Chris Garcia
Hades is a triumph from Supergiant Games, and despite losing the charm of portable play from the Switch, seeing it all play out in glorious 4K is more than worth the trade-off. Hades is the culmination of the lessons learned from the Supergiant's previous releases, resulting in a masterful effort that will appeal even to players who aren't fans of the genre.
F1 2021 is by far the best Formula 1 racing game out there, bar none. There’s not much to nitpick apart from the usual “it’s an annual release”, but this installment surely stands tall due to the addition of Braking Point and current-gen features, particularly for the DualSense.
Overall, while Wonder Boy Asha in Monster World modernizes the original, it could have done so with some much-needed updates. An auto-save function would have been fantastic, as the thought or manual saving sometimes just passes you by as you play, resulting in lost progress if you’re not mindful enough. Some of the levels, particularly the Ice Pyramid and the Sky Castle are very tedious, with some very precision-based platforming that can sometimes be very unforgiving especially for players just looking for a fun time. If you’re a gamer that grew up with the likes of The Lion King, then you would know what to expect here.
Rising Hell is a great entry by Tahoe Games, offering a unique take on the genre. The game is simple enough to understand and pick up and play by even newcomers but offers just enough challenge to cater to fans of the genre. While the lack of depth, especially with builds that directly affect replayability, is disappointing, this is overshadowed because of the rather small but very talented dev team.