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What are the best action games on Xbox One?

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Hollow Knight vs Terraria vs Hitman (2016)

 vs Alien: Isolation vs DOOM vs Cuphead vs The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim vs Dishonored 2 vs Warframe vs Resident Evil 7: Biohazard vs Resident Evil HD Remaster vs Wolfenstein: The New Order vs Superhot vs A Way Out vs Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice vs LEGO Marvel Super Heroes vs The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt vs Assassin's Creed Origins vs Grand Theft Auto V vs Batman: Arkham Knight vs Monster Hunter: World vs Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain vs Õkami HD vs Dark Souls III vs Attack on Titan 2 vs Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor vs Shovel Knight vs Far Cry 5 vs Deus Ex: Mankind Divided vs Battlefield 1 vs Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six Siege vs NieR: Automata vs Elite: Dangerous vs Fallout 4 vs Middle-earth: Shadow of War vs Gears of War 4 vs Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus vs Call of Duty: WWII vs Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Wildlands vs Strider vs The Surge vs DARK SOULS II: Scholar of the First Sin vs Overwatch vs LEGO Marvel Super Heroes 2 vs Bayonetta vs Deus Ex: Human Revolution vs Titanfall 2 vs Resident Evil 5 vs Tom Clancy's The Division vs Rise of the Tomb Raider vs Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition vs Dragon Age: Inquisition vs Killing Floor 2 vs Just Cause 3 vs Destiny 2 vs Star Wars: Battlefront II vs ARK: Survival Evolved vs State of Decay 2 vs Shadow of the Tomb Raider vs Dandara vs Halo 5: Guardians vs Titanfall vs Sea of Thieves vs Fe vs Final Fantasy XV vs Conan Exiles vs Mass Effect Andromeda vs Neon Chrome vs Dishonored: Death of the Outsider vs Devil May Cry HD Collection vs Star Wars: Battlefront vs Vampyr vs LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens vs Bioshock: The Collection vs Jotun: Valhalla Edition vs Dynasty Warriors 9 vs Sleeping Dogs: Definitive Edition vs Dark Souls Remastered vs Thumper vs Final Fantasy Type-0 HD vs Dragon Age II

Specs

Genre

Metroidvania

Platforms

Nintendo Switch, Windows, macOS, Linux

Steam Rating

Overwhelmingly Positive

Co-Op

Single Player

Controller Support

-

Multi-Player

-

Minimum System Specs

-

Release Date

-

Single Player

-

Pricing

-

Available Platforms

-

Available on Steam

-

Native resolution

-

Publisher

-

Native Resolution

-

Multiplayer

-

# Players

-

Level design

-

Learning Curve

-

Game World Size

-

Internet Connection

-

GPU

-

Disk Space

-

Genre

2D platformer / Minecraft-like

Platforms

Windows, Mac, Xbox 360/One, PS3, PS4, Nintendo 3DS, Switch, iOS, Android

Steam Rating

-

Co-Op

8 Player Online / 8 Player LAN

Controller Support

Android (MOGA / HID), Steam (Full)

Multi-Player

Local WiFi/Servers

Minimum System Specs

-

Release Date

-

Single Player

-

Pricing

-

Available Platforms

-

Available on Steam

-

Native resolution

-

Publisher

-

Native Resolution

-

Multiplayer

-

# Players

-

Level design

-

Learning Curve

-

Game World Size

-

Internet Connection

-

GPU

-

Disk Space

-

Genre

Stealth

Platforms

Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Linux, Mac

Steam Rating

Very Positive

Co-Op

-

Controller Support

-

Multi-Player

-

Minimum System Specs

big

Release Date

-

Single Player

-

Pricing

-

Available Platforms

-

Available on Steam

-

Native resolution

-

Publisher

-

Native Resolution

-

Multiplayer

-

# Players

-

Level design

-

Learning Curve

-

Game World Size

-

Internet Connection

-

GPU

-

Disk Space

-

Genre

FPS

Platforms

-

Steam Rating

Very Positive

Co-Op

None

Controller Support

Full

Multi-Player

No

Minimum System Specs

-

Release Date

Oct 06, 2014

Single Player

Yes

Pricing

$49.99

Available Platforms

PC / PS3 / PS4 / XBox 360 / XBox One

Available on Steam

-

Native resolution

-

Publisher

-

Native Resolution

-

Multiplayer

-

# Players

-

Level design

-

Learning Curve

-

Game World Size

-

Internet Connection

-

GPU

-

Disk Space

-

Genre

Horror FPS

Platforms

Nintendo Switch, Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One

Steam Rating

-

Co-Op

-

Controller Support

-

Multi-Player

-

Minimum System Specs

-

Release Date

-

Single Player

-

Pricing

-

Available Platforms

-

Available on Steam

-

Native resolution

-

Publisher

-

Native Resolution

-

Multiplayer

-

# Players

-

Level design

-

Learning Curve

-

Game World Size

-

Internet Connection

-

GPU

-

Disk Space

-

Genre

Platformer

Platforms

-

Steam Rating

Overwhelmingly Positive

Co-Op

Shared / Spit screen

Controller Support

-

Multi-Player

-

Minimum System Specs

-

Release Date

-

Single Player

-

Pricing

-

Available Platforms

-

Available on Steam

-

Native resolution

-

Publisher

-

Native Resolution

-

Multiplayer

-

# Players

-

Level design

-

Learning Curve

-

Game World Size

-

Internet Connection

-

GPU

-

Disk Space

-

Genre

Fantasy Role-Playing

Platforms

Windows, Xbox, PS, Nintendo Switch

Steam Rating

-

Co-Op

-

Controller Support

-

Multi-Player

-

Minimum System Specs

-

Release Date

-

Single Player

-

Pricing

-

Available Platforms

-

Available on Steam

-

Native resolution

-

Publisher

-

Native Resolution

-

Multiplayer

-

# Players

-

Level design

-

Learning Curve

-

Game World Size

-

Internet Connection

-

GPU

-

Disk Space

-

Genre

-

Platforms

-

Steam Rating

Very Positive

Co-Op

-

Controller Support

-

Multi-Player

-

Minimum System Specs

-

Release Date

-

Single Player

-

Pricing

-

Available Platforms

-

Available on Steam

-

Native resolution

-

Publisher

-

Native Resolution

-

Multiplayer

-

# Players

-

Level design

-

Learning Curve

-

Game World Size

-

Internet Connection

-

GPU

-

Disk Space

-

Genre

Action

Platforms

-

Steam Rating

-

Co-Op

Yes

Controller Support

-

Multi-Player

-

Minimum System Specs

-

Release Date

-

Single Player

-

Pricing

-

Available Platforms

-

Available on Steam

-

Native resolution

-

Publisher

-

Native Resolution

-

Multiplayer

-

# Players

-

Level design

-

Learning Curve

-

Game World Size

-

Internet Connection

-

GPU

-

Disk Space

-

Genre

Survival Horror, First-Person Shooter

Platforms

Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One

Steam Rating

Very Positive

Co-Op

-

Controller Support

-

Multi-Player

-

Minimum System Specs

-

Release Date

-

Single Player

-

Pricing

-

Available Platforms

-

Available on Steam

-

Native resolution

-

Publisher

-

Native Resolution

-

Multiplayer

-

# Players

-

Level design

-

Learning Curve

-

Game World Size

-

Internet Connection

-

GPU

-

Disk Space

-

Genre

-

Platforms

-

Steam Rating

Mixed

Co-Op

-

Controller Support

-

Multi-Player

-

Minimum System Specs

-

Release Date

-

Single Player

-

Pricing

-

Available Platforms

-

Available on Steam

-

Native resolution

-

Publisher

-

Native Resolution

-

Multiplayer

-

# Players

-

Level design

-

Learning Curve

-

Game World Size

-

Internet Connection

-

GPU

-

Disk Space

-

Genre

First-Person Shooter

Platforms

-

Steam Rating

-

Co-Op

-

Controller Support

-

Multi-Player

-

Minimum System Specs

-

Release Date

-

Single Player

-

Pricing

-

Available Platforms

-

Available on Steam

-

Native resolution

-

Publisher

-

Native Resolution

-

Multiplayer

-

# Players

-

Level design

-

Learning Curve

-

Game World Size

-

Internet Connection

-

GPU

-

Disk Space

-

Genre

First-Person Shooter

Platforms

PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Windows, Linux, Mac

Steam Rating

Very Positive

Co-Op

-

Controller Support

-

Multi-Player

-

Minimum System Specs

-

Release Date

-

Single Player

-

Pricing

-

Available Platforms

-

Available on Steam

-

Native resolution

-

Publisher

-

Native Resolution

-

Multiplayer

-

# Players

-

Level design

-

Learning Curve

-

Game World Size

-

Internet Connection

-

GPU

-

Disk Space

-

Genre

Action-Adventure, Co-Op

Platforms

PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Windows

Steam Rating

-

Co-Op

2 Player Online / 2 Player Local

Controller Support

-

Multi-Player

-

Minimum System Specs

-

Release Date

-

Single Player

-

Pricing

-

Available Platforms

-

Available on Steam

No

Native resolution

-

Publisher

-

Native Resolution

-

Multiplayer

-

# Players

-

Level design

-

Learning Curve

-

Game World Size

-

Internet Connection

-

GPU

-

Disk Space

-

Genre

Action-Adventure, Psychological Horror

Platforms

Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One

Steam Rating

-

Co-Op

-

Controller Support

-

Multi-Player

-

Minimum System Specs

-

Release Date

-

Single Player

-

Pricing

-

Available Platforms

-

Available on Steam

-

Native resolution

-

Publisher

-

Native Resolution

-

Multiplayer

-

# Players

-

Level design

-

Learning Curve

-

Game World Size

-

Internet Connection

-

GPU

-

Disk Space

-

Genre

Open World / Super Hero

Platforms

-

Steam Rating

-

Co-Op

2 Player Local

Controller Support

Full

Multi-Player

-

Minimum System Specs

-

Release Date

-

Single Player

-

Pricing

-

Available Platforms

-

Available on Steam

-

Native resolution

-

Publisher

-

Native Resolution

-

Multiplayer

-

# Players

-

Level design

-

Learning Curve

-

Game World Size

-

Internet Connection

-

GPU

-

Disk Space

-

Genre

Action RPG

Platforms

Windows, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch

Steam Rating

Overwhelmingly Positive

Co-Op

-

Controller Support

-

Multi-Player

-

Minimum System Specs

-

Release Date

-

Single Player

-

Pricing

-

Available Platforms

-

Available on Steam

-

Native resolution

1080p, ~500p on Switch

Publisher

-

Native Resolution

-

Multiplayer

-

# Players

-

Level design

-

Learning Curve

-

Game World Size

-

Internet Connection

-

GPU

-

Disk Space

-

Genre

Action-adventure RPG, Stealth

Platforms

Windows, PS4, Xbox One

Steam Rating

Very Positive

Co-Op

No

Controller Support

Partial

Multi-Player

-

Minimum System Specs

-

Release Date

-

Single Player

-

Pricing

-

Available Platforms

-

Available on Steam

-

Native resolution

-

Publisher

-

Native Resolution

-

Multiplayer

-

# Players

-

Level design

-

Learning Curve

-

Game World Size

-

Internet Connection

-

GPU

-

Disk Space

-

Genre

Action-Adventure

Platforms

-

Steam Rating

-

Co-Op

-

Controller Support

-

Multi-Player

-

Minimum System Specs

-

Release Date

-

Single Player

-

Pricing

-

Available Platforms

-

Available on Steam

-

Native resolution

-

Publisher

Rockstar Games

Native Resolution

-

Multiplayer

-

# Players

-

Level design

-

Learning Curve

-

Game World Size

-

Internet Connection

-

GPU

-

Disk Space

-

Genre

-

Platforms

-

Steam Rating

Overwhelmingly Positive

Co-Op

-

Controller Support

-

Multi-Player

-

Minimum System Specs

-

Release Date

-

Single Player

-

Pricing

-

Available Platforms

-

Available on Steam

-

Native resolution

-

Publisher

-

Native Resolution

-

Multiplayer

-

# Players

-

Level design

-

Learning Curve

-

Game World Size

-

Internet Connection

-

GPU

-

Disk Space

-

Genre

Action Role-Playing, Multiplayer

Platforms

PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Windows

Steam Rating

-

Co-Op

-

Controller Support

-

Multi-Player

-

Minimum System Specs

-

Release Date

-

Single Player

-

Pricing

-

Available Platforms

-

Available on Steam

-

Native resolution

-

Publisher

-

Native Resolution

-

Multiplayer

-

# Players

-

Level design

-

Learning Curve

-

Game World Size

-

Internet Connection

-

GPU

-

Disk Space

-

Genre

Action

Platforms

-

Steam Rating

-

Co-Op

Single Player

Controller Support

-

Multi-Player

-

Minimum System Specs

-

Release Date

-

Single Player

-

Pricing

-

Available Platforms

-

Available on Steam

-

Native resolution

-

Publisher

-

Native Resolution

1080p60

Multiplayer

-

# Players

-

Level design

-

Learning Curve

-

Game World Size

-

Internet Connection

-

GPU

-

Disk Space

-

Genre

Action-Adventure

Platforms

-

Steam Rating

-

Co-Op

No

Controller Support

Full

Multi-Player

-

Minimum System Specs

-

Release Date

-

Single Player

-

Pricing

-

Available Platforms

-

Available on Steam

-

Native resolution

-

Publisher

-

Native Resolution

-

Multiplayer

-

# Players

-

Level design

-

Learning Curve

-

Game World Size

-

Internet Connection

-

GPU

-

Disk Space

-

Genre

Action Role-Playing

Platforms

Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One

Steam Rating

-

Co-Op

-

Controller Support

-

Multi-Player

-

Minimum System Specs

-

Release Date

-

Single Player

-

Pricing

-

Available Platforms

-

Available on Steam

-

Native resolution

-

Publisher

-

Native Resolution

-

Multiplayer

-

# Players

-

Level design

-

Learning Curve

-

Game World Size

-

Internet Connection

-

GPU

-

Disk Space

-

Genre

Action, Hack-and-Slash

Platforms

Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Windows, PlayStation Vita

Steam Rating

-

Co-Op

4 Player Online

Controller Support

-

Multi-Player

-

Minimum System Specs

-

Release Date

-

Single Player

-

Pricing

-

Available Platforms

-

Available on Steam

-

Native resolution

-

Publisher

-

Native Resolution

-

Multiplayer

-

# Players

-

Level design

-

Learning Curve

-

Game World Size

-

Internet Connection

-

GPU

-

Disk Space

-

Genre

-

Platforms

-

Steam Rating

Very Positive

Co-Op

-

Controller Support

-

Multi-Player

-

Minimum System Specs

-

Release Date

-

Single Player

-

Pricing

-

Available Platforms

-

Available on Steam

-

Native resolution

-

Publisher

-

Native Resolution

-

Multiplayer

-

# Players

-

Level design

-

Learning Curve

-

Game World Size

-

Internet Connection

-

GPU

-

Disk Space

-

Genre

Action, Platformer

Platforms

Nintendo Switch, Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo 3DS, Wii U, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, Xbox One, Windows, Mac, Linux

Steam Rating

-

Co-Op

2 Player Local

Controller Support

-

Multi-Player

-

Minimum System Specs

-

Release Date

-

Single Player

-

Pricing

-

Available Platforms

-

Available on Steam

-

Native resolution

-

Publisher

-

Native Resolution

-

Multiplayer

-

# Players

-

Level design

-

Learning Curve

-

Game World Size

-

Internet Connection

-

GPU

-

Disk Space

-

Genre

Action-Adventure, First-Person Shooter

Platforms

PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Windows

Steam Rating

Very Positive

Co-Op

Two-Player Online

Controller Support

-

Multi-Player

-

Minimum System Specs

-

Release Date

-

Single Player

-

Pricing

-

Available Platforms

-

Available on Steam

-

Native resolution

-

Publisher

-

Native Resolution

-

Multiplayer

-

# Players

-

Level design

-

Learning Curve

-

Game World Size

-

Internet Connection

-

GPU

-

Disk Space

-

Genre

First-Person Shooter, Stealth

Platforms

Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One

Steam Rating

Mostly Positive

Co-Op

-

Controller Support

-

Multi-Player

-

Minimum System Specs

-

Release Date

-

Single Player

-

Pricing

-

Available Platforms

-

Available on Steam

-

Native resolution

-

Publisher

-

Native Resolution

-

Multiplayer

-

# Players

-

Level design

-

Learning Curve

-

Game World Size

-

Internet Connection

-

GPU

-

Disk Space

-

Genre

FPS

Platforms

Windows, PS4, Xbox One

Steam Rating

-

Co-Op

-

Controller Support

-

Multi-Player

-

Minimum System Specs

-

Release Date

-

Single Player

-

Pricing

-

Available Platforms

-

Available on Steam

-

Native resolution

-

Publisher

-

Native Resolution

-

Multiplayer

-

# Players

-

Level design

-

Learning Curve

-

Game World Size

-

Internet Connection

-

GPU

-

Disk Space

-

Genre

FPS

Platforms

Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One

Steam Rating

-

Co-Op

-

Controller Support

-

Multi-Player

-

Minimum System Specs

-

Release Date

-

Single Player

-

Pricing

-

Available Platforms

-

Available on Steam

-

Native resolution

-

Publisher

-

Native Resolution

-

Multiplayer

-

# Players

-

Level design

-

Learning Curve

-

Game World Size

-

Internet Connection

-

GPU

-

Disk Space

-

Genre

Action Role-Playing

Platforms

Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One

Steam Rating

-

Co-Op

-

Controller Support

-

Multi-Player

-

Minimum System Specs

-

Release Date

-

Single Player

-

Pricing

-

Available Platforms

-

Available on Steam

-

Native resolution

-

Publisher

-

Native Resolution

-

Multiplayer

-

# Players

-

Level design

-

Learning Curve

-

Game World Size

-

Internet Connection

-

GPU

-

Disk Space

-

Genre

Space trading and combat game

Platforms

-

Steam Rating

Mostly Positive

Co-Op

Multiplayer

Controller Support

Full

Multi-Player

-

Minimum System Specs

-

Release Date

2014

Single Player

-

Pricing

-

Available Platforms

-

Available on Steam

-

Native resolution

-

Publisher

-

Native Resolution

-

Multiplayer

Open Play / Solo Play / Private Group

# Players

Greater than 1,000,000

Level design

Open World

Learning Curve

VERY Steep

Game World Size

Milky Way Galaxy [Diameter: ~100,000 Light-Years]

Internet Connection

Required

GPU

-

Disk Space

-

Genre

Action RPG

Platforms

Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One

Steam Rating

-

Co-Op

Single Player

Controller Support

-

Multi-Player

-

Minimum System Specs

-

Release Date

-

Single Player

-

Pricing

-

Available Platforms

-

Available on Steam

-

Native resolution

-

Publisher

-

Native Resolution

-

Multiplayer

-

# Players

-

Level design

-

Learning Curve

-

Game World Size

-

Internet Connection

-

GPU

-

Disk Space

-

Genre

-

Platforms

-

Steam Rating

-

Co-Op

-

Controller Support

-

Multi-Player

-

Minimum System Specs

-

Release Date

-

Single Player

-

Pricing

-

Available Platforms

-

Available on Steam

-

Native resolution

-

Publisher

-

Native Resolution

-

Multiplayer

-

# Players

-

Level design

-

Learning Curve

-

Game World Size

-

Internet Connection

-

GPU

-

Disk Space

-

Genre

-

Platforms

-

Steam Rating

-

Co-Op

-

Controller Support

-

Multi-Player

-

Minimum System Specs

-

Release Date

-

Single Player

-

Pricing

-

Available Platforms

-

Available on Steam

-

Native resolution

-

Publisher

-

Native Resolution

-

Multiplayer

-

# Players

-

Level design

-

Learning Curve

-

Game World Size

-

Internet Connection

-

GPU

-

Disk Space

-

Genre

First-Person Shooter

Platforms

PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Windows, Nintendo Switch

Steam Rating

Very Positive

Co-Op

-

Controller Support

-

Multi-Player

-

Minimum System Specs

-

Release Date

-

Single Player

-

Pricing

-

Available Platforms

-

Available on Steam

-

Native resolution

-

Publisher

-

Native Resolution

-

Multiplayer

-

# Players

-

Level design

-

Learning Curve

-

Game World Size

-

Internet Connection

-

GPU

-

Disk Space

-

Genre

First-Person Shooter

Platforms

PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Windows

Steam Rating

Very Positive

Co-Op

-

Controller Support

-

Multi-Player

-

Minimum System Specs

-

Release Date

-

Single Player

-

Pricing

-

Available Platforms

-

Available on Steam

-

Native resolution

-

Publisher

-

Native Resolution

-

Multiplayer

-

# Players

-

Level design

-

Learning Curve

-

Game World Size

-

Internet Connection

-

GPU

-

Disk Space

-

Genre

-

Platforms

Windows, XBox, PS

Steam Rating

-

Co-Op

-

Controller Support

-

Multi-Player

-

Minimum System Specs

-

Release Date

-

Single Player

-

Pricing

-

Available Platforms

-

Available on Steam

-

Native resolution

-

Publisher

-

Native Resolution

-

Multiplayer

-

# Players

-

Level design

-

Learning Curve

-

Game World Size

-

Internet Connection

-

GPU

-

Disk Space

-

Genre

-

Platforms

Windows, Linux, Mac, Web

Steam Rating

-

Co-Op

-

Controller Support

-

Multi-Player

-

Minimum System Specs

-

Release Date

-

Single Player

-

Pricing

-

Available Platforms

-

Available on Steam

-

Native resolution

-

Publisher

-

Native Resolution

-

Multiplayer

-

# Players

-

Level design

-

Learning Curve

-

Game World Size

-

Internet Connection

-

GPU

-

Disk Space

-

Genre

-

Platforms

-

Steam Rating

Mixed

Co-Op

-

Controller Support

-

Multi-Player

-

Minimum System Specs

-

Release Date

-

Single Player

-

Pricing

-

Available Platforms

-

Available on Steam

-

Native resolution

-

Publisher

-

Native Resolution

-

Multiplayer

-

# Players

-

Level design

-

Learning Curve

-

Game World Size

-

Internet Connection

-

GPU

-

Disk Space

-

Genre

Action Role-Playing

Platforms

PlayStation 3

Steam Rating

Mostly Positive

Co-Op

-

Controller Support

-

Multi-Player

-

Minimum System Specs

-

Release Date

-

Single Player

-

Pricing

-

Available Platforms

-

Available on Steam

-

Native resolution

-

Publisher

-

Native Resolution

-

Multiplayer

-

# Players

-

Level design

-

Learning Curve

-

Game World Size

-

Internet Connection

-

GPU

-

Disk Space

-

Genre

Hero-based FPS

Platforms

Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One

Steam Rating

-

Co-Op

-

Controller Support

-

Multi-Player

-

Minimum System Specs

-

Release Date

-

Single Player

-

Pricing

-

Available Platforms

-

Available on Steam

No

Native resolution

-

Publisher

Blizzard Entertainment

Native Resolution

-

Multiplayer

-

# Players

-

Level design

-

Learning Curve

-

Game World Size

-

Internet Connection

-

GPU

-

Disk Space

-

Genre

Action-Adventure

Platforms

Windows, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One

Steam Rating

Very Positive

Co-Op

-

Controller Support

-

Multi-Player

-

Minimum System Specs

-

Release Date

-

Single Player

-

Pricing

-

Available Platforms

-

Available on Steam

-

Native resolution

-

Publisher

-

Native Resolution

-

Multiplayer

-

# Players

-

Level design

-

Learning Curve

-

Game World Size

-

Internet Connection

-

GPU

-

Disk Space

-

Genre

Action

Platforms

PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Wii U, Windows, Nintendo Switch

Steam Rating

Very Positive

Co-Op

-

Controller Support

-

Multi-Player

-

Minimum System Specs

-

Release Date

-

Single Player

-

Pricing

-

Available Platforms

-

Available on Steam

-

Native resolution

-

Publisher

-

Native Resolution

-

Multiplayer

-

# Players

-

Level design

-

Learning Curve

-

Game World Size

-

Internet Connection

-

GPU

-

Disk Space

-

Genre

Action Role-Playing, Stealth, First-Person Shooter

Platforms

PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Wii U, Windows

Steam Rating

Very Positive

Co-Op

-

Controller Support

-

Multi-Player

-

Minimum System Specs

-

Release Date

-

Single Player

-

Pricing

-

Available Platforms

-

Available on Steam

-

Native resolution

-

Publisher

-

Native Resolution

-

Multiplayer

-

# Players

-

Level design

-

Learning Curve

-

Game World Size

-

Internet Connection

-

GPU

-

Disk Space

-

Genre

First-Person Shooter

Platforms

Windows, PS4, Xbox One

Steam Rating

Overwhelmingly Positive

Co-Op

6-8 Player Online

Controller Support

-

Multi-Player

-

Minimum System Specs

-

Release Date

-

Single Player

-

Pricing

-

Available Platforms

-

Available on Steam

Yes

Native resolution

-

Publisher

-

Native Resolution

-

Multiplayer

-

# Players

-

Level design

-

Learning Curve

-

Game World Size

-

Internet Connection

-

GPU

-

Disk Space

-

Genre

-

Platforms

-

Steam Rating

Mixed

Co-Op

-

Controller Support

-

Multi-Player

-

Minimum System Specs

-

Release Date

-

Single Player

-

Pricing

-

Available Platforms

-

Available on Steam

-

Native resolution

-

Publisher

-

Native Resolution

-

Multiplayer

-

# Players

-

Level design

-

Learning Curve

-

Game World Size

-

Internet Connection

-

GPU

-

Disk Space

-

Genre

Open world RPG

Platforms

-

Steam Rating

Mostly Positive

Co-Op

-

Controller Support

-

Multi-Player

-

Minimum System Specs

-

Release Date

-

Single Player

-

Pricing

-

Available Platforms

-

Available on Steam

-

Native resolution

-

Publisher

-

Native Resolution

-

Multiplayer

-

# Players

-

Level design

-

Learning Curve

-

Game World Size

-

Internet Connection

-

GPU

-

Disk Space

-

Genre

-

Platforms

-

Steam Rating

-

Co-Op

-

Controller Support

-

Multi-Player

-

Minimum System Specs

-

Release Date

-

Single Player

-

Pricing

-

Available Platforms

-

Available on Steam

-

Native resolution

-

Publisher

-

Native Resolution

-

Multiplayer

-

# Players

-

Level design

-

Learning Curve

-

Game World Size

-

Internet Connection

-

GPU

99,9

Disk Space

-

Genre

Third-Person Shooter, Action-Adventure

Platforms

PlayStation 4, Xbox One

Steam Rating

-

Co-Op

-

Controller Support

-

Multi-Player

-

Minimum System Specs

-

Release Date

-

Single Player

-

Pricing

-

Available Platforms

-

Available on Steam

-

Native resolution

-

Publisher

-

Native Resolution

1080p 60FPS

Multiplayer

Yes

# Players

-

Level design

-

Learning Curve

-

Game World Size

-

Internet Connection

-

GPU

-

Disk Space

-

Genre

Action Role-Playing, Tactical Role-Playing

Platforms

PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Windows

Steam Rating

-

Co-Op

-

Controller Support

-

Multi-Player

-

Minimum System Specs

-

Release Date

-

Single Player

-

Pricing

-

Available Platforms

-

Available on Steam

No

Native resolution

-

Publisher

-

Native Resolution

-

Multiplayer

Yes

# Players

-

Level design

-

Learning Curve

-

Game World Size

-

Internet Connection

-

GPU

-

Disk Space

-

Genre

First-Person Shooter, Survival Horror

Platforms

Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One

Steam Rating

Very Positive

Co-Op

6 Player Online

Controller Support

Full

Multi-Player

-

Minimum System Specs

-

Release Date

-

Single Player

-

Pricing

-

Available Platforms

-

Available on Steam

-

Native resolution

-

Publisher

-

Native Resolution

-

Multiplayer

-

# Players

-

Level design

-

Learning Curve

-

Game World Size

-

Internet Connection

-

GPU

-

Disk Space

-

Genre

-

Platforms

-

Steam Rating

-

Co-Op

-

Controller Support

-

Multi-Player

-

Minimum System Specs

-

Release Date

-

Single Player

-

Pricing

-

Available Platforms

-

Available on Steam

-

Native resolution

-

Publisher

-

Native Resolution

-

Multiplayer

-

# Players

-

Level design

-

Learning Curve

-

Game World Size

-

Internet Connection

-

GPU

-

Disk Space

62GB

Genre

First-Person Shooter, Multiplayer

Platforms

Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One

Steam Rating

Mostly Positive

Co-Op

-

Controller Support

-

Multi-Player

-

Minimum System Specs

-

Release Date

-

Single Player

-

Pricing

-

Available Platforms

-

Available on Steam

No

Native resolution

-

Publisher

-

Native Resolution

-

Multiplayer

-

# Players

-

Level design

-

Learning Curve

-

Game World Size

-

Internet Connection

-

GPU

-

Disk Space

-

Genre

First-Person Shooter

Platforms

Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One

Steam Rating

-

Co-Op

-

Controller Support

-

Multi-Player

-

Minimum System Specs

-

Release Date

-

Single Player

-

Pricing

-

Available Platforms

-

Available on Steam

No

Native resolution

-

Publisher

-

Native Resolution

-

Multiplayer

-

# Players

-

Level design

-

Learning Curve

-

Game World Size

-

Internet Connection

-

GPU

-

Disk Space

-

Genre

Action-Adventure, Survival

Platforms

PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Windows, Linux, macOS, iOS, Android

Steam Rating

Very Positive

Co-Op

-

Controller Support

-

Multi-Player

-

Minimum System Specs

-

Release Date

-

Single Player

-

Pricing

-

Available Platforms

-

Available on Steam

-

Native resolution

-

Publisher

-

Native Resolution

-

Multiplayer

-

# Players

-

Level design

-

Learning Curve

-

Game World Size

-

Internet Connection

-

GPU

-

Disk Space

-

Genre

Survival Horror, Third-Person Shooter

Platforms

Xbox One, Windows

Steam Rating

-

Co-Op

4 Player Online

Controller Support

-

Multi-Player

-

Minimum System Specs

-

Release Date

-

Single Player

-

Pricing

-

Available Platforms

-

Available on Steam

No

Native resolution

-

Publisher

-

Native Resolution

-

Multiplayer

-

# Players

-

Level design

-

Learning Curve

-

Game World Size

-

Internet Connection

-

GPU

-

Disk Space

-

Genre

Action-Adventure, Puzzle, Stealth

Platforms

PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Windows

Steam Rating

Very Positive

Co-Op

-

Controller Support

-

Multi-Player

-

Minimum System Specs

-

Release Date

-

Single Player

-

Pricing

-

Available Platforms

-

Available on Steam

-

Native resolution

-

Publisher

-

Native Resolution

-

Multiplayer

-

# Players

-

Level design

-

Learning Curve

-

Game World Size

-

Internet Connection

-

GPU

-

Disk Space

-

Genre

Platformer, Metroidvania

Platforms

Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Android, Windows, iOS, Linux, macOS

