PC Gamer's Scores

  • Games
For 3,862 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 50% higher than the average critic
  • 5% same as the average critic
  • 45% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 2.7 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Game review score: 72
Highest review score: 98 Crysis
Lowest review score: 7 NRA Varmint Hunter
Score distribution:
3877 game reviews
    • 77 Metascore
    • 49 Critic Score
    Wuchang brings some fun ideas to soulslike boss fights, but the rest of it is a pale imitation of much better games.
    • 41 Metascore
    • 49 Critic Score
    A promising concept but dismal execution on just about every level.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 49 Critic Score
    Given the material, Away Team fails to reach its potential - or even come close. [June 2001, p.69]
    • PC Gamer
    • tbd Metascore
    • 49 Critic Score
    As it stands, it's an almost-there game that you can't stop playing in the hope that it eventually gets better. It doesn't, but that might change if developer Koios Works goes back to the drawing board in a few areas. [Nov. 2006, p.76]
    • PC Gamer
    • 63 Metascore
    • 49 Critic Score
    There is potential for amusing cat-and-mouse exchanges, but a lobby full of humans is hard to find.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 49 Critic Score
    Ultimately, like so many franchise tie-ins, it's just criminally mediocre. [Feb 2005, p.68]
    • PC Gamer
    • 67 Metascore
    • 49 Critic Score
    Remains saddled with enough broken parts to guarantee this title a quick trip to the slag heap in the sky. [Sept 2002, p.78]
    • PC Gamer
    • 69 Metascore
    • 49 Critic Score
    Dull combat, countless boring gray rooms and an abandoned story make Cryostasis as appealing as frozen dog droppings. [Aug 2009, p.76]
    • PC Gamer
    • 73 Metascore
    • 49 Critic Score
    Another fumbled PC port blighted by poor optimisation and unpredictable performance issues.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 49 Critic Score
    Poor execution and lack of content. [May 2010, p.82]
    • PC Gamer
    • 63 Metascore
    • 49 Critic Score
    Empire of Sin's many bugs, balance issues and competing systems undermine what could have been a novel mob management game.
    • 44 Metascore
    • 49 Critic Score
    Instead of spending $50 on Beowulf the game, read the poem instead; this game isn't epic, it's just epically tedious. [Feb 2008, p.74]
    • PC Gamer
    • 61 Metascore
    • 49 Critic Score
    This game is terminal. Let it find the peace it deserves. [Mar 2006, p.50]
    • PC Gamer
    • 66 Metascore
    • 49 Critic Score
    Insultingly short for its price, but that might be its one saving grace considering how derivative it feels.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 49 Critic Score
    Many great games have been built on the concept of expanding your space empire through diplomacy, trade and war. Armada 2526 is not one of them. [Nov 2010, p.83]
    • PC Gamer
    • 68 Metascore
    • 49 Critic Score
    The controls are awful...L.A. is nowhere near fully modeled. [July 2004, p.60]
    • PC Gamer
    • 52 Metascore
    • 49 Critic Score
    Bionicle's horrible controls and confusing camera angles (which shift at inopportune times) make it a terribly frustrating experience. [Feb 2004, p.77]
    • PC Gamer
    • 72 Metascore
    • 49 Critic Score
    But it's the game's many bugs and glitches, not mere repetition, which sap Dark Messiah's might and magic. [Feb. 2007, p.77]
    • PC Gamer
    • 46 Metascore
    • 49 Critic Score
    Only for hardcore fans of Halle Berry or aficionados of softcore porn. [Nov 2004, p.96]
    • PC Gamer
    • 70 Metascore
    • 49 Critic Score
    A botched opportunity for what could have been a cool game. [Mar 2001, p.49]
    • PC Gamer
    • 60 Metascore
    • 49 Critic Score
    A mod too short on content and aspiration to warrant the price as a standalone release.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 49 Critic Score
    After a promising opening, Ghost Song collapses under the weight of its ill-conceived mechanics.
    • 60 Metascore
    • 49 Critic Score
    A failed attempt at a cross-genre historical hybrid. [May 2004, p.70]
    • PC Gamer
    • 52 Metascore
    • 49 Critic Score
    A dumb shooter that feels like a rubbish stealth section dragged out across the length of an entire game.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 49 Critic Score
    Gotham Knights attempts to differentiate itself from the Arkham series with new characters and a new canon, but spends most of its length poorly imitating what made those games great.
