This is about as standard as a mission-based flight game can get--you'll get to bomb targets, dogfight, and defend a lot of stuff in a variety of era-specific planes. While it's a competent package, it doesn't stand out in any way.

Mario & Sonic at the Tokyo Olympic Games 2020 is an entertaining take on the sports-event genre that has, by and large, disappeared in the modern-day. The game aims for accessibility at every opportunity, and while nothing about it is particularly exceptional, it still has plenty of unique flourishes to offer, and the wealth of different events and simple controls make for an appealing casual multiplayer title. Thanks to a generous selection of events and a few neat gimmicks, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 is the best entry in this series.

Thanks to its rock-solid execution, Thrillville delivers an enjoyable batch of minigames in a lighthearted theme park environment.

Like the mindless Hollywood blockbusters that it emulates, Turok features plenty of dinosaur-hunting action and not too much else.

You may tire of the formula by the end of the game, but with Wesker at your fingertips, don't be surprised if you find yourself eager to sprint through zombies and decapitate them with energy blasts. It's just crazy enough to work.

Derivative as it is, Conan is still a viscerally satisfying adventure.

Constant tension and difficult emotional decisions make I Am Alive a powerful adventure.

My Memory of Us feels misguided; a concept that doesn’t sit well, marred by puzzle gameplay that fails to challenge or excite.

It delivers some enjoyable stretches of shooting action, but The Bureau: XCOM Declassified too often transforms the series' signature tension into tedium.

WrestleQuest has the right tools to make for a memorable wrestling RPG experience, with its quirky characters, vibrant atmosphere, and countless references. Unfortunately, though, its over-reliance on a rote combat system, poorly paced narrative, and issues under the hood make for a frustrating experience. Far from being Mr. Perfect, it is, instead, the Genesis of McGillicutty.

Path of Neo is a chaotic but pretty good brawler worth the time for those who still think fondly of the Matrix series.

Ultimately, it's the variety of planes and unlockable goodies available for each aircraft that keep you pushing through the more limited, recycled stretches of this airborne assault freebie. There's room to grow here, but World of Warplanes leaves the runway with a sound foundation intact.

Jack Keane is a colorful and cartoonish adventure through the 19th century British Empire.

Robust customization and full multiplayer support make this interstellar adventure worthwhile.

Just playing one or two missions feels like you’re playing the equivalent of one episode. This emphasis on emulating its established story is its main strength and is also a bold move when compared to most other anime game adaptations. If Omega Force experimented with more noncanonical scenarios in its Free Mode, this could have ranked among the best Warriors spin-offs.

If you're willing to overlook the clumsy controls and the dated look, then Silent Line might be worth your while, but otherwise, there are much better giant-robot games on the market.

Despite what its reduced price might suggest, there's a lot here to keep you entertained for numerous hours, especially once you've managed your first run through all four acts and start tackling them again with higher difficulty settings in the pursuit of consistently better gear. There's so much satisfaction in customizing and managing a handful of classes with enough depth to transform them into the Colonial Marine you need at a given time, along with a plethora of great weapons to make the moment-to-moment action engaging from the first time you pull the trigger. What it lacks in dread it makes up for in pure white-knuckle action, making Aliens: Fireteam Elite a great place to engage with this iconic sci-fi franchise again.

Playing Alice: Madness Returns isn't as exciting as looking at it, but you'll still enjoy getting lost in this twisted fantasy adventure.

In terms of value alone, it's difficult to recommend Quake Wars. You'll love the giant sandbox filled with such distinct classes, high-tech weaponry, and attack vehicles. But when limited to only 16 players on just 12 maps, the gameplay is one-dimensional.

It's not another Mario sports gem, but Mario Super Sluggers still has a rough, unpolished appeal.

Glare offers an inventive mechanic that could have given rise to a memorable adventure, but then fails to build meaningfully on that early promise. This is an entertaining pit stop that can tide you over on your journey to a bigger, brighter galaxy.

The highlights of Etherborn are undoubtedly its inventive puzzles and its constellation of small, compelling worlds. But with just five chapters, its brief runtime feels lacking, and it left me wanting for more puzzles to solve. Etherborn attempts to compensate for this by unlocking a new game plus mode after you've completed the game, which lets you dive into the same worlds once more. This mode is largely similar to the original one, the only difference being the crystalline orbs, which are located in harder-to-reach places. Apart from the slightly more challenging platforming puzzles, however, the electrifying thrill of discovery has largely subsided--you've already found all the secrets, after all--and there's little incentive to revisit it. By the end, even the allure of these small worlds isn't enough to make you return, with only the yearning for more remaining in its wake.

