ReCore

ReCore started out as a game I always thought the Xbox was missing from its repertoire. A solid, fun and engaging 3D platformer for the younger generation or those of us from the 80s and 90s with some hardcore nostalgia goggles for games like Super Mario 64, Banjo Kazooie and Ratchet & Clank. ReCore has all of the ingredients to line itself up against these much-loved classics and be the makings of a classic franchise in its own right. With super fun combat, easy-to-control platforming and even a laser robot dog, it has plenty going for it and my hopes were high going in.

I would never ask these questions of Super Mario 3D World, or a plethora of other titles. ReCore’s realistic art-style made me expect more from the world than what it was prepared to give, or even wanted to. The universe that the game built seemed half-realised; it was both too developed to allow my mind to forgive what didn’t make sense, but also under-explained so that what didn’t make sense was simply glaringly wrong.

Now for those of you that are platform junkies, ReCore manages to hold its own for maybe the first couple of hours. For me, the game very quickly became repetitive and tiring. The boss battles present similarly to platformers of old, with clear patterns and specific areas to target. They felt a bit few and far between from what the rest of the game gives. ReCore left me wanting for it to end and wanting something else to do. It lacks a greater variance in its gameplay that we’ve come to expect. The environments also didn’t really help this: Nothing but deserts and caverns for the majority of the time. I was begging for a change up, a big twist in the style and adventure that never came.