The superpowers have been scrapped and the sex toys have been safely stowed back in the sock drawer – the new Saints Row has shed its shark-jumping silliness and smutty tendencies in favour of a return to its open-world gangland roots. However, this back-to-basics approach has borne out a fairly primitive kind of crime spree, and stripping the series of its more outlandish elements has laid this reboot’s design and technical inadequacies bare – with no pixelated modesty censor big enough to hide its junk...

After laying pretty much dormant for 25 years, Soul Hackers is an unexpected series for Atlus to try and bring into the modern age. While it doesn’t take any risks or bring anything new to the JRPG table, Soul Hackers 2 is enjoyable enough to justify that long-awaited revival. It may be held back a bit by its uninspired level design and turn-based battle mechanics, but the story still shines bright enough to help carry it thanks to a diverse cast of characters and engaging themes about what it means to be human.

Soul Hackers 2 may technically be a sequel, but it smartly serves more as a soft reboot, benefitting players who are hopping into the franchise for the first time...

I wouldn’t expect roller skating and third-person shooting to be a chocolate and peanut butter situation, but Rollerdrome proves it can be just that. By essentially inventing a new single-player sport, OlliOlli World developer Roll7 has found enough ways to make both sides of this unique coin shine without getting overwhelming. Wrap that package in an intriguing world with more going on beyond the sport than you might expect, and I’ve found myself lost in match after match of skate-shooting mayhem.

The year is 2030, and you’re entering the Rollerdrome as a new skater, Kara Hassan...

Volition has always been known for pushing technology, with its game Decent even beating the revolutionary Quake to a full 3D engine. In this Saints Row reboot, technology has remained a core pillar to build on. Using an improved proprietary engine, Volition has added the big-ticket item for this generation: ray tracing – or ray traced ambient occlusion to be precise, but more on that later. The current generation console versions offer I think the largest mode set I have seen in a console game to date. We are looking at the PS5, Xbox Series X and S, and PC, as well as the Xbox One X to give you a flavor of what the last gen versions offer.

Modes of Play

All platforms offer a fixed set of resolution outputs, with no drops below the output levels noted...

At the time I started planning this project, there were a few different pinball emulators to choose from. Future Pinball, Virtual Pinball 9 and Virtual Pinball 10. These are different public / open source (not sure) pinball emulators / creators. They can be used to create you’re own tables or play tables / recreations created by other users. You can find plenty of resources here to get you started building your own virtual pinball cabinet : https://www.vpforums.org/