As a trio, the Bethesda Pinball pack is a solid collection. DOOM alone is worth the price of admission, and Fallout 4 is a great-looking table with a few unnecessary mechanics. Skyrim isn’t bad, just a little overcomplicated and a bit too slow for my taste, although I daresay fans of the source material will get a kick out of it. Overall, Zen Studios continues to give pinball fans a great way to continue to experience the game they in a new, yet pleasantly retro ways. Real-life pinball machines might be hard to find, but the game remains alive and well… in digital form at least.

For gamers looking for depth and meaning behind their entrail splattering, Killing Floor 2 is not a prime choice. However, for players looking to spend some time in a silly, gory zombie shooter that doesn’t let storytelling get in the way of bloodshed, Killing Floor 2 is a good a throwback that’s welcome on the Xbox One.

If this game was actually published back in 1984, it would be well-known to all today — it feels like it came straight out of a creepypasta and could easily be a widespread urban legend. Needless to say, Not a Sailor Studios has to be congratulated. BS1984 gathers various concepts and game designs in one place, almost like a history lesson in the progression of videogames, and I found it to be incredibly well-thought-out. Add in a little darkness, and the mix is even better. For players wanting a little nostalgic companionship with a few curveballs thrown in, Buddy Simulator 1984 is one to play.

In the end, Mirror’s Edge is a great set of core mechanics wrapped in a mediocre game. When everything is going smoothly, the experience can be exhilarating. Unfortunately, the flow is cut off too often by frustrating gameplay (e.g., dying 20 times in a row on the same jump).

Football is the world’s most popular game across borders, cultures, politics, and creeds because it offers fans the same exhilaration throughout the world. FIFA 23, when stripped of bland stories, greedy microtransactions, and mind-numbing team management, is a pure, exciting videogame. It’s the excess that ultimately mires it down.

While Warzone might be releasing in a space crowded with other Battle Royales, this new entry into the genre shakes the formula up in brave new ways and provides one of the best multiplayer experiences in recent memory — it’s debatably the new gold standard for Battle Royale.

Ghost Song is filled with genuine human beings who fight fiercely for each other’s happiness, and it’s a tonal balance I almost always find lovely. It’s just a shame that it doesn’t seem to realize that decent action alone would have been a sufficient accompaniment to it. Regardless of the superfluous RPG trappings, Ghost Song offers beautiful sights to be found within its mysterious halls.

City of the Wolves is quite a mechanically deep game, and to my eyes, has an incredibly well considered fighting experience powering it. Such depth will require practice, which means that casual players might have a hard time jumping on for fifteen minutes a day. Basic, simple combos aren’t going to cut it against some of the insanely-lengthy murder chains that even intermediate players can whip out. The difference in damage is just too extreme, and the optional Smart Combo mode for beginners is more of a learning tool than a serious way to play. On the flip side, it’s absolutely worth putting the time in.

It may be handsomely made, but that doesn't save Golden Sun: Dark Dawn from being a disappointment.

The art direction, the approach to combat, and the writing create an ideal presentation for a character that I just didn't care about. If you're in a similar boat, then DeathSpank will provide little more than several hours of basic hack-and-slash gameplay in a uniquely whimsical setting. If you find yourself genuinely laughing at this character, however, then DeathSpank will be a wonderful comic fantasy romp.

Prey's marriage of scientific and spiritual might not be the best fit, but convincing environments, dynamic gravity, and mastery of genre basics assure its status as a pleasantly solid entry into a very crowded field.

"Buffy The Vampire Slayer" has always focused on likeable characters, sarcastic humor, and lots of action, and the game succeeds in capturing all of these elements quite nicely.

Although Echo fizzles out instead of building to a crescendo, I still loved it. I mean, we’re talking instant entry into the Top 5 games I’ve played this year. It’s just a shame that Ultra Ultra didn’t keep layering in mechanics and that the story lost focus. However, despite these issues, Echo remains an incredibly strong debut from a developer I’ll be keeping my eye on in the future.

