World of Warplanes needs some tune-ups before it can soar
Banished is a deep, difficult exercise in survival
Tropico 5 made me feel powerful in the worst way
In spite of a few glaring technical issues, XCOM 2 represents a high water mark for the entire franchise. Firaxis successfully tells an evocative story. It treats players with respect and includes so many small quality of life improvements over the original they are simply too numerous to mention. It is challenging enough at its basic difficulty level to feel like a complete experience. Despite the bugs, it's still the best-looking, most exciting turn-based tactical game I've ever played.
Stellaris isn't astounding yet, but in time, it may just get there
I grew attached to Duskers through fuzzy, real-time surveillance footage
In XCOM 2: War of the Chosen, fighting a losing battle might be just as much fun as fighting and winning.
Pairing the tactical brilliance of the Total War series with the rich lore of the Warhammer universe is a natural fit, and Total War: Warhammer 2 fulfills the promise of that combination. It is a deep and challenging experience with an epic story to tell. It is also one of the most overwrought games of the year, a game where complexity seems to be piled on for complexity's sake.
Raid: World War II disappoints on all levels. It's not that one thing in particular is badly broken; it's that so many aspects of the game are clumsy or incomplete. It made playing the game a chore, even in its best moments. Sometimes a terrible movie or game will still have things that make it enjoyable — hilariously cheesy dialogue or over-the-top action that I end up liking in spite of the low budget or poor production values. With Raid, there's just nothing here for me, and I can't imagine there being much here for anyone else.
The easy way out for Dontnod would have been to take the most time-worn tropes from dime store horror novels, season to taste with period melodrama and serve it all up for players to enjoy. Vampyr reaches for more, and I'm very interested to see if the finale does it all justice
The environments are scaled well and comfortable to move through using the standard quarter-turn method or by spinning in place in an office chair. In that regard, the technology behind Transference is a triumph.
Valkyria Chronicles 4 certainly has some interesting elements, things that have the potential I feel to move strategy gaming forward.
Gris will only take you a handful of hours to play from start to finish, but I can’t recommend it strongly enough. I only wish the experience lasted longer.
All these issues of performance and balancing make for an unenviable situation for the developers at DICE.
DayZ is still broken, still beautiful, and still unfinished
There were moments where it felt like I was playing the same game that came out when I was 11. But the look was just a bit more lavish, and the funky bass line was arranged just differently enough. Back in the Groove is the perfect mix of polish and nostalgia, and one that I can’t wait to play through again.
Sci-fi adventure set in ’60s Germany is a beautiful, artsy letdown
It all adds up to a game that feels like an excellent first draft. Fans of battle royale games and open-world survival games should feel right at home — that is, until they run up against a mob that’s too big to handle on their own.
The theme is a bait and switch, but the gameplay is at least somewhat interesting
MechWarrior 5 is impressive when it’s able to work long enough to live up to its own potential.