

The learning curve can be pretty brutal at first, but there's an optional Easy Mode, and you can even skip levels that are proving to be too much of a challenge without penalty. As you progress, you'll gain new abilities in the process. Starting with just a few abilities in your arsenal, you swipe to move and attack with one hand and tap with the other to launch bombs. In classic arcade-shooter fashion, you pilot a ship and blast your way through-you guessed it-a gauntlet of bullet hells. This newer version keeps most of what made the original game so valuable and adds a much-needed Endless Mode so that seasoned players can push the limits of the leaderboards. You know them, you love them, and now the beloved Bullet Hell Monday has spawned a worthy successor, Bullet Hell Monday Finale. Turn to page two for the rest of our best games of 2020.Bullet hells. It's a wholly unique idea and an IP that I'd love to see more from over the next few years. Bugsnax isn't too long, nor does it overstay its welcome, with 150 bugsnax to catch in total (I wonder where they got that number from) and seven unique biomes to explore. As you progress through the story and start returning the Grumpuses back to Snaxburg however, darker undertones start to arise in the story, culminating in a terrific ending that M. The characters are all lovable (except Cromdo, damn guy) and the island has a lovely charm and allure to it. Why should you play it? On the surface, Bugsnax looks like a cute kids game with a happy, bouncy theme song and loads of adorable food-creature hybrids to catch. What is it? A Pokemon Snap-inspired adventure with animals made entirely of food, and rather than just taking photos, you need to catch them with ingenious methods and help return the residents to the village. Wherever Crash spins off to next, his future is safe. The rich, vibrant environments of Rayman Legends, the kinetic energy of Ori, and the hard-as-nails-but-never-unfair difficulty of Shovel Knight all combine to create a game that simultaneously pays homage to the past while confidently forging forward on its own path. On top of the Crash formula’s already-solid foundations are lessons learned from some of the best platformers in the past decade.

Each level – complete with mask power-ups that can affect gravity, slow time, add a spin dash, and phase reality – sees its every step burst with creativity and serious challenge. It’s About Time takes Crash, Coco (and a sprinkling of friends and foes past and present) through several luscious alternate dimensions and time periods. It went one better – and arguably surpassed them. Why should you play it? Developers Toys for Bob could have just replicated the orange marsupial’s greatest adventures and called it a day. What is it? The long overdue successor to the original Crash Bandicoot trilogy sees developers Toys for Bob reinvent the iconic platforming franchise for a new generation. Thus begins a "destroy, run, destroy" optimization loop that smashes through your spare time like so many brick walls. Teardown's physics simulations are fun to play with all by themselves, but the game's brilliance is revealed when you begin your first timed heist - going from just "smash" to "smash and grab." Grabbing your first objective will start a countdown until the cops arrive, and making it through fast enough to pick up the rest will require making some modifications to the environment. Teardown is built entirely around the concept: each bit of every building can be pulled down, wedged loose, or blown up if you have the right tools. Why should you play it? Physics-based destruction is one of those video game features that lives in store page bullet points while rarely making that much of a difference in how you actually play. What is it? A first-person heist game where you play with physics as a one-person demolitions team instead of a stealthy cat burglar.
