Godzilla
PS3, PS4
There are few things as satisfying as blowing stuff up in video games, which is why playing as Godzilla, Japan’s favourite city-razing monster, is instantly appealing. Lumbering about, laying waste to office blocks and swatting helicopters should be about as much fun as it’s possible to have. Unfortunately, Godzilla the game is a work of staggering incompetence that turns even the straightforward process of controlling your huge monster into a joy-sapping toil. Staggering at a glacial pace between stultifying encounters with large buildings and power plants, you’re constantly assailed by tanks, helicopters and bombers, none of which do enough damage to make them a real concern. More of a threat are fellow giant monsters, with fan favourites such as Mothra and Mechagodzilla putting in appearances. But these battles are also hampered by poor controls and texture-free graphics. Its poor translation, phoned-in voice acting and low-budget looks may be true to the franchise, but don’t make for an involving game. Releases this appalling were once commonplace, but these days it’s rare to find anything quite so brazen.
Bandai Namco, £29.99-£44.99
Trials Fusion: Awesome Level Max
PS4, Xbox One, PC
Trials Fusion started life as a game about driving motocross bikes, but the series has become progressively more surreal, its obstacles changing from barrels and beams to exploding chemical factories and spaceships engaged in dogfights. The apotheosis of this shift is this new downloadable content, which comes with a new ride that isn’t a bike at all, but a fire-breathing unicorn ridden by a cat brandishing a handgun. Its eight new tracks are equally mind-bending, toying with low gravity and employing shifts in perspective as walls tilt to become floors. There’s even time travel, warping you between medieval, industrial and future sections of the same track, before the game beams you into orbit. In this context it’s hard to treat anything as “realism” but the physics are at least consistent, with real skill and practice required to see you through the more circuitous courses. It’s hard to know where the series will go next though, now that cranking up the weirdness is no longer an option.
Ubisoft, £3.99, season pass £15.99
Door Kickers
iOS & PC
Door Kickers is a game about rescuing hostages. Viewed from an overhead perspective, you control one or more teams of gun-toting policemen, drag routes for them to follow, break down doors or lob stun grenades in your mission to kill the bad guys. It demands a contrarian mix of caution and aggression and, although you can play entirely in real time, in practice it’s easiest to pause the action to issue commands to your team, getting them to breach doors simultaneously or toss in a flare in time for another group to open fire. The action happens very quickly, and anyone caught in the open when the shooting starts is likely to be mown down, forcing you to complete levels using just the survivors or restart to look for a safer approach. Campaign mode gives you a series of levels with the twist that anyone who gets shot stays dead for ever, giving your decisions a nerve-racking sense of permanence. Tense, interesting and tactical, Door Kickers is heaven for armchair Swat team leaders.
Killhouse Games, £3.99-£15
