These misgivings aside, WWE 2K23 sees the series build on its immediate predecessor and return to form after hitting rock bottom (pun intended) with the infamous 2K20. Almost every mode has been improved--with the exception of Showcase and MyFaction--while the in-ring action is as polished as ever. WarGames is a fun and chaotic new addition, and the likes of Universe, MyGM, and MyRise are endlessly playable to the point where they could keep you busy by the time next year's WrestleMania rolls around.

Painting the town red, blue, or any other color is a lot of fun in this charming Wii platformer.

Even after barreling through the campaign in a couple of days, I still couldn't stop myself from going back for more. Ninja Gaiden 4 is a brutal menagerie of excessive blood spray, gratifying weapons, and gloriously stylish action. It banishes the sour memories of Ninja Gaiden 3 and has me pining for more character-action games, serving as a wistful reminder that games like Ninja Gaiden, Devil May Cry, and Bayonetta ruled the roost before the recent proliferation of Souls-likes. Every change is meaningful, adding to the rock-solid foundations and evolving the formula to bring out the very best in its phenomenal combat. If Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound and Shinobi: Art of Vengeance weren't enough, then Ninja Gaiden 4 solidifies 2025 as the year of the ninja.

And while it doesn't achieve the same epic sense of scale as Jackson's movies, it's still an engrossing and well-made real-time strategy game that captures the essence of J.R.R. Tolkien's wondrous world.

Though very similar to the last two games in the series, the open-ended stealth action gameplay offered by Hitman: Blood Money is still just about as tensely exciting as ever. A few new twists to the formula, an intriguing story, and a memorably diverse, cinematic sequence of missions further make Blood Money worth it.

Bleach: Dark Souls improves upon what was already a fantastic game, and belongs in your fighting game collection.

Rive is demanding, but it pushes the kind of near-thoughtless play that shoot-em-ups strive to achieve. When faced with an onslaught of enemies and environmental hazards, you'll have to think fast or die. Rive also doesn't run all that long, but what's here is excellent, top-notch action, and the game delivers some of the most memorable moments in a shoot-em-up in years.

Great fun, from its hysterical cutscenes to its extremely tense police chases.

Saints Row 2 is crass, immature, and really fun.

It takes a while to grasp, but once the game picks up steam, it becomes an intriguing experience that's unlike any other game on Vita to date.

I've now sunk nearly 90 hours into Marathon, and it has quickly eclipsed many of my other go-to multiplayer games. It's currently all I'm thinking about and all I want to play. I'm excited to see how else the game will change over time, whether that's with new Shells, new contracts, new story, new modes, or new enemies. And so far, Bungie has been highly attuned to player feedback, and that has already resulted in lots of tweaks and improvements to the experience...Even those frustrating losing streaks often just have me jumping back into another match, eager to replace the gear I've lost, and most battles are fun, tense, and tactical, pushing you to play smartly and work together with your teammates. How the developers support Marathon over the long term will determine whether it can sustain interest the way other successful live-service games have, but Bungie's fundamentals are incredibly strong, and Marathon is much richer and deeper than its 20-minute matches would suggest. Tau Ceti IV calls, and there are runs to complete.

Delivers a satisfying team-based shooter experience that many hardcore Star Wars fans will probably enjoy greatly.

Despite its short length and a few other problems, Star Trek Bridge Commander is an innovative, entertaining simulation.

While hockey purists will obviously be turned off by the rough-and-tumble nature of NHL Hitz, it's a great game of hockey that anyone can pick up and play.

At worst, you'll lose some time downloading it. At best, you'll get an unusually intense game that in many ways rivals or surpasses the top commercial tactical shooters.

With the release of DDRMAX2, the US is finally getting a collection of songs that contains a few hits from this country rather than relying on the Eurodance and Japanese pop music for which the series is known.

It creates the most accurate representation of the world of Springfield ever put into a game, and it manages to make the gameplay surrounding it quite a lot of fun.

