Meaningful changes and additions are something we hope to see in new FC releases pretty much every year, but FC 27 actually delivers those changes. Unfortunately, the results are uneven- while some improvements actually do change things for the better, other flagship changes feel like they could have done with more time in the oven.

"Meaningful changes and additions are something we hope to see in new FC releases pretty much every year, but FC 27 actually delivers those changes."

Let’s start with the positive stuff, and not just because it tackles the area of the game that I personally pour most of my time into every year- career mode. EA Sports FC 27 makes a number of changes to the manager career experience, and for the most part, unlike most years, those changes actually do end up being as meaningful as they’re made out to be. Chief among them is the overhauled transfer system, which addresses some of the series’ longest running career mode issues in clever ways.

Gone are the stilted and awkward cutscenes that would see your manager negotiating transfer deals and contracts with managers and players, with a new and overhauled system instead slotting in. Each transfer negotiation is now a multi stage affair, requiring you to scout out players, enquire about their availability, and engage in negotiations with both club and player before finalizing deals. Each step feels much more deliberate now, with negotiations taking longer and requiring more thought and actual engagement with the mechanics.

More granular negotiation options are now on offer, allowing you to offer deals structured in a variety of ways to navigate your transfer budget, while clubs and players also have more realistic financial expectations going into negotiations, effected more believably in turn by players’ form. Clubs can also take their time to mull over offers submitted by you, while you also have other tools to resort to, such as publicly declaring interest in a player in order to pressure reluctant clubs into negotiations.

Though things are still not quite on the same level as something like the Football Manager series where transfers are concerned, the new system definitely does make for more believable and engaging experience, often even getting you embroiled in legitimate, long drawn-out transfer sagas. There’s also new cutscenes sprinkled in, as well as an entirely new hub with a slick new interface, all coming together to finally deliver the long overdue overhaul to the transfer system that we’ve been hoping to see in career mode for years.

"More granular negotiation options are now on offer, allowing you to offer deals structured in a variety of ways to navigate your transfer budget"

Career mode makes several other solid improvements as well. For instance, there’s the new dynamic overall system, which sees players’ overall ratings fluctuating through the season based on their form, fitness, how they are training, and other factors. Morale is one of those factors as well, of course, which means effectively juggling your squad and ensuring that your best players are getting enough minutes becomes much more crucial than it has been in previous years’ career modes.

Rival clubs also behave more realistically in terms of how they go about building their squads, which means AI transfers in later seasons in long-running career mode saves are less outlandish than they tend to be in most entries. The repetitive press and media interaction cutscenes have also been replaced, allowing for things to keep moving at a better pace. With a couple of significant overhauls and a handful of smaller improvements coming together, FC 27’s career mode feels fresher and more enjoyable than it has in years.

When it comes to the actual on pitch gameplay, the improvements are much more granular- albeit still worthy of praise. EA Sports FC 27 allows players to swap between competitive and authentic gameplay styles, with the former being closer to the arcadey style that FIFA and FC entries have usually been known for, and authentic gameplay going instead for slower, more deliberate, simulation focused gameplay. There is, of course, plenty of fun to be had either way, especially with the tried and true arcadey style of the series, though personally I found myself greatly enjoying the authentic style.

Much greater control is given to you, making everything from tacking and closing down to making runs and sweeping with the goalkeeper much less automated than you may have been expected to in past years. FC 27’s on pitch gameplay feels much slower, more skill oriented, and much more tactical this way, and though it can certainly take some getting used to, I’ve found it to be quite enjoyable so far. Set pieces have also seen significant tweaks, allowing you to set up corners and free kicks with much greater precision- though that also means opposing players are also much more adept at scoring with free kicks or driving in deadly crosses from corners now.

"Conceptually, The Grounds is a great idea, though unfortunately, it feels like it could have done with more fleshing out."

Unfortunately, not all of EA Sports FC 27’s big swings are success stories. In fact, the game’s biggest new addition, the social hub known as The Grounds, is perhaps where it is most disappointing. Similar (at least in a very superficial sense) to NBA 2K’s The City, FC 27’s The Grounds mode allows players to navigate a small open world town that serves as both a social hub and a hub for a variety of football related activities.

These range from 5v5 Rush games and 3v3 matches to 1v1 and 2v2 affairs and even minigames like balloon ball (which tasks you with, you guessed it, bursting balloons with a football). Outside of that, there are stores to shop at, targets to shoot down all over the map, football facts and tidbits to find in the environment, and more.

Conceptually, The Grounds is a great idea, though unfortunately, it feels like it could have done with more fleshing out. For starters, there isn’t nearly enough content in here to keep players meaningfully engaged for a long stretch of time. Then there’s the fact that the movement feels stiff at times, while the town itself can also feel a little dull.

Though there’s some nice environmental variety across its three zones (inspired by Britain, Argentina, and France), overall, it feels like a static location with not much depth and interactivity, and not nearly enough content to keep you engaged. Even worse are the supremely awkwardly voiced cutscenes that se real world footballers like Kylian Mbappe and Paulo Dybala speaking with your avatar character to deliver some of the most painfully milquetoast athletic advice the human brain could imagine. While I don’t doubt that The Grounds is an idea that can lead to a legitimately great mode down the line – and hopefully will – right now it feels half baked and shallow.

Overall, EA Sports FC 27 is definitely somewhat uneven with some of its bigger additions, but in other, rather critical areas, it does manage to make several meaningful improvements. Career mode in particular sees some long overdue improvements with transfers in particular, while the on pitch gameplay is also suitably addictive and enjoyable in the state that the game has launched. The Grounds could definitely do with significant post launch upgrades, from new content to crucial layers of gameplay polish, but by and large, FC 27 feels like a much needed change up for EA’s stagnating football series.

This game was reviewed on PlayStation 5.

Silent Hill: Townfall sees players stepping into the shoes of Simon, who awakens to find himself in the Scottish island town of St. Amelia, with no memory of how he got there, and nothing on him except an IV drip in his arm and a hospital tag with his name around his wrist.

With no inhabitants to be found and a thick blanket of fog covering the entire town, it quickly becomes clear that all is not well in St. Amelia. As Simon works his way through the nightmares of the town and follows the voices of people from his past, he must unravel the mysteries surrounding the town, what happened to it and its people, and how it all connects to his own past.

Story and storytelling are always at the heart of every Silent Hill experience, and that is very much the case here as well. Townfall tells an engrossing story with excellently written and performed characters, while also boasting the sort of thematic depth and nuance that the series is so well known for. New information is doled out at a tantalizing, deliberate pace, revealing more about Simon’s past, his relationship with deuteragonist Zoe, and the disasters that struck the town of St. Amelia, and from its first moment to its last, the narrative never loses its grip on you.

"Story and storytelling are always at the heart of every Silent Hill experience, and that is very much the case here as well."

Going into detail will be an injustice to Silent Hill: Townfall’s story, which is best experience blind and unspoiled, but suffice to say that both on a personal, character-driven scale and with its anti-corporate themes, the game does more than enough to keep you hooked, thanks to strong writing, performances, and direction.

Townfall also benefits from strong pacing, which I’ve already touched on. The story moves at a solid pace, delivering new information in small doses at just the right moments and consistently maintaining an excellent balance between mystery and ambiguity on one hand, and answers and revelations on the other.

You rarely ever spend more than half an hour in a single location, while chapters also move at a fairly quick pace. Meanwhile, Simon’s gameplay sections – which serve as the meat and potatoes of game – are also occasionally punctuated by sections where players play as Zoe, helping inject considerable gameplay variety into the experience while also contributing to the game’s narrative.

St. Amelia itself is, of course, a big part of why the game works as well as it does, thanks primarily to its unsettling atmosphere. Silent Hill: Townfall is a slow burn in every sense of the word, which means it doesn’t constantly bombard you with enemies or set pieces to deal with, but it somehow still manages to maintain constant tension, and knows exactly when to ratchet it up.

The thick cover of fog that blankets the town is, in true Silent Hill fashion, partially responsible for that, but just as important are the incredible lighting and audio design. Whether you’re navigating the empty, silent streets of St. Amelia or the dimly lit, claustrophobic corridors of an apartment building, the atmosphere on display is consistently top notch, making every step forward and every turn around a corner feel rife with dread and palpable tension.

Meanwhile, there’s plenty to like about Silent Hill: Townfall from a gameplay and design perspective as well, albeit with some minor caveats here and there. The town of St. Amelia, for instance, is usually engaging to navigate and explore, though going off the beaten bath to tackle optional objectives doesn’t always feel as rewarding as it should. Granted, there are valuable resources to be found, story tidbits to discover through notes, and some limited collectibles to track down, but exploration can still sometimes feel a little too barebones.

That is thanks primarily to the level design occasionally being quite straightforward, especially when you’re in indoor locations. In contrast, opening up shortcuts and unlocking the environment in the town itself feels much more like what you’d expect to see in a survival horror experience where exploration is concerned, which only serves to shine a brighter light on locations in the game that feel much more simplistically designed.

"Combat and stealth are also areas where Silent Hill: Townfall impresses."

That said, strong puzzle design does help make up for inconsistencies in the exploration department. Silent Hill as a franchise has always been known for its puzzles, and Townfall doesn’t disappoint. In true survival horror (and Silent Hill) fashion, puzzles typically task you with exploration different locations to find specific items, but Townfall puts its own unique twist on things with Simon’s portable CRTV, which frequently shows him clips and videos that contain hints about where you should go next.

Zoe’s sections, meanwhile, also contain some of the game’s strongest and most engaging puzzles- including one particular section that tasks you with following instructions from a doctor over an intercom and navigating complicated medical machinery as part of a tense, complex procedure. Though there are times where puzzles can feel a little obtuse at times, the majority of them are thoughtfully designed challenges that are consistently satisfying to solve. On a side note, personally, I would recommend playing the game with puzzle hints turned off for an even more engaging and immersive experience.

Combat and stealth are also areas where Silent Hill: Townfall impresses. Though it isn’t a game that goes heavy on either of those two, Townfall knows exactly when to hit players with combat or stealth scenarios, and more often than not, they tend to land incredibly well. Your toolset overall is fairly limited, with a choice of breakable melee weapons, a pistol, bottles and bricks to distract enemies with, and the like, though it’s in their usage that Townfall finds its gameplay strengths. Thanks to strong encounter design, making your way past enemies – whether you’re choosing to sneak past them or engaging in messy, hectic combat – is always an incredibly tense experience.

Simon’s aforementioned CRTV – or Zoe’s pager in her sections – is also a crucial element where combat and stealth are concerned. Tuning into different frequencies, Simon can see silhouettes of nearby monsters on his portable device’s screen, allowing you to keep an eye on your foes as you hide behind cover to avoid attention. Meanwhile, Simon can also hide in cupboards and closets, or peak around cover to get glimpses of monsters in the vicinity, a la Alien: Isolation. Taken together, Silent Hill: Townfall’s seemingly straightforward and simple gameplay mechanics make for a consistently engaging and stressful experience.

