games I've played in a long time.
Shadow Of The Tomb Raider ultimately bows out this trilogy of games with a whimper rather than a roar. The gameplay may be a little better this time around compared to Rise but the disjointed nature of its various mechanics make this game more frustrating and under-developed than it should be. I love Tomb Raider and have played almost every game since its original on the Playstation all those years ago but Shadow Of The Tomb Raider feels like a cruelly ironic name for this final title; a game overshadowed by what’s come before and never once looking like stepping out of the darkness and becoming a shining beacon for the franchise.
At the end of the 90’s, Frontier released one of the best theme park titles of all time in Rollercoaster Tycoon, a game that felt like a natural successor to what Bullfrog had produced in 1994’s Theme Park. With many titles since Rollercoaster Tycoon failing to strike the right balance between creativity and theme park management, Frontier’s newest addition to the sim line-up is probably as close to a natural step forward for this genre of games as we’re likely to get. Planet Coaster is an accessible and creative title but also relatively basic when it comes to its management sim elements. Still, there’s an incredible amount of customization here that truly lets you go wild and create the theme park of your dreams.