Has some short-term appeal, but over time it makes you feel like a glorified exterminator, tediously eliminating an endless stream of generic monsters for no real reason.

The UI is still an unintuitive mess, the story is still laughably bad and impossible for new players to avoid, and finding players to join my Crew frequently took far too long. And while the driving mechanics and general visuals have undoubtedly improved, they still haven't caught up to other, better racing games like Forza and Need For Speed. As a result, The Crew as a whole remains a lackluster experience, even with its monster truck half-pipes.

It's a shame the wrestling isn't up to par in WWE 2K14 because the elements surrounding it are so interesting.

In Harvest Hunt, the stakes are real, but the scares aren't. There is tension in the game, but it doesn't rise to the heights it wants to due to a central villain who can't pull their weight. That places a figurative ceiling over its best moments, but it does have bright spots. I appreciate its rustic, askew art style and interlocking roguelite systems, which give me an objective worth hunting down in a folk-horror world that at least looks, and in some ways, plays, the part.

Given Second Son's greatness, I had hoped for something more than a time-waster, but this Infamous has no bite.

While it seems like it's missing a lick of paint to make sure that its aesthetics are as strong as its mechanics, it's still a smart step forward and a good example of how we can pay homage to the beloved works of others with originality.

For anyone who grew up loving professional wrestling, be prepared to be swept away in a tide of nostalgia. If only the core action could have been as compelling.

Invizimals wows for a while with its augmented-reality visuals, but the limits of the technology and some baffling design decisions soon shatter the illusion.

While it seems like it's missing a lick of paint to make sure that its aesthetics are as strong as its mechanics, it's still a smart step forward and a good example of how we can pay homage to the beloved works of others with originality.

Track & Field holds up fairly well and makes for some good, albeit short-term, fun.

With far more technical issues than normal and large chunks of recycled content, Madden NFL 21 feels more like an update than a brand-new game.

Warhammer 3 opens strongly. The narrative hook of the prologue sinks deep and the raft of tweaks to the strategic layer and tactical battles are all welcome. But it can't sustain the early momentum. The endgame objectives feel like a distraction, even though they're the main point, and serve only to diminish the entire campaign. The factions all have different reasons for wanting the endgame MacGuffin, but none of those motivations make a difference to how the campaign plays out. They're all trapped in the same Chaos Realm, going through the same motions, in pursuit of the same unsatisfying win conditions. In the end, Total War: Warhammer 3 is a good game--there just isn't a good reason to see it through to the bitter end.

While it seems like it's missing a lick of paint to make sure that its aesthetics are as strong as its mechanics, it's still a smart step forward and a good example of how we can pay homage to the beloved works of others with originality.

With its limited depth, Brave Soldiers can't hold its own against more technical fighters on the market, and the tedium and lackluster presentation of the story mode won't give anyone who's not already a fan of the series much of a reason to become one.

It's very short, so even novice adventure gamers won't have much trouble finishing it in a few sessions.

Wheelman offers plenty of movie-style thrills, although it's hamstrung by terrible on-foot gameplay.

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

For its new locations and weapons, the turbulent waters of Maine are a satisfying compliment to Fallout 4. But where Far Harbor succeeds in delivering more of the same great gameplay and oddball characters that made the main campaign such a joy, it can't muster an interesting story.

AWE is the story of expectations not quite meeting reality. It's exciting to see Alan Wake become a full-fledged addition to the Control universe and to catch up on different aspects of Remedy's growing universe. But this feels much more like a taste of what might come in future games than a strong addition to what's been built in Control. AWE is a missed opportunity for Remedy to really embrace Control's deep weirdness, and it's a missed opportunity for it to really expand on the story of Alan Wake after so much waiting. It's the unfortunate side effect of the idea of a shared universe--in teasing the next installment in the growing story, AWE doesn't do much to serve the story it's already in.

This survival horror game trades typical zombies for a pack of sadistic children, but its compelling premise and creepy atmosphere only partly make up for the mostly bland gameplay.

Pac-Man & Galaga Dimensions includes some great games, but that's not enough to make it a great compilation.

Sinner: Sacrifice for Redemption is an ambitious game that brings something new to an increasingly popular style of action game.

There's some interesting gameplay and a rewarding challenge to be found in Strength of the Sword 3, but you're going to need some serious patience to get the most out of this game.

With only minimal improvements to a well-worn formula, the Harvest Moon series is starting to show its age.

It over-confidently asserts twists and conundrums, without doing enough to earn your investment in the outcome of your decisions. If a moving story is what you're after, steer your ship back to the shores of the Commonwealth.

What is present in this collection ends up feeling like a disjointed ride through the latter half of Mega Man's history, an area with plenty of lessons to learn, but not always ones you're meant to enjoy. Seen as half of a whole, with the first Mega Man Legacy Collection, however, and you do have something resembling a fascinating compendium of games, albeit with a lot more to skip out on in its second half.

Sk8land looks slick and controls like a Tony Hawk game should, but its skate park designs are weak and its story mode missions lack creativity.

Cities XL 2012 merely adds some new buildings and maps to the otherwise identical Cities XL 2011.