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Just Cause 3 is a wonderfully constructed open-world, that successfully builds on its predecessor's legacy with humour and aplomb. The key problem however is that at the moment there are too many technical problems which hamper play. You'll want to be wild and free, blowing everything to hell in a variety of ways, and so often you can be, but that only serves to emphasise those moments where Just Cause 3 struggles to keep up.
Xenoblade Chronicles X is a genuinely enthralling game. It doesn't take it easy on you though, and the perseverance and attention required may override the spectacle and beauty found here. Fans of the last game may also struggle with the tonal and technical shift, but if you want to experience one of the most involving, creative and expansive open worlds ever created, Xenoblade Chronicles X is essential.
Despite its technical problems and some missing features, Primal Carnage is far from being a bad game. For an independently developed title it looks pretty stunning, even if some of the animations are slightly off. However, as much fun as I've had messing around with the various classes and game modes, Primal Carnage simply doesn't have the lasting appeal I look for in a multiplayer shooter. If played with friends, it will serve up several hours of grin-inducing fun but beyond that very little else.
Sword Art Online: Lost Song is not a bad title, it's simply an average one. Fans of the anime will be well served by it's gentle adventuring and light tone, and the combat may attract those who enjoy the Musou games, but the likelihood will be that it's not likely to be an experience you'll remember in a few months time.
Typoman's appeal boils down to whether or not you're willing to invest in shorter games that are content light, yet have genuinely interesting ideas that are beyond what's come before. By using words as an aesthetic and gameplay device, it writes its own reasons for why it is unique. My only wishes were that the platforming was tighter and that it had a few more levels. Typoman is over far too quickly for my liking, but this is high praise for what it did in its short time.
Story Mode continues to be an imaginative and inventive exploration of a Minecraft universe that younger fans in particular ought to enjoy.
Hard West gets a lot of things right, with a number of clever ideas that help to broaden the scope of the standard turn-based formula it draws upon, but a lack of checkpointing and other game design faux pas can spoil the fun.
The core concept of Kromaia Ω is that of a solid 360º shooter which can generate some epic battles, but the combination of frantic shooting, chilled out story and trippy visuals have been done better, most notably in Ubisoft's Child of Eden. Whilst unremarkable, it remains entertaining and challenging, with the included co-op mode a worthwhile and welcome addition.
Out of the six episodes, The Ice Dragon stands head and shoulders above the rest. Although this was to be expected, as with most story-driven games, this final instalment does a grand job in showing just how cinematic Telltale's adventure series have grown while passionately adhering to source material.
Ultimately Kingdom is a game that's easy to love. Combining exploration, micromanagement and strategy in a way that continually feels personal and intimate is no easy task, but it achieves it by forcing you to do everything yourself. While simplicity is the key to the game's mechanics, keeping everything on a very human scale is probably at the core of how it makes you feel. Very few strategy or management games manage to present things on a street level scale, but Kingdom does it perfectly and it's all the better for it.
Unfortunately, this episode doesn't hang together quite as well as the first
Conflicks – Revolutionary Space Battles is an incredibly fun RTS game that deserves to find an audience to help popularise its multiplayer mode. The campaign is a decent length and draws you in with its fun story, though there are a few dips. There is a lot of depth with the various ships which allow you to experiment with different tactics. The art style is pleasing to look at and the music is well composed, blending seamlessly with what happens on screen. While the AI could do with some improvement to provide a bit more of a challenge Artifice Studios has done well here.
Fallout 4 is hugely ambitious and without a doubt one of the best games this year. It's not without its flaws, but very few games made me care more about what I was picking up, how to use it, what choices I made, and even the communities I'd founded. By streamlining some mechanics, Bethesda has made room for other more complex ideas. If you can forgive a few technical imperfections, of which there aren't as many as prior instalments, Fallout 4 exceeds all expectations.
Undeniably, if you're a Star Wars fan, Battlefront remains one of the year's most essential purchases – and you can probably add an extra point to the score below – but you will have to rely on, and invest in, DICE's future plans for it to be an experience you'll return to time and time again.
Rise of the Tomb Raider is an action-packed tour-de-force that, while derivative at times, is a fantastic romp from beginning to end. This sequel learns some of the lessons of its predecessor by making the game more like a recognisable Tomb Raider game, while at the same time implementing some new features and impressive visual design. While not quite the globetrotting adventure some were hoping for, Rise of the Tomb Raider is well worth playing.
We're not likely to find out exactly what troubles the team at Prope faced on Rodea's rocky road to market. The end product is evidence enough to suggest that something went wrong along the way, and it's a real shame. With a little more refinement and even the lightest of facelifts, Rodea could easily have been a Nintendo exclusive worth owning.
Need For Speed feels like a plucky contender, that is close to greatness but tragically falters at number of key moments. There is genuinely plenty of fun to be had in its world, and the return to the themes of Need For Speed: Underground are welcome. However, there simply isn't the level of consistent quality that the franchise has had during Criterion's stewardship, despite a large number of their staff moving to Ghost Games, and indeed in a number of ways it feels like a step back from 2013's Rivals. This year's Need For Speed is close to greatness, but it doesn't quite make the podium.
From the big marquee features to the small touches and hidden modes, Black Ops 3 features an awful lot of content, and every aspect of it is designed with cooperative play in mind. It can feel a bit disjointed in places, but it's a broad and expansive game with plenty to enjoy, especially so when playing with friends.
Although somewhat far fetched, Coast Guard's storyline can be rather captivating and adds a refreshing layer to the game. However, it gives the impression that it doesn't really know what it wants to be, without the depth to a full ship simluator and with some lacking gameplay during the investigations. If you're looking for something to keep you busy for a few hours, this will certainly do just that, but you might be left wondering if you could have better spent your time with a game that focuses solely on the side of the game you enjoyed most.
Still, this beautiful wrapper isn't enough to cover up Poncho's fundamental flaws. It's a lovely experiment and although it works well in some parts, an overall sense of cohesion is missing. Being able to move along the z-axis is a clever feature yet Poncho uses this as a crutch, failing to flesh out other essential areas of the game. In short, there's certainly something special here yet, sadly, only a minority will succeed in finding it.