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Supergiant Games continue to burn brightly as an independent studio, with Pyre being their latest imaginative and fantastical adventure. It casts aside many of the trappings of an action RPG from Bastion and Transistor in favour of something more akin to a real time tactical game, wrapping its fast paced and often fraught battles up in a world and cast of characters that gradually draw you into its cyclical tale.
Cars 3: Driven to Win is a fun and eclectic racer, and one that boasts plenty of content that'll keep fans of the films happy for many hours, especially younger gamers who may well overlook some of the flaws. It's a shame then that the game's poor performance, lack of polish and often unfair difficulty level make it that much harder to recommend to anyone else.
Valkyria Revolution's biggest crime is that it is utterly dull. The tonal changes to the narrative, and to the combat system, are completely pointless, and not only do a disservice to the Valkyria name, they render it meaningless. Such are the differences between the two titles I don't understand why they bothered to sully the series' fantastic reputation with this release.
Superhot VR should be the ultimate power fantasy. Being able to juggle four pistols, firing each one off while dodging a hail of bullets is just one of the many stunning set pieces I've relished in. However, when one cog in the machine gets caught, that absolute immersion slips away. If optimised better and with slightly reworked levels, this would be a PlayStation VR essential. As it stands, Superhot VR is still good though too inconsistent.
Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles is that it is a beautiful canvas that needs more detail to make it a masterpiece. Gemea is an enchanting location and the majority of systems in the game function well, but the magic hook is missing. The story isn't engrossing and the quests just blend into each other for the most part, as do the characters that give them. Gemea is magical, the content not so much.
While Fantastic Contraption encourages you to be creative, it immediately boxes you in at the same time with a limited number of solutions and even fewer tools. Its novelty wears off far too soon, resulting in something as shaky as its player-made creations.
A fairly straightforward sequel to one of the Wii U's best games, Splatoon 2's unique take on the online multiplayer shooter is as fresh as ever on Switch. Nintendo still have one foot in the past with online functionality, stubbornly sticking to their (paint) guns when they should be learning from others, but these flaws are easily covered up once you get into a game. At its heart, Splatoon 2 is a second helping of one of the most inventive shooters of the last decade.
In the end, it doesn't even matter that the gameplay here is so good and delightfully complex. Pox Nora on PlayStation 4 is a failure in execution rather than concept; an excellent card and strategy game that few will likely stick with because of the frankly unacceptable technical issues. Even frame rate issues could be overlooked, but parts of the UI failing part way through matches rendering them unplayable and the usual F2P always online syndrome casts a dark shadow over the rest of the game. Maybe just play it on PC instead.
While I eventually enjoyed Aporia: Beyond the Valley, the moments where bugs and glitches appeared took me right out of the experience. It's a shame too, as the story is well told despite uttering no words at all, the premise is genuinely interesting, and the puzzles – when they work as intended – are a joy to solve. It's certainly one to wait on for now while they tidy up all the bugs and glitches.
Fallen Legion has a wealth of great ideas, but ultimately crumbles under its ambitions. A fun combat system helps form a strong core, but one that ultimately doesn't hold together for very long. The saving grace here is the beautiful artwork and smooth animations, which are complimented by some great music. Unfortunately, it's hard to recommend the game on those traits alone; Fallen Legion is interesting, and promising, but rarely enjoyable.
Minecraft: Story Mode gets its second season premier starts off by showing our band of heroes growing up and apart. I'm sure they'll reunite, but Jesse and Petra get to embark on a new adventure with a range of new characters added to go with them on an enjoyable new adventure. It's a shame that some of the new gameplay elements don't quite fit together, but on the whole, Season Two is off to a solid start that will likely hook those who enjoyed the original.
Anyone who is a turn based strategy game fan should be checking out Antihero, which deserves to find an audience so that its multiplayer base can flourish. This is a game that is easy to learn with a campaign that teaches you all the basics, but it can then throws a number of challenging scenarios at you. Antihero is a game that offers something a little different in the strategy genre, that's easy to learn before throwing some challenging scenarios at you, and is genuinely fun to play.
It's perhaps stepping on Super Bomberman R's toes at a fraction of the price, but Flip Wars scratches that multiplayer itch and is an absolute blast to play locally. There are currently some kinks to iron out, particularly with online matchmaking to fully use all the player slots, but with updates a possibility it's certainly one to keep an eye on to see how things develop.
Though I remember having a huge amount of fun with XII when it came out, it's always been Final Fantasy X that was ‘my' Final Fantasy game growing up. However, having replayed them both again in remastered form, it's clearly XII which comes away the winner. A wonderful remaster with welcome enhancements, it's remarkable just how fresh, fun and involving Final Fantasy XII feels over a decade later, with elements that still feel modern in a franchise well known for hanging onto the past.
Cleaning up someone else's mess has never been this much fun, and that's saying something when said mess includes pieces of evidence, corpses and more than a little bit of blood spatter. Serial Cleaner is easy to recommend as a quirky and fun stealth 'em up with a somewhat macabre sense of humour.
For around £6.29 or your regional equivalent, Kirby's Blowout Blast is a surprisingly packed game for the price. Sure it won't take long to blitz through the five worlds that first time, but the real appeal is in trying to get as high a score as possible and achieve those ranks. If you're just looking for a short game that's fun with a slightly novel concept for the platform, then Kirby's Blowout Blast is certainly a better proposition than the free-to-play Team Kirby Clash Deluxe.
Through the stylishly muted visuals and the trappings of a Communist state on the brink of collapse, Black The Fall challenges you to escape its series of perilous puzzles in a bid for freedom from oppression. Though it will live in the shadows of its critically acclaimed peers and has a few rough edges, Black The Fall is a great addition to the puzzle platformer genre.
Monolith succeeds in being an accessible yet challenging entry to the rogue-lite genre. Whilst fulfilling all the generic expectations, it remains the right side of punishing and always manages to be fun to play. It is more tightly focused than the likes of Binding of Isaac and Enter the Gungeon which makes it the perfect entry-level choice, and as much as I enjoy those games, I now have a score to settle with that Daemon. This time, it'll be different. I hope.
Overall, it's a great expansion and one that doesn't feel needlessly bloated, concentrated within a single area while adding new features elsewhere. However, if The Elder Scrolls Online hasn't already won you over, Morrowind isn't likely to tip you over the edge.
Nostalgia does play a lot into the appeal of the Rise of the Necromancer DLC for Diablo III: Reaper of Souls, but if you are prepared to play a half decade old game and its expansion one more time with the new class, you'll find that it truly is a fun experience. A lot of care has gone into the design of the skills and abilities and there's no greater feeling than standing back to watch your minions annihilate some tough monsters and unearth that legendary loot.