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Despite the cut content, New Super Mario Bros Deluxe remains the most feature-packed, and dare I say fun 2D Mario game in decades. If you missed it on Wii U, own a Switch and love Mario, platformers, fun and just plain good games, there's no reason not to get New Super Mario Bros U Deluxe. There's just no real reason for those who've played it already to get it again.
Rival Megagun plays like a shmup but has the soul of competitive puzzle games like Super Puzzle Fighter II. Undoubtedly fun to play with others, it loses its charm when played against the AI. It's a neat idea that's been imperfectly executed, but still manages to provide a few hours of head-to-head fun.
Road Redemption is a surprisingly sincere and brutal love letter to the past and its inspirations. It may look like a junker if you glance at its battle-worn chassis, but underneath the fairing is the heart of a surprisingly addictive and fun road warrior game.
Override is a game that had so much potential and could have done something great with more ambition. In the end, no amount of oil could polish this scrap metal into something decent and enjoyable.
Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice is a prime example for anyone making the case that video games are a powerful art form. Creatively ambitious, it's exceptionally well-thought-out and implemented – making it striking at both a sensorial and psychological level as it delves deep into an exploration of life with psychosis. It has its gameplay flaws but remains must-experience for adult audiences. An instant classic for this generation.
Just Cause 4 may be a maniacal sandbox full of explosions and action, but it's a world that feels dull, repetitive and hollow inside as it missed the mark on being the perfect vehicle for some much-needed Christmas Catharsis.
PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds is a game many consider as the catalyst for skyrocketing battle royale from a fun mod to a full on genre. They've had a slow start to catch up to rivals but after spending significant time with the PS4 release, they're on the right track
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is more than best-of-hits collection of Smash games past. It’s a tightly woven experience that deftly combines the old with the new and manages to meet the lofty expectations placed on it. It’s incredibly easy to pick up and play, with enough depth and nuance to keep players engaged. It’s the best Smash Bros has ever been.
If you're a die-hard football fan but also a lover of the behind the scene workings of football, this is a game that will give you all of that to your heart's content. For the rest of us football fans, I'd suggest sticking to the latest iteration of FIFA.
Cattails doesn't quite reach the heights of the titans it attempts to mimic. Despite its flaws and shortcomings, it remains a compelling enough adventure survival simulator - one that cat lovers in particular will find plenty of joy playing.
This year's version is a competent upgrade for the series. On its own, it stands tall as an excellent farm simulator, packed with features and with a level of complexity carefully hidden under its seemingly simple menus. Giants Software has managed to build on their game series and create an incredibly immersive game.
ABZU is at home on Nintendo's Switch. The simplistic, but vibrant visuals shine on the Switch's screen, and the system doesn't falter in its presentation or performance. There's perhaps a little more aliasing than you'd find on its bigger console and computer counterparts, but the three-hour long adventure has been faithfully ported.
For over twenty years, Pokémon has been a source of joy and adoration. If Pokémon Let's Go is an indication of where the franchise is headed in the future, it's easily going to enjoy another two decades of love from a whole new generation of fans.
Beneath the mountain of bugs, shoddy design and inconsistent performance, there's a genuinely good adventure waiting to be experienced in Darksiders III. Unfortunately, its numerous problems are more than just annoying in nature. They're quite simply…apocalyptic.
Fallout 76's mundane quest and lifeless story put too much weight on the aged combat and trivial crafting for them to bear. It's a multiplayer experiment with far too many flaws to put up with, both in its limiting player interactions and its woeful technical polish. Fallout with friends is still an idea that could work one, but that's not what Fallout 76 is serving up.
Battlefield V is not the revolutionary title DICE initially started out to create, and there are also some annoying technical kinks that should have been ironed out by now. Despite these drawbacks though, Battlefield V offers some of the most rewarding, visceral WWII action in any game out there thanks to genius little tweaks to gameplay and immersion, all produced with an audio-visual technical mastery that is second to none. With its free live-service component as well, the future for the franchise looks very good.
Hitman 2 feels like a macabre collection of dominos falling and eventually toppling one final piece in a gloriously “accidental” death that can best be summed up as an act of god when the dust has settled. A game that's more about the journey than the destination, Hitman 2 is lengthy, gruesomely charming and still hiding plenty of secrets up its immaculately dressed sleeves.
It has its flaws, and definitely isn't mainstream, but 11-11: Memories Retold is an important and emotionally potent game. For players with patience, and those who lean towards shorter, contemplative and character-driven gaming experiences, it's something to add to your library. For everyone though, gamer and non-gamers alike, it is an engrossing and educational look at war from a relatable, individual perspective. And right now it feels like the world could do with just such a well-though-out reminder about the humanity of others.
My Hero One's Justice may be a faithful and stylish adaptation of the hit anime series, but all the fancy graphics in the world can't do justice to a game whose kryptonite is a severe lack of real substance.
The Reignited Trilogy is Sypro in his best purple suit, with a stunning recreation of his three adventures making you forget how rough and aged they've become over two decades. Its gameplay is retrospectively simplistic but still engaging, with only persisting camera issues and troublesome audio implementations getting in the way of a special return journey.