Steam Rating

-

Co-Op

-

Controller Support

-

Multi-Player

-

Minimum System Specs

-

Release Date

-

Single Player

-

Pricing

-

Available Platforms

-

Available on Steam

-

Native resolution

-

Publisher

-

Native Resolution

-

Multiplayer

-

# Players

-

Level design

-

Learning Curve

-

Game World Size

-

Internet Connection

-

GPU

-

Disk Space

-

Genre

First-Person Shooter

Platforms

Windows, Xbox One

Steam Rating

-

Co-Op

-

Controller Support

-

Multi-Player

-

Minimum System Specs

-

Release Date

-

Single Player

-

Pricing

-

Available Platforms

-

Available on Steam

No

Native resolution

-

Publisher

-

Native Resolution

-

Multiplayer

-

# Players

-

Level design

-

Learning Curve

-

Game World Size

-

Internet Connection

-

GPU

-

Disk Space

-

Genre

First-Person Shooter, Multiplayer

Platforms

Xbox One, Xbox 360, Windows

Steam Rating

-

Co-Op

6 Player Online

Controller Support

-

Multi-Player

-

Minimum System Specs

-

Release Date

-

Single Player

-

Pricing

-

Available Platforms

-

Available on Steam

No

Native resolution

-

Publisher

-

Native Resolution

-

Multiplayer

-

# Players

-

Level design

-

Learning Curve

-

Game World Size

-

Internet Connection

-

GPU

-

Disk Space

-

Genre

Action-Adventure, Multiplayer

Platforms

Xbox One, Windows

Steam Rating

-

Co-Op

-

Controller Support

-

Multi-Player

-

Minimum System Specs

-

Release Date

-

Single Player

-

Pricing

-

Available Platforms

-

Available on Steam

-

Native resolution

-

Publisher

-

Native Resolution

-

Multiplayer

-

# Players

-

Level design

-

Learning Curve

-

Game World Size

-

Internet Connection

-

GPU

-

Disk Space

-

Genre

Adventure, Action, Platforming

Platforms

Nintendo Switch, Windows, Xbox One, Playstation 4

Steam Rating

-

Co-Op

-

Controller Support

-

Multi-Player

-

Minimum System Specs

-

Release Date

-

Single Player

-

Pricing

-

Available Platforms

-

Available on Steam

No

Native resolution

-

Publisher

-

Native Resolution

-

Multiplayer

-

# Players

-

Level design

-

Learning Curve

-

Game World Size

-

Internet Connection

-

GPU

-

Disk Space

-

Genre

Action Role-Playing

Platforms

PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Windows

Steam Rating

-

Co-Op

-

Controller Support

-

Multi-Player

-

Minimum System Specs

-

Release Date

-

Single Player

-

Pricing

-

Available Platforms

-

Available on Steam

-

Native resolution

-

Publisher

-

Native Resolution

-

Multiplayer

-

# Players

-

Level design

-

Learning Curve

-

Game World Size

-

Internet Connection

-

GPU

-

Disk Space

-

Genre

Survival, Sandbox

Platforms

PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Windows

Steam Rating

-

Co-Op

MMO

Controller Support

-

Multi-Player

-

Minimum System Specs

-

Release Date

-

Single Player

-

Pricing

-

Available Platforms

-

Available on Steam

-

Native resolution

-

Publisher

-

Native Resolution

-

Multiplayer

-

# Players

-

Level design

-

Learning Curve

-

Game World Size

-

Internet Connection

-

GPU

-

Disk Space

-

Genre

Action Role-Playing, Third-Person Shooter

Platforms

PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Windows

Steam Rating

Mostly Positive

Co-Op

4 Player Online

Controller Support

-

Multi-Player

-

Minimum System Specs

-

Release Date

-

Single Player

-

Pricing

-

Available Platforms

-

Available on Steam

No

Native resolution

-

Publisher

-

Native Resolution

-

Multiplayer

-

# Players

-

Level design

-

Learning Curve

-

Game World Size

-

Internet Connection

-

GPU

-

Disk Space

-

Genre

Roguelike, Action, Shooter

Platforms

PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Windows, Linux, macOS

Steam Rating

-

Co-Op

2-4 Player Local

Controller Support

-

Multi-Player

-

Minimum System Specs

-

Release Date

-

Single Player

-

Pricing

-

Available Platforms

-

Available on Steam

-

Native resolution

-

Publisher

-

Native Resolution

-

Multiplayer

-

# Players

-

Level design

-

Learning Curve

-

Game World Size

-

Internet Connection

-

GPU

-

Disk Space

-

Genre

Action-Adventure, Stealth

Platforms

Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One

Steam Rating

Very Positive

Co-Op

-

Controller Support

-

Multi-Player

-

Minimum System Specs

-

Release Date

-

Single Player

-

Pricing

-

Available Platforms

-

Available on Steam

-

Native resolution

-

Publisher

-

Native Resolution

-

Multiplayer

-

# Players

-

Level design

-

Learning Curve

-

Game World Size

-

Internet Connection

-

GPU

-

Disk Space

-

Genre

Action, Hack-and-Slash

Platforms

PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Xbox One, Xbox 360, Windows

Steam Rating

-

Co-Op

-

Controller Support

-

Multi-Player

-

Minimum System Specs

-

Release Date

-

Single Player

-

Pricing

-

Available Platforms

-

Available on Steam

-

Native resolution

-

Publisher

-

Native Resolution

-

Multiplayer

-

# Players

-

Level design

-

Learning Curve

-

Game World Size

-

Internet Connection

-

GPU

-

Disk Space

-

Genre

First-Person Shooter

Platforms

Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One

Steam Rating

-

Co-Op

-

Controller Support

-

Multi-Player

-

Minimum System Specs

-

Release Date

-

Single Player

-

Pricing

-

Available Platforms

-

Available on Steam

No

Native resolution

-

Publisher

-

Native Resolution

-

Multiplayer

-

# Players

-

Level design

-

Learning Curve

-

Game World Size

-

Internet Connection

-

GPU

-

Disk Space

-

Genre

Horror, Action Role-Playing

Platforms

PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Windows

Steam Rating

Very Positive

Co-Op

-

Controller Support

-

Multi-Player

-

Minimum System Specs

-

Release Date

-

Single Player

-

Pricing

-

Available Platforms

-

Available on Steam

-

Native resolution

-

Publisher

-

Native Resolution

-

Multiplayer

-

# Players

-

Level design

-

Learning Curve

-

Game World Size

-

Internet Connection

-

GPU

-

Disk Space

-

Genre

Action-Adventure

Platforms

Windows, PS4, PS3, PS Vita, Xbox One, Xbox 360, Wii U, Nintendo 3DS

Steam Rating

Mostly Positive

Co-Op

2 Player Local (except on Nintendo 3DS)

Controller Support

-

Multi-Player

-

Minimum System Specs

-

Release Date

-

Single Player

-

Pricing

-

Available Platforms

-

Available on Steam

-

Native resolution

-

Publisher

-

Native Resolution

-

Multiplayer

-

# Players

-

Level design

-

Learning Curve

-

Game World Size

-

Internet Connection

-

GPU

-

Disk Space

-

Genre

First-Person Shooter

Platforms

Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One

Steam Rating

-

Co-Op

-

Controller Support

-

Multi-Player

-

Minimum System Specs

-

Release Date

-

Single Player

-

Pricing

-

Available Platforms

-

Available on Steam

-

Native resolution

-

Publisher

-

Native Resolution

-

Multiplayer

-

# Players

-

Level design

-

Learning Curve

-

Game World Size

-

Internet Connection

-

GPU

-

Disk Space

-

Genre

Action, Adventure

Platforms

PC, Mac, Xbox One, Playstation 4, Nintendo Switch

Steam Rating

-

Co-Op

-

Controller Support

-

Multi-Player

-

Minimum System Specs

-

Release Date

-

Single Player

-

Pricing

-

Available Platforms

-

Available on Steam

-

Native resolution

-

Publisher

-

Native Resolution

-

Multiplayer

-

# Players

-

Level design

-

Learning Curve

-

Game World Size

-

Internet Connection

-

GPU

-

Disk Space

-

Genre

Hack-and-Slash

Platforms

PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Windows

Steam Rating

Mixed

Co-Op

-

Controller Support

-

Multi-Player

-

Minimum System Specs

-

Release Date

-

Single Player

-

Pricing

-

Available Platforms

-

Available on Steam

-

Native resolution

-

Publisher

-

Native Resolution

-

Multiplayer

-

# Players

-

Level design

-

Learning Curve

-

Game World Size

-

Internet Connection

-

GPU

-

Disk Space

-

Genre

Action-Adventure

Platforms

PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Windows

Steam Rating

-

Co-Op

-

Controller Support

-

Multi-Player

-

Minimum System Specs

-

Release Date

-

Single Player

-

Pricing

-

Available Platforms

-

Available on Steam

-

Native resolution

-

Publisher

-

Native Resolution

-

Multiplayer

-

# Players

-

Level design

-

Learning Curve

-

Game World Size

-

Internet Connection

-

GPU

-

Disk Space

-

Genre

Action Role-Playing

Platforms

PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Windows, Switch

Steam Rating

-

Co-Op

3 Player Online

Controller Support

-

Multi-Player

-

Minimum System Specs

-

Release Date

-

Single Player

-

Pricing

-

Available Platforms

-

Available on Steam

-

Native resolution

-

Publisher

-

Native Resolution

-

Multiplayer

-

# Players

-

Level design

-

Learning Curve

-

Game World Size

-

Internet Connection

-

GPU

-

Disk Space

-

Genre

Action, Rhythm

Platforms

PlayStation 4, Windows, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, iOS

Steam Rating

Very Positive

Co-Op

-

Controller Support

-

Multi-Player

-

Minimum System Specs

-

Release Date

-

Single Player

-

Pricing

-

Available Platforms

-

Available on Steam

-

Native resolution

-

Publisher

-

Native Resolution

-

Multiplayer

-

# Players

-

Level design

-

Learning Curve

-

Game World Size

-

Internet Connection

-

GPU

-

Disk Space

-

Genre

Action Role-Playing

Platforms

PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Windows

Steam Rating

-

Co-Op

-

Controller Support

-

Multi-Player

-

Minimum System Specs

-

Release Date

-

Single Player

-

Pricing

-

Available Platforms

-

Available on Steam

Yes

Native resolution

-

Publisher

-

Native Resolution

-

Multiplayer

-

# Players

-

Level design

-

Learning Curve

-

Game World Size

-

Internet Connection

-

GPU

-

Disk Space

-

Genre

Action Role-Playing

Platforms

Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, Windows, Mac

Steam Rating

-

Co-Op

-

Controller Support

-

Multi-Player

-

Minimum System Specs

-

Release Date

-

Single Player

-

Pricing

-

Available Platforms

-

Available on Steam

No

Native resolution

-

Publisher

-

Native Resolution

-

Multiplayer

-

# Players

-

Level design

-

Learning Curve

-

Game World Size

-

Internet Connection

-

GPU

-

Disk Space

-

Pros + Cons

Pro
 Fun combat

It starts out simple, with you whacking away at slow moving zombies and flying eyes, gradually shifting to more fierce and fearsome enemies such as flying demons, agile lizardmen, and many more. To survive you'll have to be always on the move, dodge enemy attacks, and be accurate when you retaliate. There are also plenty of weapons to choose from. Melee weapons such as swords, hammers, lances, and flails. Ranged weapons such as bows, crossbows, rifles, and miniguns. And various items that allow you to cast spells. Whatever you choose, it feels great to destroy hordes of enemies.
Comment

Pro
 Intriguing world

Terraria uses a bright color palette and an upbeat chiptune soundtrack to ease you into its world. However, once you start exploring and spend time in it you'll notice it's not as cozy as it first seemed to be. Blood Moons that rouse the dead from their graves. Goblin armies trying to destroy everything in their wake. Vast and dark cave systems, filled with odd creatures and various dangers. Ancient ruins, teeming with the restless dead and evil spirits. Pockets of decaying land, thriving with misshapen monstrosities. It's really fun to explore and discover something new about the world of Terraria.
Comment

Pro
 Lots of community servers, tutorials, and streams

Terraria has a large community of players on every platform including mobile, desktop, and console. Because of this, there are many servers to play on, as well as tutorials and Let's Plays. Finding content or help getting started is quite easy.
Comment

Pro
 Playing with friends allows for endless scenarios

Up to 8 players can join any Terraria world. You can progress through the game normally, build a race course and compete in it, or split into factions and wage war against each other. The scenarios are endless, you just have to let loose your creativity.
Comment

Pro
 Allows for freedom of expression for all ages, all at your own pace

Terraria has all kinds of tools and materials you can use to build whatever you can imagine. From housing, to furniture, to weapons, to types of structure, the possibilities are almost endless. This is great for children who enjoy building and problem solving, and for adults who enjoy the same. It also makes for a great objective-less game, where you can do just about anything you want at your own pace.
Comment

Con
 Low replay value for those who play it as an adventure game

Terraria is a sandbox platform-adventure game, so it partly hinges on beating various bosses. If you play it purely for the sake of defeating all the bosses, you might have little else to do afterwards. Restarting the game won't be as enjoyable either because you'll already know what to expect, causing continued play without a new goal feel mundane or boring.
Comment

Con
 Progress can feel slow

Quite often you'll have to collect tons of materials to craft the necessary tools, equipment, and boss summoning items to advance. This can take a really long time, especially if you're unlucky with the items dropped by mobs.
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Pro
 Hiding in plain sight is intuitive

The game allows for players to easily hide in plain sight through a disguise system, like dressing up as a model at a fashion show, which gives the player access to anywhere they might want to go. This is expanded upon by having a helpful hint system for those who are unfamiliar with its intricacies.
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Pro
 Interactive environments

More so than previous games in the series, Hitman has many objects that can be tampered or interacted with. Nearly any problem the player faces can be solved by using the game's many interactive objects. For players unsure where to start, the challenge system offers a wide variety of hints. For instance, the optional challenges for the first training level include one where the player must disguise himself as a special character who is scheduled to meet the target and another where the target can be given rat poison at the bar.
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Pro
 Replayability through escalations, contracts, challenges, and masteries

Once the main level and objective is complete, players can move on to escalation missions or player-created contracts. Escalation missions remix the maps, giving players new targets to complete in the same maps. Paris features 17 escalations, Sapienza has 9, and the other missions have some as well. More are being added all the time. Escalations are unusual in that they feature specific constraints, such as specific uniforms that must be worn, or specific methods of assassination. This increases the difficulty, but it's a great to expand each episode. The player contracts are similar, but this game mode allows the player to choose who their target is and what constraints to put in place, making for an endless list of possibilities in a particular level. Each level also features 20 'Mastery' levels, which unlock tools and insertion locations that expand the way the level can be played. Hitman is a game built to be replayed.
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Pro
 Tons of choice

The game's six levels are all big sandboxes that allow players to complete their tasks in any way they see fit. This allows players a great deal of freedom in experimentation and the customization of play style. One of the earliest assassinations in the game can be achieved through the manipulation of a chess board, sabotaging the ejection seat of a fighter jet, or faking a radio call, among other things. Hitman provides a strong context for the player's actions, but there is no wrong way to play, so long as you get the target.
Comment

Con
 First chapter does not offer a ton of content

Much of the content in the first chapter are a bunch of training levels that are represented as being done on a set of some kind, giving a feeling of not being real. The problem here is that there is little in the way of giving a feeling of wanting to revisit these training levels, which drastically cuts down on the playable content in this chapter.
Comment

Con
 DRM issues

While playing single player, if the player loses connection to the game's servers (through their own internet going down or the servers going down) the game will boot the player back to the start screen, meaning any advancement made in the game will be lost. To see this happen in single-player is concerning, as there is no reason for the single-player experience to take place online. The game features frequent online updates, limited-time event assassinations, and other features that benefit from an online connection, but players cannot opt out of these features if they simply wish to play the single-player campaign.
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Pro
 Excellent, nostalgic design

Environmental design very closely resembles Ridley Scott's Alien. It has the same retro design of the computers as well as a chilling soundtrack. It still works well in the modern age too - the 3D is on point, and the designers have gone into detail. If you dare to spend time exploring, it's a very cool experience wandering around a spaceship and looking out into space.
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Pro
 Creates a lot of tension

Intelligent A.I. is capable of keeping the game unpredictable. As soon as the Alien starts stalking the player, the game can easily become tense with player never knowing what the Alien will do since the majority of interactions with it are completely unscripted. Especially in VR, you get the feeling like you are actually being hunted.
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Pro
 Useful tools throughout

The game provides you with many tools and weapons to assist you along the way. Some items you may only find a use for once or twice, but you'll be glad to have them.
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Pro
 Beautiful graphics

Aesthetically, this game nails the look and feel of the original film. Both well optimized and incredibly beautiful, this game is a graphical marvel.
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Pro
 Excellent atmospheric sound

With minimal music, this game generates much of it's atmosphere from the miscellaneous background noises. The audio generally in the forefront is the titular Alien, which loudly thumps along the ground and through vents. This game also uses directional audio as a tool both for and against the player. It uses it to scare the player, but it simultaneously gives the player more information to survive with.
Comment

Con
 The game progresses slowly, and you can lose interest

The game is too long and quickly loses its charm and tense feelings as the game drags. Too many hours of even the best game can become a chore more than an enjoyable experience. Whats worse is that a bunch of the length is incessant back tracking, which frankly is just a lazy way to prolong a game.
Comment

Con
 Unrealistic teleporting alien

The alien will somehow always be somewhat near you no matter how stealthy you are. This does maintain the game's difficulty, but it can seem unfair putting all this work into not getting heard only to have the alien pop out of the nearest vent.
Comment

Con
 Frustratingly difficult at times

Some segments of the game can be frustratingly difficult or even unfair at higher difficulty settings.
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Pro
 Fun hidden secrets

There are quite a few easter eggs and hidden secrets in the game, such as old school Doom 95 levels, a Commander Keen skull, a Terminator 2 animation, and even hidden Doomguy toys that your character will fist bump. There's a lot of these to find, creating a very entertaining side activity.
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Pro
 Fantastic level design

The levels in DOOM are quite large, with multiple floors/levels, and many secrets. Some areas are very spacious, making large-scale battles possible, and some are labyrinth-like, hiding enemies behind every corner. You'd think it would be a very linear and guided experience, but most of the time it's up to you where to go and how to get there. Each one of these aspects make it a blast to fully explore the levels.
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Pro
 Great customizable weapon selection

There are more than 20 weapons in DOOM, including the super shotgun, the rocket launcher, and even the BFG9000. Each weapon has two modes that can be improved with one of three upgrades, totaling to over 100 possible combinations. Most of the combinations are really fun to use, which creates enough variation to keep you entertained for multiple playthroughs.
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Pro
 Superb graphics that run quite well

Highly detailed environments, fearsome enemies, colorful particle effects, beautiful lighting, and a lot more. Whatever you're looking at in DOOM, it's a treat for the eyes, all without ever dropping below 60 frames per second.
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Pro
 Level editor for endless content

The game comes with a level editor, which allows you to create new maps and game types. These can be maps that play similarly to the campaign or even unique puzzle maps. You can share your creation online and also download other players' creations. This provides an almost endless stream of content, adding considerable longevity to the game.
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Pro
 Refreshing single purpose gameplay

There is no character development, this is a single purpose game that makes itself very clear from the outset. You are in this game to do one thing, kill demons, sometimes in the most gruesome ways possible. The game is very unapologetic about this, which is refreshing in a time when many games focus on story and play out like an interactive movie. This is much more a throwback to simpler times, run and gun, and it can be quite fun.
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Pro
 Fast-paced, exhilarating combat

DOOM differs from most modern shooters because it abandons cover-based gunplay and instead encourages you to never stop advancing. This is achieved by not only making your character very nimble, allowing you to run at high speeds and jump great distances, but also by removing weapon reloading entirely. There is also the glory kill system, which restores your health whenever you melee kill an enemy, so no waiting for your health to restore by itself either. All of this creates exhilarating gunplay where you never have to pause for anything.
Comment

Con
 The gore might not be for everyone

DOOM has a fair amount of gore. Whenever you kill an enemy there's blood, guts, and limbs flying everywhere. Melee kill are particularly brutal with your character twisting enemy necks and breaking their bones. Some may find that level of graphic violence off-putting.
Comment

Pro
 Really beautiful old-school art style

Cuphead is a very unique visual spectacle in the gaming world, looking exactly like a cartoon from the 1930s. The environments, characters, and even special effects are very detailed, colorful, and drawn entirely by hand on animation paper, complete with a grainy film effect. The end result is pure eye candy that puts most modern cartoons to shame.
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Pro
 Excellent co-op

While it can be overly frustrating when you're playing alone, Cuphead also has local co-op for two players, making your adventure easier but a lot more enjoyable. The boss fights become shorter because together you deal more damage, you don't take needless hits because you can cover more blind spots, and you can even resurrect the other player by touching their ghost if you die. This way you still get the satisfaction of a challenging fight, but it won't be as disappointing if you fail. Even if you're not into challenging games, co-op can be a way to enjoy Cuphead.
Comment

Con
 Hard as nails

Cuphead mostly consists of multi-phase boss battles that may take you a lot of tries to beat. These involve a fair amount of trial and error, requiring you to gradually and perfectly memorize each boss' patterns, abilities, and timings. This becomes harder because you die in several hits, so even the tiniest mistakes are costly in the long run. It can be really frustrating if you die right before beating a boss since you have to get through the entire fight again. If you're expecting to simply enjoy the old timey visuals and music, you might get severely disappointed.
Comment

Con
 The platforming sections are not as good as the boss battles

As confirmed by the developers, the platforming sections before some boss battles were added late into the development cycle. As a result, they lack the same amount of polish and detail you get to see in the boss battles.
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Pro
 Deep lore rivaling classic fantasy literature

Skyrim inherits the stories and world-building of The Elder Scrolls series, which stretches back 20 years. It has numerous stories surrounding the various races (orcs, elves, lizardmen, demons, etc.), mythical beasts, gods, cataclysmic events, parallel worlds, and just about any fantasy trope you could think off. What's even better you can read the lore in books found in-game, allowing you to immerse yourself for countless hours.
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Pro
 Unrestrictive skill-based RPG system

Skyrim has no set character classes or equipment/spell limitations. Instead, it allows you to form your own class based on how you decide to play. For example, sneaking increases your sneaking skill, hitting an enemy with a shortsword increases your one-handed skill, taking damage while wearing leather armor increases your light armor skill, and so forth. You can you play however you want and the resulting character will be a perfect match for your playstyle, giving Skyrim a different feel from other RPGs.
Comment

Con
 Forgetful NPCs can break immersion

After completing certain story quests NPCs get new lines added to their dialogue based on your decisions. Sometimes the NPCs might become forgetful and return to their default dialogue, which can break immersion, especially if they talk about an event that's been long resolved.
Comment

Con
 Combat is too simple

Most of the time you can just whack an enemy until it dies and it involves very little strategy or planning to succeed. For example, targeting specific body parts doesn't deal extra damage, nor can you cripple an enemy. There are no vulnerabilities, so you can't set furry forest animals ablaze easier than humans. The enemies also lack any real variation in how they attempt to fight you – they just run at you swinging wildly or attack you from afar. Because of this the combat is very one-dimensional and can start feeling like a chore after a while. Luckily most of the combat issues can be fixed with mods, allowing you to enjoy a more varied and deeper combat experience.
Comment

Pro
 Supernatural abilities liven up the stealth gameplay

Your character has a set of special abilities that can be used for both getting around unnoticed and silently taking out enemies. For example, one of the abilities lets you teleport a short distance forward, which is very useful for moving between hiding spots or getting over obstacles. Another example is an ability that links enemy souls together. If you kill one of the linked targets all of them will die. This is useful when you can't perform regular stealth kills because multiple enemies are standing close to each other. These abilities make the stealth gameplay feel different from what you usually see in games.
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Pro
 Excellent level design that supports player choice

The levels in Dishonored 2 have many branching paths, so you're never forced to use any specific playstyle to complete a level. You can barge in through the front door, slashing and shooting everyone in the way. Or you can sneak in through the window, navigating the building through vents and hidden passages while remaining unnoticed and only taking out your assassination target. Whichever way you choose, it will feel like you've made the right choice.
Comment

Pro
 Taking out enemies feels satisfying

Whether you separate an enemy's head from the shoulders with a blade, causing blood to splatter everywhere. Or if you just strangle an enemy with your arms until they pass out. The animations, the sound, and the overall feel of it is really enjoyable.
Comment

Con
 Input lag can make the gameplay feel awkward

There is a slight delay between button presses and the on-screen actions. It can throw off your timing and/or break your rhythm, especially in high-intensity moments when split-second reactions are important. It seems weird something like this even passed QA since most modern titles have no input lag.
Comment

Pro
 You can choose your own play style

In Warframe, there are tons of weapons, both ranged and melee, that will let you fight however you like. Maybe you want to be a long-range sniper, or a massive melee beast with a huge hammer, or maybe you want to stick closer to the ninja tradition and use a sword and a bow. Whatever you prefer to play, Warframe has an option.
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Pro
 Great contact physics

Many online titles and MMOs feature combat with poor contact physics, so it often feels like you're not actually hitting the enemies. In Warframe, hitting an enemy with a hammer will make them fly and sliding at their legs will make them trip. This makes it feel more like a single player game than an online co-op game.
Comment

Pro
 Great selection of classes

In Warframe, you're able to play as one of the many Warframes, which are essentially character classes. You start off by choosing one of the three basic frames. Excalibur who specializes in swords and has an ability to equip an energy sword and shoot beams of energy. Volt who uses electricity to boost his damage, movement speed and attack speed. Or Mag, a frame specializing in magnetism and controlling the enemy. After that you can run missions to find plans for new ones, or purchase them with platinum (the real-money currency). There are currently more than 30 basic Warframes and their "Prime" variants, which are superior versions of the basic frames.
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Pro
 A huge array of weaponry

Warframe boasts over 300 weapons, split into 3 classes: Primary, Secondary, and Melee. Primary weapons are the big guns such as assault rifles, shotguns, bows, and grenade launchers. Secondary weapons are the sidearms, usually handguns, machine pistols, and thrown weapons. The melee weapons consist of swords (even katanas), hammers, fist weapons, scythes, and others. Most of the weapons have their own unique strengths and weaknesses. For example, the Simulor is a weapon which creates small balls similar to black holes, which pull in and kill enemies. Unfortunately, the range is very short, so you'll have to predict enemy movements and place the shots carefully. Another example is the Zarr, a massive canon, which has two firing modes, allowing you to use it as a canon or a shotgun. The downside is that you'll get damaged by your own explosions, so you have to always keep distance. The weapons can also be upgraded, adding various elemental damage types such as radiation or corrosion. You can also improve other stats such as rate of fire, crit or reload speed.
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Pro
 Fast-paced, space ninja action

Warframes are essentially space ninjas that can move incredibly fast. Just running won't be enough, so you'll have to build momentum by sliding, jumping, and rolling. Each of these moves also help you dodge enemy attacks, while allowing you to attack. It takes a while to get used to the fast pace, but when you do, it feels incredibly satisfying.
Comment

Con
 New content is poorly optimized

Warframe was released in 2012 and has received a lot of improvements over the years. This includes updating the old tilesets with new textures, which has caused a lot of performance drops. The prime example would be the Earth tileset update, which caused performance drops and made it unplayable to a lot of people, even though they could play normally before it.
Comment

Con
 Can get repetitive easily

At the very core, Warframe is a game that needs a lot of grinding. You'll always be grinding for new blueprints, relics, materials, credits or just leveling your existing equipment. After a while some of the mission types such as defense (where you fend of waves of enemies), will get really boring. Then it turns out the blueprint or relic is really rare and you'll probably have to repeat that mission about a hundred more times. Coupled with the fact that there's no real progression outside the Mastery Rank, some players may quickly lose interest.
Comment

Con
 Crafting new equipment takes really long

The crafting system in Warframe involves very long wait times, varying from 12 to 72 hours. The wait times can be be skipped by paying platinum (bought in the in-game store with real money), but most of the time it's not worth it.
Comment

Pro
 Intense boss fights

Even though the boss fights are packed with action, they also make you feel a bone-chilling helplessness. For example, in one of the fights you're trapped in the slaughterhouse. The door's locked and the boss is slowly walking towards you. One wrong move and you'll be decapitated by a chainsaw. It's extremely nerve-wracking to avoid it until you're able to take the boss down.
Comment

Pro
 Interesting story and characters

It's a lot of fun to uncover why the Baker family went mad and what happened to your missing girlfriend. The various memos, diary entries, and video tapes explain the events leading up to this. It should be enjoyable for both horror fans and other players as well.
Comment

Pro
 Pursuers make the game suspenseful

One of the boss enemies patrols most areas. If they spot you, they will chase you and try to kill you. It's hard to tell where they'll be, because it's very easy to lose track of them. This causes you to shudder every time you open a door or turn a corner. It's even worse when they sneak up on you and start cackling maniacally.
Comment

Con
 Regular enemies are very bland

The regular enemies are black goo people with claws. They have hardly any variation and even the crawling variants aren't very scary. It's really disappointing the developers didn't think to use any alligators (or other swamp creatures), with the game being set near a swamp.
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Pro
 Immersive exploration

The entire game is set in a massive mansion and its surrounding area. It's very quiet, spacious, and has many locked doors that will pique your interest. You'll gradually unlock more of the mansion, slowly uncovering its mysteries. This includes hidden passages, secret laboratories, and rotting cellars, hiding many dark secrets. You're never quite sure what to expect next, but that's what it keeps it fresh and exciting throughout the entire game.
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Pro
 Fixed camera angles create a cinematic experience

Resident Evil HD skillfuly balances visibility and tension with fixed camera angles. It can be the view from behind a fence as your character passes it by, giving you a sense of looming danger. It can be an upwards angle on a giant statue, making it seem more imposing. Or it can be the zoomed out view of a great hall to make the scale all the more impressive. Many details like this make Resident Evil HD more visually pleasing and atmospheric than most modern games.
Comment

Pro
 The puzzles feel just right

The developers have done a great job of balancing difficulty of the puzzles. You'll still have to look for clues, reading through documents and examining objects, but it won't ever feel daunting. It won't feel too easy either, giving you a sense of accomplishment when you open that secret passage or locked door.
Comment

Con
 Combat feels awkward at times

In various areas you won't be able to see the enemies on-screen because of the fixed camera angles. This might make combat somewhat unpleasant since you won't be sure if you're hitting the enemy or how far they are. The auto-aim function helps with that by pointing your character towards them, but you won't stay locked on, so you'll have to constantly readjust your aim.
Comment

Pro
 Solid gameplay

Even though the gameplay doesn't innovate, it's really solid. The controls are sharp, the guns feel great, and the stealth sections give it a refreshing amount of variation. All of this will keep you wanting to play a little more, providing your hours of entertainment.
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Pro
 Rewarding exploration

