Flintlock is not the kind of game where you're going to see a ton of build variety. It's a stripped-back action RPG, sprinkling in a few souls-like elements to a broth whose dominant flavor is hyper-mobile combat and traversal that's never too punishing. It has its faults, from failing to expand on a setting that's only interesting on paper to featuring a prohibitive weapon upgrade system and some imprecision in its combat. It might not sit at the forefront of your mind for long after the credits have rolled, but in the moment, Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn is a rip-roaring good time that's likely to appeal to both newcomers and hardened Souls' fans alike. Hopefully more games take some cues from its uncommon approach.

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine is on the shallow side, but it still serves up plenty of "waaagh!"

Yes, MX vs. ATV Untamed is more of the same. But at least it's a lot more.

The trouble lies in the often uninteresting and occasionally frustrating controls, combined with some events that are too similar to one another, as well as shallow gameplay that brings the game down.

Tomb Raider Underworld can be an enjoyable adventure, but it’s marred by bugs, camera issues, and ill-conceived Wii extras.

If you're willing to block out the story and to seek out the challenges that SGU provides too many ways to avoid, a deceptively fun and enticing arcade racer is there for the taking.

It's an entertaining adventure game, but its ambitions to incorporate a meaningful diversity of role-playing options fall disappointingly flat and feel inconsequential. Mage's Initiation is a fair appropriation of a hybrid formula that I was happy to consume, but its shortcomings made me more eager to revisit the series that inspired it for another run-through.

Fans of the original arcade version will get a kick out of playing this PlayStation Network racer, but a steep price and limited replay value limit its longevity.

Piyotama is a good little puzzle game that's available at the right price.

Dinner With Friends tastes like reheated leftovers.

While you should be enjoying yourself, considering who should be hitting cleanup versus lefties, among other things, you'll instead find yourself constantly thinking about how much easier everything would be with a drag-and-drop interface.

A great way to relive some of the high points of classic gaming. However, poorly implemented customization options and sometimes less-than-perfect emulation tarnish what would otherwise be an incredible trip down memory lane.

Most players, however, will find this game to be a quaint cultural artifact--and not one that warrants a great deal of sustained interest. If you've avoided the Gallop Racer series thus far, it's best to stay the course.

The PSP version of flOw doesn't add any new features, but it's well worth a look if you've never played any other version of the game.

A solid game that's fun to watch, but it's no longer the only game in town.

A good, solid 2D shooter, even if it is over before you know it.

Between the different level variations and the multiplayer features, Tenchu: Return From Darkness has good lasting value.

At its best moments, a uniquely involving experience. These moments are all too fleeting in a game that has a very short lifespan, and while there's a nice little story and some flashes of brilliance in the design, it's all over far too soon.

The only serious drawback with Cities in Motion is the single-minded nature of the simulation. You need to have--or at least be able to develop--a real love of mass transit to get much out of the game.

While the game's touchy driving model and overly complex career mode won't appeal to everyone, Enthusia is a worthy game for those looking for something different in the four-wheel genre.

NHL 08 offers up a few control tweaks and minimal updates to the dynasty mode, but that's about it.

Aggravating combat overwhelms the elements that could have made Sorcery enjoyable.

For those who just want to race fast, wreck hard, and look good doing it, FlatOut fits the bill.

This party game is a bit light on content, but its bizarre controls and unusual selection of games make it fun to play with friends.

In the enjoyable but bare-bones Leviathan: Warships, you customize a fleet of ships and pit it against your friends' fleets on the high seas.

It's not the best brawler around, but this memorable adventure has style to spare.

In the end, Disney Dreamlight Valley still managed to captivate me thanks to its wonderful cast of characters and their magical worlds. The cozy life-sim concept allows you to gather, farm, and build at a leisurely pace. Unfortunately, I was also disappointed by the decision to have a real-time sync feature and an unclear progression path that’s compounded by repetitive tasks. The quests that you undertake aren't skill-based either--they're patience-based, so to speak, as any mistake made when unlocking biomes or spending materials can be downright exasperating. Two concepts clash here: the delightful and whimsical themes that spark the joy of your inner childhood, and the frustrations of time management as you experience the monotonous daily grind as an adult.

The most egregious problem with Hell Yeah is that it's not fun to play. A slew of shallow ideas thrown into one game do not make for a worthwhile experience.

Its individual elements may not be much on their own, but Dungeon Maker: Hunting Grounds' unique combination of gameplay styles is still enjoyable.

This charming rhythm game is especially good for first-timers, but it's a little light on content.

On the lively and intriguing battlefields of Brink, design issues can be as deadly as enemy soldiers.

Jurassic Park in particular doesn't suit this design because flattening the mechanics removes all notions of tension from the game, an essential part of the film series.

Overclocked may be awfully grim, but a deep story and smart, subtle puzzles make it captivating in spite of its macabre tone.

ProStreet is a solid racing game, but it has some performance issues and is missing most of what made the previous games in the series interesting.

