Elden Ring is a crowning achievement for FromSoftware and undoubtedly the very best gameplay experience they've yet delivered - and that's really saying something given this developer's incredible back catalogue. The Lands Between deftly combine breathless open world exploration, stunning artistry, immaculate world-building and wondrous adventure with classic Dark Souls combat and dungeon-crawling, resulting in not just the best Souls game to date, but a candidate for one of the very best video games ever made.
Starfield is Bethesda's best RPG to date, an enormous space odyssey that serves up some incredibly evocative and engaging exploration, satisfying combat, and a narrative that had us hooked right to the end. Yes there are issues here with the usual jank, and some very messy and fiddly menus and interactions, but all of these problems feel minor when compared to everything this game gets right. In a year that's been packed full of absolutely essential games, Starfield manages to sit right up top with some of the best of them. After all the hype and bluster, this is just a very, very good RPG and a game we'll be playing and replaying for a long time to come.
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.
While it doesn't quite reach its full potential, Star Wars: Battlefront harnesses the power of the Force to make for a multiplayer experience that's more concerned with fun and authenticity than deep mechanics and impeccable balance. DICE has absolutely knocked the presentation out of the park, making you feel like you're smack dab in the middle of your favorite action scenes from the classic Star Wars film trilogy. For many Star Wars enthusiasts, that's going to be more than enough to justify the price of admission. For everyone else, however, a limited amount of content and a few missteps will potentially diminish long-term appeal. This is a strong return for the Battlefront moniker, but there's much room for improvement.
Hearts of Stone is a full-fledged add-on for a game that probably didn't need to be any longer. Thankfully, Hearts of Stone is a total blast for Witcher fans and packs more into its 10-15 hour campaign than most AAA games on the market. With its wonderfully paced story, mesmerizing characters, and gorgeous world to explore, Hearts of Stone demands to be played. It also raises the bar for what fans can expect from DLC for their favourite games. If you're itchin' for more witchin', then picking up Hearts of Stone is a no brainer.
At its core, Darksiders II is a great game. That is what makes Darksiders II: Deahtinitive Edition all the more frustrating. A horrendous frame rate negatively impacts every aspect. Combat feels clunky, and the graphically impressive game ends up looking bad in motion. At least Nordic Games didn't technically call this a definitive edition, as it's really anything but.
Just Dance 2016 is a fun party game but its movement tracking does not offer enough precision to appeal to more competitive players. The track selection on the disk is a little lacking; with only a handful of big hitters available unless you are willing to pay for Just Dance Unlimited. The addition of the app makes it easier than ever to play with your friends and the ability for up to six players to dance at the same time provides lots of opportunity for choreographed hijinks.
It all looks pretty nice and tries very, very desperately to be cool, but the actual game behind the graphics isn't close to being polished enough for a recommendation. The always-online requirement which is apparently only there because you have to be online to be able to share snapshots (seriously, that's the claim) is an absolute abomination but you'll be able to live with it, at least until EA kill the servers in a year or two and you won't be able to play the game anymore. Need for Speed isn't unplayable by any means, but there's a laundry list of things that can – and often do – stop that playing time from being very enjoyable.
WWE 2k16 provides everything that wrestling fans will want to see outside of the ring. Was it not for the long and annoying loading times, the creation system and general control that you have over things would be enough to get it into the main event at Wrestlemania. A few minor fixes and changes here and there would do wonders, but the constant loading and the frankly abominable issues with the fighting engine that remain unfixed destroy any semblance of realism and are enough to relegate it to the indies.
Call of Duty: Black Ops III is the most content-filled game in the entire series. While that would normally be a good thing, the problem is that none of the content is particularly interesting. From the underwhelming campaign to the disappointing multiplayer, there isn't much to really recommend playing over last year's game. Call of Duty: Black Ops III is just okay, but being just okay isn't enough to keep players entertained when there are so many better offerings available from the same series.
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.
Guitar Hero Live's microtransactions aren't necessarily as bad as certain sections of the gaming community would have you believe and the new controller presents a fresh new challenge that Guitar Hero veterans will be hungry to take on. The offline GH Live mode is very cool, albeit short-lived, even if the on-disc track selection is lacklustre, but the real meat in the pie is GHTV. It isn't as fully-featured as we'd have expected it to be off the bat, but being able to jump in and spin through a selection from the 200+ tracks (with lots more to come, we're told) for an hour while earning rewards and upgrades is pure addiction.
While the multiplayer components are the best since Halo 3, the campaign disappoints in a few key areas. It's still enjoyable and exciting on the whole, but it lacks the narrative concentration and the memorable gameplay scenarios to stand neck and neck with the best entries in the series. Halo 5: Guardians still gets a massive recommendation from us for many reasons, though there's certainly room for 343 Industries to improve and evolve the campaign formula next time around.
The unfortunate truth of Orbit is that it's a well built, incredibly fun title that you'll rarely be able to play. It's best enjoyed by three to four players as this will crank up the chaos and avoid the lulls that often occur in two player when both fall into a rhythm of repeatedly smashing themselves into the sun. Alone, the player can only view the tutorial and dream of all the fun they could be having if they had three extra controllers and three people who wanted to engage in beautifully designed space warfare. Once you gather these resources however, you'll have a blast!
Wasteland 2: Director's Cut is a sprawling adventure, and it never fails to be engaging and the game world is an interesting place to be. The combat can get samey and the range of enemies is not massively varied but the required strategy and different approaches to fights kept us coming back for more. The sense of accomplishment when you take out a superior force by the clever use of cover is very gratifying, and helps to increase the game's longevity. We've put a good number of hours into this over the course of this review and can honestly say that we've barely scratched the surface. If you have even a slight interest in post-apocalyptic games, we don't think you'll be disappointed here.
Teslapunk is definitely up there for being one of the stranger ID@Xbox games. It may not be all that visually impressive but its outright peculiarity and addictive gameplay makes up for that shortcoming. While it may not be that long of a game, high score addicts can sink a lot of time trying to be the best among their friends (or the world) via the leaderboards.
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.
