WWE 2K Battlegrounds is striking for its simplicity. It is the game equivalent of a popcorn flick. This is something goofy, simple, affordable, and likely intended to be enjoyed in brief bursts. The Campaign and Battleground Challenge are each presented in bite-sized chunks. The various matches never tend to go over five minutes. Everything is quick and breezy, with systems that put everyone on equal footing. It’s not incredibly deep, the characters don’t always look great, and all the stuff with price-tags on it can be daunting, but it’s surprisingly entertaining. Especially if you’re jumping in for quick bursts and want a goofy wrestling game anyone can enjoy.

While there are issues, which are worst in MyCareer, it still is enjoyable. If you’re willing to play the long game and deal with the current difficulties, what you’re going to get is going to eventually be a good game with a solid experience. My guess is the issues will be fixed at least by the launch of the next gen systems so that every version of the game has a strong experience. The biggest issues might be fixed earlier. If you were dead set on getting the current-gen version, I’d say give it about a month. Things should be working better by then. And if you’re planning to play on console and upgrade to the next-gen consoles, get the Mamba edition. For $100, you got both the current and next-gen version as well as any fixes that had been put in.

Madden NFL 21 is a game that is generally fine. It’s not extraordinarily exciting, sure. There are some minor additions that work well, like the Skill Stick, and major ones that could have promise after the growing pain patches are out, like The Yard. A lot of elements feel the same as they did last year, like Franchise and MUT, and Face of the Franchise shows there’s still a struggle to have a really good story mode. It’s okay, but people who have and are still enjoying Madden 20 might not feel a need to upgrade.

Had it come before Resident Evil 2, perhaps I would have been fonder of it. But as is, it feels like it doesn’t do as much or go as far as its predecessor, an issue exacerbated by the removal of some of its challenging and unique elements. It is worth playing, but people should enter with tempered expectations.

Thanks to the simple combat, sterile environments, and weird balancing, playing Bleeding Edge feels more grindy and repetitive than any other game I’ve played in this space. The characters are all pretty cool and weird, but when everything is zoomed out and the gameplay loop repeats itself over and over, everything just, well, bleeds together and loses its edge.

It’s weird to feel so disappointed by something so awesome. DOOM Eternal is a constant state of whiplash between being in absolute awe at the game’s mechanical brilliance, only to be snatched in the extreme opposite direction by stale storytelling and environmental padding. I miss the gore nests, the simple but well-presented story, and sardonic overtones that made 2016’s DOOM such a big hit for me. The air-dashing, grappling, and tons of unlockable stuff is cool, and Doomguy’s personal quarters in his weird spaceship/castle gimmick is pretty funny. But while there’s nothing outright bad or poorly crafted in DOOM Eternal, the direction id Software chose to head here just reeks of AAA homogeny. The last game had teeth; DOOM Eternal feels like it sold out a little.

Darksiders Genesis isn’t a bad game. It has a lot of potential to it and there are some things it does well. I especially liked the twists to its story. The problem is that it is pretty clear it didn’t get the same level of attention as its predecessors. Elements of its design makes it feel like corners were cut in an effort to get things done as efficiently as possible. This can mean some platforming segments are difficult to get past and a little perhaps the puzzles could have actually been challenging.

The action is solid and better than plenty of past Dragon Ball video game adventures, but the wholesome fan service is the real offering here. There isn’t enough of that, but what you do get is a great reminder of why Dragon Ball is still here.

I’m all for remasters of old games and keeping those same clunky mechanics with those old games, including the punishing difficulty. However, I want my sequels to old games to adapt and grow with the times. If Shenmue III had done that, it not only would have been a better game overall, it would have appealed to a bigger audience outside its cult following.

While this installment isn’t the most innovative, that isn’t what Need for Speed needs right now. It needs to build up a solid foundation again, so it can get itself into a good position to ride the slipstream behind other titles, ready itself, then overtake it to possibly come out on top. There are some strong elements here, and the balance between day and night activities can provide a good loop. It handles well, not letting obstacles get in people’s way, and gives folks a lot of extras to shoot for. Yes, it could use a more lifelike world, a more interesting story, and a better soundtrack. But, what’s here is fun. That’s what matters most right now.

With its revamped controls and tighter focus on growing your custom wrestlers in MyCareer, WWE 2K20 has a lot of good ideas propping it up. Unfortunately, the game is propped up on top of an uncharacteristically weak foundation. WWE 2K20 is an ugly video game, with gross-looking noodle hair, weird character faces, and PS2-looking NPCs. Add to that a lengthy MyCareer story fueled by corny and sloppy writing, and you get a game only the dedicated parts of the fanbase will love. At its core, there is still a great deal of fun in playing WWE2K20, but the technical issues, poor visuals, and bad writing make this year an easy one to skip, especially if you’re still playing through WWE 2K19.

In the end, Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Breakpoint never finds its groove. There are so many different things to do that you would think that there’s something in this game for everybody, but that’s not really the case. Instead, most things just feel pointless or function as a distraction from its core gameplay, which is already a composite of disparate elements. In a way, Ghost Recon: Breakpoint is like listening to rock, jazz, and reggae, only you’re doing all these things at the same time, none of the albums are that good to begin with, and the end result is a confusing cacophony of noise that is far less than the sum of its parts. You’d be better off participating in a more focused experience.