    • 50 Metascore
    • 48 Critic Score
    While it's an ambitious and lengthy adventure, the game is spoiled by an overly confusing story, many ambiguous puzzles, and a flawed interface. [July 2002, p.73]
    • PC Gamer
    • 52 Metascore
    • 48 Critic Score
    The saddest part about Spider-Man: Web of Shadows is that the only people willing to endure such a sloppy port are hard-core Spider-Man fans--the same group to whom the plot will make the least sense. [Jan 2009, p.59]
    • PC Gamer
    • 45 Metascore
    • 48 Critic Score
    Deeply underwhelming. Neither staged carefully enough to be scary nor dynamic enough to be exciting, it succeeds only where other players are capable of breathing life into it. There are better linear shooters, better asymmetrical multiplayer games, and better Aliens sequels, and your love of the motion tracker and pulse rifle would need to be profound to surmount those obstacles.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 48 Critic Score
    Beyond the shock value of its demonic horrors, this survivalist city-builder has little to recommend it.
    • 45 Metascore
    • 48 Critic Score
    This point-and-click adventure should have stayed in Italy. [July 2006, p.99]
    • PC Gamer
    • 50 Metascore
    • 48 Critic Score
    History Buffs may consider this "Age of Empires" clone if it's cheap, but all else leave it be. [Apr 2001, p.84]
    • PC Gamer
    • 68 Metascore
    • 48 Critic Score
    It just doesn't measure up to the imagination and potential of the setting, and you feel like little more than a jumped=up errand boy. [Holiday 2014, p.66]
    • PC Gamer
    • 68 Metascore
    • 48 Critic Score
    This game has the imaginative spark of a wet napkin. [Jan 2002, p.76]
    • PC Gamer
    • 70 Metascore
    • 48 Critic Score
    Unless you're jonesing for an adventure game fix, your time's better spent rearranging your Netflix queue. [Aug 2008, p.72]
    • PC Gamer
    • 52 Metascore
    • 48 Critic Score
    Darkness Within oversells its Lovecraftian theme because there's just way too much reading and not enough adventuring to keep our interest up. [Mar 2008, p.81]
    • PC Gamer
    • 62 Metascore
    • 48 Critic Score
    Necromunda is a sight to behold, but it's undermined by wonky shooting, superfluous mechanics, and bugs.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 48 Critic Score
    With about 5 more updates, PSU might be capable of holding one's attention. [Feb. 2007, p.72]
    • PC Gamer
    • 54 Metascore
    • 48 Critic Score
    A bland alternative to a genre-defining game millions of people are very familiar with.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 48 Critic Score
    Scarf is a nice if not particularly original idea, disappointingly executed on almost all fronts.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 48 Critic Score
    Only diehard "Blair Witch" fans are going to want this one, and then only because it's cheap. [Feb 2001, p.88]
    • PC Gamer
    • 65 Metascore
    • 48 Critic Score
    Parts of Final Fantasy XIII are worth the absurd amount of time it takes to properly open up, but this port is a big letdown.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 48 Critic Score
    A flimsy remake of a flawed 16-bit favourite that exacerbates all the original’s problems while failing to recapture its strengths.
    • 46 Metascore
    • 48 Critic Score
    Rome seems rushed and poorly realized. [Apr 2008, p.70]
    • PC Gamer
    • 50 Metascore
    • 48 Critic Score
    Its generic plot and presentation are so bland, the game's few inventive features are very likely to be lost on most who play it. [Holiday 2004, p.94]
    • PC Gamer
    • 53 Metascore
    • 48 Critic Score
    The Chosen is single-player only, which is probably for the best--you'd be hard-pressed to find many other people playing it. [Mar 2008, p.74]
    • PC Gamer
    • 57 Metascore
    • 48 Critic Score
    It's too bad Firestarter is executed so poorly because the graphics engine is fantastic, packed with reflections, great textures, and all manner of flashy high-tech visual doo-dads. [May 2004, p.67]
    • PC Gamer
    • 66 Metascore
    • 48 Critic Score
    More yawn than yarr, sadly. [Feb 2011, p.80]
    • PC Gamer
    • 73 Metascore
    • 48 Critic Score
    A beautiful action movie that punishes improvisation, with under-populated multiplayer that can’t compete with a nine-year-old game.
    • 51 Metascore
    • 48 Critic Score
    Nostalgic "bookshelf value" aside, this collection isn't really worth the time or money. [August 2002, p.67]
    • PC Gamer
    • 56 Metascore
    • 48 Critic Score
    Despite some cool heroes and a neat twist on battle royale, Amazon’s long-awaited hero shooter wasn’t worth the wait.
    • 43 Metascore
    • 48 Critic Score
    For those hoping for a game in which killing innocent people provides you with some sort of entertainment—be it humor, revulsion, guilt, a vicarious and morbid thrill—you can find it done better, in one way or another, in every other game I've mentioned in this review.
