Killer Klowns From Outer Space: The Game takes a good premise from a bad movie and makes it into a mediocre game.

While it may seem derivative at times, Star Overdrive is a solid game. It has a cool central mechanic and takes big swings in how it delivers its world and gameplay. While not everything lands, it’s an impressive effort from a team of 10 people — one I think gamers should check out.

At the end of the day Wonder Boy Asha in Monster World is a no-frills remake that at times feels a little rough around the edges but ultimately does a well enough job in modernizing the 1994 classic.

Mr. Shifty is like Nightcrawler from X-men starred in a boring Hotline Miami ripoff.

Towa and the Guardians of the Sacred Tree has a lot of half-good ideas—each one marred by questionable design decisions.

Gotham Knights tries hard to escape Batman's shadow and still delivers a compelling full-length brawler, but feels assembled by basic action-adventure with pieces that feel all too dated.

While definitely a downgrade, The Outer Worlds remains an incredible game, made even better by the prospect of portability.

PUNCH LINE fails to engage the player in any way, its play and story lifeless.

Mirthwood fails to inspire any feelings similar to its namesake.

Oceanhorn is a passable-at-best adventure that just made me want to go back and play the games it took everything from, because they did it better.

A digital version of a classic board game that is fun though it doesn't change much.

Naruto to Boruto: Shinobi Striker is an interesting concept, but manages to ruin the experience with its flawed combat.

Final Fantasy VII: Ever Crisis delivers an interesting take on the storied franchise that should appeal to fans of the series despite it not being the best way to experience the totality of its story.

Shadows of Doubt as an idea is incredible; even the PC version of the game is fantastic; the console version, however, is riddled with issues that make it almost unplayable in its current state.

Hyakki Castle is a solid dungeon crawler with some fun classes, mechanics, and amazing monsters to keep drawing players into the labyrinth.

Tomb Raider IV-VI Remastered is a history trip to a dark, odd time in Lara's history, covered in the same thin base coat of modern paint.

Pac-Man World: Re-Pac should’ve stayed in the original packaging.

Star Wars: The Force Unleashed plays as great on the Nintendo Switch as it did on the Wii in 2008, but Aspyr limits Starkiller's true power over a console that can do so much more.

Dexed is one of the most boring virtual reality experiences I've had.

Phantom Fury feels like stepping back in time to the late 90s in an explosion of pixilated carnage that only occasionally stumbles due to its unwavering reliance on old-school sensibilities.

Despite its flaws, The Teal Mask DLC, with its fresh setting and intriguing side quests, amplifies the experience of Pokémon Scarlet & Violet—perfect for those seeking a return trip to the vibrant world of Paldea.

Derivative, clumsily executed, but hauntingly beautiful. Crank the music and bathe in the scenery before you start talking to people.

Minabo - A walk through life takes some basic systems and fails to make them fun in any meaningful way. While the thought experiment is interesting, it’s just not much of a game.

Another Crab’s Treasure blends fun, challenge and accessibility for a gem of an experience.

Climax Games brings the extreme sports genre to the water with a beautiful, enjoyable, rage inducing game, Surf World Series. Grab your boards, sunscreen and curse the waves.

The Jackbox Naughty Pack delivers on its M rating and gives you a new way to play a classic party game with your friends, but prudes need not join in.

Tharsis is an enjoyable game to start, but the frustrations and random nature of the game quickly eliminate the fun.

It shows that we can still have a game with cross-generational appeal without simply pandering. I can’t think of many (if any) games that do that as well as Maize. Most importantly, though, it reminds us that “fun” and “rewarding” can still coexist, even in a game that I would share with my young nephew.

More Than a Feeling drags as it attempts to salvage some characters, but can’t overcome some of Guardians of the Galaxy’s lack of clarity and visual flair.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 offers predictable but fun multiplayer, interesting additions to its zombies mode, but a single-player/co-op campaign that’s tedious and too goofy by far.

Rememoried is a visual feast with some clever puzzles, but there’s a much better game waiting to be made.

Spelunker Party! Is a hardcore yet cute platformer that you can play in its entirety with up to four players locally or online. What a novelty.

Sniper Elite V2 Remastered is a good remaster of an average third-person shooter.

Smelter takes a handful of conventions and turns them into a near-masterpiece of the action-platformer genre, but like the retro games that inspired it, it doesn’t pull any punches.

Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising is the Action-RPG equivalent of a solution without a problem -- an almost completely skippable prequel that fails to share any true gameplay DNA with next year’s Hundred Heroes, nor builds any excitement for it.

