IGN Game Reviews – Spoken Edition

What does it take to make a great run-based game? Tight combat, of course. A variety of mix-and-match abilities that interact in interesting ways, certainly. Procedurally generated levels are nice. Progression and other systems that help each new run stay fun for hours and hours are definitely essential. Hades, an isometric beat-em-up from developer Supergiant Games, offers all these things even in its early access launch state, and sets its sights even higher.

Like a home away from home, Ashen feels both startlingly familiar and original. A44’s action-RPG wears its Dark Souls-inspired identity proudly, delivering nearly identical mechanics and progression systems along with a captivating open world and gorgeous art style. Those, combined with charmingly minimalistic two-player co-op, elevate Ashen to more than just a Dark Souls clone.

With the Black Armory, Bungie has opted to dramatically shift its content delivery strategy for Destiny 2, and results are mixed. On the one hand, if you’ve hit the maximum level you’ll have new weapons to chase and a few of the new Forges to explore, which is good enough to keep me busy for a while.

In real life, I don’t like creepy crawly things. I’m terrified of spiders, appalled by roaches, scared stupid of wasps, and refuse to touch any animal that might be deemed “slimy.” My wife kills all the bugs in our house. That fear adds a little gravity and catharsis to fighting the thousands of house-sized monstrosities in EDF 5 – and “thousands” is no hyperbole.

As series director Masahiro Sakurai said himself, it’s a miracle Super Smash Bros. Ultimate exists. Having Mario and Zelda duke it out against Street Fighter’s Ryu and Final Fantasy 7’s Cloud on a battlefield from Metal Gear Solid is a weird, wonderful thing that only the Smash Bros. series can deliver – and Ultimate is undoubtedly Smash Bros. done big and done right.

As the first part of the first batch of post-launch content for Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, Legacy of the First Blade: Hunted is a short, straightforward dose of just some of what makes Odyssey so good. Though it doesn’t do anything particularly new, Hunted doubles down on the behind-the-scenes shadow-syndicate structure that made picking off the Cult of Kosmos across the Ancient Greek world so enjoyable and introduces a great new villain.

Much like its half-human, half-animal protagonists, Mutant Year Zero: Road to Eden is a hybrid. It looks to push the grid-based tactics of games like XCOM 2 and Phantom Doctrine to their next logical step by incorporating stealth and pre-fight planning into the experience. Unlike its counterparts, however, Mutant Year Zero deftly cuts some of the strategy game abstraction by alternating between exploring areas in real-time and the familiar tactical combat that you probably already know and love.

Bobble-headed players, flaming pitches and bowlers throwing actual pies: Big Bash Boom is certainly cricket like you’ve never seen it before. Yet although this NBA Jam-inspired take on Australia’s favourite summer sport is a personality-packed blast to play, its anaemic feature set and premium price makes it a weaker value proposition alongside developer Big Ant’s more robust release, Ashes Cricket.

I had finally done it. After several hours of navigating bugs and glitches, surviving enemies whose AI seemed to ping-pong between omniscient and ludicrously stupid, and maze-like level design, I had reached the end of an area of Underworld Ascendant that had given me considerable trouble. I actually paused, allowed myself to feel that relief and euphoria one gets when they never have to look at something terrible again. The portal to the exit was before me. I stepped forward. .

One of the earliest marketing slogans for Sony’s first video game console was “Don’t underestimate the power of PlayStation.” It’s now 24 years later and it’s the power of nostalgia that can’t be undervalued, particularly when you first turn on the PlayStation Classic and are instantly teleported back more than two decades by the iconic Sony Computer Entertainment splash screen and sweeping synth sound.

Welcome, Battlefield fans! This year, we've broken up the review into its single-player and multiplayer components to give fans of each style of play a better idea of what's up. This review covers only the multiplayer mode – read the single-player review here, and stand by for the overall Battlefield V review, coming soon.

We haven’t seen many games like Darksiders III in the past decade or so. It’s a third-person action game that isn’t afraid to grind your progress to a halt for an hour or more until you figure out how to beat a seemingly-impossible boss.

[Editor's Note: With Warframe's release on Switch, we’ve taken a fresh look at the whole game in 2018. This review and score replaces both our original PC and PS4 reviews from 2013, and you can find our new Switch-specific impressions below. Read more on IGN's re-review policy.] There aren’t many games that make me feel as cool as Warframe does when I’m bullet-jumping through the air at breakneck speeds.

A second act should always feel darker than the first, but I wasn’t prepared for quite how literally Insomniac would take that rule of storytelling. The majority of Turf Wars, the second of Spider-Man’s three-part DLC plotline, takes place almost entirely against a slate-grey sky, sapping the colour from this usually vibrant depiction of New York.

Welcome, Battlefield fans! Now that we’ve taken in-depth looks at the single-player and multiplayer sides of Battlefield V, it’s time for our final overview and verdict. For the full picture, make sure to check out each part. While it’s absolutely a massive and addictive shooter, there’s little question in my mind that Battlefield V launched well before it was ready.