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The game suggests identity and heroism arise from communal ties as much as they do from individual traits and struggle.
The game is our best example that we can play a movie. The fact that the movie in question is a leaden, unimaginative waste is almost incidental.
Xenoverse isn't a particularly great fighting game, or even an above-average one, but it's clearly the best entry in this long-running franchise in quite a while.
A cynic would be justified in thinking this edition still has its work cut out for it trying to bring back DmC fans who held the reboot in contempt.
The game is as punishing and uncompromising as the continental war that it chronicles, and it will school you.
It wouldn't be a Battlefield game without a host of multiplayer scenarios, and Hardline is definitely no slouch in that department.
When any video-game franchise, mainstream or niche, breaks into the double digits, developers should recognize the unique milestone as an opportunity to revamp the series, especially if the latest entry is making its debut on the mother company's latest home console. Sadly, Mario Party 10 suggests the series has reached a downward-trending low.
A result of the lack of tutorials and handholding is that each bit of incremental, hard-earned progress provides an unparalleled adrenaline rush.
Unless a player's favorite part of chess is waiting for their opponent to take their turn, S.T.E.A.M. might just end up wrinkling their brain.
This isn't just a nostalgic copy of the games of the medium's youth, but also a fever dream of what the 8-bit era was capable of.
The part of the game that matters is an impressive romp for anyone whose inner adolescent is looking for a cheap, satisfying, bloody thrill.
Even the zombie material, which is still painfully boring and overdone conceptually, manages a few surprises.
Experience is earned largely through quests, which highlights the emphasis on thoughtful storytelling over mindless bloodshed.
It's aesthetically crisp and ninja-smooth, but the game all but vanishes from one's mind even while playing it.
It lies somewhere between a fully formed game in which wizards learn to chain elements into powerful spells and a low-rent improv show.
It alters the racing-car formula smartly in several areas, but the good ideas are often half-baked or hidden behind a load of cruft.
The virtue of shooters is a simple set of parameters creating interesting decisions, and the game's greatness is how it expands that matrix.
Unsurprisingly, the game runs as well on consoles as its predecessors, and its tried-and-true combat is a clean fit for the MMO format.
The comedic lengths the game goes to make the series's trademark wanton cruelty palatable is impressive.
Neither the artificial screen glare nor actress Viva Seifert's performance lend credibility to the game's lady-psychopath clichés.