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]

Before, you used to drive a heavy-duty rig through all kinds of difficult terrain basically for the sake of it. Now you complete contracts and earn money to get a better rig. You can also impact the world by building bridges and removing debris, which makes the entire process much more involved. [Issue#246, p.42]

It’s obvious how much progress Ubisoft has made in terms of quality of side activities: in Watch Dogs 2 they have their own cutscenes, dialogue and interesting set-ups. Even something as benign as taxi missions isn’t limited to moving someone from point A to point B: for example, you may get a fare who writes a blog about extreme lifestyle, so she’ll want you to make some risky jumps in your car. [Issue#214, p.36]

Chaotic melees give little opportunity to use more sophisticated fencing mechanics, but there’s no denying that there’s a lot of pure visceral fun to be had here. [Issue#254, p.58]

It’s more like a Season 2 to Hitman (2016) than a proper sequel, so there isn’t a lot of changes – just a few new story tidbits (in case anyone actually follows the plot), as well as 6 new incredibly detailed levels. [Issue#234, p.52]

The Banner Saga 2 is a story about being forced to quickly mature, about trying to find a reason to live after you’ve lost everyone you used to live for, about betrayal and price of love. A story that ends all too abruptly, with no satisfactory conclusion. But Stoic will finish it; we’ll just have to hold on for now. [Issue#209, p.60]

Two-hour campaign with pretentious tacked-on story that constantly interrupts game flow is a major source of negativity. But the thing is – the campaign is nothing more than an overlong tutorial; once you’re done with it, the real fun with challenge runs and endless mode opens up. [Issue#207, p.50]

No two ways about it – Tekken 7 is a success. Sure, it would be better if the campaign was longer, if it still had Fight Lab training mode and every single character that ever appeared in the series was playable; but still – base roster of 36 fighters, great performance and flawless combat mechanics make Tekken 7 more than worthy to be called an editor’s choice game. [Issue#221, p.70]

At its core, MK11 is a great fighting game – and free-to-play elements, while unfortunate, do not significantly diminish the experience. [Issue#238, p.52]

GT7 doesn’t feel like a truly new game – more like an upgraded version of Sports. But it’s par for the course for the series: each generation, Polyphony Digital makes a solid foundation and then builds upon it. [Issue#260, p.38]

Unlike Phoenix Wright, Danganronpa is a fair-play detective – no one will barge in at 11-th hour with a crucial piece of evidence, so if you pay close attention, you’ll figure out the gist of “whodunit” well before the protagonist does. So if you missed western release of Danganronpa on PS Vita, now is the time to make up for it. [Issue#207, p.71]

Leisurely promenades and simple puzzles are interspersed with action moments where you have to flee from local aggressive fauna. There’s also some stealth involved. These segments aren’t stellar, but they do shake things up nicely. [Issue#260, p.58]

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]

Usually, a planet has just one or two settlements and a bit of wildlands to explore. But that’s for the best – instead of exploring miles of filler content, Outer Worlds keeps you moving from planet to planet, from one tense situation to another. [Issue#241, p.34]

AKtR avoids usual crutches of episodic adventures: it doesn’t drop endless QTEs on player nor does it pretend you’re making a difficult moral choice every step of the way. Instead, developers fell back to trusty inventory puzzles. [Sept 2015, p.73]

Super Mario 3D All-Stars is for everyone who loves videogames. Hopefully, even though it’s a limited-time offer at the moment, Nintendo will change its mind and 3D All-Stars will be available for purchase even after March 31. [Issue#248, p.58]

A great entry point for people new to the Warhammer 40k franchise, as well as a nice throwback to the action games of old. No open world, no Souls-like mechanics, no “meaningful” story choices. Just you, your bolter and a whole lot of enemies to mow down. [Issue#265, p.72]

Game has the original setting, the normal economic part, many of the small and large original features and unusually lax battle system. It means unambiguous excess of debit over credit, at least – in absolute terms. But... niche is quite filled today, and everyone can find a game to his liking and suitable for his style of play. And Amplitude Studios definitely should not feel the shame for its creation. [Nov 2014, p.90]

One of the major Pyre’s features is that you can’t die. Sure, a fight to the death is nothing if not stimulating, but death is still a release – and no one escapes Downside that easily. Actually, inability to die is akin to a curse, because, although you can’t die – you still can lose. And you will have to find strength to keep going despite that loss, despite having let down your teammates and friends. [Issue#222, p.56]

It’s Part 3 of the trilogy, so if you’ve missed the previous two, there’s no reason to play this one first. But if you’ve been anxiously awaiting the finale of the story that began 4 years ago – The Banner Saga 3 won’t disappoint. [Issue#232, p.58]

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

The studio redrew every model and changed the engine, but managed to keep the gameplay faithful to the original. Level architecture, Spyro’s abilities and his enemies – Reignited Trilogy plays just like the originals, only with modern graphics. [Issue#234, p.63]

