Powerstar Golf has last-gen looks but incorporates forward-thinking features, and is a fun way to hit the links.
Strider is an unbalanced yet extremely stylish platformer, and the series' best game since the original.
Don Bradman Cricket 14 for PC is the most enjoyable and fully-featured cricket game ever made.
The Golf Club is a fun way to hit the links for golfing purists and would-be course creators.
Rory McIlroy PGA Tour is a disappointing golf game that just barely manages to make the cut.
Disney Infinity 3.0 is the most polished, cohesive and enjoyable game in the series so far.
A smartly redesigned controller and addictive song streaming makes Guitar Hero Live a largely enjoyable music game.
Despite its improved HD veneer and tweaked controls, I just didn't find the Amplitude of 2016 to be as addictive or long-lasting an experience as the Amplitude of 2003. I had some fun with it for as long as it took to play through its hypnotic campaign and unlock all its tracks in the quickplay mode, but the samey soundtrack and meagre selection of modes meant that I had little motivation to return to it thereafter. Committed high score-chasers will probably stick around in an effort to top the online leaderboards since the challenge is most certainly still there, but for everyone else Amplitude will likely feel like a commendable cover of a classic, but a mere cover all the same.
Quantum Break is a stylish, often-exhilarating third-person shooter wrapped up in a tautly paced tale of time travel.
Dangerous Golf dazzles with its impressive environmental destructibility and the general absurdity of its scenarios entertains for much of its 100 courses. However, blocked perspectives and fudged physics too often swap the fun for frustration, and ultimately you can only destroy the same expensive-looking props so many times before your appetite for destruction is well and truly sated.
There’s enough snappy dialogue and silliness in Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Spirit of Justice to satisfy long-term series fans, and the conventional courtroom sequences still feel rewarding when you get on a roll and a witness starts to unravel. But the heavy-handed mysticism of its bloated middle act and the general lack of innovation makes for a less than essential entry in the Phoenix Wright saga on the whole.
Yakuza 0 is another sprawling entry in the open-world series, packed with an extraordinary amount of things to do and centred around a genuinely compelling crime story. Since it’s a prequel, it’s also unburdened by the series’ increasingly intricate backstory and thus far more approachable for newcomers than the last few Yakuza games. While its melee combat may lag slightly behind modern genre standards, Yakuza 0 still hits far more than it misses and is a big, bold and bruising tour through the Japanese underworld.
While it’s a shame that its dungeon dwelling enemies are far too easily exploited, Blaster Master Zero is ultimately an enjoyable reimagining of a largely overlooked 8-bit classic thanks to the rewarding exploration-focussed structure of its side-scrolling overworld. There are enough secret rooms and power-ups to seek out (including an additional ending), that I was compelled to scour every last inch over the course of my eight-hour completion time. It’s a good reboot; just not a Masterful one.
If you’ve already played the original LEGO City Undercover on Wii U, then there is little reason to pick up this re-release. However, if you were one of the many who missed it the first time around then LEGO City Undercover remains a hilarious riff on police procedurals, built upon a GTA-for-juniors open world blueprint, and stuffed with enjoyable side missions and collectibles to hunt down. The addition of split-screen play, cursory in its execution as it may be, only makes the game more appealing to players who would prefer to experience LEGO City Undercover with a friend riding shotgun. And what's a good police story without a partner in crime-fighting?
If you’ve already played the original LEGO City Undercover on Wii U, then there is little reason to pick up this re-release. However, if you were one of the many who missed it the first time around then LEGO City Undercover remains a hilarious riff on police procedurals, built upon a GTA-for-juniors open world blueprint, and stuffed with enjoyable side missions and collectibles to hunt down. The addition of split-screen play, cursory in its execution as it may be, only makes the game more appealing to players who would prefer to experience LEGO City Undercover with a friend riding shotgun. And what's a good police story without a partner in crime-fighting?
Thanks to the imprecision of its shooting controls and the cheap behaviour of its AI, I could never really develop any confidence in Tokyo 42's frustrating combat. Which is a shame because, glitches aside, I really loved exploring the wonderfully crafted world and the simple yet still challenging nature of its stealth-based assassinations. This tiny hitman game dresses smart, packs the right kind of ammunition and certainly aims its sights high, it just doesn't quite nail the execution.
Ashes Cricket isn't pitch perfect, but it's the best videogame representation of the sport to date.
At its best, AO Tennis is a clumsily controlled simulation of the sport. At its worst, it's underdeveloped, under-featured and entirely broken in certain areas. It could well be improved in the weeks and months ahead via dedicated developer support, but as far as first serves go this one has landed with a thud, well wide of the service box.
Yakuza 6: The Song of Life presents the most detailed virtual chunk of Japan the series has managed to date, and its story provides a satisfying end to the Kizama Kiryu saga. However, as far as gameplay goes, Yakuza 6 doesn't make enough of an effort to break new ground, making it weaker overall than last year's Yakuza Zero.
Like the gaming equivalent of binge-watching a playlist of the funniest Vine videos, WarioWare Gold provides some enjoyable short attention span shenanigans, particularly for newcomers. But in the absence any substantial new additions and a paucity of worthwhile extras, WarioWare Gold is more like a runner-up silver for long term fans of the series.