A decent cooperative experience with friends with ok combat, varied locations and semi-randomised discovery, that unfortunately feels strangely uninspired and confused in focus.

Too much emphasis is placed a derivative story that undercuts what mystery or wonder the visuals achieve at every turn. Combat tends to prioritise narrow dungeon-like pathways, meaning most fights are shooting galleries at closer ranges, leading to quite a lot of repetition, and boss battles sometimes don't accommodate the tight player perspective and limited character movement abilities.

These issues were likely present in the first game, but have become much more noticeable without its novelty. For that reason I'd sooner recommend the first.

Pikmin 4 is an extremely charming collect-a-thon, that requires a mix of quick and forward thinking to master its form of "dandori" time management. Much of the game is built around navigation puzzles that have you choose how to allocate your resources, including time (an expedition timer) and labour (your delightful pikmin friends and doggy comrade). There are many thoughtful challenges to overcome that are stitched together via a rescue story, featuring many encounters with cute and funny characters.

Major challenges largely come in the form of frequently chaotic combat sequences, that require specific use of pikmin. I feel too much of the game hinges around your success and failure during these encounters, and I'd have liked more surprise and danger throughout the general exploration and management experience. The game largely places emphasis on filling progress meters, and once you find a predictable beat forwards the experience can feel like busy work.

This critique is a largely a matter of taste as Pikmin 4's structure allows players a degree of pace-setting, so that they may more leisurely chip away at the game.

Company of Heroes 3 is an ambitious and enjoyable step forwards that doesn't entirely click together. The series' aggressive tactical action is refined and enjoyable, and tactical pause is a welcome addition for players with slower reflexes. Missions don't quite hit the highs of previous titles, though there are many more to play through in the form of special scenarios and generated skirmishes.

The new strategic game mode is especially interesting in how it frames the action and adds a layer of choice, but is unfortunately overcomplicated for what it is, without significant challenge or pressure compared to other 'paint the map' types of games. I'm yet to play multiplayer, but I've enjoyed my time with Company of Heroes 3 as a solo experience, and can recommend it as a casual world war two themed RTS.