It feels like the script was written by three different people. One’s responsible for all these cringeworthy lines, another came up with some truly interesting characters, and the third one thought that this would be a perfect opportunity to preach his values: for example, at one point our strictly-rational atheist doctor will have to confess his sins. [Issue#231, p.56]

It’s a good playground for the people who like to explore the world and experiment with NPC behavior. But if you’re looking for memorable characters and thrilling story – that’s not your cup of tea. [Issue#249, p.60]

The best thing about GreedFall is that intangible thing called “flow”: it’s easy to get hooked up and just play it, even though the game doesn’t offer nuanced mechanics or meticulously detailed world. [Issue#241, p.52]

Compared to Dark Souls, it’s less hardcore and more “Japanese” – although less so than usual for Bandai Namco, as they obviously tried to make it appealing to broader audiences. [Issue#241, p.56]

Lots of side-activities, barebones story and music that’s very unsuitable for driving – Heat is basically Payback without some of the latter’s shortcomings. [Issue#242, p.40]

Do Switch players really need a very poor Zelda clone when they can always replay Breath of the Wild? [Issue#251, p.69]

Astroneer is a nice survival game that’s hopelessly behind the curve: we’ve already seen everything it has to offer in one game or another. [Issue#237, p.40]

Supermassive Games doesn’t have much competition in “cinematic interactive horror” genre, but they keep improving their product: Little Hope fixed most of Man of Medan’s problems. [Issue#249, p.46]

Styx: Master of Shadows is positioned as a prequel to the barely noticed in the game world and almost useless Of Men and Orcs. It seems that developers cut off about 99% of previous content but left untouched the most essential element – creepy old goblin with a pedigree that is longer than the history of the world. After this surgery the prequel looks much better than original and if somebody will work over next Styx series with a file it will be capable to outdo restarted Thief. [Nov 2014, p.86]

After a promising beginning the story slows down to a crawl due to the lack of conflict: our drone cheerfully explores planets, Julia and Rachel hang out in the comfort of her spaceship, everyone is happy. [Dec 2014, p.74]

The combat system is one of the best features of the series. It has nothing to do with the classic turn-based battles and resemble three-dimensional team fighting. Heroes are free to move around the battlefield, they know how to put the blocks, dodge, and not only execute fierce battle tricks but carrying out deadly team combos. All this looks very spectacular and saves from the boredom in those frequent moments when player runs out of desire for more grinding. Unfortunately local grind is a must – without it one never will be able to kill some bosses. [Nov 2014, p.106]

Like other InXile games, Bard’s Tale IV lives and breathes oldschool design decisions, which is a rare and valuable thing these days. Where else would you find a party-based RPG that focuses on puzzles, music and unusual combat solutions instead of common grind and hunt for loot? [Issue #233, p.68]

Lo Wang is a child of another age, when shooters were lightning-paced and enemies had no qualms about hitting you from behind or covering the entire area with projectiles. So, it will be difficult for him to gain popularity among the crowd raised on slow-paced cover-based shooters, but hey – Wang never backs down from a challenge. [Issue#259, p.70]

Bend Studio made a great game with a rich, believable and captivating story. They’ve also resisted the lure of trends: there’s no multiplayer, no lootboxes, no “game as a service” plans – just a very solid (and finite) singleplayer experience. That makes it a rare gem these days, maybe one of the last of its kind. [Issue#238, p.42]

First episode of Chapters turned out to be a huge prologue, aiming to introduce new players to setting and characters, while story stood almost still. There was a hope that Book Two will change pace, and it partially came to be: there are some surprising developments, but Dreamfall still fails to truly engage players. [June 2015, p.78]

The world isn’t big, but it’s well lived-in, you can feel for its inhabitants, and it’s nice to see how Delta gives them a bit of hope and warmth. All in all, it’s another good Daedalic adventure game. [Issue#262, p.85]

A faithful remaster of a game two decades old, with all its ups and downs. Poor controls, bad UI and pixelated characters will definitely take some time getting used to, but in return you’ll get a true old-school experience with some very interesting puzzles. [Issue#257, p.62]

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]

“Think like a snake” – that’s the motto of this game. No, that doesn’t mean you should hide in the sand behind some rock and wait for an opportune moment to snack on eggs of our calibri pal. Instead, you need to guess how many times you need to wrap yourself around some beam to avoid slipping into the abyss. [Issue#219, p.86]

Games by Double Fine have great visual style and often feature fresh gameplay ideas – but their execution is usually sub-par. RAD is no exception: beneath an acid neon mutant-punk mask hides a very generic indie roguelite. [Issue#241, p.59]

Amazingly, endless stream of conversations that has become a staple of Telltale’s products is interspersed with some real gameplay in Season 2. In the very prologue we’re asked to create a lawn decoration, which we do not by mashing Q or choosing an option from a given list, but by placing actual blocks one on top of the other. There’s also non-QTE combat and even an actual puzzle! Too bad that it all goes down the drain due to lackluster story. [Issue #222, p.62]

As it always is with Battlefield, Hardline relies on multiplayer to push its rating and sales. But, in contrast to its predecessors, Hardline’s online battles are much more dynamic and more akin to Call of Duty’s shootouts. [May 2015, p.54]

Willy Morgan tries to ride the wave of nostalgia for old-school adventures like Broken Sword, but the comparison is clearly not in its favor: characters lack charisma, and the story isn’t even close to being intriguing. [Issue#247, p.55]

Too bad that when you really get in gear, end credits will start rolling all too soon – but it’s a common thing for beat ‘em ‘ups. Also, when a game feels too short – it’s a sure sign that it’s good. [Issue#249,p.58]

Numerous combo chains are simply useless – dummy-enemies could be scattered effortlessly. If you are really tired from crowd pummeling you can combine efforts with two other characters to depopulate surrounding area quickly. Bosses are the only worthy opponents, especially those who greatly exceed Luffy in size. [September 2014, p. 66]

Perhaps the only area where Evolution Studios has not deceived players is the graphics. Attention to automobile details is on the crazy level, and manifested thoroughness for design of salons needs a standing ovation too. At an average speed under 160 km/h and taking into account the sinuosity of local trails one can’t afford to feast of surrounding area beauty but even the catchable details are definitely nice. [Nov 2014, p.108]

Breathedge has great visuals, engaging story and good humor, but its survival elements prove to be more of a burden than something that enhances the experience. [Issue#252, p.58]

Despite less-from-stellar controls, missions that actually ask player to destroy all humans are fun; too bad that they are heavily interspersed with absolutely uninspired stealth segments. [Issue#247, p.71]