Woderwick

I misread the island's name as Watford, which would be a very different game.

I had to vote Japan, just because it's bonkers but simple and it works.

I love the pink on the PAL cover, and would have picked that, but everything else on the cover looks blurry so it doesn't pop in the way that it should.

I came for the arse, and I was not disappointed. Cracking article.
Playing online has no comparison to being in the same room (or house, for those old Counterstrike LAN parties) as your opponent. It's the pleasure you take from seeing the shock/pain/betrayal/rage in their eyes as you defeat them.
I remember spending hours playing the Crash For Cash mode in Burnout 2 with friends. The great thing about that was that it required no skill to understand it and get stuck in, and a total newbie has about as much chance of causing a massive pile up as someone who'd been playing it for weeks. So you could just chuck the controller at whoever walked in and let them take a turn.

@nessisonett

What did they do to the physics? I haven't played a Monkey Ball game since the Gamecube but what I absolutely loved (aside fro the awesome minigames) was the fact that you were controlling the 'world' itself and not the ball directly. If they've changed that it just wouldn't feel like Monkey Ball.

The animation is a bit ropey. And the comic book style purple skin tone just makes me think I'm watching The Count from Sesame Street in a roguelike.

How much radiation would a legendary banana emit?

Do we have to worry about the monkeys developing acute radiation poisoning or are there going to be plenty of iodine pills scattered across the levels?

I can almost feel the incoming rage about Fire Emblem characters/sword users.

The plot sound reminiscent of Primer, which is an excellent film. But I'm not sure I like the idea of a game that's mostly missing the game part. It sounds like an interesting narrative though.

@PJOReilly

A very entertaining review of a game I have no real interest in. And you get bonus points for referring to it as rounders.

The arks from Ark: Survival Evolved. Beautiful scenery, stunning sunsets and loads of massive flesh eating dinosaurs. Running screaming in terror is a great cardio workout.

You will need to provide your own accommodation however.

The art on the US one is too soft, looks more like the cover of a cheap tie-in comic. And the Japanese one is just too everything. I don't think you need to cram every element of the game onto the cover.
Europe is definitely the best of the bunch. The characters look cool, there's enough action to show off how hectic the game is without overloading the image and detracting from how simple and cool the bombermens are.

I'm still enjoying spilling paint on sci-fi minis in my free time so not much gaming for me. But I have just this morning picked up Hot Wheels Unleashed game of the year edition for ten and a half quid because my youngest has been mainlining the cartoon all week. Hopefully we can have some fun racing each other and unlocking some sweet sleds together.

If we're calling out egregious use of punctuation in game titles surely the colon needs to be mentioned? You can't throw a stone in the eshop without hitting half a dozen of them.

I think RPGs from the 90's like Vampire: The Masquerade are largely to blame. They wanted to call it simply 'Vampire' (and thereby suggest that it was the be-all and end-all of vampire RPGs) but realised they couldn't apply trademarks to a single common word. So they slapped a colon on the end and then another couple of words.

And while we're over here arguing about the overuse of individual elements of punctuation, Japanese game devs are just unloading them by the bucketload over a salad of random words.

@Switch_Pro

I'm struggling to work out what sort of benefit BAFTA would gain from fiddling the results of a meaningless poll.

It looks to me like you've got a poll run by a non-gaming dedicated organisation which has drawn responses from a group of mixed age-ranges and gaming experience.

For example, Lara Croft was absolutely massive in the UK in the 90's. She was everywhere and crossed over into non-gaming media in way that Mario and Sonic didn't, simply because they were more child-friendly characters and she was the face of gaming become 'acceptable' for adults. So for plenty of people in the UK who grew up in the 90's but don't have much interest in games, I can see them voting for Lara over Mario.

@Draelyn

Agreed. I haven't paid any attention to Baldur's Gate 3 so I couldn't pick those characters out of a lineup, and didn't even know their names (except Astarion is very close to Asterion, the name of the Minotaur from the Labyrinth of legend).

