Persona 4 Golden was arguably the game to get on the Vita, among a library that's very unsung after Sony put that little portable out to pasture. Now that it's on one of the most accessible platforms in the world, there's little to no excuse for avoiding it. $20 is a steal for something that's going to last you a full month and keep you thinking about it for months to come.

I can just imagine some kid saving up their allowance to buy this pricey meatball and crying afterward.

With a remake, all of this, along with the often questionable level design, could have been corrected. But with SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom Rehydrated aiming to be as faithful to the original as possible, these issues only serve as a reminder of how much better the industry has become at making 3D platformers.

Through it all though, I'm still going back and playing it. The live, die, repeat roguelite mechanic has its hooks in me and although it's frustrating at times, I'm working through gritted teeth to unlock more items to help me in future runs. The aesthetic beauty of the game helps keep me going as well as the music but I only wish some more tweaking had been done to some of the shootout mechanics. If you pumped hours upon hours into Enter the Gungeon then chances are you'll find a similar grab in West of Dead, but be fair warned that there isn't as much polish here.

You're getting a very small narrative and another big interconnected Wild Area: that's pretty much of the gist of it.

As a farming simulation, Summer in Mara falls short, but dang if its sunny world and characters aren't pleasant to be around.

Command & Conquer Remastered Collection is a masterclass in how to re-energise a classic title. There's no denying that the 25-year-old gameplay doesn't quite hold up to its modern contemporaries, but with over 100 missions, progressive options, revamped multiplayer, and full mod support, C&C Remastered is both a solid package and a proud testament to Westwood Studios' genre-defining work. Now, about Red Alert 2...

Part II doesn't re-invent the wheel, but it gives us a lasting glimpse of a unique world that's worth visiting time and time again.

If Beyond Blue didn't try its best to tell a personal narrative with a cast of characters, I still would've enjoyed it despite its simplicity as a game. Even though the aquatic simulation feels too surface-level at times, I can't deny the game's beautiful imagery, education-minded ambition, or tranquil appeal.

Disintegration is highly ambitious, and I think that over time a combination of free and paid DLC could shore up some of its weaknesses.

Shantae and the Seven Sirens is a compact, attractive, and agreeable adventure, but its muddled design lacks variety, innovation, and vital story engagement. As such, Seven Sirens feels like a sequel on auto-pilot, one that doesn't seize the opportunities offered by its exciting world and lively new cast, ultimately resulting in an entry that's good enough, but had the capacity to be truly magical.

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.

Clubhouse Games: 51 Worldwide Classics might sound generic at first blush, but it's secretly one of the best Nintendo Switch games of 2020. It's the right game at the right time with the right temperament.

Even if it didn't have an extra chapter to conquer, Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition deserves a third release.

Signs of the Sojourner is one of the most cohesive narrative games I have ever played. The interplay between mechanics and storytelling is absolutely brilliant, which makes it a shame that it misses the mark in terms of actually being enjoyable to play. The inclusion of a frustrating "fatigue" mechanic is at odds with the general laid-back design approach to deckbuilding. There is something truly beautiful here that is worth experiencing, it's just a shame that the game seems to fight itself at every turn.

Maneater squanders some of its potential, but it's perfect for a rainy weekend when you're craving something original.

Minecraft has proven itself to be quite the enduring and endearing IP over the past decade, and Dungeons is now partially responsible for that legacy.

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.

Every time I returned to Fury Unleashed I found myself enjoying what I played. It’s maybe not something that sucked me in and kept me glued to the screen until the end, but it entertained whenever I gave it a chance. For its price, it’s a worthwhile diversion. I just wouldn’t be surprised if nothing inside you gets unleashed.

Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA Mega Mix isn't as fully featured as some previous games, but the DNA is still decidedly Miku.

The Wonderful 101 deserves this new Remastered lease on life after the way it was treated on the Wii U.

Huntdown is a nihilistic, loud, explosive, even obnoxious arcade shooter. But behind its acid comic style and vulgar tone lies a superb, meticulously crafted action experience, packed with creative and addictive carnage, at a breakneck pace, for an agreeable price. Heed the warning: Do Not Sleep on Huntdown. It's an absolute blast.

Ultimately, remaking old games can be tough, but at a base level, the goal is pretty simple: To bring the best bits of an old game to life in a way that a new audience can appreciate. Trials of Mana accomplishes this goal handily. In a sense, it's an ideal remake, holding tight to the core of what made the original game (and the Mana series as a whole) so compelling to so many people at the time, while bringing a novelty and freshness to attract neophytes like yours truly.

Like many expansive online projects, the opportunity is there to really get sucked into a new and exciting world.

There's an unshakable sense that almost everything is less finely-tuned than it should be. Still, this could be one of my favorite flawed games of 2020. It could be the one asymmetrical multiplayer title I keep up with for more than a few weeks. (Sorry, Resident Evil Resistance. I tried!). Granted, I'll need IllFonic to get in the weeds and fight the urge to over-balance, and I'll need my fellow mid-level players to stick with it so the rest of us aren't carved up by diehard Predator fans.

Streets of Rage 4 is an absolute triumph. It looks stunning, it sounds sublime, and it plays like a dream. SoR 4 delivers fistfuls of knock-down, drag-out action for fans old and new, all at a modest price. It's been a long wait for the Streets of Rage faithful, but comebacks rarely get much better than this. GRAND UPPAH!

Moving Out is less strategically satisfying than I would've liked, but it's worth considering if you want something new to play along the lines of Overcooked, Tools Up, and Good Job. It deserves a spot on that co-op shortlist. At the same time, I hope we get DLC that adds more bespoke puzzle scenarios.

Cloudpunk is certainly a game worth seeing, but beyond that, there's not much to back up its cyberpunk aesthetic. Flying around in your hover car is a joy, and the city is a consistently surprising visual treat, but whenever the game gets around to providing context to all of it, it stumbles. You largely get what it says on the box, but Cloudpunk would have benefited from more compelling gameplay and a more focused story. It's not that it's badly designed or horribly written, it just doesn't quite reach the clouds.