Digital Trends

• 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.

• PS3
• États-Unis

FIFA 14 gets you to the field as swiftly as possible at all times, and that makes it arguably the best sports video game out there. It recognizes that playing these little digital competitions is why people are buying the game in the first place. Its video gameness is paramount. That’s not to say it doesn’t do soccer very well. Even on an old machine like the Xbox 360, FIFA is gorgeous to look at and hear… or the sound effects and commentators, at least. This year’s licensed soundtrack is a mire of limp pop trash. Just an awful selection of songs. At least there’s not a preponderance of dubstep. That said, if you stripped away the myriad licensed teams from around the world, the painstakingly recreated stadiums, the hours of recorded commentary and actual field noise, and replaced them with stick figures bouncing around a dot on a black screen, FIFA 14 would still be insane fun. Love soccer? Play FIFA 14. Don’t care about soccer but still love video games? Play FIFA 14.

• PS3
• États-Unis

Konami took a major risk stripping Pro Evolution Soccer 2014 of the usual excesses in console sports video games. Console players are accustomed to pomp and outsized feature sets, while hardcore football fans on PCs looking for a simulation experience already have the long running Football Manager series. While the gambit isn’t wholly successful – it’s hard not to wish that this game had the visual panache of early Fox Engine demoes – PES‘ philosophy allows its sweet soccer to shine. It will not topple EA’s FIFA empire, but it doesn’t need to. Instead it offers something different.

• PC
• États-Unis

• X360
• États-Unis

Grand Theft Auto V hits a high point in Rockstar Games’ long-running series. The three characters at the center of the story are the most immediately engrossing that we’ve seen from this team. There’s a seamless interweaving of game mechanics and presentation with each individual personality, and the rich world of Los Santos provides a perfect backdrop for their antics. Even without the presence of GTA Online – a separate multiplayer component that launches on October 1, 2013 – this feels like a complete game.

• X360
• États-Unis

• X360
• États-Unis

• WIIU
• PS3
• X360
• États-Unis

• X360
• États-Unis

VectorCell’s beautiful cyberpunk universe lives up to the promises of the 1992 original. Fans will immediately appreciate what they see. Something’s lacking though. The goofy execution of the script and voice acting is jarring, but it’s an acceptable offense. The frustrating combat and sluggish controls are less forgivable, especially when so much of what’s wrapped around them seems so promising. Flashback is a good HD remake, there’s no question of that. But it isn’t a great one.

• X360
• États-Unis

The weird and often metaphorical story is pretentious and hampered by low-brow sensibilities. It’s hard to sell a game on being deep when one of the level bosses looks like a penis. But even if you enjoy the story and presentation, the gameplay is flawed and the level layouts are deceptively dull. A flashy opening area is typically replaced by a generic, square area. The colors may change, but the design philosophy is consistent. Killer Is Dead tries to deliver something original and unique, and for that it should get some credit. Sure, that uniqueness is inundated with misogyny, it’s offensive at times, and it is created on bland gameplay, but kudos for trying, I guess. There are some fun moments, but they are hidden under a pile of issues from the offensive to the technically flawed.

• X360
• États-Unis

In spite of a handful of shortcomings, some of which could easily be fixed with a balance-focused patch, series fans get a big improvement here over Madden NFL 13. Yes, it’s the only pro football sim around, but you’ll play it because you want to, not because you have to. Madden NFL 25 may not be the monumental change that its auspicious anniversary-bearing title might suggest – this is not the 2025 season, believe it or not – but it’s yet another solid effort from the EA Tiburon team.

• X360
• États-Unis

he Bureau‘s bright spots are all too rare. The deeper you get into the game, the more frustrating it becomes. It may not be fair to criticize a game for being something it isn’t, but it’s not unreasonable to expect a certain level of quality from your story-driven gameplay. Why didn’t 2K Marin focus more on character development? Why wasn’t there more emphasize on 1960s technology and culture? Why not try to make more distinctive aliens and alien weapons rather than just making stuff that looks so familiar from a plethora of other games? In the case of The Bureau, these questions have to be asked since the bones of a better game can be glimpsed underneath the piled bodies of your dim-witted squadmates. It could have been Mass Effect by way of Mad Men. Instead it’s just another shooter with aliens and a scratchy-voiced main character.

• PC
• PS3
• X360
• États-Unis

• PC
• États-Unis

• X360
• États-Unis

• PS3
• États-Unis

• X360
• États-Unis

Like Journey, Brothers is about the loneliness and the celebration of sharing a profound experience. Even when you have a partner, a family, you are also always going to just be yourself. And unlike Journey, Brothers is played entirely solo, a personal experience that illustrates how two people can overcome the inherent isolation of being alive through friendship and family. Brothers is grounded and human, its play built on touching the physical world and experiencing the ecstasy and loss that comes with being a part of everything. Where Journey was spiritual and ephemeral, delivering an impressionistic revelation as you climbed the mountain, Brothers is the opposite. Catharsis comes from the descent, not the climb. That is what Josef Fares and Starbreeze have done here. Their work boils video games down to their most essential tools — manipulating an object on a screen and pressing a button to effect change — and uses those tools to tell an astoundingly affecting tale about complex people. If you touch it, it’s impossible to not be touched back.