Giant Bomb's Scores

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For 1,045 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 28% higher than the average critic
  • 3% same as the average critic
  • 69% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 3.8 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Game review score: 71
Highest review score: 100 Dragon Age: Origins
Lowest review score: 20 Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 5
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 594 out of 1045
  2. Mixed: 307 out of 1045
  3. Negative: 144 out of 1045
1080 game reviews
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    • 91 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    God of War Collection
    It's also essential for diehard God of War purists who want to own the best possible versions of these games for posterity. For someone who already has the original releases and a backwards-compatible PlayStation 3, on the other hand, God of War Collection is a harder sell.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    inFamous 2
    Whatever complaints you might make about the ways Infamous 2 could be better, the core of the game is so much fun that it's inarguably worth playing. It's only because the series has so much potential, and already makes good on so much of that potential, that I feel compelled to point out those faults at all.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    NBA Jam
    The standard gameplay in NBA Jam is insanely entertaining, and if you've got a group of players ready to play at your side, you'll easily get $50 of enjoyment out of it.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Crysis Warhead
    One of the best parts about Crysis Warhead is the price. With an expansion-minded retail rate of $29.99, Crysis Warhead is inexpensive enough to make many of its issues feel very minor. Taken with the optimizations that may make it a friendlier game on more hardware configurations and its action-focused pacing, it's also much more approachable than the previous game.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Stacking
    Stacking looks like a trifling little downloadable title, but the game has a surprising amount of heart.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Puzzle Quest 2
    I'd lean toward recommending the Xbox version because, well, I like achievements, and because it's half the price of the DS cart. But whether you want to play on the couch or on the go, Puzzle Quest 2 is a great way to wile away a few minutes, or a few hours.
    • 93 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Super Smash Bros. Brawl
    The questions you need to ask yourself before deciding to invest in Super Smash Bros. Brawl concern your own personal level of love for Nintendo’s rich history and your ability to rustle up enough enthusiastic locals to get into the multiplayer. If both of those are in your favor, then this is definitely a game you’ll want to add to your collection. But if you aren’t big in either department, you probably won’t understand what all the fuss is about in the first place.
    • 89 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Left 4 Dead 2
    There is simply far more content by volume in this package than in the original. The core of Left 4 Dead may have lost some of its newness in the last 12 months, but the wealth of additions in this sequel ought to keep you blasting zombies and munching on brains for a good long while.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Resistance: Retribution
    Retribution is still a great-looking, fully playable shooter even if you don't own a PlayStation 3. If you're already set up to access the extra content, think of that as a nice bonus, but don't feel like you have to run out and get Resistance 2 just to enjoy Retribution.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Crash Commando
    Aside from inadequate bots and the resulting lackluster solo play, it's hard to go wrong with Crash Commando. It's a great merging of modern shooter concepts with classic movement styles and camera perspectives that I found to be both engaging and fun... even if the whole thing sort of just made me want to reinstall Soldat on my PC.
    • 89 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Fez
    It's just the right mixture of charm and insanity. Even if you end up letting a collective of Internet sleuths guide you by the hand as you work your way through the game's cubes, anti-cubes, artifacts, and other items, Fez still somehow manages to be worth seeing, if only to marvel at how much weird work went into making what we all thought was just a retro-styled perspective-shifting puzzle game into something decidedly more mind-bending.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    WWE 2K14
    2K14 most definitely satisfies whatever nostalgia I had for Wrestlemania's history, and I expect will provide ample enough amusement between now and next year's installment. But come next year, I'm considerably less certain that another entry just like 2K14 will be similarly satisfying.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box
    The real success of the Professor Layton series is the way its puzzle-solving and crime-solving aspects support and blend with one another.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Gears 5
    Gears 5 plays around with the formula a bit, but it's still at its best when it's just being a solid-ass Gears of War game.
