It’s not going to be making very many year-end lists in a couple of months. But The Smurfs – Dreams is good enough for what it is – which is to say, a 3D platformer that’s aimed at a younger audience – that if you give it a chance and don’t expect too much, you’ll probably have a good time with it.

The multiplayer could have been a bit more robust and single card play would have been easy to implement given the simplicity of the graphics... If you love puzzle games then I highly recommend giving Polarium a try.

It's much deeper than I would have expected from a current age Musou style game, and I highly urge people who aren't usually enamored with the Dynasty Warriors series to check this out, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Devious Dungeon 2 isn’t a bad game. It suffers from a lack of originality, like its predecessor, but if you want a competently-made roguelike platformer, it does the trick.

While some of the early puzzles are pretty easy to solve, the further in you get, the more you need to be able to think in terms of 3D space, since you can shift gravity to get a different perspective on everything. As someone who’s terrible at spatial reasoning puzzles, I’m not going to lie: there were times when I felt like my brain was pushed to the breaking point. Even so, it still felt like there was a pretty sizable discrepancy between what Manifold Garden achieves artistically, and what it achieves as a game. The latter is pretty forgettable, whereas the former occasionally borders on breathtaking. I leave it up to you how much weight you place on those two halves, but for me, it added up to a somewhat uneven whole.

Project 8 hit at a time when I was really craving some Tony Hawk gameplay, and it felt a little more fresh to me. Still a good game, no matter how you slice it.

Even if you're not a huge racing fan by any means (I'm not either), you'll still get a kick out of the core game mechanic of this title. It's all about having fun, and Fury Pro offers a whole lot of that.

While I expect The Sky Crawlers to be largely ignored by gamers, it's not going to disappoint those curious enough to check it out, by any means.

Even if Blossom Tales isn’t all that original, that doesn’t make it any less fun. The world is fun to explore, the puzzles are fun to solve, and the story is engaging and enjoyable. It may not make you forget its obvious influences, but at the very least, it does right by them, and tries its best to live up to their sterling reputations.

It's a mix of Battlebots and Rock 'em Sock 'em Robots, with guns. The only thing dragging it down is the monotony in the later levels where the fighting starts to feel a bit old and the personality starts to wear off.

Nowhere near the classic status of the original. It tries hard, though.

In a year like this, where we can compare and contrast CrossWorlds with Mario Kart World so easily, its faults seem a lot more glaring. As it stands, it’s a very solid kart racer that has the misfortune of being compared to one that’s just more enjoyable.

The only drawbacks from this otherwise stellar title are the twitchy handling and the potential redundancy.

If you have the itch to jump into the persona of Luffy and Co. then by all means pick this up for the Wii as it is a solid game, just too much of a game that is "for fans only".

If you’ve played any first-person puzzlers in the past decade-plus, you’ll know exactly what to expect in Hourglass. But if you liked any of them, the good news is that you’ll at least find things to enjoy here, too. Hourglass may not be original, but it’s still a decent enough way to spend a few hours.

I can only recommend this if you are already a fan or like fast paced puzzle games in general. Nothing bad or horrible with this release, but also nothing groundbreaking, Just an above average classic puzzle game with a great challenge. Pick it up if you want to experience the world of Arkanoid.

Skate 3 is the best skateboarding game at this time. It is still fun, intuitive, and there is plenty to do and see. Toss in multiplayer fun for a group and you have yourself enough satisfaction to last you 'til the next incarnation of the series shows its face...probably a year from now.

As it stands, I’m not going to say this one is a must-play, but it’s solid enough that if Ratalaika and Petite want to continue on with another sequel in this series, I certainly wouldn’t complain.

For the most part, though, Just Cause pulls players along with a promise of bigger and badder weaponry.

I'm sure that if you're willing to make the commitment, there's some kind of payoff, but considering the size of my backlog and the multitude of other JRPGs out there that aren't as dense, I can't say it's a commitment I'm willing to make.

The character has style, the game presents some unique gameplay concepts, and most importantly, it is fun to play.

The addition of the new play styles, attitude, and story mode only enhance this great title. This is easily the best of the Blitz titles, and Midway has given fans a truly fun and entertaining football game that is not hindered by rules and penalties.

Did you live through the late '80s and early '90s and you miss games like Double Dragon and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (or, at least, do you wish you had)? Then this game is for you. If not, you can skip this one without worrying you're missing out on anything.

Overall, while the game is still a great Mega Man title, it doesn't nearly live up to the fun of its predecessor.

So, while the game can often feel like a buggy mess, I'm more than willing to forgive its shortcomings based on the actual fun it delivers.

Still, despite my issues with the hunter role outside of battle, I can’t deny I’ve had some fun with Evolve. It’s certainly a memorable experience, more so with a group of friends working together, but still enjoyable with random online players in tow.

Despite the framerate issues, Mr. Shifty is a good time and well worth the price of admission. One of the better games on the Nintendo Switch. Maybe a patch can rectify my main concern with the game.

It's worth noting that this game is quite short; you could easily beat it in one sitting, assuming you're sitting for 2-3 hours. As someone who likes games that don't require a massive time investment, this didn't bother me too much, but if you're going in expecting something that'll tide you over until the release of Super Mario Odyssey — or even until next week, for that matter — this most definitely won't do the trick. Still, even with those flaws, I'd hesitate to say that Skylar & Plux: Adventure on Clover Island is bad, or not worth checking out. As I said, it's a solid 3D platformer, and it generally does what it wants to do fairly well. It's probably not going to be remembered with the same kind of reverence as its forebears, but for an afternoon, it'll be a pleasant way to pass the time.