I’m left thinking that Parry Nightmare is meant to be a starter bullet hell title for players unfamiliar with the genre – only because of its brevity and simplicity. While it lacks traditional bullet hell variance and depth to ensure replayability, it contains enough nuance to tell an interesting story while the eyes and ears are treated to a stunning art style and jazzy soundtrack.

In single player, it gets repetitive in a hurry, but with friends, it's a blast. I wouldn't recommend this game for purchase unless you're sure you can line up some co-op.

Overall Klaus is a solid linear, story-based platformer. Hardcore players of platformers looking for a challenge should look elsewhere. From a mysterious story to solid yet fun gameplay, Klaus is a game that should be enjoyable for anyone.

NHL Slapshot is a nice attempt by EA to capture a larger hockey audience for the Wii. It combines a solid core game with a unique controller that works pretty well for itself. The result is a hockey experience that isn't bad if you're looking for something a little different and a little more casual.

The ending of this first installment of the DLC certainly ends on a cliffhanger, leaving us excited for November’s content. Whether you play it now or wait until all three DLCs are out, The Heist is definitely worth the price of admission and the four hours it takes to complete.

It goes without saying, but Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2 is still just a Naruto game. Full of loose, yet accessible mechanics, the game is a love letter to Naruto fans that seems to forget that it needs to complete its sentences to get its point across.

Echoes of the Fallen is a gorgeous addition to Final Fantasy XVI’s main campaign. At most, it brings new vicious enemies that offer new levels of challenge to the player with motivating rewards waiting in the wings for those that take it on. While the story does add more intrigue to who the Fallen might have been before Clive was a gleam in his parents’ eyes, the DLC seems to be more focused on the game’s action and beauty rather than a deep storyline.

The PlayStation 5 version of Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is the best in the bunch. It tells a solid campaign with branching narrative choices, contains some of the best visuals that you’ve seen on a system not called ‘PC’, and it has some good, new faces on the multiplayer scene. Is it all perfect? Not at all, but it’s a good way for Call of Duty to start on the next generation of consoles.

I'm happy that this staple JRPG series is evolving. Dusk Sea brings with it several key gameplay changes that should keep series fans happy while making itself more accessible and interesting to others.

Arcadia Fallen is a wonderful game with very well-thought-through underlying messages that are wrapped up in a branching narrative. While its story-heavy personality may not fit the fancy of some folks, its intentions are good enough to entertain most.

F1 Manager 2023 from Frontier Developments is a detailed F1 experience for the F1 fan that needs a bit more than what F1 2023 can deliver. It has every aspect of running an F1 team, designing success on the racetrack, and juggling the business side of the sport. What it doesn’t have is up-to-par visuals for this generation, but that takes a backseat to the F1 managing the game successfully delivers.

If I do a top games of 2017 list at the end of the year, I can already tell you that Full Throttle Remastered will be on it. This is point and click adventure gaming done right during the best and brightest days of the genre. Double Fine has done a superb job remastering and re-releasing it; don’t miss it.

Mortal Shell does a lot of things right when it comes to being a “Souls-like” game. It nails its environmental and character designs, its combat feels satisfying, especially when I found the build that worked for my playstyle, and it’s difficult and unrelenting. I found a lot to chew on with Mortal Shell, even if it wasn’t necessarily apparent in the first few hours. Though not quite as polished as I would have hoped, for a game developed by such a small team, it’s quite an achievement.

Mass Effect: Andromeda is a game for a different kind of gamer. Those who can appreciate the lore and immense depth of stories upon stories, upon stories. However, if you’re a newcomer and are interested in the content that this game brings, I encourage you, it is a wonderful ride. The universe, characters, tone, the music… EVERYTHING plays a part in this game and melds together in a way that feels like this could be where our technology heads towards in 600 years.

Hyrule Warriors delivers a wonderful Legend of Zelda action game with a large cast of familiar characters, identifiable worlds, a great upgrade/leveling system and endless amounts of action. It’s far from a perfect game, especially in regards to controls and repetitiveness, but it’s much better than expected.

