Some levels are substantially more challenging than others, but the game always gives you the tools you need to succeed. Foxyland looks fine in a retro-y sort of way, and it sounds fine (in an even more retro-y sort of way), and it basically does everything you’d hope to get out of a Ratalaika platformer. It’s not going to wow you, but if you want to spend a few dollars and a few minutes on a game that’s not too bad, Foxyland is completely tolerable.

All in all, it adds up to a middling experience even by the relatively low standards of the genre. Eastville Chronicles: The Drama Queen Murder has all the component parts of a hidden object game but nothing to make it stand out. If you really, really want to hunt around for guns hidden in dark corners and incongruously-placed telephones, you’ll be able to do that, but if you want anything more, you’re not going to find it here.

Too bad, then, that the only thing young gamers — or anyone else, for that matter — is likely to take away from Bee Simulator is how utterly wretched its controls are. No matter how noble its goals are, they can’t overcome the fact that the most important facet of the game is absolutely terrible, and for that reason, Bee Simulator is best avoided.

Felix the Reaper is easy to love at first sight, but then you’ll fall out of love just as quickly once you’ve actually played it. There’s something here that’s fun and refreshing, but the overall package doesn’t live up to that promise.

FAR: Lone Sails is fine for what it is, and I liked my time with it — but throughout it all, I couldn’t help but feel like it could’ve been even better than it was.

MechWarrior 5 is a symphony of stuff thrown at you all at once. You are a business running a mercenary outfit. Leading that outfit in every decision that must be made and going out on missions to help. At the same time digging for answers on who killed your Father, why, and most importantly, how to claim vengeance. While this isn’t the most original story, getting there get more and more fun the farther you get. If you have been itching for a new MechWarrior game, don’t pass this one by.

Red Dead Redemption 2 is one of the greatest games of this generation, and this PC port is no different after a solid month of stumbles and patches. I am excited to see what the future of Red Dead Online holds, and excited to see how people continue to interact with this game in the future.

The Switch is not the right platform for Close to the Sun. The right platform would be one that could actually show what’s going on without it feeling like your console was about to burst into flames and melt down. If you do have one such non-Switch platform, you may be inclined to check this out, but if the Switch is your only option, steer very clear of Close to the Sun.

It’s really too bad, because any game that looks this cute should be incredibly easy to love. That Woven isn’t — indeed, that it becomes fairly grating pretty quickly — is a sign of just how many other problems it has. No matter how adorable the game may look, looks clearly aren’t everything.

It’s basically just like every other Doodle God game, only with more things to combine than ever before. If that’s your thing, you’ll be happy with what’s here, but if it’s not, be aware you’ll get very, very bored, and fast.

There aren’t many games that look as cared for as Trüberbrook, and it would be so nice if you could embrace the game in a way that feels like it justifies the incredible amount of hours that must have gone into it. The unfortunate fact, however, is that this game may have been better served if even a little of the innovation that went into making it had shown up on the gameplay side.

WRC 8 is an ugly game with lousy controls, and there’s not much you can say in its favour. Unless you like turning kamikaze driving into an art form, of course — but even then, putting up with a bad racing game just to mess with its internal logic seems like a bridge too far.

Overall, I think Pokémon Sword & Shield is a great entry in the franchise, only brought down by its lackluster storyline. It’s certainly new player friendly, but also has enough going for it that long-time Pokémon fans will likely enjoy the new features too. If you have a Switch, and you’re even remotely interested in the series, I’d suggest checking it out.

Overall, I think Pokémon Sword & Shield is a great entry in the franchise, only brought down by its lackluster storyline. It’s certainly new player friendly, but also has enough going for it that long-time Pokémon fans will likely enjoy the new features too. If you have a Switch, and you’re even remotely interested in the series, I’d suggest checking it out.

Overall, I think Pokémon Sword & Shield is a great entry in the franchise, only brought down by its lackluster storyline. It’s certainly new player friendly, but also has enough going for it that long-time Pokémon fans will likely enjoy the new features too. If you have a Switch, and you’re even remotely interested in the series, I’d suggest checking it out.

Really, though, there’s no reason why you should put up with a kart-racer that’s merely fine when you have so many other better options out there, most of which are just as suitable for the demographic Race with Ryan is aiming for.

What really makes One Night Stand worthwhile, though, is that despite its name — and the fact you find yourself in bed with a naked woman right off the bat — it’s not interested in being sexy (or, seeing as it’s a game, “sexy”) or titillating. It’s just a short, somewhat awkward, occasionally charming and funny (depending on what choices you pick) game about a pair of twenty-somethings having a mature conversation. There really isn’t anything else like it, and it’s worth checking out if you’re in the mood for a game about talking.

It’s a dull way to spend a couple of hours, it doesn’t do anything even remotely interesting, and not even the promise of a patented Ratalaika Easy Platinum should be enough to make you want to play this for even a single second.

This is a mediocre game at the best of times that drags itself down to being entirely horrible thanks to its own terrible choices and design, and there’s really no reason why you should subject yourself to it.

Here’s how much I love holedown: even though it’s arrived on the Switch at a substantial markup ($10, compared to around $4-5 on iOS and Android), it still feels worth it. I’ve spent the last few days doing nothing but playing this game, and seeing it flash across my mind when I’m not. If that’s not the definition of a great game, I don’t know what is.

Again, I don’t think Need for Speed Heat does much to re-invent the wheel when it comes to open-world racing games, but it does help reset the franchise in a way that felt necessary at this point. It’s an enjoyable experience throughout, the story is entertaining if maybe a little too serious, and the overall progression path is well realized. If you’re hungry to get behind the wheel of a virtual car this season, Need for Speed Heat is likely going to be the game for you.

Miles & Kilo also does a better job of telling a story. The plot — kid crashlands on island, has to find a way home — is practically identical, but here the game lays out narrative, has more levels, and seems to flow together a little more logically with boss fights (that work!) and whatnot. It’s hardly complex storytelling or anything, but it does a good job of keeping you playing beyond just the challenge of it all. Even with all that, of course, I wouldn’t say that Miles & Kilo does anything all that new. It’s a retro-influenced platformer, after all, and the last several years have seen more of those than I can count. But within that very broad genre, this is definitely one of the better ones.

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.

Just about the only reason I’ll even remember Deep Space Rush is because it was a massive pain to get that last trophy. When being broken is the only memorable thing about a game, that’s probably a good sign you can — and should — give it a hard pass.

If you really focus on the narrative, I don’t think you’ll necessarily draw the same conclusions that My Memory of Us wants you to draw. It’s a well-intentioned, well-made game that tries to convey the horrors of genocide — but, in the process of doing that, may just accidentally minimize them.

Overall I had fun with it as your characters get leveled up and check off career highlights, but this doesn’t make up for things. Continuing with the trend of women in each mode, they also added Mixed Tag matches, which has taken way too long to show up in the franchise. Again a nice addition, but not game changing. That’s pretty much it; some new wrestlers and arenas, but mostly same old WWE 2K, except worse character models.

If you want anything more than a few nice-looking puzzles, you won’t really find that in Agent A. It’s a fine little puzzle game that you can fly through in five hours or so, but if you expect anything more than that you’ll be disappointed.

80 Days is an inventive game with plenty of replayability, and it shows that even if an idea is well-known, there’s no reason why that doesn’t make it ripe for reinvention.