In most modern shooters you just rush through very linear set pieces, shooting waves upon waves of enemies. Wolfenstein: The New Order rewards you for taking the time to explore. You can find many collectibles, secrets, and even hidden paths, giving you easier/safer methods of clearing a level.
Comment

Pro
 Well written and acted characters

While the overarching storyline isn't anything noteworthy, the characters in it stand out due to great voice acting and surprisingly well-written lines. You'll actually enjoy listening to the characters talk, cracking jokes, and contemplating moral dilemmas, causing you to want to learn more about them. This is especially the case with the main character. You'll empathize with his situation and motivations, making you feel a deeper connection than with most modern FPS protagonists.
Comment

Con
 Dual wield feels out of place

Using two guns at the same time, while a cool concept does not feel fully fleshed out in this title. It is often cumbersome and does not wield great results in firefights, which asks the question of why it was included.
Comment

Con
 Dynamic resolution might feel distracting

When there's a lot of on-screen action the resolution will get scaled down to keep the gameplay running at 60 frames per second. This doesn't happen too often, but it might feel a little distracting since it feels like your vision is going blurry.
Comment

Pro
 Lets you roleplay matrix-like battles

The coolest thing about this mechanic is it essentially lets you role play matrix-like battles with you dodging bullets, slicing bullets out of mid-air with a katana and an assortment of other badass things to do.
Comment

Pro
 Awesome time-based mechanic

In Superhot time only goes forward when you move. This turns the gameplay into something closer to a puzzle game as you need to be very calculated with every move you make.
Comment

Pro
 Tons of unlockables

There are many different modes and secrets to unlock in the game, also small easter eggs and references everywhere, adding some replayability to this game.
Comment

Pro
 Minimalistic yet beneficial art style

The art style in the game is very cool and minimalistic while actually serving to make the game easier to understand and play. The gameplay in Superhot relies on you being able to react properly to your environment, and the art choices make it really easy to understand what is going on around you.
Comment

Con
 Short story mode

Although there are plenty of other modes with a lot of variety, the story mode can typically be beaten in around 2 hours.
Comment

Pro
 Every purchase comes with a free friend pass

After buying the game, you can send your friend a free game pass so they can play with you online without having to purchase the game themself.
Comment

Pro
 Encourages making decisions together as a couch co-op team

Many parts of the game will require you to make a story decision as a team, which results in some really engaging co-op choices. The two main characters, Vincent and Leo, will oftentimes have very different ideas about how to accomplish certain tasks. For instance, when sneaking past a police blockade, Vincent wants to plow through the patrol with brute force, while Leo prefers to sneak under the bridge. Since Vincent and Leo have to stick together for gameplay reasons, it will most likely spark a lively discussion with your friend as how to best proceed. These kind of choices are prevalent throughout the whole game, which results in some seriously fun chats with your friend as you weigh the pros of cons of each decision.
Comment

Pro
 Extremely immersive by focusing solely on the two main characters

Jumping into the roles of Vincent and Leo with a friend, and forming a bond with these characters is an easy and painless experience. The game goes out of it's way to make sure almost everything is focused on Vincent and Leo, the dynamics of their relationship, and how their story plays out. The growth and development of the duo is always center stage. There's no unnecessary side plots or needless filler characters. The entire adventure takes place as one seamless journey with no detours. Since you and your friend have full control over each and every decision made by the duo, and will be working together at all times, it can truly feel like stepping into a role.
Comment

Pro
 The team based action gameplay is just plain fun

Everything in the game is structured to be one big cooperative experience that will have you and friend relying on one another to get things done. Since the game relies on mostly simple mechanics, there's very little frustration involved, and that leaves a whole lot of room for fun. Sitting next to each other on the couch as you plan and coordinate each and every move between the two playable characters can be a really enjoyable gaming session. In one section, you'll be climbing up an elevator shaft together by coordinating quicktime button presses. In another, one player will be driving while the other is shooting from the back of the vehicle. Some sections will involve one player watching for guards while the other carries out objectives like unscrewing wall panels or sneaking around. You can boost each other up ledges and even row a boat together down a raging river. In all of this, there is a huge emphasis on simple teamwork and simply "talking it out" as opposed to bloated or tricky mechanics. Most of the actions in the game involve only a few quick button presses, but the level of teamwork and communication involved in playing out each and every scenario is where this co-op experience truly shines.
Comment

Pro
 Has side fun if you want to + good story

This game has some fun on the side which doesn't contribute to the story but is fun anyways, its optional to do. The story about these two characters is very well planned and is kick in the balls over and over kind of game because when one shocker comes another hits even harder.
Comment

Con
 A particular portion of the game can be disappointing

There's a section in the latter part of the game that devolves into a drawn-out action shooter devoid of story or much plot development. It doesn't have the fun cooperative gameplay puzzles that the rest of the game has, so it can feel like a weak point in otherwise enjoyable adventure.
Comment

Con
 Split screen dialogue overlaps

If your friend is having a dialogue in his section of the split screen while you're having a conversation in yours, the dialogue will overlap resulting in a confusing vocal mess.
Comment

Con
 Some boring QTEs

While the game does have a wide variety of different quicktime events with varying mechanics, a few are nothing more than mashing a single button as fast as you can. During activities such as arm wrestling, there's nothing too exciting about smashing the same button over and over.
Comment

Pro
 The infighting of voices in Senua's head is unnerving

The many voices in Senua's head, all with their own unique personalities, showcase her struggles with psychosis, with the voices either taunting Senua, picking at her weaknesses, or encouraging her to stand her ground and fight. They can also be useful in battle, with some voices warning Senua to look out behind her as a new enemy spawns and readies to attack her. Constant exposure to these voices is unsettling, because their constant back and forth with praise or insults can take a toll on you after a while. Playing with headphones on is a must in order to feel the full experience of the voices and how well they blend into the gameplay.
Comment

Pro
 Compelling main character

Bolstered by an award-winning performance from Melina Juergens, The story constantly pushes Senua to her limits, both through the innumerable enemies who challenge her and the voices in her head that mock her to give up her impossible journey. She is an incredibly vulnerable character who fights on with her many fears and doubts, showing a different type of protagonist in the gaming landscape.
Comment

Pro
 Intense boss fights

Though few in number, the boss battles in Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice are a testament to how brutal the game's combat can be, with menacing boss designs and distorted arenas that inspire true fear in their intensity. These fights put Senua's skills as a warrior to the test with telegraphed moves that she must react to swiftly, along with tight windows of opportunity for her to wound the enemy. With no UI elements for health bars, neither for Senua nor the enemies she faces, these boss fights are an exercise of patience and mettle, giving an adrenaline-filled sense of satisfaction after a hard-fought victory.
Comment

Pro
 Powerful environments and atmosphere

Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice boasts a beautiful, yet haunted atmosphere that evokes powerful feelings of awe, with towering mountains that stretch on for miles, lakes that glitter in the sunset glow and reflect the intimidating architecture of the Norse halls throughout the environment.
Comment

Pro
 Amazing voice acting

Melina Juergens gives a riveting performance that showcases the full range of Senua's rage, vulnerability and introspection throughout her journey. Each tremble of fear in Senua's voice and her sharp cries of pain in battle further highlight her determination to reach her goal, pressing onward in the face of insurmountable obstacles.
Comment

Con
 Shallow combat

Although the enemy and boss designs are top-notch, the moment-to-moment swordplay with Senua isn't as deep as it could have been. Simple presses of light attacks and heavy attacks mixed in with blocks, strafes and rolls are most of what the combat has to offer. Occasionally an enemy will be blacked out and unable to take damage, and Senua can use her Focus ability to rectify this and continue attacking normally. On one hand, it's realistic that Senua's sword fights are to-the-point, but from a gameplay perspective, things can get dull rather quickly.
Comment

Con
 Too many puzzles

Because those with psychosis are adept at pattern recognition, Senua's strength with patterns translates into puzzles to solve throughout the linear world, but they're far too numerous and overstay their welcome quite early on. They often break the pace of exploration, with too many instances of Senua needing to loop around a small area several times in order to align shadows or illusory portals to open up the path to the next area.
Comment

Pro
 Great fun for Marvel fans

LEGO Marvel Super Heroes not only uses the most popular Marvel characters, but also some of the lesser-known heroes, such as Moon Knight. It feels nice to finally see them in a video game. Most of the Marvel characters are accurately depicted (albeit in their LEGO forms). This allows you to further immerse yourself into the crossover story on par with the ones found in the comics.
Comment

Pro
 Very addictive to collect the playable characters

LEGO Marvel Super Heroes has more than 130 playable characters, such as Wolverine, Spiderman, Iron Man, Deadpool. Their abilities are varied enough that you'll keep wanting to try out new characters. This will keep you completing various missions and collecting tokens around the LEGO city. You'll have unlocked most of them before you know it only to realize how much time has passed already.
Comment

Con
 Simplistic repetitive gameplay

The gameplay hasn't changed much since LEGO Star Wars: The Video Game. It still has very simple beat-em-up style combat, having you mash the same buttons over and over, which can grow tedious after a while.
Comment

Pro
 Immersive story

Developers have taken great care to make an interesting story, but what really pulls you in is the dialogue and character interactions. They're made great through excellent writing, stellar voice-overs, and great body language. The characters on-screen may feel like real people, so it's very easy to forget you're playing a game and not watching a TV series.
Comment

Pro
 Attention to detail in almost every facet of the game

The Witcher 3 is how an AAA title should play, sound, and feel like. Its deep combat, beautiful graphics, amazing sound, interesting quests, immersive story, and almost every other aspect of the game has a surprising amount of polish.
Comment

Pro
 Gigantic openworld

The total size of Witcher 3's world is about 52 square miles, which is 3.5 times larger than Skyrim and 1.5 times larger than Grand Theft Auto V. Thanks to the sheer size you feel like you're in a real world and not a constrained box.
Comment

Pro
 Choices matter

The Witcher 3 has three completely different endings. The decisions during main quests and side-quests affect how the endings play out, adding up 36 possible outcomes. It feels refreshing to actually impact your character's fate and not just trot along a path to an inevitable conclusion.
Comment

Pro
 Side quests are as good as the main quests

There are almost no lazy "go get me 12 turtle shells" quests in the Witcher 3 and you get to experience some amazing writing even in the most obscure side quests.
Comment

Pro
 Lots of random side quests

You can just walk around for hours, find abandoned structures, caves, etc and find interesting side quests to do.
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Pro
 Convenient ways to get around the massive world

The world is intimidatingly massive but thankfully there are ways to cut down on travel time. You can ride a horse, use a boat, or just simply fast travel to explored locations. This makes the experience more accessible and enjoyable as a whole.
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Con
 Story quests may feel like a chore

If you happen to enjoy doing side quests, you might end up overleveled for the story quests, allowing you to easily power through them. This may remove the challenge and enjoyment, causing it to feel like a chore, especially because the loot also remains low-level.
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Con
 Performance hiccups

Even though the frame rate is capped at 30 frames per second it often drops below that. You also might experience long load times or textures not loading fully in some areas.
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Pro
 Challenging combat mechanics

The combat mechanics in this game require much more thinking-through than in the previous AC games. There's almost no chance to easily defeat multiple enemies at once, you need to block, parry, and know when to change your weapon. You have the ability to either deal a huge one-hit blow or supercharge your weapon by maxing out an adrenaline bar.
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Pro
 Choose from a variety of stealth tricks

While sneaking around in AC Origins is mostly simple crouching in the bushes and hiding behind the trees or buildings, the stealthy killing and distraction part is really varied and fun. For instance, you can get the Predator Bow that lets you remotely steer your arrows after firing them, even get them to turn around a corner. The natural day/night cycle encourages you to use the darkness to hide your approach and take on the guards when there are likely less of them awake. You can also use sleep and poison darts, or open the enclosures of the animals so that they create distractions and even attack your enemies. You can even take control of your pet eagle and scout an area beforehand, allowing you to mark enemies. When control returns to your character, you'll be able to see the marks even through walls.
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Pro
 A vibrant and enticing world

AC Origins story unfolds in a pretty rare setting of Ancient Egypt under the rule of Cleopatra and Julius Caesar. The world feels alive and atmospheric with its diverse scenery and it just begs to be explored. You can run through bustling monumental cities, traverse the vast sandy deserts on the back of a camel or a horse, get some rest in a lush green palm tree-lined oasis, float down the Nile in a little dinghy - all this moving around rewards you with breathtaking and sometimes unexpected views, be it a golden pyramid or a rampaging horde of hippos. The map is massive, but it doesn't feel overwhelming because the movement is fast-paced, so much so that you can easily choose to avoid fast-travel. The setting, especially in the cities with their marble palaces, hieroglyph-covered obelisks, and sandstone monuments, lends itself well to the usual for Assassin's Creed climbing and free running.
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Pro
 Interesting stories make questing fun

Like in most RPGs, the quests in AC Origins can feel a little grindy, but this time you might not even notice it until you're deep into the game. Each quest is layered and wrapped in a different story, which adds to the overall lore of the game and hides the fact that it's still your basic "go kill the bad guy" or "get me this amount of that thing". A quite straightforward-looking quest might turn out to be anything but.
Comment

Con
 Unreliable features may get in the way of combat

The fast-paced battles can be even harder due to some features not working reliably. For example, you can lock on a specific target in a group, and that works well for sneaky bow attacks, but in close combat there's an issue with switching between the targets.
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Pro
 Freedom to do anything you want

Even aside from the many missions, there are dozens of other things you can do. This includes activities like playing tennis, going skydiving, watching a movie in the cinema, managing your businesses to earn tons of money, going hunting in the mountains, or just simply exploring the map while taking in the sights. Whatever you decide to do it's very easy to lose track of time. Mostly because it feels like a giant sandbox where you're allowed to do anything and simply have fun.
Comment

Pro
 Massive world

It's very easy to get lost in GTA V's world both figuratively and literally. It's partly because of the sheer size of 35 square miles, allowing you to spend hours just walking, driving, or even flying around the map. It's also because of the many beautiful sights you get to see, causing you to often stop and take it all in. So it doesn't matter if you're walking along a beach packed with people, biking around a dimly lit city, cruising down a highway next to the ocean, or just hiking on the forested mountains, GTA V's world feels like a real place you can explore endlessly.
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Pro
 Great story wrapped around in biting and relevant social commentary

GTA V's story portrays the many reasons why criminals still exist in modern society, focusing on serious topics like corruption, greed, hypocrisy, and even the abuse of power. However, it's not all serious since it has its fair share of wacky moments, satirizing many aspects of modern society. This includes social media, consumerism, and even our growing inability to focus on important issues. All of this creates an engaging and thought-provoking story.
Comment

Con
 Multiplayer is overrun by hackers

During online play you'll encounter hackers who have infinite money, can spawn any vehicle of their choice, and many other things, which reduces the fun quite a bit. What's even worse is that by interacting with the hackers you can get banned immediately without any additional investigations on the developer's part.
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Pro
 Incredible sound design

From gigantic booms and explosions to the quiet, more nuanced details of rain or the wind flying past you, this game sounds amazing.
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Pro
 Ability to drive around the Batmobile

Arkham Knight has the open world aspect of the previous game but has now introduced the Batmobile for use on the street with a full weapon loadout. It's fast, beautiful, controls well, and converts into a tank for some combat missions that are almost as fun as the standard hand-to-hand combat. The moment when you rocket off a ramp and shoot a hundred feet into the air out of the driver's seat into a glide over skyscrapers... it's great.
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Pro
 Large city to explore

A large city comprised of three separate islands makes up the area playable in game. It's filled with side missions and collectibles, giving you a reason to explore outside the story missions while also making the city of Gotham feel alive.
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Pro
 A pretty great story

Takes inspiration from so many areas of past Batman lore and creates a more interesting interpretation of a classic story. There's some pacing issues occasionally and it goes on a little too long at points, but is more than redeemed by a compelling overall plot, excellent voice acting, and interesting characters.
Comment

Pro
 Excellent free-flow combat system

Batman: Arkham Knight still uses the combat system pioneered in the very first Arkham game, but with various improvements. It is intuitive, highly responsive and supplemented with power-ups, combos and ability to use gadgets to add variety and depth.
Comment

Con
 You need to collect every single Riddler trophy/challenge to get the "true" ending

Some people don't mind the Riddler missions, but it can definitely become annoying for others.
Comment

Con
 Lackluster, short DLC story missions

Don't buy the season pass unless you can find it on sale. It's not bad, but not worth an extra $20, and certainly not the $40 it cost before price drop. (FYI, you get a complete experience without the DLC - it truly is extra content, not main game content cut out and repackaged.)
Comment

Con
 Detective Mode investigation segments and the like are still boring and not good

Sometimes to push the plot forward the game will force you to do some "investigating," which basically comes down to a stupidly easy 'Where's Waldo?' minigame. It's not bad, but it doesn't really add much to the experience and feels kinda like a waste of time.
Comment

Pro
 A great variety of weapons to choose from

There are 14 weapon types total, primarily split into melee weapons and ranged weapons. This includes dual blades, longswords, bows, bowguns, and even hybrids called gunlances. Each weapon type has its strengths, weaknesses, unique combos, and even upgrade paths. For example, the dual blades allow you to move faster, chain quick combos, and enter a “demon mode”, which let you to deal more damage. The downside is that the dual blades have a short reach, so you have to be willing to throw yourself into danger by staying as close to the monster as possible. Another example, the bowgun, can be used to fight monsters at a safe distance and multiple ammo types, tailored for specific monsters and situations. The downside is that reloading leaves you defenseless, ammo can run out, and being too close or too far to the monster reduces the damage effectiveness. As a result, there’s enough variety and depth that most players will be able to find a weapon that suits their playstyle.
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Pro
 Awesome graphics

The graphics look simply stunning, featuring very detailed environments with a great amount of flora, accompanied by great lighting and shadow mapping. The monster designs are especially noteworthy, allowing you to make out even the tiniest details on scales, feathers, and claws. All of this is brought to life by a very vibrant color palette, making the game a treat for the eyes.
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Pro
 Dynamic and immersive world

You're not just stepping into an arena to fight monsters, you're entering a living and breathing world where monsters go about their daily lives - eating, fighting, hunting, and resting. It's very interesting seeing carnivores assault a flock of herbivores or two winged creatures having a territorial dispute mid-air. These type of events considerably add to the immersion, making you truly feel like a hunter that's intruding upon an ecosystem.
Comment

Pro
 Engaging crafting-based progression system

Monster Hunter: World is considered an action-RPG, but you don't level up or learn any new skills like in most RPGs. Instead, progression is heavily reliant on your skills as a player and the crafting system, requiring you to craft gear to improve your character. This creates an unusual gameplay loop where you hunt monsters, collect their body parts, and use them as materials to craft better gear, allowing you to hunt even stronger monsters. If you can't beat a monster, you either need to get better at fighting the monster or improve your gear. When you finally beat the monster, it's thanks to your skill and effort as a player, which feels both rewarding and gratifying.
Comment

Pro
 Exhilarating hunting gameplay

MH:W is a game about hunting wyverns, dragons, and many other monsters. You track them down in their natural habitat, be it a giant forest, a valley littered with dead bodies, or an active volcano, engaging them in combat that quickly turns in a struggle for survival. You use any weapon or tool at your disposal to kill or subdue the monster, while it relentlessly chases you, slashing with its claws, biting you, swiping with its tail, and using any breath attack it may have. Sometimes the monster might even try to escape, forcing you to chase it. Or it might become enraged, causing it to attack you more ferociously. As a result, you always have to be on your toes and react accordingly, which makes it a really thrilling experience.
Comment

Con
 Frustratingly difficult at times

Even though MH:W has been made slightly more accessible to new players of the series, it still has some of the most difficult combat seen in games with a very steep learning curve. You need to memorize the various map layouts, as well as each monster's habits, attack patterns, and weaknesses, to make beating them even remotely possible. It might also take while before you fully master your weapon of choice because the tutorials are too basic, instructing you just on basic controls and combos. Even when you finally manage to beat a difficult monster, your short-lived triumph will soon turn into dread, causing you to wonder about how difficult the next monster is gonna be.
Comment

Pro
 Allows players to create their private military company

Throughout the game, you will be trying to rebuild your private military company. Your base of operations is the "Mother Base", which is a giant structure similar to an oil rig. You can expand it and add new facilities such as Research and Development. You'll also be managing your personnel, allowing you to recruit (capture) enemy soldiers and assign them work in their area of expertise. This can be research, development, various upkeep tasks around the base or earning resources out in the field. All of these things truly make you feel like you're running a PMC.
Comment

Pro
 Freedom in approaching a mission

Metal Gear Solid V gives players multiple choices on how to approach a mission. You can choose to use stealth, taking out enemies only when it's absolutely necessary. You can run in guns blazing, killing everyone on sight. You can get on a high vantage point and take out everyone with a sniper rifle. Or you can call in air support to do all the work for you. The choice is up to you and the game doesn't penalize you for sticking to a single way. This helps keep the gameplay fresh for a long time.
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Pro
 Large assortment of weapons and tools

MGS V has a lot of weapons, including pistols, shotguns, machine guns, and sniper rifles. There are both lethal and non-lethal variants, allowing you to find something suitable for any playstyle. There are also many tools such as the Fulton device, which allows you to capture enemy soldiers and animals, sending them to your base. It's a ton of fun experimenting with new gadgets.
Comment

Pro
 Reflex system helps you stay unnoticed

Time will slow down for a short time if you're spotted by an enemy. This allows you to take them out before they can sound the alarm or alert other soldiers. This is quite refreshing compared to other stealth games, where messing up means an immediate end to being stealthy.
Comment

Pro
 Enemy AI adapts to your playstyle

The enemy will pick up on your habits and react accordingly. For example, if you use tranq darts to knock enemies out, they will try to wake up their comrades at first. Do this for a couple of missions and they'll immediately run to sound the alarm when they spot someone knocked out. This way the game expertly keeps you out of the comfort zone, having the later missions feel as tense as the first.
Comment

Con
 High learning curve

MGS V can feel really overwhelming at the start. First the controls have various nuances such as different ways of crawling. Then you get a bunch of mechanics thrown at you, such as stealth, base managment, etc. It will take quite a while until you can fully enjoy the game.
Comment

Con
 Micro transactions make multiplayer pay-to-win

You can buy bundles of in-game currency, which can be used to gain an advantage in multiplayer. This makes multiplayer not fun for the players who don't intend on spending extra money. It also makes it boring for the ones who spend the money. Both of these things negatively impact the longevity of the multiplayer. Some of the bundles go for $79.99, which is more than the game's price. It's sad seeing Konami milk their fans with microtransactions like this.
Comment

Pro
 A lot of different activities

Apart from the main storyline (curing the Demon-cursed areas by looking for guardian sprouts and letting them bloom), there are ample employment opportunities – characters in this mythological Japan need all kinds of help, so you'll get a lot of missions and sidequests. The paintbrush techniques get a lot of use in these missions as well, for solving riddles and puzzles. You might need to win a race to get a guard's mask back to him, look for a lost bunny, or defeat a bunch of demons so that a drunk guy could keep his name as the best warrior in the land. Or you can just fish or feed cute animals. Some sidequests need to be at least partly done to move the story along, some of them are totally optional. However, every good deed restores your status as a God: if you do good in the game, you get points, which can then be used to increase your health or the amount of ink you can carry, and that keeps the player motivated.
Comment

Pro
 Unique and breathtakingly beautiful art style

The unusual art style takes inspiration from traditional Japanese woodblock paintings, called Ukiyo-e. Crisp black contour lines and explosions of color after successfully bringing back life into the world give a constant impression of being inside a work of art: every tree, every building, and every figure looks like it was painted with ink.
Comment

Pro
 Large, enchanting, and atmospheric world

Õkami, though not an open-world game, still has a vast map, consisting of seven regions and numerous subregions. You have an opportunity to explore all of Japan and experience everything the country has to offer, going from tall dense forests, over the picturesque coasts, to frosty mountains. Along the way, you’ll find history, rooted in Japanese mythology, and you'll meet a lot of imaginative characters. Some of them might only keep you company for a few missions, but you still get invested in their stories and development.
Comment

Pro
 Unusual and one-of-a-kind combat methods

Throughout the game, you can use three types of melee weapons: mirrors, rosaries, and swords. Each one can be used to weave combos in tandem with your character's acrobatic movements, smashing or slashing the demons you encounter. The real highlight of Õkami, however, are the paintbrush techniques, which can be used for attacking enemies or manipulating the environment. You simply select your paintbrush, which slows the game's speed to a crawl, allowing you to draw anywhere on the screen. For example, drawing a single line over a demon or object will slash it, drawing a circle in the sky will cause the sun to rise, and drawing a path from a body of water will create a waterspout. You don’t need to draw the lines perfectly, it is enough to roughly match the required drawing. It's a really fun and creative way of fighting normally not seen in games.
Comment

Con
 Long unskippable cutscene at the start

Right at the start, there is a ~18-minute long, slow cutscene that you can't skip. Later there are some more cutscenes, but these can be fast-forwarded through.
Comment

Con
 Indiscernible dialogue voice-over can be grating

The voice-over was done by actors actually saying the text that's shown in the dialogue box, but then the recording was speeded up and resulted in a cartoon-like gibberish. These high-pitched voices can become quite annoying over the 40-60 hours of gameplay, luckily, the voice-over can be turned off in the settings.
Comment

Pro
 Great combat system

Dark Souls 3 is a very fast-paced game but it's not just about having quick reflexes. A lot of the combat comes down to exploiting your enemies. To do that, you have to learn their patterns and attack the moment they pause or perform a telegraphed attack. This creates a combat system, which rewards awareness and patience, and is satisfying to master, even if you don't have extraordinary reflexes.
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Pro
 Can give a great feeling of accomplishment

The Dark Souls series is known for its difficulty and Dark Souls 3 is no exception. It's filled with difficult enemies and tough boss battles, able to cause you grief on more than one occasion. However, every time you progress to the next safe spot or defeat a boss you'll often be filled with a mix of joy and relief. Beating this game will almost certainly feel like an achievement.
Comment

Con
 It's hard

You should try avoiding the trap of great review scores since most of them fail to mention the difficulty. It's simply put - hard. A lot of the combat requires quick reflexes, good mechanics, and the mental fortitude to carry on after failing for hours. If you're new to the Souls-like genre or simply want to enjoy a relaxing evening playing a video game, you most likely won't enjoy Dark Souls III.
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Pro
 Stunning environments

The world of Dark Souls 3 looks amazing, so you may often feel the need to stop and take in the beautiful sights. This can be the sheer size of structures, mountains, or caves. It can also be the decorations, inscriptions, or details in a room. There's always so much to look at, allowing you to truly immerse yourself in its world.
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Pro
 Solid controls

This game feels and plays really well. Your character responds to button inputs immediately and it almost never feels like you're losing control over it. The control scheme can also be customized, giving you the option of a more personalized experience.
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Pro
 A great variety of equipment for almost any playstyle

You'll be finding new pieces of equipment quite often, giving you many options to choose from. Each one has its strengths and weaknesses, allowing you to pick the equipment that best suits your playstyle. For example, heavy armor will make you move slower, but you'll be better protected. Greatswords have a wide reach, but you swing them really slow. Conversely a dagger is very fast but it has a horrible reach.
Comment

Pro
 Unpredictable boss battles

The boss battles in Dark Souls 3 consist of several phases, changing up how the bosses fight over the course of the battle. They will gain new abilities, become more aggressive, or reveal various nasty surprises. This creates an enjoyable experience that is different from most modern games where bosses are just glorified pincushions.
Comment

Con
 Poorly tuned dynamic visiblity

You may notice some texture pop in while sharply turning the camera. It can be somewhat distracting if you notice it, but most of the time you won't because it happens in the distance.
Comment

Con
 Occasional performance issues

There are portions of the game that will have noticeable framerate drops, which can negatively affect the gameplay. Most of the fault lies with the game engine, so getting a PS4 Pro won't help that much.
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Pro
 The unique opportunity to fight alongside characters from the show and manga

You can recruit characters from the show and manga to help you in combat. While you can't control them directly, having them in your group allows to you unleash powerful combat buffs on-demand such as attack power increases and one shot kills. This provides a fun aspect to gameplay where you feel like you're engaged in fighting the Titans alongside well-known characters from the anime without having to micromanage too many things. At the same time, you'll still be getting all the benefits and excitement of playing with a group of anime heroes.
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Pro
 There's a secret ending that's not in the anime, which puts a new spin on the story

There's a secret, special ending for gamers that's different from the ending in the season 2 anime. Even if you've seen the anime, you'll still have the opportunity to see the story conclude in a new way.
Comment

Pro
 Sneak attacks are a fun risk/reward stealth mechanic

Choosing whether or not to unleash a sneak attack before the Titans notice you can be great fun when you pull it off, but downright hazardous when you mess up. It's a risk/reward system that allows for some rather interesting stealth strategy in an otherwise action-heavy game. Sneak attacks allow you to instantly kill or severely wound a Titan (provided they haven't seen you yet). However, if you mess up or botch the attack, the Titan will become instantly enraged. This makes them stronger and incredibly dangerous to fight.
Comment

Pro
 Using bases on the map, you can customize a unique strategy for your playstyle

Deciding what base to build is up to you, with each providing it's own benefit. This leaves a lot of room open for your own personal playstyle and strategy based on the battle at hand. Bases can be used for offense, defense, or supply generation. For example, if you find you're always running low on blades and gas, you could put up a Supply Base to give you a steady stream of resources. Other bases include cannons and turrets which can be used to provide cover or attack the Titans from long range.
Comment

Pro
 Control is easy to maintain during combat thanks to target locking

You can swap and lock onto targets at will. Even though you'll be wildly attacking and zipping around the air in aerial acrobatics, control of where your attacks will land is easy to maintain. Whether you're attacking the arms, legs, or head of the massive Titans, you'll be able to lock on to your chosen body part. This locking allows you to focus your damage with precision and control, resulting in smooth and refined combat.
Comment

Pro
 Incredibly fun aerial combat

The combat has a satisfying feel to it that never grows stale, so even after the long campaign, it still feels fresh. It's fast paced, fun, and zipping through the air never loses its appeal. Just like in the anime, you wear a jetpack type item called the ODM (Omni-Directional Mobility). It's what you'll be using to perform aerial maneuvers and fling yourself across levels. It makes you move incredibly quickly, so the combat has a very fast paced feel to it. Once you've got a Titan in your sights, you can lock onto 1 of 5 attack points on it's body such as the arms or legs. Using the ODM, you'll send out hooks that latch on to your target as you launch yourself into the air. From there, you can bounce around, almost like a bungee cord, between the open air and your target as you time your weapon strikes for maximum damage. You can also swap targets midair, such as going for an instant kill neck hit. This results in some impressive aerial combat.
Comment

Con
 Story mode has a lot of repeated content from the first game

Majority of the story mode in Attack on Titan 2 is simply a retelling of the first game. This is perfectly fine for people new to the series, but if you've played the first game, prepare to see hours of the exact same cut scenes and boss fights before you get to the new stuff.
Comment

