Hardcore Gamer's Scores

  • Games
For 4,331 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 50% higher than the average critic
  • 9% same as the average critic
  • 41% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 1.4 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Game review score: 73
Highest review score: 100 Assassin's Creed III
Lowest review score: 20 The Quiet Man
Score distribution:
4334 game reviews
    • 61 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Hellbound may not be great but it’s a short, sweet thrill ride while it lasts. The action is nice and fast with the guns packing a solid punch, and all the weapons earn their place in the arsenal. The length of the game means its limits don’t have a chance to feel grating and the sameness of the enemies is nicely offset by the personality of the levels. Even after the game is over there are still a handful of arena levels to play in, trying to survive as long as possible to claim a spot on its leaderboards. Hellbound may be restrained by its limits but there’s no question it does a lot within them and it’s good bloody fun while the ride lasts.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Those who like Shadowrun or turn-based RPGs should still give Boston Lockdown a look, but anybody else need not apply.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    With 60 brain-stumping levels, Globins is a must-play on the go.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Redux: Dark Matters on Steam isn’t worth getting excited about given the wealth of better alternatives, and even if you’re a Dreamcast collector, there are far better shooter releases for it in recent years.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    A good, but not great, new IP, Poison Control skillfully harnesses NIS’s abilities to present a visually-striking, musically-engaging world with unique gameplay concepts. The biggest issue is the gameplay itself doesn’t feel as polished as it should be. The third-person shooter gameplay is functional, but the execution leaves something to be desired. Even so, it’s enjoyable enough to make quick work of each stage and uncover the storylines behind each. The unique factor wears off after a while, but as long as you don’t expect a Call of Duty-style shooter, you’ll be able to enjoy what Poison Control has to offer.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    JETT: The Far Shore has an impressive world with well-crafted lore, an intriguing story and eye-catching visuals. Unfortunately, you actually have to play through the game to experience any of it, and that ends up being a slow, plodding mess in more ways than one. Maybe those with more patience will enjoy the trip more, but everyone else can rightfully skip JETT: The Far Shore and just remain grounded with better games instead.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    While an undeniably beautiful game to look at, the underlying technical issues hamper the presentation. Godfall stands as a decent first attempt at a new IP with solid ideas and great combat, but doesn’t stick the whole landing.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Xenon Racer is a good game that so desperately wants to be great, but it falls short in too many areas to reach that status. Cars feel a bit too weighty while tracks lack life due to low-quality trackside details. The game’s tough learning curve won’t be for everyone, but does offer a greater sense of reward than most games when it comes to making a victory feel like a true accomplishment. Unfortunately, visual problems and a mundane soundtrack hurt the overall presentation. The end result is a game that comes as a mild recommendation for racing fans until some of its issues are hopefully fixed with patches down the line.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    While it’s nice to have a game based on the television version of The Walking Dead that’s enjoyable, this aspect falls short in The Walking Dead Onslaught. While some of the voice acting and the face models are good, the rest feels tacked on. Being able to identify targets and pick your points using guns offer a fantastic feeling, but the motion detection on the PSVR has a lot of issues. These issues may be a bigger deal if this was a full-priced game, but it’s only $30 and completely worth it for that price. I feel this would be a better experience on other platforms, but the game is playable and still enjoyable on PSVR. While I prefer a horror title that creates an atmosphere, the frantic tone of Onslaught does a good job in creating something different.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Tales of the Shire: A The Lord of the Rings Game has the potential to be one of the best cozy games out there with a wonderful art style, engaging characters and an entertaining game loop. It struggles, however, with the lack of a fast travel system and overly repetitive game design. There's only so much running (or skipping) you can do before it gets grating. The mini-games like the cooking and fishing are fun, and collecting ingredients in the beautiful Shire is a great distraction to the stresses of real life. What ultimately kills the game right now, however, are how some bugs kill your progress.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    If you’ve never played Indigo Prophecy before then you ought to give it a try, but you’d be better off digging up a PS2 copy than playing this mess.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The Crew is an overly ambitious project that just doesn’t go the full mile.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Broken Roads is a cult classic in the making. It hearkens to the best parts of games like Fallout 2, and many other CRPGs of the '90s, and it fits right in alongside classic Fallout and the Wasteland games. It’s flawed in some areas, with bugs in spots, but it offers tremendous role-playing and storytelling that make it more than worth your time to spend upwards of thirty or more hours in post-apocalyptic Australia.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    SimCity: Cities of Tomorrow is a visually appealing addition that unfortunately only runs skin-deep.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Components blend in such a way to entice a new player to give it more than a few runs. After the honeymoon is over, though, a game that leans so heavy into the rogue-like trappings needs to do something to maintain player interest. Regrettably, that is where this title falters.