GameMAG

Clearly there is no attempt to revolutionize the genre, but still Halo Wars 2 is a really great game, which should be interesting to every fan of strategies. It works great on the controller - a real achievement for the genre. Just keep in mind that the focus of Halo Wars 2 is still placed on the multiplayer and the story campaign with all its pros feels pretty poor.

Review in Russian | Read full review

Horizon Zero Dawn is one of the most exciting games of the year. The story is amazing and touches the most delicate strings of the soul. The journey of Aloy absorbed all the best from the industry and with unique design of the robotic animals created something completely new. The developers managed to maintain the magic that makes you come back to this shattered world again and again to explore the beautiful scenery, collect ancient artifacts, or just hunting for the rare creatures.

Review in Russian | Read full review

For Honor feels like a Free-to-play title that deliberately was turned into a retail product, but kept the elements of a Pay-to-win system. Unfortunately, except for graphics and animations, the single-player mode cannot offer pleasant revelations and the multiplayer mode, instead of beautiful battles, reminds only white trash street fights. The problem with an imbalance of characters in duels makes the situation even worse, but we hope that most errors will be fixed with future updates. If this happens, you can give the game a chance, but for now we recommend postponing the purchase or waiting for discounts to devote time to other more worthy projects.

Review in Russian | Read full review

Skylanders: Imaginators is a very beautiful and a well crafted game that combines action, adventure, role-playing and platformer. While remaining understandable to the children's audience, it will be interesting even for adults thanks to the variety and replay value. The main thing is not to forget to detach your credit card from the profile, otherwise there is a chance that your child will quickly pull all of the savings out on new item chests.

Review in Russian | Read full review

With all advantages Semispheres has a significant drawback – the game is too easy even in the later stages, and a combination of different skills rarely can be quite a serious challenge even for a beginner. The developers simply do not use a whole range of mechanics to make the game harder and more interesting. Still there is some hope for a DLC, which has not been even announced yet. However, as a means for relaxing before going to sleep or an opportunity to rest between big projects this game from a small indie-studio is almost indispensable.

Review in Russian | Read full review

Sniper Elite 4: Italia is the most beautiful and comprehensive game in the series, which offers a well-executed sandbox, modern graphics and really interesting tactical gameplay. The problems with AI and hitboxes can ruin the experience, but there is hope that all issues will be fixed with the patch. But even in this state it delivers the engaging gameplay of cat-and-mouse with sabotage operations against superior forces of infantry and military equipment. If you liked Metal Gear Solid 5 and want more tactics and sandbox stealth gameplay, Sniper Elite 4 is the best option to buy.

Review in Russian | Read full review

Dynasty Warriors: Godseekers is a good game, which partly suffers from the same old problems of the series. Poor graphics and repetitive missions blends with interesting tactical mechanics. The imbalance can ruin the final experience, but it worth playing especially if you are a fan of tactical RPGs.

Review in Russian | Read full review

Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue is a great opportunity to look at what players can expect in Kingdom Hearts III due to A Fragmentary Passage and partly χ Back Cover.

Review in Russian | Read full review

The Sims 4, just like the other games in the series, uses the imagination as the main resource for its sandbox. The game may successfully entertain players for hours or even years -- depending on the creativity fuse of the player. EA's policy for the distribution of DLC materials will likely scare the average user, but even the basic version of the game is enough for fun.

Review in Russian | Read full review

Final Fantasy XV is a game of lost opportunities which, once again, proves that Square Enix had to change something a long time ago. Neither of the project elements, except the music, is completely processed, and the game is released raw and incomplete, what is particularly seen after the ninth chapter. If you are ready to stop your progress at the tenth episode, suffering monotonous tasks in a beautiful open world and if you like a simplified clone of Monster Hunter then you can add one score to the total. But if you go further then there are all the chances to be disappointed. Unfortunately, the further we went the more we learnt about all the rawness and incompleteness of Final Fantasy XV. It becomes even more disappointing after watching gorgeous trailers of Final Fantasy Versus XIII. It's too bad we certailny won't see that game ever.

