Kill it With Fire is one of those “so dumb it’s kinda fun” experiences. The game is very simple, intentionally ugly, and unpretentious, which makes killing house spiders with over-the-top weapons (explosives, flame thrower, shotgun, etc.) pretty enjoyable for around two hours. [11/2020, p.76]

Destruction AllStars is flashy, fast and enjoyable, looks good and runs smoothly, but severely lacks varied, engaging content and therefore quickly becomes boring. [04/2021, p.44]

I have no idea how the developers managed to waste such an intriguing beginning of the story. They clearly forgot that a good horror game should relentlessly keep players on the edge of their seats, not ruin the atmosphere with pathetic jokes. [03/2017, p.59]

Hrot draws from Quake, Duke and Blood but does it half-heartedly and due to the setting resembles the forgotten You Are Empty more than the aforementioned classics. It holds its own in terms of level design, but you can feel it was developed by just one person.

I’m not saying you need to play Milkmaid, but if you enjoy traditional point’n’click games and pixel art, you definitely can give it a chance. [03/2017, p.64]

The concept behind Aeronautica Imperialis’ turn-based tactical gameplay is neat (your and enemy units move simultaneously, so you need to do your best to predict enemy behavior) but right now I can recommend the game to hardcore Warhammer 40K fans only. Everyone else should wait for the developers to add much more content and variety, because in its current state the game gets boring after an hour. [10/2020, p.80]

A game that combines ideas from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Shadow of the Colossus sounds like something PC players desperately needed. Unfortunately, the three-person team behind Praey for the Gods bit off more than it could chew. The game’s survival elements are tiresome, while boss encounters are decent but plagued by many flaws. Overall, it’s a barely solid copy of Team Ico’s cult classic

The story bored me before the actual game even started and then I was forced to explore uninspired, ugly interiors and kill wacky monsters in fights that take forever. [09/2015, p.69]

Intrusive microtransactions make Angry Birds 2 a game for either rich or patient. Without paying it’s almost impossible to play for an hour straight. [10/2015, p.74]

In Urban Empire the worlds of politics and economy collide in an interesting but moderately successful way. [03/2017, p.70]

Mario Strikers: Battle League Football relies too heavily on whether you fall in love with the core gameplay. Because there’s not much else here, you can either consider it a highlight of the year, or a really mediocre entry in Next Level Games’ track record.

All would be fine if not for the necessity to collect stars to unlock stages. At first it’s not a problem, but later you’re forced to replay missions or pay to avoid it. [10/2015, p.76]

My first impression was great and early on I was sure this pretty action adventure game will score higher. Then the difficulty level rose drastically and allied itself with frustratingly imprecise controls to murder all the fun. [04/2021, p.62]

Will the thrill provided by permadeath be enough to keep people playing this new Wizardry that is not really a Wizardry? [CD-Action 04/2013, p.72]

A must-have for all Tactics Ogre and Final Fantasy Tactics fans. Not because it’s as good, but for its price it emulates them surprisingly well. [10/2015, p.77]

I appreciate Daedalic’s ambition, but I prefer FTL, which is smaller, simpler and offers gameplay condensed to most interesting interactions. [07/2017, p.59]

Foregone lured me with its beautiful art style just to disappoint me with repetitive levels, shallow story, uninteresting combat and total lack of originality. [05/2021, p.52]

I’m not sure who’s the target audience for Silent Sector. Those looking for a shoot’em up will find it overcomplicated, RPG fans will probably call it primitive and too arcadey, while space sim enthusiasts might dismiss it as derivative. Actually, Silent Sector doesn’t offer anything I haven’t seen done better elsewhere. [05/2021, p.56]

It’s a 4-5-hour long game after finishing which most players will simply move on. It doesn’t enrich the survival genre in any way and the competition is better in almost every aspect. [07/2020, p.50]

A decent hybrid of genres but why is it so short? [CD-Action 04/2013, p.78]

I feel that instead of building on the experience gained with Planet Coaster, the developers have taken a step backwards. While they added a handful of improvements to the game, they also made poor design decisions. The predecessor was groundbreaking; its sequel is merely okay.

