TheGamer's Scores

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For 1,254 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 44% higher than the average critic
  • 7% same as the average critic
  • 49% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 1.6 points lower than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Game review score: 73
Highest review score: 100 Nuclear Throne
Lowest review score: 0 Deadly Premonition 2: A Blessing in Disguise
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 650 out of 1254
  2. Mixed: 523 out of 1254
  3. Negative: 81 out of 1254
1274 game reviews
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    • 76 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    SEASON: A letter to the future
    Once you do find the paths you need to take, the story is over before it ever got going. The game's opening makes it feel like your character is embarking on a quest, but that journey ends after one stop. In that way, Season is structured like spring. You barely realize it's here before it's already gone.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Forspoken
    Despite its flaws, I enjoyed my time with Forspoken. While the narrative is janky at times, the premise is compelling and the world of Athia is exceedingly well-built. The movement is where the game shines, making exploration a joy instead of a chore. The postgame is also surprisingly competent when it comes to dealing with the implications of the main story’s twists and turns, a rarity for open-world games. I didn’t know what to expect when I started playing Forspoken but I came out feeling satisfied.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    A Space For The Unbound
    Is it perfect? No most certainly not, but neither are these characters and that’s ok too. You can love this game despite its problems and think it’s extremely important even if there are aspects of it you don’t like. People are flawed, and so is this game, but we can overcome that and still allow them to affect us deeply as we move on from them.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Fire Emblem Engage
    This is the best Fire Emblem game to play ever. No exaggeration. I have not experienced all of the very early games, but I have seen enough to plant my flag for this one. But to fully experience? Way down the list. It's frustrating in the extreme - I just do not care about these characters and their plight, and even the ones where I might have, the game offers me no reason to invest whatsoever. I highly recommend Fire Emblem Engage because the gameplay and battles are stellar. Just be prepared to find yourself skipping a lot of stuff by the end.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider
    Vengeful Guardian: Moonrider stands shoulder to shoulder with the greats, and all fans of pristinely crafted action games owe it to themselves to give it their attention.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Blacktail
    My time with Blacktail was frustrating. Not because it was a pain to play or that the writing was awful, but because there’s a strong game buried underneath some strange design decisions and disappointing performance issues. If you have the patience to see past some pretty major flaws, then you might get some enjoyment out of Blacktail. It’s one to skip for the rest of you though, and that’s a real shame.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Lil Gator Game
    Still, if my only real complaint is that I wanted more, that shows just how much I enjoyed Lil Gator Game. Its unique approach to platforming and exploration, combined with its gorgeous visuals, heartfelt story, and charming characters make it one of my favourite gaming experiences of 2022.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    High on Life
    High on Life just isn’t very good, and there’s not much more to say. I think a lot of people are taking the route of ‘well, if you love this humour you might enjoy it’, but I already do love this humour and I did not enjoy it. It’s the ghost of video games past, with boring shooting and a bafflingly slim progression loop propped up by bad jokes that feel like some bros on a podcast writing their own Interdimensional Cable skits. It’s free on Game Pass, but your time on this planet is precious. Give this one a miss.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Wavetale
    Technical issues aside, Wavetale is a charming, chill time with beautiful visuals that’s perfect for winding down. It’s a little too simple and chill for its own good, but I still loved gliding along the sea and taking in what Strandville had to offer. If you're looking for something a little more relaxing than saving Ragnarok this Christmas, Wavetale might be the one for you.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Dragon Quest Treasures
    I have a lot of conflicting feelings about Dragon Quest Treasures. It’s a perfectly serviceable game that accomplishes what it sets out to do in creating a laidback gameplay loop of treasure hunting and monster collecting, but it’s also a shallow experience that feels like too big a departure from the Dragon Quest formula. It’s missing too many things that make these games so compelling - the severe lack of monster variety being the biggest disappointment. While Treasures has high points, the low points outweigh them and leave the game a middling experience.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Warhammer 40,000: Darktide
    Darktide is built on great foundations and I enjoy playing it a lot – especially with friends. There’s a brilliant game buried deep within this Hive World, filled with exciting combat and gruesome enemies in equal measure. However, to properly enjoy those glorious moments, you have to break through the pustular skin of Darktide’s pointless upgrade systems and wade through the poisoned viscera of dull progression. I just hope that the countless obstructions in the live service elements don’t turn too many players away from the game mired underneath.
