The Games Machine's Scores

  • Games
For 2,656 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 71% higher than the average critic
  • 7% same as the average critic
  • 22% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 4.3 points higher than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Game review score: 79
Highest review score: 99 Baldur's Gate 3
Lowest review score: 30 Dino Dini's Kick Off Revival
Score distribution:
2658 game reviews
    • 74 Metascore
    • 76 Critic Score
    Reigns: The Witcher transforms the series' classic card-and-swipe system into a narrative adventure set in Geralt's world, where every binary choice influences the balance between factions and determines the fate of the run. The gameplay is immediate and surprisingly engaging, creating a rapid, almost hypnotic loop. The objective-and-unlock structure adds variety, and fans of the Witcher will appreciate the various references. However, the high degree of repetitiveness and the trial-and-error nature ultimately limit its long-term depth.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 76 Critic Score
    Of the many ingredients of Iron Danger, the combat system is for sure the best designed and comes across as fresh and most interesting. I can't say the same for the RPG and narrative components though: not bad, but not excellent either.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 76 Critic Score
    Zombie Army 4: Dead War is a fairly entertaining game, which, however, lacks the K.O. punch necessary to emerge in a genre full of competition. Even without memorable moments and original solutions it’s an enjoyable experience, especially in multiplayer.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 76 Critic Score
    The gameplay of Pathologic 2 is very barebones in favor of a story pretty difficult to understand. It’s a very complex game, barely passable on the technical front, but with a great atmosphere.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 76 Critic Score
    Eight years after, unlike the always on-the-run Faith Connors, Mirror's Edge finds itself in the same, exact place we left it. Unfortunately, DICE promised something more. Like the original, Catalyst is the ultimate expression of virtual parkour, but it never manages to create a real connection with the player.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 76 Critic Score
    Book of Demons has some good ideas which often are well implemented, but in certain situations Diablo's inspiration becomes a cage a bit too narrow.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 76 Critic Score
    Whether you’re playing with your friends or alone, Evil Dead: The Game will give you a short but entertaining action-survival experience. Carrying some friends along is a good idea – Ash is still one of the best characters in the horror universe but he can't do everything on his own! As always with multiplayer games, playerbase retention and developer support are going to be crucial aspects in the coming weeks and months.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 76 Critic Score
    Fearful Symmetry & The Cursed Prince is a very good puzzle game, thanks to the original gameplay dynamics and an excellent level design that takes advantage of their possibilities. We'd have loved some more puzzles that could have highlighted the different characters, but in this case the prize is definitely right, for a well-done brain teaser (9.99$ for both PC and Xbox versions).
    • 54 Metascore
    • 76 Critic Score
    Without considering its aim, RIOT may seem just a poor RTS. However, its ability to integrate gameplay’s limits in a dialogue between them and the game’s thesis made RIOT a really experimental and interesting game, unique in its own approach to the genre.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 76 Critic Score
    A horror adventure with a strong cinematic flavor, with aesthetics and themes that bring to mind the works of Lynch, Cronenberg and Nolan. The gameplay is reduced to the bare minimum and there are a few too many bugs, which however do not compromise the enjoyment of an extremely "atmospheric" experience with adult content.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 76 Critic Score
    A Case of Distrust is a charming and gripping noir interactive text adventure. Halfway between 80 Days and Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective, Ben Wander’s game tells us about the roaring 20s in a very stylish way. If you can turn a blind eye to some cumbersome mechanics and a couple of trivial choices you’ll spend three lovely thrilling hours hanging around San Francisco.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 76 Critic Score
    You will never look at ants the same way! The small team at Slug Disco has not revolutionised the RTS genre, but they offer us a unique perspective on it, where the quality of world-building plays a huge role in how fascinating this game is. It almost make me forget there is no multiplayer.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 76 Critic Score
    Gran Turismo Sport is a pretty complicated affair: a mediocre single player experience, an exhilarating multiplayer title, the last work from Polyphony Digital is the greatest testament to a democratic vision of motorsport, where driving is really for everyone. A temple where players can share and contemplate truly stunning and beautiful images of cars, and drivers can look for the aesthetic perfection of driving. In the middle, a driving model with the same old limits of the previous chapters, and an overall anachronistic feeling.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 76 Critic Score
    Joy, cheerfulness and the gleeful sounds of carnage accompany us in the carefree fragfest that is every battle, but still Serious Sam 4 feels old: it's like going back to the nineties without anything having changed. In its simplicity, Serious Sam 4 is the very essence of old school shooters, condensed into a dozen hours of gameplay. It represents first person shooters as they were in the beginning, in the fabulous beauty of their original sin: a bloodthirsty naivety made of exaggerated weapons, alien bits and frenetic battles against unreal hordes of enemies.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 76 Critic Score
    Agents of Mayhem lacks some inventiveness and the level design is often uninspired. It's basic in the gameplay dynamics, but nonetheless can be pretty fun. Don't expect anything too fancy, or rich, content-wise: if you loved Saints Row, this is the perfect filler before the beginning of the new gaming season.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 76 Critic Score
    With its beautiful, challenging and procedurally generated dungeons, Underground offers a lot of new content for the Agents of the Division and, at the same time, lays the foundation for the future expansions of this unconventional online ARPG.
