Trials Fusion, like its predecessors, is a bundle of fun packaged in frustration, repetition, and memorization. If that kind of punishment is your cup of tea, Fusion offers more of what you’ve come to expect. The existing formula is an awfully good one, but with few meaningful steps forward, it’s easy to feel like we’ve crashed down this road before.

Cool story moments and combat improvements offset some of The Golden Country’s frustrations, but not enough to entirely redeem the experience. It is missing some of the best parts of the base game (like the thrill of collecting unique allies and completing quests tailored to them), but retains many stumbling blocks that impeded the fun before. However, the way the story fills in gaps and provides insight into the characters makes The Golden Country a satisfying addition for fans who have already built up a tolerance for the sometimes-baffling quirks of Xenoblade Chronicles 2.

Super Mega Baseball 3 could use some tweaks to its gameplay, such as the automatic triggering of small defensive animations to prevent your player from getting turned around on a routine fly ball or missing an easy tag, for example. But on the whole, it provides solid gameplay in a fun, stylish wrapper. Add in the series’ own touches, such as extensive customization options, cross-platform online play, and the abundance of co-op (online or off) opportunities, and you’ve got a game that makes an already-familiar sport stand out.

Modern Warfare should have received a new Call of Duty subhead given just how different its avenues of play are. Not every one of Infinity Ward’s ideas works, but a few are successful enough that I could see them as series staples. Modern Warfare’s accomplishments may not be as pronounced as Black Ops 4’s (Blackout being one of them), but it still delivers a hell of a multiplayer experience. Gunfight alone is worth the price of admission.

As Elite: Dangerous is continually updated, I’m hoping we get a better sense of the overarching story and our participation in it, more opportunities to have an impact in the enormous open world, and more chances to participate in activities with fellow pilots and pirates.

Even as its second half failed to match what came earlier, Wo Long: Fallen Dynasty is a finely honed delight. Its action is precise and responsive, and learning the intricacies of each adversary is exceedingly fulfilling. While I wish its back stretch was either pared down or had a wider variety of foes, this is a rare title that induces trance-like focus and euphoric moments of victory. It may not quite reach the heights of the works that inspired it, but it’s not far off.

The action is fun, the graphics are astounding, and players are pulled from one high-adrenaline moment to the next. But it’s also disappointing. Fans are accustomed the rising stakes and escalating scale that make Kratos attain deific heights, but Ascension proves that he is mortal after all.

Given that fact, however, this game largely remains the same as it ever was--due to the consistency of the gameplay from last year. But because that the tour has adopted the new FedEx Cup system, your career can't help but feel a little different. [Nov. 2006, p.128]

I keep wondering how some of my choices will play out, and I'm invested in these characters and the world. Hopefully, Dontnod can make everything between the characters' struggles and supernatural occurrences feel satisfying and pay off in the end.

With The Entropy Centre behind me, I’m fascinated by what Stubby Games accomplished with its debut. It’s full of excellent puzzles, but the stuff around them, like bugs and narrative pacing, stop the entire package from coming together in an equally impressive way. Despite the exhaustion I felt as the credits rolled, I’m stoked The Entropy Centre exists. It brings something unique and new to the genre, and I hope Stubby Games continues to iterate on that in a sequel, spin-off, or spiritual successor. It’s not every day a game shows me something I’ve never seen before that it also happens to nail, and what The Entropy Centre does well is worth pushing through its long narrative to ensure you see every trick up its sleeve.

Everything leads up to a hell of a cliffhanger, making me intrigued to see what happens next. I just hope Telltale doesn't disappoint with its result, as in the past some of the cliffhangers have had unsatisfying resolutions, not altering the story as much as I expected. While some things remain predictable, like needing to constantly look for resources or evil people showing up at the worst times, Telltale does a good job with its reveals and twists. As long as they continue to lead to interesting places, I'm on board for the rest of season three.

The core Buzz quiz show mechanic maintains the familiar tone of past games, but the extras really sell this debut on the PS3. [Nov 2008, p.124]

Duplicating its success from The Walking Dead, Telltale has created an excellent new way for fans to enter Westeros – one that has a unique vibe that sets it apart from the books and show. The Forresters' story boils with intrigue in this first episode, and with Telltale's scribes mimicking George R. R. Martin's cruel pen, concludes with a cliffhanger and chaos.

Despite the extraneous content, Lego Dimensions is a hit. I haven't laughed this much playing a video game in a long time. I couldn’t wait to see what would happen next, and my wife even sat in to watch the story unfold in crazy ways.

The features are there, and I’m glad that the on-the-field play is making strides forward and that it captures the excitement of a college football program that isn’t dominant, but which is more than capable of thrilling its fans.

The Gathering Storm features a long checklist of other new additions, including 18 new units, 9 new world leaders, 9 new technologies, and 10 new civics. These are all nice little bonuses, but Gathering Storm’s world congress and natural-disaster system are robust enough to make Civilization feel fresh. The Gathering Storm adds new layers to Civilization VI’s incredibly deep strategy system, but taming the planet remains far from simple.

If you are one of those players that takes their tournament stick around the country and competes against the best, you'll undoubtedly want Arcade Edition in your collection. However, it's harder to recommend if you're on the more casual end.

The only thing missing is custom entrances for created characters. [Dec 2004, p.174]

The full-team on-court action plays the best it ever has, and the graphical leap is impressive to boot, but it still comes up short in some key areas.

Super Time Force is a fascinating design experiment, and deserves your attention if only for its innovative twist on the classic shooter experience. Goofy humor and nostalgic visuals might be what capture your attention, but the reimagining of how we perceive time in an action game is what makes it memorable.

The campaign is challenging without being cheap, and my units' behaviors never caused my mouse to get launched across the office. [Aug 2004, p.105]

Pokémon Sword & Shield are strong first attempts for the series’ full transition to consoles. While some frustrations hold it back from true legendary status, this new generation proves the Pokémon franchise is still great more than two decades after its debut.

Uncovering all the Schwarzwelt's secrets will keep you glued to your DS for hours of intense RPG action. [Issue#203, p.96]

The Game Breaker special shots are, frankly, corny; and the Dynamic Dekes are just too hard to control. [Nov 2002, p.142]

While this latest title doesn't take any huge risks, I would argue that's a good thing. Skate has always been one of those rare games where you can just aimlessly play with no goals or objectives.

Despite a few setbacks, Puppeteer features all the entertainment and creativity I've come to expect from Japan Studio. Sony has another exclusive title it can be proud of, and while Puppeteer may not take center stage in the company's holiday lineup, fans of family-friendly adventures won't want to miss it.

Tomb Raider: Legend fails to be a reinvention of any genres, but succeeds in every way at reinventing itself. [May 2006, p.96]

EA Sports College Football 25 makes the gridiron feel new again with stellar visuals that heighten the gameday intensity and smooth controls that evoke the high-octane moment-to-moment action that makes college football so beloved. I enjoy the painstaking, time-consuming process of revitalizing weak programs in Dynasty as well as competing against teammates to earn that coveted starting spot in Road to Glory, but some skin-deep progression systems and game modes are concerning; beyond the campaigns, there simply isn’t enough to see or do. Nevertheless, CFB 25 is a confident spiral throw in the right direction, and I’m excited to see how its strong foundation evolves in future releases.