Still, while Head Coach is ultimately an imperfect football-management simulation, it is also, almost in spite of itself, a frequently fun one. Those with a penchant for serious football management are most certainly going to find things to like about it.

Ereban: Shadow Legacy sits in a weird place for me. As a stealth game, it rarely challenged me, reducing protagonist Ayana into a one-trick pony that could sneak past any target with the same shadow merge skill every time. But as a platformer, Shadow Legacy incorporates some entertaining puzzles that grow increasingly complex and rewarding to overcome. I never quite managed to connect to Ayana's journey against the autonomous overlords planning to doom an entire civilization, but I had a lot of fun slinking up walls and exploding out of the darkness, striving to time my jumps with the movement of a windmill and the rotating shadow it was casting. Those nail-biting moments are the ones that stuck with me, not the dozenth time I slunk past an unsuspecting droid.

Every movement you commit, every action you command, and every item or character you sacrifice for another will be an apprehensive decision. But taking each of those tough steps makes you even more grateful to hear the soft chime of your car's open-door alarm when you make it back, and the rev of the motor when you escape down the highway, relieved to leave another pack of abnormal creatures behind.

Perhaps if State of Decay 2 had the kind of depth that drew you in, these technical faults would be easier to overlook. But it’s because of the lack of meaningful motivations that they stick out so predominantly.

Whereas the console game is bland and broken, the portable game is a lively 3D adventure packed with plenty to see and do.

Thunder Wolves captures the essence of a good, excessive 1980s action flick.

Call of Duty 3 for the Wii manages to overcome its lack of multiplayer and a sometimes-unwieldy control scheme with an exciting and enjoyable single-player campaign.

Dragon Marked for Death is a polished experience that draws on a lot of existing genre sensibilities, but with a heavy focus on aspects that make for a good co-op experience. The classes are thematically coherent and entertainingly distinct, and the levels are just varied enough that gliding through one for the first time is always aurally and visually pleasing. The unbalanced single-player experience is a big sticking point, but if you have friends who are willing to take up the Dragonblood mantle with you, then there are few action platformers more entertaining.

There's nothing especially wrong with it to make it something worth drawing ire over, but at the same time, it never finds a way to actually draw you into its experience, and it just seems to lack the intangible qualities needed to make a truly successful platformer.

Unfortunately, Dadliest Catch is just an inconsistent, intermittently hilarious trifle, and not the game this terrific character deserves.

Where Iron Rain fails as an overarching plot, it succeeds in creating a stronger and more engaging vibe than its predecessors.

Meager difficulty diminishes much of Heroes of Ruin's adventurous charm.

Despite Third Dawn, Ultima Online still isn't easy to get into; it's an acquired taste, which many acquired back when there was nothing else available or similar.

Clock Tower 3's movie portions are stronger than the gameplay that underpins them, and the result is a game that you'll probably want to finish more for its storyline than for the fun you'll have actually playing it.

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

Touch My Katamari is a fun return to form that ends long before it has a chance to wear out its welcome.

Well-integrated social features fuel the competitive kinetic chaos of Burnout Crash.

It's got some very good qualities, but you'll need to wade through a lot of potential frustrations to enjoy them.

Chronicles rests on being pretty, adding new mechanics over time but flattening the pace and allowing exploits and glitches to suck out the rising tension.

Project 8 makes some odd control changes that will stick out to longtime fans of this skateboarding series, but the core game is still fairly good.

The solid single-player campaign is over in the blink of an eye, but a strong online component makes Medal of Honor Heroes 2 worth a look for anyone who enjoyed the previous game.

It's a fairly sturdy, combat-heavy platformer with a good hook, but it lacks a real distinct attitude.

Cute, colorful, and boring.

While not everything is awesome, The Lego Movie Videogame should be just the ticket if you're ready to spend another 10 to 12 hours in the fantastic world of animated plastic blocks.

While Lichdom makes a strong case for a shorter game, it also makes the case for another Lichdom game. If there is any game this year deserving of a sequel, it’s this one.

It is great in bursts, and when you have friends playing with you, Paperbound glows with energy. But the lack of online or additional content takes its toll.

It lacks any measure of challenge, playing out more like a shooting gallery in spots than a proper action game. And above all else, it simply lacks that spark--that thrilling feeling that wasn't just one key part of "Everything or Nothing," but rather, was the entire essence of what made that game so enjoyable.

