Outlast's few weak moments are overshadowed by the effectiveness with which it so often gets inside your head and scares the hell out of you.

The fundamental flaw of Mind Control Delete is that it's adding complication to a game premise that works largely because of its simplicity. That complexity hasn't ruined Mind Control Delete. There's still a ton of enjoyment to be had, and there's still nothing else quite like it out there. But without a doubt, it's fun that expires a lot faster than the original.

There are so many hilarious and curiously bizarre moments to be found along the way that even if the journey to fully fledged family life is a short one before the repetition sets in, it's well worth the trip.

A few fundamental problems sour a game that exudes delightful personality.

It isn't consistently exhilarating throughout the entire campaign, but My Friend Pedro is worth playing because it’s full of moments where you can jump down a shaft and shoot in two directions in slow motion, or kill an enemy by kicking the skateboard you’re riding into their face.

For as long as it lasts, Stranglehold delivers a satisfying, if somewhat derivative action game experience.

It's derivative and occasionally buggy, but solid action and over-the-top gore make X-Men Origins: Wolverine a cut above other movie tie-ins.

Origins won't win over staunchly anti-RPG players, but for fans of the genre, this is quite a deal.

Wreckateer's merry destruction is backed up by enjoyable score-chasing and good Kinect controls.

This demon-controlling adventure lets you do more fun things with your evil minions, but Overlord II hasn't shaken all of the issues that held back the first game.

It adds a couple of new control features to the original game, but it doesn't address the underlying flaws of the system.

It front loads its best content, only to fade in quality as the hours roll by. Star Wars Battlefront's skin is beautiful, but its legs are shaking, and threaten to buckle with time.

Even if we're not seeing the members of Cadence band blend their sounds together much in the story, we at least can see it happen during combat. And while that combat drags a bit in the last act of the game and messes with your mind by not matching the tempo of the quick-time inputs to the background battle music, the turn-based system that's there rewards creativity and strategic thinking. Plus, this game has awesome music and fun puzzle-filled dungeons. If you're down to immerse yourself in puns galore and tons of pop-culture references, People of Note is a delightful musical treat.

A few fundamental problems sour a game that exudes delightful personality.

Tomb Raider Underworld will satisfy fans of Lara's previous adventures, but it does little to address previous games' problems.

The loss of humanity Prison Architect breeds in its players could be its greatest strength, but without even an acknowledgement of that loss, the game stumbles instead of teaches.

While it might be confusing and memey, disjointed and weird, Stranger of Paradise is also a lot of fun. It's full of cool combat with a wide variety of options, and a job system that lets you customize your playstyle or just try out what feels like 30 different ones. Its challenge makes every fight a battle of skill, while also giving you the tools to feel like a ludicrously powerful Final Fantasy badass. And despite being bizarrely delivered and wildly strange, there is a delight in uncovering what the hell is actually going on in the game's story and the weird ideas it brings to bear on the Final Fantasy series. Stranger of Paradise is mostly a more focused version of Final Fantasy that shows some different directions for the series from its traditional games, even if those directions take it down paths that are sometimes a bit...stranger.

Forty dollars is a lot to spend for such simplistic and repetitive gameplay, but its position as one of the few shooters on the Vita goes a long way toward making up for this considerable shortcoming.

Atomfall isn't Fallout. Sometimes, that's because Fallout is understandably a much bigger, better game. But Atomfall also structures its story and world so unlike typical open-world games, Fallout or otherwise, that the distinction isn't merely meant as a slight on Rebellion's latest effort. Its fresh, mystery-laden open-world design overcomes a bundle of world-building cliches and a few gameplay hindrances to feel novel and worthwhile the entire time. Often, a new video game IP takes until its sequel to truly establish its identity. The theoretical Atomfall 2 feels like it could be a much greater game someday, so long as it's built on this game's intriguing quest framework. Here and now, Atomfall is a good game that sometimes gets in its own way, but it's the process of finding your unique path through its story that will stick with you after the dust settles.

Think of it as a ride through a really amazing haunted house: you don't have a ton of control and sometimes the ride breaks down for a moment or two, but it's basically guaranteed to leave you scared out of your mind.

Project Cars 3 might not be the sequel you expected from the series, but its shift to a more arcade style of racing is one that makes the series approachable for the first time. It's not a clean cut from its roots, and Project Cars 3 retains just enough of its simulation options to provide enough of a challenge with all of its assists turned off. The transition isn't seamless, with some confounding racing objectives and uneven AI that takes the sting out of some events. But if you're looking for another way to get out on a virtual track, Project Cars 3 is an exhilarating new alternative.

The ongoing refrain of "familiar done well" is the defining quality of Call of the Mountain. There's nothing revolutionary in the game that moves VR gaming forward and it doesn't do anything unexpected, so it ends up being exactly what it looks like: a well-made Horizon game in VR that has good climbing and shooting, as well as pretty environments to look at. As a showcase of what can be done with the PSVR 2, it more than handily serves its purpose.

Dust: An Elysian Tail periodically stumbles, but impressive visuals and enticing exploration make for a successful journey.

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

But even with some annoying interface issues and a handful of other frustrations (why am I failing delivery quests when I know I put the right items in the shipping bin in time?), Trio of Towns manages to deliver a fun, relaxing experience that's engaging and charming. Story of Seasons: Trio of Towns might not be that revolutionary step forward for this little sub-genre just yet, but it's a pleasant little diversion in its own right that's well worth your time.

This Director's Cut fixes a few things and breaks some others, but Deadly Premonition is still a highly flawed, utterly memorable mystery that never stops surprising you.

This Is the Police continually presents you with memorable and important choices that impact the story, and even though its most intriguing conflicts could benefit from more examination, the game is carried by a captivating antagonist.

No Man's Sky is immediately a massive game with impressive seamless transitions from ground to space, and it will entertain your inner collector for a while. The more you get to know it, the more you recognize its faults, and it's easy to fall so deep into the act of exploring and trading that your focus narrows to those aspects alone. If, however, you consider everything it has to offer and listen to what Atlas has to say, No Man's Sky becomes more than a collection of slightly different worlds in a seemingly never-ending galaxy--it becomes an examination of the meaning of life in a way that's more valuable than all the gold or starships in its virtual galaxy.