The Swindle is frustrating at first glance, but smooths out to spread its steampunk wings thanks to some good depth, variety and quick gameplay style.

As always, M2 did a superb job with the overall package of this Sega Ages release. Cool borders, screen filters, a clean and concise online manual, online rankings, and just all of the top quality production we’ve come to expect is included here. Still, I can’t say G-LOC Air Battle is a game I will play very often at all, but I am really glad that it got the M2 treatment and finally has arrived in a home release, decades after its original arcade debut.

Life is Strange 2 on the Switch is simply that. Are you a person who has managed to not touch the series or this particular entry yet? Do you only have a Switch? Then this is the version for you. The core game is an excellent narrative adventure full of emotional ups and downs. On Switch it may be inferior to PC, PlayStation, or Xbox but now all players can enjoy the full Life is Strange trilogy wherever they would like.

Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments delivers a good system for finding clues and solving murders with a complex clues and deductions system, plenty of puzzles to be had, and good mysteries to boot.

One Piece Odyssey is a great RPG when the story isn’t getting in the way of its pacing. There is so much to enjoy about the gameplay with its action and creativity, as well as the turn-based structure that is typical of this genre. On its own, the story isn’t too bad either. It is fun and light-hearted with a small sense of good drama to keep it engaging. But the unbalanced space sharing between both gameplay and story causes such a stop-and-go pacing problem that in the end the gameplay experience is so heavily disrupted that it is tough to enjoy the game.

The Deadly Tower of Monsters is the latest in ACE Team's Ghastly Menagerie of Interactive Curiosities. Inventive ideas with perspective and the concept of ascending a lavishly decorated outdoor tower put some distance between The Deadly Tower of Monsters and genre conventions, but, really, it's not why you're here. You came for an ambitious descent into Chilean pandemonium and this game holistically satisfies that urgency.

Aragami: Stealth Edition sneaks its way on the the Switch, and if you’re like me and you missed it three years ago, it’s worth a look if you’re into the stealth action genre. It was never a ground-breaking game per se, but it is well put together and worth checking out.

All in all, NBA Live 19 is a solid tip-toe towards what I think could be a great competitor in the basketball video game world. Even though The One is excellent and should be played, everything else is lacking and feels phoned-in. If EA were to put as much effort and innovation into their other modes as they did with The One, they’d have a real contender for best basketball sim out there. But please (please) change the shot meter.

Your Shape Fitness Evolved is the best workout game to date and an excellent choice for Kinect owners this holiday.

It still brings some of the most intense campaign gameplay in comparison to other FPS titles at launch, and brings some unique elements (enemy A.I. and the OWL) to make it worth your time and money.

A very welcomed addition to the PSN and to my game collection, The House of the Dead 4 finally comes home.

Rainbow Six Extraction may appear to be a vast departure from all things Tom Clancy’s and Rainbow Six on the surface. However, it is an often thrilling, tense PvE game that implements some of the best shooting mechanics found in Siege. Rather than focusing on swarms of fast moving zombies and floods of randomized loot, Extraction keeps things simple and often muted, rewarding careful and deliberate play. It may not have deep progression and constantly evolving objectives but it does present a challenge that only Rainbow Six can bring. While Ubisoft typically supports their games for the long term, I’m curious to see if Rainbow Six Extraction will be able to shine in this increasingly busy space and prove that the risk–and lengthy delay–was mostly worth it.

Hardline is a great game if considered on its own merits, but it’s not the best Battlefield game.

Whereas Lost in Nightmares offered a delicious modern take on the Resident Evil's past, Desperate Escape is content to serve up increasingly stale leftovers.

I cannot help but appreciate how Arcadegeddon hooked me into this really player-friendly loot shooter. The arcade-y elements are replayable, rewarding, and worth playing with friends. Arcadegeddon hits the spot as an MMO with roguelite elements with an awesome arcade aesthetic. But, I want more. Much more. If Arcadegeddon is to succeed in the MMO/roguelite space in the longer term, some of the advancement mechanics (such as preserving progress of longer runs) and lategame gameplay needs to be refined and expanded. I want additional modes like time trials that can easily and reliably completed in a single sitting. At the same time, I want some additional variety to make a three hour gauntlet exciting to reach. If you’re wanting a co-op loot shooter that’s easily picked up and played, look no further than Arcadegeddon. If you want something deeper, wait around a bit. Hopefully Arcadegeddon can hit that sweet spot, too.

