It seems like good party game, but even then it lacks the longevity that would make you want to come back for more after 30 minutes or so. It’s a fun premise, but one that’s a few years too late.

The only other time you may need to pull the disc back out is to show off virtual reality to friends or family. That’s it.

Rightly or wrongly, the Carnival Games name has come to represent the type of shovelware that shifted opinion on the Wii from revolutionary to revolting in record time. Carnival Games VR is inoffensively decent, controlling well and offering some moments of entertainment, but it doesn’t last and does little to reverse opinion on the series.

If you’re a fan of Little Nightmares, or similar games in this genre — and, are willing to overlook some pretty loose design — then you’ll find enjoyment in this; a $60 AUD price point also helps. Otherwise, you’re better off steering clear, or engaging with other co-op titles like It Takes Two. If you’re on the fence, a demo is available, though it doesn’t offer progression into the main game proper.

Here, the question isn’t whether or not Kojima’s works are good, it’s if Konami should have repackaged them. Again. I’d argue not. Or at least, I’d argue not in this fashion.

Danger Zone 2 isn’t quite as much fun as I remember Burnout being. The crashes feel less satisfying and the vehicles don’t handle as well. But this is by no means a bad game.

Agents of Mayhem is Volition’s latest, a third-person, single-player shooter that’s been spun off from Saints Row and wants to channel the likes of Overwatch and Borderlands. It does not succeed.

sadly, much of Bulletstorm gets in its own way.

Darksiders 3 is four years too late and four years behind current game design. As you (sufferingly) progress, things improve… but you really, really need to be dedicated to get to that point. I’d recommend Darksiders 3 to die-hard fans of the franchise — and I truly mean die-hard — and no one else. It’s too painful to play for a majority of the time. Still, better than Fallout 76, I guess.

This is a shallow, simple shooting gallery you would expect from a motion control minigame collection, adding a VR layer to expand it to 180 degree action isn’t enough and even if you are engaged there is no way to compete against yourself, let alone the world. Thoroughly mediocre.

Sadly, a game that’s meant to showcase the Switch’s Joy-Cons also demonstrates how broken they can become.

Splatoon 3 adds nothing of significance to the series, which is quite disappointing considering that it, as a whole, was bursting with originality when it first launched.

With 30 levels, too few of them being actual trials and too many being stupid platforming, Trials of the Blood Dragon seems nothing more than an attempt at showing off what a few developers could do after getting drunk and watching 80 action movies and Saturday morning cartoons. The disappointing thing is this could have been so much better by simplifying the concept and making it a DLC map pack for Trials Fusion.

Mafia The Old Country, visually, is a stunning success. Unfortunately… gameplay is best described as mediocre; serviceable, if not particularly enjoyable. Its story is a tragedy -- dull, linear, and so full of tropes that nothing feels new or fresh. Characters are flat cliches, generic representations of genre stereotypes, and nothing more.

This is textbook average entertainment; it won't disappoint, but it certainly won't excite.

What’s on offer in Dead Island 2 isn’t broken or flagrantly bad... but it is tired, antiquated and bland.

I’m not trying to yuck anyone’s yum here and realise that there are many Fatal Frame fans who will be as pumped for this remake as I was Resident Evil 2. To those people, I truly hope that you have a blast. To many others, most of whom have just experienced truly desperate and bleak survival horror through Grace Ashcroft in Resident Evil Requiem, I say simply that this ain’t it. You’ll end up far more frustrated than entertained.

While falling into a genre saturated with thousands of titles, Ruiner is a shoot ‘em up like few others. Sure, it’s not as fast paced as most, and it features far fewer enemies than the norm, but it’s a game that requires precision, calculation and a hell of a lot of patience. The number of upgrades and abilities to play around with make it worth playing through to the end but it’s ruined (get it?) by a short campaign, and repetitive levels. If it were to feature a well-executed endless/survival mode the play re-play factor might have increased slightly but in its current form you’re unlikely to play this more than once. Only drop coin on this if you’re a huge fan of the genre.

After the stellar, story-based content that was “Far Harbour”, “Vault-Tec” simply underwhelms. A handful of fetch quests pad out limited crafting content. While you can go nuts and design a Vault any Overseer would be proud of, the content itself only asks that you explore a couple cave systems and build four experimental machines.

Overall, I can’t say I’ve enjoyed my time with Battle for Azeroth. There’s a lot of long term progression here for the hardcore players, but to me everything feels simplified and a little bit strung out. The story is quite weak, and the new zones don’t have anything to really grab me as a player like Legion did. It all just feels a little too familiar, like Blizzard have tried to bring back the nostalgia of the “good old days” but have instead delivered the same old story once more. I’m hopeful, though, that Blizzard have a long term plan in place for this latest instalment in the epic saga that World of Warcraft has become, but I’ll be giving this one a miss.

