Whenever the guns are pumping, it's a legitimately blast to play. That’s where the experience shines, and everything else around it holds it back from being truly engrossing. This is one of those games that frustrates because you can see the greatness within it, but it's always just out of reach.

Dirt Rally 2.0 doesn’t have every feature under the sun, but I trust it. I know I can put together a good team that’s going to help me win events, and the gameplay delivers, letting me skate that line between confidence and foolishness without knowing the difference.

Tetris 99 is a pleasant surprise, and is my favorite content offered by the Nintendo Switch Online service to date. The idea of playing Tetris against 98 other players at once seems ludicrous but is fun in practice and delivers intense moments just like when you’re among the final few in a battle royale game.

For all the harm the middling presentation does to Jump Force, the fighting does have satisfying explosive moments and the online versus mode does work well. There is depth to uncover in the combat, but it never truly sang to me or made me excited to tackle the next fight. Mostly I was just happy to not have to repeat a fight when I won, even if I was performing iconic attacks from some of my favorite anime.

Sumo and Elbow Rocket’s insistence on treating a game from 2007 like a sacred text is strange. The original Crackdown was fresh and exhilarating, and bounding across the city as a superhuman agent was a thrilling sensation. Since then, a lot has happened in the genre. Developers have found ways to incorporate destruction into the action as they weave interesting choices and competent world-building into their narratives. Crackdown 3 aims far lower, and manages to hit that disappointing target.

The core formula of this series holds up, but New Dawn struggles to make worthwhile contributions to it. Beyond the expedition missions, little about New Dawn actually feels new, and the only interesting narrative threads are the tie-ins to Far Cry 5. When all the best parts of a new game are the old parts, it’s hard to be excited about what comes next.

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.

Metro Exodus largely succeeds in its ambitions. The freeform sandboxes give players more agency to play how they want to play, and the smart level design and well-tuned pacing keep the experience feeling fresh throughout the campaign. The story may suffer from weak acting and 4A’s decision to keep Artyom a silent protagonist, but these shortcomings don’t stop me from recommending the game to both newcomers and series fans.

Apex Legends is not Titanfall, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a special game packed with potential for greatness. I’ve put a lot of hours into Respawn’s latest, and haven’t had the desire to stop yet. The combination of character-driven powers, streamlined team features, and fantastic gunplay have elevated this unexpected spin-off into my go-to battle royale, and I don’t see that changing anytime soon.

Isle of Pigs does VR well in that it is not a demanding or strenuous experience. Looking at a teetering structure in a 3D space, moving around it to eyeball its weakest point, and then picking up a bird to fling at it is just fun. It sticks to what Angry Birds is good at – satisfying destruction – it just needs more content to become a VR game I would universally recommend.

Sunless Skies is a strange amalgamation of genres with even stranger stories to tell, but the weird world and nightmarish encounters come together to create something special. Combat and repetition may weigh down the Homeric adventure, but the overall journey is well worth the ticket.

Etrian Odyssey Nexus has a ton of things to do, but I’ve done them all before. While this shouldn’t shake off fans of the series from diving in to its last handheld entry, the love letter to the franchise can feel uninspired with its recreations of the past. Even for a series built on a classic and time-tested formula for dungeon crawling, Nexus relies too heavily on the substance of its predecessors.

It might be easy to peg Wargroove as an imitator, but its genius is in details. With tons of modes and maps it doesn’t skimp on content, but the approachable-yet-nuanced tactics at its heart, as well as the way it deftly iterates on the genre, make it an outstanding title. It might be building on a strong foundation, but Wargroove earns its crown on its own merits.

Slay the Spire is a fascinating fusion of genres that are often known for their lack of accessibility and niche appeal, but it defies those notions and provides a playground of variation and wonder where the next discovery is always right around the corner. Instead of being dismayed when a boss lands an alpha strike that blasts you back to the beginning, it’s an inspiring call to start climbing again with new choices, new decisions, and maybe just a little bit of luck.

While not perfect, Kingdom Hearts III is the game I’ve been waiting for. After finishing it, I was delighted by how satisfied I was with the journey. I traversed worlds with some of my favorite Disney characters, persevered through challenging boss battles, and saw a triumphant finale that only makes me more excited for the future. The series still has a lot of heart, and that’s what makes it so endearing.

I am having a blast playing this game with my daughter, and it’s just nice to see a game that doesn’t make you stress in any way. Just sit back, relax, and watch the fields grow.

The slow pacing, difficulty, and confined historical focus might prove a barrier for some, but I loved carving out my own empire of riches in the roughs on grit and determination alone.

While this episode brings interesting themes of its own, I was disappointed at how racial tensions and politics weren't built upon further, and that many consequences didn't tie over in meaningful ways from the previous episode. Instead, Rules feels like a turn in the wrong direction, with choices that never quite hit their mark. Hopefully the Diaz brothers carve a new and more interesting path as their journey continues.

Over the years, Capcom has experimented with several different approaches to Resident Evil, but this is one approach I hope gets revisited. Resident Evil 2 not only looks great, it plays well, and it forces you into a series of dark encounters that are a total rush. Resident Evil is finally running on all cylinders.

Vane feels like an indescribable fever dream when it works, relaying a wordless story about a transforming creature trying to figure out its place in a world that appears to be falling apart. Too often though bugs and a lack of clear direction reminded me that Vane could have used a little bit of extra development time for polish.

For fans of this long-running series, Skies Unknown doesn’t live up to its name. This is the Ace Combat we’ve known and loved for decades, and it’s great to have it back. The dogfighting is rightfully the highlight and will give your reflexes a good workout.

Travis Strikes Again finds a good balance between fun, approachable action and reveling in Suda51 and Grasshopper’s signature style. It’s not the most intricate action game out there, but the simple combat works well as a vessel for several one-off moments that elevate it above its simple premise. It’s more of a prelude than a main event, but both on its own and as sign of things to come, Travis Strikes again is a promising return to form.

The core gameplay offers moments of undeniable excitement, but without more depth, variety, and some sense of progression, Last Year won’t survive long against the competition.

I left my time with The Eternal Castle Remastered extremely impressed by its aesthetic achievements but more than a little let down by how much the gameplay feels like a chore. The quality of its visuals are undeniable, but sometimes it’s better leaving certain things, like clunky controls, in the past.

The updated visuals are attractive and the new mode is interesting – especially if you want to spend more time in that world – but if you played the 2009 original and consider yourself satisfied with that experience, then the incentive to return is small. If you’ve never played Bowser’s Inside Story, this is a fantastic way to experience what is probably the best of the Mario & Luigi games.

Rather than focusing on the political or militant side of war like many games do, Bury Me, My Love's humanistic approach is refreshing. This window into war never feels heavy handed or disingenuous; it's grounded in its storytelling, and kept me glued to the screen until Nour's journey concluded.

With so many stages to explore and master, New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe is a terrific way to experience this game again or for the first time.

Insurgency: Sandstorm may be spartan, but its limited package can still deliver memorable moments.