Hardcore Gamer

• PC
• 3.5 / 5
• États-Unis

It isn’t easy to recommend Warhammer 40,000: Regicide since it is in many ways it’s own thing. Some people who enjoy chess may not like the unpredictability inherent in the non-chess parts of Regicide, while turn-based strategy fans may not enjoy the restrictions presented by still being on a chessboard and following all of chess’ movement rules. Though its strategy-RPG elements can overshadow the chess part of the game, it doesn’t change the fact that a chess capture is an instant kill. Regicide can make players feel far more capable than chess allows, but also occasionally powerless. Those who find comfort and excitement in Regicide’s middle ground, though, will have the joy of experiencing the strategic depth and twists its scrutinized balance and flexibility can offer.

• WIIU
• 4.5 / 5
• États-Unis

Super Mario Maker is a special video game, period. You could include all of the lengthy, metaphor-laden nonsense that your little brain can come up with as to what is and isn't perfect about it, but at the end of the day, this is a title that allows you to create and play Super Mario Bros. levels for as long as your thumbs can handle. Yes, the creation tools, while outstanding and intuitive, could be a little better if the Wii U's touchscreen wasn't archaic and the social functionality was a bit more robust, but that isn't the main takeaway here. The fact of the matter is that the series with the perfect platforming mechanics has a fountain of content that won't stop operating until its servers are shut down, and there's an inherent magic to this that so many other games can't dream of attaining. Super Mario Maker is the type of game that reminds you why video games are special in the first place, and this reminder has the perfect central face: that goofy looking, slightly overweight plumber we all cherish.

• IOS
• 4 / 5
• États-Unis

Lara Croft GO reimagines Tomb Raider in a way that makes perfect sense when you think about it. Tomb Raider was always as much about the puzzles as the shooting, at least in its early days, so switching the focus to them works nicely. Advancing isn't simply about killing the critter in the way, it's about using the threat as a tool. Not every move is equally dangerous, of course, but when you've got a lizard behind you and a sawblade in front, it's probably best to think really carefully about where you're sending Lara next. Lara Croft GO is a great adventure-puzzler, filled with clever problems that require either a nice amount of thought or a lot of trial and error, and usually end up with a good combination of both being used before finally earning a victory.

• PC
• 4 / 5
• États-Unis

While the PC port of One Piece Pirate Warriors 3 is weak in technical terms, the game itself is very playable. The Dynasty Warriors formula has been honed over endless iterations to be great fun, and if it’s a bit on the easy side that’s not necessarily a bad thing. The various modes offer near-endless content to fight through with a huge number of playable characters, covering every single major storyline to date, a mode where you can play the main game with any unlocked character instead of the ones that make sense for the story, and even a large Dream Mode where everything and everyone combine in whatever way makes for the most entertaining level. One Piece Pirate Warriors 3 is, like the rest of the games in Omega Force’s series, the gaming equivalent of high-quality comfort food. The action is fast, there’s just enough strategy to avoid mindlessness and it’s always a good time blasting massive waves of enemies into the stratosphere.

• XONE
• PC
• 4 / 5
• États-Unis

Both hardcore and novice gamers alike have likely found their match in Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime. This is controlled chaos in a playable form, complete with all of the visual bliss that expected from a game with the silly title that it sports. Though the entirety of its four campaigns can be completed in four or five hours, there is a lot of replay value to be had by unlocking all of the various extra ships and augmentations by playing through procedurally-generated levels and finding every friend imaginable. What Asteroid Base has done here shouldn't be brushed aside: this is a game that feels like some real effort and soul was put into it, and the result is a title that is emblematic of everything awesome about the independent game development scene.

