GameWatcher's Scores

  • Games
For 2,108 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 54% higher than the average critic
  • 6% same as the average critic
  • 40% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 2.3 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Game review score: 72
Highest review score: 100 A Way Out
Lowest review score: 10 Haunted House: Cryptic Graves
Score distribution:
2110 game reviews
    • 62 Metascore
    • 48 Critic Score
    There was one mission that brought out the intensity that I expected, but it was over too soon and right back to the problems that preceded it.
    • 45 Metascore
    • 48 Critic Score
    I was under whelmed by this game. It seemed a game with all of the right elements, but they never really came together in a way that ‘smelled as sweet’ as a game by any other name.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 48 Critic Score
    The problem is that as much as it wasn’t a bad game it wasn’t a great game either, falling somewhere in the realm of mediocre. Then again...so is most reality TV.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 48 Critic Score
    If you have the sheer will power to push on through the vast mire of early drudgeries, there are jewels to be found buried deep within Ancient Wars: Sparta, but whether you’ll still be motivated enough to really enjoy them is another matter.
    • 23 Metascore
    • 48 Critic Score
    While Utopia City does have some unique qualities in the form of rewarding artefacts and its energy based gameplay mechanic, other areas only make it adequate for budget line expectations and out of reach for anything beyond that.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 47 Critic Score
    As cheap as it is, the game is just too unstable to recommend. There are some colossal load times (even with 2GB of RAM), persistent crash-to-desktop issues, and many, many occasions when you'll need to reload your last save game due to bugs.
    • 43 Metascore
    • 47 Critic Score
    If you liked Samurai Warriors, then you'll like number 2.
    • 45 Metascore
    • 45 Critic Score
    Just too lifeless to bother with.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 45 Critic Score
    Right now the small player population is seriously harming what makes Ravaged stand out, but even when you do end up in a big battle on a fresh map, its best attributes are lost underneath layers of niggling issues that just prevent it from being an enjoyable experience.
    • 47 Metascore
    • 45 Critic Score
    Just too lifeless to bother with.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 45 Critic Score
    Overpass is for a certain type of sadist, and it’s been awhile since a game made me want to stop playing it as quickly as possible. It might have its polish and intent, but the mechanics they serve are frustrating. Perhaps everything I mention makes the game all the more interesting, a game that isn’t for noobs like me and something that would sit comfortably between Surgeon Simulator or Getting Over It. But this makes for a niche game that will bug anyone else. I get the appeal, but it’s simply not fun.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 45 Critic Score
    NaissanceE could’ve been a neat game but Limasse Five should’ve just stuck with making a cool artistic world and left the actual gameplay at home. I may have then complained that there wasn’t enough game in it, but at least I would have actually enjoyed it.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 45 Critic Score
    What little positive elements it has going for it are marred by its problems.
    • 50 Metascore
    • 45 Critic Score
    Kung-Fu Live isn't worth the 10 quid it costs on the PlayStation Store, especially when most PlayStation move titles charge just under double this price for a superior experience. Don't waste your PlayStation Eye on Kung-Fu Live.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 45 Critic Score
    Fire is a sweet, innocent adventure with a very kid-friendly style, and it hurts me to kick it in the teeth. But I will. Behind those innocent looks lies a very basic adventure, with no story, no dialogue, no characters, no personality, and no satisfaction.
    • 54 Metascore
    • 45 Critic Score
    Ultimately though I found myself sat in front of my computer, scratching my unkempt beard and trying to answer the question: who is the game for?
    • 51 Metascore
    • 45 Critic Score
    There are some half-decent ideas here - particularly the evolution of the hospital - and some fairly decent jump scares, however Daylight is too often too keen to rely on tropes that have been far better served elsewhere.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 45 Critic Score
    The Technomancer is not grossly bad, but it feels cheap and is deeply mediocre. It’s a cheap game, and worse: it’s no longer a cheap price. As I said in the first paragraph, I can’t think of a reason anyone would want to buy it over any other game in existence.
    • 47 Metascore
    • 45 Critic Score
    When a licenced game fails to excite fans of the franchise on which its content is based, it had better have something in reserve for the swathes of other consumers to latch onto. Unfortunately for The Punisher, it ends up unrecommended in both regards.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 45 Critic Score
    Scaling itself back for a more "pure" co-op experience just doesn't work for this franchise that benefited so greatly from borderline parody. For that reason alone, The Devil's Cartel is an awkward one to recommend.
