EA's game has grown into the role of the hockey simulation, while NHL 2K has become a better and better version of what hard core hockey fans see as a casual game - lots of scoring. This year is no different, and NHL 2K10 has made some of the most needed improvements while staying consistent to its identity - as a welcoming game that gives us the chance to play like the Ovechkins and Crosbys.

Foul Play is a very stylized, quirky little title that could be good for a quick play session alone or with a friend. If you take away it's unique presentation, and little chunks of flare, you are left with an average beat 'em up with very little to offer. Try out the demo before buying, as it is somewhat pricey, so proceed with caution.

There will be (or already is) an upgrade version for DOA 5 Ultimate for the last gen consoles so if you still have your copy of that, then there is really no need to upgrade. But if you skipped playing Ultimate, or just have never experienced a DOA game before, then you owe it to yourself to add this to your library.

There's not enough content here to keep me satisfied, and the difficulty is far too light for my current tastes. It might hold over the younger gamers out there, but for those of us in our 20's and so on, you'll quickly realize that Nitro is a little too light on content to keep you entertained for long.

The controls are a bit sluggish and sometimes unresponsive.

Mad Max runs well, has a lot of content and the vehicular combat is fun, but the overall story missions get repetitive fast and it’s easy to lose the drive to play through to completion. I would recommend Mad Max as a rental or wait for a price drop.

It does well by the proven conventions of the games before it; The story is, at the very least, entertaining to watch unfold and there's more than enough game for $20.

Capcom Arcade Cabinet is a fine example of a true classic collection. The DLC packs and a few strange games may scare some away from getting this one.

Hey! Pikmin was surprisingly more fun than I expected it to be, although I can't really say what I expected. It plays at a quicker pace than it might let on, and keeps a lot of the mainstays of how Pikmin plays on consoles but without sacrificing the fun of a 2D game. I also like how the story is directed less toward Captain Olimar trying to get off the planet and more toward cute cutscenes that show how playful and silly the Pikmin are. This is a great diversion and I'm glad Nintendo is still experimenting with franchises, but after spending my brief time with Hey! Pikmin, I'm more ready than ever to see a Pikmin 4.

Now, if Telltale Games could get a few more licenses for even more popular characters, we could get a really fantastic series of games. Maybe in Poker Night 3 would see Peter Griffin from Family Guy taking on Ryu from Street Fighter in a rousing game of 7 card stud. One can dream.

The ghost gameplay is fine up until the wild camera and sometimes desolate gameplay pop up.

Nonetheless, it's still a fun, well-made game that will meet the needs of any boxing enthusiasts who are in the mood for a little on-the-go pugilism.

A very solid game, especially for one that was released over a year ago on the PC. The transition to the Xbox was flawless, and the added multiplayer maps are just icing on the cake.

The combat in the game can be a blast at times, but the awkward control and super precision of the enemies often makes it more difficult than it needs to be.

Considering that Insane's graphics are fantastic and it has enough gameplay diversity in its numerous modes to keep people playing for hours on end, it's disappointing that the one of the most basic features of a racing game, its control, ultimately drags the game into the mud.

A solid, if standard platformer if you have some appreciation for Scooby-Doo or if you're looking for a game for the kids.

A polished, tried and true gameplay experience, that, while not necessarily the most innovative, is a heck of a lot of fun.

The sound is another area in which The Smoking Mirror excels. Although there isn't a constant soundtrack playing, haunting music often accompanies certain actions, much like the original "Tomb Raider."

I was hoping that Mario Party 5 would be better than last year’s effort. While certain aspects of the game are a move in the right direction, the overall game fails to please.

It’s a satisfying RPG with a steady pace and great gameplay. There are also plenty of sidequests if you want to pursue them, but it’s optional. One thing I really like are the raids which will happen on your little castaway village. These happen throughout the game and you can choose to participate in defending everyone from a monster raid. They’re also good for friendly competition with Dogi, and if there’s one thing I think Ys VIII does really well it’s things like this that keep things from ever getting too serious.

As funny as setting enemies against each other is, however, it doesn’t make Clash: Artifacts of Chaos’ combat any more enjoyable – which makes it pretty similar to the rest of the game. It’s awkward, it’s clunky, it never fully explains itself, and I strongly suspect that that’s the case whether you’ve played older Zeno Clash games or not.

