Biomutant is an open-world with (too) many original ideas, none of which really work.

The tactical shootouts are very entertaining.

Diverse arcade racer with an impressively huge game world, but the enormous potential isn't used enough.

Rise of Venice hasn't been built from scratch but compared to Port Royale 3 it comes with added politics, a 3D map and adjustments in all the right spots. It's a classic trading sim where everything works together extremely well and it will keep you busy for weeks.

To put it politely, we can say that the idea behind Achilles: Legends Untold is quite interesting and that theoretically it could still become a good game. At the moment, however, it's so heavily half-baked and unfinished. [Early Access Review]

Entertaining amusement park manager with extensive roller coaster construction and encouraging upgrade system. Accessibility is more important than realism.

The Japanese RPG surprises with challenging tactical battles and an almost stereotype-free and thrilling story. The excellent PC conversion offers more than a hundred hours of playing time, several small enhancements compared to the console version and runs fine on mid-range PCs.

It’s shorter, shows less creativity in mission design than its predecessor and still has all the problems that showed up with the first Lego game in 2005. It’s still fun in co-op mode, though, but the next Lego game should be done from scratch.

The initially gripping chases lose their effect quickly. When I hear the very well-written dialogues in comparison, I would rather spend much more time with Ada, Tesla and Co. and learn more about them.

The essentially well-made VR shooter borrows from the Medal of Honor classics, yet shows flaws in its execution.

Heist shooter with a captivating stealth system. Sadly the game is hardly more than a basic framework and also struggles with severe server problems.

The paradoxical bottom line: The Settlers: Rise of an Empire is a diversified and motivating game, not because of it's innovations, but in spite of them.

Less story, action and poor characters, but a larger area to explore and lots of fights. Maybe that's what you are looking for, but a thrilling story and diverse quests would have been better.

A mediocre gameplay forces the player to wait a lot and this overshadows the great decision making.

It’s a unique but half-baked attempt to convert the Star Trek license into an online game. For Star Trek fans this game is still something very special, but it will need regular updates to keep the players motivated.

Quotation forthcoming.

During the first four chapters, almost everything about Dark Sector is wrong: Boring levels, boring weapons and complicated controls. After he commits a murder for no apparent reason even the main character becomes unlikeable. It all gets better later on, but there's a lot of wasted potential.

I was so looking forward to the sequel of the surprise hit King Arthur, because the conditions were all present: a predecessor with awesome expandable ideas, a thought-out mix of RPG and strategy, nice-looking presentation, a fresh, well-formulated scenario and airworthy units, which are yet not overpowering. But what happens? Like so many other titles, King Arthur 2 releases in the market in a completely immature state. Persistent fans can take delight in playing it, but only with a stubborn will. But I'm tired of struggling through crashes, plot-stoppers and judder-performance. Actually, I appreciate Paradox as sympathetic niche publisher of games offside the mainstream. But nothing is squandered as fast as sympathy and confidence. So please, Paradox: from now on no more hasty reactions.

Ambitious debut from Myrkur Games with a fascinating game world but a lack of polish.

Quotation forthcoming.

Quotation forthcoming.

Brutal action-RPG, combat system and setting are cool, but there's no complex character development, end game nor an exciting story.

Firing missiles from a large distance you'll only see yellow squares and triangles disappear. But close up you'll experience dog fights, explosions and the speed rush of low level flight.

With its huge amount of drones, Drone Swarm offers an innovative idea, but apart from that it feels very unfinished.

Quotation forthcoming.

Detective work with the three vampire protagonists is entertaining even without combat, as long as you can dodge the balance traps.

Quotation forthcoming.

Impressive city builder with great details, that'll often have players at a loss because of it's nontransparent mechanics.

Despite the good Batman atmosphere and a proper main story, Gotham Knights suffers from repetitive gameplay and a lame open world.

Quotation forthcoming.

Lovingly designed farming sim and role-playing game that doesn't live up to its expectations (yet?)

The core game works surprisingly well, the dynamic space battles make for some great moments - and what a sublime feeling it is, if one has been bitten again.

It's still fun as long as you don't care about a single player campaign and up to date visuals.

