Do you have a game that sticks out in your mind when you think of your childhood. That memory that you instantly go to before anything else? For me, it is walking onto Hyrule Field in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.

I started really getting into Zelda series when Links Awakening was released. I must have used the worlds supply of double A batteries completing that game! I wopuld implore anyone to play it, particularly the remaster. Anyway, when I saw the advert for Ocarina of Time I was counting down the days to release. This was back when Christmas actually meant something for gamers and high profile titles would be held back to December.

I remember seeing the N64 game sized box under the tree, I couldn't wait. The game did not disappointment. It is a true masterpiece in terms of gameplay, sound and story. You start in the tutorial area of Kokiri Forest which is relatively small and easy to explore. There was no day and night cycle and it was just a taste of what's to come.

After leaving the Deku Tree your destiny starts to unfold and your search for Zelda begins. I can’t describe the feeling I had when Hyrule Field opened out in front of me, the Sun peeking over the horizon with Death mountain sitting ominously in the distance. The world was mine to explore. It was the first time I'd had such freedom in a game. Yes there is still a linear element to the story but coming from games where the goal was to get from point A to B, this was a real revolution and the first time a 3D world felt so real. From there I was absolutely hooked from beginning to end.

I still replay it now and again just to experience that magic one more time. So what is your go to gaming memory when you think of your childhood?

Have you ever lost a friendship over a game? For me, I have a few games that have pushed my friendships to the edge. However, there is one particular game that stands out more than the rest.

We're talking about going back to the days of the Nintendo Gamecube. The game? Smash Bros Melee. I’m not the best at the game but it’s fair to say I can hold my own when it comes to it. My preferred character was Marth from the Fire Emblem series. His attacks in themselves weren’t particularly powerful but the speed he can use them meant you could chain together a decent amount of attacks to really rack up your enemies damage.

My friends on the other hand were Falco from Star Fox and Captain Falcon from F-Zero X. The friend of mine that played as Falco just wasn't very good at the game no matter how hard he tried. He would often camp at the side of the map whilst me and Falcon duked it out.

It didn't get him anywhere as quite often in the midst of a fight I’d lob a lightsaber or a bomb in his general direction giving him no time to react and, you can guess it didn't go well. After falling victim to multiple Falcon punches to the face and swipes of Marth’s’ sword he just gave up and refused to play anymore. It was tough but that's Smash Bros, it's dog eat dog. We could have used Handicaps but, they're for the weak so no.

It’s one of those games that’s easy to play but difficult to master. The reaction time you need, particularly in Melee, needs to be really high otherwise you’ll end up just like poor Falco did.

What about you? Have you ever almost lost a friend over a game?

What was the best moment you've had with friends in a game? I have too many examples to count. Whether it’s the chaos of couch multiplayer games like Mario Kart or Super Smash Bros. or the frantic gunfights in Call of Duty and Battlefield. There have been so many over the years yet the one that really sticks in my mind for some reason is playing the original Left 4 Dead.

That game was, and still is, absolutely iconic. I feel it really defined the co-op FPS. Nothing can compare to the complete madness that ensues when one of your friends triggers a witch and starting a horde. You’re screaming expletives at your mates whilst at the same time smacking multiple zombies over the head with a baseball bat.

I have an extremely vivid memory of one run in Left 4 Dead where the aim of the campaign was to make your way through a Hospital to the roof. Easier said than done right?

Facing off against multiple hordes, getting jumped by a Hunter only to then have a Boomer explode all over you attracting yet another wave of zombies out for blood. Even with all this we would still aim to complete the campaigns on Expert and for the most part we were pretty good at it.

I distinctly remember getting to the top of the roof of the Hospital and finishing off the final horde. The 4 of us screaming and running towards the helicopter, I turn around briefly for a second only to see a Tank come out of absolutely nowhere smacking one of my friends into oblivion. I continue running whilst literally in tears with laughter having never seen anything so funny in my life. Needless to say he wasn’t best pleased!

That will forever stick out in my mind as a highlight of my early days on, what was back then Xbox Live. Do you have any memories that stick out in your mind?

The Indiana Jones franchise is one of my favourite film franchises, though the quality of both games and films have been a mixed bag. Story wise, The Great Circle sits between Raiders of the Lost Ark and the Last Crusade, the latter being my personal favourite. From what i've played so far there's some connective tissue with Raiders, particularly the tutorial level which is essentially a beat for beat recreation of the iconic intro.