All-in-all, Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 is probably the best game in the series with a nice selection of events, features and characters, and enough gameplay variation to keep fans occupied. It seems like it would have made more sense to launch closer to the actual Tokyo 2020 games, and it definitely has more replayability as a party or multiplayer game than as a single player title, but it’s totally worth checking out if Olympic-style titles are (or were ever) your thing.

The edgy style, giant boss battles, big guns, and third-person dino-mauling bits certainly show that Propaganda Games have a lot of respect for what the franchise has meant to its fans, but at the same time it seems they either played it too safe or didn't let it sit in the oven long enough.

All in all, I Am Alive does most things well on paper – it's tight and succinct, priced as such, and it's a type of game we've yet to really explore (a gritty and realistic look at post-apocalyptic survival). Unfortunately, in spite of how cool it could have been, it ends up missing the mark by quite a big margin.

The controls are a bit hit and miss. For the most part they seem responsive, but there are a few platform style levels that will have you trying to snap your controller in two with frustration.

While not every event is a winner in Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, the experience is a fun one that is easy enough to pick up and play for family and friends yet still competitive enough to hook players into upping their skills and going for the gold. If you’re a fan of the genre or the Olympics themselves, certainly consider checking it out.

The effort in style and ideas are evident, but working on the same engine, and just building on it just doesn’t do the series justice. Give the game a face-lift please.

The last disappointing aspect of the game is the full-blown price tag. At $60 I'd expect to get a hell of a lot more than 12 maps and 5 different classes, but that is exactly what you're getting here.

Mario Super Sluggers really doesn't innovate the baseball experience. It's more of an extension of the GameCube version, with slightly improved visuals (16x9 support) and decent audio.

It’s pleasant to see the game get more colourful as you go along, and the skins are undeniably cute. Don’t go into Monochrome World expecting something to reinvent the wheel — or, I guess, the marble — and you should enjoy it just fine.

Bizarrely, despite the toughness, what really sticks out in my mind when I think of GONNER2 isn’t the action, but rather how it looks. I’m pretty sure that “insane psychedelic fever dream” isn’t a genre or a style, but I can’t think of any other way to describe the visuals here. There are flying eyeballs and you enter new levels by being swallowed by worms and the colours are all over the rainbow and…it’s just craziness. It’s gorgeous, in its own way, but it’s still nuts to look at. For most people, though, I think the insane difficulty will be what they take away from GONNER2, not the insane visuals. Which means that if you’re looking for a platformer or a roguelike that will truly test your abilities, it’s most certainly worth your time.

If you stepped away from Aliens: Fireteam Elite after launch, I’m not sure that the Pathogen expansion brings enough to the table to bring you back, but I can’t really argue that the $14.99 price point seems pretty fair considering all the extra stuff that comes along with the new, albeit short, story content. The new class perks are fun to play around with, giving you unique modifiers for your main special skill, most of which really boosts up your power level when paired with the right modifications. I certainly had some fun revisiting the game, and if you’ve been playing the game a fair amount up to this point, I can’t really see a reason not to pick up the DLC. Just temper your expectations when it comes to the new story missions and boss fight, which won’t blow you away in comparison to the main campaign.

Rainbow Cotton is a very good HD re-release of a classic game that not many people got a chance to play. Not only was it on a system that wasn’t known for its shooters, it was also never given a world wide release, making this one a true hidden gem. If you’re a fan of other Cotton games, you will love what is presented here. If you are new to the Cotton series, I can easily recommend this as a good starting game to get into the world of Cotton. Overall, this is a bare bones remaster with not many extras included, outside of a couch co-op mode that wasn’t in the original. It’s a short, wacky shooter that can be enjoyed by almost anyone. I highly recommend picking this one up if you can. It’s fun, and It does not disappoint.

It is nice to see EA Sports use their license for something a bit different.

Provided you’re either willing to put in the work in hunting down additional players, or have a few friends interested in joining you, I think you’ll enjoy Dragon Marked for Death quite a bit. As a solo experience it can be a little less compelling, but still enjoyable enough to check out.

It does well by the proven conventions of the games before it; The story is, at the very least, entertaining to watch unfold and there's more than enough game for $20.

