Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Blackberry and Wild Rose
If you can imagine a cross between Star Wars and Guitar Hero, then you’re almost there.
Beat Saber is an electronic dance game where you play tunes with the PS Move controllers – kind of like a Jedi one-man band.
By using lightsabers in each hand, your aim is to slice and smash musical notes while moving through the song and ducking and diving to keep up with the beat.
The tempo and difficulty can vary greatly depending on what track is playing – but there is an easy option for young children. Controllers are simple and the game looks fantastic in VR. Just don’t expect a campaign mode or any recognisable musical hits.
Despite this, Beat Saber turned out to be the favourite game in our household over Christmas and New Year, and costs just £24.99.
It is simply a must-buy for VR fans.
DAVID RAVEN
APP
The first female host of the flagship Radio 2 show takes the helm this week, following in the prestigious footsteps of Chris Evans and Terry Wogan.
Zoe is promising a mix of celebrity guests, quizzes and music, supported by Richie Anderson on travel and Mike Williams on sport. Sonia Velton
Quercus. Out now
Newly arrived in the London of 1786, teenager Sara is snatched off the street and forced into prostitution.
To escape she turns to Esther, the unhappy and frustrated wife of a silk weaver, and begs for a job as a maid.
But among the seamy alleys of Spitalfields, trouble is brewing – and the women, each entangled with weavers, are caught up in a rebellion.
With a richly detailed evocation of the era, including the shockingly grim life of the poor and the repression of women, this assured and multilayered historical novel weaves its own magical spell. In a future ravaged by climate change, young people are conscripted to defend an island nation – protected by sea defences known as The Wall. Following Kavanagh, a new recruit, through disaster and conflict, this bleak story has a brutal brilliance. Fifteen years after their daughter was snatched, a London family have never given up hope. On the other side of the world Anna, 18 – alone with her religious fanatic mum – becomes troubled by surfacing memories. As convincing as it is gripping, a fabulous debut thriller.