Through its use of real time and brilliant writing, the game ups the ante for storytelling in gaming. And if it weren't for a few gameplay issues, The Last Express could very well be among the best adventure games ever.

You'd be hard pressed to find a better modern fighting game for such an affordable price.

Out of the Park Baseball 9 doesn't add a lot to an already fantastic formula, but a host of small refinements make it the best game in the history of the franchise.

Surprisingly one of the most satisfying role-playing experiences to be found on the PlayStation.

The game needs more activities and less preaching before it's truly ready for prime time.

Broken Age's world may be fun to explore, but don't get too comfortable. Just as you fall into a steady groove with its story and puzzles, the game ends. Thankfully, the ending provides some resolution while also leaving you excited for the second act.

Profuse scatterings of collectibles and items, each object labeled with an icon that urges you to interact with it, ensure you have lots of stuff to do, but it's undeniable busywork: interaction for the sake of interaction.

Cyber Shadow is a solid retro throwback with a few things that drag it down. The feeling of becoming more powerful and being able to take down huge enemy threats with your wits and skills is very rewarding, and the levels when you can use your abilities more freely to overcome challenges are quite fun. It's the trial-and-error areas littered with cheap deaths, demanding exact precision over long and frustrating stretches, that hamper the experience. Still, if you're looking for an old-school-styled ninja game that will test your skills (and sometimes your patience), Cyber Shadow is a worthy contender.

It's rare when a racing game manages to modernize and reinvigorate an old formula with spectacular confidence, but Wreckfest does just that.

Powerfully ghoulish depictions of the plague and rats aside, Innocence is ultimately an emotive story of resilience against harrowing odds.

Horizon: Burning Shores lays even more groundwork for the future of the franchise than Forbidden West, which had already signaled a clear direction for the next entry. It does this in a tight, engaging little package that reignited my love for the world and its characters without feeling burdened by it. While much of Burning Shores feels familiar, it's a sweet, condensed experience that captures what makes Horizon games great. After feeling more exhausted than excited at the end of Forbidden West, I'm glad for the reminder.

This fast and exciting racer continually finds a way to keep you circling around for another lap.

Resistance: Retribution successfully migrates the series' exciting action to the portable platform, with only a few bumps along the way.

A new swing and excellent online play freshen up the Hot Shots experience just enough to make Out of Bounds worth the price of admission.

A fantastic-looking game with a great single-player campaign. The multiplayer, however, is underwhelming.

The game's insistence on mixing things up makes it joyful throughout. Siesta Fiesta may not keep you coming back when it's over, but it's a lot of fun while it lasts.

By creating intriguing rules and pushing its ideas to impossible places, Closure cements itself as a great puzzler.

While neither game will win awards for its narrative, playing both and adjusting your play style to whichever task you have at hand is always a blast.

Strictly on its own merits, this version is an altogether unimpressive action adventure that still smacks of being a watered-down port of a technically superior game. In other words, both GameCube owners and Splinter Cell fans deserve better than this.

The Switch-exclusive features--limited to the free-building non-story mode--add another layer of endearment to a game already brimming with charm.

The 10th installment in this long-running franchise proves that some formulas don't need to change.

This first-person action game hits you like a sledgehammer with its astounding, stunningly creepy presentation, but it sacrifices opportunities for more shocks and surprises by settling for repetition.

The gameplay is as freeform and as technical as it's ever been, with some smart changes on that front that are enough to keep fans of the series interested, while a new tutorial is aimed at getting new players up to speed. Unfortunately, some technical glitches and unstable frame rates plague both the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3 version of the game.

Saints Row IV owes a lot to games like Crackdown and Prototype, but the absurd humor that infuses every aspect of this game gives it an identity all its own.

A hard-hitting fighter that plays to the hardcore crowd. Its creative use of background objects coupled with satisfying fighting mechanics make it both fun and distinct from it contemporaries. But for newer players, the minimal instruction modes and disappointing story provide little incentive for your sustained interest. And the absence of replay support is a loss for everyone involved.