    • 92 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    God of War III
    The beautiful rendering of Kratos' ugliness is what made God of War III a compelling experience for me, despite of the bits that felt unnecessarily slavish to the God of War formula. Even if it's not the best God of War game, it's unequivocally the best-looking God of War to date, and it makes for a wicked showpiece for the PlayStation 3.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    inFamous: Festival of Blood
    Whether you're curious about trying Infamous for the first time, you wanted more after finishing Infamous 2, or you're just looking for a quick experience in a well-constructed Halloween setting, Festival of Blood is worth a look.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Pure
    Pure looks great and runs fast. You'll get a good sense of speed on the ground and you'll get to see enough of the surrounding environment to make those huge jumps look positively majestic. The rider animations are perhaps a bit stiff, and the crashes are cut so short that they start to look a little weird, but overall, it looks terrific.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    inFamous: Second Son
    Brief, but engaging. The combat itself is interesting enough to cover for some of the repetition in the side objectives and it looks really great. If you're looking for a sprawling open-world with a billion little things to do, this isn't going to float your boat, but Second Son's tight, focused approach definitely still holds plenty of appeal.
    • 87 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Battlefield: Bad Company 2
    If you appreciate the way Battlefield has done this kind of open, spacious warfare in the past, you're going to love it. Fans of the previous game's campaign mode, however, will probably feel a little disappointed.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Theatrhythm Final Fantasy
    Given Square Enix's recent track record, it's easy to see this game showing up on iOS devices in the not-distant future, but if you're looking for an endearingly entertaining rhythm package to occupy your 3DS right now, Theatrhythm fits the bill.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Viva Pinata: Trouble in Paradise
    Trouble in Paradise offers everything the first game did--literally--with a heap of new content and enough streamlined gameplay mechanics to get even an experienced gardener's green thumb back into action. And if you never tried the original game, first of all, shame on you. Second, go play this one.
    • 89 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Peggle
    It would have been nice to stretch the brain-box a bit with crazier modes or challenges, and the inclusion of a level editor certainly wouldn't have hurt, but at 10 dollars, Peggle is a welcome addition to my procrastination repertoire.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Gears 5
    The game looks really great and has a deliberately brighter and more varied color palette than most of the previous games. While I think the open-world stuff is flat and could have been way better, there are moments out there in the nothingness that just look straight-up incredible, including a late-game weather sequence that, despite not being great gameplay, was worth seeing a couple of times just for the visuals alone.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Alice: Madness Returns
    An engaging slice of dark fantasy, one that reaffirms American McGee's command of both the unhinged and the fantastical.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Madden NFL 15
    All of the above changes go a long way to making this year's Madden feel the most consistently satisfying entry in the series in a good long while.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Stacking
    Stacking looks like a trifling little downloadable title, but the game has a surprising amount of heart.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Madden NFL 15
    There are still a lot of things this series could stand to improve, but Madden NFL 15 represents an encouraging step forward for this series. A small step, to be sure, but still a positive one.
    • 87 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Tearaway
    The view is spectacular, and over at just the right time. Games can outstay their welcome, and the best leave us wanting more, wishing to see one more stage.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning
    There are plenty of really great things to see and do in Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, and that stuff--the main quest line, the faction quests, and the interesting combat--makes the game fairly easy to recommend. But it's hard not to be at least a little disappointed when you start seeing the various spots where the game doesn't live up to the high bar set by its best content.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning
    There are plenty of really great things to see and do in Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning, and that stuff--the main quest line, the faction quests, and the interesting combat--makes the game fairly easy to recommend. But it's hard not to be at least a little disappointed when you start seeing the various spots where the game doesn't live up to the high bar set by its best content.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3
    Red Alert 3 makes compelling changes to the C&C brand of real-time strategy without abandoning the core of what makes these games tick. If you're a longtime fan, that's great news, though if you don't typically go for strategy games, but are still feeling the attraction of the game's stellar cast and full-motion video, you may find that the thrill of the cutscenes isn't quite enough to keep you moving through the missions.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Guitar Hero World Tour
    There are some notable feature differences between Guitar Hero World Tour and Rock Band, and the attitudes are wildly different, but a lot of that feels a little academic in the grand scheme. Guitar Hero has some catching up to do when it comes to the full-band experience, but all the debatable points shouldn't keep you from rocking out.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    ZombiU
    The 30 minutes I spent in a nursery are some of the most memorable time I've spent with a horror game or movie, punctuated by a jump scare that literally took my breath away. Survival horror fans disenchanted with the direction Capcom's taken the Resident Evil series will find much to love in ZombiU, and anybody looking for a quality launch title with deep, rewarding mechanics are encouraged to see what Ubisoft--yes, Ubisoft-has created.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    NHL 14
    If you missed out on NHL 13, NHL 14 comes recommended largely without caveat. If you did pick up 13, consider how badly you want to see improved hitting and an abundance of fighting before deciding if you need to drop another $60.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Puzzle Quest 2
    I'd lean toward recommending the Xbox version because, well, I like achievements, and because it's half the price of the DS cart. But whether you want to play on the couch or on the go, Puzzle Quest 2 is a great way to wile away a few minutes, or a few hours.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Tom Clancy's The Division
    The side content is too repetitive, but The Division's main content and exciting multiplayer component stand out and make this thing worth seeing, provided you've got some like-minded friends around.
