Whether you enjoy KJG depends on what kind of fun you’re looking for. If you want a racing game, this might not be for you. If you want to ogle and/or glam up a squad of anime girls, then you’re in for a good time. This is one of the central tenets of XSEED and Honey Parade’s line of games. Whatever main activity is being advertised is likely not what got you to buy the game. And honestly, the extra content is usually more fun anyway. Mini-games, customization, item collection, and light fan service are the areas where games like Kandagawa Jet Girls shine brightest. So long as you understand this caveat, you’ll have a ton of goofy, slightly pervy fun.

In between some of the most frustrating moments I’ve had with any sort of game in quite some time, PGA Tour 2K21 flashed with hopeful, brilliant optimism. As long as it worked, hitting the links and knocking down a few holes felt as good as it ever has. And the course creator is one of the best things I’ve seen come to a sports game in a long time. But it’s hard to recommend something that chewed up and spit out nearly a day of my life, leaving me with nothing to show for it. Either way, it’s without question that the newly invigorated, and now former, Golf Club series is sitting at the base of a mountain made from potential. Though, it may be a hell of a climb getting to the peak.

So is Company of Crime worth playing? I’d say definitely. The worst of it is pretty uninspired, but inoffensive. But the best of it is superlatively good. I hope this game gets a lot of circulation just so developers can learn from its greatest strengths. But that’s about design, and not about players. If this were just one part great game and one part mediocre game, I’d say that averages to good. But what nudges it a little farther towards greatness is the presentation. The music, the clothes, the art style all create a sense of atmosphere. There are more polished games out there, but few do as good a job at transporting you to their setting. There’s a universe out there where Company of Crime totally changed the genre forever. We live in the universe where it’s just a really cool game that fans of the genre shouldn’t miss!

Samurai Jack: Battle Through Time is a mediocre trip down memory lane. Although interacting with beloved characters is amusing, its core gameplay is dull and repetitive. Fans may enjoy the new narrative that extends the epic conclusion of season 5 but be prepared to endure some blunt, boring combat.

Without any concrete information as to when we can expect the next season of Peaky Blinders, Peaky Blinders: Mastermind might end up being a nice distraction from the limbo we’ve all been left in. Fans of the show may find this experience to be somewhat satisfying, if not an excessively simple take on an intricate, expertly crafted world. But there isn’t much here if you aren’t hip to the source material. You’ll be lost entirely as far as the motivations of these characters, and missing out on virtually every bit of (brilliant) history doesn’t exactly make for compelling storytelling. Approach this one with caution, and that’s by order of the Peaky Blinders.

Battletoads has a fun story, great soundtrack, disgusting sound effects, beautiful visuals, and radical characters, but the gameplay does suffer mostly from questionable button mapping. Despite some of these concerns, Rare Studios has finally released a competent successor for fans to enjoy after nineteen years of waiting.

It’s more than a game. Sure there are planes you can buy, events you can take part in, or modules to complete to learn more about flying, but for me what shines above all else is Microsoft’s commitment to rendering our world at a level we haven’t seen yet.

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.

Although the narrative was lacking and required some knowledge of the French Revolution in order for players to be fully immersed in the game, Banner of the Maid presented such a thoughtful strategy RPG that I looked forward to every single battle. The characters and visuals were excellent, the girls were cute, the guys were handsome, and being able to play as a powerful female lead was a great experience. Despite the weak storytelling and lengthy drawn-out battles, Banner of the Maid proved to be an excellent challenge and remains a game I struggle to put down at night.

My grievances with Mortal Shell aren't tied to the game's difficulty. That's a feature, not a bug. We're meant to gnash our teeth, to wail in misery at the washed out skies. I'm not even bothered by the massive From Software logo that's mostly been filed off. I just wish the tether wasn't stretched all the way back to 2011. We've made such strides in our Soulsborne suffering since then! It's more nuanced, more exquisite than ever before! If your goal is to pummel your players into a state of Sisyphean ecstasy, you have a multitude of tools at your disposal. For the hardcore crowd that's made it this far, congratulations! You will love this game, no two ways about it. For everyone else, heed my warning: Mortal Shell is just as brutal and beautiful as you're imagining.

