Despite its shortcomings, there’s something undeniably enjoyable and nostalgic about Gungrave G.O.R.E’s straightforward, no-nonsense approach to the action/shooter genre. The game’s promotional trailers repeatedly promised three things—bullets, beauty, and “a badass” anti-hero protagonist—and it delivers these attributes in spades.

Need for Speed Unbound feels like it comes to a stop before it ever gets going. The polish in the moment-to-moment gameplay cannot be ignored, but as a whole, Need for Speed Unbound is just another forgettable entry in the long-running franchise.

Playing with friends, coming up with battle strategies, and catching Pokemon are the most entertaining activities in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet. Unfortunately, the bland open world and technical problems weigh down what could have otherwise been another exceptional main series Pokemon game experience. The bones are here to build something special, so hopefully future Pokemon games do the concept of an open-world Pokemon game justice.

Playing with friends, coming up with battle strategies, and catching Pokemon are the most entertaining activities in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet. Unfortunately, the bland open world and technical problems weigh down what could have otherwise been another exceptional main series Pokemon game experience. The bones are here to build something special, so hopefully future Pokemon games do the concept of an open-world Pokemon game justice.

Considering its short length and current lack of replay value, it is somewhat difficult to recommend The Callisto Protocol at full price, but it is a must-buy when the price comes down a bit. The Callisto Protocol is an excellent game let down by some hugely important missing features, but hopefully future updates will help it live up to its full potential as a worthy successor to the Dead Space franchise.

The worst thing a strategy game fan or a Marvel fan can do is not give Marvel’s Midnight Suns a chance. Midnight Suns regularly feels like a game that shouldn’t be as entertaining as it is because it has some flaws with its presentation, technical performance, and writing. However, the combat system and team-building mechanics are so good that the game can stand tall despite its issues. Firaxis stepped out of its comfort zone and did an admirable job at making Midnight Suns its first tactics RPG game, even if its rock-solid gameplay foundations often pick up the pieces where other elements fall short.

Soccer Story is a valiant attempt at a Sports RPG, but it falls victim to a repetitive story and quest structure. Its light narrative quickly falls to the side, with annoying bugs taking its place. Perhaps a player can find value in the endless amount of running and collectible items to be found but, for the most part, its lively world and polished soccer ball physics aren’t enough to make this an enjoyable experience.

Given the right context, Goat Simulator 3's uniquely humorous, wonderfully broken world is a delightful playground. Though the single-player experience can be lackluster, bordering on boring, the multiplayer party potential is great. The world and mechanics are set up so the slightest provocation can prompt a world unraveling with hilarious results. Despite its flaws, Goat Simulator 3 deserves its day in the sun as the go-to party game.

Playing through Saturnalia's beautiful mixture of rogue-lite, survival horror, and Metroidvania mechanics feels like being among the first people in the world to experience peanut butter and chocolate. Big Trouble Game Studio and Santa Ragione have crafted an entirely new flavor profile that in just a few short years will be so popular audiences everywhere won't be able to fathom a world before the existence of said combination.

Evil West's poor narrative, dated graphics, and short length make it somewhat difficult to justify the $60 price tag, regardless of how much fun the core combat is. Even so, those yearning for a no-nonsense action game with old-school sensibilities may still want to take the plunge, and if they aren't bothered by the short length, they are unlikely to walk away disappointed.

The Dark Pictures: The Devil in Me packages an enigmatic killer, stories of true crime, the spectacle of horror movies, and a group of shy misfits and powerful personalities into a plot that feels deserving of its own big-budget film. It'll leave players questioning everything they know about the killer and each other, and yearning to dive in once again to see other endings, discover more secrets, and try to save everyone.

McPixel 3 is mercifully short, clocking in at around three to five hours depending on how familiar one is with point-and-click adventures, but those few hours do drag. Some fun can be had finding the game's more clever solutions but overuse of low-effort jokes and nonexistent sound effects outside repetitive music make it difficult to recommend to most.

As the sixth main installment in a JRPG series that dates to the 16-bit era, one with a slightly tarnished reputation in recent years, Star Ocean: The Divine Force evokes a comforting sense of familiarity even as it experiments with some of its expected returning elements and pushes in exciting new directions. There’s a lot of ground to cover, and Tri-Ace has done a wonderful job of crafting a new world long-time fans and newcomers alike may feel reluctant to leave once the credits roll, even keeping in mind a few rough patches they encountered along the way. That’s no minor achievement, and makes the game easy to recommend to genre fans in search of their next addiction.

Some flow hiccups will do little to interrupt the fun for most players, who will instead see a uniquely clever game, full of wonderful idiosyncrasies, that tells a delightful tale of murder and deceit.

The Italian word pentimento is defined as: an underlying image in a painting, one that only becomes visible when the top layer of paint turns transparent with age, showing evidence that it was revised by the artist. Pentiment smartly shares this definition through its replayability by placing a new story on top of the previous one, with the player painting a new history for Andreas and the town of Tasling each time. Some players may create chaos, others will try to keep the peace, but each will be able to tell the story of Pentiment in their own way. It is interactive choose-your-own-adventure story-telling at its best, and although it feels too short, hopefully, there will be more tales and tomes like this one from Obsidian in the future.

