The in-game currency decision was a head scratcher, as it adds an unwelcome grinding element to much of the gameplay. If you can look past that, then there’s a decent campaign and the same addictive multiplayer Bomberman is known for sitting at this launch title’s explosive core.

Compulsion Games transformed its randomly-generated, survival game into the dystopian narrative everyone asked for, but those randomized elements are still holding We Happy Few back from reaching its full potential. The twisted tale of a society addicted to its own Joy is lost underneath an endless hunt for bobby pins and scraps of cloth.

Shortcomings that haunt the entire series remain here, but more gameplay choices and a compelling narrative make Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: Russia the strongest of the three Chronicles titles.

Looting for better gear is a trend that’s taken over gaming, but it’s never seemed as unnecessary and as cynical as it does in Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon Breakpoint. Turning the game into an amalgamation of Wildlands and The Division, Breakpoint’s gear system ruins any immersion you may have felt in pretending to be an elite spec ops soldier. If that was the game’s only issue, it might have still been salvageable, but its predictable story, graphical infidelity, and obnoxious open world make this a failed experiment at marrying two or three different properties from the same publisher.

As usual, the gimmicks quickly become evident and tiresome, especially for folks familiar with the comic arc this game's story is based off of. However, there is some surprising polish here and you might have more fun with it than you'd expect as it is one of the few Kinect games where the controls actually work.

It’s a technically solid game, but Fuse lacks a soul; the story and character development are bland beyond belief. The gameplay is a saving grace, though, and the experience can get quite addictive when working with a few friends—but it can also become a tiresome grind when playing solo.

You’ll be fighting the camera sometimes as much as enemies, and the balance between guns and melee needs a bit more work, but most of the time, I was laughing too hard to care. The script is a love letter to Deadpool fans, so if you love the Merc with the Mouth, this game will hit your chimichanga-flavored sweet spot.

Don’t let the concept scare you off if you’re a role-playing fan. Yes, Conception II: Children of the Seven Stars does revolve around making “battle babies” with a collection of female companions, but there’s a Persona-esque addictive quality to the package, and RPG players shouldn’t be ashamed to tote this one around on the bus or plane.

The potential for the WWE franchise on the new generation of consoles is clear, but WWE 2K15 badly botches its new career mode and lacks many of the features players have come to expect from the series. A couple of added in-ring wrinkles, such as the new grappling system and a revamped stamina bar, show some promise, and the chance to relive the now-departed CM Punk’s rivalry with John Cena in 2K Showcase is a nice touch, but players expected more from the creative fusion of Visual Concepts and Yuke’s.

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.

Medieval Moves: Deadmund's Quest has a wonderful concept, but like so many motion-controlled games before it, this one's subject to a poorly implemented gimmick-it would've been much more enjoyable with both a regular controller and an open world instead.

The controls took a surprising step back and there were too many puzzles that required Tails' assistance for my liking. If you can get past these though, there is a solid Sonic adventure here at its core that's worth taking a look at for long-time fans.

Godfall’s sluggish, overly complicated combat, hilariously paper-thin story, and numerous technical issues make it a lowlight of the PlayStation 5’s launch lineup.

Younger gamers out there may not see the appeal, but this nostalgia-driven collection is a must have for gamers who remember placing quarters on cabinets to call next game.

Despite delivering an impressive playground that captures the spirit of America, The Crew struggles to build out a worthwhile game experience around it, resorting to frustrating missions, insipid storytelling, and off-putting microtransactions.

A waste of potential, Batman: Arkham Origins Blackgate is a broken, boring game and a stain on the Metroidvania genre. Its positives are few and far between, buried under a mountain of glitches, tedious gameplay, and poor level design.

Ragnarok Odyssey ACE tries its best to salvage last year’s disappointing Vita-only action-RPG with a few new gameplay mechanics and expanded content, but the minor fixes can’t come close to patching the fundamentally boring core.

Need for Speed Payback might be a new low point for the franchise. A horrendous progression system compounded by uninteresting characters and terrible AI only illustrates how far behind this series has fallen compared to the other arcade racers out there. The multiplayer is solid, but that’s like saying at least the car wreck didn’t cause a fire, too.

A great story that Fable fans will absolutely eat up, but some long stretches of lonely road keep this from being an absolute must-have for every Kinect owner.

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.

Instead of making a case as to why you need a Kinect, Kinect Sports Rivals shows that the peripheral—and most games revolving around it—still have a long way to come.

Rory McIlroy PGA Tour plays better in many ways than when Tiger Woods graced the cover, but the removal of so many modes and continuous shortcomings with the short game make this a disappointing debut on new-gen hardware.

A great idea that falls apart in the implementation. It’s a deeply promising game that dies by a thousand small cuts and a handful of big ones. Still, Trion has built a solid foundation, and they’ve made it clear that they’re in this for the long haul, dedicated to growing and improving the game over time. And, you know, I genuinely hope they pull it off.

For those who enjoy a simple hack-n-slash game, Ryse: Son of Rome fits the bill. This is no deep adventure, but rather a chance to burn your aggression by chopping your way through hundreds of barbarians, slowing only to enjoy the carnage during the brutal executions. Still, the stunning visuals and compelling setting will keep some gamers engaged throughout, making Ryse a flawed-but-interesting addition to the Xbox One launch lineup.

Crackdown 3 is just more Crackdown. For some players, that will be enough. But compared to what Crackdown 3 initially promised, what we ended up with seems lacking in depth and destruction. When it’s good, like with its boss fights, there’s nothing like it. Unfortunately, there’s just too much filler, and with its most exciting feature demoted to a fairly minor multiplayer mode, Crackdown 3 just isn’t the step forward that it could have been.

As a farewell to the characters and settings of the original Corpse Party, Corpse Party: Blood Drive is a flawed, frustrating adventure that strays too far from what made its predecessor so beloved. And yet, at times, it still shows signs of brilliance—enough that at least hardcore fans of the franchise can find joy amongst the relentless torture.

With a confusing and frustrating jumping-off point, it may be hard to break into Metal Gear Survive. Those that manage to stick around, however, should expect to find something worth surviving for.

Sing Party flounders between niches, with too little depth to make for a decent music game and too few songs to serve as a replacement for an actual karaoke machine.