Even as a non-fan, I've been finding my time as the jolly green git rather enjoyable and have found plenty to like about it. It's definitely worth a weekend's smashing and bashing, at the very least.

The Castle Doctrine is certainly an experience unlike any other, but I also find it hard to recommend since it's so obtuse and seems to want to put new players at a huge disadvantage, increasing the skill gap between the best and the worst. Intense research and work must be put forth to succeed, but there's no real motivation except bigger and better death traps.

As you can probably tell from my time with it, Yoshi's New Island isn't a "must have," but that doesn't mean it's a bad game. It's very much by the books based on any genre standard, and there's pretty much nothing new here that you'll need to run out to experience. But even so, fans of the genre will still dig it.

Assassin's Creed Chronicles: India, isn't a whole lot different compared to China, which is either a good or a bad thing depending on your prior experience. It sports a slightly less interesting character and setting, but the core experience is replicated, and the addition of a few gameplay tweaks as well as the aforementioned challenge mode ensures that it's on the level.

It's a title that packs a ton of content and gameplay onto a single disc, and its import options for songs from previous titles will pad your song selections nicely. But it's also an experience that feels remarkably similar to last year's offering, and that's unfortunate.

As far as playing this in virtual reality on the Oculus Rift, I can't recommend it. Maybe it is just me, but every time I've ever tried to play the game on the Rift I've gotten physically ill. I managed to stomach about half the game before switching over to the desktop version to finish it up. It's one of the creepiest experiences available for VR at the moment but I just couldn't stand it consistently...Only clocking in at roughly two and a half hours, the whole experience is over rather quickly, but that's enough time to give players a clear satisfying story for those that paid attention to notes. It isn't all that innovative but truly, it doesn't have to be. If you're playing this, you're playing for the narrative. [Tested with Oculus Rift]

It's really not a great videogame. But it's certainly a good waste of time.

This is a game that is hard to recommend to many players, but those with a taste for the odd and an ability to forgive rather bizarre design flaws will find a good little game hidden under a film of potential inaccessibility.

It's a title that packs a ton of content and gameplay onto a single disc, and its import options for songs from previous titles will pad your song selections nicely. But it's also an experience that feels remarkably similar to last year's offering, and that's unfortunate.

It saddens me that the campaign is so miserable, as its live-action story cutscenes and stylish, twist-in-the-tale storytelling are both fantastic.

A good, but entirely forgettable experience. It's worth a quick play if you've got nothing else to do, and a weekend rental would serve you very well. However, it's definitely not something you'll want to keep on your gaming shelf for very long.

Intercept is a surprisingly enjoyable experience that entwines havoc, synergy, and drama into a lovely bundle. It's a tad repetitive and light on content, though, so I certainly hope Guerrilla Games continues to support the expansion as it nears the standalone release.

Deciding whether or not to buy Endurance Mode for Rise of the Tomb Raider is a pretty easy decision. Did you play and enjoy the Expeditions? If so, go ahead and grab it, if not, skip it.

Scene It? Movie Night and the Mega Movies pack provide a fun movie trivia party experience that keeps the Scene It? gameplay intact in a downloadable slice. It might just be that cheap little game to keep the family occupied over the holidays, but you had better have some local friends to play it with.

It's a title that packs a ton of content and gameplay onto a single disc, and its import options for songs from previous titles will pad your song selections nicely. But it's also an experience that feels remarkably similar to last year's offering, and that's unfortunate.

Nom Nom Galaxy isn't particularly exciting, but it's a whimsical little journey that does a decent job at world building. Despite the fact that people are probably clamoring for "more PixelJunk Monsters" as we speak, I'm glad that Q-Games continues to try new things.

Despite the moments of frustration, it's a fun little game that works surprisingly well for a mobile SEGA port. That's good enough for me!

Banjo-Tooie's gameplay is an mid-point between the simplicity of Banjo-Kazooie and batshit insanity of Donkey Kong 64, though it can be immensely frustrating like the latter game a lot of the time.

It might be sloppy sometimes, even in regards to the conversation of open world adventures, but it offers up a lot of fast-paced arcade fun.

If the eponymous Savage Planet is your Kindred explorer's residence, the space rock called DL-C1 is a timeshare. It's a decent little getaway -- probably worth the investment, a change of pace, and the vacation is over quicker than you'd like. But, despite what the name suggests, Hot Garbage is far from a dump.

Watching an early decision ripple out to future consequences, then rewinding and seeing what would have happened if something else were chosen is an entertaining exercise. I'm going to keep playing at least a few more times until I see all of the different scenes and maybe even find my true story.

A good game that's robbed of greatness by a lack of ambition and terrible toys-to-life implementation. Everything it gets right – the clever mix-and-match shipbuilding, the combat, the controls, the imaginative alien worlds, the decent space opera storyline – can’t escape the vortex of tedium that comes with pedestrian mission design, planets that are mechanically the same, and the crushing knowledge that people who buy just the Starter Pack are getting an unquestionably inferior experience.

Though it suffers from a few design oversights, Defenders of Townsville is a good, solid game. It handles the franchise well enough, but it would be good even without the Powerpuff Girls property. At about four hours of total gameplay, it does not overstay its welcome, and it definitely does justice to the franchise.

I suspect it's going to be highly polarizing (not only due to the adherence to retro style difficulty but the newness of the art and humor), but it somewhat won me over due to sheer force of will.

It doesn't break any new ground, but what it does, it does well enough.

As a hardcore shooter fan since the '90s, Valorant feels very well designed, and provides me with a rush I haven't gotten out of so many other big genre games in the past five years. But Valorant feels like it was meticulously designed in a laboratory to fault. It's fitting given that Riot has over a decade of data and esports experience, but the sterile feel of it does impact my decision to play it more regularly.

Beyond a breath of fresh air, it will provide a chuckle for some and a tear for others. Well done, Vicious Cycle. Well done indeed.

If you have a family who likes getting together and play games like this, go ahead and pull the trigger -- all other curious parties should wait for a sale to compensate for the weak activities.