You will find some joy in the action and some sort of satisfaction in killing tons of enemies, but if you’re looking for something with any rich substance to it at all, Strider may not be enough of a good experience for you.

My skepticism regarding "Urban Trial Freestyle" was remedied quickly by its easy-to-pickup-and-play nature and the fair amount of challenges it offered in both of its primary game modes. It's not the prettiest title on the platform, but what it lacks in appearance it makes up for in style and personality. "Urban Trial Freestyle" is a gritty little game with a lot to like. Sacrifice your next combo meal and give it a go.

As my first Phoenix Wright game, I got the impression that Dual Destinies and the series as a whole is enamored with a cavalcade of quirky characters theatrically engaged with marching contention. In that measure Dual Destinies is a success, and while I yearned for an ounce of consequence or more creative approach interaction, I couldn't deny it's whimsical appeal. If you’re in my shoes and have never played a Phoenix Wright game before, Dual Destinies isn’t a bad place to start.

Many would agree that Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 was the most complete Naruto game to date, and Full Burst only extends what UNS3 had to offer. It's still a niche game for a niche audience, but it's well-developed, refined, and loaded with quality content.

City Interactive is giving us glimpses of what such gameplay in a Sniper title would be like, while you’re wondering why they didn’t follow this model in the first place. Snipers and open world/sandbox games. It seems like such a natural fit.

This is certainly a leap forward in the series thanks to some sweet customization, but there is work that still needs to be done to improve the overall gameplay experience.

Combining the maddening and dedicated labyrinths of Etrian Odyssey with Mystery Dungeon's ode to indifferent but committed variability would seem to be the videogame equivalent of pushing an immovable object against an unstoppable force. It's an attractive paradox, and, rather than explode on contact, both series' unique strengths coalesce into a grueling exploration of applied skill and tough love.

Captain America: Super Soldier is a fun game that proves that not all move tie-in games are automatically bad. Next Level Games put forth a commendable effort here and the result is a good game that I suggest checking out.

While an improvement over the original, Prototype 2 still has significant flaws. Despite that, it's a fun game in spurts and worth looking into if you like sandbox action games or enjoyed the original.

Sonic Boom: Fire and Ice is more positive than negative. It is developed to tap that deep nostalgia that Sonic fans have for the series, while bringing in some new elements that make it more than just an arcade platformer. While it isn’t perfect, especially the controls, it’s still a very entertaining experience that should satisfy the Sonic the Hedgehog fanbase.

J-Stars Victory Vs+ brings together some good fighting moments with popular Bandai Namco licenses, while offering up somewhat addictive, yet sporadic, gameplay flow. Improvements in environment variety, CPU artificial intelligence and visuals could help to make this a more memorable brawler in the future, as it falls short in these categories as it stands.

As it stands, there's a bit much here that holds back a smooth, fun experience like you would get in previous Scribblenauts titles. It is both a blessing and a curse.

Dead Money isn't perfect, but neither was New Vegas. There are some interesting survival horror elements of Dead Money that will make you tense, and enough fun to make you come back for more. This DLC is certainly a solid edition to the Fallout world.

Chibi-Robo! Zip Lash is varied enough to keep every skill-level of player engaged throughout its 30+ worlds but isn’t as polished as one would hope.

While The Fancy Pants Adventures isn't groundbreaking, it is fun to play. The game challenges you with a variety of content and achievements (and unlockables) to obtain, which makes the overall package worth your time and money. You simply can't go wrong with this side-scroller.

For an indie title, Kukoos: Lost Pets offers players a taste of charming 3D-platforming that has a potential for something much greater in the future, and I’m interested in seeing what more Kukoos has to offer in the future. Its ability-based platforming encourages folks to exercise precision, dexterity, and thoughtfulness, but I can’t help but want more from PetitFabrik’s charming universe that is the Kukoos. Sure, the Switch may not best accommodate precision compared to other platforms, but the platforming proper and successful charm of Kukoos is definitely enough to hold you over this holiday season.

