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.

One of the highlights of my day at EGZ Rezzed 2018 was coming across a rather old school feeling FPS with classic graphics, platforming and the very fun mechanic of having the ability to build your own weapons to defeat the oncoming hordes of enemies always heading your way. It instantly reminded me playing the early forms of FPS titles back in the day such as the original DOOM and Wolfenstein but with a nice sci-fi twist to give it some modern day magic. Mothergunship has landed and I was itching to tryout the full game.

Would you believe it that Earth has once again come under attack from an alien race in the form of evil killer robots and that the last line of defence is a single super soldier? Yup here we go again but hey when the Earth and human race are in trouble sometimes one person can make a difference. Taking that key role will us as the player of course and your mission will be to taken down the invading forces by taking them on in their own ships as you blast your way to their main ship, the Mothergunship.

Now the alien fleet are not going to simply sit back and let players just walk in and destroy everything the various levels are full of robots and turrets all powerful enough to take you down either in sheer numbers of enemies or in their ever increasing size and firepower, and they will throw everything that they can find at you to stop you from saving the Earth. This will quickly turn into one giant bullet hell of aggression against the player which can be relentless unless you start to fight back but with the odds definitely against the player, you will need something to help rebalance the fight.

This is where the greatest strength of Mothergunship comes into play as players will be given the opportunity to create and build their own weapons of mass destruction throughout the game by finding gun components and through buying new parts with currency collected from destroyed enemies. You can really create some powerful guns combining different parts as long as they all fit together of course and soon you will be slaying evil robots left right and centre as you build triple barrelled chain guns with rocket attachments or powerful lasers. There are thousands of different combinations that can be put together by the player but there is a strategic limitation to what beast of a gun you can put together.

Weapons all need power and should you build too powerful a gun you could be left with a lengthy recharge/reload time penalty leaving you vulnerable to all enemies around you so whilst it might look epic to create a gun worthy of John Wick himself to wield, build one that uses up all your energy in one blast may not be the most effective way of jumping into combat. So fine tuning your weapons to deliver maximum damage but at the same time making sure you monitor how much energy it uses as it fires so that you do not end up shouting at your TV as you wait for the energy gauge to replenish can cost you a cheap death in the middle of a fight. It came as a surprise to see just how deep the crafting mechanics are in this game and you will constantly be faced with having to adjust and improve on your designs as you shoot your way through the game.

Visually I absolutely love the classic FPS look to the game and the design allows for constant shooting battles which are enhanced by the platforming elements to find just the right balance of exploring and movement to keep the fighting always on the go. Being constantly on the move just gave me the right nostalgia feeling for classic FPS titles I grew up with and in Mothergusnship it certainly feels as though they inspired so much in this game. The levels are randomly generated as well so the player never really knows what it will look like or indeed the type of enemies they will face. I love the sci-fi feel to the environments and bright colours from the explosions just makes this a feat on the eyes complimented so well by the musical score and audio effects help give the action an exciting pace.

What I did enjoy is the writing and dialogue in the game with some of the NPC characters you speak too have more than just a passing resemblance to iconic 80s and 90s action films, it is writing that does not take the game seriously but still gets the balance right preventing it from becoming a throw away parody game as well. I smiled from the dialogue and from the action itself making this one of the surprise hits of this year for me.

Mothergunship brings together so many elements that all compliment each other which calls on the player to not only be a skilful shooter but also in finding the right tactics to deal with the enemies and challenges placed in front of them. The ability to craft a monster of a gun is tempered by the need to be logical about what you do build. On the surface this may look like a fairly simple FPS title but once you are in its world you will find a challenging and rewarding shooter that focuses on getting all its different elements to work together then simply sits back and gives players the freedom to play however they choose to as well. This game is all about having fun and experimenting in making different gun configurations.

Perfect if you want a change of pace from the more serious and big hitting FPS titles available, I have lost many an afternoon with this game and have no regrets in doing so. Definitely a highlight of 2018 and one worth checking out if you are a fan of classic FPS with a refreshing modern twist.

My opinion of Sea of Thieves has changed a lot since it first released in March of this year. My initial disappointment over what the game offered in gameplay compared to what was both promised and suggested. Cursed Sails is the biggest content drop yet for Sea of Thieves. Since launch however RARE have been focused on responding to that feedback by starting to add new content to the game which began with the ‘Hungering Deep’ DLC and more recently with the bi weekly community events thanks to the Bilge Rat Adventures. Now we have had the launch of the largest content drop to the game since launch in ‘Cursed Sails’ which not only brings a new threat to the seas in the form of deadly Skeleton Crew galleons but also new features that greatly change the game for players and has already attracted many who perhaps put the game down to pick it up once more.