If you have friends nearby, this is some of the most fun you can have stabbing them through the heart.

Despite a few nagging issues, NBA 2K8 is a fantastic basketball game packed to the brim with features and game modes.

So with five versions of the game spread across two generations of consoles, which is the best Battlefield? Unsurprisingly, the PC version remains on top with excellent visuals and sprawling 64-player matches that make the most of the great maps and incredible combat diversity.

Torment is far more than just a phenomenal role-playing game. It’s a challenge to restore the depth and nuance for which the genre was once known.

There's very little that's truly new in Tiger Woods 07, but it's still a very good game.

The beauty of Kalimba is in its high replay value, even more so than the gratification of solving its platforming puzzles.

The new features brought to the table don't add enough over what was available in NHL 13, making this a dubious buy for anyone who still has last year's game and can live without the crushing new hits and more widespread fisticuffs.

Its diverse roster is packed with a wide range of personalities and fighting styles, bolstered by a raucous attitude that begs to be taken seriously while simultaneously mocking its more peculiar whims in the process. Tekken fans will find their next favorite game--one that's the product of decade's worth of refinement. And while some of this depth will be lost or out of reach for newcomers, there's enough fun to be had outside of hardcore competition to keep players from all walks of gaming thoroughly entertained.

Despite a few nagging issues, NBA 2K8 is a fantastic basketball game packed to the brim with features and game modes.

In the end, Intermission is a pit stop, a quick jaunt into the gas station minimart of Final Fantasy VII to refuel, grab a snack, and get ready to wait some more. With its fun combat and quirky character moments, it'll likely remind you of what you like about FF7 Remake--but it won't be enough to hold you over.

To the Moon is a game you must play. It's available for download from developer Freebird Games' website for $11.99, which seems about right for this affecting four-hour tale. Those four hours pack a real punch, inviting you to consider just how a single event can change your destiny. For now, you should take control of your own destiny and play To the Moon. You'll be glad you did.

The feature set remains fundamentally unchanged, but each of the core modes have increased in breadth and decreased in clutter, making it easy to dig into features that might have seemed too dense from a distance. Madden 15 looks sharper than ever, but its biggest achievement is its dedication to improving core systems that have held the series back in the past.

World Adventures introduces a number of fresh ideas and a bunch of great new content to the series.

Quadrilateral Cowboy succeeds in astonishing ways: It makes you feel like an incredibly accomplished computer hacker and agent of espionage. It creates an eccentric, thorough world that feels good to exist in and creates characters you can empathise with, despite the lack of a clear plot thread. Quadrilateral Cowboy presents you with a spectrum of moments, and each moment makes you feel great.

Hellblade's most notable achievement is the handling of an incredibly sensitive subject matter within an engaging and well-crafted action/adventure game. At its heart, the story is about Senua's struggle to come to terms with her illness. In the process, she learns to find the strength within herself to endure, and to make peace with her past. And in a profound and physical way, we go through those same struggles with her, and come away with a better understanding of a piece of something that many people in the world struggle with.

It offers up lots of spectacularly visceral, bloody, in-your-face action through its numerous, action-packed single-player levels. And it looks beautiful, it sounds great, and it's got a pretty good old-school multiplayer deathmatch mode, for good measure.

It's a good product, overall, but its overreliance on touching means that many of the microgames have you doing the same sort of activity again and again.

When it comes to character diversity, Garden Warfare 2 outclasses other shooters in every way.

This franchise lives and dies by its gameplay, and on that front, it does not disappoint.

Enjoyable combat and a great loot system make this hack-and-slash role-playing game hard to put down.

Because of its fast pace and relatively simple scope, Starships Unlimited succeeds--it's almost like having "Risk" set in the stars.

