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ReviewsMultiplatformApex Legends: The Kotaku Review
I don’t try to be the best in battle royale games. I don’t troll or anything, but I’m not as concerned with skillful wins as I am with having fun or coming away with an exciting story. But Apex Legends makes me want to try. I also get some great stories in the process. Apex…
By Riley MacLeod Published March 1, 2019 -
ReviewsMultiplatformDead Or Alive 6: The Kotaku Review
Despite several years of being best-known for its sexiness, Dead or Alive has always been a genuinely good fighting game franchise. With a focus on bringing new players into the fold and downplaying its more provocative features, Dead or Alive 6 serves as a strong reminder of the solid gameplay that has always remained at…
By Mike Fahey Published March 1, 2019 -
ReviewsMultiplatform
Anthem: The Kotaku Review
Every once in a while, a game comes along that that does something surprising, different, memorable. Anthem is not one of those games. Much of this PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC game feels incomplete, while other portions are borrowed from games that did it better. The things that make Anthem special, like flying through…
By Ethan Gach Published February 25, 2019 -
ReviewsMultiplatform
Trials Rising: The Kotaku Review
I look at my watch. It’s 9:48pm. I’ll do one more Trials Rising track, I think. After that, since I’m only two levels away from the next stadium challenge, I do a few more. The stadium challenge turns out to be a tough bastard that makes me want to bite my controller in half, but…
By Keza MacDonald Published February 25, 2019 -
ReviewsMultiplatform
Metro Exodus: The Kotaku Review
I take my anxious first steps into a desolate post-winter wasteland. All around me, I hear mutants scratching and snarling. One sights me. Three more follow. I rise to fire my rifle. It jams. I feel frightened, vulnerable, out of sorts. But also, at home, like I’ve stumbled into a lucid dream shared by Far…
By Nathan Grayson Published February 20, 2019 -
ReviewsMultiplatformCrackdown 3: The Kotaku Review
It’s been a while since I’ve played something as refreshingly uncomplicated as Crackdown 3. You’re a big dude (or lady) with genetically-engineered superpowers and a whole lot of guns. Out there is a futuristic city stuffed with militia and hostile robots. And after the briefest preamble, you’re free to absolutely go to town on it.…
By Keza MacDonald Published February 15, 2019 -
ReviewsMultiplatform
Far Cry New Dawn: The Kotaku Review
By the end of Far Cry 5, the modern world was no more. Washed away in a gout of nuclear fire, all there was left to do was retreat into our bunker and lament the loss. Far Cry New Dawn moves forward from that set-up. Mechanically, it is the same game we’ve been playing since…
By Heather Alexandra Published February 15, 2019 -
ReviewsMultiplatformWargroove: The Kotaku Review
Wargroove has everything: a charming 2D look, imaginative characters and toylike units placed on gorgeous little battlefields, and accessible turn-based strategy inspired and informed by Intelligent Systems’ classics of the genre, Fire Emblem and Advance Wars. So why am I not enjoying myself as much as I should be? This question occurred to me a…
By Keza MacDonald Published February 1, 2019 -
ReviewsMultiplatformResident Evil 2: The Kotaku Review
There’s a lot to love about the new Resident Evil 2, from its brash bloodiness to the wide variety of experiences packed into the game. Looking over the wreckage of my playthroughs, my own feelings are complicated. It is an exciting and astounding experience, but it feels compromised. Pushes towards modernization through changes to the…
By Heather Alexandra Published January 25, 2019 -
ReviewsMultiplatform
Monster Boy And The Cursed Kingdom: The Kotaku Review
I spent an hour and a half tackling a single platforming sequence in Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom. Not an entire level or area. Just a short series of perilous jumps that I couldn’t quite get my head around. I loved every teeth-gritting, cursing-under-my-breath moment. Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom is a spiritual…
By Mike Fahey Published December 4, 2018 -
ReviewsMultiplatform
Fallout 76: The Kotaku Review