It does have to be stated just how much the Cursed Sails DLC brings to Sea of Thieves in terms of new content and features, many of which are the end result of little adjustments made to the game in the months since launch. This FREE content adds a brand new ship in the form of the Brigantine as well as adding ‘Alliances’ finally to the game world which is a definite game changer going forward but will come to that a little later on. First let me begin with the story side to this DLC.

Players had been finding little teasers in the week leading up to the launch of Cursed Sails which all pointed to the Weapons smith Wanda who is based on Golden Sands Outpost. Returning to her shop in Cursed Sails reveals that Wanda has gone missing along with her assistant Salty and now her sister Wonda is looking after her shop. Her disappearance is linked to the sudden appearance of deadly Skeleton ships which are terrorizing the regions of the world so much that they have placed Totems on each of the outposts which have scared all the shop keepers into closing their shops for fear of looting. Players have two real objectives in this DLC which starts with solving the mystery of Wanda’s disappearance and to hunt down and defeat the Skeleton Ships to free the region from the threat.

Starting with Wanda’s quest and this is something I really want to see put into the game far more and not just in expansion DLC packs. Just as in the Hungering Deep, players will need to find and solve the clues left behind in order to piece together that has happened to Wanda. This will involve travelling to different locations as you follow each clue and really helps to expand the lore of the game and is the kind of thing I had hoped would be in the game far more than it has been. It is great fun to just go and solve a mystery and just adds a fun and new discovery element to being in the world that is much needed. Sadly just as it was in Hungering Deep, this quest is rather short in length but it does open the story in the world very nicely to such an extent I would love to see more of these mystery solving side quests to be used to tell more stories about the characters in this world from the many shop keeps to the three factions that players spend so much time doing voyages for on their journey to Pirate Legend. I do hope that RARE look at this going forward as being something they can add more of into the game going forward.

The biggest element to this DLC comes in the form of the Skeleton Crewed ships running amok in the seas. By visiting various outposts, players will discover strange totems left by the skeleton crews which serves as a warning to anyone on the outposts but to players as well, giving them a clue to where they might be found on the seas and also when they will appear. There are three skeleton crews to battle and each one will only appear for ten days at different times of the in game monthly calendar so for example one skeleton crew will appear from the 1^st to the 10^th of the month then 11^th to 20 and 21^st to 30. Each one will be in a different region of the map and will be representing a group of outposts coming under the banners of ‘The Shores of Plenty’, ‘The Ancient Isles’ and ‘The Wilds, which players will need to follow directions on each totem to guide them to the location for the battle to be triggered. The battles themselves work very much like the Skeleton Skull Fort raids in which players will need to sink waves of skeleton crew ships in order to draw out the Skeleton Captain to then defeat it. Two Skeleton Crewed ships form each wave and can work together to take down a single player ship.

To help even the odds another new feature has been added in order to allow player ships to work together for mutual benefit in the form of Alliances. The Hungering Deep DLC was the first to actively encourage positive team work between player ships but now with the Alliances feature, it can all be made official. A ship can now fly a pendant to indicate whether that ship is looking to form an alliance or to join one. Being in an Alliance means that all loot and reputation from the voyages and tasks completed from all the ships in that Alliance are shared with the crew handing in the loot getting 100% of the rewards whilst every other ship in the alliance will get a percentage which so far is about 50%. So if one ship hands in a Captain’s Chest for 1000 gold they will get all of that gold whilst another ship in the Alliance will get 500 gold from it. This is a great way to share the spoils and reputation gained from completing normal voyages and loot.

Alliances also help with the Skeleton ship battles as they can prove rather tough with just one ship so having your own armada of shorts will help the chances of success. The big reason why these encounters can be so tough is because of the brand new use of Cursed Cannon balls that the Skeletons can use. These range from being able to freeze the rudder of your ship making it impossible to turn until it wears of, the ability to make everyone suddenly drunk which as players will know, stops you from being able to finish tasks such as repairing or fighting until your pirate sobers up to the funniest and probably deadliest one yet that makes the crew all stop what they are doing to have a little dance and whilst that sounds more funny than deadly, picture having your whole crew just dancing on the spot as your ship needs to have water bailed and holes repaired or about to crash into something and you cant move.

