Marvel: Tokon Fighting Souls: PS5 Review

Developer: Arc System Works
Published by Sony Interactive
Platform: PS5

The Marvel vs Capcom games have forever left a mark on the fighting genre.

But a new 2026 contender has emerged to ensure that brawling is as much fun as you'd remember from either your Street Fighter days or hanging back at the arcades trying to get one over on your mates.

However, the twist with Marvel: Tokon Fighting Souls is that the game has taken a deep roster of Marvel superheroes, patched a relatively rough story behind the combat and beatdowns and delivered a 4v4 combat experience, rather than the traditional 3v3 tag team-ups that you'd get from prior games.

As a result, Marvel: Tokon Fighting Souls delivers perhaps one of the most entertaining and colourful beat-em-ups, albeit one that has a story mode that seems to go on forever, keeping you away from the fighting.

A visually energetic spectacle in many ways, what impresses with Fighting Souls is how crystal clear its graphics are, how crisp the action is and how satisfying the beatdowns can be. There's an air of clarity here which makes the fighting easy to adapt to and welcoming to anyone, regardless of whether they've played the genre before.

With some 20 Marvel characters (though no sign of the X-Men yet), there's plenty of fan favourites to squad up with. Whether it's Spider-Man, Iron Man or Carnage, the Marvel roster is well represented in action that's satisfying to execute.

Granted, there's an element of button mashing in parts and some of the game requires you to think about strategy as you tag in and out of various combinations, but largely Marvel: Tokon Fighting Souls is more interested in anyone come and pick up the controller before getting involved.

With offline modes and online battles to explore, there's plenty of content for brawlers to dive into - and the game does more than enough to engage players with whatever they want to play. There's a depth that Arc System Works have brought to the game and it's more than enough to satiate both the rabid Marvel fans and the casual players alike.

The only real time the game starts to drag for casual users in during the Story Mode which deploys the flipbook comic panels to strong effect as it tells the story, but slows the pace as you have to go through endless pages of dialogue and reveals before getting to any of the real action within.

It's also worth highlighting that the game never looks cluttered when it delivers its action, no matter how many characters are on the screen and how brutal the fights get. Sometimes with some of the coin-op games, these kinds of titles can end up feeling like they're over-stuffed graphically, and while Fighting Souls pushes its 4v4 teamplay, there's never any real sign that the game's struggling on the hardware front.

With unique gameplay to each character (for example, Captain America can use his shield offensively and defensively), Arc System Works has taken time and care to ensure nothing feels like a cut and paste mechanic lazily deployed to every fighter. Consequently, it means players will want to have their own favourites and can deliver their own level of gameplay to each character they use.

It remains to be seen what future characters will be used in any planned DLC, but for now, given its smooth execution and its simple playability, Marvel: Tokon Fighting Souls feels like the perfect way to wile away those gaming sessions.

Spa Weekend: Movie Review

Cast: Leslie Mann, Isla Fisher, Anna Faris, Michelle Buteau, Dominic Ona-Ariki
Director: Jon Lucas, Scott Moore

The influence of Bridesmaids continues to be felt throughout the comedy genre.

The latest contender to try and recapture some of the anarchic vibe of a female friendship on a weekend away comes in the form of this comedy from the writers of The Hangover.

In it, a group of friends, who no longer see each other as much anymore due to life commitments, come together to celebrate the birthday of Jane (Mann), a lawyer whose single motherhood means she has no time for herself.

So, when Coco (Buteau) decides that she, Jane and Sophie (Faris) will head away for a spa weekend to celebrate, the scene is set for female bonding and relaxation. But the friends are devastated when the fourth member of their long-time friend circle, the brash and brazen Mel (Fisher, playing OTT and enjoying every coarse moment) shows up at their idyllic getaway and causes chaos.

Spa Weekend can't quite escape its episodic feel as the group shambles from one chaotic encounter to the next - from Mel disrupting a guided meditation to problems during goat yoga, it all feels like it's a series of mini sketches aimed at confrontation with the Nine Perfect Strangers-esque spa owner Shanti.