The game has been carefully crafted so that everything you do feels so typically Indiana Jones. From landing blow after blow to an enemy goon with that trademark, over the top hollywood punch sound to delving into catacombs and crypts hunting for lost relics.

The reason why i'm making the comparisons to the Tomb Raider series is that, as much as I enjoyed the rebooted trilogy, for me I felt it was a lot more geared towards being action orientated rather than exploration and adventuring, searching for lost treasures. In fact, the more challenging tombs in the reboot series quite often are optional and you don't even need to attempt them. I can't lie, I was disappointed with the lack of challenge from the puzzle solving elements in the rebooted series.

Where, in m opinion, the recent Tomb Raider games lost that sense of globe trotting adventuring, it can be found here in Indiana Jones. There is a much greater emphasis on puzzle solving and exploration. Indy is armed with a trusty journal and camera, which he uses to track his quests, making the whole experience just feel a lot more organic. I have to applaud the developers for how well the environmental story telling is done here. I feel a lot of games these days will use books or notes scattered around the environment to give you some additional context about the world you're in. however, for me personally I struggle to engage with the story in that way . Whereas here in Indiana Jones each note, postcard, pamphlet you pick up feels like an important clue and necessary for certain story beats. Even the maps of each area are only found by picking up tourist pamphlets or guides that Indy then inserts into his journal. I think it helps also with Indy's inner monologue describing what he's looking at and it's role in the wider story. Indy sometimes offers subtle hints when puzzle solving but it's done with such nuance it never feels insulting.

The best one i've come across so far is exploring a secret underground burial chamber underneath the Vatican city. This did take me by surprise as not only was it creepy as hell and I was legitimately apprehensive I was going to be attacked by some kind of supernatural mummy, it was genuinely quite a head scratcher. Having done what I thought I had to, Indy then pointed out something to me that which I hadn't considered but it is done in a way that felt that it was naturally part of the storytelling and it's almost as if the developers knew most players would attempt to solve a certain way when the reality was the opposite. This whole section culminated in a really enjoyable cinematic piece that felt as though it could have been a deleted scene from one of the original trilogy films.

Indy is not Lara Croft or Nathan Drake. Living a double life as college professor come adventurer, his lifes work has always been about ensuring ancient relics and treasures don't end up in the wrong hands of evil and darkness. From what i've experienced so far in The Great Circle it excels in retaining the feel of the original trilogy of films. Troy Bakers voice impersonation of Harrison is absolutely impeccable.

“Gameplay wise, you're not going to be dual welding two pistols doing acrobatic flips over Dinosaurs like you would in Tomb Raider. I would class this much more as a first person adventure with strong roots in exploration and almost i'd say an archeology sim. For someone who cannot get enough of puzzles and riddle solving in games, this ticks all my boxes.”

If you're new to the Indiana Jones franchise then I would say this game does a fantastic job of replicating the feeling you get watching the best films in the franchise. Within each area you visit there's so much to explore, see and do and each environment is dripping with detail and atmosphere. Every nook and cranny is just begging to be explored to uncover the hidden secrets within. Indy or not, you get a strong sense of an being a globe trotting explorer on race between good and evil.

So is this game worth your time if you're only experience of Indiana Jones is an 80 year old in a tired fedora hat trying to find some kind of ancient time travelling device?Yes absolutely. It is a game for anyone who is a fan of a good old fasioned wholesome adventure. If you're an Indiana Jones fan like myself, you should definitely give it your time.

Reinforcements have arrived!

Located within most stealth are alarm panels. If a guard gets to one of these they'll spam in reinforcements until you deactivate it. Fortunately they can be sabotaged by Kay or Nix, taking them out of action. When you upgrade Nix's abilities he can even turn them into traps so for the unfortunate storm trooper who tries to set them off, they'll be electrocuted. I certainly recommend disabling as many of these as you can see.

Plan your route

Before entering an area it really is beneficial getting to a decent vantage point, using your binoculars and tagging as many enemies that you can see. That way you will be able to permanently see their positions with a marker on your HUD. The best approach I have found is to get a rough plan of your route, before just diving in. Look for good areas of cover, tall grass, steam coming from vents. Ideally look for areas where you can avoid groups of enemies. Try and stick to quieter areas and don't hesitate to back track if the area ahead is looking too challenging. There's usually always another route. If it feels unnatural and there's no obvious cover it probably means you need to look for a different approach. Keep an eye out also for vents because often they can be shortcuts past difficult sections of a level.