But, hey: if you’re a fan of dungeon crawlers, chances are you probably don’t mind a bit of repetition and backtracking. Exist Archive has a bit of a unique spin on the genre, but I imagine that it’s not so different that it’ll alienate anyone who wants to grind their way through dungeon after dungeon. At the same time, though, it’s easy to imagine that it’s the kind of game that really could appeal to a wider range of people than just its core audience.

If you just want some stylized kills, of course, then you probably won’t mind the repetitiveness or the lack of story. And make no mistake, there are few games that are more stylized than Akane. But if you want anything more than style, then keep looking, because this isn’t a game with a whole lot of substance.

It’s built around an engaging story that never outlasts its welcome – the story of a boy pining for his lost love has obviously been done countless times before, but the way it’s told here is nicely done. Further, it ties into an interesting mechanic – since the boy is collecting the soul fragments at the behest of a being called the Soul Collector, he has the ability to switch realities and see another world. This, in turn, makes the puzzles a lot more interesting, as you often have to switch back and forth to figure out what to do next.Obviously, none of this is enough to make Eternal Hope feel like it rises about its influences. But at the very least, it’s enough to help the game carve out its own tiny niche within the world of Limbo clones.

Manages to scare with its gruesome plot and eerie settings. But the lacking gameplay fails to make the experience any more than a “search and run” title.

So on the content side of things, the game isn't really lacking, it's just failing in innovation or uniqueness when compared to the rest of the series. Again, it's great to have this game in a portable format that finally works, but unless you've been away from the series for quite some time, or find yourself a ridiculously hardcore fan of the Katamari games, I hesitate to call this a must buy. I've still had some fun with it, but I found it to be one of the weakest launch Vita titles I've encountered so far.

It's not a title that I can see myself coming back to over and over again. Its appeal feels a little limited, and it's reliance on cheesy pop music for certain events did start to annoy me pretty quick.

For $20, this release is a great value, giving fans that missed out a chance to play on current consoles. I look forward to Resident Evil 4 despite this being the 20th or so re-release. The real wait is for the Resident Evil 2 Remaster.

When it comes right down to it, First to Fight will have a tough time competing for your time and money when compared to other, flashier games. But it's got a strong identity and satisfying gameplay.

It’s not quite the full spiritual successor to Burnout that we need, but it’ll certainly do the job until that arrives.

As a moderate fan of the anime, I was pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed XenoVerse, and I suspect you will be too, provided you have any affinity for the source material.

If you do not mind the low quality audio, short and forgettable music selection, and the fact you have to sing along instead of hearing your glorious voice emulate or taint the original tracks, then I guess Singstar Rocks! is passable. For me though, Singstar does anything but Rock.

What I find most surprising about the game is the distinct lack of replay value.

The bottom line is that 2K11 is better in the ways we wanted it to be, so it's a keeper.

I suspect that a lot of these issues may be solved when the next game in the franchise, Invizimals: The Resistance, arrives with its card-free ways, but at present, that's still a barrier to entry, and it's a big enough barrier that you'd be wiser to just wait for The Resistance to wash up on North American shores than to invest your energy in this entry in the series.

It is easy to pick up and play, it is gorgeous, and it provides a few new elements yet seen by fans of RTS games.

Kine isn’t original, and it’s got some pretty obvious gameplay flaws. But when a game is as charmingly put-together as this one, you won’t have much difficulty ignoring all that and focusing on the positives.

If you’re still playing Black Ops 2, and let’s face it, you probably are, Vengeance is worth picking up for the multiplayer maps. If you’re primarily a fan of the Zombies mode I’d say you could save your points/money, but this is the strongest collection of multiplayer maps the game has seen since it launched.

If you are a Giana Sisters fan from way back, then you will no doubt grab this one. For everyone else I recommend trying out the demo, to see if you will enjoy it. It's not terrible or broken by any means, it just not groundbreaking or memorable. It will be fun for some, but a headache for others.

Unless you're some kind of rabid Spider-Man fan that absolutely must experience the super hero in every form of media possible, I'd urge you to not waste your time with the Amazing Spider-Man.

Big Bang Pro Wrestling isn’t gonna topple the latest and greatest the WWE has to offer, but given the Switch is seriously deprived of wrestling titles, even this one can be appreciated if you’re looking for some grappling action on the go. It was also refreshing to see a NGPC title get put out that isn’t a straight fighting game, so if NGPC Pocket Selection vol. 2 is going to be a thing at least it will be a lot more diverse than vol. 1. Given that this obscure title was given a chance in the west, Faselei! can’t be far behind, right?

