Modern Warfare 2 is easily in my top five COD campaigns, and I was stoked about its surprise release. The month-long PS4 exclusivity is a bummer, but whether you’re a fan of the original or interested in jumping in for the first time, I strongly recommend picking it up on your respective platform when its available. Beenox continues to contribute tremendously to Call of Duty, and Modern Warfare 2 Remastered is unequivocally their best work yet.

It takes a long time to do anything in Portal Knights. And when doing things begin to land on the side of tedium rather than fun, it becomes quite difficult to see the silver lining. That being said, Portal Knights surely isn’t bad. It’s just the type of game that appeals to its niche audience; in this case a younger crowd itching for some minecrafty sandbox fun. There’s definitely some to be had, you just might have to do a bit of digging.

I can’t see the NHL franchise reaching the heights of its mid-2000s glory years anytime soon, but at least we have the Frostbite engine in there to start building upon. It took far too long to arrive, though; it’s here now. And while I can see the potential for it to one day have this series feeling exciting again, I don’t see that happening for a long time. But, hey, it’s the only hockey game in town, so I guess I’ll see you on the ice.

The game teeters close to punishing the player with its brutal difficulty but it never felt frustrating to the point of quitting. The simple mechanics and graphics make Lichtspeer approachable to anyone and lends itself well to the Switch’s pick-up-and-play ideology. Grab it if you’re looking for some mindless fun.

When it comes down to it, Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner is an outdated game that deserved the praise it received on first release, but it falls quite a bit short of the standards we’ve set for games in the modern day. For those of you who have already fallen in love with the game at some point during the past fifteen years, you will not be disappointed by the port. It updates the graphics without sacrificing style and maintains most of the rest of the game in its original form. For those of you who haven’t played it but have heard good things, I wouldn’t recommend against playing it. What I would recommend is playing a few older games before playing this one.

Conga Master Party! is a blast to play. It’s simple but challenging in such an addicting way.

Delivers a fun and unique brawling experience that 3DS gamers and Naruto fans alike shouldn’t miss out on as it is fairly entertaining.

Knockout Home Fitness has a clear objective and target audience: this is a game for people looking to get in shape that replicates a workout routine with a personal trainer. It never really pretends to be much more, like an addictive video game. That will be fine for many people, but if you’re hoping for more, Ring Fit Adventure is still the undisputed champ.

Sim racing fans clamored for years for a serious console racing sim. They have finally had their wish granted. Assetto Corsa Competizione instantly becomes the premiere realistic console racing simulation game despite the hardware limitations of the current-gen. That doesn’t make it the best console racer, just the most realistic. The road ahead looks bright too with planned cross-platform support and future DLC which will also include an expansion of the racing scope with the release of GT4 cars coming this fall.

Bottomline, if you are a fan of the franchise and you’re stuck with no other means of playing this game, go ahead and pick up the PC version and push through the problems and enjoy yourself.

I wish I could recommend this whole-heartily, but as it is now, this game is only for those looking for a short but serious challenge.

If you have some nostalgia for classics like Forsaken or Descent you’re going find a lot to enjoy here in Sublevel Zero Redux and if you’re new to this type of gameplay experience, well, this is a great place to jump in too. Pleasing on the eyes and ears and featuring smooth gameplay that deftly balances relaxing exploration and intense combat, Sublevel Zero Redux will keep you up late at night as you continuously say to yourself… “Just one more try”.

As a whole package The Medium is very much a story of compromise. For all its successes in visual storytelling and interesting setting, it’s collared by poor pacing and dated game design. Still, it’s well worth a look for history buffs and those fascinated by the unknown. So what lies beyond? It’s still up for debate. In the present, The Medium offers an intriguing possibility to puzzle on.

An improvement over The Dark Below DLC, but it could have been so much more.