The Crew Motorfest‘s beating heart is its diverse playlists, exemplifying the vast beauty of Hawaii and its many racing opportunities. Extolling the virtues of car culture and history, players will interact with unique scenarios meant to hone their skills and extract blistering speed out of a massive roster of vehicles. With one of Ubisoft’s best worlds to date and a constant stream of rewards, The Crew is in top gear.

In some ways, Threefold Recital does an excellent job in telling a thoughtful tale of beastlings bound to Daoist philosophy. In other ways, I was a smidge disappointed in the driving forces behind that storytelling and the simplicity of the platforming. It’s not the most memorable platformer outright, but if you’re in the mood for a compelling narrative with some light platforming and other minigames, look no further than Threefold Recital.

Bandle Tale: A League of Legends Story demystifies yordles’ existence in a way that emulates some modern simulation favorites like Stardew Valley and Animal Crossing. While its gameplay skews more straightforward, guided, and simplistic, Bandle Tale is presented in a way that is charming and contains ample mystique thanks to its glorious pixel art and soundtrack.

Dead Take works as a message, as a personal anecdote, as a performance showcase. It may not present a wholly unexpected take on the first-person horror genre nor dazzle with complex puzzles. But this dissection of power and the ones who wield it feels especially timely in our constantly-changing world that seems to reward ambition through viciousness. As an eerie, moody look at Hollywood, players may grow uncomfortable at Dead Take‘s honesty but remain enraptured by the phenomenal talent of its acting and direction until its final, stark moments.

It’s no Thousand-Year Door, but Color Splash really does provide an overarching sense of consonance which was conspicuously absent from Sticker Star and even Super Paper Mario. It’s a good balance of humor, environment, variety, and casual puzzle elements.

Arkham fans can expect to really enjoy Origins, so long as they don't go into the game expecting to experience sweeping changes to the gameplay that made Asylum and City so great. Origins is a great game that can proudly stand outside of the shadow of its predecessors.

Evasion is a decent FPS for the PSVR, but it needed just a bit more variety to make it fun and engaging. The initial structure of the gameplay is spot-on, but the enemies and level design are just a bit too stale.

Firewatch distinguishes itself through integrity of its structure and preservation of its characters. Allowing control over Henry and Delilah's perilous connection provides a sense of ownership over the narrative and creates an important bond between action and place. Other story-focused games suffer from a damaging disconnect between agency and intention, almost as if they don't trust the player to act reasonably in accountable situations. Firewatch proves this dynamic not only to be valuable, but necessary to go forward.

A great fit in any Vita library that would benefit from an excellent JRPG.

An awful story is salvaged and ameliorated through exceptional combat design and an engaging weapon creation system - leaving Dead Space 3 weaker than its predecessors, but still an experience absolutely worth having.

This game has sparked an interest in anime that I didn’t know I had. I would highly recommend this game to anyone who enjoyed the PS2 game, as well as anyone who wants to check out a series that has withstood the test of time.

Though the characters, locales, and general lore of Warhammer were lost on me not having ever played any Warhammer before (tabletop or otherwise), this didn’t stop me from getting into the game and enjoying it. The story, characters, quest and dungeon design, and general gameplay are all pretty straight-forward and familiar, and I don’t mean that in a disparaging way. This is a good case of ‘if it’s not broke, don’t fix it.’ If you’re looking for an expansive and fun co-op loot-gathering, combat-heavy dungeon crawler, this is a good choice, and your only choice right now for the new consoles.

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game Complete Edition is exactly the game you remember from ten years ago. It’s a complete nostalgic joy that honestly didn’t really need to be touched up or fine-tuned. Ubisoft chose to preserve the experience where it mattered rather than alter it in any significant way. Instead, the crucial missing component of online play was worked into the game, drastically increasing its appeal for just about any player. Though not without the same faults that were in its DNA from the beginning, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game Complete Edition will have you grinning from ear to ear with its irresistible charm that gushes from every pixelated pore. Finally, Scott’s journey is complete.