Hitman is a stealth video game franchise created by IO Interactive. In each installment, players assume the role of a cloned contract killer named Agent 47, who travels around the world to assassinate various targets that are assigned to him by the fictional International Contract Agency (ICA). Gameplay focuses on freedom of approach, with most levels placing the player in a large sandbox location where they have free rein to explore and find different ways to reach and eliminate their targets. Stealth is a major component of the gameplay and players are given various tools to accomplish their objectives, such as suppressed weaponry and the ability to take disguises, which allow 47 to blend in with non-player characters (NPCs) and bypass most restricted areas undetected.
Ace Combat is an arcade-style combat flight simulation video game series by Project Aces, an internal development team of Bandai Namco Entertainment, formerly Namco. Debuting in 1995 with Air Combat for the PlayStation, the series includes eight mainline installments, multiple spin-offs, and other forms of media, such as novels, model kits, and soundtrack albums. Since 2012, the series has been developed primarily by Bandai Namco Studios through its internal development group, Project Aces.
Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged. Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc Doyle, and Julie Doyle Roberts in 1999, and finally became part of Fandom, Inc. in 2022.
Counter-Strike: Source is a tactical first-person shooter video game developed by Valve and Turtle Rock Studios. Released in October 2004 for Windows, it is a remake of Counter-Strike (2000) using the Source game engine. As in the original, Counter-Strike: Source pits a team of counter-terrorists against a team of terrorists in a series of rounds. Each round is won either by completing an objective or by eliminating all members of the enemy team. The game was initially bundled with all retail and digital copies of Half-Life 2, before being released standalone.
Spyro is a platform game series originally created by Insomniac Games as an exclusive for Sony's PlayStation console. The series features the adventures of the main protagonist of the same name, a dragon. Since the series' introduction in 1998, there have been numerous sequels and a reboot trilogy. The series was originally produced by Universal Interactive, later became known as Vivendi Games; the rights to the intellectual property were acquired by Activision after its merge with Vivendi in 2008.
Age of Empires is a series of historical real-time strategy video games, originally developed by Ensemble Studios and published by Xbox Game Studios. The first game was Age of Empires, released in 1997. Nine total games within the series have been released so far as of October 28, 2021.
Yume Nikki is a 2004 adventure game created by pseudonymous Japanese developer Kikiyama. The player controls a girl named Madotsuki and explores her dreams, collecting 24 effects that change her appearance and equipment. Random events also occur throughout the game in the form of cutscenes and unique gameplay sequences. The game was developed using RPG Maker 2003 without a traditional plot or battle system. Gameplay instead focuses on exploration of the dream world.
Uncharted is an action-adventure video game franchise published by Sony Interactive Entertainment and developed by Naughty Dog. Created by Amy Hennig, the Uncharted franchise follows a group of treasure hunters who travel across the world to uncover various historical mysteries. The series features historical fiction, elements of fantasy and folklore, and fictional characters alongside real-world historical figures and events. In the main series, players control Nathan Drake; in the expansion, players control Chloe Frazer.
Torchlight II is an action role-playing dungeon crawler video game developed by Runic Games, released for Microsoft Windows on September 20, 2012. It is the sequel to Torchlight, and features peer-to-peer multiplayer support and extended modding capabilities. The game was released for OS X on February 2, 2015, and for Linux on March 4, 2015. Ports for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One were released September 3, 2019 and were developed by Panic Button.
Terraria is a 2011 action-adventure sandbox game developed by Re-Logic. The game was first released for Windows and has since been ported to other PC and console platforms. The game features exploration, crafting, building, painting, and combat with a variety of creatures in a procedurally generated 2D world. Terraria received generally positive reviews and sold over 44 million copies by 2022, making it one of the best-selling video games.
