Kayvoo

From a time before modern videogame conventions comes a re-imagining of Carmageddon. The game design is about as old-school as you can get - Large open areas to drive around, ridiculous cars with spikes & blades all over them, 91 different power ups that range from simple turbos to an anvil launcher & a death ray that splits vehicles in half and lots of juicy pedestrians to splatter. Basically this is made for people who loved the originals or who know what the deal is. It's an incredibly offensive and visceral game. Graphics and sound are good, control is tricky to master but responsive. Gameplay is what this is all about, dumb fun with no objectives or any guff to worry about. Although I loved the originals I wasn't expecting much because of mainstream reviews. I'm so glad I gave it a shot, the original creators really knew what they wanted to achieve here and I find that my play sessions are extremely long. It's the kind of compulsive gameplay that makes me feel 20 years younger, I highly recommend it to anyone with fond memories of the past games. Thank you, Stainless Games!

Most will agree that Starfox 64 / Lylat Wars was an excellent game and many have longed for a direct sequel with similar gameplay. This is exactly what Nintendo and Platinum have provided, with a strangely polarising gameplay twist. First of all, if you press 'select' and swap internal view to the TV, this plays like an airborne version of Splatoon. As such, the controls are elegant and precise and open up new ways to shoot everything in sight. Motion controls have a bad reputation due to forced implementation back in the Wii days. As with Nintendo Land and Splatoon it is done right here and Nintendo should be applauded for taking a huge risk with casual gamers in favour of fully utilizing the hardware in order to provide 'hardcore' gamers with a challenging, lengthy game. Anyone not willing to persevere with this game is missing out on a creative and unique experience. Platinum have put their personality into this game but it retains that unmistakable atmosphere from 64. There are 20 levels and unlockable modes that reward your efforts, quite a lot of content and you won't see everything as fast as previous games. Graphics, sound and performance are mostly excellent with only a couple of duff notes. Art direction is great and fits Wii U perfectly. The only downers for me are - no online leaderboards or local/online play. Otherwise this is inventive, intense and a worthy successor to Starfox 64!

Amazing twin stick shooter for the serious gamer, feels like a spiritual sequel to Galaxies on Wii. A free update added a substantial amount of quality extra content! If you like Resogun you will find similar thrills here. The only issue I have is my analogue sticks get punished after a heavy session on this game. Highly recommended!

If you enjoy quirky and unique physics based games such as Surgeon Simulator you should know what to expect! Light-hearted bread-centric gameplay, if you're willing to persevere it's extremely rewarding. It can be pretty infuriating messing up at the last minute but it's all about the journey! There's more 'game' here than I expected, several modes and bread products. Leaderboards are here too. Perhaps the PC market is saturated with similar experiences but I'm happy to see something like this on a console.

This game absolutely reeks of F-Zero GX and that's the most praise I can give it. Also reminds me of Diddy Kong Racing. Overall an excellent kart racer well worth playing!

Addictive and fun RTS/tower defence with a nice art style, dry sense of humour and light hearted atmosphere. There are a healthy amount of game modes and upgradeable units along with a simple castle editor and local or online co-op and versus multiplayer. It's a nice change of pace from hectic racers/shooters, and fits perfectly with Wii U. It's encouraging to see that Zen Studios can create something quite unique along with their excellent pinball tables!

Virtual reality with a control pad! Single player's a great story. GTA Online's an amazing place to lose yourself in, even better with friends! The ultimate evolution of living world sandbox games.

Capsized is a surprisingly cool side-scrolling action game reminiscent of Turrican and similar games from around 20 years ago. The emphasis is on exploration and combat in a beautiful but hostile alien landscape. There are a large number of distinctly different guns which have secondary fire modes and are fun to discover and experiment with. The enemies are well designed and satisfying to kill and the graphics/sound design is quite unique. There are other modes of play to unlock and local co-op which is very welcome. Where it sets itself apart is the way you traverse the levels, you have an extremely useful grapple beam and you can 'gravity ram' the ground to jump extra high. You can wall-grab/jump and there is also a jetpack so players have many options when trying to reach secret areas. Try the demo and you'll know what the score is, an old-school flavoured shoot-em-up which offers the satisfying gameplay of classic games with some modern twists. Top quality.

If you think Grid 2 is fun but has room for improvement, you should try this! Somehow the Codemasters team perfected something five years ago which they struggle to achieve now. Seriously, Grid is better than Grid 2 in every respect and also one of the finest racers of this generation of consoles.

Addictive and fun RTS/tower defence with a nice art style, dry sense of humour and light hearted atmosphere. There are a healthy amount of game modes and upgradeable units along with a simple castle editor and local or online co-op and versus multiplayer. It's a nice change of pace from hectic racers/shooters. It's encouraging to see that Zen Studios can create something quite unique along with their excellent pinball tables. A great game well worth 800 MSP.