Con
 Your main playable character feels like a secondary thought rather than the main focus

You are nothing more than a trainee that lives to serve the other characters. When interacting with them, there's no consistency in the dialogue options. Nor is there anything to denote your character has any kind of unique personality at all. It's hard to form an attachment or become invested to your character when you're just a "Yes Man" for the NPCs if you want to learn combat skills.
Comment

Con
 The friendship system and skill unlocking is extremely one-dimensional

Skills are unlocked by forming friendships with other characters. Choosing the "wrong" dialogue option during interactions prevents you from building this reputation, thus locking you out of certain skills. For example, if an NPC is bragging about how awesome he is, you either have to agree to appease him or else you'll lose out on valuable combat skills.
Comment

Pro
 Entertaining combat

Shadow of Mordor has very fast-paced combat, allowing you to have exciting fights with groups of orcs. You parry, you counter, you roll, and you slash away at the orcs with your sword. You even have supernatural abilities that give you an edge in a bad situation. For example, after stunning an enemy with Wraith Stun, you can perform a devastating combo that kills the enemy. The same ability can be upgraded to affect every enemy in an area, so it can also be used to escape losing battles or exact justice on all of them. Regardless of your methods, you always feel like the dominant force, which makes it all the more satisfying to ruthlessly skewer helpless orcs.
Comment

Pro
 Enjoyable preparation element

Bosses in this game have different immunities and weaknesses to in-game skills. For example, a boss can be immune to takedowns, but can also be vulnurable to fire, so it's best to have a flame-infused weapon ready to fight him effectively. This makes preparation very important to succeed, sometimes even requiring you to mix up your playstyle and fighting methods. Because every enemy requires a different approach, it can help the gameplay stay fresh for a longer time.
Comment

Pro
 Great stealth combat mechanics

In Shadow of Mordor there are various ways you can kill enemies while staying unnoticed. You can simply sneak around by staying low, breaking line of sight behind walls and carts, backstabbing orcs when you sneak up on them. You can climb walls and traverse building roofs, dropping onto unsuspecting orcs while impaling them. You can even use supernatural abilities or wait for nightfall to make you even stealthier. All of this coupled with Shadow of Mordor's very smooth controls, makes being stealthy really enjoyable.
Comment

Pro
 Mind control mechanic that adds depth to tactics

Players can mind control orcs to call upon them in battle, turning a one-vs-many battle, into a more evenly balanced showdown. You can even use your makeshift allies as fodder, allowing you to sneak up on unsuspecting enemies in the heat of battle and take them out instantly. It's up to you to decide when and how to use the orcs, giving the battles a decent amount of tactical depth.
Comment

Con
 Extremely repetitive

The game can begin to feel like a chore after 3 hours. Every area has the same missions, requiring you to unlock towers, kill/dominate that orc, or defend/attack a base. There isn't much change over the course of the game, so it can feel pretty disappointing if you're expecting more variety.
Comment

Con
 Unskippable cutscenes interrupt gameplay

Every time an orc leader enters the screen, there is an unskippable cutscene where he rambles a bit, focusing the camera on him and halting combat until the cutscene ends. This usually happens as you're fighting another enemy, potentially disrupting your rhythm, which can be really frustrating, especially if mess up your combo or take an unnecessary hit after the cutscene.
Comment

Con
 Progressing through the storyline can be confusing

While excessive hand-holding in games is bad, you might get lost in this game with no idea what to do next. This is mostly because the game almost never tells you what you should be doing, so it's up to you to find out, which can sometimes result in you aimlessly running around an area for up to an hour. Anyone looking for a more directed experience might not like Shadow of Mordor that much.
Comment

Pro
 Feels great to play

Shovel Knight has very colorful pixelated graphics, a decent chiptune soundtrack, excellent 8-bit sound effects, and the controls feel really fluid and responsive. So whether you’re just running through a castle, shoveling away at gems in a tunnel, or even jumping on a dragon’s head, Shovel Knight is a blast to play.
Comment

Pro
 A unique experience

Shovel Knight has 2D pixel art, a simple gameplay, and a retro feel. It stands out in an era dominated by 3D titles with super detailed graphics and convoluted gameplay because of its influences from classics like Zelda, Castlevania, Duck Tales, and even Super Mario Bros. It’s not just trying to cash in on the nostalgia of older players because it’s a game that can be enjoyed by anyone thanks to its polish.
Comment

Pro
 Pretty fun risk versus reward system

In each stage, there are multiple checkpoints you can revive at if you die. The twist is that you can destroy the checkpoints for extra treasure. Doing this also means you’ll have to start from the beginning of the stage if you die. It’s a pretty cool way to increase difficulty and add tension to a playthrough, especially because it’s never forced on you.
Comment

Con
 Can be frustrating

While Shovel Knight captures a lot of SNES era’s good parts, it also brings back some of the bad parts. It's mostly the hidden enemies that attack you as soon as you approach their hiding spots, causing you to take needless damage or even die. This adds a really tedious trial and error aspect that forces you to memorize all enemy placements just so you can beat a stage. In addition to dealing with the enemies, the timing of jumps or using special skills at the right moment adds to the frustration. Press the button too early or too late and you'll end up back at the start of a platforming section or worse, dead.
Comment

Pro
 Your teammates have cool specialties to help you with missions

You get to choose which of your teammates to bring along for missions, each with their own different specialties. You have regular human teammates who have their own weapons like stealthy bows and arrows or powerful rocket launchers, but then you also have three animals to choose from. There's a dog that runs ahead and marks enemies for you, a cougar that takes down enemies with stealth kills, and a huge bear that tears at anything in its path. If you want to take a certain approach for a mission, your teammate's specialty can help you out.
Comment

Pro
 You can explore however you want while still making story progress

You have a lot of freedom to do whatever you want while still making progress with the story as you go. You're part of the Resistance against the game's violent cult, so you get what are called resistance points every time you take out one of their bases, kill a group you find out in the open, or just disrupt their operations in any way you can. Once you get enough points, that triggers the next boss in the story. This means can go wherever you want on the map right from the start without worrying about "falling behind" with the main plot. It's a cool system that really puts the open world gameplay first.
Comment

Pro
 Chaotic and destructive gameplay

The gameplay in Far Cry 5 is filled with firefights and tons of chaos everywhere. You have all types of guns, vehicles, and explosives that you can use in any situation, and so do your enemies, meaning every fight has bullets flying everywhere and explosions going off all over the place. You can do things like shooting down enemy helicopters and blowing up enemy bases whenever you want. Seeing the destruction everywhere you go is a lot of fun.
Comment

Pro
 Unique open world setting in rural America

The fictional location of Hope County, Montana in rural America is a new type of setting that looks realistic and works well for the game. It's a modern version of Montana with people who look like real residents of the area, and a bunch of small, shoddy buildings everywhere that are spread out across farmlands and forests. Not many games are set in these types of places, making this setting a breath of fresh air.
Comment

Pro
 You can co-op the whole campaign with a friend

You can bring a friend along with you for the single-player campaign through co-op. It's a great way to have fun with a friend if you don't want to play a dedicated multiplayer game. Just note your progress will only be saved to the host's playthrough, so the guest won't be able to continue alone from where the two of you left off.
Comment

Con
 The story is unfocused

Gameplay comes first in Far Cry 5 at the cost of a story that doesn't have much direction. The plot is disjointed because of how scattered the missions are in between your open world shenanigans. This might not be a problem for players who care more about gameplay, but anyone else who wants a meaty, polished story will probably be disappointed.
Comment

Con
 Your character is only an avatar without much presence

You can choose whether to have a male or female character, and you'll get to customize their clothes, but that's about everything you can do to make them feel like someone. Other characters just call you Deputy while they do all the talking, like filling you in on plot details and reacting to the story's events. You're very removed from the plot without getting to make any real decisions, like you're only along for the ride more than anything.
Comment

Pro
 Great espionage-based gameplay

The game really shines when the players find themselves needing to infiltrate somewhere to complete a mission. There's a myriad of ways to approach each situation and multiple outcomes depending on the approach. Hacking terminals, crawling through vents, and stealthily taking out enemies is what this game is all about. There is a tangible tension to every move because if the player is caught by one of the enemies, the mission may come to an unexpected halt.
Comment

Pro
 Engaging side quests

The side quests in Mankind Divided are almost as engaging as the main storyline. This is also helped by the fact that the NPCs who give these quests deliver their speeches in such a passionate way that makes you want to engage in their stories. Coupled with the fact that this game has a constantly-grey morality and it truly feels like the player has the fates of these people in their hands.
Comment

Pro
 Convincing atmosphere

The dystopian setting with permanent police presence and derogatory comments from average citizens creates a depressing atmosphere.
Comment

Con
 Side missions are hard to find

For people who want to complete every single side mission it can be hard to find them. They are given by NPCs which are differentiated from other, non-quest-giving NPCs by their name. Most are defined as "citizen", while those who have a quest to give have an actual name. However, the only way to find these quest givers is by running up to every person in the game which is very time consuming.
Comment

Con
 Storyline feels hurried

While the first chapter of the game is quite slow and intriguing, it starts to become clumsier and unnatural as the player goes through the missions. After heading out of Prague, the story starts to feel hurried. Characters are introduced and fall into the sidelines, only to return out of nowhere in crucial moments of the story with very little to no justification.
Comment

Con
 Relatively short

Mankind Divided is not as long as it should be. It can be completed in about 20 hours, and this is including most of the side quests. Doing just the main story would take even less than that.
Comment

Pro
 Stable gameplay

Unlike a few other games in the series, the games launch and subsequent playtime has been solid throughout. No server issues, no buggy play, everything works perfectly fine and the game is optimized quite admirably.
Comment

Pro
 Solid single player campaign that shows off many different stories from WW1

The single player campaign tells quite a few good stories, that are neither tied to one place or time, which allows the game to take the player through many different locales. This way the scenarios in the game stay fresh, both through graphical settings as well as overall story.
Comment

Pro
 Well composed audio that is every bit as informative as the graphics themselves

The high quality of distinctive audio in the game keeps the player well informed of happenings around them. By giving the player sound ques as to what else is happening in game, you can easily suss out what type of weapons are being used around you, where someone may be located, by the sound of their footsteps, as well as vehicles may be close.
Comment

Con
 Not historically accurate

World War I was full of trench warfare and you rarely went across no man's land (the space between your trench and the enemy trench). In Battlefield 1, there are barely any trenches, grenades are hard to get away from, and the bullet drop for snipers is too much.
Comment

Con
 Low recoil for what is supposed to be slow and old weapons (compared to modern day counterparts)

The recoil of the guns in game is quite fast for what are supposed to be pretty old and slow weapons. Most likely this off balance feel is caused by trying to make the game as accessible as possible. Sadly for those that would be interested in a more simulation like experience will be a bit disappointed.
Comment

Pro
 Rival teams have unique objectives and strategies

Rainbow Six Siege makes players' experience truly unique and engaging by giving both teams different perspective, tools, and objectives. Defenders have to hold their ground against enemy who can burst through walls at any moment. They can fortify the base using barricades and barbed wire, reinforcing doors and windows. The Attackers have to strategize, find the weakest spot in opponent's defence.
Comment

Pro
 Destructible environments make for a lot of fun

Even though you can't raze buildings to the ground, you can make considerable amounts of structural damage to them. You can destroy walls, floors, and various other objects in the environment using gunfire, explosions, or by just slamming something with your weapon. This is a lot of fun, especially when you're new to this game since everything will seem so amazing.
Comment

Pro
 Excellent slow-paced gameplay

Rainbow Six Siege is unlike most modern FPS games. Instead of a super fast, twitch-based gameplay, it focuses on a very slow, methodical, and tactical approach to combat. You'll carefully navigate a building, peeking around every corner, using gadgets to scout out rooms, rappelling on walls, and listening to every sound around you. It's less about just shooting first and more about finding the enemy while staying hidden yourself, which is a refreshing change in the over saturated competitive FPS genre.
Comment

Pro
 Great variety of playable classes

You can choose from 10 characters on each side (total of 20) to find the ones that suit your preference, or to explore new, unfamiliar aspects of the gameplay. As an example, there is Sledge who uses a hammer to break through walls, Flash who can blind the enemy with flash bombs, and Frost who can set up traps to neutralize enemies. Having such a wide variety of classes not only adds depth to the gameplay, but also keeps it interesting for a long time.
Comment

Con
 Ranked play can be discouraging

Not only does Rainbow Six Siege have a very steep learning curve, requiring you to learn map layouts, classes, weapons, and various gadgets, it also has a pretty volatile and demanding community. Even though you can play in ranked matches when you reach level 20, you'll probably get your butt kicked and get promptly flamed by your teammates. This is mostly because of the expectation that you should know everything about the game before you play ranked matches, which is only around the level 60 mark. If you happen to make the mistake of trying them before then, it might leave you with a bad memory that prevents you from wanting to try ranked play again.
Comment

Con
 Lacks single-player content

Rainbow Six Siege is mostly about competitive multiplayer, so it doesn't have a single player campaign, any meaningful storylines, or stuff do alone. If you don't enjoy playing versus other players, Rainbow Six Siege is not the game for you.
Comment

Pro
 It's got a hauntingly beautiful environment

NieR: Automata is set in a post-apocalyptic landscape after Earth has been overrun by hostile machines, and the artists really nailed what that would feel like. Abandoned and overgrown cities litter the landscape along with old refineries, graveyards, and eerie forests. When you add the beautiful soundtrack to the experience, it fills you with a bittersweet mix of loneliness and hope.
Comment

Pro
 An incredible amount of content

Outside of the main story, there's plenty of optional content to dive into. The side quests are the best way to get to know the characters and lore of the world, with some of them giving clever and subtle foreshadowing of the game's most critical events. There are also weapons to collect and upgrade, each of which offer nice little tidbits of lore after you get them to max level. And after reaching a certain point in the story, you get access to Chapter Select that lets you go back and replay whatever you want. You can easily spend 60+ hours exploring the world and still have much more to do.
Comment

Pro
 Fast-paced, action-packed combat

The combat in NieR: Automata is fantastic. It has a hack-and-slash feel to it, with an emphasis on agility and showy acrobatics. With the fluid and responsive controls, you can switch seamlessly from using swift attacks with your weapon to devastatingly strong attacks as you combo them together. You also use customizable ranged missile attacks from your personal robot pod, such as powerful laser beams or a giant hammer attack. It can be difficult to win battles sometimes, especially on the harder gameplay settings, but it's worthwhile to keep at it and watch yourself progress and improve.
Comment

Pro
 Unique storytelling with a real emotional impact

NieR: Automata's outlook on storytelling is incredibly special. To get the full experience, you have to run multiple playthroughs of the game, each of which offers a new experience and perspective. Your world view of the story events and characters expands drastically as you complete each playthrough, playing on your expectations to help you develop a deeper emotional bond with the protagonists and become invested in their plight. Things take a real turn on your third playthrough, putting you on an emotional roller coaster all the way to the true ending. The plot twists and knocks on the fourth wall elevate the story to a truly unique place. Getting all the way to the very end can be a religious experience from how much heart and meaning you discover in the symbolism.
Comment

Pro
 Varied genre-spanning gameplay elements

NieR: Automata has different types of gameplay to keep things interesting. From the very start, you're on an on-rails bullet hell section, and then you switch over to the more traditional action RPG style of fast-paced combat. Things change up again not long after with some side-scrolling platforming from a 2D view. Later on in the story, there's a hacking mini-game where you navigate a tiny ship through a short puzzle, with the music changing to a charming retro sound to fit the theme and mood. This is a game that doesn't stay boxed in a single genre.
Comment

Pro
 Gorgeous, ethereal soundtrack with amazing vocals

NieR: Automata's music is out of this world. It's so stunning and elegant in a way that nothing else can really live up to. The soundtrack manages to emotionalize the game through music, from the action-packed tracks with hard-hitting wind instruments and percussion, to the softer, somber songs that encapsulate the hauntingly beautiful environments and story moments you encounter. Vocals in the lore's indescribable language makes the music even more memorable, adding to the ethereal quality of the sound. This soundtrack is definitely one that you can go back to again and again without getting sick of it.
Comment

Con
 Limited open world

Even though NieR: Automata is technically an open world game, it doesn't always feel like it. It's more that there's a big open space in the center of the ruined city you explore, with branches that lead off to vastly different environments, like a desert, a village, and a few other places. These locations aren't that spacious, either, and it's a bit of a stretch to even imagine all of these places being so close together in the first place. It's not too much of an issue as long as you find the story and combat engaging enough.
Comment

Con
 Second playthrough can get repetitive

Once you get to Route B, your second playthrough, you may find that too much is the same. There are some big differences, such as the new way you get to see things play out, but a lot of it rehashes Route A, your first playthrough. There's a ton of hacking you have to do as well, which gets pretty boring after repeating it over and over again. But if you stick with it, Route C and onward are absolutely worth the time spent getting to that point.
Comment

Con
 Some boring fetch quests

The pacing gets messed up when you're forced to run certain fetch quests near the start of the game. This is somewhat forgivable after the fun and action-packed introductory level, but the quests themselves are still a drag to play through. Some of the side quests can also boil down to the same thing. Even though these quests give a lot of useful information about the world, they're not all that fulfilling, and you may dread having to repeat them when playing through the game again.
Comment

Pro
 Exploration at every level of detail

Full exploration of the galaxy is planned, allowing you to be able to jump from star system to star system, and fly around within a solar system from planet to planet, eventually going all the way down to a planet's surface at a 1:1 scale in a later update. Planetary landings will require a lot of details to be developed and designed, but you can still see the level of detail shift in action when flying into a planet's rings, where getting close enough show the individual asteroids within, which you can then interact with through mining, or by having a battle among them.
Comment

Pro
 Built with future expansion in mind

When Elite Dangerous come out, development won't stop. To build a game with the huge scope of Elite Dangerous, not all of it can be done at once, so the developers have adopted an approach of incremental improvement. Various game play elements are being designed as a foundation for later features. For example, although planetary landings aren't going to be available until a later update, the engine has been designed to be able to support going from lightyears away to meters away.
Comment

Pro
 Very realistic representation of space & star systems

Elite Dangerous uses publicly available real world star maps that we have of the Milky Way consisting of 150,000 star systems. Although in the current beta, full access to the entire galaxy is limited, in the final game, you will be able to visit any of the 400 billion stars in our galaxy on a 1:1 scale. Stars that we do know of are properly mapped in place and are of the correct type given the information we have about them. Stars we haven't collected data on are procedurally generated which allows you to explore any of the 400 billion of them. Star systems are intelligently simulated using the "Star Forge", a generator that simulates the creation of a star system forming from its nebular cloud to determine what celestial bodies appear and what orbits they have. This feature leads to many varied and unique star systems possibly with planets that can co-orbit around each other, or with binary star systems, and infinitely more possibilities.
Comment

Con
 "Mile Wide and an Inch Deep"

The game has a serious problem with depth and requires the user to repeat the same few fun actions over and over again. The world is massive and beautiful but feels empty. The game gets stale quickly despite being visually stunning.
Comment

Con
 Really complicated to learn

Looking up faqs and trade routes from first hand users will be the norm for figuring out many aspects of Elite: Dangerous. On top of this notes will have to be taken, which is made more difficult by the fact the game does not support in game not taking. So a pad and paper is recommended to remember all of the minutia of the game.
Comment

Pro
 Addictive to collect loot

You can pick up most of the stuff you see laying around in Fallout 4. Every item, including weapons and armors, can be broken down into reusable crafting materials. This makes it hard to stop yourself from going around and collecting everything in sight because everything has a purpose. You can also find unique versions of equipment on the corpses of legendary enemies. Each of these items has an additional effect such as speed boost or extra damage. This may cause you to constantly pick fights you'll probably lose, but it's worth it once you get your hands on that extremely good piece of equipment.
Comment

Pro
 Interesting settlement management

In Fallout 4 you can set up thriving communities in various locations. You'll have to provide the settlers with housing, bedding, water, food, and protection. Over time you'll be able to establish trade routes between the settlements and expand into an empire spanning the entire territory of Fallout 4. This really gives it the feeling like you're trying to rebuild society, which is a welcome change in a post-apocalyptic game.
Comment

Pro
 Great storyline

The main story has a very personal theme of family and revenge, featuring a main character looking for their lost son in a post-apocalyptic version of Boston. The side-quests also provide a decent backdrop, expanding on some of the plot elements of the main story. There are many twists and mysteries, but the narrative remains coherent throughout the story, creating a very enjoyable experience.
Comment

Pro
 Huge world with loads of content

The world of Fallout 4 is massive so there's quite a lot to do. Many areas to explore, tons of quests to complete, and lots of collectibles to find. There's easily enough content to keep you playing for over a hundred hours.
Comment

Pro
 Deep perk/skill system

Fallout 4 has a great selection of perks centered on surviving in the wasteland. You'll gain a point each time you level up, allowing you to select one of the perks. The perks can give you an increase to your sneaking ability, improve your lockpicking skills, or even add unique effects such as causing bullets fired by enemies to ricochet back and killing them. There's easily enough variation to make multiple playthroughs feel fresh and exciting. To make it even better, if you don't like multiple playthroughs, you can just unlock every single perk on a single character, albeit with a much longer playtime.
Comment

Pro
 Solid gunplay with an interesting twist

The gunplay plays so well it almost feels like a pure FPS. You can shoot from the hip, aim down the sights/scope, or even just run and gun. However, what makes Fallout 4 stand out is VATS (Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System). When you activate VATS, the time slows down to a crawl, allowing you to mark body parts of enemies. When you execute it your character will automatically shoot the marked body parts. This is very useful for getting out of tight spots, allowing you to instantly clear groups of enemies or kill a really tough enemy charging at you. It also has the benefit of making you feel like an expert gunman, even if your aim isn't that great.
Comment

Pro
 You can adjust equipment to suit your playstyle

In Fallout 4 you have a lot of options when modifying your equipment, giving you a chance to make equipment that matches your playstyle. You can take an assault rifle and change most of its parts. Each part you can change has an upside and a downside to it. For example, adding a long range scope would make the rifle useless in close quarters, but it would be great for pick off targets from afar. You can also tailor your armors for various situations. You can lower the weight or add pockets to make carrying loot easier. Or you can add additional linings or padding to gain increased protection against various hazards such as radiation.
Comment

Pro
 Addicting building mechanic

One of the more interesting parts of managing your settlement is the house building aspect. There are various preset houses you can put down quickly, but you can make large structures entirely from scratch, starting with the foundation and ending with the roof of a 10 story building. While there are some constraints such as limited building area, you can really let your imagination loose, allowing you to spend countless hours on it.
Comment

Pro
 Diverse enemy types keep the gameplay exciting

There a lot of different enemies found in the game such as super mutants, feral ghouls, robots, mutated wildlife, and many others. All of them have their unique behaviors, strengths, and weaknesses. For example, robots often use heavy weaponry such as rocket launchers and lasers, making it really hard to deal with them. Fortunately enough, they're very vulnerable to EMP grenades and can also be hacked. Another example are the feral ghouls that will almost always charge at you. They can surround you really fast, clawing away at your health and affecting you with radiation, but they lack any intelligence. So if you plant mines infront of you and attract them with gunshots, they'll lose their legs in the minefield, leaving them at your mercy. The various enemy types and methods you can fight them with keeps the gameplay fresh for a long time.
Comment

Pro
 Companions can help make the game a little easier

There are a bunch of companions to find in the game, starting with Dogmeat, the dog. Each companion has their own skills that can help you. For example, Dogmeat can dig up hidden items and bring them to you. They can also distract the enemy, causing the combat to be a little easier since all the attention won't be on just you. The only real downside is that you can only use one companion at a time, but you can easily swap them out. Using a companion is not mandatory either, so if you prefer the added challenge you can travel without a companion.
Comment

Pro
 Great selection of mods

You can can find all sorts of mods at the Bethesda website, giving you the freedom to change the parts of the game you don't like. This includes interface adjustments, graphical improvements, additional quests, and many other things.
Comment

Con
 Occasional bugs

There are bugs in the game that users will run into. While most are not game breaking, it can detract from the experience.
Comment

Con
 The dialogue choices are confusing

Most of the dialogue choices will only show a few words that don't actually reflect what your character is gonna say. This creates a disconnect between you and your character, making it seem like you don't control what your character is gonna say at any point.
Comment

Con
 Pipboy UI feels unpleasant to use

When you open your Pipboy (a personal computer that manages your quests, inventory, character data, etc) the screen containing the useful information only covers about a fourth of the entire screen. As a result some of the elements are too crammed, requiring a lot of scrolling. This can be really annoying if you're trying to find something in a list of 100 items.
Comment

Pro
 You can lead an orc army and expand your own dominion

As part of the Nemesis system, you can recruit orc leaders after you've bested them in combat. Each one has his own unique strengths and weaknesses, so making the best possible army for conquering enemy territories might take a while. For example, an orc leader can be completely immune to ranged attacks, but can take increased damage from explosions. You should take such an orc leader on assaults against fortresses filled with archers but be wary of the slightest hints of any bombs. Once you've finished building a sizeable force, you can assault a fortresses. If you succeed in the assault, you'll take over a territory, allowing you to install your own orc leader as the ruler. With enough effort you'll gradually take over Mordor and its surrounding lands. Shadow of War makes you feel like a recruiter, general, and a ruler, which is very empowering and a lot of fun.
Comment

Pro
 Satisfying combat

Shadow of War gives one of the better feeling combat systems in recent times, allowing you to be either stealthy or go for direct confrontations. If you choose to be stealthy, you can skewer unsuspecting orcs from behind with your dagger, drop onto them from a building while impaling them with your sword, or just pierce them from afar with your bow. If you choose a direct confrontation, it's a really quick-paced and brutal showdown against your enemies with your chosen melee weapon. You weave combos against enemies, dodging, parrying, and countering enemy attacks, which ends in a devastating finishing move, resulting in a mutilated or decapitated orc. Whichever method you choose, the combat flows really well and you always feel like a force to be reckoned with.
Comment

Pro
 Addictive gear collection fuels your thirst for orc blood

As you kill orc leaders, they'll drop random quality gear items, ranging from common rarity every-orc weapons/armor to legendary rarity artifacts with unique names. Each item serves to improve your character, providing various stat increases and damage bonuses. You can also upgrade gear with gems or via challenges that usually involve killing orcs, bolstering your strength even further. On top of that, there are set bonuses for legendary items, giving you special abilities such as your hits applying explosive poison on regular enemies. It's very exciting seeing what gear piece an orc leader will drop once you lob his head off, causing you to constantly seek out new victims.
Comment

Pro
 Character connections make for a compelling experience

Shadow of War uses the Nemesis system to create a more immersive and alive-feeling world. Thanks to it, orc leaders have names, ranks, titles, tribes they belong to, and most importantly, connections to other orc leaders. For example, an orc leader might be at war with another orc leader. This conflict won't end until one of them dies. There are also orcs that are considered blood brothers, having unwavering loyalty to each other. Because of this, don't be too surprised if you ever get betrayed by one of your followers that's trying to do right by his blood brother. Additionally, the leaders you fight will also develop connections with you. Orcs that you've killed or spared, may come back with scars, recalling your previous encounter and vowing to exact vengeance. Orcs that you've escaped from will mock you for being a chicken, and so forth. The gradual creation of this web of connections is very enjoyable and sometimes even more compelling than the game's main story.
Comment

Con
 Unskippable cutscenes disrupt the flow of the gameplay

Every time an orc leader enters the screen, there is an unskippable cutscene where he rambles a bit, focusing the camera on him and halting combat until the cutscene ends. This usually happens as you're fighting another enemy, potentially disrupting your rhythm, which can be really frustrating, especially if mess up your combo or take an unnecessary hit after the cutscene.
Comment

Con
 Can get repetitive

The overall gameplay formula doesn't change much over the course of the game. You fight orcs, take over strongholds, upgrade your character, and collect blips on the world map. After a while it can start feeling like a grind, especially during long play sessions. This is made worse in the final stretch of the game where you have to fight through 20 consecutive stronghold battles without any story segments or exposition.
Comment

Pro
 Exciting gameplay

In Gears of War you and a squad of several other soldiers fight against the enemies of humanity, using various weapons such as rifles, a shotgun, and even a weapon that fires saw blades. It's very fast paced and a lot of fun, rewarding not only effective use of cover and accurate shooting, but also quick decision making on when to charge your enemy and take them out with your knife or your chainsaw bayonet. This leads to a lot of very intense, sometimes brutal, and always satisfying battles, making Gears of War 4 a really enjoyable ride.
Comment

Pro
 Really fun horde mode

Horde mode is a multiplayer co-op mode where up to 5 players try to survive against waves of enemies. It features regular combat and allows you to build fortifications, which you can do by collecting resources from killed enemies and using the fabricator. This allows you to build blockades, sentries, and various other defenses, giving it a very tower defense-esque feel, which is also a lot of fun. You can also choose between 5 classes with each class being better at something different. For example, the Engineer can build and repair defenses much faster than others and the Heavy uses stronger weapons that allow him to kill large enemies much faster. As a result, teamwork is very important, so when your squad is co-operating like a well-oiled machine, it just feels incredibly satisfying.
Comment

Pro
 Local splitscreen multiplayer

Nowadays, some titles tend to exclude local multiplayer, focusing primarily on online play but Gears of War 4 is an exception. You can play both the campaign and all multiplayer modes with your friends via splitscreen.
Comment

Pro
 Excellent visuals

Gears of War 4 has some really outstanding visuals with high quality textures, great lighting, and excellent shadow mapping. This makes all of the armored human characters, monstrous lizard-like enemies, and the various lush landscapes filled with ruins look especially good. All of this is turned up a notch with the help of excellent weather effects, such as rain, lighting, and gusts of heavy wind that carry massive objects over your head, giving Gears of War 4 a very cinematic feel.
Comment

Con
 Poorly done story

The story has some cool moments, but it mostly focuses on pointless drama and issues that end up feeling like filler because they have no real impact on the story or character building. This coupled with a few plot holes will make you want to press the skip button and just get back into the action.
Comment

Pro
 A well polished singleplayer experience

Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus doesn't have a multiplayer, so the entirety of the development resources went into creating a great single player experience. As a result, the graphics, the sound, the level design, the gameplay, and even the story is really well done, making your death-spreading voyage through a world ruled by Nazis really enjoyable.
Comment

Pro
 Great story

Wolfenstein II is a story-driven experience unlike most FPS games. The setting, the main plot, and the various subplots are interesting. It has a relatable main character, likable side-characters, and even a fearsome villain. The dialogue is interesting, quirky, and sometimes funny, striking a perfect balance between being serious and humorous. As a result, Wolfenstein II keeps you interested with more than just excellent gameplay, which is a nice change of pace.
Comment