Your point about standing the test of time is spot on, that's a huge part of what defines something as iconic. It's a bit like when Ubisoft released Watchdogs and claimed the protagonist had an 'iconic hat' and it was just a black baseball cap. A few years down the line and people barely remember the game, let alone the PC's headgear.

Digital Happy Meal toys? And here was me thinking we'd scraped the bottom of the barrel long ago.

Yeah, but can you lick the frog?

Those look pretty cool. And it's nice to see they're using proper physical props instead of green-screening everything.

This looks absolutely bonkers. But it is a fact that slapping is more effective than punching, making this more realistic than pretty much every other fighting game out there.

However, I detest motion controls for melee combat so I think I'll skip it.

One thing I've always admired about Yu-Gi-Oh is that the card game is exactly as mental as it appears in the cartoon.

And the thing that's always stopped me playing the card game is that it's exactly as mental as it appears in the cartoon.

@Deljo

Not Warhammer, I simply don't have the time to dedicate to painting huge numbers of models so I'm planning on playing some small scale skirmish games. Currently I'm painting a very cool little sci-fi dog man from Hasslefree Miniatures.

The Japanese one is pretty awesome. And that line on the US/Europe one is dire. "No street fighter has ever seen fighting or fighters like this. Or streets like this. And these streets fight. Real street fighters. Or fighting streets. The likes of which no street fighter has ever seen."

@tseliot

Aside from the fact that, as others have pointed out, there already is a YouTube app on the Switch, why do you think Nintendo would publish it? It's not their service so putting an app on a device would be down to Google, same as it is with your phone or any other device. And if you look at the YouTube app you'll see it's published by Google, and Nintendo have nothing to do with it.

@FishyS

Based on you mentioning it I've just checked out Void Terrarium and it looks pretty sweet. I think I'll pick up the first one next time it goes on sale. Thanks for the tip. 👍

Not much for me this weekend. After a long hiatus I've decided to start painting miniatures again so most of my disposable time will be spent on that. It's been years since I've spilled paint on minis so I'm hoping what skills I previously developed haven't entirely deserted me.
If I do get any time for gaming I'll probably give For The Warp a go. I picked it up on sale months ago but still haven't started it

@Ooyah

That rings a bell. Either way, Daffy in a bunny suit = very huggable. Slugcat = Quick, hit it with a broom.

@Ooyah

Bugs Bunny. It was the abominable snowman. Classic stuff.

@Ooyah

You disgust me. 🤣

That dude's tiny! Whoever is in charge of health and safety on set should have ensured there was a normal-sized person around to hold the clapperboard for him.

@boxyguy

This game has got a sort of achingly stark desolation and I keep getting tempted to pick it up on sale. And then I read the word "slugcat" and feel slightly queasy so I never actually buy it. Maybe one day I'll overcome my odd aversion to it as it does look like a cracker.

@IronCore

Thanks for the tip. I picked that one up last month but only got to play it for a couple of levels before life got in the way. I'd forgotten about it since so I may fire it up again. I got The Hong Kong Massacre at the same time but that one goes a bit too much the other way, one hit kills for everyone and the enemies all seem to be crack shots.

I'm been fiending for a decent tactical top down twin-stick shooter for a while but I don't think this is quite it. It mostly looks pretty good but from the trailer it seems to take quite a lot of bullets to kill anything. I want something a bit snappier and more brutal.

I can think of another type of show that could be used as a pithy subheader for this, but the forum will filter it out if I type it.

So to play along at home, thing of an alliterative four letter word which could prefix 'show' and is commonly used to describe a poor series of events.

I expect they'll mostly be snapped up by scalpers who will stick them in the cupboard for a couple of years then start flogging them on Heritage Auctions as 'CiB'.

Timesplitters 2 & 3 are near enough gaming perfection, and probably my favourite FPS series. I was really looking forward to a new entry when it was first announced, and managed to miss the news that it was going 3rd person.
That would have killed my enthusiasm for the game immediately so maybe it's better that it doesn't exist after all.
The last thing I want is to see is one of my favourites games pull a Highlander 2.*

*Damn. Now I have to get blackout drunk in order to forget the existence of Highlander 2.

