The multiplayer formula is largely fine and as long as Activision can check the series' slide towards Fortnite-style crossovers, millions will flock to play online every year. The Call of Duty single-player campaign, however, needs a fresh approach. Activision only needs to look at the series' past to find the winning formula.
Activision had earlier decided against releasing a CoD title this year, opting instead for a “premium expansion” for Modern Warfare II. The publisher, perhaps scared of the financial repercussions of not sticking to an annual release cycle, later decided MW III to be a standalone entry. All the evidence from MW III's campaign, however, points at little effort to do so. With rehashed missions, lazy Warzone style sections, and a sore lack of typical Call of Duty knockout set pieces, Modern Warfare III does not feel like a full game, especially at that $70 price point. The original Modern Warfare games redefined the first-person shooter genre; the trilogy's uninspired rerun, on the other hand, represents its decay.
The uninspired combat, the unpersuasive story, the unconvincing characters are all just a thin veneer. But when you peel that off, there's little inside Marvel's Wolverine that feels visceral.
The on-pitch gameplay takes a few steps forward in the right direction, empowering the defensive side of the game, but FC 25 stops short of taking necessary strides towards meaningful upgrades that could change the game for good. The continued apathy towards career mode, however, remains the biggest complaint. Gaping cracks in the quintessential mode have repeatedly been ignored for surface-level improvements — as if a new coat of paint would change the fact that the underlying wall is rotting. EA Sports FC 25, disappointingly, opts to do the same, even though a foundational change is long overdue. Over the past few years, EA's long-running football franchise has essentially embraced a live service strategy, with minor seasonal upgrades rolled out annually to an audience hooked to its unethical commercial model. The only difference is that EA asks you to pay full price every year for a “new” game.
Concord is fun and serviceable and a far cry from broken, cash-grab titles like The Lord of the Rings: Gollum and The Day Before. But it's asking for an upfront payment for an experience most people paid for, played and enjoyed eight years ago when Overwatch launched. Heck, even Overwatch 2 launched as a free-to-play title last year and still found itself standing on the stage in front of a tough crowd. It's then baffling that Sony thought a hero-shooter in 2024 could be released with upfront pricing. Concord should have been free-to-play, launched on PS Plus — I hope it does make a comeback in that form at some point. Its release should have been pushed back after the dismal open beta. Instead, Sony let it walk out to its grave.
Perhaps the most baffling fact is that it took Rocksteady, a famed developer whose past games are considered undeniable classics that are being played to this day, took nine years to make a game that falls abysmally short of the studio's own high standards. Suicide Squad isn't a terrible game — some of the negative attention could perhaps be attributed to marketing misfires, and some of the criticism is perhaps too harsh, even if not unwarranted. But it constantly pales in comparison to Rocksteady's Batman: Arkham games in every aspect that matters. There are seeds of ideas, systems, and story here that could have delivered a legitimately fun and distinctly unique shooter. But as the self-destructive game that it chooses to be, Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League only shoots itself in the foot.
FC 24 is new, but only skin deep. It brings cosmetic updates to the same old formula, while ignoring more important issues on the pitch. Sure, the gameplay gets refined little by little each year, but much remains missing in the core experience. EA prioritises its money-spinning Ultimate Team mode, but stubbornly refuses to bring new ideas to the Career mode. It's telling that FC 24 recycles the same cutscenes for transfer negotiations that we've seen in FIFA games for past three to four years. When the franchise had to move away from its FIFA branding, it presented EA a rare opportunity to forge a new identity for a series that's fast getting frustratingly familiar. That will have to wait. EA Sports FC 24 could have been so much more than what it is — the same dish with new dressing. It does not come as a surprise, though. In a rapidly changing football landscape, EA Sports FIFA has found success in consistency. And in its consistent, familiar approach, FC 24 remains preoccupied with dribbling the ball along the same lines, too scared to take a shot at goal and glory.
WWE 2K26 is more authentic, more feature packed, and also more of the same.
Starfield's Settled Systems can become an immersive, engaging world if you look beyond the flaws to craft your own adventure.