    • 87 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Call of Duty: Black Ops
    Do you want to play more Call of Duty? I'm guessing the answer is yes, and by all means, Black Ops is worth playing. But for all its ambitious steps to set itself apart from the previous games, it flounders in a few too many of those areas to be a total success.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    R-Type Dimensions
    A feature-rich shooter that can appeal to people with either a passing or a serious interest in the genre.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Iron Brigade
    Shredding the different enemies with your varied arsenal is quite satisfying. It'd be a thin experience if you were looking for something to play by yourself, but if you like to just saddle up with friends and blast things apart, Trenched is a strong download.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Tom Clancy's The Division
    It's a shame that more attention wasn't paid to The Division's story. The side missions didn't need to be as repetitive as they are, and that's disappointing. But there's a real foundation here that makes this worth paying some attention to, provided you don't intend to just shoot your way through the missions by yourself.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Pinball Arcade
    The Pinball Arcade provides a safe virtual home for your pinball worship, complete with accurate re-creations of real tables and appropriately realistic physics.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Conviction
    The most accessible Splinter Cell game yet. It gives you the firepower to shoot your way out of your mistakes, but also makes the stealth side of things fun, rewarding, and significantly easier than just attempting to run around and shoot. Its only serious issue is that it doesn't feel especially substantial or replayable.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Tom Clancy's The Division
    As a solo game, The Division gets quite boring, and trying to marathon your way through all the side stuff you'll need to do to unlock every upgrade feels more like a chore than a thrilling video game. But enough of the different components work well enough to make for a good start. At times I had my doubts, but I came out of this one wanting to see at least the first couple of planned updates and ready to play more, when it's available.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Castle Crashers
    The only things really holding Castle Crashers back are some unfortunate technical problems, but they're not enough to entirely suppress the game's gleeful abandon for both hacking and slashing.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    UFC Undisputed 2009
    If you're looking for a game you can play alone, UFC 2009 Undisputed will probably get pretty boring for you. Even with multiple difficulty settings, fighting the AI doesn't stay exciting for very long. But if you're in a household with multiple UFC fans or enjoy getting online, you'll love it.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Monday Night Combat
    It's lean, cheap, and focused, but it still offers a great multiplayer formula that feels like more than its component parts.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Hitman 2
    Hitman 2's locations cover almost as much exotic ground as those in the first game, from a high-tech Miami speedway to a drug cartel's jungle compound, suburban Anytown USA and a secret island meeting of billionaires who not-so-secretly run the world.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Hitman 2
    This sequel offers plenty of reasons to revisit the world of assassination, whether you're an experienced hitman or just trying out the fiber wire for the first time.