There are moments of genuinely funny comedy here, but they're peppered too sparsely throughout the ultimately predictable story that ends up in a heaving pile of sentimental third-act goo. And while there are some truths unveiled about female friendships, Spa Weekend doesn't have much new to add to the genre, even if it comes in at a crisp 90 minutes.

Whether it's Jane finding love with a hunky yoga instructor, Mel being forced to accept she's the unwelcome one in the friend group, Faris' dumb blonde Sophie being forced to confront her boss or Coco having to deal with her anger and ex-husband, the film's script offers little in the way of unpredictability in among the raucous antics, slow-mo chaos and general boorishness that exists to show that women can do it too.

Credits hint at the more freeform nature of the film's improv and leave you wishing there was a little more of that sprinkled throughout, because unfortunately outside of a booze-fuelled visit to the cinema with friends, this is one Spa Weekend you may consider asking for your money back.

Insidious: Out of the Further: Movie Review

Cast: Lin Shaye, Sam Spruell, Amelia Eve
Director: Jacon Chase

The horror franchise continues to rumble on, long after its original stars Patrick Wilson and Rose Byrne have moved on.

The sixth entrant in the Insidious series and a sequel to Insidious: The Red Door follows dental hygienist Gemma (Brit actress Eve), a young mother, who discovers she can enter the world of The Further, a dimension filled with evil spirits and lost souls. 

Tormented by her mother's apparent suicide in front of her, Gemma still lives in the family house, with her daughter and with memories of her mother buried in her basement. But after she first sees a trio of old people walking by her house, she begins to suffer from a series of nightmares and visions which grow in intensity and darkness.

Fearing for her life, she encounters Elise (a wonderfully warm Shaye) during one of her nightmares - and at her urging, Gemma tries to find her to get answers to her plight. But as Elise explains to her via a medium that Gemma is a Traveller who has the capability to bring things back from the Further, an evil being locks onto her with a nefarious plan.

Insidious: Out of the Further is definitely one of the creepier entrants into the franchise.

However, while there are the usual dour and dimly lit interiors to cause you to squint, there's also a fusing of liminal horror and some intense scenes which truly make this unsettling. A sequence inside the dentist chair recalls the horror of Marathon Man mixed in with the ghostly presences of the franchise.

And without giving away too much of a somewhat convoluted plot which also manages to feel somehow drawn out and undercooked, the villain of the piece comes across looking like a mix of Marilyn Manson and Iggy Pop, with a stylised bandanna across their eyes - it's not exactly a memorable demon, but with cultish overtones, there's an element of the more disturbing edges.

Yet at just over 100 minutes, Insidious: Out of the Further still feels its length in long stretches, despite the solid work put in by the almost everywoman character of Gemma. Dealing with mummy issues and guilt, as well as an inability to move, Brit actress Eve channels a more grounded approach to the infinite number of shots where mist rises from the ground.

Once again, it's Lin Shaye who adds a kind of grandmotherly tone to proceedings, the warmth and goodness exuding from the screen as she extols the kind of dialogue that revels in lines like "When one door closes in the Further, another opens" without any hint of irony.

Insidious: Out of the Further isn't a bad horror film per se; it's perfunctory in parts and solid in others, with some nicely paced scares that revels in Backrooms familiarity and nightmarish imagery from Buffy's The Gentlemen and Smile. But unfortunately, Insidious: Out of the Further does suffer from being truly unmemorable once the lights have gone up on the spook-fest. 

Perhaps it's time the (Red) Door to the Further was closed creatively for good.

&Sons: Movie Review

Cast: Bill Nighy, Johnny Flynn, George Mackay, Imelda Staunton, Noah Jupe
Director: Pablo Trapero

Some films can hold you close with their stirring performances and strong message.

Others can push you away, preferring to keep you at a distance in their emotionally icy grip.

One such film is Pablo Trapero's &Sons, a film that is blessed with a superb Bill Nighy performance but one which has a central message that never quite hits with the heft that it should.

