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
    • 90 Metascore
    • 92 Critic Score
    Just like "Civ II," it blends a simple start with a vast array of options and pulls them together into a detailed, compelling, and seamless gaming experience. [Holiday 2001, p.65]
    • PC Gamer
    • 87 Metascore
    • 92 Critic Score
    Hollow Knight is a new classic, with a dense and detailed world full of secrets to discover.
    • 93 Metascore
    • 92 Critic Score
    Divinity: Original Sin 2 is a sprawling, inventive adventure and one of the best RPGs ever made.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Any one of the "Big Three" is a good choice. I'll choose this one, thank you. [Jan 2001, p.165]
    • PC Gamer
    • 93 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    By merging some of the genre's best ideas with the appealing Warcraft mythos, the game could well become the first "mainstream" MMO. [Feb 2005, p.44]
    • PC Gamer
    • 72 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Life Stories was designed to be laptop-friendly, and it shows: I had no problem controlling the game entirely by keyboard, sans mouse, thanks to numerous shortcut keys. [Apr 2006, p.49]
    • PC Gamer
    • 88 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Combat is extremely fun and very easy to control - you can play the entire game using just your keyboard's Numpad. [Feb 2005, p.46]
    • PC Gamer
    • 92 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    To say that Chaos Theory is a tension-packed ride would be a vast understatement. This is easily one of my favorite franchises, and I'm already hungry for the next installment. [May 2005, p.74]
    • PC Gamer
    • 84 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    No matter what you think of the movie, Tron 2.0 stands out as a thoroughly entertaining, infinitely playable, and visually spectacular experience. [Nov 2003, p.96]
    • PC Gamer
    • 92 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    A cross-over wargame that has depth, beauty, smarts, and replayability. [Jan 1998, p.218]
    • PC Gamer
    • 91 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    More accessible, challenging, and rewarding than its predecessor, this is the Dark Souls sequel PC gamers deserve.
    • 91 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    The most comprehensive sports sim going, and one that delivers fresh twists on old school, text-based systems.
    • 89 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Mass Effect deserves a spot on your shelf next to the rest of the PC's great RPGs. [Aug 2008, p.58]
    • PC Gamer
    • 81 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    An incredible world of demons, mystery, and vaporwave, Paradise Killer sets new standards for the detective genre.
    • 87 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Nathan Drake's last outing is still at the top of the action-adventure genre.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    PC racing fans of all stripes will have a blast with GTR, but serious driving aficionados - those with synthetic motor oil in their veins and lots of horsepower in their towers - will go absolutely hog-wild over this amazing new racer. [May 2005, p.76]
    • PC Gamer
    • 86 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Another superlative simulation of the Formula One world, now with an enjoyable story mode too.
    • 90 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Red Alert will be like by the legions of the faithful, and win new converts as well. [Dec 1996, p.238]
    • PC Gamer
    • 90 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    A gorgeous and uncompromisingly realistic racing sim that anyone can drive. [Holiday 2006, p.108]
    • PC Gamer
    • 95 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    A bigger, prettier, better version of Baldur's Gate that's sure to satisfy. [Dec 2000, p.146]
    • PC Gamer
    • 86 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Except for the game's rather pathetic documentation - made utterly redundant by the tutorial missions that ship with the game - Allegiance is about as good as it gets when it comes to an online multiplayer gaming experience.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    A traditional RTS essential for anyone interested in competitive strategy games, and highly recommended for anyone who isn't.
    • 87 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    An all-time great deckbuilder gets a sequel worth risking God’s wrath for.
    • 90 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Buy Factorio. Build Factorio. Become Factorio.
    • 90 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    A roguelike deckbuilder debut already worthy of joining Slay the Spire and Monster Train at the King’s table. Essential.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    It may not be my perfect PC game, but I think it's well on its way to becoming one of my favorite toys. And if there's one thing we could all use more of, it's time to just...play. [Nov 2008, p.33]
    • PC Gamer
    • 76 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    The roguelike and FPS genres haven't been spliced so successfully since Deathloop—and Wild Bastards deserves just as much acclaim.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Drowning in bonus content. Not only is it worth the admission price, but it's really a must-buy for RCT 3 owners. [Sept 2005, p.71]
    • PC Gamer
    • 81 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Balanced, innovative, gorgeous. Truly worthy of the series. [Holiday 2005, p.52]
    • PC Gamer
    • 87 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Sins of a Solar Empire bucks the current RTS trends of break-neck speed and small-scale battles, and allows strategy gamers to think big and control an entire war in real time. [Apr 2008, p.58]
    • PC Gamer
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

?
    • 87 Metascore
    • Critic Score
    Clever innovations and a generous economy make Legends of Runeterra easy to love. [Open Beta review score = 85]
    • 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.

Top Trailers