Pro
 Excellent gameplay that supports any playstyle

Wolfenstein II is simply fun to play because any approach works for beating a level. You can go in with guns blazing while dual wielding shotguns, shredding Nazis with a cloud of bullets. You can also move from cover to cover while picking off enemies with headshots using an assault rifle. You can even be stealthy and sneak past guards, taking out just the commanding officer. Whichever approach you choose, it will feel like the right way to play the game, making killing Nazis that much more satisfying.
Comment

Pro
 Tons of collectibles

For those wanting to do something extra on top of creating a long trail of dead bodies, there are a multitude of collectibles hidden in each level. This includes gold treasures, concept art, and even newspapers that provide additional backstory on the ongoing events. These small side goals make exploring Nazi bases much more enjoyable.
Comment

Con
 No real boss fights

There are the regular Nazis and Nazi robots, and slightly stronger versions of them. There are no epic showdown with especially fearsome baddies with amazing abilities or gigantic guns, so it can feel quite disappointing to players expecting difficult hurdles along the way.
Comment

Con
 You might need to play the prequel to fully appreciate the story

Even though Wolfenstein II tries to fill you in on what happened in the prequel, it does it very poorly. You might feel like you've missed a key story element because characters will keep referencing events and characters you have absolutely no recollection of. This can create a sense of disconnection, potentially ruining your immersion.
Comment

Pro
 Interesting multiplayer mode

While the multiplayer is fairly decent as a whole, the War Mode is the most noteworthy aspect of it. It's a narrative driven multiplayer mode where one team must complete objectives such as repairing a bridge, sabotaging equipment, destroying gun emplacements, and so forth, while the other team tries to stop them. This is a welcome deviation from the usual "run around a map in circles and shoot everyone" type of gameplay, giving you a very focused multiplayer mode that rewards teamwork, which can be really engaging even to players that aren't into competitive shooters.
Comment

Pro
 Engaging singleplayer campaign

The campaign focuses on a US marine's journey through WWII, taking you to many well-known battles of the war such as D-Day, Liberation of Paris, and even Battle of the Bulge. It's an excellent mix of interesting main characters, well-written dialogue, excellent action set pieces, dramatic moments, and some unexpected twists along the way. Even though the campaign might last you only about 6 hours, it's still thoroughly enjoyable, giving you a very interactive movie-like experience.
Comment

Pro
 Solid gameplay

Even though there are no gimmicks like jetpacks or wall-running, the gameplay in CoD: WWII is all-around solid. The controls are responsive, the aiming is fluid, and each gun handles really well. Whether you're blasting enemy soldiers with your shotgun up close or if you're picking them off with your sniper rifle from afar, it feels great. It's the type of gameplay that can grab the interest of most players and keep them coming back for more.
Comment

Con
 Pointless microtransactions

Call of Duty: WWII is yet another game that is plagued by microtransactions, allowing players to buy in-game currency point bundles priced from $2 up to $100. While it can be a means to sustain development for new content and updates in other games, CoD: WWII will just get replaced by the next installment within a year, so it's just a means to up the profit margin by milking players via their loot box addiction.
Comment

Con
 Gun balance problems in multiplayer

Some guns such as the STG-44 or the BAR are a cut above the rest, allowing you to kill enemies quicker and from further away than their counterparts. If you switch to an inferior gun, the difference is painfully obvious, making gameplay much harder for you. This is mostly because a slight difference in weapon damage and range can determine if you live or die in multiplayer. As a result, experimenting with other weapons feels unrewarding, causing every player to default to the good weapons.
Comment

Pro
 Rarely a dull moment

Whether you're whipping around on a dirt bike toward your next mission, or storming a fort with your team, you're constantly in motion. Even though you can slow down a bit should you choose to, the game encourages a faster-paced experience and makes it a ton of fun.
Comment

Pro
 Great customization

In Ghost Recon Wildlands, the customization is not limited to just character facial features. It also has an extensive customization system for weapons and clothes. When creating a character you can set the face, gender, hair, hat, top, tattoos, pants, and shoes. All of these can be changed in the loadout menu at any point in-game. You can also modify your weapons and gear extensively. When you begin customizing a weapon, it will split into pieces, letting you select and adjust each one. This includes triggers, sights, scopes, grips, stocks, barrels, and any other attachment. You can also change the colors and designs of both weapons and gear. It really lets you play exactly the way you want to, which is always more satisfying.
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Pro
 Detailed environments provide great immersion

Ghost Recon Wildlands is set in Bolivia, and the game makes you feel like you're really there. It's one of the most varied places on earth, and each area feels wildly different from the next. It ranges from lush, green forests, to barren deserts, to both urban and rural cities. The distinct feel, architecture, and culture of Bolivia will serve to pull you even deeper into the game.
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Pro
 Truly an open world game

Ghost Recon Wildlands lets you do anything you want, any time you want. You can rush right toward the final boss if you decide to. You can complete missions by blowing people up with drones from a safe distance, or by storming the gates. Do the missions you want to, leave others to rot. Everything is up to you. The landscape is vast, and if you can see it, you can probably get to it. This allows you to experience the gorgeous environments through exploration. There are also rewards for exploring, such as new weapons or upgrades, giving you more goals to strive for.
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Con
 The cover system is terrible

When you bump into terrain, you take cover behind it. While the theory behind this is fine, the execution is very unreliable and clunky. Even when it manages to work, cover offers little to no protection from your enemy.
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Con
 The enemy AI has only one setting

The AI in this game will consistently push toward the player. Essentially all you've got to do is get them into a corridor or other narrow space and mow them down.
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Pro
 Fast, fun combat

Strider is a really fast-paced side-scrolling hack and slash. The enemies will never stop trying to shoot your or end you in any way possible. This could easily become punishingly difficult, but is avoided thanks to the very responsive controls. You'll scale walls and kill groups of enemies within seconds, which truly makes you feel like an assassin with inhuman reflexes. The boss fights increase the tempo and may seem really cheap at first. Luckily, you'll learn their abilities over time, which will allow you to predict and counter them all. Defeating a boss without taking a single hit feels incredibly satisfying.
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Pro
 Tons of collectibles

You can find new upgrades, concept art, story info, character info, and costumes during the game. There are also hidden challenges such as Survival and Beacon. Only the upgrades are marked on the map, so the rest can be difficult to find, making 100% completion a tough goal to reach.
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Pro
 Big game world that rewards exploration

The world of Strider is massive city where you'll be climbing a lot of high walls and tall buildings. It also hides a lot of upgrades that will help you clear a level or beat a boss a lot easier. Most of these can only be accessed later when you have the right type of weapon (similar to Metroid Prime). So you'll be spending a lot of time exploring (backtracking) if you decide to access these new locations.
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Con
 Cannot skip pre-boss chatter

This is not an issue if you don't die to a boss, but if you do, you have to sit through their introduction and banter every time. You cannot skip talk scenes you've already seen. The final boss, in particular, is quite the chatter-box.
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Con
 Story is not explained

Strider has a very simple "good guy defeats evil tyrant" type of story, but none of the characters are truly fleshed out.
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Con
 No "Fast-Travel" really

It is a big game world, and most of the time you are stuck exploring it all by foot. There is something that lets you travel between areas, but they are few and far between and not really all that helpful. Plus, it is unlocked fairly late into the game. If you know there is something you need to return to on the other side of the game, you are in for a good hike.
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Pro
 Good selection of weapons

The Surge has many types of futuristic weapons - from a vibration powered chainsaw, to a large axe with an energy blade, to even a giant robot's arm re-purposed as a weapon. The most important differences between weapons, however, are in speed, reach, and available combos. For example, you can pick a very slow weapon with a wide reach that has devastating combos, but carries the risk of getting interrupted by enemies faster than you. Or you can choose a very fast weapon to easily outmaneuver enemies but you always have to stay close because the weapon has a poor reach. As a result, each weapon has differences in tempo and playstyle, allowing you to choose one that fits you the best.
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Pro
 Enjoyable loot system

In most games items tend to have drop chances, so you're often stuck killing an enemy over and over until you get the item you're looking for. The Surge changes this up by allowing you to slash off pieces of equipment from enemy bodies when finishing them off. For example, when you're fighting a cyborg with really cool looking armor, you can slice off its arm with a finishing move. You can loot the arm afterwards, allowing you to craft the arm piece of that armor set. This means you can get the full set after fighting that type of cyborg several times rather than spending hours fighting them and getting nothing. As a result, you have a loot system that rewards effort without relying on your luck, which feels like a really nice change of pace.
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Pro
 Engaging combat system

The Surge's combat primarily consists of you fighting robots or cybernetically enhanced humans in close quarters. You have to read enemy patters, dodge when needed, and strike when there's an opening. What makes the combat stand out, however, is the ability to target specific body parts of enemies, allowing you to deal more damage on unarmored body parts or even cripple them. This adds more strategy to combat since you're not just swinging in the general direction of an enemy, but also constantly looking for their weak spots.
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Con
 The story isn't that good

The story starts out intriguing, but it doesn't do much with the initial setup afterwards. The main character's motivations don't seem very believable, the side characters aren't that interesting, and even the conclusion isn't satisfying. In the end, the story in The Surge is just a vague excuse for you to slaughter robots and cyborgs.
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Con
 Exploration can feel disorientating since there's no map

While a lot of games without maps and/or waypoints play fine, The Surge may feel too disorientating at times. This is mostly due to its over-reliance on maze-like environments that tend to look exactly the same, so even though you've entered a room for the first time, it may feel like you've already been there. This is also made worse by the fact that enemies respawn after a while, so you can't use their absence or presence for guidance either. If you don't like to perfectly memorize level layouts, the Surge might be annoying to play.
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Con
 Might feel a bit too punishing

Even when you have good equipment, the regular enemies can still kill you in a couple of hits if you're not careful. Some enemies are very aggressive and fast, so a momentary lapse in focus can cause you to restart an area from the beginning. This is further amplified during boss fights where most hits taken will outright kill you, which can feel frustrating and unfair, especially when you've no idea what a boss does.
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Pro
 Branching gameplay with plenty of choices

The branching gameplay within Dark Souls II makes for not only a great way to tailor each adventure to each player keeping everyones experiences unique, but also a reprieve from many difficult points in the game. If one area has become to tough or something has the payer stuck from advancing further, an alternate path in the game can be taken to wholly different areas. This allows for a multitude of options on how to level up as well as well as many different options in finding and equipping that found gear.
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Pro
 Expansive fantasy settings

Dark Souls II offers a wide variety of locales to explore, all within a fantasy setting. The amount of differing locations does give a feeling of lack of cohesion though but does have the benefit of locations that are wildly different from each other, which can be refreshing at times.
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Pro
 Excellent boss battles

There are many iconic boss battles throughout the game that make for some of the most difficult moments to be played. But once finally defeating a boss the feeling of accomplishment is well worth it.
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Pro
 Slow and deliberate fighting with reward/risk mechanics

Each enemy encounter needs to be calculated and precisely timed, as any mistake will most likely mean death. An added level of complexity to this equation is enemies that can be ignored but will then gang up on the player once a boss is beaten. This creates a risk/reward scenario that the player needs to weigh with a lot of thought.
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Pro
 New lighting system

Before the original Dark Souls II was released the developer had shown off a lighting system where areas were pitch black and a torch was necessary to see. This was eventually removed before the release. Now with the release of the DX11 version, DARK SOULS II: Scholar of the First Sin is able to actually have this lighting system working on par with what was shown of years ago pre-release. Many areas will now be completely dark and in order to traverse them the player will need to use a torch to see and light static torches throughout the level to keep it lit. This will then allow the player to go through the level without the aid of the torch in order to battle all enemies that lay within. this overhauled lighting system creates a whole new play mechanic that will force players to tackle levels in a completely different manner than the original game.
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Con
 Difficulty that requires a lot of time and patience

To be honest, difficult is a nice way of putting it, this game can destroy ones will to live. It is not even worth counting how many times one dies, as it will be in the hundreds if not thousands. Only through patience and sure determination will many reach the ending of the game. So much time is needed in order to replay many areas and bosses over and over in order to learn the exact timing and what moves to use that not many people can spare it. This is not a game for casual players, that is for sure.
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Pro
 Beautiful graphics

Highly detailed character models, weapons, and environments, smooth animations, distinct particle effects, a vivid color palette, great lighting, and intricate shadow mapping make Overwatch a joy to experience.
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Pro
 Variety of maps to keep gameplay interesting

Overwatch currently has 16 maps, which includes a Moon colony, an encampment in Antarctica, and various futuristic cityscapes. The distinct themes, color palettes, and layouts make each of the maps feel and play differently, keeping the gameplay fresh for a long time.
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Pro
 Simple to learn and play

While Overwatch has MOBA elements, it's very simple at its core, you just shoot the enemy and take objectives. It may take a couple matches to get the basic down, but from then on it's gonna be a blast. This makes it a lot more accessible than most MOBA-esque titles that take a really long time to learn and master.
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Pro
 Tons of unlockables to keep you playing

Each playable character in the game can have more than 90 different unlocks such character skins, color schemes, emotes, and victory poses. While these don't affect gameplay, they allow you to create a personalized character you can feel more attached to. This gives additional goals for both regular players and completionists, keeping the game interesting for a long time.
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Pro
 Unique FPS gameplay

Overwatch combines traditional team-based FPS elements and MOBA-esqe characters with unique abilities and weapons. You'll still be shooting and bashing your way to victory, but instead of picking different weapons, you'll be often switching between one of the many characters. Each character has its own strengths, weaknesses, and unique playstyle. For example, there's Tracer that dual wields handguns, is pretty quick on her feet, and can rewind time when in a tough spot, which makes her well suited to hit-and-run tactics. However, she has poor aim and low health, so you have to be a lot more careful when playing as her. Another example would be the very durable Reinhardt who has high health and armor. He's able to protect his allies and himself with a projected energy shield while moving at a slower rate. Unfortunately, his only real means of attacking is a giant hammer, so fast characters or characters with a long range can easily outmaneuver him. As a result, Overwatch not only rewards accurate shooting, but also quick decision making and clever use of your abilities, creating gameplay that feels different from most competitive FPS games.
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Con
 Lacking in story

Even though Overwatch has a very detailed world and distinct characters, it doesn't ever delve into the history of the world or overarching story of each character. All you ever get are vague hints in voiceover lines and writings found in the environment.
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Con
 No content creation tools

You can't create custom maps or game modes, which considerably limits how much the community can contribute for keeping the game fresh and exciting. This is a step back when you look at the Warcraft 3 map editor, which helped the game stay popular a decade after its release even without regular updates from Blizzard.
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Con
 Not for solo players

Overwatch is all about team compositions, cooperation, and communication. If you prefer a more solo-oriented playstyle, this game might not be as fun for you since it's very hard to win a match with your abilities alone.
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Pro
 Excellent voice acting

Each character in the LEGO Marvel Super Heroes 2 has solid, snappy delivery for their well-written lines, fitting well with the game's light-hearted take on the superhero genre.
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Pro
 Fun two-player local co-op

Friends and family can play LEGO Marvel Super Heroes 2 together, battling against hordes of enemies in the chaotic two-player co-op mode. The combat is unbalanced, with some characters who are far more powerful than others, but there's still a great time to have with all the madness on each level. Although there's no online play, this is still a great game for those looking for fun games with couch co-op.
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Pro
 Light-hearted story

With well-written characters who quip and deliver memorable lines, the story is wonderful for anyone interested in a lighter, kid-friendly interpretation of the Marvel universe. Kang the Conqueror is competent without needing to be overtly evil, and heroes such as Spider-Man and Captain America are charming in their heroism and banter with other characters.
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Pro
 Great variety of level locations

Traveling across Chronopolis, the world filled with Marvel locations from around the globe, is a great theme park of different levels. With the game's time-travel elements, it's possible to be in the modern New York City metropolis for one level and then Ancient Egypt in the next. The variety helps to keep things fresh across the 11+ hour campaign.
Comment

Con
 Doesn't change up the LEGO game formula

As the LEGO games are meant for younger audiences, it's great that they're easy to pick up and learn, but LEGO Marvel Super Heroes 2 doesn't offer anything new to the franchise. The combat is the same button-mashing experience that requires no skill and offers no forms of character progression.
Comment

Con
 Objectives aren't always clear

Even though the open world design of the levels is limited and simplistic, the game sometimes neglects to give specifics on where to go next. Getting to objectives will then require wandering around the small maps and eventually stumbling upon the next place to go.
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Pro
 Unique enemy designs with angels that defy typical conventions

Angels in Bayonetta are far from how they are depicted in pop culture. Despite their bright glow and the religious music that you hear when they're introduced, they're hunched over, lumbering when they walk and fight in battle. They're designed in ways that definitely make them look like Bayonetta's enemies instead of entities that we're supposed to side with. The larger, gargantuan angelic bosses appear otherwordly and incomprehensible like Lovecraftian creatures, They're quite the sight to behold and make for interesting boss fights with cool set pieces, like Bayonetta surfing on a wooden plank as she fights a huge angel in the middle of an ocean.
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Pro
 Bayonetta herself is unconventional and entertaining

Bayonetta is a character who exudes confidence and charm, and every aspect of the game's mechanics and design fits with her personality. She's over eight feet tall, wears a skin-tight suit that's actually made of her magical hair, and always fights with style and finesse. When you do a double jump, a butterfly's wings appear over her back, and when you use any type of long weapon like a lance, you can have her pole dance and quickly fire her guns in all directions. Since she's a sadistic character, her finisher moves are called Torture Attacks. After accumulating enough magic points through normal attacks, you can make Bayonetta conjure one of many types of medieval torture devices. She'll trap enemies inside and send blood everywhere, or she'll whip their backs with a flourish, doing more damage as you mash the button prompt on the screen. Healing and buff items, instead of the usual potions, are different-flavored lollipops like the one that Bayonetta likes to keep in her mouth during some cutscenes. Upgrades to her jumping ability are also beyond the norm, letting you transform her into a black panther to run faster and jump higher. Overall, Bayonetta is independent and likes to have a good time, never missing an opportunity to strike a pose or dance in between pummeling and whipping her enemies into submission. If you see Bayonetta's sexualized moves and portrayal as the game's way of parodying other media, then you'll probably find her over-the-top presentation more entertaining than offensive.
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Pro
 Fun and complex gameplay

Bayonetta excels in its combat, going above and beyond to entertain the player with the scale of its gigantic, angelic enemies and the depth of its gameplay. The tutorial teaches you the bare basics of punching and kicking, and then it's up to you to experiment with inputs and find the best combos to keep up the pain. Even on normal difficulty, the game can seem punishing for newcomers, but there are lots of skills you can pick up on to make things smoother. There's a ton of depth to the combat, especially in how you have the potential to keep up limitless combos with punches, kicks, and gunfire. When you hold down your buttons, Bayonetta will freeze her punching or kicking pose while firing the guns from her heels or in her hands. In the middle of that pose, you can dodge offset an incoming attack and initiate Witch Time, which rewards you by making enemies move at a snail's pace while you get more hits in than you normally could. In other situations where you're surrounded by enemies and need some crowd control, you can have Bayonetta do some handstands while she fires her guns. Each new weapon you acquire, whether it's a katana or a huge lance you pick up from a downed enemy, gives you a whole new set of combos to master. There's an incredible variety in the gameplay for you to play around with, whether it's with new weapons or Bayonetta's punches, kicks, and guns. You'll constantly find new ways to enjoy the combat as you play through the game, keeping things fresh from start to finish.
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Con
 On-rails sections can be frustrating

There will be a few times where you'll play through retro-inspired sequences where you race down a highway on a motorcycle, or shoot missiles at enemies from an airship. You have to handle quick time event button presses on the motorcycle and deal with a bunch of enemies firing at you on the ship. These sequences are a huge change from the normal combat, and if you're not good at them, you may find yourself getting frustrated.
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Con
 The story is nonsensical

While Bayonetta has some intriguing lore involving witches battling against a puritanical religion, you won't get to learn much about it. The storytelling is a mess, with sudden changes that don't make sense, and underdeveloped characters that the game expects you to care about. As long as you go in without taking the story and presentation all that seriously, you'll still be able to have a good time.
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Pro
 Amazing futuristic themes and visual style

Deus Ex: Human Revolution has a great aesthetic that fits with its setting and themes. The visuals have plenty of bright golds and harsh blacks, and many recurring instances of hard geometric shapes to match with the prevalence of augmented humans with cybernetics. Along with this rapidly expanding technology, the story delves into the angle of what would happen if corrupt corporations became more influential than the government, bringing up some tough parallels to the current year in the real world. The unique look of the game goes so well with the subjects it tackles, creating a cohesive and stylistic whole.
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Pro
 Tons of ways to customize your playstyle

Unlocking and upgrading abilities gives you a great chance to tailor how you approach missions and explorations. There are certain perks that lean more toward stealth, like an invisibility cloak, and others that are more lethal-oriented, like a flashy area of effect ability that lets you take out surrounding enemies all at once. And there are other skills that give you a leg up in exploring levels, like boosting the amount of fall damage you can take to prevent death and reach secret locations. One player's build may be completely different from someone else's, adding replay value to experiment with unlocks.
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Pro
 Conversations feel dynamic from your dialog choices

Speaking with major NPCs feels natural thanks to the dialog options you get to make. Each character has their own personalities and worldviews, so selecting certain options gives you the chance to move the conversation forward, make the person hand over something you need, or persuade them during debates. You can choose to appease someone who has a dominant personality in order to get what you want from them, or you can intimidate someone with a weaker personality. There's even a cool cybernetic implant you can get that lets you read someone's personality and reactions to you to determine the best options to pick. This gives discussions a lot of weight and impact, making sure that your choices matter.
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Pro
 You can take a lethal or pacifist approach to missions

You have total freedom in how you approach missions, mainly with whether you want to take the silent approach or go in guns blazing. Going with weapons such as stun guns, picking non-lethal knock-outs, and sneaking around through vents and hidden passageways makes up the pacifist methods. The more violent ways of playing include using deadly guns and abilities, killing enemies when you take them down, and generally running head-first into each mission. You don't have to stick with one or the other; if the situation calls for it, you can change things up as needed, keeping things interesting as you go along.
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Pro
 Cool soundtrack

The music in Human Revolution is an amazing mix of synthwave and other electronic sounds. Each track that plays in the different locations you explore, such as Montreal and Singapore, make you feel like you're in a futuristic version of those places. Even the more atmospheric tracks go a long way to set the mood in any given place, like the somber yet thoughtful track that plays in the main protagonist's home, giving you a moment to breathe after playing through the game's tense and exciting missions. The soundtrack absolutely does its job of setting the stage for wherever you're at while creating emotional memories of where each song plays.
Comment

Con
 Boring main protagonist

Adam is such a dull lead character. He's stereotypically gruff, he barely ever shows any emotion, and he seems quite disaffected by the game's events. Even though most of his arc revolves around his quest to save his ex-girlfriend, it's hard to get invested or care about either of them, since you don't see them interact that much except during the start of the game. Though there is a silver lining to his personality, since his unconcerned attitude leads to one particular line of his that's turned into a running joke online. But other than that, he's not a remarkable protagonist that you find yourself rooting for on a personal level.
Comment

Con
 Stiff character animations during cutscenes

It can be distracting to watch two characters speak during a cutscene. Aside from maybe Adam, everyone has such stiff and repetitive gestures and movements. Mouth movements don't sync up with voiced lines, making it look like the characters are just miming and faking their way through conversations. Depending on your tolerance levels, it's possible to tune out these annoyances and still enjoy the scenes.
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Con
 You must be lethal during boss fights, even on a pacifist run

It's really disappointing that the game doesn't let you take a purely pacifist approach. You can sneak around all you want while making sure to only perform silent takedowns, but the moment you step into a boss room, all of that role-playing goes out the window. You have to kill the boss, no questions asked. It would have been nice to have the option to outmaneuver them instead and lead them into non-lethal traps. Thankfully, the devs addressed this issue in the sequel, Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, but you still have to deal with it here.
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Pro
 Gameplay makes you feel like a badass

The fast, fluid and powerful style of FPS gameplay makes you feel like you're taking on the entire army yourself. It's not just that you can kill a lot of people quickly, but the movement is so fast and dynamic you can simply out-maneuver everything. It's parkour meets Call of Duty with really fun weapons and abilities.
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Pro
 Great singleplayer campaign

Titanfall 2 comes with a single-player story campaign that also acts as a warm-up for the multiplayer component. Whilst the campaign is short, it's a quality narrative with a great main protagonist and supporting characters. The voice acting is strong and the cutscenes are a spectacle to watch. For those who played the first Titanfall and were disappointed by the story, you can look forward to a much better one this time around.
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Pro
 You can use powerful mechs called Titans for their added defense and high-powered weapons

Aside from playing as a regular infantry soldier, there are also huge mechs on the battlefield, known as Titans, that you can control. As soon as a player gets in the cockpit, that's when you know that the tides are about to turn. Titans are big enough to act as tanks for your allies, soaking up damage and dealing a ton more with their specialized guns, giving your team a huge advantage just by having one with you. But they're not all-powerful, since a normal soldier can get on a Titan's back to dismantle it and take it down, even though it won't be easy. Titans are strong without being overpowered, turning battles into power plays to see who can take out the enemy team's mechs the fastest.
Comment

Pro
 Jetpacks and wall-running let you move around more freely

While playing as a regular soldier, you have great mobility with jetpacks that allow you to run on walls. Maps are designed with verticality in mind, giving players options to use their jetpacks to climb above the opposition for a better vantage point. It also gives you a leg up when facing against a Titan, since you can always run along a nearby wall to get on top of the mech to take it down. This helps to make sure than infantry soldiers aren't just weak fodder for Titans to take out, with their speed and parkour abilities as their main advantages.
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Pro
 Thrilling first-person shooter gameplay

Titanfall 2 is a great team-based FPS game with well-designed gunplay. Running and gunning with your team of six friends or online players is fast-paced, with tons of destruction on the battlefield all around you. You rely on twitch reflexes to gun down enemies as soon as you see one rounding a corner, or to react in time to someone shooting at you and taking you by surprise. Everything feels balanced in a way that's well thought-out, leading to frantic and intense multiplayer matches.
Comment

Con
 The single-player campaign is short

The whole story is only about five hours long. Even though the plot itself is good, the short length takes away from the enjoyment. What's here has plenty of potential for the devs to build upon for a possible sequel in the future.
Comment

Con
 Story mode is too easy

The campaign is too easy. If you're a fan of shooters, especially, you won't find much of a challenge here unless you play on the hardest setting. But for players who are new to the genre, you might not notice too much.
Comment

Pro
 Exciting gameplay

Learning to manage a wave of enemies while you're running low on ammo and your teammate just got hit by an electric baton creates some of the best co-op out there.
Comment

Pro
 Intense mercenaries mode

This mode give you the pure adrenaline you may be looking for. Score attack across most of the major stages in the game (plus a bonus Prison map). It relies on your combo counter of kills and knowing time placements and when to eliminate an enemy to best continue the combo.
Comment

Pro
 Meaningful cooperative gameplay

Where many games have you simply "play at the same time", RE5 requires you to coordinate your actions with your partner in order to succeed. Sometimes it's as simple as doing a "three hit melee partner combo", other times you have your partner's life in your hands as you have to keep a trap from springing, or providing cover fire from afar as they navigate an area.
Comment

Con
 AI companion can feel useless sometimes

In some sections of the game it feels like you're fighting alone because the AI companion doesn't focus the priority targets that can actually kill you.
Comment

Pro
 Class can be changed at any time

The class system for this game allows for the player to change class and perks at any time, meaning anyone can take on the role of their choosing at the drop of a hat. While this may cut down or replayability due to not having to play through multiple times to experience each class it does make for a great way to test out each one and their perks to land on one of the player's liking.
Comment

Pro
 Rich crafting environment

Every piece of gear and every weapon can be customized with different Mods. But the game does not stop there, as a player can actually alter attributes of individual pieces, deconstruct old gear for parts, and find and build gear from blueprints.
Comment

Pro
 Great use of a cover system

The cover system in the game is quite intuitive. The player can easily crouch behind an object for cover (being that it is highlighted, so the player knows where they can cover) with one button press. Once in cover, any other area within a certain distance will highlight letting the player know they can run to the next spot for cover. This is done through a singular button press while being held down. This makes for an easy way to run from cover to cover with little effort. Which allows for flanking enemies and just an overly easy way to move around without taking too many bullets while in a fire fight.
Comment

Pro
 Lots of fun to play with friends

The missions get hard fast, so the game forces you to co-ordinate with your team and ensure you have the right team composition to beat the more difficult missions. You'll have to keep track of the locations of all your team to make sure you're not getting flanked, be in position to rescue downed friends and let people know when you spot a sniper or a boss.
Comment

Pro
 Great matchmaking

This game has made it very easy to group up with friends, nearby players, or random players looking for the same content. Grouping from the player menu is always available, and when you enter a mission you can choose to look for players to join you as well as set the difficulty. Also looking at the ISAC map lets you see friends' locations and invite them to group.
Comment

Pro
 Fun team shooter gameplay with RPG elements

The core gameplay for the division is a cover based third person team shooter, however over the course of the game you can customize your solider in a lot of different ways to keep things interesting. You can unlock various active skills to use during combat, passive perks that buff up your solider and talents that activate when you perform a certain action like getting a headshot. Although it starts simple, as you progress through the game you can then modify and upgrade a lot of the abilities to keep things interesting. On top of all this the loot and gear systems make it really fun to continually upgrade your solider. You have over 10 slots for various bits of gear that have a primary attribute that will improve either your DPS, health or how powerful your active ability are. Weapons also have multiple mod slots, so you can add on different scopes, silencers, grips etc that make meaningful changes to gameplay.
Comment

Pro
 Open world freedom

Once the introduction to the game is played through, all missions for the game can be unlocked by just walking around the map. The player is free to choose any mission they would like to try, though some may be too tough depending on the player and mission skill level. The game is set in a living breathing world, in addition to the primary missions you will randomly encounter a variety of side missions you can do for additional experience and rewards.
Comment

Pro
 Pleasing graphics

While not up to par of the promotional material Ubisoft showed off a few years ago (not much of a surprise, this is Ubisoft after-all), the graphics are quite good and can easily be set on max setting with a smooth 60fps for those with good components in their computers. Even when using a mid range rig the graphics can easily be on high while getting above 30fps. In general what is present in the game is a winter city that is in a pre-opocolyptic crisis. The snow is randomized and can sweep in and out of the city at any time making for a beautiful representation of snow storms in a city. The city itself is pretty sparsely populated, which allows for less tax on the graphics, but of course the excuse is that it is basically an abandoned city other than the bad guys. There will be a few civilians in the streets but mainly you are alone out there until you run into trouble.
Comment

Con
 Repetitive cover-based shooting

Literally the only mechanic in the game. There are no other true ways to avoid and attack enemies.
Comment

Con
 Constant server downtime

Servers are always dropping connection and causing users to lose around 15 to 20 minutes progress.
Comment

Con
 Awful AI system

AI will run all over the place and then stand in front of your turret for no reason.
Comment

