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What WRC 8 gives in career longevity, mode variety and stage choice, it takes away with unrefined vehicle handling and some rough edges. This is still the best official WRC game to date, but bear in mind that until the driving feel becomes the main focus of development, this series can't be placed into the pantheon of all-time greats.
Gears 5 is a brilliant experience which can be enjoyed alone or with friends in equal measure. It keeps much of the series' core gameplay and feel, but also takes it in some new directions. It's great to see Gears evolving, opening the door for even more positive changes in the future.
Monster Hunter: World is deservedly Capcom's most successful game to date, and the Iceborne expansion amplifies everything positive about it. More incredible monsters, new lands and a wealth of ways to upgrade your Hunter will have fans in rapture, while new players yet to experience the delights of monster hunting can rest assured that there's never been a better time to join the hunt.
An enjoyable retro-style rogue-lite; in RAD you should expect brutal gameplay in a gaudy and synthesised world. The random nature of the world sometimes proves to be a problem, but not enough to diminish what is a fantastically loud take on the genre. If only for letting players smack about mutants with their engorged limbs and a baseball bat, RAD lives up to its name. Just try to stop playing it, you'll struggle.
Rebel Galaxy Outlaw manages to take plenty of familiar elements and whisk them together into a completely original package. The dusty trucker atmosphere combined with the sharp and agile dogfighting gameplay kept me engaged for hours, although the back-tracking and cash grinding wore me out before too long. Even with those issues, there's something special about the aesthetic of Rebel Galaxy Outlaw that demands the attention of anyone looking for some good, dirty spaceship action.
Hamsterdam is a delightful homage to Golden Era kung-fu movies, but if the martial artists were all small mammals. It might get repetitive quite quickly, but if you're looking for something you can play in short sprints or something fun for your kids, Hamsterdam is a genuine treat.
There's a lot of things to like about Blair Witch, from the way it invokes the imagery of the original film, to some inventive camcorder puzzles and intriguing depictions of trauma, but most of these aspects aren't given the time to really develop. There's the skeleton of a really good horror-based walking sim here, and while it's still worth checking out for horror fans, it feels more like a first episode of a series rather than a standalone game. A missed opportunity; all Woody and no real Buzz.
Catherine: Full Body has aged like the finest of wines. For fans of the story, the new characters and plot threads fold in fantastically after an awkward start, and they're coupled with a wealth of new dialogue and beautifully animated cutscenes. For fans of the gameplay, new remixed levels and difficulty options add brand new challenges for even the most hardcore Catherine enthusiasts, and with support for the game's niche competitive scene to boot. And if you've never played the game before, all of these additions make an already classic video game even more of a must-play experience.
I'd love to be able to recommended Redeemer: Enhanced Edition to you. Its top-down shoot and beat 'em up combat is tremendous fun, and the local drop-in and out co-op mode is treat, but there's way too many game breaking bugs and glitches that hold up any recommendation. If these issues are fixed with a patch then feel free to add a few points to the score, otherwise you're best off looking for your gory thrills and spills elsewhere.
Heave Ho is the life of the party: wild and magnetic with a few surprises up its sleeve. Play it on your own, however, and it's not quite as much fun to hang with.
Wreckfest is a surprising triumph in blending the best that sim and arcade racers have to offer in an explosive and visually gratifying package. A few visual issues and overly aggressive AI do little to spoil one of the best driving games of 2019.
Mad of Medan looks and sounds gorgeous, but it's spoiled by some technical issues and, depending on your choices, characters doing stupid things just so the plot can continue, both of which break the flow of what could have been a decent horror story. It's an excellent night or two's entertainment with a bunch of mates in a dark room and plenty of beer, though playing by yourself or online with a chum is an altogether more muted experience. This is a fair start to The Dark Pictures Anthology.
After MXGP Pro settled into a hardcore dirt biking niche, MXGP 2019 surprisingly steps away from that feel just one year later. It tries to combine multiple elements like track creation and player challenges, while still representing an official championship and gets lost on the way. It's neither an arcade racer nor a serious simulator and the end result is quite bland.
Control is one of the best story-focused single player games in years. Its unique mix of surrealism, sci-fi and mystery draws you in, but doesn't give everything away, and the combat is fantastically varied and provides just enough challenge. A culmination of everything that went before, Control is Remedy's magnum opus.
Astral Chain boasts the same winning elements of Platinum's finest work – exhilarating combat, characterful visuals, and a compelling story – but it loses a bit of personality. Where Bayonetta and 2B provided an emotional centre point for the fantastical storytelling, Astral Chain's unnecessarily silent protagonist is a charmless creation saved by an utterly charming world.
If you really, really have to play an RTS on console then you could do a lot worse than Ancestors Legacy. Well thought out controls, appealing visuals, and a solid multiplayer make for a reliable RTS experience. You might never feel compelled to reach the conclusion of the samey single-player campaign but you will delight in just having one more go at flanking your pal's Teutonic Knights with your Hurscarl Warriors.
Automachef is a bizarre yet interesting take on a cookery game. Saldy, a lot of what it has going for it also goes against it and feels a little off – excuse the pun – as a result.
Horace is essential for fans of retro games or hard platformers and a real contender for Indie Game of the Year.
Sagebrush's story isn't one that will leave a lasting impression and the pacing can feel off, but it is succinct, suspenseful, and on sale for less than a fiver, making it well worth your time if 90s cult thrillers are your jam.
I love that FIA European Truck Racing Championship exists and really I hope such a niche audience titles finds the right audience. Developer N-RACING has been faithful to the essence of truck racing, but it hasn't been able to create the structure, close fighting, nor personality the series has to offer. Variety is good, and I really hope they can work on an improved sequel. For now, once the novelty has worn off, you are left with a pretty lifeless game.