Princess Peach: Showtime! (Nintendo Switch, £49.99)
Verdict: Just peachy
Not only did Princess Peach always have to suffer the indignity of being kidnapped by a massive cartoon dinosaur. She also had to wait to be rescued by a stocky, mustachioed plumber named Mario. Game after game after game.
But not anymore ! For the first time since 2005’s Princess Peach Superstar — and even that one made her a little sad — Peach truly feels like the hero of her own game. A plucky, case-solving figure skating hero. That’s wonderful.
Princess Peach: Showtime! starts by taking him to the theater. Various productions are staged by seductive creatures known as Theets, but a villainess called Madame Grape soon bursts in and floods the stages with her servants. It’s up to our princess – you – to save the day.
The core gameplay is pretty basic. Show time! has clearly been designed for the whole family. There is a button to bounce Peach; one to make her use a special move, which varies depending on the different theatrical costume changes she undergoes.
Princess Peach is back at the forefront of her own game, Princess Peach: Showtime!
In this game, Peach really feels like a figure skating hero who solves cases and solves cases.
The gameplay is quite basic and has clearly been designed for the whole family
In one level, she’s a sneaky ninja, striking from the shadows…
In another, she is a superhero, using her great strength
Each level – sorry, production – is colorful, crazy and different from the last and most have a nice twist.
In one level, she’s a sneaky ninja, striking from the shadows. In another, she is a superhero, using her great strength. And so on.
It’s a wonderful excuse for Nintendo to exercise its prodigious imagination. Each level – sorry, production – is colorful, crazy and different from the last. Most have a nice touch – beyond special moves – to break up the game, like a section where you have to think fast to make…a cake decoration on the spot.
And yet, all of this is coherent: a great spectacle made up of a hundred different ideas and inventions. Buy a ticket immediately. The princess has become a star.
Dragon’s Dogma 2 (PlayStation, Xbox, PC, £59.99)
Verdict: Good times with pawns
It’s been about a decade since I last played the original Dragon’s Dogma, so I barely remember its twisty story. I know that you were a sort of chosen one, called “the One Arrived”. There was, of course, a dragon. You had to overcome it – or perhaps yourself – to unravel the cyclical nature of something or other.
So I felt at a bit of a disadvantage going into Dragon’s Dogma 2. This one doesn’t exactly require in-depth knowledge of its predecessor, though I think those with in-depth knowledge will get more out of its multi-layered, multiversal expansion of the first game traditions.
Fortunately, however, the gameplay itself is very satisfying for newcomers, not least because it is quite innovative.
I felt at a bit of a disadvantage going into Dragon’s Dogma 2, but this one doesn’t really require in-depth knowledge of its predecessor.
The gameplay itself is very satisfying for newcomers, especially because it is quite innovative.
On the one hand, you go on an adventure with an archer who looks like Daenerys Targaryen from Game Of Thrones.
The game’s cutscenes and dialogue can be a bit grating
Your Survenee, you see, is not alone. They can summon a crew of three revered “pawns” (this fantasy realm clearly has questionable power dynamics) to follow them on their quest. These secondary characters are mostly the creations of other players like you, which makes the whole system quite sociable.
Today I’m going on an adventure with an archer who looks like Daenerys Targaryen from Game Of Thrones. Tomorrow, with a thief designed by a guy from Missouri.
The world you travel through – together – is full of delightful and unforeseen incidents. One of these pawns will deliver the killing blow to a massive cyclops and lightly tap your Arisen’s hand in celebration. Some monsters will burst into a village and start destroying the place.
Which is just as well, because the game’s most planned moments – its cutscenes and dialogue – can be a little grating. Dragon’s Dogma 2 has more in common with the fun charm of, say, Skyrim than it does with the scripted perfection of Baldur’s Gate III.
And, much like Skyrim, it moved me, despite – or perhaps, in truth, because of – its rough edges. I will return to the world of Dragon’s Dogma 2 as soon as I finish these sentences, to find out the truth about something or other.