THE LAST GUARDIAN ****
Sie Japan Studio, PS4
With a tortured eight-year long development cycle, few games have had such an inauspicious, rocky road to release as The Last Guardian. Thankfully, Japanese developer Team Ico’s final product is a beautiful, deftly crafted and hauntingly memorable puzzle adventure game that brims with heart. Over the course of your journey through mysterious, decrepit ruins, your nameless player character and strange bird/dog Trico form a close, unforgettable relationship that will stick with you long after the closing credits have rolled. Despite some wonky control and technical issues, this is a very special, artistic game that deserves your attention.
LARA CROFT: GO ****
Square-Enix, Android, iOS
Square Enix is enjoying success re-imagining its big triple-A, marquee franchises and recreating them in a small-scale, mobile format. Lara Croft: GO is a continuation of this and turns the famous tomb raider action template into a charming, short and sweet strategic puzzler that really shines brightly on a small screen (though it’s great on big screens, too). There’s a slight over-reliance on trial and error gameplay, though it’s always fun working out how to best the next intricately designed puzzle or enemy. This is a very well-crafted puzzle experience with a wonderful, chilled soundtrack to boot.
words DYLAN CHAUNDY