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]