Redout offers the speed and fluidity of a great futuristic racer, but lacks the polish and content required to be a truly great Wipeout successor.

Shiftlings is a brilliant co-op puzzle game from Norway. The game let’s the players control two characters – one small and one big – through the very well designed and often challenging maps Shiftlings offers. The players can swap size at any time, and must combine gravity and the different sizes to overcome challenges. Shiftlings is hilarious with a friend, but lose a lot of its charm and fun if you’re on your own.

Endless Space 2 offers great political and administrative mechanics, but lacks compelling warfare and diplomacy systems.

Marathon delivers a plethora of deep mechanics, engaging gunplay and a truly unique look, but there's simply too much tedium and way too much busywork between fights.

It's hard not to notice that the story is slow at times. Quantic Dream could easily have trimmed the fat during some of the longer sequences. At the same time the studio deserves praise for good digital acting and a script that is better than earlier attempts.

Crackdown 3 is by no means original, but it offers a colorful and fun alternative to all the meticulous and deadly serious games in the gaming market right now.

Ion Fury is the ultimate retro first-person shooter that feels authentic because of its use of the ancient game engine Build. While it comes with certain limitations, it feel modern enough to be both playable and enjoyable by a 2019 audience. No story, no cutscenes – just shoot whatever moves and find hidden levers and keycards. Love it or hate it, Ion Fury brings back a certain 90s nostalgia reminiscent of Duke Nukem 3D.

Lost Planet 2 is both infuriating and exhilarating in mostly equal measures. It has a long list of annoying issues, but when push comes to shove, playing online with a trio of friends is some of the best fun to be had.

Helping the little girl through her nightmarish tableaus is engaging if you are able to get invested in the absurdist universe. I was definitely able to do that during Murasaki Baby's couple of hours.

Picross 3D adds up nicely with an entertaining game with lots of hard nuts to solve." It should have been "Picross 3D adds up nicely with an entertaining game with lots of difficult puzzles to solve.

Final Fantasy Type-0 HD features an engaging combat system and a great universe to explore, making for a stellar JRPG, with it a distinctive style and tone. However, the experience is hampered by too many protagonists, a clunky camera and the fact that the HD-remastering is less than optimal in oh so many different ways.

State of Mind asks important questions and offers a mostly well-written story, but lacks the gameplay mechanics and the engaging puzzles to be a truly great game.

New Super Mario Bros U is a Mario game – through and through. In some ways, this is the best game in the "New"-series thus far, with well designed levels, a lengthy campaign, and a plethora of hidden secrets around every twist and turn. The game offers plenty. It's also pretty much the same game we played in 2009, with some small changes, and can at times seem superfluous.

A solid, fresh and addictive empire builder that is well worth playing for fans of the genre. But it needs more life and dynamic events, especially towards the end.

Kirby's Return to Dreamland Deluxe offers a lot of fun for both young and old, and exploring the many nooks and crannies is consistently rewarding.

Nintendo Land's defining quality is how it teaches the Wii U system to the player without making it complicated. This unfortunately also means depth is sacrificed.

Stellaris: Apocalypse brings awesome weapons and new challenges to the Stellaris experience, but is also carried by the massive changes brought on with the new and free Cherryh update. As such, I wish Apocalypse came with the kind of changes we saw with the Utopia expansion last year, because by itself, the expansion lacks the kind of marvel we've come to expect from Paradox's expansions.

The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing is surprisingly entertaining, and it deserves to be played by those looking for a good adventure. It’s visually beautiful and well written. NeoCore Games has been able to create an amazing atmosphere worthy of a monster hunter game. On the other hand, the game doesn’t provide us with anything new or breathtaking, but it does offer waves and waves of enemies, a lot of loot to find and huge maps to explore.

Metro Exodus is beautiful, dark and often engaging, but many of the game mechanics seem to fit much better into a dark metro than semi-open maps.

While not as unforgiving as its big brother Dark Souls II, Lords of the Fallen still provides a tough challenge for even the most experienced hack 'n' slash adventurer.

