PCWorld's Reviews
Yearly releases are hurting good games. I don't know what the sales data looks like, so I can't speak to that claim from a financial perspective. I'm sure the backroom at Ubisoft has done the calculations and concluded that the number of consumers lost per year is offset by the amount of money made.
Starpoint Gemini 2 is sort of like a modern version of Freelancer, but the galaxy's looking pretty lifeless these days.
Assassin's Creed Syndicate is a "return to form," but maybe a change would do the series some good.
Either you never thought Need for Speed was top of the arcade racing pack or (like me) you at least think they abdicated the crown a long while back. I don't anticipate much dispute there, and this Need for Speed is unlikely to put them back on top. A lot of love's been put into this PC port, but the game that's been ported over is a mediocre arcade racer at best.
This is the most frustrated I've been with a shoddy port in years. There have been other high-profile trainwrecks in the recent past, like Batman: Arkham Knight and Assassin's Creed: Unity. But I didn't like those games, aside from their obvious PC woes.
Playing as Batman? Awesome. Playing as Batman through repetitive, empty missions? Less awesome. Playing as the Batmobile? Awful.
Dead Synchronicity: Tomorrow Comes Today is the type of game to give you nightmares, and not just because of that mangled title. Though that's probably part of it.
Unless you're allergic to pixel art or Tim Curry makes you violently ill, you're better off experiencing the original than this competent-but-sterile 20th anniversary remake.
To its credit, Hotline Miami 2 isn't just "more of the same." But that's also its biggest problem.
[Bethesda] hammered and hammered and hammered and finally forged Fallout 76 into not only a better game, but one that deserves a second chance—from me, from you, and from all the naysayers.
Need for Speed: Heat is probably the best series reboot EA's put out this generation, though it arrives just as the open-world racing formula is running out of gas.
Overall I really enjoyed Man of Medan though and I’m looking forward to replaying it—and to whatever comes next for the series, as it’s pitched as an anthology.
Gears 5 still feels like a series in need of an identity, but a more charismatic lead and experiments with open-world structure hold promise for the future—even if they don't quite pay off now.
Anno 1800 brings its hybrid of city-building, trade, and diplomacy to the Industrial Revolution with a show of technical brilliance, but it's hindered by a cumbersome interface and other quality-of-life issues.
Surviving Mars has a lot of interface annoyances and other small issues, but its blend of optimism and dread makes a compelling foundation for a city/colony builder.
Q.U.B.E. 2 is a better physics puzzler than its predecessor, grander in scope, but without the same novelty the genre once enjoyed.
Let's just say I expect quite a few of you will have those "Oh damn, it's already 4 A.M.?" moments.
Total War: Warhammer II is a more daring take on fantasy than its predecessor, adding Lizardmen (dinosaurs) and Skaven (rat-men) to the mix—but it's not necessarily a more daring Total War game.
Call of Duty: WWII is mediocre. I enjoyed it anyway.
Assassin's Creed: Origins provides a solid foundation for the future, but a year off hasn't changed the series as much as you might've hoped.