That said, Townfall’s lack of enemy variety is a little disappointing. On one hand, the game deserves props for its strong artistic design and visual flair, with the town of St. Amelia and the nightmares that occupy it consistently delivering striking visual imagery. At the same time, however, it feels like there’s more that the game could have done with its concepts and ideas. Though things do start to open up on this front in the game’s back half in particular, overall, compared to Silent Hill’s best outings, Townfall feels disappointingly limited in terms of things such as enemy variety or bosses.

"All said and done, Silent Hill: Townfall is yet another memorable outing for Konami’s psychological horror franchise, cementing its resurgent success once again."

One area where the game deserves unequivocal praise, however, is how tactile the entire experience feels. Developer Screen Burn Interactive made the choice to set the game in 1996, and the decision pays off in spades. From Simon’s CRTV to the old school computers you occasionally use throughout the game, from Zoe’s pager to the phones you use to save your progress, from in-world map you use to navigate the town to so much more, everything in the game feels tactical and grounds you into the world.

From Metro to Dead Space and others, there have been several games that have successfully used diegetic UI elements to heighten their world’s atmosphere, and Silent Hill: Townfall does the same with similar levels of success.

All said and done, Silent Hill: Townfall is yet another memorable outing for Konami’s psychological horror franchise, cementing its resurgent success once again. Though much more contained and straightforward than recent entries like Silent Hill 2 and Silent Hill f, Townfall nonetheless manages to deliver an excellent, tightly written, and memorable story while also boasting strong atmosphere, engaging puzzles, tense combat and stealth, and stunning visual and audio design- all the hallmarks that make for a good Silent Hill experience.

This game was reviewed on the PlayStation 5.

I’m happy to tell you that if you’ve been eager to dive into Estelle’s new role, and to know how things with Joshua pan out, this one’s going to be a treat. However, if you’re looking for gameplay that gives you a fair challenge while pushing you to make use of every tool in your arsenal, I’d say that you’re better off waiting until this one gets some polish. But let’s go back to the story for the moment, as it’s definitely among the stronger parts of the experience.

"Those new characters are either going to be a highlight of the experience or a rather hit-and-miss attempt to fill the narrative void that Joshua left behind."

If you’re coming into this one blind, a helpful recap lets you get up to speed on all the major beats, although the game’s prologue emphasizes Estelle and Joshua’s past dynamic that’s definitely going to feel undercooked if you weren’t very interested in their bond from the first game. I could see myself finding Estelle’s initial refusal to accept his departure and the manner in which she is convinced to go after him a tad too silly for a newly appointed senior bracer, and the game’s anime-inspired trappings are evident in such moments. That’s not considering other conversations where the topic can flit wildly between the absolutely mundane and ones that deal with the world’s socio-political troubles. It can get jarring when it happens, and it’s often enough to be noticeable.

Things pick up right where the previous game left off and get kicked into gear quite quickly, leading you into a lengthy prologue that helps you get up to speed with the game’s mechanics, old and new, while providing a rather convenient narrative explanation for why you’re going to have to collect Quartz and new Arts and Crafts all over again. Was it convincing? Not really, but I welcomed the chance to get to build crafting for Estelle and the new allies she finds in her search for Joshua.

Those new characters are either going to be a highlight of the experience or a rather hit-and-miss attempt to fill the narrative void that Joshua left behind. While they’re all capable warriors in the field, their personalities often feel like they’ve been crafted to play second fiddle to Estelle for the most part. They’re still charming and interesting, but I truly believe that they could have been better woven into the story, with more to them than simply accompanying Estelle on her journey.

There are some familiar faces in the mix, such as Agate Crosner, whose Heavy Blade was among my personal favorites, and those who may have been on the opposing side of Estelle’s efforts in the previous game.

Speaking of the big bads, the shady organization’s members are certainly among the cast’s more memorable additions as they step onto the stage with flair and sinister substance. They’ve always been my favorites in this story, and that holds true with the remake as well. You only have to watch Campanella be unhinged for a few scenes before you begin to like his irreverence and smug arrogance.

"You’re going to want a refresher of events in the original game before you jump in at the very least, and one that’s more detailed than the recap you begin this one with."

However, one thing to keep in mind is that several of the NPCs you get to interact with as a part of that story often refer back to Estelle’s time as a junior bracer in the first game, and you might be a tad lost if this is the first one you’re playing. You’re going to want a refresher of events in the original game before you jump in at the very least, and one that’s more detailed than the recap you begin this one with. It’s definitely worth having all that lore to give you more context about the events that this one talks about, and it’s going to elevate the experience.

It could also help you with the game’s combat, which presents so many mechanics to you in the prologue that it can seem overwhelming. It feels like the game assumes you’re coming to it after playing the previous game, with introductions to its systems coming by at such a rapid pace they feel like they were designed to be reminders rather than actual tutorials. However, getting the basics of combat down isn’t too hard since the excellent blend of real-time and tactical gameplay is back, and works so well when you begin making use of everything it offers you.

There’s a lot of freedom to specialize characters right from the get go although your party members often come with obvious strengths that you definitely want to exploit. Estelle, however, is extremely versatile, and it’s a lot of fun to tinker with loadouts and see what chaos you can create in a fight with a list of skills that are both powerful in their utility as well as dazzling in their action. Unlike her companions, she doesn’t have any restrictions in her Orbment,  who feel restricted to one element or the other from the get go, she isn’t restricted to a single elemental and I soon had ways to inflict a variety of effects like Burn and Stun with her attacks, while she also doubled up as the party’s healer when things got dicey.

"Your party feels like a coherent unit when it all comes together, and breaking through your opponent’s guard to expose them to a Follow-Up from one member of a coordinated attack with Estelle is very satisfying to pull off."

Of course, you do get to switch things up for the rest of your party too, but Estelle is the one you’re going to be experimenting with the most since she’s a constant presence while the story does send people you’re journeying with down different paths from time to time to make way for new additions to Estelle’s list of allies.

Switch to the game’s tactical mode, and you’re going to watch your party members unleash skills that are so darn spectacular you won’t find yourself skipping any of the cutscenes that play in a fight. The new Brave Rush is a great part of that, as is the expanded approach to your Crafts and S-Crafts. Your party feels like a coherent unit when it all comes together, and breaking through your opponent’s guard to expose them to a Follow-Up from one member of a coordinated attack with Estelle is very satisfying to pull off. But it also exposes a problem with the combat that I couldn’t ignore.

While the moves themselves look and feel so powerful, it’s a wonder that any opponent can even withstand their devastating effects; the actual damage they do on foes even on the game’s default difficulty preset, is underwhelming. The new Orbments Estelle and her fellow bracers received are presented as serious upgrades, but that narrative upgrade doesn’t really translate into any practical gameplay effects in the early game at least.

That’s easily remedied as you collect more Quartz to exchange for upgrades to your Orbments, and things really open up as soon as you get access to more Arts and Crafts, making things quite interesting once you really begin engaging with the system and crafting builds that suit your playstyle. My take on Estelle, for instance, made good use of her staff to create opportunities for Analise’s blade to serve as a high-damage, critical-focused damage dealer.

" The combat is so fluid and slick that I found myself neglecting the story objective that I was chasing just to stick around and keep fighting enemies."

Enemy variety is great, although it’s only the bosses you fight who are actually going to stay with you once you reach the story’s end. They come with memorable introductions and moves that are as stunning as the ones you pull off.

The combat is so fluid and slick that I found myself neglecting the story objective that I was chasing just to stick around and keep fighting enemies, grinding out resources that I could use to unlock new stuff to use in the field. That holds true across the game’s narrative, with progression opening up so many possibilities that become even better when you pull in the right party members to help you maximize their effectiveness. It’s a very satisfying process of mixing and matching that is sure to keep you playing far longer than you would have if it was just the story on offer.

As a remake, Trails in the Sky Second Chapter’s fully 3D environments, the excellent character models, animations, and cinematics make it feel like a modern take that preserves the spirit and the lighthearted vibe of the original experience so well it becomes a joy to engage with. Those flaws I mentioned? They melt away as the game pulls you into a story that’s brimming with charm and the kind of reckless optimism that only a game that’s decidedly anime can pull off.

The soundtrack is a major part of that, and is a highlight of the experience on offer right from the get-go. It ebbs and flows with what’s unfolding on screen, punctuating the emotions each scene is meant to convey so well, and yet, subtly, you don’t realize its effects unless you’re actively looking for them. The English voice acting is suitably upbeat too, and it was good enough for me not to switch it to the Japanese version, something I do quite often in such titles.

As a sequel to last year’s title, Second Chapter definitely ups the ante on the narrative front, with Estelle feeling like she’s taking on more than she can handle without Joshua before things in the story unfold. In terms of gameplay, its new additions are inspired, and certainly add a bit of flair and spectacle to the table. But it’s in the way things are paced where I’d say the first title has a distinct advantage, as this one can feel unnecessarily stuffed from time to time.

It’s going to take you quite a while to play the story and engage with its side content, as this is a massive game with a lot of stuff to do. Heck, I can see myself spending hours on end simply toying with different combinations of Arts and quartz just to see what I could come up with in the next few fights I got into. The main story could have used a bit of trimming to cut down on time spent watching cutscenes unfold, but if this kind of story is something you’re already a fan of, I don’t see that being an issue at all.

The game performed like a charm on my PS5, running smoothly on the default graphical preset with no options to tweak things in favor of performance or quality. There was only a single crash during my time with the game, and it presented a clean image and great, consistent frame rates across the board. As far as the performance on this one goes, there’s definitely nothing to complain about for me.

As it stands, it’s more Trails in the Sky, which is still a great thing to have, especially if you enjoyed First Chapter.

This game was reviewed on PlayStation 5.

Seven years after playing it, I’m still enamored by its setting, narrative, characters, and overall vibe. An SCP-style organization under threat from an invasive entity from another dimension was already a solid premise. But the mystery behind the Oldest House, the excellent gameplay that fused fantastic third-person shooting with telekinetic powers, and the Metroid-like approach to backtracking and side content made it an incredible experience. Naturally, expectations were high for Control Resonant.

"Admittedly, I wasn’t immediately on board with Dylan’s awkwardness, even if he hasn’t seen the outside world in decades, and there’s that whole deal about killing multiple FBC agents while possessed by the Hiss in the first game – as potent a source for self-loathing as redemption."

The best comparison is that Resonant is to Control what Batman: Arkham City was to Arkham Asylum, though it doesn’t offer a large open world and diverges significantly in combat. The overarching feeling is that Remedy is finally tapping into its vision for what an out-and-out action RPG could look like while leveling up its art design, traversal, and environments. Even with some technical quibbles on PS5; even with the combat requiring some investment before everything really starts to click; even with some side tasks that don’t feel entirely imaginative; and yes, even past some iffy writing and a familiar trope that ends up working better than I thought, Control Resonant is a fantastic experience.

