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Episode Aigis is one for the super fans. Its worthwhile story beats are rare and buried beneath a lot of all-too-familiar dungeon crawling, and it's undeniably expensive in terms of asking price. At best, it's an intriguing but flawed epilogue; at worst, it's a completely unnecessary addition to a fantastic game.
Train Sim World 5 shunts the series forward with a number of smaller improvements. While the base package feels a bit unnecessary, it's effectively a free client upgrade for existing expansion owners, and therefore worth your time. Of the new routes included with the Deluxe Edition, we really love the West Coast Main Line, and the other two additions bring their own character and challenges. We just hope, moving forwards, the franchise starts to live up to its moniker – it's Train Sim World, not Train Sim UK USA Germany.
The combat feels awkward; the game is buggy, and filled with abrupt cutscene transitions. At the end of the day, we’re left asking, ‘Who is this for?’ Children don’t care about Battlestar Galactica and The Thing, and adults won’t love the boring, simplistic gameplay loop.
Wild Bastards is good, but it didn’t quite hit as hard as we’d hoped. That said, the studio's fantastic art direction and writing continue to shine through, enough to make this a title worth looking at.
Caravan SandWitch is just a really pleasant video game. It can be a bit rough around the edges in terms of animations and technical performance, but its story intrigues, and its atmospheric brand of exploration is largely a delight.
Cumulatively, you end up with a title brimming with nostalgia and good ideas, but controls that hold the affair back.
Crossy Road Castle is a really fun and addictive game, in our opinion best enjoyed solo as the multiplayer doesn’t add a lot in terms of goals for the individual and instead detracting from the action. Whimsical and cutesy, the aesthetic of Crossy Road Castle is such that it really adds to the overall enjoyment of the game, with its simple but compelling gameplay.
Marvel vs. Capcom Fighting Collection: Arcade Classics is an essential release if you're after one of the most prolific parts of fighting game history. The museum mode is a treat, and the games themselves seem to be arcade-perfect conversions, apart from MvC 1 (which should hopefully be fixed in a patch given it's fine in the PC release). While some bonus features from the console versions of these games would've been nice, it's still undeniably a great collection of titles.
Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions is a surprisingly fun experience, with a variety of modes to sink your teeth into. There are some nice references to the books and films for diehard Potter fans, in addition to smooth flying controls that ultimately make the game fun to play. There are a few issues, noticeably regarding balance and the longevity of its single player content, but if you like the idea of playing a competitive sporting game in the Wizarding World, then it's definitely worth checking out.
Test Drive Unlimited: Solar Crown is an absolutely phenomenal driving experience when it works. Each car is unique and you spend so much time with them that you form a real bond with your machines. Races are hard-fought and the neon streets of Hong Kong Island fun enough to explore in free roam. Unfortunately, a variety of technical issues hamper the experience, and the lifestyle elements and overall atmosphere of Hong Kong Island leave much to be desired. This is an ongoing, live service game with many seasons planned, so hopefully a lot of these issues can be ironed out. Until then, though, it's still a pleasure to drive around in your favourite car, just soaking up the road.
With gorgeous pixel graphics, weapon builds to learn, and enemy designs that continually delight, plus some excellent maps to explore and uncover, this is a fantastic little collection that should please any Metroidvania fan. That each adventure is a little more digestible compared to 25-hour epics from recent times is an added bonus.
Astro Bot is a stunning 3D platformer, and easily among the best games in PS5's library. It fully delivers on the promise of Astro's Playroom, building on the rock solid core of tight controls and inventive gameplay and turning everything up to 11. With tons to see and do, almost endless fresh ideas, innovative use of the DualSense's features, and truly charming presentation, it's a confident and cohesive experience that players of all ages will love. To top it all off, it's a perfect game to celebrate PlayStation's 30th anniversary, reflecting on the myriad series that made the platform what it is today.
Gundam Breaker 4 is a return to what the series does best. It doubles down on its core gameplay loop, offering hours upon hours of fast-paced grinding, topped off with impressively deep customisation and build options. Repetitive, but undoubtedly addictive.
Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 does its legendary setting justice, offering a high-quality cinematic campaign that is a wild ride to blast through, and it only gets better if you bring a few friends to watch your back. Add to that the clever Operation side stories, the competitive Eternal War multiplayer, and the promise of a dedicated (and free) Horde Mode on the horizon, and Space Marine 2 sets a benchmark for 40k games worthy of its own storied, illustrious lore.
The Ace Attorney Investigations games are oddities. They're Ace Attorney games without the best thing about Ace Attorney games. They're a fresh start with a different protagonist, but you need to have played the old games to get the most out of them. The wider appeal seems limited here, but for existing fans of the franchise there's plenty to enjoy.
We generally love the marriage between story and gameplay that Supermassive Games creates, but without the many advancements of The Dark Pictures Anthology, The Casting of Frank Stone feels far too simple. With an uninteresting narrative to boot, the first effort to expand the Dead by Daylight universe is a misfire.
Vampire Survivors, then – it’s f**cking brilliant and it costs less than a coffee. Get it fed into your eyeballs fast!
Shadow of the Ninja Reborn is a worthy addition to the collection of any arcade or retro enthusiast. Even more than three decades later, mobility techniques and ninja gear combine to make it a compelling game, provided you're up to the challenge.
Star Wars Outlaws gets by with a refreshed approach to the Ubisoft open world blueprints, fun traversal, and the themes and setting of a galaxy nobody could hope to replicate - but only just. So many of its core pillars, from the lacklustre reputation system to the basic combat and stealth mechanics, feel incredibly surface-level. There's little depth to invest in, leaving the game a fun enough investment in the moment that'll prove forgettable further down the line. It's a perfectly fine video game, which feels like an anticlimax given the IP it's attached to.
As a nostalgia-driven retread of the classic Mana adventure, Visions of Mana is rock solid - but it struggles to be anything more than a reminder of how magical those old RPGs could be. If you can look beyond the game's monotonous storytelling and tragically bland characters, the essence of an old-school excursion is here, in the exploration of wonderful environments and in battles against burly boss monsters.