As heroine dives deeper, she keeps seeing new undersea wonders. Too bad that many paths are blocked off by various hazards – but for every hazard there is a mean to bypass it, and crab will happily sell Marin necessary upgrades for coins she finds. It’s worth mentioning that there is no predetermined order to this – you can choose which new abilities you want right away, and which can wait their turn. [Issue#212, p.62]

Poor visibility, unremarkable environments and lack of map end up causing a state of perpetual disorientation, so you stumble upon the door to next section purely by chance. And if you stumble upon the monster instead – well, just sprint to the nearest vent, since it’s not scripted to get you out of there. On the other hand, you can’t even throw a piece of junk to attract its attention elsewhere, so you end up sitting there, doing nothing, until it finally gets bored and shambles away. Yes, it’s that bad. [Issue#212, p.60]

There’s only one person around, and he’s more interested in making requests than talking, so you’ll have to get your bearings on your own. Push a button, pull a lever, walk and observe, try this and that – to open a door to a new world, you may need to build a bridge in one dimension, use a laser in another and strike a tambourine in the third. [Issue#212, p.63]

No Man’s Sky is a textbook example of how overenthusiastic PR can hurt a game: in the end, bar was raised so high that fans expecting things that weren’t even promised. To meet such demands, NMS had to be a breakthrough space game with revolutionary procedural generation system and unbelievably advanced AI. Since Hello Games couldn’t conceivably deliver, they should’ve used pre-launch interviews to state, time and again, that it’s just an indie space exploration game with a very routine gameplay loop. [Issue#212, p.50]

Necropolis tries to incorporate roguelike-elements, but it suffers from lack of content: there’s not enough variety in monsters, weapons, artifacts and other procedural generation elements to make new dungeons feel like fresh experiences. Plus, there’s a considerable problem with setting: some environments end up looking quite spooky, but that tone is smeared by humorous narration and item descriptions. [Issue#212, p.54]

It’s obvious that TallTech studio looked at first two Fallouts for inspiration, but all they’ve managed to copy is poor visuals. Character progression is poorly designed and story is linear: whether you want it or not, your character will gain companions, surrender and lose the entire inventory precisely when scriptwriter wills him to. [Issue#212, p.52]

HeadLander is unfortunately uneven: at first, you’re thrust into a parody of the seventies, where robotized populace dances disco and enjoys weird art. But once you get used to the atmosphere, game forces protagonist to investigate some elevator shafts for an hour. Then game picks up the ball and becomes more dynamic and interesting, only to drop it again soon after – and that process repeats itself until the very end. [Issue#212, p.61]

Although each fight has multiple stages, they’re pretty much the same for each enemy: ranged combat, melee clash, bullet hell – and even their order mostly remains the same. For a game that revolves exclusively around boss fights, that’s quite a shortcoming. [Issue#212, p.55]

Last year’s F1 felt like a stepping stone: new version of engine and updated physics came at a huge cost – many important features, including career mode, weren’t up to par. This time Codemasters presents Formula One properly. [Issue#212, p.49]

Champions of Anteria plays almost like Dungeon Siege successor: multiple heroes, real-time pauseable tactical combat, RPG elements that dictate flow of fights. The only thing that’s missing is pack donkey, but there’s no need for it – instead of bags full of loot, champions are rewarded with additional lands that will be settled in Anno manner. [Issue#212, p.56]

Are we going to choose which of two Batman’s signature villains will be saved from predestination? That’s one thing that can keep viewers interested in Telltale’s latest product. And it’s really “viewers” instead of “players” – QTE, that little remnant of interactivity, has almost no bearing of the events. [Issue#212, p.45]

If you grade Master of Orion on its own, not as a part of renowned series – it’s surprisingly alright. For a debut game, such amount of polish and depth could even be qualified as an all-around success. But publisher definitely shouldn’t have touted it as the return of a beloved franchise. [Issue#212, p.46]

Characters have little idea about what’s going on; they may even end up looking for people they’ve killed themselves. The fact that narration is split into episodes that can be played in almost any order adds absurdity to the events. But eventually puzzle comes together and meaning of each scene becomes clear. [Issue#211, p.57]

Every level is very small, and no matter where you decide to hole up, it will be easy for enemies to flank you. It’s not bad by itself, but such design makes cover system – which was to become one of Umbrella Corps’ trump cards – redundant. So it comes as no surprise that combat quickly devolves into chasing after one another with one-hit-kill ax in hand. Of course, it’s hard to talk about tactics or teamplay in this lumberjack’s paradise. [Issue#211, p.56]