    • 49 Metascore
    • 45 Critic Score
    Even if you spend the time to unlock your skills and build that warrior-archer-tank-damager behemoth you had in mind, what's the point if the activities you're engaging in are so threadbare and unappealing for the most part?
    • 56 Metascore
    • 45 Critic Score
    There are no difficulty levels, no online support, no party modes, no DLC, and no reason to switch it back on. To say that I wasn't entertained would be a lie, as there's enough charm in a few of the games to pass a couple of hours on a dreary Sunday afternoon - but that's nowhere near enough to justify a full-price or even a budget purchase.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 45 Critic Score
    While Peaky Blinders: Mastermind has some style and a novel approach to puzzling, it's not enough to properly engage. It definitely clicks at times, and there are moments where solving a problem makes you feel like a meticulous planner. However, there aren’t the eureka moments you’d expect from better puzzles nor mechanics worth mastering in replays. It’s hard to recommend and it’s only for a niche of Peaky Blinders fans who want an average puzzler with a lot of dull micromanaging (if they even exist).
    • 50 Metascore
    • 45 Critic Score
    As it stands, there's hardly ever a reason to go beyond the obviously marked out route to the objective, as there'll not ever really be anything that interesting to find if you do.
    • 43 Metascore
    • 45 Critic Score
    Bombshell isn’t the worst game I’ve ever played, but it’s among the most dull and uninteresting. From its cheesy, late-90s alien blasting plot to its absolutely repetitive action, it’s tough to pull out any redeeming qualities. Even assuming its bevy of technical issues get ironed out, this one still isn’t worth your time.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 45 Critic Score
    If you were to summarise it in a puzzle, Puzzle Agent 2 would be a paint-by-numbers picture: formulaic, messy, and unable to hold the attention of all but the most easily perplexed.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 45 Critic Score
    It's a wasted concept and it's let down by lazy execution.
    • 52 Metascore
    • 45 Critic Score
    As a curiosity project for fans of the genre, I can only say that I’m glad Lords of Football exists; but as a full-price release it’s not something that can be readily recommended.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 45 Critic Score
    King’s Bounty II is a game where it takes forever to do anything. I averaged maybe 2-3 short battles for every hour of gameplay – perhaps 20 minutes of fun for 40 of drudgery. All this is doubly frustrating because somewhere under all this crap is a pretty solid strategy game. I just wish that King’s Bounty II would stop jerking me around and just let me play it!
    • 45 Metascore
    • 45 Critic Score
    007 Legends is rushed, short, frustrating, and wastes several interesting scenarios. It's at best slightly above average (several bits in Moonraker), but largely painfully average or excruciatingly below average.
    • 54 Metascore
    • 42 Critic Score
    It is a simple role-playing game for slower systems. You would get far more enjoyment from playing something such as "SpellForce: Order of Dawn" for the same cost.
    • 40 Metascore
    • 42 Critic Score
    The equation got heavy on the negative side with a dull collection of ammunition, mediocre mission objectives, obsolete and redundant computer infiltration techniques as well as game pacing that is confusingly inconsistent.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 42 Critic Score
    If you are unfazed by the inevitable, constant death, the steep learning curve, the idiot AI, the poorly-designed (but neat looking) maps, the certain index finger cramps, or the underdeveloped character creation system, you will find Dawnspire to be a unique (and economic) gaming experience.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Dynasty Warriors 9 suffers from a lot of issues, most stemming from the terribly implemented open-world. Assets are reused, it’s buggy, repetitive, bloated, empty and bland. These shortcomings are made all the more painful by the obvious potential this game had, and how fun the base combat can be once players waded through all the other nonsense.
    • 43 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    I tested the Xbox 360 version of Omerta, which controlled fine. The 360 versions of Tropico both had decent performance, and the same is true here. As well as working smoothly on a technical level, the actual control scheme is well-thought out. It’s clear that Omerta began life with both platforms in mind instead of console being tacked on as an after-thought.
    • 49 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    If you’re into in-depth management of a park then Adventure Park may be for you, but for everyone else the design problems, unattractive menus, misplaced priorities, and numerous other flaws adds up to a tedious experience. Worst of all though, Adventure Park is bland, lifeless and lacking in both character and imagination.