Con
 Poor enemy NPC chatter

The in game chatter of the enemy NPC is laughably bad. As you are shooting them one by one they constantly say the same things that are not really relevant to the situation such as calling you names or just simply stating that you should "get lost". This can be immersion breaking and asks the question what the devs were thinking when putting this type of chatter in the game in these situations.
Comment

Con
 Boring grinding system

After hitting level 14 - 15 most missions are either way to high or to low to go back to play. So you are stuck doing awfully boring side missions that become quite repetitive, most are Hostage Rescue or Zone Decontamination and require no effort. The next missions start around level 20, which seems to be a way to force players into the Dark Zone.
Comment

Con
 Boring repetitive side-quests

The side-quests in the game tend to consist of the same tasks over and over again, this is repetitive and can get boring due to not much changing up in side-quest gameplay.
Comment

Pro
 Rewarding exploration

Each level is large, so there is quite a lot to see and do in each one. You'll be rewarded for exploring as there are many hidden items, weapons, and beautiful views to be found. This gives you an incentive to fully explore each location.
Comment

Pro
 Replayability through unlockables

Once a level is competed, you can to complete unfinished or new objectives. These will unlock new outfits or other items. This gives you plenty of goals to strive for outside the main story. Trying to complete all the optional objectives can be quite addictive.
Comment

Pro
 Jaw dropping graphics

Rise of the Tomb Raider has phenomenal graphics and a very great attention to detail. Simple things like the snow moving as you step into it or how Lara's hair moves in the wind. This gives it a feeling a of polish most games don't have. The character models and animations are also phenomenal. Each of their movements and facial expressions look real, creating a movie like experience.
Comment

Pro
 A variety of weapons to keep the gameplay fun

There are over 20 weapons to choose from, including handguns, shotguns, assault rifles, and bows. You can also craft special ammo or explosives such as nail bombs. This keeps the gunfights interesting since you can switch to a new weapon whenever it gets dull.
Comment

Pro
 Challenging but fair optional puzzles

In Rise of the Tomb Raider there are 9 optional tombs that serve as large scale environmental puzzles. They all rely on you reading the environment carefully. For example, one of them is a wooden ship frozen vertically on the wall of an ice cavern. The puzzle is reaching the treasure at the top of the ship. It might seem really hard at first, but if you carefully look at the environment you'll find a path. Solving one of these puzzles is really fun, especially because you get an upgrade from them.
Comment

Con
 Very linear

Most of the time you'll be forced to move along a single path. There are occasional quick-time events and simple puzzles, but every situation only has a single solution. This makes it feel more like an interactive movie than a game since you're never really given any freedom of choice.
Comment

Con
 Stealth seems pointless

While there are stealth takedowns and you can be stealthy in many areas, there is no real incentive to be stealthy. You can easily take out most enemies in an open confrontation and you won't ever feel like you're truly in danger.
Comment

Con
 Overused and overly familiar plot

The gist of the plot is that Lara is searching for the key to eternal life. This plot has been used in other franchises such as Indiana Jones and Uncharted. It seems kinda lazy, especially because both of these franchises are also about treasure hunters. You won't be able to shake the feeling that you already know the story, which somewhat ruins the enjoyment.
Comment

Con
 Difficulty spikes late game

During the latter half of the game the gunfights will suddenly become a lot harder. While they're not impossible to beat, the sudden difficulty spike will take time to get used to. This may cause some frustration and worsen your overall experience.
Comment

Con
 Focuses on action too much

Rise of the Tomb Raider doesn't have many puzzles or slow-paced sections, so you never really feel like a treasure hunter looking for artifacts. There are just way too many gunfights and high intensity moments one after another. It would have been nice to see more puzzles to balance out the action.
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Pro
 Great cinematic cutscenes

Beyond Lara's personal story, the overall presentation of the plot is gripping in how cinematic it is. Some of the set pieces are wild, like Lara falling from impossible heights into the sea at the start of the game and managing to survive. The way she thinks herself out of tough situations is also impressive, such as with the way the camera follows her with closeups as she wriggles her way out of traps or takes down enemies who seemingly have the upper hand over her. The direction and acting are similar to those in action movies, telling a grand and intense story.
Comment

Pro
 Stealth sections shine

Instead of going in guns blazing during combat, you can take a strategic, stealthy approach. You have plenty of opportunities to quietly take out bad guys if that's what you'd rather do. You can either rack up carefully-aimed headshots with your bow and arrow, or sneak up behind enemies and choke them out one at a time. Silently traversing tight quarters all while taking everyone out unseen is quite enjoyable.
Comment

Pro
 Exciting third-person shooting combat

The combat in Tomb Raider works really well and feels great, challenging you to stay active. You start off with only a bow and arrow, gradually working your way up to guns and bigger weapons like rocket launchers. Shooting with guns or arrows feels satisfying with plenty of feedback, especially the hard kick from the game's many different shotguns. The enemy AI is aggressive without feeling cheap, keeping you moving from place to place as you take down everyone in your path. When an enemy gets too close, you can use whatever Lara's holding in her hand, like her gun or an arrow for a bloody, cinematic finishing move. Combat is fast-paced and fun, constantly keeping you on your toes.
Comment

Pro
 Lara Croft's origin story feels authentic

This reboot of Tomb Raider tells a thoughtful, personal story of how Lara Croft became a seasoned explorer. She's wide-eyed and curious at the beginning of the game, growing into a more confident character as the plot progresses. Once she is left to fend for herself on the island she's stranded on, you see her fear and vulnerability over the unknown, and in how she struggles to learn how to hunt and survive. Each of her accomplishments are memorable because of how hard she fights to reach her goals. By the end, you have a full story of how and why Lara transforms into the iconic character many know her as from the previous games.
Comment

Con
 No dedicated servers for multiplayer

The multiplayer is peer-to-peer where your connection depends on the quality of one of the people in the lobby, who is the host. This means that you have to deal with lag, rubberbanding, and frequent disconnects when the host's connection is bad. Having dedicated servers could have drastically reduced this problem.
Comment

Con
 Excessive violence and gore

There are times when the violence is way too over-the-top. During cutscenes when Lara gets injured such as by falling and getting brutally impaled, the blood and gore can be extremely uncomfortable. To make it all worse, Lara's screams of pain are bloodcurdling and visceral, really making you feel for her. Even if you're used to violence in games, some of the scenes in Tomb Raider might be difficult to watch.
Comment

Con
 Generic and predictable finale

The way that the story concludes is disappointing because you can see it coming from a mile away. Throughout the game, you learn a lot about the cool history of the island you're stranded on as you fight for a way to escape and get back to civilization. You might think that the ending lives up to all the historical intrigue in a creative way. Sadly, the finale goes about the way you'd expect it without doing anything new. It's boring and cliche, feeling a lot like a lost opportunity to do something different and unique.
Comment

Con
 Not enough tombs to explore

It's odd that this is a reboot of Tomb Raider without the tombs. There are a handful of tombs here and there, but you won't find the amount that you may expect, especially if you're a fan of the series. The game mostly focuses on the combat and parkour segments without giving you the chance to go raid tombs for unique treasure. More tombs with puzzles to solve would have been nice as a side activity to break up the regular gameplay from story missions.
Comment

Pro
 You get to feel like a commander in combat and in the story

As the Inquisitor, you're the focal point of a huge movement to wage an army against the main villain. You're in charge of a ton of things: fortifying your base of operations, scouting for intel and resources, crafting gear, managing your companions in battle, picking which story decisions are most beneficial to your cause, and more. Besides controlling your own character during the real-time combat, you can control any of your team members, which gives you access to their diverse range of skills and tools to deal with any situation. If your Inquisitor can't heal, for example, then you can switch to a character like Solas who can take care of your party's wounds on your orders. You can also pause the action by bringing up the tactical radial menu, where you take your time to assign where you want your characters to go and which enemies to focus on. Story missions revolve around picking sides during conflicts that benefit your army the most, such as siding with the templars against the mages in order to have them with you for the final battle, at the cost of possibly angering your teammates who disagree with your choices . It's up to you to decide the best course of action and deal with any possible consequences. There is a lot to keep track of, but these decisions give you plenty of agency, helping you feel like your decisions and directions matter.
Comment

Pro
 The areas you discover are huge

The areas in Dragon Age: Inquisition are simply monstrous. The world is divided into separate maps that are each gigantic worlds on their own. From the sprawling hills and valleys in the Hinterlands to the expansive snowy ruins of Emprise du Lion, every level has tons of outposts, environmental challenges to solve such as leaks of hazardous gas or broken bridges, side quests to discover, and people to talk to in order to learn more about the world and the lore. All of this is amazing for people that enjoy exploring and making new discoveries.
Comment

Pro
 Building relationships with companions is enjoyable

There are a few neat ways you can build relationships with your party members and non-playable war advisers. These aren't limited to just romance options -- you can spend time with characters to become better friends with them, too. Improving your approval rating with characters comes down to picking certain dialog options, either to flirt with them or agree with their worldview. Doing unique side quests to help with a character's personal matters unrelated to the main story also goes a long way toward showing that you care about them, letting you see more of a character's intricate backstory and motivations. After building up enough approval, you get a special scene with your romance option or friend, and afterward you can return whenever you want to spend more time with them. It's a really good system that lets you feel like the characters are your actual comrades, helping you grow more attached to them throughout the game's long story.
Comment

Pro
 Tons of content

There's lots of content in Dragon Age: Inquisition that can keep you playing for a long time. The game offers a very long main story, with even more side quests and hidden areas that can take many hours to complete. The main story has plenty of branching decisions that affect how your playthrough turns out, encouraging you to play the game twice or more to see the different outcomes. Exploring the open world for the epic dragon slaying side quests is a great challenge with cool-looking fights and amazing loot. For those looking for a game to sink 60+ hours into, this is a good choice.
Comment

Pro
 Lots of interesting characters and lore

The characters in Dragon Age: Inquisition are great, with intriguing backstories that delve into the game's lore. Early on, you meet a couple of once-high-ranking members of the Templar Order, like Cullen, who isn't a playable character, but serves as your military adviser instead. He previously fought back against the corruption in the templar ranks, and now wants to help you on your journey to unite an army against evil forces. Another interesting character is the elf named Solas, a playable mage who knows a lot of information about the world. He acts as your guide, providing you with intriguing lore about the places you visit, like the Fade, a mystical realm filled with spirits and demons. Even though he seems one-note in his role as a dispenser of information, has some hidden depth to him that may end up surprising you. All of the characters have layered personalities that fit with the lore surrounding them.
Comment

Con
 Overwhelming amount to do at start of game

After the prologue, you arrive to the Hinterlands: a massive level with way too much to explore. Even though it's great that the open world is so big, you pretty much get dropped off in the Hinterlands without enough direction or guidance. The game just tells you to look around and find the next story quest, which can be overwhelming in the first few hours. It would have been better if you had the chance to get eased into the expansive feel of the maps first.
Comment

Con
 Slow combat animations

The combat animations can often be really slow. This causes problems, like when an attack's animation takes too long to finish, and you're left second guessing whether or not the attack will go off at all. You have to wait for the animations to play out, which can be troublesome if your aim is off or the enemy moves. This takes away from the combat's strategic play, leaving you open to attack while you wait for the animations to sort themselves out.
Comment

Con
 Forgettable multiplayer riddled with awful microtransactions

It's easy to forget that the multiplayer in this game exists. The developers basically tacked it on, taking the same single-player combat and changing it to horde mode for a multiplayer environment. It's the same type of combat over and over again with no meaningful progression. The microtransactions are abhorrent, some of them costing an arm and a leg just to get you ahead in a multiplayer that hardly anyone plays or cares about. This mode is such a blatant cash grab that you're likely better off avoiding.
Comment

Con
 Stiff and repetitive character animations during cutscenes

Character animations are incredibly stiff in ways that look robotic. During cutscenes, you'll see the same types of movements over and over, like a character shifting their waist back and bobbing their head to seem important or defiant, or moving their head down with their words to make a point. If there were more variation with the animations instead, then the stiff delivery might not be all that bad.
Comment

Con
 Generic villain drags the story down

The main villain, Corypheus, is so bland and unremarkable that he worsens the entire story. He's a darkspawn, a type of demon enemy in the Dragon Age lore, hell-bent on bringing ruin to the world for reasons that aren't all that compelling. He doesn't have much of a personality beyond his evil tendencies, turning him into more of a caricature. If you've seen any old generic Hollywood movie with an evil villain, then you know all there is to see with Corypheus. He's such a safe and boring villain that he bogs down the narrative, making most of the twists and turns predictable and uneventful.
Comment

Pro
 Cool time manipulation mechanic

Whenever a player makes a long-range headshot, messy bomb kills, or any other skillful takedown of zeds (the game's zombie-like creatures) it puts every player into 'zed time." This slow downs time, turning everything black and white, except for gunfire, explosions and blood, all beautifully rendered. Not only does it make you feel powerful, but also serves as positive reinforcement, since going into "zed time" means you or your team is doing well.
Comment

Pro
 Visceral combat

The MEAT (Massive Evisceration And Trauma) system designates 22 different contact points on each enemy that will react realistically to players’ attacks – for example, you can cut enemies in half vertically and horizontally, dismember them at the hand or shoulder, even shoot off their lower jaw without removing the head entirely. This level of realism – and ultraviolence – makes the combat incredibly impactful.
Comment

Pro
 Co-op campaign for up to 6 players

KF2 boasts a rare co-op experience with up to 6 players, which is not the norm for most games, making it a unique experience.
Comment

Con
 Currently no listen server function

It can be a pain to set up a private multiplayer game due to the omission of listen server functionality. Dedicated server support is available but not well documented; it can be daunting and time consuming to set up for new users or those who are not technically inclined.
Comment

Pro
 A really fun way of getting around

To explore have a wide selection of vehicles available to you, including bikes, sports cars, tanks, helicopters, and airplanes. However, all of the vehicles combined are nowhere near as fun as the combination of your grapple gun, wingsuit, and parachute. This combination gives you one of the most fun open-world traversal methods to date. You use the wingsuit for gliding, the parachute for gaining height and accurate steering while the grappling hook helps you latch onto various vehicles such as helicopters. It takes a while to get used to, but once you do, you'll probably not look back at regular vehicles.
Comment

Pro
 Massive open world

The total area of JC3 is 400 square miles (1,000 km2), which makes its world one of the largest in gaming. You can explore rural settlements, military bases, grassy plains, dense forests, damp subterranean caverns, and even snowy mountains. There's so much to explore it almost never feels like there's an end to it.
Comment

Pro
 Entertaining over-the-top action

Just Cause 3 is all about going crazy in its open world environment. To help with this, your character has a wide variety of weapons, including assault rifles, rocket launchers, and even a limitless supply of C4 explosives. You can stand on top of a plane as it flies over an enemy base and rain down fire and death down on it with your RPG. Or you can attach a C4 charge to everything you see, and watch the world's most colorful fireworks simulator. You even have a grapple gun that allows you to perform various hilarious shenanigans. This includes connecting two helicopters with a rope, causing them to spin out and tangle into a massive explosion. Whatever you decide to do, it's guaranteed to be over-the-top action goodness.
Comment

Con
 Story missions feel tedious

Just Cause 3 severely lacks story mission variety, having mostly tower defense and escort missions that start getting really repetitive after a while. As a result, you might find yourself hoping a story mission ends sooner, so you can get back to the free-roam and destroy-at- your-own-leisure aspect.
Comment

Con
 Poorly optimized

Sometimes you might get sudden fps drops, even when there's practically nothing happening on screen. It can make playing the game very difficult, which is especially annoying during very intense moments.
Comment

Pro
 Improving your character is addicting

One of the main aspects online titles like Destiny 2 is character progression, which is done through leveling and collecting new equipment. Your character gets stronger and when you revisit missions/bosses that gave you trouble before, you can beat them with ease, which feels incredibly satisfying. This will push you to play just a bit more, collect a few more guns and armor pieces, defeat a couple more bosses, and before you know it, many hours will have passed.
Comment

Pro
 Massive environments that feel alive

The open-world environments in games usually have a lot of empty space, so you spend most of the time traveling without doing much else. Destiny 2 has large areas filled with enemies, world events, and activity in general, eliminating most of the downtime. Because of this it feels like you're actually visiting a planet inhabited/occupied by aliens, which considerably adds to the immersion.
Comment

Pro
 Solid controls that don't detract from gameplay

Your character's movement, aiming your gun, and even driving your hoverbike feels really fluid and responsive. As a result, you can make very precise movements, jumps, and shots in any situation, allowing you to land a headshot with your sniper rifle from far away while strafing with ease.
Comment

Pro
 Excellent co-op multiplayer

Even though Destiny 2 doesn't have strict class archetypes like most MMOs, each class/subclass has its role in a group setup. So whether you're capturing control points in a PVP match or fighting a tough boss in a raid, you still need to cover for each other's weaknesses. This can be providing support to surrounded teammates, taking the attention of groups of aliens or just picking off troublesome enemies from afar. Because of this you learn to rely on each other and working together feels rewarding.
Comment

Pro
 Really fun gameplay

Destiny 2 is all about killing aliens and destroying massive robots. To do this you have a wide variety of weapons and abilities available to you. This includes hand cannons, shotguns, assault rifles, chain lightning grenades, and many more. Each weapon and ability feels great to use, making destruction and mayhem that much more enjoyable. It's a well-rounded and enjoyable experience, which will keep you interested for dozens of hours.
Comment

Con
 Inconvenient customization

While most online games usually give you permanent color packs for customization, the shaders in Destiny 2 are divided into single colors that can only be used once. You can't preview your new color scheme either, so if you end up with something you dislike, you're stuck with it because you can't change it back. This also means you shouldn't use shaders on leveling gear since you're gonna replace it anyway. As a result most players don't bother with creating unique appearances and everyone looks nearly identical, which is bad for the social aspect of Destiny 2. The sad part is that even though the shaders can drop randomly in the game world, they can also be bought from the in-game store. This makes it feel like customization has been turned into a cash grab by inconveniencing players.
Comment

Con
 Guns and armor do not feel unique like in the prequel

In Destiny 1, the guns and armor felt more unique when compared to Destiny 2. In Destiny 1, a gun or armor could drop that had one set of perks or stats boosts, and then it could drop again with a different set of perks and boosts. Weapons and armor from the raids also gave unique looks as well as perks that helped for that raid. In Destiny 2 those raid perks are gone, making the gear feel no different than what could get from anywhere else. The lack of variation in the guns and armor just make it hard to care about what you get and kills the urge to try to find the best gun and armor for your character.
Comment

Con
 Content that was available at the start of the game ended up locked behind DLC

When the expansion Curse of Osiris was released, Bungie ended up preventing players without the expansion from being able to access the prestige versions of the first raid and nightfall strikes, as well as the PvP Iron Banner and Trials of the Nine. For the people who like to hunt achievements/trophies, this move effectively blocked them from earning them. Bungie has since patched things so players are not locked out of the prestige mode of the first raid, as well as nightfall strikes and Trials of the Nine when not using Curse of Osiris maps, making the achievements earnable again. Still, it was an extremely poor decision to lock player out of content they paid for and leaves the question as to will Bungie make another mistake with the next expansion.
Comment

Pro
 Excellent arcade mode

Battlefront II includes an arcade mode where you alone or with a friend via split-screen or online, can fight against waves of enemies. This is a welcome addition for players that don't enjoy competitive multiplayer, but would like to have some Star Wars-themed fun.
Comment

Pro
 Solid team-based gameplay

Battlefront II has fast-paced action and large scale battles between two teams, pitting two of the six available factions against each other. You can shoot blasters, swing lightsabers, and drive various vehicles such as AATs or AT-MTs. You can even take part in space battles while piloting one of the many starfighters. Whichever gamemode you choose, it always feels like an epic struggle that will keep you interested for a long time.
Comment

Pro
 You can switch between first-person and third-person camera at any time

You can switch the camera view at any time, allowing you to play Battlefront II either as an FPS game or as a third-person action game. Neither camera view has any game-breaking advantages, so the choice is entirely up to your preference. This is also a great way to keep the gameplay from going stale since switching the camera view alters the overall experience.
Comment

Pro
 Breathtaking graphics

Battlefront II is a visual spectacle, surpassing the vast majority games in its generation. Texture quality, model detail, shadow mapping, lighting, reflections, particle effects, and just about every aspect of the graphics is top of the line. Whether you're taking part in a dogfight in outer space, circling asteroids and shooting Tie Fighters with your X-wing Starfighter. Or if you're advancing through the city of Theed as a battle droid, systematically eliminating Stormtroopers. Battlefront II is an incredibly cinematic and beautiful experience.
Comment

Pro
 Great fun for Star Wars fans

It's a very accurate depiction of the Star Wars universe, featuring the vast majority of iconic characters, including Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker, and even newer characters such as Kylo Ren. There is also a set of excellent locations, including Theed, the capital of Naboo, the Jedi temple on Coruscant, and various others. It's a game most Star Wars fans won't want to miss.
Comment

Con
 Campaign's story is a wasted opportunity

While the story starts out really interesting, it quickly loses steam due to a questionable direction and illogical character development. There are constraints because story is considered canon and has to fit into the Star Wars continuity, but the writers could have done so much more with it.
Comment

Con
 Pay to win

With EA's Lootbox you may have to pay to have the best equipment in the game
Comment

Pro
 Good character creation

When starting a new game the player is allowed to choose between a man or woman, from there is a plethora of options for making a character with a personalized look.
Comment

Pro
 Stunningly beautiful

The landscape, creatures, structures, even other players are all gorgeous. The textures are seamless, and the character/dinosaur models are just great. The environment ranges from lush green forests, to snowcapped mountains, to incredible coastal views. When you combine all of these things, it adds up to being simply breathtaking.
Comment

Pro
 An absolutely fantastic community

The community for Ark is simply great. Whether you're talking about custom servers, the modding community, or just the playerbase in general, there's always people around to help out with any questions you might have.
Comment

Pro
 The game makes you want to explore, craft, and fight to make the most of its progressive crafting system

Ark is unlike many survival games in that you attain levels as you progress. As you level higher and higher, you gain access to more craftable items. Some are just more powerful versions of lower-tier items (such as leather armor vs. cloth armor), but most are brand new (such as firearms, scuba gear, and saddles for more powerful dinosaurs). This really drives you to explore more areas to find rarer resources and fight stronger dinosaurs.
Comment

Pro
 You can tame and mount nearly every creature in the game

From the small, quick raptor to the massive, vicious giganotosaurus, you can mount nearly any dinosaur in the game. There's huge, flying dinosaurs, aquatic dinosaurs, some that are like walking fortresses, and others that can take those down.
Comment

Pro
 You can share materials, dinosaurs, and structures by forming (or joining!) a tribe with your friends

Users can form a tribe with other online users to for a community. This community can now band together in order to build and grow as well as team up against other tribes. This makes for a fun experience with friends and other players as it requires teamwork in order to be successful.
Comment

Pro
 Increased customization thanks to player-created servers

Ark has hundreds, if not thousands, of great custom servers. You can control things such as PvP, experience, gathering, and taming rates, set things up so there's no griefing (constantly bullying a player or group of players), and the difficulty of the creatures.
Comment

Con
 The game can become a grind

At the higher levels, it begins to take a very, very long time to level up (unless you're playing on a custom server). This can make the game tedious to play for some people.
Comment

Con
 No more Early access, still buggy

Ark has been fully released on August 2017, but bugs are still easily found and many areas of the game lack polish.
Comment

Pro
 Online co-op with friends makes the game more fun and strategic

Four-player co-op online with friends is great. You all get to work together to plan your next move, gather resources, and protect your base by killing zombies. The third-person shooter gameplay shines as you work cooperatively, since you can watch each other's blind spots to take out any enemies that might catch someone off guard. You can also pull off more strategic moves, like coordinating fire strikes to distract zombies, while another person hurries to collect the resources in an area. Working as a team lets you accomplish more and experience the game in a way that the single-player mode just doesn't offer.
Comment

Pro
 Open-ended approach to managing your base, resources, and survivors

You have the freedom to make choices in State of Decay 2 that determine how things turn out for your operations. You're tasked with taking care of groups of survivors during a zombie apocalypse, so that means gathering food and other resources to keep your people and your base safe. When you know you're about to exhaust all the resources in one area, you have to decide if you want to keep your base in what's probably a safe location away from zombies, at the cost of having to cross more distance to find materials in the future. Or if you do move your base to a resource-rich location, you may end up getting swarmed by zombies more often, and potentially losing your survivors. These types of moment-to-moment choices end up having a big impact down the line, making each of your gameplay sessions unique.
Comment

Pro
 Excellent performance

Everything runs well at solid framerates on both console and PC. If you're on the Xbox One X, or if you have a high-end PC at max settings, you'll hardly notice any stuttering or FPS issues. The regular Xbox One and mid-tier PCs also run the game quite well.
Comment

Pro
 Good price of $29.99 USD at release

State of Decay 2 is priced well at launch at only $29.99. Even better, with the Xbox Game Pass, you can get the game for only $10 on either PC or your Xbox console. This is great for anyone who doesn't want to shell out the usual $59.99 for a retail game as soon as it's released.
Comment

Con
 Not for players who dislike micromanaging small details

If you don't like keeping track of resources and other necessities that come along with base-building games, then State of Decay 2 probably isn't for you. Your main objective is keeping your survivors alive and your base thriving, meaning you have to scavenge the open world for food and materials, make sure your peoples' needs are met, and a lot of other similar tasks. Finding and allocating resources is what makes or breaks your group and your operations, so if you hate keeping track of things like that, then you may not want to pick this game up.
Comment

Con
 Buggy

There are some random bugs that pop up during gameplay. They're mostly physics-based, with zombies dropping down from the sky as they spawn, or vehicles tipping over and flipping around for no apparent reason. Some of them are pretty funny and aren't too detrimental, but they still make the game look and feel unpolished. A few patches from the devs should iron out these issues.
Comment

Con
 No dedicated servers for online play

Not having dedicated servers makes online play hit-or-miss. The peer-to-peer connection means that one player in the lobby acts as the "host" for your game. If the host's individual connection is bad, then everyone in the lobby suffers with possible rubberbanding and packet loss. You'll be fine as long as the host's connection is okay, but if not, then you're out of luck. It would have been better to have dedicated servers to avoid these awkward issues.
Comment

Pro
 Realistic stealth gameplay where you get to stalk and hunt through the shadows

Shadow of the Tomb Raider gives you a lot of ways to sneak around and hunt your enemies compared to the previous games in the trilogy. The biggest feature is getting to cover yourself with mud as camouflage to hide in the bushes. Sneaking from bush to bush and planning out your attacks is intense, since you have so many options of hiding in this bush or that shadow as you stalk your targets. Getting the drop on your target is satisfying, especially when you kill someone and disappear right back into the bushes before anyone spots you. It's some of the best stealth gameplay around because of how real it feels.
Comment

Pro
 Aggressive third-person shooting and melee combat

The combat in Shadow of the Tomb Raider shows more of Lara's raw and aggressive fighting this time around. Shooting with guns or arrows feels satisfying with plenty of feedback, especially the hard kick from the game's many different shotguns. The enemy AI is active without feeling cheap, keeping you moving from place to place as you take down everyone in your path. If you choose to be more predatory before jumping in with melee combat, Lara has some really bloody and brutal kill animations with a huge knife. Combat is fast-paced and fun, constantly keeping you on your toes.
Comment

Pro
 Lots of opportunities to explore the world and solve challenging puzzles

Compared to the first two games, Shadow of the Tomb Raider gives you way more chances to roam around the environments and solve some great puzzles in various tombs. The lush forests are perfect for exploring at your own pace, climbing around and taking in the beautiful view of the world. There's a lively hub city filled with plenty of people, with markets for you to barter at and NPCs to talk to in order to learn more about the history of the location. And solving puzzles inside of tombs is a welcome challenge, rewarding you with unique gear and loot that's absolutely worth going after. If you don't want to spend most of your time fighting enemies, you have plenty of freedom to skip that and take your time to look around and soak in the world instead.
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Pro
 Great cinematic cutscenes

Like the first two rebooted Tomb Raider games, the overall presentation of the plot in Shadow of the Tomb Raider is gripping in how cinematic it is. Some of the set pieces are wild, like Lara wrestling with deadly marine life in the water and managing to break free and survive. The way she thinks herself out of tough situations is also impressive, such as with the way the camera follows her with closeups as she wriggles her way out of traps or takes down enemies who seemingly have the upper hand over her. The direction and acting are similar to those in action movies, telling a grand and intense story.
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Con
 Bland story

The story in Shadow of the Tomb Raider is just okay. There are some exciting action scenes and impressive setpieces, which is great. It's more that the writing is too boring and safe. The plot picks up two months after where Rise of the Tomb Raider left off, with Lara trying to stop an apocalypse that her main nemesis wants to bring about. There are a few interesting ideas here, like showing a darker side to Lara in how far she's willing to go to do the right thing, even if it means turning into her enemy. Sadly, the writers didn't do enough with this concept, since the rest of the narrative is standard and uninspiring. It's too bad, because this plot had plenty of potential to show off a lot more.
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Con
 The gameplay hasn't changed much from the first two games

If you've played Tomb Raider (2013) and Rise of the Tomb Raider, then you might find that this one is way too similar. Aside from the neat changes to stealth and melee combat, too much stays the same. The same story beats, the same feel to the gameplay, and basically going through the same motions as the first two games. It just feels like the devs didn't innovate nearly enough for this big finale to the trilogy, keeping things safe and familiar without taking meaningful risks.
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Pro
 Rewarding boss fights

The boss fights are exciting and fast paced battles that will put your mastery of the wall jumping movement system to the test. One particular fight has temporary platforms that spawn out of thin air, so you never know where they're going to appear. This requires some on the fly thinking as you'll not only be paying attention to the platforms, but also dodging the boss' projectiles and his minions. You'll have to be precise in your jumping and shooting. Every boss fight incorporates the fun wall jumping flawlessly and defeating each one feels like a true accomplishment.
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Pro
 Great balance between movement and combat

While you do have a gun, it takes several seconds to stop, charge up, and shoot. This means whenever you want to dispatch an enemy, you'll have to stop moving completely for several seconds. It's not as easy as it sounds, since oftentimes dodging projectiles, working around moving platforms, and finding a safe spot requires some planning ahead. Sometimes, it may be better to just keep moving rather than killing every enemy in sight. As a result, Dandara's combat provides a balance and unique challenge not often seen in "run and gun" style platformers.
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Pro
 Fun gameplay thanks to unique wall jumping mechanic

Rather than running and jumping, all movement in Dandara is done through a unique wall jumping mechanic. This unique jumping is the heart of the game and what sets it apart from other platformers. You can jump to any wall, ceiling, or floor within reach, often bouncing among them in rapid succession like a ninja. The mechanic itself is simple, just aim and jump. However, this movement style makes shooting at enemies, dodging projectiles, or navigating each room a fun, unique challenge that isn't seen in other platformers.
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Con
 Major difficulty spikes

Dandara is a challenging game as it is, but there are some pretty sharp difficultly spikes in some areas that feel a little too punishing. This can be frustrating to some players who felt like they were making progress, only to hit these roadblocks.
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Con
 Save points are scarce

