Phil Hornshaw's Reviews
Changes to the core systems, meanwhile, take two steps forward and one step back. The game's long list of improvements is paired with the return for grinding for grinding's sake. Check back later this week for our final impressions.
Skull Island: Rise of Kong is a boring, buggy, totally unambitious game that isn't even interesting in its failures.
'The Last Guardian' is rooted in the past, with design problems the game's beautiful aesthetic can't disguise.
Liberated wants to be a playable V for Vendetta, but despite a beautiful hand-drawn art style, it can't match the quality of its inspirations.
"Metal Gear Survive" adds confusing, tedious busywork - and zombies - to the franchise.
Full of repetition, "Curse of Osiris" feels like a step back for "Destiny 2."
A team of friends is essential to enjoying 'Ghost Recon: Wildlands,' which struggles at times, but gets open-world absurdity right.
South Park: The Fractured But Whole" struggles to capture what's made the show endure for 20 years.
Firewatch goes for a walk in the woods and gets lost along the way.
Mass Effect: Andromeda often comes off like a giant checklist of Mass Effect–themed content, but what it's missing is the wonder and excitement that made the last Mass Effect games feel special. The previous games had their issues, but combined their elements to create a vast, interesting world full of deep characters with conflicting desires and experiences that made us feel connected to it.
The Division puts players on a treadmill without a carrot.
While Lords of the Fallen has all the right Souls-like elements, its disjointed pacing and painful checkpoint system make much of the game a slow and frustrating march.
Republique is a relatively simple stealth game with a lot of love dumped into its presentation and its world, but Episode 4's attempt to shake things up in both gameplay and plot is weak.
Until Dawn struggles with clunky video game elements and rough pacing, but mitigates it with B-movie slasher mainstays and a willingness to embrace player failure.
Despite its updates, No Man's Sky remains the same experience that it was at launch — just a better-realized version of it. The first five planets of your No Man's Sky experience will be glorious. The rest may leave you wanting more.
Destiny 2: Warmind is a step up from its last expansion, but still suffers feels repetitive.
Though it's fun with a friend, A Way Out struggles with clunky set-pieces and story clichés.
'Arms' brings back the fun of the Nintendo Wii, but it's most fun if you don't take it too seriously.
'For Honor's dueling is focused and fun, but the best stuff is overshadowed by many smaller problems.
'Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare' delivers one of the best campaign stories in the series history