Reviews Archives - Page 56 of 130

Planet Coaster: The Kotaku Review

Having a bad day? Week? Year? Planet Coaster is here to help. It won’t unelect anyone, or bring anyone back from the dead, or uncook the planet, but it will, for brief, shining moments of time, make you forget everything else except the fact you feel very, very good while playing it. Planet Coaster is…

By Luke Plunkett Published November 21, 2016

Reviews

Pokémon Sun and Moon: The Kotaku Review

The massive popularity of 1996’s Pokémon Red and Blue has cast a long shadow over the Pokémon series. Much of the fanbase believes in the superiority of the original 151 monsters, and given 2016’s Pokémon Go phenomenon—which only had the initial cast—who can argue? With the newest Pokémon games, Sun and Moon, Game Freak plays…

By Patricia Hernandez Published November 18, 2016

Reviews

Watch Dogs 2: The Kotaku Review

Watch Dogs 2 is just a game, sitting on a screen, asking you to love it. Sometimes begging. Ubisoft’s new techno-action hackapalooza often succeeds at being likable, occasionally in spite of itself. It functions both as unspoken apologia for its scattered and frustrating predecessor and as yet another step along Ubisoft’s march to open-world game…

By Kirk Hamilton Published November 17, 2016

Reviews

Dishonored 2 : The Kotaku Review

Dishonored 2 is a depressing slog of bodies and misery. It is confusing and jumbled, full of half formed ideas, and ready to break at the slightest touch. But, in spite of itself, it works. Dishonored established a strong if unrefined take on first person stealth in 2012. Players were able to topple foes in…

By Heather Alexandra Published November 15, 2016

Reviews

Should You Buy A PS4 Pro?

Short version: The new PS4 Pro is a more powerful version of an already good console.We like the PS4 a lot, and the Pro doesn’t do anything to diminish that. However, it’s going to be a while before we know just what that added horsepower will be used for. Sony’s new console is out this…

By Kirk Hamilton Published November 11, 2016

Reviews

Razer Ornata Mecha-Membrane Keyboard Review: Why Not Both?

Some prefer the reassuring clickety-clack of a noisy mechanical keyboard. Others crave the quiet spring of membrane keys. Razer’s Ornata keyboard combines the two into something called Mecha-Membrane, and it really is the best of both worlds. From the top-down view it looks like any black and green Razer keyboard, but it’s definitely a different…

By Mike Fahey Published November 11, 2016

Reviews

Call Of Duty: Infinite Warfare: The Kotaku Review

Another year, another trio of divergent games united under the banner of a single Call of Duty release. It’s this triple-pronged approach that allows Infinite Warfare to advance the series while simultaneously standing still. Call of Duty has come a long way since Infinity Ward launched the first game back in 2003. The first several…

By Mike Fahey Published November 7, 2016

Reviews

Hitman Season One: The Kotaku Review

It’s the middle of the day, and I’ve spent the last couple of hours trying to figure out how to kill this stupid cameraman. You’d think it would be easy, but I have to make it look like an accident and I can’t harm the newswoman he’s working with. Much harder than it sounds. I’m…

By Kirk Hamilton Published November 7, 2016

Reviews

Hori Tactical Assault Commander Pro Review: A Very PC PlayStation Controller

Just because you’re playing a console game doesn’t mean you have to use a console controller. Hori’s Tactical Assault Commander (TAC) Pro brings streamlined PC controls to the PlayStation 4 and 3, just in time for first-person shooter season. It’s first-person-shooter season, a time when the age-old battle between gamepads and the keyboard/mouse combo flares…

By Mike Fahey Published November 4, 2016

Reviews

House Of The Dying Sun: The Kotaku Review

House of the Dying Sun rushes ahead with furious focus and great urgency, and it’s hard not to get caught up in its dark current. It sweeps aside the space-opera trappings of modern sci-fi in favor of something more resolute and grim: You’re the bad guy. There are the good guys. Go make an example…