It will probably appeal more to the less hard-core racing fan and to those who can ignore the game's slim damage model.

The elegant gameplay system makes it one of the most accessible operational-level wargames we've ever played, and it's worth your time if you're a veteran wargame fan or if you've been thinking about jumping into wargaming.

Fans of role-playing games rarely get as good a deal as this package offers--two full-length tactical RPGs with branching paths, numerous side quests, and tons of content for the price of a single game.

Doom may be a bit too dated and/or simplistic to draw you back in. However, if you appreciate the beauty of straightforward gameplay, happen to have a few feisty friends, and absolutely adore your GBA, Doom is an excellent choice.

While March Madness 2004 does a good job at capturing the feel of college basketball, a general lack of polish keeps it just a little short of greatness.

Danganronpa V3 doesn't top the first two games overall. Its murder cases generally aren't as memorable, and its slow pace can make it feel flat in the middle. But as a sequel to those two games, it does a great job of tying the loose threads together and remaining surprising to the very end.

Players who have already taken this trip with Shadowrun Returns and its expansion may find themselves wanting a bit with the gameplay, and newbies will have quite the learning curve to surmount, but if you see the gameplay as an adequate means to experience the more satisfying narrative end, Shadowrun: Hong Kong more than earns your attention.

Planet Robobot's meager difficulty may feel like a turn off at times, but it's not a reason to write it off. Once you spend time sampling the large selection of powers in each stage, taking in the detailed visuals, the catchy soundtrack, and exploring the wealth of extra modes on hand, you are so focused on the game's pervasive charm that you're looking forward to the next delightful surprise, rather than praying for a grueling test of skill. Planet Robobot is another great feather in Kirby's cap that shouldn't be overlooked.

I truly loved my experience playing Live A Live. The gameplay and narrative variety, incredible visuals, and superb soundtrack kept me enthralled throughout my 30-hour journey. I still feel like the game has a few secrets and little story bits I may have overlooked. It's quite the accomplishment that, almost 30 years later, Live A Live still manages to surprise, subvert, and enthrall. Those timeless qualities make it well worth your attention, now and likely for years to come.

Race Driver 2006, despite its largely recycled career mode, feels like a mostly new game, thanks to the addition of an all-new single-player mode, some new cars and tracks, and simulation racing that still feels tight and authentic on the PSP.

Explosive combat and terrific controls make Renegade Ops a great vehicular dual-stick shooter.

Even though Minion Quest falters, it's still an optional outing that doesn't detract from what's fundamentally an excellent adventure. Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga has aged astonishingly well, and the various improvements offered in this remake only serve to make an already great game even better. Whether you're a series veteran or visiting the Beanbean Kingdom for the very first time, there's no better way to experience this classic RPG.

It's an exciting, dynamic experience that's frequently rewarding and rarely frustrating and can keep you coming back hour after shameless hour, as you cause mayhem throughout the rather large, detailed city of Stilwater. What's more, a surprisingly entertaining storyline and a number of smartly designed gameplay features make Saints Row a memorable game in its own right.

Lumines II is a game that feels fresh for the first few hours, but once the newness of the music wears off, it's pretty much the same as Lumines. It's still one of the best puzzle games of the year, but it's hard not to wish that the game played at least somewhat differently.

It's a wonderful game with charm and inventive ideas that work and pave the way for new experiences in an otherwise stale category of games.

What's impressive is the amount of stuff that developer Gas Powered Games has managed to squeeze into the standalone expansion in relatively little time.

Drill Dozer proves to be a great action game for the Game Boy Advance thanks to some creative, well-designed platforming elements and a number of classic-style boss battles, which keep the game uniformly intense throughout.

Sunless Sea is an ambitious work that attempts to capture the sheer kinetic thrill of discovery in a bottle without the inevitable entropy of player completion depleting it, and falls well short. The promise of lengthened replayability only makes the methodical pace a joyless grind at times.