Quantum Break is a bad movie, but a really good game. It did not convince me with its poor (and poorly told) story and characters that I did not care about at all, but as a shooter it is really enjoyable and creative. [05/2016, p.38]

It’s evident to me that HD Trilogy was cooked up quickly, without investing neither sufficient means nor heart and soul. [CD-Action 04/2013, p.80]

A cute little game that fails to offer much more than a cool visual style. [CD-Action 04/2013, p.81]

Despite dated visuals J.U.L.I.A. offers around 8 hours of interesting story, unusual gameplay mechanics and varied puzzles. [June 2012, p.71]

Combining very good components resulted in a disappointingly average game. It would stand a chance as a freemium, but what you get for a full price is a mediocre single player campaign and a potentially great online mode that might soon die away due to lack of interest. [June 2012, p.74]

In terms of improvements and the overall quality of the remaster, Nightdive Studios did some really solid work. The problem lies in the game itself – Acclaim was overly fixated on Valve’s success and as a result published something that was neither a good Half-Life nor a particularly satisfying Turok.

I launched Cyberpunk 2077 on my PS4 Slim several weeks after the release and most of the bugs were fixed, so I was able to play the game from start to finish. However, the quality of textures was painfully low, I usually had only 20-22 frames per second while driving around the city (with dips below 20), and some objects tended to disappear. The technical state and graphics of the PS4 version are awful, which is a shame, because the game itself has one of the best stories I have ever encountered, its gunplay is really good, and Night City is very impressive. [02/2021, p.30]

The PC version of NfS is the prettiest of them all, but it is the same game with all its flaws, including horrible AI that sucks all satisfaction out of races (even if you stop completely, your rivals will wait for you) and scarce content that leaves you with nothing to do after around 12 hours. [05/2016, p.53]

Besides delightful visuals and some Botanicula vibe Morphopolis doesn’t offer anything that would set it apart from other hidden object games. [Nov 2014, p.61]

Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is not terrible and I’d be lying if I told you I suffered through it, but I expect more from a AAA title than a semi-polished gameplay, a run-of-the-mill story and environments that oscillate between breathtaking and mediocre. Ubisoft Massive’s game has moments showing it could have been great, but overall turned out uninspired.

It is truly impressive that you have the whole planet to explore and build over. What caught my attention in the first place, was the deep, realistic simulation of terraforming, but unfortunately the game turned out to be tedious and boring. I also wish I could manage my settlements better and plan their development in details, as the only decisions I got to make were where to place the structures and how to prioritize them. The rest is up to autonomous drones. [02/2021, p.34]

A charming but unpolished adventure/puzzle game with an environmental thread. As a photographer, your job is to document the existence of a magical island and its extraordinary species of animals and plants. Slow pace and unusual atmosphere are relaxing and make Beasts of Maravilla Island a good family title. It’s a shame the developers failed to take full advantage of the game’s potential. The photo mode (which of course is the central mechanic here) and interactions with the environment could have been done better. [10/2021, p.38]

Andy Davidson (the original Worms creator) returned to help refresh the series. It didn't really work out the way it should have – Revolution is not what I was hoping to see. [12/2012, p.57]

Football Manager 26 never made it out of beta – the game is so unfinished that it cannot be considered a full-fledged product. Wait a year, maybe two, until „early access” ends.

Asterix & Obelix Slap Them All! 2 looks gorgeous and makes pummeling Romans fun, but it is painfully derivative and repetitive and doesn’t deserve the 2 in the title. It would be more honest to call it a standalone expansion and sell it for a lower price rather than pretend it’s a full-fledged sequel.

Road 96 tries to strike the right balance between randomization and the emphasis on the story and kind of succeeds at that, but fails in many other aspects, e.g. there’s no challenge here at all and your actions lack actual consequences. I was also unable to get through the new game+ without the impression that I had already experienced most of the events during my initial playthrough. [11/2021, p.44]

Heliborne’s biggest problem is that it’s still far from the state of completion that would justify calling it a final release. [13/2017, p.55]

I wish the developers spiced up basic 30 challenges instead of putting their efforts into the additional game mode. [Nov 2014, p.74]

Not as bad as some claim, but also not as good as its supporters believe. Skull and Bones is, above all, a solid base for further development, because it is through the prism of the announced improvements that we will judge this project in the future. For now, the game is okay, but only okay.

