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Hitman’s latest episode has some impressive moments, but Marrakesh feels limited compared to the sprawling, interconnected layouts of Paris and Sapienza. It’s part of an increasingly great game and still provides some solid stealth action, but don’t be surprised if you’re not coming back to this one for more than a few tries.
Overwatch is a fantastic game from top to bottom. The relatively small map selection does little to detract from a game where every character is fun, unique, and important, and every fight is a dynamic, constantly evolving game of battlefield control.
Battleborn ended up stretching itself too thin by trying to include too many modes. If Gearbox had focused on the competitive aspect of the game only, I'm sure Battleborn would've ended up being much better. The campaign adds nothing of value to the game but the multiplayer modes are worth playing if you can get a team together. It's a shame solo players have been completely ignored by Gearbox, otherwise Battleborn may have been worth recommending to people.
If this turns out to be Geralt’s last adventure, it’s a worthy end
Bullet hell, but not at its finest
Doom is now my front-runner for game of the year.
Despite performance quibbles and a repetitive endgame for the campaign, Total War: Warhammer is an exciting strategy game that stands on its own. The four factions offer unique playstyles with compelling strategic options, and the hero units, fantastic creatures, and monstrous enemies make for spectacular battles that are almost as much fun to watch as they are to command.
Coming from the developers of Trine I expected a little more quality from Shadwen, the uninteresting environments echo the bland characters and gameplay that evolves too slowly. A level editor and mod support will give it some longevity and you might find some enjoyment from making a purely non-violent run through the game. But even the extra items couldn’t spice it up enough for me to find Shadwen anything other than a passing curio.
Despite the shoddy graphics and performance, and a story that could use polish in its execution, Homefront: The Revolution has a solid foundation. It's challenging and the mission variety in a pseudo open-world game is the best I've played in a while. It kept me engaged for its 22 hours. At the end, I felt satisfied. I hope to see another one with a bigger budget behind it.
Stellaris is simply wonderful. If you enjoy grand strategy games then you'll love this. If you don't then this could be the one to change your mind. If you've been too intimidated to try the genre before now, then here's your ideal starting point.
Kathy Rain is a delightful little adventure game to add to the massive pile of fun adventure games released in the last couple of months. The puzzles are believable and interesting with some really clever computer hacking ones in there. The story is compelling and entertaining, and the characters are mostly wonderful – in particular the lead girls, Kathy and Eileen (I love you Eileen!).
N.E.R.O. has the potential to be very deep if you can connect with it and fully understand it.
Nadeo have succeeded in turning people who normally wouldn't care about breaking records on a track into drivers that do. Trackmania Turbo's biggest strength comes from the restart button, located right on the front of the gamepad (or just above the directional keys if you are playing on a keyboard). You know when you've messed up and you can easily turn to the 'just one more go' button that allows you to start over again. It doesn't take long before you end up hammering on that restart button for hours on end.
The campaign is great and if you allow the game to punish you for defeat it’ll bring more impact and consequence to the later battles. Sure, the story is ridiculous but it’s what you’d expect of a 40K and it fits the genre perfectly. With a multiplayer that has as much nuance and depth as each ship you can manage, Armada is well worth your time if you’re a fan of the 40K universe. For the Emperor!
Episode Two is better than the first, both because its featured level is a more varied, interesting location, and because it eases the uncertainty of the episodic release and sets a precedent for excellence going forward. The quality of future episodes isn’t a guarantee, but Square and Io Interactive have now delivered excellent releases back to back, and their staggered release has let their best elements shine in a way that might not have otherwise. Hitman is an increasingly appealing package.
A top-down, turn-based tactical battler with a solid core and not much content to go around it, Special Tactics has the beginnings of something great that it can’t quite parlay into excellence.
While the idea of a Telltale miniseries is a welcome and novel one The Walking Dead: Michonne suffers because there’s already too much Walking Dead in the world, and also the invulnerability of Michonne means you never worry about her the same way you did Lee or Clementine. Nevertheless the story has some good shocking moments, the Silent Hill-like hallucinations add some much-needed spice, and there are some interesting choices despite Telltale not really going far enough with them. It’s a welcome diversion for sure, but let’s hope Telltale have something more imaginative for their next miniseries.
We can’t remember the last time a game disappointed us so much. Petroglyph are a gifted RTS developer filled with industry veterans, and their last title Grey Goo was superb. 8-Bit Armies though is not.
There is a ton of things to like about this game and especially this version of it. Everything returns intact and looks much cleaner and sharper than ever.
Banner Saga 2 may be just the next part of Stoic's ongoing tale but basically everything has been improved.