Making a new game that’s so much like the original — right down to the borderline excessive load times — was a terrible decision.

Featuring systems that focus on community engagement and competition among friends, there are some clever new ideas that haven’t been seen in games before. Still, Steep falls short where it matters most, offering you more moments of anger than adrenaline. If you have plenty of patience then this might be the game for you, though most will end up pissed off rather than going off-piste.

There's something admittedly unique about Romeo is a Dead Man, but that quirkiness doesn't make up for its middle of the road design. In fact, it's not long before quirky is just there for the sake of quirkiness, not serving anything larger.

In a world where developers are getting used to working from home and games are being pushed back due to the global pandemic, EA decided that Battlefield 2042 was ready for this year. It’s not.

If you ignore the presentation, there’s something in here for dungeon crawl fanatics, but you’re better off going with something like Darksiders Genesis for a far more enjoyable experience. Like Darksiders isn’t for the younger gamer in your life, neither is this. Snack World: The Dungeon Crawl – Gold is available now on Nintendo Switch.

It’s not that I’m mad, I am just disappointed. These three PS2 games remain iconic, and I have enjoyed returning to Liberty City, Vice City and San Andreas, but as a remaster, Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition is lacking the care and respect such highly regarded games deserve. It doesn’t have the quality we have come to expect from remasters recently. Yet, such is their quality, the underlying games, which deserved better, still hold up as a product of their time. They are worth returning to if the PS2 GTA Trilogy holds a special place in your heart, so long as you can temper expectations and accept the good, the bad and the downright ugly from a ‘that’ll do’ remaster. If not, you’re better off persevering them with those rose-tinted memories.

Overall it feels like an atmospheric step forward for the developer, but a mechanical trip backwards. Until that gets sorted, the red planet can wait.

Through an oversimplification of systems compared to previous entries in the franchise, everything in Far Cry 6 feels too safe…There isn’t any challenge to the combat, the exploration is mindless and the story that unfolds is completely unsatisfying.

What needs to be made clear is that Wreckreation has been built by a team of only 10 people with a few small titles under its belt — a far cry from when Criterion was building Burnout Paradise in its heyday. I made similar comments when I reviewed Danger Zone 2 back in 2018, praising the efforts of such a small team for creating something fun. When put into this context, what Three Fields Entertainment has set out to achieve is massive — I can’t imagine how much hard work has been put into Wreckreation. That said, some cut corners, bugs, janky mechanics, and limited content shows that a project of this size may have been too ambitious for such a small team.

AEW Fight Forever isn’t exactly a stupid idea from bad creative, it’s just a product scoped so small that asking a AAA new release price tag for it feels criminal. Matches are fun and entertaining, for a while at least, but absolutely every facet of the thing feels hugely undercooked. WWE 2K has been sorely in need of some real competition for years just as WWE itself has, but unfortunately AEW just haven’t pulled it off here as well as they did on television.

Bethesda has chosen to release a half-finished, buggy mess of a title in its current state. This isn’t early access, nor is it a beta — this is apparently a finished product that I have to assess. I have: it’s garbage. This poor release provides Bethesda the opportunity to take notice of two key takeaways: the Creation Engine needs to go, and single-player developers shouldn’t bite off more than they can chew when making a multiplayer game. And this comes from a guy who looked past Fallout 4‘s last-gen engine and subsequent failings to give it a 10/10. Free pass no more, Bethesda.

Perhaps the least forgivable aspect for me, given my love of exploration and discovery in games like these, is that all the islands feel the same. For Sea of Thieves to be a truly unforgettable experience for me I’d have liked to have seen islands and archipelagos that feel lovingly crafted with supreme attention to detail. What we have instead is a map that feels like Rare turned “Generate Game” on once and just ran with what the creator spat out. This, more than anything else, saddens me as it makes things feel even less devoid of life. Islands are too spread out, too samey and too uninteresting leaving the player with a, “seen one, seen them all” feeling.

Risk: Urban Assault is a decent game wrapped in a terrible package disrespectful of the player and their time. It throws pointless animations, cutscenes and bloat into a board game that is already well known for being a soul sucking grind. If this was just a board game I’d begrudgingly recommend it to people who really like Risk but as a video game I find it hard to recommend to anybody.

The story is mostly just window dressing for a mission-based grind-‘em-up.

Crackdown 3 feels too similar to the game that came before it; it’s like Sumo has made Crackdown 2 again, ignoring everything it could have learned from the last decade of open world titles.

In 2012, I forgave most of Resident Evil 6‘s failings, and I’m ashamed at my behaviour in doing so. I couldn’t, in good conscience, do that any longer. It’s an already dated game, worse now due to its chaos than ever before.

