Stellar Blade (PlayStation 5, £69.99)
Verdict: Almost too slick
Want a crash course on video gaming in the 2020s? Then play Stellar Blade. It's a mishmash of some of the best games of the past decade or so.
There's the die-and-try-again brutality of Dark Souls. The powered-up combat of Final Fantasy VII: Remake. The overgrown post-apocalypse of The Last of Us. And the plaintive sci-fi tone of Nier: Automata – oh, and that same game's sword-wielding future-babes, too.
Although 'mishmash' might be a bit unfair. Stellar Blade is one of the slickest games I've ever played. In everything from its marble-smooth combat to its exhilarating cutscenes, it shows off what can be achieved nowadays, given enough time and money. It doesn't so much steal things from elsewhere as give them a makeover and wrap them up in a pretty bow.
Stellar Blade is one of the slickest games I've ever played. In everything from its marble-smooth combat to its exhilarating cutscenes, it shows off what can be achieved nowadays, given enough time and money
A super-soldier called Eve - who's trying to reclaim Earth from terrible monsters - is the game's main character
There's a lot of razzle-dazzle, and quite a lot of fun to be had, too. Though there's always something about Stellar Blade that feels a little too polished – like it's an advert for games in 2024
Or do I mean a corset? There's no evading the fact that Stellar Blade's main character - a super-soldier called Eve who's trying to reclaim Earth from terrible monsters - is treated as something of a doll. You can change the length of her hair in the options menu, though her legs always remain improbably long, and there's a variety of skimpy costumes in which to dress her. It's not how I'd save the planet.
Still, there's plenty around Eve to also catch the eye. Stellar Blade is a stunning-looking game, one of the few in this generation to really exercise the PlayStation 5's capabilities.
But, in a way, that's also the problem. There's a lot of razzle-dazzle, and quite a lot of fun to be had, too. Though there's always something about Stellar Blade that feels a little too polished – like it's an advert for games in 2024.
Lunar Lander Beyond (PlayStation, Xbox, Switch, PC, £24.99)
Verdict: A retrorocket
Let's go back. Way back. To 1979, in fact, when Atari released a game called Lunar Lander. The concept had originally been inspired by the moon landings: you, the player, controlled an unwieldy spacecraft, using thrusters to propel and stabilise it, in the hope of making a safe descent onto some extraterrestrial surface.
Now let's go forwards. Way forwards. To 2024, in fact, when humans have colonised Mars, we all zoom around in flying cars – and Lunar Lander has been rebooted by Atari as Lunar Lander Beyond.
Beyond is, as you'd expect, much more sophisticated than its forbear. An entire narrative has been superimposed onto the experience – of galactic anomalies and brave crewmen – and it's told through artful animated sequences.
Beyond is, as you'd expect, much more sophisticated than its forbear. An entire narrative has been superimposed onto the experience – of galactic anomalies and brave crewmen – and it's told through artful animated sequences
Within the levels, there are new abilities, challenges and threats, including the possibility that your bashed-about pilot might go mad and start seeing pink elephants and other enjoyable distortions
Within the levels, there are new abilities, challenges and threats, including the possibility that your bashed-about pilot might go mad and start seeing pink elephants and other enjoyable distortions. If they do, you can put them into psychiatric care and deploy another pilot instead, with their own strengths and weaknesses.
However, underneath all of Beyond's innovations, in a rather charming way, is the same ol' classic gameplay. You have to control an unwieldy spacecraft and then safely land it. Again and again. It's quite simple, really.
Except, for as cack-handed a gamer as me, it's also quite difficult. Those moments when I totally understood the flight of my craft felt wonderful, but they were few and far between. Better players will have more reason to keep on going, striving for mastery and higher scores.
To them I say: good luck. Your planet needs you.
