Paul Tassi Avatar Image

Paul Tassi


Favorite Games:
  • Super Smash Bros.
  • Halo 3
  • Mass Effect 2

46 games reviewed
85.4 average score
90 median score
81.4% of games recommended

Paul Tassi's Reviews

I write about video games full-time for Forbes, and I couldn't ask for a better job. I wasn't allowed to own a console until I was a teenager, so I've now compensated by playing them for a living. I usually favor shooters and action games, though I try to play a bit of everything. I own every console plus a gaming PC, and rarely a day goes by where I haven't written a few thousand words about video games. I also write books in my spare time, and have just finished my first sci-fi series, The Earthborn Trilogy.
Nov 19, 2013

Need for Speed: Rivals is one of the more fun installments in the series, and certainly a great PS4 launch title. But it needs deeper customization and tweaks to racing SP loss in order to more fully realize its potential, and a more involved attempt at a story would inject some life into a relatively stale campaign mode. Fortunately gameplay is so intense and fun you forget about most of the game's other issues, and it can certainly be enjoyed despite its lingering issues and relative lack of depth.

Read full review

Nov 24, 2013

In the end, despite an unmemorable story, I quite liked Shadow Fall's campaign simply from a design perspective alone. By ditching overbearing auto-aim, bending linearity and actually posing a real challenge at times, it's a fun experience and PS4 could do a lot worse for a debut title. I don't know if the series will ever explode in popularity, but for now, it's done its job showcasing the new abilities of the PS4.

Read full review

9 / 10.0 - Titanfall
Mar 11, 2014

Titanfall is a great game and an incredible amount of fun. Combat is creative, exciting and never, ever static. It lacks depth past its core concept however, and hopefully that's something that can be rectified well ahead of the inevitable Titanfall 2. But right now, this is the game the Xbox One needs, and it's the first true must-have of the new console generation.

Read full review

Mar 22, 2014

Infamous is a good game. I don't know about great, but "good" is enough to be the best in the series, and the best exclusive PS4 has to offer right now. With 100% completion and new missions to come there are plenty of worthwhile hours to be spent with the game, and it's definitely worth picking up if you're a fan of the series or the genre. The powers are innovative and a lot of fun, I just wish there was a bit more to do with them, and a more compelling story that perhaps took itself just a little more seriously.

Read full review

Mar 25, 2014

It's just plain (hopelessly addictive) fun. Obviously, loot based dungeon crawling kind of has to be your thing, as even with all the new changes to gameplay, it may still feel rather repetitive to outsiders. But I have to imagine that barring any unforeseen issues that may not have cropped up yet, both past and present Diablo fans will be very happy with Reaper of Souls, and with how the game has improved a thousandfold since launch.

Read full review

8 / 10.0 - Watch Dogs
May 27, 2014

Like Grand Theft Auto V before it, sometimes it's not enough to simply be big and well-made. Watch Dogs feels like a collection of promising concepts with nothing solid holding them together. Aiden Pearce should have been that something, but instead, he's just a character meant to sell cool looking hats in collector's editions. Perhaps that can be rectified in a sequel, but for now, Pearce is pretty big issue, and so is his propensity to kill people in boring, cover-based shooter-y ways.

Read full review

Aug 20, 2014

It may not shake up the series like the initial console port did, but the game has been refined and distilled into something pretty great all the same. I have an unsubstantiated hunch that there may yet be one more expansion coming, given that D3 has sold 20M copies across all platforms, so we may see more variants of this game yet. For now, enjoy Ultimate Evil as either your 4th go-round in the D3 universe, or your first.

Read full review

8.5 / 10.0 - Destiny
Oct 26, 2014

Destiny may have seemed like a total letdown a week after launch. but I think what it does bring to the table is enough to have attracted a large, passionate playerbase, and the game is going to have legs well into the future. We're living in an age where for better or worse, many games eventually evolve into what we hoped they'd be at launch. If current trends hold, that's going to be Destiny too, but two months from its debut, it hasn't had a half-bad sprint out of the starting gate either.

Read full review

9 / 10.0 - Sunset Overdrive
Oct 27, 2014

[I]t's been a long time since I've had a game feel relatively off-putting at the start, and then slowly reel me in until I couldn't help but love it by the end. I went to the party, got hammered, made out with a lampshade and went home, full of warm, fuzzy memories. It was an absolutely ridiculous experience that I would heartily recommend to anyone.

Read full review

Oct 22, 2015

[W]e're back to tightly packed cities and crowds for two years running now, like we've warped all the way back to the Assassin's Creed II trilogy. And no matter how pretty the games get and how tight the mechanics are, it never feels fresh anymore.

Read full review

8.5 / 10.0 - Fallout 4
Nov 9, 2015

In my mind, Fallout 4's greatest triumph, and its one major point of evolution is in its storytelling, crafting a lengthy, unexpected ending and resolution that I will remember for years to come. It also remains one of the best games in existence for those who simply like to wander and explore and unearth long-buried secrets. But it struggles with archaic gameplay systems and an inflexible engine that anchor the game to the past for all the wrong reasons. Fans may enjoy more Fallout and a brand new map to explore, but this sequel will not be heralded as revolutionary or overly impressive this time around.

Read full review

8 / 10.0 - Far Cry Primal
Feb 22, 2016

If you like Far Cry, there's a pretty good chance you'll like this as well. But if you're becoming exhausted by ~20 hours of leveling, skinning, leaf-collecting, trinket-finding and map-clearing after the last few installments, Primal is definitely more of the same. The setting change is effective, but this isn't going outside of the series' comfort zone as much as Ubisoft might have you believe.

Read full review

May 5, 2016

In short, it's an Uncharted game, and once again, that can speak for itself.

Read full review

10 / 10.0 - Overwatch
May 25, 2016

It has been a very long time since I've felt this much passion for a game. Overwatch is a perfect storm. It's a new IP, looks gorgeous, plays phenomenally and singlehandedly rekindled my desire to play a genre of game I thought I'd left behind at this point.

Read full review

9 / 10.0 - INSIDE
Jul 7, 2016

Inside is an incredible game, a compelling artistic achievement that deserves your time no matter what genre of game you normally prefer.

Read full review

Aug 19, 2016

If you're a fan of the first game, I certainly recommend this one as well. But in a competitive season, it's hard to see Mankind Divided being as impactful or memorable as Deus Ex's reassurance five years ago.

Read full review

8 / 10.0 - Battlefield 1
Oct 17, 2016

No one makes more beautiful shooters than DICE, but their gameplay still leaves something to be desired, despite what appeared to be a total refresh with the WWI setting. Fans of the series may look past these faults or even embrace them, but some of them are hard to get past, and can define the entire experience.

Read full review

Skyrim is a great game, but one where I finally might have reached my limit, as I discovered in this latest playthrough. If you’ve never played it, this is definitely the version to get, and if you’re a superfan, you’ve probably already bought it before reading this review.

Read full review

9 / 10.0 - Watch Dogs 2
Nov 14, 2016

This is the game the original Watch Dogs should have been in many ways, and while it may still have more to learn, it’s hard to say that Watch Dogs 2 is anything but a success, and proof that Ubisoft can learn from their mistakes.

Read full review

Feb 20, 2017

I was impressed with Horizon from the outset, my interest lagged a bit in the middle, but by the end I was a convert. This is a very cool universe with a genuinely likable new lead. Gameplay is excellent in most sections, and it avoids some irritating open world tropes like overloading players with substance-free side missions. There are some problems that reflect Guerrilla being new to this genre, but ultimately the good far outweighs the bad.

Read full review