We expected a deep RPG experience and The Witcher 2: Assassins of King doesn't quite deliver on that front as much as its predecessor. I think the alteration of the combat system receives most of the blame for that...In short, frequent hack'n'slash style action puts less emphasis on tactics, character development or anything else that constitutes a really good role-playing game.

I really don't want to say that this game isn't a lot of fun. It is... Don't expect a world in which you can do anything you want, and the level design itself is very restrictive. You can buy houses and businesses for Christ's sake, you can even start a family, it just can be very shallow and simple at times.

All I know is that the horrible performance, a few random crashes, and other minor bugs have severely diminished my enjoyment of an otherwise addictive and excellently written Star Wars RPG.

As a huge Halo fangirl myself, it absolutely breaks my heart to see Halo tarnished in this fashion. This should have been a solid slam dunk for 343, not an utter disappointment.

No matter what you prefer, war, political or economic influence, or diplomacy, it's all there to assure you'll have a variety of ways to prosper and triumph over other races.

As pretty as the game looks and sounds, it just doesn’t make up for shallow gameplay and a story that really fell flat for me in the end. At least I was able to complete it in six hours, so the tedium didn’t last for that long.

Yeah, you'll like it, but only if you were hard core about the original, or haven't played the original at all and happen to like this particular game genre.

The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena doesn't know what it's supposed to be. It shifts from being an intense, yet frustrating shooter, to a buggish sneaker. Starbreeze didn't make the most out of this recipe. There's so much wasted potential

Apart from a few minor AI issues and Split/Second is actually an enjoyable game.

The biggest gripe I had with this game are the rather easy puzzles and the fact that some important technical (gameplay) issues were not resolved properly.

All the features, boss fights, stealth elements and VR missions just can’t compensate for the game’s relatively short story mode, as well as some nasty AI bugs and annoying camera issues.

These HD collections are simply getting us all prepared for 2017, and the wait will all be worth it. I just know it. (Please don’t let me down.)

To the Moon is a formulaic tale told in the wrong medium. It's far too uneven to be taken seriously by anyone who isn't enthusiastically ignoring its flaws. I'm sorry to say this was the most tedious time I ever had with a game.

In the end, flaws like repetitive missions, dumb enemy AI, in addition to generally poor graphics, prevent Saints Row 2 from joining this year's list of top releases. Mind you, it doesn't stop this from being good clean fun.

All that aside, Lone Survivor is solid. It delivers in all the areas a horror game should. You'll feel fear, loneliness, desperation and those of you who aren't familiar with the Silent Hill formula will also be intrigued by the narrative.

I felt like Ubisoft Montreal has made this game exclusively to be shown at gaming conventions. They have this great tech demo, this one looping level complete with cool graphics and gameplay mechanics, but they ultimately had no idea what to do with it. They just kept on going with these derivative missions until you become fed up with it.

With both the beauty of Firewatch and its varied tones and exploration, this is one game that will resonate with players just as variously.

What RollerCoaster 3 lacks is some excitement that can't be artificially created with some clever scenarios. The biggest drawback of this game is the fact all scenarios tend to play the same no matter what the goals are, otherwise I'm convinced I would have enjoyed it even more.

While the atmosphere can be great from time to time, on the whole, we just missed the post-apocalyptic sci-fi flavored ambience that’s heavily incorporated into games like Fallout.

I cannot say it has many faults, but its AI is lacking and it definitely needs more polish. The thing with Codename: Panzers is that it is very playable, though not revolutionary or original in any way.

Dead Island's saving grace is its open-world approach, cool custom weapons and fun coop. Nonetheless, Techland created a perfect foundation for a cool, RPG-flavored survival horror game, but forgot to polish it, in addition to providing a dull narrative.

The new additions are fun and fairly innovative, but I doubt they'll be enough to hold the attention of even slightly jaded Sims players for long.

Company of Heroes 2 feels much like playing the same game we’ve played all those years back. Apart from that, it honestly doesn’t offer any changes to a familiar formula.

We have the fantastic visuals, sounds, and atmosphere on one side, and some obvious gameplay drawbacks on the other.

