God Hand's pure focus on ridiculous martial arts brawls makes this simple action game fun and challenging. Bonus points for the wild sense of humor and surf rock soundtrack.

Ridge Racer 7 introduces some great new additions that make this the most significant update Namco's arcade-style racing series has seen in years.

Olija's best asset, truly, is its brevity. Its story is impeccably paced. Its mechanics never wear out from overuse. From start to finish, it finds new ways to gently goad you into using the harpoon in different ways, until it says its piece. I was taken with how emotionally resonant and mechanically pleasing it could be in such a short time. Succinct and satisfying is a rare combination, and it makes Olija a rare treat.

You might just find something you like, something completely different, or something that emotionally affects you in ways you never thought possible from a video game. And that alone makes Proteus a winner.

The uncertain future of the story that Katana Zero so brilliantly sets up is concerning, but that shouldn't deter you from diving into this compelling introductory chapter. Its combat provides an exciting challenge that tests both strategy and reflex, while also giving you clever abilities to make it as stylish as possible. The narrative contextualization of both your abilities and role within Katana Zero's world is expertly written, with a clever dialogue system letting you inject personality into character interactions. Katana Zero is bloody and brutal, but it's also a heartfelt tale that you shouldn't overlook lightly.

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3+4 is a phenomenal game of skate, one that fans would flock to without hesitation if it weren't for some of the strange decisions regarding the game's Career mode and THPS 4 levels. Some of the changes feel needless, and overall, THPS 4 just doesn't fit as well into the same structure as the original three games. It's also disappointing that newcomers won't be able to experience the fourth game the way it was originally intended. Once the initial disappointment fades, however, you're left with a remake that still handles as well as these games ever have, and that's something that's worth playing no matter who you are.

This new frontier in rhythm gaming is electrifyingly fun, but the cover charge is steep.

Olija's best asset, truly, is its brevity. Its story is impeccably paced. Its mechanics never wear out from overuse. From start to finish, it finds new ways to gently goad you into using the harpoon in different ways, until it says its piece. I was taken with how emotionally resonant and mechanically pleasing it could be in such a short time. Succinct and satisfying is a rare combination, and it makes Olija a rare treat.

A fantastic representation of baseball, capturing the thrill and grand scale of the national pastime.

Lock's Quest's intuitive build mode and frantic, engaging battles are great for an action strategy game on the go.

Despite using the same graphical engine, the same gameplay elements, and some shared, familiar locations, the experience of inhabiting Chloe in Before the Storm is a completely new experience. Episode 1 promises a series that uses love and empathy as a sword and shield, the only way to either stay safe or strike back at a harsh life, harsher still by nature of being a teenager. That's a special ability we are so seldom asked to employ in games and it's so heartening to know there's at least two more episodes of Before the Storm where we get to do it again.

Insomniac Games has a storied history that includes many beloved games and franchises, and with Edge of Nowhere, that legacy grows stronger.

State of Decay is an immersive and suspenseful open-world zombie adventure that shouldn't be missed.

While its overall production isn't quite up to the level of "Ace Combat 04," it's technically up to par, and its gameplay is distinctive and entertaining.

Kirby Air Riders is an impressive package that makes the most of its deceivingly simple mechanics. Air Ride delivers a solid kart racing experience; Top Ride is a fun--albeit a bit straightforward--distraction; City Trial is chaotic in the best way possible; and Road Trip ties it all together with its creative encounters and satisfying progression. In the second Kirby Air Riders Direct, Masahiro Sakurai said he had no plans to continue the franchise or add any DLC. When I first heard this, I was a little disappointed, but now that I've spent countless hours exploring each mode, there's not really anything else I could want. This feels like that initial concept from 2003 taken as far as it could possibly go, and I couldn't be happier with the result.

Incredible production values and plenty of thrilling moments help make Uncharted an action-packed adventure, in spite of some slightly uneven gameplay.

There's plenty of joy to be had for grown-ups in Trap Team, and more than a few laughs as well.

Tales of Kenzera: Zau's strength lies in its powerful narrative, digging into how one navigates the sadness, rage, and terror that accompanies the worst moments of grief. Its tale has its hiccups, but Zau's adventure of coming to terms with loss resonates through the beating heart of the thumping musical score, standout vocal performances, and dance-like battles that feel straight out of Bantu myth. Loss is a universal human emotion, making Zau's attempts to grapple with grief uncomfortably relatable. But there's catharsis to be earned in working through that discomfort alongside Zau, and a touching story to enjoy along the way.

As Estelle pieces together her scrapbook made by my hand, I often found myself asking why I took a particular image, what I liked about a specific sound. What memories or feelings was I conjuring, even subconsciously, that led me to present Estelle's world in the ways I did, and what did that say about how I see my own world? Season asks a lot of introspective questions, provides few definitive answers, and hopes players are willing to breathe it in, consider it carefully, then exhale slowly as they reflect on both the game and themselves. It's unconventional even in a sea of indies that are constantly trying new weird things, but it works.

Red Alert 3 is a raucously fun strategy game that overcomes its issues with both style and substance.

Goofy humor and a bevy of wacky objectives make it easy to lose yourself in this action role-playing game.

Knights & Bikes was created by a small team featuring several people who worked on LittleBigPlanet and Tearaway, and you can feel that all these games share a similar creative vision. There's a kind of wide-eyed, rough and tumble spirit of adventure running through all three games that is hard to resist. Knights & Bikes is a wonderfully warm, effortlessly inviting experience that'll make you feel young again.

More than just Mario Party with a different mascot, Rayman Raving Rabbids makes great use of the Wii technology to create a bizarrely enjoyable minigame collection.

Good sequels strike a balance between reproducing familiar systems and introducing new features. Rage Burst shares many similarities with Resurrection, to the degree that you wouldn’t be blamed for mistaking the former for an expansion pack of the latter at a glance. But Rage Burst is bolstered by a beefed-up combat system and scores of stylish, powerful loot, making frequent, sometimes repetitive questing, more enjoyable than it was in Resurrection.

All-told it's a phenomenal port and still one of the better RPGs in recent years.

The best console version of Dishonored that money can buy--and make no mistakes, that still makes this the best version of a fantastic game—but as a re-release on systems far more capable than their predecessors, this is a perfunctory release that doesn’t justify the price tag except out of sheer convenience.

Where it counts, Overwatch 2 feels like a fantastic update to a multiplayer game with mechanics that enable thrilling skirmishes between teams of heroes. However, as a separate entity and sequel, it stumbles. Changes to the core gameplay are steps in the right direction, but it is surrounded by new points of friction where there previously were none. Thankfully, as a live-service game, things will be added or altered once Blizzard has more player feedback, so at the very least the studio has a strong foundation to build upon. There is plenty of good to be found in Overwatch 2 and in the heat of battle the intoxicating multiplayer dynamics that fans love are there to enjoy all over again. But if the first Overwatch taught me anything, it's to dream a bit bigger about what games can be, and there is still a bit more dreaming to be done here.

This sequel goes light on the role-playing but still presents a compelling puzzle experience that's as enjoyable and addictive as the original Puzzle Quest.