    • 59 Metascore
    • 47 Critic Score
    Enough "StarCraft" clones. Stop the madness and offer some innovation. [June 2001, p.62]
    • PC Gamer
    • 62 Metascore
    • 47 Critic Score
    Stick with GTA for your gangsta fix. [Mar 2008, p.80]
    • PC Gamer
    • 60 Metascore
    • 47 Critic Score
    Makes you work a lot for very little. The repetitive churn of missions and activities further spoil an only occasionally entertaining shooter.
    • 49 Metascore
    • 47 Critic Score
    Infuriating, buggy, and ultimately boring. [Oct 2003, p.96]
    • PC Gamer
    • 55 Metascore
    • 47 Critic Score
    Sane people. however--folks who don't take their new Leader Class Optimus Prime to bed with them--should probably play something else. [Oct 2007, p.72]
    • PC Gamer
    • 58 Metascore
    • 47 Critic Score
    Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 is a disappointing anniversary for a series that really should take a break.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 47 Critic Score
    If the rest of this Nazi shooting galllery had as much flair as its between-level vignettes, UberSoldier II could have secured an uber-spot at the top of the bargain bin. As is, it's much closer to the bottom. [Dec 2008, p.58]
    • PC Gamer
    • 65 Metascore
    • 47 Critic Score
    Burning villages and abducting princesses for ransom as a loot-hungry, fire-breathing dragon might be fun on the PS3 version, but Hoards PC port is riddled with beastly bugs that'll make you wish you'd hoarded your money. [Aug 2011, p.76]
    • PC Gamer
    • 50 Metascore
    • 47 Critic Score
    Sadly, developer Volatile misses the mark. [Jan. 2007, p.63]
    • PC Gamer
    • 69 Metascore
    • 47 Critic Score
    Despite plenty of style and cheek, Keylocker can’t get past the repetitive grind of its battles.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 46 Critic Score
    There's only one good co-op map and a few middling deathmatch ones. The price is obscene for what you get.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 46 Critic Score
    A good idea executed without a trace of wit, energy, or style. About as dull as dishwater. [Sept 1996, p.138]
    • PC Gamer
    • 57 Metascore
    • 46 Critic Score
    Armikrog’s memory puzzles and tenuous humour are a low point in the adventure game renaissance.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 46 Critic Score
    Though it looks gorgeous and is entertaining to play at times, it's conspicuously underpowered in three critical areas: physics, AI, and gameplay depth. [Holiday 2002, p.110]
    • PC Gamer
    • 44 Metascore
    • 46 Critic Score
    Factor in BMT 2's dated graphics, clumsy truck physics, and lack of multiplay, and even liquored-up yokels will have a tough time finding any play value with this tiresome retread. [Jan 2005, p.110]
    • PC Gamer
    • tbd Metascore
    • 46 Critic Score
    But LocoCycle is unchallenging, unengaging, and chronically unfunny, and when ideas start to repeat themselves, the game drags along like Pablo himself. [May 2014, p.74]
    • PC Gamer
    • 67 Metascore
    • 46 Critic Score
    If I'm ever drafted for another tour of duty like this, I'm gonna shoot myself in the foot. [Holiday 2006, p.78]
    • PC Gamer
    • 58 Metascore
    • 46 Critic Score
    Gore's single-player game shoots way over par. [Sept 2002, p.80]
    • PC Gamer
    • 73 Metascore
    • 46 Critic Score
    Overall, OOTP 2006 is a big letdown, even for an unbiased SI fanboy and OOTP nut like myself. [Sep 2006, p.98]
    • PC Gamer
    • 48 Metascore
    • 46 Critic Score
    A Weskered development gives us the Wong game. Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City is evil in the wrong sense. [Sept 2012, p.70]
    • 66 Metascore
    • 46 Critic Score
    Even if the new features had been awesome, this would have been a pointless re-release. [Jan 2012, p.810]
    • PC Gamer
    • 65 Metascore
    • 45 Critic Score
    Concord feels out of touch and already out of time.
    • 48 Metascore
    • 45 Critic Score
    Finding good matches is not easy in APOX's sluggish community, however, and I cannot fathom why anyone should play this instead of the exponentially better games that it tries to emulate. [June 2011, p.77]
    • PC Gamer
    • 58 Metascore
    • 45 Critic Score
    ReCore buries a great action platformer beneath layers and layers of open world busywork.
