Every so often a game comes out that breaks any potential score you give to it. A perfect score doesn’t cover everything because the game is so well realised that the marriage of story, execution, art direction etc come together in perfect harmony. The writers and designers understand the world so well and use it to delight and surprise you with additional content which feels excessive and lavish.

That game is Alan Wake 2, the last game that made me feel like this is Metal Gear Solid 3. I can’t give it any higher praise.

Bizarre character selection which gates the most popular characters with kids behind a ‘hard’ mode and sequesters the Yoshi and Nabbit to an ‘easy’ mode, effectively halving the roster of available characters for people who prefer either mode.

The Online mode feels half-baked yet also like borderline cheating, with good co-ordination you can essentially have infinite lives. This distraction of other players makes it very difficult to appreciate the course design.

Saying that it's Super Mario World bought into the modern day with all that entails. The Wonder effects add a good deal of variety and are much less gimmicky than anticipated. It also has a robust selection of difficult courses for those that like to go for 100% as I had.