Rob Zacny
I enjoy a lot of things about Act of Aggression: the bloody, orgiastic spectacle of it. The tactical combat that puts a premium on winning the battle for map vision and positioning. The nuanced faction differences. But Act of Aggression is also a game that obscures information rather than reveals it, and attempts to bewilder you with a million minor choices rather than a few clear-cut strategic decisions. In sharp contrast to Eugen's previous work, my first enemy is always the game itself.
It's charming and evocative, but the more I play it, the less substantial it gets.
It feels exactly the way a Warhammer-themed Total War game should feel, and creates tons of dramatic battles and storylines over the course of each campaign. But to reliably generate all that excitement and tension, it secretly disconnects many of the strategic systems that hold good Total War games together.
When I started playing Thea: The Awakening, I was excited for its possibilities. I'd love to play the game that I thought, in those early hours, that I was playing. If the card battle system were better and less predictable, if there was more stuff to do with your village and a greater tension between exploration and protecting your home, if failure weren't quite so punishing or random at times… Thea breaks the mold by doing a lot of different things at once. It just needs to do all of them better.
X Rebirth may be a space sim beyond saving, even after patches address stability and performance issues.
Tharsis can never stop reminding you that you don't have control over its interstellar disaster, just the illusion of it. Every time I watched my ship fall apart, and every time I watched new events propagate across the ship that were completely impossible to stop, I felt like, win-or-lose, Tharsis was having all the fun.
Planetary Annihilation's
Codemasters' F1 2015 racer falls far behind the pack this year due to a lack of expected features.
Spellcasting in Magicka: Wizard Wars is good fun, but it's not a perfect fit with MOBA-style multiplayer.
StarDrive 2's ship building is top notch, but the flawed game surrounding it keeps it from ever truly shining.
I'm pretty happy with this version of Heroes of Might and Magic 3, but it is a bit harder to recommend when the Complete edition is on GOG with even more missions and a map generator.I can cheerfully recommend it to people who may never have encountered the game before. But if you're a Heroes of Might and Magic fan, who never needed high-definition anything to enjoy these games, then the chances are that GOG already had you covered, and there's not much for you here.
The use of different classes and the evocation of the Warhammer setting is enough to make Vermintide a competent twist on the Left 4 Dead formula, but it doesn't execute them well enough to live up to its inspiration. Even at its best, Vermintide's co-op horde mode lacks a sense of suspense, and its addictive loot chase can't fully replace that. As I'm sure any Skaven would tell you, there are better things than being a rat in a maze.
It's a tropical vacation, always pleasant and relaxing… and one that you're always ready to leave behind.
With lovely graphics and great matchmaking stability, World of Warplanes remains entertaining even as its simplicity wears thin.
Elite: Dangerous puts you in some amazing spaceships, but doesn't always give you a lot to do with them.
War Thunder rules the air but the lack of polish hurts, as does the dull ground warfare.
But to enjoy that game, you have to forgive incomplete or poorly implemented features, and make your peace with the evil AI. They're small problems, in the scheme of things, and they don't spoil a great drive. But they're just enough to deny Project CARS what could have been a clean pole position.
Frozen Cortex is a great tactical turn-based sport that only really fumbles off the field.
Scoring a hit with World of Warships' big floating guns feels great, and teamwork pays off big.
Sunless Sea gives you a wonderful world to explore that's packed with memorable written vignettes and danger.