While the Contra Anniversary Collection doesn’t have the same breadth of content featured in its gothic counterpart, fans of the franchise or anyone interested in some old-school videogamin’ with a capital V will find a lot to like here for $20. The people at M2 know what they’re doing when it comes to retro emulation, and they have delivered another worthwhile compilation. With these two collections and the recent announcements of both the TurboGrafx 16 Mini and Contra: Rogue Corps, perhaps there is hope for Konami yet…

Saying the right thing at the right time can be of incredible value, and even more so when one debates themselves. In this context, the girl’s words are clearly ripples originating from a point somewhere deep within her, and even after they’ve been written down and observed, they continue to linger and resonate. In those moments, Lost Words: Beyond the Page becomes an exemplary result of the clash between videogame rules and sincere expressionist literature. This dynamic even paves the way for the main character to accept living with a previously-unfathomable empty space in her heart – a condition that is manageable and is part of everyone’s nature. No doubt, a message very timely for younger audiences who probably won’t anticipate receiving meaningful life-lessons from this medium.

Overall, NHL 22 is a solid next-gen effort for the series, and points to bigger things to come. While longtime fans may be tired of the samey gameplay, there’s enough reason here to believe that EA has plans for the near future. Let’s hope they’re less about novelty modes and more about deeper presentation overhauls and a richer singleplayer experience.

Like making love to an armadillo; it may be rough and full of bumps, but underneath it all is one sweet ride.

While there’s nothing terribly wrong with The Alliance Alive, there’s nothing particularly right with it either. Those who want some JRPG gristle to chew on will find it adequate, but anyone who missed it last time can skip it without regret this time, too.

Through it can be frustrating and seem downright broken at times, there's still much to enjoy in A Pixel Story. It genuinely has all the making of a great puzzle platformer, but it's sadly kept from its full potential by poorly-executed physics.

Sure, there's no new content, but Disgaea PC is still the definitive version of this game.

John Wick Hex does a lot of things right and has personality to spare. It can also be irritating — sometimes overwhelmingly so — but it kept me coming back for more, even after realizing that I probably won’t see the end credits anytime soon.

Disappointing cutscenes aside, Sonic Colors Ultimate offers a solid package that finally gives modern console owners a chance to play one of the best entries in the Sonic catalog, and any hedgehog fans out there who haven’t tried it yet should track it down.

It seems some additional work has gone into the translations and the game is better for it. Between those improvements and two intriguing plots worth following, this is certainly the definitive version of Beholder.

The writing is strong, the choices all feel important, engagement in both the short and long term is strong, and the overall design is brilliant – it’s a masterclass in elegance since it does exactly what it needs to do and lasts exactly as long as it needs to last, and there isn’t an ounce of fat on its bones. I can’t wait to see what Brave At Night comes up with next.

Tokyo Jungle is exactly the sort of unconventional project that I live for, so it's easy to forgive its issues; the low-end production values, two extremely ill-conceived stealth missions that don't suit the mechanics, and a few boss fights that were more frustrating than fun. Although irritating, none were dealbreakers-just be prepared to restart a few missions here and there.

If you’re a die-hard city fan of city builders, and the idea of a new Cities: Skylines that’s 10 percent prettier and 5 percent more interesting has you salivating, you might wanna hop on this one right away. But for the rest of us, we can probably just keep chipping away at some other 2000-hour video gaming time sink. It’s not like this franchise is going away any time soon, after all.

I didn’t care for Dead in Vinland. The setup’s decent, and early on I thought I’d enjoy my time spent starving, dehydrated and constantly getting attacked by murderous brigands on a desolate island. Alas, it takes an experience that could have been an acceptable eight-hour journey and stretches it out to over fifty (or more!) and becomes an absolute chore by the time players finally wrap it up.

Overall though, this game was the best $20 I ever spent during the pandemic, and it provided not only hours of enjoyment, but a little exercise when I needed it most. It’s flirty, active, diverse, and the perfect activity for a rainy day. For dancers age 10 or age 60, finding rhythm is delightful with Just Dance 2020.

An adrenaline rush can be a very welcome thing, and playing something this fast and trigger-happy on the PSP made me feel glad that I had spent the money on the unit after so many months of boring, flawed games.

This could have been a great original title, but instead it's a waste of shelf space with just one redeeming feature: it only takes around five hours to beat.

While the idea of starting a whole new sport may seem a little ambitious, Sparc‘s developers have pulled it off effectively. I don’t know if it will catch on, or how widely it will spread, but it establishes everything that it needs to. It’s easy to start, it tests reflexes aggressively, and at the end of a few matches, everyone will feel like they had a good workout. Really, what more does a sport need?

How impressive is this grueling horror experience? I guessed the ending mere minutes into the demo earlier this year, and yet when it came time to play the full game, I still found myself getting caught up in the twists and turns. That’s right — even knowing the ending before going in, the journey was so powerful that I’m glad to have taken it, and would recommend that any fan of first-person horror do the same.

Project Warlock is a pedal-to-the-metal, shoot first and don’t ask questions later FPS that would have been right at home on an early ‘90s PC, and players who enjoy that style are in for a treat. Solid art design, excellent gameplay, and just enough challenge make Project Warlock one hell of an experience for fans of the genre while paying tribute to the classics that inspired it.

It's a piece of satisfyingly decrepit eye candy. The gameplay carries on the Castlevania tradition of whipping bastions of undead into submission.

Narita Boy’s retro style is its main selling point. It’s almost like a documentary on the early days of videogames when their creation were labors of love and dedication from passionate geeks in a garage, not industrial products focus-tested by mega corporations. Although it falls short of being a masterpiece, it’s got more than enough appeal to come recommended to those who have a soft spot for the period.

While it requires a fair time investment to get sunk in and the AI could definitely stand to have its fangs pulled out, Culdcept Revolt offers a wonderfully rich tabletop experience that would be impossible to replicate on a tabletop. It’s unlike almost anything else available today.

Bomber Crew is a fantastic first achievement, and flitting between micro and macro management is both stressful and rewarding in equal measure. That said, the game can’t decide if it wants to be a quirky management sim or a hardcore roguelike, so splitting the difference has weakened the whole.

Armello has tons of appeal. The art is gorgeous, the premise is engaging, and I'm always interested in new virtual boardgames. Unfortunately, the mechanics don't feel like they're quite where they need to be, the singleplayer mode comes up short, and the online mode can be slow and frustrating depending on the other players.

I'm definitely a fan of the autorun genre, and out of all the ones I've played, I feel pretty comfortable in saying that this one is the best I've tried. Toss in the fact that the in-app option to purchase currency comes off as a nice option to have rather than something that's necessary to fully enjoy the game, and One Epic Knight is a can't-miss no-brainer.

Hardcore item-management fetishists might find some joy here, there’s simply not enough balance or content for Phantom Crash to stand on its own, much less measure up to the competition (I’m looking at you, "Armored Core 3").

Without the customization options, Overwhelm would be a neat project that would suit for a tiny fraction of hardcore players who don’t mind throwing themselves into the meat grinder of mastery. However, thanks to a developer willing to have his creation be played in a way outside the original vision, not only will more people be able to get the full experience from his work, but I imagine that it will earn him fans eager to see more in the future. I’m a firm believer that offering options can only help a game and never hurt it, and Overwhelm is a perfect example that proves it true.