Sean Mesler
The presentation of The Magic Circle is simple but striking… I would be lying if I said it wasn’t one of the cleverest uses of a retro aesthetic I’ve ever seen
It would be easy to dismiss Uncharted 4: A Thief's End as a jack of all trades and a master of none, and in terms of gameplay, that would be true
Puzzles vary from simple to gob-smackingly brilliant with equal frequency and often simultaneously
One area that is absolutely flawless is the sound design. From the opening Star Wars theme… to the voice acting and more, LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens sounds so authentically Star Wars that it was easy to forget that I was playing a goofy game with LEGO
Ultimately, [the] pluses are minor and did little to make my experience better or Daydreamer worth playing
[Lifeless Planet] ultimately feels padded out and by the end of the game I couldn't wait for it to be over
It wasn’t until I played so closely to the previous two games that I truly understood just how good and improved Bioshock Infinite was as a game
The story really is great, the shooting feels good, and getting more and more powerful is rewarding. Unfortunately though, Mafia III is plagued with head-scratching design decisions.
Ashes of Ariandel offers more Dark Souls III, which can only ever be a good thing in my book.
By adding a truly surprising and impeccably designed single-player campaign that is consistently fun to play, as a package Titanfall 2 is the most pure, minute-to-minute fun I’ve had with any game this year.
The tone shifts could leave a bad taste in some people’s mouths but overall, any negatives of Watch Dogs 2 are minor and far outweighed by the sheer amount of fun that can be had in this vibrant and exciting world.
I have never, in my three decades plus of gaming been as motivated to save another video game character as I was during the last act of The Last Guardian.
Forma.8‘s gameplay is solid, if not a little frustrating at times, but its great sound design and brilliant aesthetic really sets it apart from the crowd.
With a large, beautiful, varied open world, a compelling central mystery, interesting side-quests and top of the field gameplay, Horizon Zero Dawn is easily Guerilla Games’ best effort yet and by far one of the best games this generation so far.
If you can handle overwrought voice acting, some nasty characters, and thin writing, you’ll enjoy the story. For fans of puzzles, thankfully there is a fast skip button that allows you to skip the overly talky bits and get to the real shining star in Zero Escape: The Nonary Games.
The Ringed City is a brutally unkind piece of content that shows the series at its best, but also unfortunately its worst.
By the end of my time with Sniper: Ghost Warrior 3, I was left very much disappointed. Not because of the poor story and acting, but because of the technical issues that kept the game from being anything more than mediocre. It's a shame too; it's a good – if not amazing – looking game, with some really fun mechanics.
It's by no means perfect, but Friday the 13th: The Game has a lot of fun to offer when you can get into matches. It delivers the promised tension of the film series, and you can see the love for the franchise in nearly everything. Unfortunately, as it's currently a multiplayer-only experience, the connection issues really do sour the game a bit, and it really could have done with a final bit of polish.
It's a shame that less than tight platforming controls and major framerate issues hinder Hob overall. There is a fantastic game here that will just have to settle for being a really good one.
Elex needed much more time in the oven to be the game its promising previews made it seem to be, and with the dearth of games available this winter, I can't recommend it to anyone but the most hardcore fans of the genre.