Telltale Games' zombie extravaganza is continuing to prove that it is every bit the equal of the Robert Kirkman comics, and superior to the AMC TV show.

Nowhere near as pretty or diverse as the original 1996 PC game, but it's easily the best FPS to hit the GBA since "Doom."

Interestingly, Sports Interactive has said it plans to sell a standalone version of Football Manager Touch, with a release date of "sometime before Christmas." If you’re the same kind of Football Manager player as me, you may be better off waiting for that. For now, you can find Football Manager Touch here in Football Manager 16. Many of the new features--the Set Piece Creator, Create a Club and a lightly tweaked tactics UI--are available in Touch while almost everything I dislike has been cut. This, coupled with the fact that the match engine feels just a little bit more Joachim Löw than Tony Pulis this year, was enough to draw me back in.

Even if it takes a camera or a mobile device to fully come together, Tearaway Unfolded is a smart, slick reimagining of Media Molecule’s underappreciated gem. The innovative methods by which you can twist, turn, and bend the colorful paper world provide interesting new challenges to wrap your head around, and the already beautiful world has an even bigger allure on the PlayStation 4. It’s just plain fun.

Trackmania Turbo really isn’t much different than the rest of the series. It looks better and offers console players a chance to get in on the action, something not seen since the Wii version, but is largely the same game it’s always been. For racers who live for direct competition, the time trial focus of TM might be too off-putting. Otherwise, this is simply one of the most entertaining arcade racers on the market for both experienced and more casual gamers.

Still one of the best platformers you can find, with a clever story, unique and interesting weapons, and compelling multiplayer options.

Charming and entertaining in its own right, though its appeal is mostly limited to hardcore fans of other strategy role-playing games and anime.

The gameplay hasn't changed dramatically, but better source material makes Lego Star Wars II a better game than its predecessor.

Even with tens of hours of new content and welcome improvements over its predecessor, Monster Hunter Freedom Unite has yet to hunt down a few critical annoyances.

NBA 2K7 is a very good game, but it's largely unchanged from "NBA 2K6."

The textures, lighting, and color saturation are all slightly worse than on the PlayStation 4 version, but still much better than Xbox 360/PS3. Secondly, though there occasional connectivity issues with the online multiplayer, the majority of our play time was issue-free and full of the immense, chaotic excitement that makes this game shine.

Black Ops III's narrative doesn't support the campaign in any meaningful way, either. It tells an incomprehensible story about AI ascendancy and the moral grays of a hyper-connected future, raising intriguing questions but never bothering to answer them. At the end of it all, after hours of soulless shooting and unremarkable storytelling, Black Ops III delivered its nebulous twist, and I didn't dwell on it.

Granblue Fantasy: Relink bundles a lot of familiar elements together into one abridged RPG experience, with varying results. The combat is fast and furious, but it can sometimes feel monotonous, especially in longer battles. The story is a great catch-up tale for non-Granblue fans, but it doesn't do anything to stand out from its RPG counterparts. The looks and sounds of the world are wonderful though, with Granblue's signature style bursting to life with vibrant color. It doesn't revolutionize Granblue Fantasy, but Relink serves as a solid refresh for the former gacha game.

Saints Row 2 is crass, immature, and really fun.

Rainbow Six Vegas 2 isn’t the best sequel ever made, but it’s still a great tactical shooter in its own right.

The game is both a celebration of the Wolfenstein series and what feels like a fitting send-off for it. The New Order could be the last hurrah of William "BJ" Blazkowicz, an outing which, for all its excess and bombast, is far from mindless.

There is light that developer Deck Nine just never allows darkness to touch, and there is joy to be had in being able to play some small part in making sure they all do better. But the disconnect between that vibe and the turmoil that brought Alex here to begin with is tangible, and the game would achieve brilliance if those two concerns could connect. Dropping by Haven Springs is still time well-spent--but it's simply a pleasant visit, rather than a powerful, emotionally resonant one.