VG247's Reviews
For the first time in years, Need For Speed has remembered why people used to play it so religiously, and recognised the more recent elements that put them off.
Red Dead Redemption 2 is a brave prequel that isn’t afraid of taking risks. It is innovative, surprising, stunning, dramatic, and generous – a highlight of this generation and a benchmark for other open world games to aspire to.
If you do manage to hold out, you will be rewarded with flashes of brilliance, it’s just that those flashes are buried as deep as the core story is buried in the endless dialogue.
Another Call of Duty that doesn’t really change anyone’s mind about Call of Duty. Whatever’s there that I thought might actually be making a leap was seemingly just good marketing. In that sense, I suppose, it’s been pretty successful. [OpenCritic note: Jeremy Peel and Sherif Saad separately reviewed the campaign (4/5) and multiplayer (3/5). The scores have been averaged.]
This has quietly arrived as one of the most original games of the year – and better yet, is one of my favorites.
For those that were disappointed with Fallout 76 going online multiplayer, this is the single-player RPG you’ve been looking for. If you’re hankering for somewhere you can while away the hours talking shit, chuckling and prodding at the locals, you won’t be disappointed.
Where Shadowkeep’s story will take us remains to be seen, but the inclusion of Destiny’s core mechanics in a brilliantly revamped location has reinvigorated Destiny 2 just as it was starting to get a little stale.
Ubisoft has failed in two areas where it usually excels here – sequels and open worlds – but there’s still a small glimmer of hope in another area: reinvention. Perhaps this concept will get scrapped entirely for the next one and we’ll go back to the good old days where Ghost Recon was an excellent shooter with its own identity. Right now it’s out of focus, confused, and frustrating. A ghost of its former self.
Dragon Quest 11 has its flaws, and it may ultimately function as a breezy trip down memory lane for the experienced and a fabulous gateway experience for the uninitiated, but that is exactly what it sets out to be. At that, it is perfect.
Flawed though it may be, sometimes a distinctly B-tier game is exactly what the doctor ordered – especially at this time of year, in a sea of mega-hyped triple-A.
Without much cosmetic polish to fall back on, FIFA 20 needed to bring something new to the table. Although the core gameplay isn’t mind-blowingly different, it’s still the best football game, and the addition of VOLTA is a whole new way to play.
With a gorgeous presentation and smart and minimalist tweaks, it’s as charming and enjoyable now as it was in the nineties.
Despite the fact Borderlands 3 seemingly wants me to hate it, I really, really like it. Like, a lot.
. It’s like welcoming home an old friend only to find they have a new haircut that looks better the more you see of it.
World of Warcraft went through many changes over the years, for better and for worse. That leaves Classic feeling conflicted, both a rose-tinted dream and a dated mess.
This is absolutely a worthy successor to Nier Automata – and like that game, Astral Chain is definitely a contender for one of my favourite games of the year.
Ancestors feels wilfully stubborn.
Most of its good points are inherited from the last game, and while the excellent level design improvements are welcome, there’s not enough variety to get the most out of them.
Whatever path you choose, Fire Emblem: Three Houses is an absolute blast. It’s the best Fire Emblem title since Awakening, and it goes straight onto my list of must-play Switch games.
It probably comes as no surprise to learn that Super Mario Maker 2 is good. Just how good it is exceeds expectations, however.