A low-budget but solid arena shooter that drops superfluous mechanics for the sake of fast-paced gameplay. [08/2016, p.57]

Humans are worse than zombies. Humans are worse than zombies. Humans are worse than zombies. Humans are worse than zombies. More of the same in every aspect. [05/2016, p.65]

Another solid Lego game, but not as rich in content as great Lego Marvel Super Heroes. Plus this time there was no room for the tongue-in-cheek reinterpretation of the source material, so this is just a movie tie-in. [04/2014, p.64]

The War of the Lions is definitely not worth eight times the price of an average iOS game you have to pay for it. Despite two years of development it's no more than a crude port of the PSP version. [Sept 2011, p.76]

It looks great but the difficulty level rises so steeply that you either have to repeat missions and grind to get better gear or consider spending substantial amounts of money for power-ups. [01/2016, p.74]

Simplicity and mobile origin (at first, Little Orpheus was released on iOS) can be drawbacks but they don’t have to be. If you struggle in hardcore platformers and value challenge less than a fun narrative and picturesque environments, you may enjoy this game.

The combat is very meaty, boss fights are properly varied and the absurd story is one of the strongest points of the game. However, No More Heroes III is very uneven and got stuck in the past decade both in terms of gameplay and design. Actually, the series regressed in some aspects. Goichi Suda obviously ran out of ideas an is chasing his own tail. [11/2021, p.62]

The developer behind PUBG tried its hand at a cross between a shooter and Commandos. The result is… weird. The single-player mode is undercooked and annoying, mainly (but not only) because of the terrible AI. In co-op, where you don’t have to babysit your dumb comrades in arms, you can experience Thunder Tier One’s much better side, as it becomes really enjoyable.

It’s a very creative and stylish game whose soothing music goes perfectly with its hand-drawn environments. The problem is, some questionable design choices ultimately hurt Greak. I wouldn’t say it’s a bad game, but it could have been amazing. [11/2021, p.64]

An interesting way of spending a couple of evenings, but there is not enough content in Abyss Odyssey to keep you engaged until morning. [10/2014, p.58]

Genesis doesn't work for the people who had no idea about 'A Song of Ice and Fire' before the HBO TV series came out. But if you consider yourself a master strategist and miss Good Old Times – buy it. [December 2011, p.94]

A complex cross between a tycoon, a 4X game and an RPG with turn-based combat. It offers some interesting ideas but ultimately failed to convince me. I think the developers simply overdid it, implementing tons of features and elements that either don’t matter much or are poorly executed, but unnecessarily clutter the game and overwhelm the player. [11/2021, p.66]

Space Warlord Organ Trading Simulator is a quirky, weird game with a great premise, but repetitive gameplay. It can be entertaining in small doses.

It’s hard to give new Forza a balanced rating. It has a great driving model, innovative gamepad controls, drivatars, point awarding system acknowledging the fact that even the best drivers don’t win all the time, and Full HD visuals so detailed that even the indicators on the dashboards work. It could have been a 9/10. But on the other hand we have small choice of cars and tracks, tons of microtransactions and long loading times. [02/2014, p.50]

One big escort mission where toying with laughable AI becomes a game in a game. [08/2016, p.68]

Eight years of development, a team consisting of even 250 people at some points, budget reaching hundreds of millions of dollars. It’s a pity that this ‘Skyrim Online’ disappoints both fans of previous Bethesda games and MMORPG veterans who expected some fresh air in the stale genre. [06/2014, p.44]

Supermassive’s newest work is a step back from Until Dawn on every level – including visual design which, though solid, ends up monotonous in comparison. [12/2019, p.58]

It has some really good moments but overall it’s just a presentation of Xbox One’s graphical capabilities that bores you with primitive combat and does little to keep you playing. [02/2014, p.55]

It’s challenging and pleasant at times, but not really engaging. [10/2014, p.61]

The only link between this and previous FromSoftware’s games is pain. Deracine is not painfully hard though – it’s painfully boring. It does tell a good enough story, looks fine and does VR well, but interactions it offers are very limited and it is simply not much of a game. [02/2019, p.32]

The “medieval Slavic GTA” (inspired by the early GTA games, mind you, not the 3D ones) is crude but also fun, unpretentious and full of positive energy. Chock-full of jokes, easter eggs and pop culture references, Rustler is never serious. If you enjoy such titles and are willing to accept the game’s intentionally old-fashioned formula, you could consider giving it a chance. [11/2021, p.70]