A contradictory, heart-wrenching, sometimes even harsh, yet still stunning story about friendship, duty and honor, about deceptive freedom of choice in your actions, and true freedom in choice of your morals – which is both a blessing and an ordeal. [Issue#215, p.64]

EA Canada has done an excellent job. Yes, there are some rough edges like too many player errors during throw-ins or kicking the ball over side line in cases where it would be better to kick it to the middle of the field. Too many hits on the goal posts and bar. But developers have managed to conquer new heights where they will sure nest and polish this flagship series, until the time comes for a new breakthrough. [Nov 2014, p.96]

Unfortunately over time it becomes clear that the promised freedom is illusory. The finale does not depend on our actions, puzzles should be solved by all means all, and openness of locations results in monotonous races back and forth. But what is important – creators of The Vanishing of Ethan Carter managed to create photo-realistic frightening world that player does not want to leave. American backwoods is traced to the last crack at the railing of the bridge, to the last blade of grass on a mossy stone in the forest, to the last shingle on the lake shore. And all this is feast for the eyes was developed with the decrepit Unreal Engine 3 and by the tiny studio! [Nov 2014, p.110]

Vermintide 2 doesn’t solve the problem that the process is ultimately pointless: you increase the power level of your character just to play the same maps on higher difficulties, with no actual endgoal. In fact, it doesn’t even try to tackle that issue. But it’s still a great game that lets you spend your evenings slaughtering skaven and northmen in the name of Sigmar. [Issue#228, p.40]

Introduction of open world led to action slowing down a little, but new lore and world-building more than make up for it. [Issue#241, p.30]

It’s hard to shake the feeling that development time on Prey was seriously (and suddenly) cut. Developers took their time designing a magnificent space station, they worked out the relationships between personnel and outlined various background stories, they begun fleshing out the main storyline and alien ecology when suddenly they received an order to wrap it up and ship the game as it is. At least, that’s the most plausible thing I can think of to explain the staggering difference in polish between various elements. [Issue#220, p.44]

Characters and decorations are so colorful and lively that they fall just a few inches short of Pixar standards. It’s impossible to play GW2 with a hardcore competitive mindset, but it’s a great specimen of “shooters for all family”. [Issue#207, p.64]

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]

Numenera should be played like Call of Duty. Don’t try to make sense of things, don’t try to roleplay anything, just relax and take in the sights. Help a robot deliver his robo-babies, mess around with hi-tech devices, watch the story unfold. It’s not a worthy successor of Planescape: Torment by any measure, but a good enough ride on its own. [Issue#218, p.50]

Although Hong Kong is basically a clone of Dragonfall, it doesn’t diminish the game’s strengths: solid storyline and interesting missions (only a few, if any, are straightforward or purely combat-oriented). It has only one downside – the game expects players to read. A lot. Crime against humanity, I know. [Issue#201, p.50]

If such simplicity could be considered as a drawback of the game it will be a really minor flaw because even just experimenting with dozens of skills is very funny. [Issue#210, p.85]

One of the cornerstones of War Thunder is that player’s skill is more important than his wallet. Premium vehicles offer no combat advantages, there is no “microtransaction-only” ammo or consumables, so no amount of cash will buy you a spot on the top of the food chain. [Issue#216, p.56]

Every port is a unique and unforgettable adventure that comes together from pieces of past events and always gives the player a real, tangible choice. But the process of traveling between the islands is unfortunately lacking. [April 2015, p.66]

Compared to Wii U version, Encore offers not only prettier graphics, but new content as well. It’s not limited to a few new clothes or songs either; Encore has an additional storyline, as well as lots of nifty little additions. [Issue#243, p.52]

With Dontnod, there’s always a small town and the death of a friend to get the story rolling. But this time around, characters, plot and setting are far more developed than in previous games. [Issue#255, p.62]

Alien: Isolation can serve as an example of a solid adaptation of movie features to the game format: Creative Assembly have managed to recreate the atmosphere of the original film. They did not try to squeeze Alien within the frames of existing genres, but took the events of the original picture as a basis while not limiting themselves to them. [Nov 2014, p.68]

Having a co-op partner is essential for Overcooked 2, otherwise you’ll miss most of the funny situations, entertaining confusion and surprising difficulty of this game. [Issue #233, p.64]

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]

The number of references to H.P. Lovecraft’s works and the fact that they are subtly woven into the main narrative and side-quests makes Stygian the most faithful lovecraftian game of recent years. [Issue#241, p.60]

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]

Despite its certain “been there, done that”, Faeria is quite captivating, especially when your opponent pulls a trick out of the left field, like stealing your cards. So if you grew tired of Hearthstone and you can’t get into Gwent’s closed beta, Faeria might be just the thing for you. [Issue#218, p.67]

