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Outside of the online – which adopts a seasonal format and sees you unlocking new cosmetics as you work through the ranks – there’s a modernised version of single player Arkanoid which includes new power-ups and a combo system, as well as the 1986 original, both with online leaderboards. There’s also a rounds-based versus mode for four-person local multiplayer play. As a whole, the package is well executed, but with an asking price of £24.99/$29.99, it feels a little too light overall to overcome the sticker shock.
Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord combines RPG mechanics with grand strategy and features battles so epic they can be overwhelming at times. It has some rough edges, and the interface can be unwieldy, but at its core lies a roleplaying experience that is virtually unrivalled in scope - especially on console.
The Devil in Me is another competent and enjoyable enough entry in The Dark Pictures Anthology, but it fails to reach the heights of House of Ashes or even Little Hope. With a lot of potential squandered, it's left to the familiar gameplay loop of past instalments to deliver a robust title. With some new features, the season one finale offers just enough to make the deadly trip worthwhile for fans.
For what it is, Goat Simulator 3 excels. It's a bigger, crazier sequel to the viral hit, built expressly to satiate anyone's appetite for chaos. It's the epitome of dumb fun; if you want to switch your brain off and just mess around for an hour or so, this is about as lowbrow as it gets, and we mean that as a compliment. There are some serious performance hiccups, and it's certainly not to everyone's tastes. Even if you love it, the novelty will eventually run dry, but if you're able to go along for the ride and lean into its madness, you'll have lots of fun while it lasts.
Having said that, if you're totally new to the game and you're a fan of action RPGs, Ys VIII remains a fantastic island-trekking, monster-mashing experience. One of Falcom's finest.
While many of the included games may border on unplayable from a modern perspective, the painstaking attention to detail in Atari 50: The Anniversary Celebration is extremely easy to appreciate. The museum-like carousel of content, from interviews through to original artwork, is presented so handsomely that you can't not get swept up in Atari's dramatic story. And the fact that there over 100 of the company's most famous titles, emulated excellently with their original instruction manuals available to pore over, adds playable context to a lot of the content. This is just an impressive overall experience that will appeal to those who lived through the rise (and fall) of Atari, as well as younger players eager to learn a little more about one of the industry's true pioneers.
The strategy RPG genre owes a lot to the Tactics Ogre franchise, which is filled with lesser titles trying to recreate even a fraction of its winning formula. The experience that lies at the heart of Tactics Ogre: Reborn has stood the test of time admirably and, thanks to the swathe of intelligent tweaks and quality-of-life improvements introduced, will likely remain at the head of the pack for years to come.
Small frustrations aside, Save Room achieves exactly wanted it to do: create a faithful game based on the inventory management of Resident Evil 4. You need to have some love for the feature to get anything out of Save Room, but for those who do, it's an enjoyable enough experience.
Ultimately, with Return to Monkey Island, original creators Ron Gilbert and Dave Grossman have not only crafted a loving throwback to a genre they helped popularise, they've also reinvigorated it.
It immediately places itself among the best Sonic games ever made.
Visually, The Entropy Centre can be a bit hit-and-miss. A lot has clearly been put into the visual aspect, but it does often feel like assets are reused over and over. As such, the inside of the facility can often feel a bit stale and samey. The same cannot be said for the outside of the facility, though, where outer space looks incredible and almost picture-perfect.
God of War Ragnarok is phenomenal. Even amongst PlayStation Studios' typically stellar output it's a showpiece - a masterfully crafted game that smashes expectations at almost every turn. The sheer, often ridiculous scope of Ragnarok makes 2018's God of War feel like a prologue - and that's perhaps the highest praise we can bestow upon a sequel.
If only the rest of the game could reach those standards; it's a frustratingly average title that does nothing particularly well nor insultingly bad. The Chant is just very okay, which is probably the most boring route it could take.
All of these unique ideas being presented with updated graphics, performance, and music provide one of the best brick-breaking experiences we've ever had. Between a surprising amount of content and the willingness to try new things and be creative, if you like brick-breakers, this is not one to miss.
Brewmaster is really laid back. There are no fail states — or certainly none that we found. There’s no drama. Nobody dies. It’s just about brewing beer, and learning about beer, and then eventually entering a beer brewing competition to be crowned the titular Brewmaster™. That’s it. And we like it.
Star Ocean: The Divine Force is like a comfortable pair of JRPG slippers. If you're in the mood for a Japanese role playing game and you've played all of the good ones then you can rest assured that this one is fine. It's okay. It's comfort food. You know that feeling when you just wish Netflix would make another season of Mindhunter and so you end up watching Criminal Minds? That. Only in space.
Ultimately, Saturnalia is one unique horror experience where the developer's own use of limited resources combine to create something compelling and unique.
If you're eager to get started with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, then the campaign will serve you well until the multiplayer and online co-op mode unlocks on Friday. With many missions that break away from the status quo, it's not always just about shooting the bad guys. From high-speed car chases and crafting systems to the turrets of an AC-130, Modern Warfare 2 thoroughly entertains when it's offline.
All in all, this is an astoundingly stylish effort from such a small studio. Signalis is riveting in both the construction of its world and the tense survival horror gameplay it executes so well. Don’t overlook it because of its very late last-gen release: rose-engine’s effort has its feet firmly planted in the future.
Shadows of Rose makes up for its short runtime by ensuring every minute of it is quality. With some incredibly inventive sequences, enjoyable puzzles, and the usual Resident Evil gameplay loop, Capcom sends the story of the Winters family out on a high.