Each time I return to South Park: The Fractured but Whole I am constantly reminded about just how good the RPG and turn based combat are in the game. It has been some time since it released by the steady release of new DLC have indeed kept me coming back for more. Now the final DLC content from the Season Pass has been released in the form of ‘Bring the Crunch’ which takes New Kid and regular South Park cast to the iconic summer camp location of Lake Tardicaca. I was very much hoping for this last piece of story content to really push the envelope taking us all out with a bang.

Our hero ‘New Kid’ is contacted by Professor Timmy and alerted to the fact that all the Camp Counsellors have gone missing and unless they are found, the camp faces the threat of being closed. Alongside New Kid for this DLC will be Fastpass, Professor Chaos and returning character Mintberry Crunch who received the same distress call that alerted New Kid. With this new team of superheroes assembled it is time solve the mystery and rescue Lake Tardicaca.

Right from the get go it is obvious that this particular DLC has been inspired by all the 80s Horror movies and really does play on the clichés such as introducing a new super hero class in ‘Final Girl’, the one white girl who always manages to survive the events of the first film only to then be killed right away in the sequel. New super powers are available such as the ability to launch and place three buzzsaws over 3 spaces in a battle. The next is a bombastic sledgehammer which is capable of pushing back enemies forcing them into new places on the grid along with the Super Move itself which will turn New Kid into a crazed killing machine capable of executing enemies in one hit. Sadly I found this new class really dull and disappointing in battle and as soon as I could I replaced them with what I had before the DLC forced the change.

The disappointment didn’t end there as sadly the story for this DLC was rather bland for me. You simply move from one area to the other using your special abilities to solve puzzles to collect mission items and a few set boss fight encounters to give you things to do. It was all fairly by the numbers really and I had really hoped for something more explosive to really wrap up the Fractured but Whole world. There some moments of clever writing especially in the random dialogue exchanges you get to have with the Gas Station Attendant who is constantly warning you not to do all the classic horror B movie tropes such as going down dark roads.

The combat has been made more difficult though adding a new edge to the turn based fighting as you take on the various random monsters that spring up. Enemies now have more powerful attacks and can move your team off their set places on the grid as well as often outnumbering your team and calling in reinforcements. My favourite new addition was when combat was triggered on the Indian Burial ground area which made certain spots on the grid capable of bringing back knocked out enemies to life with the only way to defeat them being to move them to a position without one of those spots. Boss fights are also tougher with the majority having the ability to corner your team off by shrinking the playable grid with massive area affecting attacks only giving you one turn to move your team out the way but with normal enemies all having the ability to use knock back is not as easy as it sounds.

It was nice to visit one of the most iconic South Park locations in Lake Tardicaca but I was hoping for a bit more on the knuckle humour and story and whilst it is still fun to play for the short duration of the story along with many collectibles to find to really complete the DLC, it all felt a little meh to be honest. Perhaps the standout new content that this DLC brought has to be the many various horror film related superhero costumes to add to your collection and in particular had to be the very Teen Wolf looking werewolf costume which you can see in the screenshots above. I also felt that by this DLC release, my ‘New Kid’ character is just super powerful now after completing the main story as well as previous DLCs so I had more than enough consumables and super powers to handle any situation really without too much trouble or frustration.

Bring the Crunch is a fairly routine DLC to end the current Season Pass content with, and rather short at just over two hours to complete but overall if you are coming into this game fairly new, all the content from the main game and season pass is still a great experience for South Park fans and as I opened with, the turn based combat is something I really enjoy about this game and putting together a hero with just the right super powers to use in a fight is still great fun along with deciding on a look for New Kid.

For me though having played this since it launched it is starting to suffer from a little repetition and fatigue. The fart jokes and toilet humour is already old by the time of Bring the Crunch and little is added in terms of anything fresh or new with this DLC. It is not terrible by a long shot but it is just not the big finish final content I was hoping for.