At times, then, Snake Pass can be a wonderfully relaxing journey through some beautiful habitats. The late game switches into an engaging and challenging puzzler, requiring some deft flicks of the left stick, but one that can feel immensely gratifying when you elegantly slalom your way over a narrow assault course that's suspended over lava. It's the middle third, when the game expects too much of you far too soon, that causes the momentum to stutter. Nevertheless, Snake Pass is a quirky puzzler that innovates while simultaneously evoking memories of your favourite platformers of yesteryear--just don't expect to grow into your new skin overnight.

All the pieces are in place, but unfortunately, this Xbox Live Arcade game's most prominent components are its shoddy ball movement and lackluster table design.

This psychedelic puzzle-laden action adventure displays plenty of promise, but repetitive combat ensures that it falls well short of its potential.

It's a competent, fun little outing that's almost perfectly suited for kids who need something silly and ridiculous that won't require too much thought or technical mastery.

Derivative as it is, Conan is still a viscerally satisfying adventure.

Virtua Tennis 4 is a weak tennis game that fails to bring the series back to its glory days.

All these things have been admirably translated, in a way far less intimidating to newcomers and logistically fascinating to veterans.

A competent squad-based shooter that offers a fun cooperative mode and an artificial intelligence that is at times quite impressive and at other times completely boneheaded.

The racing isn't exactly the star of the show, but Crash Tag Team Racing's supplemental elements pull the whole thing together into a unique and mostly enjoyable experience.

In copying the formula of Total War, Pyros Studios, the designers of Imperial Glory, have missed the small nuances and details that made the Total War games, in particular Medieval and Rome, something special.

FIFA returns to the PSP for World Cup 2010, capturing the carnival atmosphere of the tournament but offering few improvements over its predecessor.

There's enough variety and challenge on offer in Ultimate NES Remix, not to mention some powerful nostalgia, to keep you glued to the screen for longer than you think 30-second challenges ever could.

Pokemon Go’s strengths can’t hide the fact that its initial iteration is a buggy mess on all levels, from server and potential security issues to invisible trainers.

It's rich in content, but the shallow battle system and unnecessarily bloated health bars of some foes make this feel more like a hesitant step in the right direction than a true home run for the franchise.

It's a very fun game to play, but there really isn't much to it. You'll likely finish the game in a few hours.

SingStar's American debut presents a decent song list, solid microphones, and sparse but functional game modes that amount to a reasonably entertaining karaoke package.

MotoGP is a good technical racing game, but the small selection of tracks and rigid artificial intelligence take some of the variety and excitement out of it.

An enjoyable game that should appeal to dinosaur buffs and park simulation fans alike, thanks to its attractive graphics engine and unique features.

The game's not ideal on every level, but it's good enough on all of them so that it should provide an entertaining experience and a decent amount of replay value for those who enjoy equal parts methodical strategy and button-mashing mayhem.

If you can forgive the game's dated-looking graphics, its rather basic gameplay model, and its comparative level of ease--which is, admittedly, a lot to forgive--you can have a good time with Serious Sam: Next Encounter.

A number of small changes make MLB 2K11 better on the field than its predecessor, although the majority of the new game is identical to the old game.

Whether or not you're an old-school Mystery Dungeon aficionado or a total newcomer to the long-derelict spin-off series doesn't necessarily matter: Mystery Dungeon on Switch improves upon the originals with some valuable quality-of-life tweaks, making it a worthwhile play regardless of your familiarity with the series. It features a distinct combat system that provides an intriguing alternative to the mainline Pokemon formula with tile-based strategizing, humanizes the Pokemon you've fallen in love with over the years, tells a riveting and emotional story that will make you view the franchise in a totally different light, and does so with a stylish suite of visuals and music.

Offers an engaging mix of turn-based tactics and strategy that's easy to learn and hard to master. It also offers some new units and, finally, a really good single-player experience.

Odds are you'll simply grow tired of grinding through the same battles yet again, with only a half-baked storyline to keep you interested. Ultimately, you're probably better off waiting until Koei announces the inevitable first Dynasty Warriors 5 spin-off, rather than picking up this game.

The gameplay is very much like that of the earliest real-time strategy games. This is a traditional RTS that seemingly ignores all the advances that the genre has experienced over the past several years.

As long as you're not too hung up on variety and plot, these breaking-and-entering brainteasers will delight puzzle fans.

An engaging combination of board game mechanics and pure storytelling, 7 Grand Steps is an addictive telling of one family's journey through history.

