Pixel Dynamo
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Thanks to its short nature and stellar scripting, Minecraft Story Mode continues to throw haymakers. The action is ramped up once more in episode three, ending with a conclusion that nearly conjured up enough of a spectacle to be worthy of ending the whole series – if it wasn't ever so slightly rushed.
With a tighter, more engaging narrative and some new, creative challenges, League of Explorers is arguably Hearthstone's best adventure to date. Excitingly, as it will take time for players to get to grips with the new cards and mechanics, the true, buried treasures of League of Explorers might not be unearthed for months yet.
Star Wars Battlefront is remarkably beautiful. So much so that I genuinely believe it is the best realisation of the Star Wars universe we have ever seen in a video game. But it also feels empty. Simple, stripped back shooting is great in a game with tons of ways to play, but when it's confined to what feels like only two fully-fledged game modes, and the metagame is taken back to bare bones too, it begins to make you wonder if there's actually much there at all.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 is the most extensive Call of Duty game ever made, but not without its flaws. Dour storytelling and purely incremental changes to multiplayer prevent it from reaching the legendary status of its predecessors.
Despite its technical shortcomings, Fallout 4 is still a delight to play, and serves as a reminder of what an experienced team like Bethesda can accomplish with their expansive open worlds. Those looking to lose days, weeks, perhaps even months of their time to a game will find more than enough here to keep them satisfied.
Lara's had a rough ride to get where she is, but Rise of the Tomb Raider is definitely a game of the year contender and a promising sign of where Crystal Dynamics is taking the series. The game is tight, from both a narrative and gameplay standpoint, and it's got plenty to do. If you were a fan of the 2013 reboot, Rise expands upon the foundations set on Yamatai to offer a bigger, better game.
Instead of exciting racing, Need for Speed seems more focussed on tapping into trends and desperately trying to stay relevant. Instead of bringing something new to the table, it aims to recycle ideas from its peers.
Afterbirth is an expansion that manages to be both thoughtful and vast, and makes one of the best games around even better.
From the moment you set foot in Halo 5: Guardians, it's obvious that the game has been given the attention it deserves. Everything about it, from the way you move across the terrain, to the way you beat down a helpless grunt, feels finely tuned. There's a tactile sensation of weight behind every step, and the crunch of your actions is as visually pleasing as it is satisfying.
The ride may've been short, but it was filled with entertainment along the way. Assembly Required manages to pack in a lot in such a short space of time. Whilst the surprise launch left me faintly surprised rather than overjoyed, episode three now can't come soon enough.
We have a choice-based game that wants to redefine decision-making in games, but after Polarized ends we're left without the risk and reward and ultimately ends up minimizing both itself and its emotional impact.
Syndicate unashamedly avoids any attempts to break away from the mould of its predecessors as it happily churns out the same objectives time and time again with no regard for the player. If, like me, you've grown weary of going through the motions, Syndicate will leave you unimpressed and doubtful of what, if anything, this series has left to offer.
Like Blade Runner, Transistor may need a Director's Cut to achieve its full potential
Child of Light offers so much more value than the price tag denotes. The bittersweet story is articulated in an incredibly innovative way, the art-style and animation are striking, all topped with a hauntingly beautiful soundtrack, and elegant combat system. There are lots of 'full-price' games out there that have embarrassingly less to show. I don't think you could want much more, this is unless you're partial to the more typical titles under Ubisoft Montreal's belt.
Bells and whistles now as standard!
Steep difficulty curve
Greatest. Demo. Ever.
Garrett deserves better
To hand this enterprise an actual numerical valuation is possibly as arbitrary as the point-scoring within Goat Simulator itself. Is it a 10 for concept alone? Is it a zero because as a playable media it is an utter shambles with a broken physics engine? It seems to not even matter. It takes very special situational engineering to be able to create a product that is awful, sell it for real cash-money and then simply exclaim to the haters: "we told you so." But that is what Coffee Stain have succeeded in doing. Kudos to those guys, who are having their cake and eating it. An almost perfect paradox.
Feels good to die again