Seven years after the Oldest House locked down to avoid the Hiss getting out, Dylan Faden awakens from his coma to find that…well, the Hiss got out. However, that’s far from the worst of it, as Manhattan is in the middle of a paranatural cataclysm called The Patterning. It’s somehow keeping the Hiss contained within, but the Federal Bureau of Control – such as it is – still needs to figure out how to contain it and many other entities in what’s essentially the Army of Nightmares scene from Cabin in the Woods but with a more paranatural slant. Then there are the Resonants, powerful entities that seem connected to The Patterning but also unfortunate victims of its effect.

Of course, that makes things a bit awkward because Dylan – who’s looking for his MIA sister, Jesse – isn’t very well-liked by the FBC. Thanks in no small part to Zoe de Vera, an agent from outside the Oldest House who saw what he can do, he serves as a disposable asset. Admittedly, I wasn’t immediately on board with Dylan’s awkwardness, even if he hasn’t seen the outside world in decades, and there’s that whole deal about killing multiple FBC agents while possessed by the Hiss in the first game – as potent a source for self-loathing as redemption.

Thankfully, Remedy knows when to temper it, and he slowly grows in significant ways, whether it’s learning how to be sarcastic or coming to terms with what the FBC did to him in his Prime Candidate Training days. It serves as a good bit more than once, though, like Dylan following a line of cars and telling Zoe with full seriousness that they were heading to a parking building. For reasons beyond the obvious, sure, but the reaction sold it.

Dylan obviously serves as a way to bring new players into the franchise, by sheer virtue of being out of the loop for so long, but this also feels like the start of a new story. One with several vital connections and continuations to its predecessor – and which you’ll appreciate far more by playing through the latter – yet still standing on its own regardless.

"Even if Remedy’s version of Manhattan isn’t bustling with hundreds of NPCs – and those that are present offer pretty much what you’d expect in terms of routines and voice acting – it’s still full of incredible details."

Zoe serves as an excellent foil throughout this, embodying the workaholic, standoffish field agent who also isn’t afraid to do the right thing. Another cliché, the so-called “heart of gold” comes up with her character, but as with Dylan’s awkwardness, it’s thankfully not her only defining trait. Their chemistry, as they go from “strictly business” to friends, is well-handled, even with the odd exchange here and there that could have used a bit of fine-tuning.

For those worried about too many “Focus M”-style situations that would take away from the storytelling and exploration, Control Resonant avoids much of that. As much as Dylan doesn’t know what’s going on, or really what to make of Manhattan, this goes for the rest of the FBC. So in addition to being the only one capable of combating the more serious paranatural threats, Dylan is also paving the way, collecting data and mapping out each zone (which ties into the overall gameplay loop).

After defeating the first Resonant and liaising, for lack of a better word, with the FBC, you’re effectively let loose in Manhattan. Several zones open up, and even if you can’t fight every single Resonant immediately, you also don’t need to. They’re often distinct from Dylan’s other mission, which is venturing into the Faults and assisting Jesse in whatever she’s trying to do. These often unlock new traversal abilities. Hover, double-jump and dashing are available fairly early on, so you can reasonably bound across the city without too many hurdles.

It’s Shift that really starts playing with your perspective, as Dylan can walk on walls and ceilings, readjusting the perspective to fit. So many of the game’s most memorable sequences – including the Sinkhole Incident – make use of it in a lovingly disorienting fashion. However, it’s not long before you’re using it to readjust your position in battle, if only for a momentary reprieve. Reach is more straightforward, sending Dylan across massive gaps. While finding the right angle could be finicky at times, it synergizes with Shift and really opens up late-game exploration.

As noted earlier, this isn’t an open-world experience where everything neatly interconnects, especially from the start. Learning the layout is thus key, and even if a zone looks small on the map, not every objective is a straight path. On that note, Remedy doesn’t give you a waypoint, guided arrows or a scent trail indicating where to go. But hey, the FBC is nice enough to put up a sign leading to The Park, if the abundance of Mold wasn’t enough of an indication – a lovely bit of world-building hinting that the growth wasn’t always this bad.

It doesn’t stop there, though. Abandoned FBC outposts, including one near the Oldest House, that left a bunch of mines to stop any Hiss from progressing and where bodies aplenty remain. Laundromats, convenience stores and coffee shops with exquisite detail, which contain crates with resources and other upgrades (not to mention the occasional puzzle to unlock some hidden entrances). Even if Remedy’s version of Manhattan isn’t bustling with hundreds of NPCs – and those that are present offer pretty much what you’d expect in terms of routines and voice acting – it’s still full of incredible details. And that’s before you venture into the West Incursion Zone with skyscrapers folded on top of each other, or the Underpass, which may be my favorite area in a video game this year.

"As memorable and unique as the side quests are, these also pale in comparison to the main quest. No spoilers, obviously, but it’s where the biggest set pieces await, and where the environmental design, traversal and combat really mesh together."

As for the side content, the generic tasks that you receive aren’t exactly the most inspired, whether it’s taking out an Apex enemy, clearing out a mess of hostiles or escorting FBC Rangers to a certain location. They all feel seamless enough, if not particularly original, but don’t worry – there are several unorthodox jobs as well, like a camera that freezes you and disappears when approached from the front, forcing you to find another route and flank it from behind. Or the stroller that moves about different points in an area, which you need to play catch-up with. Or breaking The Patterning in some localized areas, which requires picking the odd one out among a group of similar, spinning objects.

Dylan may also choose to rearrange some objects in a scene to sketch. It’s little more than picking up and sensibly placing them, but it also offers insight into his artistic side and how he views the world. Then there are the Arcade Machines that offer unique combat challenges, from clearing out as many enemies as possible while a zone occasionally shrinks to defending three points from enemies.

Fun as these might be, they break up the monotony when venturing through a zone, and pale in comparison to the actual side quests. Like traveling to a taxi-infested Threshold to save a mysterious woman. Or venturing into an auction warehouse to subdue an empowered speaker, though it’s part of a set, so you’ll need to read a manifesto and find out where the rest are hiding. And even if some of them, like Carbon Copy, may start pretty typically, the Remedy brand of weirdness emerges before you know it, transforming the plot into something else entirely.

All of this goes into leveling up a zone, which introduces more health and resource drops and opens more options from the totally not shady ice cream truck vendor. Killing Resonants also transforms zones in terms of threats, though story events will also change things up pretty significantly.

As memorable and unique as the side quests are, these also pale in comparison to the main quest. No spoilers, obviously, but it’s where the biggest set pieces await, and where the environmental design, traversal and combat really mesh together. And credit where it’s due: the development team delivered multiple shocking twists which I didn’t see coming. At least one may be telegraphed for fans of the original, but that didn’t make it any less surprising or effective.

This brings us to perhaps another core foundation of Control Resonant: The combat. There were some mixed reactions when extensive early gameplay was revealed. Personally, I was concerned it wouldn’t feel as responsive or seamless as the original – that was quickly laid to rest within minutes. The hit reactions feel visceral; the perfect dodges are seamless; and seamlessly executing Faltered enemies to gain Dominance, which confers more damage for a brief period, to bring down heavies and keep the engine rolling feels empowering.

"Thankfully, when the pieces start falling into place past those opening hours, the combat really starts to shine. Greater enemy variety helps because you’ll start off fighting the average Hiss, and slowly, flying types and armored heavies will enter the mix."

The progression is a little more…odd. Dylan is armed with the Aberrant, which starts with a Primary and Secondary form alongside a finisher. Each form deals a different type of damage – Sharp, Blunt and Raw – and certain enemies are understandably weaker to one or the other. That doesn’t mean you’ll find any Sharp options in the Primary forms, but they offer unique functions, from the straightforward Cleave to Flurry, dual daggers that can focus more on criticals or the Glaive’s reach and sheer sweep.

The finishers are more intriguing because they trigger at the end of a Primary form combo, but offer a myriad of options. You could throw hands or execute a single rising uppercut, which builds a significant amount of Falter. Once you unlock the ability to swap to a Secondary attack, combos can extend even further with different effects. And that’s before factoring in abilities, like flame blasts and pushing enemies into the environment or off of buildings to let gravity do the rest.

However, you’re still initially focused on stunning medium or heavy targets to execute them, then relying on Dominance to try and slay everything else. Obtaining Dominance orbs in the environment lets you speed up that process, but that’s more or less it for the first few hours, because the initial Talents – from increased Falter to extending Rush, your typical sprint – feel fairly rudimentary, as do the initial weapon upgrades. The abilities introduce a bit more flavor, and their uptime is decent, but not incredible early on. It can also take time to unlock new Primary and Secondary forms if you’re not taking the time to farm their resources.

So while you have a responsive, satisfying combat system from the outset, the tools feel starkly underdeveloped. You’ll also take on the Hiss for a few hours before the enemy variety really opens up. That’s assuming you don’t try to fight the Mold right off the bat.

Thankfully, when the pieces start falling into place past those opening hours, the combat really starts to shine. Greater enemy variety helps because you’ll start off fighting the average Hiss, and slowly, flying types and armored heavies will enter the mix. There’s also the Hiss bus, which continuously spawns numerous drones to swarm you. And when you get a handle on how to effectively decimate them, there’s the Mold, which requires different tactics – and not just wanton pyromania, though it does help – to take them out.

The Resonants also offer their own unique gameplay challenges, especially since healing isn’t immediately available on demand early on. If The Dancer felt like a deadly sway where messing up a single dodge was bad news, then The Deserter was more like a fatal game of the floor is lava. Your mileage may vary on their default difficulty, but they each felt memorable in their own right.

"All in all, Control Resonant is a fantastic game. It builds on the mythos of its predecessor while telling its own emotionally riveting story. I find myself drawn to exploring Manhattan long after the credits roll, unearthing even more paranatural mysteries."

Throughout all this, you’re also digging deeper into a specific weapon’s upgrades, unlocking more notable perks geared to certain playstyles (like leaning into Flurry’s dodge attacks, which have a higher critical chance). Since Talent Points are ostensibly tied to leveling up zones, each one feels worthwhile, and the later Talents offer some pretty meaty upgrades. I still would have liked the weapons to have more varied movesets beyond just “add a third hit to this secondary form combo” or “charge this attack sooner”, but the combat expression becomes far better as you go long. The same goes for the build-crafting.

While you could embrace a generalist playstyle, placing Mold turrets and detonating infected enemies with flame blasts, I really enjoyed igniting Dylan’s weapons and some abilities. Pair this with Flurry’s rapid attacks and the occasional Mold turret to chunk down heavier targets with explosions, and you have something that flits between enemies, building Falter to quickly execute them for Dominance, which adds even more damage on top. Power generation remains…a concern, for sure, but trying to solve that made me want to delve even deeper into the game’s systems and find the best pairings.

Do I go for the uppercut, which delivers more Falter, or further upgrade the splitblade, which can also ignite enemies when upgraded? And how do I get to ranged threats out of reach? Decisions, decisions. The soft targeting system can sometimes be awkward against larger groups, though I’ve seen this more with single-target combos. I also wasn’t the biggest fan of getting chain cced by the Mold’s explosives, but changing tactics quickly solved that.

