Matt Tate
This author account hasn't been claimed yet. To claim this account, please contact the outlet owner to request access.
Writing For
StuffLatest Reviews
It’s been a big year for Nintendo princesses. First Mario was given the day off as Peach quite literally took the stage in her first solo game for years, and now it’s Zelda’s turn. Despite having an entire series named after her, the princess of Hyrule has never been the playable protagonist – but that changes in The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom.
Think PlayStation in 2024 and your mind probably goes to Marvel’s Spider-Man and God of War – those eye-wateringly big-budget epics that define the firm’s modern era. But once upon a time PlayStation was synonymous with the mascot platformer: Jak and Daxter, Crash Bandicoot and Sly Cooper, to name just a few. In Astro Bot, PlayStation appears to have finally found a new mascot.
a fairly brief and unchallenging solo outing, but transformations make Princess Peach: Showtime! one that remains fun and fresh throughout.
As we sit down to write this review, there’s a temptation – one that Nintendo has perhaps anticipated and therefore wisely forbidden us from giving in to – to simply list all of the completely bonkers things we witnessed in Super Mario Bros. Wonder in one rambling outpouring of excitement.
What actually is an Assassin’s Creed game in 2023? When Ubisoft’s series debuted the emphasis was on sneaking around and emerging from the shadows to shank Very Bad People in the neck. Traversal played a big part too, with original protagonist Altair being pretty good at parkour. Every now and again you’d be pulled into the modern day to wander around a lab as not particularly interesting chap Desmond Miles, but we won’t get into all that here. It was a great blueprint for the brilliant sequel to build on.
What if Forza Horizon merged with Mario Kart and made all the cars Lego? Sounds pretty good, right? It’s also the simplest way of describing Lego 2K Drive, the slightly out of nowhere open-world kart racer from 2K and Visual Concepts. Serving up a series of sizeable and aggressively colourful biomes to explore, and the kind of drift-heavy racing that seasoned Mushroom Kingdom drivers will feel right at home with, the first game to emerge from a new partnership between 2K and Lego is definitely onto something. And like any good Lego game, it absolutely encourages you to smash everything in sight.
How do you follow a game like Breath of the Wild? It’s a question we’ve been grappling with since Nintendo first confirmed it was working on a sequel to its Switch console launch title that not only tore up the Legend of Zelda rulebook, but set a new gold standard for open-world game design, giving us a sprawling world so rich and with filled with secrets that players are still discovering new stuff in it over six years later.
We definitely played Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle. For hours, in fact – reviewed it and everything.
Both Donkey Kong and The Legend of Zelda might be celebrating not insignificant anniversaries this year, but it’s the Metroid series that Nintendo is showing some unexpected love to in the second half of 2021.
When a publisher like Square Enix gets hold of the Marvel license, you naturally expect big things – and even more so when the word, “Avengers”, is uttered.