Grand Theft Auto V

We can contest Rockstar’s methods, not his results. GTA 5 pushes the boundaries of the open world further, to give birth to an ever larger, ever more credible, ever more vibrant world. A huge playground to be cleared, whether at the wheel of a cashier foot in the asphalt, at the controls of a private jet or huddled in a Yellow Submarine, in the company of three characters as different as mastered. This exemplary success, GTA owes it to an incredibly thoughtful atmosphere, in the line of San Andreas, to an ever richer gameplay, to set up missions of exceptional scope, and to a really limpid technique for a game of the genre, undoubtedly the most beautiful surprise coming from Rockstar. The wait has been long, the hopes placed in him may be exaggerated, and there are still some details to be refined, including the aim. But GTA 5 succeeded in passing the exceptional as the norm. Lesson. Read the full review

Elite : Dangerous

You could crack your housing savings Plan tomorrow, offer you Elite: Dangerous as well as a little Saitek X-52 Pro and spend two months grinding credits like a gorilla, with a smile on your face and nebulous eyes. But you might as well save in your corner and leave a few weeks to a title in full awakening for it to pick up its massively multiplayer galons like a big one. Braben and his team have always been clear about this : their baby is a long-going project, version 1.0 is just a launch pad. To rush to it right now is to risk getting tired of all this Fed-Ex solo before the project has spread its wings to deserve a good big 9 Sรฉlec. If such good Blaise the eternal silence of infinite spaces frightens you, wait a bit. If not, report to Canis Majoris, Commander.

Cities : Skylines

While SimCity disappointed the addicts of city builders and shattered the illusions of the last fans of the historical license of the management game, Colossal Order shrouded in shadow the true successor of the venerable Sim City 4. Certainly Cities Skylines is the best management title we have seen in recent years, thanks to its progressive mechanics, its approach to traffic and public transport, as well as its interface and control. Full of small finds, the title of Colossal Order is certainly less generous than Cities XXL on the number of buildings and perhaps does not renew the genre as the last Maxis had tried in vain to do, but he succeeds in the main : offer the players a fun and inventive city builder, despite its small flaws. With the possibilities offered by the modding and the follow-up promised by the publisher, Cities Skylines has however a maximum of cards in hand to permanently mark the genre of its imprint.

The Witcher 3 : Wild Hunt

No need to linger any longer, The Witcher 3 is a masterpiece that will mark its year and probably its genre. By not betraying anything of his origins, he even succeeds in raising the tone of his talk by always addressing sensitive themes with more accuracy and gravity. The impact of the player’s choices reminds us that we are in a role-playing game where the term consequences is not overused. All this with a rethinking and engaging combat system, an open world crying out for life and coherence. The amount of content will have a hard time living with your usual schedule. The visual and sound aspect gives the term artistic direction its full meaning and imposes a new standard. Only a few technical errors inherent in the open world and a saw-tooth rhythm in the main frame cast a slight shadow on this masterpiece.

XCOM 2

Its handful of technical petoles and its very rare balancing jumps cannot tarnish the evidence : XCOM 2 is an absolute must of the beginning of the year on PC. In a quasi-scientific approach, Firaxis observed the life cycle of the first episode and Enemy Within and studied carefully the behaviors involved to kill the wrong good ideas and reinvent the others. The result is a title that does the impossible : to make his great-grandfather look like a poor, badly-built version of work. We get there with the veteran’s certainties, we get sent back to blue status in a few hours, we say thank you and ask for more, every day a little bit more. Too much to hope for a pleasant repeat of opus 2012, one had almost masked the possibility that Firaxis would deliver a new standard meter of the genre, a great among the greats.

Doom

Based on solid foundations, the adventure of Doom allows itself to be covered without having to hide its pleasure. If we omit a second part that caps instead of exploding, the title of id Software offers a good release, brutal, lively and visceral, where you just leave your brain at the entrance and open yourself to the lowest instincts.The absence of power moves and, more generally, the early plateau of the progression curve may leave the player hungry and prevent the title from entering the FPS Hall of Fame. His multiplayer mode, which without being a complete failure is as generic as soporific, will not plead in his favor. Fortunately, its SnapMap modeling tool is well deserved, as it is functional, easy to access and powerful. In short, failing to be the supercar announced, that Doom is more in the sporty box car that’s fun to drive,

Battlefield 1

Far less versatile than its predecessors but produced with care and intensity, Battlefield 1 has gained everything by refocusing on its heart of play. In a way linking Bad Company 2 and the BF3 & 4 pair, this version is excellent in every way : cards as beautiful as well designed, sensations weapon in hand, a simply grandiose achievement and a team game that will push constantly forward. What we have to understand is that this Battlefield is the battlefield of the winners, of those who want to snatch victory at all costs and that it will put the players in the best position to do so. Admittedly, the novelty aspect is much less marked than in previous episodes, but we are also in the presence of the best Battlefield ever created.