It’s hard to recommend Deathloop to anyone. By action standards, the game is plainly boring: it’s basically the same 4 maps over and over again with no variety in enemies or weapons. Cause-and-effect timeloop puzzle gameplay is underwhelming as well: aside from the proper solution, there are very few things to try. [Issue#255, p.56]

It’s almost like Diablo 4 developers are consciously fighting against everything that made classic Diablo fun. [Issue#262, p.80]

Tombs are the best thing RotTR has to offer. Compared to the previous Tomb Raider, there really are more of them, but not quite as many as we’d want. Plus, unlike the stealth/combat sequences, most of the tombs can be skipped – although the game would’ve been much better off if it was the other way around. [Issue#204, p.62]

It has its ups and downs. On one hand, there’s a lot to do and graphics are top-notch by 3DS standards; on the other – there’s basically no story and virtually no new ideas. It’s up to debate what outweighs what, but there’s no doubt that in its genre Monster Hunter has no real competition on 3DS. [Issue#211, p.61]

In the first few hours, you get to know and love Inscryption. Then, it genre-shifts to the point of total unrecognizability. [Issue#257, p.78]

Developers reused a lot of assets from the first game, did nothing to address its shortcomings, and probably hope that combat alone (which is as good as it was before) would be enough to sell the game to the public. [Issue#245, p.54]

The setting is intriguing, but the story is bland. Open world promises exploration, but there is nothing to find. The combat has all the beats – but it just isn’t interesting. [Issue#254, p.68]

After you get used to the world of Shadow of Mordor understanding comes: there is nothing to do in it. Chieftains – pretty serious opponents at first – in the end due to the lame balance become the whipping boys. Storyline is buried under muddy reasoning about rings, elves and dark lord. As a result you like the Shadow of Mordor gameplay but you do not want to go to the finish. [Nov 2014, p.64]

Alas, developers were way too eager to copy FromSoftware’s ideas, so Salt and Sanctuary never became anything more than “2D Dark Souls”. Nice concept, but a forgettable experience. [Issue#208, p.73]

343 Industries managed to rectify some of Halo 4’s mistakes, but most of its shortcomings are still present. [Issue#203, p.56]

Developers compare HDL to Legend of Zelda, but their biggest similarity is that the world is split between surface and dungeon “halves”. In HDL, you don’t explore dungeons, you clean them out: enter a room, kill everyone, proceed to the next. [Issue#209, p.72]

Shredder’s Revenge is one big nostalgia trip that doesn’t even try to do something more – like offering actually good and nuanced beat’em up experience, for example. [Issue#260, p.52]

It’s nice to know that Dave and Sandy from Maniac Mansion are doing fine, but they have no relation to this story. Same can be said for many others: storyline is chockfull of side stuff that ends up going nowhere. It’s also missing an ending – instead of resolving everything, Thimbleweed Parks plays a postmodernism card that leaves an extremely bad aftertaste [Issue#219, p.78]

It’s a good thing to have wide range of racing disciplines, but seriously – who would buy Project CARS 2 for its carting or Formula Rookie championship? And no, you can’t just play what you like: more than half of the championships are locked from the get-go. [Issue#224, p.46]

Sadly, Persona 5 Strikers has some value only for the fans of original Persona 5. For others it will prove to be an odd mix of a dull visual novel with a pretty average musou game. [Issue#252, p.56]

The game puts as much emphasis on narration as it does on turn-based combat, but if you’ve ever played a JRPG or two, Valkyria’s story won’t surprise you – you already know by heart these character types and plot twists. Same goes for combat – it’s so similar to the first game, it’s embarrassing. [Issue #233, p.60]

Over the course of 5 episodes Max will find time to play detective, visit alternate realities, fall in love (perhaps), take a lot of photos and make a lot of choices... only to have the slate wiped clean by the final scene. [Issue#203, p.80]

Played regularly, Ring Fit Adventure may become a cheap alternative to gym membership, or at least make morning workout less boring. [Issue#241, p.69]

