Nintendo Classic Mini NES

Nintendo, cert: NA
★★★

Retro has reigned supreme lately, and Nintendo’s new microconsole – packing in 30 games from the Nintendo Entertainment System’s glory days – only adds to the momentum.

The tiny machine contains perfect ports of classic games such as The Legend of Zelda, Bubble Bobble, Excitebike, and Super Mario Bros 3, all faultless recreations of their original cartridge releases. Yet without a single pixel having been altered, there are some improvements to be found here: HDMI-out is supported, giving these games a crystal-clear picture for the first time, and the hardware allows you to save progress on all titles.

Sadly, some design oversights slightly taint the rosy nostalgic glow. There’s no way to switch games once you’ve launched one, short of physically resetting the console, while controller cables are punishingly short – a mere 77cm (31in). There’s no adding titles either – the included games are it. Still, at £49.99 it’s great value for money, and these titles have never looked better. MK

Robinson: The Journey

PS4 (PSVR only), Crytek/Sony Interactive, cert: 7
★★★

There’s not a prettier game yet released for the fledgling PlayStation VR than Robinson: The Journey, which sees our youthful human protagonist, Robin, abandoned on a distant planet. But he isn’t entirely alone. It turns out his new home is alive with dinosaurs, including a hatchling tyrannosaur that becomes a willing accomplice in gameplay, which focuses on solving environmental puzzles while exploring from a first-person perspective.

Robinson gets a lot right. Visual polish and considered level design make for a world that is utterly absorbing. The storytelling, meanwhile, is delivered intelligently through the setting itself. But the puzzles are often ambiguous, and rarely excite. There are also a few moments where motion sickness can rear its head, and although that will vary for player to player, the lack of Move control support is sorely disappointing. As a world to visit, then, Robinson looks fantastic, brims with wonder and detail but as a place to interact, it is a slightly shallower affair. WF

Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare

PC/PS4/Xbox One, Activision, cert: 18
★★★

The 22nd instalment of the hugely successful Call of Duty sees the franchise reach an awkward stage. Those who love the series are in for the long haul, but everyone else is left with an intimidating mass of content to pick apart. Infinite Warfare attempts to speak to both audiences, and manages to be pretty entertaining in the process.

It’s still a first-person shooter in which you face off against waves of enemies across visually impressive, though resolutely linear levels. But here it is set in the distant future, occasionally throwing players into glittering space-based dogfights or offering command of a colossal starship.

There’s a lot of fun to be had, though not quite enough to consider it a meaningful break from the well-worn series conventions. Fans will adore it, and for anyone else there are enough new ideas to make it worth a shot. SR