In the last 18 months I have been really impressed with the diversity of the games coming from TEAM 17 and each time they release something new it grabs my curiosity to see what they have come up with next. Mugsters is a title that actually slipped under my radar so was even more intrigued to see what it had to offer. To say it was surprising would be an understatement.

Going into Mugsters not really know what to expect was not helped by actually getting into the game and not being told really what to do. I am all for games not relying on hand holding to explain too much and discovering how to play and what to do can give the player a great level of satisfaction and Mugsters is certainly a game where it leaves the players to work out what to do and how to go about getting things done.

Mugsters is based on an Earth where aliens have basically invaded and you the player find yourself on different small islands with the main objective of finding the plane and getting away to freedom. Now that would be fairly boring so there are additional objectives on each island to complete such as finding all the survivors dotted around, finding and collecting mysterious green crystals and sometimes the objective of blowing up equipment such as satellite dishes and generators. What did come as a surprise is that these are optional side objectives and you are free to find the plane and leave to progress further but you can replay an island multiple times so you can learn the locations of the objective items and plan accordingly even if it takes a few tries to learn the puzzle solutions so if one crystal or survivor for example is out of reach, you can prevent getting too frustrated by simply doing what you can and jumping on the escape plane and simply return to replay that island area another time.

Visually Mugsters is quite a barebones affair, but it is one that I actually liked. Colour pallet remains the same throughout and everything has an old school basic design with blocky vehicles and environments. It is all rather minimalist but then it really doesn’t need to bring Witcher 3 level graphics to what is a game based on exploring the area to find how to collect or destroy what needs to be done on that island. I was a big fan of immediately being able to put a Superman style cape on my character and if you leave your character standing still for too long, they have a fun set of animations to perform until you are ready to pick up the controller and carry on. Driving the vehicles instantly reminded me of playing the original top down versions of GTA and there are many different types of vehicles to find and drive in the game although trying to fly the escape plane safely from the island was a little troublesome at first.

A nice feature is when you bring a friend along for the ride and start a co-op game. In co-op the islands will adjust to the fact there are two players now and will add in additional puzzles that will require teamwork and sensible communication skills in order to complete all the objectives. Both players are free to explore on their own however this tends to make the main camera view zoom out a lot and it can be difficult to see the area clearly. There is always something about trying to solve a puzzle whilst suddenly having your partner drive a vehicle right into you or for them to set off an explosion before you manage to get to a safe distance. This level of tomfoolery can be a welcome distraction from completing the objectives over and over again which can become a little tedious despite the addition of more complicated level designs and puzzles to master. This issue also creeps into the solo version of the game  where repeating the same objectives over and over becomes a little frustrating making this a game I could only play for short sessions.

Mugsters is a fun physics based puzzle game which comes alive when playing with a friend in co-op but as a solo player experience can be a great game to just dip in and out of to relax and solve some puzzle environments for a bit. Although the gameplay can get rather repetitive it does offer time trials for every island for those who like to perfect their performance and the online leader-boards offer enough inspiration to keep trying until you get it right. Encountering the Aliens on their UFOs is an exciting experience and overall Mugsters is just a fun game for those who like the freedom to learn how a game works and to solve puzzles. Perhaps one to grab in a Sale rather than rushing out to grab now.

With so many big named AAA titles about to unleash on the gaming world, Mugsters does just enough to be worth a look for a change in game experience and the ability to revisit and improve your times and performance on all the islands will keep players returning time and again.

It is hard to imagine that a developer team of just two people brought Overcooked to life. Overcooked quickly became a hit with gamers as it both tested friendships and co-operation techniques as the increasing demanding levels required more and more communication and overall…patience. But when I reviewed it I did find the limitations on only having couch co-op available frustrating and so I was never able to really dive into the game properly unless my mates showed up to have a go. But now it has a sequel which is bigger and has evolved beyond those limitations. Overcooked 2 is here and oh will the screams of friends be heard across the world!