    • 87 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Batman: Arkham Knight
    Arkham Knight sees Rocksteady becoming more confident in its design within the larger scope of an entire city, and despite a few uneven spots, this is overall a satisfying way to wrap up what the developer has referred to as its trilogy of Arkham games.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Metroid: Other M
    And it is really good, when its occasionally clumsy controls aren't getting in the way of your ability to enjoy it. Luckily, those moments occur a lot less frequently than the ones that make this game satisfying in all the same ways those old Metroid games were.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Enslaved: Odyssey to the West
    It's a well-produced effort that makes itself easy to get invested in and is worth considering for anyone who enjoys a solid dozen-hour-long, story-driven action game. It doesn't do everything right all the time, but some grander and higher-profile games could stand to learn a lesson or two from this one.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Enslaved: Odyssey to the West
    It's a well-produced effort that makes itself easy to get invested in and is worth considering for anyone who enjoys a solid dozen-hour-long, story-driven action game. It doesn't do everything right all the time, but some grander and higher-profile games could stand to learn a lesson or two from this one.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Boom Blox
    While some of the trickier puzzles may take some real time to master, especially if you want to get a gold medal on every challenge, it doesn’t take a lot of time to acclimate yourself to Boom Blox and whip through most of what it has to offer. The lasting value, then, comes from the multiplayer, which is an absolute blast, and the creation aspect, which, to be fair, isn’t for everyone.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    NHL 13
    It is a game that plays extremely well, yet offers little beyond the expected in terms of supplementary entertainment. Offline, GM mode is about as much fun as you'd generally want it to be, and the Ultimate Team stuff can be amusing in stretches, but the remaining features are mostly minor distractions at best, and outright arduous to use at worst.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Call of Duty: Black Ops II
    It's got its share of flaws, but overall Treyarch has assembled a great, fast, and fun first-person shooter that, even if you were thinking about finally skipping a year, is still worth your time.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Marvel vs. Capcom 2
    It doesn't redraw the graphics and it doesn't rebalance the gameplay. If you love Marvel vs. Capcom 2, and you want to play it online, this is a good value at $15.00.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    RISK: Factions
    Like any other boardgame that's made an appearance on Xbox Live, Risk: Factions is going to primarily be appealing to those who like the game on which it's based, regardless of all the fancy upgrades added to the mix. You either think rolling dice and taking over various countries is a lot of fun, or you don't.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Asura's Wrath
    It feels like the kind of guilty pleasure that you and me, serious players of video games, should be embarrassed for enjoying. What satisfaction could there possibly be in a game that largely plays itself? In spite of the one big, obvious caveat, I kind of love this game.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope
    Sparks of Hope wasn’t on my radar after my middling experience with Kingdom Battle, but I love it when a game surprises me like this. It takes just a handful of battles for the hooks to get in, and the tactical options only grow as you unlock new heroes and sparks. I’m not sure if any game could be good enough to make me love the Rabbids, but the fun I was having in my 30+ hours with Sparks of Hope did a great job of distracting me from their dumb, dumb faces.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Space Invaders Extreme
    Space Invaders Extreme is a great game, but the bunk network code is a real bummer. If replaying stages for bigger combos and higher scores to unlock more stages and bonus modes sounds like your type of game, though, you'll probably get really obsessed and absolutely get your money's worth.
    • 88 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Stanley Parable
    It works because it's fun to explore the limits of the scenario and see which bits they've written smart, well-delivered dialogue for and how many different "endings" you can come up with as you play around.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Wolfenstein: The New Order
    Wolfenstein: The New Order is smarter than a game called Wolfenstein probably has any right to be, yet it still manages to capture the hyperviolent spirit of its predecessors.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Wolfenstein: The New Order
    It tries to create stakes that go beyond the basic scope of "kill those bad guys because they're bad," and even when it fails to completely take advantage of those stakes, there's still enough excitement, enough intrigue, enough humanity in its story to keep you interested. Even if its ideas only scratch the surface of something deeper, Wolfenstein: The New Order still delivers an experience well worth your time.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Spore
    Spore's most positive traits are so uniquely satisfying that it's disappointing the gameplay which underpins them isn't more engrossing.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    TrackMania 2 Canyon
    A streamlined front-end and more clearly spelled-out progression would probably go a long way. But if you're up for digging around and find the idea of a driving game that's a little left-of-center exciting, TM2 is kind of incredible.
    • 90 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Assassin's Creed II
    But this isn't a reinvention, it's a refinement. Assassin's Creed II offers, fundamentally, the same kinds of thrills as its predecessor--leaping from rooftop to rooftop with surefooted ease, appearing out of nowhere to kill your target with a quick blade, then vanishing effortlessly into a crowd. It's just been expanded, streamlined, and overhauled in ways that bring it closer to grace and make it a much easier game to recommend.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    From Dust
    A fantastic value, all told, with a bare minimum of eight hours or more that never feels like you're doing exactly the same thing twice.
    • 87 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    PixelJunk Shooter
    Despite feeling like the tutorial mode for its eventual Encore-style follow-up, PixelJunk Shooter's unique mechanics and terrific audiovisual design still make it stand out in ways that most downloadable releases lack.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Saints Row 2
    There's no question that GTA IV is a better game than Saints Row 2, but in some ways, Saints Row 2 is more fun. Saints Row 2 doesn't look nearly as good, and there aren't any heavy moral choices or resonant melodrama, but the cars handle more easily, cops are less of a concern, enemies are easier to kill, and the activities are generally crazier and more over-the-top. If GTA IV got too serious for you, Saints Row 2 might just be what you're looking for.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Kinect Sports
    I'll go so far as to say that the genre of sports-themed minigame collections probably isn't capable of really being revolutionized, but Kinect Sports gets dangerously close, simply by virtue of doing the one thing other motion-controlling technologies haven't been able to yet: Tracking your feet.
