GAMES.CH's Reviews
In summary, Payday 3 shows promise with its solid core mechanics, but suffers from server issues, matchmaking problems, and a lack of content at the time of the review. Character progression is slow and frustrating, and there’s a need for improvements and additional content to enhance the overall experience. Subscribers to the Xbox Gamepass may find it worth trying out, but the game falls short of its potential.
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A reboot looks different. Only on the pitch does "EA Sports FC 24" live up to the new name and shows that there is also a spark of innovation in the game. Thanks to the new animation technology and balancing adjustments, "EA Sports FC 24" is superior to its predecessor. The action on the pitch seems more unpredictable, dynamic and authentic. Although the duels and also the playing styles could use a little fine-tuning, this innovation is good for the game. In combination with the upgraded presentation, this creates an atmospheric football experience. On the other hand, however, there is stagnation in a large part of the game modes, crowned by an even increased pay-to-win focus in Ultimate Team. EA Sports must therefore once again lend a hand to some adjusting screws and expand its career options in particular for the future.
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With patch 2.0, "Cyberpunk 2077" fulfills many of the promises they made three years ago for release. However, just as many remain unfulfilled and since "Phantom Liberty" will remain the only DLC content, "Cyberpunk 2077" will never live up to the initial hype. Patch 2.0 nevertheless ensures that "Cyberpunk 2077" not only plays much better, but now almost all glitches and bugs have been eliminated, so that the base game alone is definitely worth a new playthrough. The "Phantom Liberty" expansion offers a lot of new missions and tells a very exciting story, but if you expect a new "Blood & Wine" like in "The Witcher 3", you will be disappointed again. The scope of the DLC is okay for the price, but by no means sets new standards.
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Mortal Kombat 1 is an impressive fighting game. Violent to an exaggerated degree, of course, but that is the trademark of the series. Fortunately, the title offers more than just executed losers, but convinces with clever changes to the gameplay, a considerable number of stages and fighters - and tons of stuff that you can unlock, which of course helps the long-term motivation.
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Lies of P blends a dark and gritty reimagining of the classic Pinocchio tale with FromSoftware inspired Action-RPG gameplay. While it stumbles in some smaller ways, the result is one of the most polished and consistently enjoyable dye Souls-Likes I have played. The combat with its many special maneuvers and nuances can be overwhelming to newcomers, but the atmosphere, the variety in building weapons and the unique take on a familiar story more than make up for the shortcomings.
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NBA 2K24 is a superb sports-gameplay. It delivers high-level basketball on the court and also presents the action like a modern TV-broadcast. Along with a lot of basketball-nostalgia and tons of game-modes, "NBA 2K24" is an overall better package than its predecessor. However, microtransactions and the pay-to-win-mentality seriously hurt two of its two main game moves and leave a bad taste in everyone's mouth.
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Overall, "The Crew Motorfest" is a solid open-world racer. Above all, the arcade-heavy handling and the associated racing action are right. The engine sounds and the detailed graphics also make a lot of sense and create a good racing atmosphere. From a purely visual point of view, the game does not come close to its obvious role model "Forza Horizon", but offers an overall greater variety of games. The enemy behavior is also a bit better and more comprehensible - with a mixture of real AI performance and rather smaller rubber band effects, which mainly work to the advantage of the game on the lower difficulty levels. On the other hand, there is sometimes a lack of comfort. The included microtransactions and the always-on compulsion, which is simply superfluous for users of the solo offer, including the relatively quick expulsion in case of inactivity (at the time of testing), also cost additional points.
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Ad Infinitum wraps a deeply moving story of trauma, loss, fear, and self-discovery into a horror game that gets under your skin. The sound design is fantastic and provides numerous moments of suspense. However, the debut effort from German studio Hekate also suffers from gameplay flaws and clumsy animations. But if you can get into the story and overlook the aforementioned flaws, Ad Infinitum is an excellent horror game with depth.