Think of every obnoxious sidequest you’ve ever had to do; chances are, you’ll have to do exactly the same in Replicant. It has everything from mail delivery to mass-slaughtering sheep for an occasional drop of mutton. Its only saving grace is the new battle system, created by experts at Platinum Games.[Issue#253, p.52]

A fight with an ordinary enemy whose level is slightly higher can drag on for minutes, especially if you’re fighting it alone. The combat itself is also rife with problems: sometimes main character even fails to draw his weapon, or locks onto a far-off enemy, while another already is eviscerating him in close combat. [Issue#226, p.64]

C&C was difficult not because of good AI or interesting tactical puzzles, but due to poor usability. With modernized interface, it’s a walk in the park, and will be enjoyable only as long as nostalgia lasts. [Issue#247, p.44]

Metro has always been a very niche game series with poor storytelling, broken stealth and unsatisfying shooting mechanics, which are offset by original setting. The same is true for Exodus, although it also adds "pointless open world" to the pile. [Issue#236, p.28]

A lot of interesting mechanics were implemented, but ultimately left stranded by tedious core gameplay. [Issue#242, p.44]

If FIFA 15 seemed too fast and felt wrong for no apparent reason, it’s likely that PES 2015 is your game. [Jan 2015, p.74]

The game may appear to be monotonous since heroes never learn new abilities – but as levels go, they find new applications for skills they already have, so Unruly Heroes never goes stale. [Issue#236, p.36]

Mordhau is basically two games in one: on one hand, it has a complex fighting system with feints, ripostes and so on. On the other – you can forget about all that fancy dueling stuff and just charge in with your halberd, hoping to chop off a few heads before losing your own. [Issue#239, p.62]

Puzzles should’ve been a nice break between intense slasher-parkour sequences. But they’re so drawn out that instead of giving you a breather, they choke the life out of the action. [Issue#250, page 54]

A great comedy adventure with a hair-trigger tempered, yet still charming protagonist. Chuchel is like a fun-charged battery that’s ready to boost your mood. [Issue#228, p.66]

For the first few hours, Ni No Kuni 2 looks like an ordinary JRPG: it’s very linear, story-centric and rather naive. But as soon as our protagonist gets his new kingdom, it shows its true colors – those of an unholy crossbreed between an Asian grind fest MMORPG and a mobile “strategy” game that’s all about making players wait. [Issue#229, p.62]

Little by little Wasteland 2 wastes away its charm. It wants to be good, and it tries to be. But sometimes the efforts to make a great game are obvious – and sometimes it’s obvious that someone in the team had really been slacking off. [Nov 2014, p.78]

Once, RTS were a challenge that required quick thinking and foreplanning, never afraid to humiliate inept player. Today, they’re exact opposite, eager to please paying client. Anno 1800 is a perfect example of such strategy: good-looking, predictable and forgiving. [Issue#238, p.48]

Endless Legend showed that even basic concepts may be reinvented. I’m not saying Stardock should plagiarize them, but it’s a proof that it can be done. Still, is such reinvention necessary for Stardock? Nope. They have a steady fan base, so GC III’s success was guaranteed. Furthermore, despite how inconsequential the changes are, it’s not exactly a bad game. But it doesn’t reach for the new stars. [Issue#199, p.80]

Basically, it’s an Age of Empires II remake. Why would Microsoft remake a game that was re-released as recently as 2019? That’s beyond us. [Issue#257, p.58]

Battlefield V still has the magic of its predecessors: you do feel like you’re taking part in a big battle in some Hollywood movie. But everything about it, from bugs to the amount of content, makes you feel that EA is trying to sell an Early Access game without labeling it so. [Issue#234, p.40]

If more attention was paid to story and less to grind, Void Bastards could potentially rival System Shock. As it is, however, it’s basically just another roguelike. [Issue#241, p.50]

BoxBoy! + BoxGirl! Is easy to pick up and play to the end, but getting the highest ratings will be quite a challenge, as it requires to gather all crowns on the level while using as few boxes as possible. [Issue#238, p.62]