    • 90 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Fallout 3
    It's unfortunate that Fallout 3 is saddled with so many little- and medium-sized issues, because they get in the way of what's an otherwise fantastic experience. The world is well-realized and full of options. It'll be a struggle in spots, but I'm willing to guess that most people will be able to overlook a lot of the game's problems and still have a very good time exploring the irradiated wasteland formerly known as Washington DC.
    • 92 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Forza Horizon 4
    Forza Horizon 4's connected world and seasonal weather help make what's otherwise a very familiar-feeling experience feel fresh one more time.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Sam & Max: Save the World
    Funny games are still something of a rarity, so even though these episodes of Sam & Max originated on the PC two years ago, they still totally stand up against more recent releases. Also, with six different episodes to move through, you'll probably end up spending something like eight to 12 hours playing through them all.
    • 88 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Forza Horizon 4
    Forza Horizon 4 isn't going to be a huge surprise to anyone who played a previous entry, but in a world where the other big open-world games have ranged from mildly to extremely disappointing, it's great to have another solid entry in the genre to tear through.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - Dawnguard
    Dawnguard offers far more than a self-contained episode in the Fallout vein--which it should, at double the price--but it falls just short of the scope of a traditional, pre-Internet boxed expansion pack. Still, it's a fine way to expand the already immense content offering of Skyrim, especially if you're still actively traipsing around those snowy hills in search of more adventure.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Hybrid
    Hybrid's peripheral shortcomings are easy enough to ignore, though, since the core idea is so well executed.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Marvel: Ultimate Alliance 2
    It's hard not to let the experience of the first MUA color the expectations for MUA2. By those standards, MUA2 isn't as exciting a game, largely due to the choices it makes with the fiction. On its own, though, this is still an enjoyable action RPG romp that makes good use of the Marvel Universe in its own way.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Skate 3
    If you're strictly a solo player, you'll probably find Skate 3 to be a sterile, temporary environment that doesn't feel as inviting as the previous game may have. But if you've even dabbled in the online world of Skate 2, you'll surely enjoy what Skate 3 has to offer.
    • 89 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Battlefield 3
    Exactly what Battlefield fans most likely wanted: a chaotic, gorgeous multiplayer game with small, but important tweaks to what already worked in past games. That it includes a short, somewhat mediocre solo campaign and some hit-or-miss co-op action does not detract from the fact that, online, this is the best Battlefield game yet. The PC version's online matchmaking tools are way ahead of the curve and a good example of how to do social networking in video games the right way.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Skylanders: Spyro's Adventure
    The cool part is the tech side of Skylanders, which merges its Gauntlet-like gameplay with physical objects that unlock new characters, levels, and bonus items. It all comes together to form a sort-of-insidious-but-surprisingly-fun mesh of collectible and video game.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Battlefield 3
    Exactly what Battlefield fans most likely wanted: a chaotic, gorgeous multiplayer game with small, but important tweaks to what already worked in past games. That it includes a short, somewhat mediocre solo campaign and some hit-or-miss co-op action does not detract from the fact that, online, this is the best Battlefield game yet.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Ratchet & Clank
    This reimagining of Ratchet & Clank is successful on every front.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Hydro Thunder Hurricane
    While I found most of the single-player modes to be a bit of a drag and the way things get unlocked for single-player could have been handled a bit more smoothly, the online multiplayer is what earns Hydro Thunder Hurricane its keep. It's a fast-moving and thrilling online race that offers just enough content to fit with its downloadable-sized pricing.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Firewatch
    Campo Santo's debut adventure offers up a taut mystery built around two tremendously engaging characters.
