This is the first time the game has been published by EA and you can tell straight away thanks to the visuals. It’s the best looking Super Mega Baseball yet, with excellent stadium crowds, characters, the stadiums themselves, and visual effects. There are six brand-new stadiums. Game cameras and cutscene animations have also been overhauled for the first time since the original Super Mega Baseball, with new variations and perspectives. It’s crisp and technically impressive without losing the cartoon charm the series is known for. The superb caricature characters come in every shape and size. Superbly placed sound effects and commentary play on the humour and enhance the immersion, as well as tremendously lively animations bringing a smile to your face.

Super Mega Baseball 4 is highly accessible. Batting and fielding have retained their arcade style meaning anyone can pick up and play through a regular exhibition match in no time at all. However if you really want to dig deeper into some of the more complicated play styles there are whole host of controls to remember to make the game more of a simulation. Difficulty can be tweaked to any level with the ego scale the small increments mean you can find the perfect level depending on your experience.

There are a huge amount of game modes to take part in. From standard exhibitions to pennant races, seasons, shuffle drafts and elimination.

In Pennant Race players choose a team to compete and face a series of randomized online opponents to compete for the top of the rankings. Players can choose to play cross-platform or same-platform, but they are then placed into a Division of up to 15 players based on their general skill level. It’s a great way to play random opponents.

Franchise mode adds a new player loyalty system which give you interesting decision to make to keep players happy, build their loyalty and keep them on your team, but it’s not the most satisfying mechanic: you always leave someone on your team upset and this black and white decision making reveals its limitations quickly.

The player development opportunities provide interesting decisions that can grant improvements or reduce a player’s skills. The risk verse reward aspect of this keeps you on your toes, and there’s an impressive number of different opportunities that crop up.

My favourite mode so far is Shuffle Draft, where you get repopulate the entire league. You have a choice of starting a Franchise, Season, Elimination or Online League season with your draft. You’ll start with a bank team and go through 22 rounds of each team picking a player. You’ll be given a choice of 8 players each round and its up to you to ensure you get the right balance of finding strong players and optimising your teams chemistry. It’s great fun a and keeps the game fresh.

Another huge area of fun comes from the awesome customisation menu. SMB4 has multiple options for both character and team customisation. In terms of players, you name it, you can customise it. All of the characters physical features can be changed as well as their stances and skills. Teams can have all sorts of visual and audio features changed, including the sounds that are made when they hit a home as well the logos.

The online experience is excellent too, especially now that game supports cross-play between all the major platforms. Sending invites is simple and you are in a game before you know it.

Super Mega Baseball 4 is the best in the series, with so many teams and legends to play as you will always find something different to play with someone different. Its the most accessible version I’ve played and the fantastic presentation is a real highlight.

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For years, fans of the series have been crying out for a game that let live out their own Hogwarts Adventures and finally they can in Hogwarts Legacy. You play as a student drafted into Hogwarts in the fifth year, a rare occurrence. You have spent the summer being mentored by Professor Fig to prepare you for life as a witch or wizard. After creating your character you begin to travel to Hogwarts. What should be a simple journey isn’t a you discover some interesting secrets that forms the story.

When you do finally arrive at Hogwarts you take part in the sorting ceremony, you’ll answer a few questions and the hat will decide which house you’ll be part of, however if you don’t like the choice you can change this straight away. You’ll need to make one full playthrough as one house and three partial playthroughs as the others if you want to pick up all of the achievements.

Because you have joined Hogwarts so late you’ll have a lot of catching up to do in order to pass your O.W.L.S, so your teachers will give you extra curricular tasks to help with your learning. On completion of these tasks you’ll be taught various spells to use throughout the game.

The array of spells you learn will give you a huge arsenal of power that will give you the ability to navigate the world, all the classic spells are available. You have a basic cast that will deal damage and then you can use a combination of attack spells to cause more chaos. Depending on the path you take you will eventually learn cursed spells which ultimately teaches you Avada Kedavra which is a one hit kill. There are a whole host of other spells that will help you in other aspects of your adventure, from capturing and looking after your beasts to conjuring new equipment for your Room of Requirement.