Unfortunately, Dragon Quest VII has so many shortcomings it can’t be saved neither by its good story, nor by its charming characters, nor by the fact that its graphics are good by 3DS standards. A game that was originally released in Japan back in 2000 needs a whole lot of work to look adequate on modern market – and Square Enix barely bothered to give it a fresh coat of paint. [Issue#213, p.54]

Attempts to crack a joke about every single thing lead to a humor overdose, while overbranching dialogues become a burden. But even if you’ll get bored, it won’t last long: something unexpected will definitely happen to jerk you alive. [April 2015, p.73]

Every race has its own narrative, but it doesn’t work like it did in Endless Legends: tasks feel disjointed and random, and there’s no victory by completing the storyline. Procedurally generated quests are even more arbitrary, and Academy storyline can’t quench thirst for good storytelling on its own. [Issue#221, p.90]

Soulcalibur had always been relatively accessible fighting series, and now it is even more so: certain moves that previously required multiple button presses are now relegated to shoulder buttons. Still, it doesn’t oversimplify combat, as inertia from miscalculated strike still can drag you out of area boundaries, causing an instant loss. [Issue #233, p.66]

The rice-growing process is very detailed, perhaps excessively so, but the action elements help to break the monotony. Besides, where else can you learn so much about rice? [Issue#251, p.55]

It feels like the most challenging missions are difficult not by design, but rather by design mistakes. For example, one of them gives a very limited time to bomb a number of targets – which wouldn't be so bad if allied fighters actually engaged enemy interceptors. [Issue#236, p.52]

Gravity Rush 2 missed its chance to enter major league thanks to its basic story and weak combat system. There’s no arguing it’s an incredibly beautiful “flying game” in an unusual world; you can fly around for hours just enjoying the sights. But all this time we’ve felt absolutely no desire to land and get another ridiculous quest. [Issue#217, p.74]

When it comes to reimagining decades old games, there are only two options: change the graphics and release it as is, dated gameplay and all, or keep the general idea and build everything from scratch. Not surprisingly, both of them lead to an uphill battle. [Issue#241, p.46]

Remaster proves that Gravity Rush became a thing on PS Vita mostly because of Vita’s game drought – for home console its gameplay and story are both rather lackluster. [Issue#206, p.74]

Some of the stories may leave you confused, others might make you uncomfortable, but there’s no denying that despite its simplistic appearance, Essays on Empathy manages to evoke some strong emotions. [Issue#253, p.57]

The final choice of Clem is the most powerful moment of the second season. All the preceding gameplay (or we’ll better name it "watching") does not affect the outcome in any way: the epilogue is determined by three possible Clem’s actions at the very end of the game. Despite the fact that there are just five endings and it’s so easy to replay the last scene and see other four, it would be better not to do it because the second time you will not cry so heartily. [Oct 2014, p.86]

In Tales of Berseria you can find every single thing which caused “traditional” JRPG to fall out of favor: world is almost empty, balance is non-existent and instead of truly intricate story we have a cheap, unbelievable drama. Sure, most of these can be explained away as a JRPG tradition – but that doesn’t mean we didn’t get tired of them. [Issue #217, p.76]

It’s obvious the team didn’t have the budget of Yakuza 6 for this game. But that gives the game its own charm, like those criminal dramas on TV that you would never watch on purpose, but if you stumble upon one, you’re going to see it to the end. [Issue#239, p.52]

Tactical and role-playing variety suffers from imperfect system of procedural generation. Lady Luck may start throwing at you rooms where you can’t build anything, or give pitiful amount of energy, or leave you with no way to improve your technologies. It’s like reversed Russian roulette: you get one balanced gaming session per five ridiculously difficult. [Dec 2014, p.95]

Most modern AAA games have a photo mode, so there’s no need to buy Snap just to play photographer. But for a Pokémon fan, there’s the appeal of seeing these creatures in their natural habitat. [Issue#254]

In a game called Dirt, dirt has no effect on car’s behavior, and neither does snow. Only ice forces you to make adjustments to your driving. [Issue#250, page 53]

