For those looking for a well-crafted, enjoyable tennis game, Mario Tennis Open will leave you satisfied. For those looking for a great Mario tennis game, you'll probably be left wanting more.

Dead or Alive 6 is a solid new chapter in Team Ninja’s long-running fighting game series that has rarely been satisfied with just being “solid.” All of the groundwork that needed to be built here was built, but upon it was placed a mostly by-the-numbers experience that is too often just as frustrating as it is fun. While a reworking of the game could leave it in a much better place in the future (and on newer consoles), for now it’s a good release for people wanting more Dead or Alive as long as they don’t mind its value is limited.

The new physics system, presentation elements, and graphics are definitely a step forward for the franchise, but the wholesale removal or scaling back of so many modes leaves you wondering how such a great series could struggle so mightily with the console transition.

Another unique look at the events of the original Resident Evil combined with a fun and inventive multiplayer should help Resident Evil fans look past the sometimes clunky controls and poor ally A.I.

Although the games may not have aged as well as hoped, fans of the series are still going to be getting their money worth with the convenience of having three games on one disc, nearly 100 achievements, and some behind the scenes bonus content.

If you’re hungry for more Game of Thrones content and can’t wait until the next season or book, then Telltale’s Game of Thrones is the perfect game to pass the time. It weaves an interesting narrative that intersects with the franchise’s main plot while still poking into unexplored corners. Unfortunately, there’s a distinct lack of any real choice, and a hugely disappointing ending leaves the story hanging on a sour note.

Tomodachi Life is a trip into a world where your Miis live out a never-ending series of bizarre and amusing adventures. While I’m glad that Nintendo of America decided to take a chance in bringing it our way, those adventures are unfortunately tainted somewhat due to a few gameplay decisions that really should be rectified in a future sequel.

Deadlight was a fantastic idea whose execution just didn't do it the justice it deserved. It's too short, its challenges too cheap at times, and it occasionally loses focus of what it wants to be-and yet, at the same time, Deadlight is also a surprisingly beautiful adventure through a world of chaos that does more right than it does wrong.

Game Freak returns to the non-Pokémon world with HarmoKnight, a music-infused platformer that will be a light-hearted romp for casual fans of the genre—but which might not be memorable enough for more dedicated rhythm-game devotees.

Yo-Kai Watch Blasters never manages to shake off that minigame feel, but its core gameplay, though shallow, is fun. Don’t go in expecting anything too deep (or expecting to go anywhere beyond the town of Yo-Kai Watch 2), and Blasters is an enjoyable enough way to pass the time.

Far Cry Primal really wants you to know that there are tons of things you can do in its prehistoric, open world. Unfortunately, you may not want to do any of them.

What Remains of Edith Finch masterfully shows that narrative-driven games can tell stories in creative ways without sacrificing gameplay. Ultimately, though, the experience is let down by the story itself, which doesn’t do much of anything interesting with its characters or subject matter.

Sony San Diego’s hardball sim only sees incremental changes this year, but several of them—particularly directional hitting—are welcome. The core game remains solid and even spectacular in places, but online remains a total joke.

A powerful, poignant story that utilizes a brilliantly crafted world and movement mechanic to help get its symbolism across. Its short length and lack of gameplay depth hold the experience as a whole back, however.

Shovel Knight is a pretty stellar homage to simpler times, but it’s so unabashedly an homage that it never steps out of the shadows cast by the components it’s built from—DuckTales, Mega Man, Simon’s Quest. And while derivative doesn’t necessarily mean bad—far from it in Shovel Knight’s case—it certainly doesn’t make it any less pandering in a lot of ways.

EA Sports UFC 2 delivers the grandeur of MMA in a remarkable and brutal presentation. A traditional fighting game this is not, and the genuine attempts at simulating a dense sport result in clumsy combat that only on occasion captures the drama and nuance of human chess.

Everything is a philosophy lecture turned into a game, and if you’re looking for some new insight on life and a sandbox to play in while you listen, it’ll provide. While the game offers up hundreds of choices of objects to become, it comes at the sacrifice of everything feeling the same.

Sixty Second Shooter Prime is a great throwback to the arcade machines of yesteryear, but it lacks the depth and difficulty needed for an old-school twin-stick shooter to appeal to most modern gamers.

I don’t know exactly how the idea to create World of Final Fantasy came about in the halls of Square Enix, but it’s a game that could have been so much better had it been given different focus. As it is, it’s a relatively enjoyable RPG that offers up some legitimately enjoyable moments while simultaneously causing you to sit in bewilderment at what you’re experiencing.

While it doesn’t get everything it tries to do right, Battle Princess of Arcadias is still an enjoyable action-adventure that mixes some unique gameplay twists together with a serious level of beat-em-up satisfaction.

While The Last Story is a solid offering from Japanese RPG legend Hironobu Sakaguchi, the boilerplate storytelling, familiar tropes, and lack of meaningful exploration make it feel like it could have been so much more.

Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel is a worthwhile entry in the series that will provide more of what fans expect while fleshing out some of the narrative gaps between the first two titles. And while the addition of low gravity and a few new guns might not change things forever, their presence is far from a hindrance and fits into the Borderlands formula fine, although unremarkably.

BandFuse leans a bit too heavily on fluffy video interviews with musicians that offer little educational value, but the underlying systems and mechanics are a smart aid for learning to play the guitar.

WarioWare fans have been waiting more than three years for the next proper entry in the series—and they’ll still be waiting after Game & Wario. This collection of minigames designed specifically for the Wii U doesn’t have the same style and panache of a regular WarioWare entry, but several entries do manage to re-create at least some of that classic magic.

Tales of Berseria flips the traditional heroic story on its head, taking up instead with the vengeance-driven journey of daemon-eater Velvet Crowe and the unapologetically villainous crew of misfits she picks up along the way. A fun premise and some great skits make for a good story, though middle-of-the-road combat and fairly boring dungeons and fields bog the gameplay down.

The journey of Metro Exodus is more rollercoaster than train ride, with peaks and troughs rather than a steady level of quality throughout. Its technical issues make the product feel rushed, but these are worth suffering for a series that’s ultimately heading down the right track.

MLB: The Show is still the premier baseball experience on consoles, but some very questionable team rankings, minimal improvements to the overall package, and subpar online gameplay mean that MLB 13 isn’t a huge leap forward for the franchise—we’ll have to wait for the PS4 for that.

Gorgeous to see and hear and engaging as far as gameplay is concerned, Child of Light is an excellently built game with a forgivably wonky augmentation system but an underdeveloped narrative. Its artists very clearly knew what they wanted it to be, but couldn’t quite manage to orchestrate effectively. Play it, soak up its beauty, but expect a jejune take on fairy tale yarn-spinning.