God is a Geek

DRIVE Rally is a well produced, fun rally experience. It’s imperfect but there’s plenty of time for tweaks before the full release in 2025. With a unique artistic style, arcade style handling, four charismatic co-pilots and a plethora of stages, there’s more than enough on offer for both beginners and rally veterans alike to enjoy in this early access release.

It feels incredible to play and looks like it’ll be a bigger, deeper, more personal adventure, and I can’t wait to see how deep Melinoe’s quest takes her.

As with any survival-crafting-farming game in early access, Lightyear Frontier will only grown and evolve – but unlike many of its contemporaries, it already feels like a complete experience. How long it can sustain my interest with so few possibilities of sudden death or unannounced explosions of violent fury when the wildlife is careless enough to wander through my domain remains to be seen, but if you want a relaxing, good-looking, steady little farming sim with a touch of sci-fi and lots of scope to build and grow, Lightyear Frontier’s early access offering is worth checking out.

Jumplight Odyssey throws a lot at you, but the more you play and work things out for yourself, the better the game becomes. Hopefully the aid available as far as direction and tip pop-ups get added through the Early Access phase, as it can be daunting and off-putting. It’s a stunning game to look at, and the level of design on each deck is incredible. Managing your crew’s emotional state and work rate does get easier, and the constant threat of the Zutopans gives you more than enough motivation to harvest materials and keep your ship afloat on the mission to reach the Forever Star.

I don’t mean to be down on a smaller dev who has made a competent enough indie shooter, but I feel this genre is at a point where if a new entry isn’t doing something unique, then it needs to stand out some other way, and Hyperviolent just doesn’t. If you’re after a few hours spent mashing demon brains and roaming around looking for keys and matching doors, then Hyperviolent has you covered. If you’re after something fresh and new, maybe not so much.

If Stitch Heads continue along this path with Superfuse through early access, they will almost certainly have a winner on their hands come the full launch. They understand the genre and know exactly what fans want from it – right now it just needs balancing and expanding. The aesthetic is cool and the universe is interesting, and the Fuse system is just fantastic. The cathartic thrill of looting and levelling is hamstrung a little by the sense of repetition, but it’s early days yet, and Superfuse has the potential to be a genuine hit.

With plenty more to test in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II, we’ll update this review to include a breakdown of its multiplayer, but as far as the campaign goes, Infinity Ward has put out a solid effort that surpasses most Call of Duty campaigns we’ve seen over the last five years. It’s a good sequel to 2019’s reboot, but still follows some all too familiar tropes, with some of the characters not getting the spotlight they deserve. I’ve played a good chunk of it, but it’s too early to give proper impressions of its online components, so check back soon for our complete review along with a score.

V Rising could be the next big survival game. Whether you want to play alone, with, or against other players, this has you covered. Once you get the hang of the combat you’ll begin to feel more and more powerful, crafting a towering castle that will terrify any delivery driver to their very core. I’m confident this will do well, and Early Access will continue to add new touches, tweaks and content between now and the eventual full release. If you’ve ever dreamed of owning your own castle, only descending into the neighbouring villages to rip people open and finish them in one swallow like a Froob, V Rising may be the game you’ve been waiting for.

The Anacrusis looks to be everything I want from a spiritual successor to Left 4 Dead. The pick up and play nature is compelling from the drop, and the 70s sci-fi setting is so refreshing. The AI Driver really makes every session totally different, facing different combinations of aliens in different settings doesn’t get stale. I know the next few months of my life will be spent replaying the game over and over again with my partner, and I can’t wait.

Having hit 2 million downloads on Steam in early access, Valheim is almost certainly going to stick around and get bigger and better. If Iron Gate AB stick to their current ethos of delivering faster-paced survival with the true freedom of opt-in PvP and community spirit, this could one day be the biggest survival game available. And considering the size of some of the current dominators, that’s no mean feat.

While combat can get frustrating at times, the rewards across the different islands make it well worth it. The story is engaging, and the open world has been meticulously crafted to provide such a wholesome experience. If you enjoy the trailer, I’m sure you’ll have a great time exploring Aspya and building your own home in the sky.

Had I played Persona 4 back when it was first released I doubt I’d have gotten into it, and it took me a while this time (it’s a good three hours or so before it really begins), but it wasn’t until I’d started to see all of the various elements and how they gel together that I started to understand why it’s such a beloved series. Am I a convert? Not yet, and I may never be, fully. But I’m glad I finally had a chance to see what everyone else has been telling me for years.

It’s still compelling and you’ll want to train every day, but perhaps it’s not quite as essential as it once was when we played it on the DS-family of handhelds. Just don’t take that brain age too seriously

I want to like Stranded Sails, I am intrigued by a few of the artefacts I have stumbled across during my exploration and I am suitably invested in seeing the story through, however at present the game is unplayable.

There aren’t that many shooters out there that have me consistently chuckling as I play, and that is in large part to the wonderful characterisations PopCap has given each one of its characters.

If you’re looking for an adventure with a bit of an extra challenge and you don’t mind putting in the work to figure out how to do everything, or perhaps just want a bit of a harsh survival game with a lot of depth and lore, then Fade to Silence will tick a lot of boxes. It comes with a few issues, like being unable to equip a torch for some reason, or story missions forcing you to stay outside when you really need to find shelter from a blizzard, but there’s just something quite playable about this one. Though many might find it a bit too overwhelming. I sure did.

There's some excellent design work on display here, but it's just lacking that touch of polish that a finished product needs and while the adventure mode is good it just highlights how little use LABO has outside of its own wheelhouse.

The thing is, what Dissidia NT does do well is hamstring itself from actually being good.

PES 2018 is the silkiest and smoothest looking football game I've ever played, with textures and player animation integrated perfectly. The pitches are gorgeous – as are the stadiums, and the rate at which the game moves, and blends player reactions after a shot or goal celebration is seamless.

Managing your Ki and your health, juggling all of your attacks, magic, and weaponry, and trying not to get killed for the millionth time is a thrill, full of genuinely incredible moments.