Whereas games like Knowledge is Power or Jeopardy! felt a little (or, in Jeopardy!’s case, very) impersonal, It’s Quiz Time feels like it’s tailoring its experience to the individuals playing at that moment. That generic androgynous robot (Salli, for the record) turns out to be funny, and is constantly trash-talking and praising players by name. This extends to the app/controller as well, with tailored messages flashing on each player’s screen at the end of every round, giving them text they can share via social media that say how well they did in a particular round (note: I did not do this). Add in the personalized stats at the end of the game, and you can see why It’s Quiz Time is so much better than its competition.

It gives me a warm fuzzy to go back and play games like these, but like any other classic games, it just can't hold my attention.

At the end of the day DAEMON X MACHINA is a mixed bag where where is a lot of content in here but with the lacking variety and tedious loading it feels repetitive just like reading this review! Why it still holds my attention is with fun core gameplay that feels like a good game with the wrong kind of structure. But if you really want a mech game and my criticisms do not apply to you then you’ll have a good time with DAEMON X MACHINA but for others you should try the eShop demo first.

If you’re a fan who doesn’t usually play the WWE games or someone that hasn’t picked up an entry in a few years, 2K17 is a great buy with a huge roster of past and present superstars. Fans that stick with the game every year won’t find as much to keep their attention this year, despite some great gameplay improvements.

It looks good and the fights are simple while offering just enough strategy to keep from becoming too boring. It's too bad the same can't be said for the story mode, and an even bigger shame the best part of the game, a customizable character, can't be achieved without suffering through the single player experience.

At first glance, with it's twisting, gravity-defying tracks and fluorescent visuals, XGRA might remind you of the recent "F-Zero GX." Upon further inspection it's actually slower, sometimes much slower, less colorful and a lot less interesting.

All the wacky weapons and wormitude are present in Worms 3D, but it offers far more frustrating moments than fun ones.

Here's the thing, though: as difficult as Life of Pixel may be, it never ceases to be fun — and I say this as someone who generally shies away from overly challenging games.

Basically, SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom Rehydrated is full of all kinds of weird little gameplay quirks that show this is just a reskinned version of a 17-year-old game. There’s nothing terrible about it, to be sure, but unless you’re coming in with fond memories of the original, you probably won’t find much here that’s worth your time.

I enjoyed the story the first time and I even enjoyed hearing it replayed this time; but the card game battles threw me. I believe this game will appeal to those people who have not played it on the DS and that are big fans of the series.

A decent title that can be enjoyed in very small doses and really fails to take advantage of the opportunities it creates to make a successful franchise.

Military actions will no longer be made from the other side of the ocean, but where it really matters. Responsibility will be put into the hands of the men who represent our great country.

While there is an online multiplayer element, good luck getting into a match. I could never find anyone online to play with, and I imagine that's pretty much how it will always be.

The game has a decent online and offline mode, enough action to keep everything interesting, and has enough characters and weapons to make it worth the purchase.

It is true that NCAA Basketball 09 isn't a perfect basketball sim, but what it brings to the table is pure enjoyment for any fan that enjoys watching these kids bust their butts every week and not get paid for it.

Thanks to the graphical style, battle system and music, overall Lost Sphear is a reasonable attempt at bringing back the feel of the classic JRPG from the golden SNES era. It’s too bad they made some of the story choices they did, though if it weren’t for that, Lost Sphear would have been a much better game.

In fact, that line pretty much sums up the whole game: it's easy to appreciate Metrico on an intellectual level and it's easy to admire what the game is doing on a technical level. But there's a world of difference between admiring a game and loving it, and, unfortunately, Metrico falls very clearly on one side of that divide.

While Scribblenauts Unmasked has all the elements of a Scribblenauts title, it doesn't have the same room for creativity — and that's probably what makes the whole thing feel a little off. Without room for imagination, all that's left is a game that tells you what to do. Admittedly, it's frequently superheroes doing the telling (and that may be more than enough for some people), but that doesn't make it any more fun.

All in all, though, what you see is exactly what you get. You're still trying to get all your mice from Point A to Point B, and you have to do that over and over again.

