A beautiful action movie that punishes improvisation, with under-populated multiplayer that can’t compete with a nine-year-old game.

Hokkaido is a confident and experimental end to a great season.

It’s far from revolutionary, but it is a very well refined version of Football Manager that empowers the player by putting all the information you need at your fingertips.

The dangers of the abyss are well worth facing for Zubmariner’s bounty of fantastic stories and strange adventures.

Persistent bugs, a convoluted interface, and incompetent colonists hold back a great premise.

A brilliant singleplayer campaign married to inventive, skill-intensive multiplayer that calls back to FPS classics of old.

A decent enough expansion, but it doesn't reach the great heights of previous post-launch outings.

By returning to the past, Battlefield 1 feels renewed. The best game in the series since Bad Company 2.

Sight, sound, and systems harmonize to make Civilization 6 the liveliest, most engrossing, most rewarding, most challenging 4X in any corner of the earth.

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.

Shadow Warrior 2’s combat is gleefully expressive and varied, but undermined by tired, dated humor.

Shotgunning AI baddies in a predictable story doesn't do much for me these days, but the tension of roadie running through a smoke grenade and dropping two human opponents at perfect range is a Gears thrill that still holds up.

A total assault on your ears, eyes and reflexes. Thumper will beat you up, but you’ll enjoy it.

An epic ode to the joy of football, but with room remaining for improvement.

An intriguing but often incoherent mystery that’s bogged down by long-winded dialogue and terrible puzzles.

Starts promisingly, but soon slips into a tiresome, repetitive grind, never doing its unique period setting justice.

Slayer Shock has no dearth of interesting ideas, from the central conceit to the NPC gang, but few of them are ever taken far, or in interesting directions, leaving it with only the solid combat, half-baked systems, and repetitive missions.

A decent, but not essential, two-hour expansion for Mankind Divided that’s ultimately more of the same.

Colorado isn't the most visually appealing or intricate level in Hitman. But it provides some much needed variety—a change of scenery and challenge that rounds out the Hitman experience. It feels as if IO has spent most of this season demonstrating that it can still get Hitman right. It's nice to see they're now confident enough to move away from the template they've created.

An original and deep game of strategic online warfare that brings your sci-fi capital ship fantasies to life.

It's a shame that PES has made so many worthwhile tweaks, only to deliver a lacklustre PC edition. PES could—and should—be as good as the console game in every detail, and if have a console you’ll be throwing good money after bad. Pity, as otherwise this ought to be a seminal football sim.

An imaginative, atmospheric, and cleverly designed sci-fi adventure that’s over far too quickly.

Forza Horizon 3 is huge, varied and constantly entertaining. It treads a fine balance between simulation and arcade—bombastic and silly at times, but also an accomplished populist racing game. I don't like the script, the cast of irritants manning the radio stations, the way playing your own music in-game requires the use of Microsoft Groove, or the fact that one of the nicknames you can choose is ‘Bantersaurus Rex’. More seriously, I worry Microsoft will continue its habit of integrating DLC cars and expansions in overbearing ways (Forza Horizon 2 went as far as playing an in-game trailer for its Storm Island expansion.) But these are annoyances I'm prepared to forgive in a game as good as this.

A slick cinematic thriller, but interaction is limited and the story loses focus in the final act.

Nails the look, the sound, and the speed, but Redout stalls on the sensation.

ReCore buries a great action platformer beneath layers and layers of open world busywork.

This savage brawler has its moments, but swiftly moves from brutal to boring.

AI wobbles remain, but this is an excellent racing game, and an authentic Formula One experience.