If you haven’t played Mass Effect before, the Legendary Edition provides the perfect opportunity. If you are a veteran, you owe it to yourself to play through them at least one more time in this collection.
Resident Evil Village is worth every cent. If you loved Resident Evil 7: Biohazard then you’ll be ecstatic about being able to step back into the shoes of Ethan Winters in this new title. This is a game that is worth every penny, offering up a great blend of horror and action alongside some superb character development.
From its charismatic characters and stupendous story to its meaningful gameplay and incredible soundtrack, Undertale on Xbox is a titanic accomplishment that not only ignores the ideas of what makes a video game, but redefines them.
It’s wonderful to see a studio master their craft, and produce the stone-cold classic that represents everything that they’re trying to achieve. Josef Fares and his team at Hazelight have been noisily making the case for cooperative experiences for some time now, and with It Takes Two on the Xbox it feels like they’ve been vindicated. Find someone else to jump onto this roller coaster with - a loved one if you can - as it’s an experience you will want to talk about and share repeatedly. Now, let’s just hope it opens the door to more games like it.
Yakuza 5 is very much the magnum opus of the series; bigger, better and bolder than anything that came before it. It is immediately obvious from the get-go why it is often cited as one of the best in the entire series.
This is the best RPG I've played this year, bar none, and as such I recommend it to anyone and everyone. The story sucks you in, the game looks beautiful and sounds amazing, and with hours and hours of content to go at, there isn't a mark against it. It’s a rare thing, but this is as close to a perfect game as you’re going to get.
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla on Xbox is possibly my favourite entry in the series - stunningly glorious, fluid as you like, and full of mammoth amounts of content. If I had to be negative, then at times it can feel a little bit buggy, but I don't think I've played an open-world game that hasn't had this problem and at no point has it affected my enjoyment of the game.
Day of the Tentacle on Xbox One is the product of a studio on a roll. There was no popular franchise, no Star Wars or Indiana Jones to work with here, which meant - to hell with it - ideas could be its foundation. One mansion, three time-zones, and an inventory full of items to switch between them. Sure, the remaster is a missed opportunity, but the game is anything but: simultaneously timeless and sublime in how it uses time. We can wipe the sweat from our brow now, and be happy that Day of the Tentacle is as good as it ever was.
The gameplay is simple, yet challenging and rewarding, and the narrative is told with accomplishment and beauty. But most of all it is the themes that I got the most out of The Last Campfire on Xbox One - in these times of uncertainty it is a game that promotes hope, friendship and kindness. It's a game that I'm more than happy to give my time to.
For what it is trying to do, it is hard to fault Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2 on Xbox One for practically anything it does. It accurately and lovingly recreates the original games whilst adding tons of new content and ideas - it just perfects the formula.
There are experiences here that I’m not sure I’ve encountered before - at least not in a video game. If that’s not fodder for full marks, then I don’t know what is. Welcome to Elk on Xbox One is a game that’s going to stick long in the memory. For a story that deals in the power of memory, that feels like a suitable conclusion.
From the very first announcement way back in 2014, Cuphead was one game I just knew I had to get hands on with. With its beautiful hand-drawn animations and the 1930’s style design bringing back thoughts of the earliest cartoons, all mixed with some rather incredible attention to detail and hardcore run and gun platforming, Cuphead was looking like it could become the best-looking game I had ever seen.
Years of delays however have taken its toll on the overall hype for the game, with many expecting a release long before now. But the wait is over and Cuphead has finally arrived. Was it worth the lengthy delays or have we been tricked into getting hyped about something that is a disappointment?
