With deep strategic systems, omnipresent dread, and clean turn-based combat, Xenonauts is a triumph of rebooted game design.

Charming, clever and funny, this is one of the best new platformers on the PC at the moment. Recommended.

Seriously impressive physics, but not much of a game.

The previews looked fantastic, but the final release of Lifeless Planet fails to build that potential into a worthy game.

An RPG foreign to the PC in every way, and a port that does little to modernize it. There’s fun to be had, but only for the open-minded.

Clever questing and a stand-out combat system make for an entertaining MMO that's as large as it is full of character.

An intricately detailed RTS, Men of War: Assault Squad 2 is packed with features and refuses to tell you how to use them.

A convincing examination of player choice set in an all-too-realistic modern world.

Fast, fluid and fun first-person platforming tied together with a warm narrative. Pace slows near the end, though.

Among the Sleep succeeds at being a creepy baby simulator, but the real monster turns out to be boring, buggy puzzles and a shallow world and story.

The very definition of style over substance. Great art, but boring levels, lightweight combat, and dubious minigames sour the experience.

Episode four makes Bigby's struggle more personal, then ends abruptly, transferring the pressure to deliver onto the finale.

A brilliantly absurd arcade brawler that’s brimming with personality, but suffers from repetition and a glaring lack of online multiplayer.

At times, Watch Dogs can seem like a game we've played before, just another open-world city to speed through in a series of stolen cars, another crowd of hoods and hitmen to add to your body count, another moody, growling protagonist to endure in cutscenes. When it deviates from the familiar, however, it really soars: hacking the city of Chicago and all its cameras, utilities, and communications is freeing and fun, and invading the games of unsuspecting players is an unusual and welcome thrill.

This is still the most fun I've had with a singleplayer shooter since Bulletstorm, and the most substantially well-realised setting for a shooter campaign since Metro 2033. Its writing, music and environmental art all achieve far more than you might expect from the game about a preternaturally durable testicle with a revenge fetish and a gun in each hand. In a genre that is often overtaken by derivative or exploitative games, it's a pleasant surprise—a reminder of a time when a shooter's singleplayer campaign was the main event. A time when these games were made with attention to detail, care, and a bit of love.

Two great maps and a poor one make Expedition an over-expensive proposition. Respawn also squander a great chance to extend Titanfall’s fiction.

Not a dramatic reinvention, but still an enjoyable game of construction, economics and election fraud.

Blade Symphony's duels are electrifying and intimate, more than making up for a lack of content.

A brilliant and rewarding combat system propels a story that never becomes as interesting as it seemingly should.

Not half bad. Until the half that is makes for a disappointing return.

Although dripping with atmosphere and loaded with great gags, Sir, You Are Being Hunted’s survival elements feel unnecessary and its stealth bores.

Telltale's character drama is as strong as ever, but Clementine's boldest dialogue options end up making her more capable than the adults around her.

The combat is fun in parts and the characters grew on me, but so much more of Bound by Flame is tedious, frustrating, and unpolished.

Age of Mythology still has a lot of value beyond nostalgia, then, but I’d wait for a discount before committing your cash, especially if you already bought it a decade ago. This isn’t a total remake, so don’t go in expecting one. The Extended Edition is still a really well-paced and entertaining RTS, one that revels in over-the-top imagery and remains a one-off in subject matter within the oeuvre of the sadly departed Ensemble.

Not necessarily a bad superhero game, just one we’ve seen countless times before. The web-swinging, goon-bashing, crime-fighting fundamentals simply aren't fun.

The high-point of a consistently strong series, and a great showcase of adventure game design that fits the story's theme.

Fract OSC’s puzzles are often too few and far between the open-world wandering, and the music integration does little to stir the soul.

BF4: Second Assault is a sound purchase. [June 2014, p.81]

A beautiful game to look at, and wonderfully polished, but a thimble-deep RPG.

You can’t just chuck players in a maze with a ghost and tell them to be scared. Unfortunately this is exactly what Daylight does.

