Even though the two new elements were a bit of a let down, I'd still thoroughly recommend new players try out Bugsnax as it comes to its new platforms, as it’s a delightfully whimsical take on the catch-'em-up, and the narrative goes to strange, dark places - although it perhaps doesn't commit to the bit as much as it should. Bugsnax is a great game for newcomers, no doubt. For returning players? Well, don't expect much from the new customisation of your house, and while the Bigsnax are just Bugsnax by a slightly different name, if you liked Bugsnax and you want to catch more tasty critters, the DLC has some creative new creatures for you to sink your teeth into.
Fashion Dreamer was never going to be a Game of the Year candidate, however it did have the tools to be a favourite game for many. On a purely technical level it runs smoothly (as smoothly as games ever do on Switch), but with its aimless story, lack of depth, oddly colourless world, and misguided focus on influencer culture means it finds itself as one of 2023's worst dressed instead.
If you love Crash Bandicoot and you've been waiting years for what once was Wumpa League, there's probably just enough there to convince you that this is a good game. But it's not. It's a bad game. They shouldn't have made Crash Bandicoot into this thing, and deep down all of us know it.
High on Life just isn’t very good, and there’s not much more to say. I think a lot of people are taking the route of ‘well, if you love this humour you might enjoy it’, but I already do love this humour and I did not enjoy it. It’s the ghost of video games past, with boring shooting and a bafflingly slim progression loop propped up by bad jokes that feel like some bros on a podcast writing their own Interdimensional Cable skits. It’s free on Game Pass, but your time on this planet is precious. Give this one a miss.
I didn’t hate Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice Leaague, but that’s only because it’s hard to feel anything too strongly about a game like this. This might be the most rinse and repeat a game of this stature has ever rinsed and repeated, and the fact it delivers good interpretations (though not Arkham accurate) of established characters is its only saving grace. With each new bundle of content likely to be low on narrative and chock full of the same missions (probably with a new name that play exactly the same way), it feels like Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League is only going to get worse from here.
There is a lot here for a young kid to enjoy, especially one who is tuned into Lego. The tracks have solid variety, both in terms of aesthetics, obstacles, and various challenges (like lacking destructible items to fill the boost bar), but it barely matters when you'll win every race until you hit a progression wall that asks you to grind out cash generation or pay to skip it, and then start winning again. It's creative, but it's also a bit of a mess. Lego 2K Drive mixes Forza Horizon and Mario Kart together, but it's not as good as either of them, and doesn't bring much new to the table either. There are building blocks here for Lego to use for future IP-less games, but this doesn't quite put them all together in a way that will interest anyone who isn’t still in primary school.
Princess Peach: Showtime is a very approachable game and tries a lot of different ideas, which makes it perfect for extremely casual players or a younger audience. It's just a shame that it doesn't capture the 'kids of all ages' feeling of Mario's adventures or the aforementioned Luigi's Mansion. It's more like Yoshi's Crafted World, which makes sense as the two games were developed by Good-Feel. Though a significant step up from Super Princess Peach, Princess Peach: Showtime tries a little too much, and that means its best performances are overshadowed by discordant notes from the understudies.
And yet, as you struggle through the game's often abstruse systems, there is something rewarding in it all. More clarity both over where to go next and what the game itself is built upon would be welcome, but what is here is worthwhile and, for those with a greater tolerance for getting lost over and over or finding the right way and being unable to progress because the search has tired you out to much, A Highland Song holds some promise. After everything, the view is just about worth the climb.
Persona 5 Tactica is undone by the fact it's unsure if it's putting the Persona twist on the tactical grid game, or using Persona characters to introduce newcomers to the genre. Maps and missions are repetitive, the more interesting elements that each Persona brings are sanded off, and there's an overreliance on basic gun and melee attacks that don't suit the Phantom Thieves at all. But when it clicks, there is an unmistakable charm about the Phantom Thieves themselves, and drawn-out though they may be, the epic scale of the bosses is a good shake-up for the genre. It's not the perfect goodbye of Strikers, but it is a sign that the sun should set on the Phantom Thieves in peace.