Dyed-in-the-wool simmers will appreciate the game's stats-focused gameplay, as well as its comprehensive online mode, but anyone who's accustomed to the wealth of play animations and broadcast-style nuances found in other games will find this one a snoozer by comparison.

Thrillville: Off the Rails makes every part of building and running a theme park great fun.

World War Z has many rough edges that are easy to spot, exacerbated by limited content that makes repeated playthroughs less interesting with each run. But it's also a cooperative shooter that has the space for those dynamic and ridiculous player stories to emerge in.

Though Lockdown is still a worthwhile shooter, its overall feel may leave longtime fans wondering if the developers have finally strayed too far from the game's roots.

Featuring excellent vehicle physics, impressive graphics, and huge, free-roaming environments, Test Drive Off-Road Wide Open is definitely worth a look for fans of racing games and fans of big-block trucks.

Conflict: Desert Storm II isn't without problems, but it's not the worst squad-based game you'll ever play, and it's decidedly improved over last year's game.

Basically an enhanced version of F1 2002, giving you the opportunity to create your own driver and take him through all four of the previous F1A racing seasons that occurred between 1999 and 2002.

It falls victim to lackluster gameplay, thus preventing it from being recommendable to RTS fans.

A triumph on the Game Boy Advance, but it's not without its flaws. Given a bit more time to tweak the controls and further polish the graphics, Destination Software could have had a groundbreaking work on its hands.

The few ways in which Jetters differs from its predecessor don't improve upon the formula in any way; instead, there is a heavier focus on an insipidly lame storyline and an almost completely unnecessary second playable character.

The game is put together pretty well, but the game is very simple and very short. On top of that, the lame wordplay and fart jokes that pass for humor just don't cut it.

The Sims 3: Generations offers fun new features and objects to play with, but on the whole, it doesn't make much of an impression.

Despite being one-note on a gameplay level, Fe's world, with its lush environments and wistful score, compels you to explore. Establishing fleeting connections with the creatures around you is both charming and a little sad, and learning the truth about the enemy machines is even more tragic. By the end, the most important thing you've learned is how to connect with nature, not just by singing with animals but by understanding the world around you.

Hot Shots Tennis has some of the ingredients found in the Hot Shots Golf series, but Clap Hanz forgot to add fun into the mix.

Assessed solely as a Zelda game, Hyrule Warriors probably isn’t good enough to lure in non-Dynasty Warriors fans, but it is passable enough to offer Musou lovers something different to play between their usual battles for dynastic superiority.

Lego Jurassic Park is a nice, pleasant nostalgia trip, but it won't be long before you're asking to leave.

Full Auto is a neat idea, but unfortunately it's just one neat idea, stretched across the entire game. And that wears thin pretty quickly.

Trial-and-error frustrations diminish the impact of this add-on's great characters and dialogue.

What is somewhat surprising is that the gameplay is pretty solid for a game aimed squarely at kids, the voice actors do a good job of capturing the inflections of the film's characters, and the game features a nice boon of unlockable content to make up for the short quest.

The Kore Gang: Outvasion From Inner Earth brings real charm to an unbelievable adventure.

The Golf Club falls short of the green in its current state. There is a tremendous amount of potential here, and the game is immensely satisfying at times due to the demanding nature of the simulation and the wide variety of courses available to play. Off-kilter swing mechanics and noteworthy performance problems have to be addressed, but this is a game to watch.

AI issues and the lack of any significant new features have NHL 2K9 skating backward this year.

Though the game can be finished in around six hours, it provides enough intense moments to keep your attention locked through every second.

Madden NFL 07 overcomes its no-frills presentation by providing all of the play modes and rich football fundamentals that fans have come to expect.

Jet Set Radio was interesting in the year 2000, but the game needed more than a fresh coat of paint to make its awkward design worth revisiting.

A lighthearted story and smart Kinect integration make Haunt a captivating all-ages adventure.

The Legend of Kage 2 is a good sequel with great boss battles and plenty of action.

All of my save files display playtimes that do not match up at all to how long I actually played the game. Often choosing to interact with a person or object would mean that Robert would turn around and walk away, very slowly, with control taken away from me until he reached an arbitrary destination. Textures frequently popped in late, lagging behind camera angle changes in cutscenes--the game is poorly optimized, which can impact its ability to sell the grandiosity of Union City.

The latest Guitar Hero is an Aerosmith fan's dream come true, but the game's narrow focus and lack of content will prove unappealing to many others.

Maxis' bold changes to the original formula set forth by The Sims aren't all for the better, but they make The Urbz a very distinctive and surprisingly solid game.

The concept of a platform-heavy puzzler that features crazy cars sounds like a neat idea. GripShift just doesn't deliver on its lofty concept.

It looks and sounds unimpressive, and at first, its poorly designed interface may seem like more trouble than it's worth to master and will likely continue to seem cumbersome even after you've gotten used to it.

This is the most addictive game I have played in years.

Bandai's decision to pad one good game's worth of content with about 60 to 80 hours' worth of filler, and to split that game into four full-priced products spread out over a year, remains disappointing.

The Naruto: Ultimate Ninja games haven't been terribly ambitious up to now, and with little in the way of actual, original content, Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Heroes feels even less so.