The gameplay mechanics are there, but the essence and soul of a true RPG, is absent. The world is beautiful, but somehow feels like you've been there before.

A technically polished title which made amends for all of the flaws the original game had, yet which is still far from appealing or capable of holding gamers' attention, and I'm speaking even of the hard-core BattleTech fans.

If you want an action strategy with unique moments, and you don't mind stupid camera placement, and you're not too much into online fighting, and live in Europe, Hostile Waters is a decent choice.

Complexity, configurability, a large number of technologies and freedom in designing new units will provide a lot of fun hours of play.

In order for a game to be considered something worth your time and money when you finish it, you should be left with either the desire to jump back in and have another go at it or fond memories of the experiences and challenges you played through. Rage falls short on both those points.

Ynlike "Hot Date" and "Vacation," which gave you a sort of a goal, this latest expansion pack somehow takes you back to the game’s basics, with no particular goal in mind.

We’re directing our biggest complaint to both Epic and People Can Fly for failing to achieve much on the single-player front. The atmosphere kind of lacks all that tension and excitement from previous games (think Gears of War 2).

If you are really-truly hardcore about the Star Wars universe and you scoff at the "silly nuts and bolts weapons" and thing halogen lights are strangely appealing, with a patch here and there, Battlefront 2 just *might* be the experience you are looking for.

AI feels way too scripted to be fun.

The sound is mediocre. Some little things are really neatly done, like the different engine sounds, hooters, rain noise, as well as the city-becoming announcers… unfortunately, most of the samples have just been taken from the first part.

Once Upon a Climb was short and sweet, with a heavy emphasis upon sweet. Short games aren’t always a bad thing, but Episode 3 leaves you feeling as though something is lacking.

Lack of multiplayer and the relatively short single-player certainly don't do much good for the game's replay value, so the decision on whether or not you should buy Armed and Dangerous depends greatly on how much you like the style of humor that oozes from every pore of this title.

Out of Time may not be as captivating as the first episode, but it leaves plenty to look forward to and answers just enough questions to ask a few more.

It’s clear that they’ve upped the ante when it comes to action and EA and Visceral are not shying away from this fact, often admitting openly that it was the right course for the series to take. This, however, doesn’t mean they made the right decision.

The graphics look atrocious! First things first, the screen resolution is limited to 800x600 with no possibility to change this; the only thing you can turn on is the fog effect, which does look all right, but it utterly kills the gameplay.

There are indeed few novelties. If somebody showed me the thing after a couple of months, I wouldn't be able to tell if it were the original game or the add-on.

Those of you who spent months playing "Caesar III" or "Zeus" can give this game a miss, as it won't bring them anything new at all.

Street Fighter V has a lot of potential, but unless you’re training for those ranked matches, that’s all the game will be for you – potential.

Regrettably, Kane's Wrath doesn't exactly do a good job of delivering on the kind of epic single-player experience you'd hope to get after an excellent campaign from the previous game.

While the added management options offer a little more depth, you'd be much better off just playing a good Soccer management game, or if you're looking for a good soccer simulation (which FIFA 2005 isn't as it's still very arcadish and full of silly and inaccurate AI solutions), try your hand at "Winning Eleven" by Konami, probably the best soccer simulation currently available on the market.

You are most likely not going to see Lumo appearing on any “Game of the Year” lists this fall, but it is absolutely a valiant first outing for developer Gareth Noyce.

It’s not devastating, just disappointing for what it appeared to be and what it could have been.

It can be entertaining...The obvious downside is that despite the occasionally interesting puzzle-solving, you still waste too much time on numerous platform-related challenges.

Evolve has a lot going for it on the surface, but I fear it may not have enough variety to keep it in players favorite list for the long run.

I am personally disappointed that Hitman doesn't have anything unique about it any more. The lifeless main character keeps on moving through crowds, changing disguises for an eternity and then thinking of interesting ways to polishing someone off.

At least the first game involved a bit of exploration and side-missions and we rather miss those segments. Shame they decided to scrap what was, honestly, the only truly unique aspect of the gameplay.