As noted before, the art direction is stunning and easily some of the best this year (if not many others). It’s backed by solid performance on PS5, with a pretty consistent 60 FPS and respectable draw distances while venturing through Manhattan. There was the odd dip in places, and image quality in Performance Mode isn’t exactly top tier. It’s more noticeable when viewing distant structures while moving, but the noise from shiny objects in the background during dialogue exchanges is far more annoying. Regardless, Remedy delivers its vision while ensuring it runs well on consoles.

All in all, Control Resonant is a fantastic game. It builds on the mythos of its predecessor while telling its own emotionally riveting story. I find myself drawn to exploring Manhattan long after the credits roll, unearthing even more paranatural mysteries. Even if every “how” and “why” isn’t answered, the struggle to maintain control, all for the sake of taking another step forward, remains as endearing as ever.

This game was reviewed on PS5.

Despite all of the additions, however, the core gameplay loop of Valheim has remained as strong as ever, and the polish added to the game with the 1.0 update has only made what was already a fantastic survival crafting game feel even better to play. At its best, Valheim offers a meditative experience that is often punctuated by intense action sequences whenever you take on the bosses that make up the main progression blockers of the game.

Valheim kicks things off following the death of your character, armed with little more than a leather tunic and a torch, you have to figure out how to survive, thrive, and ultimately, put to rest the legendary Forsaken that roam the lands.

First things first, the general visual style of Valheim remains one of its most endearing traits. The title makes use of a hybrid style that blends modern lighting and other graphical techniques with low-resolution textures, resulting in a dream-like atmosphere. The low depth-of-field ensures that just about everything in the background that you aren’t directly looking at is at least slightly blurred, further adding to the dreamlike nature of the realm.

The core gameplay loop of Valheim is quite simple and largely falls in line with other games in the genre; you get your hands on materials that can then be used to create equipment and structures. Along the way, you’ll also have to deal with environmental factors like the region being too hot or too cold for you, necessitating specialized equipment to deal with the extreme temperatures.

You start out with little to your name, and after punching a few branches and picking up some loose rocks, you can then begin crafting some gear that makes the process of getting more materials easier. Stronger axes mean you’ll be able to get your hands on wood at a quicker rate, for example.

"The fact that the opening zone is relatively benign when it comes to threats is a good thing"

One interesting thing that sets Valheim apart from many of its contemporaries is how its hunger system works. Rather than penalizing you for running out of food, you are instead encouraged to eat because the food can offer a variety of buffs. This starts out in a simple way, and the progression slowly brings you up to making food that can boost just about every stat you have.

After you’ve managed to set up a simple enough base of operations with a crafting bench, a place to cook your food, a roof over your head, and a bed that allows you to instantly skip the night, you’ll find yourself just about ready to take on the first Forsaken boss – the Eikthyr. The fight is a simple one, largely meant to test whether or not you’ve figured out the core gameplay loop, and beating the mythical deer-like creature opens up the game quite a bit, giving you access to a few new crafting recipes, and finally giving you the ability to mine larger boulders for more steady access to materials like stone and limestone by letting you make a pickaxe.

The fact that the opening zone is relatively benign when it comes to threats is a good thing, since death has a harsh punishment in Valheim. On the default server settings, you are essentially stripped of all belongings and thrown back to the last place you rested. This means that you’ll have to make your way back to where you died in order to get your things back. Along the way, you’ll also be quite vulnerable to other threats, since all of your previously-equipped gear is lying with your corpse as well.

The core combat itself is quite simple, and essentially split into two distinct styles: melee and ranged. While in melee, you have access to a typical three-hit combo attack, the ability to block, and while using appropriate shields, parry. You can also simply choose to avoid damage by rolling out of the way. Players who prefer ranged combat can craft a variety of bows as well as an arsenal of different arrows, each of which can have its own distinct effect like elemental damage or status ailments like poison. Both methods of combat can be further augmented by using magical weapons that add additional effects to it. The Storm Fang bow, for example, gives you a 20 percent chance to cast the Chain Lightning spell whenever you hit something with an arrow.

"The ebb and flow of combat is determined by how well you manage your stamina."

Throughout all of this, the ebb and flow of combat is determined by how well you manage your stamina. Just about every action in a fight, be it pulling back on your bow string or simply blocking an attack with a shield, comes with a stamina cost, and players will have to be careful about how they manage their stamina. Running out can have dire consequences, potentially leaving you unable to avoid an incoming hit that might end up killing you. Because of this, the food system comes in quite handy, since just about every edible item in the game offers at least a minor boost to stamina, and you can have three active food buffs at any given time.

The fighting system can only really be as good as the enemy design, and Valheim doesn’t really disappoint in this regard. You’ll get to take on a variety of creatures, from animals to more mythical things like Greylings, the latter of which essentially serve as your main encounters in the early-game. Eventually, you’ll start taking on more powerful enemies, like trolls, shamans, and ghosts. The true highlights of the game, however, are the boss fights. Along with having their unique attack styles to deal with, you will also need to ensure that your resistances to various effects are up to par. The Swamp biome’s boss, Bonemass, for example, deals an incredible amount of poison damage. Fader in the Ashlands, on the other hand, focuses on fire damage.

The combat has also seemingly gone through a fair bit of balance changes to ensure that magic doesn’t feel like the only way to viably take on major fights in the late-game. I largely stuck to a melee-centric playstyle, allowing me to take on most challenges just fine. Sure, I died to bosses plenty of times, but that’s par for the course regardless of your build until you actually figure out the boss’s attack patterns and abilities.

Valheim also has a great way of encouraging players to build up their houses beyond making it simply functional with four walls and a roof. Each structure has a Comfort level associated with it, and having high Comfort also means that your character gets the appropriate level of the Rested state. As you get deeper into the game, the buffs offered by being Rested can be quite useful, since you get bonuses to health, stamina and Eitr regeneration, as well as a boost to XP gained from doing just about anything. The duration of the Rested state depends on your Comfort level, which can be further raised by adding decorations and furniture to your buildings. At its most basic, one level of Comfort can be achieved simply by having a warm fireplace and some shelter.

"Valheim also has a great way of encouraging players to build up their houses beyond making it simply functional with four walls and a roof."

Exploration in Valheim tends to be a mixed bag. Depending on the biome, you’ll either have to deal with large stretches of nothing really happening aside from you running around and hitting trees, punctuated by a few seconds of combat. When you do find something interesting, it can feel incredibly rewarding. Abandoned towns, for instance, can often be home to chests that will give you a plethora of new materials that will boost your general progression.

Further into the game, you might even end up running into a dungeon full of enemies to take on. The dungeons themselves aren’t particularly deep when it comes to gameplay, and you won’t be seeing much in the way of puzzle-solving here. However, they still tend to be quite enjoyable since you get to test out your combat capabilities against a variety of enemies.

After you’ve killed the Eikthyr, you will have essentially conquered the starting island, and will find yourself with a need to set forth to a new location to discover brand-new materials that can be used to craft stronger equipment. Valheim generally follows a relatively linear progression of biomes that start getting more challenging – and often more tedious – the further you go.

While Meadows and Black Forest essentially share an island, giving you plenty of time to explore your immediate surroundings after spawning into the game and getting your hands on some decent gear as you take on boss fights, you will eventually find yourself needing to find or craft a boat that can take you to other islands, and this is where the biome progression starts to shine.

Assuming you got your hands on the Swamp key that allows you to enter the biome, you’ll eventually find yourself staring at mountain peaks in the horizon, which gives you the next mid-term goal – the Mountains biome. Similarly, players who prefer sailing can instead make it their goal to find the island with the Plains biome. This essentially marks the mid-game point of Valheim, and you’ll be spending much of your time in these three biomes as you slowly build a steady supply of consumables and equipment before taking on the next challenges.

While the Meadows, Black Forest, Swamp, Mountain, and Plains biomes are relatively mundane and present the kinds of environmental challenges you’d expect, the general quality starts diving down once you’ve made it far enough into the game to reach the Mistlands biome.

" I found the Mistlands biome to have actively detracted from my general enjoyment of playing Valheim."

Mistlands, as its name implies, has a permanent layer of mist throughout the biome, making standard exploration borderline impossible. To deal with this, you have to get your hands on some bespoke equipment that serves little other function aside from making Mistlands more tolerable – the Wisp Torch. Using it, players can permanently clear out some of Mistlands’ mists. Unlike regular torches, the Wisp Torch also doesn’t prevent enemies from spawning nearby, so you can’t really replace your typical light source with it. The entire process feels quite tedious since you have to remember to throw down a new Wisp Torch on a regular basis.

Some of this tedium is alleviated once you can craft a Wisplight accessory that creates a fog-clearing radius around your character. However, this also means that you’ll have to give up an accessory slot that could have better been used for something like the Wishbone, which can detect hidden resource nodes, or the Haldor, which massively boosts your carrying capacity for precious resources and gear. The accessory also has its own minor issues, like the fact that the small Wisp orb follows you around, which means that taking a sharp turn will end up separating it from you for a moment, making you vulnerable to the mist. Generally, the accessory also ends up feeling like a half-measure for a mechanic that adds little else aside from tedium.

This ultimately results in a region that, while initially interesting to explore thanks to the mist adding quite a bit to the overall atmosphere, starts feeling exhausting to travel through not just for your in-game character, but for you as a player as well. Despite the initial excitement of having discovered a new region, I found the Mistlands biome to have actively detracted from my general enjoyment of playing Valheim. The region takes a massive step in turning exploration – a tense and often joyous part of the core gameplay – into a tedious affair since I now had to juggle different kinds of torches just to be able to see things.

Thankfully, the boss fight that caps off the Mistlands – The Queen – is an enjoyable experience that involves delving into and fighting your way through an entire dungeon. The problems created by the biome’s verticality have also been somewhat mitigated with the introduction of the grappling hook. However, as a whole, Mistlands represents a major point where you might essentially halt your progression through the game since it’s just so tedious.

The follow-up – the Ashlands biome – doesn’t really improve things, and starts off on a poor note by looking a bit boring. Thankfully, it doesn’t really have a gimmick like the mist, making exploration generally more straightforward and enjoyable. Considering it’s a lava-filled zone, however, playing around in the Ashlands isn’t quite a simple task. Roaming around can be dangerous, and even building structures becomes more challenging since the extreme heat and cinder rain causes structures to quickly deteriorate.

You can’t even sail to the biome on a typical wooden boat; you’ll have to use the Drakkar from The Queen to survive the journey across boiling hot water. The need to deal with the biome’s unique terrors with things like shield generators also starts feeling fairly tedious at a certain point, making Ashlands as a whole feel like just a minor improvement over Mistlands.

"Mistlands represents a major point where you might essentially halt your progression through the game since it’s just so tedious."