It took five years for Nintendo Switch gamers to get their hands on Bayonetta 3, and it was well worth the wait. If Nintendo decides to fund a sequel, then it seems likely that Bayonetta 4 will wind up on the next-generation Nintendo console, and perhaps that entry can address this one's sometimes-disappointing graphics and story problems. Platinum apparently has ideas for at least nine Bayonetta games, and if they're even half as good as Bayonetta 3, they should all be an incredibly fun time.

There is a satisfying quality to seeing Sonic blitz through rings in a Cyber Space mission while thumping dubstep or crunchy post-hardcore riffs blast throughout the level. Watching Sonic take down a Titan ten times his size in anime-like cutscenes at the end of a boss fight is always a spectacle. There is always something cool and worth the effort to see or do in this game, which is why Sonic Frontiers works well despite being very repetitive in nature. Those who can fall into its groove will find plenty to enjoy in Sonic’s latest adventure, and as a blueprint for the franchise going forward, Sonic could not be in a better place.

God of War Ragnarok is a once-in-a-generation game. It doesn't just live up to its high expectations, but it subverts them and expands beyond them all the same. There is nothing quite like it on PS4 or on the PS5 yet, and it would be hard for anything to live up to the same heights. God of War Ragnarok may not make full use of the PS5's features, as there is nothing necessarily groundbreaking that couldn't be experienced on a PS4, but it's absolute proof that vision, artistry, and creative direction far outweigh hardware.

Eventually, Modern Warfare 2 should get to a point where it becomes an easy recommendation for shooter fans, but it's undercooked and underwhelming in its current state.

Dragon Ball: The Breakers is the kind of game that's rough around the edges at launch but could be improved greatly with updates. A switch to a completely free-to-play monetization model would do wonders for the game, and it seems likely that it could head in that direction, so Dragon Ball fans may want to wait and see what happens.

Despite some dodgy pacing, unsatisfying mini-games, and the occasional attempt at dated humor, New Tales from the Borderlands is a funny and sometimes hilarious story full of charming characters. A game featuring performances of this quality is a true rarity and the potential replayability inherent in a choice-based game such as this makes it worth checking out.

Ghostbusters fans will no doubt appreciate the ability to create their own Ghostbuster, upgrade their kit, and hunt ghosts, but once the nostalgia wears off and the only thing that matters is winning, the game may start to show its flaws. Playing as the ghost, on the other hand, has its own inherent challenges of finding the balance between being outmatched and doing the steamrolling. Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed has all the right pieces when it comes to making a GB game that feels authentic – it's bringing those pieces together in the right way every time that can hurt its fun factor.

Gotham Knights is a lot of fun, and for someone looking to mindlessly beat criminals as a superhero, it's an easy recommendation. Yet, anyone interested in anything more than that is going to face a lot of disappointment with its story beats, gameplay elements, individual features, and many other elements.

PC gamers are in for a treat when Uncharted: Legacy of Thieves Collection launches on Steam and the Epic Games Store on October 19. The long-awaited arrival of a Naughty Dog modern classic on PC could not have been handled better, offering excellent performance across multiple PC setups featuring the latest upscaling tech to make the whole experience run, feel, and look as good as possible. The Legacy of Thieves Collection contains two of Sony's best exclusive games from the past ten years, and the port on display lives up to the standard for quality that Uncharted has established in its almost fifteen-year run.

A Plague Tale: Requiem is everything that one could want from a sequel to A Plague Tale: Innocence. It's more ambitious and action-packed than Innocence, and is quite easily one of the best new game releases of the year. The fact that A Plague Tale: Requiem is a day one Xbox Game Pass game adds significant value to Microsoft's subscription service, and anyone with Game Pass should be sure to play it as soon as they can. Those on other platforms shouldn't miss out either, as A Plague Tale: Requiem is easily worth full price. Simply put, A Plague Tale: Requiem is a must-play game.

From its captivating music and memorable story to its gorgeous style, every aspect of the game seems to mesh together and work incredibly well. Each piece builds up and compliments the next, until the game is justified in standing atop the RPG genre as royalty. With its release onto PC, Switch, and Xbox X|S, Persona 5 Royal will finally conquer the last locations it had been absent from, and a whole new set of gamers will get the chance to undoubtedly fall in love with this masterpiece.

On the whole, the Arcadia Bay Collection is largely the same game that was released almost eight years ago, but that isn't a bad thing in the slightest. When a great game focused almost entirely on its story, not much needs to be done for a remaster. While the Switch version is undoubtedly the worst version of the game from a visual perspective, those hiccups are more than made up for by the portability offered by Nintendo's console. That portability makes for the worst-looking yet most enjoyable version of these games to date and elevates the entire concept of the genre.

From its captivating music and memorable story to its gorgeous style, every aspect of the game seems to mesh together and work incredibly well. Each piece builds up and compliments the next, until the game is justified in standing atop the RPG genre as royalty.