MLB 2K8 is full of new ideas; unfortunately, it's also filled with technical problems.

Sure, there's not much variety, the music leaves something to be desired and the graphics can get a bit rough, but the gameplay itself offers a good sense of speed, plenty of character, and, more importantly, it's fun.

The two things that "NFL Blitz 2000" had going for it - approachability and freshness - are diminished in this year's version by the fact that the CPU AI is tougher and the fact that the game evokes a distinct feeling of déjà vu.

Intriguing nautical elements aren't enough to distract from a criminally short running time and rote 2D platforming elements.

Can be fun for short periods of time. The longest game will last about 45 minutes, at the end of which you'll have little desire to come back for more.

This may be a touch disappointing to hardcore fans of "CTR," but anyone looking for a solid kart racer should be quite pleased.

The GameCube version slightly edges out its PS2 brother...It succeeds at what it set out to do--it puts you into the role of Batman.

Older audiences probably won't be engaged by it, but Ty 2 should be easily appreciated by juvenile platformer fans.

By no means a bad roller coaster simulator, but it's not an outstanding one either.

It's not quite a keeper, but it's an improvement over the original.

Verdun somewhat succeeds in its lavish goal, but its road to glory is lengthy still. Until then, it sits on the edge of the line, waiting for the rallying cry.

It’s chock-full of Orcs, Vampires, Skeletons, Ogres, Trolls, Elves and Dwarfs, violence, and cheating.

The game feels old hat, taking you through well-trod ground--albeit with a fresh coat of paint and a few new faces.

Butcher is a living relic, a callback to the days when being gritty and macabre was a goal unto itself. But make no mistake: beneath that gruff exterior is a thoughtfully crafted game.

The structure and new ideas in A New God are promising: Despite my frequent frustrations with its physics and many of the puzzles, I had a decent time barreling through all these puzzles without having to discover them on a huge map. But it's hard to ignore how haphazard it felt, the trepidation I experienced trying a solution I knew would work only to have it go wrong for reasons out of my control.

The game has lots of spunk, for sure, but it's ultimately no deeper than its vacuous star.

Translating the lightning-quick close-quarters combat of the Bourne films into viscerally satisfying gameplay is no mean feat, but High Moon Studios has done it and done it well. The adventure is a bit short, and the solid gunplay becomes tedious the second time around. Still, the combat system alone makes this game worth playing, and the dramatic moments it creates are the real treat.

The biggest draw of this skateboard simulation is the unique controls, which are intuitive but disappointing.

Touch-screen controls will help you achieve Zen with this large collection of tangram-style puzzles.

Between its lackluster introductions and almost total lack of context for why you're doing anything in the game, Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Tipping Stars feels more like a particularly robust tech demo than a proper full-release.

Making History is an interesting, though dry, turn-based World War II strategy game.

The restrictive saves and unbalanced combat combine to make much of Scorn's adventure a frustrating slog, betraying the initial promising opening hours that emphasize puzzle-solving and atmosphere above everything else. Even with the disappointing smaller puzzles, the overarching ones that are the centerpieces of each act are satisfying to slowly put together, but not captivating enough to distract from the brutally unfair challenges along the way. There's simply too much in Scorn that works to push you away from it rather than pull you deeper into it, making even its relatively brief adventure a difficult one to suggest you give your time to.

Spore's first full expansion is overflowing with wit and charm, and it offers resourceful players a chance to get creative.

The DLC's main feature--the narrative journey to the Olympics--is flawed, unfulfilling, and frustrating, but thankfully there's enough to do elsewhere that Road to the Olympics still helps bolster and revitalize Steep's main appeal. It's good to have a new mountain to throw yourself down.

A unique and interesting take on the puzzle genre that people will either love or hate depending on how accepting they are of the game's innovative control scheme.

The nightlife theme might be a little corny, but the block-breaking gameplay offers a satisfying challenge.

One Piece Grand Adventure feels like a beefier version of One Piece Grand Battle, but it's still not a very compelling brawler.

As only the second open world game in the Clancyverse, Ghost Recon: Wildlands is a middlingly safe tactical shooter and a slightly wasted opportunity given the ambitious scope of its seemingly boundless map. While its main strength is its mission diversity, it doesn’t take long to lose the motivation after reaching El Sueno's doorstep. Even with a foursome of highly trained friends, Wildlands eventually reveals its diminishing returns. The feeling of positive immediacy and dopamine hits begin to wane sooner than you expected from a game with such a large and diverse world.

All of these issues hinder a game that only occasionally rises above its weaknesses. The story can be compelling when focusing on its ill-fated characters, and the combat is enjoyable in specific circumstances, particularly when experimenting with the varied tools at your disposal. But Code Vein 2's shortcomings are too frequent to look past. Combat and exploration are hampered by dull enemies and wearisome environments, while technical issues only exacerbate its flaws. The soulslike genre has evolved since the original Code Vein launched in 2019, yet the forward-thinking shift to an open world hasn't prevented its sequel from suffering the same familiar blemishes.