While ARK can be a lot of fun – grabbing another player off of a raptor with an Argentavis feels bloody brilliant – it's rarely worth the hours of tedium. If you can spare the 100 or so hours it takes to get your teeth into it then I'd recommend you spend them elsewhere.
Its zero gravity segments offer something that no other FPS can, and everywhere else it's a solid, polished shooter. If you like the sound of it then I'd jump in now and build up some experience.
Hellblade is brave for tackling psychosis so directly, and braver still for pouring so much of its efforts into its narrative. It's unlike anything else I've played this year, and for that reason it deserves a slice of your time.
Splatoon 2's formula no longer feels original, but it looks great, its controls are tight, and there's enough variety to give you dozens of hours of multiplayer fun.
It's not the most polished shooter but it does shine in all the right places, and it builds on the huge potential of Red Orchestra, which I loved. There are very few games that can match the feeling you get when you watch an artillery strike destroy a treeline and push up with your squad mates under the cover of smoke and deafening explosions. If you're after a slower-paced shooter with tactical combat and tense moments, then it's time to enlist.
Despite its flaws, Tales of Berseria has numerous interesting stories to tell. If the developers had cut the flab and focused almost exclusively on the cast of characters – with some combat thrown in – then I think this would have been a must-play. As it is, I think it’s still worth playing if you’re a fan of story-focused JRPGs, as long as you know you’re strapped in for the long haul.