    • 88 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    BioShock 2
    But the smart additions on the gameplay side make BioShock 2 rewarding in a different way, while those who want to know more about Andrew Ryan's underwater city will find just enough to make the return trip worthwhile.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine
    By looking to its own fiction for inspiration, Relic has crafted a fun, exciting shooter that effectively differentiates itself from other games in the genre.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    DJ Hero
    It's a bit barebones, and the turntable controller feels like it could have been better in a couple of spots. But as the start of something new, DJ Hero provides a very strong foundation that things like additional downloadable content or full-fledged sequels could really build on.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine
    By looking to its own fiction for inspiration, Relic has crafted a fun, exciting shooter that effectively differentiates itself from other games in the genre.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Destiny 2: Forsaken
    This big year-two expansion irons out most of Destiny 2's wrinkles and offers some of the most mysterious, enjoyable content the series has seen so far.
    • 89 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Left 4 Dead
    Beyond its categorical success in establishing a vivid picture of the zombie apocalypse, Left 4 Dead's biggest breakthrough is the way it blurs the lines between the often compartmentalized pieces of a modern first-person shooter. It makes for a game that's unlike any other, and while the limited amount of content is admittedly unfortunate, that shouldn't keep you from experiencing this fast-paced, nerve-wracking game.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance
    In short, it's a quick cut through the world of Metal Gear that mentions just enough about the Patriots and the War Economy to let you feel like you're keeping up on the state of post-MGS4 Metal Gear while also filling it full of ridiculous, entertaining combat sequences and, for whatever reason, a whole lot of cursing.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance
    A thrilling and engaging experience. The swordplay is fun, and it's really fascinating to see the different spots where either Kojima's or Platinum's signature styles shine through. It also has a wild final confrontation that shows elements of both.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Her Story
    A fascinating and exciting experiment. It certainly tells a strong story, but it's the unique way in which it presents that story that makes the game so compelling. I can safely say I've never played anything quite like Her Story before, and while I don't necessarily think the "search engine murder mystery" genre needs to become the Next Big Thing, I cannot help but greatly admire the unusual ideas Her Story presents about how we tell and interact with stories in games.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Samurai Shodown II
    Samurai Shodown is a great series, and as far as I'm concerned, SS2 is the best installment of the bunch. Between that and the game's online support, I'm well satisfied with this release. If you have fond memories of '90s arcades, I'd guess that you'll be satisfied, as well.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    South Park Let's Go Tower Defense Play!
    Realistically, you'd need to be a fan of either South Park or tower defense to get the most out of this game. If you've got an interest in either subject--or, ideally, both--there are much worse ways to spend 800 points on Xbox Live Arcade.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    NBA 2K14
    I have no issue recommending NBA 2K14 to those looking for another tightly-tuned, exquisitely deep game of basketball for their current generation consoles. It'll certainly help if you have a particular interest in King James and his future endeavors, but NBA 2K14 has more than enough quality content to keep LeBron haters happy too.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Pure
    Pure looks great and runs fast. You'll get a good sense of speed on the ground and you'll get to see enough of the surrounding environment to make those huge jumps look positively majestic. The rider animations are perhaps a bit stiff, and the crashes are cut so short that they start to look a little weird, but overall, it looks terrific.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Excitebots: Trick Racing
    As time passes, it gets harder and harder to find games that can actually offer a surprise, so I found the ways in which Excitebots managed to catch me off-guard to be quite pleasing. Even amongst its arcade-style ilk, Excitebots isn't a very nuanced racing game, but it's loud, ridiculous, and crazy enough to be plenty of fun anyway.
    • 90 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Diablo III: Ultimate Evil Edition
    It's great with a group and fine if you're playing alone, but I'd still say that, if you're able, the PC version is the one to get unless you're specifically looking for a local co-op mode.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Cryostasis: The Sleep of Reason
    A love-it-or-hate-it game. While the world it presents is breathtaking, the game's core combat and slow pace are what hold me back from recommending it to all audiences. However, if you tend to find yourself with more arty tastes in media, or are one of those gamers who thinks a good game necessitates a good story, Cryostasis might just be the game for you.