For some reason, Turbo is being presented as if it’s a party game, which couldn’t be further from truth: most of the time you’ll be running the same track over and over again trying to shave tenths of second from your record time. So it’s best played alone and only if you enjoy difficult arcade racing games. Luckily for Ubisoft, there aren’t many of them this generation. [Issue#208, p.63]

Moderately hardcore, a tad nostalgic, devoid of AAA luster, but engaging nonetheless – Squadrons is a nice choice for those who miss Star Wars: X-Wing Alliance. [Issue#249, p.56]

It’s not bad per se, but so totally unremarkable that no matter how many hours you spend playing it, you won’t have a memorable moment. [Issue#209, p.82]

The name of the game is “parry”. Whatever the problem is, a well-timed parry will save the day. But if you can’t handle parrying mechanic, you’ll lose, no matter what tactics you use and what your equipment is. [page 52]

Once you get the upgrades rolling and start getting farther with each new attempt, boredom gradually sets it as you realize: story-centric spacesims are better. They have a clear endgoal and missions that give a sense of accomplishment. Sure, Everspace does have a (barebones) story, sometimes you even get a sidemission, but its main motivation – get to the last sector just because – does not motivate enough. [Issue#221, p.88]

Monsters look great, but their physical model is severely lacking, which you can’t help but notice every time you just clip right through their tails or necks. Yet, the game somehow manages to overload 3DS’ hardware to the point some older models can’t keep up and drop framerate to unacceptable levels. [Issue#224, p.56]

Combat is rather simplistic, but effective: situations and objectives vary greatly, and each fight requires its own tactics and equipment. Unfortunately, it’s also the best part of the game – although writers managed to draft an intriguing world, they failed to populate it with memorable characters and stories. [Issue#239, p.66]

Bullets simply don’t cause enough damage for shooting to feel fun: you can unload an entire magazine into some random mob point-blank, and there’s no guarantee it’ll do as much as make it flinch. After a while you realize that you’re not even watching the action anymore, your gaze is fixated solely on enemy healthbar at the top of the screen. On the other hand, bows, shotguns and grenade launchers do pack satisfying bang – they’re not much better in terms of DPS, but fire slowly enough for each shot to deal respectable damage to enemy ranks. [Issue#214, p.64]

Borderlands had its share of bugs, broken abilities and boring levels, but it always made up for it with humor and charm. Not anymore: Gearbox lost its best writers, so in Wonderlands it struggles even with established characters, and new ones fall completely flat. [Issue#260, p.42]

For those who didn’t fall in love with these games way back when, they’ll look too childish and, at the same time, punishingly difficult. There are no endless respawns on checkpoints, so if you run out of lives – you gotta start from scratch. For a fan, however, that collection is a real treat. [Issue#220, p.77]

Search for clues in the downtrodden districts of the future turns out to be far more captivating than diving into someone’s memories – which is supposed to be Observer’s main course. In the previous game by same studio, Layers of Fear, developers managed to evoke anxiety before the unknown, but here, all their efforts fall flat. Playing this game is just like fiddling with a jammed mechanism: you keep thinking that if you go just a bit further, something will click and the gears will start to turn – but in Observer’s case, that never comes to be. [Issue#223, p.62]

The variety of maps, tasks and challenges is one of the strong suits of Part Time UFO. Even though the gameplay mechanics are pretty simple, clever puzzle design keeps the player entertained for many hours. [Issue#251, p.71]

You have to spend hours crawling around, looking for lone enemies that you can gang up on and take out without raising the alarm – because there’s no way you’ll be able to fight everyone at the same time. To put it bluntly – it’s not fun, and Mutant doesn’t have anything else to offer. [Issue#235, p.46]

Kudos to Ubisoft for being brave enough to release a full-scale game focused on extreme sports – we definitely need more of these. Now for the bad news: like most Ubisoft games, at least half of the content is either superfluous, or underdeveloped. Only skiing and snowboarding are actually good, bikes are tolerable at best, and skydiving is just meh. [Issue#257, p.68]

