Were it not for its great boss fights and fascinating story, repetitiveness and sparse exploration might have derailed Fate/Extra.

The fun, challenging Oozi: Earth Adventure loses its charm in a sea of recycled ideas.

Underneath all of the micro- and macrotransactions, lewd gazing, cluttered menus, and the overwhelming hawking of cosmetics and other items, Mecha Break is a decent multiplayer game featuring a bunch of cool and distinct mechs that clash in frequently thrilling battles. It's a shame that everything surrounding its hectic action sours the experience, and the lack of meaningful customization is a notable oversight, but Operation Verge is a good time and worth checking out, even if you only have a fleeting interest in giant robots slapping the paint off each other.

Based on the strength of its maps and its great shooting mechanics, XDefiant enters the free-to-play shooter space in competent shape. Some of its balancing issues will hopefully be rectified soon, but even then, overpowered snipers are a relatively minor issue compared to its clumsy mishmash of styles. The pace of the action is at odds with its class-based approach, almost completely undermining its focus on unique character abilities. Combat is enjoyable enough that it's still eminently playable, and XDefiant's foundations are ripe for improvement. Competition is stiff, though, and there are better options out there that aren't as conflicted.

It's a rollercoaster of an episode, with some disappointing holes punched in concepts that have been strengthened for three episodes, but it delivers a punch in the gut that makes the rest of the experience worthwhile.

AEW Fight Forever, much like the company it represents, is a cocky young upstart trying to take the crown from a titan. Also much like its source material, its first outing is a decent foundation for what its future could provide. The roster is a good primer on the current AEW lineup, there are enough match types to keep things fresh for a while, and Road To Elite is an irreverent look at the life of a wrestler that made me smile. There are some bumps in this road--particularly the lack of trios matches and the disappointing entrances--but those are all things which can be fixed in future installments. If AEW truly plans to Fight Forever in the video game world, then they've thrown an effective first punch.

The aerial combat is still thrilling, but some inexcusable issues make Zone of the Enders HD Collection a disappointing repackaging of two cult classics.

Claptastic Voyage, much like our dear Claptrap himself, is an imperfect little thing. But it's still decent thanks to Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel's outstanding combat formula and some superb environments revealed as you delve further into the story.

Once you get past the novelty, there's nothing to keep you playing Real World Golf.

Medal of Honor: Warfighter doesn't merge its cliched parts into a satisfying whole, making it just another middle-of-the-road military shooter.

Digimon fans will find the multiplayer worthwhile, but the dull story mode is basically just a rehashing of the previous Digimon World.

NBA 08 is still a decent alternative for anyone who wants a little something different from a basketball game, but it's mostly the same as last year's version.

Gods Will Be Watching was close to being a must-have puzzler, but it's doubtful that even the gods would have the patience to see it through to the bitter end.

You shouldn't dismiss the game as wholly unworthy: online multiplayer is good fun, and the campaign shows signs of life, occasionally letting you see past the me-too warfare and appreciate a brief flash of imagination. But on the whole, Warfighter leaves you thinking, "Yep, that's a military shooter, all right." Its heroes strive for greatness; the game they star in is merely serviceable.

This puzzler had potential, but a few stumbling blocks suck out much of the fun.

There are quite a few parts of Atomic Heart that just don't neatly fit together, and those disparities create an experience that often feels at odds with itself. That disparity is most evident in how the history of the world in Atomic Heart is interesting and sets up an intriguing conversation about the nature of free will and collectivism, but then the unlikable protagonist repeatedly prevents that topic from being explored. Atomic Heart is certainly going to appeal to some people, especially those looking to relive BioShock Infinite, but it's not an easy recommendation.

Blue Dragon is an unexceptional RPG that does just enough to escape mediocrity.

A neon retro sheen doesn't mask the flaws in this short and basic shooter.

Much like its own arkfalls, Defiance offers treasure, but you have to battle an array of bugs before you can reap it.

Horizon has some stellar ideas, and a good half of them are executed well.

Defiance is the B movie of massively multiplayer games: rickety and unrefined, yet a good time all the same.

Big-time micromanagement awaits those who check in to Hotel Giant 2.

Despite various minor improvements, Mega Man Star Force isn't significantly different than the GBA Battle Network games.

Some fun songs and unique gameplay help get Samba going, but imprecise controls and unreasonable difficulty bungle the beat.

It may stumble too many times with its dialogue, fail to find much substance in its characters, and lack any impressive presentation. But it uses that fragmented structure to keep you guessing, and engaged, right up to its numerous depressing, hopeful, gruesome endings.

The visuals are fancy, but this kung fu game suffers from uninspired combat and unresponsive controls.

Save the Light plays like your typical RPG, but the notion that you're off on an adventure with your best friends is tied to the game’s systems in an extraordinary way. If this was all Save the Light was, we'd be talking about a simple-but-enjoyable RPG, and a pitch-perfect way to hang around in Steven's universe between seasons of the show. Unfortunately, it’s still brought down by the fact the game being broken in some major ways.

There are a lot of interesting gameplay ideas to experiment with, which makes the fact that so many of them are barely explained in-game incredibly frustrating.