    • tbd Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Kukoos - Lost Pets
    When Kukoos gives you a good gimmick to focus your platforming skill on or puts them on the back burner entirely for its main mechanics, it’s a good, gorgeous time. Unfortunately, glitches, strange difficulty spikes, and an over-focus on these pets end up holding it back from being more than a pretty face.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion
    Final Fantasy 7: Crisis Core Reunion is an excellent remaster that evolves the original game in ways I didn’t think possible, but even that can’t take away from an experience that even in 2007 was holding itself back to satiate the platform it called home. The repetitive combat and clumsy environmental design serve to make this otherwise spectacular world feel strangely artificial, while its campy dialogue and archetypal character writing doesn’t exactly gel with the remake it serves to apply greater context to. New audiences deserve to play this game, and I’m so glad they finally get that chance, but eventual wish fulfillment doesn’t lessen the hurt of inevitable disappointment. Zack is still an adorable puppy I need to protect, though.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Need for Speed Unbound
    Beyond its unique art style, Need for Speed Unbound doesn’t do anything to reinvent the steering wheel, but it doesn’t need to. This is Need for Speed, so you know what you’re here for - fast races, cop chases, and more cars than you know what to do with. Unbound is all of that packaged in the series’ most stylish entry to date.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    The Callisto Protocol
    It's a shame that The Callisto Protocol is so uninteresting at its core. Though it looks gorgeous on the surface, a dozen hours of nothing special can have a clarifying effect. Like a monstrous two-headed enemy banging Jacob's head into the ground until it collapses, the game's tedium forces you to reckon with the fact that there just isn't much once the facade splatters away.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Marvel's Midnight Suns
    Marvel’s Midnight Suns won’t be for everyone. A 60-hour campaign that’s at least half made up of talking to Spider-Man about his feelings is going to turn off even some of the biggest Marvel (or at least MCU) fans, and the combat, despite its cinematic qualities, isn’t exactly God of War. But its limited appeal is also its greatest strength. In a sea of blockbuster open-world and third-person action games, it was a delight to play something so clearly driven by passion for these characters and this kind of gameplay.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Evil West
    The best throwback games borrow aesthetics, iconography, and mechanics from the past, and blend them with modern sensibilities. Evil West does the first part beautifully, but can’t quite pull things together for audiences today.
    • 57 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Gungrave G.O.R.E
    Gungrave Gore is repetitive, there’s no question about that, but like most arcade games – racers, sports, shmups – there can be great enjoyment to be had from something so fully of itself. Gungrave is Gungrave, and if you play it, you’ll know exactly what I mean. Whether its simplistic, repetitive nature will appeal for the price you pay is another question. Maybe wait for the inevitable discounts – or just play it on Game Pass.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Pokemon Scarlet
    Ultimately, Pokemon Scarlet & Violet finally lets you experience a story in this world that doesn’t feel out of place, marked with a tone of childlike innocence that, for once, doesn’t diminish the seriousness of the subjects that it presents. Unfortunately, the performance is so abruptly bad that it completely ruins, to an infuriating extent, what otherwise could have been the best Pokemon game to date.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 40 Critic Score
    Pokemon Violet
    Ultimately, Pokemon Scarlet & Violet finally lets you experience a story in this world that doesn’t feel out of place, marked with a tone of childlike innocence that, for once, doesn’t diminish the seriousness of the subjects that it presents. Unfortunately, the performance is so abruptly bad that it completely ruins, to an infuriating extent, what otherwise could have been the best Pokemon game to date.
