Guardian

Campaign Evolved is a good remake of a brilliant game. There are things that are worse: I miss the original Warthog’s erratic handling and the early-00s sci-fi aesthetic, which is simply irreproducible with modern graphics. For all its prettiness, this remake chugs along at times – especially in split-screen it would occasionally slow to a crawl, and we never had to worry about linking various different online accounts and connecting to servers when we fancied a quick game of Halo in 2001. But the core of this game is impossible to mess up. For millions of younger players, Campaign Evolved is a perfect, modernised introduction to everything that was great about the 00s-style first-person shooter. For those of us who were there at the time, it’s a welcome return trip.

Some players may find this completion percentage approach too formulaic, especially if they exhaust their current inventory and resort to pixel hunting to locate the rest. And the pacing does falter in the final chapter, where the game presents you with a more literal checklist to work through before you get to tie up each character’s loose ends and make your final accusation. But while the conclusion of The Mermaid Mask feels far more satisfying than that of Tangle Tower, these games are far more about the twisty journey and the laughs you have along the way.

This is the biggest surprise about Splatoon Raiders: it is pedestrian. If you’ve played one of dozens of modern cooperative action games, you’ve played this.

If it had been released in the early 2000s I doubt Denshattack! would have made waves. But in an era of remakes, remasters and sequels, I think weird games are as satisfying to discover as nailing that perfect landing feels to play – and they should be celebrated for daring to be nonsensical. Go forth and engage in some multitrack drifting.

This is a deceptively simple game artfully told, whose bite lingers on the periphery of its narrative.

The game’s old strengths hold firm. The depth and variety of Edward’s day-to-day life still delights – one day he’s upgrading the manor at his private cove, the next he’s clambering Incan ruins for Templar treasure. Primary quests are well-paced, well-acted, and have a knack for making you feel heroic. But in the end, it’s the moments in between that make this game special. It’s when you’re sailing your ship at night, watching the lanterns sway, listening to the crew sing a shanty. This game gives you enough space to feel a pirate’s freedom, now more than ever. It may be a case of Ubisoft plundering its own library for riches, but players get their fair share of the booty.

The mini-games in Rhythm Heaven Groove might not reach the same cohesive and triumphant highs as series classics Ringside or Hole in One, nor is the entire package attempting to reinvent the wheel like many of its contemporaries. But it doesn’t need to. After 11 years, it feels like being reunited with an old friend who has remained untroubled by the passage of time. Even if they ring a familiar tune, you’re still eager to hear what new stories they have to tell.

The Adventures of Elliot is not especially ambitious. It is a comforting balm during turbulent times. If you can stomach its occasionally nauseating earnestness, this rich fantasy world is a cosy one to retreat to. And despite my instinctive reaction to the off-puttingly cheesy dialogue, this charming world eventually began to warm even my cold, cynical English heart, thanks to some inspired dungeons and rewarding, customisable combat.

The story does a great job of pulling you along for the first few hours as you go from rivals to friends and back to rivals again. It gets you invested in the action and raises the stakes, but the narrative climaxes near the beginning of your UFC career and then fizzles out. It feels like a bit of a missed opportunity to keep you engaged when you reach the top and have to defend your belts. Nonetheless, between the fluid fighting and the story-mode razzmatazz, this is the best version yet of EA’s fight-sim series.

It’s easy to see why The 7th Guest was so beloved in the first place. Vertigo Games has given this classic a well-deserved facelift, ratcheting up the impact of its theatrical story and unique historical atmosphere. Frustrating mechanical woes aside, it still feels like essential reading for puzzle-lovers who wish to experience one of the classics that shaped the adventure game genre.