Cuphead: The Delicious Last Course review – a mind-bending feast for the senses

(Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PC; Studio MDHR)
This follow-up to the acclaimed 2017 cartoon shooter is a gauntlet of boss fights against outlandish flora and fauna with an eye-pleasing nod to classic animation

There's a heist on: a cow has seized a saloon in the wild west and you must bring her to justice. Galloping backwards, watercolour cacti and buzzards flying past you at breakneck speed, you pursue the bovine bully. Dodging her lassos, and the splotches of snake oil she hurls at you, you take aim and shoot. Eventually, you'll draw her out of the saloon, but the fight is not over. She now has an Acme-branded vacuum cleaner, and as she gallops backwards and sucks up the debris of the American desert, you continue to pelt her with everything you've got. Success! She falls! Sucked into her vacuum, she ... turns into a string of sausages. And throws pork and beans at you. And so the fight goes on.

This is par for The Delicious Last Course, the huge helping of extra Cuphead levels that developer Studio MDHR has been working on for the past five years. Building on 2017's acclaimed and notoriously challenging cartoon shooter, the studio spoons out 19 more bosses and a new playable character - the double-jumping, parry-dashing Ms Chalice, who you can take back into the older levels if you like - and dresses the plate with enough secrets to keep you chewing happily for well beyond the estimated four-hour runtime.

Cuphead: The Delicious Last Course is out now; 6.79.