An inventive puzzle game that’s too short and easy to recommend—worthwhile only for the novelty of its concept.

Deus Ex: The Fall belongs on your phone, not on your monitor. This is a woeful port with few redeeming features.

More accessible, challenging, and rewarding than its predecessor, this is the Dark Souls sequel PC gamers deserve.

Warlock 2 is now the best version of an enjoyably streamlined strategy series. Unfortunately, for owners of the original, it isn't so much better that it's worth wholeheartedly recommending.

Streamlined in every way, War of the Vikings cut too much meat from the bone and left nothing to chew on.

Fusion's thrill isn't in leaping a yawning chasm as a jet screams below, but in simply clearing an overhanging ledge.

A few well-designed systems struggle to overcome lifeless presentation. Capable, but ultimately hard to recommend.

Smite makes the MOBA more approachable with smart tweaks to the formula and action RPG-inspired combat.

Cloudbuilt’s platforming-as-time-trial-racing premise puts Sonic to shame, but its visual design detracts rather than supports it.

Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic in particular has long been a cult classic, and Age of Wonders III certainly doesn't let it down. It could use a couple patches to adjust balance and minor things such as occasional lag on the strategy view, but the core game is an immediately engaging mix of strategy and tactics.

A great comeback from episode two, A Crooked Mile amplifies the drama—though sometimes in the wrong ways—and confronts Bigby with hard choices and proper detective work.

An exceptional collection of puzzles bound by narrative which gets a little ahead of itself.

The worst gaming goat since that one in Broken Sword. This is a dumb, limited novelty game that's not worth the asking price

It starts promising and gets better in the final act, but the bulk of Betrayer's journey is let down by inconsistent quality, repeat enemies, and investigative drudgery.

The story is lacking, but great environments, a new class, and more freedom—partially from the free patch—make for a better Diablo III.

A single-screen platform brawler that’s about as good as the genre has ever been—in versus or wave-survival mode.

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]

Like the best of Vlambeer’s cannon, a simple concept executed beautifully. Limited enemy and level design, though.

As Irrational's final work, Episode 2 is a fitting epitaph; both in its ability to offer a fresh perspective on the series, and in the way it obsesses over past triumphs.

The most exciting multiplayer shooter in recent years, held back from greatness by its questionable staying power.

MOBA genre conventions are much better executed by Dota 2 and League of Legends. Dragons and Titans just isn’t a worthwhile alternative.

Half a great 4X game, dragged screaming into the nearest black hole by its lesser components.

Infuriatingly difficult, but perfectly constructed. Ikaruga is the PC's best bullet-hell shooter.

Witty interactive storytelling that’s best with a group and weakens significantly after a few brief playthroughs.

Stylish, succinct and spiritual, Year Walk coins its own genre: the fright of passage.

The Walking Dead's signature moral dilemmas are more nuanced than ever in a plot-heavy second episode.

Above all, it’s just a wonderful piece of entertainment. It’s surprising, surreal, packed with jokes, and rarely frustrating. I didn’t get bored once across the 17 hours it took me to finish the story and most of the sidequests, and it kept me laughing consistently until the credits. If that isn’t worth 90%, I don’t know what is.

Strider is a liberating, free-form action platformer studded with frustrating callbacks to an arcade era better left behind.

Technical shortcomings aside, Dragonfall’s story rocks; a well-spent $15 for any RPG fan.

Barely noticeable differences to Black Flag make Freedom Cry an inessential add-on to Assassin's Creed IV. [April 2014, p.66]

Masochistic stat-chasers will find much to enjoy, but Blackguards’ varied combat is no substitute for a fully-formed RPG.

Resident Evil 4 is still a masterful shooter nine years later. Occasional slowdown caused by the locked 60 fps framerate hampers an otherwise great port.

A miserable blend of flawed game mechanics that's a giant leap backwards from its predecessor.

Great in places, but never quite lives up to its potential. A competent sequel let down by inconsistency.

A nice change of pace for city-builders, but it loses momentum once the immediate urgency of survival goes away.

