Escape Academy is a good game. It emulates the structure of an escape room while allowing the idea to go beyond real-world confines. It might be quick for some players, but it’s nonetheless enjoyable, especially with a group of friends.

MLB 10 The Show is a great baseball sim for the PSP, but the curious removal of online play will irk fans wanting to upgrade from MLB 09. If you can live without that, then MLB 10 is a good choice.

OXENFREE is an amazing story that doesn’t ask a lot of extra attention from its players other than listening and occasionally playing out some puzzles/problems/actions onscreen.

Prey establishes an interesting atmosphere early on and maintains that, with only a few disagreements along the way. Lengthy load times are likely going to get reduced with patches and combat is sometimes more annoying and pace-breaking than I would like, but overall, Prey gives more than enough back in return to offer a compelling experience.

Though the game's identity seems to be caught somewhere between a demo on steroids and a pint-sized full game, Dead Rising 2: Case Zero finds the perfect balance with its immensely cheap price tag with a surprisingly large amount of content.

Until Dawn doesn’t hide what it’s trying to do. It’s a game that focuses on story and QTE heavy gameplay. It has linear design driving it, while only deviating from the course with player choices, which affect the direction of the story. If you can accept these things, and realize it’s not perfect, then you’re going to probably enjoy Supermassive Games’ horror show.

The lack of competent online play and the unusually long load times are disappointing for hardcore enthusiasts, but Tekken's heart and soul, the fighting engine and the joy of skill based competition against your friends, is delightfully intact.

Kingdom Hearts: Melody of Memory is an amazing way to pay tribute to not only the music of the series but also the story. It is a great way to prepare fans for the newest chapters in the series while also taking a look back at the journey we’ve all had with Sora and the others. Although there is a lack of new content, customization, and the pacing was a little off, the creative rhythmic gameplay is worth trying out if you love rhythm games! But if you don’t and are just wanting to buy for the story, it’s best if skip this one.

Bottomline, Sniper Elite 4 on Switch is nearly four years late to the party, but better late than never. It’s regrettable that all of the DLC wasn’t included and that this release was not given the Ultimate version treatment, but, for snipe-hungry Switch players, this is still an excellent game that’s well worth your consideration.

In its third mainline iteration, LittleBigPlanet's momentum shifts from a bastion of adaptive entertainment to a lightning rod of tailored inspiration. It's a logical progression, one that sacrifices personal moments of professionally crafted clarity, but in their place is a tidy collection of tools and concepts masquerading as purpose-driven levels – and the hope that talented players will embrace enough of them to fill in LittleBigPlanet 3's considerable gaps in content.

This game is very good. A 10-12 hour campaign, that can all be played cooperatively, is supported by a good handful of multiplayer offerings. The "story" seems relative and sets the stage for a great experience, even with it being a bit repetitive.

Always good, occasionally great, and never regrettable, Ys Seven is another notable title in the PSP's increasingly impressive RPG stable.

The combat system, once you get the hang of it, is surprisingly deep and engaging, and it does well to support each characters inherent strengths and weaknesses.

Dystopika is the epitome of chilling and building a cyberpunk city of my own design. The lack of stakes, instructions, and guidance instills an experience of simply doing and being rewarded for creative designs rather than carbon-copy cities that look and function alike. If you’re in the market for a relaxing citybuilder to play in your downtime, look no further.

Routine from developer Lunar Software and Raw Fury is a good space horror game filled with the right amount of intensity and fear, which is complemented by its gameplay elements. The only improvement needed is with the controls.

Dead Rising 2 willfully endures that same risks as its predecessor and still manages to come out better for it.

A Hat in Time is more interested in looking around than staring backward. This is a challenging exercise for a 3D platformer, and yet A Hat in Time keeps its perspective balanced between careful devotion and sensible progression. Being responsive to your environment, as it turns out, makes it easier to see where you should be going.

Thunder Lotus has done a tremendous job with Jotun leaving very little in the 'con' column of the equation.

Alien: Isolation projects an authoritative and unrepentant sense of despair consistent with Ridley Scott's 1979 classic. As powerful and affecting as its influence may be, it's applied with enough force to drive Isolation off its rails. It never crashes, but after an aggressively defiant start, it teeters and wobbles its way toward an unassertive and obedient conclusion.

Whether you choose to label it a cash-in or a shameless celebration, it’s collaborative love from Level-5 and Capcom that you probably won’t want to miss.

KOF XV is a heck of a fighting game that spans a massive, rich history. Personally, I would have loved a bigger focus on local play, and less-to-no focus on online multiplayer, but I get that it’s 2022 and fighting games can’t survive that way. As is, the local, offline offerings are pretty slim; fun, and serviceable, but pretty slim. Netcode and presentation are solid. I thought the graphical choices SNK went with for KOF XV were great. All-in-all, there’s a lot to like about this release. I’m not sure what SNK plans for paid DLC, but suspect there will be more than thirty-nine fighters in the roster when it’s all said and done. At release, KOF XV is technically sound on all fronts and fun to play. It’s great to see this series still getting serious attention from SNK, and hopefully the fighting community will be moved to support this classic franchise.

An excellent game for $40, but in the back of your mind you can't help but wonder if we'll hear about a third MvC3 in a few months... that said, for the money, you'd be hard pressed to find a more complete and thrilling fighting game.

You wouldn't expect beers with friends and the moral complexity of infidelity to be suitable for an interactive medium, and you certainly wouldn't anticipate marrying those concepts to a box pushing puzzle game to materialize into anything remotely interesting. And you would have been wrong.

While ESO is certainly growing and filling out the map of Tamriel, it feels like it is stagnating some. New additions like the Antiquities system and Tales of Tribute give players some variety in the gameplay. However, the core of the stories feels the same. While it can feel stale, I do still enjoy playing each new chapter. The new locales and characters usually make up for it. As do the new systems. I am interested to see what the devs bring us next as well as where the Legacy of the Bretons will go.

People of Note proves that turn-based RPGs can offer synergistic fun as long as care is given to both the combat and the content. By centering the game around its musical core, Iridium Studios pays off their efforts in dividends. Not only is the narrative heartfelt and the combat engaging, the creativity used in incorporating song constantly surprises, making People of Note just as catchy as its catalog of earworms.

This is what arcade racing/driving is all about.

There’s an immense value in preserving classic titles in their original forms, mainly for the better. For the case of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection, it is so easy to relive the glory days of arcade gaming be it in playing any of the thirteen titles it offers OR by perusing the sheer amount of extra content in the Turtle’s Lair. And, having online play that works with little issues is the cherry on top. As a fan of TMNT, the Cowabunga Collection is a no-brainer: This is the collection best shared over pizza.

Sackboy: A Big Adventure is incredible — solo or with others. It has an amazing amount of content for a game that most will write-off haphazardly. It’s an example of fun creativity that comes with people who are passionate about bringing a good experience to gamers of all ages.