Manual Samuel is a short but interesting title, however its gameplay gets very repetitive and infuriating quickly with the constant blinking and breathing. The game's controversial approach to humour also dampens the experience and makes it difficult to enjoy the best bits without feeling guilty for laughing at something you feel like you really shouldn't.
Heart&Slash has some enjoyable moments. The weapon and armour unlocks coupled with the randomly generated levels will keep you coming back, but ultimately, the experience is let down by unfair encounters and repetitive combat. It's a quirky combination of roguelike and brawler that will leave fans of either genre disappointed.
LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens is quite possibly the best LEGO game yet – but it still has a smattering of old issues. Its compelling story cinematics, laugh out loud humour and perfectly balanced mix of conundrums and combat make it an absolute blast to play. However, it still suffers from the occasional AI hiccup and could do with the character abilities being refreshed.
Nicalis has shown up the majority of developers with Afterbirth, highlighting how overpriced and lacklustre some Season Passes can be. The Binding of Isaac fans will be overjoyed with this rather generous package, which is filled to the brim(stone) with new content that will keep you greedily returning for more.
Assault Android Cactus is a very well-polished, entertaining arcade twin-stick shooter. Its only prickles come in the form of some poor level design, occasional difficulty spikes, and a little too much repetition. If you cast these issues aside, what you're left with is a short but sweet experience that's perfect for some competitive couch co-op with your friends.
Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare 2 improves upon its evergreen predecessor by expanding the scope of the title with single player content and new classes and modes. Popcap has responded to the criticisms pointed at the original release well, and while this isn't a revolution by any stretch, the format has been precisely pruned for shear joy.
Crypt of the NecroDancer offers a groovy twist on traditional rouguelikes, and its sick beats make for some very satisfying dungeon crawling. Although the rhythm-based gameplay can make the basics very difficult to grasp, the title does a good job of teaching you everything that you need to know – and it offers more than enough content to keep you foxtrotting back for more.
LEGO Marvel's Avengers assembles the building blocks of a good LEGO game adequately, delivering decent puzzles, comical cut-scenes, and some feel-good fiction for the whole family. However, the formula's definitely starting to wear thin, and it has some niggles that could do with being Iron Man-ed out.
Baseball Riot is a bright, colourful, physics puzzle game that will appeal to a wide audience with its simplistic gameplay, pick-up-and-play controls, and low price tag. It's very obvious similarities to Tennis in the Face prevent it from hitting a home run, but it comfortably makes it to third base. [If only we all had the same luck, eh? – Ed]
Infinifactory certainly has the building blocks of something great, as it's uber-satisfying piecing together your own production line and watching it all work as intended. Sadly, while there's real satisfaction to be gleaned from craftily concocting your own creative solutions, the cumbersome controls and occasionally unintelligible explanations mean that this game has ultimately failed to pass our rigorous quality assurance test.
Nuclear Throne is one of the greatest rogue-like games that we have ever played: the gunplay is very satisfying, the characters and their creative abilities are wonderfully wacky, and the entire experience has so much variety that it becomes very addictive. If you are a fan of rogue-likes or simply want an outstanding game to play, then we suggest that you let Vlambeer's latest rule over your PlayStation lands, 'cause it's definitely ruling over ours.
Zotrix is a decent if unambitious twin-stick shooter with smooth, fluid controls that are well suited to pick up and play sessions. A steep difficulty curve means that you will need patience, while the awful UI makes it a challenge to navigate the title's menus. We'd recommend this if you're desperate for an arcade-inspired blaster, but otherwise leave it in a galaxy far, far away.
Mega Coin Squad's decent in multiplayer, but it's over all too quickly when playing alone. Some cumbersome mechanics and a teensy runtime rain on this game's parade, and when you take into account its $14.99 price tag, you may need a coin squad of your own to justify spending so much on it. Still, there is fun to be had with friends here, so it's worth a look if you've already picked the likes of Towerfall Ascension and Nidhogg clean.
LEGO Dimensions has made a confident first step into the toys-to-life category, with its real-world models incorporated imaginatively during gameplay. It doesn't stray massively from the series' established formula, but it's a lot of fun as long as you know what you're getting into. And this is the biggest downside: the game's going to cost you a lot of money to get the most out of it. As such, you may want to check the price tag before passing through this particular portal.
I Am Bread is a quirky title that can be a lot of bun at times, and it will certainly fill a hole before a much more substantial meal comes along. However, the title's control, camera, and performance issues do put a dampener on things, so unless you absolutely love silly experiences of this ilk, we'd recommend keeping your dough in your wallet and putting it towards something a little less stale.
Velocibox is simple and addictive, but it's just too darn difficult most of the time. This release demands such precision that we weren't able to see as much of it as we'd have liked – despite our absolute best efforts. With a fairer difficulty curve this could have been a decent timewaster; instead, we'd recommend it to masochists only.
Sparkle Unleashed is a solid puzzle game with a few new ideas – but not enough to truly feel fresh. We can't criticise the controls or gameplay here, but the feeling of familiarity that pervades the whole experience lets it down. If you want a timewaster to fill a few minutes here or there, then this is well worth a shot. Otherwise, you can give this one a miss.
Color Guardians is a charming little title that will be appreciated by endless runner fans. The inconsistent difficulty is a problem, and its lack of variety means that it's best played in short bursts – but if you want something simple to brighten up your day, then this will do the job adequately.
Krinkle Krusher is a competent tower defence title with a colourful theme, but it's best played in short-bursts and doesn't really excel on the DualShock 4. There are some nice ideas here – we especially enjoyed the incentives to return to earlier levels once we'd powered up – but this is a straightforward experience at best, and, on the PS4 at least, it still has a few Krinkles that should have been ironed out.
Peggle 2 is a good little game that's worth a go if you're new to the property or are a big fan of its predecessor. While addictive, though, the core gameplay can get repetitive at times, and this isn't helped by some samey level design and a general lack of fresh ideas. Indeed, the experience here is largely comparable to the original, but it does at least manage to mix things up with new characters and special abilities. These, sadly, aren't enough to make the title feel brand new – but it's at least working with some strong existing blueprints.