• XONE
• 4.5 / 5
• États-Unis

We’re getting to the point where denying the greatness of the Forza franchise is borderline ridiculous. The saddest part about Forza Motorsport 6 is that it will likely be brushed away by critics and gamers alike as a fantastic racing game rather than a fantastic game in general. Make no mistake, with all of its meaningful content and rock solid gameplay, Forza Motorsport 6 is one of the best games to come out in 2015, period. Whether you’re someone who has played every game in the series, or if you’re looking to jump into a simulation racer for the very first time, this is the game that you should gravitate to. Robust online functionality and a well-designed campaign make this a game that should have long legs and become the next entry into the “Games You Need to Own on Xbox One” list. Consider this: if Rise of the Tomb Raider and Halo 5: Guardians wind up being as good as Forza Motorsport 6, this actually will be the Fall with the best lineup in Xbox history.

• WIIU
• 3 / 5
• États-Unis

The best way to describe Runbow is that it feels like the kind of idea that would’ve made for a creative series of one or two levels in a Mario game, but here that’s the entire game from start to finish with little variation. I can’t stress enough that you probably just shouldn’t bother with Runbow unless you have at least three or four friends with whom to play with on a regular basis. It’s not the worst way to spend your time and money, but there are also much better local multiplayer games you could be playing instead.

• VITA
• 4 / 5
• États-Unis

While by no means perfect, Dungeon Travelers 2: The Royal Library and the Monster Seal shows why the Vita is still a viable platform. Featuring great anime style character art and a fun, humorous story, fans of Japanese gaming will be pleased. With challenging dungeons and tough monsters to out think and defeat, fans of difficult games will also be pleased. With the exception of some mortifying situations, time traveling the dungeons here is well spent.

• PC
• 3 / 5
• États-Unis

While Mad Max avoids being the disaster that the development hell storylines surrounding it suggest that it could have been, it's an absolute testament to mediocrity. Its characters and the world itself provide a great deal of intrigue, and they will keep some players interested, but there are too many flaws to consider it a solid video game. From its bland quests and progress gating to the fact that it uses a weak clone of the standard Arkham combat system, Mad Max feels like a AAA studio attempted to make a AAA video game and nothing more. For this particular game to have truly shined, we would have needed to see a much better narrative and a more varied set of missions. Unfortunately for gamers far and wide, Mad Max is far more likely to frustrate than entertain.

• PS4
• 4.5 / 5
• États-Unis

There’s nothing quite like Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. It’s packed with potentially hundreds of hours of content, especially when digging into the online and base building aspects. To those who complain that Metal Gear Solid games fail to deliver in the gameplay department while focusing primarily on the obscurity of its story, this is the response to that. That’s not to say Kojima Productions went light on the plot as it’s even more ridiculous than ever, but the balance is now tilting in favor of the gameplay for the first time. This is a fully realized Peace Walker, with a large scale production behind it not possible in a handheld title. That’s not to say it’s without its faults though, as due to its enormous open world terrain through multiple locations in the world, the traversal system isn’t as adequate as it should be. That’s not to mention that Afghanistan is far from the most compelling opening location to show off the FOX Engine, focusing on a lot of lifeless, dull environments. Still, if there’s one game that will last you the rest of year and then some, it’s this. Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain is the epitome of stealth action. It contains not only some of the best combat mechanics available, but everything you could have wanted from a Metal Gear Solid game. Plus Kiefer Sutherland.

• 3DS
• 1.5 / 5
• États-Unis

• PS4
• 4 / 5
• États-Unis

Xeodrifter condenses the core gameplay of Metroid into an experience that blends action and strategy without much filler and that doesn’t waste a moment of the player’s time in the process. The controls are smooth, while the animation and sound design fits the NES-to-SNES era that Renegade Kid loves to a tee. Anyone who enjoys Metroidvania gameplay will enjoy this; even if its repetitious boss battles stand out as a glaring weakness, the core game is a blast to play and surprisingly diverse as well.

