This was yet another free game on Epic and they even let you have the Spacer’s Choice edition with better graphics and all DLCs included. This was released years ago of course and it can be thought of doing a science-fiction game in Bethesda’s style before Starfield using original IP. Unfortunately this is definitely a B-team effort as the game is unbelievably mediocre. I was already on the fence about eventually getting around to Starfield due to its poor reviews, but I’m definitely all knackered out of the space cowboy RPG after this.

Divinity: Original Sin 2 was so wearying to play that I kept looking forward to unwinding with this relaxed, top down rally game. As you can see from these screenshots, it uses very simplified graphics and it’s meant to be played with just a game controller. Yet that doesn’t prevent it from being a reasonably decent rally game with plausible physics, good enough to win over fans of such games as the Dirt Rally series. It’s a short game and fairly easy for someone already experienced with rallying but I had a great time with it.

I sung the praises of the first game so how could I not play the sequel especially after Larian followed it up with the highly acclaimed Baldur’s Gate 3? This time around I soon felt that I had bitten off more than I could chew. This sequel is huge, especially with all of added content that is part the Definitive Edition, so there’s so much more of everything. Many of the elements that I liked the first time around were less appealing this time and the annoying things are much worse. It eventually got to the point where it felt like a slog that I had to power through. I still finished the game because I’m stubborn that way and I can understand why it appeals to some power gamers but this wasn’t a game I enjoyed very much at all.

This game’s description didn’t quite make it clear to me, but it’s really a very old-school style text adventure game accompanied by still images. There are no real combat mechanics for example. They’re just skill checks to see if you can get past obstacles. There are things like RPG stats, inventory items and so on, but it’s all very simple. I was turned off by how much reading this entailed at first even though I used to be a big fan of gamebooks. But I came around as I grew to know its world and ended up enjoying myself quite a bit.

I’m such a completionist when it comes to video games that I hate not finishing any games that I start but I have to throw in the towel for this one. I bought this because I thought my flightstick was getting too little use and this is a well known game series that I’ve never dabbled in before. As it turned out, this is so much of an arcade game that the regular gamepad works better so I switched to it. I also very quickly discovered that this is the kind of game that really wants to frustrate the player and force you to make multiple attempts every mission just to find out what you need to do and what to bring. The missions are winnable, no doubt, once you know what to bring and you’re prepared for what’s going to happen, but this game is just too much of a pain for me to deal with.

So I don’t really care about being way late to the party for games but it does feel wrong to play this one-trick meme game so long after it first became popular. It’s an ultra-cheap game that blew up in popularity and spawned countless clones. It’s easy to understand why too: it makes you feel ridiculously powerful as you wade through screenfuls of enemies dolling out death yet it’s such a simple game to play that it takes no real effort. Some people have racked up hundreds of hours on this to unlock everything, which is just insane. For me, about a dozen hours was enough to experience all that the game has to offer. It feels addictive, sure, but it’s still a very shallow game.

Videogames that are adapted from movie properties have a reputation of being so awful that they’ve become a meme and I’ve always avoided them. So it’s quite a shock to come across one that bucks the trend so much that gamers go out of their way to recommend it. Having to shoulder the baggage of being a well-known Marvel property, this game has steep hurdles to climb. So I’m pleased to report that it actually exceeded my expectations. The mechanics are only average and there are some annoying bugs. Yet the story is absolutely top-notch and I daresay better than any of the films are that part of the MCU trilogy. This game is clearly influenced by the movies but it uses none of the familiar stars. It draws instead from the wider comics universe and doesn’t hesitate to use original characters of its own to create a fantastic story.