A successful revival of the mid-90's shooter. Shadow Warrior's combat is fun despite an irritating sense of humor. [Jan 2014, p.66]

A gorgeous, relentlessly entertaining open-world piracy simulator packed with interesting 18th century rogues.

Deep, exciting and, for the first time, as human as real football, Football Manager 2014 has hit the back of the net.

The fantastic Exalt missions, gene mods, and MEC Troopers are an excellent reason to play more XCOM.

Fascinating, fast, and friendly but far too forgiving. Wait for the patches and iron man/lady mods.

Burial at Sea, Episode One is good but not essential - the only piece of BioShock story content you could say that about.

A faithful representation of modern F1 diehard fans will praise for its depth while railing about real or perceived missteps. [Holiday 2013. p.70]

I don’t doubt that every gun, perk, and killstreak reward in Ghosts was implemented and tweaked with a fine brush, but painting in every individual eyelash of the Mona Lisa wouldn’t make it a better painting. That’s what’s been happening to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare since 2007—little bits have been scraped off and painted over again and again. With a broader brush, Activision and its studios might stop noodling around in the corners of Modern Warfare’s greatness and paint something actually modern.

Structural innovations and strong presentation, held back by grind and an old-fashioned business model.

A fine combat system soured by poorly explained complexity, and a lovely looking game let down by a lack of graphics options.

Free-flowing strategy with a wealth of features. An element of grind, but plenty of satisfying moments too .

Slightly overpriced, but a more than worthy successor to one of PC gaming’s greatest franchises that nails the important part: combat.

Enjoyable in places and very pretty, but sadly blighted by sloppy design, terrible boss battles, and a lack of new ideas.

A sharp, snazzy and accessible fighting game, held back by the unnecessary sexualisation of its antagonists.

DICE is certainly guilty of taking an “if it ain’t broke” attitude to creating BF4, but its modest multiplayer refinements alongside excellent maps are enough to make it one of our favorite current FPSes. A cynic would call BF4 a deluxe map pack in sequel’s clothing. If that’s your predisposition, know that it’s at least a wonderful map pack, one with enough variety, depth, and quality to survive a year of intense play.

A charming and inventive platformer that understands what makes the genre special, and never rests on its laurels.

Effortlessly inventive, frequently surprising and consistently hilarious. The Stanley Parable shows how to make a story about game stories.

The features that aren't missing are bugged beyond use. Takedown is a bare-bones wreck in need of substantial patching. [Holiday 2013, p.56]

A gorgeous world, bursting with personality. Great storytelling makes up for the short length and unchallenging puzzles.

An accomplished Lovecraftian adventure with a bunch of potential that gives up its deeper secrets too easily.

The Wolf Among Us deftly merges Walking Dead's moral quandaries with a noir murder mystery starring Fables' cast of fairy tale legends.

Enjoyable enough, with an undeniably good design pedigree, but marked down for the rush feel and lack of polish. [Dec 2013, p.68]

A truly magical fusion of tabletop RPG and CCG that’s only missing pizza and beer—and co-op.

Either I'm a masochist, or this game is worth the irritation. [Oct 2013, p.81]

A fine finale, which more than makes up for the failings of the first DLC and tells a great side-story of its own.

Leans heavily on nostalgia and sentimentality, but Gone Home is an affecting game that challenges you like no other.

A solid fighting game mired in its own questionable presentation. Superseded since its console launch.

A significant step forward for the king of military simulation offset by inconsistent graphical performance.