Reviews of OlliOlli World went live a whole five days ahead of launch, showing great confidence from publisher Private Division. If it wasn’t for the PC release of God of War, the skateboarding action-platformer would be the highest rated release of the year so far, with the Switch version boasting an 89% Metacritic.
“Tight and challenging gameplay, a high skill ceiling, dozens of hours of content, and a remarkably stylish sense of presentation combine to make this a release you absolutely don’t want to miss,†said Nintendo Life.
Of course, the early reviews have may have been down to the slew of games due this week. On PS4, PS5 and PC there’s the Unreal 4 powered Sifu – an anticipated hand-to-hand brawler from the creators of Absolver. A former EDGE cover star, reviews went live yesterday (Sunday!) and were mostly a mixture of 8s and 9s. A few below-average scores did emerge, however – some critics found it rather unsatisfying.
The Xbox isn’t without a major new release. CrossfireX looks set to trample over the disastrous Battlefield 2042 with a cinematic campaign developed by Remedy. For those unaware, this series has been around for a while – the 2007 original was huge in Asia, even spawning a film adaptation.
France-developed RPG Edge Of Eternity comes to consoles too, launching on Xbox Game Pass. The PC version arrived to a positive reception, with scores averaging 7/10. It takes its inspiration from Japanese role-playing games, resembling a later Final Fantasy.
Ziggurat 2 is another belated PC conversion imminent on Xbox One, being a roguelite FPS with a slight whiff of Hexen. We once lost a weekend to the original.
Continuing this theme, two Switch games make the jump to PS4 and Xbox One – both of which we’ve reviewed. Unbound: Worlds Apart is a 2D platformer centred around magical portals, earning itself an 8/10. Spirit Roots, meanwhile, is a tricky action platformer with similarities to Rayman.
Then there’s PowerSlave: Exhumed, which retro gamers may recall. Exhumed was one of the first truly excellent third-party SEGA Saturn games; the kind that made PSone owners jealous…until their iteration duly arrived. This remaster nabs content from both the Saturn and PSone versions, while cleverly fusing their names together – US gamers will know it as PowerSlave.
Other releases for this week include Atari’s Breakout: Recharged, a surprise release of Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath HD on PS4 and Xbox One, and the Xbox One’s promising physics-based building game Besiege Console. As a Game Preview release, they’ll likely be a trial version available.
Switch owners can become lost in Kingdom Hearts this week too, with several games in the series arriving as cloud versions. While it’s great to see the series on Switch, Square-Enix has come under fire for pricing, demanding top whack. Now that’s taking the mickey.
New release trailers
OlliOlli World
Sifu
CrossfireX
Besiege Console
Ziggurat 2
Breakout: Recharged
PowerSlave Exhumed
Edge Of Eternity
Rise of the Third Power
El Gancho
Unbound: Worlds Apart
Skautfold: Shrouded in Sanity
New multiformat releases
- OlliOlli World
- Breakout: Recharged
- PowerSlave: Exhumed
- Edge Of Eternity
- Rise of the Third Power
- Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath HD
- Far Cry 6 – Joseph: Collapse
- El Gancho
- Spirit Roots
- Unbound: Worlds Apart
- Ammo Pigs: Cocked and Loaded
- Skautfold: Shrouded in Sanity
New on PSN
- Sifu
- Brutal Rage
- Zombie Hill Racing
- Sword of Elpisia
- Blackberry Honey
- In My Shadow
New on Xbox Store
- CrossfireX
- The Life and Suffering of Sir Brante
- Ziggurat 2
- KungFu Kickball
- NAPE RETROVERSE COLLECTION
- Besiege Console (Game Preview)
New Switch retail releases
eShop round-up coming Thursday
- Grand Theft Auto: The Trilogy – The Definitive Edition
- Summer In Mara Collector’s Edition
- Death end re;Quest 2 Calendar Edition
- SPACE INVADERS FOREVER Special Edition
Next week: Horizon Forbidden West, Dynasty Warriors 9 Empires, The King of Fighters XV, Rumbleverse, Assassins Creed Ezio Collection (Switch), Voice of Cards: The Forsaken Maiden, Super Toy Cars Offroad, From Heaven To Earth, Heart of the Woods, and Infernax.