Debilitating design flaws overshadow much of the ingenuity in All Zombies Must Die.

Freedom Cry is more than just another Assassin's Creed IV chapter with a reskinned protagonist, but its troubled handling of dark themes makes this a turbulent voyage.

March Madness 08 has some new moves, but it's still not ready for the big dance.

Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed does a terrific job of capturing the feeling of being a Ghostbuster. Illfonic clearly put a lot of time, effort, and love of the IP into this game, and playing it with pals is initially very fun, whether you're playing as a Ghostbuster or a ghost. However, the game's shelf life is incredibly short, as the gameplay loop quickly becomes repetitive and stale. There are wonderful elements here--deep customization being a key one--but none of it feels impactful when the core gameplay so quickly stagnates. Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed may make me into a Ghostbuster, but the job has a disappointingly small shelf life.

Comprehensively adorable and approachable, Kirby Fighters 2 is a solid entry point into the fighting genre. It's phenomenally beautiful and plays tightly, but the story's difficulty spikes and limited game modes see Kirby's latest outing falling short of stardom.

It's got a lot of star power, but this collection of sports-themed minigames isn't Mario and Sonic's finest hour.

ClaDun is a solid dungeon crawler, but it might not hold your interest for long.

In spite of a few noteworthy twists and the ability to play online, the game's execution leaves a lot to be desired.

Dewy's Adventure is too cute for adults and too frustrating for kids.

It’s a game with enough ambition and execution to spark the imagination, and enough organic entropy to let you suspend your disbelief about the families you help sire. But Massive Chalice extends you the invitation and then offers you a half-empty world in return.

Late-game loot progression, legendary gems, and Elder Rift runs all matter if you're planning to play Diablo Immortal for a long time and invest in its incoming seasons and paragon progression. And you might be tempted to stick around, given how enjoyable the core campaign is. It's a classic Diablo experience, letting you gleefully watch all your stats increase as hordes of monsters melt in front of you. The power trip it enables sits up there with some of the best the series has to offer, which makes the sudden halt in pace jarring and off-putting. But it's still one that you can enjoy without needing to dive into the mess of menus and lists asking you to tap a button to claim a myriad of rewards day in and day out, given you're comfortable with not being able to power through it all in just a handful of sittings.

The perpetual influx of slaves is a blunt allegory about how freeing such captives isn't a task for one man, let alone one assassin.

Laying waste to cities is fun, but frustrating objectives and stiff difficulty prevent Eat Them from being a monstrously good time.

Despite some pretty good writing, catchy music, and nicely drawn 2D art, the experience suffers because of repetitive and oft-frustrating gameplay.

Simply being the only hockey choice doesn't excuse things like the awful frame rate, the sloppy puck handling, and the generally lackluster gameplay that Gretzky NHL offers. You're better off without this one.

Making the journey to Shadow of the Tomb Raider's peaks is certainly an attractive goal, but like the challenging terrain Lara needs to traverse, the path there is getting rougher and more unpredictable.

The games are all emulated quite well, but aside from the couple of big-name titles featured, many of the games included in this suite are simply not worth playing.

There is some fun to be had in WWE All Stars, but this over-the-top take on sports entertainment fails to deliver on its ambitions.

Rio is inconsistent and short on personality, but there's some enjoyment to be had in this multiplayer party game.

Even though there are some sore points at the moment, the game presents an in-depth tactical challenge for weekend warriors. Just know before pulling the trigger on a purchase that you're dealing with more of an ongoing project than a fully realized game.

Outside of a few additions like an air rifle and grenade launcher (which is used exactly one for mission), there's next to nothing in Rogue that moves the franchise forward.

Insecticide can't decide whether it wants to be an adventure or a platformer, so it does neither particularly well.

Earthworm Jim HD is just as weird and frustrating as its Sega Genesis inspiration.

Battle Princess Madelyn looks and sounds fantastic, and half the game is a delightful spiritual throwback to a beloved action game series. It's a shame that the other half drags down the whole package--and performance issues on Switch like slowdown and stalling when moving through menus don't help, either.

Razor's Edge makes a myriad of fractional improvements that address many of the main complaints leveled against the original release. It's a welcome gesture, and one that makes for an improved action game--yet a hundred small fixes are no substitute for a game built from the ground up to be a challenging, fluid, and fulfilling action extravaganza.

From the faint outlines of religion to the background hum of influence, from the awkward city-building to the cumbersome tactical combat, all wrapped up in a cultural system that struggles to imprint a strong identity on your empire, Humankind strains under the weight of too many complex systems that too often find themselves colliding rather than coalescing. By turns disjointed and confounding, Humankind is nonetheless fascinating, at least to this experienced 4X strategy player, even if I couldn't say I truly enjoyed it.

Some of Shardlight’s ideas, like the eccentric and sinister Aristocrats, offer something original and enjoyable within a familiar context. With its refreshing take on an oligarchy and subtle religious commentary involving ravens, Shardlight has potential to be something a lot more profound and thrilling. Instead, it's a typical adventure game with an overly familiar premise.

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.