The on-field action is as exciting as ever, but off-the-field problems drag NCAA Football 12 down to the turf.

Elpis is a beautiful place to behold, yet with its deep craters and creepy multi-eyed extraterrestrials it feels like a hostile and alien world.

The game absorbs you in three ways at once, by invoking both the loot-gathering vibe of an action RPG, the deck-fiddling fun of a CCG, and the "I'm feeling lucky this time!" aspirations of games of chance. It's a powerful one-two-three punch, though you need to be prepared: sometimes those punches land with unexpected pain.

Thicker Than Water continues to move things toward what will inevitably be a bloody conclusion in the next episode. This New Frontier season has been a little on the formulaic, predictable side and somewhat lacking when it comes to interactivity and zombie-biting action. In some ways, the episodic structure of this season has proven to be something of a drawback, as the slower sections would likely not have seemed so pronounced as part of a single eight- or nine-hour game. But the superb quality of the scripting and acting continues to deliver the dread and despair that have become Walking Dead staples, making it hard to wait and see what happens to Javy and friends in the next episode.

It's a long game whose simplistic but satisfying combat can be quite addictive, but mostly for meticulous players who don't get frustrated easily.

It's not as fun fun as the real thing, but you can still have a good time with this minigolf game.

If you're interested in action, without too many adventure strings attached, Wayward is worth taking a look at, but it's also a short enough game that you could easily get by with a rental instead.

Between its overall solid presentation, and its gameplay that keeps you guessing, this is one game that's worth taking a look at.

A lot of riddles are solved by the end of the game, yet even as the final curtain falls, many more questions are left unanswered.

The return trip might have revealed a few more cracks than we remembered, but it also serves as a shield for our nostalgia. And as remakes go, that's worth the journey home.

This messy ending is an appropriate way to wrap a season that evolved into a morality play loaded with grim, philosophical musings about what it means to be a human being, whether you're struggling to survive in a zombie apocalypse or simply learning how to get by in the real world.

Loki may be awfully late for the party, but this Diablo derivation is a solid rip-off with great game mechanics and atmosphere.

Like Arbaaz himself, these great moments have a bad habit of vanishing into thin air when you least want them to, bit there is still a lot of fun to be had in this Indian adventure.

Rugby 08 isn't much of a step-up from the previous game in the franchise, but it still offers pick-up-and-play fun for both novices and rugby fanatics.

Black Desert Online will attain greatness when it can provide good answers to those and other questions. Yet even now, it's hard not to heed it's call, which it sounds out the moment you enter its robust, genre-best character creator. I imagine that it will be even harder to tear myself away when player-versus-player siege wars are in full swing.

Given its cookie-cutter narrative, polarizing leveling system, and late-game repetition, ACE doesn't address all the issues that plagued players the first time around. If it didn't satisfy your monster-fighting fix back in 2012, there's probably not enough here to draw you back to the battlefield. However, if you're a Ragnarok vet ready for more, or a new recruit looking to hunt some big game of the not-of-this-realm variety, then you'll want to start sharpening that oversize sword.

All in all, if uncovering loot, crafting builds, and unleashing chaotic mayhem is what you're looking for, Borderlands 4 has you covered. It's the most mechanically sound Borderlands game to date, and the various Vault Hunters each present an entertaining opportunity to tackle the game in a different way. Just maybe find a good podcast or video essay to fill the moments between the shooting and looting. The game's story and characters aren't strong enough to hold your attention on their own, and the game's combat begins to drag once you've seen all the enemy types there are to see.

There are flaws on and off the pitch, yet this is the best the series has been for a short while. It might not walk away with a trophy this year, but it's getting closer to glory.

Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 is among the best games to emerge from this beloved franchise. It looks stunning, has a solid gameplay base, and gives people who love the series a way to feel like they’re a part of this big, beautiful universe. Though it has its share of problems, I was really surprised at how much fun I had with it.

If not for the price, Rise of the Necromancer would be easy to instantly recommend to fans of Diablo III or anyone with even a passing interest in trying out a classic hack-and-slash RPG. Still, this is a fantastic character pack that adds one of the best, most enjoyable classes to the existing game roster.

With some caveats, I'd recommend Discounty. The story will make you regularly feel like you're the bad guy in all this, and technically you are even if it's no fault of your own. But it's easy to ignore the riffraff and the trouble you're causing your fellow citizens in your constant pursuit of bringing a factory-level of efficiency to your growing supermarket, and driving up profits for the sole purpose of buying upgrades that will let you drive profits even further. Maybe Stardew Valley's JojaMart had the right idea after all.

Shovel Knight is a memorable re-imagining of what I grew up with, but doesn't have the longevity or inventiveness to be great in its own right.

Corralling livestock is a fun new way to solve puzzles, but some agitating quirks will push the impatient away.

A combination of endearing critters and solid role-playing gameplay make Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2 a pleasant portable adventure.

My time playing Sakura Wars mirrored the way the Combat Revue grew and changed through the game. Much like Seijuro seeing his team for the first time, I was skeptical that Sakura Wars could adequately pull off what it set out to do. But as I kept playing and the women grew into their roles, I began to warm to it. By the time the curtain fell, I was cheering for the team just as hard as everyone in-game was. The flaws of Sakura Wars are obvious, though a strong focus on melodrama and spectacle makes it a lot easier to gloss over the game's weak points. There's nothing out there quite like Sakura Wars, and if you stick with them, there's a good chance this cast of oddballs will worm their way into your heart too.

If you have the patience to learn the subtleties of sled-track design, there is a lot of value in this little package.

A captivating albeit disturbing setting is Transference's greatest asset, rooted by strong performances from the cast and a smart approach to storytelling.

Sam & Max Save the World Remastered is more than just a nostalgia play. The season has held up well and still has plenty of great jokes and clever puzzles that have held up well over time. Even if the overarching plot is weak, and some jokes don't hit, the titular duo is still a delight, and the smart puzzles are even more enjoyable to solve now that the controls have been improved. This is the definitive version of one of Telltale's strong early efforts--hopefully Sam & Max Seasons 2 and 3 will receive similar treatment in the future.