If it weren't for the commentary crew messing things up so badly, Tiger would have scored in the A range, but alas, there comes another sand trap EA really needs to fix before next year. Otherwise, if you can ignore the commentary crew, you will find a very deep and very fulfilling game of golf that newbies and veterans can enjoy equally.

Taken altogether, it adds up to a Mario game that doesn’t really feel like a Mario game. It’s an interesting look at a neat experiment, and it’s fun to get a chance to discover – or rediscover – a game that finds Nintendo breaking out of their comfort zone. It may not be a perfect game, but it’s an interesting one, and that’s enough to make it worth checking out.

Battlefront II is a good sequel, but it's got too much in common with the first game to make the upgrade a no-brainer.

A campaign of just a handful of missions doesn’t last long, but an active mod community helps offset that. Nonetheless, Darwinia stands above most games in design as an essential title for the PC.

Mot without fault, but at the same time not without progress.

With rewards such as an extra turn for linking four or five gems together or the warm feeling of doing double damage to your enemy because of a well-planned chain incorporating themselves into the tactical side of a game like Bejeweled, players will find themselves playing to master the game as best as they can -and that's not a bad thing.

Players who haven’t experienced Code: Veronica need to. It’s to die for.

A good sequel... But if you didn’t like the first one, you won’t find much new to like here.

For all it's technical wizardry, a game is only as good as its gameplay, and that portion of Jak 3 just doesn't measure up.

At a $20 price point, Space Invaders Extreme is an absolute steal for DS/PSP owners out there. There's a lot of hidden depth to the single player experience, and you'll get a decent amount of use from the multiplayer aspect as well.

Awesome. The Sonic Team title has it all – 4 player linkable battle, create-a-stage, create-a-character, and some of the best darn puzzles that ever made it to a portable.

The GC version gets a better graphics boost than the Xbox counterpart, but both versions pack the same great gameplay.

You'll never get enough of picking up a soldier, watching him flail around, followed by throwing him into a wall. The rag doll physics help add to the diabolical pleasure as limbs fly all over the place when tossed from one part of the room to the other.

It's absorbing, beautiful, plays well, and will provide many, many hours of adventuring.

While there is no "real" narrative throughout the game, dialogue, or story to be told, some of Epic Quest's advanced ideas that do work well make for a nice foundation for other games like it to come in the future. For a $2.50 you'd be a fool to pass up not only a new way to play the game of pinball, but a solid and addicting table to join the already impressive assortment created by the Zen Studios team. Well done lads, you've done it again.

All in all, I still feel like this is a collection that’s worth checking out, provided you haven’t already blitzed through both games on PS3 or PS Vita. The upgrades are nice, but not so big as to warrant another purchase a year later.

At the end of the day this is the perfect way to play Dark Souls. If you are a new player, the game will still be just as challenging but it will look and feel like a much more modern game. If you are a veteran, this is a beautiful nostalgia filled trip through my personal favorite game of the 360/PS3 era.

It’s rare to find a game that’s as visually appealing as this one, and if that means going through a bit (okay, a lot) of grinding to see all this game has to offer, it may just be a price worth paying.

Bulletstorm, in short, looks good, plays great, and is fun as f**k to play. So put that in your pipe and smoke it Call of Duty fans...I come from the old school, and my friends of frag fest...this game is old school with a new coat of paint.

Like many games before this one, moving from 2D into 3D can be a tricky proposition. For every successful endeavor there are countless failures. Luckily, Picross 3D manages to come into its own as a fun puzzle game, even if it shares very few game play traits with its older brother.

And damn this game can be tough! Even after sinking about a hundred hours into the PSP game I could never complete the whole thing in one sitting. Here I am in the futuristic year of 2018 playing on a Nintendo Switch and I still feel like I need one of my older cousins around to help me beat some of the harder levels. Yeah my age may show more than I’d like, but it’s kind of nice to feel young again.

