Puzzle Quest: The Legend Returns is still the same game but that isn’t a bad thing. Bundling in all the DLC and adding some new classics, this match-3 RPG hybrid is just as addictive today as it was over a decade ago.

Prime World Defenders is a lot of fun and one of the best tower defense games on the market. Its problems lie more in the lack of refinements on some great ideas.

The Crimson Map Pack is a solid addition to Halo 4's multiplayer map lineup. The three maps included provide a nice variation in style and size as well as preferred game types for each. Although they are quality additions, none of them pack that special feeling that will make them an "instant classic" for the series.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II brings the core of what makes CoD games great and stays true to Infinity Ward's best efforts in the series. It's big step away in a positive direction from last year's Vanguard disaster. I just wish there was a bit more meat to sink my teeth into. The single player campaign makes no attempt at a commentary but will have you running through a series of competent missions and set pieces. Multiplayer is what you would expect from the series, both with competent gunplay as well as a map playlist that will need to expand over time. The new co-op mode seems a better experience with a friend than queuing with a random from the lobby. All in all there is good game on offer that moves slicker and the shine on your assault rifle looks more gorgeous than the series ever has.

The Warriors remains one of the greatest 3D brawlers of all time, even though it has been shrunk down and the controls have been revamped.

Everybody’s gone to some kind of rapture in Small Radios Big Televisions. It’s a rapture devoid of physical labor or mental exertion, but one of technological transcendence. It’s a game of sensible puzzles, though a few still stumped me. It’s a game owning its simple art style, but assembles itself in broad strokes with bold geometry. And it’s a game of meditative musicality, though willing to occasionally strip down my senses or hit rewind on my complacent ears. Small Radios Big Televisions is short, but it takes you deeper, once you stop working so hard for it.

The game is simple to pick up and play, and simple to enjoy. The graphics are much like a cartoon, but they get the job done easily.

More a puzzler than a sim game, Train Valley: Console Edition delivers hours of fun from a simple concept - lay down tracks and keep the trains moving without bashing them into each other. Though the controls are somewhat awkward on a gamepad, the rewards for playing far outweigh the slight inconvenience. Well worth a shot for those that enjoy management puzzles and fiery wrecks.

Despite lackluster plot and characterization, and inconsistent level and art design, Bulletstorm: Full Clip Edition is still a brilliant, imaginative shooter six years later. It looks and plays even better in the current generation, with a few new goodies that are worth giving a look.

Song in the Smoke excels with fantastic controls and VR mechanics, accomplishing some things that veteran VR developers still struggle with. A full-sized, immersive experience, Song in the Smoke is not easy, but it is engaging and fun.

Jet Kave Adventure is a rock-solid (pun intended) platformer that doesn’t outstay its welcome and offers addictive, retro-style gameplay. If you’ve ever enjoyed any of the Donkey Kong Country titles, Jet Kave Adventure is an earnest tribute that you’re sure to enjoy.

If you're looking to build a fishing industry empire, this is not for you. On the other hand, if you find yourself daydreaming of making your living by farming the oceans, you might enjoy Fishing: Barents Sea. It offers a fairly easy learning curve and an almost completely stress-free playing style that allows you to play the game the way you want to.

Not Tonight is a good, solid game. The mechanics are fun, the characters are memorable, and the setting is well executed. However, for its satirical approach, it should have gone a few steps further, and taken the risk in order to become the truly biting, funny, and meaningful social commentary that it wants to be.

If Konami let you down when it killed the new Silent Hill game, then Layers of Fear will help ease your pain. It's not perfect but it's punctuated with some great moments and you can't beat the price.

Despite its propensity for insignificant plot points, I can’t wait to play Dead Island Riptide again. I’ll return for the desperate bid for survival, and stay for the stories that emerge as a result.

It’s without a doubt that Wanted: Dead is oozing with style and glamor thanks to its immaculate art direction and addictive hybrid combat system. The cherries on top are the included shmup, claw machine, and karaoke minigames that simply add more drip to the overall experience.We don’t get enough games like these nowadays and I’m all for it. Unfortunately, there's just a ton of technical performance issues at launch that need to be addressed immediately.

Brawlout is a pretty fun Smash Bros.-esque fighter that’s quite a bit more fast paced. While the roster selection is small, and the unlockable characters are similar or just alternate versions of the original lineup, the fast-paced action and unique moves for each character make this a pretty fun game to play with friends, either at home or online.

The weapon and level design is about as good as it gets.

Thankfully Electronic Arts has managed to do the impossible and make a fun game out of one of the best movies of all time.

As a game hub, Capcom Arcade Cabinet delivers the goods. It's a good looking program that is easy to use and packed full of games. This 1986 pack is wildly uneven. While Trojan and Side Arms remain incredibly playable, Legendary Wings drags this three-pack down. Still, I would take this pack over the dreadful set of games we got at launch.

While Saints Row won't win any awards for originality, it does manage to weave a pretty interesting story with great game play and a lot of fun activities to do.

A solid title, not because of improvements made during the remastering process, but rather the strength of the original creation. Sure, it looks a little bit nicer, and the photo mode is a nice addition, but this is primarily the same game that it was five years ago.

