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The Invincible is a novel brought to life, blending its story and stunning visuals with engaging exploration. The Invincible goes back to the roots of sci-fi, offering something both classic and new when it comes to exploring the relationship between humanity and the final frontier.
WarioWare: Move It! calls back to the early excitement of the Wii and motion controlled gaming. There's a ton of daft and inventive microgames here (with a slightly surprising amount of bum shaking), that's great for solo, co-op and multiplayer, but brace yourself for some wonky motion controls and fleetingly frustrating failures.
Thirsty Suitors succeeds because it delivers on story. Memorable characters, top-notch voice-over work, and stand-out dialogue all help elevate the average gameplay elements. Ultimately, Jala's is a story that you'll enjoy from beginning to end, even if it does involve suffering through a deluge of QTEs.
Robocop: Rogue City certainly looks the part, but beware of this gleaming, shiny, polished graphical exterior; it hides mechanical insides that are rust-riddled and broken. Dead or alive, this game definitely shouldn't be coming with you.
Endless Dungeon is a dungeon-delving delight, shaking up a batch of mechanics and turning in a heady cocktail that's as good at home as it is served up in a space-station saloon.
I started Everspace 2 deeply unsure about a space looter shooter. Tens of hours later I don't want to play anything else. Everspace 2 is a towering achievement of space-based thrills and spills. It absolutely deserves your attention.
UFC 5 is a very good fighting game with a lot of depth to it, and will provide plenty of entertainment for UFC fans. The career mode feels quite basic though and a bit more depth to it would have been welcome. There are also bugs that need addressing and the flailing of limbs when fighters get tangled makes things look a bit comical. Still, this is worth stepping into the Octagon.
If you're tired of Madden's raft of bugs and incremental improvements, Wild Card Football offers a completely different take on the sport that's simply focused on fun. Given the choice this year, you'll find me on Wild Card's field.
Just as it gives equal screen time to its two protagonists, Alan Wake 2 is a fine blend of equal parts narrative and survival horror. Both aspects are brought together in brilliant fashion to create a game that is going to mess with your head, scare the hell out of you and make you grin about it as you plunge forward once more, eager to see what's next.
Hellboy: Web of Wyrd will delight fans with its visuals and Mignola-certified tale, but its roguelike nature and slow combat don't make the most of the source material.
Gargoyles Remastered is a disappointing time. Fans of the original will delight in getting to play it on a modern system and the quick rewind helps to alleviate some of the more egregious design choices, but it also highlights how barebones this remaster really is. The rough and ready feel isn't helped by modern visuals that look aesthetically worse and seem to add extra lag and imprecision to the controls. This is one oldie that perhaps should have been left to sleep in stony isolation.
Ghostrunner 2 is undoubtably excellent. While it's a tough and challenging game, the quick reloads help alleviate frustration and replace it with the "just one more try" drive to overcome it. There's a handful of small control niggles that might annoy, and if repeatedly dying is a pet video game peeve of yours, it might not be for you, but if the game gets its hooks into you, it's a sheer, visceral delight of dude slicing, shuriken flinging, laser dodging, taking a bullet to the face, reloading, and trying it all again.
Cities: Skylines 2 has a bright future ahead of it. The core city building is solid, a well-rounded new take on the city building genre that already covers a lot of bases, but has plenty of room for expansion and further ideas to come through to it. Sure, you might miss the creature comforts of old DLC and mods, but given time Cities: Skylines 2 will be a bigger and better city builder.
Transformers: Earthspark - Expedition isn't going to win any awards, it's (relatively) cheap and cheerful and borrows from many other games. What it does, it does well, and despite the mish mash of elements it does work as a cohesive game. Fans of the cartoon will love it, while grumpy old Geewunners may find it less enticing, especially as Optimus now sounds like your Dad's mate Dave from down the pub.
Sonic Superstars is a decent Sonic game, but it is not the return to former heights that some would expect. It offers entertainment and fun, but is marred by the action being slowed down quite a lot, interrupting the flow, and boss fights that drag on and feel like a throwback instead of an evolution.
CRYMACHINA has a promising story and a fresh aesthetic, but the presentation leaves so much to be desired. Convoluted and rushed world-building makes it hard to get invested, and the basic and repetitive combat encounters make it hard not to feel like the loop between gameplay and story is more of a chore than it's worth.
Hexarchy takes a bold step by blending 4X strategy with deckbuilding, but it works well to create a fun tactical game to enjoy in short bursts. Do not expect tons of depth when it comes to diplomacy or a slow burn, but if you want to enjoy a quick tactical game then Hexarchy is for you.
Super Mario Bros. Wonder puts a fresh new spin on the classic Mario side-scroller with wild and trippy level transformations. It's still Mario at its core, but it's fun not knowing what to expect from each level. This could be the start of a bright new era for 2D Mario games.
Jackbox Party Pack 10 is one of the stronger entries in the Jackbox pantheon, and I'm a big fan of it as a whole. Each game has its own pacing, and while I do think everyone will find their favourites as always, the mix feels very good this time around, and even the trivia game is fun. This is a great party pack that'll be a good addition to any game night. Apart from Dodo Re Mi – I hope those digital birds stay eaten.
Hot Wheels Unleashed 2 Turbocharged is like Hot Wheels Unleashed, but better in every single conceivable way. Frenetically fluid and stonkingly fast, this is a quality arcade racer that will slap smiles on the faces of both young and old alike. Just don't mention the single-player campaign.