It’s a shame that the surrounding structures don’t hold up, because the in-game experience of NBA 2K20 remains top-class. Another year of refinements has smoothed out some rough edges of the basketball gameplay that was already worth seeking out. The level of control you have over shot types is both useful and entertaining. Defensive assignments feel like they work more consistently. The commentary repeats itself less. They’re great moves forward. But if you engage with the modes 2K seems to want to push most, you’ll have to deal with baggage that weighs down the experience.

In the end, I feel like I’ll continue to struggle with how I truly feel about Wolfenstein: Youngblood. Its strange and uncomfortable structure, or rather my reaction to it, clearly stems from my love for the “normal” games. It isn’t more of what I loved; therefore, it’s scary. At the same time, some of those scary things are legitimate frustrations that seem to compromise the game to make it more gimmicky. It’s still as charming as ever, and is full of fun characters and dialogue, which makes it harder to really be disappointed. Wolfenstein: Youngblood comes off as a big experiment, and attempts to take something people like and do something new with it. I’m glad MachineGames was afforded the creative leeway to make it.

Crash Team Racing: Nitro-Fueled feels a bit too derivative, obviously borrowing ideas from competitors. But it’s also the most distinctly challenging of the bunch, almost working best as a single-player endeavor rather than a fun, multiplayer party game. It’s hard to tell if there’s room for that, as Activision itself seemed to struggle with how to sell this one. Crash Bandicoot fans will certainly be happy, and are likely already on board. Those looking for a challenge will have a good time chasing trophies. Casual/Party players who like kart games probably will want to stick with Sonic and Mario.

Rage 2 is presented as a wild ride through a post-apocalyptic playground, with people invited to attend a festival of blood, guts, and spray paint. Wacky characters and bright colors adorn the box art and marketing materials, but the reality of the game is much less colorful. Were the outside trimmings more accurate, they would feature a grey supercop holding an assault rifle. The pizzazz and graffiti are merely background decoration for a collection of tropes and mechanics we’ve seen elsewhere, done better by the same developers to boot. It’s certainly fun to play, and shooter diehards who love open worlds will likely have a blast checking off objectives and discovering new powers, but anyone looking for more style or substance will be disappointed.

I never once thought I was experiencing something exciting, unique, or creative when I played this game, yet hours of my life seem to have vanished. Loot shooters are an increasingly crowded space, and The Division 2 is fighting a losing battle for my attention.

The PvE-only aspect is a nice touch, and it’s refreshing in a world where so many games like to focus on pitting player against player. The problem is that the enemies are rarely more than bullet fodder, and you don’t need to be much of a team in order to take them down. Still, Anthem is rife with potential and we’ve seen games transform into something amazing post-launch. I am hoping that will be the case for Anthem.

From a big picture perspective, Far Cry: New Dawn is fine. It hits a lot of checkboxes that have come to define what Far Cry is and manages to wring some newness and intrigue out of its reused map. While the storytelling is even more unfocused than the previous game (though much less disappointing, due to a noticeable walkback on pretense), new gameplay additions like breezy RPG progression and the Expedition missions make it a fun ride all the way through. Far Cry: New Dawn still has a lot of familiar snags, but the overall experience makes for a solid weekend or two of Hollywood-style gaming.

Terry Crews is here, but he isn't given a chance to really steal the show. (Which is what we know he does best.) It isn't well organized, when it comes to missions and following the story. What is available works well enough, but it doesn't do anything to really set itself apart in a way you would expect from a AAA, first-party game.

Other than laughter and the occasional satisfaction of seeing a crazy plan come together, Just Cause 4 doesn’t illicit much of an emotional response. It’s ugly, monotone, and almost feels incomplete. Even some of the character animations look lazy, as though the characters themselves are saving their energy for something. The game isn’t without its charm, certainly, but that charm doesn’t amount to much when it is marred by a plethora of other issues. Just Cause 4 approaches its potential, but doesn’t quite seize it. Considering how well the game performs at its peak, that is a real shame.

Ultimately, while the setting, characters, and storytelling feel right at home, Darksiders III swings for the fences with its combat ambitions and only just barely manages to get on base. It gets points for trying something new, but the end result is a muddled set of ideas that clash with each other, with nothing in place to soften that collision.

Bethesda claims that the Fallout 76 servers will last “forever” and, while it may not take that long to patch bugs and improve the experience, my foray with the launch version has left me with an abundance of bullet points that need attention. My biggest hope is that Bethesda will take our suggestions and criticisms as a call to action to tweak the faulty mechanics and build more features into a game that has a ton of potential.

This is a game that is in need of some patches and, hopefully in future installments, adjustments that make the online interactions more enjoyable for people who do not want to grind endlessly or pay extra cash.

I found myself struggling to “get” it, worried I was some degree of incompetent or something. But the more I thought about it, the more I feel like The Crew 2 doesn’t get itself, either. It wants so desperately to be an open world experience that can seamlessly become race-like events in a games as service-like multiplayer setting. But we just aren’t there yet, so the races exist in pocket universes where you and some friends can battle the computer or you can go it alone. Either way, you’re just grinding for the sake of it.

Metal Gear Survive is just another middling survival game, with a name-drop that doesn’t do it any favors.

There are over 80 playable characters, but tedious missions, repetitive storylines, a world with large expanses of nothing and no multiplayer.

This is a beautiful, fun game with huge ambitions for being an important part of the Star Wars universe as it is today. It introduces a fascinating new character and injects her right into the main storyline. But it does so in such a disappointingly banal way, it’s hard to care after the story is over. Meanwhile, the fun continues for a bit in the multiplayer until you’re crushed under the boots of either “enormous grind” or “emptying wallet.”