Review in Russian | Read full review

Beautiful cover hides a boring lacking interesting ideas dummy. Maybe for the next game Flying Wild Hog will take into account and fix the numerous plot flaws, and we get more than a fancy benchmark or the ten minute time killer after a hard day.

Review in Russian | Read full review

Warhammer: End Times - Vermintide on PS4 and Xbox One is an excellent project which was unlucky with the release date. It should have come out during an off-peak period - a decision to release it in fall was fateful and negatively reflected on the community and, accordingly, on the gameplay in general. If you like Left 4 Dead and have friends, willing to go on journey with you, then you can feel free to buy the game. Otherwise it is better to save the money for something else.

Review in Russian | Read full review

XCOM 2 on PS4 and Xbox One is a great tactical game with interesting mechanics and deep atmosphere that can drag you for many hours of gameplay. Unfortunately, the constant struggle with glitches and bugs spoils the final impression. It's also surprising that the developers have not released an update that would have fixed the most critical errors. If Firaxis manages to deal with all problems, you can easily add a couple of scores.

Review in Russian | Read full review

Despite a few flaws, Sid Meier's Civilization VI is a competent development of ideas of the cult series. Sid Meier's team made the right emphasis on the diversity of opportunities that allowed us to avoid one-sidedness of Beyond Earth. Each element of gameplay is organically intertwined with others, increasing the depth and leaving a pleasant aftertaste. As a result, we've got the best PC game of 2016.

Review in Russian | Read full review

World of Final Fantasy is probably the best Final Fantasy in the last few years with lots of gags, sometimes silly sense of humor, almost perfect role-playing system and careful treatment of favorite characters. Hunt elements with the local pokemons only adds freshness to the gameplay. The only thing that might confuse is a low level of difficulty. However, the sense of simplicity instantly disappears during fights with secret bosses. If you missed the World of Final Fantasy due to strange humor and art design or just finished Final Fantasy XV, it's time to change your mind and buy the game.

Review in Russian | Read full review

Yesterday Origins is a classic adventure that tries to be modern - with detailed investigation system and consoles/tablets support, but gets stuck somewhere at the end of the last century with outdated game mechanics, ugly cutscenes and sometimes boring plot. And it's really sad.

Review in Russian | Read full review

God Eater 2: Rage Burst could have been much more interesting if the developers had paid more attention to mechanics and variety, worked on locations and plot, cut all filler scenes and better revealed the setting. Perhaps a next God Eater will meet our expectations, but for now it is very average series, which will disappoint sophisticated fans of the genre.

Review in Russian | Read full review

Resident Evil 7: Biohazard with no doubt is the revolutionary game if you decide to play it on VR platform, but if you don’t have the VR - doesn’t worry. You still can receive a lot of positive emotions from basic version. Please borrow in mind that it’s not a classical Resident Evil and not even the RE6. It’s something new that you can’t describe, only feel on a deep emotional level. It’s just a different game that moving the industry forward that will not have any competition for the long time.

Review in Russian | Read full review

At first 7th Dragon III Code: VFD can scare you away with its silly bright style, a strange plot, ordinary graphics, lack of 3D mode and occasional frame drops. Though it becomes obvious a little after that a party creation system with a variety of classes looks pretty fresh, characters match an unusual locations design, the music sets the right pace, and battles, together with deep mechanics of co-op attacks, fail to become boring that fast, still there are some animations which you'd want to skip. Nevertheless, this game will hit taste of classic JRPG fans. It is definitely worth giving it a try.

Review in Russian | Read full review

Silence: The Whispered World 2 is a magnificent adventure with stunning graphics, great russian adaptation, thoughtful game design and interesting characters, that exciting all your attention. You are worried for Noah, Renie and their friends, who wanted to save another dimension. And this is the best recommendation for touching story about the children, who are trying to hide from the horrors of war in a world of fantastic characters and incredible adventures.

Review in Russian | Read full review