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As a gamer who has played on the vast majority of the platforms available in Antstream Arcade, getting back onto some of these games was an absolute joy. I had a permanent smile on my face even from just scrolling through the available games.

Silt is the beginning of what will hopefully become a fresh new studio in indie gaming. The visual comparison to games like Limbo will soon be forgotten I’m sure. Silt is an indie game with its own nightmarish rules and a subtle logic. There is challenge to be had in its puzzles, so if mind-bending nightmares are your thing, and if you like the thought of possessing and **** up the souls of giant creatures then hopefully you also think it deserves the award below.

Tennis World Tour 2 is a tennis game for people who like tennis, there is no denying this. It does little in terms of innovation and drawing in a crowd of new fans. Don’t get me wrong, Tennis World Tour 2 is a good tennis game, but I feel its lack of innovation will see it in bargain bins fairly soon, and better games were around on the Sega Dreamcast 20 years ago. I personally do not like football, but I do enjoy playing FIFA for a few hours with friends on occasion. If they could somehow tap into that formula to draw in a new audience, then they might be onto something.

Overall having a season update to the 2020 version of PES was a great move. It has kept the winning formula of the previous game and just expanded on it with player updates and roster updates. Something that football fans have been asking for for years.

I really enjoyed Marvel’s Avengers. If you’re looking at the full gamut of the game’s online co-op options, then I can’t give you a fully formed critique on that yet. However, from a narrative perspective alone, this game stood out to me in ways I wasn’t really expecting it to. I came to Avengers expecting smashy-smashy superhero fare, and while I did get that in spades, I was also served up some insightful storytelling as a surprise. In terms of the single-player experience, Kamala’s journey is exceptionally well composed and crafted. It’s also thoughtful and representative of modern-day culture. To my knowledge, Kamala is perhaps the first Pakistani-American character to feature as the main protagonist of a AAA-game. As part of the post-9/11 Muslim-American generation of young people, her character brings representation to the forefront of a major title, and it is a fundamentally important point to recognise. By positioning a character of colour and of the Muslim faith at the heart of a story about the unifying power of doing good (especially when the rest of the world views her as ‘inhuman’), Avengers takes careful consideration of some of the most topical issues facing underrepresented groups in our global society, and on such a gigantic platform. When Kamala explains how she constructed her first DIY superhero outfit to Tony Stark from a burkini, you get the sense that the character development in this game really was central to the story, rather than an afterthought to the mechanics and level design. For me, things like that are what separates a great game from a good game. Avengers takes those extra narrative steps to make the campaign experience both immersive and compelling, and regardless of any other gameplay ****, that’s something that should be recognised and applauded. As someone fairly new to the Marvel Universe, Avengers is a great way to be introduced to such a well-constructed and crafted heroic world. There’s just such a lot to get your teeth into that I genuinely think it’s a game that needs a bit more time to be fully appreciated. I can see this game improving greatly with each future patch and the addition of DLC means that there’ll be plenty to look forward to while you work on levelling up your hero of choice in the post-campaign content. For some players, there’s bound to be gripes and issues around the prospective grind of doing so in multiplayer, as well as bugs and glitches on their respective platforms but for me, Avengers is an exciting, engaging and enjoyable game that combines a range of gameplay styles and thoughtful storytelling that speaks to both to its huge fanbase and beyond.

Overall I think Street Power Football is great, made me feel like a kid again loading up FIFA Street was such an amazing feeling. Game modes were brilliant, other than the slight problem with button delay it felt fun and enjoyable to play. I definitely would hop on there again to mess around in the trickshot and freestyle mode now.

Ride 4 is brilliant and frustrating all at the same time. It has a very steep learning curve and I would of enjoyed having a riding school feature, similar to that found in GT Sport just so that I could get used to the handling of the bike a bit better, such as understanding the front and back braking methods when racing, the various electronic options that you can alter on the fly, as well as other strategies that you may not be aware of as riding on motorways and town don’t necessarily utilise them. Although you can simplify the game right down, I felt that it is a tough game to gain the confidence to then up the realism without looking online for guidance. That said, I really felt that I was racing on the seat of my pants. With all of the options that you can tweak, Ride 4 will allow even the novice rider confidently take an R1 down the tarmac, or at least to the first corner. There are two editions of Ride 4 available, standard and special. The special edition will feature a steel-book dedicated to the iconic Yamaha R1 2020 as well as a season pass with an additional 65 new bikes, 2 tracks and 150 new events. If you love motorbike racing, Ride 4 is for you, just be aware that like any motorbike it can be an unforgiving soab if you get it wrong on track.

A love-letter to the 3D platformers of yesteryear, Tamarin does some things particularly well, but as a whole, the game feels a bit flavourless. When I first saw trailers for it coming out I was excited, as it looked like it was the spiritual successor to Jet Force Gemini, a game I loved on the Nintendo 64. But once I got my hands on it, I was a little bit let down. The characters were cute as hell, but it felt like the game was a little taped together and disjointed. While Tamarin had good visuals and a good soundtrack, it felt lacking in other areas. Unfortunately, I encountered some issues when trying to play the game with keyboard and mouse, and felt almost forced to use a gamepad.