Overall this is an excellent sequel to the series and great addition for new players and experienced ones. After an 11 year wait since the previous title it feels good to say that Shiren is back.

It’s a clear improvement over a game that was already pretty damn good, and it offers up enough in the way of changes and additional modes to make it worth a second, third, or even fourth playthrough. I certainly enjoyed running through both the story and DLC content again, and I think you will too.

I was already a Blumhouse fan and now I’m a Blumhouse Games fan. Fear the Spotlight is an easy recommendation for any retro survival horror fan.

I’d still wholeheartedly suggest picking up Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, especially if you’re a big fan of Koji Igarashi’s previous work. It’s a fantastic callback to those style of games, and goes to show that despite “Metroidvania” being a fairly popular genre, it’s hard to beat a game designed by the folks responsible for making that genre a thing to begin with.

DICE did a great job of refining the Battlefield formula into a cohesive package that should tide fans over until Bad Company 2, or may create a whole new fanbase in itself under 1943's small-but-strong design philosophy.

While both titles will be a short experience if you’re just looking to blow past the initial playthrough, there’s enough content packed in here via replays to make you feel that this is $15 well spent.

Ghost of Tsushima takes the best elements of Assassins Creed and Far Cry, throws in some of the signature Sucker Punch flair that made Infamous so successful and ends up being something that is both familiar and unique at the same time. The stealth elements are not the strongest, and aside from the missions requiring stealth, I almost always took the more forward approach to combat, but the freedom to DO that is part of what makes the game so good. Sony has consistently released incredible, single player, story focused exclusives for the PS4, and Ghost of Tsushima stands tall as one of their best yet.

If you’re a Nintendo Switch Owner there’s no real reason for you to not download this title. It’s already a Game of the Year Contender.

Being that the game is really just a direct port of the Dreamcast version, I obviously would not recommend it to those who own the Dreamcast version.

If you have Pinball FX 2, then you would be doing the pinball world an injustice by not grabbing this bargain of a DLC package.

The complex inventory and quick enemies might have you screaming, but most of the time it’s in a good way.

While some gamers will be turned off by the lack of total simulation, they still may be intrigued by the extras EA threw in for good measure such as the deep dynasty, slam-dunk contest, and three-point shootout.

While Kid Icarus: Uprising does have a few shortcomings, overall it's a great revival for a franchise I had little affection for in the first place. I was never a big fan of the NES title, so I wasn't expecting much, but I've been pretty pleased with the experience so far.

Sly 3 manages to take several types of gameplay and present them together in one cohesive package. What Sly 3 lacks in innovation, it makes up in the sheer amount of gameplay that it possesses.

Black Ops 6 is a stellar entry to the Call of Duty franchise, and I’m looking forward to seeing what’s coming in future seasons. I’ve had a ton of fun playing multiplayer and zombies with my friends, as well as running through the campaign. If this is how the expectation of quality is set for how the series should continue, then consider me hopeful for the future.

Sports gaming is on the brink of a new age with the coming of new consoles, so here's hoping the 2k series continues to raise the bar by producing the best game on the market, as they have – again – with NHL 2k6.

the story is actually interesting. In general terms, of course, the game is focused on the main character, Chizuru, romancing the various Shinsengumi samurai, but there's a clear plot beyond that: she's traveled to Kyoto to find her missing father. After she stumbles into a bad situation almost immediately upon her arrival (in which the Shinsengumi play a prominent role), everything that happens in the game is set in motion. It's appropriately mysterious, which makes this game much closer to an actual novel than most of its other genre brethren.

At the very least, LocoRoco proves that there is nothing quite like rolling a giant fatty--err, I mean, it proves that there is still room for innovation in a very traditional genre (side-scroller) even if it's on a more conventional platform.

The game of baseball is represented perfectly in MLB 06: The Show, and not only is this a candidate for best baseball game of the year, but possibly best sports game as well.