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Katama Kami: A Way of the Samurai Story is a well-crafted adventure that mixes rogue-lites with sword play in interesting ways. The risk/reward system for the dungeon crawling is something that keeps you on your toes at all times, while carefully balancing equipment stashes with what you bring out in the field is trial and error at its best. The action is fast and never gets bogged down by having a lot of enemies on-screen, even if the graphics do have some detail-related shortcomings. The animations are solid and the soundtrack is exceptional even if it isn’t the most memorable. The woodland-finned soundtrack keeps you invested as you go from dungeon-to-dungeon and slay all manners of enemy to survive.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Double Dragon Revive doesn't quite hit the mark, but does do some things right. The combat gives glimpses of greatness, but there's a lot going on with that combat. Limited space and room within levels mixed with random platforming/puzzle sessions is part of the reason the genre moved on to greater things. These elements didn't necessarily need to be revisited especially when other recent Double Dragon titles didn't try to do this. Yuke's seemed to go for a more serious tone with this release, and while Streets of Rage 4 was able to get away with a serious tone, it doesn't completely work here. It may be due to the fact that it feels more like a modern anime rather than a ninja gang story from the late 1980s. Revive may have also stuck out more if there hadn't been so many chances at reviving the series in recent years.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Overall, Lost on Mars does have several moments of amusement, and while it might not achieve a true level of greatness it is entertaining enough to warrant a visit to Mars when someone needs a change of scenery from Montana.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Ryse: Son of Rome has the visual fidelity of the future, while its gameplay and storytelling are stuck in the past.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    J-Stars Victory VS+ fumbles what should have been a glorious, celebratory experience. It’s combat is banal, its design is overcomplicated and its presentation is completely halfhearted.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    F1 Race Stars isn't the worst choice for those desperate for a kart racing fix, but it's truly a title reserved for Formula 1 fans and their offspring. While the racing is enjoyable, its lack of polish and unique features make it play second fiddle to Mario Kart.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    As a fan of Nippon Ichi Software’s output as a whole (these are the people behind the Ys and Xanadu series, after all), it’s hard not to be disappointed with The Witch and the Hundred Knight 2. Despite the knowledge gained from the previous outing, the developer released a title that plays like the place their unused ideas of other places got sent to die. Staying prepared for the action takes up a huge amount of time and the action itself isn’t exactly compelling.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    The Metroidvania formula will forever remain one of gaming’s best, so whenever a modern 2D (or 2.5D in this case) version is announced, it’s cause for excitement. Blackgate doesn’t exactly do anything new and is derivative of practically every predecessor in its “genre,” but that doesn’t mean it’s not a whole lot of fun.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    For those who love everything Hatsune Miku, it’s a great pickup and even for those who just don’t “get” it, check it out because it is something that can convert you into at least seeing the merit behind the concept.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Enjoying Ragnarok Odyssey: ACE hinges on enjoying the original, because this is the same game that was released in 2012 with more content.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Infinity Strash: Dragon Quest The Adventures of Dai is an interesting idea in bringing the anime to video game form that falls short in execution. It sounded great on paper, but nothing comes together in any way that makes this title rise above mediocrity. The basic repetitive gameplay that’s sparsely portioned out between story development prevents this from being the great action RPG it should have been. Fans of The Adventures of Dai or Dragon Quest in general might find enjoyment in this title. As critical as this review is there was fun had in playing it, but without the Dragon Quest name no one would give this a second thought. But despite its shortcomings it does still successfully convey the Dragon Quest charm, which might be enough to bring some enjoyment to a small segment of gamers, but most wouldn’t consider it worth the price of admission. As such, it’s difficult to recommend it to anyone but the most hardcore Dragon Questfans and even they should keep expectations low.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 30 Critic Score
    As it stands, Violett is a mess, and a disappointment on every level.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    As it stands, FK Digital’s latest title feels like it simply needed more time in the oven. Because of that, Chaos Code will probably come off to most as a forgettable title amidst a genre that has far better games for one to spend their time and money on.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    There’s a lot to enjoy in Lovely Planet, so long as you don’t actually have to play the game.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    EA and Ghost Games set out to make the quintessential Need for Speed by bringing in aspects that worked in the past and has mostly succeeded. The unnecessary narrative ultimately holds the game back, but it’s a blast once the world is made available to the player. The off-road racing is addicting and the search for Derelicts could remain a mainstay with the franchise moving forward. This is much less of a CAR-PG than the previous game, as players will be able to build a great library of cars much quicker. Add to this an excellent livery editor and community features, and the core elements of Need for Speed Payback will keep fans playing for quite a while.

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