"If it ain't broke, don't... forget to give it a sequel next year!" Which was surely Ubisoft's motto until Assassin's Creed: Unity arrived with more bugs than the Australian Outback, but for a creative studio like Nintendo that have a cavalcade of loveable characters and genres, putting out immaculately-crafted works of Pixarian genius never gets old. For the most part this was business as usual, same gorgeously-rendered characters, pick up n' play nature and same instantly recognisable soundbites and voices. Although for a series that's so steeped in pop culture where almost anyone you can think of could reel off a slew of favourite moments, it's the small things Nintendo changed up a little that keep things fresh. Many a player has been robbed of a finish-line tickling performance thanks to those dastardly blue shells, and now - finally - you can deflect them with the new Super Horn, the deployment of which at the right time can save your skin as well as booting away any nearby competition. Alongside this was a simple-yet-effective online mode and more of the same genius track-design that's endeared Mario Kart to so many over the years. It might essentially be more of the same, but when it's this good, nobody's complaining.
