Sometimes you need to take a step back to move forward – yes, it’s a platitude, but that’s exactly what happened with Valkyria Chronicles 4. Forget about Valkyria Revolution. The latest entry in the series goes back to the roots and reminds us why the first Valkyria Chronicles stole our hearts a decade ago. The developers restrained themselves from making unwelcome changes and if they decided to alter something, they did it wisely. [12/2018, p.80]

It was a risky decision to drop the single player campaign and focus on multiplayer, including battle royale, which seemed like a cynical attempt to jump on the bandwagon. I’m a bit surprised to say that Treyarch did truly great. Black Ops 4 is one of the best online games of 2018 – its shooting mechanics are wonderful, Blackout (the aforementioned take on battle royale) is top-notch and the Zombies mode drifts towards... action RPG. [12/2018, p.78]

An experiment developed with virtually non-existent budget and a very specific intention: to expose players to an unpredictable, disturbing nightmare born in a mind consumed by fever. [12/2018, p.77]

I was gravely disappointed with the first expansion (Curse of Osiris), so at first I wasn’t even interested in reviewing Forsaken. Now I don’t want to part with it. It does what Reaper of Souls did for Diablo III – not only it improves the original game, but it also noticeably changes the nature of experience, transforming Destiny 2 into a new, better game! What doesn’t change is the fact that in terms of gameplay mechanics and technical execution Bungie’s game is one of the best modern first-person shooters. [12/2018, p.74]

Delicious art style, excellent music, varied tactical combat – Snowhound’s tactical RPG got some things right, but there’s a strange dissonance between the game’s atmosphere of dark sci-fi and its absurd humor. Had the game offered a deeper strategic layer and something besides exploring wreck after wreck, I probably would have spent more time with it than those 14 hours after which it simply became boring. [12/2018, p.73]

Kaleidoscope of available modes guarantees that everyone interested in hockey will easily find a way to enjoy NHL 19, whether they crave 15 minutes of accessible fun or prefer to dig into statistics and play whole seasons. Learning basics is easy, but if you want more (e.g. success in online modes) you will need patience and a lot of practice, as controls are deep and some tricks require uncommon skill. [12/2018, p.72]

A first-rate idea butchered with a third-rate execution. [12/2018, p.71]

Distance’s biggest strength is its editor which let fans create tracks much more thrilling than those designed by the developers. Chaining showy stunts can be exciting but that does not matter much if the game itself gets boring after two, maybe three hours. [12/2018, p.70]

After a bit too conservative Forza Horizon 3, which was just an improved second Horizon, the latest game in the series easily exceeded my expectations. Its world is enormous and full of various activities (including seasonal events), the driving model is exceptional both on and off road, there are over 450 varied cars and the PC version is spectacular. All that makes Forza Horizon 4 the best open world racing game I have ever played. [12/2018, p.66]

Telltale plucks the same emotional string it always does. The “humans are the real monsters” melody played for the 20th time sounds weak and distant, but Episode 2 does just enough to resonate with the audience, in no small part thanks to Melissa Hutchinson and other actors who managed to give this banal story a semblance of plausibility. [12/2018, p.64]

Great new modes, some minor changes making the game even more enjoyable, tons of licenses (Champions League!), spectacular presentation and the richest, most varied story mode yet make FIFA 19 an excellent entry in the series. [12/2018, p.62]

The Bard’s Tale IV is like a beautifully composed song performed on out of tunes instruments. There are moments when it borders on genius, other times it actively encouraged me to uninstall and forget it. For every strength it has a weakness. Good writing, superb puzzles, great music, outstanding voice-overs and solid mechanics are counterbalanced by quite awful visuals (how can Unreal Engine 4 look so bad?), some examples of bad design, a truckload of bugs (how about skills that don’t work or the ability to loot a chest through a ceiling?) and frequent crashes. For me the advantages were what mattered more, but I completely understand scores in the region of 4/10. [12/2018, p.58]