The presentation won’t wow you, but it gets the job done, especially given that it’s made by an indie developer who’s never done a sports game and it’s priced at $20. The price is worth pointing out because this isn’t a AAA game, but it does fill a niche that has been needing some attention since NBA Jam a few years ago. 2K has clearly dominated and done an amazing job with NBA simulation, but if you’re like me, when it comes to sports and racing games, you always want a go-to arcade type to enjoy in addition or instead of the sims. NBA Playgrounds does alright for itself coming off the bench, hopefully we see Saber continue to refine this and perhaps we’ll see some kind of semi-annualized franchise here that gets progressively better.

Overall, the gameplay design for Edna & Harvey: The Breakout – Anniversary Edition is clunky on a console controller and might give too much freedom for a point and click-based game. That said, the story is good enough to push beyond those issues, the puzzles are incredibly clever as they relate to the story, though enormously difficult to overcome at times. At the end of the day, the experience might well be worth the frustration the design causes.

Macross – Shooting Insight from Kaminari Games takes the shoot ‘em-up genre to a bold and brash stance. While it does everything to break the mold of a regular shoot ‘em-up formula, including bringing a thick layer of challenge to the gameplay that will most certainly motivate hardcore shoot ‘em-up players, it lacks variety in level design and other small aspects of gameplay.

Harry Potter: Quidditch Champions from developer Unbroken Studios finally brings a decent version of Quidditch to the video gaming world. While the controls are going to certainly frustrate some, especially when mixed with the chaotic Quidditch gameplay, the game does a decent job of bringing some good modes and reasons to keep playing. This is very much a vanilla beginning and hopefully, that can be improved in the coming months.

NASCAR ‘25 is a game that fans of the sport will honestly enjoy. It fills a void that has been left open for years and allows them to be able to finally ‘scratch that itch’. It’s not something that will blow other racing games out of the water, but if iRacing Studios is going to try and possibly turn this into a yearly franchise, then this is the perfect foundation to start building upon.

It’s a bold release that they took a chance on. For the most part, they executed it decently. I wish more developers took on something oddball like this, as it does provide a unique journey that most wouldn’t have dreamed could be translated.

Knowing the ending of FFXVI, The Rising Tide doesn’t change Clive’s outcome or add a meaningful impact to the world to warrant an emotional introspection like the main game’s story. Instead, it adds additional power to Clive’s Eikonic skillset, making him appropriately powerful for postgame content that will assuredly punish players and test their might in Final Fantasy Mode. It might be a weirdly timed expansion, but it adds enough meat to the core gameplay to encourage replaying.

Iron Throne is more positive than negative. The story is solid, the gameplay options are extensive, especially for battling other players, and getting drawn into the overall body of gameplay can be a fun experience. Iron Throne, while it can be intimidating, is a solid MMORPG for casual gamers that can handle it. It’s certainly more complicated and deeper than expected.

Although there are some drawbacks to the game Digimon World Next Order is actually an engaging and fun game. If your a fan of the Digimon series and enjoy raising and evolving your Digimon then this game will be perfect for you. The idea of allowing the player two different Digimon at the same time was a good decision. The building and collecting is also very fun in this game. It’s worth a look if your a RPG fan.

Despite all of its various shortcomings, The Sinking City still gets a lot right, and it kept me coming back. I became determined to solve the cases, discover the hidden areas of Oakmont, unlock the additional in-game costumes, and just explore. Even though the gameplay stumbles often, for me there was still enough here in terms of story and content, to keep going, and I enjoyed myself more oft than not. Ultimately, I think that with some patching, The Sinking City could really be a stand out title, easily one of or the best AA games this year. But as it plays now, The Sinking City is fairly rough around the edges and might will test your patience and sense of leniency for its shortcomings.

Contra Anniversary Collection is another successful release under Konami’s Anniversary Collection moniker. It brings the old series back to life and reminds us that Konami really loved gaming back in the day. Hopefully, they can get that old feeling back again and reignite some of the other series that lie underneath their control.

Sea of Thieves’ concept is beautifully drawn up. It has exploration, intense PvP and one of the most beautiful sea adventures to ever grace gaming, but it is lacking in content and it needs more reason to keep players moving and exploring. It has plenty of space on its plate for that, but in its vanilla form there’s nothing really to fill that space. I suspect that won’t be the case for long, if Rare has anything to say, but that is the current case now.