DeVuego LATAM ES_COR

If you have the patience of a saint and some mean platforming skills, then Raccoo Venture may be for you. But if you question your ability in either of those areas, then we warn you: Raccoo Venture can feel like rooting around in the trash, and there’s an awful lot of sharp glass in there.

What this amounts to is a karting game that is less fully featured and gloriously pretty than Disney Speedstorm or Nickelodeon Kart Racers 3. You could almost call DreamWorks All-Star Kart Racing plain. But it’s also not mired in monetisation, nor is it overly fiddly, demanding understanding of pit crew or upgrades. It slots in nicely, then: more challenging and deep than PAW Patrol Grand Prix, but without the unnecessary bells and whistles of the free-to-play kart games.

But against every other metric, Skull Island: Rise of Kong is a turd. It’s a turd the size of which Kong would be proud. And it’s bad in the least entertaining way. It’s an empty series of valleys where it’s easier to get lost than killed. We wanted the kind of bad that is stupid, ridiculous and embarrassing – we might have had fun with that. Dull-bad, though? That’s the worst.

Twin-stick shooters and roguelike hybrids aren’t new, and they have been done better elsewhere. But that’s not to say you should ignore Doomed to Hell. It may be simple and concise, but it’s a syringe of adrenaline to the heart, and it managed to perk us up for an evening. It aspires to stick around for longer and ultimately fails, but when the gunplay is this fun, we’ll give it a pass. 

We wouldn’t go so far to say that Lonesome Village is sensational, or better than the other life-sims that have graced the Xbox over the past year. We’d nudge you over to Ooblets and Disney Dreamlight Valley, if placed in a line-up. But there is certainly something compelling in the simplicity of its loops, and there’s not an ounce of combat or pressure as you enjoy the merry-go-round. This is one for life-sim fans who would rather that things like difficulty didn’t bother them.

But what an embarrassment of riches Nickelodeon Kart Racers 3: Slime Speedway has turned out to be. Previously something of an also-ran in the race to be the best karting experience, it can proudly take its place at the top of the podium on the Xbox – second only to Mario Kart on all platforms. No other karting game can match its depth, and the actual racing is breakneck and fully-featured too. It doesn’t matter if Spongebob Squarepants means nothing to you: there’s enough charm and generosity to make this a winner regardless.

Unusual Findings is distilled ‘80s, served up as a point-and-click adventure, and it’s as rad as it sounds.

Give an editor a machete and the opportunity to carve out vast chunks of The end is nahual: If I may say so, and you might have a good game. As it stands, this is a fascinating, unruly mess.

But Flat Kingdom: Paper’s Cut Edition couldn’t help itself. It overburdens itself with different mechanics, and the simple, effective platforming ends up being sunk by its ambition. It is death by a thousand paper cuts.

But that feeling didn’t last for long. Slipstream is full of bad-calories. The too-simple races became repetitious, and the multiple game modes struggled in vain to make them interesting. As a distraction from Hotshot Racing, it was welcome. As a replacement for it? Nah, it certainly has enough speed, but – having exhausted it of its charms – we’ve lost the need to play it.

But they’re not even the best bits. What Lies in the Multiverse has such a knack for character and visual comedy that you’ll be in danger of lacking concentration in the puzzles because you’re grinning so much.