Claws of Awaji provides a more satisfying conclusion to Naoe’s narrative than players got in Assassin’s Creed: Shadows, though it clearly suggests that Shadows was really her story all along. Awaji is a beautifully designed playground, filled with content. The new enemies and bosses are an appropriate challenge for the high-level players that the DLC demands. It’s a bit disappointing that Yasuke gets no new weapons and that the basic mission design remains relatively unchanged. It’s also a shame that Awaji Island and its enemies are gated from all but endgame players. However, for anyone frustrated by Shadows’ inconclusive finale, Claws of Awaji will bring some much-needed closure in DLC that rewards committed players.

I wanted to point out things that this game tries to do differently than most classic RTS games because honestly everything else felt very… classic. That isn’t to say the game was bad or should be overlooked, just that if you were hoping for a reinvented RTS you might want to keep looking.

While I do appreciate the game retaining the quirky and simplistic nature of the older versions, I’m a little disappointed it doesn’t bring much more innovation to the genre.

Some racing sims split the difference between arcade-like accessibility and realism, but RiMS Racing leans pretty hard towards the latter. While not entirely unfriendly to novices, this is a game geared towards the motorcycle enthusiast. With its emphasis on what happens in the shop between races at least as much as on the races itself, RiMS Racing has a supply-your-own-drama career mode, but excels in supplying an exacting and sometimes thrilling simulator of racing on two wheels.

Players coming to No More Heroes 3 for the first time will have fun with its combat and peculiar, entertaining narrative. Switch owners who played it already won’t find anything new, aside from framerate improvements and higher resolutions. While the former improves combat, the latter just draws attention to the graphical limitations of the original. No More Heroes 3 is generally a worthy next chapter in the franchise, but I expected a little more than a straight-across port.

After Us is an artistic, moving, and affecting game about a world transformed by human indifference to nature. It’s a slightly heavy-handed cautionary tale, but a powerful one. As a puzzle platformer, it’s a little less successful, with controls that feel imprecise and levels that need more gameplay variety. After Us has a potent message and offers innocent hope for a planet in trouble.

Legends of Eisenwald presents players with a game that takes place on a broad canvas without the freedom to dive deep into it. That is not a bad thing but a different approach. Sometimes that is all a player is looking for.

While Chaos on Deponia furthers the oddball adventures of Rufus and has its moments of entertaining humor and challenging puzzles, Rufus himself falls flat in an attempt to portray a plucky hero.

This combination of game mechanics with plot makes The Fall Part 2: Unbound a masterclass in video game storytelling. Action-packed sequences are followed by moody reflective moments, with each new story beat more compelling and exciting than the last. The presentation is similarly great. Graphically, it’s not the most stunning game, but its use of atmospheric lighting works wonders in creating a mood.

This is a collection made for truly diehard Ezio fans and the uninitiated.

Steel Seed successfully blends its inspirations into a compelling sci-fi adventure that feels both fresh and familiar. It truly shines during its climbing and cinematic platforming segments, delivering memorable moments that echo its influences without feeling derivative. While the stealth mechanics stand out, thanks to a variety of tools and strategies for silent takedowns, the melee combat feels less refined by comparison. Technical issues do occasionally hinder the experience, but they’re not enough to derail what is ultimately a focused and engaging journey, especially for fans of the genre’s classics.

Cold Iron’s unique premise oozes with promise, but the core experience is mired by repetitive, punishing gameplay.

If you have played Mutant Year Zero on a console before and are thinking of picking this up for on the go, you may be advised to skip as the compromises are a bit jarring, given this was once a very atmospheric game. The downgrade, combined with text and menus not being scaled for Switch, can start to make you feel like a person with poor eyesight.

Pulling off your head and lobbing it deep into a dark and dingy crevasse has never been so much fun. With over 90 puzzles, an array of crazy characters, witty dialogue and unique mechanics, a trip to Helheim is definitely worth the trek. Its quirky and intriguing spin on the Norse world is fascinating and due to this, it can proudly raise its glass of grog up high and bellow “Skol” at the top of its lungs.