Combat is Hogwarts Legacy is excellent, using your different spell types to make some awesome combos, as your combos increase in size you’ll collect shards that allow you to unleash Ancient Magic finishers which do huge amounts of damage. There are all sorts of enemies ranging from Dark Wizards to huge beasts and you’ll need to be aware of how to defeat them, all spell types are colour coded so you’ll know which spells to use against them. The combat system is well managed, the spell types are all managed via the d-pad via four different pages of slots, these can be edited on the fly which is great depending on the type of quests you are involved in. Eventually talent points become available to you which can be used to enhance certain attributes such as spells casting out over a wider area or being able to run while invisible. 

Of course Hogwarts Legacy is not just casting spells to defeat enemies, the huge open world is full of surprises from treasure caves to trials created by Merlin himself, there are broom time trials, games to play and stars to discover. Then there is just the ability to explore and discover Hogwarts as a working school. There are more things to discover than I could possibly write here but my favourite so far are two coats of arms getting increasingly more agitated at each other each time you pass them until you see one smash the other to bits in a fit of rage. There is an incredible attention to detail that hardcore fans will totally enjoy, combine the exploration with the story and side quests and you’ll easily see a playthrough of 70+ hours appear.

You’ll notice that I haven’t really discussed the main story line, that’s mostly because it feels like the least important part of this game for me, it’s a well written and fun to play campaign but I just got more from doing everything else. The first time you flew a broom was sensational, which was topped by flying a Hippogriff alongside the Hogwarts Express, the wonderful score that played genuinely gave me shivers and I wish I could play those sections again and again. Although some of the quotes feel a bit obvious at times I never felt bored by them and was happy to discover new things to do during my exploration.

As I mentioned, there is a huge amount of detail in the world and he game does look great, some of the characters look a little dead behind the eyes and there doesn’t feel like there is much animation in any of their faces, especially when the voice acting is so vibrant, they just don’t tend to match their characters.

I’ve honestly had an absolute blast playing this game and sharing experiences with my family who were huge fans of Harry Potter. If you have loved the world created then you will have a great time with this game.

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You play as an unarmed character that can be customised as you unlock new parts and their inventor grandpa who embark on adventure to search for inspiration to help reinvigorate his rundown amusement park with your little robot buddy in tow. 

You’ll visit the deepest jungle, sun-drenched deserts, a bustling city corner, a towering medieval castle, and tropical Caribbean islands as you progress through the game. Each world will require you to explore and solve various building puzzles to unlock new areas as you move around. You ‘ll meet and help the minifigures of these worlds by solving puzzles and unlock new skills throughout the story to further explore these worlds and uncover the many secrets and mysteries they contain.

Unlike the licensed TT games LEGO titles where all you have to to do is hold down a button to build a structure, in Bricktales you need to have a proper think about how you are going to build each structure.

One of the first things you’ll need to build is a bridge, which is hardly surprising since it’s made by the same team responsible for the entertaining Bridge Constructor series. You are given various bits of LEGO and an area to build it in, you are then left to your own devices to complete the task. Before you can move on you’ll need to prove your structure is solid but testing it with little robots.

As you progress through the game the builds become more complex with more bits of LEGO to use. It’s pretty unforgiving, there are no hints or tips to help you, you are purely relying on trial and error each time you build which at times can become a little frustrating. The only guidance you have shows bricks in red if they can’t be placed or are out of the build area. Hardcore LEGO builders will welcome the challenge while younger players will find the this game pretty difficult.

One challenge for all players however is the camera. Bricks can be rotated and moved up and down through the levels and placed wherever you think is best, but the camera makes it really difficult to see where you are placing bricks, especially when you are trying to be precise with your build. I often found myself placing breaks wildly out of place too often which became really frustrating. Once you had completed a difficult build however it was very satisfying. 

When you have completed a build you are able to go back in and add extra flourishes with new colours and bricks, apart from a purely cosmetic need there was little reason for me to do this though. 

I love the fact LEGO Bricklates goes back to basics with non licensed LEGO worlds to explore with a cute story about family. Each of the worlds are fascinating to explore and they all look great, it’s just a shame the puzzles are let down by such awkward camera movements.

