Philip Kollar
Spartan Assault's simple gameplay and broken economy misses what's special about Halo
Bound by Flame is a generic mess
Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness has good ideas but never goes anywhere with them
Mad Max is a shallow, forgettable experience
DreadOut's potential is never realized in its messy first act
DriveClub isn't a huge leap forward but has smart ideas in its multiplayer
The Legend of Korra does a disservice to its much-loved source material
Necropolis fails to capture the magic of its influences
TumbleSeed's summit might be worth it, if you can stick through the climb
No Man's Sky is an impressive set of tools grafted onto a game with very little going on.
Mafia 3 attempts to do great things with its writing, but the gameplay can't keep up
Ryse is beautiful but hollow
Episode 4 is a step back for the season and the series
A City Sleeps has too little content and a frustrating main conceit
The moments of payoff come too infrequently to make plodding through another three dozen frustrating enemies any less tedious.
Hohokum is beautiful but shallow
As just another game, Destiny is a confusing combination of often at-odds elements — it presents itself as ambitious, almost boastful, while seeming strangely safe and reserved. It wants to eat its cake as a shooter, and have the longevity of an MMO — but it lacks the combat sophistication of the former, and the deep well of content native to the latter.
Perception features some strong moments but never fully commits to its big ideas
Until Dawn isn't a great game, but it's compelling in spite of its huge flaws
The Evil Within has a strong foundation in the past but fails to build on it