Killing enemies awards salt which can be used to increase your health pool and upgrade your stats. However, you can only use salt at camps (save points) which are few and far between. Additionally, having to replay large sections of content and losing experience every time you die makes the game lose some of it's fun.
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Con
 Map is hard to use

The camera rotates when entering new rooms/areas, however the map doesn't rotate to reflect this. As a result, it's hard to tell which direction you need to go in. The static map feel a bit useless at times.
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Pro
 Balanced multiplayer

Even though there are various upgrades and progression bonuses in Halo 5's multiplayer, it is enjoyable even before unlocking any of them. This is because it puts emphasis on player skill, allowing you to have fun without getting punished for not having invested enough time in it. The only way it starts feeling unfair is when you meet players that outmatch your skill level by a lot.
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Pro
 Feels great to play

It doesn't matter if you're playing single player, co-op, or competitive multiplayer, Halo 5 always is a blast to play. This is partly because of the sharp and fluid controls, awesome gunplay, and the great graphics run at a smooth 60 fps. It's also because the gameplay just flows so nicely, from performing takedowns on enemies, to shooting your laser rifle, to even ramming your jeep into an unsuspecting alien, Halo 5 as a whole feels really enjoyable.
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Pro
 Great co-op

You can play the campaign with up to 3 other players, which increases the fun by quite a bit. You get the sense of being in an actual squad of elite soldiers that cover and support each other, making it feel really awesome to destroy aliens and robots with the help of your fellow Spartan soldiers. It's the type of feeling you simply can't get with AI companions.
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Con
 Short single player/co-op campaign

A single playthrough takes only about 5 hours on average, so if you don't like replaying campaigns or if you don't enjoy competitive multiplayer, you won't be able to enjoy Halo 5 for very long.
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Con
 No local multiplayer

While there is online co-op/multiplayer, Halo 5 has no local split screen co-op/multiplayer. This means you can only play with your friends/family over the internet, with each of you needing a separate console and a copy of the game.
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Pro
 Jetpacks and wall-running let you move around more freely

While playing as a regular soldier, you have great mobility with jetpacks that allow you to run on walls. Maps are designed with verticality in mind, giving players options to use their jetpacks to climb above the opposition for a better vantage point. It also gives you a leg up when facing against a Titan, since you can always run along a nearby wall to get on top of the mech to take it down. This helps to make sure than infantry soldiers aren't just weak fodder for Titans to take out, with their speed and parkour abilities as their main advantages.
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Pro
 Stormtrooper NPCs are present on the battlefield as allies and enemies

Maps and missions feel realistic thanks to the stormtrooper units that you see during matches. Some are part of your team, acting as guides to your next objective and moral support in the way their voiced lines express appreciation for your presence on the battlefield. The enemy team also has groups of these same NPCs, with certain multiplayer modes focusing on you taking out certain number of them in order to dwindle their numbers. Overall, they help populate the maps to make them feel like actual missions with soldiers accompanying you or opposing you, making things feel more epic.
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Pro
 Multiplayer has its own story

Since there's no dedicated story campaign, there is instead a narrative woven into the multiplayer gameplay. Before you drop down to each mission, you get a brief cinematic with an explanation of your objective and what's at stake. These stories all add up to an arching plot that guides you through the multiplayer. Throughout the missions, you also unlock new Titans for you to use while playing in regular multiplayer matches. Even though the story here isn't much, it's something, at the very least.
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Pro
 You can use powerful mechs called Titans for their added defense and high-powered weapons

Aside from playing as a regular infantry soldier, there are also huge mechs on the battlefield, known as Titans, that you can control. As soon as a player gets in the cockpit, that's when you know that the tides are about to turn. Titans are big enough to act as tanks for your allies, soaking up damage and dealing a ton more with their specialized guns, giving your team a huge advantage just by having one with you. But they're not all-powerful, since a normal soldier can get on a Titan's back to dismantle it and take it down, even though it won't be easy. Titans are strong without being overpowered, turning battles into power plays to see who can take out the enemy team's mechs the fastest.
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Pro
 Thrilling first-person shooter multiplayer with teams of six

Titanfall is a great team-based FPS game with well-designed gunplay. Running and gunning with your team of six friends or online players is fast-paced, with tons of destruction on the battlefield all around you. You rely on twitch reflexes to gun down enemies as soon as you see one rounding a corner, or to react in time to someone shooting at you and taking you by surprise. Though there aren't too many guns to choose from, the ones you can pick are each unique and fun to use. Everything feels balanced in a way that's well thought-out, leading to frantic and intense multiplayer matches.
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Con
 The story in multiplayer is low-effort

Even though Titanfall tries to compensate with a story through multiplayer, it's a wasted effort. It's limited to a few cutscenes and voice overs here and there, with things like exposition and character development dumped on you without any emotional investment. The story is so bad and bare-bones that the writers shouldn't have even bothered putting it in.
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Con
 Lack of gun variety, game modes, and customization

There's a distinct lack of variety to what's available here in general. Even though the available guns and game types are solid, there just aren't enough of them. It can be easy to get bored with using the same guns and playing the same matches over and over again. There's also not nearly enough customization options for your character or your Titans. Without ways to make them truly your own, they end up feeling like soulless avatars. What is here has lots of potential, but there needs to be more to choose from to keep things from getting stale.
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Con
 No single-player campaign

There is no dedicated single-player story mode whatsoever. It's worrying that the devs overlooked or chose to outright ignore an actual narrative. If you're looking for a single-player FPS experience, you won't find it here.
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Con
 Everything is online-only

Having everything online means you're at the mercy of your internet connection. If you disconnect during a story mode match, for example, then you risk losing all progress and having to start over again. The story isn't exactly something you can skip, either, since you have to play through it if you want to unlock all of the Titans. For those with decent connections, you'll probably be okay, but anyone else should be wary about dealing with frequent interruptions.
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Pro
 The water looks absolutely incredible

Standing on the port of your ship and looking out over the water makes you feel like you're really standing on a real ship in the ocean. Utilizing the Unreal 4 engine to full capacity, the water itself looks fantastic, with great shimmering effects as waves gently roll or violently crash. Sea foam froths and the sun illuminates the water below. It's some of the best looking water in any game to date and helps immerse you in the world of pirates and ships, as the game world is largely made up of being on the water or surrounded by it.
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Pro
 A huge open world with lots to explore

For those who enjoy exploration and games without restrictions on travel, there is a lot to see and do here. The game is mainly an open world where you are free to sail your ship around in any direction you choose and explore the various islands at your own leisure. There are reputations to grind, quests from 3 different companies, forts to conquer, shipwrecks to scavenge, and islands to plunder for their treasure. The game world itself is huge, giving you the freedom to traverse it and discover it's secrets at will.
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Pro
 A lot of unique ways to customize the look of your pirate

You can outfit your character in a variety of different costumes and outfits, including hook hands, hats, eye patches, and bandanas. While some are open to anyone with the gold or reputation, sometimes the game will put special items on a vendor just for your play style. For example, if you spend a lot of time killing other players, the game will recognize this by putting special items on vendors that you can purchase to denote you are a bloodthirsty pirate who does a lot of PvP. If you want to be the biggest, baddest looking pirate around, there's plenty of ways to unlock the look you want.
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Pro
 Controlling the pirate ship together provides a great co-op experience

When playing with friends, you can all control the pirate ship together. The sails need someone to control them so that the ship is able to take advantage of wind to propel itself forward. Another in the role of captain may be steering the ship as it rolls over salty ocean waves. A friend might also opt to climb up to the crow's nest to keep an eye out for other ships on the prowl. Additionally, someone will have to be making repairs on the ship with wooden planks or bailing with buckets if the deck takes on water. Working together to control the ship works well and encourages a level of team work that is very conducive to fun co-op play.
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Pro
 The ship battles are intense

Other players and their crews can attack you on the open waters in PvP combat, as well as AI skeletal crews with varying strengths and weaknesses, sometimes with little to no warning. This results in some pretty intense and epic battles where authentic pirate warfare comes into play. Battling involves the coordination of your entire crew as things can get extremely hectic really quickly. Someone will have to run below deck to grab the cannonballs, while another loads them in the cannons and shoots at the enemy. Others may be using buckets to bail out water after your ship takes damage and starts to sink. You'll have to manage damage to your ship while also protecting yourself from enemy attacks. You can even grab your pistol and sword and jump aboard the enemy ship, swinging and shooting your way to victory. Keep in mind, the enemy will also try to board your ship and cut you down, so you'll always have to stay alert and react on the fly. Overall, the ship battles are done incredibly well, require teamwork due to offensive and defensive aspects such as shooting cannons and bailing water, and are loaded with fast paced and intense action.
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Pro
 Rare and random events keep everyone on their toes

For example, your ship may be attacked by a huge Kraken. This can happen anytime or anywhere you're on the open seas. The water bubbles and turns black, the sign of a big and deadly sea monster approaching. Eventually it will be attacking your ship, attempting to drag your ship and your crew down into the depths. You'll have to fend it off and unleash all your firepower on it if you want it to release your ship so you can safely sail away. This can be especially dramatic if you're hauling back a large amount of loot to sell off. Because of the completely random nature of these events and their ability to easily sink an unprepared ship, you will have to stay alert and on your toes at all times.
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Pro
 Hours of content thanks to the the Voyage system

Due to the variety of the voyages and three different factions, things stay fresh and fun for quite some time resulting in quite a bit of content to play through as you sail your ship towards loot and infamy. The game centers around a quest system, called voyages, which works incredibly well to provide hours of content. Completing these voyages will allow you to build your reputation and earn gold, which in turn, will allow you embark on even more dangerous and exciting voyages, sometimes with multiple parts and their own ministory. Voyages include sailing your ship on the rough seas to your destination, and then finally following your map to the treasure. But there are a lot of variables involved. Getting attacked at sea, various enemies, islands with different layouts, traps on the treasure chests, and other obstacles are between you and your goal at all times, with each voyage being distinctly different so you'll never be doing the same thing twice.
Comment

Con
 Lore can be hard to follow without outside sources

Without the lore book or comic book, characters and lore may be hard to follow. To understand the legends and characters properly, you will most likely need to read from outside sources simply due to the sheer amount of the lore the game tries to tackle.
Comment

Con
 The look of outfits, ship upgrades, and weapons are cosmetic only

The various outfits, ship upgrades, and weapons require you to spend gold in-game, but they are cosmetic only. This can be a huge turn off after saving up a bunch of gold for a shiny new weapon, only to find it's purely cosmetic and doesn't add to any kind of stat pool.
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Pro
 Enemy encounters can be tense

There's no combat in Fe, resulting in some pretty tense situations with the monsters. If you are spotted by the Silent Ones, rather scary robotic creatures, they can kill you on sight. Hiding in a bush or climbing a tree in a panic to escape can deliver some pretty exciting and tense moments. No matter how careful you are in the open world, some objectives will require sneaking past or evading them to grab key items. These situations can deliver some of the most exciting moments in the game.
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Pro
 Uses music as an interesting platforming mechanic

Songs are used to interact with the world and navigate the platforming aspects in interesting ways. Using various melodies, you'll be able to perform such actions as calling birds to help you cross large gaps, spring boarding off plants for super high jumps, and even summoning a stag to attack enemies. If you're ever lost, there is a melody you can use to call down a bird who will point you in the direction you need to be going. Using musical melodies to navigate the platforming is integrated incredibly well.
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Pro
 Exciting ability progression

Abilities are learned gradually as the game progresses by collecting gems and also learning the musical language of the forest life from plants and animals. As you gain more abilities or learn how to interact with more creatures, you can then go back to old areas and find new paths that were previously inaccessible. For example, birds that may not have paid much attention to you before may now gladly carry you over large gaps once you speak their language. Plants can springboard you high into the air once you can communicate with them. This ability progression is an exciting way to keep things fresh, and makes visiting old areas rewarding with new secrets to be found.
Comment

Con
 Platforming is a bit unpolished at times

The platforming can feel a bit clunky or rough at times. For example, when climbing trees you have to jump to the top branch by branch. Hitting the jump button one time too many will result in falling and having to re-climb the tree from the base. It's just little unpolished details like this that can sometimes make the platforming feel a bit clumsy.
Comment

Con
 Story can seem nonsensical

There is no dialogue in the game, so the story can be hard to follow at times. During cutscenes, sometimes you'll have no clue what's really going on due to their surreal and strange nature. A lot of the story is left up your own interpretation, which can be disappointing for those who prefer a solid, coherent narrative.
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Pro
 You can fly a car

When the right upgrade parts are found, the Regalia is given an additional travel mode of flight. While the controls take some getting used to and might result in death, hopefully amusing death, it does allow for an interesting new mode of travel.
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Pro
 Lets you choose which weapons to use to best suit your playstyle

There is a wide range of weapons that Noctis can equip, such as greatswords, lances, short swords and even guns. Four different weapons can be equipped to Noctis at once and when in battle, the weapon being used can be switched with the press of a button. This allows for you to select weapons that might be beneficial for certain fights, or for a preferred playstyle, and switch between them with ease when the situation calls for it.
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Pro
 Impressive visuals

Final Fantasy XV is an epic game that knows how to put on a show with its visuals. Some of its best moments are visually awe-inspiring, standing out from other games through sheer ambition and huge proportions, like fighting boss battles against enormous foes. Even during regular battles, if you're at low HP and you need to finish off a group of enemies, you can summon a giant, god-like being to instakill the enemies at the cost of not gaining any experience points. The summon animation for the thunder god Ramuh is amazing, with the whole sky shifting to a violet lightning storm as the huge deity comes down from the sky, using his scepter to rain down crazy amounts of lightning to kill everything in your path. Instances like these are more of the norm instead of the exception, making for some unforgettable scenes throughout the game.
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Pro
 Powerful soundtrack

The soundtrack in this game is grand and inspiring, going the extra mile to help plenty of moments stick out in your memory alongside the music. The prologue alone gives a great preview of a fiery level you'll reach later in the story, playing the song "Hellfire" with an energized chorus singing over a strong mix of percussion instruments. Music for regular boss fights, called "Omnis Lacrima", is as whimsical and intense, with a determined chorus singing in Latin over frenzied violins, pianos, and brass instruments. Certain story sequences are heartfelt with "Love Lost" playing in the background, featuring wind instruments and pianos that are strong enough to affect you emotionally. The music overall does a great job of elevating the plot with its huge sense of scale and emotional impact.
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Pro
 Great interaction between the main characters

It was enjoyable to watch how the main characters dealt with the story as it progressed from fixing a broken car on the way to a wedding, to avenging the destruction of their home to eventually saving the world and dealing with the issues along the way. What stuck out the most though was the interactions between the characters while just playing the game. They will make comments while fighting battles, banter with each other while riding in the car or on chocobos. They even make comments when you are trying to catch fish. These small interactions between the characters were a great detail is not always found in other games.
Comment

Con
 The magic system is a downgrade from previous Final Fantasy games

In most Final Fantasy games, magic spells are unlocked by leveling a character up or acquiring them through other means, such as nodes on a level grid, equipping gear that can teach a spell, or from items found in the game, such as Final Fantasy VII's materia system. Final Fantasy XV reduces the magic casting to collecting fire, ice and thunder energy from nodes near campsites, and them filling up flasks with the energy in various combos, and sometimes drops from enemies, to be able to create a spell. The ability to add what you want to a flask does allow for the creation of strong spells or spells that end up being cast multiple times, but it ends up being limited by the resources you have. The worst part though about the magic system is that casting the spells is done by throwing the flask like a grenade causing an explosion of the spell, damaging friend and foe alike. The only way to prevent friendly fire is the Ring of Resistance accessory, which is obtained from paid DLC. It should also be noted that the ring only protects from the initial affects of the spell, which means the party can still be paralyzed from a thunder spell if they are standing in water.
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Con
 The world can feel empty at times

The majority of Final Fantasy XV takes place in the area known as Lucis. Lucis is comprised of one main town, a beach resort, and various little outposts that mainly serve as places to get food, gas for the car, rest, and obtain hunts. The lack of multiple large towns makes the world feel rather empty at times compared to previous Final Fantasy games. The feeling of emptiness is further enhanced by some areas having few monsters encounters while exploring.
Comment

Con
 Core character development for Noctis' companions isn't in the main story

The weak story in Final Fantasy XV links back to Noctis' companions--Ignis, Gladio, and Prompto--and how you won't get to know the guys all that well unless you play the paid DLC. You have to reach certain points in the story before these DLC stories are available, and without the context in this content, you won't have a solid understanding of the main characters beyond the tropes they represent. Aside from a few heartwarming moments in the story, it's all too easy to dismiss Prompto as a happy-go-lucky guy with little depth to him. It isn't until you play through his DLC, Episode Prompto, that you get to know him in ways that should have been in the main story. It's a poor business decision that prevents the story from standing on its own two feet.
Comment

Con
 Weak story

Because the Final Fantasy series is known for its great stories, it's frustrating that the one here is badly executed. There are a lot of payoffs in the plot that the writers intended to be dramatic and emotional, and yet you probably won't feel the full impact of them since the buildup to those moments is lacking. There's too much missing with Final Fantasy XV's storytelling, all but abandoning the plot to land on its face by the end credits.
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Pro
 The combat is fast-paced and brutal

In Conan Exiles you play as an exiled warrior, so it's no wonder that you know how to fight. You play in first-person and wield a large array of weapons in order to destroy your enemies. Combat often ends quickly, with decapitations, limbs flying everywhere, and blood spattered on the ground. You can even sacrifice your enemies to the gods in order to gain power if you want to. If you like brutality, Conan Exiles has it in spades.
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Pro
 Exploring the world is fun

There are several different biomes in Conan Exiles. Barren wastelands, harsh deserts, sparkling rivers, and haunted forests are just a few of the ones you'll encounter, but you'll want to get out there and really explore the environment. Every biome holds different secrets to discover and, more importantly, different materials so you can craft new stuff, which is always satisfying. Exploring also lets you scout out enemies that you plan to attack, find new areas you want to settle, or even make new friends to cohabit the area with. You'll have to explore whether you want to or not, but Conan Exiles makes it very enjoyable by making sure it's a rewarding experience.
Comment

Pro
 Extensive crafting system that encourages player interaction

Crafting in Conan Exiles is essentially the name of the game. There are hundreds of items available to craft, and even though it may seem a little daunting at first, the process is very intuitive. You're able to do most things right from your inventory screen with no added help, and other things are deliberately pointed out as needing other amenities to be able to craft them. As you level up, you acquire "knowledge points," allowing you to learn how to craft new things. However, one person can't possibly know how to craft everything in the game. This system is perfect for making players either raid others for the goods they need, or team up and work with people to get further in their quest for survival.
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Pro
 A great deal of fun to play with your friends

In Conan Exiles, you're able to team up with people and build cities, or even empires if your group is large enough to make it happen. You're also able to do things that simply couldn't happen as a solo player, like waging war on enemy cities, pooling resources to expand your territory quickly, or making group expeditions to find rare resources. As much fun as the game is by yourself, it really shines when you've got a few friends to team up with to take on the world.
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Pro
 The developers are very interactive with the community

The developers of Conan Exiles do their best to maintain regular and transparent communication with the players, actively seeking feedback, requests, and ideas in order to make the game better.
Comment

Con
 Not suitable for younger players

Conan Exiles contains nudity and a lot of gore.
Comment

Con
 The game feels unfinished and unpolished

Even though Conan Exiles is no longer in early access, there are a lot of flaws here and there that add up over time. You have plenty of freedom to roam around, but there's no real sense of progression or a focused storyline. Some areas in the open world just have a bunch of enemies to kill for the sake of killing them. You may also lag a lot, with your character warping around as you try to move. On their own, these things wouldn't be such a big deal, but they really do become a pain as the problems start to stack up.
Comment

Con
 Joining a server for online play can be problematic

If the multiplayer servers are full, then you're out of luck. So far, there's no user-friendly functions like queues or notifications to help you out. You're stuck with spamming attempts to join a server or rejoin if you get kicked out for whatever reason. It would have been nice to have some helpful features to ease this process along.
Comment

Pro
 You can change the way your character works on the fly

In Mass Effect Andromeda, the class system is incredibly open, and classes can be swapped at any time, even in the middle of combat. Essentially, you can go from being a battle-hardened front line soldier to a crafty engineer, or even to an infiltrator that's capable of invisibility. This will also swap out your abilities, which makes sure you're always prepared for the next challenge you have to face.
Comment

Pro
 Combat is very fast paced

The combat in previous entries of Mass Effect has been based on getting behind cover and having good aim. That aspect still exists in Andromeda, but thanks to the new jump jet, things are much faster and much more fun. The jump jet allows you to vault over obstacles or make quick dashes while running, which lets you flank, charge, and generally just outmaneuver enemies in many more interesting ways.
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Pro
 Exploration is quite fun

Nearly every planet in Andromeda is unique from the others. There's different terrain and environments to check out, new hazards to watch out for, and a plethora of missions to complete on every planet.
Comment

Pro
 Fun multiplayer

Mass Effect Andromeda's fast-paced combat from single-player works well with the team-based multiplayer matches, where up to four players cooperate to complete hacking or target objectives while fighting back against waves of enemies. Maps are densely packed with obstacles and winding rooms to take cover in or to take the enemy by surprise. Aggressive foes actively push back forward into player territory even on lower difficulties, keeping matches fun and intense.
Comment

Con
 Poor face textures and animations

Widely mocked and ridiculed near Andromeda's release, the facial animations, eye movement and tracking, and general skin textures are still sub-par, even after patches meant to fix these issues. Characters look unnatural and downright ugly at times, with the female Ryder inspiring dozens of cringe-worthy compilations of her cinched facial expressions and comical duck-like running animations. Moving to the Frostbite engine no doubt hampered the team's efforts to create believable faces, but in a Mass Effect game, the faces especially should not have been as bad as they were.
Comment

Con
 No single-player DLC

There will not be any single-player downloadable content for Mass Effect: Andromeda. This is especially disappointing because, by the end of the game, the writers clearly intended to give more context through DLC about certain galactic races who were absent from the original story. With the news that the publisher, Electronic Arts, has put the Mass Effect franchise "on ice," the series' future looks bleak.
Comment

Con
 Sub-par storytelling

MEA's writing is very inconsistent throughout the game. Sometimes the dialogue is really poor, having lines like "my face is tired". Other times characters forget important information such as the length of their trip to the Andromeda Galaxy, showing surprise at things that should be obvious to them. Even though there are few great moments with moral grey areas, most of the story feels rushed, incomplete, or done by completely different teams with different visions for the game. The end result is a story that lacks immersion and isn't very memorable.
Comment

Pro
 Levels are exciting and filled with content

There's plenty of exciting things to see and do in each level. Besides shooting through a wide variety of enemy types, you can also go off the beaten path to hunt down loot boxes and weapon upgrades. If you can't find a path, you can always make your own by blowing up walls. Each level also has its fair share of danger - there are plenty of traps to avoid and special operatives who can stop you in your tracks.
Comment

Pro
 Random levels ensure the action stays intense

Each level is procedurally generated, meaning rooms, walls, and items are randomly arranged into new ways each run. You can never get too comfortable with any one strategy. You'll always be adjusting on the fly and dealing with new layouts, enemy placement, and objectives so the action stays fresh and frantic for a long while.
Comment

Pro
 Forgiving mechanics make it accessible

Neon Chrome manages to remove some of the frustrations that come with roguelites, making it an accessible experience for all. If you die, your weapons and stats are both saved and available for use on your next run. When you kill a boss, it acts as a waypoint, meaning you won't have to start over from the beginning.
Comment

Pro
 Immersive soundtrack

The ambient synth soundtrack with pulsating beats and otherwordly tones fits the futuristic theme extremely well. The music sounds like something you'd hear in an action sci-fi movie, which helps pull you into the game world.
Comment

Pro
 Impressive visual effects compliment the action

The levels glow and shine, and really give off a futuristic vibe. As the name suggests, everything is in bright neon shades and very colorful. As you're blasting your way through levels, the laser shots look especially great as they melt through walls and blow up generators. There's plenty of vibrant explosions to go around, which really highlights the action.
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Con
 Lackluster character models

Both the playable character and enemy models in-game are rather fuzzy and don't have a lot of detail. They are bland compared to the colorful explosions going on around them at all times.
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Con
 Upgrades can feel weak

While upgrades are plentiful and given flashy introductions with fancy fonts and icons, their direct impact on the gameplay is negligible at best. It's hard to feel their weight in action due to their very small stat increase.
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Con
 Generic premise

You play as a hacker who must infiltrate the "Neon Chrome", a giant tower, and free the city from the rule of the malicious Overseer. It's not entirely original or exciting, and mostly serves as filler material to give meaning to the action.
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Pro
 Freedom to choose between lethal or stealth gameplay

Changing things up from Dishonored 2, in Death of the Outsider, you can tackle levels with any playstyle you choose: stealth, lethal kills, or a mixture of both. There are no story penalties for messing up and getting spotted this time; you can simply pull out your blade for a bloody, visceral attack, making quick work of anyone who gets in your way. Sticking to either playstyle is more for your own personal style and satisfaction.
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Pro
 Fun options for stealth and mobility

Your character, Billie, has many abilities that can be used for stealth and mobility. This includes a teleport ability that warps you to a specified point in your view, an ability that lets you steal peoples' faces as an innovative form of disguise. There's even a foresight ability that stops time, allowing you to individually mark enemies with visible outlines to better keep track of them while sneaking around the map. These supernatural elements are fun and unique, with many ways to use them in various situations, such as using the displace ability to quickly get out of sight right before being targeted.
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Pro
 Many different approaches to clearing objectives

Death of the Outsider's levels are filled plenty of options for exploration and escape routes. As an example, the bank heist level features a number of ways to enter the vault and deal with patrolling enemies along the way, like abusing an air duct to sedate bank personnel inside the building. On another playthrough, you may choose to clear the level by killing each enemy you come across, or by taking a different route altogether. It's the type of intricate level design that gives players a lot of freedom to progress through levels however they want, which can make each playthrough very engaging.
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Con
 The story is passable, but not great

With a revenge story where Billie sets off to kill the Outsider, the plot sets up a number of moral issues about who or what the true cause is behind the chaos, as well as the idea of killing God as the Outsider as a form of social commentary, but it doesn't do enough with this topic of morality. The story is more interesting through gameplay where the player decides how to tackle each level that they traverse through, defining Billie's character as either a pacifist or a cold-blooded killer. Thankfully, the conclusion wraps everything up nicely for those who have been around since the first Dishonored game.
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Con
 Gameplay gets repetitive throughout the short campaign

Originally pitched as DLC for Dishonored 2, Dishonored: Death of the Outsider stands on its own as a solid game overall, but the limited amount abilities and unlocks get old after a while. The story is only about 8 hours long. Things can fall into a routine of tracking enemies, slipping past them or stabbing them, with the only added bonus of figuring out ways of making your way through each level.
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Pro
 Flashy and satisfying hack-and-slash combat

The combat in the Devil May Cry games has awesome animations, plenty of combos to master, and a helpful rating system that displays after each battle to let you know how well you did. Armed with swords and dual guns, you'll hack enemies into the air, and slash or shoot at them with cool-looking animations as blood gushes out from their bodies. Pulling off a chain of combos against an enemy not only looks great, but it feels satisfying to lock them in place while you slice away at them and maintain the upper-hand. The ratings you get after each fight will give you a grade based on your speed and finesse for pure validation. New players can get away with button-mashing on the easier difficulties without caring about the rating, but more hardcore action game veterans could use the ratings to see where they can improve their play. The battle system as a whole is incredible for anyone looking for action-packed fights with either button-mashing or smart combos.
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Pro
 Great bargain for its price with three games in one

For three games in a single collection, $29.99 USD at launch is a steal. Completing all of the games will take you about 30 hours, plus more time if you search around for all of the hidden secrets. If you don't want to pay the usual full retail price for a new game, there's a lot of value here for your money.
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Pro
 Dark and tense atmosphere

The haunted locations in the games are dark and moody, giving you a tense feeling as you explore the levels. Shadows and unlit areas are stark in how dark they are, with the interiors of old style stone buildings lit only by torches or moonlight. Satanic-looking statues and archaic architecture are everywhere in the old, haunted mansions you'll explore. Demonic enemies and bosses will jump out at you from nowhere for sudden battles, forcing you to quickly react and strike back. The atmosphere can be downright creepy, but the dark mood and tense settings are really well-done, fitting perfectly with the devil-hunting themes of the games.
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Pro
 The iconic protagonist Dante is witty and entertaining

Dante is an iconic character because of how clever and stylish he is, both in cutscenes and in combat. He's laid-back and has an air of confidence as he quips with witty one-liners during story moments. His combat style is slick and cool, with flashy animations with his swords and dual guns, and he loves showing off his moves during cutscenes. The opening scene of Devil May Cry 3 shows Dante slinging his dual guns at a group of monsters while he keeps a slice of pizza in his mouth, pulling off over-the-top kicks and acrobatics while he jams to a rock song on a nearby jukebox. He's such a cool guy that it's easy to like him and get invested in his story.
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Pro
 Challenging boss fights

Bosses can be pretty tough, not only in how much damage they'll deal to you, but also the obstacles they throw at you to keep you on your toes. Their combat style is smartly matched with their design, including the ways they use their limbs or the environment to catch you off guard. One boss fight is against a lava-filled tarantula that swipes at you with its giant legs and makes spurts of lava shoot up from the ground underneath you. Another one is a giant bird that flaps its huge wings to blow you back, jumps up to the sky out of your view, and then swoops down to crush you beneath its feet. You'll have to react quickly to avoid taking too much damage, all the while finding windows to attack and bring the bosses down.
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Con
 Latest HD release adds nothing new over the previous one

This is the exact same version of the HD collection released for the previous generation, offering nothing new. If you already played the collection on the PS3 or Xbox 360, then the most you'll have to look forward to is earning trophies and achievements again. If you wanted something extra with this latest re-release, you'll sadly be disappointed.
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Con
 Annoying camera issues

The fixed camera angles shift in strange, frustrating ways as they try to keep up with your perspective. As you walk through a level, the camera will suddenly change from one point, for example, to somewhere right behind you. You're presumably still making Dante go in one direction, but the camera won't give you a few seconds to adjust your controls, forcing you to go in some other direction while the camera shifts wildly around to follow you. It's an antiquated design decision that showed up a lot during the PlayStation 2 era, making the games feel dated in this day and age.
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Con
 Devil May Cry 2 isn't as strong as the other games

Devil May Cry 2 is the weakest game in the trilogy, with combat, exploration, and a story that doesn't have the same quality as the other two games. Fighting against enemies and bosses feels bland and generic with almost no skill required to beat them. Running around the open city is also boring since it's way too linear and doesn't have the same tense atmosphere as the haunted locations from Devil May Cry 1 and 3. The story is pretty horrible as well, mainly because of the bad characters and terrible writing. It's so awful that Devil May Cry 3 basically carries on with its story and characters as if the second game never existed. There's always a chance that you'll enjoy Devil May Cry 2, but it has so many problems going for it that it's hard to praise or recommend.
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Pro
 Gameplay is similar to the original games

