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Golf With Your Friends has all the rage-inducing charms of minigolf to savour while playing with your chums. With plenty of varied courses to play through and some good variations, there's a lot of fun to be had, even if the game often feels inconsistent and unpolished.
Minecraft Dungeons could easily have been "My First Dungeon Crawler", but it's so much more than that. It does a great job of taking the genre's hooks – the waves of enemies, the pervasive drive for better loot – and making them palatable and approachable for a wide-ranging audience. It's perfect family gaming, but if you crank the difficulty up prepare for an epic beatdown, and the epic rewards to go with them.
Maneater is a crazy concept come to life, Tripwire somehow managing to cobble together a silly ShaRkPG that is more than just a ten-minute novelty. There's no denying it's an exotic catch, but when it comes to quality open world action games, there's plenty more fish in the sea.
Utawarerumono: Prelude to the Fallen is yet another port of Utawarerumono for Japanese fans, but it's the first time in nearly 20 years that the first chapter of this iconic hybrid visual novel trilogy is playable in English. A unique world and unforgettable characters are at the heart of this game, but they're complemented by gorgeous artwork, addictive battles, and incredible music. It drags in the middle act, but once that final act ends and the credits roll, you'll barely remember the rough edges of this otherwise fantastic experience.
Pixel Ripped 1995 is a VR love letter to an integral part of gaming history, building on the strengths of the original as it once again blends authentic retro games with an innovative VR world. If you remember the golden days of home gaming and the thrill of waking up at Christmas to see a console shaped box under the tree, then this is the game for you to relive. If not, then there's still plenty here to enjoy without the nostalgia.
Whether you're looking to carve your way downhill at breakneck speed or you want to show off your best tricks, Shred! 2 – ft Sam Pilgrim is more than capable of fulfilling your dreams of becoming a downhill legend.
Super Mega Baseball 3 is a good upgrade over its predecessor. The new franchise mode and player traits add depth, but it's still built around accessible baseball fun. If you want a sports game to enjoy with friends, something a bit less hardcore than MLB The Show, then Super Mega Baseball 3 is a great shout.
Signs of the Sojourner has an excellent premise, an incredible soundtrack, and solid writing, but this jars with an often punishing and frustrating difficulty. All signs point towards this being a light-hearted narrative Indie, but the balance undermines that core identity, making it a struggle to fully enjoy.
The Wonderful 101 is a genuine treasure, this remaster bringing its quirky action gameplay and effortless charms to more people than ever before. It certainly looks the part, and is an easy buy for PlatinumGames fans, but the awkwardness of bringing the game's dual-screen UI to single screen systems means the Wii U is still the best place to play.
Touhou Mechanical Scrollery is a mess of a game. It's obvious that there's high ambition and plenty of love for the source material, but the final product is riddled with poor controls, rough visuals, and forgettable combat mechanics that make it an absolute chore to get through.
When Someday You'll Return is at its best, it is one of the finest immersive horror games I've played. Its take on psychological horror and ability to create a sense of dread is second to none, but that comes with some caveats. It can drag in parts, has some frustrating stealth sections and some puzzles that are needlessly obscure, but if you're prepared to make it through the less successful moments, there is a lot to love here.
Ion Fury effortlessly channels the spirit of old school shooters like Duke Nukem 3D, but the action is slowed by dull backtracking and environmental puzzles. When it flows there's a good challenge to be had, but the level design can be too convoluted for its own good.
Ooh, aah, that's how it always starts, then later there's running and screaming. Deep Rock Galactic can be deceptively easy going at times, right up until the swarms of bugs come crawling out of the inky darkness to besiege you and your friends. Who knew space dwarf mining could be so fun?
Huntdown is, quite simply, one of the best side-scrolling shooters I've ever played. Incredible retro pixel art, generous local co-op, a stonking frame rate and an addictive game play loop that had me coming back for more; Huntdown is the total package.
Throw Anything has got some bright and colourful ideas, but there's not enough substance to carry a full game. It outstays its welcome before it runs out of levels thanks to repetitive, shallow gameplay, and it's hurt by a few polish issues. It's fun for a short while, but it's ultimately a pretty throwaway experience.
Get Packed is a party game on ketamine, it's pumped up madness with the volume knob twiddled to eleven. It's a silly, fun and often hilarious party game hampered by being a bit rough and ready in its execution and unreliable in its online performance.
The Procession to Calvary is very rude, very silly, and a whole lot of fun if taken as it is intended. Much like the Monty Python sketches that have influenced it, it walks the thin line between humour and heresy, but as long you don't mind a bit of irreverent blasphemy mixed in with your silliness, there is a great evening of fun to be had within. You don't even need to have spent 10 years getting a PhD to enjoy it…
The Inner Friend isn't a bad game, but it never really rises above mediocrity. As a result, it's difficult to recommend unless the narrative premise attracts you. There are some moments of greatness amidst an interesting take on trauma and the idea of replaying unresolved memories from one's past, but the overall feel is distinctly average.
XCOM: Chimera Squad is a great game, all told. It's a cheap, fairly lengthy campaign that manages to be both familiar for fans of the series and offer something new and fresh to the XCOM universe.
My Hero One's Justice 2 is a great brawler. It carries on the fine work put in on the first game, wraps the more recent story beats into a playable form, and buffs the already excellent visuals up to a new Shonen shine. It's not a great jumping on point for newcomers, at least story-wise, but it remains a fun, approachable fighter based on one of the best anime shows of recent years.