All in all, this is definitely something that all 3DS owners should consider picking up. Even if you played the heck out of Donkey Kong Country Returns on the Wii, I think you’ll find that this definitely warrants the double dip.

Guacamelee 2 takes a very solid base of the original and adds enough to prevent this iteration from being stale. The new mechanics blend in seamlessly and adds to the experience. The humor hits, more than it misses and the visuals are vibrant like it’s predecessor. All in all if you had to choose only on metroidvania-style game to play in 2018, make sure Guacamelee 2 is high on your list.

All in all, I’ve really enjoyed my time with Persona 5 Strikers. I’ve played a whole lot of Dynasty Warriors and spin-off games in that genre, and I would argue that Persona 5 Strikers feels like one of the more unique takes on a Musou game that I’ve ever seen. It really, honestly feels like a full-fledged Persona sequel, in both story and combat, but with a heavier emphasis on action. Combining these two distinct flavors of video game franchises works exceptionally well here, and if you’re into either type of game, you’ll likely find something to love about Persona 5 Strikers.

It is online gaming at it's best, and nothing really compares. You can single handedly blow away your enemies, team up, or whatever, it's up to you.

The control with mouse and keyboard is far superior to the clunky Xbox controller, and Gearbox is already rolling out patches to deal with the framerate issues. As an experience, Halo is something to behold - on the right system, you can pull this game out and slap around your Xbox-owning friends with higher resolutions and better controls. As a game, however, it starts strong and fizzles like a wet firework towards the end.

With top-notch graphics and a mostly solid game of basketball that rewards practice and knowledge, ESPN NBA 2k5 is loads of fun.

There's little to complain about with Darksiders II, in fact, I pretty much love everything about this game. I won't be surprised to see it end up on quite a few Game of the Year lists at the tail end of the year, which I'm sure you'll come to understand once you lay your hands on it.

Red Dead Redemption was a great game when it came out in 2010, and this proves it’s still a great game in 2023. While some classics from previous generations feel dated, that’s certainly not the case here – and if you missed it (or weren’t around for it) thirteen years ago, now’s the time to finally play it. And if you did play it? Maybe it’s time to play it again.

Platforming nuts and fans of the series won't find themselves disappointed at the content and frenzied gameplay packed into this 800-point arcade game. For a game which in its later bits exists simply to test your patience, it sure does a good job of keeping players in their seats.

Worthy expansion/ Just as good as Broken Steel/ With more atmosphere.

EA Sports could have done the easiest thing and reskinned the Madden engine and this would have still sold millions, so for them to not take that route I think they should be commended. College Football 25 is a definite buy for the college and pro football fan alike.

Despite not being overjoyed with the cast of the game, there’s little else to complain about with SMT IV. The gameplay mechanics borrow enough from previous entries to feel familiar, but at the same time there’s enough new about the mechanics to make them feel fresh.

May not bring much new to the table for the genre, but the new additions offer enough of a twist to keep the game interesting.

Voice chatting during the game with people from all around the country, while hammering through the games dungeons and challenge modes, is an awesome experience.

A great side story for the Halo universe, with an eerie atmosphere that's more exciting than the majority of the Halo 3 campaign.

I absolutely loved Pure, and while I've played a fair share of decent off road racers in the past couple years, nothing compares to Pure in my opinion.

While the game is deceptively simple on the surface, there's much more to mastering each level as you progress further in.

The game is fun, consistent, accurate and is, in every way, baseball. Over the course of nine innings and several seasons, it's clear that Konami knows baseball better than any other developer.

While the console versions of Tony Hawk's Underground 2 may be a better game than the original Underground, you can't help but feel that the game is something you've already played before.

It’s not exactly the funniest game you’ll ever play, but as your hero interacts with the world around her/him, you’ll constantly find that there’s a lot of care that went into making conversations as enjoyable as possible. Of course, everything about Loop Hero is focused on making it as enjoyable as possible, because it’s just a really enjoyable game. As i learned, whether you’re usually into these kinds of games or not, it doesn’t matter: Loop Hero is fun, and it’s sure to get you hooked.

