At Darren's World of Entertainment - a movie, DVD and game review blog.
The latest movie and DVD reviews - plus game reviews as well. And cool stuff thrown in when I see it.
Nintendo Switch 2 + Mario Kart World Bundle, launching 29th October
Start your engines and race across a sprawling world with the Nintendo Switch 2 + Mario Kart World bundle. Available from 29th October on Nintendo Store and select retailers, this console bundle comes with a Nintendo Switch 2 console, a download code for Mario Kart World, and a download code for a Nintendo Switch Online Individual 3-Month (90-Day) Membership.
In Mario Kart World, you’ll go beyond the course and speed around vast, interconnected environments in heated 24-driver races. Burn rubber across plains, cities, water, volcanoes and more, exploring the open road at your own pace in Free Roam, barrelling through courses in Grand Prix or driving to survive in the non-stop transcontinental rally, Knockout Tour.
With up to four players in local multiplayer and 24 players online*1, you can race as familiar favourites and collect and choose their outfits and vehicles before you hit the road. With the recently-announced free update, players can also check out 10 new classic courses from Super Mario Kart, as well as two new Knockout Tour routes, Propeller Rally and Turnip Rally.
Dance Across Eras of Music in Just Dance®: Decades of Hits on October 13
Ubisoft announced Just Dance: Decades of Hits, a brand-new experience across eras of music, will launch on October 13, 2026, on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation® 5, Xbox Series X|S and on November 10, 2026, on Nintendo Switch 2. Designed for unforgettable moments of fun with friends and family, Just Dance: Decades of Hits brings every era to one dance floor.
Just Dance: Decades of Hits brings every generation together with 35 iconic songs across six different decades:
Mamma Mia by ABBA
Uptown Girl by Billy Joel
It's Tricky by Run-DMC
No Scrubs by TLC
Wannabe by Spice Girls
Bye Bye Bye by *NSYNC
Feel Good Inc. by Gorillaz
Turn Down for What by DJ Snake and Lil Jon
Danza Kuduro by Don Omar feat. Lucenzo
Manchild by Sabrina Carpenter
NUEVAYoL by Bad Bunny
And more!
In Just Dance: Decades of Hits, songs, visuals, and an all-new Adventure Mode are all designed to immerse players in the spirit that made each decade unforgettable. From the funky ‘70s disco floors and the electrifying ‘80s rock scene, to the glossy 2000s pop and beyond, travel through time and share the joy of rediscovering iconic moments with friends and family.
Embark on a fun immersive adventure for all generations with the new Adventure mode. Follow Lyra, Dr. Gigavolt’s daughter, in a playful journey through time to rescue her father. Explore the decades through six themed worlds, enjoy fun mini activities, unlock exclusive rewards, and best of all: dance to decade-defining songs. Adventure Mode is available for players who own Just Dance: Decades of Hits.
Perfect for any family night or party, up to six players can dance locally in Just Dance: Decades of Hits. Playing Just Dance is easier than ever by using a phone as a controller, no extra accessories needed.* For unpredictable, chaotic fun where the rules change every round, players can jump into Party Mode, or they can get moving with the Workout Mode, which tracks calories burned with each dance. Every player can customize their own profile with the new multiple dancer card system.
Those who own Just Dance: Decades of Hits as well as Just Dance 2023-2026 editions will be able access all their songs in one place on the same console without having to switch games or separate menus! This also includes songs from purchased Music Packs and songs available through an active Just Dance+ subscription.**
Get ready to hit the dance floor on October 13 by wishlisting Just Dance: Decades of Hits at justdance.com/decadesofhits/where-to-buy.
For more details about Just Dance: Decades of Hits, please visit justdance.com.
*A smartphone with the free Just Dance Controller app is required with iOS 14.4 or higher OR Android 9 or higher. For Xbox and PlayStation players, this app is required to track moves – no additional accessories required. For Switch players, this app is required to use the Camera Controller Mode.
**Just Dance+ is a streaming service, playable via Just Dance 2023, 2024, 2025, 2026 Editions or Just Dance: Decades of Hits, that grants access to additional songs. Requires the connection to a Ubisoft Account (age restrictions apply depending on your country of residence to create one), permanent internet access, and the payment of a fee and/or an ongoing subscription fee. Auto-renewal may be activated during the purchase. May require a platform account and additional platform subscription to access (please check full details on the platform store before subscribing). Membership auto-renews after initial term at the then-current price unless cancelled, depending on platform. Just Dance+ is not available in all countries and cannot be accessed through the free version of Just Dance. Not compatible with Just Dance 2022 or older versions of game.
