Guardian's Reviews
Mortal Kombat X is many things. It is mechanically refined and stylistically muddled; it has a sometimes unpleasantly violent, sometimes charmingly hammy commitment to the traditional fighting game template. It has thrust the series forwards and succeeds in delivering nuance while offering a welcoming genre gateway for inexperienced players.
Stunning landscapes with dizzying visual detail, and a tool that lets you record and edit in-game footage and upload it to YouTube, puts this open-world game lightyears ahead of its competitors
This simple-looking title in which players make shapes with boxes is the equal of Hal Laboratory's more celebrated games
Not for everyone, but for fans of deep RPGs, Monster Hunter 4 is an excellent adventure.
It's a great end to a challenging and scenically beautiful journey.
A brilliant example of the RPG genre let down by indistinct graphics
Its elegance, precision, humour, and challenge make Bloodborne irresistible. Ultimately, the horror is secondary; wonder is the true transfusion on offer here.
Civilisation creator's latest focuses on building starships and conquering the galaxy, and is perfectly tuned for lapsed gamers who loved his earlier work
Hotline Miami 2 is a messy, aimless sequel and a step back from the original. Many of its levels feel like crafted set-pieces rather than playgrounds for violent expression, and your scope for creativity is stifled as a result. When you're deep in the moment, chaining kills as that remarkable soundtrack vibrates through your headphones, it feels fantastic. But it struggles to hold onto that feeling as firmly as the first game, diluting the purity of its compelling core loop with an endless parade of under-developed ideas.
With the ability to play as a monster against a human team, Evolve offers something unique – and surely one of gaming's best-ever tribute acts. When you're fleeing from the hunters and get trapped in their containment field, swatting desperately while looking for an out, you think back to those Power Pills and how far we've come.
A revamped version of this 2000 classic coincides pleasingly with the new Nintendo 3DS
Indeed, one of the best things about Sunless Sea, apart from its beautifully crafted elder-horror stories, fantastically drawn artwork and generally creepy atmosphere, is the feeling that the decisions you make within the game are shaping the narrative, and that by playing, you are writing yourself into that story.
What you do get, though, is a zombie scenario which is entirely plausible and believable and that, in itself, takes Dying Light to a higher plane, reaching toward the role-playing depth of State of Decay and the sheer nastiness of DayZ. Factor in the giant sandbox of a huge city, and the end result is a scarily immersive experience.
[W]ithout doubt, Elite: Dangerous is a purchase that will provide inestimable value, delivering many hours of gameplay opportunities and experiences. Furthermore, this is a developing universe, with many planned updates and new features due over the coming months. It seems likely that the depth and scale of the experience is only going in one direction: to the stars.
Ubisoft's ambitious open-world racer offers you a whole continent to explore, but struggles to make it really live
Never Alone is quite a short game, but its charm, coupled with the opportunity to explore a culture you might not know much about, makes it utterly captivating.
Clever updating of familiar favourites makes them feel like new adventures.
The latest title in Bioware's fantasy series is huge in size, vision and entertainment value
Cry 4 truly shines in the almost bacchanalian sense of freedom it bestows on the player as they traverse through its environment. In Kyrat you have the ability to go anywhere and do pretty much anything – much as Pagan Min would advocate. Here, the only pact you need keep is that with your conscience. God help you.
Konami's Pro Evo series has struggled to match the glitz of Fifa, but the latest instalment has the footwork to beat its rival