Games of the week
GRID
Platform: PC, Xbox One, PS4
Genre: Racing
Price: £42.99
A classic race series returns at full throttle
GRID's technical heritage spans more than two decades, right back to
classic PSOne racer TOCA Touring Car Championship, giving the series a
pedigree that few of its rivals can match. But where previous outings
struggled to match hot upstart simulations like Forza Horizon or Project
CARS, this year GRID decisively takes an arcadey line, and is all the
better for it. From earning points for thrilling maneuvers to the new
Nemesis system (where disgruntled AI opponents single you out for
revenge), this is a racer that intensifies the natural excitement of
motorsport, with vibrantly powerful, Burnout-inspired cars that hurtle
along dazzling tracks in edge-of-the-seat pursuits. Progression is
grind-heavy but ultimately this matters little in the heat of GRID's
enormous excitement.
Skip to the end: Fast and furious fun from the veteran racer
Score: 9/10
Cat Quest II
Platform: PC, iPad/iPhone, Mac, Xbox One, PS4, Switch
Genre: RPG
Price: £12.99
Got the cream
Cat Quest II is the sort of light cartoon action that Netflix kids would
lap right up. In a fantasy world of warring feline and canine kingdoms,
you lead an adolescent brace of rightful kings on a quest to secure
peace. Being able to instantly switch between two characters (the
aforementioned cat and dog rulers-in-waiting) builds on the original's
appeal, enabling offensive options for each skirmish or while delving
into treasure-laden dungeons. But combat is still basic stuff and
enemies vary more in colour scheme than tactical challenge, making Cat
Quest II's minimalist RPG design and handsomely simple visuals feel most
at home on mobile devices. Reviewed on Asus ROG G703GI (i7, 16GB, GTX
1080 asus.com/uk/ROG-Republic-Of-Gamers)
Skip to the end: A charming, warm and straightforwardly simple adventure
Score: 7/10
Green Hell
Platform: PC
Genre: Survival
Price: £19.99
Stumble in the jungle
Green Hell's choice of suffering is generous. Scour the jungle for your
missing wife in Story mode or simply explore in Survival, but sooner or
later you'll be vomiting because you ate the wrong thing, dying because
you touched the wrong thing, or dead because you did the wrong thing. A
'check your body' feature brings each hideous ailment vividly to life,
but the immersion is stymied by poor interaction with the world, from
robotic character animations to the jarringly inorganic way that trees
disassemble into materials and tools make no tangible contact with the
richly detailed environment. Green Hell fails to create a survivalist
heaven. Reviewed on Asus ROG G703GI (i7, 16GB, GTX 1080
asus.com/uk/ROG-Republic-Of-Gamers)
Skip to the end: Atmospherically brutal but an unsatisfying, shallow
experience
Score: 7/10
SUPERHOT
Platform: Switch
Genre: Action
Price: £19.99
Pause for fought
The unique first person slo-mo shootery of SUPERHOT has already lit up
other platforms, but this Switch edition never feels like an
afterthought. For newbies, a run down: SUPERHOT imagines a FPS scenario
where time only moves when you do, enabling you to dodge bullets, line
up perfect shots and overcome otherwise impossible odds. This
time-twisting quirk gives skirmishes a puzzle element that along with
the bare, polygonal style makes SUPERHOT perfect pick-up-and-play
fodder, while your slow, considered assaults on swarming enemies avoids
the fiddly problems presented by the smallsize Joy-Cons in faster paced
games like Doom. Clumsy motion controls can't compete with the
compelling PSVR version, and it's all over too quickly, but SUPERHOT
remains a genuinely moreish classic.
Skip to the end: An unusual, engrossing and stylish shoot-'em-up
Score: 8/10
