Why You Should Play It: Movie tie-in games are notorious for feeling like shameless cash grabs, but Ratchet and Clank bucks the trend by sticking to what the franchise has always done well. Better looking, more refined, and as entertaining as ever, this rebooted Ratchet and Clank origin story is pure platforming goodness. Don’t let the look fool you, Ratchet and Clank packs a lot more action and excitement than many of the other 2016 releases out th

A sign of a good cover is if someone who has no idea about the product can guess what genre it's in and what it's going to be about. It doesn't take a gaming expert to look at Halo 4 's cover and know instantly that not only is Master Chief the hero but that the game is going to consist of him at war with the odds stacked solidly against him, exemplified by him kneeling beneath the crumbling world ab

The Heavy Floater does not have the toughest armor, or a particularly high damage potential, but its special abilities more than make up for those deficiencies. The most exasperating ability is that Floaters can launch themselves to any location in the battle zone. This is annoying when a Heavy Floater is near death then launches out of range. They can also bombard an area, which usually negates the cover the player’s soldiers are hiding behind. Lastly, when they are airborne, a Heavy Floater can evade incoming fire; which lowers the accuracy of the player’s soldiers by

Ethereals are the leaders of the alien forces. They have numerous, and powerful psionic abilities that can cause havoc among the player’s squad and deliver significant damage. Their deadliest abilities are the ability to control the minds of the player’s soldiers, and the ability to drain a soldier’s health and heal itself at the same time with its Psi Drain. To make them even more difficult, Ethereals have the Hardened trait that makes them highly resistant to critical hits. Ethereals also have a devastating one-two punch with their Mindfray, which lowers a soldier’s Will, and their Rift ability which deals extra damage to a soldier with a low Will sc

What We Said: "Even without much motivation to replay the short campaign, Firewatch is still well worth the $19.99 price tag for the beautiful landscape, compelling mystery, and amazing character development. Firewatch isn’t a SLG Game Rankings for everyone, but if you love a good mystery, this is a must pl

What We Said: "At the end of the day, XCOM 2 is the poster boy of the modern turn-based strategy game. The game can feel unfair at times, but Firaxis has crafted a dynamic experience with virtually limitless replay value and a constant level of challenge. Fans of the series will find plenty of enjoyment watching the XCOM troops struggle to protect mankind once again, and Firaxis can pat themselves on the back for making one of the most addictive and rewarding strategy games of all ti

Thankfully, user KongMD, also apparently fed up with the incessant interruptions, made the Narrative Control mod to silence the beloved war hero. Navigating the Avenger’s many rooms and menus will now be a quieter experience as all narrative moments are muted. KongMD also included instructions for further narrative exclusions — such as Avatar Project progress reports — but it requires some light code modification. It’s worth it, though. Players may miss out on some info referenced in Chimera Squad , but it is a small price to

In the heat of war, especially war against terrifyingly advanced alien overlords who have already taken over the world, injuries will happen. In the base game, soldiers could sleep them off. Not with the Augmentations mod , which adds another layer of depth to soldier upkeep. This mod makes it so that grave wounds cannot be healed without cybernetic augmentati

The most important aspect of surviving Ironman is undoubtedly pod management. Ideally, players should aim to pull one pod at a time. One of the best ways to lose a squad is to have the last member advance, reveal a pod, and have the enemies take a full round of actions before players can react. To avoid being at the mercy of enemies in XCOM 2, it is important to use blue movement when advancing, and dash only when it is certain that no pods will be inconveniently revea

Flashbang grenades will disorient enemies within a large radius. Being disoriented means a -20 penalty to Aim, -30 penalty to Will, reduced Mobility by 6, and restriction of the use of most specialized abilities. It will also cancel Overwatch, Mind Control, a Viper’s bind, and any other sustained abilities. These grenades can be extremely useful to reliably deal with dangerous effects while simultaneously debuffing multiple enem

If you’re playing XCom 2 , and you encounter a human-looking enemy that has white hair and a purple visor that covers the entire face, have all your soldiers target that enemy. That is probably the only chance of successfully completing that mission. That type of enemy is called an Avatar, and thankfully they are rare. They have extremely high mobility, armor, and damage potential. To make matters worse, Avatars have powerful psionic abilities as well. Many aliens can mind control the player’s soldiers; Avatars can mind control up to three at one time. This enemy can kill a well-equipped squad by itself if it’s not dealt with quic