All in all, this is the game that just might finally put the name Codemasters into gamer's minds that haven't enjoyed their past successes like Colin and Pro Race Driver. DiRT isn't too simish or arcady but finds that nice blend that goes down smooth everytime.

So visually the game isn't really impressive, but the gameplay certainly feels unique. It's a pretty cool blend of RTS mechanics and tower defense strategies, but nothing about it feels like a retread of something I've played before.

The essence of the Hulk – his chaotic power and affect on normal civilization – is captured perfectly.

A very accessible and pretty RPG. Perhaps it could benefit from added complexity and higher difficulty.

Equally fluid is the combat, which is what I'd describe as "Sands of Time lite."

Even though Steins;Gate has some interactive components that allow you to impact the story's outcome, it's important to know that it's possible to go for hours at a stretch here and never have the opportunity to do anything more than press X to advance the text.

If you have a friend to play along with, then that's obviously the way to go, but don't let the thought of playing with the AI deter you from picking this up. It's a great game, and well worth your time.

It is as true as possible to the franchise's humble beginnings, which is a good and bad thing. In my opinion, it's a good thing because I love a game that can put me through the wringer and back-but still be fair about it.

The guiding intention behind Runner 2 on consoles generally seemed to be to make players work to finish each level — to make them memorize the layout for each level, and then hit all the buttons in the right order at the right times — and that's survived the game's transition to the PS Vita wholly intact.

If you have not played a Battle Royale game before, or hate the two I mentioned above, do not sleep on Black Ops 4. Jump in and see what Battle Royale is SUPPOSED to be. If the only mode that interests you is standard multiplayer, maybe you will love it and maybe you will hate it. It truly just depends on what you look for in a multiplayer shooter today.

I definitely feel like Street Fighter X Tekken is worth picking up, especially if you have any kind of interest in either side of the fence. Both rosters are great, and the online play minus the sound issues is pretty fantastic, and will automatically give this game a pretty solid online presence for months to come.

There is so much to like and so little to dislike this year, that if given a chance, I can't see how any true football fan can't find a way to experience Madden football this year and have nothing but a good time.

I'm not going to go so far as to say that this it the best Call of Duty yet, but I certainly find myself more compelled to spend a lot more time with this than I did Modern Warfare 3. Both the campaign and multiplayer portions of the game feel like a step above the previous entry, and if early sales and online player base are any indication, this is going to be the game your friends will playing for months to come. So if you're on the fence, I'd definitely suggest picking this up, it delivers enough changes to keep the series relevant and fun, while retaining everything that makes Call of Duty what you've come to expect.

The biggest difference between 2K9 and 2K10 is My Player mode. It's yet another new take on a single player version of the game, and it adds a layer to what is already an high-octane version of basketball.

Judgment is a great title to play to get acquainted with the type of games Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio puts out. If you don’t want the baggage of over 8 plus titles over your head, this is currently a one and done title, however you want to see what else has happened in Kamurocho, you also have the option to explore the main line series (which included “free” on Gamepass via Microsoft). Either way you’ll definitely see the studio in a different light if you play this title.

A really great port of an already excellent remake.

Puyo Puyo Tetris is totally worth the $30 or $40 bucks for those who absolutely love either of the block dropping puzzle franchises and are looking for a fun and fresh twist on the genre.

Without the option of full scrimmages, I wonder how long the game will stay fresh in the minds of gamers after about 30 games or so.

The title uses several techniques to enhance gameplay, and for the most part, pulls it off with flying blood splats.

It’d be easy to nitpick Red Dead Redemption, and wonder whether, 14 years later, it’s still worth playing. As its long-awaited Steam debut shows, the answer to that is an unqualified yes.

Along with an awesome soundtrack and a smart sense of style, you'll at least enjoy the atmosphere being beaten to death on its more challenging areas.

