Ken Barnes Avatar Image

Ken Barnes


179 games reviewed
60.0 average score
60 median score
24.7% of games recommended
Nov 28, 2014

With Geometry Wars 3, Lucid Games have taken the pure and unsullied Geometry Wars mix and added nothing but good things to it. No corners have been cut here and the game is almost a love-letter to everything that was great about the series in the first place.

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10 / 10 - Rayman Legends
Aug 26, 2013

Rayman has made it to the same level as Mario and the rest of the elite. With Rayman Legends, it sometimes feels like he's building a new platform above them, so he can stand alone as the one true king.

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While the upgrades made outside of the match this year are barely worthy of the name, the improved action on PES 2017's pitches is more than enough to warrant the asking price. Superb stuff, indeed.

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Oct 17, 2016

Headmaster is simple, playable, and incredibly fun. It’s easy to pick up but still provides room for more skilled players to excel and there’s enough playing time here to ensure that your money is well spent. An excellent effort overall.

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Aug 14, 2017

Sonic Mania is a fantastically well-worked continuation of an iconic franchise and a great reminder of why the Genesis games were so well loved. Everybody who has waited patiently for 20-odd years for Sega to get it right again is in for a treat. Top notch.

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9 / 10 - Peggle 2
Dec 13, 2013

Addictive, beautifully designed, and containing more single-player content than you could shake a stick at, Peggle 2 is a fine, fine game. Considering it can be yours for less than £10, we just don't see how anyone could pass it up. Superb.

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Jun 23, 2014

The five hours or so of gameplay that you'll get from a single playthrough are rewarding and memorable, with that fantastic storyline backing up some great puzzling action. Some may find themselves frustrated when bugs occur, but we think most will be forgiving of them once the end credits roll. As a package, we're sure that Valiant Hearts is something that you'll never forget. And you should indeed never forget.

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9 / 10 - ScreamRide
Mar 2, 2015

ScreamRide is thrilling, addictive, fun, enjoyable, well-crafted, rewarding, challenging, and has the potential to go on to be a long and successful franchise. It isn't just about holding on to your hat as you fly down a vertical drop, building the biggest coaster you can, or trying to hold on to your lunch as you hit an inversion at 120mph. There's thought, the tools for a community to spring up around it, and lots of longevity here, and at really is only some very minor niggles that stops ScreamRide from picking up perfect marks.

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Oct 5, 2014

Whether your favourite is Stunt Car Racer, Out Run, Ridge Racer, Burnout, Project Gotham Racing, Blur, any Need for Speed game, Gran Turismo, or good old Metropolis Street Racer, there's something for you here. In terms of excitement, fun, style, and a sheer wealth of things to do, Forza Horizon 2 can stand proudly up against any of the games in that list, despite the trifling imperfections that we've noted.

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9 / 10 - Titanfall
Mar 20, 2014

Titanfall is a genuine improvement on the standard multiplayer FPS fare that we've come to expect. By turning the game's campaign mode into a series of well-balanced multiplayer matches, Respawn ease you into the gameplay slowly. Once you've ploughed through those 18 rounds though, you'll realise that you're unashamedly hooked.

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9 / 10 - Rocket League
Feb 22, 2016

Relatively very minor gripes aside, Rocket League is a genuinely new type of game that provides addictive, enjoyable, skill-based fun that doesn't prevent new players from joining the fray and which never threatens to become dull. Even folks who aren't necessarily excited by football, sports in general, or cars will find something to love here and for many, it'll become their new favourite pastime. This is absolutely superb and will keep you entertained for many, many hours.

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9 / 10 - Fallout 4
Dec 5, 2015

Fallout 4 isn't perfect by any means, but the sheer scope of the game as a whole and the incredibly well-structured world means that should you dare to take the plunge, you'll be swimming around in these waters for dozens, if not hundreds of hours. The bugs may threaten to spoil the show, but every time one rears its head and makes you want to stop playing, you'll feel the pangs within the hour to go back and give things another go. Many people will fail to see everything that the wastelands have to offer, but that absolutely shouldn't stop you from trying to take it all in. Just as in life, your journey won't be the same as anybody else's.