The Expendables is an American ensemble action thriller franchise conceived by David Callaham, spanning a film series, written by Sylvester Stallone and additional media. The films star an ensemble cast, notably Stallone and Jason Statham, and are produced by Avi Lerner and Kevin King-Templeton. The film series, an acknowledgement of former blockbuster action films made in the 1980s and 1990s, also pays homage to action stars of former decades, and the more recent stars in action. The series consists of the films The Expendables (2010), The Expendables 2 (2012), The Expendables 3 (2014), Expend4bles (2023), and an ongoing comic book series, The Expendables Go to Hell (2021). Though criticism with regard to plot and dialogue between characters has been expressed, critics praised the use of comic relief in between action.
The Lego Movie Videogame is a Lego-themed action-adventure video game developed by TT Fusion. It follows the plot of the animated film The Lego Movie. The game was published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and released alongside the film in 2014 for Microsoft Windows, Nintendo 3DS, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, Wii U, Xbox 360, and Xbox One and on 16 October 2014 for Mac OS X by Feral Interactive. It was also ported to Apple's App Store was released on 22 January 2015 and Google Play was released on 3 May 2016.
Counter-Strike (CS) is a series of multiplayer tactical first-person shooter video games in which teams of terrorists battle to perpetrate an act of terror while counter-terrorists try to prevent it. The series began on Windows in 1999 with the release of the first game, Counter-Strike. It was initially released as a modification ("mod") for Half-Life that was designed by Minh "Gooseman" Le and Jess "Cliffe" Cliffe before the rights to the mod's intellectual property were acquired by Valve, the developers of Half-Life, who then turned Counter-Strike into a retail product released in 2000.
Five Nights at Freddy's 2 is a 2014 point-and-click survival horror game developed and published by Scott Cawthon. It is the second installment in the Five Nights at Freddy's series. Set in a fictional pizzeria, the player takes on the role of a night security guard and must defend themselves from the restaurant's hostile animatronic mascots. The player cannot leave their office, but has access to security cameras throughout the restaurant to monitor animatronic activity. Wearing a mask that looks like one of the animatronics allows the player to avoid being detected in most cases, though some animatronics are repelled through other methods. If an animatronic enters the office and the player is detected, they will be killed. As the game progresses, Atari-styled minigames and phone calls provide insight into the history of the restaurant.
The Raven: Legacy of a Master Thief is an episodic point-and-click adventure video game developed by King Art Games.
A review bomb is an Internet phenomenon in which a large number of people or a few people with multiple accounts post negative user reviews online in an attempt to harm the sales or popularity of a product, a service, or a business. While a large number of negative reviews may simply be the result of a large number of customers independently criticizing something for poor quality, a review bomb may also be driven by a desire to draw attention to perceived political or cultural issues, perhaps especially if the vendor seems unresponsive or inaccessible to direct feedback. Review bombing also typically takes place over a short period of time and meant to disrupt established ratings that a product already has at review sites, sometimes backed by campaigns organized through online message boards. It may be used as a mass-movement-driven coercion tactic, as a form of protest, or may simply be a form of trolling. Review bombing is a similar practice to vote brigading.
The Harry Potter video games are a series of video games based on the Harry Potter franchise originally created by J. K. Rowling. Many of the Harry Potter-inspired video games are tie-ins to the novels and films of the same name. The main series features a video game for every novel, as well as two for the finale. There are multiple distinct versions for individual games.
Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Trilogy is a compilation video game containing remasters of the first three games in the Ace Attorney series, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney (2001), Justice for All (2002), and Trials and Tribulations (2004). A compilation sequel, Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney Trilogy, was released in 2024 and compiles the next three mainline games in the series, Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney, Dual Destinies, and Spirit of Justice.
Bayonetta is an urban fantasy action-adventure video game series created by Hideki Kamiya. It is developed by PlatinumGames, owned by Sega, and currently published by Nintendo. The franchise was introduced in 2009 with Bayonetta, which was followed by two sequels, Bayonetta 2 (2014) and Bayonetta 3 (2022), as well as a spinoff, Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon (2023). The games follow the titular character, a witch who wields dual pistols, shooters in her high heels, and long, magically transforming hair which becomes a deadly weapon.