Mosaic is a game that tries to ease the player into a melancholy atmosphere, only broken up by small glimpses of light. There are no typical challenging gameplay systems or problems to solve, but that is kind of the point of the game.

This year's Call of Duty has a disappointing campaign, but is ultimately saved by its multiplayer modes. The increased movement and specialist classes add some much needed variety, and Zombies is a real treat this time around.

Gran Turismo 5 is in many ways a fantastic racing game, but it suffers from relatively severe deficiencies. The damage model is unforgivably weak, 800 of the 1000 cars are of low quality and the sound is too cheap. The handling is impeccable, however.

Bursting with color, and well acted, but also a bit to short and clumsy at times.

Puzzle Dimension is a challenging brain teaser with great presentation and plenty of varied and intelligent puzzles to solve. But it is perhaps a little too difficult for its own good, especially after the introduction of invisible blocks.

Puyo Puyo Tetris is a captivation puzzle game that only sometimes is a bit to busy in its presentation.

A great platforming game for the 3DS. The levels look amazing, and there are plenty of surprises and exciting concepts to experience. It requires some skill, and the game sometimes feels a bit unfair. Still, it offers plenty of fun.

There is no doubt that Everybody's Gone to the Rapture is a unique experience. Its problems will probably hamper the experience for some, but visiting the gorgeous English countryside is definitely worth it, especially for the people who have had positive experiences with similar games before.

Among the Sleep isn't the horror game many are expecting. It's not Amnesia with a toddler. It's a game with a message, and while it's not always successful I think Krillbite can be reasonably proud of what they've achieved here.

Quotation forthcoming.

Dragon Quest III: HD-2D Remake is enjoyable to explore, but the endless random battles get tiring after a while.

The Ball delivers an entertaining mix of puzzles and action, with a lot of variation despite the simple core concept. However, it is a bit of a slow starter, and saves the best stuff for last.

This year's edition of Pro Cycling Manager adds some new features, like rider automation, that improves gameplay, and discards some that didn't work properly. It's one of the best releases in the series for a while, and an enjoyable experience.

The Surge is a surprisingly fun hard core hack-and-slash experience. It offers a grim story and great level design, but does not quite manage to reach the heights and overall quality and offering of its main competitors - the Soulsborne games.

This parodic game takes the player back to the 80's in style. The game itself has some issues, but the hilarious story, the excellent voice acting and the extreme level of detail makes this an excellent source of entertainment for an evening or two.

Octopath Traveler delivers incredible music and engaging gameplay, but the play structure sometimes becomes a bit tiring, even though the stories themselves are interesting.

Legends: Z-A still has a way to go in terms of graphics and story, but unique gameplay, great monster designs and a truly colorful world makes this a very fun new outing for the franchise nonetheless.

In spite of the variable AI quality and weapons feeling weak, this is a good first person shooter. The atmosphere is great and the game delivers an evocative and varied experience.

Might & Magic: Heroes VI is a turn-based strategy game that hails traditionalism and old design values. It is true to its predecessors, and fans won`t be disappointed despite the fact that it in many ways lacks evolution in gameplay and core mechanics.

Dance Central is a lot of fun, and it'll make you appreciate dancing more, but the lack of worthwhile multiplayer is very disappointing.

Ratchet and Clank Rift Apart is a beautiful and action packed adventure, but which sadly leaves its characters' personalities and fun, snarky comments behind in favour of more shooting, strafing, and a more sanitized, Disney-like story.

A honorable attempt to breach multiple difficult and complex issues.

Shovel Knight Dig features some of the best pixel art in the business and is a fun romp throughout, but lacks the depth of its peers and ends way, way too soon.

Call of Duty: Black Ops has a solid and fun multiplayer, and the best story in a Call of Duty-game yet. Despite this, it has got issues with arbitrary and unnecessary design. It isn´t as tight as its predecessor, and unless you are either not a fan of singleplayer story, og just plain tired of the multiplayer in Modern Warfare 2, the latter is still the better game.

