Hardcore Gamer

• PC
• 4 / 5
• États-Unis

Evoland 2 manages to seamlessly blend an incredible number of genres into a single, wonderful experience. With only a few gameplay frustrations, it simply must be experienced, especially for gamers with eclectic tastes. The first game is completely unnecessary for enjoying the second one, but those who appreciated Evoland will love Evoland 2 as it merely expands on the ideas and concepts of the original.

• VITA
• 4 / 5
• États-Unis

Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls is great, but this greatness lies primarily with the tale it weaves and character interactions. Fans of shooters will likely find it too simplistic and antiquated to enjoy (yes, even with the multiple bullet types). Folks coming in from a visual novel fandom will presumably also dislike the shooting because it spaces out the time between storytelling segments and isn’t particularly fun. Given the gameplay is totally functional, however, it’s possible to excuse it after seeing some of the more intense story-based moments. As long as you’re aware of the middling shooter gameplay which takes up about half the experience, you’ll still be able to enjoy the outrageous, hilarious, depressing and ultimately impressive writing of Danganronpa Another Episode: Ultra Despair Girls.

• XONE
• 4 / 5
• États-Unis

It feels good to finally get back into Gears of War. People Can Fly experimented with Judgment, but it ultimately didn’t work as well as it could with the series formula. The Coalition on the other hand has gone back to the roots, literally, giving fans and newcomers alike a taste of what made Gears of War so popular. The franchise has always had an alluring nature and The Ultimate Edition is no different. Unfortunately, this is almost purely aimed towards nostalgia, as while it’s accessible to those who haven’t played it before and the mechanics still hold up today, many of the advancements that were made over the last decade are not present. This includes a number of key gameplay mechanics and Horde Mode. Thankfully, the Ultimate Edition is packed with so much content – eight different multiplayer modes, nineteen different maps and a six hour campaign – that players will be immediately hooked. Gears of War is a game truly worthy of remaking and The Coalition has done a bang up job doing so.

• PC
• 4.5 / 5
• États-Unis

We’ve said it practically with each new Shadowrun Harebrained Schemes puts out, and we’ll say it again for Hong Kong: this is the most definitive, comprehensive and polished version of Shadowrun on the market. It builds on the past games in subtle but smart ways, fixing what was broken, and not touching what wasn’t. As a result, players are left with a magical cRPG that gives them so many options. Whether it’s the dialogue and story, combat, exploration, or the amount of loadout options, this is about as close as folks are going to get to a tabletop experience. The best part is, you don’t have to be a Shadowrun fan to love it. If you are, though, there’s just that much more to get lost in here. This is a game that transcends its name and should be spoken of in the same breath as the genre’s best. In years to come people will be comparing the new cRPGs to Hong Kong, because it’s easily a benchmark for what developers in the RPG arena should be looking at when designing their games.

• PS4
• 3.5 / 5
• États-Unis

It's a shame that Everybody's Gone to the Rapture falls for the trap of slowing players down to force engagement because it does the exact opposite. There's plenty to latch onto here, but the slow movement speed and technical problems distract from the otherwise moving story. Rapture could've used a more definitive conclusion, or maybe a few more illuminating hints sprinkled along the path to the ending, but still, it's the individual character moments that will stick with you.

• PS4
• 3 / 5
• États-Unis

Legend of Kay Anniversary reworks a solid PS2 game onto more modern hardware, but doesn’t do much with the hardware to make the game better. It’s still got a lot of pacing issues and the fetch quests are dull. The core story is too thin and the quests come off as a way to pad the experience instead of a way to make it better. The graphical sheen added to the characters is bizarre, but the soundtrack is genuinely good. The end result is something that might’ve been a slightly recommended purchase a decade ago, but there haven’t been enough updates to warrant a purchase now for those who aren’t fans of the original release.

• PS4
• 2.5 / 5
• États-Unis

Sword Art Online Re: Hollow Fragment is entirely average, which is frustrating because there are elements of greatness sprinkled throughout its somewhat mess of a product. For those who obsess over anything and everything Sword Art Online-related, there’s plenty to like here. For those who want a massively multiplayer roleplaying game, minus most of the social aspects of a traditional MMO, there’s not much to do besides the same thing over and over for 100 hours. This might be tempting to pick up with three friends, as the online really is the star of the show, but just wait until this fall when SAO: Lost Song launches and play that instead.

• PC
• 3.5 / 5
• États-Unis

It’s hard to fully recommend a game with inconsistent controls, but The Swindle is awfully close to being excellent. There are a huge number of enemies with different behaviors and the randomized level generator is more than happy to put multiple kinds together in ways that require different strategies to handle. The art style not only serves the game well, but also looks sharp when the camera zooms in during the hacking mini-game, revealing detail and linework that gets lost on the normal pulled-back view. The simple set of skills slowly expands into a large set of tools, with plenty of options to use them in a variety of situations in ways that aren’t instantly obvious. When a heist goes well, with each situation requiring a combination of sneaky stealth and quick action using strategies developed on the fly, it makes you feel like a master thief who views the most restrictive security measures imagineable as little more than toys to be batted around for your own amusement. Even an infrequent control failure is maddening when the difficulty is cranked up and every inch of the level is covered in cameras and patrol-bots, though, so until The Swindle sorts out its issues, it’s going to have to be merely decent rather than the excellent it could have been.

• XONE
• 4 / 5
• États-Unis

World of Tanks on Xbox One is the definitive way to experience the game on consoles. The Xbox 360 was a nice teaser for what it could be, but you can see the concept fully formed here. It plays better than it did on 360 and looks fantastic. New weather effects add a lot of life to the action and make for a more exciting experience. As a free to play game, there's no barrier of entry to speak of. If the game's concept has ever intrigued you, give it a download -- it's excellent and something all shooter fans should try out.

