After a disastrous launch People Can Fly's third-person sci-fi adventure emerges as a smart if familiar shooter.
Capcom's follow-up to its first-person Resi reinvention is a fantastic horror romp - for its first half, at least.
Velan Studios transposes the sport of dodgeball into what's a fun, friendly shooter that bears no arms, though it currently lacks legs.
Backbone's sumptuous pixel art and promising narrative threads are undermined by flat gameplay and a non sequitur of a final act.
Nothing new but there's some lovely texture in this dark fable.
This platformer is perfectly perfunctory in every way.
A short, sharp and fairly shallow take on the famed franchise nevertheless delivers on the full Aliens power fantasy.
The weight of Halo with a neat borrowing from Valve makes this a shooter to remember.
Gentle storytelling and challenging puzzles on an island of intrigue.
Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy is enjoyable enough at times, but weighed down by a deluge of unnecessary systems and bullet-sponge combat.
An otherworldly journey that runs out of things to do.
Moncage offers a gorgeous blend of narrative threads and teasing puzzles, that makes for a game of real elegance.
Mundaun's haunting, pencil-sketch style works wonders, but a few repetitive fetch-quests and slightly underwhelming systems hold it back.
Radiohead's near-genreless music is paired with a remarkable first-person walkthrough that's just a touch light on interactivity.
Rainbow Six Extraction's tactical PvE is good, punchy fun with a squad, and has a couple of nice little twists - but that's about it.
Far: Changing Tides' story is a little longer and its puzzles more refined than its predecessor, while its world is as beautiful as ever.
A good premise and gripping start is undermined by a second half of bugs, bad writing, and grossly overused clich's of mental ill-health.
Mediocre combat and tiresome activities hold back Ghostwire: Tokyo's otherwise spectacular, otherwordly atmosphere.
Those small - or big, depending upon your personal view - irritations aside, there's a lot to enjoy about Chinatown Detective Agency, and the story's just about worth the ride. Personally, I'm a little tired of the penchant for retro pixel art, but if you can make your peace with the other lightweight or frustrating mechanics, Chinatown Detective Agency introduces you to a memorable cast and takes you to some striking places. What a crime it is, then, that such a promising premise doesn't quite do enough with them.
If it hadn't have been for that thoroughly unjust Rewind right at the end of my playthrough, The Quarry - with its stunning visuals, wonderful voice work, fabulous score, and intriguing plot line - would have been one of my favourite games of the year thus far, and one of the best horror romps for some time. As it stands, though, it's hard to feel anything but disappointment for a game that took all my time and effort and just discarded them without warning. It's one thing to kill off a character; it's another to kill off a player's enthusiasm.