Laugh it up Fuzzball!

In the stealth sections generally I would say Nix is absolutely integral to getting through them. His range of abilities is vast. He can disable alarms, turn off cameras, detonate enemies grenades, attack them and distract them. My main focus with Nix is using him, in combination with the Whistle, to lure and segregate guards away from each other, getting them into a hideaway where you can take them down. The trickier enemies are groups of 3, mainly you get this with stormtroopers. The best tactic I've found here is to get close enough not to be seen and use the Whistle. This should trigger one of the three to peel off to come and look for you. Then you can take them out when they're not in view of the other two. Where you have a pair of guards ahead, a really good method for taking them out is by sending Nix to attack one then just as he jumps on them, you sneak up and attack the other.

Blast them!

Don't forget, as I did, your blasters alternative fire which can stun enemies. It can't be used continously as it has a cooldown rate but when I've had occasions where an enemy guard is in an awkward location and hard to distract or get out of position. In those instances, a well placed stun shot should remove them from the equation.

Shock treatment

I cannot emphasise enough how you're going to want to get the electro-shock ability so you can take down elite guards and droids. There are some areas absolutely littered with droids, particularly the Wild Card DLC. This ability will electrocute the harder enemies so you can take them down as you could a regular enemy. You need to unlock Temmin Wexley in order to be able to get this ability. His quest is started in Sashin Village on Akiva from a family member looking for his whereabouts. Complete this quest and you'll be on your way to getting this ability.

I have a bad feeling about this…

Within Nix's bag of tricks, is his ability to detonate grenades and barrels. I really only recommend doing this as a last result or if I really need to start some chaos in order to disrupt some of the guards patrols. It can be a blessing and a curse. Done right, you could take down a couple of enemies and get enough of a distraction to get to your intended destination. Done wrong and it could alert the whole base who may not necessarily know where you are but then spend quite a while looking and hunting for you, in itself is not helpful. So i'd only use this on small groups of enemies or perhaps when you're already in combat so it doesn't matter.

So there you have it, my top tips for getting through these areas and I hope they help!

The Wild Card DLC does require you to get some distance into the main story before you can activate it. You'll need to unlock the Gunsmith quest and the Power module before you have access to the DLC. Once you’re done with that, load up the hollow table in the Trailblazer to start the quest.

I wasn't really sure what to expect from Wild Card, though the synopsis had me intrigued enough to purchase it. The story begins with Kay finding herself hired by Governor Thorndon, an Imperial General looking to find a hidden Moon rich in minerals worth a significant amount of Credits. The data of the moons location is up for grabs in a high stake Sabaac game, where you'll be up against the best players in the Outer Rim including Lando Calrissian.

That really is only the start of this journey, which takes you on various twists, turns and double crosses. I feel in this DLC he developers have really leaned into how it feels being a scoundrel, probably more so than the main story. There will be spoilers in this review so stop reading now if you don't want to know certain story beats.

Kay can't just wander into this high stakes Sabaac game without an invitation. The tournament takes place on a continuously moving spaceship that you must first track down the location of. In order to stay out of reach of the Empire, the ship is quite elusive and generally always in Hyperspace.

The first portion of the DLC sees you trying to blackmail one of the current players into giving you their invite. Once you're in, you begin playing a more professional game of Sabaac. The rules are the same however you have no shift tokens to play. Also, you're made aware of some of the other players 'tells'. If you spot any, you can rat them out over the course of the game. You also get the opportunity to plant cards on people and accuse them of cheating, Kay really goes hard getting her scoundrel on.

The game is cut abruptly short by a group of Bandits who show up to steal the moon data. There's a cool action sequence that sees Kay chasing the Bandits through the ship. They eventually escape her reach forcing her to follow them to the planet Toshara.

You eventually discover the Bandits are working with Governor Thorndon and so your next job is to locate them. In order to do this you need to decrypt data at a couple of Imperial outposts to find their final location, this isn't as easy as it sounds as you're under some time pressure to do it. Following a battle with the Bandits and the Empire, Kay finds herself a step behind again as the Imperials double cross the Bandits and steal the data.