Crysis 3 is a stunningly beautiful game, which also manages to stand out from your regular shooter thanks to a few tricks up it's sleeve. The nanosuit is truly empowering and the bow is a great addition to the formula, but the game’s stealth elements and AI are simply lackluster, and with such a cliche-filled story there is simply too much to be desired.

Hidden underneath the old Zelda formula lies a charming and beautiful adventure that still manages to captivate old timers and those who experience Skyward Sword for the first time.

Engaging tracks and an enjoyable selection of cars makes for a colorful and fun, but clumsy racing game.

Cat Quest III is a simple yet effective RPG, delivering plenty of great side quests and unique moments across the colorful Purribean.

Quotation forthcoming.

This cozy little gem has more to offer than the sum of its parts, which are a repetitive combat system, physics challenges that are easily bruteforced and ill balanced characters. You can thank the amazing atmosphere and a great co-op campaign for that.

This roman take on the Anno-series scratches all the itches for the dedicated Anno-player, though your life as a roman governor could have been more smooth with some player-friendly interface-options.

Ashes of Ariandel attempts to tackle too many things at once, and loses focus. There are few negatives about the expansion in itself, it just doesn't have enough content. FROM had the potential to make a great expansion to the series, but put its efforts into developing the wrong aspect of the game.

Jurassic World Evolution 3 gives you the tools to build the dinosaur park of your dreams. There are still annoyances with difficult dinosaurs, but overall this is the best game in the series.

Syberia is a classic adventure game that truly deserved more than this pretty, but lacking remaster. The story is thankfully as wonderful as ever.

Cthulhu: The Cosmic Abyss is a tense, dark and deliciously atmospheric tale of horror, that is marred with technical issues you'd be best to see fixed before you play.

Tekken Hybrid is a combo package of game, demo and film. The revamp of Tekken Tag Tournament HD looks good and feels relevant compared to modern fighters. Tekken Tag Tournament 2: Prologue gives a nice taste of what's to come, but a few more characters to try out would have been better. The film lacks a good story, but looks amazing. This package is an oddity that might confuse newcomers to the games, but will please the fans.

Despite flimsy physics and a hard-to-grasp story, Teslagrad 2 is a fast-paced, fun and atmospheric Metroidvania.

The Mageseeker is a game with genuinely entertaining combat system and an interesting story that suffers from painfully repetitive level design.

Quotation forthcoming.

At it's best, Serious Sam 3 is almost like a first person shooter-version of Geometry Wars: An intense dance with the enemy hordes. But it takes a while to get to this point, and towards the end the whole experience gets a bit samey.

Quotation forthcoming.

Quotation forthcoming.

Though similar in title, Arcania: Gothic 4 bears little resemblance to its predecessors. It is a traditional action-based role-playing game, which lets you play as an adventurer in the battle against ancient evil forces. The story and graphics are among the game's strongpoints, while almost every other aspect is bland and unorigonal.

Gran Turismo 6 is a massive game, and it is fantastic in its best moments, but the shortcomings of the series are getting difficult to ignore. Most notably the awful sounds and the lack of a proper damage model.

Unless you are a big Mario Kart-fan, this game might not be worthbuying. By all means, it's fun the way only Mario Kart can be, itlooks more stunning than ever before and if you need new tracks it caneasily offer hours of entertainment. But Nintendo must have made this game on autopilot.

It's part UFO: Enemy Unknown and part Commandos. This military game of chess is not as deep as it could have been, but still one of the strongest launch titles on the 3DS.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 leaves much to be desired in its lacklustre campaign, but the multiplayer is where the game truly shines. Awesome weapons, fast-paced gameplay and the overall sense of polish might make this the best Call of Duty online experience at the moment.

A great introduction to action role playing games like Diablo.

An exciting adventure with interesting characters, but the recipe has been used to death at this point.

Quotation forthcoming.

Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising offers easy fun. It may be simple, but it works, and even if you go back to the same areas a lot of times, it doesn't get boring.

Ridge Racer 3D does not bring anything new to the genre, except 3D. It does, however, follow a well-tested recipe; and it succeeds in doing so. All in all, this is a good racing game, and the added three-dimensional effect literally brings a new dimension to handheld racing.