Most of the time Yarny will be traversing beautiful locales, but you’ll also have to visit a chemical waste dump and a house overflowing with cockroaches (which will tear Yarny apart like a school of piranhas). At moments like these, all charm of the game totally disappears. [Issue#207, p.76]

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 paradise for gamers that leave no stone unturned. There’s no procedural generation involved, so every nook and cranny were hand-made, and there’s a generous amount of loot to be found. [Issue#262, p.68]

There’s no cooking, castle-building, marriages and other stuff that nowadays became synonymous with Fire Emblem series, but that oldschool brevity is actually a plus. Personal dramas and love story don’t take the narrative spotlight at every opportunity, cutscenes rarely last more than two minutes, and you don’t spend more time preparing for a combat than actually fighting. In a world of epic RPGs with laundry list of features, it’s nice to have a niche game with a narrow focus. [Issue#221, p.82]

Mercilessly colorful futuristic city where virtually every element can be used for high-speed movement is likely to leave a newcomer more than a little confused. But once you become accustomed to it, mundane walking becomes almost physically painful: you’ll want to jump on the wires, bounce off the roof of some car, slide down the rails and never touch the sinful earth again. [Dec 2014, p.82]

In contrast with most “walking simulators”, Firewatch is very indigenous. The game doesn’t make you browse endless memoirs and local legends, or spend hours pondering what deep thought the writer tried to convey in each ambiguous sentence. Instead, events in Wyoming forest unfold very naturally, like something that really can happen to a ranger. [Issue#207, p.58]

Music and sounds of the Maw make an already atmospheric game even better. The cry of surprise and righteous indignation that Chef Twins let out once they find Six prowling around their kitchen will surely come to haunt you in your dreams. [Issue#221, p.93]

Despite change of scenery, at its core Spirit of Justice is the same as its predecessors. Phoenix Wright has to gather evidence, find contradictions and shout “Objection!” at every opportunity – only to watch case grow more and more complicated as each additional fact is brought to light. [Issue#213, p.60]

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]

Despite the initial skepticism, Borderlands 3 turned out to be great. It does have its faults, but for the entire 30-hour campaign it will keep you entertained not only with its main story, but also with sidequests, exploration and searching for the perfect build for your character. [Issue#240, p.24]

Sometimes, water turns a weird shade of pink, or disappears entirely, leaving fish to “fly” through the air (you can still catch them, by the way). Characters can get stuck. AI may glitch out, causing enemies to just stand around, waiting to be killed. Not to mention the camera, which may take a sudden liking to hero’s back and show nothing but it in the middle of the combat. But even with all these technical problems, there’s no doubt that Final Fantasy XV is a success. [Issue#215, p.48]

Three years ago, when Dragon’s Dogma first came out, we thought that its NPC AI, where your party members behave almost like real people in co-op would, will become a new RPG standard. Unfortunately, it didn’t come to pass. Well, all the better for the long-awaited PC port of the game. [Issue#206, p.76]

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]

The only Big Mistake that could plunge the Earth into chaos in three hundred years would be to never develop or publish Civilization: Beyond Earth. Thank God it had passed. Firaxis fully succeeded where only Gollop bros were successful before: it brought the role-playing element as influential as the strategic one into the turn-based strategy. [Oct, 2014, p.68]

Let’s face it: Jagged Alliance had always been a game about superheroes with guns. New installment simply cranks that concept up to eleven. [Issue#262, p.54]

Don’t forget that it’s a remaster, not a remake, so models are rather low in polygons, and textures are a little blurry. It also can feel a little awkward if you play it with new control layout instead of classic motion controls. But the game itself is still a masterpiece. [Issue#254, p.38]

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]

It’s hard to tell why there was so much ado about single-player campaign: controversial topics aside, it’s completely mediocre. On the other hand, the multiplayer mode is one of the best in latest instalments of Call of Duty series. [Issue#241, p.49]

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]

In Age of Decadence every problem has solutions that fit your character and solutions that do not. Diplomat should talk, warrior shouldn’t, and thief must remain unseen if he wants to live. Only when you know that you’ll get through alive, you can let minor things like sympathy or morality have an influence on your actions. [Issue#203, p.82]

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]

There is no detail too small to pay attention to, and it’s these little details that help your team succeed – for a management game that’s probably the highest possible praise. [Issue#215, p.56]

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]

The story about missing cats and drug dealers comes short in terms of both magnitude and humor when compared to The Stick of Truth. Even the jokes are very hit-and-miss, often suffering from short setups and predictable payoffs. [Issue#225, p.48]

EA Canada gave their all to story mode. Even though there’s far less leeway for story writers in FIFA than in, say, an FPS game, they’ve managed to weave a compelling story that puts Battlefield to shame. [Issue#224, p.63]

