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Zombie Night Terror gets in chomping distance of greatness, only to stumble over its own shuffling feet. It’s smart, stylish, inventive and funny in its own gruesome, mildly sadistic way, but can also be a little too fiddly and demanding as the game goes on.
I Am Setsuna starts out on a strong footing: offering what seems to be the perfect game for every JRPG fan with too little time on their hands. However, something is lost along the way, too much is trimmed and outside of the excellent combat system, the plot and characters simply fail to maintain my attention, some struggle to remain likeable because of their incredibly annoying dialogue.
Ghostbusters has a vaguely half-decent core, but stretches it too far over interminable levels wrecked by mindless repetition and a lack of strong ideas. It’s dull played solo, tedious in multi-player and generally no fun whatever you do. The new movie has its lovers and its haters, but the game will create no such divisions. Whoever you are, whatever you like, it’s just no good.
Necropolis is destined for a lot of love/hate reactions. It’s fun, challenging, stylish and sardonically cool, but frustration is coded into its roguelike DNA. With a few tweaks and online matchmaking it could still be a minor indie classic – it’s surprising how hard it is not to go back in for another run – but it’s a game that needs some work if it's to please a wider base of fans.
Horrendous dialogue, overly simplistic controls and mechanics make for a terrible adventure for Brog and his Barbarians. Although it’s admirable to make a simplistic RTS, doing so completely strips any ability for the player to overcome the unfair odds that the game presents as soon as the tutorials come to an abrupt end.
Get past a slightly drab, disappointing early section and you’ll find a feast of Monster Hunter fun. While you’ll miss the narrative thread and focused gameplay of Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate, Generations makes up for it with a wider set of diverse locations, some fantastic monsters and impressive graphics, not to mention some additional layers of complexity which don’t make the game less accessible. Other additions, like Prowler mode, are more superficial, but if they bring more fans onboard, who really cares? Generations’ biggest failing is that it’s more of the same without a whole lot of real progression, but this is still Monster Hunter in all its glory and one of the last must-have games for the good old 3DS.
Prison Architect is a solid simulation experience that raises the stakes thanks to pulling no punches when it comes to human beings being locked-up. A surprise treat.
Umbrella Corps is a laughably broken mess, unworthy of the iconic franchise it inhabits. The small echoes of nostalgic beauty are negated by its repetitive gameplay, awful mechanics and complete lack of worthwhile content.
I won't tell you that Sonic & Mario at the 2016 Rio Olympic games is a masterpiece, because it isn't. It's every bit as shallow and silly as previous titles, taking on a broad range of disciplines without ever really mastering any. Yet, if you're looking for a fun game to play with the family then it's one of the most enjoyable I've played this year – and as a solo player, it's surprisingly good to boot.
It might be short-lived and plagued by lobby issues, but Dead by Daylight is whip-smart, original, exciting and genuinely frightening. It puts you right at the centre of your own slasher movie, then asks you if you've got the guts and cunning to slay or survive. Only time will tell whether it can evolve into a long-term hit but, right now, it's a terrifying new entry on the multiplayer scene.
If Frogware could just tighten up the good stuff and lose what doesn't work, it might just give us the ultimate Sherlock Holmes game. As it is, The Devil's Daughter is flawed but entertaining, with lots of great detective work, some fun if baffling storylines and annoying action bits you can cheerfully skip through.
At its core, Catalyst's expansion to an open world is a misfire. While side objectives like time trials, dead drops and an entire asynchronous multiplayer functionality make for a longer playtime, it comes at the expense of refinement. Catalyst's direction feels like the opposite of what people have been quite explicitly asking for since the original game came out. As a result, while its breathtaking leaps and adrenaline filled ascents are great in their own rights, Mirror's Edge feels like it has spent the last eight years standing still rather than moving forward.
Dead Island faced some stiff criticism upon its original release back in 2011 but it's hard to tell if this was more a case of deflated expectations after that amazing trailer than genuine umbrence with the zombie-splatting action. Viewed in 2016, the game is an engaging if rather clunky action RPG which has benefitted greatly from some next-gen TLC. While the objectives become repetitive over time and there are still a few bugs that need squashing, the visceral combat and sheer variety of weapons on offer maintain your interest for the 30 or so hours you spend on the blood-drenched fictional island of Banoi.
Blood & Wine is an experience that is truly bittersweet. This is the hallmark of a studio at its peak, wholly confident and with nothing left to prove, but also still committed to delivering an expansion that’s more generous with its content than some full games – and which is good enough to be a Game of the Year contender in its own right.
Overwatch is a first-person shooter that oozes personality and charm, but beyond that surface layer lies a deep, tactical game where your most powerful weapon is your brain. If, like me, you've recently fallen out of love with online first-person shooters, play Overwatch long enough for it to deliver one of its many standout moments and you'll be renewing your vows in no time.
Fallout 4’s Far Harbor DLC is a great expansion of everything that made the game so good in the first place. If you wanted more, then you’ll be beyond pleased.
As a piece of creative work, Total War: Warhammer is more than an ideal partnership between two iconic franchises. As well as nailing the look, feel and atmosphere of the Games Workshop universe, Creative Assembly has delivered a strategy game that will keep series fans busy for hundreds, if not thousands, of hours, while also giving Total War newcomers a good – if not quite perfect – leg-up into the world of deep, grand strategy. It adds new mechanics and refines old ones, and improves greatly on the series' terrible reputation for stability issues at launch.
Homefront: The Revolution has a distinctive personality and its share of good ideas, but overall the execution is a mess. Cool weapon customisation options are no substitute for thrilling combat, while the exploration stuff is spoilt by poor movement and controls. A storyline that already struggles for credibility isn't helped by charmless characters and cringe-worthy dialogue, and visual glitches and poor AI only make the game feel less than finished. The result? A game with big ambitions that fails to hit the mark.
This is the Doom you've been waiting for, packed with gruesome, unrelenting action, gore and one of the finest monster menageries in gaming.
Thrilling, moving, exhilarating and ambitious, A Thief's End is a storming climax to the Nathan Drake saga. If it's the last of its breed, it's one of the best.