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Central to the game is the Knights Headquarters, the Belfry. This central hub allows you to choose and customise your character, talk with the other nights and assess your evidence board. Evidence is collected through nightly patrols where you all scan for crimes and stop them from happening.

The majority of Gotham is available immediately so you can explore and discover crimes all over the city. They’ll range from simple muggings to fully blown gang operations. Certain enemies you defeat will give you intelligence about premeditated crimes that will take place on future nights. While some enemies will automatically give you intel, others will need to be interrogated.

You have complete freedom to spend as long as you want in the city, however when you decide to return to Belfry any crimes you haven’t stopped will be gone forever. It’s the same result if you are killed during a fight. When you return your evidence board will be populated with future quests.

Completing patrols also rewards you with XP, allowing you to mould your favourite character into the kind of fighter you want to play as. Levelling up grants you skill points that can be spent in the skills trees for each character, dictating what they excel at. If you want to play heavy-handed you can concentrate on combat skills and gadgets, turning you into either a tank or DPS character that can soak-up or deal heavy damage respectively.

Meanwhile, focus on stealth instead and you can become a master of opportunity takedowns, making yourself practical undetectable to enemies and even security cameras to allow you to prowl around unmolested. You could even focus on critical hits and dodging, making you a slippery, hard-hitting combatant. There’s a great variety of skills that help make the experience fit your preferred playstyle.

Each of the four knights have the own individual style, Batgirl is highly trained in a variety of fighting styles, such as kickboxing, capoeira, and jiu-jitsu. Her signature weapon is the tonfa. She is also great at hacking or coding in computers and technological systems to dig for information.

Robin is an expert fighter armed with his collapsible quarterstaff and skilled in the art of stealth. Nightwing boasts mastery in acrobatics and is an expert at taking down enemies with his signature dual escrima sticks, while Red Hood is proficient in multiple combat techniques with all manner of weapons—both traditional and high-tech.

Gotham Knights lacks the fluidity of the Arkham games, both in traversal and combat. Moving around the space feels clunky and unresponsive. Character movement has momentum and acceleration, making movement look realistic but feels delayed, this is especially noticeable when making turns in vents or moving from a stationary position.

Each character has a grapplehook to aid in their traversal of the environment but there’s a surprisingly limited amount of verticality in some areas, or even points that look like they should support your grapplehook but don’t offer you that option. Meanwhile, running and jumping doesn’t feel accurate, making it all too easy to fall off points of elevation or fail to escape an area quickly because you can’t vault or climb something without bashing a button repeatedly.

Meanwhile, combat feels decent but ultimately an imitation of the Arkham system, it’s mechanically the same, incorporating light, heavy, ranged and grab attacks to manage your foes and exploit their weaknesses, with the now ubiquitous dodge rounding out the experience, however, while the combat looks fancy enough, and certainly gets the job done, there’s a lack of feedback in terms of sound effects and even in controller rumble.

There’s no denying the satisfaction it brings as you pound enemies into the ground, or into nearby obstacles, but it’s not as impactful and smooth as seen in the Arkham games and Lord of the Ring Shadow titles. It’s pleasingly cinematic though. The acrobatics are nicely animated and there’s a variety of slow-motion takedowns to enjoy, with some neat looking attacks when you cooperate with nearby teammates. Meanwhile, the particle effects from things like Molotov cocktails looks terrific, and the visual cues for dodging and avoiding bullets or thrown objects is pleasantly obvious.

Gotham Knights nails the Batman atmosphere and aesthetic. The city of Gotham is wonderfully dense, gothic and noir in style, and each of the characters looks and sounds perfect. Strong voice acting and a script that feels true to each character helps immerse you. Furthermore, a rich selection of suits for each character lets you enjoy your crime fighting in style – once you unlock them. Even the way villains are portrayed and how their related missions play out feels appropriate to the source material. An early Harley Quinn mission ends up with a huge prison brawl to a punk rock version of Ricky Martin’s Livin’ la vida loca playing in the background, feeling absolutely perfect for that character’s special brand of insanity.

