Gran Turismo 7
25 years after the series’ debut, GT7 takes its place on the new console generation’s starting grid – and everyone is welcome behind the wheel
Gran Turismo’s subtitle as ‘the real driving simulator’ can have a tendency to come off as a bit snobbish… but GT7 does a top job of introducing you to the finer points of driving, whether you’re a petrolhead or a racing noob.
‘Licence tests’ are effectively tutorials, as you figure out how to make use of kerbs or approach a tricky hairpin turn; but they also become rewarding challenges to repeat as you go for gold, with a comprehensive suite of assists that can be tweaked to suit your burgeoning driving skills. While hardcore sim-racers will no doubt want to use steering wheel and pedal controllers, the Dualsense pad’s haptics and adaptive triggers do a pretty great job of simulating the terrain and the pressure of pedals.
The main campaign sees you collecting a whole variety of cars by completing assorted racing challenges – and while increasing your car’s Performance Points (PP) to stay competitive feels simplistic, serious players are still welcome to dig into the more detailed settings to fine-tune every aspect of their ride.
Whether it’s a Mini Cooper or a Corvette Stingray, each of the 400+ cars in this game has been given the same level of love and attention – and we don’t just mean the detailed description each one is given once it’s in your collection. GT7 is the first racer to make use of ray-tracing, albeit only in replays, but it’ll make you want to watch every one.
The series still feels like it’s playing catch-up in some areas, with the total number of cars and track variations not nearly up there with its rivals, and dynamic weather only used on some circuits.
But that’s just a question of quantity – the quality here is impeccable, and another example of Sony revving us into the new generation. Gran Turismo 7 is an undeniable showcase for every facet of the PS5, roaring ahead of the field as the best sim racer for this generation.
Alan Wen
Everyone would like to be good at skateboarding in real life, but getting there usually means enduring multiple trips to A&E. Fortunately, games can give you the thrill of varial heelflipping down a flight of stairs without worrying about the fractured wrist waiting at the bottom.
Oh, how we wish we could skate in Olliolli World’s side-scrolling Radlandia. From the sunbathing ice creams of Sunshine Valley to the dinosaur skeletons that double as grind rails in the vast canyons of Burntrock, each of the five 2.5D areas is gorgeous to look at and a joy to explore – not to mention the superb soundtrack: an assortment of laid-back, toe-tapping and always on-vibe electronic and hip-hop beats.
But don’t let the cartoonish visuals fool you. While this is undoubtedly the friendliest Olliolli title yet, it’s every bit as hardcore as you want it to be, and one of the most moreish skateboarding games we’ve ever played. If anything, its tendency to keep you on your board allows you to appreciate the superb animation and innovative stick-and-trigger control system even more – it just feels incredibly good to play.
You’re still going to crash and bail a lot in this game but almost entirely due to obstacle collisions, lack of speed and bad timing, rather than how you land tricks. And when retrying is so much fun anyway, it won’t bother you much to see your beanie-wearing daredevil meet his unfortunate demise yet again.
As you progress through the story campaign you’ll occasionally be taking on side-quests from characters you meet along the way, but Olliolli World is as much about environmental mastery as it is tricks and scores, with each level a puzzle of traversal and timing.
This is that rarest of things: a game that is never less than extremely enjoyable to play, even when you’re failing at it, and one you can’t stop thinking about playing when you’re not.
Matt Tate
Some (very patient) people will consider Sifu the best game they play all year. Others will find it a maddeningly punishing endurance test that seemingly wants them to fail. We’re somewhere in the middle.
This is a tale of revenge where most of the talking is done with fists. You play as a kung-fu student on a mission to take down the five martial arts masters responsible for the murder of his or her family. Your search takes you from the suburbs of a fictional city in China to an out-of-hours museum and an opulent corporate HQ, with a boss calmly awaiting at the end of each level.
At its best, Sifu can be incredibly satisfying both to play and to look at. This is a hardcore beat-’em-up with a lot of systems at play and combos to attempt to memorise, but once you have a basic grasp you’ll already be able to participate in cinematic scraps as thrilling as anything in Oldboy. The painterly visuals are truly stunning – and for a small indie studio (Sloclap) with only one other game to its name, it’s impossible not to be impressed by the super-slick animation. But Sifu can also seem bent on derailing you as soon as you begin to enjoy yourself. The game is built around a system that sees you get older each time you’re downed; initially one death equals one year gained, but this racks up with consecutive beatings, meaning once you’re facing a tough boss (and nearly all of them are tough) you can quickly age six or seven years at a time. So the five levels require multiple playthroughs to ensure you’re getting through the game at a young enough age to reach the end – but as the layout and enemy placement remain the same, it can get repetitive.
If you’re willing to put in the hours to master both its controls and its complicated ruleset, there’s a highly rewarding game to be found here – and there’s nothing wrong with a challenge. But Sifu’s confusing take on progression is likely to put a lot of players off long before they’ve run the epic gamut of vengeance.
Matt Tate