    • 54 Metascore
    • 45 Critic Score
    The story wouldn't be half-bad if it weren't for cliched dialogue (delivered by overly dramatic voice actors) and forgettable characters. [Jan 2005, p.81]
    • PC Gamer
    • tbd Metascore
    • 45 Critic Score
    It's all by-the-numbers stuff that gets old quickly, and the game's muddy graphics, slim single-player options, and comically mistranslated dialog certainly don't help. [Oct 2007, p.57]
    • PC Gamer
    • 55 Metascore
    • 45 Critic Score
    Defenders of Time multiplayer mode is conceptually interesting, but ultimately not worth trying because of many technical issues and poorly-executed fundamentals.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 45 Critic Score
    I like Ultimate Epic Battle Simulator's conceit—I used to love creating AI skirmishes in Garry's Mod—but here any potential drama is squandered by the poor execution. UEBS is good at the moneyshot—the ridiculous joy of seeing an unreasonable number of chickens swarm over some Nazis, or a super-powered turtle take on a cavalry brigade. But the joke soon wears thin, and, outside of that single gag, Ultimate Epic Battle Simulator fails to entertain.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 45 Critic Score
    A decent but cliched mob story and bland, frustrating gameplay make this the weakest Mafia yet.
    • 43 Metascore
    • 45 Critic Score
    All the gameplay ingredients are here, but a complete lack of seasoning makes this one dish that should be tossed down the disposal. [Oct 2004, p.98]
    • PC Gamer
    • 61 Metascore
    • 45 Critic Score
    The basic combat is fine, but WWE 2K17 botches everything, from performance to presentation.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 45 Critic Score
    In short, Blitzkrieg II just doesn't cut the mustard. [May 2007, p.66]
    • PC Gamer
    • 46 Metascore
    • 45 Critic Score
    An overpriced game with a solid combat system that's buried under a mountain of banality and monetisation.
    • 50 Metascore
    • 45 Critic Score
    The finished game doesn't live up to expectations. [Sept 2007, p.64]
    • PC Gamer
    • 60 Metascore
    • 45 Critic Score
    It's got all the depth of a Petri dish. [Oct 2005, p.63]
    • PC Gamer
    • 53 Metascore
    • 45 Critic Score
    MUD TV's detail is swamped in white noise, and no amount of fiddling with the antennae will help a game so poorly tuned. [Jun 2010, p.85]
    • PC Gamer
    • 46 Metascore
    • 45 Critic Score
    The transition from celluloid to digital bytes is a mess of missed opportunities. [Feb 2006, p.37]
    • PC Gamer
    • 53 Metascore
    • 45 Critic Score
    The main problem is, there isn't enough new here to maintain interest. [Mar 2002, p.64]
    • PC Gamer
    • 78 Metascore
    • 45 Critic Score
    Brainhacking will blow your mind, but you'll want to get the cop out of your head by the end.
    • 55 Metascore
    • 45 Critic Score
    It feels like a four-hour tutorial to a game that might have used its mechanics better, never trusting its players enough to present them with a thoughtful challenge. [Oct 2011, p.77]
    • PC Gamer
    • 61 Metascore
    • 45 Critic Score
    An unsatisfying, forced march through the source material.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 45 Critic Score
    As it exists now, however, Solar 2 is a simple space physics simulation with just a hint of a game, and building disposable arrangements of revolving circles quickly loses its novelty. [Oct 2011, p.79]
    • PC Gamer
    • 69 Metascore
    • 45 Critic Score
    An apocalyptic disappointment that never rises above mediocrity, but often sinks into tedium. [July 2013, p.72]
    • PC Gamer
    • 55 Metascore
    • 45 Critic Score
    Saw
    Jigsaw's game are meant to be cruel, barbaric, horrific and pedantic, but this game is just plain tedious. [Jan 2010, p.79]
    • PC Gamer
    • 45 Metascore
    • 45 Critic Score
    So much squandered potential, it's mind-boggling. Needs serious patching. [Aug 2005, p.66]
    • PC Gamer
    • 49 Metascore
    • 45 Critic Score
    Ace of Spades contains some good ideas and tries hard to ape its influences, but it lacks their charm and stability.
    • 43 Metascore
    • 45 Critic Score
    It's a pity this game wasn't given more time to come together. [May 2005, p.60]
    • PC Gamer
    • 59 Metascore
    • 45 Critic Score
    And really, Lineage isn’t much fun. [Feb 2002, p.80]
    • PC Gamer
    • 55 Metascore
    • 45 Critic Score
    Hektor's level design mind games are cool, but its 90 minutes of jump scares would be better spent on so many other horror games.
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

?
    • 75 Metascore
    • Critic Score
    The result is a competent remaster and the best way to play this classic Total War, but it still can't compete with its modern heirs.
