IGN Game Reviews – Spoken Edition

Stiff arming its way through the crowded battle royale genre, Fortnite Battle Royale sets itself apart by trading the traditional, bland military simulation vibe with vivid colors and an outstanding, freeform building system that’s unlike anything else in competitive multiplayer games.

This winter, Shohei Ohtani brought the excitement and allure of a two-way player to Major League Baseball’s offseason. Meanwhile, while he courted most of the teams, the once-dominant Jake Arietta languished in the free-agent pool until accepting Philadelphia’s best offer. In many ways, MLB The Show 18 has more in common with the oft-dependable Arietta than the shiny-new Ohtani, whose Babe Ruth-style two-way play on the mound and at the plate had every team lining up to sign him.

Ever since Far Cry 3, sneaking my way through outposts eliminating enemies one by one has been one of my favorite things to do in video games. I’m happy to report that systematically taking down murderous thugs is just as fun in rural America as it is in the Himalayas, and that Far Cry 5 is another great game in the open-world series Ubisoft seems most willing to have fun with.

After 40 hours in Sea of Thieves, the pirate battles on the screen were as tense as my own internal battle over whether I was enjoying Sea of Thieves as a game or as the prettiest online chat room ever. What’s here is an amazing foundation for a social experience that’s beautifully realized , and that makes it frustrating that its gameplay loop is so repetitive and its progression is so stagnant. Sea of Thieves’ opening hours are a magical recipe of wonder and mystery.

One of the biggest draws of Telltale’s take on the Batman universe is that it has spent its first two seasons flipping Bat-universe convention on its head. Between Vicki Vale’s heel turn and Thomas Wayne’s criminal past, Telltale has not been afraid to flip the script in Gotham City.

If you’d said a month ago that PUBG Mobile would run better than PUBG on Xbox, and that it’d be free, you’d have gotten a lot of strange looks. Yet here we are, and mobile gaming’s future has never looked brighter. It’s absolutely remarkable that it runs so well and manages to fit all of PUBG’s features onto tiny touch-screen displays. Make no mistake: this is the real PUBG experience.

As my co-op partner and I approached the climax of A Way Out, the cinematic, 1970’s-set prison-break adventure from the studio headed by filmmaker-turned-game-developer Josef Fares, I thought it had run out of gas. I’d been hooked for the first five hours, which do a magnificent job of blending drama with action and emotion with lightheartedness.

[Editor's Note: This review replaces our original 2015 review which, thanks to Blizzard's constant updates, no longer reflects the state of Heroes of the Storm.] If variety is the spice of life, then Heroes of the Storm is the MOBA genre’s ghost pepper. Recognizable characters from Blizzard’s most iconic games face off against each other on themed maps with unique objectives that serve as lightning rods for teamfights.

In many ways, Revenant Kingdom follows in the tradition of the Ni No Kuni series, once again putting a young boy at the heart of an epic story across a gorgeous cel-shaded land. In other ways, however, Ni No Kuni 2 sets its own course, with completely overhauled combat and a new focus on kingdom building. It’s a meaty, fun adventure that feels much snappier to play than its predecessor, but falls short in a few key areas.

Gravel is an arcade-style off road racer that eschews tight and twisty traditional rallying in favour of mostly high speed assaults on generously wide tracks carved through a variety of exotic locations. Think less Codermasters’ Dirt and more a store-brand SEGA Rally Revo.

When Assassin's Creed: Rogue came out on Xbox 360 and PS3 back in November 2014, I thought it was an interesting installment in the series from a story perspective but found it frustratingly dated in other aspects, and ultimately awarded it a 6.8. Here's what I said back then: "Rogue has the most interesting story of any recent Assassin’s Creed game.

There are few things quite as satisfying as the feeling of popping a ratman’s head like a grape with a giant war hammer. Or cutting that head clean off with an ax, or possibly unloading a full revolver clip into it, or just burning the whole thing to a crisp. The truth is, just about every one of the multitude of ways Warhammer Vermintide 2 gives you and your co-op team to kill your enemies is punchy, powerful, and a whole lot of fun.

As Nintendo’s chameleon character, Kirby is only as interesting as the abilities he copies. With up to four players controlling him and his new elementally powered friends, Kirby Star Allies gives him a lot to work with. You can mix, match, and combine abilities to reach greater heights than a Kirby game ever has before.

Assassin’s Creed Origins: The Curse of the Pharaohs takes you on a compelling journey through ancient Egypt filled with desecrated tombs, restless spirits, and haunting trips to the afterlife. Coming face to face with the undead shadows of the great pharaohs is both a fun fight and an interesting depiction of Egyptian myth that’s rarely been seen. Encounters like these make this DLC difficult to put down. (If you missed it, check out our Assassin's Creed Origins review.

In between the very start of an H1Z1 match – in which up to 150 people parachute down onto a small and continually shrinking map – and the final moments laced with exploding crossbow bolts, it’s utter chaos. Sometimes that’s the good kind that leads to great moments of action, and sometimes it’s the disorganized and directionless kind that leads to boredom.