A frazzled, white-haired Nighy is boozy has-been literary giant Andrew, who's revered for his work, but who spends his later years as a recluse, locked in his study and not interested in engaging with the world, despite being tended to by his son Andy (Jupe).

One day, he summons his other sons, filmmaker Jamie (1917's Mackay) and recovering alcoholic Richard (Flynn) to the family home amid a claim that he's dying. But when the bearded patriarch reveals a long-held family secret, the resultant ripples threaten to destroy years of self-loathing and begrudging respect within the fragile bonds of family.

&Sons is the kind of film that hangs on its central conceit, adapted as it is from David Gilbert's 2013 novel. But despite the stellar performance from Nighy as Andrew swirls in regret and self-loathing, the film never quite achieves an emotional pull that it should have given how world-changing the central revelation is.

Instead, what plays out over nearly 2 hours is nothing short of navel-gazing and hand wringing as the family sons try to best work out what should be done with the bombshell, leading to nothing much happening on screen.

Questions of legacy and regret linger, never quite fully developed by Trapero's movie and despite the work done by Nighy and Flynn, the film never answers questions or provides more of anything than a stultifying vibe throughout.

One scene which does bring fireworks is a meeting between Andrew and his ex-wife, played by Staunton which delivers a punch and a veracity that plenty of long-term couples will recognise.

But ultimately, &Boys feels like a missed opportunity given the promise of all those involved.

Phantom Blade 0: State of Play Showcase August 2026

The latest PlayStation State of Play Showcase has done a deep dive on Phantom Blade 0, the upcoming title.

Watch the Phantom Blade 0 State of Play video below.

Pre-orders for the title are now open.

Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma: Movie Review

Cast: Hannah Einbender, Gillian Anderson, Jack Haven, Dylan Baker, Amanda Fix
Director: Jane Schoenbrun

Director Jane Schoenbrun's debut, I Saw The TV Glow, may have been a solipsistic meander through an obsession with teenage shows, but while Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma maintains some of that aesthetic, there's more of a sense of an experience here, albeit one that occasionally frustrates.

Throwing in meta commentary on how Hollywood pursues new talent after their success, it follows Hacks star Hannah Einbender's wunderkind director Kris, who's been given the chance to revamp the 80s schlocky horror franchise Camp Miasma. The first film, starring a killer called Little Death who goes on a rampage at Camp Miasma, was a massive hit, spawning a slew of sequels that played to diminishing box office and creative returns.

However, Kris' desire to revamp the franchise she loved when she was young hangs on the fact she wants to recast the first film's Final Girl, Billy (Gillian Anderson, doing her best Blanche Dubois) who's become a virtual recluse. So Kris treks to Camp Tivoli, the original setting for the film, where Billy's now holed up, hoping to get her to return.

Drawing on their own life to great extent works minor miracles for Schoenbrun but conversely, it also stops the film garnering a wider audience outside of young hipsters and film nerds who will fall over every single hidden reference.

Most of the film feels like it's stuck in its lead's head and dealing with the kind of crippling self-doubt which comes with imposter syndrome, even if Schoenbrun deepens some of the issues by adding in further factors.

But it all contributes to an almost ethereal film that wafts in and out of its own references, complete with some impressively accurate recreations of the 1980s horror film genre. Yes, there's plenty of desire afoot here and even Little Death is a coded allegory for orgasm, something which both Billy and Kris have issues and fascinations with.

Yet, at its heart, Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma is blessed by two incredible lead performances, who command the screen for pretty much the entirety of its run time. While they negotiate fantasy worlds, something which covers most of the film, complete with painted backgrounds, they're never anything less than compelling to watch.

Whether it's Einbender's awkwardness at life (which mirrors Schoenbrun's own life experiences) or Anderson's world weariness at how the Hollywood machine treated here, there's a depth here that proves to be the film's selling point, papering over moments when the waif-like nature of the movie threatens to take you out of it.

How much you'll get out of Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma depends on how much you want to invest - it's a engagingly and deliberately offbeat movie to behold and experience, but one that never quite manages to elevate itself beyond its singular vision and obsessions.