The gameplay of Battlefront follows closely with the style of the original games, with fast-paced action and large scale battles for the fate of the galaxy.
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Pro
 Iconic Star Wars characters featured

Play as favorite classic Star Wars characters. Luke, Han, Leia, Boba Fett, Darth Vader and the Emperor are all there.
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Pro
 Split-screen co-op

During a current trend to leave out this feature, Battlefront includes local co-op where you and a friend can fight off waves of imperial troops and walkers. This mode is also available online as well.
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Pro
 Recreates many beautiful movie-like locations

Fight against the Empire or the Rebels in beautiful locations from the films, and visited and recreated by the developers: Hoth, Jakku, Endor and Tatooine.
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Pro
 Fun team-based combat

Battlefront has fast-paced action and large scale battles between The Empire and the Rebels. There's a lot of shooting involved, so expect to see a flurry of laser beams overhead constantly. Most of the battles involve taking or holding a location from the opposing side. You can move around on foot or jump using your jetpack, which is useful for scaling walls and hills. You can enter various vehicles such as the AT-AT walker, which makes for great fun. When you die, you'll respawn after a short delay. This causes it to become a tug-of-war where one side slowly overpowers the other.
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Con
 Expensive season pass

While some DLC has been free so far, like the Battle of Jakku; EA and DICE set a pricy amount of $50 for the season pass, bringing the total cost to over $100 just to purchase the game and season pass at face value.
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Con
 No campaign

There is no single-player campaign; and it seems there never will be. No rich story to go with our current generation Star Wars shooter. Only limited Co-op missions fighting off waves of enemies.
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Pro
 Compelling approach to choosing your victims

The role-playing elements of Vampyr are the strongest parts of the game. You're a vampire, so you need to feed on blood to survive through killing the various characters you meet. These NPCs are regular townspeople, questgivers, and so on. If you decide to get to know your target better through solving their problems and speaking with them, you earn more experience points once you finally do devour them. This also has the interesting effect of blocking off future story paths and possibly making your city less safe once certain characters are dead, giving some weight to your choices through long-lasting consequences.
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Pro
 Gloomy, foreboding atmosphere in London during World War I

The game's setting is very fitting for a horror story. Set in London during the years of World War I, the city is gritty, dreary, and full of despair, yet there are some bright spots, like the many flavors of characters you interact with. The time period also lines up with the outbreak of the Spanish flu, adding to how drab and creepy the city is. Buildings are run-down, the streets and alleys you pass through are dark and unsafe, and you can never be quite too sure if you can trust the people you run into. The atmosphere is really well-done here, with lots of detail and realism.
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Pro
 You get to meet plenty of different types of characters

The breadth of characters you come across adds a lot to the atmosphere and culture. Since this is in London, you meet both highborn and lowborn NPCs, with certain accents and style of clothes to match their class and status. The people you decide to help through quests have all sorts of personal histories and secrets for you to learn about, adding to the dynamic of whether or not you decide to feed on them for your own survival. Vampyr's diverse characters adds more weight and intrigue to the role-playing aspects, making the game's story much more memorable.
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Con
 Combat isn't all that fluid or fun

The hack-and-slash style action combat leaves a lot to be desired. It's not terrible, but it's not good, either. When trying to lunge and attack enemies, there's a strange sensation of your attacks not quite connecting and your overall movements not really syncing up with your button inputs. It's pretty clunky and it lacks a cohesive flow, though there are some cool moments like grabbing opponents to feed off of their blood. If you don't mind how weird everything feels, you might find some enjoyment from the combat anyway.
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Con
 Subpar character animations

The character animations in Vampyr aren't the best. The main protagonist's animations are okay, since they clearly had the most work put into them over the other NPCs. His combat moves lack weight, though, which is part of why the fighting doesn't really live up to much. For everyone else, their movements are stiff at best and wonky at worst, always looking unnatural or weird.
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Con
 Some performance issues

From time to time, you may run into some framerate dips and other stuttering problems. The unstable performance is made even worse by the autosaves that pop up and completely freeze the game for a few seconds. Even though these things don't happen that often, when they do occur, they're distracting enough to pull you out of the moment. They give the overall impression that the game is unpolished.
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Pro
 Solid voice work from cast of the movie

The voice acting in Lego Star Wars: Force Awakens is really good, especially if you're familiar with the film. The game features both voice clips from the actual film as well as new voice lines recorded by many of the actors from the film reprising their roles. It's great to hear the actual voices from characters like Rey and Han Solo, giving you the feeling of actually playing through the movie itself with the real actors. The new voice work is generally well done and adds authenticity to the experience.
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Pro
 Side levels provide backstory for characters and events from the movie

You can unlock additional bonus levels that delve into extra events not shown in the movie, showing what some characters were doing before the movie takes place. These levels are "canon", though with the typical LEGO humor added on top, making them fun to experience if you're a big Star Wars fan.
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Pro
 Family-friendly two-player couch co-op

Friends and family can play LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens together, battling against hordes of enemies in the two-player co-op mode. The puzzles are just hard enough that more experienced gamers can help younger family members through the levels, making for some great teaching moment as you watch your kids or siblings learn from you. Although there's no online play, this is still a great game for those looking for fun games with couch co-op.
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Pro
 Light-hearted story

With well-written characters who quip and deliver memorable lines, the story in LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens is wonderful for anyone interested in a lighter, kid-friendly interpretation of the Star Wars universe. The villains are competent without needing to be overtly evil, and the main protagonists are charming in their heroism and banter with other characters. There are some genuinely funny moments that even adults will probably get some laughs out of, making this an ideal game for Star Wars fans of all ages to enjoy.
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Con
 Doesn't change up the LEGO game formula

As the LEGO games are meant for younger audiences, it's great that they're easy to pick up and learn, but LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens doesn't offer anything new to the franchise. It's the same setup of adapting the original material with the same type of humor, and the same type of combat. If you've played other LEGO games, you'll pretty much find a similar experience here.
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Con
 Simple and repetitive gameplay

The combat is basically a mindless button-mashing experience that requires no skill and offers no forms of character progression. There isn't anything with depth or intricacy here, as it's meant for a younger audience. The most you'll see to change things up are puzzles that you have to figure out from time to time. If you're looking for something more involved and complex, you're probably better off looking elsewhere.
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Pro
 Great value for its price

The collection has 3 games with all their DLC included. This means you can enjoy hours of great content just with the initial purchase, without having to invest in overpriced DLC's.
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Pro
 Fantastic environments

The Bioshock games will bring you to two rather surreal locations. First up is the city of Rapture, featured in Bioshock 1 and 2. It's a sprawling, dimly lit city hidden in the ocean, giving it a feel similar to the fabled Atlantis. There are many buildings underwater, including skyscrapers and it's surprising how calming it is to be there, even with the dark atmosphere permeating it. This is followed up by Columbia, a city in the sky you'll explore in Bioshock: Infinite. It's a collection of very colorful and bright floating islands with white clouds underneath them. The buildings are also not as tall and as imposing as those found in Rapture, giving it a sharp contrast to it. Both of these locations are a blast to explore and leave a lasting impression.
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Pro
 Superhuman abilities liven up the gunplay

The Bioshock games have a Sci-Fi element to them called the Plasmids. With them your character can obtain special abilities such as shooting flames or summoning a pack of crows. These can be used to gain an advantage over your enemies in various ways. For example, you can use electricity to zap enemies standing in water or incinerate flammable objects to cause mayhem among the enemy. It feels really nice having other options beside using guns.
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Con
 Doesn't add anything new over the previous releases

You won't find any new story, levels, modes, or any content for that matter. The only noticeable changes are the updated graphics and the framerate cap, which was increased to 60.
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Pro
 Relaxing exploration

Much of the gameplay is simply focused on enjoying the scenery and soaking up the lore as you explore. Roaming around and encountering lore items that dot the map and then taking a break to listen to the stories contained within can be quite calming. Walking through snowy fields as the soundtrack plays Viking-inspired music really gets you in the state of mind to see whats around every bend. Casually exploring while enjoying the atmosphere is really what this game is all about.
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Pro
 Beautiful hand-drawn graphics

The graphics and animations resemble a painting in motion thanks to their colorful, hand-drawn style. Lines are bold, with lots of contrasting colors. The crisp, vibrant look is easy on the eyes and helps to make your journey through green plains, forest, and snowy fields even more inviting. With gorgeous backdrops and scenery throughout, exploring the world is simply great.
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Pro
 Bosses provide an exciting shift in tone

Encountering a powerful boss after the relaxing nature of the exploration is a huge shift in tone. Rather than calmly discovering and taking your time, you're thrown headfirst into action-packed battles. This stark contrast between calm exploration exploration and thrilling combat is incredible, as the sheer physical size of the bosses shows how massive the world truly is.
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Pro
 Immersive Nordic atmosphere

Not only do you fight war gods as a viking warrior, but the entire landscape and story is steeped heavily in Norse lore from start to finish. Rune stones are scattered around the world which give glimpses into tales and stories about mythology. The landscape itself is heavily influenced by Norway including green plains, mountain vistas, and rolling fields of snow. The soundtrack hums along in the background with soothing, woodwind ballads and crashing battle music. All the voice acting is in Norwegian. Taking on the role of a viking warrior as you roam this vast and detailed world is incredibly well done.
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Pro
 Great boss battles

Squaring off against the larger-than-life Jotuns (bosses) is action packed and requires paying attention to the mechanics, but the encounters never really feel unfair. Trying to get a hit in with your axe while dodging massive attacks and environmental attacks can be challenging, but doable once you learn the patterns. Each boss features their own mechanics, and surviving each of these encounters can be rewarding knowing you beat it through skill and persistence.
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Con
 Combat is too minimalist

There is only a light attack, heavy attack, dodge, and a couple special abilities (which are learned as you progress). You'll also use the same axe for the entire game.
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Con
 Overtuned last boss feels very out of place

The last boss is so hard and unforgiving, that it completely ruins the laid-back feel of the rest of the game. This sharp difficulty spike feels very out of place compared to the other bosses.
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Con
 Can be a bit boring

Much of the gameplay consists of walking around searching the various areas for power ups and runes. With the exception of the boss fights, there is very little combat. This slower pace may be boring to some.
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Pro
 Flashy combat animations that feel like a power fantasy

Dynasty Warriors 9, at the very least, makes you feel like you're a powerful, skilled warrior with cool moves in combat. The animations look a lot like over-the-top action sequences from cheesy action flicks, except with more special effects like fire, ice, or wind auras surrounding your weapons as you take down enemy units single-handedly. You'll spin and slash your swords, lances, and more all around you as you devastate dozens of enemies in a single sequence of fast attacks. It's impossible in real life and lacks any realism whatsoever, but it's all part of the power fantasy that the Dynasty Warriors series is known for.
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Con
 Grappling hook trivializes enemy encampments

You can scale just about every single wall in the game with a grappling hook, making enemy forts pointless. Whenever there's a base that you have to get inside to find the next group of enemies, all you have to do is use the hook to get to the top of the wall. You're then free to run around and kill everyone without consequence, trivializing the whole mechanic of having enemy defenses in the first place. The enemies might as well stand out in the open with nothing around for miles, because it wouldn't make much of a difference and it'd save you some time.
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Con
 Generic, low-effort voice acting

The voice acting in this game is so incredibly basic that it sounds like a mockery and a joke. It's as if the voice crew simply asked people out on the street to mimic how grizzled or noble warriors would sound and recorded the lines right then and there. You can hear how the actors deepen their voice on purpose and read out their lines without any spirit or personality whatsoever. It's a travesty that could have been avoided if they had left out the English voices altogether and stuck with the original language.
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Con
 Broken, buggy hunting in the wild

There's no excitement or thrill with hunting in Dynasty Warriors 9 because of how broken it is. You'll fire your arrows at tigers or wolves that won't respond--they'll keep standing there until you deplete their health, and then drop some loot for you to pick up. Or they'll crowd around you in gigantic packs without attacking you, leaving them wide open for you to kill them all one at a time. Even worse, sometimes they'll get stuck in the environment, again making them easy pickings for you to get rid of without a fight. Hunting is absolutely broken with no redeeming qualities whatsoever.
Comment

Con
 Mindless battles that lack substance or challenge

While the animations in combat are flashy and cool, the actual battles themselves are trivial and dull because of how simple they are. As you slice and dice dozens of enemy units in the air or bulldoze ahead to kill them all at once, it looks fun at first, but it quickly gets old. Blasting through troops lacks weight or meaning, to the point where you might find yourself mentally checking out as you play the game. It's the same thing over and over again with no skill involved.
Comment

Con
 Useless open world with too much empty space

The open world in Dynasty Warriors 9 is huge, but there's not a lot to do in it, and having all of this space cuts down on the quality of the game's combat. There's space for the sake of having space, with quests and battles often making you ride your horse for minutes at a time through empty stretches of wastelands and forests to reach your next objective. While the battles are spread out across the world to encourage player exploration and broaden the game's scope, this comes at the cost of not having the dense, action-packed fights that fans of the series enjoyed so much. This open world only thinned the game and diluted the battles without adding anything meaningful or innovative.
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Pro
 Really good open world set in Hong Kong

The open world setting is great. Modern-day Hong Kong is pretty unique for a video game, and thankfully it's a true-to-life recreation of what the metropolis looks like. There's a perfect mix of traditional temples, for example, with taller, Western-style glass buildings that you'd find downtown. You can go just about anywhere, whether it's on foot or taking a car for a spin down the roads and highways, with plenty of side quests and mini-objectives to find and complete. It's a good-looking world that's designed well and filled with a good amount of content.
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Pro
 Great story that deals with plenty of gray moral issues

The story in Sleeping Dogs is done well, touching on some very human issues. Playing as Wei Shen, an undercover cop, you pretend to join certain gangs in Hong Kong in order to spy on their operations. You're technically not supposed to care about the members of the gangs, but Wei ends up growing close to them, genuinely wanting to help them and be a part of their lives. This conflicts with his role as a police officer, causing him to play both sides while he figures out his priorities and who he's really loyal to. It's an intriguing dynamic that lets you get into Wei's head and his emotions.
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Pro
 The Definitive Edition has all of the DLC included in one package

Sleeping Dogs: Definitive Edition comes with everything added to the original game. This is pretty good for new players who have yet to experience Sleeping Dogs at all, or maybe for someone who played the original game years ago and didn't want to buy the DLC.
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Pro
 Well-implemented hand-to-hand combat with cool environmental finishing moves

The hand-to-hand fighting system is rock-solid with some neat finishers you can pull off. Punches and kicks are snappy and responsive, with a good amount of weight behind your button presses to really make you feel involved in every fight. You can grab opponents and maneuver them however you want, mainly with guiding them over to the nearest shutter cage, window, the edge of a rooftop on a high building, and so on. Finishing your enemies off with these environmental finishers is tons of fun: you can throw them off a building, ram their head into glass, or slam down a shutter over their heads. It's a brutal spectacle that makes the combat here stand out from other games.
Comment

Con
 Not worth it if you already played the original Sleeping Dogs

Aside from the added DLC, there isn't much of an incentive to pick this up if you played the regular Sleeping Dogs. The graphical upgrades are okay, but might not be worth shelling out the extra money.
Comment

Con
 Unpolished

There are a lot of strange quirks about the game that make it feel and look janky. Controls aren't particularly seamless, with Wei's walking and running animations looking off, and driving animations feeling too loose and unrealistic. Even with the polished graphics for the Definitive Edition, they still look low-effort and low-budget, a lot like the rest of the game. One thing here and there isn't too bad, but adding them all up, they can end up as a bunch of distractions.
Comment

Con
 Feels too similar to other sandbox open world games

If you've played a bunch of other open world games in a modern city, then Sleeping Dogs will probably feel too familiar to you. This is fine if you really enjoy these types of games and you're looking for something similar. For anyone else who wants something fresh from the genre, the samey gameplay mechanics, tons of icons dotting the map, and mission structures may end up boring you instead. If you're feeling burnt out from these types of games, you may want to steer clear of this one.
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Pro
 Brutally challenging real-time combat that rewards patience

Dark Souls is a hard game at its core because of the combat. It's "difficult but fair", as in, the enemies are relentless and hit like a truck, but they're not overpowered or cheap to defeat. If you take your time to trade blows, dodge, and parry as needed, you can get through. Making your way slowly through new levels and taking on enemies one at a time, whenever possible, is the best approach. Unless you're a seasoned veteran, if you're try to bum rush your foes, you may find yourself getting quickly destroyed. It seems impossible at first, but if you keep at it and learn from your mistakes, you'll surprise yourself with how far you can get in this game.
Comment

Pro
 Gives you a great sense of discovery from exploring

There's an unrivaled sense of exploration you get just from traversing normally through the game's medieval fantasy world. Simply going from one area to the next is astounding, because you get to see exactly how far you've come. After travelling a distance and defeating challenging enemies, you can find a shortcut that takes you down to a previously-visited location, for example, showing you that all of the levels are interconnected in a labyrinthine-like way. Thanks to this well-implemented level design, the world feels like a grand place that's full of mystery and adventure.
Comment

Pro
 Epic and meaningful boss battles

Bosses in Dark Souls are huge, terrifying, and intriguing in ways that don't feel forced at all. They have stories to tell without words, showing their lore and history through awe-inspiring designs and setpieces. Seeing a tower off in the distance, getting there many hours later, and finding a gigantic boss there also builds up the sense of anticipation once you arrive to the fight. Ranging from dragons, hulking armored knights, mythological beasts, and tons more, the variety of boss types are creative, with their own unique movesets for you to learn. Alongside the combat, the bosses make the game what it is.
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Pro
 Incredible soundtrack and atmosphere

The music in this game is astounding because of how well it fits any given situation. Moments where the music stands out most is during boss battles, with sweeping, booming choruses where it works, and quieter pieces where you may not expect them. The warm but sorrowful wind instruments you hear at the main home base area is your cue that you're in a safe location after all of your grueling battles, letting you take a moment to reflect and unwind. Most playable areas have no music, letting you focus on the atmosphere from all of the little sound effects from enemies' footsteps and your own clanking armor as you go along. So whenever a song does start playing, it stands out more than it would have otherwise. Overall, the music definitely helps to give you long-lasting emotional memories of everything you experience.
Comment

Pro
 Extensive lore that's presented in unconventional ways

There's tons of lore everywhere for you to discover, but it isn't necessarily told through a conventional story. Weapons, armor, spells, and items you acquire have descriptions on them that tell you where in the game world they came from, any prominent characters they're associated with, and a bunch of other relevant and interesting information. So when you find examples of the lore scattered around the game, like bosses wearing a style of armor you read about, or an obscure NPC mentioned in a sword's description, you know the history behind the design and their purpose without that boss or character needing to explain anything to you. Even though the actual story in Dark Souls is very thin, there's a lot to find under the surface if you're willing to look for it.
Comment

Pro
 You can bring two friends along for online co-op

It's possible to play through most of the game with up to two friends. If you need help with a boss or if you just want to run things with other people, there's a simple online setup for the other players to join your world through password matching. They will return to their world once you defeat a boss or if you die, but it's easy enough to invite them back.
Comment

Con
 Unforgiving and discouraging learning curve

Even though Dark Souls is technically fair, it's still really hard to get into. From the start, there's a minimal tutorial where you read messages scattered around the area for tips on the controls, and then you're forced into an immediate challenge that you have to figure your way out of. The game is clever in the way it pushes you into seemingly impossible situations and makes you think on your feet, but gamers who are new to the genre will more than likely find a serious culture shock here. Because the learning curve is so incredibly steep, you may struggle for a while before things finally click.
Comment

Con
 Certain mechanics leave new players open to unfair PvP invasions

There are a few ways you might find yourself invaded by another player even when you don't want to be. The method for inviting co-op players into your world also leaves you open to PvP invasions, which you can't turn off. The other one involves how you can only carry five healing items with you at the start; there's a way to increase this to ten, but by doing this, it becomes possible for PvP-minded players to enter your world to challenge you to battle whether you like it or not. There's also an area a couple of hours into the game that's notorious for high-level players seeking out oblivious newbies to tear them apart, so beware.
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Con
 Lazy remaster that isn't worth it if you already own the original version

This is more of a port than a true remaster. Despite the couple of added online capabilities, there isn't anything new here to entice existing fans of the Dark Souls series. The textures still look like they're from the original game, and the devs butchered the lighting scheme in an attempt to update the visuals. If you were unfortunate enough to only own the game on consoles while suffering through the performance issues, or if you're new to the series, then there's nothing wrong with picking this up. But for PC players especially, this is basically a port with the DS Fix mod that fixed the performance issues.
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Pro
 Unique blend of rhythm gameplay and racing-like speed

Thumper is a rhythm game mixed with fast-paced action, setting itself apart from other titles in the genre. Your "character" is a vehicle that runs on rails in a track, with certain speedbump-like indicators on the road that show up in sequence. You have to press the button prompts in time with your vehicle driving over the indicators, ideally to the correct rhythm to the beat to rack up points. It can be tough going at full speed and catching all of the button prompts while staying in-sync with the song, but the payoff is incredibly satisfying.
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Pro
 Intense controls and responsive feedback

Other than visual cues, the visceral feedback you get from timing your button presses just right helps keep you on-beat. Getting that timing down rewards you with an addicting rumble, helping you feel the rhythm in your hands. With your vehicle moving at such crazy speeds, pressing the right buttons on-beat simulates the feeling that you're really in the driver's seat, listening to the music playing at full volume all around you. Pressing the buttons correctly with feedback helps keep you glued to the game, motivating you to go after higher and higher scores.
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Pro
 Really cool psychedelic visuals

Thumper looks stunning. The futuristic vibe with the flashing blues, purples, and reds everywhere. The road your vehicle travels on jets through a seemingly endless void that changes depending on the stage, such as showing off bosses that appear as large, abstract enemies looming overhead. The trippy visuals are pretty neat, making the game stand out more along with its unique gameplay.
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Pro
 Playing in VR adds a whole new layer to the game

Virtual Reality makes Thumper much more fun and intense. Along with the feeling of the controls putting you in the seat of the vehicle, you're actually put into the game itself, surrounded by the visuals. The lights, the music, and the rumbles all feel more up-close-and-personal, as if you're part of the environment itself. Thumper is compatible with VR on both PlayStation 4 and PC, so anyone with a headset for either platform will be able to try it out for themselves.
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Con
 Short playtime

A single playthrough will only take you about seven hours. However, if you go for a completionist playthrough to chase after high scores, then you'll get an extra dozen or so hours out of the game.
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Con
 Might be difficult for players who are new to rhythm games

Thumper can be too hard if you've never played a rhythm game before. Because everything moves at such high speeds right from the start, you may miss a lot of the button inputs and get discouraged. Even for experienced players, it takes some practice before getting used to the flow of gameplay.
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Pro
 The story shows a dark and gritty depiction of war

Final Fantasy Type-0 isn't afraid to show what war is really about and how it affects the world without glorifying anything. You play as a gifted group of military academy students called "Class Zero", and despite their youth, they manage to see through some pretty horrific things, like the true evil and sadism of the evil empire taking over the world one country at a time. The very beginning of the game shows the more violent and depressing aspects of war, hooking you in on an emotional level. It's a surprisingly mature story, especially if you're a fan of Final Fantasy, since the series typically doesn't go this far into gritty realism.
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Pro
 Varied cast of playable characters

There are over a dozen playable characters that you can choose from to fight on your squad. They all have a range of different personality types, fighting styles, and specialized weapons to choose from. You can pretty much bring along anyone you want for most missions; if your preferred characters are all spellcasters or sword-users, you can take them with you just because you like them as characters and not miss out on anything. Even though some characters devolve into tropes, for the most part, they're all quite likable and well-rounded.
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Pro
 Fast-paced action combat

The real-time fights in Final Fantasy Type-0 are fun because of how quick and chaotic they are. You bring along a small squad with you for missions with everyone's different fighting styles at your disposal, though even the characters with heavy-hitting weapons are still agile enough. Targeting enemies and firing off lightning-fast combos of magic spells or physical hits feels satisfying. It gets even more intense once you're on some of the game's important, story-heavy missions with critical objectives and high-stakes. The combat is overall incredibly engaging and doesn't get old.
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Pro
 Huge world to explore with tons of content

There's tons to do in between main story missions. The world is sizable enough with plenty to do during your free time. You can take on side quests to help liberate other towns and cities, go dungeon crawling and take down powerful monsters, or just hang around the military academy and talk to your classmates to get to know them better. More activities also open up as you progress through the story as a way to change things up from the usual combat.
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Con
 Inconvenient time management mechanics

There are some time management details that you have to deal with. While at the academy, you can choose what you'd like to do in between major missions, but these activities all take up a certain amount of time. Heading out to the world map to explore takes up a handful of hours, regardless of how long you actually spend out in the open, while spending time with your teammates and getting to know them better only takes a couple of hours. This mechanic essentially makes it impossible to see everything in a single playthrough, since you have to sort your priorities and go with whatever's most efficient.
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Con
 Some of the characters are bogged down by tropes and stereotypes

Sometimes, the large cast of characters ends up working against the story. A good number of them are fleshed out well, but others are just there for the sake of being there, or they're so poorly-written that you may forget that they exist. The worst ones have awful cliches as their central personality traits, like the dumb brute or borderline damsel in distress. It's irritating and cheapens the story as a whole.
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Con
 Graphics are dated and inconsistent

It's hard to get away from how bad the graphics look. Since this is a remaster of a handheld game from 2011, there was only so much the devs could do to improve things without fully remaking Type-0 from scratch. The main characters look okay, but environments and non-important characters have sloppy textures that make it obvious they didn't get the same special treatment. It's jarring when one of your main party members is in a cutscene with a less important character, and your party member has better graphics and detail than the other person. This unfortunately happens a lot throughout the game.
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Con
 Convoluted story that requires multiple playthroughs to fully understand

The story hardly makes any sense on its own, and on top of that, the game expects you to play through multiple times to figure things out. With all the terminology and mythos that's so poorly explained, you might find yourself getting lost right from the beginning, struggling just to keep up as the story goes on. There's a bunch of lore that you can find outside the game through other media, but if you don't go looking for it, you won't be able to fully get what's going on. But the worst part is that the endings you can get on your first playthrough don't really explain much of anything, so you have to play through again if you want to have any basic comprehension of how the plot wraps itself up.
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Pro
 Well-implemented action combat with some elements of strategy

The combat gameplay is great, featuring a few different classes and a key way for you to control the flow of battle. The different battle classes -- warrior, mage, and rogue -- all play differently, though they each offer a similar fast-paced type of action combat in real-time. You can also pause the game to bring up a radial menu to pick which abilities to use and specific enemies to target, meaning you can take your time in battle and not get overwhelmed by everything. Getting used to the speedy combat and using the radial menu to your advantage gives the combat a lot of strategic depth.
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Pro
 Lots of interesting characters and lore

The characters in Dragon Age II are great, with intriguing backstories that delve into the game's lore. Your party members and other NPCs are all written quite well. There are the fan-favorites like the sassy pirate named Isabela who never minces words and is always up for a good time, and the honorable Temple Knight named Cullen who helps fight against the corruption in the city of Kirkwall where you reside. These characters are also tied to the Dragon Age history in various ways, such as having even a minor presence in the previous game, Dragon Age: Origins, and influencing the events of the story. All of the characters have layered personalities that fit with the lore surrounding them.
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Pro
 Building relationships with companions is enjoyable

You can build relationships with your party members to get to know them better and to romance them. Improving your approval rating with characters comes down to picking certain dialog options, either to flirt with them or agree with their worldview. After building up enough approval, you get a special scene with your romance option or friend, and afterward you can return whenever you want to spend more time with them. It's a really good system that lets you feel like the characters are your actual comrades, helping you grow more attached to them throughout the game's long story.
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Pro
 You can customize your protagonist Hawke

There are lots of ways to make Hawke feel like your own character. The character creator at the start of a new game lets you change all sorts of options, from your hair, to your skin color, the shape of your nose, mouth, and ears, and so much more. Or, if you prefer, you can simply stick with the default male or female Hawke. You also get to pick which class you want to be for combat, and throughout the game, the dialog options you pick determines if your Hawke is sarcastic, compassionate, or has more of a mean streak overall. You can role-play as Hawke however you want, with plenty of options to customize your looks and your combat specialties for whichever role suits you the most.
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Pro
 Tons of content

There's lots of content in Dragon Age II to keep you playing for a long time. The game offers a very long main story, with even more side quests and hidden areas that can take many hours to complete. The main story has plenty of branching decisions that affect how your playthrough turns out, encouraging you to play the game twice or more to see the different outcomes. For those looking for a game to sink 60+ hours into, this is a good choice.
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Con
 Most of your narrative choices from Dragon Age: Origins don't matter

If you played the first Dragon Age, all of those decisions you made get watered down here. You only see the effects of some smaller things, such as who ends up on a certain throne by the end, or how you chose to defeat the final boss. Your decisions get commemorated in some ways, but it's not all that obvious or overt. Since Dragon Age II takes place with a whole new character and setting, you previous narrative decisions don't get a lot of attention. It's unfortunate in that it doesn't give the sense that your actions have an impact across the franchise.
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Con
 Stiff and repetitive character animations during cutscenes

Character animations are incredibly stiff in ways that look robotic. During cutscenes, you'll see the same types of movements over and over, like a character shifting their waist back and bobbing their head to seem important or defiant, or moving their head down with their words to make a point. If there were more variation with the animations instead, then the stiff delivery might not be all that bad.
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Con
 Too many reused environment assets

Dragon Age II was a rushed job. In the beginning, you'll take note of the dungeons you explore and the way they look. A couple of hours later, you may notice that even though you're in a different dungeon, that the walls look strangely similar to earlier locations. This ends up happening again and again, with environments copy-pasted all over the place. Considering the game was developed in such a short time, this would have been okay if it only happened in a few places here and there. It's sadly way too common.
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Con
 Rushed story

The story in Dragon Age II lacks the high stakes and epic fantasy elements from its predecessor, Dragon Age: Origins. It focuses more on you as the protagonist Hawke, who is more of an everyday person that gets swept up in the conflict of the mages versus the templars in the city of Kirkwall. The narrower scope would have worked just fine if there had been more depth to the story, instead of relying on the shallow and predictable premise of the mages rising up against the templars. There are some redeeming parts, like the corruption within the templar ranks, but this only gives the player a tropey resolution toward the end. The story overall lacks nuance and depth, ending up as a big disappointment, especially if you're a fan of the first game.
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Con
 The whole game is unpolished

Dragon Age II as a whole lacks quality. The visuals are muddled and janky, even for a game from the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 era. Even though the combat itself is fun and engaging in the way it plays, it doesn't feel fluid, and it can get repetitive, like when bandits rush at you at every turn whenever you wander Kirkwall at night. The bigger issues of the rushed story and reused assets also speak to how messy the game is. These issues could have been avoided with some extra development time to polish things up.
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