@-wc-
That's fair enough, and I totally understand it. You and I have different mental file structures for gaming. The groups system works for me because a game like Golf Story can go in both the 'Sporf'[sic] and 'RPG' groups, whereas PGA21 goes in 'Sporf' and 'Stupid Clothes'. Wreckfest is 'Sporf' and 'Driving'. I'd struggle to find the best place to put all of them if I was dealing with a folder/file tree.
But that's because of the way I approach games. Sometimes I just want to pick up where I left of so 'Last Played' works. Other times I know a specific game I want and I can grab whichever group it's in that's closest to the top. Other times I'm not sure what I want to play, so some of groups based around themes or game styles can work, like my 'Twin-Stick', 'Turn-Based', 'GrimDark' and 'Ray Mear's Sh*t' groups.
I could get by with using a folder/file tree, but after having used the tags/groups system I find it works better for me.
But it's very much a personal thing, and I'm not overly too fussed about how exactly my games are presented, with a preference for the way I've set my groups up.
If you try and tell me how to arrange my bookshelves however, I'll likely lunge at you with a knife. So I totally get how frustrating it can be when your brain expects something to be organised in a certain way, and you're then arbitrarily told to do it otherwise.

@-wc-

I really like the fact that they're tags and not folders. Folder implies a tree-like file structure, where you put a game into a single folder like the C: drive on a PC. By making them tags it means you can put a game into multiple groups which is perfect for me. My group names are a mixture of genre and themes so a game like Dying Light is in both the RPG and Open World groups. Personally I prefer it, and can't see any real benefit from them being actual file folders.

@BTB20
They're not actually folders, like in a standard file structure. The structure is flat and games are assigned tags (the group name). When you open up a group it filters all your games and only returns those with matching tags. I prefer it because a game can only be in one folder (unless you introduce something like symbolic links/shortcuts) but it can have multiple tags assigned, so can be in as many groups as you want.

I picked this up a couple of years ago when it was on sale and I was really enjoying it right up until I reached the highest level in my chosen class and was basically forced to switch to a different class in order to continue the character progression.
There were other irritations like quests I'd accepted but not completed failing with no warning because I advanced the main quest beyond a certain point.
It's a shame because things like climbing up giant enemies and the way the wilderness is incredibly dangerous after dark were really cool.

That's a really cool little diorama. I've played the game to death on Gamecube so won't be getting it but if I was I'd pay the extra to get this.

I'd also be tempted to add in Rawk Hawk and Ms Mouse figures as well.

@gcunit

Why would I look for other retailers when I've found one that has it in stock?

And to be clear, I'm not interested in buying it myself, I was just trying to help the first poster find a copy.

@RedRaven723

I've just checked via DekuDeals and Argos can get it to me within 4 days, not sure what it's like for your area. Amazon reckon 2-3 months though.

I'm holding off until they release the story mode DLC which promises to explore the fractured psyche of a man obsessed with lawn stripes, and reveal the terrible secrets buried beneath the immaculate grass.

Whoever was responsible for giving Edward bigger boobs and makeup should be taken out and shot.

Or is that supposed to be one of the Overwatch characters cosplaying as Edward? I watched the trailer and I've no idea what's actually going on. Guns vaguely shaped like the Swordfish II? Is that it?

@mr_somewhere

Drowned World sprang to my mind too. Along with Wyndham's The Kraken Wakes (which is massively underrated and easily as good as Triffids).

This does look pretty cool though, and the boaty bits in particular are gorgeous. I'll wait for reviews but I can definitely see myself sinking some hours into this. That music could be better though, it's almost brilliant, but missing something. Not sure if it's the vocalists voice or the slightly odd use of steel drums. I get that it's supposed so sound discordant, but there's a sweet spot for that and I don't think they've quite hit it.