Each week of the three week run of Cursed Sails, three new skeleton ships will appear in new locations and with new cursed cannon balls which could range from raising the sails on your ship to giving all the crew broken legs making it hard to move quickly on the ship. Not to mention that the Skeleton Crews are a pretty good shot as well so the fight itself was already tough but with cursed cannon balls it just gives the fight a new level of danger making them very interesting indeed.

Along with the Alliance feature comes the first new ship type for Sea of Thieves in the Brigantine. This ship sits comfortably between the two people crewed Sloop and the heavy hitting four people Galleon. The Brigantine can have a maximum of three crew members and is a two sailed ship that is faster than the sloop and almost as manoeuvrable but it also has double the cannons of a sloop with four cannons, two either side of the ship. Like the Sloop it has only two decks in top and below unlike the three of the Galleon but I really do like this ship. Not only can you have an extra crew member to help sail it but it is very formidable in battle as well with four cannons and enough speed and agility to make it a real threat against other ships including the big hitting Galleon class.

RARE really has done a superb job with all the new features brought into Sea of Thieves with Cursed Sails and gives me a lot of hope for the future. The skeleton ship battles are challenging and fun and the new ship is my favourite to use now and the Alliance feature adds a new social aspect for players that have been asking for quite often since launch. Now of course being Pirates means that not all of us can be trusted and even in an Alliance there is still a very real risk of betrayal at some point so you must still be on your guard. The past two months has seen some great steps to making Sea of Thieves the game fans had been hoping for when it launched including the Bilge Rat Adventures, the biweekly community special events that can earn players the new Bilge Rat currency of Doubloons which can be either exchanged for gold, used to buy cosmetic items or to purchase letters of reputation that can instantly give you a full level of reputation for any of the three main guilds in the game, Gold Hoarders, Order of Souls and Merchants which speeds up the journey to Pirate Legend.

Whilst so many changes and additions are positive for the game, there are still elements that need to be paid attention to by RARE to keep this game evolving in a good way. The community is still plagued at times by the toxicity of a few and though it can be argued that trolling is just a part of being what a true Pirate would be, it does tarnish the game somewhat and personally I would rather have an option not to crossplay with PC players just because of their natural advantage over console players by use of mouse and keyboard and that almost every encounter my crew and I have had with PC players often results in a negative experience. There is also the problem of game updates and stability of the game such as with the new Cursed Sails content going live, it took an hour for most players to log into the game after it went live on launch day because so many rushed back to the game only for the game to suffer from empty servers in the days that followed as servers failed to populate enough players to form an alliance in some cases. Two features of the game had to be turned off as this content launched due to late minute issues being found so currently as I write this both Kraken encounters and Skull Fort raids have been deactivated in the game. So we get new content but old content is switched off temporarily.

That all said, just as the Hungering Deep had a massively positive influence on the game and community when it launched, Cursed Sails is certainly doing the same by bringing more content to enjoy, new ship to sail and ways of encouraging the community to play positively which leads to new friendships being forged. Not to mention that this is all free, so there is no better time to pick up the game right now and give it a try as it is still including in the Xbox Games Pass and can be found pretty cheap online by itself. In September we will get the next expansion in Forsaken Shores as a brand new area on the map will be revealed along with row boats. Right now we do not know the plan for content after Forsaken Shores or whether any new expansions will continue to be free as we know that micro-transactions are coming into the game when Pirate Pets are introduced at some point, possibly with Forsaken Shores.

Cursed Sails is just so much fun and I even manage to reach Pirate Legend status a few days after it launched. I am feeling far more confident and hopeful for Sea of Thieves at this point if RARE can continue to deliver new and fresh content like this going forward and for the game to evolve further and thrive, they will need to keep this going. It is a genuinely fun game to play now and if you can find a regular crew to sail with it becomes something truly amazing to share with friends. There are growing social media community groups to find people to play Sea of Thieves with and Microsoft just announced five million players for the game so things are looking up for this game in a good way.

Definitely worth checking out if you are yet to try Sea of Thieves and if you have played it and perhaps moved away then fire it up and see if the new changes and features can convince you to stay and play. For me, Cursed Sails is the best content yet for the game and everything does allow me to have more confidence in the future of Sea of Thieves.