■ Based on its opening levels, you’d be forgiven for thinking was an homage to Sega sprite-scaling. But while Core’s immersive sci-fi title initially hurtles you through space and over the surface of a planet on rails, that all changes when you enter an enemy base for the game’s second phase. This begins with a free-roaming third-person mission, where the Strike Craft you’ve been piloting transforms into a hovercraft-like Hover Copter. The Hover Copter allows you to seek and destroy a central computer before warping onto further stages, where you alternate between it and the Strike Craft in levels set undersea and an epically long tunnel. The game’s final phase puts you in the seat of a Combat Walker – an armed mecha – which can run around at ground level and jet forwards through the air for short periods. Enhancing further is its co-op mode, where one player acts as pilot while the other is the gunner.
