A knockout combo of ten arcade greats – including five sensational Darkstalkers games – Capcom Fighting Collection represents fantastic value, online play with rollback netcode the icing on a delectable ass-kicking cake.
While it's almost impossible not to have fun with Sonic Origins, it is easy to lament the missing features, neutered Sonic 3 soundtrack, and absence of the blue blur's outings on the Master System and Game Gear. Disappointing.
Final Vendetta is so very nearly another scrolling beat 'em up revival that could have rubbed shoulders with Streets of Rage 4. Instead, it's scuppered by an egregious level of difficulty that slowly sucks the fun away. If you crave retro beat 'em up nirvana, then do yourself favour, and play Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge.
A sensational nostalgia trip imbued with magical mutagen ooze, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge is a triumphant return for the TMNT that will scratch any and all scrolling beat 'em up itches, and give fans a sharp kick in the 'feels'.
Wearing its VHS horror influences on its sleeve, The Quarry is an engaging and immensely entertaining choice-driven adventure with a killer cast and a fun, knowingly silly storyline.
All barnacles, salty sea life, and rusty, otherworldly machinery, Silt is an underwater odyssey filled with murky mystery and some pretty neat puzzles. In a nutshell, it's sort of like Limbo, but in the ocean.
Another opportunity to eviscerate Nazis, Sniper Elite 5 is by no means perfect, but it is a wonderfully robust and consistently enjoyable sandbox shooter that's good, reliable fun. And, as if you need reminding, you can put a bullet through a Nazi's scrotum, which will never not be brilliant.
Should you manage to look past the shoddy presentation and dodgy visuals, Vampire: The Masquerade – Swansong will reveal itself to be a mildly engaging tale of hidden.
Offering a good dose of blood and viscera for gorehounds and more than ample fan service for Evil Dead heads, Evil Dead: The Game is a solid entry to the 4v1 horror genre, let down ever so slightly by repetitive objectives and slightly annoying solo missions. Putting that to one side, what Saber has created here is pretty... groovy.
A stylish side-scrolling samurai epic, Trek to Yomi combines cinematic influences and sharp combat to great effect, but descends into frustration towards the end. Nonetheless, this is a journey worth sticking with.
Tough to get into at first, MotoGP 22 soon starts to pay dividends once you get the hang of its tricky handling and various nuances. The superb 'NINE Season 2009' mode, meanwhile, is worth the price of admission alone.
Chinatown Detective Agency is a disappointing miss, that, with just a little more time in the oven, could so easily have been a compelling hit.
What could have so easily been a retread of previous LEGO Star Wars games, has more than its fair share of new ideas. The Skywalker Saga offers a greatest hits compilation of all nine films, wrapped up in signature knockabout comedy, with enjoyable and uncomplicated, though sometimes slightly dull, gameplay. Bottom line is, I'm a sucker for a LEGO Star Wars game. Sign me up. Again.
Should you be in the market for more of Borderlands' frenetic looter-shooter mania, then Tiny Tina's Wonderlands fits the bill, its uniquely daft take on fantasy tropes and tabletop board games proving robust and infectiously good fun.
After the disastrous launch of WWE 2K20, 2K and Visual Concepts really faced something of a turning point, an uphill struggle, and after a lengthy hiatus, WWE 2K22 emerges as the best entry in the series for years. As per the game's tagline, it really does 'hit different'.
If it's unadulterated, gore-soaked fun you seek, then look no further. Just be aware that once Shadow Warrior 3's campaign is done and dusted, there's no replay value to be had. If you're okay with that, then there's no reason not to chow down on some more Wang.
While DIRT 5 and F1 2021 remain Codemasters' best racing games to date, GRID Legends runs a very close second, with an enjoyably daft Story mode, absorbing Career, and a wealth of options to fiddle with. Driven to Glory, indeed.
Mysterious, beautiful, and almost dreamlike, FAR: Changing Tides betters its predecessor, delivering a truly memorable and engaging seafaring journey.
Players willing to push through some frustration, however, will find a macabre yet charming experience that harkens back to gaming’s early years. Infernax is a solid tribute to the Castlevania series and a fun time for anyone looking for an old-school monster-slaying dungeon crawler.
A perfect evolution of the previous two OlliOlli games, OlliOlli World goes big with a uniquely appealing art style, fun character customisation, and a slew of options, without compromising what makes the series so addictive and inviting. It's good to be rad.