The latest – and possibly final – addition to Valheim‘s ever-growing list of biomes is the Deep North introduced with 1.0. Offering a sharp contrast from both Mistlands and Ashlands, Deep North is downright gorgeous, especially when you first manage to get there. The snowy region has plenty of awe-inspiring sights, from frozen beaches to haunting and sometimes creepy abandoned villages. The biome also presents a solid arc in the progression, slowly ramping up the danger as you get deeper into the region.

Aside from the biting cold of the biome, the biggest new challenges presented by the Deep North are in the new types of dungeons that can be found if you explore some of the ruins scattered around the area. These dungeons aren’t optional either; story progression will need you digging deep into the ruins, and even tend to be some of the best spots to find the biome-specific materials that can be used to craft a variety of new equipment.

Generally speaking, Deep North feels like a phenomenal addition to Valheim, wrapping up its general exploration and combat loop quite well in the process. Despite its emphasis on ice and snow, the biome never really feels boring, and the fact that it doesn’t have any particular gimmick that does little aside from adding to the tedium of gameplay makes it a genuinely enjoyable place to explore. There’s also a fair bit of verticality here, making the grappling hook even more useful as you get closer to the end of the journey. The biome also has plenty to offer, with a progression system that revolves around slowly making your way through the new Gates of Mokhalla dungeon, each door requiring a bespoke key you craft.

The progression of Valheim from biome to biome feels quite natural; after spending quite a bit of time in any given biome, having discovered all of the materials and crafting recipes it has to offer, you’ll ultimately find yourself getting on a boat to look for the next island. Defeating bosses also helps in this regard, since items they drop often tend to naturally lead you into heading towards the next biome. More experienced players can even shuffle around the order of the biomes, and make their way to the Plains as soon as they find a boat, for example. The order of the biomes, interestingly enough, works well in terms of linear progression, while still giving players plenty of agency to decide their next course of action.

Unfortunately, one of Valheim‘s biggest weaknesses – its building system – hasn’t really been fixed with the 1.0 release. Structures can still feel awkward to build out, with pieces like walls or roofs only being placeable at particular angles. While it offers a considerable level of freedom in how you build your structures out, the general process often feels quite awkward. Finding the correct camera angle and position to build even a basic four-walled house, for example, leads to plenty of poking and prodding to make sure that you’re in the right place and have your crosshair pointed at the precise location. If your roof happens to be too high up, you might even end up having to build a set of temporary stairs.

The steep material cost for building these things also tends to feel quite grindy, especially when playing solo on default settings. Co-op mitigates this quite heavily, since players can freely share not only materials, but structures as a whole with each other. Thankfully, Iron Gate has also provided plenty of options that allow players to alter how materials can be found, and if you’re playing by yourself, I heavily recommend making use of this feature to increase the drop rate for just about everything.

I should note that building my first shelter took me almost an entire hour on default settings just because of how annoyingly little wood drops early on when you can cut down entire trees. Similarly, other aspects of early progression also feel much slower than they should. As has been the case with most games in the genre, while solo play in Valheim is perfectly doable, co-op has always felt like the ideal way to play, since spending some time with friends is also an excellent way to alleviate the boredom that can arise from downtime when you’re building or exploring the world.

"While solo play in Valheim is perfectly doable, co-op has always felt like the ideal way to play."

On the plus side, the building system is quite in-depth, and offers plenty of room for player expression with a variety of material styles that can be used to give your structures distinct identities. Larger rooms also require proper structural supports to prevent parts of the structure from collapsing. Along with this, you also get plenty of decorative items, and even thrones, that can be placed throughout your settlement. Aside from looking cool, these items also contribute to the Comfort level offered by your base.

The building system also ties into the farming system, since you’ll get the ability to plough fields with a hoe and set up your own little farm to make sure that you have a steady stream of edible food. The farms can also be decorated to quite an extent with structures like fences and statues. All in all, despite a little awkwardness when it comes to putting together structures and habitats, the building system offers an impressive level of freedom.

With much of Valheim‘s core gameplay loop revolving around creating friction that players have to learn to overcome by themselves, the general quality-of-life features throughout the game are welcome additions. Along with intuitive menus and a progression system that never gets confusing, the title also eventually allows you to build and use portals to get around the world in quicker ways. Things don’t get too easy with portals, however, since, depending on the type of portal, some materials won’t make it through to the other side. While I personally found this to be a key aspect of how well Valheim balances the line between important gameplay-enhancing friction and tedium, players who don’t want to bother can simply change a setting in their World’s options to allow materials to be carried over as well.

The UI as a whole also felt quite well thought out, with your inventory grid giving you a good idea of what you’re carrying and how much free space you have left. The weight system also doesn’t really feel too oppressive, and even at the base level, a character can walk around with an incredible amount of materials and equipment. Sorting through chests is also relatively painless thanks to shortcuts allowing you to move entire stacks of items around.

The 1.0 release of Valheim also runs quite well. While I never had any performance issues with the game even during its Early Access days, the latest update has been running smoothly at 144 FPS and 1440p on a PC with an AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D CPU, 32 GB of RAM, and a Radeon RX 7800XT GPU. Performance dips only came about when the game was autosaving, and only lasted for around a second before things went back to normal. Even loading in new biomes never really created a dip in frame rate while playing solo. When it comes to co-op, however, things will end up depending on the horsepower of the system running the server.

Speaking of which, Valheim has quite a bit of emphasis on being immensely replayable. Along with being able to generate a brand-new world whenever you want, you also get plenty of options to fine-tune how your new world works, like seeds that can be used to procedurally generate precise copies of others’ worlds, as well as a variety of modifiers, like how often you get raided by enemies, how many materials drop, and even whether or not portals can allow materials to travel alongside you. These options also give another way for the more creativity-minded players to enjoy the building systems by, for example, essentially removing all costs associated with buildings.

Valheim is currently in the best state that it has ever been, and new additions like Deep North and the grappling hook go a long way in alleviating the still-present issues with Mistlands and Ashlands. When it comes to long-term play, however, many players will likely find themselves dropping off the progression curve around the time they reach Mistlands, and I can’t really blame them.

The biome still represents Valheim at its most tedious, and things haven’t really changed enough in that regard even with 1.0. That major sore spot aside, however, Valheim also provides plenty of ways for players to manage the precise level of tedium they might want to deal with when it comes to material drop rate, which is a welcome addition to just about any survival crafting game. While some might enjoy the long grinds for logs and stones just to build a small house, I personally think the sheer amount of time you spend getting even simple materials feels like unnecessary padding.

This game was reviewed on PC.

"Infinite Rush made me think of how my kids play"

On its easiest difficulties, Infinite Rush is a casual cruiser. But, ramp up the challenge and its forgiving toy-car physics transform into exhilarating, barely controllable chaos. It’s an arcade racer not concerned with nailing corner entry or kissing apexes. When set to Very Hard, just keeping your little plastic machine pointing the right way is enough. Bumpers be damned – if I wanna bounce and ricochet toward the finish line then I’m gonna.

The game does facilitate my childlike carelessness though, with flipped cars that auto self-right, quick positional resets with a press of the right shoulder button, and, when streaming through the open playgrounds, obstacles that can be smashed to pieces like paper-mache piñatas.

Hot Wheels Infinite Rush is an accessible, frictionless racer. It’s why Easy mode works, and it’s also why Very Hard’s intensity works too. The game’s momentum-first design continually pulls you forward. The question, however, is this: can a lack of resistance sustain a lengthy campaign of racing events, diversions, and open world collect-a-thons? Or, will the adult in me want the toybox to fight back?

"Hot Wheels Infinite Rush is an accessible, frictionless racer."

Anyway, let’s start with the four vehicle classes: the self-explanatory Speeders and Drifters, the weighty, powerful Titans, and the Versatiles which sit somewhere between all three. Each harbours intuitive propulsion and handling except the Titans. See, Infinite Rush’s driving is centred around brake-triggered drifting, but the Titans don’t naturally suit it. In other words, they can barely sustain a useful slide. Their nose skews inward, and they’re less fun to hurtle through the open world than the other car types. If you encounter an emergent Daredevil – a rogue speedster whom you can challenge to a one-on-one race, with you adding their vehicle to your collection should you see the checkered flag first – then you’ll want to switch to a faster, more effective car type. Titans have powerful boosts, sure, but the game’s aforesaid momentum revolves around drifting just as much as throttling it out of corners. Really, enjoyment behind the wheel of a Titan only emerged once I maximised the difficulty.

In essence, Infinite Rush in Easy mode is straightforward and trouble free – ideal for children. Medium offers slightly more resistance, while races in Hard become noticeably more competitive. Yet, I don’t wish to big myself up, but even on Hard I still didn’t find a meaningful challenge, so I switched to Very Hard, and this – as I’ve already alluded – is where the game transformed. The jump was significant, and almost instantly my driving became more erratic. Corners could barely be contained, tiny mistakes became consequential, and victories felt earned. The nature of open world cruising doesn’t change, aside from perhaps Daredevils being harder to catch. It’s during races, elimination events, and the Daredevils where intense difficulty is found. And, for me, it made the extensive checklist of open world events more meaningful.

Still, all four difficulty modes are viable, and Infinite Rush doesn’t tell you how to play. Instead, through its momentum-first design, you can decide whether the game is an easygoing toybox or a fight for survival, with the latter, importantly, never feeling like a grind. If my car did end up pointing the wrong way, I didn’t care.

And, as for progressing through the maps themselves, well, again, supporting the momentum-first philosophy, they arrive quickly. Structured around completing events – races, stunts, time trials, speed traps – across an island to unlock a one-on-one boss-style encounter, you don’t spend too long pursuing victories before the next island appears. Wheelswood is predominantly a grid-based city, while Tentacle Bay is a coastal resort with golf courses and water parks. Gearville is another city, this time surrounded by desert and dirt tracks, while my favourite is a Japan-themed island of dense metropolis, water canals, ancient architecture, and rock gardens.

Each harbours a wealth of jumps, ramps, loops, and destruction, and they’re a breeze to traverse, even if the visual distinction between them isn’t always pronounced. Gears and stickers provide mechanical encouragement to explore, but there’s joy-a-plenty in simply careening through each’s freewheeling layout. None are enormous enough to get lost. They’re compact playgrounds designed to keep you moving.

"Still, all four difficulty modes are viable, and Infinite Rush doesn’t tell you how to play."

Less successful to this ethos the Gearville’s mountainous undulation, which can make waypoints difficult to locate. Likewise, dynamic events need to be noticed and chased to initiate, with a randomness that could feel frustrating to completionists.

That said, there’s always a pleasing momentum to expanding Infinite Rush’s garage. Cars are unlocked by winning races, taking on the Daredevils, completing timed delivery runs, or simply visiting the dealerships scattered across the island, as well as some secret sellers that dynamically appear later. Dealerships require Rush Coins, which are earned both conventionally through events and organically by tearing across the open islands, performing drifts, narrowly avoiding traffic, and smashing through the environment. Even aimless driving, then, feels productive, with Rush Coins consistently arriving at a steady rate.