The best Stronghold for a long time nevertheless exhibits many flaws and disappoints in several core mechanics.

I was more surprised by how well the developers mixed fighting, climbing and exciting history with such an unusual and coherent science fiction scenario.

Instead of being some kind of "Best of" Need for Speed: Underground is nothing more than an uninspired generic racing game with high hardware requirements. It's a good game, but still very disappointing, because the good parts of the game are just like in NfS: Most Wanted and the new bits don't work very well.

Ash of Gods offers a thrilling, interactive story experience that works best without the permadeath feature.

Immortals of Aveum impresses with gripping action and dynamic movement, but has shortcomings in crafting and variety of equipment.

Classic GTA gameplay in a medieval setting, coarse humour with countless pop culture references and a horrible save system.

It may be a simple game with unspectacular graphics, a thin story and an out-of-date presentation, but it's still good enough to be played occasionally. If you liked Blazing Angels, you can't go wrong with Heroes over Europe.

Torchlight 3 is not worthy of its name. Exploring the game world is worth zero. Where have all the side missions gone? The transformations for my pet? The fight with two one-handed weapons? Why are there no more jewel sockets and why do I have to collect rat shit in a main quest? This game is monotonous, generic and soulless. If you just turn off your brain for an hour or two, you can still get in here. But if you want more for your money, you're in the wrong place.

The game switches from too difficult to boring all the time. In the end we had to force ourselves to keep on playing. A perfect example for game mechanics gone wrong.

Quotation forthcoming.

Without the Wii U gamepad it's just a half-baked port of a solid but out-of-date survival horror game.

Under the catastrophic porting shell is a great role-playing game core.

Years ago Turok was an instant hit on game consoles. But today on PC things are different. The controls are probably the worst of all console-to-PC conversions and not editable. It's not possible to save the game freely and save points are so rare, it almost feels like the developers want you to give up. Turok fails in level design and game controls, but we've played it until the end because it tells an interesting story.

Call of Duty is suddenly barely recognizable in the Black Ops 7 campaign, while multiplayer is a real blast thanks to the series' old strengths.

More than a year after the console versions, the Ultimate Sith Edition arrives for PC. The game suffers from problems with controls and balance and because it’s a quite linear game. But it’s Star Wars, nicely presented, with great atmosphere and new missions. And that’s more important in this case.

The mix of hunting, gathering, counquering, improving and leveling is still compelling - but now it's in HD.

A fresh and funny indie game. A real little gem, though not without flaws, but with lots of virtues missing from most blockbuster titles: charm, comedy and imagination- for a low price.

Quotation forthcoming.

Quotation forthcoming.

What's left if you remove the roleplay elements from an action-based RPG? In this case it's three hours of uninspired action. Everything that made Fallout 3 a good game has been removed, obviously to rip off gamers who already explored the whole wastelands - and for those players it's totally worthless.

The cumbersome control passages also disturb the flow of the game rather than doing anything for Blacksad.

AO Tennis 2 is a solid and comprehensive simulation. The lackluster role playing elements prevent a higher rating, though.

Counting sheep may send you to sleep, but abducting sheep is much more exciting. Playing an alien, you need to abduct animals like sheep, cows, chickens or pigs while avoiding obstacles or hungry wolves. There are 50 levels and a simple editor to create your own ones.

Apart from the over-the-top hero management, Darkspore feels like an unfinished torso of a game. Killing a few monsters and picking up items isn't enough for a game in 2011. Leaving out a story, dialogues, real quests and good level design killed of the fun, too.

Risen 3 could be outstanding, for the world, the fights, the character system are almost made ​​for a first-class role play. But the story does not build tension. It serves its purpose, but remains arbitrary and acts in many places too contrived.

Funny, fast-paced action in a slick Minecraft overworld, with more combat than building.

I myself was surprised at how negative this test was.

Jalopy is the simulation of hearts and pain: car lovers with nostalgia for East Germany experience fun, the rest probably more hate.

Both Star Wars classics are still fun today, but overall the collection offers very few new features.

