The tough part about judging Gran Turismo 6 is that it's clear that Polyphony Digital put an overwhelming amount of effort and love into their latest game, and the challenge between you and the road is better than ever. But much of the effort put in is not what its millions of fans will appreciate or value, especially when it comes at the cost of leaving some of the game's most frustrating issues almost completely untouched.
It's the perfect example of a video game status quo being maintained if I've ever seen it, and if there's one game series that desperately needs better than that after nearly a decade, it's Call of Duty.
I don't fault DICE for making another botched campaign for Battlefield 4 - I blame the focus tests and market research that was used to decide that a campaign like this was necessary in the first place. But the online play is obviously where BF4 was always going to shine, and here on PC, the result is pretty damn outstanding.
We also enjoy The Stanley Parable, but this isn't just a game meant to be enjoyed. I refuse to believe something like this is just meant to be something we goof around with for a couple of evenings and dumped into our hundreds-strong Steam libraries, never to be thought of again.
Skylanders: Swap Force is a somewhat-fresh take on the franchise with a really satisfying new element of mixing and matching character halves, but let's not pretend that it's going to take the series' fans by surprise.
Does GTAV live up to one of the pedigree of one of the best franchises gaming? There's no doubt for me that it does, and a few minor issues here and there don't get in the way of this game delivering such a lively and large world to explore or from presenting such an entertaining way to do dozens of activities - and I love that for the first time for GTA in nearly a decade, the developers aren't relying so heavily on mind-numbing, straightforward gunfights with thugs and cops.
The additions that Tate Multimedia have added are interesting and the chaotic scenes you traverse are entertaining - or at least they are the first few times - but I have to keep coming back to those frame rate issues. Jump in if you've got a powerful video card, but if not, just hold off, watch the UTF page on Steam, and see if any improvements come along.
Although Episodes 1-3 had flaws, they also had spirit, creativity, and the ability to grab your emotions by the throat. By contrast, Episode 4: The Cain Killer lacks tension, feels sloppily conceived, hastily made, and worst of all, lets its narrative weaknesses set it up for equally damning gameplay shortcomings.