As I mentioned in my original review, the reason True Colors stuck with me were the lessons I learned after finishing it — I learned that time heals all wounds, and that I should let go of problems now, instead of letting them fester. Wavelengths gave me another character doing the same, with fresher wounds and even heavier emotional baggage. As a prequel, knowing Steph’s fate from the beginning made her emotional growth feel even more rewarding, and reminded me that things will get better. It just takes work.

Defying all expectations, BioWare managed to take one of the most memorable Western RPGs in recent history and completely destroyed everything that made it so good.

If you hadn't figured it out for yourself already, allow me to reiterate—Tales of Vesperia is sort of like an RPG treadmill. For every step forward the game makes with its use of characters or social commentary, it follows up with a step back in the form of an over-reliance on genre clichés and a meandering narrative focus.

Anomaly Warzone Earth is an interesting take on a genre that's become painfully stale at this point, and I congratulate the developers for finding a new angle. It's solid and the reversed structure carries it through to the end, but more depth and variety are needed to make it more than a brief curiosity. It may be different than anything else in its genre, but the trip on this particular train lacks the kind of spark that would make it a memorable one.

Doom is an inferior experience on Switch in virtually every way, with the major exception that it can now be taken anywhere. And should major publishers continue making concessions on triple-A titles to release them on this platform, that’s the tradeoff that’ll be hanging over consumers’ heads. Whichever direction people swing, I’m glad that Bethesda is giving us the choice, and that the wonderful Doom survived the transition to handheld mostly intact.

RAD may not have a great story or impressive graphical opulence, but what it does have is an unbelievable amount of fun and originality where it counts: the gameplay.

Sure, the game has flaws. But they're transcended by its ability to put us in awe of our own lives. We see our daily tedium through fresh eyes, feel it through newly excited thumbs.

While these complaints are not enough to cripple the game, it’s a shame that SNK has done such a tremendous job with most of the things that matter, only to stumble on certain design issues. Minor missteps aside, It’s pretty brilliant, and it’s safe to say that the series has made the leap to 3D surprisingly well despite still needing some polish, and maybe a bit of a facelift as well.

If EA wanted to do something revolutionary with the series, it would have offered Madden NFL 20 as a roster and feature update to Madden NFL 19. Not because there isn’t an enjoyable, playable game here, but because Madden NFL 20 is just more of the same when the series should be making strides toward true greatness.

While Squadrons has likely already come and gone for those who can’t experience it as its best, I can’t overstate just how vital it is for Star Wars fans fortunate enough to play in VR. This is arguably the first productive thing EA has done with the Star Wars franchise — I don’t know what took them so long, but I hope it’s a sign of things to come.

When taken as a whole, Shiren The Wanderer: The Tower Of Fortune And The Dice Of Fate delivers a carefully crafted, carefully considered experience that captures the best of what makes a good roguelike, while also mitigating the pain points that give the genre its hardcore reputation.

When all's said and done, Race the Sun is a solid offering and I'm sure some players will undoubtedly end up hooked on the thrill of the daily leaderboard battles. On the other hand, some (including me) will come away feeling that the final product is a bit too limited to reach the potential it holds.

Overall, the keywords for I Am Dead would probably be ‘charming’ and ‘quirky’. It isn’t a horror adventure nor a sad one, even though there are little doses of melancholy here and there. Instead, it’s a light puzzler that features some interesting game mechanics, and others that feel more appropriate to a casual mobile title — an easy recommend to casual players who are short on time and don’t mind a bit of repetition.

Ultimately, the real problem is that the developers have gotten away from the core of what makes Trials great — ultra-tight gameplay, challenging tracks, and an elegant, streamlined experience that delivers several plates’ worth of steak with none of the fat, and that’s just not the case with Trials Rising. I’ve got the patience to attempt a tricky jump hundreds of times (more than 600 goes on an Extreme track is my personal record) but grinding for EXP in a series that’s always been about pulling off impossible stunts and ascending to dirtbike godhood? I’ve got no time for it.

The game is accessible enough that I had a chance to defeat a master that I rarely come close to beating on other games.