Phil Iwaniuk
Thoughtful tweaks and deeper team management make a superb update as other annualised sports series flounder
Thanks to this quite unusual combination of tonal sensitivity, hardcore shooting mechanics and maps full of interesting wrinkles and choke points, I’ve enjoyed Insurgency Sandstorm as much as any multiplayer game released this year.
The pros and cons shout over one another constantly, and I think that’s why I find it such a frustrating game to play
Football Manager is still the best sim of its kind, but FM23's serious lack of major improvements shows an annual release schedule taking its toll.
It certainly isn’t a matter of a lack of talent at PES Productions. I don’t believe for a second the developers don’t know how to make a better game than this - we need only look at the last few PES games for evidence to the contrary. These are vastly talented, experienced, passionate people, working as best they can on a deeply flawed concept with a spectacularly poorly communicated plan. They don’t deserve chastisement on social media, though they’ll inevitably get it. But equally, eFootball 2022 still doesn’t deserve your time yet.
A delightful co-op action RPG that's sadly stymied by its insistence on making it hard to play together.
An ambitious and mysterious puzzler that's ultimately as frustrating as it is fascinating.
Ubisoft tightens up the systems but can't quite replicate the sparkle for this fun but flawed RPG sequel.
An earnest and impactful adventure, written within the margins of an homage to 80s cinema.
Innovations in the right places keep an old veteran match fit.
In PR terms, it's the world's costliest public beta. There's a lithe control system in the wreckage, but it'll take many updates to dig it out.
This could have been a great fish-out-of-water experience, but it's let down by patronising explanations and clunky gameplay.
In a series known for its scale and spectacle, climate change and technical issues are the new enemies
In this road-trip fantasy, you can drag-race in Vegas, meander through Manhattan and divebomb off Mount Rushmore. So why isn't it more fun?
A game with unapologetically singular focus, its distillation of deeper MMOs' elements nevertheless results in an experience that all too often feels barren. Phil Iwaniuk
In the end, it's one of those 'good game buried in here somewhere' experiences.
The PlayStation classic remains out of reach on PC due to debilitating performance issues.
Enjoyable arcade handling packaged within a game that gets monotonous long before it rewards your time investment.
As a messy muck around, MudRunner has enough to offer to warrant a few hours of experimentation. Beyond that, for me, the limitations of its controls, camera, and missing mirrors put a cap on the off-road giggles.
If it's possible to preserve a sense of tension and genuine horror in an open-world setting, The Evil Within 2 hasn't discovered how. In an attempt to introduce a more contemporary gameplay style than that of Shinji Mikami's classics, this game ends up diluting its best qualities by filling your time with tedious milling about and resource-gathering.