R E V I E W
HOW WE REVIEW
We review each game on its own merits, and try to match it
to a reviewer who’s a passionate expert in the field. The main
aim of reviews is to help you make buying decisions. To this
end, we’re selective about what we review, and try to focus
on the notable, interesting, exciting or surprising.
DOWNLOADABLE CONTENT
DLC might be new missions for a game, or it might be a single
new item. If we think you want to know about it, we’ll review it.
EARLY ACCESS
Any released alpha, beta, or otherwise unfinished game that
you can currently pay for. For these games, we won’t assign a
score, but we will tell you whether they’re worth your time.
THEY’RE BACK
Whenever there’s a bargain or re-release of a significant game,
our expert will revisit it and tell you whether it holds up today.
With jokes.
The Editor’s Choice award is
granted in addition to the score,
at the discretion of the PC Gamer
staff. It represents exceptional
quality or innovation.
Find out more
http://www.bit.ly/pcgreviews
OUR SCORING
SYSTEM EXPLAINED
00 %- 09 % Brokenor offensively bad; absolutely no value.
Example Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude
10 %- 19 % We might be able to find one nice thing to say about
it, but still not worth anyone’s time or money.
Example Gettysburg: Armored Warfare
20 %- 29 % Completely falls short of its goals. Very few
redeeming qualities.
Examples Family Guy: Back to the Multiverse
30 %- 39 % An entirely clumsy or derivative effort. There’s
little reason to play this game over a similar, better one.
Examples Trials of the Blood Dragon
40 %- 49 % Flawed anddisappointing.
Examples Aliens: Colonial Marines
50 %- 59 % Mediocre. Other games probably do it better, or its
unique qualities aren’t executed well.
Examples Primordia, Homefront:The Revolution
60 %- 69 % There’s something to like here, but it can only be
recommended with majorcaveats.
Examples No Man’s Sky, Ghost Recon: Wildlands
70 %- 79 % A good game that’s worth playing. We like it.
Examples Prey, NieR: Automata
80 %- 89 % A great game with exceptional moments or
features, and touches of brilliance. We love it.
Examples Overwatch, Night in the Woods
90 %- 94 % A compelling recommendation for mostPC
gamers. Important to PC gaming, and likely ahead of its time.
ExamplesBayonetta, Dishonored 2
95 %- 96 % Far and away one of the best games we’ve ever
played. We recommend it to the entire world.
Examples Half-Life 2, Kerbal Space Program
97 %- 100 % Advances the human species. Boosts the
immune systems of nearby children and small animals.
Pack it in
Inside you are two wolves, and they
are always fighting. One despairs
that games are too big these days. It
spends all its spare time on Twitter
moaning that it doesn’t have enough
time to finish them. The other
wishes that games were even bigger,
grander, unreasonably ambitious. It
loves when it can see a mountain
and go there, but it howls in rage
when it can’t go past the mountain
because of an invisible wall. In the
same month that I finally gave up on
the hope of ever finishing Assassin’s
Creed Valhalla, declaring it
“stupidly enormous” and “frankly
an absurd imposition on my time”, I
find myself playing the new Lego
Star Wars, a game that already
adapts 45 years’ worth of cinematic
storytelling, and thinking “why
didn’t they cover the spin-offs and
TV shows too?”. The wolves fight
on, as I console myself by searching
for my 1,000th Kyber Brick.
ROBIN VALENTINE
PRINT EDITOR
[email protected]
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