    • 69 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    The Dark Pictures Anthology: The Devil in Me
    The Devil in Me is an excellent evolution in The Dark Pictures anthology that weaves an interesting story in a complex and exciting environment that’s both fun and horrifying to explore. It’s the perfect choice for horror fans, full of tense moments, jump scares, and gory scenes. While some of the new features are a little hit or miss, it’s arguably the best title in the anthology. It could do with a little more polish in places, but it’s a game I am keen to replay to delve into the background story further, and hopefully, next time, I’ll ensure everyone lives.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Goat Simulator 3
    Goat Simulator 3 raises the baaa-r on every level (I can’t help myself, I’ve been playing it for too long and the goat puns have taken over). Everything is bigger and better. A larger open world, more customisation, more to unlock and do, we’ve finally got online multiplayer with fun minigames, and there’s just more overall general goaty goodness. Though you might encounter the odd glitch or two, it doesn’t detract from the gameplay, and you’ll brush it off as easily as your ragdoll goat getting back to its feet after crash-landing from the top of a never-ending beanstalk. Even if you’ve never been tempted by it before, I can’t emphasise enough how strangely satisfying it is to unleash hell in goat form on an unsuspecting city.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Somerville
    Somerville is one of the year’s biggest surprises, and I’m still shocked to see it fly under the radar. Its portrayal of an alien invasion raging across the British countryside hit close to home, while the story of a father searching for his family and being tied up in a dilemma so much bigger than he ever imagined is both nothing like I expected and everything I wanted. I can’t wait to see players far smarter than I piece its most devious puzzles together, since there are still so many questions waiting to be answered.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Floodland
    Floodland not only asks if you’ll sink or swim when the world ends, but if you’ll plunge your arm into the murky depths to pull others up with you or step on their heads to save yourself. Its ability to look toward the future of civilisation without losing sight of the individuals who will form it is insightful. It lacks a certain spark that would make it great, and some unfortunate bugs let it down in the mid-late game, but I look forward to returning to the floodlands once these teething issues are ironed out.
    • 88 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Pentiment
    It's a magnificent thing, and this story will be lingering in my thoughts for quite some time. Pentiment takes Obsidian's expertise in branching narratives, role-playing, and building evocative worlds, then packages it all up in an exciting and unique way. I was devastated when it was over, and I'm still not over that ending. But now I'm looking forward to playing it all over again, this time with another Andreas. Maybe one who speaks Latin, studied law, and spent his wandering years in Switzerland. There are some bad choices and disastrous consequences I'd like to avoid this time too. That's the beauty of being an artist: you can always scrape the parchment clean and start again.
    • 73 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Harvestella
    Harvestella stumbles before it finds a decent pace, with the biggest drawbacks being the slow start and temperamental graphics. If you can get past these shortcomings, there’s plenty to be enjoyed here and a hefty completion time to keep you busy. While it offers an enjoyable blend of RPG meets life sim, there isn’t enough substance on either side to take the game from good to great.
    • 84 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Tactics Ogre: Reborn
    Despite its quirks, this is the best version of Tactics Ogre. Gone are frustrating class-based levels and the overabundance of secrecy. Replacing them are new frustrations that are less experience-breaking. Reborn makes the grandaddy of strategy RPGs the most accessible it's ever been, and it’s not one to miss. According to Steam, I have already played 62 hours, and I already know that number will triple at a minimum by the time I’m done with it.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 50 Critic Score
    Sackboy: A Big Adventure
    Two years ago, Sackboy: A Big Adventure proved Sumo Digital was more than capable of creating its own unique vision of Media Molecule's banner Little Big Planet series. Now in 2022, as I write this while listening to the game’s choral remix of Material Girl, I can’t help but be excited for what is next for weird potential of future Sackboy games. People should go back and play this game, just not on PC.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Sonic Frontiers
    There are teething issues and a reluctance to let go of the past, but it’s also a daft Sonic game with a charming story told in the most competent way we’ve seen in years. Sonic might not be back in the big leagues yet, but he’s catching up. Like Sonic Adventure all the way back in 1999, Frontiers could give the series a new lease on life - Sega has to ditch the old ways and let it happen.
    • 94 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    God of War: Ragnarok
    From a gameplay perspective, I got more than I anticipated from Ragnarok. It manages to introduce new systems and gameplay mechanics consistently from beginning to end, keeping combat and exploration fresh and exciting the entire time - you can check out the most in-depth analysis of the combat here, in my preview, and in this non-exhaustive deep dive. Gear has similar progression problems that 2018’s God of War had, but now you can actually craft complex builds with cool synergies that feel impactful. There’s an unbelievable amount of variety in the places you go and the kinds of enemies you fight compared to the previous game, and your options in combat are a lot more involved and meaningful as well. These improvements and refinements make Ragnarok a great sequel, and the increased length will please the ‘time spent = value’ crowd, but the path from Faye’s final resting place to the final battle of Ragnarok is not nearly as composed or worthwhile as it could have been.
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