Time's Scores

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For 58 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 60% higher than the average critic
  • 1% same as the average critic
  • 39% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 5 points higher than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Game review score: 79
Highest review score: 100 The Last Guardian
Lowest review score: 40 Quantum Break
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 37 out of 58
  2. Mixed: 19 out of 58
  3. Negative: 2 out of 58
77 game reviews
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    • 93 Metascore
    • Critic Score
    The Last of Us Part II
    While the violence of the first game served a compelling moral tale, the over-the-top bloodshed of Part II is all in service of a rather clichéd and tiresome lesson about the endless cycle of revenge. The banter that elevated the first game above mere dystopian fantasy is gone too, as Ellie often navigates this ultra-violent world on her own. It makes for a lonely, depressing experience at a moment when many of us are already feeling lonely and depressed...Still, it’s a rare AAA video game that will take any sort of risk — and Naughty Dog takes a lot of risks.
    • 79 Metascore
    • Critic Score
    Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order
    Fallen Order is also blissfully free of microtransactions. EA’s previous Star Wars game, Battlefront II, made headlines and angered lawmakers by selling seemingly egregious loot boxes in-game. Fallen Order has no loot boxes, it’s just a straightforward single player experience with no outside pressure to spend more cash after you’ve already paid for the game.
    • 82 Metascore
    • Critic Score
    Death Stranding
    I’ve never played anything like Death Stranding, and I doubt I ever will again. That alone is worth the $60 price tag.
    • 83 Metascore
    • Critic Score
    Ring Fit Adventure
    It’s an exciting, engaging concept from Nintendo, one that puts its competition to shame when it comes to advancing what gaming is, and what it could be. As for the whole working out part, there’s no harm in adding a few reps and squats to your morning routine, especially if you know you’ll trounce your last high score.
    • 85 Metascore
    • Critic Score
    The Outer Worlds
    That’s the joy of The Outer Worlds: the diversity of outcome and the complicated nature of the choices it gives you. I always tried to do good, but I wasn’t always sure that I had. Often, I let my feelings lead, and sometimes they’d get me into trouble...That never happened with Fallout.
    • 82 Metascore
    • Critic Score
    Control
    While Control is a blast to play and looks stunning, it’s the story that really holds it together. Faden’s journey through The Oldest House to find out what happened to her brother and rid the FBC of The Hiss kept me hooked until the very end.
    • 69 Metascore
    • Critic Score
    Wolfenstein: Youngblood
    At eight hours, the campaign was solid and fun, but I wish there had been more to Youngblood — more story, more enemy diversity, and more customization options. Youngblood isn’t bad by any means, especially when you play with a friend, but it falls just short of the bar set by its predecessors.
    • 73 Metascore
    • Critic Score
    Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3: The Black Order
    When I got a group of friends together to play the game, however, Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 was a joy. Taking on challenging bosses with buddies, trading stories about our favorite heroes, and getting excited to try new characters as a group made it easier to accept the game’s flaws. As it turns out, this is a game that’s only as much fun as the people you’re playing with — so make sure to bring some teammates into battle with you.
    • 81 Metascore
    • Critic Score
    A Plague Tale: Innocence
    A Plague Tale has simple stealth and crafting gameplay that’s not much to write home about. But the excellent story is the big draw here, because it’s something so rare in video games: a genuine tragedy. There are moments of light, too. The brother and sister make friends in their journey; there are jokes and adventure and joy. Hugo even collects flowers and puts them in his sister’s hair. That was all sweet and wonderful, but it never made me forget the dangers. I never forgot the rats. And I never forgot the dog.
    • 75 Metascore
    • Critic Score
    Observation
    It’s also a short game, at about six to seven hours. But it forms a tight, thoughtful narrative woven together with simple and challenging puzzles. It’s quiet in its drama, and subtle in its horror. This is no Alien: Isolation, but fear lurks just below the surface regardless. It’s the slow-rolling mystery that makes Observation so compelling.
    • 71 Metascore
    • Critic Score
    Days Gone
    I would’ve gladly dealt with choppy gameplay if it meant more horde encounters, as they were truly the highlight of Days Gone. SIE Bend Studio at least reignited my interest in zombie-fighting, a genre with little gas in the tank after years of movies, TV shows and video games dealing with the living day. Sad, then, that Days Gone saves its best moments as a kind of reward for slogging through a cliche-ridden journey across post-apocalyptic Oregon, tied to a sullen and angry hero.
    • 82 Metascore
    • Critic Score
    Tom Clancy's The Division 2
    At least it’s enjoyable to play, adding new elements to a shooter that broke the mold in a notoriously dusty genre. And when it comes to politics, they’ll always be there, and players will see whatever they want to see.
    • 87 Metascore
    • Critic Score
    Marvel's Spider-Man
    There’s a wonderful magic to zipping around what feels like a full-size New York, beating up muggers, possessed hitmen and fascist paramilitary forces. The easy-to-master controls, gorgeous graphics and sound design and excellent writing and acting combine to create a game that’s one of the most fun I’ve played in years.
    • 93 Metascore
    • Critic Score
    Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
    The Super Smash Bros. series has long since established itself as a fighting game on par with icons like Street Fighter and Tekken. Ken and Ryu are even playable characters! Super Smash Bros. Ultimate cements that legacy, offering players more choices, customization, portability, and extras than most will ever choose to experience.
