Media Molecule's LittleBigPlanet series has always been a bit of an anomaly to me. Having played all three games on the PlayStation 3, I grew to really adore its colourful style, creative freedom and lovable mascot in Sackboy. However, I can't say I absolutely loved them. I found plenty of joy in tackling online levels from other players as opposed to mustering up the will to make my own fun, but that's exactly what drew me to the idea of Sackboy: A Big Adventure from developer Sumo Digital. With a focus on being a polished, vibrant platformer in exchange for its trademark sandbox style, there was potential here for a great adventure/platformer. I'm pleased to say it was the correct choice, because Sackboy: A Big Adventure might be one of the most delightful games of the year. Playing as the titular Sackboy, your job is to traverse a variety of levels facing off against numerous enemies in order to finally face the dreaded villain and jester, Vex. The story isn't really going to win awards for being the most original and innovative, but everything else around it - from the wonderful gameplay to the inventive, colourful worlds - really drives the game home and makes the entire experience worthwhile. Sadly, the core story isn't that engaging and it's made stranger by some iffy voice-acting at times. It made me wonder if they shared the same cast with Bugsnax. The story isn't really going to win awards for being the most original and innovative... Sackboy: A Big Adventure features a handful of themed overworlds consisting of jungles, oceans, and more that I won't spoil. Each overworld ends with a climactic boss battle before you're allowed to move onto the next world, occasionally sprinkled with mini-bosses, mini-games, and plenty of collectibles. You can't progress to the next world without first collecting the required amount of blue orbs, which are usually found in secret areas and locations in each level. This encourages exploration and using every tool at your disposal in order to find the orbs, which is fantastic for a platformer that you'll be tackling over and over again in order to improve your times and find every hidden secret it has to offer. Sackboy is gifted a number of tools and weapons to use depending on the level. The grappling hook is good for latching yourself onto far-to-reach ledges, while the boomerang destroys obstacles and damages enemies. The gameplay isn't vastly intricate, instead favouring simplicity to bring out the best of its fun factor. Some tools are actually quite inventive too, such as translucent creatures that you can carry to mark invisible platforms and ledges. The bosses and mini-bosses also test your knowledge of the game, forcing you to utilize everything you've learned thus far. They're not the most immediately challenging encounters you'll ever face in gaming - especially just coming off of Demon's Souls - but they're creatively designed, entertaining and require you to use your brain power in order to defeat them. One level - and a favourite for many, I'm sure - is the Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars-themed "Uptown Funk" which is designed to the beat of the song... Collect-a-thons is the name of the game in Sackboy: A Big Adventure. Apart from the blue orbs cleverly hidden in certain hidden areas of the levels, you can also collect regular orbs and bells that offer currency to use in purchasing new outfits for Sackboy. Some of them are hilarious, including (and my personal favourite) the Viking attire, which gives Sackboy a cartoonishly massive beard and wooden sword. While the outfits are meant to be original creations, with some nods to the likes of Elvis Presley, Little Red Riding Hood, and more, I wish they added some nostalgic PlayStation references. It would've been great to unlock more iconic PlayStation mascots and heroes for costumes (considering this was already present in LittleBigPlanet), but I digress. The amount of outfits and cool customizable options on offer here is enough to put a big smile on your face. Sackboy: A Big Adventure boasts some of the most weirdly endearing and delightfully entertaining levels I've played in a platformer yet. One level - and a favourite for many, I'm sure - is the Mark Ronson and Bruno Mars-themed "Uptown Funk" which is designed to the beat of the song, with platforms and even enemies bouncing joyfully to the beat. Another level also includes David Bowie's "Let's Dance", another terrifically inventive and head-bopping level. There are plenty of these creatively designed levels to encounter, and I won't spoil many of my other favourites to keep the surprise. You simply complete each level in order to progress to the next, but with the requirement to collect blue orbs and gain golden trophies, you'll certainly be playing a lot of these levels again, giving it plenty of replay value and extending its overall playtime greatly. While out and about in Sackboy's numerous worlds, you'll come across mini-games, some of which reward players with more currency to buy outfits. You'll also be able to tackle certain levels that require online co-op (which are also completely optional), but at the time of writing, it was near impossible to find potential allies online so it's hard to recommend these segments. Other than that, you're also given time trials, side objectives and more to prolong your stay in Sackboy: A Big Adventure - dare I say, making every penny worth it for the 15+ hours you'll be spending with it. Finally, a special mention needs to go out to the soundtrack of Sackboy: A Big Adventure. While some of it is original music, most of it consists of remixes or familiar tunes taken from big pop or rock songs, made to be more chipper and upbeat. You'll find yourself humming to songs covering Depeche Mode's "Just Can't Get Enough" or Kool & The Gang's "Jungle Boogie", which just adds to the whimsical and wonderous nature of the game. Each level, whether you're platforming through slightly challenging sections or fighting off a variety of clumsy creatures, is tailored to the beat of the song or perfectly reflects it. Finding these little musical Easter eggs is a blast, and kept me going throughout the entire game as I constantly looked forward to the next level and its bizarre musical choices. Sackboy: A Big Adventure is easily one of the most charming and delightful games of the year, and another knockout launch title for the PlayStation 5 - and that's saying something considering it has to compete with Astro's Playroom. The levels are all creatively designed and endearing, the customizable choices for Sackboy is reminiscent of LittleBigPlanet, and the music is top-notch. It won't be the most mindblowing platformer you'll play, but for what it's worth - and with the added benefit of the PS5's fast loading times and terrific DualSense features - Sackboy: A Big Adventure makes for a must-play adventure simply oozing with fun. *PS5 Review code provided by PlayStation

