There is nothing new or radical here. But as comforting popcorn gaming to indulge in while you wait for your trip to the pictures? Job done.
Nintendo's first foray into health-gaming, Wii Fit, was a pretty bold move.
In the run-up to the release of this confident rework of Call of Duty:
Hack, slash, chop, blast a fireball, stir my pasta, dodge those lunging talons, taste the bolognese, chop off the monster's head to collect my bounty.
Is there anything more pernicious in modern cultural criticism than the concept of a guilty pleasure?
The Legend of Zelda has always had its delightful idiosyncracies --aggressive chickens, sultry fairies, Tingle-- but 1993 Game Boy adventure Link's Awakening has always been one of the most curious.
The FIFA franchise has successfully faced off against a wide variety of adversaries since its resurgence a decade ago:
In the annual football sim faceoff, fans of Konami's Pro Evolution Soccer have always hung their scarves on the idea that PES is far superior on the pitch than monied rival FIFA.
Of all the things I expected from Gears 5 --ear-splitting gunfire, chainsaws and alien heads popping like watermelons-- bursts of laughter were not on the list.
Sam Barlow's BAFTA-snaffling Her Story was a fabulously tight and taut whodunwhat as you pieced together the tale of a mysterious young woman from a jumbled collection of police interview clips.