This is a great story and new character, but he should have just been included in the game in the first place, not a $10 Day 1 add-on.

NBA Live has had a tough time escaping the shadow of NBA 2K—and that trend continues with NBA Live 15, which doesn’t deliver believable player movement, shooting, or gameplay flow. The “Big Moments” mode shows the potential that the series might be able to execute in the coming years, but right now, it’s like a .500 team trying to compete with a playoff juggernaut.

Contrast offers one of the most interesting gameplay gimmicks in recent memory, but the lack of engaging puzzles and interesting levels prevent the concept from being put to good use.

NBA Live 16 takes a small baby step forward with the franchise, but there are still core gameplay elements that need to be smoothed out before it can be a championship caliber game.

If not for its uninspired design and lack of effort in the storytelling, One Punch Man: A Hero Nobody Knows might have actually been a good game. Oddly for a fighting game, it focuses almost entirely on its single-player, often to its detriment. But if you can look past the repetitive structure and the uneven pacing, there’s actually some fun combat to be found, and its multiplayer meta is surprisingly addictive.

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.

With solid single-player and outstanding co-op play, the game will provide about 25 hours of exploration during the first playthrough. Wield the power of paint and thinner and choose your path. But remember, choices have their consequences.

While a welcome break from the tired retreadings that define most games, Murdered: Soul Suspect finds itself in a precarious place where narrative value, above all else, is of chief importance. But while the deadlike denizens of Salem might sound right for this sort of game, the absence of compelling characters keeps what’s otherwise an interesting idea from landing any staying power.

Entwined spins a single passable mechanic into an overlong (but still quite short) experience with absolutely none of the emotional heft or art-game cred it feigns having.

If you’re looking for a fun way to spend a few hours on the cheap, then God Mode is a decent investment. The gameplay is solid, and there are plenty of little extras to keep things fun and interesting—though the meager selection of maps means there’s a good chance the game will become stale after a few hours.

Way of the Samurai 4 is a goofy, glorious romp through post-isolationist Japan, and it's about as fun and accessible as the series has ever been. While some bugs and graphical issues may sour the experience at times, that shouldn't prevent newcomers from giving the series a shot.

Holds some legitimate moments of brilliance, and the game shines when it comes to character development and storytelling. Unfortunately, Lost Planet 3 then ends up sabotaging itself with gameplay so dull or tedious at times that it can’t begin to support the weight of its ambitions.

In trying to break free of Tomonobu Itagaki's considerable shadow, Team Ninja crafts a tepid take on Ninja Gaiden that satisfies no one.

While Marvel Heroes does some nice things, the Marvel license isn’t enough to cover up glaring technical and design flaws. As much as I wanted to like this game, I can’t recommend something that is, at its core, broken. In the end, you get what you pay for (or less, if you actually invested in this).

In trying to break free of Tomonobu Itagaki's considerable shadow, Team Ninja crafts a tepid take on Ninja Gaiden that satisfies no one.

Sonic Forces mashes together everything from Sonic’s history, from 2D/3D mechanics to over-the-top action spectacle pieces. The new customizable hero feature breathes fresh life into the franchise, but the 3D gameplay it uses overpowers the game’s attempt to combine what has made the different eras of Sonic work.

Newcomers to the franchise will likely be more forgiving of many flaws, much like many of us were with the first Dead Island, considering the fun zombie-bashing core and unique dichotomy of an apocalypse in paradise has remained intact. Veterans of the first Dead Island, on the other hand, will feel cheated, as they’ll recognize the cheap carbon copy that Riptide actually is. Combine this with glitches galore and a plot with more holes in it than the sinking ship the game starts off on, and it’s hard to recommend Riptide to all but the most naïve of zombie enthusiasts.

Cyberpunk 2077’s bugs and technical issues certainly hold it back, and with any luck those will be fixed in the coming months. But it’s more difficult to imagine CD Projekt Red doing enough to resolve the deeper problems: awkwardly balanced systems, storytelling misfires, and an inability to merge its open-world action and RPG gameplay into something smooth and cohesive.

What should've been a fun collection of minigames showing off the Vita's capabilities ended up a completely unappealing tech demo. There isn't enough game here to justify the price.

Jump Force is the kind of game that would usually just come and go due to how unimpressive and flawed of an effort it is, and it’s more than likely that that’s exactly what it is going to do. And yet, buried beneath all of the bad is some honest amount of good. It’s almost a shame that Jump Force wasn’t more of a mess in everything other than its 3-vs-3 fights, because the game would be a whole lot more enjoyable if we were able to laugh at its terribleness more often.

At its basics, Date Night Bowling provides some decent bowling gameplay mixed in with the twist of trying to win over a date before the end of the 10th frame. As a concept, however, the game totally fails to capitalize on the thrill of trying to get strikes on the lane while not striking out romantically. There’s so much more that could and should have been done with the game at every level, leaving an experience that’ll keep you entertained in short bursts but wanting more in the long run.

Inversion won't win any awards for innovation, but once you push past the rubble and get into the meat of the experience, it's built on a surprisingly strong foundation that gets more right than wrong-more than I can say for several of this year's more polished action titles.

Old Time Hockey is more style than substance. Its heart was in the right place, but shoddy controls, glitches, and poor gameplay design make this an arcade-style game hockey fans just don’t need in their lives.

On a superficial level, Predator: Hunting Grounds succeeds at translating elements of the original 1987 movie into a four-on-one multiplayer game, and the matchups are occasionally tense and thrilling. But shoddy game balance, sloppy design, frequent bugs, and significant technical shortcomings squander most of the potential.

This is not the Kinect game you've been looking for. A cute array of mini-games and a decent length main campaign could make this a fun party game with a Star Wars theme, but if you were looking to finally feel like a Jedi, you might want to stick to the bathrobe and flashlight a little while longer.

Beyond the creative art style's unique take on Fable III's Albion and seeing everyone's favorite characters return in puppet form, the downright boring and uninspired game play keeps this from being worth anyone's time.

Mighty No. 9 has a strong gameplay core that isn’t better or worse than Mega Man—it’s just different. The further the game deviates from that core, however, the worse it becomes.

Another misstep with the TMNT franchise leaves me wondering if anyone will ever make a good Turtles game again. As is, Mutants in Manhattan works, but it’s just terribly boring.