Nothing seems to be able to stop the power of Crash Bandicoot. For the fifth week in a row, the second release of Crash Bandicoot N.Sane Trilogy has maintained its stranglehold on top of the UK charts, with no big new releases their to even really challenge the game. It looks likely that Crash will remain the champ for some time at least, as the typical Summer games drought continues.
A couple of new releases managed to break into the charts, but none of them were big enough to make much of an impact, with the best result being that of Train Sim World, which debuted at number 20. This was followed shortly by the Switch re-release of the Namco Bandai sports mini-game collection Go Vacation at the number 23 position, despite the port of the Wii game being quite rough and lacking a certain amount of polish. Warioware Gold, the new game in the mini-game series for the 3DS, only managed a debut at number 38, which certainly says something about the strength of the 3DS as a portable console today. Nintendo might not want to admit it yet, but the 3DS does seem to be on its last legs.
© Nintendo
Although not a new release exactly, perhaps the biggest movement in the charts this week is the return of No Man’s Sky, which launched last week on Xbox One, alongside its big new update which finally brings multiplayer to the game along with some other new features. Before the release, it seemed that hype was building around the title again, and it seemed likely the game would enjoy a chart revival, and, to some extent, it did. No Man’s Sky has once again re-entered the charts, just failing to break into the top ten, ending up in the number 12 position. It may not be the top ten, but for a game that has been largely mocked by the gaming community since its original launch two years ago, it is fairly impressive to see the game reach such heights again. It was never going to reach the giddy heights that it seemed the game would originally, but this should not be sniffed at.
© Hello Games
Most of the top ten go back to normal this week, following on from the sales surprises of Amazon Prime Day. The Xbox One releases that last week entered back into the charts thanks to impressive sales have fallen back down, with some leaving almost entirely, and newer titles have once again risen to prominence. The Crew 2 sees a return to number 3, moving up five spots, which isn’t too bad, but it likely the best the game will ever see at this point, and you have to wonder how Ubisoft views the current sales of the game, as, on the surface, it appears to be a failure. God of War too returns to the number 4 spot, but there is no way you could see that as a failure. The game has been an almighty success for Sony and their Santa Monica studio, and really does prove that big single-player titles can still sell, despite what some parts of the industry will tell you.
The full top ten can be found below:
- Crash Bandicoot N.Sane Trilogy Remastered
- LEGO The Incredibles 2
- The Crew 2
- God of War
- Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
- Call of Duty: WWII
- Grand Theft Auto V
- Sonic Mania Plus
- Jurassic World Evolution
- Mario Tennis Aces
Joe Clarke
Pop Culture Kingdom 