    • 83 Metascore
    • Critic Score
    Kingdom Hearts III
    Kingdom Hearts 3, through its subpar plot delivery and frustrating combat, disappoints in a way that is not surprising. It’s a game that, as one of many with a strong emotional bond to the series, gives you what you wanted, even if it is a decade or so late. But whether you still want it is the real question.
    • 59 Metascore
    • Critic Score
    Anthem
    Anthem’s bursts of fun come in 15 minute chunks interrupted by bugs and bad design. Something as simple as changing weapons (an action that takes literally seconds in competitor Destiny 2) can take upwards of five minutes and several loading screens to accomplish in Anthem. And while BioWare’s storylines have historically been a highlight of the company’s games, Anthem’s narrative constantly interrupts the action.
    • 77 Metascore
    • Critic Score
    Nintendo Labo: Toycon 01 Variety Kit
    What’s most interesting about Labo isn’t necessarily how the cardboard toys come together, but what you can actually do with them once they’re assembled. Labo’s functionality depends entirely on how the Joy-Con remotes and Switch tablet cooperate with each other — and it’s not in the way you might expect a traditional controller and game console to work together.
    • 94 Metascore
    • Critic Score
    God of War
    The new God of War is a departure from its predecessors that gives the player more without making any compromises. It’s challenging, beautiful, brutal, rewarding, and even a bit funny on occasion. Whether you’re a fan of the series or not, it’s well worth your time.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    South Park: The Fractured But Whole
    The new combat enhancements and crafting elements aside, it still feels like you're playing through a hilarious episode of South Park, where nothing is sacred, and everything and everyone gets skewered.
    • 85 Metascore
    • Critic Score
    Destiny 2
    This is how Destiny 2 is panning out for me so far: like rampaging through Doom stuck in god mode, or a room full of balloons with a nail gun. Bungie's online shooter sequel for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One surpasses its predecessor in other vital ways, but sets the difficulty bar lower for reasons I can't fathom
    • 85 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle
    It's a fan service fractal that works both as a gonzo strategy masterpiece and series love letter. It's a studio-publisher (Ubisoft) that's been around nearly as long as Nintendo's been making video games, reflecting all the whimsy and allure of a franchise that's sold half a billion copies worldwide. I blaspheme, but if you've ever wondered what an archetypal Nintendo game made not-by-Nintendo would look like, here you go.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    ARMS
    Yes, it's tennis-boxing inside a carnival wrapped in a learning curve that against practiced players feels steep, and yes, that sounds like something few would play. Which is why Nintendo calls it Arms, a game that is more than it seems, novel in a genre prone to repetition, and precisely the sort of pick-up video game the Switch was designed for.
    • 64 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Pokemon: Magikarp Jump
    I wouldn't reach for Magikarp Jump if I had my Nintendo Switch in tow. But catch me somewhere a smartphone's simpler and quicker to hand? For the foreseeable future, you'll probably spot me pouring precious time I might otherwise expend finishing up Daniel Dennett's luminous From Bacteria to Bach: The Evolution of Minds, or teaching myself how to read Japanese, into this.
    • 80 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    RiME
    Its final moments are commensurately heartbreaking but also bracing. They don't resolve the game's shortcomings — in games the journey must by definition upstage the destination — but the ending is beautifully handled, cleverly connected to the undertaking, and almost worth the price.
    • 86 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Minecraft
    With the Switch, the tradeoffs vanish. Screen real estate aside, you're having the same experience on an airplane, subway, or in a remote wilderness tent as when docked to your TV. Minecraft is already the finest thing I've experienced in this medium, the answer I'd probably give to the one-thing-you'd-want-on-a-deserted-island question. And thanks to Switch, it just got an order of magnitude better.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Prey
    If you're in the mood for a corridor crawl modeled after the Dishonored series' "one problem, multiple solutions" approach, Prey has plenty to offer. Its pedigree is clear, an homage to design DNA you can trace back to Looking Glass Studios 1990s "Thief" and "Shock" games. There's no shame in iteration, and Prey does nothing worse than its precursors. The only question, given how familiar most of its ideas feel in 2017, is whether homage is enough.
    • 88 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    What Remains of Edith Finch
    It's an exceptionally well-told story, an anthology of remembrances experienced through the eyes of each family member at the precipice of their demise.
    • 71 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    Pinstripe
    Pinstripe isn't a game with grand twists of the sort that drive TV or film goers to social media frenzies. It feels more smartly made, fully aware that post-Ambrose Bierce rug-pulling tends toward cheap trickery too often masking cheaper material.
    • 70 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Wildlands
    Watching all this unfold feels like listening to a jazz musician tee up changes for other players to jam over. Slight variations ripple and become riveting permutations. We've seen and to a certain extent done much of this in games like Far Cry 4 and Watch Dogs 2. But never on this scale, or as deftly balanced.
    • 58 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    1-2-Switch
    The best reason to consider picking up Nintendo's new console. Yes, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild may go down as the finest game Nintendo's yet made. But you can play Zelda on Wii U. 1-2-Switch only works on the Switch. It is an absolute blast, a party game nonpareil, but also a showcase for the sort of "next-gen local play" possibilities the Switch may turn out to be persuasive enough to give literal legs to.
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