    • tbd Metascore
    • Critic Score
    Mycopunk shows a ton of promise, but that doesn't mean it's infallible. The progression can become a bit of a slog, and it can take a while to level up or collect enough resources to upgrade your kit. There's also definitely a cap as to how many missions you can do in a row before it all just blends into a violent blur. The variety in mission types only keeps things fresh for so long. There are also some glitches, many of which the devs are aware of, but that doesn't make them any less annoying. I've been lasered by an Abomination through a wall more than once now—you're never safe, even when you think you are. But none of this ruins the fun, it's just something to bear in mind: The fungal growths of Early Access. [Early Access Provisional Score = 79]
    • tbd Metascore
    • Critic Score
    Honestly, I would have preferred Krafton give this game even more time to cook. It almost feels like I'm playing pretend at playing pretend right now—engaging with a variety of set pieces I can do a cute peace sign in front of before moving onto the next thing. In an attempt to offer something different to The Sims, Inzoi has failed to establish any sort of identity of its own. I'm not even sure Krafton knows what direction it wants to take right now, but it needs to figure that out quickly, otherwise I fear it'll be another casualty of the genre. [Impressions]
    • 40 Metascore
    • Critic Score
    It's a spectacular disaster, which feels like a rarity these days: there are lots of bad games, but for a game that was announced at E3 and made by a major publisher and studio to be this catastrophic is something.
    • 86 Metascore
    • Critic Score
    Playing Mass Effect Legendary Edition is a constant see-saw of noticing an improvement, then wishing it went further. You can sprint outside combat, but only for like three seconds. There's a dedicated melee button, yet no way to separate the sprint and take cover actions to separate keys. You can skip the elevator rides, which are the only way to hear banter that could be filling the stretches where you jog from place to place. The graphics are better, but there's no FOV slider. [Mass Effect 1 score = 77]
    • 39 Metascore
    • Critic Score
    The action would be passable if it were buoyed by a compelling story, but I ain't gripped so far. [2-Hour Impressions]
    • tbd Metascore
    • Critic Score
    Repo is a fantastic co-op horror game that can hold its own against big shots like Lethal Company. It's also only in early access right now, and with plans to introduce more player customisation, story elements, equipment, levels, and enemies, all I can say is that I'm really looking forward to seeing where the devs take this co-op horror game. [Early Access Impressions]
    • tbd Metascore
    • Critic Score
    Subnautica 2 is a decidedly well-balanced survival game. In a handful of hours of pre-release play, I've never found the scavenging and crafting grueling, but neither have I found it so easy that the expansion of my underwater base feels unearned. [Early Access Impressions]
    • tbd Metascore
    • Critic Score
    It's so mundane that I expected Schedule 1 to get boring by the fifteenth time I'd lugged a bulk order of plastic baggies to my crappy apartment, but like my latest strand of weed called "Wedding Ass," the drug-dealing sim dominating Steam right now is undeniably habit-forming...Chalk up that success to a lot of smart design choices from developer TVGS—its constant sense of progression, clockwork open world, expressive characters, gratifying supply/demand loop, day one co-op support—but I reckon Schedule 1's secret sauce is a crafting system that doesn't suck. [Early Access Impressions]
    • tbd Metascore
    • Critic Score
    I haven't been too blown away by what I've seen of it so far, but if Masters of Albion could help revive the god game genre, at least a little? That'd be fine by me. [Early Access Impressions]
    • 55 Metascore
    • Critic Score
    I'm enjoying Battlefield 1. It's not a huge departure for the series, despite the period, but it is meaningfully distinct from Battlefield 4. That may disappoint those who simply want progression that mirrors the jump from Battlefield 3 to 4 – more guns, more features and new maps.
    • tbd Metascore
    • Critic Score
    But as I should've guessed from developer Traveller's Tales' modern Lego run, Legacy of the Dark Knight is just too darn delightful to sustain a stormy mood. It took all of five minutes for the brick-based brawler to put a smile on my face, and it didn't go away for two hours of play. [2-Hour Hands-On Impressions]
    • tbd Metascore
    • Critic Score
    On the surface, Bond might seem a natural fit for IO: all glitz and gadgets that make it feel like barely a skip away from the world of Hitman. But what I saw had me feeling that the studio has not leaned into its strengths, trading the absurd clockwork worlds of Agent 47 for a more tightly choreographed, linear, and "cinematic" game that IO has never been all that good at. The last time it tried was Hitman: Absolution. We know how that worked out. [3-Hour Hands-On Impressions]
    • tbd Metascore
    • Critic Score
    There's two chapters left to turn things around but Tell Me Why is going to have to pull out all the stops to make up for a bungled first act.

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