Far Cry 5 is mechanically sound and varied. You’ll find something that entertains you, and Ubisoft has nailed all of the underlying elements of character and world progression. At the same time, it squanders some decent writing because it can’t decide what kind of game it is.

Of the new additions, the weapon crafting feature makes it worthwhile to stick around. Even the cooperative mode injects some fresh blood (and sorely missed horror elements) back into the formula. The essential ingredients of what makes a Dead Space game great keeps changing from one iteration to the next, but at least Visceral Games always finds a way to make it enjoyable.

It’s fun to play in two-level sessions, allocating around half an hour to an hour per level, and between the main objectives, optional missions, and side story quests, there’s an incredible amount to see and do here.

It has plenty to satisfy the explorer in you, but not the gamer.

The trademark Borderlands humor and Telltale story prowess are missing from Atlas Mugged, which forces players to spend the whole game preparing to do something instead of just doing it.

If someone like me (who reveres the Pac-Man Championship Edition franchise) is struggling to figure out where the leaderboards are and which mode I should compete in, then I don’t think this game has a chance of winning over new players. The numerous modes and levels are a fun distraction — but that’s part of the problem: they’re a distraction from what Bandai Namco should’ve made a much more rewarding asynchronous competitive mode.

Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture’s greatest accomplishment is making you care for its departed characters. Their personal stories give you an incredible glimpse of what life was like in their little corner of the world. They’re not the nicest group of people. They can be selfish, stubborn, and downright stupid. But that’s what makes them feel real and memorable.

Mohawk Games really hit on something special in creating the heart and soul of what makes Offworld Trading Company tick. It’s just a shame they didn’t stretch and twist it far enough to broach the limits of what this brilliant idea can really do.

Nintendo Land epitomizes the minigame-compilation genre - occasional flashes of brilliance surrounded by things you just don't want to exist.

Kingdom Hearts 1.5 HD Remix offers old fans a great excuse to play some of the series’ older installments while also giving curious newcomers the best way to get their first fix.

Amazingly, neither source franchise feels compromised in this union. And while it’s easy to point out where the game’s many influences stem from, the greater game feels unique. This spinoff is good enough that it should be a new franchise going forward.

People who got into the fighting game community with Street Fighter IV may not want to hear this, but from a base design, Street Fighter V is by far the superior game. Capcom has paved over and smoothed out a lot of the things I didn’t like about Street Fighter IV’s design. A lot of those issues created poor play habits, which makes it feels like Capcom is making small steps to mature the game, and in turn is trying to mature how the player base plays fighting games.

Critics praised this series for its unique campaigns like Weapon Master that feature a variety of challenges and weapons with different properties, but SC5's offerings feel limited and rushed.

It’s charming, colorful, and offers enough content to keep both action fans and Dragon Quest aficionados occupied for quite some time.

Humankind is my favorite type of game: a glorious mish-mash of mechanics from other standouts from its genre, all informed by a studio’s design and visual philosophy. This 4X game (explore, expand, exploit, exterminate) takes the main ideas from Civilization, and Amplitude Studios blends them with the city-building and clean, pretty UIs of its Endless series.

Beamdog’s first effort at original storytelling is a good start, and I’m excited to see more in the future, even if it’s in the world of Baldur’s Gate.

I also dig just how much control Tactical Adventures gives you over Solasta’s rules. You have several ways to deal with encumbrance, levels of attack and damage roll modifiers, and skill check rolls. If you want to play and experience the systems and story but not worry about missing skill checks in conversations, you can do that. You can ditch spell concentration rules. Or you can make the AI more merciless, giving them better tactics in combat.

The story is quite elaborate, the human character animations are outstanding, the performances are great, and there are some real moving moments in the game

With combat that’s simple but has some depth and a story that fits in the franchise’s lineage, this ramp up to next month’s Final Fantasy XV is a great way to enjoy a story you love while also sharing it with others who are experiencing it for the first time.

The package could be on the light side, but Arms is fun enough that it’s still worth owning. After all, most people will stick with a fighting game because they enjoy the competition. They want to try to master the game, and while Arms doesn’t have a lot of mechanics, you’ll need precision and timing if you want to consistently win.

It does have some shortcomings: Namely its dialogue and slightly self-conscious microtransaction system. But when it’s on-form, it’s a lot of fun. If you have any taste for these kinds of extreme sports titles, then you’ll likely enjoy Riders Republic.

It’s been so long since I could say, without any second guessing or qualifiers, that I like a Resident Evil game. I don’t just like Revelations — I adore it. Slower mechanics, scrounging for items, and marching headlong into the unknown are features not entirely lost in new RE games, but they’re rarely expressed as well as they were in pre-RE4 titles.

The challenges will please more core gamers while the comprehensible level design will likely attract new players attracted to the art style and refreshingly different gameplay mechanics. I recommend it heartily to fans of Portal (either version) as well as gamers who may be suffering from shooter fatigue.

While it won’t have the party appeal that comes with instruments, it’s a more intuitive, beautiful, and creative experience.

Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare delivers a familiar Call of Duty gameplay in an innovative new setting that should satisfy gamers who are tired of playing the same old thing.

After the ever-so-slightly lackluster Smoke and Mirrors, A Crooked Mile brings the series back up to its promising beginnings. The plot is increasingly dire and bleak, but it’s also one of the most sharply written games in recent memory.

What Ails You is the strongest episode so far, giving Batman: The Enemy Within a much-needed injection of verve as it speeds toward the conclusion of the series.

This year, NCAA’s lack of novelty is more evident. Yeah, it now has Infinity Engine physics — which Madden NFL got last year — and Ultimate Team — which FIFA has had for a while. It does play a better game of college football, however, and that’s important. But ultimately, NCAA Football 14 is like your friend who showed up to the first class of the fall semester with the same haircut, shirt, and summer story to tell. Maybe he lost a few pounds, and you’re happy to see him, but he hasn’t really changed.