Pokémon Sun and Moon

3DS, Nintendo, cert: 7, out now
★★★★★
This year marks Pokémon’s 20th anniversary, and this latest pair of games is a truly fitting celebration for old hands. While retaining the familiar formula of the perennially popular series, small changes create huge evolutions. Gone is the rote progression through eight gyms, battling through the Elite Four, and a final clash against your rival. In its place is a story where surprisingly complex characters weave in and out, and your journey across the Alolan Islands is marked by completing challenges that go beyond “defeat enemies”. There’s a much-needed depth that earlier games lacked.

Multiplayer improves too, with four-way Battle Royals joining solo and paired battles, while engaging mini-games – Pokémon Refresh, helping you raise your critters’ affection, and Poké Pelago, in which there are islands to develop like a micro-scale Animal Crossing – add new ways to play. Additionally, new Alolan forms of first-generation Pokémon provide a nostalgic kick for longtime players, joining a host of completely new creatures to catch. The Pokémon series is ageing like a fine wine; two decades in, and these are its greatest games yet. MK

PlayStation 4 Pro

Sony, cert: N/A, out now
Concern that your not-so-old, standard model PS4 is already redundant should be set aside with the release of the PlayStation 4 Pro since, at its heart, the new console remains a PS4. The Pro does, though, pack a good deal more power than a standard PS4, sporting 2.1GHz of central processing power and graphics processing that runs at 4.2 teraflops.

The result is a machine optimised for 4K and HDR screens, as well as PlayStation VR. The idea is the bolstered power makes games thunder along with finesse on new display technologies that depart from the convention of 1080p HD resolution. It’s down to individual studios to decide how to harness the Pro’s power, so the difference the system makes varies from game to game. However, the new model does deliver a slightly more fluid VR experience, and there is a notable boon to the visual polish and movement of many non-VR games.

Yet without upgrading to the new visual technology, Sony’s latest isn’t essential, but rather a powerful luxury item with great potential. WF

Mekazoo

PC, Mac, PS4, Xbox One, The Good Mood Creators, cert: 7, out now
★★★★
The 2D platformer presents game designers with a testing space in which to innovate. Since Donkey Kong in 1981 there have been enough entries in the genre to make finding a new, distinctive edge increasingly difficult. Indeed, many who try to do so lose sight of the fundamentals and the fun.

Not so Mekazoo, a platformer that keeps things simple. Instead of trying to reinvent the form, the team has focused on getting the genre right, with considered level design and a careful drip-feed of new ideas throughout the game. Focusing on the journey of a band of mechanical animals, Mekazoo has the player leap back and forth between creatures to employ distinct abilities and overcome puzzles. It’s a mechanic that sometimes feels used for its own sake, but when implemented well it adds a good dose of depth.

There is little in the way of innovation here, but Mekazoo succeeds, as Kong did, with a captivating, spirited and unashamedly fun example of its genre. WF