Digimon Survive is one of the best visual novels to come out so far this year, with plenty of heart and tension to carry you through to the final act. Fans looking for an engaging story with well-written and presented characters that deal with life-and-death situations will enjoy the ride, while players focused on the combat will probably find that the game comes up short. Despite its sluggish, padded start, Digimon Survive is well worth the long wait.
Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream is the strangest thing you'll play from Nintendo, bringing with it laughs and creativity in abundance. But even with improvements over the 3DS game, it follows a familiar structure that isn't always enthralling or hilarious.Tomodachi fans will certainly be living the dream with this new entry, but I'm not desperate to keep coming back to my island. A little more variety would've been welcome, but the customisation, and the thought of my cat being best friends with DMC's Dante, will have me peep in every so often for a little pick-me-up.
Without saying a word, FAR: Lone Sails conveys a poignant tale of hope and perseverance, masterfully balancing style with substance for an experience that feels every bit as sublime as it looks. Sure, you could grumble about the shortness of the experience, the occasionally obtuse puzzles and the very, very minor control issues, but these problems dissolve away once you're invested in the journey. We highly recommend that you give this a spin.
Superhot offers a first-person shooter experience unlike any other, and although the main campaign is a little bit on the short side, once you've made it through you'll have dozens of new ways to replay it should you wish. We're not entirely sure why this particular phrase comes to mind, but Superhot is the most innovative shooter we've played in years.
Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet is one of the stronger outings for the series in a video game format. However, it’s still bogged down by heavy-handed and often thematically troubling melodrama that’s delivered at a glacial pace and prefers to eschew the potentially interesting aspects of the world it depicts in favour of stereotypical male heroics, teenage matters of the heart and questionable attitudes to its female characters.
When you consider its low price, Gravity Duck is a genuinely fun little game with a simple premise that works, and works well. It won’t last long, and you may want to pop some of your own tunes on whilst playing it, but taken on its own merits as an addictive little time sink, this is definitely one to keep an eye on.
Vasara Collection jumps from obscurity into the top tier of bullet hells on the Switch by offering both original brilliant titles without any technical hiccups and supporting the ever popular TATE option along with a whole new game that proves to be one of the few proper four-player options of the genre on the system. The zany characters and plot just make things sweeter, and make up for the somewhat derivative origin of the series. Considering the relative obscurity of the original releases, for a reasonable asking price you might just end up with three quality, 'brand new' manic shooters in your collection.
It's not quite fluid enough to stand toe-to-toe with Super Meat Boy, but Never Give Up is nevertheless a solid platformer that offers up highly inventive, ludicrously challenging levels along with a smattering of dry humour that's well suited to the style of the game.
Obsidian has created a heartfelt tribute to the classic 'Infinity Engine' RPGs of old; one that takes the best of those games, delicately updates them and – in the process – becomes something of a classic itself. For RPG fans, this is a must-buy.
It’s a testament to the quality of Turok 2: Seeds of Evil and the great enhancements made by Nightdive Studios that this remaster is still an essential chapter of FPS history – more so than its rough-around-the-edges predecessor.
The Forbidden Arts feels like a game from the early GameCube era, but not a particularly good one. Whilst the dungeons are vast and varied, and the platforming mechanics competent enough, the combat really brings the whole experience to its knees thanks to poor enemy AI and half baked elemental mechanics that make the entire experience feel very repetitive. Add to that the lacklustre graphics and empty overworld, and this is a game that only the most ardent of fantasy enthusiasts will enjoy.
There's a lot of potential in the game's premise and presentation that could well be capitalised on for any future games, but here it feels like a bit of a wasted opportunity. Add to this the lengthy load times and technical issues, and this is game you'd be best off avoiding.
