Digital Trends

• PS4
• États-Unis

The NBA Live series will continue on, that much has already been decided. It’s a shame EA Tiburon put out what feels like an incomplete game. When you are trying to compete with a rival that has not only had the market to itself for years, but also managed to put out exceptionally good games, you need to do better than release a pale imitation. The Live Seasons mode is a good start and the dribble controls offer decent depth, but everything else in this franchise needs to go back to the locker room and come out with a new game plan.

• XONE
• États-Unis

• XONE
• États-Unis

Dead Rising 3 is a brute-force example of next-gen technology. Capcom Vancouver skips foundational gameplay revisions in favor of iterative improvements and lots and lots (and lots and lots and lots) of zombies. And for that, all can be forgiven. The shortcomings are numerous, sure, but they are far outnumbered by the massive horde of shambling undead that are as fun to pick apart with everyday objects as they’ve ever been.

• XONE
• États-Unis

• PS4
• États-Unis

• PS4
• États-Unis

Need for Speed: Rivals encourages the griefing of other players by making it the most fun thing to do in the game. The controls are smooth enough to make the act of racing fun, but there just isn’t enough to do There are only seven mission types in total and the ramping difficulty as you progress doesn’t make them better, just harder. Instead, the thing to do is ruin everyone else’s day, or wait for them to get you first.

• XONE
• États-Unis

• X360
• États-Unis

Nitpicks are few. While the PC and Xbox 360 versions of the game weren’t available for comparison, the PlayStation 3 version of Enemy Within is particularly buggy. Textures are slow to load, both during a battle and back at XCOM base, and the game simply froze on us a couple of times, requiring a hard reset. Nothing flat out broke the game or caused a loss of data, though, and the aging console tech never impeded on the fundamental quality of the game itself. A narrative sequel to Enemy Unknown will be welcomed by fans whenever it arrives. There are plenty of places to take the series in a future after this adventure. Maybe Earth brings the fight to the aliens completely changing how resources are gathered in the game? The options are there. Enemy Within is halfway there, though, in terms of making those expansive rule changes that mark a great game sequel. The new story content in Enemy Within is nothing to dismiss, but what it adds mechanically is why even old players that have gorged on last year’s game should dive back in.

• X360
• XONE
• PS4
• États-Unis

• PS3
• États-Unis

Skylanders: Swap Force could’ve easily hit shelves with a new storyline and characters without too many additional innovations and continued to be one of the industry’s best-selling franchises. It’s a credit to the team behind Swap Force that the game has arrived with so many new features that not only expand the in-game environment exponentially but also make old characters as welcome as the newcomers to this world. It’s rare for a game to come along that truly crosses the generational divide and establishes an audience among young and old gamers alike, but Skylanders has done exactly that with its last two console titles – and Swap Force continues that trend.

• PC
• X360
• États-Unis

A dry assessment of Battlefield 4 offers no surprises: stellar multiplayer backed up by flawed, yet enjoyable single-player campaign action. Look closer, however, and you see a much stronger overall effort than Battlefield 3 was. The scope of the action on the solo play side is much bigger than it has been before, with combat situations that feel truer to the spirit of the series. On the multiplayer side, improvements large and small to everything from play mechanics to user interface build on top of one of gaming’s most varied online first-person shooter experiences. Perfection may be a myth, but Battlefield keeps improving, and Battlefield 4 is DICE’s strongest effort to date.

• PS3
• États-Unis

• X360
• États-Unis

WWE 2K14 isn’t an objectively bad game, but it’s not nearly as welcoming as it could be. There’s a lot to like about the 30 Years of WrestleMania mode and the long list of wrestlers it brings to the game, but Yukes didn’t spend enough time on creating a more gentle learning curve for fans drawn in by the promise of matches they haven’t thought about for 20+ years. Longtime fans of man-soaps will find a nominal improvement over past games with a few highlights. Newcomers can expect to grin as they revisit the old days… but there may be a few thrown controllers in the process.

• VITA
• États-Unis

It’s been five long years since Armature Studio opened for business, and four since Rocksteady released Arkham Asylum, making the world’s first truly great Batman game in the process. Blackgate captures that style well in its grim little prison, and Armature proves that the Metroid Prime games were no fluke; this team can still make a quality world of puzzles that’s pristinely fun to unfold. All that’s missing in Blackgate is the level of polish and consideration that was brought to Nintendo’s series. The designers at Armature realized that Samus couldn’t move exactly the game way in 3D that she did in 2D, and they made the appropriate adjustments. Blackgate didn’t benefit from the same insight. Even still, it’s good enough that Armature deserves another chance to lock Batman up with a gaggle of criminal scum.

• X360
• États-Unis

Batman: Arkham Origins scratches an itch, but it doesn’t really go out of its way to evolve the series in any meaningful way. WB Montreal creates an impressive carbon-copy of Rocksteady’s past efforts, highlighted by a larger open world, a series-best plot, and an inventive take on adversarial multiplayer. It’s still just a copy though. In a year that has seen the medium evolve in new and unexpected directions, derivation equals death. Arkham Origins isn’t a bad game – it’s quite strong, in fact! – but it’s also not a new game, and it’s destined to be forgotten as a result.

• PC
• X360
• PS3
• VITA
• PS4
• XONE
• États-Unis

• PS3
• États-Unis

• PS3
• États-Unis

It helps to already be a fan of LeBron if you’re going to get the most out of the Path to Greatness, but the mode does have a lot to offer – unless you despise the guy, in which case you are better off sticking with NBA 2K13 even with the new controls. The changes, while good, aren’t a major shift from last year’s also excellent edition. The next-gen versions should significantly help with the graphical issues, but it is time for some changes to the Association and MyCareer modes. That said, the series still offers one of the best sporting experiences around.