Hot Wheels Infinite Rush Now Available on Consoles and PC
Milestone, a leading global racing game developer, and Mattel, Inc. (NASDAQ: MAT), a leading global play and family entertainment company and owner of one of the most iconic brand portfolios in the world, announced today the launch of HOT WHEELS™ Infinite Rush, now available on PlayStation®5, XBOX Series X|S, Nintendo Switch™ 2, ROG XBOX Ally, ROG XBOX Ally X, and PC via Steam, Microsoft Store, and Epic Games Store.
HOT WHEELS Infinite Rush expands the fun beyond the iconic orange tracks, immersing players in a toy-scale world designed for exploration and high-speed racing fun. Players can race, explore, collect, customise, and create as they shape their own adventure across four interconnected islands packed with races and free-roaming activities.
From the bustling streets of Wheelswood to the industrial canyons of Gearville, the natural landscapes of Tentacle Bay, and the neon-lit alleys of Drifty Temples, each island has a distinctive visual identity and blends a variety of racing challenges, unexpected obstacles, and hidden collectibles. Players can freely sky-jump between the environments as they unlock new areas and events, shaping their own journey at their own pace.
With more than 150 vehicles available at launch, ranging from iconic Hot Wheels™ Originals to legendary real-world automotive brands, players can expand their garage by completing races, taking on special events, and defeating the racing crews across the islands as they compete to earn the Rush Master title. Four distinct vehicle classes — Drifters, Speeders, Titans, and Versatiles — offer unique handling and feature a perk system that shapes performance and playstyle, encouraging players to experiment with different setups. This way, players can build a Rush Squad ready for any challenge: a four-vehicle team featuring their preferred Hot Wheels™ from each class. With a quick-switch button, they can instantly change vehicles while exploring the islands, ensuring they always have the right ride for every activity.
Customisation is at the heart of the experience, with extensive options available through Sticker and Livery editors, including wheel customisation, boost visual effects, and personalised boost and dash sound effects.
Creativity extends beyond the garage thanks to the Track Builder, which allows players to design unique routes that blend with the game world. The adaptive ground-snapping system lets track modules follow the terrain, while action markers define virtual opponents’ behaviour, including racing lines, acceleration, and braking points. With creations shareable across supported platforms*, the Track Builder offers endless opportunities for players to create, share, and compete with the wider community.
HOT WHEELS Infinite Rush also features multiplayer options, with full cross-play* support for online challenges and local split-screen** for up to four players, giving players multiple ways to compete across competitive modes, leaderboards, and asynchronous challenges.
HOT WHEELS Infinite Rush is available now on PlayStation®5, XBOX Series X|S, Nintendo Switch™ 2, ROG XBOX Ally, ROG XBOX Ally X, and PC via Steam, Microsoft Store, and Epic Games Store.
Cast: Ryan Gosling, Sandra Huller Director: Phil Lord, Christopher Miller
Based on Andy "The Martian" Weir's 2021 novel of the same name, Project Hail Mary finds Ryan Gosling as Dr Ryland Grace, Earth's last hope when the sun threatens to wipe out all human life.
Waking on board an interstellar ship, Grace realises he has no idea where he is, what he's doing and why...
In 2015, Andy Weir's The Martian made a hero out of poop-filled potatoes and Matt Damon, and in doing so, turned the science into something approachable and understandable for audiences worldwide. There's a similar effect in Project Hail Mary, a move that talks about Astrophage creatures, discusses light speed and the ending of the planet as we know it.
But while The Martian made this language second nature, a lot of Project Hail Mary spends much of its time repeating the basics of big-ideas science to viewers, ensuring that this time it feels a little didactic in places.
As the story flashes before Grace's life before waking on the ship and how he's co-opted into Project Hail Mary, there's more life to be found in the past, thanks to an intriguing relationship with Hüller's deadpan Eva Stratt than the cutesier friendship that Grace evolves with arachnid-rock creature Rocky in space.
There's a distinct feel-good factor at play here in this technically impressive crowd-pleaser that gives space the level of wonderment and awe that it deserves on screen. Both Lord and Miller have mined the humour that Gosling deployed to cosmic effect in The Nice Guys, but they've also given an impressive lens to the space world too, with moments of visual flourish that feel as compelling as any image in 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Unfortunately too long, Project Hail Mary could have easily lost some 30 minutes and dulled none of its impact and while there is a sappiness and mawkish edge that creeps into toward the end of the film, what plays out in Project Hail Mary is an impressively big-screen experience that talks of connection, collaboration and co-existence.
