Story and exploration in Kingmaker are grade A. Adaptation of Pathfinder system is probably even A+, since it’s simplified, yet still incredibly complex and satisfying. But. Some elements, like titular kingdom-building, are astonishingly bad, and overall technical execution is subpar at best. [Issue#234, p.76]

Level design also feels dated: there are a lot of ways to attract player’s attention where it’s needed, but Yooka-Laylee ignores them all: you can spend dozen minutes platform-jumping to reach a door – only to find out it won’t open because you missed something. Sure, it could be called “fair” or “realistic” – but how fun is it to run in circles? [Issue#219, p.80]

If you have played the Second Son then Abigail’s trials from the First Light will seem boring and crumpled. Otherwise the First Light will form a wrong impression about whole inFamous series. It would be the best choices for Sucker Punch do not try to squeeze out dull storyline, but offer a set of maps with corresponding trials in the form of common DLC. [Oct 2014, p.91]

Call of Duty is built like a theme park ride that goes too fast for you to examine the details closely. That went smoothly with previous installments, but WWII abandons health regeneration in favor of old-fashioned health packs, which forces you to play slowly and carefully – and that lets you notice things you weren’t supposed to. [Issue#225, p.60]

It’s easy to see Journey influences in Fe, and there was another forest we’ve been saving not too long ago in Ori and the Blind Forest. Still, even if it’s not innovative, it’s certainly charming. [Issue#227, p.49]

Big Brain Academy is sometimes advertised as a “gym for brains”, but with Brain vs. Brain, Nintendo tried to cut down on tediousness and steer it towards “party game” genre. [Issue#258, p.55]

No one does Call of Duty better than Treyarch. [Issue#203, p.50]

Liberation severed all ties with Disciples’ strategic heritage. There’s only one playable faction, and our capital exists in a separate dimension so it never gets attacked. The resources are abundant, units and items are cheap, and fights are easy, so that nothing would distract the player from following the story. [Issue#258, p.58]

Only the game’s overall idea deserves some praise, but its execution fell short: the controls are messed up, and uneven beat doesn’t make it more enjoyable.[Issue#249, p.59]

Don’t come in expecting a suspenseful horror or a psychological thriller. This time around, Supermassive Games treats us to an action-horror with adrenaline-filled scenes and great camera work. [Issue#256, p.28]

Of course, as with any episodic game, it is difficult to predict where do plot twists lead or how will we perceive this adventure once we’ve seen it in its entirety. But right now it’s very difficult to believe that this is Dreamfall we’ve been looking forward to for the last eight years. [Dec 2014, p.72]

Dead Rising 4 does not do enough to deserve a new number in the title; it feels more like an add-on to DR3 than anything else. And what it does change, it changes for worse: DR3 had had very gratifying “zombie genocide” gameplay, but now the undead are so weak, our West didn’t die a single time over the whole playthrough. [Issue#215, p.58]

Dark Souls success naturally led to appearance of imitators, some of which are worse than others. The Surge inherited everything that was wrong with the original: bugs, sudden spikes in difficulty and general lack of polish, – yet captured none of its magic. There’s no fascinating world, intriguing story or thought-out combat mechanics to find here. [Issue#220, p.50]

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]

It doesn’t look like a lot of effort went into porting a 2011 PSP game to current gen home consoles, as we got the same low-quality character models, cardboard box levels and ubiquitous loading screens of the original. Still, Final Fantasy fans definitely shouldn’t miss Type-0, if only to get a feel of FFXV’s director style. [May 2015, p.76]

Despite all the gameplay faults, Anno 2205 could become a major hit... if it had been a Facebook game. [Issue#204, p.70]

Original Mass Effect trilogy rests on three pillars: great protagonist, believable universe and dramatic story. For Andromeda, Bioware felled all three of them, raising two new ones in their stead: exploration and combat system. The resulting game is quite engaging – but not enough to overcome the nostalgia for Shepard. [Issue#218, p.40]

Gamedec’s modest skill tree not only feels tacked on – it actively hampers the role-playing aspect, because certain dialogue options reward you with leveling points, and others don’t. So there’s a strong incentive to just sift through dialogue looking for those special options, instead of doing what feels natural for the character. [Issue#256, p.52]

There are so many shortcomings in Steep’s design and gameplay, you can’t help but think it’s still a project, not a full game. The ideas are there, they’re good, they could have been developed into something groundbreaking; problem is – they weren’t. [Issue#216, p.44]

It seems that the Assassin's Creed series came to this stage when new releases should be evaluated not by the novelty of the process, but by the presentation of the game, abundance of events and action. Indeed, what new score can you give to the gameplay that essentially remains unchanged? [Jan 2015, p.66]

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]

For some reason people were worried that DICE would make “a Battlefield with blasters”, both angering Battlefront fans and splitting Battlefield player-base. Of course that didn’t happen – SW:BF is a laid-back shooter that should be played an hour or two between other evening activities. [Issue#204, p.66]

Bloodsplatters, exploding mushrooms, dark humor and being able to bring katana to a shotgun fight – all that helps Let it Die get noticed. Unfortunately, substance doesn’t live up to style, as gameplay turns out to be rather shallow and considerably limited by its free-to-play model to boot. [Issue#216, p.48]

It’s basically a puzzle, but variety of situations, solutions and environments never lets it get stale. [Issue #233, p.72]

Styx is a through-and-through stealth game, so scoring system doesn’t approve of murders, and enemy placement always leaves a way to slip by. But, unlike Thief, you’ll feel the desire to cut some throats. There, stealth was like a high-stakes game of cat-and-mouse; here, it’s personal. It’s vendetta, where mercy has no place. Also, there are few things as satisfying as pouring acid on still-warm corpse to completely dissolve it. [Issue#219, p.68]

Echo is basically an experiment that was made on a limited budget. Hence its unique approach to AI, which is offset by monotonous decorum and general lack of variety. To enjoy it, you have to be on the same wavelength as the developers – that is, be excited about exploring new concepts that mainstream industry doesn’t give a damn about. [Issue#226, p.50]

As long as Ultimate Team mode keeps making money, there’s little hope for FIFA series. [Issue#241, p.33]

Although Narcosis turned out to be pretty monotone, it has its own strengths: limited oxygen reserves make you think twice about stopping to take a breather, while subdued sounds keep you on edge. It probably won’t scare you, but it’s certainly an interesting experience. [Issue#220, p.55]