EGM's Reviews
If hack-n-slash games are your jam—or you can tolerate them but really just love The Legend of Zelda in all its iterations—then Hyrule Warriors is a more-than-worthy warmup for Link on the Wii U.
Disney Infinity: Marvel Super Heroes (2.0 Edition) takes last year's tested formula and adds new features like leveling characters, streamlined editing tools for the Toy Box, and a cast of characters straight from your favorite Marvel comics and movies. While the new Play Sets are only a modest improvement over the ones from last year, the Toy Box is even more amazing, making this the perfect place for those wanting to express their creativity.
Bigger doesn't always equate to better. Forza Horizon 2 definitely delivers a gameplay experience a step above its predecessor, but gutting story mode leaves the single-player soulless and more akin to a grind.
The landscapes and exploration elements might not be on the level of some of its open-world brethren, but Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor delivers one of the best games to feature the intricate lore of J.R.R. Tolkien—and its innovative, addictive Nemesis system could redefine the way developers design enemy encounters in the future.
Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS manages to feel like a complete and worthwhile step forward for the franchise, even though you might occasionally wish for the precision of a real controller.
Alien: Isolation might not deliver the scary, intimate experience players expected for its entire running time, but smart design, good pacing, and a ton of gameplay variety more than make up for the lack of chills.
While its refreshing combat offers a different kind of strategy-RPG challenge, some ridiculously punitive design decisions sabotage a good deal of the potential fun in Natural Doctrine. Considering the experienced pedigree of the developers involved—they count Patapon among their previous works—that's simply inexcusable.
Fun puzzles, inventive murders, and new crime-solving features help make up for a morality system that needed far more fleshing out to be effective.
NBA 2K15 delivers a solid core basketball experience, particularly with MyCareer mode, which features real-life NBA player voices. But the game ties too much of the experience to its shoddy online component, which sabotages the experience—and even makes the game literally unplayable at times.
Driveclub's social features help elevate an otherwise unexceptional racer, but the dearth of content and some curious design choices keep it from rising too high.
Filled with amazingly tuned combat, countless larger-than-life moments, copious amounts of legitimately challenging boss battles, interesting locations, lovable characters, and one of gaming's most unforgettable heroines, Bayonetta 2 retains the crown as the standard for which all other stylish action games should strive to achieve. And, if you missed the start of the series, you get the original Bayonetta bundled in for free—making this some of the best action gaming $60 will ever buy.
Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel is a worthwhile entry in the series that will provide more of what fans expect while fleshing out some of the narrative gaps between the first two titles. And while the addition of low gravity and a few new guns might not change things forever, their presence is far from a hindrance and fits into the Borderlands formula fine, although unremarkably.
Waving your arms in front of your TV like you're conducting some kind of cosmic orchestra is a surprising amount of fun, but the lack of content leaves the experience feeling a bit bare.
The Legend of Korra is a more-than-competent stylish action game and a fine example of Platinum's pedigree, but as far as an authentic Avatar experience in game form? Not so much. Putting a premium on combat, not characters and story, waters down what makes this Nickelodeon series so special.
The Evil Within feels like a project shackled by the desire to relive past survival-horror glories instead of pioneering brave new ones. Sometimes, it seems, giving fans what they think they want isn't really the proper course of action.
Sunset Overdrive may not be destined to receive the same kind of attention or hype fellow Xbox One releases like Halo: The Master Chief Collection or Titanfall have, but that doesn't stop it from being one of the most creative, enjoyable, endearing, or satisfying gaming options the console has to offer.
Taking the playstyle from Civilization V and launching it into space, Civilization: Beyond Earth introduces a number of interesting concepts into the series' tried-and-true strategy formula. While the gameplay remains addictive, the learning curve here is steep, with lots of small details that demand your attention. What you make of it depends on your patience and ability to adapt to the cruelties of space.
NBA Live has had a tough time escaping the shadow of NBA 2K—and that trend continues with NBA Live 15, which doesn't deliver believable player movement, shooting, or gameplay flow. The "Big Moments" mode shows the potential that the series might be able to execute in the coming years, but right now, it's like a .500 team trying to compete with a playoff juggernaut.
There's no denying that Lords of the Fallen has taken a huge amount of inspiration from From Software's series of Souls titles, but it does so while also growing into a game that players can enjoy on its own terms. While faults both technical and creative keep it from being as enjoyable as it could have been, this is still an adventure that may be worth taking for those who love a real sense of challenge.
If Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare's storytelling ambitions disappoint, the same can't be said of the upgrades to gameplay. In both campaign and multiplayer, the exoskeleton and other futuristic gadgetry breathe new life into a franchise that seemed increasingly trapped in the shadow of the original Modern Warfare.