There’s a lot to see here! [Issue#264,p.48]

As she gains new options, Amicia gradually transforms from a victim into a predator, which doesn’t exactly fit the atmosphere. On the other hand, it assures that you will enjoy the rollercoaster storyline without getting stuck at any particular puzzle. [Issue#238, p.58]

Potentially WoWs has some great gameplay, but problems that were carried over to release version from beta preclude us from giving it a higher score. [Nov 2015, p.58]

A sequel to a story that didn’t need a sequel. A dull walking simulator with puzzles that require very little brainpower to solve. Still, it’s an extremely beautiful game with amazing fight choreography. [Issue#264,p.74]

High difficulty accentuates every problem, like wonky camera, weird timings and unpredictable invincibility frames of enemy attacks. But at its highs, Sifu is incredibly dynamic, picturesque and rewarding, a great companion for a nostalgia trip to the VHS era. [Issue#259, p.52]

Departure from fantasy setting didn’t turn Age of Wonders into a must-have game, neither did it break some truly new ground for the genre. Nevertheless, it’s a very nice strategy/tactics mix. [Issue#240, p.28]

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]

Fresh setting and vibrant locations belie some serious gameplay issues, like very uneven difficulty and sluggish movement of the main character. [Issue#265, p.66]

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]

This year FIFA had a lot of notable changes, including female teams and new announcers, but most important ones concern game mechanics themselves. [Nov 2015, p.82]

Besides the advancements in story mode, some changes were made to core gameplay. It’s hard to say if they’re for better or worse, but the game definitely feels a bit different. Maybe that was the entire point, as you can’t just update team rosters of FIFA 18 and sell it as a new game. But tweak the balance a bit – and you’ve got FIFA 19. [Issue #233, p.53]

If you want to live out a larger than life sea story, Barotrauma is your game. Here, you’ll have your arrogant captains, jaded engineers, malpracticing doctors, epic adventures and a myriad dumb ways to die horribly. [Issue#262, p.66]

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]

Bloody, brutal and visceral shooter franchise was given a tactics treatment – and the end result is surprisingly good. Gears Tactics is one of the best games in the genre this year. [Issue#246, p.36]

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]

Previous words and actions, reputation with various groups and key people, even party composition – everything matters in the narrative, so dialogues in Tyranny are a real treat. On the other hand, gameplay elements like combat are still “ok” at best, despite considerable improvements since Pillars of Eternity. [Issue#215, p.68]

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]

In time you’ll get a whole network of professionals ranging from a demolitions expert to a hacker, with Sebastian as the leader and the designated point man. Yes, now you’re a predator, not prey. [Issue#224, p.30]

Rebirth doesn’t feature any new mechanics, and while the story is pretty good, one of its main themes is pregnancy, which may be hard to relate to for some players. [Issue#249, p.64]

There are far fewer cookie-cutter outposts than in previous AC’s, and most sidequests now offer an interesting story, sometimes even with a less-than-obvious solution. While some anti-grind measures have backfired, Ubisoft is on the right track. [Issue#250, page 56]

Unfortunately, sequel kept some of the problems. The major one is how luck-dependent the progress is, especially when it comes to food: if you don’t get an encounter with a trader in time, you’ll die of hunger, but if you meet him too early, when you don’t have money to spare – again, starvation it is. If you get robbed at the market... well, you get the idea. [Issue#226, p.55]

Even the easiest difficulty presents a considerable challenge, since winning a fight in Battle Brothers isn’t the be-all and end-all, it’s equally important to keep your mercs alive and well. [Issue#219, p.90]

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]

Story and setting were made with absolutely no pandering for western tastes. Not everyone will find such a dose of pure, undiluted anime to their liking, but RPG and fighting system make it worth a try. And for hardcore fans of Japanese culture Tokyo Mirage Sessions may very well become one of the best games this year. [Issue#211, p.66]

Pokemon Sword/Shield is uncharacteristically user-friendly: now there’s no need to backtrack half across the world to heal your entire team of pokemon or to get to a particular city, for example. [Issue#242, p.66]

Classic characters, familiar worlds and epic music – the game is like a portal to 8-bit past of the series. But its strength is also its weakness: New Super Mario doesn't even try to surprise you. [Issue#236, p.48]

The game doesn’t look finished. I’m not talking about bugs – it’s almost perfect in this regard. But there’s just not enough diversity, even in ship selection. Such meagerness of content is the main reason why spaceflight bliss doesn’t last forever, even though you have 400 billion of star systems at your disposal. [Feb 2015]

It’s hard to put a genre tag on Expeditions: Rome. It has small-unit skirmishes, clashes between armies, some strategy planning on the campaign map, camp management, crafting, role-playing, and so on and so forth. But the best part is that you don’t need to be Caesar to keep track of it all, because they are perfectly interwoven. [Issue#258, p.46]