From the studio's perspective, Rematch is certainly a bold gambit. The multiplayer space is a crowded one and players are already entrenched in their preferred titles. Many would have expected Sloclap to follow-up Sifu with a sequel or yet another martial arts game. But with Rematch, the developer has tried to infuse its expertise with games involving physical combat into a football pitch. The result is a crunchingly satisfying experience that combines action and arcade sports convincingly. Afterall, a football match is a fight, too.
Which begs the question, who is Lego Horizon Adventures for, especially at its full $60 price tag? It's obviously tailored for younger players and for devoted fans of the Horizon franchise. Heck, I own the Lego version of a Tallneck from the games, too, but I wouldn't count myself among the core audience for this one. Lego video games tend to parody the mythos of their parent franchises, even if it's done in tame ways. They play as both a love letter and a limerick to the source material. But Lego Horizon Adventures feels like it only exists as an embellishment.
The remake, however, is easier to recommend on PC, where it can take advantage of high-end hardware and find players who have never experienced the game before. Despite its questionable value, the Until Dawn remake is undeniably fun. Its modernised retelling of a scary story I enjoyed long ago remains just as engaging and visceral as it was the first time around. As an interactive horror movie, Ballistic Moon's Until Dawn takes meaningful strides towards storytelling excellence. But as a remake that shies away from mechanical improvements, it stops short of transforming its parts that are all video game.
The game does make an effort to strip away borrowed limbs, but then it's left with hollowed-out interiors of Ubisoft gameplay we've come to expect and bemoan over the last few years. It's as if Star Wars Outlaws occupies the negative space of other Ubisoft games. And while Outlaws sheds some of the flaws of its kin with that approach, it also brings issues that are entirely its own. It is marred by inconsistency, saved by its authenticity, and ultimately defeated by its mediocrity. Is Star Wars Outlaws a good Star Wars game? At times, absolutely yes. There are moments where it inarguably soars. But is it a good game? Outlaws inevitably stumbles on that question.
DMC and Bayonetta games have always had a distinct personality, and Final Fantasy, despite leaning towards real-time action combat in recent titles, has always placed its strong characters, meaningful RPG systems and sprawling stories front and centre. Stellar Blade doesn't do that. Shift Up has also clearly tried to appeal to a certain sensibility with its lead character design. However, a protagonist provocative on the surface, but completely unremarkable in every other layer beneath can only carry the allure so far. Eventually, Stellar Blade is held up by its fun combat and slick presentation, but it's consistently held back by almost everything else.
The companion system adds meaningful decisions and choices and attempts to add depth to every character in the game. The diverse set of weapons and tools at your disposal always keep combat fresh and engaging. And the game's evocative setting and its colourful cast of characters always push you forward into the story. Rise of the Ronin is clearly lifting above and beyond its weight-class, and you can see it wobbling at the knees. But to its credit, it never crumbles under that load.
Immortals of Aveum comes at a time when games are almost like homework - they demand time and attention. They require you to almost put your life on hold and live a different, more exciting, and rewarding life in the vast virtual playgrounds they offer. This is not something to complain about — I look back fondly at the time when, for a good three months, I abandoned everything in my life to become an outlaw in the American Frontier when Red Dead Redemption 2 came out. Video games possess a transformative and teleporting power that frankly no other medium can replicate. But sometimes you don't need your games to be a full course meal. They're perfectly palatable as a snack. Immortals is that bite-sized biscuit that won't really leave a memorable flavour in your mouth, but will taste just fine, and be the exact kind of meal you need at that point. Right around the time when ambitious video games are showcasing the incredible depth they can offer, Immortals of Aveum represents a bygone simplicity and shallowness of the medium, that perhaps is just as important.
Dead Island 2 straddles the line between these wins and its demonstrable failures.
When the excellent parkour and spirited combat mechanics work together as intended, they raise the game above its mundane peripherals. But, more often than not, Forspoken is bogged down by its by-the-numbers open-world design, its predictable story, and just a broader lack of imagination. By the end of its near-20-hour campaign, Forspoken hangs firmly in limbo, somewhere between fresh and stale.
And a remake can never quite replicate the first-time experience of a genre-defining original. But within its remit, Ubisoft's latest Assassin's Creed title succeeds where many remakes and remasters have failed.
Pragmata is an excellent and effective action game that blends puzzle-solving and third-person shooting to deliver something that is fresh and fun, even if it often feels familiar.