But the Friendships, new stages, and new finishers are freely available for owners of Mortal Kombat 11, and the only content exclusive to Aftermath are the additional story chapters and three new characters. Though that's a very welcome decision--free is good--it makes Aftermath less compelling when considered specifically on its own terms. Mortal Kombat 11 remains one of the best fighting games of this console generation, and the recent free update makes it better. Aftermath introduces a couple of great characters, and the expanded story definitely has its highs, but it's not essential to your enjoyment of an already superb game.

On one hand, sure, it's a derivative real-time strategy game. But on the other hand, it's a tidy little bundle of escapism that's perfect for a generation of gamers raised on Star Wars.

Fans of the series will be able to dive right into the game and won't be disappointed. New players may even be compelled to get "Earth 2150" after their experience with The Moon Project.

If you're looking for a game in which you can shoot up or cut up hundreds of ugly aliens for hours on end, you've come to the right place.

Manhunt is seriously intense, and anyone with a stomach for the game's concept ought to find it fiendishly entertaining...An audacious game that backs up its extremely violent subject matter with solid stealth action gameplay.

A fun adventure game with a decent collecting aspect and a few fun minigames. But compared with meatier strategy RPGs, like Pokémon or Robopon 2, it is difficult to imagine the game keeping anyone's interest over the long term.

Actually manages to provide just the right balance between sim-style play and arcade-style antics.

Above all, Anodyne never lets you forget that it's a game more concerned with the journey than with the destination, and at 10 bucks, it's a journey worth taking.

Fract is overstuffed with platforms that need raising, sliders that need switching, and tumblers that need rotating. Without any mooring to the game's theme, they're left to sink or swim on the enjoyment they can provide in isolation.

The fun of risk-and-reward gameplay comes from actually earning the rewards; if the rewards aren't good enough, or if the risk is too heavy, the fun turns to frustration. For all of Lords of Fallen's good ideas, it struggles to make the payoff worthy of the investment. Its meandering level design and slogging encounters turn challenge into tedium, leaving a feeling that getting up and doing something else would be time better spent.

2K football returns with solid gameplay and a new focus on classic players, though the roster isn't the only aspect of the game that feels old.

Ghostwire: Tokyo doesn't reinvent the wheel when it comes to open-world games, but its unique setting, tremendous attention to detail, and singular combat make it stand out amongst its contemporaries. The story stumbles and not all of the side missions are particularly engaging, yet these aspects are easy to push to the back of your mind when you're using finger guns to tear through corrupted spirits with dazzling aplomb. Shinji Mikami is a legendary director, but taking a backseat and letting new voices come to the fore has paid off.

It's understandable that Sony wants to link the two versions of the game every year, but more acknowledgement that these are two different games for two different platforms and even two somewhat different audiences would make the Vita version stand on its own much better.

A multiplayer shooter that cobbles together elements of massively multiplayer games but overlooks the lessons developers of such games learned many years ago.

Despite its many cheap shots and frustrating moments, Uprising is a highly creative animal that changes constantly and keeps you on your toes.

This is a pretty-looking, short, budget-priced, by-the-numbers futuristic shooter that's most notable for its episodic nature and its old heritage.

On the DS, Call of Duty 4 is an intense first-person-shooter that's knocked down a few pegs by the lack of online play.

Essentially a collection of minigames tied together by the age-old story of unrequited love, Feel the Magic: XY/XX ends up providing an engaging experience that is more than the sum of its parts.

If you're looking for a 2D fighting game that's totally nuts, Guilty Gear XX Accent Core will give you what you want.

Mafia II's exciting action and uncompromising mob story make for an impressive and violent adventure.

The well-realized license in this third-person shooter can hide the myriad problems for only so long.

Ace Combat Zero may not do anything particularly different or better than its predecessors, but it still delivers some excellent dogfighting and a good story tying it all together.

There's no denying that when you find a good group and you're fighting, chatting, and gaining levels, Shadowbane is at least as good as "EverQuest" and Dark Age of Camelot.

Has a lot of personality and some interesting city-building gameplay, but is weighed down by a few problems not found in some of the previous games of this type.

A few aspects of Test Drive Unlimited have been lost in translation from the Xbox 360 to the PlayStation 2, but even still, the game is an impressive piece of online-racing technology.

The story behind Sand Land's creation is funny but also sad in a way. Toriyama initially made Sand Land for his own personal enjoyment, devising a short story about an old man and his tank. However, the tank proved more challenging to draw than expected, and since Toriyama stubbornly insisted on drawing everything himself, he came to regret the idea. He persevered anyway, eventually releasing the manga for public consumption, and his pain was certainly our gain. Toriyama's love of vehicles shines through in Sand Land and is where its most enjoyable moments reside. It's disappointing that it flounders in other areas, particularly when it comes to stealth and melee combat, but ICLA has still managed to capture the heart and spirit of the original manga through its story, characters, and vehicular combat and traversal. Sand Land is bittersweet in many ways, but it'ss a testament to Toriyama's talents as both an artist and storyteller that, despite its numerous flaws, it's still worth playing.

Average gameplay and an unforgettable main character merge in this short but endearing adventure.

This block-busting platformer has plenty of quirky charm, but the action is too simple to be interesting for long.