Held together by the charismatic Gosling glue, Project Hail Mary is a warm glow of a sci-fi film, but one that will burn you if you get too close to the sunny disposition it displays at certain moments.
Borderlands 4 Story Pack 2, Loveless the Hacker, and Bounty Pack 5 Now Available
Story Pack 2: FL4K and the Last Resort
In Story Pack 2: FL4K and the Last Resort, players team up with returning beastmaster FL4K on the tropical island of Providence to save their loyal skag companion Mr. Chew from the Tediore corporation, led by five elite managers serving the ruthless Lieutenant Harmony.
Vault Hunters will infiltrate Providence's active volcano bunker, grapple across the jungle with newly introduced ziplines, and upload directly into Tediore's digiverse servers to fight enemy waves at the source. Opponents include soldiers in exo-suits that fight on even after death, hulking mechs with varying weapon attachments that can buff their allies and digistruct reinforcements, and minibosses spawned from the volcano spewing Ordonite-infused lava during dynamic world events. Surviving players will have a chance to earn two new Pearlescent weapons and 18 pieces of Legendary gear.
Playable Vault Hunter: Loveless the Hacker
Loveless the Hacker arrives as an all-new playable Vault Hunter. An ex-Anshin hacker turned assassin, Loveless has achieved a symbiotic fusion of biological and digital power to become a superior lifeform. Her psyche is shared with a digital virus of her own creation, which can digistruct into a physical Wyrm form to act as a deadly extension of her shared, perfection-seeking will.
Loveless’ aggressive, agile kit specialises in Critical Hits, Status Effects, and devastating Corrosive and Radiation damage. Learn about Loveless’ unique Trait and Action Skills on the Loveless Vault Hunter page, then witness a recounting of her violent dive into the digiverse in the “Uncontainable” Character Short. Loveless is playable across all of Borderlands 4’s base game and DLC zones.
Bounty Pack 5: Amara and the Vile Shadows
Vault Hunters join Amara to investigate Phase disturbances potentially stemming from Vile Lictor's old laboratory on Elpis, where Order Synths that once served him lie dormant. Completing the mission will unlock a Vault Hunter Skin usable by all Vault Hunters, a Vehicle, and an ECHO-4 Drone Skin. Players can also take on a new boss, two new mini-bosses, and new Vile enemy types to earn a new Pearlescent weapon and six pieces of Legendary loot.
Available to purchase separately from the narrative-focused content, Vault Card 5 lets players earn new space-age rewards through gameplay, with 24 cosmetic items and four pieces of rerollable gear to unlock.
Version 1.10 System Updates
Version 1.10 increases the maximum level cap by 10 levels for all Borderlands 4 players and introduces Vault Hunter balance adjustments. Individual parts of Story Pack 1 and Bounty Pack 2 DLCs are also available for separate purchase starting today.
Starting today, a free-to-play weekend for Borderlands 4 begins, available to players across PlayStation®5 through PlayStation Plus, XBOX Series X|S through XBOX Game Pass, and PC through Steam. Players can Break Free across the complete base game experience through the conclusion of the promotion. Platform storefronts contain specific promotion details.***
Players that own Borderlands 4 Super Deluxe Edition are automatically granted access to all of the content from the Bounty Pack Bundle (Bounty Packs 2, 3, 4, and 5) and Vault Hunter Pack (Story Packs 1 and 2), while Borderlands 4 Deluxe Edition grants the Bounty Pack Bundle. Bounty Packs and Story Packs are also available for individual purchase.
Borderlands 4 is now available worldwide for PlayStation 5, XBOX Series X|S, and PC through Steam and the Epic Games Store. For the latest information on Borderlands 4, visit www.borderlands.com, and follow the game across YouTube, Facebook, X, Instagram and TikTok.
*Story Pack 2 DLC has two parts: new story content in FL4K and the Last Resort, and a playable Vault Hunter with Loveless the Hacker. Included in the Borderlands 4 Super Deluxe Edition, Vault Hunter Pack, and available for separate purchase. Base game required.
Developed by Insomniac Games Published by Sony Interactive Platform: PS5
The character of Wolverine has always anchored the X-Men franchise.
Ably bought to life by Hugh Jackman in the movie franchise, the gruff cigar-chomping loner became the focal point of the series as he adapted into the world of mutants and their treatment by others.
So perhaps it was a natural progression that Insomniac Games, the creators of the Ratchet and Clank series and also the acclaimed Marvel's Spider-Man would take on the character for the gaming world - even before a hack in December 2023 exposed the fact they were working on the IP.
