The Lost Lords is an improvement, then. A significant one. But by introducing two new characters, there hasn't been enough development, despite the fact that we're approaching the halfway point of the series.
As a sandbox for building stupidly large cities, Cities XXL can be a fun diversion when performance issues aren't rearing their ugly heads. But once the buildings are plonked down, there's little to do aside from plonking down more of them. The management aspects are shallow, and made entirely redundant by how easy it is to reach Scrooge McDuck levels of wealth. And there's a serious dearth of good reasons for veteran Cities players to return. They've seen it all before.
I was wrong. It's a universe filled with boring people living on boring space stations, and playing in this universe is, unsurprisingly, really bloody boring. There's not one thing that X Rebirth does that Albion Prelude or, indeed, any of the X games doesn't do better beyond a few visual treats. Even when the bugs are fixed, the bizarre design choices will persist, as frustrating and counter-intuitive as they were at launch.
Some solid puzzles can't rescue what is an otherwise terrible adventure game.
Obsidian's dark RPG deserves a better expansion than Bastard's Wound.
Consortium is a tragedy. There's an extremely clever game to be found within, but only when it works. It's just the first part of a planned trilogy, and I have so many questions that I won't be able to help myself, I need to play the second part. But I can only hope that it's not held together by chewing gum and sellotape again.
Betrayer is an FPS where the shooting is lackluster and the enemies annoying. An adventure game where investigations are restricted to looking for objects on the ground. It is carried by artistic flair and - when it works - impressive audio design. As the violent encounters started to drain me of my energy and the plodding search for clues started to drain me of my sanity, I weathered it all because of my burning need to finish the story and my mission. I needed to put these souls to rest. But mostly I just wanted it to be over.
Had I not known that this was the work of Jane Jensen, I honestly wouldn't have believed it. And when there are so many adventure games coming out during this renaissance, it's hard to see why anyone would choose this over, say, The Walking Dead or one of Daedalic's traditional, bloody hard adventure games.
It's been a shame to watch all of Perils of Man's promise go to waste. It got its hooks in me, made me eager to jump down the rabbit hole, but it just led to disappointment.
I have no doubt that some folk will dismiss Sacred 3 because it bears no resemblance to the previous core games in the series. But that's not why it should be avoided by most. It's simply not fun to play. The writing is abysmal, the combat is all sizzle and no steak, and, for a rather short game, it regurgitates a hell of a lot. It never rises above mediocrity, but often sinks below it.
Call of Duty: Ghosts offers very few reasons for all but the most obsessed fans to take a look. Most of the time it revels in being mediocre and cowardly by the numbers rather than outright terrible, though there are moments where it manages to be both. If this isn't a wake up call, showing once and for all that churning out more or less the same stuff year after year only serves to dilute the quality of a franchise, then I don't know what is. It's completely shameless, and it's undoubtedly going to sell phenomenally well.
With its awful characters, inconsistent voice acting and combat hampered by problematic enemies, what little there is to enjoy is whittled away. It's something to be tasted when absolutely starved for RPGs and could provide enough sword and sorcery shenanigans to tide one over until something more appetizing comes along, but it's unlikely to prove fulfilling.
Empire of Sin's many bugs, balance issues and competing systems undermine what could have been a novel mob management game.
An intriguing but often incoherent mystery that’s bogged down by long-winded dialogue and terrible puzzles.
A fun concept and diverting combat don't make up for how slight and repetitive Slayer Shock is.
Passive AI and a flawed economy ruin what could have been a refreshing 4X experiment.
Gamedec is half of a good RPG and falls far short of its tantalising premise.
A mountain of issues gets in the way of the gratuitous monster murder and engaging customisation.
An exceptional RTS let down by a very disappointing remaster.
Absolutely bursting with breathtaking vistas, No Man's Sky works best as a stellar walking sim. Sadly the half-baked survival elements only detract from the experience.