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The sadly last title of Mimimi Games sends the German developer out in a blaze of glory. While there’s nothing really new or unheard of, Shadow Gambit: The Cursed Crew is an absolute love letter to the tactical stealth genre and blends in excellent, varied gameplay with a charming, albeit superficial pirate story and a vibrant, colorful look. The gameplay style may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but if you enjoy the idea of planning the perfect heist with a band of undead pirates, this is your dream come true.
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Black Skylands follows modern Open World design a little too closely sometimes and relies on resource collecting, outpost clearing and repetitive side quests a little too often. Nonetheless the core gameplay is fun, and the presentation of the pixelated world is charming. Due to the gameplay remaining largely the same throughout its runtime, this is best enjoyed in smaller sessions and some breaks in between.
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Fae Farm is a typically complex farming game that casts a spell over you with a (too small) touch of magic and enchanting creatures. You'll be chronically broke, tired and drained, but pretty happy.
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Starfield may not reinvent the wheel when it comes to Bethesda’s formula for role-playing games, but it cleverly combines the best elements of past games in a very appealing sci-fi setting. The highlights are no doubt the many well-written and well-designed quests that you’ll encounter throughout your journey through the settled systems. No matter what appeals to you as a player, be it nail-biting gunfights, the quiet construction of your own base or the thrills of laser-dodging dye dogfighting, Starfield has hours upon hours of content for you to lose yourself in.
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Trine 5 is a successful continuation of a game series that deserves more attention. The annoying combat system doesn't spoil the overall picture enough and for players with an affinity for puzzles this is a clear recommendation to buy.
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Two Point Campus: Medical School feels like a smaller, less complex version of Two Point Hospital. If you feel nostalgic or if you are a huge fan of the series, it might be worth it but otherwise you might want to wait for a more creative, standalone add-on to this amazing simulation game.
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Armored Core 6 is a successful sequel, combining the regular series' formula with some huge inspirations especially from Sekiro. It is fast, intense and challenging, later on maybe a little bit too challenging for average gamers.
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"Immortals of Aveum" surprised us positively for long stretches, but above all it entertained us very well. Despite obvious weaknesses, such as the overall boring game world and the story, which is too much based on fantasy clichés, the first-person adventure always brought us back to the action. The fights are very varied thanks to the wide range of magic possibilities and, despite all the speed, also offer a good deal of complexity and tactics. The controls prove to be first-class during battles or even exploration of the environment. And even though "Immortals of Aveum" would certainly have been more possible in terms of story and game world, the game still delivers over 20 hours of good shooter entertainment.
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Ride 5 makes another small step into the right direction. The overall atmospheric career is a solid foundation, but also lacks additional production-value in its presentation. Ride 5 however does deliver on the track with very playable racing-gameplay, that not only challenges experienced players but also gives newcomers a chance to succeed.
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As a horse owner, I was surprised at how close the Sims 4 Horse Ranch is to the real thing. Many horse simulations can take a leaf out of the animation of the horses and while many aspects of horse ownership fall under "design freedom", the core remains and has me glued to the PC every free minute I didn't spend with my real horses. For those who can't do much with horses, the expansion unfortunately doesn't offer much new. The nectar production is fun for a short time and the new goats and sheep are cute, but together with the rather meager new objects, the expansion is rather meager. However, I had a lot of fun and can confirm: whether humans or Sims, if you have one or more horses, there is hardly any time left for anything else!
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With Atlas Fallen, Deck13 delivers a fine and highly customizable hack-and-slay-like combat system. There is generally a great gameplay-flow, too. But with its partly blank game world and weak story the game can't fulfill the highest demands for an action RPG.
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"VR Skater" is a successful VR implementation of skateboarding. The operation is intuitive, challenging and, above all, very fun. However, the handling is manageable. The surcharge for the PS-VR2 version is also difficult to understand, which means that the PC VR version is currently preferable. If you like skating, you can access it here without hesitation. For everyone else, we recommend waiting for a price reduction.
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