Joshua Wise
A beautiful Britain, an exuberant driving engine, and generosity of spirit make Forza Horizon 4 a masterclass.
Devil May Cry 5 revels in its own gleeful stupidity, presenting a world in which the most valuable commodity is style.
Link's Awakening is happy to be history, and it defies you not to be, as well.
In the beauty stakes and beyond, there are very few, in the rarefied realms of indie or AAA, who can challenge it.
Where it succeeds isn't in how close it scrapes to the level of prestige TV, or to films. Its coup is not, "Look how closely we can make games resemble highbrow art." It's more, "Look what previously fenced-off realms we can get interactivity into."
Uncharted 4 confidently closes the book on the series, and goes out on a high note, without feeling the need to go over-the-top with its conclusion. The things that it does well are much bigger, and much more important than the few niggling things that it – along with its three predecessors – gets wrong. Naughty Dog has increased its powers of misdirection exponentially, advancing the series in its skillful and peerless storytelling, whilst leaving the gameplay more or less unchanged. Thankfully they have not left it untouched, and this is clearly the best – and last – of what is now an unrivaled quartet of games.
Every now and again a game is more than the sum of its parts; Hyper Light Drifter is a game that is precisely the sum of its parts. Taking inspiration from the very best, Preston and his team at Heart Machine have delivered an experience that shines. Occasionally obscured by the lack of a coherent visual language, the game relies on your willingness to invest a little bit of your head, your heart, and your guts and bravado. Given how good Hyper Light Drifter is, I don't think you'll find that very hard.
If you’re a fan of bullet-hell, synthwave, neon, the eighties, samurai swords, or creepy bunny masks, then you owe it to yourself to play Furi. If you’re a fan of none of the above, but you like masterful game design then you should play Furi. It respects you; it doesn’t pander to you, it’s subtle, and at the best of times it will make you feel like a skilled and masterful warrior, because by the end of it, you will be.
Despite the lack of a campaign and any tonal consistency, Black Ops 4 boasts a thrilling entry into the battle royale space.
Dead Cells is, at times, constrained by the genres it so heavily draws from, but its vibrant pixel art, furious combat, and rigorous execution make for a winning formula all its own.
Days Gone is a grim, beautiful B-movie; its action and writing are full of pulpy thrills, and by the end of it, I found myself liking a character called Deacon St. John – an achievement in itself.
Control is Remedy at its best: pulpy, weird, and immensely satisfying to play. Its setting is a potent concoction of '60s brutalist style and wacky sci-fi. Performance issues hamper the shootouts, and the characters are a little cold, but it's the setting and atmosphere that win the day.
Luigi's Mansion 3 is a beautifully animated adventure with satisfying puzzles and gadgets; it suffers slightly for its length, but a deep well of charm and humour win the day.
Death Stranding is filled with things that must be seen, a sprawling, genre-spanning sci-fi adventure from a developer like no other. It's tackier clumps of writing and stunt casting seem overwrought, but its direction and its stars shine brightest
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order has a string of wisely chosen influences, and it delivers on the long-overdue promise of a fun Jedi action-adventure. Bugs and design wrinkles irritate.
With Shenmue III, we are offered a glimpse into a gifted mind, constantly turning the everyday into play.
Those intoxicated by the game's dreamy brew may argue that there are no detours—that, like the Zero, you're either on it or you're not. If you're anything like me and Conway, however, you'll be somewhere in-between.
John Wick Hex could have been a number of different games, none of them as strange and satisfying as this.
The game may never have been as sweet as it was in the first of the three main areas, but, to its credit, that’s because I was swept along by the story.
The new studios pay both respect and homage to the original releases by valuing their clarity above all else.