Where Gotham Knights excels is its handling of the co-op. While your partner is in your world they are free to do whatever they please aside from main and side missions that need to be completed together. If you decide to fight a crime together you can or you can divide and conquer if you prefer. What I liked most was that if you weren’t hosting and completed a mission further on that you had got to in your save when you reach that point in your save the game will recognise you have completed it already but will give you the option to replay it. Enemies are scaled called based on your skill level so it’s a fair fight for whoever plays. The biggest shame is that it isn’t 4 player co-op.

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Driving trains isn’t easy. Each locomotive has different controls and takes time to learn but thankfully there is a training centre giving you the opportunity to complete various tutorials before heading off to the official routes. The tutorials will teach all the controls you need and how to manage each train. You’ll be able explore the incredible detail of each train in preparation for driving in real world situations. 

When you are ready to drive properly you’ll have three (or four if you have the deluxe version) to choose from. Choose between hauling hundreds of containers through Cajon Pass with the ES44C4 experiencing the thrill of 280 km/h in the ICE 1 between Kassel and Wurzburg or drive Britain’s fastest train, the Class 395, between London, Ashford and Faversham. Deluxe owners can step back in time and take control of the famous LMS Jubilee Class. Carry passengers on a journey of a lifetime along the West Coast Main Line, over the Runcorn Bridge and right into the heart of Merseyside. Additionally, be in charge the hard-working LMS Stanier 8F Class on heavy freight trains. It’s worth noting that any content from Train Sim World 2 is compatible with this game which is great.

You have the option to play through a whole timetable throughout the day. You could be setting up and running the first train of the day or handling a busy rush hour service.

There are also plenty of scenarios to play through which will test your skills. The different challenges range in difficulty from running a normal service to a storm affected route that will test your signal knowledge.

How your train drives depending on the weather conditions, anyone who has travelled in Britain will know just what its like when we get to autumn/winter. If its not leaves on the line affecting track adhesion it’s frozen tracks and snow. It’s no different in TSW3 and its done to great affect. Leaving a station with two much power results in wheels slipping and sparks flying from the tracks, braking times are also affected so be sure not to miss the platform!

Visually this is the best looking train sim I’ve played, this year its all about the details, better lighting and reflections through out the environment and the little details like the sparks from the pantographs above the train all make the world feel more alive. Passengers are still a bit of a let down as the walk around like zombies and ruin the realism. For example, setting up the first train of day in a depot to find people already sat in carriages is a bit odd.

The train models are hugely impressive, with huge amounts of details going to into each one. It’s a bit weird seeing such clean SouthEastern Class 465’s look so clean as we all know that in real life they are disgusting old trains that full of all sorts of filth! Stations have all been faithfully recreated and also look great.

A new feature this year is the the livery creator, its like Forza for trains and there are some incredible fan efforts already. There are plenty of official looking train companies and there is the train that looks like a massive Pikachu – Creating your own liveries is as simple or difficult as you want it to be, using layers to create your own work of art before sharing it with the world. You can also create your own scenarios which lets you plan your own routes which leads to endless opportunities to drive.

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Arcade Paradise taps directly into this almost Neanderthalic part of the older gamers psyche and turns it all the way up to 11.

From the opening cinematic with its nod to early 90’s trends; the drone of the alarm clock everyone owned, the orange foam headphones and Walkman, and even the parody NTV music channel all draw you in to Ashley’s world from the outset.

You have just left your job at the “Pizza King” and your dad Gerald, voiced by the unmistakeable Doug Cockle, has seen fit to let you loose to run the local Laundrette he owns while he relaxes on the Riviera. This requires you to clean up after the slobbish patrons, load their laundry to wash and dry, while making sure the facilities don’t break down. The major perk is that the laundromat back room is kitted out with a couple of arcade machines from when your older sister undertook this parental rite of passage before you, and these are far more profitable than your first day washing clothes. Against your father’s instructions you and your sister conspire to make the Wash King Arcade successful to prove him wrong.

As you progress and upgrade the laundrette,  you will get tips and new opportunities from your sister as she tries to help you make a success of the business.

Most of the tasks you perform requires you to complete a simple minigame, from cracking the lock on your safe to deposit your daily takings, attacking the toilets health with a plunger to unblock it, or even timing the perfect pull to remove stubborn chewing gum, you will find yourself quickly getting a routine for these tasks as the days roll on, with some rewarding you additional cash depending how well you perform the task.

