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
    • 87 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    This is an extraordinary remaster of an essential RPG, and as unmissable today as ever.
    • 94 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    If you like strategy gaming, get Command & Conquer. [Nov 1995, p.108]
    • PC Gamer
    • 79 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    I dream about its puzzles, contemplate solutions in my spare time, and imagine what lies beyond. But most importantly, I've had fun - and that's what adventuring is all about. [Jan 2004, p.100]
    • PC Gamer
    • 84 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Not everything is perfect, but you'd earn incompetence points by missing a refined and reduced-price version of Dawn of War II. [May 2010, p.72]
    • PC Gamer
    • 87 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    F1 2019 retains immaculate handling and visuals while adding cinematic spectacle and junior series racing.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    This is all-out war on a scale we've never seen before, and it is glorious. [Mar 2007, p.23]
    • PC Gamer
    • 87 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    It temporarily wrests the verisimilitude crown away from "Call of Duty" and - amazingly - revives Normandy's "dead horse." [May 2005, p.56]
    • PC Gamer
    • 93 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Its plot is arguably more satisfying than the ham-fisted narratives of the recent Star Wars films, and it certainly does a better job at conveying moral complexities. [Feb 2004, p.65]
    • PC Gamer
    • 90 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    A beautiful exercise in freeform solutions, Zachtronics has created one of the most satisfying puzzle games ever made.
    • 89 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    A worthy follow-up to our 1999 Game of the Year. [Nov 2000, p.130]
    • PC Gamer
    • 91 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Easily delivers the most entertaining and authentic Formula One PC racing experience ever. [Sept 2003, p.90]
    • PC Gamer
    • 91 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Against the Storm is a well-designed, charming, enthralling roguelike city builder.
    • 87 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    A textured and engrossing simulation that conquers the common ground between your average Civilization V player and the long-time devotees of grand strategy. Never before have I felt that “World at your fingertips” feeling as strongly, and you owe it to your sense of discovery to give EU IV an hour of your life or two (hundred).
    • 88 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    A brilliant strategy game that manages to be both broad and deep, challenging and accessible.
    • 89 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    In a team-on-team multiplayer battle on the well-designed maps, you may well find yourself kissing your monitor out of pure joy. [Dec 2002, p.126]
    • PC Gamer
    • 88 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    It took the core aspects of every good shooter, and made them great. [Jan 2002, p.64]
    • PC Gamer
    • 81 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    I guess it's true what they say: Bad guys have more fun. [Oct 2007, p.64]
    • PC Gamer
    • 84 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    One of the best story-driven games on PC, 80 Days is beautifully written, effortlessly charming, and thrillingly unpredictable.
    • 90 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Charming, deep, and constantly surprising, Dave the Diver is packed with activities and full of heart.
    • 94 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Slightly muddled, but it’s a muddle of beautiful scenes and spectacular combat set in a breathtaking place.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    A brilliant tale of terror, even if the ride is a little old and clunky.
    • 91 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    But Fallout 3 has fidelity to its predecessors in more important ways, such as offering an incredible depth of role-playing opportunities. [Holiday 2008, p.54]
    • PC Gamer
    • 89 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    If you can make it through the uninspired first third, you'll be treated to one of the prettiest, coolest, most compelling shooters released in the past year. [June 2002, p.65]
    • PC Gamer
    • 86 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D is welcoming for newcomers, a fan's dream, and a truly timeless classic.
    • 82 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    While the learning curve might be steep at first, Xenonauts 2 offers incredibly rewarding tactical action for those willing to ascend it.
    • 88 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Wargames don't see a lot of innovation, but Unity of Command 2 builds new things out of familiar parts.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    Sharp, multilayered satire that remembers to be a game even as it makes fun of us for playing.
    • 91 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    It's not all stealth. Ubi Soft's Montreal studio did a terrific job sprinkling the missions with spasms of frenetic action and tech-savvy stunts. [Mar 2003, p.84]
    • PC Gamer
    • 82 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    A brilliant mix of high skill and low comedy, and the best medieval combat game out there.
    • 94 Metascore
    • 91 Critic Score
    A sure bet for the adventure crowd and anyone who appreciates a great story. [Jan 1999, p.186]
    • 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.

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