Mehdi Zadnane's Reviews
Like the first, Lego Marvel Super Heroes 2 is a really fun title with a large open world to explore and tons of great content to play through at your own pace. There's still issues with the core gameplay, but it's hard not to have fun with the latest in the LEGO franchise.
Forza Motorsport 7 has a few issues under the hood that need to be addressed, but the strengths outweigh its weaknesses as the game offers the most diverse and well-presented title in the franchise to date, along with a contender for the racing game of the year.
Dishonored: Death of the Outsider is a fun and well-made standalone title that is certainly worth giving a shot. It's certainly one that's best enjoyed if you have played the first two games and simply want to experience more and want to see the series' loose ends tied up in a nice and clean narrative.
The Hot Wheels expansion pack may not be what players were expecting from the franchise, but by combining both the spirit of the main game with the insanity of the brand, Forza Horizon 3: Hot Wheels is about as much fun as you can possibly have.
Cities: Skylines – Xbox One Edition does make a few mistakes along the way, but it provides players with a great and mostly feature-complete city-planning experience that has been sorely missing in the console space.
Planet Coaster isn't perfect yet, but what's there is just incredibly fun. There's a lot of learning to do along the way, but with all of the customization and freedom, Frontier Developments has delivered one of the best possible successors to the Rollercoaster Tycoon franchise.
Batman: Return To Arkham is a good way to experience both games if you haven't already played them previously. Returning players and PC gamers will probably be better off sticking to the original releases, which still hold up quite well, despite the technical improvements.
Battlefield 1 is undoubtedly the breath of fresh air that both the genre and market have desperately been craving for quite some time.
Providing a deep, fun and addictive gameplay experience, Forza Horizon 3 is one of the best racing games of the generation.
Bound excels in presenting an engaging universe and telling a deep and imaginative story, but where it has the imagination to make the player think and awe at what they’re seeing, it simply doesn’t have as much to tell when it comes to the core gameplay. That being said, it wouldn’t be fair to call Bound a bad game, because it’s simply a flawed one when it comes to gameplay. The lack of engaging gameplay really affected my experience to a certain point, but for what it’s worth Bound’s storytelling managed to salvage what else there was and give me an immersive narrative experience.
Quite frankly, Lego Star Wars: The Force Awakens may be the strongest title that Traveller's Tales has given us as of yet when it comes to adapting popular franchises. Providing fun, renewing and diverse gameplay, the game more than makes up for its length by the fact that what's there is just so fun to play. If there's one Lego game you're picking up this summer, you better make sure it's The Force Awakens!
Despite its underlying ambitions and some redeeming qualities, Homefront: The Revolution is a revolution in name only, though it feels more like a domestic dispute than anything of that scale. Combining subpar storytelling and gameplay with a heap of performance issues, this revolution seems to come to an end before it ever begins.
Shadow of the Beast is a good looking game, but ultimately the game comes off as a failed tribute to the original that puts all its money on the wrong horse. Heavy Spectrum’s work on the designs and narrative is admirable, but ultimately Shadow of the Beast is merely a shadow of the original.
Quantum Break is an excellent addition to the Xbox One and Windows 10 libraries, telling a deep and well thought-out story that not only takes itself seriously, but offers great entertainment value. But for its brilliance in storytelling it somewhat stumbles in certain aspects of its gameplay design, keeping Quantum Break from reaching its full potential. None the less, Quantum Break for all its problems has been worth the wait, and Remedy has gotten their well-deserved spotlight in the industry with their strong entrance to the current generation.
DiRT Rally isn’t a game of player vs competitor, but a trial by fire as the battle between driver and machine rages on throughout a punishing gameplay experience that is as much frustrating as it is rewarding as you improve your driving skills over time. But as immersive as the game is when it comes to its core gameplay, the setup of the game when it comes to the career mode and the limited scale make DiRT Rally more of a side-stop, albeit one that shows great promise for the future of the franchise.
The first game was a real surprise to me at its time of release, but the second game has managed to recreate this sense of awe, providing a game much more diverse and bigger in scale. Garden Warfare 2 is a colorful and fun experience that will appeal to many, providing a much needed breather in a genre that sometimes forgets it doesn’t always have to take itself seriously.
Dying Light: The Following isn’t the type of DLC that simply repeats the main game. It takes some of the best elements, adds some interesting and sometimes surprising new elements, mixes them together and creates a great amount of content that isn’t only fun, but actually feels fresh in many ways. The Following is a great expansion that not only compliments the main game, but provides new and returning players with a new and fresh experience that stands well on its own.
This War of Mine: The Little Ones is a simple game that is elevated greatly by its excellent preventation and storytelling, which create a an experience that despite its nature can make for quite an intense experience that may prove challenging for a lot of players. The war is ours, and every decision lies in our hands, and every decision has its consequences.
The Crew: Wild Run is a great example of a great idea that simply doesn’t fare better than ‘OK’ in its execution.
Assassin’s Creed Syndicate is technically stable and visually appealing, but even though it learns lessons from the mistakes of its predecessor, it still manages to make older problems return and creates a gameplay experience that really doesn’t do much to take a hold of the player, which is a shame considering many of its gameplay elements showcase much promise. Ubisoft Quebec has managed to create a decent game, but the gameplay simply never manages to live up to the potential of its setting, which is a shame.