Back again for my regular Sunday roundup of quick-fire reviews and impressions of everything under the spotlight at Retro Arcadia this week, old and new and a bit of both. As an opening aside though, a couple of Fridays back, there was a very cool picture-disc reissue of Kraftwerk’s 1975 album, Radio-Activity, and it got me thinking, is that my favourite of their albums? And as it’s something I always enjoy pondering whenever this kind of thing pops into my head, I decided to devote my listening pleasure this week to going back through all of their studio albums and ranking my own top five. Which I’m sorry to say you’re going to have to sit through now! 

Before we get into the countdown though, in case you’re not yet into their work, Kraftwerk are avante-garde German minimalists, around since the early seventies, whose pioneering, machine-precise and downright revolutionary electronica reduced pop music to circuitry and pulse, also inventing half the genres that have appeared since along the way! More or less the most influential band ever, and a hell of a live act too if you ever get the chance! With that established, in reverse order, here’s my top five…

5. Autobahn (1974)

The breakthrough moment that carried electronic music into the mainstream and introduced the world to Kraftwerk’s modernist vision. Historically essential, and still the point where the group’s true identity snaps into focus.

4. The Man‑Machine (1978)

Their most iconic era distilled into one record – all clean lines, red shirts and immaculate minimalism. Commercially potent too, with New Romantic essential The Model eventually hitting UK number one and cementing their image as pop’s most stylish futurists.

3. Trans‑Europe Express (1977)

The popular consensus masterpiece – elegant, icy and endlessly influential. Its rhythmic architecture shaped entire genres, from electro to synth‑pop, and it remains the album most people point to when defining the Kraftwerk blueprint.

2. Radio‑Activity (1975)

A tightly wound concept piece that’s aged far better than anyone would have predicted, bridging their early experimental phase with the precision electronica to come. Its stark textures and Geiger‑counter pulse quietly seeded the industrial and synth‑minimalist scenes.

1. Computer World (1981)

A lean, immaculate machine of an album – prophetic in theme, immaculate in execution and a cornerstone for Detroit techno, electro and early hip‑hop. Still one of their most forward‑looking statements, even decades after the future caught up.

Maybe what’s included is a bit predictable, but I guess the order is my own, and Radio-Activity wasn’t far off! Quick shoutout to Tour de France as well, which was a standalone single for twenty years after it first came out in 1983, and was my own entry point as a kid, so I have a lot of nostalgia for it. And speaking of such things, that’s a very good place to get into what I’ve been playing!

There might not be a lot of actual “game” to Mixtape but what a game! It arrived on Xbox Game Pass and elsewhere last week, and is built around the soundtrack to three mid‑nineties, Northern Californian late‑teenagers making their final memories together the night before one of them moves away. It’s all warm, hazy and unashamedly nostalgic – and if you were of that age around that time, perhaps unnervingly so too! And you just kind of drift along with it, as it plays out more or less like a narrative walking‑sim through vignettes that last as long as the current song on the titular mixtape, and seamlessly switching from present day to memories of lazy summers hanging out in bedrooms, going on bike rides, underage drinking, renting videos and visiting the crappy local funfair that all brought you here. Visually, it’s authentically of‑the‑time cinematic, cleverly blending mixed-media realism with this kind of slower frame rate, almost stop‑motion 3D animation, and where every individual page of this interactive scrapbook you’re travelling through has its own artistic identity. Which brings us to that soundtrack – and I’m almost hesitant to get into it too much because it’s so intrinsic to the experience and I don’t want to spoil it! 

It’s not just the cool‑as‑you‑like contemporary alternative sounds you might be imagining either (although there’s plenty of them too), but spans all kinds of stuff you might have come across at the time, back to the sixties, and it’s mostly recognisable without ever being a greatest hits compilation. And equally important, the three main characters behind it aren’t the annoying, whiny American teenagers I was imagining I couldn’t relate to and wouldn’t be spending more than five minutes with before I started! They were just the teenagers you probably remember being, creating the same memories of the small things that would mean the world for a lifetime. And maybe you were even listening to the same soundtrack — there was certainly a lot of mine coming and going in there, with the likes of The Smashing Pumpkins, Jesus and Mary Chain, Siouxsie, Roxy… And then something else I won’t spoil but whose opening notes hit me like a punch in the gut, like nothing in a game ever has before, and then it only went and did it all over again with another just a couple of minutes later! Literally a wreck, and the most impactful ending I think I’ve ever experienced. Thank you Johnny Galvatron. That was beautiful.

In a very different way, Forza Horizon 6 is beautiful too. It arrived on Xbox Game Pass a few days ago, and it’s the stunner in every respect that we expected nothing less than! Once again, it rides the line between arcade racing and driving simulation (and then some!) just about perfectly, but this time sets you (and over five-hundred cars) loose across Japan, and it’s never looked better, sounded better, played better or had anything like this much to sink your teeth into. It’s polished to the point of obsession, from the outrageous lighting and weather effects to the way the tyres bite into the tarmac. And then there’s the locations, which more than ever are the beating heart of the game, whether you’re drifting around the fast and furious streets of downtown Tokyo, or going wild around waterlogged cherry fields under the majestic gaze of Mount Fuji – there’s a sense of purpose about everywhere and everything in it, and that purpose is entirely your enjoyment!

I guess one small criticism, having visited the assault on the senses that is Tokyo many times, is that it’s a bit lifeless here, although it’s very easy to forget that this is just a game! The campaign (if that’s the right word) is enormous, built on exploration and discovery as much as the mass of Horizon Festival race events, and seamless co-op and multiplayer stuff, with Time Attack Circuits, Drag Meets, Car Meets and all sorts more. Then there’s all those cars to collect and upgrade and customise, houses to buy, challenges to complete, secrets to unlock, events of your own to create… It seems to go on forever! If you don’t exclusively listen to the Sub Pop station then the soundtrack might seem to as well, with nine radio stations to choose from, spanning metal and rock, alternative and indie, hip-hop, drum & bass, electronica, synth-wave, modern classical and, of course, a bit of J-pop too! Something for everyone, which goes for the rest of the game as well, with all of its gameplay options, the fantastic handling, the gorgeous visuals, and I’m going to start repeating myself now, so let’s just say this is the best one yet and more besides! 

I’m not going to make any excuses about also saying those two games are the only things I’ve got for you this week… Well, apart from going on about Kraftwerk and their Imperial Phase heyday for far longer than I originally intended before that. Sorry! Better than the sorry tales of written-off cars you’d have got otherwise… In the unlikely event you still want more and missed it last Wednesday though, do check out my Retro Arcadia Gaming Pickups Spring 2026 Recap, covering all the retro games and related stuff I shouldn’t have been spending money on over the past three months! Apart from that, I’ll wish you a good week ahead, and see you next time!

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