With too many enemies present, Sir, You Are Being Hunted would simply be an open-world shooter, but with too few, it would be boring. While many might find its empty spaces dull, they always carry with them a hidden threat that a pipe-smoking robot has you in its crosshairs with its steely finger on the trigger.

It's refreshing to get a game that knows exactly what it wants to do, executes on that idea, but doesn't overstay its welcome. The central mechanic of precision projectile motion is unique, and Lichtspeer plays with the formula enough to keep the experience fresh right up until the end.

The narrative picks up the slack, and despite a slow start, it builds into a nice crescendo and naturally, a cliffhanger.

Hardcore VR players have already likely flocked to Covert Ops: it's the next big thing from Oculus Studios, of course they're looking for an excuse to get some use out of their headset. But for everyone else, it's definitely one to keep on a list somewhere for when you eventually pick up a Rift or a Quest.

Even though I didn't connect with either character, I think Scarif comes out strong with its vibrant setting and stellar maps. The new multi-part Infiltration mode is uneven, yes, but it's also Battlefront at its best. In fact, if it weren't for Bespin, this final expansion would be my favorite. Now we just need DICE to hurry up and consolidate the fragmented player base. Battlefront 2 isn't that far off.

It's a nice little slice of Dead Rising which stands perfectly fine on its own and I can honestly recommend it to people who want to kill zombies for a few hours but would not otherwise enjoy the time-based mechanics and rigid scheduling necessary to complete a longer Dead Rising title.

As someone who has been playing fighters for nearly three decades, I can get on board with Fighting EX Layer's lack of pageantry. What I can't accept quite as earnestly is its issue with roster playstyle diversity. The foundation is there, it just needs to be built up further.

That's the unpredictable allure to Candleman. Its obvious hook is in its unique mechanic, but that's not enough to carry it to the conclusion. Then, there's a Rudy-like emotional investment that takes over when everything stops revolving around gameplay. Fittingly, Candleman burns out prematurely. But, that doesn't mean that it stops shining.

If you're craving an RTS on a console, or perhaps aren't particularly well-versed in the genre, Halo Wars 2 has you covered. It doesn't offer much that other games in the same space have given us over the past 10 years, but it's polished and fun to play.

Translating cover shooters into 2D makes for a good mix of contemporary and classic sensibilities. It's nice to play a shooter where avoiding enemy bullets is a bit more necessary and I like the tools Not a Hero provides with its slick cover system, mechanically varied cast, and constant chain of slide kicks and executions.

The Making of Karateka feels like it was told by someone who really loves video games, whereas Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story feels more like it was told by someone who loves Jeff Minter. It’s more interested in showing the man and less about telling his story. Instead, Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story just feels like an organized box of stuff. It’s a pretty great box of stuff, but it should have been more than that.

Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight delivers upon expectations without quite surpassing them. It's a very welcome return for a great cast of characters with a fun, colourful, challenging rhythm-action game wrapped around their weird and entertaining universe. Though the price of entry is undeniably high, there is definitely a party happening in the Velvet Room, and few Persona fans in attendance will find themselves leaving disappointed.

Clockwork Aquario is here. 30 years late, but soaked in old-school style. Westone Bit Entertainment’s final release would not win any awards for originality, but offers a short, fun, and attractive journey to the halcyon days of the ’90s arcade renaissance. The package on offer is a little thin, and the price will be a tad high for the average player’s taste, but important work has been done by publishers ININ Games and Strictly Limited — here’s hoping they will be rewarded in kind.

Pain junkies can get a quick fix of MotoHeroz methadone, but it will only tide them over until the next hit of Trials heroin shows up.

There's so much about Mafia II that feels like a relic of a bygone era. Video game design has long surpassed and evolved beyond this approach to storytelling. Still, I find myself oddly charmed by it. I've played Mafia II twice now, once in 2010 and once in 2020. Its foibles that irritated me a decade ago seem more forgivable now. Maybe it's because I knew to expect a flawed experience, maybe it's because I'm getting more lenient in my old age. Whatever it is, I relished blowing through a thrilling mobster drama over the course of a weekend, knowing I wouldn't have to dedicated the better part of the next month to finish it. In a lot of respects, Mafia II hasn't aged all that well; strangely, that's why I think it's a better game than it was 10 years ago.

It can be tough at times, but that just makes it more gratifying when it all works out and the balls go in the hole.

While testing Banner Saga through Factions is not exactly social work, it's not what you've been waiting for, either. Call it a scenic detour that gives the dinner hosts at Stoic some extra time to cook more side dishes while testing out the current ones on guests. Don't worry: Factions is plenty of fun on its own and will only get better as updates roll out.

Forza Horizon 3 Hot Wheels works even though it occupies a weird space. It doesn't play to Forza Horizon's strengths and, eventually, it doesn't even feel much like Hot Wheels anymore. It's claustrophobic and constricting in a way this franchise hasn't been before. In a twist of irony, it's the Hot Wheels aspect that prevents this expansion from ever performing anything spectacularly perilous.

There are some weird localization issues where the text doesn’t match what’s happening on the screen, and the audio could be better at guiding players when their faces are turned away from the screen. But beyond that and the aforementioned tracking issues, Fitness Circuit is a well-rounded package. If you’re looking for your first fitness game on Switch or have tired of all the other ones, consider it an effective way to keep active every day.

If the more mundane parts of Heavy Rain left you unenthused -- and if they didn’t, that’s even better -- you’ll enjoy this exhilarating condensed experience.

Try FNR4 if you’re looking for a good boxing game or want to experience the glory of current generation pugilism all over again. It’s worth it. Just don’t venture online with wide eyes and innocence. You’ll be rocked.

It's been a while since I've played a game with a cast of characters that was so good it elevated the rest of the experience.

Bright Memory has the potential to be great once Infinite arrives, but for now it gets a very light recommendation with some provisos.

Fans of Bryan Lee O'Malley's comics or the star-studded 2010 Edgar Wright film will find all of their favorites and more in Scott Pilgrim EX, the latest licensed collab from Tribute Games. The beat-em-up is enjoyable to play, but difficulty and connection issues can hamper the short-lived experience.

For your $30, you essentially get a touched-up Toy Soldiers. I loved Toy Soldiers, I think it’s a fantastic game. I’m happy that they took the time to make the battlefields look a little more modern, but if I hadn’t gone back to check the original game, I might not have realized that anything had been done at all. So, the real value to me is just being able to re-experience the game on new platforms, or on PC without the Games for Windows Live nonsense.

While Freedom Planet isn't a perfect experience, it is still a very enjoyable and easily one of the best Sonic the Hedgehog-esque games I've played in years. If you were looking for something to scratch that 16-bit Sonic itch this might be it. Just don't say I didn't warn you about the questionable story, voice acting, and late game bosses.

BioWare will need to build quickly on top of its shimmering jet-fueled foundation to hold people's interest, but folks looking for a new neighborhood to move into might want to give Anthem a try -- either now or after fixes and updates.

I hope that Camouflaj gets their hands on Iron Man again: if only to see how they can top themselves and mend their mistakes.