World of Tanks is an entertaining and enjoyable tactical shooter with a surprising amount of depth. If you're not prepared to pony up some cash, it does become a grind eventually – but if you reach that point and you still want to play, spending some money is very likely a worthwhile investment.
A right rollicking blast from the past brought bang up to date with a splendid, full 1080p makeover. Its campaign has a ton of macho meat to sink your teeth into, and once you're done, the multiplayer aspect provides plenty of long-term appeal. The fact that the game comes with three other Xbox 360 Gears of Wars titles makes it a veritable bargain.
A lovely game with a delightful story, this platform puzzler has very high audio-visual appeal. It's also really fun to play - although it does have areas where poor camera choices and slightly awkward controls can make the proceedings frustrating.
A sprawling game that packs plenty of content. The problem is that many of the missions end up feeling like recycled material. As such, the game lacks variety and, at worst, some quests feel like busy work. Overall, Mad Max offers a lot, but ends up feeling somewhat rote, with little in the way of truly new and novel things to do. You've ultimately played the sum of its parts before.
As technically polished and fully-featured as any racing game out there, Forza Motorsport 6 transports you to an incredibly realistic racing world where there's a huge breadth of choice in terms of cars, tracks and types of driving experience. Pretty much whatever you're in the mood for, Forza Motorsport 6 has you covered.
The Taken King is a huge improvement over last year's release. It features a far better story, much stronger voice acting, more exciting and varied missions, and an endgame that is more rounded out for long-term play. Not only that, but it also refines the overall gameplay and makes the game a far better experience than before - one that is definitely worth playing.
An entertaining, challenging, and thoroughly psychedelic music rhythm game that has great audio-visuals. It's a little on the short side at only a couple of hours, but it's a fun game nevertheless.
You can definitely see the potential here, but despite having good enough controls and plenty of missions to get your teeth into, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5 lacks polish and finesse - and ultimately becomes repetitive.
This spiritual successor to Tourist Trophy delivers exciting and challenging racing action that's thoroughly enjoyable. However, graphics that feel more last generation than this, rather weak sound, and very slow loading times take the edge off the overall experience.
While it lacks some of the features of prior versions - most notably online mode - Rock Band 4 is a solid release that establishes the franchise as a platform that will be continually supported and updated in the future. It's a great model that brings the classic Rock Band gameplay to current-generation consoles, while being compatible with legacy instruments and songs.
A simple, but enjoyable shooter that presents endless screens of enemy hordes to blast through. It's not particularly original, and doesn't look or sound that great - but Crimsonland nevertheless provides a fun challenge for those who might enjoy a game whose roots can be traced straight back to Robotron 2084.
Guitar Hero Live's new guitar helps bring something fresh to the genre, and offers a new challenge for both beginners and veterans alike. GH Live is fun, though a little cheesy, but it's in GHTV where the game's most interesting aspect is found. If this continues to be built out as Activision has promised, it should deliver long-term appeal - and a great way to discover new music.
The campaign mode hits some great highs over its somewhat short 15-mission span, but also occasionally suffers from a lack of variety, and some boss fights that feel disappointingly one-note. Halo 5: Guardians' strength is found in its PvP. Arena and Warzone offer two distinctly different flavors of action, and both are solid, very well designed, and a lot of fun to play. Ultimately, campaign is a good way to ease you into the game - but it's the PvP that delivers the best of what this game has to offer.
Bedlam's concept is absolutely brilliant, and it's voiced very well too. Unfortunately, its stiff, unforgiving gameplay just isn't much fun, and what you're left with is a great idea whose potential just hasn't been fully realized.
Need for Speed returns to its urban car culture roots with a gorgeous-looking, very well designed game that offers five different racing styles to tackle - and a bevy of interesting cars to modify and make your own. Its story is a lot of fun, and it's set in an impressively large environment that is very enjoyable to drive around. A great arcade racer that's both challenging and addictive.
Call of Duty: Black Ops III offers few surprises, but even so, it's a great package. The campaign sometimes feels like it's trying too hard, but is ultimately solid and enjoyable. Zombies mode is a nice bonus. But really, it's the multiplayer that steals the show. It doesn't stray far from the usual formula, but it's been honed and polished to perfection to deliver seriously brilliant multiplayer competition.
Although the single-player side of the game is weak, Rainbow Six: Siege's multiplayer modes are a huge amount of fun. Tense, thoughtful, and tactical, they play very differently to most run-and-gun shooters. While the game's content does feel a little slim at launch, there's no denying it's highly enjoyable to play - especially when you have a team of players working together.
Although the single-player side of the game is weak, Rainbow Six: Siege's multiplayer modes are a huge amount of fun. Tense, thoughtful, and tactical, they play very differently to most run-and-gun shooters. While the game's content does feel a little slim at launch, there's no denying it's highly enjoyable to play - especially when you have a team of players working together.
DariusBurst Chronicles Saviours perfectly replicates an original arcade experience, and delivers a ton of old-school-feeling shoot 'em up content in the process. However, despite looking and sounding excellent, the action doesn't vary much, meaning that it will likely only appeal to hardcore fans of the series.
Looking and playing very similarly to the 2003 original, the new Amplitude packs a thumping good progressive electronica soundtrack which suits its slick and nicely polished gameplay perfectly. Where the game does fall a little flat is in its lasting appeal. It doesn't take long to beat the campaign and unlock almost all of its tracks, and once you've done that, the leaderboards are the only place where a long-term challenge can be found.