Battle March adds the Greenskin and the Dark Elves as new playable races for a new campaign and multiplayer matches. The three chapters of the campaign alternate between Greenskin and Dark Elf missions. AI and game balance haven't been improved since Mark of Chaos, but that doesn't affect the big strength of the game: it's dense Warhammer atmosphere. If you liked Mark of Chaos, then Battle March is probably for you. But it could have been more challenging.

It's great fun, but after 15 it looses it appeal. But that may change with mods.

A scaled-down Stellaris look-alike with Star Trek flair that would have deserved more love and scale.

Quotation forthcoming.

A disappointing sequel that sacrifices stealth mechanics in favour of tedious co-op missions.

A solid hunting sim, despite animals displaying behavioural problems and some bugs.

While Crimes and Punishments was an outstanding game, Devil's Daughter is pure mediocrity. More quick time events are a step in the wrong direction.

Behind the beautiful Star Wars façade lurk fundamental design flaws, making Battlefront 2 a shooter that just barely manages to be good.

The Guild 3 is rarely challenging, often relaxing, and unintentionally funny most of the time.

The courier action game was fun at the start, but has quite a few flaws and suffers significantly from the increasingly tonally unfitting story.

Quotation forthcoming.

There's that feeling that I should have fun playing the game, but most of the time I'm bored or angry because the controls are buggy. But if you like to be creative, maybe you'll be happy in this colourful world.

A hunting simulator that looks great and is fun? Time for a Jagermeister!

Uninspired, boring endgame expansion that is difficult to recommend even to hardcore fans of the main game.

Flight is a waste of time.

Overall, the new Farming Simulator could have been so much better. On our wish list for a next installment are a reasonable campaign to improve accessibility and ... a radio. It is time that we hear more than just the loud tractor hum, but also the country radio.

Lazily modernized graphics, completely outdated gameplay: This remake of a classic is only for the most nostalgic of veterans.

You can clearly tell the age of this wrestling giant, but real WWE fans will certainly have fun.

If you like puzzles, this may be for you. If you want some Kafka, stay away.

Quotation forthcoming.

The fifth episode of the series is shocking PC gamers - with long distances to cover and stupid riddles to solve. It still has some well done horror moments to offer, but it's not as creepy as the earlier episodes. A lot of effects were just copied over, so instead of being scary they cause the feeling of "been there, done that".

Autentic interactions with the main characters of the series can't change the fact that there's no real freedom of choice and that kills the fun in the end.

After 19 years Team 17 excavated its classic Amiga game and it still has some charm today. But it's a game to play for half an hour a day at most due to its lack of variation.

A side-scrolling shooter with fantastic art design which slows down half way through and abruptly ends after two hours of gameplay.

Wonderful open world with an awesome jet pack, yet outdated technology.

In spite of the fumbling control, which requires pixel-precise working, I am now able to turn meat and fish in the pan quite well.

The first expansion for Red Alert 3 comes without a multiplayer mode. Producer Amer Ajani said there was need to care about game balance in single player missions. But in Uprising, some missions are highly frustrating and unfair, mainly because of the starting conditions and scripted encounters, others are almost boring. EA has gone too far disregarding game balance.

Quotation forthcoming.

Although this foundation is stable enough for a big game, it actually shakes tremendously in the higher floors.

At best just an above average game with strange design decisions.

At the beginning it looks like investigating, secretly rummaging the abbey and questioning other characters could be fun, but the game turns out to be made of pointless little riddles and requires searching through the same locations over and over again. Why somebody did something doesn't seem to matter at all. The Abbey is not about playing through a story, it's about forcing the player to solve riddles. At least the music by Emilio de Paz is well done.

Quotation forthcoming.

Great tactical depth and varied turn based combat in a dark SciFi setting. Interesting scenario, but disappointing story line.

A solid core of action and an entertaining fight mechanics can't save the game from being mediocre.

I was not a big fan of adventure games, ever. The clicking around in the background, the quirky puzzles and the slow gameplay have always put me off. With Gods Will Be Watching this has changed in one fell swoop.

Sound, controls, graphics and Sean Bean - all fine. But it's just not scary enough and has a weak story which is bad for a horror game.