Thronebreaker is a feast for those collectible card games fans who don’t care for online play or tournaments and instead would like to follow a well-written story that introduces an array of vivid characters and presents you with tough choices. [12/2018, p.56]

Although I’m a huge fan of shooters, I had to force myself to play Immortal: Unchained. The game clumsily tries to marry two formulas: an action game built around firearms and a soulslike. It does some things right – the atmosphere is intriguing, the dismemberment system works fine, boss encounters are done well and the character development system is solid – but it failed in the most important aspect. Immortal’s cardinal sin is its mediocre gunplay, which makes shooting boring and therefore turns firefights into drudgery. [12/2018, p.54]

At last, a game that has something to say about the world we live in, and is not afraid to do so loudly. The first episode includes a few powerful scenes and touches some heavy subjects, like police brutality, social inequality or toxic relationships. In addition writing and performances from the actors represent the quality level that overwhelming majority of video games can only aspire to. I genuinely can’t wait to see what happens next. [12/2018, p.52]

Both players and critics agreed that in the last couple of years Mario Party’s quality has been dropping. Nintendo decided to go for broke this time and I hope slapping “Super” in front of the title heralds the restart of the franchise, because SMP finally delivers what we expected. [12/2018, p.51]

If someone had told me couple of years ago that Assassin’s Creed would become a full-fledged action RPG that would not look out of place on a shelf next to The Witcher 3, I would have snickered. But here I am, over 80 hours into Odyssey and still unable to believe that really happened. [12/2018, p.44]

Underworld Ascendant is a disgraceful mess in terms of both design and execution. [01/2019, p.85]

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]

Due to quick levelling up and relatively small map Mutant Year Zero feels smaller than it actually is, but still don’t expect more than 12-15 hours of moderately engaging gameplay that unfortunately slows down towards the end. [01/2019, p.80]

Infernally fast vehicles racing and blowing each other up on numerous, well-designed tracks where distinction between floor and ceiling is often purely formal. If you still remember Rollcage fondly, you will probably turn a blind eye to average visuals, annoying music and some AI problems to simply enjoy the sensation of speed. [01/2019, p.79]

A minimalistic, good-looking RTS built around a heavily emphasised risk/reward system. It might not be remarkable, but it was still able to make me lose track of time. [01/2019, p.78]

I played the hell out of Warcraft II back in the day, so 20 hours I spent with this tribute to Blizzard’s masterpiece were a pleasant journey to the past. If you enjoy traditional real-time strategies and don’t mind cover versions sounding almost the same as the originals, give Loria a try. [01/2019, p.77]

A highly praiseworthy (although a tad too easy) variation of XCOM 2 with an interesting turn-based combat system. There are two reasons why Mechanicus engraved itself in my memory. The first one is great writing done by Ben Counter, British author of novels and short stories set in the Warhammer 40,00 universe. The second one is amazing audio, including outstanding soundtrack by Guillaume David. [01/2019, p.76]

11-11 is neither an example of good impressionist art, nor a good war movie or a good video game. It’s unbearably pretentious and so shallow it does not reach beyond simple platitudes (“not all Germans were evil”, “global conflicts affect ordinary people too”). It’s sad that brushing against a mature subject and going for an artsy feel is enough to make many people overlook obvious flaws of a game (in this case poor gameplay, among other things) and the fact that games as a medium are light years behind movies in terms of storytelling. [01/2019, p.74]

There’s absolutely nothing interesting for an adult in this adaptation of a popular TV series, so I gave it to a seven-years-old and he enjoyed it, even though he already outgrew PAW Patrol and the game was too easy for him. If you’re looking for something a younger kid can play, you’ll hit a bullseye with On a Roll. [01/2019, p.73]

I value games about thieves and regret the fact that there are so few of them, so despite some obvious faults I devoted two intense days to Thief Simulator. Thanks to some simple but solid and addictive mechanics I enjoyed it, even though the game’s flaws are obvious. And now I’m waiting for a sequel. [01/2019, p.72]