At its core though, RAGE is a triumph for id Software. The game's strengths far outweigh its shortcomings and for shooter fans looking for a challenging, visceral experience that isn't akin to shooting fish in a barrel, you're going to find it here.

Ultimately this is a solid, although quick, flight down memory lane. If you're new, then welcome to the world of Lylat Wars 64 (Sorry, Star Fox 64), and if you're an Arwing veteran, it's time to relive the experience again. Definitely well worth the purchase.

Co-op bugs, weird camera angles, and sub-par engine sounds aside, I love this game. The huge variety of things to do with the 40-odd vehicles in the stunningly beautiful open world sandbox makes the game a joyful and (mostly) relaxing experience. And as the aural feedback is virtually non-existent anyway, lowering or even muting the volume entirely while loading up your favorite Spotify playlist is perhaps the best way to enjoy it. So sit back, crack a brewski, revel in the marvelous scenery, and haul a few loads. Just don't forget to pack your spare undies - you're gonna need 'em.

There’s plenty here to love, but you will need patience and you will need resolve, because the orcs and their player-defined society is a thing of, as I said earlier, unnatural beauty, it’s just a shame the rest of the game suffers in their expanded development wake.

As first impressions go, Civilization Beyond Earth makes a staggeringly poor one. After a few games -- after you get your head around the affinities and the tech web and the dos and donts of living on an alien planet -- it becomes a gorgeous and engaging, if not revolutionary, 4X game.

It's a wonderfully old-school RPG, something fans of a bygone era can use to scratch that nostalgic itch and new gamers can use to acquaint themselves with how things once were.

From the animation to the visual effects, this is the best-looking Anno game to date. Something of a no-brainer when it comes to advances in technology. But with the expanded focus on trade, production, naval combat, and colonisation it’s also one of the most engaging entries to date – again, once understood. A city builder well worth visiting.

All things considered Madden 13 does bring a new level of excitement to gameplay through its much improved animation trees. It still plays very much the same however, with many rough edges around the career modes.

Where the story engages, the characters feel believable, and the monsters look and act and behave as diverse as the world itself. When it all comes together, Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin feels as epic and engaging as any other entry in the long-running series, albeit in turn-based RPG form.

Age of Empires IV isn’t something strictly for fans, there’s no accrued history you need to know before jumping in. It does however feel like a natural extension of Age of Empires II’s brilliance -- and for that does feel like the return of something great. What you’ve got here is a modern progression of the age-old, well, Age of Empires formula with all of the style and depth you could hope for. As a foundation for more campaigns, more maps, and more of everything to come it’s exciting. The documentary approach to the four campaigns on offer is not only a winner, but a confident step forward for the series. Historical warfare with an eye toward the educational. Age of Empires IV is not only one of the very best slices of real-time strategy gaming, period, it’s a candidate for best game of 2021.

If you’re a Battlefield fan who didn’t like the times when DICE has played it safe in the past, Battlefield V is for you. I’m one of those people, and I cannot wait to jump into epic play sessions of what could quickly become my favourite Battlefield game, more so now that the community won’t be divided with future content.

Even though My Friend Pedro falters when it strays the furthest from the action-movie ideal of its premise most of the time you’re still a stone-cold killer with a suite of guns and a knack for shooting at bad dudes whilst upside down spinning in mid-air.

Black Ops III might not be the absolute best Call of Duty experience ever, but it's certainly the biggest, and probably the most fun. It's the new gold standard for Treyarch too, the game that best shows off their strengths (and works around their weaknesses) as a studio. It's a weird, confident, fresh take on the Call of Duty formula, one that truly excels in online multiplayer but also manages to provide a campaign that's well worth playing through.

It’s not that it plays like a game from a different time, the overall design and flow is both time-worn and engaging -- it’s just that in certain areas it begins to feel a little disconnected. Secrets and treasure mostly come in the form of cute little hats for your Rot and the blue-crystal currency to buy more hats. So, the incentive to explore isn’t really there from a thematic or discovery context. We wish there was more finding spirits and restoring the village stuff as opposed to chests bursting open with a currency you never feel like you actually need.