If you come in expecting LEGO 2K Driver to fit firmly with previously released LEGO games, then you’re in for a world of disappointment. This is a game of its own based purely on racing and open-world exploration. While not all of it works completely, it does have enough charm and creativity to push it through as a game worth playing.

Dune: Spice Wars from developer Shiro Games is the ultimate experience for any Dune fan looking for a well-designed and respectful translation of the sci-fi series into an RTS gaming form. It has all the intricate details and power moves that are featured in the books, while at the same time crafted to be a familiar real-time strategy experience at its forefront. The only downer is the amount of gameplay element juggling a casual RTS fan might have to do to enjoy the game, which could turn them off from playing it.

Overall, Black Desert Online is a typical MMO in every single way. While I disagree with their claim that it’s the “next generation” of MMOs, I did find the character creation to be the most robust of any MMO out there. Unfortunately, the character customization is the game’s biggest highlight, and many of the other elements of Black Desert Online can be found in many other MMOs.

While Dawnguard probably could have contained a bit more for its $20 price tag, most gamers who have dedicated months of their lives to playing this game will not be disappointed with their purchase. For the time being, I'm hooked again, and that means I'm probably going to have to go pay off my ridiculously high bounty in Whiterun.

The Grandia HD Collection lacks any bells and whistles worth gushing over. Rather, it is a perfect excuse to uncover a legacy JRPG series that many would argue has been lost to time. Players may long for higher quality remakes to allow for the most optimal, modern experience available but sometimes, a polished time capsule is all we need to enjoy a game in its purest form.

Demonschool from developer Necrosoft Games is a wonderful tactical turn-based fighting game that will entertain players thanks to a strong story, good strategy-led map designs, and enough characters to create multiple paths to approach fights. While it needed to be a bit less linear and more user-controlled on the story side of the tracks, it’s a fantastic experience from beginning to end.

SLEEP AWAKE‘s psychedelic horror takes players on a delirious journey where the very world shifts and deceives. Its strength lies not in its ability to scare but its ability to make the player question their own eyes. At what point would exhaustion take hold and we refuse to carry on? Mediocre stealth and remedial puzzles inflict minimal damage on this mind-bending narrative, proving that not all fear must jump out at you. Sometimes the worst horrors are the fictions we create in our head.

Excluding Wii Party, Mario Party 9 is the first we've seen in nearly five years of what was historically a perennial series. This break in the action has provided an opportunity for reinvention, and to some extent, that's what's occurred. What it all boils down to is a clever, unexpected, and much-needed reboot of a series that previously didn't seem to have much left in the way of creativity. It won't turn haters into lovers, but it's most certainly a step in the right direction for the franchise.

Clearly, fans of the genre, especially those that prefer to play on console as opposed to PC, should give PD a serious look. If you’re on the fence about diving into the genre, and your committed, this is also a great way to jump in, just expect some frustrations along the way.

LEGO Pirates of the Caribbean is a refreshing reboot, at least in my mind, to an ailing, overused franchise. Packed with adventure, excitement and just about everything you would expect from a Pirates' film, Disney Interactive Studios and their developers hit a home run with this release.

Call of Duty: Vanguard is a standout shooter experience. A globetrotting campaign that features some of the franchise’s best visuals features a core mystery that is over far too quickly but remains strong. I also wish the Zombies mode wasn’t impacted by a content drop that is expected a month from launch, meaning that players are given an engaging but sometimes toothless wave-based assault on the undead. Yet the multiplayer is an exceptional entry at the heart of Vanguard. It offers refinement on the standard set by Modern Warfare and gives players an incredible amount of challenges to complete to best show off their combat prowess. While a new Warzone map isn’t here yet, there’s plenty to look forward to in the months to come. Despite skipping a year, Sledgehammer Games is at its peak with Call of Duty: Vanguard, delivering a premium World War II shooter and an incredible Call of Duty game.

Outriders is a fresh, new IP. While it’s getting compared to others in the genre constantly, it stands alone as its own game and unique idea. I for one can’t wait to see where Square Enix and People Can Fly take the concept. There is a wealth of good here and you can see its promise for a long time to come.

Crysis Remastered Trilogy is a must-have for any fan of the games or of the FPS genre in general. This release represents the best way to play three of the best shooters from the mid-2000s. The absence of Warhead and multiplayer is unfortunate, though. Still, for the price, the amount of quality content that you get here is well worth it.