Bluey: The Videogame is a promising thesis of a game, but all the easter eggs in the world can't make a rushed product complete.

Moroi has a genuinely unique aesthetic and a distinct sense of atmosphere, but little else going for it.

BrokenLore: UNFOLLOW is a genuinely obnoxious game that barely understands the things it's trying to be about, let alone how to be scary.

I am happy to announce that Codemasters are not leaving the novice players behind in order to chase the most realistic F1 game to date.

Yes, there are better, more realistic racing experiences on the market, but few titles can match the pure engagement that this year’s Need for Speed offers.

Neptunia x Senran Kagura: Ninja Wars is a fun yet formulaic anime beat-em-up. However it blurs the lines of both franchises, and might not offer enough of either franchise’s core experience to please their fans.

Downward Spiral: Horus Station is a thoughtfully crafted VR game that puts the player in the shoes of an astronaut exploring the depths of the mysterious Horus Station on Mars.

Kill la Kill: IF has done a lot of work to push the arena fighter genre forward, even if its story mode won’t build up new fans.

While by no means a bad game, 198X is a bit like ordering a pie and finding out it has no filling.

Skelattack is a challenging and sprawling platformer set in the underworld that aims to please both fans of adventure games and platformers.

The Falconeer is a small but surprisingly ambitious game that will impress those that are curious with its artistry, and if you are willing to pack a little extra patience and tolerance of its more glaring flaws, you’re likely to have a good time. Fans of old-school air-combat games such as Ace Combat and Crimson Skies in particular should consider giving it a shot.

It’s a solid experience that feels like an extension of its ancestor, and both newcomers and old fans should check it out. However, I also fear there’s not quite enough to latch on to, and it may be lost in the shuffle of all the other games out this fall. Much like another Square Enix action-RPG this year, I do wish it had pushed itself just a little further.

FCB: Firebreak takes the strangeness of the Control universe and applies it to a genuinely fun and challenging co-op shooter.

Wild Card Football offers a refreshing, arcade-style twist on the traditional football game, perfect for quick matches and party play.

Steel Series is a decent action-adventure game that feels like a long-lost video store rental that fans of the genre should appreciate despite its by-the-numbers design philosophy.

Even though there is very little that has changed since the Hollow Fragment Vita release, the multiplayer aspect definitely adds to the game experience and makes it feel slightly more like the MMO depicted in the series.

For what it is, Pokémon Legends: Z-A – Mega Dimension is a decent enough post-game content update that will give fans of the game even more reason to keep playing.

Ironically, the only thing holding this game back is a lack of evolution.

Martha is Dead tells a deeply personal and complex story that strikes at some complex issues that are only held back from greatness due to technical struggles.

Dragged down by buggy gameplay, unstable framerates, laggy input control and middling production values, Starship Troopers: Extermination makes an ambitious attempt at capturing the spirit of the original 1997 film, but ultimately delivers an average horde/extraction game that isn’t all that much fun to play.

Ultimately, The Awakened Fate Ultimatum ends up being a pretty decent dungeon crawler that gets bogged down by a cumbersome story and poor lead character.

The core problem Trove suffers from is that Minecraft doesn’t work as an MMO. Minecraft is an open world survival game that inspires its players to create huge structures and towns. It was never the gameplay that got people hooked, it was the stories about what they created. Trove limits this ability severely, leaving players with a shallow and characterless MMO that quickly becomes boring after just a few hours. Even if players were to invest money into the game, Trove still has nothing of substance to offer except cosmetics and progress fasteners. Stay away from this greedy cash cow, MMO players deserve better.

A bland and repetitive experience, offering almost none of the quality found it the games that inspired it.

Metal Wolf Chaos XD is the definition of a cult classic video game. While nothing the game does could ever be considered truly exceptional or innovative, somehow all of its absurd elements have combined to create something truly memorable.

Gear.Club Unlimited is the most traditional racer to hit the Switch, and a successful outing for Microïds / Eden Games Mobile The graphics, although not as slavish to accurate detail like in a Gran Turismo title, still manage to hold their own, and are crisp and enjoyable.

Metroid Prime: Federation Force is not only the best FPS on the 3DS, but perhaps one of my favorite FPS games ever.

Shadow of the Beast has impressive production values and combat mechanics that improve over the original, but weak platforming and poor design decisions greatly hamper the experience.

Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions is a solid return to the Quidditch pitch and is a must try for fans of the overarching series.

Way of the Passive Fist is a game that continually left me wanting more and I highly recommend it.

