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Milestone has already proven that Hot Wheels works remarkably well as an arcade racing game, but Hot Wheels Infinite Rush takes the series in a considerably different direction. Instead of building its identity around self-contained orange tracks placed in oversized everyday environments, this new entry opens things up across four distinct islands. The result feels like Milestone has taken the toybox fantasy and turned it into an open-world playground, complete with races, challenges, collectibles and plenty of opportunities to simply drive around and cause a little miniature-scale chaos. It is an ambitious change for the series, and while the larger scope occasionally exposes a lack of imagination in the content itself, Infinite Rush is generally a very entertaining evolution of the Hot Wheels formula. Continue reading “Hot Wheels Infinite Rush review (PS5)”

EA Sports NHL 27 is another entry in a series that has spent years walking a difficult line between delivering a strong representation of its sport and struggling to make each annual upgrade feel essential. The game’s central ambition is clearer this year: making the teams, arenas and individual matchups feel less interchangeable. NHL 27 doesn’t achieve that through a dramatic overhaul, and anyone expecting a completely transformed experience will quickly recognize the familiar foundation underneath it all. Instead, EA Vancouver has concentrated on a collection of refinements that make the hockey itself feel more reactive and the presentation surrounding it considerably more distinctive. The result is a better game than NHL 26 in several important respects, although not necessarily one that makes a compelling full-price case for every returning player. Continue reading “NHL 27 review (Xbox)”

Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 arrives as a direct follow-up to Cold Iron Studios’ 2021 co-op shooter, and it knows exactly where its priorities lie. This isn’t an attempt to recapture the slow-burning terror of the original Alien, nor does it have much interest in delivering a particularly ambitious piece of science-fiction storytelling. Instead, it takes its inspiration from the more action-oriented side of the franchise and sends squads of Colonial Marines into dark installations, hostile colonies and Xenomorph-infested corridors with enough ammunition to make survival temporarily possible. The campaign provides a reasonable framework for the action, involving another escalating biological crisis, corporate interference and increasingly dangerous expeditions, but the narrative rarely develops into something memorable. Objectives such as rescue operations, investigations and retrieving information keep the story moving, yet the military characters and dialogue are often generic, making this very much a game where the plot exists to get the squad to the next firefight rather than being a major attraction in its own right. Continue reading “Aliens: Fireteam Elite 2 review (PS5)”

Six years after Captain Tsubasa: Rise of New Champions, Bandai Namco and developer TAMSOFT CORPORATION return to the pitch for Captain Tsubasa 2: World Fighters, a sequel that wisely understands that authenticity here has very little to do with recreating real football. This is football as imagined by Yoichi Takahashi: a sport where players can launch themselves through the air, tear across the field with impossible dribbles and fire shots powerful enough to threaten the structural integrity of the stadium. The PS5 sequel picks up with the World Youth storyline and places a newly created player alongside Tsubasa and his familiar teammates, resulting in a campaign that is at its best when it leans fully into the absurd spectacle and fanservice that made the series so beloved in the first place. Continue reading “Captain Tsubasa 2: World Fighters review (PS5)”