• XONE
• PS4
• 4 / 5
• États-Unis

Maybe the flurry of remastered games this generation has changed what we picture when a game has a subtitle like "Definitive Edition" attached to it. With Rare Replay, Grand Theft Auto V and Mega Man Legacy Collection feeling like works of love rather than profit, it can be disappointing to see such a straight port emerge on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. When you really think about it, though, Dishonored: Definitive Edition has received a small amount of coverage since its reveal at E3 2015, so there's no way to say that Bethesda misled us at all. Still, it would have been nice to see a bit more treatment given to Dishonored: Definitive Edition, as this underrated gem is something that should be experienced by as many people as possible. At the same time, it's great to see yet another great game hitting the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One storefronts, and even though it's largely the same package that we received last generation, these two console libraries are still bolstered significantly by the presence of Dishonored.

• PS4
• 4 / 5
• États-Unis

Disney Infinity was a bold venture even by Disney standards, but it’s one that has rapidly come into its own. 3.0 is a leap forward for the franchise, offering an exceedingly well-presented universe that’s easier to explore than ever, but features enough content to easily keep devotees occupied for as long as desired. There’s something to do in every nook and cranny and the additional Play Sets could all stand on their own, with solid platforming mechanics and strong, fluid visuals (an issue in the past). While Disney likely could have moved an exceptional amount of product simply by saying “it's Disney Infinity with Star Wars," they’ve instead reconfigured the experience to be more enjoyable than ever. Fans of Disney, Star Wars, Tron, Pixar and just plain fun are going to have a blast in Disney Infinity 3.0.

• PC
• PS4
• XONE
• 3 / 5
• États-Unis

There’s parts of Zombi that are entertaining to play, while there are others that just fall apart. There’s nothing like Zombi when it comes to its survival elements, actually ensuring a sense of dread and tension for every step forward, until you get to its archaic and clumsy gameplay design. Actually engaging with enemies feels unwieldy and quickly becomes repetitive. Even the port quality is at odds with itself as Straight Right has created an unstable slog that, while still playable, can be frustrating to get through. Spotty performance, a terribly boring aesthetic and a messy, cobbled together combat system amounts to something that had potential, but was beaten over the head with a cricket bat.

• PC
• 2.5 / 5
• États-Unis

Unfortunately, Calvino Noir doesn’t meet the expectations that come with this genre and style. From the faulty mechanics to unfair challenges, it fails to present itself as anything more than visually beautiful. It would have been great without the jagged movements or difficulty surpassing your enemies, as side-scrolling point and click gameplay doesn’t fit a game of espionage. It’s disappointing because the scenery and the visuals are beautiful, down the cheesy detective lines, deep music playing in the background and all the rain (it is literally raining throughout the entire game). It was so close, but no cigar.

• PC
• 4 / 5
• États-Unis

Amnesia: Memories has a great many strengths which include its fantastic visuals, high quality voice acting and tremendous replay value. Players coming in need to know that this isn’t just a fluffy, sweet otome title; there are mysteries to uncover which may reveal unpleasant things. Many of the men our protagonist dates are annoying jerks, and bad endings are seriously bad. All these features help to give the game depth and stand out against other genre contemporaries, though. There’s no doubt that each route proves intriguing enough to see through to the end, which is tremendously important when a game asks players to spend copious hours to do so. If you are enchanted by the prospect of Amnesia: Memories, delve right in and see how it subverts otome expectations.

• PS4
• 4 / 5
• États-Unis

The third iteration of the series on current-gen platforms, Madden NFL 16 continues its growth. There’s not a myriad of changes this year, but what has been tweaked is noticeable and makes for a fantastic game of pigskin. Draft Champions is an expertly designed addition that proves to be refreshing in an era of sports game complexity. Taking the elements that make fantasy football so addictive and applying them to Madden whilst making the whole mode great for casual players and hardcore alike, it will likely see the bulk of most player’s game time this year. Add that to improvements on the field, impressive tweaks to Madden Ultimate Team and Connected Franchise as well as the triumphant return of a licensed soundtrack and Madden NFL 16 is a clear winner.