@TekSetter

Yeah, I'd be all over a port of Ur Quan Masters. The original Event Horizon is a bit more like Star Con in its setup then Space Defence where you have a flagship which holds all your combat vessels and you fly between systems, drop on fight enemies and then maybe do some other stuff. The main problem is that there's nothing else to it, and it just goes on like that forever. But for me the ship building aspect is just about perfect and the combat feels like a modern version of Star Con II.

@Teksetter

I was wondering the same thing. I'm for anything that smacks of StarCon II* and at first I just thought the trailer was showing a ship with an inertia-less drive like the Airlou saucers but it looks like they all handle like that.

*If you're interested, there are a couple of games on the eshop Event Horizon and Event Horizon: Space Defence which are basically ports of unfinished mobile games but... Crucially, they absolutely feel like playing StarCon II but with the ability to totally customise your ships by plugging components directly into the ship layout. It's a genuinely brilliant system and I'd crawl across hot coals for a full game with a similar ship building system. They're both regularly on sale for less than a quid each and really do scratch that Star Control itch, for a while at least.

@HeadPirate

That's an interesting point, and yeah, I was aware of the CCA stuff, although the CCA itself continued long after that issue of Amazing Spiderman was published. Most Marvel comics still carried the CCA mark when I was a kid in the 80's/90's and I think it only died out on Marvel when the 90's invented 'gritty' and rival outfits like Image started publishing stuff regardless of the CCA.

Digressions aside, I agree that making stuff harder to buy is largely pointless. There are plenty of 'hard to buy' things I managed to procure as a child, some of which were age-prohibited and others prohibited in general. So yes, prohibition categorically does not work and that's been demonstrated across societies time and again (and outside of my own anecdotal experiences) and it's far better to accept that people are going to do things that are at the very least unhealthy, and effectively criminalising them doesn't work. Banning gambling tomorrow wouldn't stop people gambling and would do nothing to help people who are addicted. As another small digression, our general understanding of addiction and compulsive behaviours is pretty flawed and tied up with a lot of moral chicanery, I read a very interesting study a few years ago called Rat Park that was exploring addiction and it's well worth a read.

Where I think I differ from you is that I don't see a PEGI rating is making it harder to obtain these games. It's a parental advisory, and a largely ineffective one at that, as parents largely don't make use of it. In the UK, it's a criminal offence to supply age-restricted products to underage individuals, but that only covers things which are legally restricted such as cigarettes and alcohol. Films are also included because of the BBFC ratings, but a self-imposed rating such as PEGI, which has no legal standing, is just a sticker on the box. You can sell GTA IV to a 5 year old and you'll never end up in court.

Part of the difference in viewpoint may be because I'm from the UK though, over here the CCA was never really a thing and the associated moral panic never took off. Similarly we never really had a 'Mothers Against D&D' movement. We had our own share of inane moral panics, but those were largely related to films. Aside from some notable exceptions, books, comics, and other media largely flew under the radar.

So my view is that the PEGI ratings are a tool for parents, but as ever it's down to the individual to apply rational thought and decide for themselves. The rating itself is less useful than reading the description of the game, looking at the trailer/screenshots and reading a review or two but it's more convenient and, at best, can be a helpful nudge to get a parent to look a bit deeper into why a game has a seemingly incongruous rating.

EDIT: Faulty memory detected and removed.

@HeadPirate

Sorry, hectic weekend away from electronics so I've only just had a chance to sit down and read your response.

I broadly agree with what you've said, with a few minor differences in nuance. I very much agree that games aren't responsible for the behaviour of individuals and, ideally, nor should they be policed as though they are.