If this game had nothing but driving, it would’ve been fine. But for some reason Redlynx decided to add on-foot levels that are exemplary bad: controls are wonky, character is likely to get stuck in the ground, and level design is bland at best. You literally have to endure playing through them – and they take as much as a third of the game. [Issue#211, p.60]

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]

Synopsis of story looks promising: Mars, secrets of technomancers, government conspiracies, etc. – but in practice it’s incredibly bland, lacking both interesting characters and twists. Same goes for tasks: the game will make you protect dumb NPCs, find N spies before time is up, and, of course, complete a truckload of fetch quests. [Issue#211, p.64]

Combat system is overly simplistic; the most difficult trick here is precise parrying with a follow-up counterattack. Other than that, it’s all about button-mashing – which would be fine for a half-hour arcade title, but not for a six-hour game. And it’s so painfully slow: although each bad guy is getting punched by eight green fists simultaneously, health bars barely tick down.

To uncover the truth, you’ll have to possess not only deductive skills, but a considerable patience as well: puzzles “pull a lever, push a button, try to figure out what happened” and chase sequences are unreasonably long. Even though you’d think that a game about Sherlock would have you play as Sherlock, not as Indiana Jones wannabe. [Issue#211, p.73]

One Day in London only creates an illusion that your choices matter, but it’s so well-written and charming that you can’t help but forgive this deception. [Issue#211, p.68]

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]

Hopefully, Inafune put kickstarter millions to good use, like buying a nice juicy steak for his dog or a fancy gold toilet for his new mansion. It’s hard to believe that even a quarter of backers money was actually spent on Mighty No. 9, since it looks like a bad game from 90-s, and plays even worse. It’s especially shameful since nowadays an indie team can make a good platformer in just a few months and only for a fraction of this sum. [Issue#211, p.63]

Although Inside’s aesthetics are great, its storytelling methods aren’t reprehensible. There’s no narration or dialogues; all information is conveyed through environment and gestures of characters, so unless you’re willing to go on wild interpretation sprees, Inside’s story won’t make any sense. But even if you do, it will still leave a lot of unanswered questions. [Issue#211, p.62]

Non-combat side of the game is not nearly as diverse. Our PCs don’t play cards, there’s no more than 10 side quests and not even a hint of romance in this cold air. Still, it’s hard to put I Am Setsuna away – not because the story or the combat are that good on their own, but because it really captures that old school JRPG atmosphere. [Issue#211, p.69]

The game has good economics system, interface shortcomings will probably get patched and DLCs will add stuff that’s missing right now (like spying mechanics or ability to play in early Cold War period). But that bloody mandatory AI assistance is obviously here to stay, so there’s only two options – either learn to accept it, or wait for a total conversion. [Issue#211, p.70]

Last chapter of a game shouldn’t be “just another adventure”, but a final that nicely ties up all loose threads. Unfortunately, Dreamfall Chapters’ ending leaves enough of those to knit a whole sweater for Christmas. [Issue#211, p.65]

You can’t escape the feeling that story-wise Mankind Divided is just one big filler. It’s well-made, it has great ambient atmosphere, the gameplay is fun – but its events do not alter the status quo of Deus Ex’s world. [Issue#211, p.50]

The Shadow of the Beast remake came out spectacular but dull platformer which would be better as a screensaver or a dynamic theme for the PS4. [Issue#210, p.91]

TW: WH never slips into a routine, gameplay keeps player on tenterhooks from the beginning to the end. And thanks to the diversity of the factions – it’s quite replayable. At least five times. [Issue#210, p.86]

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]

Stellaris would be better if released a little bit later. Could someone say for what reason developers remove traditional Swedish AI aggressiveness’ tuning from the game? After all the boring mid game due to the inactivity of the computer opponents is Stellaris's main problem at the moment. [Issue#210, p.82]

After the failure of Trine 3 Frozenbyte was in urgent need for a new hit but Shadwen with its clumsy flirtation with stealth and obsolete technologies clearly can’t claim the status. [Issue#210, p.81]

The main game’s innovation – "open world" which actually is not so open and certainly is not the world. Honestly it is not even residential district despite the fact that city’s 3D-map contains hundreds or even thousands of buildings. Most of them just will flick on the horizon in the best case. [Issue#210, p.78]

