Guardian's Scores

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For 1,012 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 40% higher than the average critic
  • 5% same as the average critic
  • 55% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 0.4 points higher than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Game review score: 75
Highest review score: 100 The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles
Lowest review score: 20 Alfred Hitchcock: Vertigo
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 684 out of 1012
  2. Mixed: 250 out of 1012
  3. Negative: 78 out of 1012
1021 game reviews
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    • 69 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    YOUR HOUSE
    The third of the game’s five chapters in particular is truly wonderful, presenting a warren of secret corridors and a series of interconnected puzzles that are particularly satisfying to solve with the help of night vision goggles that can reveal hidden writing. But sadly the game can’t quite keep up this pace to the end, and despite the odd flash of brilliance, the quality of the final puzzles never quite reaches the height of those in the middle of the game. The plot, too, fizzles out unsatisfyingly, with a solution to the house’s mystery that seems obvious and yet doesn’t make much sense when held up to scrutiny. Still, the idea of a house with conundrums built into its very fabric remains tantalising: I couldn’t help but give my own house a sweep after playing, just on the off-chance there might be a previously unnoticed hidden message or two.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Jurassic Park: Classic Games Collection
    The same old arguments apply to this release as to all retro compilations: you can find these games online then run them on an open source emulator for free, though you won’t get the modern save features. You could buy an original console and a copy of the games on eBay, but then that will work out much more expensive and unreliable. For Jurassic Park lovers and retro enthusiasts, this is a really nice way to relive a lost world of gaming.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Wattam
    Like Katamari Damacy, Wattam is a feast of visual gags and imagination. But Takahashi’s newest project ultimately doesn’t have the necessary depth of gameplay to transform itself into more than a silly yet loveable romp.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The Lord of the Rings: War in the North
    In short doses and with a good team, War in the North is not without its compulsive charms.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Dying Light 2 Stay Human
    If you’ve played a zombie game in the past decade, this mishmash of tattered post-apocalyptic stereotypes will feel all too familiar.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Disney TRON: Identity
    Tron Identity has merits in its atmosphere and flexible story, but strip away the licence and what remains is a fleeting and unremarkable visual novel that lives in the shadow of better detective games.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Just Sing!
    A moderate try, but minimal fun.
    • 54 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Homefront: The Revolution
    With its open-world environment and emphasis on crafting, this is an interesting sequel, marred by glitches and frame rate issues.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Little Deviants
    Everything Frobisher does well, Deviants does too – just a bit worse.
    • 54 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Harvest Moon: One World
    This new iteration of the escape-to-the-country fantasy replaces all that was charming about earlier versions with an average adventure game.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Blood Stone: 007
    And it's all over in about five or six hours. Worse, for all its authenticity in terms of voicework, the cut scenes and animation are all too often hilariously awful.
    • 39 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Doctor Who: The Eternity Clock
    Unfortunately, any sustained period of time spent actually playing The Eternity Clock will leave you with a similarly desperate feeling. Doctor Who games have always set very specific problems.
    • 43 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery
    Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery is a dull game with a great concept, made borderline unplayable by its hyper-aggressive monetisation.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Pac-Man and the Ghostly Adventures 2
    In some ways, the game’s simple ambitions would not have been a problem if the recipe had been respectfully crafted. But to a modern audience spolied for choice when it comes to excellent family games, it is something of a travesty.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria
    There are moments when The Lord of the Rings: Return to Moria hints at what it could have been, such as when you’re mining a rich vein of ore in some dark tunnel, and your dwarf becomes inspired to sing. They’ll clear their throat and give voice to a story of trolls and orcs and the beating that will rain down on them if they cross your path. The game briefly feels alive, the story making the cold mines warm. But then the song stops, and you’re still mining, and all you have to look forward to is a long walk back to the forge.
    • 54 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Medal of Honor: Warfighter
    War games can do dumb, and I'm OK with that. But dressing dumb up in the cloak of authenticity seems a dangerous line to cross. When you pretend to be saying something about ongoing real-world wars, but present a conflict of extremes with all the substance of air, the thought that anyone might take Warfighter seriously becomes a very queasy one.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Princess Peach: Showtime!
