By Cam Shea, editor in chief, IGN Australia
It’s no surprise to see Kingdom Hearts III retain its spot at the top of the charts for a second week.
The long-awaited action-RPG has sold millions out of the gate, and offers a denouement to narrative threads that date back to the first game… which was released in 2002. It’s convoluted but largely successful, and very much a love letter to Disney and Pixar, taking players to the worlds of Toy Story, Monsters Inc, Winnie the Pooh, Frozen, Tangled, Big Hero 6 and more.
There’s very little movement elsewhere in the top 10, with only two games that weren’t in last week’s chart – the newly-released Monster Energy Supercross 2, which creeps in at number eight, and the return of Just Dance 2019 at the very tail.
There’ll most certainly be a shakeup in the coming weeks, however. Much-delayed Xbox One exclusive Crackdown 3 has finally seen the light of day, even if it has proven to be rather disappointing, while the tense, post-apocalyptic shooter Metro Exodus sets a new benchmark for the series. Ubisoft has also just launched Far Cry: New Dawn, which follows on from Far Cry 5, taking players back to Hope County 17 years later.
It’s also worth discussing Apex Legends, which is arguably the biggest phenomenon in gaming right now, but isn’t represented on sales charts. This free-to-play battle royale from the studio behind Titanfall builds upon the likes of PUBG and Fortnite, but innovates with intuitive squad-based gameplay, well-designed player archetypes and a superb map. The game hit 25 million total players in about a week, with two million concurrent players at its peak. It’s been very well-received by fans and critics alike.