So what is there left to say except, if you call yourself a racing fan, even if you have passed on or hated the last few outings this Need for Speed series had to offer, this is a whole new game that feels fresh. To put it in simple terms, you "Need" this game in your racing library.

Need for Speed: Most Wanted takes Underground’s control scheme and slaps it into the Hot Pursuit series, which in the end, does not work.

It’s a good enough game this year, like it was a good enough game last year, like it was a good enough game in 2018, like I’m sure it’ll be a good enough game in 2021 on the PS5. But considering that MLB The Show was once the gold-standard for sports games, simply being good enough seems like a lot of wasted potential.

This is a game for fans only, for better or worse, as it has some of the most relentless A.I. developed in an RTS.

Even if you have already played and/or purchased the Williams Collection that was offered last year on the Wii and PS2, you would be crazy not to grab this edition as not only are the visuals and sound a major step up, but you receive two addicting machines in No Good Gophers and Medieval Madness that are must have for any pinball fan.

It probably goes without saying that this is one of the most gorgeous games to grace a video game console. FFXIII's in-game graphics look like other games' cutscenes. Its cutscenes look like other games' full motion video, and its full motion video looks like a Hollywood blockbuster.

All in all the best of what fans have loved about the NCAA Football series has honestly only gotten better with age.

It's not perfect, but it's pretty freaking fun!

What I found was an extremely intelligent, involving quest through what is one of the best thought out, most beautiful worlds ever. If you're looking to test your brain, give Riven a try. Just remember, the world is a window into the psyche of the man who created it.

The HD remixes to controls and visuals are nice additions, but the ability to switch back to the classic look and feel is welcomed.

The multiplayer aspect gives it a lot of longevity, which is supplemented with New Game+ features as well. Mission variety is decent and enemies are well varied within their types, although the most addictive part of the game's missions will be the underlying RPG elements that allow further customization and adjustments throughout the length of the title.

It succeeds in presenting a believable story with likeable characters in a world that is far more detailed than the original. If I had to pick an RPG of the Year, (or hell Game of the Year) right now, Icewind Dale II would be it.

Truthfully, I don’t think that Danganronpa Decadence is the best way to experience the trilogy. These are three very intense games, each with enough crazy twists and over-the-top cruelty and violence that you should probably take a break between each one. One thing that you’ll be reminded of again and again in each game is that they earn their M ratings beyond a shadow of a doubt. But nonetheless, these are still three of the best games the visual novel genre has to offer, and if you’re even remotely interested in playing murder mysteries, they’re all must-plays.

The AI can be challenging, and towards the end it does border on cheap at times. However, everything feels pretty well balanced, and when it comes to portable fighters, Bleach definitely sits at the top of the heap.

In comparison to Bastion, Transistor feels rigid. As its own game, it tells a tightly controlled story with an experimental battle system. While the combat works, it contradicts the idea of thoughtful approach with gameplay that threatens to undermine anything over basic combinations.

Just based on the music selection, social/community functionality, and the fact that it's a new Lumines game for a new platform, Lumines: Electronic Symphony is totally worth checking out. Yes, it's priced too high and it isn't quite as packed with as many features as hoped, but it is still one of the best Lumines games yet.

Whether you’re new to the Splatoon series or a repeat customer, Splatoon 2 has enough to keep players entertained for hours on end. There’s enough variety in the different modes of play, and the solo campaign is almost worth the price of admission alone. The new Salmon Run is gloriously fun and the promise of even more weapons, gear, and modes make this game an easy recommendation to all Switch owners. Really the only glaring issues at launch are the cumbersome and lackluster voice options via the Switch Online App, and perhaps the lack of multiple new modes to play in for veteran gamers. I can see some longtime players experience a “been there done that” in Splatoon 2, but the formula works so well and the game is so much fun to play that I don’t think that will be a major concern for most players. Be a kid (or a squid) again and have some fun!