Thankfully, it is not long before you earn enough money to increase the arcade machines you have in stock, or even expand your property to give you even more room to fit cabinets. Playing and completing goals on each of the machines improves its popularity meaning more games per hour and more money in your coffers. There is a very well-balanced progression in the early game, with more of your time focused on the running of the laundromat, rushing off any time your watch alarm goes to notify of a completed wash. Delay too long, and your earnings fall rapidly so to begin it is quite difficult to balance the books while also getting time to play the arcades, until the cabinets become profitable enough that you never need to wash another garment again.

As you progress, you also unlock daily to-do tasks which reward you with a second, premium currency allowing you to buy upgrades ranging from reducing how often the facilities or cabinets break, unlocking new functions on your very basic PC, (including minesweeper and solitaire!!!), advertising your business, or hiring an assistant to collect your profits from the hoppers for you, all helping to leave you free and clear to play as many arcade games as you want.

The games themselves are pretty faithful recreations or interpretations of classic titles like Outrun, Pac-Man, Merc and even air hockey, and with over 30 cabinets there is bound to be a few that you will find yourself being told to leave the property at 2am because the working day is over. Racer Chaser featuring prominently with the additional mechanics of being able to pick up a speed boost that lets you outrun pursuers, or even run to a new vehicle whenever you are caught, stunning police with your Ghetto Blaster music, allowing a little more flexibility and survivability over the original game.

Early on you unlock a jukebox as well which has an eclectic mix of trance, grunge and pop all reminiscent of the hey-day of 90’s music which just elevates and accentuates that “lightning in a bottle” that was 90’s gaming.

Regrettably, during my playthrough I did have a few irritating bugs occur. Most are minor such as To-do tasks failing to update, individual hoppers becoming un-interactable until you return the following day or reload, and I even had a critical bug where the delivery guys dropped off a cabinet twice, locking me into the map as there was no space to place the second cabinet. (Thankfully this occurred early, as I had to completely wipe all saves to allow me to start again, but I was always wary about buying a new cabinet in case I didn’t have room).

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This year Madden 23 focuses on making the game as accessible to people as possible, they’ve introduced some new mechanics but do lots to make sure you play in the style which you prefer.

You’ll begin the game by playing through the Madden Legacy Game: In celebration of the NFL legend, you can play through a unique experience featuring coach John Madden himself – from different eras – with teams composed of some of the players Coach loved the most. 

You are encouraged to let the whole match play out and not skip scenes as there are lots of interesting facts about Madden, his career and life. It’s really well put together and it’s a great tribute.

Once you are past setting everything up you have a huge amount of game modes to play through. Franchise mode has had the biggest amount of improvements, notably NFL Free Agency. With all new screens, additional evaluation periods, player motivations and added salary cap functions there is a whole new dynamic to engage with when trying to put together the ideal roster. Players’ emotions and motivations come into play much more.

They will weigh offers taking into account things like their desire to play for a winning organization, joining a team close to making a Super Bowl run, or with a franchise QB; playing in a big market; making sure they sign with a team close to home; and more. It adds an interesting new dynamic to the mode, trying to sign the best players and then trying to meet their expectations. It’s a deeply rich mode and a lot of fun.

Face of the Franchise has had a much needed narrative change, you start as a journeyman player who happens to be a free agent who get their chance to prove their worth with a one year contract. The improved player lock gameplay makes it much easier to focus on your position during matches. The new side activities are a welcome addition too.

Ultimate team returns with lots of improvements to the gameplay, setting clear paths for you to build the best team possible with all of your favourite players. A brand new field pass gives you lots of rewards during your time in the mode. Complete objectives for specific rewards within the new Field Pass system. You will find 3 different Field Passes at launch: Season, Competitive, and Program. The Season Pass lasts for two months and has some special rewards tied to it. The first reward you earn is Coach Madden himself so you can have him coaching on the sidelines. At Level 50, you’ll see an All- Madden version of former Raider and Coach Madden favorite, Dave Casper. There will be an initial set of objectives that earn you XP and more will continue to be released as the Season progresses

With the new modes out the way you are probably wondering how the gameplay is this year. PS5 and Xbox Series X users will be able to make use of FieldSENSE. Passing has been improved thanks to more refined passing options, giving you more control and accuracy over where the ball will fall. It takes some getting used to but it’s worth trying out to see if it improves your game, if you prefer a more classic style however you can just swap back to that. New animations during plays see players performing mid-air knockouts and standing tackles to force turnovers. There is a noticeable difference to Wide Receivers vs Defensive Backs too, its nice to see some focus on other areas of the field.