The problems are larger than games and are endemic and societal, so games can't ever fix them and those that claim they could are mostly just trying to avoid addressing the larger problem. And, for the most part, we've got laws to handle the issues that people associate with gaming. Gambling is a bit of an outlier as the laws are inconsistent and the industry has little to no interest in policing itself while loudly claiming to do just that.
We have laws around consent, they're just woefully applied by a police force that largely has little sympathy with the victims in a society which is quite happy to blame said victims rather than address some fundamental and alarming issues. And that all comes down to education, and ensuring the justice system is applied robustly within a society which finds any form of sexual abuse completely abhorrent.
And there you run into the issue of our politicians. The old adage about them running as fast as they can to get in front of a mob is depressingly true so legislation is written to outlaw a particular model of operation which conforms to some public outcry (manufactured or genuine). The ideal would be legislating to ensure the outcome you want, rather than banning one thing, then doing it again for another, and thereby creating loopholes which can be exploited.
The other issue is education. Things like consent are easy to teach, as are other really fundamental things like critical thinking skills. But the idea of a well-informed and intellectually analytical electorate is the thing that wakes most politicians up in a cold sweat at 2am so I don't see that changing any time soon.

Until then I expect they'll keep swinging at the wrong targets and making a lot of noise and pomp about rearranging the deckchairs on the titanic.

@HeadPirate

I usually agree with your comments on here because they're pretty accurate and reflect the same sort of analysis that I apply to the real world, but I feel that the situation here is a little more nuanced (and this is in response to your first comment, not the secondary one about PEGI having to apply the rules, which is entirely accurate).

I'm not trying to do any sort of moral comparison here about what "the children" should or should not be exposed to, but I think PEGI deal with the ratings in a fairly realistic way. Yes, we all know that every game platform is overflowing with murder-simulators so why should an innocent card game get a higher rating than something which encourages you to kill your friends (even if in a light-hearted Fortnite style)?
The reality is that, as most people are aware, playing a murder simulator doesn't turn you into a murderer. Gambling is a lot more insidious at drawing people in though. There's an entire gambling industry that advertises itself all over sporting events and is very, very good at drawing people in. And gambling delivers exactly the sort of dopamine hit that gaming does, but with real world consequences.
So one of the things the PEGI rules have to take into account is how likely a game is to influence a person's behaviour in real life. Politicians have spent decades slamming games as being responsible for things like mass shootings in the US and a host of other ills, but as usual that's just the usual noise from *****-trumpets who are likely being funded by vested interests to divert attention from the real issue.
At the same time as all that pointless furore, games have been quietly cross-pollinating with gambling via loot boxes, microtransactions, season passes, and all the associated garbage.
The simple fact is that for players in much of the EU, getting hold of a gun and going on a killing spree is reasonably difficult, and the likelihood of someone playing COD or whatever and choosing to do so is pretty remote, so they're much more relaxed about murder-simulator games. Whether that's the correct stance or not is up for debate, but I think humans will always to some extent revel in violent games/films/books/fantasies while stood in line at the local shop.
On the other hand, gambling is prevalent and legalised and from the age of 16 in much of Europe you can walk into a betting shop and start losing real money, while still getting hooked on the dopamine high of the occasional win.
Then, when you add in evidence of game companies hiring addiction specialists to fine-tune their models to make sure the dopamine hits are spread out just enough to keep people playing and maximise the amount of money they're willing to keep spunking on digital nonsense, it's sensible that PEGI weighs that risk of real-world consequences up against the much lower risk of someone playing Fortnite and deciding to organise a friendly deathmatch with live ammunition at their school.

I'm not at all arguing that PEGI have got it right, simply because I haven't really looked into it in any great depth, but I hope the above demonstrates why they take possible gambling influences in games more seriously than they take a game that lets you shoot dudes, like most of the games out there.

In this case, the game directly references one of the most popular gambling games in the world so I can see why PEGI would cast a keener glance over it.

@Vyacheslav333

You can get Dying Light in PAL regions, because I have it and purchased it from Argos, a UK retailer. The problem is that you can't get it digitally because the EU eshop includes Germany which has banned the game. I believe that the publisher could try to resubmit it by hasn't bothered for whatever reason, likely because they looked at the projected sales Vs the cost of what is required to get it released in Germany and decided it wasn't worth it. Which is a shame because it's a surprisingly good game and runs pretty bloody well on Switch.