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MotoGP 19 is far and away the best MotoGP game by Milestone to date and a marked improvement over recent versions. A few glitches take you out of the moment, and there is a need for some special seasoning sprinkled on the top to really make this a truly great racing title, but for fans of the sport, they now have a video game that better represents the action-packed real-life on-track action.
Koral is a good little puzzler though many will find it very easy to get through. As an educational tool Koral definitely has value to raise awareness of climate change and the impact of pollution on our oceans. As a game it Koral is a simple affair that plays well. It may lack much challenge for puzzle fans, but this is an engaging and thought provoking experience.
Whispers of a Machine is an approachable point and click adventure. The story is pretty interesting and the main character, as well as few side characters, are well-crafted too. It falls shy of the best examples of the genre, but Whispers of a Machine isn't far off the mark from being considered great.
Dark Future: Blood Red States is a quirky video game adaptation of this niche Games Workshop board game, and Auroch Digital have done a great job of preserving that feel in a real time form. Its bitesized campaigns keep the dystopian road warrior gameplay going, and there's a real charm that manages to shine through, even if there's probably a few too many rough edges and limits to the design.
Golem Gates is a great strategy title that blends CCG and RTS elements into an enjoyable combat-heavy form, while offering a world and soundscape that I immediately fell in love with.
Akane is a game that does one thing and does it exceptionally well; its biggest flaw is that there simply isn't enough of it. Give me more damn it!
Warhammer: Chaosbane is a good, solid dungeon crawling action RPG, but outside of a well executed Warhammer theme it's just not doing anything new. I feel bad for underselling Chaosbane, as I did enjoy my time with it. However, it's standing in the shadow of Diablo III, a titan that's been doing it for a long time and that you can't help but make comparisons with. Warhammer: Chaosbane is good and it could mature into something great, but right now it pales next to its daddy.
Close to the Sun manages to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory. The early parts of the game establish a genuinely interesting narrative and world before the later parts throw most of this away in favour of repetitive and dull chase sequences. The narrative remains interesting enough to keep you playing and there's some strong character development, but the ending comes as a relief rather than a reward. It isn't a disaster but it is a missed opportunity.
Project Nimbus is a fun time for those looking to fly around in a giant robot and blow things up, but like the Michael Bay's Transformers movies, it just ends up feeling forgettable as soon as you put the controller down. While Zone of the Enders played very similarly, it did so with more narrative panache. With Daemon X Machina due on Switch in the near-ish future, it might be worth your while waiting a little while longer for your mecha game fix.
If I could, I would score Layers of Fear 2 somewhere between Null and Infinity, but I can't, and as everyone is going to have a different view on Layers of Fear 2 the score is pretty much irrelevant. If you know your films and consider yourself reasonably intelligent then I would recommend at least taking a look at Layers of Fear 2. I *think* I enjoyed it, but I honestly couldn't promise that you or anyone else would. What an odd curio of a game.
Atelier Lulua: The Scion of Arland maintains the magic that this long-running JRPG series is known for. From relaxing gameplay to adorable characters, Atelier Lulua doesn't disappoint. Newcomers to the series might have some larger story beats go over their head, while long-time fans might be miffed at the fact that so few returning characters are playable in battle. Still, when it comes to the Atelier series, Lulua manages to blend the best of the new with the best of the old with incredibly successful results.
Paired with a progression system that takes more away from the genre than it actually brings and the absence of any real element of replayability, there's not much backing up the areas where Little Friends excels.
The London Heist always felt like it was leading to something much bigger, and here it is. Blood & Truth is a thrilling romp that puts you at the helm of your own blockbuster, dripping with over-the-top action as you blitz your way from one set piece to the next.
On the surface, Void Bastards may just seem like another FPS, but there's an element of strategy layered in which sets it aside from the rest. It takes a bit of the old, mixes it with the new, splashes it with a comic style aesthetic to make a truly wonderful experience that will challenge you to make good decisions, enable you to play how you want and you get to be called a Void bastard, which is brilliant. It feels like a breath of fresh air in a sea of FPS games that all do the same thing.
For the ultimate golfing experience, look no further. Everybody's Golf VR may be missing some of those multiplayer options and a meaty career mode, though fits itself in a tidier, more focused package pitched at a great price.
There's a good game lurking somewhere within Falcon Age. Interacting with your pet falcon in VR is an enchanting joy, so it's a shame that it's surrounded by a repetitive game structure, lacklustre visuals, and controls that are neither here nor there.
A new game in the vein of GTA Chinatown Wars is something that should work quite well, but while American Fugitive has some good ideas it fails to deliver on the execution, especially with the Switch version's wonky frame rate. American Fugitive takes the promise it had, prangs it on a lamp post, and gives it a wanted level.
Observation is a sci-fi thriller that puts you in a situation quite unlike any other. You never quite know what to expect, but the writing is solid enough to make sense even at its most unbelievable, and the characters of Sam and Emma really grow on you. A few niggly navigational hiccups and a couple of dull puzzles can break the immersion a bit, but even so any sci-fi fan should have a look at Observation.
For The King is a fun and stylish RPG, but prepare yourself for classic roguelite frustrations of dying and starting the campaign again, just to get a little bit further each time. If you enjoy that kind of challenge and like board games then For The King is well worth checking out.
Team Sonic Racing is a technically sound karting game, but really only sells its central mechanic well enough in multiplayer to convince you that it needs to be there. It's not helped by only featuring the mostly bland Sonic family of characters and locations, leaving it feeling like an overall downgrade from the fantastic Sonic & All-Star Racing games.