As you would expect from any EA sports game. The presentation is fantastic. The detail that goes into every stadium is enough to distract you from the actual matches themselves, coaches and teammates get animated according to on field action while teams in the field look better than ever. It’s not always perfect, players body part contort in odd ways and collisions cause odd reactions. They do nail the big hits though and they are satisfying as ever. Commentary is still brilliant although at times they talk over the referee which makes it difficult to understand what decision has been made. 

There are lots of improvements to Madden 23 this year that make it a worthwhile purchase for hardcore and casual players, the tributes to John Madden are excellent and the game looks amazing, there s something for everyone in this game.

The post Madden 23 review appeared first on THUMBSTiX.

True Fear Forsaken Souls – Part 2 is a psychological horror title offering multiple locations to explore in the continuing quest to uncover what happened to your sister and unearth secrets from your family’s past. It’s a classic point and click adventure from a first-person perspective, think hidden-object game with less hidden objects. Beautiful, highly detailed and creepy stills, with the odd animation and particle-effect, alongside some 3D cutscenes for story-heavy sections, visually entice you into this adventure and mystery. It’s a good horror tale with exceptionally good atmosphere and immersion that’s hard to put down once started.

This is a puzzle heavy experience, comprising of you travelling between scenes in a location, finding objects and solving puzzles to unlock more object, more puzzles, and – of course – more story. This time around the puzzle variety has been improved a little, offering more inventive puzzles and several interconnected puzzles where one scene’s puzzle helps solve a different scene’s. Moving between scenes is fast and intuitive: hitting directions on the d-pad moves you around logically within the space – a room on the left can be accessed by pressing left on the d-pad – or you can drag your cursor and click where you want to go. Additionally, you can call up a map of the scenes in an area and travel quickly to any part. It’s well-designed and makes traversal effortless, making the frequent backtracking less of an inconvenience, and allowing you to focus more on the puzzles.

These puzzles are mostly varied and clever, involving mechanics such as finding missing pieces, finding objects to remove obstacles, piecing pictures together, repairing, or combining multiple objects together, etc. Moreover, there are some puzzle sections that are self-enclosed puzzle box style challenges that don’t require items collected anywhere outside of that particular puzzle area, which makes for some brilliantly focused Rude Goldburg-like experiences.

As with many point and click adventures games, True Fear Forsaken Souls – Part 2 does occasionally suffer some developer logic issues, whether with an obscure solve – which there are seldom of here to be fair – or more commonly, objects that should be fine to solve a problem not matching the very specific object that does in fact solve the puzzle. It’s not too egregious though, although it does mean the game is strictly linear.

True Fear Forsaken Souls – Part 2’s scene stills are wonderfully detailed and creepy, imitating lighting splendidly to give off a very unsettling atmosphere. Meanwhile, a little cliched but nonetheless very effective music helps sell the horror even more. Furthermore, occasionally a 3D cutscene will play that ramps up the horror and bit more. The animation is a bit stiff, and the protagonist is expressionless, which gives it an early 2000s feel about it, but this proves less jarring than you might think, and in fact feels nostalgic. It’s very much an adventure game of yore, with some convenient mod-cons.

The aforementioned quick travel is complimented by a hint system that points the way if you get stuck, and even the ability to skip puzzles. True Fear Forsaken Souls – Part 2 doesn’t leave you pondering a puzzle or where to go next without offering a helping hand if you want it, making it one of the more player-friendly point and click titles on the market. It’s not perfect, items you need to collect easily blend into the environments and colour-based puzzles may prove unsolvable to colour blind players, but certainly the developers have attempted to make the title accessible.

