Recore
Available on: Xbox One
Gameplay/Trailer
Reviews
- Gameinformer Gameinformer"ReCore is a poster child for wasted potential. At its heart is a good (though not great) game, marred by long load times, technical problems (including frame rates dips and the occasional crash), and bad pacing. The infuriating and frivolous road blocks may have doubled the length of the 20-hour game, but they also halved my fun." 5.5/10 ~Gamestop
- IGN IGN"I didn’t expect ReCore to be quite as big as it is, and from the looks of things, it’s possible its developers didn’t either. Its world, while interesting to explore for a good while, is ultimately too big with too little happening in it to be a totally serviceable housing for the strong combat and platforming gameplay within. It feels like a great, arcadey action platformer spread across too big a canvas, and it asks you to draw back over the same lines a few too many times." 7.3/10 ~IGN
- Pluggedin Pluggedin"As this game's title suggests, those power cores—which give everything from bots to terraforming machines their electric charge—are a central part of the story here. Joule must seek out special prismatic cores throughout the game's open-world map in order to save what's left of mankind's future. This game therefore becomes one of platforming (Joule can double-jump and dash to distant spots thanks to a jetpack and power boots), collecting (there are cores, mechanical scraps and robot-improving blueprints to be found everywhere) and shooting (she must defend herself from scores and scores of bad bots). So just how messy does all this roustabouting and robo-strafing get? Not bad at all really. The targets are always robots. And the energy weapon Joule uses never splatters anything. When foes are weakened to a certain point Joule can use a grappling hook device to snatch out their power core in a brief fishing-like game. Otherwise, the baddies are simply zapped until they explode and disappear. The firefights can get a bit frenetic at times as Joule and her robot pal shoot it out with groups of mechanical opponents. But if Joule herself is bested, she tumbles and the screen quickly fades to black. No blood or mess. And then she restarts at an earlier spot before a missed jump or an overpowering encounter. Other than that—as well as some painfully long load times that make you feel like you may have slipped into cryo-sleep—there's little else negative to report here. There's definitely a lot of trigger pulling in the mix, but ReCore is as much about exploring, jumping and swooping as it is blasting bad bot baddies." ~Pluggedin
Batman: Arkham Knight
Gameplay/Trailer
Reviews
- Gameinformer Gameinformer"At the end of it all, Batman: Arkham Knight delivers a great sense of closure for this series. Rocksteady leaves a few plot threads dangling to tease and taunt us, but the grim tale that started all the way back in Arkham Asylum is done. I walked away from Arkham Knight shocked, satisfied, and in dire need of someone to discuss the story with. Rocksteady built a special experience that dazzles with its cleverness, intelligence, and ability to shift from kick-ass Batman moments to emotional gut punches to scenes stripped straight from some of Batman's greatest comic book stories. Lock yourself away, avoid social media and friends, and finish this game. You won't want this one spoiled for you." 9.5/10 ~Gameinformer
- IGN IGN"If this is in fact the last Rocksteady-developed Batman game, the series will end on a high note. Arkham Knight is the biggest Batman game yet, not just in map size, but in the wide range of different types of gameplay, and its collection of characters. The addition of tank combat thematically clashes with everything Batman stands for, but it is fun, and having access to the Batmobile for the first time gives us a new world of possibilities for interacting with Gotham City. Arkham Knight is an outstanding game on almost every level." 9.2/10 ~IGN
- Pluggedin Pluggedin"It should be noted that like all the other games in this franchise, Batman gives everything he has to battle evil and save the innocent. And if you look at his sacrificial choices from that perspective, you might even see the Dark Knight as a something of a Christ figure who offers his all for a broken, fallen world. But just as the Caped Crusader pays a heavy emotional, physical and psychological price to cleanse Gotham, so gamers pay a lesser but nonetheless real price while battling alongside him. Without question, this is an engaging game. It's also a disturbing one. Batman: Arkham Knight could leave a dark imprint on the minds of those who soldier through its hours of dank gameplay, much the same way that Joker's tainted blood leaves its dark mark on the city's caped vigilante hero." ~Pluggedin