Michonne is terrible in her protagonist role – she is unsociable, cynical and silent. But she is the most mysterious and unusual character from the The Walking Dead. To squeeze player into her skin is a very convenient way to show how she came to such a life. [Issue#210, p.77]

It is gratifying that The Witcher 3 holds the quality bar at the highest level to the final credits of his last add-on. [Issue#210, p.74]

If the original game was kind of low-budget and low-grade carbon copy of Call of Duty, then The Revolution – the bricolage of the same quality inspired by Far Cry in its worst forms. [Issue#210, p.72]

Overwatch catches you instantly due to the hurricane dynamics of matches and the amazing smoothness of the game engine. There are no problems with the network code which can give odds to Swiss watches. It is impossible to get lost in the wilds of the interface. It offers extremely convenient controls. As a result Overwatch is very easy to learn. [Issue#210, p.68]

For a 2016 game, Star Fox Zero’s looks are poor, but that’s because it renders two pictures at the same time: on TV, you see the fighter and its surroundings, while Wii U controller shows the view from the fighter’s turret – and you can move it around to turn the turret itself. It doesn’t impact the course of fighter itself, so you can fly in one side while shooting to another.

Despite the original setting, it’s hard to say that We Are The Dwarves is an engaging game. It has three distinct characters, but their skills don’t lend themselves to interesting combinations. Not to mention that stylized graphic make it hard to tell the landscape features and enemy placement at a glance. [Issue#209, p.73]

After the success of THQ’s UFC Undisputed, EA tried to copy it with MMA – and pretty much failed. Then it bought the license from THQ, but EA’s first UFC wasn’t stellar either. Well, after playing UFC 2 we can say with confidence: the third time is the charm. [Issue#209, p.68]

Although ToS as it is today is full of shortcomings and technical problems, we hope that sooner or later it gets fixed. It’s been too long since we’ve seen a MMORPG that features enchanted chests which can be opened only at specific time, rewards you for pronouncing proper phrase in front of a magic obelisk, and has entire locations that are hidden away and can be discovered only through thoughtful exploration. [Issue#209, p.74]

In some respects, R&C remake all but copies original game: same mini-games, same fighter flights, even some locations are basically copy-pasted. Still, Insomniac realized that industry standards have moved on, so it follows the original formula only when it holds up well. [Issue#209, p.70]

Simple yet nuanced mechanic, short multiplayer games – it’s all tuned to let you become top dog of financial world once or twice after coming home from work. But OTC’s simplicity is also its shortcoming: there are too few goods to trade. Black market adds a touch of chaos, so no game goes like the previous one – but it would be great if OTC got a sequel that’s similar but at the same time more complex. [Issue#209, p.84]

Points you earn by genocide may be spent on upgrades that make your machine gun stronger or give allied infantry a bit more health. It’s not much, but it makes time spent with IS Defense a bit better. Still, it’s a lot better not to spend time on it at all. [Issue#209, p.77]

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]

Despite some silly dialogues and animeish looks of characters, Fates has two (three, if you throw in DLC campaign) well-made tactical games with RPG elements, both with distinct flavor and unlike one another. [Issue#209, p.80]

The first half of the game takes place in believable, but not exemplary colonial buildings on Mars. Only when Marine gets to Hell does the game really get into gear: the number and strength of opponents begins to match Marine’s phenomenal murdering skills, and Doom finally transforms into a fierce, high-speed shooter that’s all about holding your own in the middle of a demon’s horde and making sudden comebacks when all seems lost. And yet, even in Hell the game manages to give you breathers to explore and look for secrets. [Issue#209, p.52]

It must’ve been very tempting to fix some quirks of the original, to make a legendary game a bit better. And maybe add something that had been planned back then, but wasn’t finished in time, or perhaps brush up the dialogues. Luckily, team behind Special Edition avoided all these temptations and delivered a game that’s 99.99% faithful to the original (the only joke that got removed is “Fony” logo on a TV) [Issue#209, p.66]

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]

Gearbox had a great FPS-MOBA on their hands: loads of great characters, nice gameplay balance where everyone – melee and ranged DPS, support and tanks – had their roles to play. And they had to go and kill it with loot system that gives long-time players additional advantage over newcomers – not only they know maps and are better adjusted to local gameplay quirks, but they can literally have better stats right from the beginning of any match. [Issue#209, p.86]

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]

