After a fairly lengthy pause I've returned to Mass Effect 2. I was really up for playing this straight after I'd finished the original campaign, but I'm finding it hard to care about what's going on. I've just been reunited with Joker, so I'm hopeful that things will start to pick up with the story and I'll get sucked back in. My plan was to work through this and the third game before next-gen consoles arrive, but no doubt I'll get distracted by a certain game being released on September 17.
My entire thoughts on Beyond: Two Souls cannot be revealed until this coming Tuesday, but I can say it's more Fahrenheit than Heavy Rain which did surprise me a little. I'm a big fan of David Cage's work - despite how insane most of his ideas can go - but they do, I believe, offer something different, even if many see them as glorified point and click adventures (which there's nothing wrong with by the way).
Beyond is certainly his most ambitious work, and what's been achieved here with the visuals is ridiculous for a current-generation console. It makes you wonder how far developers will push the Xbox One and PS4. With all that said, though, Beyond is definitely one of those games where it's near impossible to come to a solid opinion until you see the end credits rolling.
I have no bloody idea why SEGA still hasn't quite got it, but Rayman is exactly what Sonic should be. Legends' combination of speed, rhythm, attitude and sound is precisely what SEGA's mascot should be aspiring to replicate, rather than continue down the prickly path of awkward 2D/3D hybrids.
With that said, I'm still not convinced that Legends is as good as Origins, and two hours in it still hasn't sunk its hooks in as deep as I'd been hoping for. It's fantastically good fun, but I fear that it's lost an element of character in its level and enemy design, and I'm yet to experience a world that leaves me as cheery-eyed as Gourmand Land and Sea of Serendipity. Time will tell, of course, but though Legends may be the perfect Sonic, I'm not sure it's the perfect sequel.
The latest build of FIFA is in the office, and has already been the cause of more swearing than every stubbed toe and missed train in history combined.
It's the usual FIFA fare: accomplished, occasionally satisfying, bastard hard, and pretty much nothing like real football at times. We'll have the full review very soon, but EA has work to do on its hands to make this the gold standard of football games it wants it to be.
For now, though, the potential is there to see.