    • 52 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Blades of Time never matches up to the well-executed time mechanic it so readily deploys.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Journey of a Roach attempts some nice ideas and is pretty cute, but altogether isn’t a particular good or enjoyable adventure.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Granted, Pixel Boy’s premise is hardly conducive to a rich backstory and mythology, but there’s really no personality here to lure you back in.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Sonic 4 is an utter mess of a game, cobbled together in a manner that puts the entire franchise to shame. It feels sluggish, broken and lazy, but at least it only lasts a couple of hours!
    • 72 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Sonic 4 is an utter mess of a game, cobbled together in a manner that puts the entire franchise to shame. It feels sluggish, broken and lazy, but at least it only lasts a couple of hours!
    • 51 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Bannermen’s appreciation of genre greats can be easily seen through the cracks in its shoddy construction. However, in between a single faction with a small, uninspired roster, bland story and writing, and very few options in terms of tactics and strategy, it’s tough to recommend. As rooted as it is in the genre’s past, it’s nowhere close to mastering what made RTS titles of yore great, ultimately being just a flimsy, soulless imitator.
    • 54 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Bland, boring, and turgid to the last - look to Tropico 4 for a fine example of micromanagement, or instead XCOM Enemy Unknown for turn-based kicks: Omerta: City of Gangsters deserves to be thrown in a trunk and taken "someplace up state."
    • 58 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Those who've played the first game will either not want to touch another AZMD or be supremely disappointed at the sheer amount of regurgitated content here. Newcomers will likely get frustrated with the emphasis on grinding and repetitive game play.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    An interesting concept is let down by some pretty glaring gameplay flaws.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    The Callisto Protocol is one of the year’s biggest letdowns. It is joyless, contrived and feels unfinished, as if the studio rushed it out prior to Dead Space Remake’s launch on January 27, 2023. Like Black Iron itself, I can’t help but feel the project was abandoned at some point. It feels so wrong for a game that looks and sounds this great to be so devoid of spark and quality control. It’s fitting that after traversing every tight nook and cranny, the only feeling left once the credits have rolled is that of having life squeezed from you.
    • 49 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    On a good day, it's even approaching mediocre or average. Then you fall into the swamp because the killing animation took you over the edge of your small raft and you die instantly.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Overall an immense disappointment.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    With more time and more polish Stained could be a perfectly decent little platformer. As it is, though, it's hard to recommend even at a stripped-down price.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    It's unfinished, it doesn't communicate vital information to the player very well, and – let's be honest here – it's all more than a little repetitive. Every level just feels like you're doing the same things over and over again. There's fun to be had certainly in the building and exploration departments, but it could've been handled with a lot more care. This isn't a game, it's a tomb.
    • 54 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    It's dreadful.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Yes, things look prettier. But scratch the surface to plumb the depths as the saying goes, and Sins of the Fathers Anniversary Edition’s flaws become that bit more glaring. The polished aesthetics may well be enough to sway those avid nostalgia hunters, but I can’t be sure that new players will be at all interested.
    • 45 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    I hate to use the term "cash-in" but there really isn't any other description for Sanctum of Slime.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Way of Redemption is all there technically and functionally, but it’s empty and short on content. Every moment spent playing, the obviousness of it being an attempt at a forced e-sports success hangs over the experience, which is pretty dull to begin with.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    As such, if you're hankering for a truly excellent side-scrolling brawler, your money would be better spent on that instead and not this effort which seemingly places a premium on lewd college humour above anything else.
    • 53 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    If you've just come from a literary binge of A Song of Ice and Fire, or just had a marathon of HBO's high production TV show you might be tempted by the lure of Cyanide's A Game of Thrones - Genesis. However if you're that invested in George R. R. Martin's epic fantasy universe you're likely to be left pretty angry, whereas newcomers like me leave feeling just dazed and confused.
    • 46 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Story can’t be the thing that carries a video game and story is all Eisenhorn: XENOS has. A character as powerful as Gregor Eisenhor, with a great voice actor in Mark Strong, and an epic story deserves more than a glorified version of a mobile game. But brainless combat and mechanics, crummy audio, and unacceptable bugs keep this game to no more than a book promotion.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    So many times during this review I quit the game just because I couldn't be bothered to solve a puzzle, only to realise I had to keep playing to give it a fair shot. My opinion would start to sway a bit more positive, then I quit again for the lack of care. Which says everything about Magrunner: Dark Pulse really.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    It's certainly a question of quantity over quality.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    In a year that has seen plenty of top-notch sports games, this is arguably the worst of the lot.
