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Attila adds new layers of depth and complexity to Total War, and its dark, chaotic atmosphere does a brilliant job of breathing life into one of Europe's most troubled periods. The problem is that all that depth and complexity can make it a very demanding and – at first – unrewarding game. Keep at it, and the epic battles and challenging campaign mode make it well worth persevering. Overall, this feels like one for the fans, but is that really such an awful thing?
There's a lot to like about ScreamRide, but not much of it is good enough to love. With three discrete elements, each of which could have been a download game in its own right, it's reasonably good value, but no one element is quite as brilliant as it could have been, and the environments aren't engaging enough to make the mindless destruction that much fun. There's potential in the creative tools and community features, but this isn't the most thrilling of thrill rides.
Ace Combat: Assault Horizon Legacy+ is a tricky release to score, because it's certainly not a bad game - it's just a rather lazy upgrade on a title which came out four years ago. Newcomers who are fans of this type of game are should give it a look, however.
Monster Hunter 4 is brilliant, being both more accessible to beginners and a more complex, exciting game for long-term fans. Some aspects, like the combat, structure and camera, ensure that it's never going to please everyone, but of all the games in the series, this is the one that comes closest. It's another corker for the 3DS games library, and the perfect way to try the noble sport of monster hunting on for size.
The Escapists may look cute and lightweight, but it's a surprisingly deep sandbox RPG that punishes sloppiness and where players have a multitude of options in how they go about crafting their escape. Its learning curve is steep and hints are few and far between, but hey, that's life on the inside for you.
Some might wish for more visual enhancements or fixes for the original game's biggest flaws, but this HD restoration of Grim Fandango only underlines what a fantastic, beautifully written and gorgeously designed game it is. It's clearly a product of its time, yet like its movie inspirations it hasn't faded with time. It was one of the best graphic adventure games then, and it's still one of the finest now.
It's Dead Island meets The Last of Us meets Far Cry 3 meets Assassin's Creed, but while Dying Light doesn't score highly for originality, it does for parkour thrills and zombie-slaying antics. The pace lags occasionally from time to time, but this is a slicker, most refined game than you might ever have expected from the brains behind Dead Island, and one that deserves to be a hit.
That having been said, if you are a fan of point-and-click adventures (or those Fighting Fantasy books from yesteryear) and a sucker for an intriguing, atmospheric yarn you'll be right at home here. In fact, it may be just the sort of entertainment you're looking for if you're between TV shows.
Where Saints Row IV earned a promotion from expansion to sequel through an explosion of fun and interesting ideas, Gat Out of Hell feels more like leftovers than a brand new experience. The action can be entertaining and the fun infectious, but there's a lot of familiar content here, and Hell itself is a drab place to explore. If you love Saints Row and want more of the same, this expansion delivers, but most gamers will find more than enough Saints Row goodness in Saints Row IV.
It's a straight HD remaster of the 2002 remake, but as long as you can live with Resident Evil's numerous and well-known idiosyncracies you'll be surprised at how well it still plays. If you're a major Resi fan it's questionable whether there's enough new here to take another dip - your Resident Evil memories are probably scarier than the real deal. First timers and long-absent friends, however, should open the creaky mansion door and step nervously inside. This horror pioneer is still one of the greats.
Like a stripped back version of Worms, Flockers makes the most of its connections to Team 17's beloved series to deliver a complicated and occasionally messy action puzzler that sits perfectly on smartphones and tablets.
Don't listen to the cynics and the moaners: Titanfall was a great multiplayer shooter last year and it's even better now. Its innovative movement and Titan mechanics put many more recent shooters in the shade, and it's as fast-paced and addictive as ever. If you've just bought an Xbox One this Christmas, put it on your shopping list right away, and on PC it's an absolute bargain. Titanfall might not be the deepest, richest or most tactical competitive FPS around, but it's easily one of the most entertaining.
An intentionally broken game, Goat Simulator's hamstrung sandbox is designed to titillate and amuse, serving up bugs and faults like candy. All too soon, however, the laughs dry up, and what you're left with feels like yesterdays news, with all its tricks let out of the box and with very little left to take its place.
Driveclub deserves a second chance, but will it get it? We hope so. It might not be a crowd-pleaser like Forza Horizon 2, but it's a frequently fantastic racer that's only getting better with time.
The fact that everything plays out so smoothly here suggests that the finished product is extremely close to the designers' original vision for the project, a compliment that certainly can't be levelled at all games. This clarity of creation brings us a game of expert pacing and reward, as well as one that possesses more depth than the vast majority of its genre peers.
A lightweight but lovable adventure in the spirit of the classic Tomb Raider games. It's not particularly deep or innovative, but it balances combat, puzzle-solving and exploration well, and the third-person visuals and level design work better here than they did in Guardian of Light. Do you still like Lara? You'll like this.
An expansion that could have confirmed Destiny's greatness only leaves you feeling underwhelmed. If you want more Destiny, here's more Destiny, and it's still a lot of fun. There's more loot to collect, more weapons and armour to try out, and a handful of new strikes and activities to try with your Destiny friends. When we've played the new Raid there's a chance that it might all seem incredibly worthwhile. For now, however, the main reason to buy The Dark Below is that it gives you more reason to keep plugging away and a handful of new activities, not because it adds anything that new or substantial to the game.
Too obtrusive for newcomers but arguably too light for board game aficionados, The Witcher Adventure Game makes good use of its license and has a solid take on the genre to offer, but is perhaps neither difficult enough nor welcoming enough to appeal to a set audience.
The Crew has a fantastic open world to explore and some excellent racing, but too much is second-rate about the visuals, the handling, the narrative and the mission design for it to make the most of all that good stuff. It's worth playing for the scenery, the challenges and the variety of the gameplay, but it's neither polished enough nor consistently strong to stand up to Forza Motorsport 2 as a thoroughbred next-gen racer.
Telltale's video game version of Game of Thrones gets off to a good start, though it's more dialogue-focused than ever and the reliance on quick-time-events is beginning to wear thin. If you're a fan of the books and TV series then you'll be happy with Telltale's faithful approach to the fiction, and this first episode sets up some interesting situations for future chapters to exploit. It's far too early for a definitive verdict, but we like what we see and we're keen to see more.