Deadpool
Available on: PS4
Gameplay/Trailer
Reviews
- Gameinformer Gameinformer"High Moon didn’t just craft a brawler; the player can switch to running and gunning at any point, usually to dispatch foes at great distances or in sections where every foe is using some form of firearm. The gunplay is as crude as the melee. Successfully targeting enemies entrenched behind cover is a crapshoot – sometimes it works, sometimes bullets hit an invisible barrier, sometimes the enemy AI freaks out and maneuvers wildly to different positions. I never felt like I mastered the firearm action. Frustration and luck drove almost every trigger squeeze." 6/10 ~Gameinformer
- IGN IGN"Behind Deadpool’s demented humor, creative script, and brilliant sight gags is a fairly conventional, generic action game. It’s not bad, but it’s not particularly good, either – and without oodles of hidden secrets or unlockables to discover, there’s really no reason to replay it once you’ve finished. Developer High Moon gets the character and brings the funny, but none of the action finesse that would make Deadpool stand out. If you’re a fan of boob jokes and dumb, repetitive, yet mildly fun gameplay, then Deadpool will offer you a weekend’s worth of silliness." 6/10 ~IGN
- Pluggedin Pluggedin"Whether it's showing scantily clad breasts being groped and plastic sex dolls being fondled, or examining everything from penis size to lewd come-ons, or having its "hero" talk endlessly about his genitals and participate in raw make-out sessions, the game goes very, very far out of its way to impress gamers with how crude, rude, juvenile and completely sex-obsessed it can be. Deadpool is quite simply a superduper spew of salaciousness, misogyny and malfeasance—all words not likely to be familiar to Sir Deadpool himself, or to his cult following of fans. (But certainly worth being used a time or two by the parents of said fans.) Let me spell it out, using smaller words: Neither the gross and gory game nor its far-from-super star are nearly as clever as they think they are. They try so hard to be off the wall that they miss the wall completely." ~Pluggedin
Pro Evolution Soccer 2017
Available on: PS4 PS3 Xbox One Xbox 360 PC
Gameplay/Trailer
Reviews
- Gameinformer Gameinformer"Previously Pro Evolution has produced sublime moments on the pitch that felt like a big payoff, such as a wonderful strike for a goal. Those still exist, but they aren't in isolation. That feeling of jubilation happens all over the pitch and in the game, in moments big and small, and it increases when you realize that this is your game to control. Your game to conquer." 9.25/10 ~Gameinformer
- IGN IGN"With smarter AI opposition and an altogether smoother online experience, PES 2017 is close to the complete package. FIFA’s new story mode might be the most headline-grabbing feature of either game this year, but it’s clear Konami is in no mood to relinquish its title as king of the virtual pitch." 9.5/10 ~IGN
Madden NFL 17
Available on: PS4
Gameplay/Trailer
Reviews
- Gameinformer Gameinformer"Gamers often use the term ".5" as a derisive tag for a title merely being a half step toward the series' next evolution. While I agree Madden 17 isn't a leap forward, the fact that it rides Madden 16's coattails while creating its own (thanks to the commentary system and some of the trench play) doesn't make it a bad title. If you asked me which I'd rather have – a new franchise mode or the improved line play that's now in the game, it's hard to ignore what I've actually experienced versus a hypothetical. The game is better because of it, and there's no going back." 8.5/10 ~Gameinformer
- IGN IGN"Madden has finally found its comfort zone between the tackles, and offense and defense have reached a great balance. The community’s gameplay wishes were granted with a new focus on Franchise mode, led by the Play the Moments feature. Outside of its mood-killing commentators, Madden 17 is just about everything we’ve been waiting for since EA Sports took full control of the NFL license. Football is back, and it’s only a yard or two short of becoming an all-time great." 8.6/10 ~IGN
Xcom 2
Available on: PS4
Gameplay/Trailer
Reviews
