Game Reviews9.6/10
Mass Effect 2 Review: BioWare’s Suicide Mission Is the Series’ High Point
Mass Effect 2 review: BioWare's 2010 sci-fi RPG opens with Shepard's death, builds a suicide mission against the Collectors, and remains the series' peak.
CLAY TRIBUNE / THE ARCHIVE
Category: Game Reviews
Every game we have scored, from the NES library to current releases.
Game Reviews9.4/10
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic Review: The Best Thing Ever Done With the Star Wars License
A retrospective review of Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, BioWare's 2003 RPG, covering its classes, d20 combat, companions, and story.
Game Reviews7.8/10
Media Molecule’s platformer turned its players into level designers and never let go
LittleBigPlanet on PS3 let players build and share their own levels. A look at Sackboy, the Pod, the Collector, and why the 2008 classic still matters.
Game Reviews9/10
Super Mario 3D Land’s Guide-Arrow Trick Made 3D Play Legible to People Who’d Only Ever Held a D-Pad
Super Mario 3D Land brought 2D Mario discipline into 3D on the Nintendo 3DS, sold 12.88 million copies, and set the template for Super Mario 3D World.
Game Reviews8.8/10
Hearthstone Review: Eleven Classes, Thirty Cards, and a Machine for Selling Packs
Hearthstone grew from a small Blizzard experiment into a 100-million-player card game and esport, built on a simple design choice: subtract the reactions.
Game Reviews8.9/10
Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars: A Comic-Book Liberty City That Still Holds Up
Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars brought Liberty City to Nintendo DS in 2009 with cel-shaded art, a touch-screen drug trade, and Huang Lee's stolen sword.
Game Reviews9.3/10
Fire Emblem: Three Houses Review — A House Is a Commitment
Fire Emblem: Three Houses review: pick a house at Garreg Mach, teach students, then live with your choice through war. A tactical RPG built on commitment.
Game Reviews9.3/10
Half-Life: Alyx Review: Valve’s VR Masterstroke
Half-Life: Alyx review: Valve's VR-only return to City 17, from the gravity gloves to the Jeff chapter to Ozioma Akagha's Alyx.
Game Reviews9/10
Dragon Age: Origins Review — The First Game Remains BioWare’s Most Complete World
Dragon Age: Origins review — BioWare's 2009 RPG still sets the bar for the series with six origin stories, deep lore, and a tactics system no sequel matched.
Game Reviews9.1/10
Batman: Arkham City Review: A Sequel That Turns a Hallway Into a City
Batman: Arkham City review: Rocksteady's open-world sequel turns Arkham Asylum's hallway into a prison city, with the Titan blood cure and Protocol 10.
Game Reviews9/10
How Fire Emblem Awakening Pulled a Failing Series Back From the Brink
Fire Emblem Awakening review: the 3DS tactical RPG that saved the series, with Pair Up combat, permadeath and a 49-character roster. 9 of 10.
Game Reviews8.8/10
Animal Crossing: New Leaf Review: The Mayor Role That Made the Series Matter
Animal Crossing: New Leaf made players mayor of a town that runs on real time. A retrospective on Nintendo's 3DS classic, Isabelle, and why it still holds up.