The premise of Overcooked has not changed for the sequel where teams of chefs work in a kitchen to fulfil the meal orders of customers eagerly waiting for their food. Chefs must pick up the right ingredients to chop them up, cook or combine them with other ingredients and then place all together on a plate and serve to customers. Sounds pretty simple doesn’t it but that is the real magic behind the success of the first Overcooked and why this sequel is so eagerly awaited. Simplicity is the secret source that makes Overcooked 2 finally the game I wanted.

Working together to cook the required meals is made a little more stressful by the fact you only have a certain amount of time to serve all the necessary meals in order to score enough stars to make it through to the next stages. It is then made even more difficult by the design of the kitchen you find yourself working in for each stage as you have to locate the ingredients then the chopping boards before finding the cooking equipment if required then plates to serve food on. Learning the layout of the kitchen is so vital to success and no two kitchens are alike and some will change so drastically the further into the game you go that it alone can lead to certain failure for teams of Chefs who fail to communicate properly.

The gameplay has improved since the original with new moves such as the ability for Chefs to now throw items to other Chefs which is frankly genius when you see just how challenging some of the kitchens can be which do start fairly straightforward. The team behind the game have really outdone themselves for the sequel with some truly devilish kitchens which I did not believe could get any tougher than trying to work in a kitchen split across two moving trucks. One of my favourites from this sequel has to be the hot air balloon kitchen stage which sees your Chefs attempting to serve as many orders as possible as the balloon is dive-bombing towards the ground. Racing against the clock always focused on just trying to serve meals but chuck in the threat of a crashing hot air balloon and believe me, you will be making your chefs get a wriggle on all the faster.

What has been made clear in developer interviews ahead of this release and something that is very evident in the sequel is that the original developer team reached out to TEAM 17 not just as a publisher but also to ask for help in bringing the changes they wanted to help make Overcooked 2 as amazing as possible. This has lead to a refinement on the visuals and animation which is evident in how Chefs move and the addition of new characters to pick but also in the design of the stages which really look phenomenal and far more devious in the later stages of the story campaign. It was a brilliant decision in my opinion to blend the brilliance of the original developers with the remarkable team at TEAM 17 to really bring out the very best that Overcooked 2 can offer. The tweak and improvements to the gameplay and visuals alone would be more than worth it but then they actually went and delivered on the original feedback of the first game and something I made a point of in my original review of Overcooked.

Online co-op has finally been added to the game, and for me this is perhaps the biggest game changer in Overcooked 2 for me and it is a most welcome one. No longer will you need to have all your friends to show up just to play the co-op which is where Overcooked truly comes alive and you can simply just invite friends who own the game to team up with you. Now you can still play this game solo by using the ability to use two chefs and the LB shoulder bumper to switch between Chefs but this quickly feels like a lesser experience because it never really does the game justice. Just having the online ability to have friends join you may seem like a very basic thing to have in such a game but the original dev team simply didn’t have the resources to include this in the original game but the very fact it is now a main part of the game opens up so many player experiences that it makes Overcooked 2 the must have co-op game to play in 2018 by far.

Not only has online co-op been added by a new Arcade mode which allows players to take on random stages from the game even if you have yet to unlock them in the main story campaign along with a Versus mode to make two teams of Chefs compete are both there to compliment the now online co-op option of which you can have both Public and Private set matches. Having the restriction of couch co-op alone removed really elevates Overcooked 2 to a place where it has been made more accessible to share the experience with others.

Overcooked 2 is everything I hoped it would be and I can happily say that with the addition of online co-op along with all the enhancements to gameplay, animation and stage designs, this really is the must have game of the summer. Everything that has been improved and added has been so based on feedback of the original and though the temptation to really go overboard on new features must have been strong, by sticking to what the original did so well and simply making it a better game has made this sequel shine even brighter. This game will make you smile and laugh but can also make you cry and rage and will definitely test friendships to the max on the most difficult stages.

This is a game fully deserving of 5 Michelin stars so do yourselves a favour, order a take away and either get your mates round or now just invite anyone on your friends list and have one of the best gaming experiences you will have this year.