This is yet another movie-based game that offers next to no replay value and is extremely short. But, like I said before, the game will scare you when you play as a human character and when you're Kong you get to battle huge monsters in a captivating action-packed Jackson-flavored ambiance.

The game's innovative plot and magic system, supplemented with a great deal of interactivity, will surely appeal to most gamers, while the sheer complexity and skill advancement should please RPG fans.

Although you still get some satisfaction from features that you’ve seen before, ultimately we can’t underline anything memorable this time around, at least nothing that would compare to the quality of the previous two titles.

This game is good but not great. The game needed about another 3 to 6 months of development time to get some of the bugs worked out (specifically the AI and the weapons loadouts), but I have a feeling the pressure was on since they timed the game's release with the release of the original trilogy's DVD iteration.

The distinctive setting and novel gameplay mechanics are definitely the strongest points of this title. It's a unique experience, to be sure.

The single-player campaign is reasonably lengthy, offering a range of challenging tasks in a number of different areas. But thanks to several AI flaws, repetitive mission structure, chances are you'll get a bit fed up with the whole thing before completing the main story.

Although it's always nice to see developers facing challenges and taking their talents across new ground, in Bizarre's case, it's safe to say they're far better off making racers.

Not only did they slack off while writing AI routines, and ship a buggy game, but they also didn't innovate the series in any way; let alone take it to the next level.

The developers haven't straightened out the bad camera after all these years and that's a major problem throughout the main campaign. Well, with the best intentions we just cannot let this one slide. We expected more from the combat and we sure as hell expected the whole game to be more polished.

This game brings no improvements whatsoever over its predecessor. In fact, none of the humor and delightful characters in it cannot divert our belief that this game spoiled a once fun and inventive franchise.

What we have here is a bold attempt from Capcom; an attempt to provide what's best in JRPGs and Western themed games. Sadly, too many things get in the way of entertainment. The story is confusing and offers little to explain the world you're adventuring in.

I think the developers would've had a winner on their hands if they invested more time into fine-tuning the AI and ironing out serious bugs, as opposed to merely beefing up the visuals and adding more random side-quests -most of which take you through the same areas we've witnessed the first time around. As a result, Clear Sky is, in fact, an underdeveloped shooter with wasted potential.

Its appearance is intriguing, I’ll give it that, but appearance doesn’t make it any less tedious or frustrating. I noticed on Metacritic that several people have loved it, but for me, it was absolute torture.

The biggest gripe anyone can have with an expansion pack is that it doesn't have enough content to justify the purchase. Battle out of Hell comes dangerously close to the edge of the cliff, but with the help of new bosses, optimized net code and added multiplayer facets, it manages to hold on by the skin of its teeth.

Black and White 2 might be one of the shallowest games I have ever played. In fact, I am depressed that a developer like Molyneux has been able to continually botch up awesome-sounding ideas so thoroughly for so long.

All things considered, I think we can rather call this an excellent level editor with a lot of additional skirmish missions, rather than a truly innovative expansion pack.

It gives you one of those feelings that make you play like crazy until you finish the whole thing.

The great graphics and the pleasure you will get from leading the young lady through the world if imaginary history is sufficient to make this a generally good game. For one afternoon…

Despite the aforementioned bugs and drawbacks, I had plenty of fun with this game. NONE of the bugs or downsides were frustrating enough to seriously diminish the gameplay experience.

Unfortunately, these fun elements simply don't gel well together, so the end product seems rather flat.

Upgrading the main character, using diverse skills and fighting abilities, coupled with a range of impressive execution moves, make for an exciting combat system.

And I thought that only Eidos was impertinent enough to keep selling the same game with a slightly different name…

Something completely different; it is an original, innovative, interesting and witty game with a bunch of highly intelligent puzzles...However, Missing is also an example of how you can ruin a fantastic idea by throwing in tones of irrational and pointless mini-games and occult mumbo-jumbo.

Despite its noticeable drawbacks, however, Ultimate Spider-Man does manage to offer a thrilling blend of comic book and video game action. The way that the game utilizes modern technology to bring comic book characters to life is superb, and so is the fantasy world created by Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley.

As much as I enjoyed Anomaly 2, I have a very hard time recommending the console version to anyone. Even this non-PC gamer thinks I would have had a far better time with a keyboard and mouse.

