Atomfall is a stunningly beautiful, yet flawed, experience that could be an easy recommend due to its presence on Xbox Game Pass, but becomes harder on other platforms.

With very few options for variety, NASCAR 25 Just doesn’t offer enough in terms of depth.

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.

The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel had my attention and lost it.

Lifeslide is a zen-like experience from the visuals to the soundtrack that just doesn’t last long enough.

Brave New World wastes what precious little time Before the Storm has on filler, holding back meaningful developments until the very end.

The Flame in the Flood squanders a novel idea and fantastic aesthetic with mind-numbing repetition and a broken sense of progression.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl is incredibly promising, but needs more time to cook.

Disappointment is an understatement when it comes to Project Motor Racing. Vehicle control, sub-par graphics, and cost all contribute to the calamity that is PMR.

Don’t Open the Doors! is a game with soul. People cared about this game, but the gameplay just isn’t there.

Surprisingly, the game’s greatest strength may be its free-to-play model.

Pure Farming 2018 recreates modern-day farm life to a tee, creating a complex, yet painfully mundane, farming simulator.

Battlefield 2042 is a fun enough time, but DICE needs to work hard if it wants to take the unrefined ideas found here and turn it into something that feels like a worthy successor to the Battlefield legacy.

Rush is a very middle-of-the-road title. Nothing spectacular, yet nothing weighing it down. If you have already played Rush: A Disney Pixar Adventure, there is no need to revisit it. The new content of Finding Dory isn’t enough to justify recommending it for a second time. For young fans who have never experienced Rush, it is worth considering, just don’t expect hours of entertainment.

Shiren the Wanderer may have pioneered the roguelike genre, but this latest entry sure hasn’t advanced it in any positive way.

The Lego Ninjago Movie Video Game continues the trend of bad games based on movies.

Star Wars Battlefront Classic Collection is another bare minimum, overpriced remaster hoping nostalgia will encourage fans to turn a blind eye to dated problems.

Prey is a game that is a patchwork of other titles with no swatches of originality added to the mix.

I like Turok; but I like it as an N64 game where I can make excuses for its shortcomings based on its platform—in a vacuum where I can’t compare it to other, truly great shooters.

XCOM 2’s console version is a buggy mess cobbled together from a far better game, and the worst possible way to experience the game.

Chasm tries something new with its procedurally generated map but it failure to create interesting maps results in a lackluster experience.

Cris Tales has a lot of great ideas, and an incredible style, but none of it really coalesces into a game I want to play.

A pixelated Diablo-like with a beautiful presentation and an unfortunate lack of content, Moon Hunters is hard to recommend to anyone other than people with three friends locally.

The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim Special Edition is an attempt to make a quick buck off gullible consumers.

Persona 5 Tactica, while trying some new things in the series ultimately falls flat. With a bland story and mediocre gameplay, I think its time we leave Joker and the gang alone.

A limp, repetitive gameplay loop and uncomfortable characterization rob Blue Reflection of the magic it tries so desperately to create.

Phoenix Point has some interesting ideas that are brought down by a bad UI, poor difficulty balancing, and a distinct absence of polish.

Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Volume 1 is a poorly handled emulation of some truly fantastic games. Its baffling that they got handled this poorly, and I hope we see some fixes soon.

Rapture Rejects offers style over substance, capturing the feel of Cyanide and Happiness without working out the issues that style carries.

Mail Time is less like cuddling up with a good book and more like falling asleep reading a Post Office pamphlet.

I came into PES 2018 ready to be won over, and converted into a PES fan. Unfortunately, I came away being disappointed.

Not awful but far from good, Fate/Extella: The Umbral Star is a title that lets down fans and keeps away newcomers with a pithy story, mediocre gameplay, and a generic art direction that betrays the franchise’s roots.

Where We are the Dwarves fails to deliver is mission balance, plain and simple.

Fans of puzzle games should enjoy the new mechanic of hopping through time to control multiple characters, but as an adaptation of the series, it falls flat. It’s frustrating in a way that makes for a riveting challenge, but then you’ll reflect that maybe you just spent six hours pulling levers to open doors.

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.

Dragon Song Tavern: Cozy & Adventurous has a few good ideas, but they’re marred significantly by some amateurish game design.

Despite its flashy looks, Empyreal is a bog-standard ARPG that somehow lacks any of the things that make these games fun and interesting.

There are elements of greatness here—the bosses are exceptionally inspired and some of the level themes are great—but so much of DMC4 is antiquated.

Unravel puts all its cards on being cute and charming while having repetitive, lackluster gameplay. If you're looking for a very casual cute game, you might forgive its shortcomings

The game has some potential as a puzzler, but it's not going to hold attention for very long.

Ambrosia Sky has an interesting narrative, but squanders it with dull gameplay and amateur storytelling. [Part One review]

There's some interesting stuff for arcade aficionados, but Circa Infinity isn't quite there for anyone else.

Hell is Empty feels like a superficial way to cap its story off, as it chooses an easy ending to Rachel and Chloe’s relationship rather than exploring its darker conclusion.

Madden NFL 24 gets the job done in the same way it always has, even if there's nothing major to get excited for, it's still getting better.

This wonderful looking Spider-Man simulator in the sky doesn't live up to its full potential.

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

The Jackbox Party Pack 6 brings with it four new games and the sequel to Trivia Murder Party. It’s more polished than the previous releases on launch, but none of the new games are particularly great.

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

Wrong Number, more than a direct continuation, is an expansion and affirmation of Hotline Miami’s themes.

A novel aesthetic and solid core gameplay go to waste in Capsule Force, thanks to a woeful lack of content and no online functionality.

It's a shame that Root Letter has such abysmal writing, because there truly are some fascinating plot threads to unravel throughout this brief journey.