To say that an experience was ‘surprisingly good’ or ‘surprisingly fun’ has a somewhat negative connotation. In that there’s the assumption that heading in expectations were set to ‘low’. To call Gears Tactics surprising is not that at all, it’s all about coming to terms with the realisation that at its core, Gears of War combat is tactical, deep, and full of its own style and flavour. And that all of that, when given enough time to develop and flesh out and expand upon, makes up the perfect list of ingredients to create a great turn-based tactics game.

There’s value here for the matriculant willing to put in the effort, but you’ve really gotta want it. And even as a Fire Emblem diehard I found it a bit of a slog. Repetitive and more often than not caked in superfluous activity, Three Hopes is a mash of ideas drawn out beyond its measure, and if you take into account the option to play through each House’s own campaign, the target audience thins to a specific tine, and you might be confronted with an intimidating wall, looming convolutedly large.

There's a lot more to Old World than the glib description of "Civ meets Crusader Kings" can convey. Yet it succeeds because it feels like a genuine meeting between the two, a deeply considered merger that applies the strengths of both games to cover their weaknesses. It doesn't feel like you're playing Civ, but with some Crusader Kings characters butting in every now and again with some silly tale or grievance. It feels like you're playing Civ, but with some Crusader Kings characters who grow alongside you, whose relationships to you and each other actually matter, and who prove that the great stories of empires aren't about production rates per turn--they're about the people who lived through them. And their pet monkeys.

While the inclusion of paratroopers and para-dropped items—that can be deployed anywhere on the map—are the most obvious new feature via specific US Commanders, there’s also a balanced emphasis on regular infantry and armour, too.

Still, as far as challenge goes on the battlefield, Engage is right up there, and the game’s titular hook isn’t a be all, end all part of proceedings, serving as a functioning tool for combo experimentation as well as another source for that all-important nostalgia. All of which grabbed me far more than any other features of the game. And it’s something I happily engaged in for the roughly 45 hours or so I played and slaved and rewound. And as has become customary for this series, it comes highly recommended for die hard fans, while newcomers, in particular here, will get a lot from the game’s heady tie-in to Fire Emblems past. A great way to kick off Switch gaming in 2023.

On PS4 Watch Dogs is gorgeous. Whether it’s a gusty, sunny Chicago day or a rainy night, the game never ceases to amaze. Its draw-distance is second-to-none and the engine always feels like it’s two steps ahead of what you’re doing.

It is the perfect open world fix in the lead up to GTA V and full credit to United Front Games and Square Enix London for crafting this entertaining, engrossing and deeply impressive title.

As has been the case for a while, the really interesting new stuff doesn't pop up until the endgame, which makes the journey to the credits very enjoyable, but also somewhat perfunctory.

With a combat and customisation system that was on par with the narrative, Tyranny would be one of the greats. As it stands though Tyranny is a narrative triumph, and thanks to the freedom it provides reinforces the notion that the RPG genre can be one of the best places to find rich multi-layered and rewarding story experiences. And few games handle player choice as well as Tyranny.

Overall production values are great with all dialogue having accompanying voice acting and when talking to NPCs you’re often presented with several dialogue choices - many of which expand the world’s lore and current events. With several quality of life and mechanic upgrades from SpellForce 3, Soul Harvest is an enjoyable experience that scratches both the RPG and RTS itch. A blend that still feels unique to this series, and one that continues to impress all these years later.

This is a moving postcard to the 70s and 80s as far as influence goes -- as if David Bowie, Pink Floyd and Genesis found each other on a moving platform designed by Terry Gilliam rapidly coasting through the far reaches of space, powered entirely by solar sails and positive thought, and decided to jam.

If you're a dedicated fan and want more of the series, you'll have fun despite being disappointed at the lack of exposition. As for the casual players, there are unfortunately very few reasons to check this out.

Dredge is a low-poly, low-fi experience that punches so far above its weight it feels like eldritch magic at times is behind it all. The game’s painted representations of its many characters is charming to a fault, and some of the best we’ve ever seen, while its score throughout, as well as the overall audio design, is perfection. It is a joy to move through, and its discovery and exploration elements are a cut above. It just suffers some gameplay balance issues and perhaps dries up in the activities department a tad too early. Otherwise this is an incredible debut for Black Salt Games and we can’t wait to see what the studio does next.

As with any good tactical game, the system takes a few turns to get the hang of, with new strategic moves being learnt even after your umpteenth battle.