Grim Fandango is a game that I'll return to time and time again, if not just to hang out with Manny and Glottis, to soak myself in this thoroughly crafted world. You can feel the heartbeat of Rubacava, the pulse of the Number Nine and the anger of a down-on-his-luck clown who can make Robert Frost out of balloons. Everything, from the story to the dialogue, to the style and the acting, is so completely tangible and so easy to be nostalgic for.

So it's such a shame that there is so much stupid bullshit that happens along the way. Fandango features, amongst other disasters: dumb pixel-perfect prompts, character models the size of a few pixels that blend into dark backgrounds, unintuitive puzzles (they are rare, but when they hit, they hit real hard) and plenty of bugs that should've been fixed in a remaster.

Yes, I will always come back for a little bit more time with my friends, but the expletives I shout along the way may well cost me my Number Nine ticket.

No scary game will ever beat the sheer horror of seeing my own face staring back at me during each and every cut-scene.

Tearaway is a lovely little self-contained experience that really makes me believe not only in the purity of human creation, but in the PS Vita as a gaming system. Not content with being just a tech demo, Media Molecule effortlessly combines these two goals, weaving the two around a charming and joyous aesthetic. There are quite a few moments here that I'll never forget, like the stormy weather behind the lighthouse, the little baby friend that eats balls of paper and even just decorating a squirrel with a mustache.

That’s not to say it doesn’t have it’s problems though, I do think that one more layer of polish was needed here, particularly on tightening up the camera and making sure that the little Messenger dude doesn’t get stuck in random places. Also, the decision to emphasise some platforming levels where neither the controls are tight enough, nor the depth of field clear, is a baffling one. Oh, and maybe fix the real world cameras so I can change the angle of my body without the game having a heart attack. I like to play games in bed and it was a constant battle to doing anything tilt-related without breaking my neck.

I’m not sure that it’s worth buying a Vita for just this game, but I’m hoping that my playthroughs of Uncharted: Golden Abyss and Persona 4 Golden confirm my suspicions that this system is a real diamond in the rough.

Edit: I got my first ever Platinum on this tonight!

Never underestimate Naughty Dog’s ability to undercut an amazing game with lots of fucking bullshit.

There is so much to love about the original Uncharted. The tone is spot-on right from the start, the characters are extremely lovable, and when the game is at its best, it is so much fun to play. Unfortunately, it is very rarely at its best.

For a game about shooting people from behind cover, the cover system itself is surprisingly awful. Whenever you look out from behind anywhere you get pointed at nothing at all, which is bad when you need to get a quick shot off on someone. What you have to do is peak out of cover, spend a couple of seconds precisely aiming your gun, and then quickly duck down again to avoid being shot. This is fine on normal difficulty, but I can’t imagine it working on crushing or brutal where every second counts. Also, the checkpoints are really badly placed, so if you die, you’ll have to repeat whole waves of enemies again, and you better not screw up a climbing section unless you like doing the easy bits over and over! This is especially bad in the already underwhelming boss fight, where having to repeat the dodgy QTE’s made me want to quit the game when I was just about at the finish line.

But the biggest problem by far are the jet-ski levels. I have never howled in frustration so much at a video game before than in these chapters. What should have been a fast-paced set piece where you dodge bullets turns into you parking up and trying to stay still so you can shoot some guy off in the distance. The barrels in the river are a cool idea, so just let me zoom through and avoid the obstacles and do some fun driving! Don’t make me try to do cover shooting on a boat!

Now it isn’t all bad news, there are lots of moments that are loads of fun. The shooting can be really satisfying, especially when you get into the flow of it, and a particular highlight is the last 10% of the game which is a chaotic masterpiece. It’s ability to know its own tropes and pay homage to Indiana Jones and other 80’s adventure films without straight up copying is a delight, plus the collectibles and trophies are fun to complete! It’s just disappointing that the cover system especially wasn’t fixed for the Nathan Drake Collection Release (EDIT: according to Wikipedia, apparently Bluepoint did try to fix it? If this is the fixed version then I would hate to see what the original game was like!)

What Drake’s Fortune needs is a from-the-ground-up remake that polishes what is already here. There’s a great 4/5 game underneath all the bullshit, you don’t even have to add anything new! So Naughty Dog, instead of remaking The Last of Us for the fourth time, how about giving this game some love instead?