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Nov 9, 2015

Rise of the Tomb Raider is not perfect, but the areas in which it lacks are relatively minor technical issues and the story does a great job of picking the player up to ensure that they jump right back into the action if they fall foul of a problem. Once you've beaten the campaign, you'll be tempted by the addictive Score Attack mode, as well as having an eye on playing through the whole thing again to pick up a few more achievements, something which - rarely these days - is no chore. The switch to a style of play that doesn't rely solely on raw firepower is the absolute key to the game's success and that, mixed with a plethora of action-packed adrenaline-boosting scenes, makes Lara's second return an absolute blast to play.

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9 / 10 - Doom
May 26, 2016

Doom is a big, loud, visceral experience that not only impresses visually with a silky-smooth framerate and detailed texture work, but which reaches into your soul and jacks up your heartrate as it does so. Some would say that things are a little bland in terms of plot, but playing Doom for the story would be like watching a baseball match because you're a fan of diamonds. The multiplayer is playable but a little less so than you'd expect, but that's more than made up for by the campaign. It's fast, fun, violent, addictive, and highly recommended.

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Oct 22, 2015

It's as if the developers have listened to many of the complaints that were levied at previous titles in the franchise and decided to finally do something about it with Assassin's Creed: Syndicate. Framerate problems persist – not nearly as much as in the last game – but they've stripped out the things that diluted the fun of the earlier titles and focused on giving the player the ability to do what they want, when they want and not only that, but to go about it however they want. There's no broken co-op or botched multiplayer here and as we've said, there's no need for a companion app. The focus is back on single player stealth and freedom, with the final game giving us the feeling that the franchise is absolutely back on track. Excellent fun.

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9 / 10 - Beyond Eyes
Aug 6, 2015

There's definitely a feeling that there could have been more to it, but Beyond Eyes is an important game that is undeniably superb.

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Mar 23, 2016

Trackmania Turbo is a triumph. It nods back to console racers of yesteryear, provides speed, action, addictive gameplay, more than a few "wow!" moments and beyond the bundled 200 campaign courses, provides a potentially endless supply of content in the form of a robust track creation system. Should you clear the solo mode, you can take your car out into online play and you'll find a whole new world of fun and enjoyable events that all work flawlessly. Every corner has been rounded off and every surface has been polished here, and that's much to the developer's credit. Excellent stuff.

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9 / 10 - DiRT Rally
Apr 7, 2016

With DiRT Rally, Codemasters have thrown the conventional way of looking at the sport of rallying in videogames out of the window and done it with such aplomb that the end product is all but irresistible. It could be said that the learning curve could do with being flattened just a little. We say that the harder the climb is, the greater the feeling of success is when you finally put in that perfect run, but it's understandable that not all players will feel that way in an age where going into a menu is considered to be achievement-worthy. For our money, this is easily the best rally game ever released. Not only that, it's transcended the scope of that admittedly small genre and is surprisingly close to the top of the general racing game category, too.

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9 / 10 - SUPERHOT
May 2, 2016

There are many words that could be used to describe SUPERHOT. Cool, addictive, stylish, fun, enjoyable…take your pick. What the development team have done is take a game mechanic that sounds like an excellent idea on paper and turned it into something special by fleshing out a game around it that does it justice and then layering on different ways of playing in the post-game. It flat out tells you to say this but we'd be saying it anyway: SUPERHOT is one of the most innovative shooters that we've played in years. Absolutely essential.

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84 / 100 - DiRT 4
Jun 6, 2017

If you like your racing fast, filthy, and challenging, there's no doubt that DiRT 4 ticks all of the boxes.

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