An exciting, kinetic single-screen multiplayer with excellent level design, but little to reward the solo player.

Loadout’s gun customization and well executed twists on shooter staples make it a free-to-play game that doesn't feel like a compromise.

Neither a good Lego game nor tribute to the movie—at best, The Lego Movie Videogame is enough fun to be called a functioning promotional product.

Stylish, inventive and easily one of the funniest games in years. Jazzpunk just wants to make you laugh. Don't worry, it will.

A great world and an interesting story, but this short second entry lacks the tense decision-making of the first.

A merciless and thoughtfully-designed online strategy game whose clever systems enable a unique and troubling experience.

Strike Vector’s aerial combat is brilliant and beautiful, but it needs to be put into a package that does it justice.

Starts out funny, but quickly becomes frustrating. A wonderfully weird and original concept that falls flat like its jelly-limbed hero.

The huge selection of great characters is scrumptiously entertaining from start to finish. Too bad it's a Lego game. [March 2014, p.74]

In the interest of accommodating it all, the awful maximum resolution and the tiny sprites are just about excused. [March 2014, p.73]

Doesn't do enough to be the uncontested definitive version, but provides a fresh perspective on an exceptional RPG. [March 2014, p.72]

One good idea--the racer's scoring system--spoiled by a thuddingly dull cop campaign and dumb design decisions. [March 2014, p.68]

X misses the spot. The occasional bit of spectacle can't save this boring, broken and charmless space simulation. [March 2014, p.60]

This clumsy, dated misadventure steals from all over and contributes no ideas of its own. Brilliantly bad dialog though. [March 2014, p.58]

Less technically adept than modern competitors, but The Serpent's Curse Part 1 is a pleasing start to a new Broken Sword story. [March 2014, p.54]

There may be prettier and more heavily populated first person shooters, but few reward teamwork as well as Insurgency.

There are deeper strategy games, but few where you'll feel quite so invested in the outcome. Recommended.

What gives Legacy its old school charm though is that as much as it's weighed down by an obviously low budget and the mechanical sacrifices of jumping back a decade, there's a love for its style underpinning the action. The result isn't likely to do much for anyone raised on a diet of The Elder Scrolls, and even at its best is a nostalgia trip rather than call for revolution.

Sometimes stripped-down and stealthy, but mostly basic and boring, Liberation can't play in the big leagues.

A brilliant marriage of mechanics, level design and music that will be played and talked about for years to come.

An ambitious and mostly successful—if a bit buggy—expansion about expansion.

A stylish, elegant brawler with an absurd sense of humour. More of this sort of thing on PC, please.

Like a reunion concert of a band you once loved, or a candy shop selling a particular brand of candy that brings to mind childhood summers of sun and sea and all that other cliched crap, Broken Age is a well deserved chance to remember the old days and realize that they're still closer than they might sometimes feel—even if the second part is a little further away than intended.

An exceptionally generous free-to-play action-rPG. What it lacks in punch it makes up for in depth and value for money.

Stodgy combat, two-dimensional characters, and technical hitches prevent this from living up to its lofty premise. [Feb 2014, p.58]

Still, even with the most charming narrative, the clumsy and ultimately banal action leaves Contrast whistling in the dark. [Feb 2014, p.74]

For $5, it might be worth it on a tablet, but as a PC game Ace Patrol would be hard to recommend even if it were free. [Feb 2014, p.74]

Smart, savvy, and satirical, but it evokes the drudgery of social media so well it can drag like a long-winded comment thread. [Feb 2014, p.70]

The new routes are familiar, and the new features are flimsy. Train Simulator 2104 feels like it’s freewheeling.

Enjoyable writing cloaked in layers of problematic navigation, tonal inconsistency and pressing A and D not to die.

Slapstick dismemberment is fun for a while, but Chivalry: Deadliest Warrior has neither the depth nor the polish to stay in the fight for long.

All That Remains sets the stage for some great character development for Clementine, but there's not much payoff in this 90 minute episode.

A brawler that's bursting with content and fan service, but held back by flakey online play.