Only on occasion did I wish currency accumulation was more generous. There are so many appealing cars to collect, alongside boost effects, and dash sounds, that I sometimes found myself impatiently eyeing the next purchase. Don’t get me wrong – the grind is never oppressive. But, a little extra reward so I could expand my garage at a pace which matches the momentum elsewhere would have been appreciated.

Likewise, once cars are in your garage the ways you personalise and develop them comes slowly, and the augmentations aren’t particularly meaningful once they arrive either. Four tiers of perks can improve your acceleration, handling, boost recharge, and more, but the fine-tuning they offer is slight. The cars are easy to drive as they are, so I never truly felt as though I’d crafted a speed demon or battering ram despite there being perks to enable such builds. Furthermore, higher tiers took a while to unlock, and finally reaching the most powerful tier only yielded one specific perk, and it remained the sole high-tier perk for a long while.

Another customisation tool is the livery editor, and it remained merely functional and fiddly throughout. Changing colours and finishes is straightforward, but placing decals precisely – particularly when attempting symmetrical designs – is unnecessarily awkward. A simple option to mirror placement would help. More frustratingly, equipping a completed livery requires several trips through menus. It’s an odd amount of friction given gameplay is built around movement.

"Only on occasion did I wish currency accumulation was more generous."

Likewise, the track creator is undermined by cumbersome UI despite a broader potential for creating outlandish circuit designs. Like playing without adult supervision, piecing bits of looping track together stirred the childlike glee in me once again, but the creator’s setup doesn’t foster spontaneous building like it should. My first attempt at a corkscrew demonstrated how easily it was to create something technically spectacular but completely unusable, too; the builder needs planning and foresight, whereas spontaneity should be in the front seat. There’s an excellent creative tool here, and, indeed, a course of unfathomable loops, cannon fire, magnetic roads, and a dinosaur emerged in later attempts in spite of the interface’s roadblock.

Elsewhere, Infinite Rush looks every bit the part, with popping colour and superbly detailed cars that occasionally look indistinguishable from their plastic counterparts. Milestone’s affinity for vehicles shines here, with slow-motion shots showcasing each panel’s texture and detail. Engine sounds are equally impressive, offering plenty of coarse, characterful variety.

Local multiplayer is less convincing. Basic races and elimination events are supported, but there’s no option to freely explore the islands. Given the game’s playful, toybox-like design, this feels like a missed opportunity – especially for families like mine, where six-year olds simply want to mess around and create destruction together.

Ultimately though, Infinite Rush understands the Hot Wheels fantasy. It isn’t about precise racing or perfect cornering, and while its easiest difficulties might seem too forgiving for adults, the sheer speed and spectacle of throwing little plastic cars around at unreasonable velocities awakened a childlike glee in me. I genuinely didn’t care if I won or lost, I just wanted debris.

This does bring the question back: is a largely frictionless experience enough to sustain a lengthy campaign? Unfortunately, I don’t think it is. In fact, I do believe the game would benefit from more focused career progression akin to earlier Hot Wheels titles. This isn’t to say the open worlds aren’t worth your time, but there needs to be a little fight back. Alas, I’ll be sticking with Very Hard difficulty, because, at least, it transforms frictionless toy-car physics into some genuinely exhilarating arcade racing.

This game was reviewed on PlayStation 5.

"Within minutes of digging in, I felt like a stranger to the skates."

Now, for 27, the left-trigger pivot is no-longer the reliable skating manoeuvre my muscle memory remembered. Overusing it left me vulnerable to poke checks. It took a few periods before I acknowledged its speed penalty and started to use it sparingly for subtle re-positioning or to open passing lanes, letting the AI skaters move rather than prematurely forcing the play.

This change gave me a useful introduction to NHL 27’s wider ambitions, with EA Sports skewing this year’s iteration toward making the on-ice action purposeful and reactive. See, more deliberate skating is just the tip of the iceberg – most significant this year is all 32 NHL teams now carrying individual playbooks informed by real-world NHL EDGE data. The Leafs, for instance, balance forechecking with speed through the neutral zone, while Colorado Avalanche prefers carrying the puck over the blue line. Other teams apply pressure by dumping, some lean on cycling to tire out defences, and others demand high-intensity across all zones.

More importantly, however, is that AI players are supposed to understand their team’s favoured strategies, adjusting their positioning, responsiveness, and support as matches evolve – the so-called ‘Cohesive AI’ which EA touts in its marketing.

After several games, it seems plausible that there’s something genuinely compelling here. NHL 27’s playbooks can tangibly affect the shape and rhythm of a game in ways that earlier entries rarely managed. The differences are there, and I can feel them on ice; what I’m less certain of is just how significant those differences really are. Have these playbooks fundamentally changed the way NHL plays, or have they simply given greater definition to systems that have underpinned the series for years?

The easiest way to understand NHL 27’s new playbooks is, for me, to not think of them as a set of tactics and more a demonstration of a team’s personality. Yes, they may specify the optimum formation for setting neutral zone traps or for which side of the rink skaters should stack during breakouts, but they also dictate their aggression, their willingness to take risks, or whether to hold cautiously. Now, each team has identifiable preferences covering things like forechecking, pinching, support, and structure across offensive lines and defensive pairings.

"The easiest way to understand NHL 27’s new playbooks is, for me, to not think of them as a set of tactics and more a demonstration of a team’s personality."

Assessing Colorado’s carry-focused approach, when breaking out of my defensive zone I noticed space opening up on centre ice. Then, moving through the middle of the rink revealed wide players who had found room to carry the puck into the offensive zone. The Edmonton Oilers, meanwhile, prefer dumping to carrying and shooting over cycling, so when I fired the puck around the boards for an AI teammate to chase, a supporting defenseman immediately pinched the blue line to occupy the passing lane before an opposing skater could close. Both the Avalanche and the Oilers, then, bring contrasting approaches to entry, but the tactical effectiveness hinges on their personalities and behaviour too; their patience, urgency, or a combination of both.

And the more I experimented playing with different teams, the more I realised that my own playstyle suited a particular team’s playbook over another. A match with the Montreal Canadians, for example, felt the most natural fit for me and the way I tend to play. They’re a carry-dump-agnostic team favouring low intensity cycling, and versus the LA Kings’ neutral zone control we fought an intense battle of repellent strategies. I played to Montreal’s strengths, cycled the puck, shot from the blue line, and lit the lamp with satisfaction knowing that I’d scored by playing the kind of hockey the team itself seems to encourage.

Of course, a team’s playbook means nothing if the players themselves didn’t follow its instructions. Thankfully, NHL 27’s AI is mostly convincing, with teammates shifting in-line with momentum, supporting breakouts, chasing dumped pucks, and launching desperation moves if caught on the wrong side of an odd-man rush. It creates the impression of a team that is thinking on their skates rather than following pre-prescribed routes.

This was particularly noticeable when I began paying attention to what was happening away from the puck. Driving down the wing of the offensive zone, the Utah Mammoth’s opposing winger would drive to the net, presenting an opportunity for a cross-crease pass and easy tap-in. And the Mammoth, as it happens, were another team that suited me, with them able to mix puck cycling and sniping with aggressive forechecking and recovery.

"Of course, a team’s playbook means nothing if the players themselves didn’t follow its instructions."

These observations carry over onto the opposing team and their defensive prowess, too. On higher difficulties especially, passing lanes were slammed shut as swiftly as they opened, meaning I had to commit to the pass immediately. In my Mammoth versus Dallas Stars game, with the Texan team often compacting around the slot, I had to find ways to work the offensive zone to open gaps to shoot. By the final buzzer, though, I’d achieved three wildly divergent goals, plus an empty-netter.

Not every experiment went as smoothly. Taking the New Jersey Devils into a game against the New York Islanders produced one of the most infuriating matches of my playthrough. And, intriguingly, I’m not entirely sure why. I committed to the Devils’ preference of carrying the puck into the zone, peppered Ilya Sorokin with 40 shots, but somehow couldn’t tire the Islanders netminder enough to find a breakthrough, all despite goalie fatigue being a consequential result of consistent pressure in this year’s edition. Their defence repeatedly collapsed around my scoring opportunities too, while the Devils’ supporting players didn’t seem as eager to support the attack as Hurricanes or Lightning players would. I lost, wondering if I was playing against a team whose strengths outmatched the Devils, or if I was failing to exploit the playbook properly.

Either way, it was a sobering reminder that NHL 27 doesn’t necessarily reward imposing your preferred style on every team. Sometimes, the biggest differentiator was me, the fallible human holding the controller.

Away from the immediate action, NHL 27 takes a steady step toward livening its presentation quality – a process started a few editions back. All 32 arenas have been rebuilt, complete with authentic goal songs, lighting, jumbotrons, and mascots, and the atmosphere is admittedly electric. The new commentary pairing of John Buccigross and Darren Pang slot neatly into the broadcast, but there’s a nagging feeling that each match’s atmosphere, away from the ice, isn’t necessarily distinct beneath the team-specific colour schemes and music. Some of the crowd character models remain distractingly rough, too. There’s a confidence in NHL 27’s broadcast package which makes it feel like a televised hockey game, but again I’m left wondering how significant these differences are.

"There’s a confidence in NHL 27’s broadcast package which makes it feel like a televised hockey game"

And this is where I begin to wonder if the game is worth buying, as elsewhere, its carbon copied modes are stark. World of Chel is unchanged, again, while Franchise Mode is essentially the same outside of playbook integration. HUT similarly integrates playbooks alongside real-world coaches, while Be a Pro partially revamps its storyline, but by-and-large it’s the same experience as the series’ previous entries. So, yes, while NHL 27 has invested in making matches themselves feel different, it’s done comparatively little in making the broader experience feel new. It’s a blight on annual sports titles, sure, but it feels especially pronounced here. If you haven’t taken to the virtual ice in a while, then full price could be worth it. But, if you already own NHL 26, 25, or even 24, team-specific playbooks and refined presentation might not be enough to incentivise opening your wallet again.

Given that, it’s fair to say NHL 27 leaves me feeling conflicted. On the ice, there’s an intelligence here that I genuinely appreciate. Its playbooks give teams more discernible identities, with AI mostly making those identities feel tangible. Adapting my approach to a team’s personality brought a surprising affinity where it hadn’t been before. I mean, no shade intended, but I appreciate the Montreal Canadians more than I did. Skating into a match for the first time, I really did feel like a stranger to the skates – and that piqued my interest.

But once the novelty wears off, NHL 27 struggles to justify its place as another annual purchase. Too much of the wider package remains overly familiar, leaving improvements that feel smarter rather than bigger or better. If you’re returning after a few years away, there’s plenty here to enjoy. For everyone else, though, NHL 27 may be a demonstration of where the series could go next – although I feel like we’ve said this before.

This game was reviewed on PlayStation 5.