This game should end around the 6th hour – which is roughly the middle of the campaign – when artsy visuals and fairy tale charm concealing the rather shallow content cease to suffice and the originally relaxing pace starts to make you drowsy. [06/2014, p.52]

It’s not an indie blockbuster, but it can arouse some enthusiasm if you enjoy tactical games. [10/2014, p.65]

A generic action game that can be really funny at times (if boob jokes are your type if humour) and has some enjoyable moments. If you’re a Deadpool fan and you find this game at a discount price or borrow it from a friend, I will not discourage you form playing it. Otherwise – meh. [CD-Action 09/2013, p.52]

Despite all the flaws (e.g. AI's very poor path-finding) I had warm feelings for Carrier Command, even if it did test my patience a couple of times. [12/2012, p.84]

Darksiders III feels like a trip to a museum, which of course doesn’t have to be a drawback. Its antiquated design has a certain charm and made me realize that I miss simplicity and compactness in bloated modern open-world games. Unfortunately Gunfire’s effort is messy – it’s rough around the edges, it made a step backwards in terms of RPG elements and environmental puzzles, some design choices are dubious, the combat system is imprecise, and there are a lot of bugs and glitches on top of all that. As a result Darksiders III can compete neither with modern action titles, nor with previous games in the series. [01/2019, p.82]

It looks like Crown of the Sunken Kings was developed by interns, as it misses many elements that made Dark Souls II an exceptional game. [10/2014, p.66]

Beautiful pixel art. Infectious, atmospheric soundtrack. Two-player co-op both online and locally, on split-screen. However if you need a strategy game to be first and foremost a good strategy game, you should look elsewhere. [02/2019, p.38]

I don’t need great visuals to enjoy the game, but come on... OlliOlli looks like shareware releases from the 90. [10/2014, p.67]

Core gameplay becomes wearisome with time, but fortunately the game is short (3 hours tops) and the developer tried to vary the levels with additional mechanics. If you need something to make you smile and want to escape from your responsibilities by focusing on simple tasks, this little indie game can be fun. [11/2018, p.72]

The idea for this roguelike is great, but in my case The Curious Expedition’s charm wore off too quickly. I took the first place in my fifth or sixth attempt and though every time the game managed to surprise me, I needed just three hours to do it. [12/2016, p.57]

Right now – with just 8 ski jumps and no AI at all – DSJ4 looks more like a demo than a full-scale game. [March 2012, p.56]

The Tiny Bang Story is something between a traditional point'n'click and a 'hidden object' type of game. It's biggest flaw is its length. It can be completed in 2 hours and although every puzzle enthusiast will find this time enjoyable, you have to decide whether such a short adventure is worth your buck. [July 2011, p.81]

I’ve had a weak spot for tactical games since 1988 (Laser Squad!) and during all this time I had my share of occasionally frustrating titles. Partisans 1941 is far beyond occasionally frustrating – it was infuriatingly hard even on lower difficulty setting, and additionally unfair due to chaotic combat and disheartening bugs (spotted by a sentry through a solid wall? Mission over!). [13/2020, p.34]

Raji is set in a rarely explored (and therefore refreshing) setting of Hindu mythology that definitely works in its favor, and offers gameplay mechanics resembling a Prince of Persia game on a budget. The protagonist is as agile as Price and the game is generally enjoyable, but the platforming sections are too easy to pose a challenge, and the combat is not meaty enough to be satisfying. [13/2020, p.36]

Changes this remaster brings are limited to textures, lighting and higher resolutions. After a decade that brought us an array of Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry and Just Cause games the only thing that more or less stood the test of time in Red Faction is the destruction system. [09/2018, p.50]

As a fan of Ninja Theory’s take on Devil May Cry, I had some fun with this DLC, mainly thanks to surreal Limbo setting. But Vergil’s Downfall is short (took me about 1,5 hour on medium difficulty), cut-scenes look more like storyboards than something that was supposed to appear in the final product, there are bugs and Vergil is no Dante. [CD-Action 05/2013, p.77]

