Top picks for kids and adults alike

If it’s an excellent multiplayer racing game you’re after, Forza Horizon 5 is the game for you.

The Horizon series has always been about offering a big, expansive open world for you and your friends to explore, and the setting of Mexico in Horizon 5 provides the chance to do just that. There are loads of different areas, ranging from the deserts and dunes in the west to a volcano in the north (with one of the best driving roads in a Horizon game to date) and a speeding highway that extends through the middle of the map – in total, it makes for 11 biomes that’ll never get boring to drive around.

We found the driving mechanics and feeling to be great, even if they are a little arcadey, but that’s no bad thing. The focus on the Horizon games has always been to make driving a joy as opposed to a full-on simulation like F1 2022 does, for instance. With that being said, the cars themselves do have their own characteristics – a Land Rover Defender feels big and bulky, bouncing around dirt roads with ease, while a Corvette Stingray will be able to rip down the highway and take corners with ease.

On Xbox Series X especially. Horizon 5 looks and feels excellent, with 4K output at 60fps possible in the game’s Performance mode. The lack of ray tracing in reflections is a bit of a sore miss, but the regular old ones do a more than fine job of recreating life-like imagery of lighting bouncing off of car panels. The vehicle modelling itself is also detailed for what is more of an arcade racer and speaks volumes about how far racing games have come in recreating their real-world counterparts in a decade or so compared to games of old.

Reviewer: Max Parker
Full review: Forza Horizon 5 review

Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe is one of those games that’s perfect for children and adults alike. While the gameplay is slower than other Nintendo mainstays like Super Mario Odyssey and Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, every level is packed full of personality. There are five worlds in total, each touting a specific theme, with enemies and objects matching the style of each backdrop.

Our reviewer played this game alone and with a friend, with the verdict being that adding more people into the mix makes this game even more fun. This game can be played with up to four people via local play, which does mean that you won’t be able to duel it out with any long-distance friends. Since you’re not competing within the game, it can feel like a mad rush to see who can discover the next collectable first. If more than one player picks Kirby, then you both get the benefit of copy abilities, which are abundant in this game.

Some of the copy abilities in this game include Sword, Leaf, Mecha and Beam, with the first of those allowing Kirby to battle enemies in an attire shockingly similar to Link. Our review noted that swiping through enemies felt remarkably satisfying and that it helped keep the entire game feeling fresh since you do unlock even more abilities along the way. There are also amped-up versions of these copies; slash through entire parts of the stage with a massive Sword or use the Ice copy and become a massive snowball that can barrel through the level with ease.

Despite it not being featured in the main campaign, Marry Margoland is another fantastic aspect of Return to Dream Land Deluxe. It reminded our reviewer of Mario Party and felt very similar to a real-life board game, making it the perfect pick to bring out whenever you have friends over.

Overall, if you’re looking for a retro side-scroller that you can enjoy with your friends or family, then we would definitely recommend Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe. So long as you’re aware that this game is limited to local play, there’s nothing stopping you and three friends from jumping right into some fantastic multiplayer fun.

Reviewer: Gemma Ryles
Full Review: Kirby’s Return to Dream Land Deluxe

Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga signalled a return to form for Lego games in general, and it’s become our particular favourite Lego game, as well as also being an excellent co-op title, too.

This comes especially thanks to the fact that characters who were previously relegated to being second-rate options for simply opening doors and the like have been revitalised into fight-ready stars. It helped to make such characters an awful lot more enjoyable to use, especially with the changes to combat to make it more complex and engaging, with simple button mashing now a thing of the past. With that being said, it’s worth noting that the game is still accessible to younger players, but if you’d like, there are now more ways than ever of passing a level.

The levels here proved excellent, with each jam-packed with secrets, collectables and Easter eggs. There’s also a marvellous selection of levels on offer, from the barren wastelands of Tatooine to the rich streets of Canto Bright, which are able to capture the most captivating and memorable moments in Star Wars history.

In addition, the Skywalker Saga also looks impressive, especially on newer hardware with massive levels of detail on the Lego figures themselves that previously wouldn’t have been available to see. For the non-Lego items, the background looks as cinematic and realistic as it would in actual Star Wars blockbusters.

Reviewer: Thomas Deehan
Full Review: Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga Review

The terms Halo and Microsoft have gone together hand in hand for the last two decades, and Halo Infinite arguably offers the best multiplayer shooter experience on offer today. 

There are loads of multiplayer-specific modes to get stuck into, including Arena and Team Battle, as well as the larger 24-player Big Team Battles that offer similar game modes to the smaller-scale ones such as Capture The Flag and Total Control, but provide the additional chaos of vehicles into the mix. Given the multiplayer is free to play and provides such a fun experience, it’s amazing to see how much you’re getting.

Halo Infinite also looks fantastic on both Series X and Series S, and even though we didn’t play it on the more powerful console of the pair, we were still impressed. Character models featured a great level of detail, while colours were punchy and made for a more vibrant and cartoonish art style compared to the gritty realism afforded by other shooters.