AFL fans might never get the game we’ve been dreaming of, but we deserve a much better attempt than this quick cash-in.

Super Mutant Alien Assault has some good ideas in it, but the balance of quality vs quantity was shifted way too far towards the latter, resulting in a potentially excellent platformer that’s been ruined with unnecessary filler. Give this one a miss unless you’re a huge fan of getting really angry at video games.

Saints Row finds a better tone than its predecessor, but otherwise doesn’t deliver as a reboot, with gameplay and mission structures inferior to past instalments. With the right expectations, there’s still fun to be had, but the endless bugs, glitches and just awful AI make it hard to recommend at launch.

This is the kind of game a cheap uncle buys a kid for Christmas out of the bargain bin giving little thought beyond, “little Timmy likes cars so I’ll buy him this thing.” Sadly, it will only keep kids entertained for as long as it takes them to realise the odds are stacked against them. While some real passion has gone into the transition of some much-loved toys into digital form, the challenge of Hot Wheels Unleashed is just too great for its target audience. Without significant fixes, it will do little more than frustrate all who pick it up.

Regretfully, the remastering of Onimusha 2 is just an increase to the resolution and nothing more. There are no new textures, no improved lighting effects, and no changes to character animations. If anyone was going to criticise a remaster for being a cheap cash grab, this is a fine example.

While I think there is the opportunity for fun to be had in this game, it would mostly be generated by the players making their own fun and not the game supplying it. Friday The 13th: The Game has the potential to be a great game but sadly it’s not right now.

Those without a real attachment to the Bat family will feel indifferent to what's presented; most who adore Dick and Babs will simply be disappointed.

The lack of local multiplayer is Mutants in Manhattan‘s biggest sin.

The entire point of Battleship is that you are face to face with your opponent and cannot see their ship layout. Relying on good sportsmanship not to peek is an unnecessary complication. In all honesty, I think this game makes more sense on a portable device or mobile phone, both for convenience and the basic logic of the game itself. Even at around $20 AUD, it doesn’t seem worth the expense for a new mode alone.

Death Stranding is an irredeemable piece of garbage that should serve as a warning to publishers who give developers carte blanche to create ‘art’.

Aliens: Fireteam Elite is an uninspiring and dull game that should have been shot out of an airlock.

If you’re a racing fan, be it arcade or simulation, I recommend you avoid this game – it’s a thoroughly unenjoyable experience from a once great series.

It’s eminently clear throughout that Slitterhead suffered a messy development. It’s an incomprehensible slog to play through and I regret spending so much of my week with it.

A mish-mash of concepts and half-cooked ideas that are never fully developed, wrapped up in a cutesy aesthetic that is at odds with its (at times) dark and disturbing themes. This is one to avoid.

While true fans of the franchise might get a kick out of seeing a new take on an old story, Alone in the Dark is a tonal and functional mess that frustrates more than it entertains.

Ace Banana in its present state is barely playable with Move controllers.

Right now, there are just too many bugs, too many exploits, and just too little simulation of the best parts of the sport it tries to replicate for me to recommend Rugby 18. This is a solid base to build upon, but with so many great playgrounds out there playing on a solid concrete foundation with a few stray woodchips for safety just doesn’t have much appeal.

The issue here is that Until Dawn didn’t need a remaster. Or a remake. I would wholeheartedly recommend everyone reading this buy and play the 2015 original, and I would equally recommend you banish this remake from your mind to never think of again.

Avengers would have been a great story-driven title but its Games as a Service elements completely destroy it. Steer well clear, at least until Achievements and progression are fixed. To date, Square and Crystal Dynamics haven’t even bothered to officially acknowledge the issues the game is facing. For shame.

Predictable jump scares, ringing telephones, spooky notes, guys in animal masks humping things and malfunctioning flashlights litter the landscape, and with each new instance, you’re left less and less impressed.

The first-person Way of the Hado mode is garbage.

Unless you’re an absolute die-hard Power Rangers fan who foams at the mouth when it comes to new content (and has patience to wait for online matches), give this one a very easy miss.

7 Days to Die is awful. I’d imagine this is how the PC release initially played back in 2013 as part of Steam Early Access; I’m utterly confused as to why there’s no polish at all on this new console release. There’s no excuse for such a flimsy mess, and I’m quite surprised Telltale Games would permit its name to be associated with such tripe. Avoid the game at all costs.

I didn’t think it would be possible, but Umbrella Corps has officially taken the title of “biggest Resident Evil cash-in” away from Operation: Raccoon City. Brief moments of online merriment don’t even come close to saving this muddy, jumpy, bot-filled mess.

Give Agony a hard miss. It looks awful, controls horrendously and definitely can’t get by on shock value. There’s nothing to see here.