While recurring problems persist, MXGP 2020 is the new highpoint for Milestone's licensed racing series. Hugely reduced load times and more immersive gameplay than ever before help push this year's entry that extra little bit ahead, though it continues to be let down by its environments and lack of content. The addition of Race Director Mode - a transplant from the Monster Energy Supercross titles - at a later date will definitely help, but a more substantial update in 2021 would be even better.
What start as very simple hidden object brain-teasers eventually progress to multi-scene puzzles, where items you collect serve more than one function. The puzzles never get hard per se, but they are immensely satisfying all the same, especially the more involved ones.
Delivering a final verdict for Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Siege is complicated. Purely on the title's merits, it's a PS5 upgrade that is unquestionably an improvement and comes highly recommended. But on the other hand, even with all the new bells and whistles courtesy of the PS5, the title is a horrifying cesspool of cheating and toxicity of which very little has been done to stem the tide.
The new features are welcome, and the game definitely looks nicer, but apart from that, it’s the same experience. If you had your fill of the title on the PS4, there’s not a whole lot to come back for. However, if you’re just diving into the game now, this is the version you want.
Observer: System Redux is a legitimately impressive overhaul. At long last, the PS5 has allowed Bloober Team's ambitions with this title to be properly realized. New quests slot into the experience wonderfully, Rutger Hauer's performance remains impeccable, and the game just generally has a lot more to offer this time out. While an overreliance on jump scares and a plot desperately in need of some trimming hold the experience back from true greatness, Observer's fancy new PS5 incarnation at long last feels like the title it was originally intended to be.
The Pathless is an incredible experience, and easily one of the best launch titles available on the PS5 in what is already an excellent selection. A wondrous, beautiful open world with innumerable locations and secrets to uncover is placed alongside a moving narrative further heightened by an unexpectedly tender relationship between player and bird. And that's to say nothing of the game's exquisite use of colour, or the beautiful and wickedly unique soundtrack. The Pathless excels on all fronts.
Fuser is, frankly, a staggering technological achievement. The game takes the act of making music, an incredibly challenging thing to accomplish, and practically trivialises it. You don't need to have any kind of prior knowledge to make meaningful music with this title. The game walks you through everything with a perfect learning curve and near-limitless flexibility. It remains to be seen if it will court a large enough player base to confirm its existence, but as it currently stands, this title is yet another unexpected jolt of inspiration for the rhythm game genre, which even just a few years ago looked all but dead. Between the brilliance of rhythm titles in VR and now Fuser, the future is bright indeed.
NHL 21 is absolutely a step forward. We won't be able to see if this improvement is a one-time thing until next year, but as it stands, this final release of the generation is also its best in that span. With a long-overdue update to the Be a Pro mode, alongside the pretty fun HUT Rush and the changes to Franchise, the series took a bigger step forward than it normally does. Sure, there's a give and take quality to many of the alterations, but the overall product is a net positive. It won't be scooping up an endless stream of awards any time soon, but this series has been in far worse shape in the past.
Ultimately the game feels like the first draft of a really great idea. Add some polish, and we’d love to see what it could become.
But with all these setbacks, perhaps the age old question of 'Can you run Crysis?' should be refrained. Maybe we should instead be asking, why would you want to?
If you’re already a fan of Alan Wake, this is a brilliant experience that provides more juicy tidbits from the beloved property. If you’re new to Alan Wake, though, this is not the right starting point.
Being able to wield a lightsaber and deflect laser blasts, or pull a Stormtrooper up close to skewer them, carries an appropriate amount of weight, and there are many moments where the trappings of VR fade away, and you feel completely integrated into the Star Wars universe. These transcendent moments are many, and when this experience is firing on all cylinders, it’s truly special.
Ultimately the result is a fun world, with fun characters that absolutely nails its boss fights, but settles for adequacy on all other fronts. As the first game from a new team, it’s not bad, though.
Descenders is a solid experience if you're looking for a time waster that you'll return to over and over. While constant screen tearing issues hamper its presentation quite a bit, the game has solid controls, as well as simple though endlessly entertaining mechanics. While the controls aren't the tightest we've seen, they do everything adequately and contribute to the fun. Add in the wide range of biomes to race through, including some more wacky ones towards the end of the game, and it makes for one fun package. And that's to say nothing of the fun little gimmicks, like the first-person mode and the trials-style courses. Descenders has everything you could possibly want in a downhill cycling roguelite.
Pistol Whip is a transcendent experience. This brilliant rails shooter has the trappings of a rhythm game which helps to make an already sublime experience stand out that much further. With a vibrant world and a variety of tracks to test your mettle with, the game offers a solid package right out of the gate. And that's to say nothing of the upcoming content that will further expand what Pistol Whip has to offer.
More than anything, this game being both 20 years old and incredibly fun is a clear sign that a modern Podracing title should absolutely be a thing.
Monstrum crafts a genuinely frightening game of procedurally generated hide and seek.
While the gameplay is solid, we came away more impressed with the art direction and sound design than expected. The lightly stylised, cel-shaded look works for 1971, with the organic environments looking especially nice. The sheer variety of locations is impressive, too, including an oil rig, airbase, canyon, and nomadic village. Meanwhile, the exploration music is absolutely beautiful, though the combat soundtrack gets a bit repetitive.
Some custom options would have been a welcome addition and allowed even more fun to be squeezed out of the game. But if you’re looking for a quick, get-in, get-out play session of a great board game in digital form, you could do worse than Ticket to Ride.
Daymare: 1998 is a low budget release with an ambition that outpaces its production values, but it's still a good attempt. There are stumbling blocks – hit detection, boss fights, animations – but the lighting is good, the soundtrack is great, and the exploration is satisfying.