Desert Child is stylistically fantastic and has some of the more exciting racing gameplay we've seen this year, but it really suffers from its short length. There's an interesting, colourful world to explore in Olympia, but unfortunately things ends when it feels like Desert Child is just getting started. Still, it's an admirable effort from a talented one-man team.
Just Deal With It is another disappointing addition to the PlayLink library. The online functionality will certainly be a selling point for some, but as a couch party game it fails to add any major draws that separate it from physical card games. It may do what it says on the tin, but that's about it.
Melbits World is a nice attempt at creating a fun, simple puzzle game suited to PlayLink's smartphone functionality.
Chimparty is fun in places, but the repetition and occasional frustrations of its minigames means it's not likely to stay that way for long. As a family game it's too fiddly to be enjoyable for a sustained period of time, though its visual style is appealing enough to soften the blows of the substandard gameplay. Mario Party it certainly isn't – hopefully there'll be some better family games coming to PlayLink sooner or later.
Bar the frustrating Zeeple Dome and a few bugs, The Jackbox Party Pack 5 is yet another fantastic collection of party games. With each game offering something different -- and Mad Verse City in particular being a highlight -- Jackbox Games has made a game that should keep you and your friends entertained for a while.
My Memory of Us is an exciting and emotional trip through a dark period of human history. Its bittersweet story mixes well with its tense stealth-based gameplay, while clever puzzles flesh things out. Fittingly for a game about memories, we won't forget our time with Juggler Games' project for quite a while.
Though it's not very accessible and lacks a bit of polish, the amount of pure heart that has gone into Fire Pro Wrestling World means that it's a fun retro wrestling game once you get used to it. The endless customisation options and deep story mode provide great value, while the game's oddball nature is pretty charming. Like The Rock, Fire Pro Wrestling World is somehow still going after all these years. Unlike The Rock, its legacy hasn't been tarnished by an appearance in the Baywatch reboot.
Dan & Gary Games has given the Metroidvania-RPG genre a fair crack of the whip with Super Daryl Deluxe, but its needless amount of monotonous side quests and its floaty, button-mashing combat negates the occasional humorous highlights. There is a good game in here somewhere, but plenty of fat trimming is in order before you can get to it.
Containing an impressive adaptation of the Isle of Man's Snaefell Mountain Course, TT Isle of Man Racing: Ride on the Edge will be attractive to motorcycle nuts looking for a new experience. But its high asking price, repetitive career mode, and lack of any online community means that everyone else can simply pass this by.
It might not be too innovative, but Frantics provides an enjoyable party experience that Sony's PlayLink service has been lacking. It certainly isn't a killer app, but the fun variety of minigames and its (mostly) responsive controls show how much of a good time PlayLink can provide when it's properly used.
Milestone's latest is a fun romp through a variety of off-road locations, offering both quantity and variety in terms of tracks, cards, and modes. It's not the most ambitious racer ever, but the non-serious style of the flagship Off-Road Masters mode will be very appealing to those wanting an enjoyable arcade experience.
It's such a shame that Kerbal Space Program is so shoddily ported, because underneath its buggy, messy experience lies a fantastically detailed game with plenty for science nerds. The career mode offers replayability and near-endless depth, while the tutorials are hugely helpful in bringing new people into the complex clutches of physics, but its plethora of bugs and some huge design oversights make it very hard to recommend. The gameplay itself shoots for the stars, but its technical problems bring it crashing back down.