Grid was the stunning culmination of years of TOCA games and was the first racing game with a fully fledged rewind feature. There was an excellent progression model, detailed driving options and full damage model. Rare for a racing game at the time, it had fully a detailed driver's view which I use exclusively in racing games. Expectations were high for Grid 2. Oh dear.. The precise rewind feature has been lazily simplified, there is no driver cam, the driving options have been removed entirely, the progression model has been ruined and again simplified and the AI has had a lobotomy. Seriously ruined for the sake of profits and treats gamers like idiots. If, like me, you love Codemasters racing games, play the original Grid or Forza Horizon.

COJ: Gunslinger is an outstanding old-school score based shooter with bags of personality and a hardcore arcade mode. Story mode is well narrated and full of humour and legendary characters. It's an action focused game with an emphasis on choreographed set-pieces and masterful shooting. There's a nice XP system in both story and arcade mode which gives access to useful upgrades and sweet bonus weapons. The real meat here is the arcade mode. Free from distractions and story guff, each level is comprised of several enemy-filled areas to speed through. The idea is to link kills to build a huge combo score and this is made possible with solid shooting mechanics and a 'Dead-eye' style bullet time meter. Linking these areas is the key to massive scores. When it 'clicks' arcade mode resembles a shooty version of Trials HD, especially with friends on the leaderboards. The lack of multiplayer irks at first but I can't think of a way this would work with the game mechanics. DLC arcade levels would add even more replay value. An awesome game with genuine attitude and, in my opinion, Techland's best game yet.

Surprisingly excellent cartoony motocross action with a fully integrated online component. Not since Excitebike 64 have I played such a fun motorbike racing game! The avatar support really adds to this fun factor along with the visuals which are simple but pretty and the bike models are varied and solid. The handling is spot-on arcade style stuff with drifts, whips and all manner of crazy mid-air tricks to choose from. It may appear simple and it's easy to get into but there is a hardcore challenge underneath for those that crave it. Track design is top-notch with tons of shortcuts and ramps and although there are only three areas, each are huge and distinctive. Alongside Race, Rivals and Trick modes there is Exploration which stands out with tons of collectables and secret areas. The multiplayer is great and there is split-screen support which is always good for any racing game. Although quite short, the player progression, track design and constant rival challenges provide extra lifespan. Extra tracks via DLC would be ideal. Overall this game shines with quality and care-free gameplay.

This game is hardcore, off the wall and hilarious! You can see the love that was put into it, with iconic classic and modern cars, over the top gameplay and many nods to famous car chases. The story is crazy and interesting, with great voice acting from the main characters and funny dialogue from random citizens. The 'shift' mechanic is revolutionary and I can see future open-world games such as GTA V using something like this as it truly opens the world up. The graphics are shiny, with highly detailed car models and full damage modelling. The car handling has been totally nailed, it's tail-happy action all the way. It's totally hair-raising and reminds me of a block dropping game such as Tetris when driving at full speed in a supercar with cops in tow, dodging traffic in the in-car view. There are in-car views for every vehicle which is immersive, and occasionally you'll shift into the body of someone on their driving test or an old lady going shopping. These moments bring comic relief with funny and varied dialogue if you get into a chase. The soundtrack is a good selection of blues and quality driving music which fits perfectly. The film director is good, with instant access when you do something crazy, although there are only five save slots. There is 'new game plus' which lets you play the story again with all your earned stuff. Split-screen multiplayer is brilliant, with a clever survival mode. Online the crazy driving and 'shift' shines, with plenty of unique modes and racing in heavy traffic. Easily one of my all-time favourite games and I highly recommend.

A seriously hardcore shooter for masochistic gamers. If you like side-scrolling shooters or games like Ikaruga you will find similar thrills here. The graphics are gorgeous with huge multi-staged bosses that fill the screen and punish you for your inadequate skills. There are lots of powerups to collect and a nice weapons system and scaleable difficulty. The dialogue is in Hungarian(?) which is great and adds to the game universe. The campaign is manageable but the real challenge comes from the other modes which don't have a 'normal' difficulty. This is where you learn the game and attempt to master this beast. I only wish it had multiplayer because then the pain could be shared. A punishingly difficult game for enthusiasts.

This is interesting, along the lines of Rez. The controls are nice, there is no need to ever look at the bottom screen. The visuals and soundtrack are unique, there is a retro feel to the whole thing. I find myself in a kind of 'zone' when playing and it's a good game for short plays and high-score chasing. I think they could have done a bit more with the concept and there are no online leaderboards, with more work on these they could have had a cult classic. Overall, a quirky score chasing game with a sense of humour that is strangely addictive in short bursts.

SkyDrift plays like Blur or Wipeout. It's an excellent game, hardcore gamers will enjoy the challenge. The graphics are very pretty for an XBLA title, the sound is great, (the announcer definitely isn't English "You are the first now"), the gameplay's tight and it's fast. The only downers are not enough people online, which is criminal for such a good game, and it's quite short although the tracks are thoughtfully designed with lots of shortcuts and the hard difficulty provides some extra challenge. If you love planes and fast racing games it's highly recommended.