    • 50 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    In a year that has seen plenty of top-notch sports games, this is arguably the worst of the lot.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    It's certainly a question of quantity over quality.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    The Long Journey Home had so much promise but Daedalic forgot to make it playable. They focused on the big picture, on the huge epic universe, without realizing that it’s the small stuff that’s important.
    • 51 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    The game feels more like a web browser game than a console feature.
    • 47 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    I was particularly looking forward to Stronghold 3, so much so I requested the review months ago, and I still find it difficult to believe that Firefly have so spectacularly fouled things up.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    As such, Tank Operations cannot be recommended over other modern strategy titles of varying scales, or even retro titles – such as the previously mentioned Panzer General series – which are easily available through the likes of Good Old Games.
    • 34 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Rambo: The Video Game is clearly a cash-in, but one that makes little sense, with little relevance.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Given the pedigree of Ron Gilbert and Double Fine Productions' past works, a lot of people will be understandably excited by the prospect of The Cave. On paper, it sounds appealing, with its variety of characters and plethora of reasons to replay. It looks charming and, at first, the humour hits the spot. Problems lie with its inability to give you any great reason to replay it. It's just all too disappointingly shallow.
    • 38 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    The most telling problem though, is that even when playing with the very best squad of footballers that Pure can muster, it just isn't engaging and fluid enough to be of interest for more than a couple of matches.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    In its current state I have a hard time recommending AR-K to anyone. Sure, the humour is good and the world it creates is pretty interesting, if lacking in detail, but the technical and presentation issues really hamper the first crucial moments.
    • 47 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    This can't be the same developer that made the last two games. That team must be off doing Dead Island or something. There were germs of good ideas in here, and it is possible to play it through to the end, but the criticisms and frustrations will overwhelm any fun you have doing so.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Battleborn ended up stretching itself too thin by trying to include too many modes.
    • 47 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    This can't be the same developer that made the last two games. That team must be off doing Dead Island or something. There were germs of good ideas in here, and it is possible to play it through to the end, but the criticisms and frustrations will overwhelm any fun you have doing so.
    • 46 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    The most telling problem though, is that even when playing with the very best squad of footballers that Pure can muster, it just isn't engaging and fluid enough to be of interest for more than a couple of matches.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    As a Playstation Move launch title, it does a great job of showing off what could potentially be done with the hardware in the future, but as an actual game, it stinks.
    • 47 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    It’s not a particularly good advert for the brand, or the MMO. It’s way too pricey for what it is, and it’s got very little replayability. Coupled with the fact that there are plenty of games on tablet that do what it’s trying to do so so much better (The tablet port of XCOM, for example) that, really, this looks incredibly amateurish by comparison.
    • 47 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    It promised a light-hearted take on one of the world's most serious sports and it never gets anywhere close to showing that. Poor character designs, terrible mini-narratives, and a broken fight system make this a waste of time and effort. Fans of MMA might satisfy some blood lust, but for everyone else, it shouldn't even register on your gaming radar.
    • 49 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    It promised a light-hearted take on one of the world's most serious sports and it never gets anywhere close to showing that. Poor character designs, terrible mini-narratives, and a broken fight system make this a waste of time and effort. Fans of MMA might satisfy some blood lust, but for everyone else, it shouldn't even register on your gaming radar.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Depicting the horrors of an asylum with animated pictures was a tender touch to sensitive imagery. Even the 3D animations conveyed moments with care. But the story is confusing and painfully disappointing and the translation errors make matters worse. So I can commend LKA’s efforts, but I can’t recommend The Town of Light.
    • 65 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    I had hopes for Yesterday, but they were beaten out of me during its absurdly short playing time. I got actively angry at the game at several occasions just because of the leaps of non-logic I was supposed to take.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Face Noir tries its best to be a compelling Raymond Chandler-esque film noir detective adventure and falls flat on its noirish face. The story is boring, characters are either bland or straight-up racist, acting is mediocre, writing is worse, cutscenes are mostly static photos, and the puzzles are a string of “find the important thing the designers have hidden” moments rather than any genuine brain-teasers.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    The only way to experience the whole game with relative ease is by dipping your toes in the online pool. Unfortunately, most of the title is plagued by repetition, lifeless design, and enough Japanese obscurity to deter most enthusiasts, meaning Moon Diver's appeal is broken quicker than Ryan Giggs' super injunction.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    The only way to experience the whole game with relative ease is by dipping your toes in the online pool. Unfortunately, most of the title is plagued by repetition, lifeless design, and enough Japanese obscurity to deter most enthusiasts, meaning Moon Diver's appeal is broken quicker than Ryan Giggs' super injunction.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    There is fun to be had in five minute bursts as a distraction from doing work, but then that’s what I bought the phone version for. Don’t buy it. And there’s no multiplayer either, in case you were wondering.