Level design is overly convoluted. No matter where you’re going, the road will take so long you’re likely to forget why you were going there in the first place. Not to mention that the path is so rugged, no ordinary person would ever get there. So how do normal people live here (and they do, ostensibly)?[Issue#263, p.46]

The levels are badly designed and uninspired, they don’t spark curiosity or desire to explore them – but you still have to, because new weapons and armor aren’t dropped by the enemies, they must be found in obscure spots scattered across the maps. [Issue#241, p.44]

Defiant Development tried to kill three birds with one stone, but managed only to wound one – namely, deck-building concept of Hand of Fate is a quite interesting experiment. But instead of polishing it, developers spent their time chasing after the other two avians – combat and trap-filled mazes. [April 2015, p.71]

DiRT is making a comeback after getting rid of both Ken Blok and dubious car acrobatics. Instead, we get more of classic rally, rallycross, as well as some questionable disciplines like Landrush. [Issue#221, p.74]

A playthrough of Sherlock Holmes: Crimes & Punishments leaves little negative emotions. There could be much more positive ones of course, but perhaps that’s a goal that’ll be reached in the next episode. After all, we really are talking about the most rapidly progressing modern quest series. [Dec 2014, p.70]

Outlaw is a throwback to the roots of spacesim genre, a visual aid that shows where it all began and helps to understand just how far the genre has evolved since then. And the lesson to take is this: let the past stay in the past. [Issue#241, p.40]

More dull character for interactive drama is difficult to imagine. The LiS world is documentarily trivial, and the college, where Miss Caulfield will be studying managed to gather all the clichés from American movies for young adults: guys from sport team, kids with rich parents, nerds of all kinds... There is only one thing that is going to crush local routine: Max, for some unknown reason, is able to control time. [Issue #195, p.76]

Since you can’t have more than a dozen units at any time and defensive buildings can only be placed in pre-determined spots, your tactical options are extremely limited – and no matter what you choose, you’ll end up playing whack-a-mole with enemy troops. [Issue#231, p.72]

If you extensively use time powers, battles will be quick and colorful – but Quantum Break doesn’t actually encourage that playstyle. Even on the highest difficulty, only one enemy type requires you to teleport around; everyone else can be killed with standard cover shooter routines. What’s even worse is that there’s a considerable lag between the button press and actual use of the ability, which further discourages playing fast and loose. [Issue#208, p.68]

To be honest The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing II rather looks like a decent add-on than a sequel. But is this so important given that the game is still interesting just enough to keep us entertained till final credits? [September 2014, p. 60]

One step forward, two steps back, couple steps to the side with some awkward shuffling thrown in-between – that’s how Back 4 Blood feels compared to Left 4 Dead. Card-based power-up system is the only interesting thing about it. [Issue#256, p.40]

If you think that Expeditions is just Snowrunner without emphasis on trucks – you are correct, more or less. It also has pretty much the same problems, including collision physics. But considering the perpetual drought in the genre, we’re going to play it nevertheless. [Issue#263, p.58]

Top games of survival genre, alas, are all built from an action or platformer base, which are rather constraining for a thoughtful (or just not-so-agile) player. So NEO Scavenger offers a unique experience: surviving with the luxury of turn-based gameplay. [Feb 2015]

Compared to other projects based on Games Workshop tabletop games, BGA is closest to the ancient dilogy of Shadow of the Horned Rat and Dark Omen. Just like these, BGA sacrifices turn-based gameplay in favor of real-time, but sticks to the spirit and letter of the source as closely as possible. [Issue#209, p.78]

Tales of Zestiria isn’t a blockbuster and it won’t appear as a “Game of the Year” nominee, but if you like JRPGs, you’ll spend about 40 hours in it, and won’t come to regret a single one of them. [Issue#204, p.73]

Avowed kinda works. The story is bland, but at least dialogue doesn’t make you cringe every time someone opens their mouth. Combat... exists. And level design is actually good: it looks quite nice, and offers interesting exploration opportunities. But it’s definitely not worth the asking price of $70. [Issue#266]