Captain Tsubasa 2: World Fighters makes some changes here and there, with some notable gameplay improvements making for more enjoyable on-pitch action, but at the same time, suffers from much of the flaws as its predecessor, and in frustratingly similar ways. The end result? An arcade-y football game that is undeniably fun (if somewhat repetitive)- other than when it’s getting in its own way, which Captain Tsubasa 2 does often.

"The end result? An arcade-y football game that is undeniably fun (if somewhat repetitive)- other than when it’s getting in its own way"

The game’s main draw is its story mode, which sees players stepping into the shoes of a custom avatar character as you follow along with a story based on the Captain Tsubasa manga’s World Youth arc, which begins with Tsubasa looking to secure a foothold as a pro in Brazilian football. Several new characters are introduced, while plenty from the first game return as well- though much like the first game, the story mode’s insistence on focusing on the narrative aspects ends up being one of its biggest flaws for multiple reasons.

But let’s focus on the good stuff first, that being the on-pitch action itself. When Captain Tsubasa 2 allows you to take to the field, that’s when it is really at its absolute best. Its charmingly over the top brand of football gameplay is unlike anything else out there, and combines flare and mechanics in a compelling concoction. It eschews even basics of football realism that would have you worrying over tactics and figuring out the best moments for a tackle, or that the perfect through ball, or that one cross that breaks the opposing defense. Instead, it places all of its focus on high octane, offensive action, where your goal is to keep dribbling past opponents, winning the ball back as quickly as you lose it, and assaulting opposing goalkeepers with endless barrages of shots.

"Several improvements to the on-field mechanics also improve the action over the first game"

There’s something immensely and immediately fun about pulling off the perfect dribble past an incoming foe, or snatching the ball away from an attacker that’s about to let loose on your goal, or, of course, pulling off a successful shot that finds its way into the opposing team’s net. Mechanics such as Max Actions and Super Moves also add mechanical layers, while also adding to the over the top moment to moment feel of the gameplay. Several improvements to the on-field mechanics also improve the action over the first game, chief among them being in the goalkeeping department, with goalkeeping actions now requiring quick, reflexive, direction-based actions that determine how effectively you can block an incoming shot.

While Captain Tsubasa 2’s on-pitch action can be a bit frustrating at times in how even otherwise ordinary actions like passing and crossing don’t translate very well to the gameplay here, once you get used to its own unique rhythm and approach to football gameplay – and it definitely can take some getting used to, especially if you didn’t play the first Captain Tsubasa game – you’ll find that there’s plenty of fun to be had in the adrenaline fueled, action packed, insanity-embracing on-field antics on offer here.

At the same time, Captain Tsubasa 2 lacks the mechanical depth and nuance that it needs to stave off repetition. This was an issue with the first game as well, and it seems developer Tamsoft hasn’t found appropriate ways to address it, because Captain Tsubasa 2 is, much like its predecessor, not a very mechanically deep game. As fun as it is when you’re on the pitch, its skill ceiling remains relatively low, which means that given its lack of mechanical depth, it doesn’t take long for repetition to set in. For instance, as fun and varied the super dramatic minicutscenes for various on-pitch actions are, you can only see them so many times before they lose their charm.

The other big issue is that Captain Tsubasa 2 doesn’t seem to realize that its on-field gameplay is by far its biggest strength. When you’re in story mode, the game has a frustrating habit of keeping you away from the actual good stuff- it insists on hitting you with endless strings of awkward, stilted, poorly written cutscenes, conversations, and what have you. A lot of the optional stuff feels vapid and meaningless, and it feels like you have to make your way through endless story sequences before each match. If the game actually had a good, compelling story, this would be way less of an issue, but Captain Tsubasa 2 is held back by poor writing and characters that are difficult to care for, which only makes things worse.

"Captain Tsubasa 2 doesn’t seem to realize that its on-field gameplay is by far its biggest strength."

Hell, even when you’re in the middle of a match, Captain Tsubasa 2 finds ways to get in its own way. Often, the game will interrupt the action with overly long stilted narrative scenes and never-ending sequences of dialogue. More than a few times, I found myself going through endless sequences in the middle of an ongoing match and wondering if everyone in the scene had simply forgotten that there was a game going on. All of these were among the first game’s biggest issues as well, so it’s honestly surprising and disappointing to see Captain Tsubasa 2 sticking with its predecessor’s worst tendencies- almost to the point of making those flaws feel even more frustrating.

Outside of the story mode, sadly, Captain Tsubasa 2 doesn’t have much else on offer. There’s a training mode that has a series of tutorials and lessons for players to go through, as well as a vs mode that lets you play against the CPU, or against other players online in regular or private matches- and that’s about it. Frankly, the lack of even basic options available as far as modes and different ways to play is a little surprising to see. You’d expect a football game to at least offer a few tournament options, if nothing else, but no such options are to be found here. Captain Tsubasa 2 surely does tout a greater number of teams and players than its predecessors, yes, but that only makes its barebones content offerings in terms of modes or gameplay options that much more baffling- why not use what’s already on offer to let players enjoy the game and its mechanics in different ways? Hopefully, Tamsoft and Bandai Namco will add to the game with post launch offerings.

Visually and from a technical perspective, Captain Tsubasa 2: World Fighters is a solid game. The anime aesthetic is as strong as it was in the first game, and from a presentation perspective, the game does an excellent job of bringing the bonkers and gleefully outrageous football setting of the Captain Tsubasa universe to life with its flashy on-pitch gameplay, animations, and cutscenes. There is still some room for improvement though, especially with stadiums looking fairly dead, static, and devoid of the sort of electric atmosphere you would expect from a live football match.

Captain Tsubasa 2 is, overall, an uneven sequel. On one hand, it does offer solid, enjoyable on-pitch football gameplay, and improves on the bombastic, high octane offerings of its predecessor in some minor yet notable ways. At the same time, it’s a game that just keeps getting in its own way, whether that is with its excessive focus on a thoroughly unenjoyable story and set of characters, or with its dearth of content offerings outside of an inconsistent story mode.

This game was reviewed on PlayStation 5.

The core of any Marvel media is its story, and dare I say, this is one of the most tightly knit narratives Insomniac has ever told, with an emotionally charged yet grounded approach that gives its characters plenty of room to shine. We would obviously like to avoid major spoilers so you can experience the story for yourself, but a brief synopsis is in order. After spending years trying to leave that part of himself behind, Logan is inevitably pulled back into the life he wanted to escape when a new threat begins targeting mutants on a terrifying scale.

"At the centre of it all is Wolverine himself, played by Liam McIntyre, who does an exceptional job portraying the character, capturing everything from his anger, grunts, and screams to his emotional lows and quieter moments of sadness with impressive precision."

His return to Team X places him in the middle of a conflict driven by Bolivar Trask, whose campaign against mutantkind quickly turns deeply personal, forcing Logan to reconnect with old allies and confront unresolved parts of his past. The journey takes him across several corners of the world, from Canada and Japan to Madripoor, giving the story a constantly shifting backdrop while keeping the focus firmly on Logan and the people caught up in the conflict.

It may sound like your go-to superhero plot on paper, but the way the in-game characters come together, backed by excellent performances, turns it into a gripping and emotionally charged story filled with action, drama, and betrayal. At the centre of it all is Wolverine himself, played by Liam McIntyre, who does an exceptional job portraying the character, capturing everything from his anger, grunts, and screams to his emotional lows and quieter moments of sadness with impressive precision. Hugh Jackman will probably always be Wolverine to me, but McIntyre comes remarkably close here and delivers a genuinely excellent performance.

Logan’s friction-filled relationship with Victor is also handled well, while characters like Essex and Mystique benefit from strong performances across the board, although the real highlight, as expected, is the dynamic between Jean Grey and Wolverine, which Insomniac absolutely nails. This is a banger of a story and easily one of the strongest reasons to experience Wolverine for yourself.

It’s not a great Wolverine experience if the story isn’t there to back it up, but a Wolverine game without great combat would be nothing short of insanity, and thankfully, Insomniac’s pedigree in this department shines through once again. The violence here is absolutely through the roof, with Wolverine’s brutal, borderline unhinged temperament translated brilliantly into every encounter, making him feel every bit as savage as the character demands.

His claws are naturally the main attraction, and every parry, slash, slice, and vicious takedown carries real weight, helped considerably by some excellent DualSense integration that makes every impact feel that much more satisfying.

"The Technique system is then amplified by Adaptations, which function more like passive buffs, offering benefits such as reducing incoming melee damage, restoring health after successful parries, or increasing the timing window for pulling them off."

You can lunge at enemies from a distance, leap over obstacles while closing the gap, and use objects placed around the battlefield to create some genuinely stylish and savage moments. There are launch points that let Wolverine hurl himself into enemies, opportunities to set his claws on fire for additional damage, and environmental kills that can be downright vicious. Whether you are kicking an enemy directly into a furnace, smashing them against nearby objects, or using the surroundings dynamically to finish them off, combat constantly finds new ways to make Wolverine look and feel absolutely lethal.

Speaking of brutal kills, Wolverine also features a Rage Meter that gradually fills as you keep inflicting damage on enemies, and once it reaches Tier 3, you can unleash some absolutely jaw-dropping attacks that see Logan quite literally tearing through anyone standing in his way. It is quite a spectacle to watch and, more importantly, rarely gets old. That is not all either, as progressing through the game also unlocks powerful area-of-effect attacks, allowing Wolverine to damage multiple enemies across a wider area and giving combat another layer of crowd-control options when encounters become more chaotic.

As is typical with Insomniac’s superhero games, progression is handled through a relatively straightforward system, with players earning XP as they progress and using it to unlock skill points, referred to here as Technique Points. There are roughly two dozen skills to unlock, allowing Wolverine to perform swift multi-target strikes, restore his health by pressing a specific button, deliver drop kicks, execute stealth takedowns, and unleash special moves like Tornado Spin, among several others. The Technique system is then amplified by Adaptations, which function more like passive buffs, offering benefits such as reducing incoming melee damage, restoring health after successful parries, or increasing the timing window for pulling them off.

For example, Tornado Spin can rip through several enemies at once and quickly build Rage, while the right Adaptation can further enhance that playstyle by making Rage easier to capitalize on and giving Wolverine more staying power in prolonged fights.

Insomniac has handled Wolverine’s healing mechanic quite intelligently by tying it to the Rage Meter. If Logan’s health is depleted while there is still Rage available, that meter is consumed to restore his health and allow him to regenerate. If there’s no Rage left, however, Wolverine will die, which does feel a little odd given the character’s abilities. On the lowest difficulty setting, the game removes that restriction entirely, allowing Wolverine to regenerate automatically whenever his health bar is emptied. It’s a fair compromise overall, balancing Wolverine’s famous healing factor with the demands of a video game.

Suits and claws also return, with a decent amount to unlock throughout the game, some requiring materials to craft, others unlocking naturally through the story, while a few are tied to challenges found behind Nightmare Doors, which we will explain shortly. It is genuinely fun seeing and unlocking designs pulled from Wolverine’s rich history, and interestingly, there is also a small progression element tied to them, as crafting more suits gradually provides additional health upgrades.