But unlike most of the X-Men films, this one strays away from the lineage of Wolverine and his adamantium creation and veers more into the R-rated territory of James Mangold's highly acclaimed Logan.
Voiced by another Aussie, Liam McIntyre, the game throws you into the claws of the amnesiac Wolverine who's returned to help his former teammates Team X (chiefly Raven and Sabretooth) and finds himself slap bang in the middle of a quest to track down some kidnapped mutants who've been taken by Bolivar Trask.
In many ways, it's a very generic and typical X-Men story that Insomniac Games has taken for the basis of its Wolverine game - but that's not to dismiss the humanity of what plays out and the continuing tale of segregation and mistreatment of those who are deemed different. It's a theme that Marvel's X-Men has explored for centuries in its comics and as such, Insomniac Games has managed to give it a solid spin with the emotional depth provided by a subtle amd grounded humane performance from Spartacus star Liam McIntyre.
Make no mistake, Marvel's Wolverine is a brutal affair - if you want it to be.
Limbs are hacked off, blood soaks much of the action on the screen and the language certainly doesn't hold back, so long-term fans of Wolverine's gruffer and visceral edges will be happy at what unfurls. (Don't worry, all of that can be turned off in the Accessibility settings, a canny touch by Insomniac to ensure those who loved Spider-Man continue to get their share of family friendly edges.)
Claws combat is violent too, with a varying set of combos unleashing more and more ferocious and feral attacks - this is a Logan who moves like a beast, scampering on the ground in parts and whose more animal edges Insomniac Games has leaned into. From assigning different moves to the L2 and D-pad, Logan's got options to unleash a series of other attacks which can be purchased from upgrades and assigned throughout the game.
Like its lithe combat, this is also a game that lives and breathes, evolving fighting with its story as more unlocks become available. Suits, which can be made from materials found around the various biodomes Logan visits (thanks to his supersonic hearing ability) unlock extra health and can be regularly changed out during missions - there's an ever-evolving feel to the world Logan's in and it's a welcome touch from Insomniac.
Not content to fashion their story around the treatment of mutants and further details (which are spoiler-heavy at this stage), the game also allows you to unlock core memories from Logan's mind after he's enabled into a Nightmare world by Nathaniel Essex, who aims to heal him. These Nightmare Trials as they're known help you shape more of an insight into Logan and range from achieving a certain number of kills in a timeframe to racing to an end-point. It's an interesting way to do things, even if it does occasionally feel like a series of Spider-Man timed-inspired minigames to propel the story along.
And it's nice to be out of the city too, with Marvel's Wolverine taking in heady locations and foreign lands. From the snowy wilds of Canada to the hustle and bustle of Madripoor, every vista sparkles with the atmosphere of its locale - and it gifts Wolverine with the kind of global feel that a Bond movie has as it moves from location to location, giving the story more of a global relevance.
Insomniac Games' ambition has come to the fore here as well, with big cinematic cutscenes full of blockbuster sturm and drang soaking proceedings. These are big set pieces that sit excellently within the brightest and best of the blockbuster ambitions; they're fluid, enthralling and entertaining, full of spectacle. Occasionally they give you a chance to interact with them via some QTEs (bizarrely which complete if you dont fire them or use the wrong button), but mostly they're there for your eyes and story progression.
And it's here that Marvel's Wolverine presents an interesting paradox.
The game very much relies on its pattern of frenetic, adrenaline-fuelled combat before going for either stealth hunting or more contemplative edges (eg the Nightmare trials, choosing music in a bar) before ramping up the action once again to build to the end of a chapter. As a result, very occasionally, the staccato approach gives way to a feeling of a stop-start that affects the overall flow of the game. It's unfair to compare it to Spider-Man, but the connecting tissue here doesn't always gel as well as it could, no matter how playable and fluid sections are.
Most of the mechanics of the Spider-Man game in terms of combat have been ported over too and while they've been given a Wolverine shine over and polished with unique abilities, there's also a nagging feeling that game mechanics don't exactly feel transformational this time. (And a couple of uncanny crossovers with Spider-Man: Brand New Day lend the movie an unexpected surprise.)
It's not that they're bad to play with or work poorly, more that there's not as much innovation as the previous Marvel formula. Although there's also an argument to be had that given how well these things work, why would you mess with a winning formula?
Overall, Marvel's Wolverine still offers Insomniac Games at its pinnacle, and given the game graphically pushes the limits, it's a thrilling experience when it all gels and one that's worthy of the Logan name and legacy.
Marvel's Wolverine releases exclusively on PlayStation 5 from September 15.