By Kirk Hamilton Published November 3, 2016

ReviewsBoard Games

Game of Thrones: The Iron Throne: The Kotaku Review

The Iron Throne is what happens when you take pretty much every murderous stereotype about Game of Thrones, break them down then turn them into a board game where you lie to your friends before stabbing them in the guts. Based heavily on an older title called Cosmic Encounter, but here leveraging the immense popularity…

By Luke Plunkett Published October 31, 2016

Reviews

Titanfall 2: The Kotaku Review

When I finished Titanfall 2‘s campaign, my body felt numb. I left my apartment, walked to the street corner and bummed a cigarette. I needed to calm myself. I’d just been through an astounding experience. The original Titanfall was a game of overly high ambition. Fluid player movement led to frantic and gorgeous ground battles…

By Heather Alexandra Published October 31, 2016

Reviews

Civilization VI: The Kotaku Review

The trouble with reviewing a Civilization game is that they’re always good. From the 1991 original through to today, Civilization games have all shared the same core design ideas. 2K’s marketing will try and sell you on new stuff all they want, but the nuts and bolts of this game are the same as they’ve…

By Luke Plunkett Published October 26, 2016

Reviews

World Of Final Fantasy: The Kotaku Review

There are two Final Fantasy games out this fall. One is Final Fantasy XV, the latest step in the evolution of the series and a far cry from the turn-based dungeon crawlers of the past. The other is World of Final Fantasy, a candy-coated celebration of everything that came before. First announced shortly before or…

By Mike Fahey Published October 25, 2016

Reviews

Battlefield 1: The Kotaku Review

Matthew McConaughey once said that sometimes you need to go back to move forward. The team at DICE must have been very moved by that sentiment. Taking it to heart and pushing the Battlefield series nearly 100 years back into World War I for this year’s release of Battlefield 1 was a gamble. It has…

By Heather Alexandra Published October 21, 2016

Reviews

Skylanders: Imaginators: The Kotaku Review

After a bit of a stumble with last year’s Superchargers, Skylanders is back and ready to go toe-to-toe with Disney Infinity in the creativity side of the toys-to-life battle. Had the competition not folded, Imaginators would have given it a run for its money. Skylanders was always a better game than Disney Infinity. Disney spent…

By Mike Fahey Published October 16, 2016

Reviews

Gears of War 4: The Kotaku Review

Ten years ago, Gears of War helped define an age of blockbuster multiplayer games. Now, it’s the status quo. Gears of War 4 is more Gears of War. Luckily, Gears of War kicks ass. The newest game doesn’t offer many surprises, but it’s still enjoyable to play. Like the earlier games in the series, you…

By Patricia Hernandez Published October 13, 2016

Reviews

PlayStation VR: The Kotaku Review

Let’s cut to the chase: PlayStation VR should be better. At its best, Sony’s new virtual reality headset manages to conjure the astonishing, immersive wonder of modern virtual reality. Just as often it is frustratingly held back by outdated hardware that can’t quite do what’s being asked of it. This piece originally appeared 10/5/16. PlayStation…

By Kirk Hamilton Published October 13, 2016

Reviews

Mafia III: The Kotaku Review

Mafia III takes hours to really get going. Sometimes it’s a predictable, janky slog. Once it finds its groove, though, it’s an open-world crime game unlike any other. It’s a bold depiction of a difficult time and place—a portrait of New Orleans in the late 1960s, racism and ugliness included. Early on in Mafia III,…

By Nathan Grayson Published October 12, 2016

Reviews

Paper Mario: Color Splash: The Kotaku Review

I love when Nintendo games aren’t afraid to be weird. Paper Mario: Color Splash is funnier and more irreverent than anything else on the Wii U, occupying a strange, occasionally conflicted territory somewhere between platform-adventure and RPG. Paper Mario was once the only Mario role-playing series, but that’s changed since the handheld Mario & Luigi…

Keza MacDonald Published October 5, 2016