EA Sports UFC 4 is the best MMA game to date. With an improved career mode, robust online options and significant updates to the core combat, fans of the franchise will be in awe at what steps into the octagon.

Overall, this is not a game where you will be spending a lot of time with. Complete rounds take about 10-15 minutes and are high-paced chaotic action. This is the type of experience you bust out with some friends or play by yourself when you want something quick and simple. As the rounds are short and sweet, this leads to it being both addictive and refreshing. That said, it lacks depth and the overall experience is shallow. Despite the lack of replayability, Gerrrms is a good-looking, and fun experience. Don’t let the germs keep you away!

I feel like if this game had one more overall draft to marry the story, script, puzzles, voice acting, and environments, it could have easily gotten a high 80 or more from me. As it currently stands, I can only recommend Relicta to the hardcore lovers of physics-based puzzles.

This is a game where the ending sequence saved it. As a platformer it barely stacks up to a lot of the competition; some portions of the art aren't that good; the combat is very wonky, with a "bouncy" feel; and, finally, the story doesn't deliver until the end. Adding some badly designed puzzle sections all pull Neversong down. The ending and the idea the title puts forth is powerful enough - even with some plot holes in retrospection - that is worth checking out if someone is into platformers, and has a few hours to try out something different.

All in all, did I like Maid of Sker? That depends. I’ve certainly played worse games, and I’ve heard worse ghost stories. It didn’t scare me as much as I would hope, but there was some chilling imagery and a couple of moments that made me jump. On a narrative level, I can see the developer’s trying to make a point about colonialism or slavery, or even the history of English rulers trying to stamp out the Welsh language much like The Quiet Ones try to stamp out any noise. There’s a genuinely good- even great- idea here but the gameplay and execution let it down, and the marketing cared more about selling something unique than selling something accurate. I got something close to what I ordered, but not quite close enough for me to want a second helping.

Multiplayer is the same battles, only with ranks to contend with. There’s an arcade mode that you can finish in less than an hour, and the Maxiboost missions that will keep you busy for ages. When you’re not engaged in furious combat with a host of other Gundams, you can mess with the Gallery and just look at them. There’s even a list of short animations associated with some of the arcs! Overall it’s truly just battling. If this is something you’ve always wanted out of a Gundam game, you’re in for a treat. But I can’t emphasize enough how pared down this experience is. But if fighting is what you want, then Mobile Suit Gundam Extreme VS Maxiboost ON is exactly what you need.

For series veterans, Yakuza Kiwami 2 is a great time but it doesn’t give us anything we haven’t seen many times before, with the usual environments, side-activities, and cutscene-heavy narrative exposition. If we are being honest it’s a series that is due for a reset, and it looks like the upcoming Yakuza: Like a Dragon will be just that. But if you have not yet experienced the series, Yakuza Kiwami 2 needs to be high on your must-play list. So much to do, so much to explore, so many faces to roundhouse kick – living the Yakuza life sure is a hell of a lot of fun.

If Guerrilla Games hopes to maintain a grasp on its prospective fanbase’s attention, they’ll need to put a hefty amount of work into Horizon: Zero Dawn PC. The journey itself is as incredible as ever. And if you’ve got a computer that can run the damn thing, you’re in for the pinnacle of the series. But for everyone else, I’m not altogether convinced that in its current state, spending the extra money on the PC edition is wholly justified. For now, I’d quietly keep my distance and anticipate further updates.

The Sims 4 Nifty Knitting was a pleasant surprise and had a lot more content in it than I had thought it would. I’m glad that EA is listening to the Sim Community and actually hearing what we want in the next packs. I hope that with these positive reviews, they’ll begin to do fan votes more often cause clearly we know what we want. All in all, I would put this Stuff pack in my top three favourites, with the other two being Tiny Living and Laundry Day.