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In Progress & Unscored

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    • 85 Metascore
    • Critic Score
    Starfield
    While a lot of Starfield's familiar Bethesda cruft is outdated and often boring in the early game, the story, quest, characters, and interactions all get better the more you play. That doesn't mean you can ignore the awkward traversal and janky bugs, but it is questionable how damaging those elements are to the experience after 250 hours in Todd Howard's space epic. [Quick Look]
    • 69 Metascore
    • Critic Score
    The Dark Pictures Anthology: The Devil in Me
    "The Devil in Me" takes an intriguing historical true-crime premise, mixes it with a bit of SAW, and half-bakes it, amounting to a very by-the-numbers, unscary addition of the Dark Pictures Anthology. Unlikable characters with dull personal problems and a plot with glacial pacing bog down a game that had a lot of potential in its set-up. That's not to mention the graphical glitches and other oddities that make the game feel rushed out the door. These unfortunate factors culminate to make The Devil In Me the weakest of the Anthology series thus far. [Quick Look]
    • 69 Metascore
    • Critic Score
    The Callisto Protocol
    The Callisto Protocol was touted as the next Dead Space and it unfortunately suffers for that comparison. With frustrating, awkward combat, an uninteresting plot, and jump scares that fall completely flat, The Callisto Protocol struggles in the shadow of its spiritual predecessor, which did all of those things better 14 years ago. (This is all not to mention the full-screen strobing light effects that cannot be turned off; an accessibility failure that one would not expect of a modern AAA game.) It's a pity that Callisto copied the aesthetic of Dead Space while failing to execute the aspects that made it frightening and fun. [Quick Look]
    • 90 Metascore
    • Critic Score
    Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice
    Quick look (video).
    • 56 Metascore
    • Critic Score
    Redfall
    Redfall fails to compel on nearly every level, not just in its uninteresting story, but also its all-too-familiar gameplay. Not only does Redfall feel like a game stuck in yesteryear, even its performance finds a way to disappoint. [Quick Look]
    • 88 Metascore
    • Critic Score
    Horizon Forbidden West
    Undoubtedly a gorgeous spectacle in every way, Forbidden West struggles to develop a compelling storyline out of the gate. It mitigates that through a satisfying and customizable combat system, though in our playthrough so far, hasn't demonstrated a substantial evolution from the original. [Quick Look]
    • 71 Metascore
    • Critic Score
    The Hong Kong Massacre
    Quick look.
    • 76 Metascore
    • Critic Score
    For Honor
    Quick look.
    • 90 Metascore
    • Critic Score
    Marvel's Spider-Man 2
    It runs so, so smooth with no hiccups. Doesn't matter how much crazy bullshit is happening on the screen. Technically it's in the top 3 PS5 showcases. It's phenomenal.
    • 79 Metascore
    • Critic Score
    Escape Academy
    Former GameMaster Jess geeks out way too hard at Jeff Grubb, teaching him the ropes of escape rooms! [Quick look]
    • 69 Metascore
    • Critic Score
    High on Life
    Despite the way-too-chatty guns (for what it's worth, there's options for that), High on Life ends up being a pretty fun shooter in a colorful and ridiculously stupid sci-fi world. It's not reinventing the wheel with its combat, but it doesn't really have to in order to be an alright time. The boss fights are surprisingly enjoyable and the game's exploration is satisfying, with upgrades and unlocks that open the world gradually, in a way that reminds me a bit of Ratchet and Clank. High on Life's crass humor is an understandable balk point for many — and the first hour or two is unrelentingly... well, Roilandy — but if you can push past the bad first impression, it's a good ol' competent FPS. [Quick Look]
    • 83 Metascore
    • Critic Score
    Octopath Traveler
    Quick Look...
    • 71 Metascore
    • Critic Score
    Somerville
    Somerville's strengths come from its mysterious narrative and storytelling intrigue, but it fails to match the overall polish and cohesive game design language as its spiritual predecessors. [Quick Look]
    • 71 Metascore
    • Critic Score
    Days Gone
    Quick look...
    • 86 Metascore
    • Critic Score
    Bayonetta 3
    Platinum makes Bayonetta wilder and more unpredictable than ever, mostly for the better. [Quick Look]
    • 86 Metascore
    • Critic Score
    Cyberpunk 2077
    Jeff Gerstmann & Jeff Bakalar's early impressions.