Crash Team Racing: Nitro-Fueled is a superb kart-racer bogged down by a frustratingly uneven difficulty and a very unstable multiplayer.

With improved physics and an incredible depth in gameplay, PES 2014 is a step in the right direction for Konami. The game still suffers from weak AI, lack of licenses and few innovations in their gameplay modes, but its the closest the series have come in matching PES 6, the highlight of the series.

Isle of Armor is big, colorful and filled with familiar faces and feelings, but there's a real lack of brand new content.

Albeit initially bland, the game soon turns into a challenging and charming platform game. The 2D sequences cause nostalgia, and the game as a whole is thoroughly well designed. The few problems – especially the annoying music – are not enough to describe De Blob 2 as anything but a great game.

NHL 17 might just be the best hockey game there ever was, but returning annoyances and few real changes make for a game that isn't much better than its predecessor.

As a Wii U launch title, Black Ops II strives to innovate upon the well-known Call of Duty-formula, and to some extent it also manages to do so. While it still is very much the same game previously released on Sony's and Microsoft's consoles, it is the ability to play the game single-handed through the game pad that should be Nintendo's selling point.

Dawn of War III is exciting and brings a thrilling multiplayer experience to the table, but a lack of variety and a focus on grinding takes away from its attempt to be a deep, but fast-paced experience at the same time.

Quotation forthcoming.

Cold War offers its share of highs and lows during the net exciting campaign, and familiar multiplayer. The best moments are when the developers allow themselves to slow down the pace, and let the player feel the tensions of varying aspects of the Cold War.

With Everspace 2, Rockfish takes the leap from roguelike to a full-fledged space adventure in a giant galaxy. Here there are endless things to explore, but a lack of variety means that the experience quickly loses its zest.

Game Freak delivers yet another solid game. It doesn't bring a lot of new stuff to the table, but the small changes and refinements are for the better. It might be time to change things up a bit though.

Quotation forthcoming.

The most open ended series on the planet returns. You are free to carve your own path, make allies and disrupt or keep the peace. It can be confusing and slow at times, but leaving your story is great fun.

Tales of Arise is an experience with good sides and bad sides. On one hand it is a great adventure in expansive and gorgeous environments, with a stellar action oriented combat system that might be the series best one so far. On the other hand the story – while interesting – is told in a really frustrating manner, with way toO much dialogue that has no real place or purpose.

Gemini Rue is yet more proof that you don't need expensive budgets to make good games. This retro-styled adventure delivers a great story and fun point & click-based gameplay. It's probably not for everyone, but adventure fans will find plenty to like here.

Twelve Minutes is one of the most interesting games of 2021, but it might not be one of the best.

Sherlock Holmes Chapter One is a fresh new start for the nearly 20-year-old game series, and to some extent manages to reinvent the wheel.

Awakening is a great expansion. It delivers around 20 hours of role-playing goodness, which flows better and is more varied than what we got in the original game. We also get new and interesting characters and a bunch of new abilities and items to play with.

Quotation forthcoming.

Despite sharing a whole lot of similarities with its predecessor, Destiny 2 excels where it counts. The shooting and loot hunting is as addictive as ever, and even though the characters and story feel like they're still lacking several layers of dept, the grind has never felt so good.

PES 2012 does nothing revolutionary to the series, but the new Off the Ball control and slightly improved gameplay raises the overall experience. Still behind it's EA Sports competition, who offers a more fine tuned approach to the sport, Konami at least takes one solid step forward this season.

Quotation forthcoming.

Europa Universalis IV: Rule Britannia adds many worthwhile mechanics the British region and beyond. The coolest one is the new mission system, but due to being part of the free 1.25 England patch, its impact on the expansion is lessened.

Beautiful and streamlined puzzle, but the story drags.

Avowed offers a strong atmosphere, colorful personalities, and a gameplay loop that is entirely serviceable. However, it fails to excel in any particular area, including the character-driven narratives that Obsidian are known for. And so, Avowed fails to fully deliver on its potential.

It's an engaging and unique game with lots of depth and replayability, but sometimes you feel like more of a spectator than a player.