- Gameinformer Gameinformer"You're constantly under the gun in XCOM 2, and the deck is often stacked against you. Firaxis' masterclass in strategy design has you second-guessing all your choices and analyzing your smallest decisions. It might sound stressful, and at times it is, but XCOM 2's battles are so compelling that it's easy to pick yourself up after defeat and jump back into the fray. Successfully navigating XCOM 2's storm of difficult choices is enough to make you feel like a true legend." 9.5/10 ~Gameinformer
- IGN IGN"With a focus on variety and replayability, this sequel has an answer to most of my complaints about 2012’s excellent XCOM: Enemy Unknown, and aside from some mostly cosmetic bugs, it comes together brilliantly. Thanks to a new spin on the same great tactical combat, plus unpredictable maps and randomized objectives and loot, XCOM 2 is an amazing game I’ll easily put hundreds of hours into." 9.3/10 ~IGN
- Pluggedin Pluggedin"Frankly, this game's action and challenges are all really fun, not to mention ever-changing. Unlike the original game, XCOM 2 throws in some replay curveballs with a new layer of mission randomness built into each level. So if you think you can go back and ace a quest with a memorized list of physical structures to hide behind or enemy locations to spy out, you'll soon find that things have been dematerialized and transported to new areas since your last go-round. (Those sneaky aliens!) What the game thankfully doesn't include this time is an M rating. This entry's blood-spray quotient is reduced considerably, while the blade- or bullet-derived destruction of aliens is limited to pools of yellow goop. Even the game's campy alien autopsies aren't so splash-about messy, kept largely out of the camera's direct view. The ear-burning foul language has been all but eradicated as well. Your erstwhile troopers are hard-edged, but now they keep their hard language to themselves. That doesn't mean there isn't any pain of war to be felt here. The yellow goop is still yellow goop. The blades and bullets are still lethal. You don't aim down a gun sight and squeeze a trigger, but there's still lots of battlefield deadliness in play. You spend time with your human soldiers, too, getting to know their names and personalities. So if you accidentally mishandle a move and leave some squad mate vulnerable, you feel the sting of your soldier's death, certainly. Now, that's not always a bad thing, of course. Humanizing the realities of war is needful. And, true to life, there are no one-more-time do-overs here. Like an ongoing game of Russian Roulette, once your trooper goes down, he or she is gone for good. The question, then, is whether needfulness is good enough for a game." ~Pluggedin
Infamous: Second Son
Available on: PS4
Gameplay/Trailer
Reviews
- Gameinformer Gameinformer"I like the way that Infamous Second Son splinters off from the first two entries in the series. Delsin’s conduit ability creates uncertainty in the gameplay mechanics, and the choices he makes apply similar levels of ambiguity to the narrative arc. I never really grasped what was coming next from this tale, outside of knowing that the open world activities and encounters would be repeated ad nauseam." 8.5/10 ~Gameinformer
- IGN IGN"Open-world superhero action games are about freedom and empowerment, and in these regards, Second Son is really impressive. Seattle is a big, beautiful playground for you to stomp around in with a set of devilishly fun and powerful toys at your disposal. It plays great, and it looks even better, but its advancements also beg it to be held to a higher standard, one that its overall story and morality systems struggle to reach." 8.7/10 ~IGN
- Pluggedin Pluggedin"Even when you pick "good," however, there's still quite a bit of bad. Military enemies and powered-up foes are constantly blazing away with everything from laser-sighted sniper rifles to RPGs and heavy artillery to fire- and energy-blasts. Buildings are routinely destroyed and random citizens are often killed. Delsin can shoot missiles from his hands, materialize a large neon-bolt sword, turn chains into smoky whips and blast out automatic weapon-like rapid-fire destruction. (There's little gore, but splashes of blood accompany some injuries, and the action-violence is quite intense in the way it's rendered.) There's quite a bit of messy dialogue to contend with, too. God's and Jesus' names are often abused, along with frequent uses of the s-word, "a‑‑," "d‑‑n" and "h‑‑‑." We hear discussions ranging from a junkie's memories of using illegal drugs on the street to admonitions for a nerdy guy to go out and "get laid." I guess that means I should end this review with a reminder that it's not just the good or bad version of Delsin that gamers need to choose, but also what kinds of games they pick to begin with." ~Pluggedin