To no one’s surprise, June was a hectic month in the world of video games. Even with its shrinking presence each year, E3 still delivered an unrelenting barrage of headlines and announcements as the industry fell upon the LA Convention Centre.Â
Both battling through the crammed halls from the slightly less sweaty, less rammed TSA Towers, we reported all the latest news while getting our grubby hands on a plethora of major upcoming releases. Take a trip to our E3 hub to see if there’s anything you missed!
June 2019 also saw a number of highly anticipated games finally launch – so much for the summer drought! This has started to become another great time for new releases, though the release lineup still typically omits the kind of heavy hitters saved for the eventual end-of-year AAA melee. Some highlights from June 2018 were the woefully underrated Onrush, divisive blood-sucking RPG, Vampyr, and Jurassic World Evolution, with Fortnite and Hollow Knight both making a splash on the Nintendo Switch.
Twelve months on and there were plenty of candidates that made our game of the month shortlist. After some heated deliberations, there could only be one winner…
Cadence of Hyrule took us completely by surprise for a number of reasons. With Nintendo being notoriously protective of its treasured characters and video game series, the announcement that it would be handing The Legend of Zelda to an indie developer was a complete bolt from the blue. It was completely justified, as Stefan states in his 9/10 review, praising its rhythm action gameplay and originality despite being based on such a long-running franchise. Even if you aren’t going to play Cadence of Hyrule, make sure you wrap your ears around its groovy soundtrack of remixes.
Each of our three runners up came very close to grabbing the top spot, as all of them scored a must-have 9/10. Unsurprisingly, Crash Team Racing: Nitro-Fueled was among this impressive trio of games, Activision having enjoyed a lot of success with its series of nostalgic remakes. My Friend Pedro and its off-the-wall bullet ballet also secured it place on the podium alongside Trover Saves the Universe – yes, it’s a four place podium, what of it? – another VR delight from the twisted, hilarious Squanch Games.
For more of our game reviews from June 2019, you can find them here:
- Judgment
- F1 2019
- Samurai Shodown
- Super Mario Maker 2
- Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night
- The Sinking City
- Harry Potter: Wizards UniteÂ
- Vacation Simulator
- Spider-Man: Far From Home VR Experience
- MotoGP 19
- Warhammer: Chaosbane
- Dark Future: Blood Red States
- Mini-Mech Mayhem
- Persona Q2: New Cinema Labyrinth
- Irony Curtain: From Matryoshka with Love
- War Tech Fighters
- We. The Revolution
- Leisure Suit Larry: Wet Dreams Don’t Dry
- Slay the Spire
- War Tech Fighters
Make sure you come back next month to see our top gaming picks for July.