Games of the week – Persona 5 Royal, Save Your Nuts, Biped and Scrappers
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Persona 5 Royal
Platform: PlayStation 4
Genre: RPG
Price: From £49.99
Enhanced to perfection
Persona 5 is seen as one of the role-playing greats, so how could it possibly go even further? Persona 5 Royal is an enhanced re-release like no other, with a generously expanded story, two new characters (a gymnast and guidance councillor) who have been carefully embedded within the existing story, as well as extras such as a new free-roaming area of Tokyo. For anyone new, this is your chance to taste the sharp end of RPGs, introducing the events of the third school term that don't appear in the original, amounting to about 20 hours extra game play, onto what is already a pretty long game. Every inch has been expanded and refined to delight existing fans, though some may see £49.99 as a bit steep for something they've already tried.
Skip to the end: Breathtakingly refreshed role-playing great adds plenty of extras, though it may be a bit too pricey for those who tried it first time round.
Score: 9/10
Save Your Nuts
Platform: PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch and PC
Genre: Multiplayer
Price: From £11.39
It'll send you nutty
If ever you need something easy to understand, light-hearted and just plain fun among groups separated during lockdown, Save Your Nuts is a pretty safe bet for all the family. This physics-based competition is simple, in that you are arranged in teams of four against other animals, setting out to collect nuts and boosts in a bid to win the round. There are obstacles to spice things up a little, as well as a number of different venues to choose from. The visuals are basic but this isn't intended to be a cinematic masterpiece; this is fast-paced party fun and it certainly does the trick. However, amid all the speed, it can occasionally be hard to keep track of your player when you're at full capacity.
Skip to the end: The kind of light-hearted fun we all could do with right now, bringing people of all ages together in one easy to understand game – and it won't break the bank.
Score: 8/10
Biped
Platform: PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, PC
Genre: Puzzler
Price: From £11.39
Four legs are better than two?
Some things are done better in pairs, and that's exactly what you and a partner can expect from bipedal robots, Aku and Sila, who help each other on their mission to save Earth from darkness by lighting up beacons. This co-op action adventure relies on a pair of players to use their thumbsticks to control each leg of their robot in a bid to proceed. Expect plenty of wobbles along the way, as each stage gets progressively harder, putting your joint co-ordination skills to the test. The concept is simple enough to grasp, and although you won't succeed immediately with each level, it's not frustrating. The only gripe would be that the game is relatively short – but that is reflected in the price.
Skip to the end: Entertaining co-op title where co-ordination is essential. Though its lack of length is a noticeable drawback, it should be seen as credit to the developers, meaning, we want more.
Score: 8/10
Scrappers
Platform: iOS
Genre: Action / combat
Price: £4.99 per month with Apple Arcade
Far from trashy...
Apple Arcade's latest exclusive is rubbish – no, it's great, but the focus is on rubbish. You take on the role of the Scrappers, a team of robot garbage collectors on a mission to clean up the streets of a litter-ridden city of the future. There's so much garbage everywhere, that it's actually become worth something to collect it. But watch out, rival teams are also on the prowl to attack and interfere. You need to work as a team – of which you can have up to four players – in order to succeed, or you can play solo. This can mean special moves, like throwing garbage to another player, so it can be safely deposited. Scrappers is fast-paced, good, clean fun, supported by simple controls, satisfying animated graphics and enough progressive challenge to keep the entertainment up.
Skip to the end: Apple succeeds in making fun of garbage – as well as a lesson about our future if we're not careful – in this simple-to-grasp title.
Score: 8/10