As a title that doesn't stand out in any particular category other than nostalgia, 1942 still holds up well as the shooter it is.

The gameplay is solid, but there is very little supporting it, and oh so very much holding it at bay.

Gamers with an open mind and a block of time to set aside will find Unison to be something new, something fresh and definitely something different.

With a wide variety of options, fish, lures, modes, and lakes, Sega has done it again by producing a fun and addicting title for fans and non-fans alike.

There are definitely some hurdles you'll have to get over to enjoy this game, but there is certainly fun to be had. For me it was the strategic, puzzle-like single player mode, but for others it may be the ability to alter decks and play against online opponents.

It’s short length (only 5 to 8 hours) and it’s repetitive and sometimes lacking gamplay really hurt it. There’s definitely some good fun to have, but it would be better done through a rental.

For an expansion pack, there is plenty to do and see and it adds a completely new level of variety to your Sims' already busy life.

A solid, if standard platformer if you have some appreciation for Scooby-Doo or if you're looking for a game for the kids.

It's not that you die a lot (I mean, you do, but that's not the problem), it's that the gameplay is essentially pattern recognition and memorization, which doesn't float my boat like it used to.

Overall, the game may be simplistic on the surface, and lack some of the real in depth creating tools that many PC gamers have come to love, but it could also be that the game is also meant to get the controls into the hands of little ones as well.

I think you’ll still need a pre-existing enjoyment of Mobile Suit Gundam going into Gundam Versus to really, really enjoy it, but the framework is definitely here for a unique fighting game. There are so many Mobile Suits to pick from, and a fair amount of unlockable content, so you can easily spend dozens of hours playing. And, thankfully, the online community is present to support those hours of playing, which is certainly a plus. I’d definitely suggest checking it out, whether you’re a fan of Gundam specifically, or giant robot anime in general. There’s a lot of fun to be had with Gundam Versus.

All in all, I found Bubble Bobble 4 Friends to be a really fun take on the old Taito franchise, and a great experience for old and new players alike. It makes for a really solid family game that’s appropriate for all ages, but one with a difficulty curve that won’t make the game a bore for parents or older siblings. So check it out now on the Nintendo Switch, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

If soccer is your gig, if you found FIFA too light, Winning Eleven too intense, you should pick up World Tour Soccer.

Arietta of Spirits won’t wow you like some of the best Zelda-inspired games, but it’s still got some niceness at its core. That may not make it a classic, but it’s enough to make it fun enough while it lasts.

Combat has seen some minor improvements, but the missions you're required to play and the side-quest stuff in the city are still pretty bland encounters for the most part, and it's those areas that really need to see the most improvement for the next Spider-Man installment down the line.

For the most part it is a hidden gem, and shows a lot of care put into the inside game jokes and attention to detail in the story.

If you want a game that is fast, gritty, and fun as hell to play with commentary by Madden himself (actually it's the hilarious Frank Caliendo doing his Madden impersonation) then Blitz may be that "shot in the arm" you are looking for.

I am passionate about the Star Wars product and want it to be a great experience top to bottom, so don’t get the wrong idea with my criticisms. I very much like Battlefront 2, it improves on everything from 2015’s game, but it still definitely needs work. Over time this could become the definitive Star Wars multiplayer experience but it’s not there yet; content over the next six to twelve months will be key and how EA treats consumers will also be important on the success of this game. The bigger question I have is; will all these problems at launch doom the title before it really gets going. As DLC was released for 2015’s Battlefront, I saw less and less people playing and had a much harder time getting into match ups. Hopefully that isn’t the case here and we can see this community thrive off what is really a great game that just stumbled out of hyperspace.

Narnia makes for a decent adventure title on both systems, but it fails to do anything new or astounding. The game is also on the short and easy side, even with some of the unlockable extras.

The controls are a bit sluggish and sometimes unresponsive.

I'd say that Brink still has some promise if the lag can get ironed out soon enough; I certainly enjoy the online matches that run smoothly. If I can get into a match with a full 16 players and have it run smoothly, I could easily get months of enjoyment out of Brink.

It’s a nice alternative to a play style that some feel is getting a bit stale already, and if you were a fan of the old school, it’s worth checking out for the free month at least.

The PSP version seems more forgiving than the PS2 version when it comes to collisions with other drivers.