C-Smash VRS is an interesting revival of a forgotten classic, perfectly suited for the virtual reality medium from the active nature of the gameplay to the futuristic visuals. However, it conspires to make the experience frustrating with precise controls, harsh timers, and a lack of solo play modes despite the (doomed to be mostly unused) multiplayer option having a far greater range. It's not quite 6-Love, but it's just about 6-Like.
Switchback VR is a steady rail shooter that offers decent variety and an interesting tour through some old levels, but never tries to earn The Dark Pictures name. The choices don’t matter, the Curator is just a creepy Where’s Wally?, and the stakes or even setup for rescuing characters was lost on me. However, it’s reliably spooky, action-packed, and has the best designed villain in the series. It’s a rail shooter obsessed with its own past, so it makes sense that it’s two steps forward and one step back.
Like a little train going up a mountain: At least it's fun. at least it's fun, at least it's fun. The further I got through the game, the less I felt that was true.
Ultimately, Mario Strikers: Battle League feels like Liverpool’s trophy cabinet this year. An FA Cup and a League Cup are nothing to sniff at, but it feels below par. With no cup final goals and two victories on penalties, they didn’t even underachieve with style. Battle League is very similar. It’s Mario Strikers again, and the football itself is pretty good, but the stuff of legends? Not even close.
Ultimately, Persona 4 Arena Ultimax doesn’t seem to quite know who it’s for. It should be aimed at Persona fans, but the steep learning curve and lack of fan service elements lean away from that idea. As a fighting game, it doesn’t seem that compelling either, and asks for heavy investment in a story that’s relatively light on gameplay. It will find some fans, but it doesn’t look likely to pick up many outsiders. But hey, at least it has rollback netcode now.
Ultimately there just isn't enough here, and even for an indie game in a world of huge budgets, I don't think it's unfair to point that out. Pupperazzi is sweet and delivers what it promises, but you need to make your own fun because the game doesn't test you in any meaningful way, and nor does it let you apply your own creativity to it enough. But it lets you take pictures of doggos, and that's all some people will need.
When all’s said and done, it feels better than Cricket 19, and that makes it the best cricket game on the market. It’s not as breezy as the Brian Lara series, but purists will prefer the depth here. Big Ant Studios is doing a great job of providing a solid cricketing experience on a limited budget, and if you want cricket’s answer to FIFA, this is as good as you’re going to get.
When everything clicks, Sable is a great game. Once you've got your head around a quest, especially a longer one with a few moving parts, you can get lost in the world climbing buildings, finding secrets, unlocking puzzles, and gathering knick-knacks. Unfortunately, the game leaves you to your own devices far too often, and doesn't present an interesting enough world for you to want to get lost in it. I'd say at least I could enjoy flying around in it, but after my hovercraft conked out, I didn't even have that. It cares too much about how it wants to make you feel and not enough about how it's going to get you there.
NBA 2K22 is an almost impossible game to rate, because it’s a damn good basketball game at its core. The biggest problem is how it tries to be anything but a basketball game, and while that doesn’t damage the overall quality on the court, it makes it hard to root for it. It’s the ‘03 Lakers, and I hate the ‘03 Lakers.
Playing Cris Tales is like reading an especially lyrical Paulo Coelho novel, except every ten pages or so, someone slaps it out of your hands. Then you realise some pages are out of order, and you need to flick through the seemingly random pattern before you continue. Also, some pages are so smudged and coffee stained you can’t read them, and a few pages haven’t been translated at all. When Cris Tales works, it’s a wonderful experience, and there’s a great game in here somewhere, but it sabotages itself at every turn. I’ll be keeping a close eye on Dreams Uncorporated - but Cris Tales is a near miss that looks to the future, while clinging too hard to the past.
Star Wars Jedi: Survivor has everything a Star Wars fan will want - it's an excellent story, and uses classic Star Wars tropes, musical cues, and narrative moments. But if you're not enamoured by a John Williams horn reprise, what you have is a decent adventure game with a vibrant but often annoying open world that you keep being sent back to, that rarely lets you think for yourself and often just doesn't quite work properly. For a story so sharp, it's a shame the game gets in its own way so often.