Feist feels like Limbo and Where the Wild Things Are had a not so fun love child.

Temtem shakes up the Pokémon formula in several ways, yet is held back by poor pacing and a world that needs more things to discover and do.

There is heart behind New Tales From The Borderlands, however in trying too hard to be like its predecessor, it really only succeeds at being an inferior imitation.

Overall, I can’t recommend Clockwork Tales: Of Glass and Ink, not when there are so many other better point-and-clicks out there.

Zombi’s unique take on survival horror isn’t enough to compensate for an otherwise bland experience.

Tales of Arise is not so much an evolution of the Tales series as it is an awkward game that backs up decent combat with a bland, uninspired story and characters.

Deiland: Pocket Planet seemed promising with all that it offered but ultimately fell flat, especially compared to all the other simulation games currently available.

Shiny tries its best with a winning aesthetic and concept, but technical malfunctions and clumsy controls ultimately keep it from being worth most peoples’ time.

Wolfenstein: Youngblood feels less like the story-driven co-op shooter that it should have been, and more like a product made to cash in on the legendary IP.

Fortified is a decent first attempt at a wave-based, “tower defence” shooter from a studio that has, until now, made only mobile games.

Wolfenstein: Cyberpilot is a short shallow experience that doesn't do anything new and isn't required playing for fans of the series.

Despite a solid shooter experience, EvilVEvil struggles to deliver a meaningful or engaging story. Some polish on existing systems and a better narrative moving forward could help elevate this co-op shooter to new heights.

High on Life 2’s biggest issue outside of technical issues, is that the new additions to the game feel so counter intuitive and work against what made the first game such a cult hit.

By remaining focused and paring down the extra content, Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: India is a stealth game through and through.

Darksiders Genesis is basically a Diablo clone that forgot to clone Diablo.

Skull and Bones is finally here, but tedious game systems and a grindy time investment to get anywhere may be too rich for some to go on this voyage.

It feels dirty to say “no” to new Psychonauts, but Rhombus of Ruin is a half-baked attempt at wrapping up the first game’s cliffhanger bundled with some monotonous gameplay and too little content for the asking price.

Home Sports is a less-than-stellar attempt at bringing a compilation of sports into a single package. Between no replay value, bigger game area requirements and some funky physics, it’s safe to say to skip this one.

Godfall is a visually stunning game that ultimately disappoints due to its fetch-quest filled gameplay loop and recycled ideas.

A neat mechanic that gets old quickly in this otherwise forgettable twin stick shooter.

Shining Resonance Refrain manages to bury its many interesting ideas under repetitive gameplay and a dragged-on story.

Steelrising has bits and pieces of a successful souls-like RPG, but fails to polish its mechanics and overall visuals enough to keep players hooked.

Mika and the Witch’s Mountain has a good enough base, but not enough magic to keep it afloat.

Funko Fusion is ultimately boring, with an overly long mission structure, bland gameplay elements, and a story that comes across as pointless as to why this mixture of characters is interacting.

Gorgeous and full of varied events, it still isn’t nearly enough to help the The Crew Motorfest stand up to the other top racing dogs thanks to a laundry list of poor decisions, awkward vehicle handling, and a distinct failure to make use of some of the franchise’s strongest attributes.

Ultimately, Tamagotchi Plaza is a fairly lacklustre game but one that appropriately represents the Tamagotchi brand to the point where enthusiasts and young children may forgive its shallow gameplay loop.

Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: China isn’t terrible in any particular way. It is, from top to bottom, entirely middle of the road standard at best and its main attraction is the cheap selling price for a few hours of side-scrolling action.

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

A neat game that would be better on mobile than literally anywhere else.

In the end, the missions just aren't enough to really make this stand out too strongly.

Shenmue III is the monkey-paw wish of videogames — it is exactly what fans have wanted, to the point where it feels like it belongs in a different era.

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.

While the hybrid style gameplay of Kingdom Under Fire 2 is by far the game’s high point, the rest of it is so completely devoid of all personality.

This is the Police is simple but highly addictive if you have the time to dedicate becoming more invested in Jack Boyd and his personal chaotic life.

With lacklustre gameplay, and an uninteresting world, The Cub ends up feeling like a cheap knock-off of the games that clearly inspired it.

While the The JackBox Party Pack 5 is hard to recommend at full price due to mediocrity, if you liked past entries it could be worth buying while on sale.

Cat Quest is a mobile phone game turned Switch RPG that has an adorable facade, cat puns, and not much else.

While Save me Mr Tako: Definitive Edition holds true to its inspired roots, the gameplay and structure of it don’t often hold up to what you’d expect from modern titles.

I expected a lot more from this title and it definitely disappointed.

Bread & Fred has interesting ideas, but its frustrating execution and disrespect for the player’s time keep it from being enjoyable.

The real disappointment of Livelock is that it doesn’t do anything particularly original or interesting. Everything works well enough, and there are definitely moments of fun to be had when you’re making scrap metal out of your foes. However, there’s nothing that lets it truly stand out amongst other top-down shooters on the market.

Even with clever puzzles and funny physics, I found little enjoyment in Human: Fall Flat.

Knack 2 isn't the game of the year we have been waiting for, instead it's just more Knack. Who asked for this?

While the game is nice to look at and can be fun to play, the technical issues and objectification of its characters keep it from really shining.

Mario Tennis Aces just feels lacking in ever sense of the world. Lacking real tennis rules, basic quality of life options, series staple characters, and really any personality at all.

While it’s nice to see Battle Royale games on mobile, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds doesn’t translate well to a mobile experience due to its poor touch controls and lack of optimization.

When Trover Saves the Universe is funny, it’s VERY funny, but its humor is just not enough to carry such an average, unspectacular game.