Fast action and strategy define Excubitor, and the smartly-designed levels and customization options encourage experimentation with the different weapon load-outs. Excubitor is a great action game that deftly mixes two distinct genres into one great new flavor.

Twisted Dreams combines satisfying gameplay with dazzling environments to create a worthy platformer.

It's cute enough, but this Katamari clone won't blow you away.

A game of thrills and missed opportunities. And so it's important to know what you want from this shooter before you commit. Come to it for the thrills of joining a team and mowing down gunners like so many weeds in a Colorado research facility. Come to it for a chilly vision of the future, where the minds of meddlers can be altered with a simple computer program. There are numerous games better at providing single-player satisfaction, however, and this is where Syndicate falters.

The game spends too much time in drab drains and boring science facilities, where its best assets are sidelined in favor of easy combat scenarios. But when developer Beenox gives Spidey room to soar, you get caught up in the pure elation of swinging through a spirited city, where helicopters hover overhead and well-wishers call out to you in the streets.

At the heart of it, the experience is pretty much identical to that of last year's game.

A striking action-packed shoot-'em-up that's up there with the best in the genre.

The story, and the way it confronts a universal but often misunderstood part of life, is Sea of Solitude's biggest draw. The gameplay is passable at best and tedious at its worst, but this is still a journey worth experiencing because of the way Jo-Mei Games has managed to weave a heartbreaking tale out of genuine characters and believable grief. Kay wants to know why she turned into a monster, and this is the driving force behind the whole game. What could have triggered it and why are these monsters so intrinsically linked? Despite some missteps along the way, Sea of Solitude is difficult to put down until you can answer those questions for yourself.

This is a lovely game, let down not by its mechanical simplicity, but by its resistance to doing more with those mechanics. Yet when it taps into basic animal instinct, Shelter reminds us just how precious life is, and how apathetic the laws of nature are to our pleas for mercy.

The simplistic nature of Boom Boom Rocket makes it easy to pick up and enjoy in brief chunks, but it's also roughly like playing "Dance Dance Revolution" with the controller instead of a dance mat, which, unsurprisingly, isn't too much fun.

At this point, though, it's likely that only those players who have already acquired a taste for Metal Slug's rich blend of crazy, manic violence and goofy humor will fully appreciate this package.

It means well, and divorced from the game's context, the game's aesthetic is charming. But it doesn’t really work as either a puzzle game or as an educational experience.

It may not be easy doing sneaky dirty work in the Second World War, but it is more entertaining than you'd expect.

The title may say that this is a new beginning, but Spyro's latest adventure isn't much more than a collection of tired, overused platforming clichés.

Erica has a strong, fleshed-out narrative full of twists and turns that each bring their own unique piece to the story. Its cryptic tone is carried through the audio, visuals, and writing; it never lets you relax. Sometimes weird controls jolt you out, but there is an abundance of enticing threads to follow, and it's a treat to be able to mold your own adventure out of it. Using a combination of crisp cinematography and FMV-specific game mechanics, Erica never fails to hook you into its haunting, mysterious world.

The missed potential of the story and minor issues with mech-vs-mech combat and multiplayer loadouts make Daemon X Machina fall just short of its potential, but the foundation is strong. As a total package, it’s on the verge of greatness; it just needed a little more time in the shop tinkering.

The transition to the more measured pace of a turn-based battle system is handled surprisingly well, and while the game is too short and too simplistic, there's still a good time to be had here for Mega Man X fans.

Cities XL tries to expand the city-building genre with new ideas, but the solo game is generic, and the online features aren't ready for a ground-breaking ceremony.

No matter how you spruce it up, however, WWE 2K17 isn't the substantial leap forward I was hoping for. The in-ring action is still serviceable, and refinements to various aspects of its combat make for a more enjoyable game than in previous years. But there are still a myriad of niggling issues holding it back, and the absence of 2K Showcase only compounds these problems.

New Tales from the Borderlands manages to accomplish many of the narrative highs of its predecessor by providing a glimpse into how normal, everyday people handle the outrageous going-ons of the Borderlands series. The story is helped along by the narrative arcs of its three main characters, each of which feeds into and builds on one another. The narrative momentum stalls mid-way through the story, but New Tales from the Borderlands manages to finish strong, delivering a charmingly fun space western adventure.

The game's slow pacing, simple combat, weak production values, and other shortcomings collectively prevent Submarine Titans from being much fun.

A top-notch production from top to bottom, and the experience of playing it is surely worth the time of any 3D action adventure fan.