The last section of the DLC sees Kay infiltrating Governor Thorndon’s base, with the help of Lando, in a last ditch effort to take what's hers. This is probably the most challenging aspect of the DLC as you have to scale multiple levels of the space station, using stealth to avoid any serious conflict and setting off the alarms. You can see there are significant improvements to the stealth mechanics which is good to see.

I won't spoil the end though I have to say I did really enjoy this DLC. It was well paced, had a good story and as I've said previously, really leans heavily into the scoundrel life.

“It's a great microcosm of the main game itself. There's a high roller Sabaac tournament, action and combat sequences, dogfights and a main stealth section in an Imperial base.”

I was hoping to go to the moon or a different planet but unfortunately the new areas are concentrated on bases or starships. It took roughly 2-3 hours to complete which I think is fair when it costs around £12. I would definitely recommend it to anyone currently enjoying the game as much as I am and i'm looking forward to more next year.

When I first saw the gameplay footage for The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom it certainly had me intrigued. Here we have the first mainstream Zelda title where you actually get to play as the Princess herself. In replacement of Links trusty sword and shield is a magical rod capable of conjuring ‘echoes’. The echoes are essentially replicas of objects and enemies found in the world. They range from simple inanimate objects like boxes and stones to iconic enemies such as a Lynel or Moblin.

Zelda makes her way through Hyrule using this new tool and aided by newfound companion ‘Tri’. The jist is that Link himself has been absorbed into the ‘Still World’. Essentially a dark and twisted mirrored version of Hyrule, similar to what we’ve seen in previous titles like A Link to the Past.

Zelda’s quest this time around is to uncover the mystery surrounding the rifts appearing around Hyrule and work alongside Tri to close them down and restore peace to the land. The actual story is more complex, with a few twists and turns here and there but i’ll keep this review relatively spoiler free.

The gameplay of Echoes of Wisdom is a real significant shift from any other Zelda game i’ve played previously. At first, you cannot directly engage with enemies. Instead you can either conjure up rocks to pick up and lob, or clone enemies themselves to fight alongside you. It’s not until later when you find Link’s sword, that you can temporarily use his power and fight with a sword and shield albeit for a limited amount of time.

Therefore, for the vast majority of the game you are really reliant on creating echoes of various enemies you come across in the world in order to fight for you. Whilst it’s an interesting concept on paper, the reality is that you create a couple of monsters and just sort of hang around as an innocent bystander until the fight’s over. For a character as iconic as Zelda, who has also been known as the warrior Shiek in other Zelda games, she felt pretty vulnerable and unable to hold her own. You also feel disconnected from the battles as you’re just waiting around for them to finish. For me personally, I didn’t particularly enjoy this gameplay shift though I applaud them for trying to do something different.

Where creating echoes is fun is exploring the world itself. In that sense it feels more like Tears of the Kingdom where you can use all manner of objects to solve puzzles rather than relying on a single scripted solution. I feel this is where Nintendo is taking the series generally and, for the most part, i’m on board with it.

Graphically, the game appears to use the same engine as the recent Links Awakening remaster. Almost a Playdoh, cartoonish art style, which is a natural evolution of the 2D Zelda titles. It works really well however I would say the framerate issues were slightly jarring.

My main issue with the game is not necessarily the divergence in the gameplay mechanics or even the switch of main character. The biggest gripe I have is the difficulty. It is perhaps the only Zelda game where I never saw the Game Over screen and if I did, it was probably because I was AFK. Zelda has the ability to recharge her Health at any time by creating an echo of a bed and resting. So whenever you find yourself low on hearts there’s a pretty quick remedy, if you run out of smoothies (this games equivalent of potions). Also, as you never directly engage in a battle, you don’t tend to take damage. However, it’s not just the combat I found lacked challenge, it’s the puzzles and dungeons themselves.

I’m not sure what it is about the Zelda games which followed Ocarina of Time but I don’t think any of them have ever really challenged me mentally. I probably had one or two moments in the whole game which were real head scratchers. I found I often solved puzzles by chance, throwing a load of echoes together at random until something worked. Apart from one boss, the rest of them went down far too easy.

It’s a real shame as I ended the game feeling a little flat. There was no sense of accomplishment. It felt more that it was just a tick box that i’d finished the most recent game in the series. For me, i’ve always enjoyed playing Zelda because of the dungeons and puzzles that I had to crack and solve. The combat and exploration came second for me. I have fond memories of trying to work out the Water Temple in Ocarina of Time, or the Eagle’s Tower in Link’s Awakening. So what happened? Is it just me and i’m getting too good at these types of games now or is there a shift to make them more simplistic?

