The latest game in the Pokemon series tries to take things in a new direction, and in spite of a few issues here and there, it’s overall successful in what it tries to do.

The story is largely non existent until the end of the game. The endgame when you beat the three main challenges is the highlight of the story, I just wish it was interwoven into the narrative a lot more than it was.

While not the most amazing game graphically, the game has a clear art style which is pleasant to look at. The game does struggle to run sometimes (especially in handheld mode) but not to the extent where it ruins my experience with the game.

I did like the open world approach to the gameplay - it felt like a big evolution to the Pokemon formula that we haven’t seen yet allowing you to fully explore the game world and tackle the three plot threads in whichever order you wish. I did like this approach, however it’s not always super clear which order you need to do things in due to the lack of level scaling asides from vague hints about the strength of the gym leaders etc.

Asides from my issues (and the horrendous Ed Sheehan song that plays over the end credits) this is definitely a fun time.

Playing through Rift Apart on PS5 made me decide to check out where the franchise all began to see what all the fuss was about. While I did think this game was a lot of fun, it’s a game that does sadly show its age in certain areas.

The game reminds me of the first Spyro the Dragon game. It’s got a really solid foundation for a great game - the base gameplay is really solid and the platforming is incredibly satisfying to play through. There’s a really solid story with some fun political commentary on capitalism, and the script is genuinely really witty. I do love the style and design of a lot of levels as well.

However, much like Spyro 1 a lot of these foundations are marred by some dated elements. The chief of these being the lack of checkpoints - dying in this game will set you back pretty far and this wouldn’t be too grating if your ammo count was reset after you die but that doesn’t happen, meaning that you need to reacquire your ammo which doesn’t come cheap especially during the final boss. Some of the compulsorily mini games are also pretty grating, and there is way too much backtracking to past areas.

However, it was a lot of fun seeing where the franchise began and I’m excited to see the evolution between this game and Rift Apart.

I really enjoyed the first two Bayonetta games. While I didn’t latch onto them as much I did as Devil May Cry, I found the two games to be incredibly fun hack and slash games that were super satisfying to play. Bayonetta 3 nails the same satisfying game play that it’s predecessors did, but also gets somewhat lost trying new things.

The incredibly solid hack and slash gameplay of the previous games is present here - the combat is all fast paced and fun, and it’s so satisfying just wailing on waves of enemies. The camera is zoomed out far enough that you can see everything perfectly. While it’s not the prettiest game visually (probably a side effect from jumping between this and several games on the PS5 which is a comparatively more powerful system) it has a great visual style - I particularly like the design of the enemies. The variety of different demon forms and weapons also encourages a lot of experimentation.

However, some of the flourishes outside of the hack and slash elements are hit and miss. It feels like the game is trying too many new things. New character Viola allows you to approach combat differently, but isn’t as fun to play as compared to Bayonetta. The 2D stealth sections are fun, but the Rock Paper Scissors Kaiju fights are monotonous. While I do like the game's characters, the story isn’t a strong point of these games, which can make the long cutscenes feel monotonous at times when they go on for too long.

Not the strongest game in the series, but still an incredibly fun time and would recommend.