    • 56 Metascore
    • Critic Score
    Choo-Choo Charles
    A spooky and ambitious little indie game that knows exactly how silly it is, Choo-Choo Charles has some expected flaws from the constraints that come from being a single-developer project, but makes up for it with its originality and moxie. (I mean, what other game out there is about fleeing from and fighting a demonic spider-train? You just can't get that in a AAA game!) It's one of those indie horrors that's brimming with the joy and the jank that makes me love the genre overall. [Quick Look]
    • 71 Metascore
    • Critic Score
    The Chant
    The Chant is a psychedelic folk-horror action-adventure game that has more to it than one might expect from an indie title. While it doesn't bring anything particularly new to the table with its gameplay, it does provide a successfully fun experience and a compelling cult setting to sink into. [Quick Look]
    • tbd Metascore
    • Critic Score
    Mirror Forge
    Mirror Forge is a little indie horror joint with a lot of heart and a lot of glitches... but that's not really a deal-breaker for me. It's one of those scrappy super-indie titles whose charm is actually kinda amplified by its rough edges. The developer's love for Silent Hill, Eternal Darkness, and Stranger Things is apparent as our trauma-laden protagonist wanders through bloody hallways with ancient secrets, told to us via somewhat goofy voice acting. Cliché stuff, yes, but I can't help but enjoy that this is a game that knows what it is - an ambitious, mishmashed, indulgent homage to some really great things. A solo developer stretching their legs and seeing what they can pull off. A janky, but entertaining time. [Quick Look]
    • 84 Metascore
    • Critic Score
    Resident Evil Village
    Some say it takes a village to do a quick look, others say it only takes Brad and Vinny. Sit back and enjoy as the Giant Bomb team takes an unedited look at Resident Evil Village.
    • 89 Metascore
    • Critic Score
    Apex Legends
    Jeff, Brad, and Ben jump into Respawn's new free-to-play battle royale game.
    • 89 Metascore
    • Critic Score
    The Last of Us Part I
    Quick Look
    • 87 Metascore
    • Critic Score
    Hi-Fi Rush
    It's so nice to have a surprise like this come out of nowhere...and at the end of the year I expect I'm still going to be thinking about this when it comes to game of the year time. It would have made my Top 10 last year. - JG [Quick Look]
    • 88 Metascore
    • Critic Score
    Night in the Woods
    Quick Look.
    • 96 Metascore
    • Critic Score
    Elden Ring
    The Jeffs and Jan convene and hold gnarled fingers together to chat about their harrowing adventures in the world of Elden Ring.
    • 78 Metascore
    • Critic Score
    Detroit: Become Human
    Quick look.
    • 93 Metascore
    • Critic Score
    Persona 5
    So stylish...I am diggin' it. [Quick look]
    • 83 Metascore
    • Critic Score
    Marvel's Midnight Suns
    Marvel's Midnight Suns has snappy tactical combat that's incredibly satisfying and manages to juggle numerous social links successfully with familiar heroes. [Quick Look]
    • tbd Metascore
    • Critic Score
    Ship of Fools
    Ship of Fools is a neat little roguelite Overcooked at sea mashup. Things get chaotic real quick as you and a friend have to navigate the seven seas and make sure to not throw precious material overboard. [Quick look]
    • 74 Metascore
    • Critic Score
    Warhammer 40,000: Darktide
    An intro into the Warhammer universe that'll make you want to dive all the way in. Gothic organs blast as you and three other friends blast through hordes and hordes of decaying enemies. [Unprofessional Friday]
    • 80 Metascore
    • Critic Score
    The Entropy Centre
    The Entropy Centre is a brutally brain-bending Portal-like, using time as its main mechanic. Casual puzzle-enjoyers might find its trial-and-error game loop more frustrating than fun, but the meticulous-minded will probably enjoy its challenges. [Quick Look]
    • 71 Metascore
    • Critic Score
    Pokemon Violet
    The age of the Switch's hardware and GameFreak's prowess as a studio is on full display in the newest Pokemon release as we see muddy textures and single frame animations. While we get a new crop of cute Pokemon, a more open world, and new battle mechanics we're unfortunately stuck trudging along at a snail's pace because of the game itself. [Quick Look]
    • 72 Metascore
    • Critic Score
    Pokemon Scarlet
    The age of the Switch's hardware and GameFreak's prowess as a studio is on full display in the newest Pokemon release as we see muddy textures and single frame animations. While we get a new crop of cute Pokemon, a more open world, and new battle mechanics we're unfortunately stuck trudging along at a snail's pace because of the game itself. [Quick Look]
    • 86 Metascore
    • Critic Score
    Pentiment
    Pentiment sheds the dice rolls and combat to emphasize the branching conversations and compelling narrative that Obsidian is best at. And the result is an engaging page-turner that can only really work as a video game. [Quick Look]
    • 93 Metascore
    • Critic Score
    Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
    Quick look.

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