Nintendo's puzzling platformer sits in the shadow of its predecessor. Yoshi's Island, WarioWare and Luigi's Mansion are all great examples of the House of Mario at its creative best when exploring the oddball adventures of Mario's lesser known co-stars.
Third time around and the craft works better than ever. Anyone worried about what would happen to LittleBigPlanet once Media Molecule had left the building can stop: Sumo has done the Molecules proud. You'd be hard pushed to spot the difference.
The ultimate love letter to Nintendo gets even more elaborate. There's a niggling feeling when you first start up Super Smash Bros. for Wii U that Nintendo perhaps showed its hand a little too early. After all, by releasing the 3DS version nearly two months before its console brother, Nintendo had essentially ensured that those who purchased both would have few secrets to discover once the Wii U game rolled around.
Involving RPG has questions asked about its ability to open up. We've been standing in a tavern for 20 minutes. We're not doing a quest, we're not talking to anyone and we've not put the controller down to go and make a cuppa. We're actively loitering in the corner of this cosy, hearth-lit bar, listening to a bard strumming away on a lute. And not in a kooky, look at how bad/funny/videogamey she is way. She's good. Great in fact.
Ubisoft introduces its most beautiful, dangerous and inspiring battleground yet. This is a series that never ceases to make us feel spoiled. Across the course of the first three games we've already been served a South Pacific island, a Central African state and a Southeast Asian tropical paradise within which to roam, hunt and go wild. Not to mention the neon-infused, 80s action flick inspired cyberpunk spinoff, Blood Dragon, so exaggerated that it makes Escape From New York look like a documentary. Evidently, not much value is assigned to holding back and dialling things down. Playing it safe is, clearly, not an option.
Another sad day for Avatar fans. Fans of Avatar: The Last Airbender have it pretty bad. When the series isn't being confused with James Cameron's blockbuster blue man movie, it's being dismissed as just another cartoon fad.
Ubisoft's latest slice of history asks us to slay Paris. The Creed series often feels like Forrest Gump as directed by Tony Scott, the kind of game's where Tom Hanks' lovable simpleton, instead of shaking JFK's hand, would be recast as his hooded shooter, eliminating a fiendish Templar doubleagent with what would probably be an actual magic bullet.
Insomniac finds its form again with a new shooter built from old parts. Everything you need to know about this is explained with the first gun you're given.
Overall quality overcomes tech tree troubles in Civ's latest. Here's how the average game of Sid Meier's behemoth strategy franchise entry pans out. Step 1: start up, choose your nation and get cracking. Step 2: receive a gentle tap on the shoulder from a concerned family member, as it's now breakfast time and you've somehow managed to sit playing for hours without even realising time was passing.
Shinji Mikami's new nightmare is compelling chimera made from horror's greatest hits. You want to know how nasty The Evil Within is? Really nasty. Like, stepping on a Lego while swigging rotten milk as your favourite nephew drops his ice cream on a fox poo nasty. But that doesn't mean it's bad. Instead, like all the best horror, it's all created for the specific purpose of making you suffer; a spiteful, barbed-wire homunculus, twisted together for maximum disgust - and consequently - your maximum enjoyment.
There's a lot riding on the success of DriveClub. Every console needs a quality racing game as a matter of priority, the genre appealing to a demographic so large and varied that it acts as a lure for many otherwise uninterested potential players.
Sega's masterfully produced horror overcomes length issues through supreme scares. Turns out, fear doesn't get old. Whether it's bricking it over an eight-legged visitor in the bath or being relentlessly pursued by a perfect organism with a phallic-shaped head, getting scared silly is not something you tire of.
Sega's masterfully produced horror overcomes length issues through supreme scares. Turns out, fear doesn't get old. Whether it's bricking it over an eight-legged visitor in the bath or being relentlessly pursued by a perfect organism with a phallic-shaped head, getting scared silly is not something you tire of.
A genuinely great Lord Of The Rings game? Now you're Tolkien. Brogg the Wanderer can do one. This square-shouldered, corpulent cretin has been the bane of our first playthrough of this Tolkienian sandbox adventure. He's cleaved his poison-edged broadsword into our chest more times than is healthy, even for a main character that's immortal.
The gloves come off in fighting series' portable debut. The first thing that hits you - Peach's frying pan aside - is the speed. Super Smash Bros. for 3DS is extraordinarily slick, its characters thumping each other at a glorious 60 frames per second.
Playground Games' sequel is simplistic in its sheer entertainment value. The opening cinematic sets new standards in unnecessary petrol-headed pretentiousness, featuring hot young people frolicking in sunny fields spliced with footage of exotic motors carving up coastlines to pulse-quickening beats.
EA puts a welcome emphasis on improving core gameplay. EA Sports is pulling a Manchester City with this one. Just like the current Premier League champions, EA has resisted the temptation to break up a winning formula since last season and instead of bringing in fancy new additions, it's only tweaking the areas that are necessary to lead it to another championship this term.
Last week Final Fantasy XV Game Director Hajime Tabata told Peter Brown that we'll play his new game next year. Peter and Alexa join Danny to discuss how this is possible.
Last week Final Fantasy XV Game Director Hajime Tabata told Peter Brown that we'll play his new game next year. Peter and Alexa join Danny to discuss how this is possible.
Rocket League DLC Patch Available Now, Adds New Map and Spectator Mode