For multiplayer mode, there’s also the option of running the game at 120Hz for extra smooth output on the Series X, as long as you’ve got an HDMI 2.1 capable display. Generally speaking, the game feels wonderfully polished and looks that way too.

Reviewer: Ryan Jones
Full review: Halo Infinite review

Nintendo has arguably been the king of party games for several console generations, and that extends right across the genres, including sports games  – first, there was Wii Sports back in 2006, and 16 years later, we got Nintendo Switch Sports.

There is the option for online multiplayer, but arguably where Switch Sports excels the most is with local multiplayer, or when you’ve got two people battling each other in the wide variety of sports on offer – there are six in total. They all rely on motion controls, but each has its own distinct charm and flair to it. Volleyball may not be fast-paced as the likes of tennis or badminton, but offered an especially lifelike yet arcadey feel to it, while football would be more entertaining with more players than one. We particularly enjoyed Badminton, with its fast-paced and action-packed gameplay, which rounds off the new sports added.

Three sports also return in the form of Tennis, Bowling and Chambara (with Golf on the way also) and offer an experience familiar to those who played Wii Sports or Wii Sports Resort respectively. Tennis was especially fun, given the lifelike controls and convenience of building a rally against opponents, while Bowling is simple in theory but difficult in practice, which makes it such a great sport for Switch Sports, and Chambara offered impressive motion controls, although is quite a short-lived game, with some rounds only lasting a matter of seconds.

The graphics on offer reflect Switch Sports’ vibrant, bubbling world that comes complete with lively and punchy colours and the ability to create your own avatar, like with Miis on the older Wii games. There are plenty of fun options for different clothing and hairstyles, more of which unlock with progression, which offers a great incentive to keep playing.

Reviewer: Gemma Ryles
Full review: Nintendo Switch Sports.

MMOs (or massively multiplayer online) games emphasise the importance of a large world and player base to their successes, and Destiny 2, despite its criticisms early on, has emerged as a brilliant MMO title.

While the start of the game might be single-player, the main action happens in Destiny 2 when it opens up into a multiplayer title, offering an expansive open world filled with new equipment and intense matches in a variety of settings. All of these ounces of progression build up to taking on the Emperor of the Cabal in a six-person Raid, in which you can put all of the knowledge and skill you’ve acquired to good use with five other friends. 

As well as this, there’s also a mixture of other PvP and PvE modes that bring with them rebalanced teams with an emphasis on smaller teams and changes to weapon load-outs to reduce the likelihood of cheesed one-hit kills as it were. It makes for an intriguing experience, as does the fact that you don’t need the DLC to play on additional maps, which is a much-welcome change to shooters of old when map packs were a very large component of DLC.

With Bungie behind it, it’s perhaps little surprise that Destiny 2 also brings with it some of the best gunplay available in a shooter today. Each weapon class feels distinctive and viable to use in the heat of battle and we’d argue it’s never been as fun to shoot things, given how engaging it is with weapons that feel this good.

Reviewer: Ian Stokes
Full review: Destiny 2

Splatoon 3 is one of the best multiplayer games out there and has a great learning curve that makes it accessible to a younger audience. The story mode is made up of bite-sized levels that get players used to new mechanics as they are introduced. While it is a single-player campaign, the levels only last a few minutes and may be the best way to introduce younger siblings to the various attacks and weapons they can utilise in the multiplayer modes.

Turf War multiplayer is the main focus of Splatoon 3. Two teams of four need to cover the map in as much ink as possible within the time limit; while it may be a simple concept, we found there to be an impressive amount of tactical depth involved with the choice between covering the map with ink as possible or going after your foes to stop them from doing the same.

Nintendo added two new techniques: Squid Surge and Squid Roll. These both help to improve the experience of swimming in the pools of ink you create, with our reviewer noting how satisfying it felt to speed across the battlefield before popping up out of the floor to surprise an opponent.

We also loved how many weapons there are on offer, with each requiring different levels of skills and tactics to fully master. Levelling up gives you access to more advanced weapons, giving players even more incentive to keep coming back and to perform even better in each match they play.

Splatoon 3 is also one of the most colourful and vibrant games you can find on the Nintendo Switch. We played this game on the Switch OLED and found the attention to detail to be very impressive, with puddles of ink reacting to your footprints and reflecting the sunlight in its glossy surface. This makes it a fantastic game for both younger and older players as there is something for everyone to enjoy.

If you’re looking for a multiplayer game that has a little more challenge, Forza Horizon 5 or Destiny 2 may be better suited for you. However, if you want to involve any youngsters in your life, Splatoon 3 is a fantastic place to start due to its childlike and colourful art style, not to mention its forgiving gameplay.

Reviewer: Ryan Jones
Full Review: Splatoon 3 Review