In a bid to make the games more accessible I feel the balance has been lost and they’ve gone too far in the wrong direction. If the game had ramped up in difficulty towards the end I wouldn’t have minded so much but I didn’t even die on the last boss. Same can be said for the end of Tears of the Kingdom.

I hope that Nintendo re-introduces some difficulty and challenge back into the Zelda series because unfortunately I feel at the moment they don’t quite hit the mark. Let me know what you thought of the most recent game?

Subscribe now

Leave a comment

I began playing Star Wars Outlaws with the absolute lowest of expectations thanks predominantly to all of negativity on social media pre-release. Yet here I am 60 hours later reviewing the game after having an absolute blast with it and I’ll tell you why. First though here’s a bit of context!

Star Wars Outlaws, it is fair to say, did not receive the reception Ubisoft intended. The developers hyped it up as being ‘the first open world Star Wars game’. The weight of expectation on this game must have been immense.

The initial trailer and gameplay footage looked incredibly promising. Vast open worlds, dripping with that Star Wars aesthetic, cruising around on your speeder, engaging in dogfights above Tatooine, it all looked very exciting.

Then came the preview bombers. I don’t know what else to term them, a group of content creators who had early access to the game and began sharing their footage online. There were some that made a concerted effort to discourage gamers from buying the game and making it their mission in life to take Ubisoft down. Of course, Ubisoft didn’t make this game, Massive Entertainment did.

I’ll be honest, after seeing some of this early gameplay footage I have to say I was pretty swayed as it did not look good. Graphical effects were shoddy and the AI looked sub-par for a triple A game.

That being said I’ve never really been one to jump on a bandwagon. I did end up buying the game on release and yet I can’t pinpoint the moment which pushed me over the edge. I always like to see or play something myself and form my own opinion. I think conversely, it was the sheer amount of negative opinions on the game that pushed me to get it myself. I was so sick of the constant negativity being rammed down my throat on TikTok I thought, screw it I’ll find out for myself!

What struck me first was how it immersive it felt. The cities, worlds and environments were all incredibly well detailed and oozed with that famous OG trilogy charm. It was like I was dropped straight into the Star Wars universe.

The main protagonist, Kay Vess, comes across capable yet vulnerable at the same time. There are naturally going to be comparisons between Kay and Han Solo however other than both being known scoundrels of the underworld that’s where the similarities end. Kay is certainly not a clone of Han by any stretch and has her own unique backstory, which is fleshed out over the course of the game.

Kay is supported by her alien buddy Nix, who helps her in both combat and exploration. I was concerned Nix was going to be very similar to the robot companion from the Jedi Survivor series but again, the two are not alike. The bond between Kay and Nix is a lot more firmly established and the array of things Nix can do is more expansive than in Jedi Survivor.

As I moved from one planet to another, I was just astounded with how much detail each environment had and in turn how that made me feel. Whether I was watching the sunset over Toshara as the grass swayed gently in the breeze or walking the snow covered streets of Kijimi, heading to play another round of Sabaac. The game just lit a fire in me that just made it difficult to put down. Even a planet as desolate as Tatooine was an absolute joy to explore. Far from just being a bland desert, it was littered with canyons, settlements, sand crawlers and landmarks such as Jabba’s Palace and of course the fantastically realised Mos Eisley. I have never seen it so well recreated as it it is here and I loved retracing the footsteps of Luke and Obi Wan.

I would spend hours just exploring planets, looking for treasure and doing side quests. The latter I might add never felt repetitive or a chore. Side quests just felt so much more organic. Quite often in games you’ll walk past an NPC and pick up a quest without even engaging with them.

In Star Wars Outlaws you’ll come across them by actively eavesdropping on conversations. It could be two imperial officers talking about a lost weapons cache or a group of smugglers describing where they left their stash. It is this approach which gives each side quest more personality and context. It intrigues you and makes you WANT to go and find what they’re talking about. The environments and maps are so well designed that each one is challenging and pretty fun to find. There’s a particular side quest where you’re given a fraction of a holomap and you need to piece together clues from the section you already have in order to find where it relates to in the world.