The score is stunning. There’s a beautiful use of theme, drawing familiar phrases in at just the right moment, and let’s not even get started on BB’s Theme. It’s brilliant. Similarly, the moments where the camera pans back and Low Roar plays Sam out of a stressful area take on a feeling of zen. In those moments, I felt connected to this game, and Sam’s journey. I didn’t need any of the UI or environmental sounds cues: the music just carried me to my destination. That might sound indulgent, but I don’t care. This game is a piece of art. I admire the huge risk Kojima Productions took on the project. They could easily have made an MGS clone and called it a day, but they pushed the industry in an unexpected and, to some, unwanted direction.

Simply put, Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout is brilliant. Its creative take on a much-loved genre will keep fans coming back for more. Although there are teething issues, these are minor concerns that will be resolved. Featuring 25 mini-games with more in the pipeline, expect to spend plenty of time with Fall Guys.

Skater XL is a strong proof of concept but it’s currently incomplete. It has successfully created a physics-based control system that is both complex and rewarding. This will appeal to skaters as it’s the closest that video games have got to simulating the sport, however, Easy Days Studios has failed to gamify the experience. With more objectives, a story, voice acting and various modes, this could have been the skating title that gamers have been waiting for. Although post-launch content has been promised, many may have bailed before then.

Throughout my time with Crysis, and maybe more accurately, throughout my time writing this review, I’ve been pondering just what the purpose of this experiment was. I won’t act like there isn’t an indisputable intrigue to having a title once regarded as the pinnacle of PC gaming on a handheld system. But I’m also not going to act like Crysis on the Switch can even begin to hold a candle to its PC counterpart. I implore you to find out what Crytek’s 2007 smash hit was all about, doing it the way it was meant to be done. You know, it’s bizarre to think, but this is sort of like Crysis’ mid-life crisis.

If you’re a fan of the series then owning this collection is a necessity, even at the steep price. With seven incredible games, a ton of extra content and stable online play, this title will keep you busy for hours on end. However, if you’re new to the series and looking to explore what the NeoGeo fighters were like, then maybe give this one a miss.

If all you want is a series of complex battles marked by escalating difficulty, you can’t go wrong here. There was just something about the narrative and the pacing that kept me from getting fully hooked. You can tweak the game speed, but this doesn’t change the fundamental flow of the battles. Perhaps my time in the Disgaea trenches has permanently scarred my psyche, or maybe I’m onto something here. Either way, beyond my minor grievances is a tactics RPG built from countless layers of approachable mechanical complexity. Fans of this sleepless, neurotic RPG subgenre owe it to themselves to give Fae Tactics a shot.

Overall, Othercide is a solid remix of the tactical turn-based genre. The early game will feel repetitive, and I wish there was more dynamics to the maps to compensate for the lack of cover, explosions and sightlines the XCOM games use. There are also only a few mission types: escort, survive and hunt. But despite the limited mission set, the visuals, weird world, and ramp up nature do much to carry the game forward. If you’re looking for a fresh take and aren’t afraid of a punishing difficulty, then come along for the ride. Just be prepared to die. A lot.

Overall, it feels as though Fairy Tail is targeted toward players who have knowledge or experience of the franchise already. As someone who knows Fairy Tail, it was very easy for me to understand and enjoy the game. While it starts at a point that makes sense for the purpose of the game, it does seem like it may alienate some who are hopping in for the first time. Despite this, Fairy Tail’s premise should still allow for newcomers to enjoy the experience, and perhaps lead them toward the source material as well. While Fairy Tail doesn’t do anything new, it does a lot of the common RPG elements well enough, and ties in the source material effectively as well. For fans of the series, this game is a no-brainer, for everyone else, it could be worth a try.

Rock of Ages 3: Make & Break is an absolute blast to play. It’s incredibly simple to learn, but still challenging enough to force me to approach certain levels strategically. I loved playing the local multiplayer with my kids, even if it was a bit more challenging with the reduced field-of-view. The single-player campaign alone will take most players a good six+ hours to complete, plus you add in the limitless content created by fellow gamers, and you’ll get plenty of enjoyment out of Rock of Ages 3. This has been one of the most fun games I’ve played this year and I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a relaxing time with a fun sense of humour.