There’s no time to bother with tactics and individual units when entire armies are dishing it out: you have to keep your control points, expand your production capacity and methodically push back enemy. Warring sides are well-balanced, but that’s because they’re more or less mirror images of each other. Some diversity is brought only by upgrades and commander’s abilities like calling nuclear strikes or teleporting entire divisions. [Issue#209, p.62]

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]

Biggest problem of AG isn’t the story or lackluster graphics, but its incredibly poor AI. Should you cause an alarm, every guard on the level will blindly run to that spot, letting you shoot them one by one without even changing position. At some point, you start to wonder – why bother trying to stealth around if it’s so much easier to just kill everyone? [Issue#209, p.63]

Open spaces of ADR1FT are a source of both amazement and distress at the same time. There are no explosions, no action and no games of hide-and-seek with aliens; just a dilatory gameplay pace that has to have your total attention to become enjoyable. VR headset is definitely recommended. [VR Tested; Issue#209, p.69]

Does Uncharted 4 have flaws? Sure. From time to time, you notice some animation glitches, and in some episodes developers use artistic license in regards to laws of physics too excessively. But the magic of the game is that it makes you forget these flaws immediately.

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]

The Division’s trump card is setting: it’s an online RPG that doesn’t have elves, dragons, robots, demons or zombies. Sure, these things are popular – but almost every game out there has them; while people who want a modern day setting with no fantasy elements have a much more limited choice. [Issue#208, p.58]

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]

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]

Ship designing demands a lot from the player. Empty shell of any ship, from tiny fighter to space fortress, has to be filled according to its future role in the fleet. Every square inch of space matters: if you manage to squeeze in an extra generator, you’ll be able put a more powerful gun into pylon. [Issue#208, p.74]

Pokken Tournament has fine-tuned multiplayer and a memorable cast of characters. Unfortunately, the balance is lacking, and there could be more fighters present (remember, in other games there are literally hundreds of different Pokemons) [Issue#208, p.66]

Layers of Fear brings Pan's Labyrinth to mind – with the caveat that there’s no monsters in it. The game’s more weird than scary, and it’s very hard to die here, yet it manages to keep players in suspense. [Issue#208, p.62]

To add insult to injury, we’re towing a city with thousands of colonists, and it’s paramount to build them all kinds of morale-improvement buildings. They’re the last hope of humanity – and they will get depressed and start to rebel if they don’t get a new VR entertainment center! Too bad it’s not an option to just hurl these guys straight into the nearest star. [Issue#208, p.50]

No matter how pretty and nuanced Paris level is, when you have nothing else to play with for a whole month, you’ll get burned out. If Square Enix followed their original plan and released at least three sandbox levels at once (or, better yet, the complete game), it would’ve got a much better reception. [Issue#208, p.52]

Flame in the Flood doesn’t burden player with too many details: there simply was a flood, and now a brave girl and her dog are trying to get as far as possible downstream. Good Samaritans are all but non-existent, waters are rough and shores are rougher, so survival isn’t going to be pretty. [Issue#208, p.56]

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]

DS3 would’ve made an excellent sequel to original Dark Souls, but, as it is the trilogy finale, we expected something more than simply retreading familiar paths. On the other hand, it still has the series’ best feature – mystery. While other developers happily shove everything of interest in their games in player’s face, FromSoftware consciously conceals important details from casual observer. And for this unique approach, a lot of shortcomings can be forgiven. [Issue#208, p.44]

It’s as if you traveled to the past, changed some miniscule detail and time went along very similar but different timeline. On one hand, it’s the good old WoT prior to introduction of French tanks; on the other, now the valley on El Halouf map has a lot of vegetation instead of being a barren deathtrap, tank improvements are gained in packs, and weather has an effect on visibility. So even people who are sated with original WoT are prone to once again get that “just one more battle” syndrome. [Issue#207, p.66]

Events of the game take place sometime between 23-rd and 24-th comic volume, which violates basic premise of the series “Anyone can die” – we know that both Michonne and Pete will make it out unharmed. The second problem is Michonne herself – if you play in line with her established character, most of the time you’ll have to stare at people without saying a word. [Issue#207, p.75]

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]

Not only Twilight Princess was first released ten years ago, its development began five years earlier, when game design conventions were rather different. HD-version stays faithful to the original even when it shouldn’t have – for example, if you don’t approach a ladder from a right angle, Link will ignore it. Still, there are some improvements to the interface, and a few absurdly time-consuming tasks were toned down. [Issue#207, p.62]

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]