By today’s standards, The Silver Case is not a great game. It’s a chore to navigate, the pacing is dreadfully slow at times, and the visual presentation, while unique, begins to grate on the eyes after a while. However, when this came out in 1999, it was unlike anything else available at the time, and allowed Suda51 to begin his career as one of the most original developers in the industry. The story is bizarre but cool, the setting is fun, and the style bounces all over the place (in a good way). Not the best game when looked at in a 2017 context, but for an HD re-release of a genre-bending convention breaker, it does its job.

The Crew 2 has a beautiful open world, but average driving, strange design choices and weak multiplayer prevent it from utilizing it to its full potential.

Legions of Steel has a solid foundation that is spoiled by a lack of ambition and poor design.

The next episodes of Albino Lullaby need to keep breaking the physical boundaries of this strange environment while forging a more consistent identity.

Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet is a fun action RPG with technical flaws holding it back from true greatness.

The Dark Pictures: Switchback is a confident rail shooter that celebrates Supermassive Games’ unrelenting knack of horror, but not even the PSVR 2’s impressive use of eye-tracking can save this ride from a nonexistent story and cheap thrills.

A weird, often impenetrable experience, The Silver Case is ultimately rewarding.

Tokyo Twilight Ghost Hunters: Daybreak Special Gigs is a refined version of the original, while still maintaining the signature weirdness that made the initial release so charming.

Blanc is a beautiful-looking game that would’ve been a better movie.

Atlas Fallen is a hard game to recommend. Between janky controls and a really rough-feeling platforming system, it feels like it fights you every step of the way.

God of War Sons of Sparta is a solid outing that takes the franchise into a new direction while feeling a bit too safe and by the numbers for enthusiasts of the genre to truly appreciate.

Biomutant is the least fun I’ve had with a game in a while. Broken, shallow, and above all, BORING. This mutant should’ve stayed in the Ooze.

MY HERO ACADEMIA: All’s Justice took on an ambitious task to make a semi-open world experience fun, but felt strapped by budgetary or technical constraints.

Earth Defense Force 4.1 is the videogame equivalent of a ‘so-bad-it’s-good’ B-movie.

Outbound is a super-cozy trek through the wilderness that prioritizes player freedom, but might be too slow for fans of the genre.

If you're tired of shooting guns and swinging swords Yonder offers laid back palate cleansing cuteness in this open-world adventure.

If Disneyland is the happiest place on Earth, then Nuka-World is the crappiest place in the Wasteland.

SpiritSphere is a fun game with a few missteps. The unpredictable difficulty and lack of online multiplayer can be extremely frustrating when other aspects are so fun.

Session: Skate Sim is an unforgiving skate simulator that can provide rewarding feelings, but with a massive difficulty curve that can isolate players not willing to devote hours of playtime, a skippable entry for fans of Tony Hawk.

Tribe: Primitive Builder is a bland builder at best. The story does nothing but bog down the building mechanics, and even then, they are not presented in a way that is appealing.

There’s a lot I want to like about My Time at Sandrock, but outdated design and lacklustre visuals hold the game back—especially on the Switch.

Just because Dead by Daylight: Special Edition game is light on mechanics does not mean it is light on fun.

A survival game that feels like a puzzle and plays a bit awkwardly. Overall, a brain-burning but enjoyable experience.

The Sinking City struggles under the weight of its ambition, but it’s compelling mysteries and horrific world make it a compelling journey.

It’s not as balanced as its counterparts, but it’s still a really fun game.

If the writing were cleaned up and the scares implemented a bit more effectively, Kholat would be better able to take advantage of its unique, real-world premise. As it is, only the most ardent fans of exploration games are likely to find much to enjoy.

If you like those days-long Civilization sessions going through thousands of years of human development, the brief sessions of Starships leave you feeling like there's something missing – like you're eating a salad when you really want a hamburger.

There will be a lot of people who will consider Accel World vs. Sword Art Online to be a good game, and as one of them, I am the most surprised by that.

For all its talk of destruction and carnage, Danger Zone plays it pretty safe.

STRAFE wants to be a shooter from the 1990s, but has worse mechanics than any of the games it hoped to imitate.

Party Hard is a game that’s definitely greater than the sum of its parts.

Farming Simulator 18 actually improves on its console predecessors by cutting the fat.

Aphelion isn’t a particularly bad game, but its gameplay and story are a little too safe to create an experience that is memorable.

A clearly personal story told in a bland repetitive 3D platformer with padded gameplay, terrible voice acting, and no subtlety.