Not only it doesn’t surpass RE2, it fails to even hit the same mark. In RE2, every act had you explore a rather large environment, search for clues and solve puzzles. In RE3, you just run down a corridor, blasting zombies and dodging scripted Nemesis attacks. [Issue#245, p.46]

That "I did my best but failed..." accompanies Grey Goo in almost every aspect. The game is really good but constantly stumbles on small, but noticeable imperfections. Excellent re-creation of the C&C game mechanics without the inherent C&C drive. Lovely base management with solely battle tactics of "grasp all units with a frame and send them to attack". High complexity, which is based on the cheating AI. Balance of a game from 1995 in a year of 2015. [Issue #195, p.82]

It feels like a StarCraft mod where unit models are replaced with Warhammer figurines. Grimdark and gore that are synonymous with Warhammer 40k were carefully gelded. Intro cutscene aside, this game could easily get 6+ age rating. [Issue#219, p.64]

When Ubisoft brought forth subscription service Just Dance Unlimited, it became the focal point of Just Dance experience, and every new game basically adds new songs to it, albeit with a timed exclusivity. [Issue#234, p.48]

iOS and Android versions of TWEWY couldn’t handle the unique combat system with two different fights on two different DS screens, so they cut one of them. Switch port mutilates the game even further. [Issue#234, p.74]

Game Builder Garage offers enough tools to make everything from a simple platformer to a racing game to a space sim. The only downside is that it’s hard to discover games made by other players. [Issue#254, p.64]

Before the Storm doesn’t feel like a proper prequel – it’s too short for that. For example, Rachel-Chloe relationship progresses too quickly and smoothly, they didn’t even have a big quarrel. Sure, writers did show just how much Rachel meant for Chloe, and we did get some nice family drama, but Rachel’s eventual disappearance and events that led to it are completely sidestepped, leaving kind of an empty feeling. [Issue#226, p.42]

Bravely Default II has some technical issues, but Claytechwork managed to make a good JRPG that deserves to stand alongside genre’s finest (well, at least those of the recent years). [Issue#252, p.68]

D4 is a silly and frivolous game, but charming in its awkwardness. Part of the charm lies in the fact that it blends the absurd and serious things in equal proportions, so absurd ones look even more grotesque while serious ones suddenly became more meaningful. The selected method of narration with trips in time and space is able to reveal the most non-standard locations, and the author's story can go in an absolutely incredible jungle. [Nov 2014, p.94]

I’d like to believe that in time, with a few DLCs, Imperator will become a worthy Antiquity simulator. Still, it’s a worrying sign that a brand new Paradox game has basically no original features at its launch. [Issue#238, p.66]

Although some trouble or another always crops up in Half-Genie’s world, it’s still filled with cheer: people look ready to burst into dance at the drop of a hat, and Shantae keeps a huge smile on her face even in combat. To enjoy this upbeat world, you don’t need to know the first thing about it – even if you pay no attention to story and flat jokes, the game won’t lose any of its luster. [Issue#216, p.52]

In this “fantasy California” no one dares to hurt someone’s feelings – not even a necromancer or a hired killer. It’s a shame that dialogues are this bad, because the rest of the developer team was actually working hard: combat is fun (if a bit too simple), and some levels are outright gorgeous. [Issue#266]

Although in the new chapter Rufus is once again alive, well and goofs around as much as ever, don’t expect that he’ll get his “happily ever after” this time. On the other hand – who even needs that “ever after” when you’ve got a time machine? [Issue#208, p.57]

It’s the same game as Blood Bowl that came out in 2009, except it’s a tad more beautiful, has a single player campaign and not nearly as many teams. [Issue#203, p.72]

Music is extremely important for Heading Out: even races last only as long as the accompanying songs. So there’s no excuse for such a bland, boring soundtrack – especially for a game set in the 70s. [Issue#264,p.72]

It’s one of those cases where it’s really hard to rate a game. It has a great concept and good plot delivery, but actual gameplay is incredibly frustrating. You’re stuck in the loop along with your character, with no way to fast-forward the events, and you have to meticulously try every possible combination, until find the trigger that will open up a new option. And then you re-check it all over again. [Issue#256, p.44]