The Pokémon series of video games from GameFreak have had their ups and downs over the last decade, but generally the franchise has remain firm in their trademark gameplay style that is so beloved by many in the Nintendo community. Fans have been asking for potential remakes of the original Pokémon games in anticipation for the series' 25th anniversary next year - and thanks to a recent rumour, it looks like they may make good on that. The word on the street is Nintendo is gearing up to remake a couple of beloved Pokémon games scheduled to release next year. READ MORE: Resident Evil Revelations 3 Reportedly Leaked According to Twitter user KeliosFR, the webmaster of the French Pokémon site PokeKalos, Nintendo will release remakes of popular Pokémon games for their 25th anniversary next year, releasing in November 2021. The wide speculation is that the remakes will be of Diamond & Pearl, arguably some of the most beloved entries in the franchise to date. The translated tweet reads, "You're going to have your remake next November, stop complaining." While there's no way to actually verify KeliosFR's claim, the community regards the user as having accurate insider info, so it might be worth investing some points into this rumour. That said, still do take it with a tiny pinch of salt as it's only likely we'll hear more information about these supposed remakes sometime in 2021, if they are to be believed. Nintendo previously released Pokémon Sword & Shield last year, which mostly received positive reviews but was also judged for its repetitive game mechanics and failure to evolve the series. It's still a good game in its own right, though it seems like the glory days of the Pokémon video games have long since passed. GameFreak continue to try and innovate the series, but many are still weary if Nintendo will actually deliver upon a more unique, Breath of the Wild-esque 3D open world Pokémon game one day. For the time being, with the possibility of Diamond & Pearl being remade and releasing next year, we may just get our nostalgic itches scratched.

Recently, a massive security breach at Capcom leaked plenty of sensitive or confidential information about the company. However, a list has been making the rounds forecasting Capcom's upcoming projects, which may have some weight to it as IGN confirmed a few games in development from their sources. A few codenames were used for certain games, particularly for Resident Evil, with one of them being Resident Evil Outrage. Fans initially assumed this to be a sequel or remake of Resident Evil Outbreak, but an insider has come forward claiming that it's actually Resident Evil Revelations 3. READ MORE: Cyberpunk 2077 Might Offer Over 170 Hours of Gameplay According to Twitter user Dusk Golem, who previously leaked accurate information about Resident Evil Village, Outrage is simply a working title for what is actually Resident Evil Revelations 3, the third installment in the spin-off Revelations series in the Resident Evil franchise. This makes sense, especially if you believe that Resident Evil Village originally began development as a third Revelations game before morphing into the eight mainline entry. As with all leaks and rumours, we recommend taking this with a tiny grain of salt for now until we have official confirmation from Capcom, though it seems like we'll be waiting a while for this one. The Resident Evil Revelations series, consisting of two entries, is generally positively received by fans for its more survival horror-focused direction (in an era where the Resident Evil games were heavily leaning towards being gigantic action games). The first game focused on Jill Valentine aboard a BOW-infested ghost ship, while the second followed Claire Redfield. It's hard to speculate where the third game might take us, but some believe it will see the return of Jill, who has canonically been absent from the series since Resident Evil 5. While the Revelations games are considered canon, it makes us wonder how it might tie into the mainline games this time, and whether or not the leaked Resident Evil Apocalypse might be a working codename for Resident Evil 9. Resident Evil Village releases in 2021.

Cyberpunk 2077, the upcoming open world RPG from The Witcher developer CD Projekt Red, is bound to be crammed with an abundance of content. Their last game, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, featured a massive base game with dozens upon dozens of hours of activities, quests, hunts, and more. It was the ideal open world RPG, and best of all, it was mostly meaningful side content. Most fans are expecting them to deliver yet again for Cyberpunk 2077, which will also feature a rich and dense open world role-playing experience. However, it looks like we may have gotten our first taste at just how gargantuan it will actually be. READ MORE: Review: Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War CD Projekt Red QA head Lukasz Babiel recently took to Twitter to post a couple of pictures of his journey so far in Cyberpunk 2077, using the "how it started/how it's going" template. The images show him starting off with the Nomad backstory for V, and all his progress made in the game (so far). According to the playtime, it's over 175 hours - and he hasn't even completed the game. Babiel admitted that he's playing on a higher difficulty, and taking his time with the game, but even so, 175 hours for an RPG of this nature is truly something to behold. If we're to assume that Cyberpunk 2077 is that rich in content, we'll also be looking at playtimes upwards of those hours. How it started How it's going pic.twitter.com/b4JL6bIVBf— Łukasz Babiel (@pjpkowski) November 21, 2020 Cyberpunk 2077 face numerous delays this year, originally planned to launch all the way back in April 2020. However, due to the sudden surge of the global pandemic, the game was delayed to September, then November, before finally settling in December. CD Projekt Red had been developing the title for the good part of a decade too, having started development all the way back in 2012 before side-lining the project to focus on The Witcher 3 first. With around eight years from the time it was announced to release, it means that the Polish developer could've spent quite a bit of time fleshing out Cyberpunk 2077 and its world. There's a lot of potential awaiting us, so we'll just have to be patient for now. Cyberpunk 2077 releases on December 10th, 2020 for PS4, Xbox One and PC, with free upgrades to PS5 and Xbox Series X|S.