Paw Patrol The Movie: Adventure City Calls is another enjoyable game in the Paw Patrol universe for all ages. There are however some niggling issues such as long load times on Xbox One and missing interaction icons in main missions.
Lawn Mowing Simulator turns the mundane everyday task of mowing lawns into a relaxing, zen-like experience that I can play for hours.
Song of Horror is a decent horror game with enough scares to make me a jump a number of times, and should satisfy most horror game fans. There’s no combat in the game but be aware of permadeath. The option can be turned off, however this added some extra tension to the game making you care about your character(s).
Hell Let Loose is an outstanding WWII first person shooter with the most authentic experience I’ve had in a game. The sounds and visuals are incredibly detailed and immersive, and the battlefields have been faithfully designed to reflect key battle locations.
I didn’t expect to like Jupiter Hell as much as I did with a good mix of nostalgia and fun, yet challenging gun-play. Being a roguelike with permadeath, planning your moves was key and I enjoyed exploring the procedurally generated levels, clearing as much as I could before eventually being overwhelmed. The permadeath was an opportunity to learn for the next run and it’s a game I can come back to with alternate modes to change up the gameplay.
Omno is a beautiful puzzle game I enjoyed playing with my daughter that’s fun to explore and not too challenging. There are some mind bending challenges towards the end, but often looking at them from different views will help reveal the solution. It’s really impressive that this game was made by just one person and I look forward to his future projects.
The Ascent is one of the best games I’ve played this year with amazing visuals, story and gameplay that sucks you right in from the opening scenes. Playing co-op is a heck of a lot of fun and single player is just as good with challenging gun fights and so much of the world of Veles to explore. I hope Neon Giant have plans for either DLC or a sequel because I will buy the heck out of it to keep supporting them making such great games.
The Forgotten City is a fantastic emulation of Roman times and I really enjoyed manipulating the time loop mechanic. The casual pace of unraveling the mystery through conversations and testing the golden rule was intriguing and kept me wanting to find out what happens next. This was all backed up by outstanding voice acting and visuals that really invested me in each character.
Microsoft Flight Simulator runs amazingly well on the Xbox Series X and has been a surreal experience that will stay with me for some time. The revised tutorials and new discovery tours are superbly designed to explore wonderful locations in beautiful detail, as well as optimisations for the PC version available at the launch on consoles. It’s an experience that every type of gamer should witness for themselves.
Beautiful Desolation is a decent isometric game with outstanding voice acting featuring South African dialects and slang, amazing environment art and a gripping story. It will not be for everyone and is more of a slow burn story progression which suits me just fine as a gaming dad with limited time.
The Elder Scrolls Online: Blackwood has much to offer new and veteran players alike, with customisable companions being the highlight, giving players more goals to achieve and good reasons to revisit old zone content.
Red Solstice 2: Survivors hits all the marks of a good sequel with vastly improved graphics and gameplay elements, gritty atmosphere and intense battles requiring thoughtful tactics.
Chivalry 2 is an outstanding medieval multiplayer combat game that sways more towards the Monty Python lighter comedic side than true historical accuracy, and if you’re one to look on the bright side of life, Chivalry 2 has plenty on offer. The combat is by far the best feature, having me shifting in my chair to swing my weapon true at my enemy’s head.
The Last Kids on Earth and the Staff of Doom is a lot of good light-hearted fun and another great game for young gamers over eight. Even this almost 40 year old gamer got right into it and couldn’t put the controller down. It’s a decent challenge for the target age group and the content is balanced with great cartoon graphics and humourous story elements. It has all the hallmarks for an aRPG with 4-player couch co-op and lots of collectibles and upgrades to extend your playtime.
Imagine Earth is a well-designed sci-fi strategy sim that is suited for novices and veterans of the genre. The excellent graphical representation of the planet and resources immediately caught my eye, and the tutorial planet and story missions progressed the complexities of the game without overwhelming me.
I had a lot of fun playing Paw Patrol Mighty Pups: Save Adventure Bay co-op with my 4-year old daughter. This is a great game for parents to play with their kids, and one safe enough for them to play on their own once they’re able.
Biomutant is a beauty to behold with environments begging to be explored, and the combat is fluid, agile and a heck of a lot of fun. The mini boss creatures are challenging enough, but the worldeaters are something else entirely. The wilderness does feel a little too empty at times, even with mounts and vehicles, and fast travel doesn’t help in this regard. However, when you do get in and explore that cave, abandoned ruin or underground bunker, you’re rewarded with copious amounts of loot and components.
King of Seas is a fantastic isometric pirate action game with a good story and plenty of loot to plunder. It’s great for short bursts or long loot hauls as I worked towards the next best ship.
Base One is an enjoyable space base building game with great ship interior detail, a decent story and good challenging gameplay. Without a multiplayer component, custom games will extend the gameplay beyond completed the campaign free of mission objective shackles. It’s well worth the purchase price though and I’m looking forward to the first DLC.
Insurmountable is much more engaging and in-depth than at first glance with a good balance between challenge and the excitement of exploration. The tile-based terrain navigation gives you various options as you climb higher, and the allure of the next event challenges your thought process.