True Fear Forsaken Souls – Part 2 really hasn’t changed much from the previous part. It continues to offer a creepy but never downright scary experience, with wonderfully unsettling atmosphere. Smart puzzles and exceptional art makes this experience memorable and the story is progressing nicely. The puzzle variety is stronger and more interconnected than it was but it loses its lustre a bit after a while, but the story is intriguing enough to keep you engaged. This is a strong point and click adventure for those looking for a less confrontational horror experience, and hopefully the promised third part will prove to be a satisfying ending.

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The first thing you’ll notice apart from Fernando Alonso looking like he is surrounded by drivers half his age is the introduction of F1 Life, a rather odd hub where you can decorate a social hub to your tastes all while showing off a supercar collection worthy of a F1 driver. All of these items can be bought in the games store using, supercars can be unlocked using tokens earn from completing challenges such as driving a certain amount of miles. Your hub can also be used as a multiplayer lobby so you can show off your hard work to your mates. To be honest it all feels it a bit lifeless and a bit of grab to get you spending for cosmetics that aren’t needed, you’ll love my lampshades and I won’t be paying any extra!

The supercars can actually be driven on track to compete in challenges ranging from time trials, drifting competitions and Pirelli Hot Lap challenges, it’s cool being able to jump in the safety car to experience a different view. It takes a bit of getting used to because of the huge difference in the way the F1 cars handle themselves on the circuits, however its a welcome distraction from the rest of the game.

In terms of circuits, the Miami International Autodome has been added and its a great drive, not only do you get to race around the Hard Rock stadium complex, but with 3 DRS zones its designed for some really exciting racing.

Existing circuits have also had some changes made to them, with lots of changes to turns and camber, as well as improved graphics. Which all adds to the authenticity of the game.

That's right, @Circuitcat_eng isn't the only circuit with updates coming to #F122game at launch ?

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— EA SPORTS F1® 22 ? Now w/Cross-Play (@Formula1game) May 23, 2022

Audio has also been improved, first of all, no more Jeff! I sort of miss him but I’m sure we’ll grow tired of his replacement soon enough. The commentary has had a big improvement with brand new commentary recorded with teams across multiple regions as well as dynamic music on-track which you can pick up while racing.

Moving to the on track experience, there are a host of improvements that create a greater experience for drivers no matter what you ability is. A new adaptive AI reacts to your speed and lap times by increasing or decreasing the difficulty of your opponents, it works really well and gives you a real sense of being competitive.

This year also see the introduction of simulation formation laps, giving you the chance to get warmed up before attempting to park as accurately as possible. As you approach the line a coloured indicator changes colour, the better you line up, the better your start is when the lights go out. Pit stops have also had a slight change, with a timer prompting you when to dive into your garage. The outcome is more noticeable here with an impact on the overall pit time based on how good your timing is. Both take a little bit of getting used to but are worth having enabled.

All of these options can be turned on and off in the excellent settings menu that really allows you to customising your racing experience to the finest detail, this continue to be one of the games biggest strengths as it completely determines your experience.

The cars look brilliant with their new front and back wings, as well as the huge new tyres and all of the cars new handling has been reflected into the game, the cars feel heavier and take just that little bit longer to brake, so even veterans of the game will take a little time to adjust to the cars. There are lots of new cut scenes which all add to the broadcast experience which as you would expect from an EA sports title.

Unfortunately the FIA still seem to be in a bit of disarray with some of their judgements in game defying logic. I’ve been wiped out (and wiped opponents out) by AI without consequences, yet have been given the dreaded 5 sec penalty for minor infractions. It’s all stuff that can be patched up no doubt.

My Team has had a good new feature added with the ability to specify what sort of backing your team has from the owners, teams pushing Red Bull and Ferrari will get given more cash and R&D changes already implemented giving you that extra edge. While lower team will start with less cash and resources. Once you are in and playing however the mode doesn’t feel significantly different.

All the regular games modes are still present and for those of you who are extra brave the Multiplayer and eSports modes are there so you can take on the world via leagues and competitions. There is also the Podium Pass which unlock all sorts of cosmetics for you driver, cars and items that can be used in F1 Life. The pass come with challenges that include targets such as setting a certain lap time in Time Trial, achieving a one-two finish in My Team or completing three online races without incident. If F1 2022 is your main game then having the Podium Pass is definitely worth it.

