Defunct

After some carefree speed? Then you'll love playing as this little robot who races through gorgeous environments on its single wheel. Our robot follows a little light that tells you if you're travelling up or downhill, and your job is to find the best path while keeping an eye out for shortcuts! Cute, easy, and fun for ages 8+. One of the must-plays on the Nintendo Switch.

Defunct is an adventure game with a focus on speed and flowing movement. You play as a robot that accidentally falls out of a giant cargo ship onto a post-human Earth, now inhabited by one-wheeled robots, just like you. Your job is to make it back to the mothership before it's too late! But you've taken damage and you'll need to make smart use of the different environments you'll be crossing and gather all of your strength – and missing parts – to keep speeding along. It's like playing Sonic in a Wall-E world.

Best get one thing straight from the outset: the controls in Defunct aren't the easiest to get to grips with, so it's no walk in the park to get started. Weirdly, kids with less preconceptions about control schemes do better, while adults can be a bit thrown off. But the difficult start hides a game with far more potential that you might think at first glance. Perseverance is your best friend.

We liked the gameplay in Defunct that is built around the complex relationship between your intrepid robot and the ruined world around him. A subtle light guides your movements, highlighting up- and downhill sections. A fantastic concept!

The main gameplay mechanic is based on the fact that you move around on a wheel, which makes it hard to stop on a dime. It's not impossible, though: you just need to use "gravitation", a technique in which the robot amplifies the surrounding gravity. In practice, this means you'll quickly pick up speed when going downhill, while coming to a sudden stop on uphill sections.

You'll need to leverage slopes and mounds to pick up the momentum you need, make jumps, and avoid falling into the water.

The opposing technique is magnetism, and enables your robot to use its defective motor to crawl up steep slopes once your momentum has run out. It's a vital technique to get back up to the heights to pick up as much momentum as possible on the way back down. Thankfully, the game is generous when it comes to checkpoints.

Our favourite part? The environments that provide 360° freedom of movement. Some of them are spectacular. They really make you want to ride through and watch the scenery go by. Sometimes you have more important things to do, though, like collecting items that can be easy to miss as they're dotted along the way.

Our tip to help you on your way? In the first few levels, there are big arrows to guide you on your way and make navigation easier... but then they're gone! And heading off in the wrong direction might have fatal consequences, turning two hours of exploration into a labyrinthine odyssey. Fortunately, the game makes good use of respawn points, offering respite in case you die or lose your bearings.

A great outing for fans of Wall-E, for ages 8+.