When it comes to the main story arc, I was as equally invested. Kay’s merry band of misfits are all distinct in their own right. Each one with their own back story and side quest to obtain them. I really enjoyed the Clone Wars Droid, ND-5. He’s a character I hope isn’t just fixed to this series and explored further in other media. I won’t spoil the story here but there were plenty of twists and turns, which were not what I was expecting.

The unsung hero in this game I feel is the audio department. They have perfectly captured the sounds and themes of the Star Wars Universe. The main theme is far more memorable than anything in Jedi Survivor. I don’t say that lightly because I absolutely love the Survivor series. Kay’s dialogue can fall a little flat on occasion and she does come across a little too blasé however it wasn’t enough to put me off. There were occasions when you come across an alien and assume they'll sound exotic and unique but they actually end up sounding like a cockney gangsta. It's a little off putting at times.

Ultimately I enjoyed the core gameplay which is more about being stealthy and trying to avoid direct confrontation as opposed to going in guns blazing. Kay can hold her own in a firefight but when you’re taking on an Imperial outpost you might want to try a different approach.

This brings me onto the enemy A.I. and alleged bugs/glitches present in the original build (most have been patched out now). For any stealth game to work successfully, the enemy A.I. has to be good. I would say for my playthrough 90% of the stealth sections worked as intended. There were occasions where i’d be struggling to work out how I can take out an enemy guard without being seen or i’d get spotted by someone I didn’t expect and it end up in a full blown brawl.

In terms of glitches, I personally only had one which was noteworthy where an officer was stood on top of a computer console. I beat him down and moved on, it wasn’t game breaking and it didn’t particularly ruin anything for me. What the game gave me in terms of atmosphere and story trumped any negative feelings I had when something didn’t work as it should. I’m not discounting genuine issues others have had with broken side quests or other game breaking bugs but it wasn’t my experience.

I feel that Star Wars Outlaws and the developers have been wronged here as no game is going to be 100% perfect and glitch free. Not when they’re getting bigger and more complex. When I look back at the negative social media being banded around before release I feel either those creators were skewing the content to look a certain way or were just not very good at the game. I would often see videos of people crashing speeders into other speeders, then complaining like it was the games fault. Perhaps slow down the speeder and move then? Or be more aware of your surroundings. It’d be the same with rocks and boulders. I can’t say I ever crashed my speeder and it being the games fault. Every time it was my error because I wasn’t looking or hadn’t slowed down. Regards the speeder itself, it is incredibly fun to roam around on and it's relatively seamless. The only planet where it was a little less enjoyable was Akiva due to the vast majority of the world being a dense forest so you’re restricted to the highway network.

With enemy A.I. there was only one time I can recall where I walked right up to an enemy and they should really have spotted me but didn’t. Most of the time I honestly felt the occasions when I was spotted was understandable given where I was at the time. Having said that I was playing it in Hard so whether there is an argument playing on Easy means the A.I. is a bit more lax?

I can only speak from my own experiences however I really enjoyed playing Star Wars Outlaws, probably more so than Jedi Survivor for all the reasons I’ve outlined. Before you jump to conclusions thinking I’m a die hard Ubisoft fan or being paid off. I’m neither. I actually don’t particularly like Ubisoft games. The only one i’ve enjoyed recently is Assassins Creed Odyssey and even then I got a bit bored after a while.

There is a large amount of Star Wars fans who may never experience this game because they listened to social media content creators, and I feel that’s a real shame. Sure it’s a bit of a diamond in the rough but the one thing i’d say is play it for yourself, make your own opinion and hopefully you won’t miss out on some of the awesome experiences Star Wars Outlaws has to offer.

Subscribe now

Leave a comment

F-Zero is second on my list and is a series which holds a lot of nostalgia for me. I grew up with F-Zero X and thankfully that has recently been released on the Nintendo Expansion Pass. You can see my Gameplay Videos below.

What I loved about F-Zero was just the white knuckle ride it gives you. Piloting vehicles through various alien landscapes at ridiculous speed requires you respond in a millisecond to each twist and turn of the track otherwise you’re Game Over! I also adored the soundtrack. Had that iconic 90’s heavy metal music score that you got in games like 1080, V-Rally, Wipeout etc. F-Zero GX for the Gamecube doubled down on the speed and graphics. Oddly developed by Namco and Sega. A crossover I didn’t think i’d ever see! Both studios having significant credential in the racing game genre so it made perfect sense.