    • 62 Metascore
    • 76 Critic Score
    My mind has not yet been able to fully grasp Wavey's wave movements, but the UpperRoom Games’ title is undoubtedly an original and intelligent "platform" that brings to mind the glories of Sonic launched at crazy speed through his articulated and strange levels.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 76 Critic Score
    The conversion of Impact Winter took advantage of a great process of polishing (applied to the PC version as well), but it did not turn the game into a masterpiece: the design flaws are still here, as well as the intricate control system and some fuzzy storytelling.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 76 Critic Score
    Princess Peach gives proof of great transforming talent in this her second "solo" adventure. Ten transformations take turns in levels filled with mini-games and secrets. A colorful and fun game marked by a low level of difficulty, which penalizes longevity and targets it mainly at a very young or novice audience.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 76 Critic Score
    Mortal Shell is an interesting soulslike, affected by some not perfectly developed background ideas, combined with an extremely derivative final product. Certainly intended for lovers of the genre.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 76 Critic Score
    A game written and directed by one of the creators of Rick and Morty could have been a masterpiece, instead turned out to be an interesting and hilarious product only in parts. The gameplay holds up for a few hours but in the long run becomes quite repetitive, fortunately the dark humor that characterizes the entire production manages to lift it up in no small part.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 76 Critic Score
    Beat Cop is an intriguing and entertaining re-imagining of the police TV shows of the ’80s, with a clever design, some action and lot of choices for the player. There are always too many things to do, and too little time to do them, and as any real cop knows, boredom is part of the process.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 76 Critic Score
    Knockout City, as it stands today, is a very entertaining online multiplayer game, easy to learn but not without its own complexities. Future growth is always fickle and hard to predict when it comes to online games, but Knockout City might be able to carve out its own niche.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 76 Critic Score
    Agatha Christie - Hercule Poirot: The First Cases is a solid adventure game. Poor mouse and keyboard support detracts from the overall experience, but the product as a whole is a worthy rendition of Agatha Christie’s books.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 76 Critic Score
    Our expectations from guys like People Can Fly and Epic are usually a little higher, however Fortnite is a good game, a good mixture of the shooting genre and the tower defense genre, with a focus on building stuff. Not too rich, content-wise, and maybe the price is a little bit too high.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 76 Critic Score
    An evident leap forward from the already notable first chapter. Not every new feature works out well, and the boss fights are here to prove it, but Pinokl’s game stands as an interesting and funny little stealth game.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 76 Critic Score
    Wasteland 3: The Battle of Steeltown offers enough content to intrigue even the most hardened Rangers. It doesn't last long, but the quality/price ratio is definitely excellent.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 76 Critic Score
    Visions of Mana is an operation that exudes love for the reference brand, but which above all aims to be an extremely light experience for fans, or better yet an excellent example of entertainment aimed at the younger and neophyte audience of RPGs. Despite a gaming experience that is all in all simple, the Square Enix production still manages to stand on its own two feet thanks to the charm of its colorful and fairy-tale universe of characters and the charisma of its cast of protagonists, all of which can be ascribed to the canons of the series.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 76 Critic Score
    Adr1ft can be enjoyed on a "traditional" PC, and it's still a nice, not particularly challenging and pretty short, sci-fi adventure title. If you play it with Oculus VR, though, you can expect one of the most compelling VR experiences, probably the closest you can get to a real walk in the space, at zero gravity. [Tested with and without Oculus Rift]
    • 66 Metascore
    • 76 Critic Score
    Battlezone is a good game and one of the best experiences if you own a PlayStation VR. Anyhow, the difficulty level is unbalanced in single player, and motion sickness is beyond the corner if you are not used to wearing a VR headset.

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