Coming from KontrolFreek, purveyors of items to stick onto your Xbox controllers, come a new set of performance thumbsticks. These are branded with some glorious Call of Duty: Vanguard ideas, and promise to turn even an ageing old duffer like me into some kind of FPS god.
If you must play a top-down combat driving game, then I guess Bloody Rally Show is the one for you, but you should be aware that the fun it brings falls off ever so quickly.
Guazu: The Rescue is certainly cute. It might be enough for an undiscerning youngster, and it’s barely thirty minutes for some of the easiest Gamerscore around. But we are stretching ourselves here: make no mistake, this glorified student project is more guano than Guazu.
Castle on the Coast is about the messiest, most uneven little 3D platformer that you could hope to encounter. But it is also generous, with plenty of collectibles and game genres packed into its five or six hours. When you factor in a charitable donation to Valley Children’s Hospital in California, the balance is in its favour.
Trash Quest is a competent Metroidvania that has the chutzpah to try out a few design ideas. It does away with guidance, leaves you free to explore, and chucks in a Dark Souls-like approach to death. Two out of the three work well, but the last falters.
For as good as the Elite controller is, there’s certainly room in the market for other third parties to deliver their own take, with much of these coming in at a more reasonable price point. One of those is the PowerA FUSION Pro 2 Wired Controller - whilst it’s not perfect, it’s definitely one to consider.
There's no debating that Horatio goes Snowboarding is a great little homage to the Horace classic from yesteryear, but there's just not enough variation to the gameplay to warrant more than a few hours of play at best.
Your feelings on randomness will determine whether Dicey Dungeon is for you. You can plan for that RNG and occasionally even stop it, but the dice will occasionally look up at you with its piercing snake eyes, and you’ll just have to swallow the loss. If you can accept that brand of cruelty, Dicey Dungeon is cracking.
Despite falling into some of the same traps as its predecessor, Halo Infinite is a huge step in the right direction and something of a correction course. Overall 343 Industries have delivered on their promise to return Halo to its roots, whilst breaking new ground, and it’s much better off for it.
Deiland: Pocket Planet is a very family-friendly game, one that is complete with cartoony vibes and inoffensive gameplay which is full of imagination. The concept itself is an unusual one, mixing farming sim ideas with planet progression. Yet whilst the visuals and soundtrack are nice, making progression does sometimes seem to take an age.
Your enjoyment of Grow: Song of the Evertree will depend on whether you find that its brand of Stardew Valley-style nurturing to be a chore or a compulsion. Find its wavelength, dallying with its systems for short bursts each day, and we’re confident that you will find a tug to return.
Ever Forward is a pretty great little puzzler that just so happens to have a wonderful narrative weaved in. The originality of the stages is worth highlighting, but there is a bit of a struggle in terms of the gameplay mechanics and the movement of Maya; it feels a bit too slow and not always accurate in its response time. Aside from that, Ever Forward is a puzzler that is worth consideration.Â
Asterix & Obelix: Slap Them All! feels like a missed opportunity to give the world the Asterix game that we have been waiting for. There is no progression, no making the heroes stronger, and at the end, no real desire to see the game through to a conclusion. It’s the same characters and the same action, for level after level, with a different backdrop. Sadly this makes for a dull game.
