Richard Walker's Reviews
Managing to make the forest seem oppressive and claustrophobic, Blair Witch is adept at creating a tense and foreboding atmosphere, while weaving a compelling narrative that still proves exciting, even if you've sussed out the final twist hours before the end. You'll never look at trees the same way again
Failing to deliver as an effective horror story, Man of Medan is interminably slow to get started, and when it does, the narrative and performances prove more laughable than scary. The best kind of horror is the stuff that really gets under your skin, but sadly, this barely even pricks it. A soggy first chapter in The Dark Pictures Anthology, Man of Medan is best left on the seabed to rust.
A fairly unique 3D roguelike, RAD is colourful, wilfully silly, devilishly difficult, and imbued with 1980s style. This is pure Double Fine, but will have limited appeal for some.
On paper, Wolfenstein: Youngblood should be completely brilliant. A stellar shooter imbued with RPG depth and open-ended level design? How could it possibly fail? By making the RPG elements meaningless; that's how.
Blazing Chrome is a fantastic slice of retro run 'n' gun that deftly pays homage to a golden era of side-scrolling shooters. Badass.
A solid but sadly unpolished Lovecraft-inspired detective story, The Sinking City has all of the key ingredients to be something compelling, but it's rough around the edges. Dodgy combat drowns an otherwise robust horror-tinged bout of sleuthing, drenched in intrigue.
An excellent return for an arcade classic, Samurai Shodown is a reboot that looks sensational, has a wealth of options, plays remarkably well, and possesses deep, hugely rewarding fighting mechanics. The Dojo mode is also superb, ensuring that Samurai Shodown doesn't just push the envelope, but slices it wide open.
If you already hold the original CTR in high regard, then you'll see Crash Team Racing: Nitro-Fueled for what it is – a gorgeous and lovingly made update that serves as a welcome reminder of when Crash was the kart racing king.
It might not be as good as Sonic & All-Stars Racing: Transformed, but Team Sonic Racing is a joyous and remarkably fun kart racer with a smart team-based twist. Gotta go fast, and that.
An unbridled joy to play, RAGE 2 is something that puts an onus on having fun and has no pretences of being anything else beyond that.
A solid remaster job, Sniper Elite V2 Remastered offers ample reason to go back and prowl the streets of Nazi Germany, popping heads with impunity. There's a good suite of modes and extras on offer, and while the game itself is flawed, you'll still have fun with it.
A cool and unique physics-based puzzle platformer from the house of Pokémon, Giga Wrecker Alt. has some nice twists and mechanics. It's found a perfect home on console.
You need only look at Mortal Kombat 11 to see that it's a cut above many fighting games currently on the market. Fleshing out what NetherRealm has previously brought to the table, Mortal Kombat 11 not only draws upon the series' legacy in a way that will delight fans, but will also appeal to fighting aficionados of all kinds.
Giving a whole new audience the chance to discover the exploits of fledgling defence lawyer Phoenix Wright and his bizarre world, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy is fantastic. There's no reason to object to this, Your Honour. I rest my case.
While the apocalypse is traditionally painted in varying shades of drab brown and grey, here it's brought to life in lovely bucolic greens and yellows. This pastoral loveliness doesn't disguise the fact that Generation Zero is unremittingly, cripplingly dull, providing protracted periods of walking vast distances with all-too short bouts of gunplay. How the developer behind Just Cause managed to create this vacuous, pointless game is beyond me.
Despite being held back by pesky bugs, The Occupation is nonetheless an enjoyable and immersive game that handles weighty subject matter with aplomb.
Fans of Monkey D. Luffy and the rest of the Straw Hat Crew will undoubtedly find something to like in World Seeker, but that doesn't hide the game's poor mission structure, the lack of variety and overall dullness. This ship's sunk.
An improvement over its predecessors, Dead or Alive 6 is an accomplished fighting game with some neat new tricks and cool cinematic touches up its sleeve. Also, boobs.
A triumphant return for Capcom's coolest series, Devil May Cry 5 is a stupidly slick game that does almost everything right. It'll totally pull your Devil Trigger.
Keeping the core fundamentals intact, Trials Rising is every bit as enjoyable and challenging as its predecessors, but is marred slightly by the introduction of a pointless levelling system that only serves to lock off tracks and force you to needlessly grind. That core Trials gameplay is still sensational, though.