Critical Hit
HomepageOverall, Twelve Minutes is an excellent game, with an interesting concept and story. But, it is let down by rigid and stale gameplay, which hold it back from being a must-play...
Cris Tales is a beautiful indie RPG that is held back by various issues, keeping it from being one of the greats. Incredible story, filled with exciting characters, areas and interesting time powers, makes it worth the play. However, held back by an uninteresting battle system that becomes stale and too easy, a horrible third act of the game slows it down to a crawl. You'll find something to love with Cris Tales if you can look over some of its flaws.
Backbone presents the player with an intriguinging world, populated by interesting characters that drive it's often depressing and strange story home to what feels like an eventually inevitable conclusion. It's just a pity that the minute-to-minute gameplay is not only uninspired, but it's also rather boring.
With a wicked sense of humour, loads of visual flair, and a surprising amount of cerebral satisfaction packed into its deceit-filled race against the clock, Overboard! is a delight. It's one to keep within arm's reach when you're in the mood for short bursts of frantic, but low-effort, fun.
Guilty Gear's latest chapter is its most accessible one yet, a righteous display of power and attitude that unleashes the sickest of heavy metal guitar licks and unrelenting style. Its online matchmaking may still need some work before it's ready for the main event, but Arc System Works has delivered a captivating display of coolness and action.
DC Super Hero Girls: Teen Power succeeds in not feeling like a simple cash-grab. Much like its source material, it has genuine heart, plenty of activities to take part in, and a cast of characters who are simply adorable. Some of its more social open-world gameplay may feel a touch slapdash, but its colourful and explosive action more than makes up for it by being a blast of addictive and easy-to-grasp fun.
Ninja Gaiden: The Master Collection is a fascinatingly violent time capsule that shows off the best and the worst of Koei Tecmo's fan favourite shinobi. It's as barebones a collection as can be, packing all three games together with a sprinkling of DLC, but it's still a fine showcase of brutal difficulty and white-knuckle thrill power that is inimitable by anything else on the market. Just don't expect anything more than that.
Boring narrative aside, Sniper Elite Ghost Warrior Contracts 2 is superb at delivering its bread and ballistics gameplay. Focused purely on the art of the kill, CI Games has crafted numerous detailed sandboxes to become the ultimate long-distance predator inside of, resulting in a game that forges ahead and doubles down on its own unique brand of hold-your-breath gunplay. Pure cathartic and exhilarating action with every squeeze of the trigger.
I think it's impossible to put down your controller once you finish Rift Apart for the first time, and not have a smile on your face. It's a game that's chicken soup for the soul, nourishing and positive content that's just incredibly wholesome to consume. Loud with its setpiece moments and surprisingly introspective with its emotional haymakers, all of its style and substance comes together to create not only a colourful, and wonderfully mad showcase for the PS5, but also the definitive Ratchet and Clank adventure for the next generation of gaming.
It's beautiful, it's charming and its insights are given greater punch by exceptional voice acting. Yet, despite ticking so many boxes, The Magnificent Trufflepigs never manages to find the sweet spot of player satisfaction due to some odd, clashing design choices.