I rarely had fun playing The Crew 2 and usually after 20 minutes tops my mind was drifting away towards anything more enjoyable (e.g. Forza Horizon 3, which is a better game in every way possible). Once again the developers bit more than they could chew, putting quantity above quality. Yes, there are 250 licensed machines and you can switch between them instantly, but there’s no joy in driving or flying them in the huge but empty and boring world. Plus the AI is very poor and the career mode did little to keep me playing. [09/2018, p.52]

Don’t expect a traditional point’n’click adventure game with engaging puzzles. When the Past Was Around is more of an artistic experience, a very easy, roughly hour-long journey into an intimate world of the main heroine’s memories. [13/2020, p.43]

Neither gameplay nor game modes will make you return to this game after World Cup in Brazil ends. [06/2014, p.67]

It’s a decent game but not much more. It has everything a solid dungeon crawler should have, but it is also too derivative and predictable to be truly exciting. [13/2020, p.46]

The game did absolutely nothing to turn me into a fan. It gave me a taste of this sport (exotic from the European standpoint) and not much more. [Sept 2014, p.61]

It’s a lame tycoon but a quite decent FNAF. As a whole Freddy Fazbear’s Pizzeria Simulator looks like two different games stitched together. [02/2018, p.56]

The idea behind Skellboy is brilliant – you swap out parts of your body to change the way you fight and interact with the surroundings. I also enjoyed the art style with 2D sprites in 3D environments. Unfortunately, combat is boring, camera angles can be annoying and the story is dull. [03/2021, p.38]

A disappointing, lazy remaster of a very good platformer. The developers took the path of least resistance by stretching textures and trying to conceal their blurriness with aggressive lighting, which made things worse. The only advantages I see here are the quality of the original game and the fact that the Ultimate edition brought it to new platforms. [12/2021, p.59]

Retrofuturistic, totalitarian world created by Compulsion Games is fascinating, as we see bits and pieces of Kafka (a clerk rebelling against the system), Clockwork Orange (extreme violence), Douglas Adams (humor) or Half-Life (architecture) floating around. What failed is the execution, which turned We Happy Few into an unintentional parody of stealth games. The enemy AI is so lame that I repeatedly had an impression of starring in a lost episode of The Benny Hill Show, especially since the combat system is crude and production values leave a lot to be desired. [10/2018, p.56]

The beginnings were extremely promising but 8 hours later (around the middle of the campaign) I was seriously tired and annoyed by a myriad of small nuisances which successfully strip the whole experience of joy. [02/2019, p.64]

The game lacks AI-controlled competition (you’re alone on the map) and therefore is not as addictive as 22-year-old Transport Tycoon. [01/2017, p.41]

It's more of a demo (that does a great job of showcasing Vita's features) than a real game and it should come free with the handheld. [March 2012, p.77]

Unto the End is a minimalistic, very intense and ultimately exhausting adventure that requires patience. Enemies are always faster than our sluggish hero and almost always unpredictable, so even a lone foe can pose a challenge, while a stronger one will kill you with one strike. Not all encounters seemed fair, by the way. [03/2021, p.45]

NBA 2K22 offers very good gameplay mechanics, but the series’ focus on simply playing basketball is fading. In the story mode, the developers experiment with open world and put too much emphasis on side activities related to sponsors. As a result, the city in NBA 2K22 is a one big advertising billboard. Willingness to try new things is generally commendable, but this is not the way to do it. [12/2021, p.63]

A very simple interactive story revolving around lucid dreams. Radiant One is light on traditional gameplay and the fact that it only lasts approximately one hour prevented it from telling the story properly, as it feels rushed. The game is priced accordingly to its length though and I found it to be worth my time, mainly due to its level design, uncommon subject and exceptional audio. [10/2018, p.61]

In terms of gameplay, Space Crew is a huge step backwards compared to its predecessor, Bomber Crew. [13/2020, p.59]

A charming tribute to Game Boy that people born after 1990 might not appreciate. [02/2014, p.69]

It has a taste of an ambitious Easter European game – the budget was tight but the developer had some good ideas and managed to create an interesting, disturbing atmosphere. On the other hand I Am Alive is really ugly, unbalanced and repetitive. [April 2012, p.83]

If you’re not as patient as a saint, multitude of bugs and defects make playing Jack Keane 2 a tough experience. [CD-Action 09/2013, p.66]

A technically flawed copy of Left 4 Dead that does not even have a proper Warhammer atmosphere. [13/2015, p.66]