Fallout 76 is filled with intriguing ideas, set amid an appealing post-apocalyptic sprawl ripe for exploration. It’s also a mess. The latest Fallout sheds the narrative focus of its its single-player predecessor, Fallout 4, and introduces an online multiplayer setup where the human-controlled strangers you meet are supposed to fuel a new sort of storytelling.…
By Ethan Gach Published November 28, 2018 -
ReviewsMultiplatformBattlefield V: The Kotaku Review
Battlefield V is complicated, sweeping, and enjoyable to play. Its narrative highlights World War II’s lesser known fronts, and its competitive multiplayer is fast-paced and action-focused. It’s romantic, it’s exhilarating, and I can’t shake the feeling that something is off about it. For every grand feat of daring, there is a tension that I can’t…
By Heather Alexandra Published November 20, 2018 -
ReviewsMultiplatformHitman 2: The Kotaku Review
Hitman series protagonist Agent 47 isn’t an interesting guy. Despite his gleaming, barcoded head, he disappears into a crowd. He can somehow pass for anyone, no matter how famous; he can seamlessly live their life and look great in their pants. He uses this ability to wreak havoc everywhere he goes. Hitman 2 investigates this,…
By Riley MacLeod Published November 13, 2018 -
ReviewsMultiplatformStarlink: Battle For Atlas: The Kotaku Review
In Ubisoft’s toys-to-life adventure, Starlink: Battle for Atlas, players are given access to a virtual (or physical) armada of starships and set loose in a gorgeous alien solar system, where they’re free to do the same seven or eight things over again until the game ends or they get bored. The opening moments of Starlink…
By Mike Fahey Published October 26, 2018 -
ReviewsMultiplatformRed Dead Redemption 2: The Kotaku Review
From tip to tail, Red Dead Redemption 2 is a profound, glorious downer. It is the rare blockbuster video game that seeks to move players not through empowering gameplay and jubilant heroics, but by relentlessly forcing them to confront decay and despair. It has no heroes, only flawed men and women fighting viciously to survive…
By Kirk Hamilton Published October 25, 2018 -
ReviewsMultiplatformCall of Duty: Black Ops 4: The Kotaku Review
The fourth installment of Treyarch’s Black Ops series might be the first Call of Duty to forgo a single-player campaign. But after a spate of less-than-fully-satisfying entries in the once-reliable series, putting the full force of its efforts behind the multiplayer has paid off: Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 finds the perfect middle ground…
By S.E. Doster Published October 15, 2018 -
ReviewsMultiplatformAssassin’s Creed Odyssey: The Kotaku Review
Assassin’s Creed Odyssey is huge. Each new boundary is broken down the moment you reach it, the game world spilling out and expanding further and further than you can possibly imagine. It is big in the same way the Great Pyramids or Empire State Building are big, the result of untold amounts of labor and…
By Heather Alexandra Published October 5, 2018 -
ReviewsMultiplatform
Mega Man 11: The Kotaku Review
Mega Man 11 is a fine game, and a worthy eleventh entry in a series that once set the bar for tricky platformers. It also feels oddly shallow, the latest iteration of a formula that has gone largely unchanged for decades. Mega Man 11 is great at being a Mega Man game. Maybe that’s why…
By Jason Schreier Published October 2, 2018 -
ReviewsMultiplatformDragon Ball FighterZ: The Kotaku Review
Dragon Ball games are for Dragon Ball fans. Fighting games are for fighting game fans. Dragon Ball FighterZ is both of those things, and it’s for everybody. This piece originally appeared 1/30/18. We’re bumping it today for the game’s release on Switch. Combining a beloved series spanning 34 years of manga volumes and anime episodes…
By Mike Fahey Published September 28, 2018 -
ReviewsMultiplatform
Valkyria Chronicles 4: The Kotaku Review
Valkyria Chronicles 4 is a game of extremes. Its romantic attitude towards soldiers clashes with a desire to tell a tale of mass violence and corpse-laden battlefields. It is as intimate as it is loud, and each moment captivates even if the parts are often greater than the whole. This post originally appeared 9/10/18. We’ve…
By Heather Alexandra Published September 25, 2018