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Uncharted: The Lost Legacy is the real deal, folks. It separates the wheat from the chaff, takes everything that's great about Uncharted 4 and distils it down to its purest, most brilliant form. Nathan who?
Fate/Extella The Umbral Star is a great addition to the Switch, but not a great addition to either genre it tries to emulate.
Codemasters has tweaked and refined a Formula one driving experience that is, as of writing, unrivalled. Project Cars 2 lurks just round the corner, but it would require an awful lot to overtake this.
Sega reminds us that, with Yakuza Kiwami, not only is its heart in the right place, but it hasn’t missed a beat.
Namco Museum is a well produced package, but it's also a missed opportunity. If you played – and loved – these games as a kid, dive in. However, if you’re an enthusiast of retro games, and games preservation, Namco Museum – at its recommended list price – lacks the supporting content that would make it an essential purchase.”
Vostok Inc. is a moreish slice of rampant capitalism, an adventure in both space combat and middle management, sewn together with cute ideas and clicker-style mini games. Once you have that initial bump you'll be hooked, but if you can go cold turkey for even a short time you might struggle to go back, even though it felt amazing. Vostok Inc. is here for a good time, not a long time.
Survival, that most impermanent of genres, seems to have found permanent residency in the last few years, yet in a crowded space, Mojo Bones has made a mark. Impact Winter is dream-like and transfixing; it’s frustrating and brittle; and there is something truly special here you can just make out through the ice. If only it was given time to thaw.
Already there has been no shortage of excellent Switch games, and Death Squared is definitely one of them. It might not be the most inventive of all puzzle based games, but it certainly utilises the strengths of Nintendo’s hybrid system, and is a thoroughly enjoyable experience that is deeply rewarding after having completed a particularly challenging level. There are plenty of games vying for attention this year, but Death Squared on the Switch is worthy of receiving it.
This would have been better as a complete package, with all three chapters sewn together. Considering it’s a plan that Tarsier has had all along – teasing its DLC, as it did, long ago – its merits and additions would be more sating had they been swallowed by The Maw, along with everything else, from day one.
Oceanhorn is a game built from components so familiar that even Nintendo has tired of them. If the brief was to ‘Make a Zelda’ then Cornfox & Bros have only succeeded on a surface level. The studio evidently has talent – it’s a visual and aural treat – but due to the game’s mobile heritage, Oceanhorn on Switch feels compromised, vague, and ultimately forgettable.
There's a rough-cut, lo-fi patina to Get Even that adorns its good ideas like graffiti. With its edges scuffed and its heart in the right place, it feels like that now endangered species: the AA release. Long live dirty, flawed experimentation. This one’s different.
Dirt 4 has one of the best career modes you'll see in the racing genre, at times closer to the do-whatever-you-want elements of Forza Horizon than the franchised motorsports games it seems outwardly more similar to. If you're a real stickler for speed and technical challenge you'll probably enjoy the 'proper' rally cars more than I did, but the beauty of it is that you can progress your career however the hell you want, which is delightful.
As an experience, Tokyo 42 is worth your attention, but unfortunately, its gameplay and mission design become a hindrance as you progress, losing the spectacle that was notable from the start. It might at times feel reductive due to heavy reliance on other references, but it does manage to construct an identity of its own in spite of this. Tokyo of 2042 provides plenty of distractions, and it’s likely that it is this that will help it stand out amongst its contemporaries.
There's something Faustian about it: in striking a deal to carry such a powerful banner, it's gotten attention that games of its class would never get. Ironically, it's that banner that invites the most bitter criticism for a game that certainly could have done a lot worse.
NBA Playgrounds is a conflicted game, it tries to cater to two different audiences at once, but in doing so weakens the overall experience and therefore appeals to neither. It did succeed in making me want to play an NBA game; just not this one.
This isn’t the best version of Tetris there has ever been, and I expect previous versions of Puyo Puyo have been more focused, but there’s no doubt that this chaotic mash-up of both, plus the exuberant – if overwhelming – presentation, make this a recommended purchase.
The Sexy Brutale nods back to ancient tradition while wrapped in the trappings of the 20th century, taking notes from some of the best adventure games there have been. At the same time, it looks forwards, unwinding to its own tempo, creating a game that feels distinct from any other.
Gnog is a pleasing and relaxing experience; one that understands what its strengths are and focuses making them the best they can be. Plus, it is the perfect length for escaping the dull and drab realities of the real world, and diving into the pastel-drenched absurdities of Gnog.
Wonder Boy: The Dragon's Trap may be out of its time – it's rock hard, a little obtuse, and won't lead you by the hand – but benefits from a stylish and sensitive makeover that stays painstakingly true to the mechanically perfect original. The Dragon's Trap is a remarkable thing, then. Not only is it a retro remake that's actually not crap, it's as good as the day it first came out and even holds its own against modern releases.
Transient, vague, and awash with macabre sights and sounds, Little Nightmares is aptly named. Its gameplay is rote and minimal but its skew of images will stick in your craw like the fleeting fragments of a nightmare upon waking. The rest will fade.