Prototype 2 just doesn't do its best to pull you into the mind of Heller and why he's doing the things he's doing. Oh sure you eventually understand what motivates him, but that's not enough to make you like and truly appreciate the central character of the story.

The new Hitman game does bring a lot of moodiness and great cinematic value, in addition to some of that customary gameplay that drew me to the franchise in the first place. Ultimately, however, because of some rather silly design mistakes, it fails to deliver the kind of experience I was hoping for.

They've managed to make a consistent game world and suck the player into it. The fact remains, however, that including more mundane and frustrating elements of real world warfare is a double-edged blade, especially when some of the other technical elements of your game are not up to snuff - like the AI, or clunky engine.

It feels fun for a while, but it never gets exciting or particularly rewarding.

Small innovations and enhancements are sure to attract people who were thrilled with the original game, but are highly unlikely to attract anyone else.

Adventures of Pip is a good platformer in every sense of the phrase. It has a nostalgic, yet beautiful art style, fun concept, and gameplay that even seasoned platforming fans will absolutely adore. However, Pip has not much else beneath the surface.

The co-op is actually very fun and leaves more room for tactics and combat variation, unlike the single-player segment. This may be enough to warrant a purchase or a rent for gamers who appreciate that type of entertainment. Those seeking a deeper experience with a richer story and generally more content will be sorely disappointed.

If this game was a Roman and it was giving a speech in the Senate, I'm afraid it would likely get stabbed 18 times in the back by a bunch of conspirators just because it was boring all the Senators to death.

Aside from a few solid challenges where you're bound to spend some extra time, there's nothing to guarantee longevity or indeed any reply value.

If five enemies stand on one spot, you kill four of them and the fifth one was incidentally looking somewhere else at the time, he won't have a clue what happened, and better still, he won't realize anything happened.

It features some nicely executed gameplay concepts, but all this is too shallow and repetitive to warrant a higher score.

Players looking for a captivating story will be sorely disappointed. There were some honest efforts to integrate an interesting narrative through comic-book inspired cut-scenes. The results, sadly, brought about nothing more than an unclear storyline with a weak and confusing moral structure.

Visually, the game is absolutely beautiful. In addition to the fact that it’s not a typical brown shooter, some of the cut-scenes on Vekta will take your breath away and make you realize that next-gen is here, and wow is it pretty. It’s just a shame that the fun I initially felt with Shadow Fall’s campaign faded away as the end missions droned on for far longer than they should have.

You can't use the flashlight and manipulate objects at the same time. Although you're holding the flashlight with just one hand. Who knows, maybe "Doc" suffered a stroke?

It looks as if somebody took a 320x200 picture and stretched it over the entire screen. I will never understand the people who port the PSX games to PC; why don't they at least redraw the picture behind the main menu?

Even though micromanagement style games have been a staple on PC for as long as the platform has existed, something about this game feels like it would be more at home on mobile, where the repetitiveness can be indulged in more approachable, bite-sized doses. That said, even on PC, this is still a time-suck that oozes personality and charm, while also simultaneously justifying its $9.99 sticker price.

In some missions the dreadful AI causes enemy units to simply refuse fighting - basically, they'll just be sitting and waiting for your archers to kick their butt. Now, that's really sad.

I cannot iterate enough that your time and money should only be invested if you like games that make fun of themselves, other games, pop culture, and never once takes itself seriously.

It’s a fun ride even if it does not make much sense. In other words, never underestimate how much a good explosion can make up for other shortcomings.

Simply put, the random missions are repetitive and they soon get very boring.

If you are already an Xbox One owner, it would be nigh impossible to make the argument for buying the game on PC instead of on the console. Make no mistake: this is a buggier and less convenient way to consume something that was designed exclusively with the console in mind.

It's a decent game, although not nearly as groundbreaking as we hoped. Once you complete it, I'm afraid there won't be much to lure you back.

An interesting 3D RTS, and its numerous options, as well as weapons and vehicles will get you going at times. However this comes at a price. The game’s hardware requirements are very steep ..., and as I said the camera is simply killing the playability.