    Despite the enjoyable premise and high production values, Peach’s long-awaited star turn feels disappointingly patronising, one-dimensional and forgettable – the polar opposite of the Super Mario Bros film’s capable heroine. As the Nintendo Switch enters its twilight years, this was the perfect moment to give the Mushroom Kingdom monarch the celebration she so thoroughly deserved. Yet where Kirby received a Mario-worthy, Iliad-esque epic in Forgotten Land, this is more akin to a flimsy pop-up book.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Silent Hill 2
    For players of the original, this should get a steady nostalgia drip going. But coming to this series fresh makes for an overlong, dated and tedious experience.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    High on Life
    I’m a huge fan of the Oddworld-ian creature design and the factory-farming satire of its plot. But Oddworld made that stuff work because it had a big, weird heart. High on Life just has dilated pupils and a shit-eating grin.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Suicide Squad: Kill The Justice League
    Ultimately, Warner Brothers live-service ambitions rob players of a remarkable comic-book caper. The result is a game that’s as confused as its titular characters. Just as these reluctant heroes find themselves battling against their villainous natures, Rocksteady’s storytelling ambition struggles to break free of its live-service trappings. Since its reveal as a looter shooter, the internet has declared Suicide Squad an abomination – the antithesis of the classics that Rocksteady once made. The reality is somewhere in between, a game that straddles both the brilliant and the banal. As Rocksteady is surely learning from Suicide Squad’s hostile fan reception, you either die a licensed game hero, or live long enough to see yourself become the villain.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Tekken 3D Prime Edition
    So, what do you get for your money? Beyond standard fighting or five, 10 and (ultimately) 20 fighter survival modes, not very much at all...Clearly there are enough Tekken fans out there to justify the conversion but it all simply boils down to pixels slapping pixels and that gets very boring, very quickly.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Pokemon GO
    To put it bluntly, Pokémon Go is not good as a game. Until it gets updates which iron out kinks and offer content promised in early trailers, such as trading Pokémon, group battles, or even just more interesting combat, this isn’t likely to change.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2
    There is an OK vamp story hiding in here; careful, dicey conversations with dangerous fellow vampires are by far the most interesting thing that Bloodlines 2 has going for it. And I enjoyed some parts of Seattle, particularly the dive bars packed with people gyrating to (of course) goth music. The Chinese Room has managed to make something playable and vaguely interesting out of a game development disaster. But after the first few hours, I kept going more out of morbid curiosity than enjoyment.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    The Medium
    The Medium is hugely ambitious and could have been a site for incredible, innovative storytelling. Instead, it fumbles sensitive topics, plot points evaporate into thin air, and characters who are studied closely are left behind and never mentioned again. Even while taking notes, the story became difficult to follow. It took me 12 hours over three nights to play, and towards the finale I was astounded by how a game so short could feel so long. This certainly is a game of two worlds: one very beautiful and one very empty, unfortunately leaving us with a game that is all skin and no spirit.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Disney Illusion Island
    With the sweetness and delight associated with Disney absent, this new platform game is a strangely cynical waste of potential.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Assassin's Creed Syndicate
    That dearth of fun is the crux here. As the series finally begins to carve out an identity for itself, shed the dead-weight of its futuristic fluff of a sub-plot, and really let fly with its caricatural depiction of human history, it’s simultaneously failing to keep up with even middling mechanical, technical and design standards. With searing irony, the series feels more historic with each profit-driven iteration.
    • 38 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1
    But when you play it, you get the feeling that everyone involved with the franchise will be secretly relieved when the whole juggernaut finally grinds to a permanent halt.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    The Crew 2
    The Crew 2 has the whiff of a game that might become something wonderful in a year’s time, after numerous patches and additions. But right here, at the beginning, it doesn’t do enough.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Metal Wolf Chaos XD
    This is a game from another time, best enjoyed with your brain switched off, some friends to laugh with, and perhaps a bottle of extremely cheap spirits.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Drag x Drive
    Despite some efforts in meta-progression, it’s difficult to look past Drag x Drive’s most significant hurdle – that it’s uncomfortable to play for extended periods. The mouse controls are ingenious in theory, and when applied in small bouts, it feels like a novel prototype. But, in the context of such overtly active gameplay, the concept starts to fall apart. What remains is a surprisingly inaccessible sports game that lacks modal variety and a long-term hook. If you were hoping for a spiritual successor to the Nintendo Switch’s Rock ’Em Sock ’Em brawler Arms, you will be disappointed.
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