    • 48 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Aliens: Colonial Marines is a slap in the face to anyone who put the game on their Most Wanted list at any point since 2007. It’ll be remembered for a long time, but for all the wrong reasons. What a shame. I just feel sorry for those who bought the Season Pass… since there probably won’t be a Season now.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Water Park Tycoon is a slow paced, dull and simplistic sim.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    As a tower defence shooter hybrid, Excubitor has the potential to be an adrenaline-charged, strategic masterpiece. However, a number of aspects have let the game down and this left me feeling disappointed.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Level design is cramped and unfair, the controls are imprecise, the interface is from a completely different genre of game and is extremely cluttered and unhelpful, and the whole thing is just painful. 2Dark is extremely frustrating, extremely badly designed, and extremely not fun. I’m glad it wiped my saves. Avoid.
    • 33 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    X: Rebirth will get better over time, and anyone who’s open-minded enough to look past the ‘X’ branding and see the ‘game’, may even find many hours of entertainment.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Fat Shark have managed to shoot themselves in the foot by simplifying a formula that worked rather well. Rearmed 2 does enough to remind players as to why the series is often remembered fondly, but quickly blurs the image by stuttering over its best features.
    • 63 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Fat Shark have managed to shoot themselves in the foot by simplifying a formula that worked rather well. Rearmed 2 does enough to remind players as to why the series is often remembered fondly, but quickly blurs the image by stuttering over its best features.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Zombie Tycoon II has a neat premise. Who doesn't want to control a rampaging horde of the undead? It's a shame then, that it doesn't really do anything worthwhile with the concept.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    There’s an interesting blueprint here, yet the execution lacks the finesse to elevate it beyond the sum of its parts.
    • 41 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Without the nostalgia factor, it's just a very short and dated experience with a glimmer of the wonder that once gripped the arcade world. That's really not enough to compete with what's out there now.
    • 53 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Good intentions and sporadic success can only carry a campaign so far, and Sniper unfortunately falls well short of the quality benchmark in almost all respects.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Combine awful PC controls, unstable framerate, uninteresting fourth grade humor, and game-breaking bugs and it becomes another indie game that should’ve only been an internal experiment.
    • 49 Metascore
    • 37 Critic Score
    A pretty unsavoury experience. Without enough depth and presentational focus on the Huey to make it a decent simulation, and without any form of tutorial or guiding hand for the novice players, the developer has managed to straddle both camps, pleasing nobody in the process.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 35 Critic Score
    What saves Dungeon Gate from being a total frustration-filled write-off is the one innovation the game has: Dysan’s ability to scan and turn himself into every single person, animal or creature in the game, and then use their powers and even upgrade each form.
    • 43 Metascore
    • 35 Critic Score
    For fans of gaming, stay well clear. Even as far as movie-tie-ins go, this title is the biggest crime to the Harry Potter franchise since Emma Watson decided looking like a public schoolboy is sexy.
    • 43 Metascore
    • 35 Critic Score
    For fans of gaming, stay well clear. Even as far as movie-tie-ins go, this title is the biggest crime to the Harry Potter franchise since Emma Watson decided looking like a public schoolboy is sexy.
This publication does not provide a score for their reviews.
This publication has not posted a final review score yet.
These unscored reviews do not factor into the Metascore calculation.

In Progress & Unscored

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    • tbd Metascore
    • Critic Score
    All in all, Isle of Siptah is an interesting addition to Conan Exiles, even in Early Access. A beautiful and varied map helps create a very intriguing place to explore, and the game does eventually open up from hordes of skeletons to werewolves, giant alligators, and even a dozen different bosses. Due to the large MMO-like scope of the game itself and short review time, I was able to beat most of the normal content but never got to the stage where you discover all the secrets of the maelstrom and find out if you can control the huge Kraken in the sky – but if you’re a big fan of Conan Exiles and want more than just dominating a scorching desert, give this expansion a shot and I’m sure you will be able to find out. [Early Access Provisional Score = 75]

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