Experiments with “add as you go” model of development (for example, it means that we won’t get arcade mode until June) may very well spell doom for the project – which is too bad, because basic mechanics and battle dynamic of SFV are almost perfect. [Issue#207, p.52]

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]

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]

Primitive gameplay cycle of Far Cry, placed in primitive world, suddenly starts to make sense, and even story doesn’t feel as barebones and perfunctory as usual. Here, you’re not playing as a skinny frat boy who suddenly discovers a talent for killing hardened soldiers but ultimately just wants to get back to civilization – you’re a hunter who simply wants to become respectable leader of his tribe with a personal luxury cave. [Issue#207, p.46]

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]

Pieces come together to create dynamic action: if you try to complete levels as artfully as possible, Russia will be fun – much better, actually, than any of the previous Chronicles. [Issue#207, p.51]

Roster of really colorful characters speaks in game’s favor: besides usual warriors and bowmen you can play as a bard or even an artist that brings paintbrush to a swordfight. But what’s the point, when the main mechanic has aged poorly and Koei Tecmo doesn’t even try to modernize it? [Issue#207, p.69]

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]

Jonathan Blow’s new game is not another messiah; it’s more of an experiment – a big-budget puzzle game where your only reward for overcoming difficulties is the process of puzzle-solving itself. [Issue#206, p.75]

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]

There are RPG elements here – as you go on, you can increase your health, energy, armor or gun power – but honestly, they should’ve been scrapped from the get go. Any resources spent on them would be better used on balancing the game or making non-cringeworthy animations. [Issue#206, p.73]

Unfortunately, Pokemon SMD doesn’t have especially catchy tunes or good graphics. Still, it’s nice that instead of taking models from previous Super Mystery Dungeon game, developers made new ones. [Issue#206, p.71]

All you need to know about Sébastien Loeb Rally EVO physics is that you can jump on piles of snow as if they were trampolines. [Issue#206, p.70]

It’s almost as if we’re watching Prince of Persia evolution again. Just a bit more, and we’ll see a fully 3D Assassin’s Creed, where our hero will finally be able to climb any roof he wants. Oh, wait… [Issue#206, p.68]

Let’s treat DoK as a group therapy session for developers who still hung over something unfinished in the old Homeworld. Now that they’ve got it out of their systems, hopefully they’ll make something to rival its fame, instead of retracing familiar steps. [Issue#206, p.66]

Budget deficit is the main problem of DD – you’re all but forced to replay the same dungeons over and over. On the other hand, that gives you ample time for experiments with party composition and skills. [Issue#206, p.65]

Crate Entertainment made an “anti-Diablo 3”. Blizzard’s ARPG was too cheerful for you? No problem, here you’ll find blood, guts and piles of bodies in abundance. [Issue#206, p.62]

Sufficiently good-looking, sufficiently entertaining and very antiquated. Still, it’s nice that you don’t have to buy a Nintendo console anymore to get acquainted with this part of the series. [Issue#206, p.61]

This should go down in textbooks on marketing as an example of how you can monetize the death of your own kid. [Issue#206, p.72]

In the sequel, battles became more tense, but at the same time more controllable. As you unlock more tactical options, you all but eliminate influence of RNG on your anti-alien campaign. [Issue#206, p.56]

If not for the Underrail Wiki, it would be all but impossible to complete some quests. The in-game journal keeps track of active quests, but makes no mention of their stages or received hints. Still, the game is good, from nice 2D graphics to challenging tactical combat to sense of exploration when every new location has some surprises in store. [Issue#205, p.56]

Civilization-like games have long since established that settler can turn into a flourishing town even if you place him in the middle of tundra. Thea adds a healthy dose of survival gameplay to the established formula by making you worry about things that are usually glanced over – like having enough wood for building your settlement in addition to basic workforce. [Issue#205, p.52]

Unfortunately, there aren’t that many maps available, but each one of them has lots of details and alternate routes, like basements and balconies. Even the airplane is much more complex than the archetypical “long tube with seats.” [Issue#205, p.48]

Side quests are few and don’t shy away from ending up in all-too-familiar boring shootouts. Any joy that could be found in diligent dirt-digging quickly dries up, giving way to routine. Even simple travel is all too often gets interrupted by yet another shootout. [Issue#205, p.46]

Everything is made just like fans of first few Colin McRae Rallies wanted. Now it’s up to them to reciprocate with high enough sales numbers – and classic rally sims will have a bright future again. [Issue#205, p.42]