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Vampire the Masquerade: Swansong is a narrative-focused, RPG, which puts you in the shoes of three vampires. Gameplay switches between these characters, each of which have their own abilities, personality, extensive lore, and current object. It’s your task to investigate areas, people and other vampires to initially find out about a breach of security and massacre at a vampire party, and to meet the expectations of the Camarilla prince of Boston, Hazel Iverse, who has tasked you with solving the debacle.

There’s a lot of lore to get your head around when it comes to the World of Darkness and the masquerade that hides the existence of vampires and other supernatural forces from humanity. Learning it all greatly informs you on how you should conduct yourself in the world and what burdens of history are relevant, as well as what other creatures and vampire sub-species you should be aware of. Fortunately, you don’t need to know anything going in. Swansong gradually reveals things to you either directly through conversations and tutorials, or through an encyclopedia that collects information that you can peruse at your leisure. The universe is intuitive enough for you to immediately feel familiar with it but has hidden depth that vastly improves the enjoyment if you have the inclination to learn more. It’s a balancing act that Swansong pulls off effectively, giving you enough to navigate by and build intrigue without hitting you over the head with too much information.

Exploration, collecting information, puzzle solving, and conversations are the primary components that makes up the experience of Vampire the Masquerade: Swansong. Thanks to the three different characters you play as, you manage to see a pleasant variety of locations and interact with many different individuals. There’s a huge amount of dialogue and voice acting on offer that, for the most part, carries the story and characters along nicely enough, but does stumble occasionally. Conversations aren’t always the most engaging, with a lack of emotion making them dull and lifeless. When conversation is such a big part of the experience, it’s a letdown when those conversations are less engaging and enjoyable. It’s partly due to tone. There just isn’t a character with a sense of humour to help alleviate and add contrast to the serious parts of the narrative. Meanwhile, as varied as the locations are, there’s very few that offer anything interesting or unique. There’s no sense of you being in Boston at all, it could easily be any American city.

The narrative has an intriguing premise and some nice twists and turns, but its delivery isn’t great. The conversations and dialogue are certainly the biggest issue with it, but even still it’s not the grandest of tales. What it does well is give you the opportunity to play vampire-detective; exploring areas and talking to people to uncover information is enjoyable. Moreover, your decisions affect the story in big ways, giving you strong agency across the ten to fifteen hour experience. However, you’d be forgiven if you forget this is a game about vampires. You can occasionally feed on people to boost your abilities, and your abilities play a part in manipulating conversations and maneuvering around the environment, but a lot of the puzzles require nothing supernatural, and even the abilities used in conversation can feel a bit speechcraft more than mind control. You also don’t always have the best abilities going into a situation. Upgrades are handled at the end of each scene for each character, and the points you can spend on them are determined by how well you’ve done in the scene. A bad scene can really limit your character’s potential.

Vampire the Masquerade: Swansong suffers a little from an identity crisis. It’s a talking-simulator, stealth game, detective game, Hitman-lite, puzzle game, adventure game all rolled into one, with no particular mastery of either. A lot of the stealth sections are forced and frustrating, the puzzles are uninspired, and there some odd adventure game style sections that feel incongruous with the vampiric natural and powers of the characters. It feels a little half-baked, like a mishmash of ideas not fully formed. This sense of unpolished carries over to the visuals, were characters look lifeless and lack facial details, have terrible mouth flapping animations, and the occasional wild physics with hair. Meanwhile, plenty of texture pop in leaves a bad taste in your mouth. Environments on the other hand, look fantastic, with smooth frame rate throughout.

Vampire the Masquerade: Swansong suffers from lackluster dialogue and some scatterbrain gameplay but makes good use of the already existing lore to present an intriguing story with some really enjoyable sections. It feels unpolished but there’s certainly a lot of potential here, and for fans of the World of Darkness, Swansong is absolutely recommended. For new comers, the issues with Swansong are more of an obstacle, but playing vampire-detective is still an enjoyable experience if you can manage to look past them.

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