Games of the week
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Trials Rising
Platform: PC, Xbox One, PS4, Switch
Genre: Racing
Price: £16.99
Get your motor running for a ridiculous ride
Trials Rising is full of brilliantly distracting detail. As you rev and rotate your wailing motorcycle through each impressively dynamic obstacle course at breakneck speed, the background is alive with pyrotechnics, speeding trains and, in one early highlight, a vicious alien beast, glimpsed as you race through a green-screen movie studio. It's a riot, though the best backdrops are the rival riders in the new motocross events, where the feel of 'real' competition adds invigorating tension to the usual solo sprints. Rising is style over substance (serious technical challenges, like Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy, would be amazing), but it's still gallons of fun.
Skip to the end: Shallow and hyperactive but explosive enjoyment is guaranteed.
Score: 8/10
Left Alive
Platform: PC, PS4
Genre: Action
Price: £31.99
A creeping dread
The artwork is familiar but this is no Metal Gear Solid spin-off. Left Alive is set in the Front Mission universe, a futuristic world where the hyper-political warfare of Ace Combat and the toy-friendly giant robots of Transformers converge, but this tepid stealth-'em-up is lacking in sci-fi thrills. As a survivor in the ruins of an occupied city you must overcome enemy soldiers, rescue survivors and scavenge for supplies. But futile weaponry and hugely frustrating combat hamper the action (outside of brief moments controlling the satisfyingly powerful 'wanzers', or walking tanks), while poor visuals and level design make sneaking a dull prospect. Left Alive is obviously gunning for the MGS fanbase but it never lives up to that ambition.
Skip to the end: Lame hide-and-sneak antics cynically aimed at MGS fans.
Score: 4/10
Fall of Light: Darkest Edition
Platform: PC, Mac, Xbox One, PS4, Switch
Genre: Action
Price: £10.99
Dim and dimmer
Fall of Light takes inspiration from two contrasting sources: Hack 'n' slash adventuring in the Dark Souls mould, combined with the Ico-style mission of escorting your daughter to safety. Earth has been plunged into endless night and your quest is to find the last remaining sanctuary still bathed in light. Cue linear labyrinths shrouded in darkness and crawling with hostile nasties, through which you lead the vulnerable Aether by the hand, leaving her in safe zones while you press on to clear the way ahead. The idea is intriguing but the repetitive, frustrating combat and basic approach to the escort challenge makes for a disappointing result.
Skip to the end: An interesting set-up to a dreary dungeon crawler.
Score: 5/10
The Lego Movie 2 Videogame
Platform: PC, Xbox One, PS4, Switch
Genre: Action
Price: £25.99
Build for victory
The Lego Movies thrived on a non-stop torrent of jokes, visual gags and pop-culture references, aided by star power from the superb voice acting. The Lego Movie 2 Videogame simply can't muster the same energy. Elizabeth Banks (as Lucy) is the only actor crossing over from film to game, outshining the inferior stand-ins taking over for favourite characters like Emmet and Batman, while what was hilarious in a scripted narrative isn't that funny inside interactive gameplay. The open-world design is at least a welcome evolution of the linear, over-worked formula of previous Lego games, but even this is a half-measure that gives limited scope for exploration while turning the crucial building element into a yawnsome chore.
Skip to the end: One step forward and two steps back for the Lego series.
Score: 6/10
