Rich Stanton
Everything adds up to a game with good ideas that is sorely lacking in refinement – the punitive flaws of The Swindle's meta-structure and procedural generation could have been ameliorated with minor tweaks. This feels 80% of the way to a great game, but that missing 20% soon comes to dominate the rest.
The latest internet craze lets you experience life as a goat. It's the gaming equivalent of a novelty single
The structure underlying Bloodborne is not just original but coherent, and because of this the impact of everything it does is commensurately greater. This is total design. It feels wonderful to have a world like this and, over a week of solid play later, feel that there's so much more to discover. And it's awful to know that, in all likelihood, it will be a painfully long time until I play anything else that matches up to Bloodborne's breadth of vision, generosity of content, and - yes - genius.
Put like that it almost sounds sinister, like this was made by a committee of scientists in lab conditions. Really it's been made by people who understand the joy of play and, much more crucially, that it's not just about the numbers. In the end it doesn't matter that Heroes of the Storm has 37 heroes, and the competition has hundreds. It doesn't matter that it has more maps, or no items, or shorter games. It doesn't even matter how many players it has. All that matters is it's more fun.
Dark Souls 3 sees the return of the king in a spectacular conclusion to From Software's trilogy.
Hideo Kojima's farewell to Metal Gear Solid is a dream: the best ever stealth game, and the high point of a remarkable series.
Generous, artful and brutally hard, The Old Hunters is the perfect send-off for a modern masterpiece.
Revelations 2 is a great spin-off title, and manages the uncommon balancing act of making series fans happy while offering something new.
Not a Hero isn't perfect, but it does enough to confirm that Roll7 is a developer to watch. This is a game where the design principles shine through in every second of the action, foregrounded by a winning combination of clever visual tricks and slick production values. At times everything comes together and this is a delicious, feedback-heavy and flowing system - at others you'll be chewing the analogue stick in anger. Bunnylord, in other words, is a candidate with flaws. But still worth your support.
Devil's Third is caught between genres it never quite brings together, and despite fun multiplayer never gets over its shaky foundations.
The Westport Independent is a great concept that has its moments, but is ultimately too slight to deliver.
Plane crazy.
Platinum Games and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles might be a dream pairing, but a co-op focus makes for a game that's strangely compromised.
The Assignment and The Consequence are dark, they're frightening, they get the blood pumping, and there's nothing else quite like them around. You'll know when you've been Tango'd.
With that said, don't take away too negative an impression of GW3:D. Though what it adds doesn't do much for me, what it brings from GW2 is simply brilliant, looks better than ever, and has never been on PC before – and everyone should try Pacifism mode at least once in their life. Parts of GW3:D are wonderful. But the most telling thing is that they're all contained in 2D rectangles.
There is apparently a 5GB patch incoming for Lords of the Fallen, which may make a difference, but at this point I'd advise steering well clear unless you're rocking an absolutely monster rig. Even then, is it worth it? From the not-inconsiderable amount I've played of LotF it feels like a game that lacks the finesse and precision of its inspiration, lacking any kind of multiplayer element and offering only a Diablo-esque quantity of loot to keep you coming back. Presuming that the game is patched to a workable state RPS will return to take another look in a week or so's time – but until then, you'd be better-served replaying the Souls games.
[I]f you like games about getting better, where you're mastering deep systems and having your skills progressively tested, then Ground Zeroes is the best 50-hour demo you'll ever play.
Strider's not really the kind of game the cognoscenti get excited about. It won't be winning any awards or the subject of a load of thinkpieces, and that's because it's nothing more than a simple design executed near-flawlessly. It's limited in the same sense that a cat is limited by not being a dog. Strider is a great game and it gets me totally pumped; it looks incredible, sounds amazing, and is tonnes of fun. If I ruled the world this would be on billboards, and they would say very simply: STRIDER'S BACK.
Despite Loot 2.0 and Adventure mode and the Crusader, Reaper of Souls doesn't quite reinvent Diablo 3 and the reason is simple. The core concept underpinning this experience, fun as it is in passing, makes for a game that plateaus quickly. Diablo 3's central problem is that it lacks long-term appeal and, despite Reaper of Souls having the best of intentions, it seems some things just can't be fixed.
Chroma Squad is a decent game but, far more importantly, it is a little time capsule, a big tribute, and a perfect period piece for big kids.