• PS4
• 4.5 / 5
• États-Unis

Galak-Z is the very definition of awesome. Playing it makes me feel like the badass intergalactic pilot I always dreamed of being as a kid, and I love it even more because it makes me work for that ecstasy. No battle is scripted, nothing is choreographed - my skills do all the talking. 17-Bit's physics-based space roguelike is a truly special experience on PS4, one that has the potential to become the flagship indie title on a platform bursting with incredible creations. It rewards patience, skill and creativity, and absolutely deserves your time regardless of your relationship with '80s anime or 2D shooters.

• XONE
• 4 / 5
• États-Unis

• 3DS
• 4.5 / 5
• États-Unis

Etrian Odyssey 2 Untold: The Fafnir Knight continues the trend of quality dungeon-crawling conventions. The Story Mode is a cut above Millennium Girl's, with characters and a story that are far more developed, the combat and customization remains engrossing and deep, and the production values are impressive. This is a DRPG that can be played and enjoyed by veterans, thanks to Classic Mode, or complete genre newcomers thanks to the more narrative-heavy Story Mode where the level of challenge is far more accessible. Those looking for a new 3DS game to sink at least 100 hours into should buy The Fafnir Knight; it's the definitive Etrian Odyssey game.

• VITA
• 3.5 / 5
• États-Unis

Lost Dimension is a sound SRPG that should be played by anyone who loved Valkyria Chronicles or adores Japanese roleplaying experiences. Its combat is incredibly solid, its judgment system is unique and its characters are worth investing time into getting to know, even if it means heartache down the road if or when one of them gets the axe. On the flipside, the story here doesn't capitalize on all it could or should and its visuals are dated at best, with some performance dips hitting the game at those more aesthetically intensive times. It also can feel a bit uninspired at times, which is best seen in the enemy and environment designs. Even with those qualms, Lost Dimension is a quality title that some may feel is greater than the sum of its parts.

• PC
• PS4
• XONE
• 4.5 / 5
• États-Unis

Tembo the Badass Elephant is a platformer that only comes once in a while, making it an experience that no gamer can afford to miss. Game Freak takes a break from their Pokemon duties to show everyone that they’re no one trick pony and that Pulseman was no accident. The famed developer proves that they have a melting pot of amazing ideas and Tembo is a fine showcase of their creative genius. Tembo is a consistently engaging and entertaining platformer with a protagonist that is mechanically the most unique and awesome you will ever have the pleasure of controlling in the genre. Tembo provides an empowering character to control, complemented by a polished gameplay experience, which allows it to set itself apart from every other platformer out there, past or present. Game Freak may have an eternal bond with Nintendo, but this partnership with SEGA has given the gaming world something fresh and original. Tembo the Badass Elephant is easily one of the most memorable releases of 2015 and hopefully the beautiful beginning of Game Freak branching out from Pokemon (and Nintendo) to deliver more pleasant surprises.

• PS4
• 4.5 / 5
• États-Unis

With the addition of Journey, the PlayStation 4 library has gotten a heck of a lot more special. If October's Uncharted: The Nathan Drake Collection manages to avoid being a technical disaster, this will mean that Sony's latest console will have five of the most incredible PlayStation 3 titles available for purchase if you include both this and The Last of Us Remastered. Out of all the shiny coats of paint last generation's titles have received on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, this is the title that demonstrates why visual upgrades can be important. Because Journey is a title whose art design weighs so heavily on the deeply emotional response it elicits from its players, making that art even stronger serves to underline its purpose. Those who haven't taken the two-hour journey to the mountain top yet should stop what they're doing and dive in. Journey really is that good.

• PS4
• 2 / 5
• États-Unis

Onechanbara Z2: Chaos is one of the better entries in the eleven year old series, but that’s not saying much. There’s a decent level of character customization, relatively fluid swordplay and a ton of fan service to be found. Unfortunately, it’s overburdened by how fast gameplay becomes repetitive, the unsightly visual aesthetic, unspeakable dialogue, poor mission structure and just an embarrassingly short campaign. Tamsoft has improved the core battle system to actually make it entertaining, but there’s no excusing the rest of the experience from being as shoddy as it is. Don’t let these voluptuous young women seduce you: Onechanbara Z2: Chaos is flawed beyond measure with its only redeeming quality being competent combat mechanics.

• PS4
• XONE
• PC
• 3.5 / 5
• États-Unis

Codemasters has lost a lot of goodwill for their F1 series in the past few years. In a perfect world, everything here (minus the updated racing info, of course) would have debuted last year as F1 2014. Alas, we now have two F1 games released within mere months of each other that both feel incomplete. F1 2015 does restore much of the goodwill to the franchise, however, as it proves Codemasters’ current-gen engine is a worthy successor that makes racing feel more realistic than ever before. Unfortunately, the visuals aren’t as advanced as they could be and a proper career mode and classic modes are sorely missed. Hopefully Codemasters reverts to October releases and spends the next year and a half crafting an F1 experience as complete as possible. Until that (hopefully) happens, F1 2015 is a fine title that shows Codemasters is still committed to the series.

• PS4
• 4 / 5
• États-Unis

Deception IV: The Nightmare Princess offers up the definitive edition of the newest entry in the series. As a result, it's a highly-polished experience that benefits from some extra care. There isn't a lot wrong with the game objectively, and the concept is executed about as well as could be expected. The graphics aren't going to push the PS4 to its limits, but the soundtrack is stirring and something that will catch many off-guard. Anyone looking to get into the Deception series should do so with The Nightmare Princess, it's as a top-notch game and one destined to be a cult classic down the line.