Nintendo have been relatively open in saying there are no sequels in development. I’m not sure why they’re avoiding this series given there isn’t really much competition in this very specific space. I hope they’re playing coy and have something in the background being worked on. It deserves an update and with all the investment they’ve made in Mario Kart, their other racer needs some love. Hopefully we’ll either see a sequel, remaster or even F-Zero GX on the Expansion pass

Super Mario Odyssey 2

This one is my biggest bug bear only because I absolutely loved Mario Odyssey. When I saw the initial gameplay videos I didn’t get too excited about it. It just felt like Mario with another gimmick. I didn’t actually get a Switch until a year after it released for that reason. It had Mario and literally nothing else. The Switch’s initial release was pretty poor but given how it recovered people seem to have forgotten about that. I am a Mario superfan not going to lie. I’ve played and own most if not all of the games. It is no surprise that Mario 3 is my favourite game of all time. When they released the ‘DLC’ levels for it on the Nintendo Expansion Pass I rinsed it for all its worth! See my gameplay videos below. What I enjoy about Mario is the challenge and the learning curve. It can be forgiven for being a cutesy series which is fun, simple and not too much of a challenge.

However my standout games ARE the challenging ones. Where you lose 50 lives attempting one level and are on the bounds of destroying your controller before you then have that sense of relief and satisfaction when you eventually complete that level you spent hours on.

The 3D Mario games have been hit or miss for me in how they’ve challenged me. Super Mario 64 definitely was a difficult game in places however I feel that was more due to technical limitation than genuine game design. Having the camera freak out or get stuck in walls when you need to make a key leap across a gap did not help.

The Mario Galaxy series were enjoyable though I don’t feel offered that level of challenge. I breezed through those quite easily. The 3D Mario Land games however brought the difficulty back. I really enjoyed Super Mario 3D Land on 3DS and to a lesser extent Super Mario 3D World. We can all forget Super Mario Sunshine ok?

When I finally got to Super Mario Odyssey I just got completely absorbed into it. It really managed to tap into what I love about games generally, exploration. Searching these wild and varied lands in search of Moons just scratched that itch i’d not had since Mario 64. I think it comes down to that there were so many of them, not many particularly obvious how to get and i’d spend hours trying to avoid Googling ‘How to reach the Moon in….”. Most of the time I had the satisfaction of working it out myself but ashamedly I did look some of them up! I rinsed Mario Odyssey until I got EVERY, SINGLE, MOON! I know a lot of people that did. I even went to the point where I went over and above the story requirement.

I have been waiting years for a sequel. It is not unheard of to have 2 3D Mario games in a console lifecycle. Hell we got 2 Zelda games didn’t we? So Nintendo I ask you, where the heck is Odyssey 2?! With the success of Super Mario Movie it would have been an opportune moment to have released a new game. My hope is that the new game is so ambitious it needs that boost in hardware to make it a truly great sequel. From the development of Tears of the Kingdom it’s clear to see Nintendo are respecting time and quality over pumping out sequels for the sake of it.

Hopefully when the Mario Odyssey sequel releases it will be just as amazing. In the meantime we have Super Mario Wonder which looks eclectic but awesome!

Gamecube/Wii/Wii U Backwards Compatability

Right Nintendo, I have an issue here. We have had N64 and earlier console games released via some kind of online service for years now. We haven’t had much in the way of Gamecube/Wii/Wii U online back catalog. I was expecting this with the Switch, particularly the premium Expansion service. Whilst I appreciate playing some of the N64 classics again i’m afraid it still to date doesn’t justify the price tag. The fact that rather than going forward we’re going further back by including Gameboy titles. Don’t get me wrong I loved replaying Super Mario Land 2 (walkthrough in the video below) but where is your Gamecube back catalog. I sincerely hope this is being held back due to the Switch hardware and the size of the onboard storage. I have at least a couple of SD cards for my Switch so they need to address this in the Switch 2.

This could legitimately be why the Gamecube and beyond games are not seeing any online shop. Perhaps they should, if not already, investigate streaming them to the console instead of having gamers download. It would help with the storage issue though again they need to bolster their online service for that to work and it would be limited to people with a semi decent internet connection.

Hopefully they can iron this out with the next console.

So there we have it, some of the games and series I expected to have some kind of sequel in this generation but didn’t for one reason or another. Let me know in the comments what you missed this gen?