"The mission pacing also deserves plenty of credit because the game rarely keeps you in one location for too long, constantly pushing you forward into new environments and situations as more of the story begins to unfold."

Wolverine is not an open-world game, and frankly, I don’t think an open-world based on the character would necessarily work. Instead, Insomniac has built a focused, largely linear experience where you move from one mission to the next without being constantly distracted by meaningful side stories or activities. It allows the developer to maintain a much tighter narrative pace, while the level design itself becomes one of the biggest reasons why the experience works as well as it does.

This is very much a globe-trotting adventure, and the way traversal and exploration are handled can vary quite significantly depending on the mission you are playing. One mission may give you a larger section of Madripoor to move through, letting you track enemies using Wolverine’s senses and discover a bigger area to explore, while another in Canada may place a much heavier emphasis on climbing, platforming, and stealth. Traversal is an important part of the overall experience as well, with Wolverine feeling nimble and surprisingly fast as he slides across ziplines, clears huge gaps, scales obstacles, and generally pulls off the kind of larger-than-life movement you would expect from a superhero.

All of this eventually comes together in some spectacular set pieces, whether you are involved in intense story sequences, taking on a massive Sentinel, or speeding through multiple encounters on a bike. The mission pacing also deserves plenty of credit because the game rarely keeps you in one location for too long, constantly pushing you forward into new environments and situations as more of the story begins to unfold.

As noted earlier, there are no traditional side missions to tackle, but Nightmare Doors provide some optional activities, ranging from taking on multiple waves of enemies to parkouring through a level and reaching a designated destination. They are also tied directly into the progression system we discussed earlier, as completing them can unlock Adaptations while also revealing additional story fragments from Logan’s past.

"I obviously cannot go into the later bosses without spoiling anything, but the early encounters against Omega Red and the Sentinel are damn good, even if the occasional QTE does pop up every now and then."

Most of these challenges essentially offer more of the combat and traversal already found in the campaign, but they provide a worthwhile reason to spend some extra time away from the main path. They may not dramatically change the overall experience, but they are a decent addition to what is already a spectacular game.

Speaking of enemies, you should not expect a huge amount of variety here, with most of the regular opposition largely divided between Cyborgs and Sentinels of different shapes and sizes, and that is unfortunately about it. It never detracted too much from the experience for me because these enemies can still be extremely dangerous when they gang up on you, although I can certainly see the lack of variety becoming an issue for some players.

Where the game really makes up for it is with its boss roster, which is spectacular, while the battles themselves are, as you would expect, cinematic showcases packed with scale and spectacle. I obviously cannot go into the later bosses without spoiling anything, but the early encounters against Omega Red and the Sentinel are damn good, even if the occasional QTE does pop up every now and then.

If there is one area I wasn’t particularly happy with, it would be the stealth sections. To be clear, the game never forces you into either a stealthy approach or an all-out assault, but there are a few levels where stealth is clearly encouraged, and I found those moments pretty underwhelming. I get it, Wolverine is more of a brutal predator who uses stealth when the situation demands it, but even then, these sections could have been handled better. Hiding in tall grass and picking off unsuspecting enemies works well enough, but it is definitely time for Insomniac to move beyond some of these basic stealth mechanics and introduce a little more depth.

"Insomniac’s take on the angry mutant may very well represent the character’s pinnacle in terms of presentation and story-telling."

I completed the game on PS5 Pro using the Performance Pro mode with advanced ray tracing enabled, and performance was excellent throughout. I noticed a few very minor drops here and there, but overall, the experience was remarkably smooth, while load times, as expected, are incredibly fast. Visually, the game is absolutely stunning, with fantastic character models, richly detailed environments, impressive visual effects, and accompanying sound design that all come together to deliver top-tier production values; I mean, just look at the detail in Wolverine’s innocent face.

There are also some rare bugs, however, such as Wolverine’s animations not always translating correctly when he gets stuck in a corner, along with one instance where the game simply refused to progress and forced me to reload a checkpoint. None of these issues stopped me from enjoying the experience, though, and given how minor they are, I would expect a patch to iron them out fairly quickly.

I thoroughly enjoyed my time with Wolverine, and while the complete campaign can be wrapped up in roughly 20 hours, the journey is consistently memorable and packed with moments that stick with you. We haven’t had a truly great Wolverine game in what feels like forever, with 2009’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine immediately coming to mind, but Insomniac’s take on the angry mutant may very well represent the character’s pinnacle in terms of presentation and story-telling.

It’s violent and surprisingly heartfelt, and about as close to the definitive Wolverine experience as you could hope for.

Welcome home, bub.

This game was reviewed on PlayStation 5.

Story-wise, Fireteam Elite 2 tries to present a more compelling narrative. You’re back on the UAS Endeavor, and after rescuing 2nd Lieutenant Ko Feiyan, it quickly becomes apparent that Weyland-Yutani is up to no good, yet again. Except this time, a rogue scientist, Lily Pierce, is the main villain, conducting experiments for an unknown purpose. As you work through the Prologue, four “campaigns” of three missions each, and the final mission culminating in the game’s sole boss fight (guess who it is and get a gold star), you’ll debrief with different characters.

"I could deal with all that if the missions themselves offered up something unique. The Prologue started well enough, showcasing the larger spaces and how a four-player fireteam could function within them."

What starts as a seemingly cheesy throwback to 80s action movie writing devolves into conversations I struggled to care about. As a Year 1 Destiny player, it’s the Tower. Every key NPC is either a vendor or a vacuous individual with too much dialogue. The only difference is that I can’t skip any of it when trying to jump into the next mission, and their banter during the same offers only the slightest modicum of clever writing. Also, there are cinematics which mysteriously vary wildly in terms of performance. And no, you can’t skip them either, even when replaying them.

I could deal with all that if the missions themselves offered up something unique. The Prologue started well enough, showcasing the larger spaces and how a four-player fireteam could function within them. Seeing the Xenomorphs crawling across walls and ceilings, sometimes leaping over cover and other times dodging and weaving against our attacks made for some initially enjoyable battles. From there, the first campaign offered up shorter missions and some notable twists, like throwing Synths into the mix, but it quickly became apparent that Fireteam Elite 2 has a very limited gameplay loop to fall back on.

You’re either traversing spaces and stopping to clear out the hordes, standing in one spot with your team, or activating terminals and standing in one spot to clear out the hordes with your team. There are a few exceptions – like having to activate multiple terminals, very occasionally trying to beat a timer, or trying to disable some automated turrets while dodging their fire (by, you guessed it, activating a terminal). And I can’t even fault the environments for the linearity because you’ll eventually experience some truly fantastical architecture, and that same lack of imagination when it comes to objectives rears its ugly head. Where is the “teammate picks up something and you need to protect them” objective? What about an actual mini-game for bypassing certain terminals? Or perhaps trying to navigate a crumbling spaceship à la Alien: Earth? It’s simply mind-boggling.

Cold Iron Studios at least opens things up for those who enjoyed the first game. Weapons can have Augments, and they go beyond simply throwing on elemental rounds (which come with the tradeoff of reduced stopping power, ensuring that the dedicated consumables remain viable). You can almost universally use Traits across every weapon once a gun has been leveled enough. The Perk Grid expands to allow more Core options and modifiers. Then there’s the Specialist, which lets you mix and match different Core Perks for some great combos like the Machinist’s turret for supporting fire and Combat Stims to keep my team topped off with temporary health whenever possible. And since there are limitations to the Core Perks it can equip, the other classes remain viable, excelling at their niches, even as you grind to fully maximise their kits.

So understand my disappointment when I say it sometimes feels wasted, given how many of the missions actually play. And I could forgive the lack of variety if the gunplay were satisfying, but it really isn’t.

"I could probably deal with all its shortcomings if Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 were more polished. The occasional microstutters didn’t kill it for me – I actually experienced relatively solid performance for the most part."

To clarify in case there’s any confusion: There are plenty of weapons which can do different things. The Type 99 Incinerator, which is essentially a flamethrower in the primary slot. A signature plasma emitter which requires heat sinks. The HNT-1 El Alamein revolver rifle. The F4AA Pulse Rifle with its impossibly large magazine and slight Smartgun properties.

And as good as some of them sound, many of them feel a little too rudimentary. You would think that each assault rifle would have more than a marginally different kick, much less feel good to fire, but that’s not the case. I can’t say I’m under or overwhelmed – just whelmed.

The fact that weakpoint damage and exploiting elemental damage is all that really matters further devolves the gunplay into simply dumping dozens upon dozens upon dozens of rounds into enemies as everyone crowds around the trauma station with their turrets and drones until the wave ends. It’s predictable, repetitive and ultimately unsatisfying. Add on the lack of cover-to-cover movement, and even playing tactfully against Synths can feel awkward. Don’t even get me started on the sheer number of environmental objects you can’t take cover on, outright gutting some of your Core Perks in the process.

If Cold Iron deserves credit for recreating anything from the Aliens franchise, it’s retro-futuristic computer systems and UI, combined with the smoke effects. Even if it feels a little mid-budget when it comes to the character models – try not to pay too much attention to characters’ mouths during dialogue sequences – at least the locations felt accurate to the films. Then there’s the music, which feels like it’s doing all the heavy lifting in terms of generating tension and intrigue. Play with it off, and the difference is enormous.

I could probably deal with all its shortcomings if Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 were more polished. The occasional microstutters didn’t kill it for me – I actually experienced relatively solid performance for the most part. The macrostutters were curious, though I attributed that to locations with more environmental effects. But then you see Xenomorphs getting stuck in environments. Running into each other on the walls. Standing around, waiting for something to happen. Occasionally, enemies will clip into the environment.

"Even if you’re a fan of the original, despite addressing the original’s shortcomings, it doesn’t feel like a meaningful evolution, much less a compelling Aliens story."

Other times, their animations jank so much that they become difficult to track. During one wave of Horde, I couldn’t access the consumables locker. The next wave, it started working again. I’m not sure how much of that is related to connection quality, but I’ve seen it happen while playing solo as well. And while we’re on the topic, I’d love to know how joining in progress works because it’s seemingly absent. I’ve never had other players join a mission, leaving me with Alpha, Beta, and sometimes Gamma to pick up the slack. Which I wouldn’t mind all that much if they possessed actual abilities, didn’t try to facetank Synths with gatling guns, or didn’t count towards my Coordinated Assault Challenge Card.

Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 is a difficult game to sum up, because even if you’re a fan of the original, despite addressing the original’s shortcomings, it doesn’t feel like a meaningful evolution, much less a compelling Aliens story.

Perhaps the best way to describe it is through one encounter where I cut through a door, and it opened to reveal a Xenomorph standing tall. For several painfully long seconds, non reactive, even as the entire team proceeded to light it up until it seemingly got into character. And as someone who remembers the sheer terror it inspired while playing Aliens Versus Predator in 1999, that really says it all.

This game was reviewed on PC.