Atari set out to make amends for the debacle that was Taiketsu, and I feel that it came through quite nicely. There are some rough edges in the game, but if you can forgive the fighting system for its lack of depth, there will be plenty for you to like about this game.

If you can get over Traxxpad's frustrating control scheme you'll find a lot of depth and value ... assuming that you're looking for a way to make real music on your PSP

Campaign needs some work and there are some bad bugs, but for the most part Sairento VR is a blast to play. Play with a friend and enjoy some great ninja action in VR.

Fantasy Life is a charming action RPG mixed with a surprisingly deep job and class system.

Persona 4: Dancing All Night has some big negatives against it, including a short song list and rough difficulty. But it's a ton of fun, the music is great, and the visuals are top notch. It's great for Persona fans. But, for everyone else, it's a tough sell.

At times, Arkham Shadow is the coolest VR game ever made. But a bevy of game-stopping bugs and some of the sharpest difficulty spikes I've ever encountered keep this bat from immediately soaring. An incredible - and incredibly gorgeous - VR translation of core Arkham mechanics, but still too rough around the edges for such a prestige franchise. Give it a couple of weeks and it will be a nigh-perfect experience, but it's a shame it's releasing in this condition.

This is the best 4x game to grace the current generation of consoles, possible the best 4x game to grace any generation of consoles; but that's kind of like winning a race when you were the only genuine competitor. It still suffers greatly from a frustrating mid-game but if you've got the itch to explore, expand, exploit, and exterminate on a console this will scratch it.

Newcomers and series veterans alike are sure to find plenty to enjoy in Rome II, which should become even better with future patch releases.

Under Cover is a love letter to light gun games. There is no question here what niche group it's reaching for. For the price, and the nostalgia, I thoroughly enjoyed every second of it, even though time wasn't against me in any way shape or form. The mechanics feel good and familiar, and the challenge is just right. More please, and thank you.

The Knightling is quite reminiscent of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild in terms of game flow: you have your main quest line and a vast world to explore, with plenty of side quests to help improve your abilities. The only sticking point I had was that combat can be a bit rough when multiple enemies are involved, and enemies have a habit of popping up behind you without warning. Aside from that, The Knightling definitely helped me scratch my open-world adventure itch.

It's still got some great music and the presentation is as excellent as ever, but it still feels like we've been shortchanged somehow.

PAC-MAN Mega Tunnel Battle is a remarkably entertaining modern twist on what is perhaps the most beloved game of all time. This game manages to retain the fun of old school PAC-MAN, while adding in an extra layer of tension and strategy to the mix by letting players invade each other's games. Brilliant idea, and fun game.

A rough single-player mode and unfriendly online matches mar an otherwise fun first-person shooter.

Zombie Driver HD plays out like a cross between Grand Theft Auto 2 and Choplifter. Players race around the city picking up survivors and avoiding the zombie hordes. It's a fun game with a surprising amount of content for ten dollars. On the other hand, the missions become a bit tedious by the end. Zombie Driver HD is worth a look!

This is one of the safest Disgaea games I've played, which isn't a bad thing -- it's a ton of fun. But after ten years of this stuff maybe the subtitle for Disgaea D2 should have been "Now That's What I Call Disgaea!"

Blacktail is a great game with some minor flaws here and there, but nothing that really takes away from the experience. The morality mechanics do a great job at shaping your abilities and what you’re able to do and the storytelling is pretty well done. If you’re not great at survival games you might struggle a bit with the game’s resource management, especially since your bow and arrows are your only physical weapons. Overall though, as long as you remember that survival is priority one and firing arrows at everything in sight is priority zero, you should still have an enjoyable time with Blacktail.

Conga Master Party is enjoyable, but kind of short if you’re playing solo as the Story Mode doesn’t take too long to complete once you know what you’re doing, and Endless Mode can only go so far. The multi-player modes on the other hand can make for some fun times among friends. Sadly it’s local multi-player only with no online play or AI opponents to compete against. It’s still fun either way, but more so with friends.

Marble it Up is an enjoyable game, but the short length might turn some people off, especially for its twenty dollar price point. If you’re someone who is constantly trying to better their times in games with time trials, or you’re a completionist that just has to unlock everything, Marble it Up will definitely keep you busy trying to find new and interesting ways to finish each stage as fast as possible. Otherwise, the minimal content might turn some off for now, enjoyable as the current amount of content might be.

Happy Wars is a simple multiplayer action game for the Xbox Live Arcade. While it is ripe with problems, it's also a free game that is worth checking out. You won't find anything original here, but the fast-paced action is both chaotic and addictive.

An oddly addicting fishing game that, at times, will make the hair on the back of your neck stand up. The story is merely a means to an end, but fishing in the dark has never been this much fun, or this creepy.

What's really nice about The Elder Scrolls games is that thanks to the level scaling system it doesn't matter when you tackle Shivering Isles. You can take your level 30 character in or start a brand new character and do the adventure at level 1. No matter what your experience is you will have a balanced game where the enemies are neither too strong nor weak.

The gameplay mechanics are just so spot on that you can't help but enjoy yourself even if you are just cruising around the city. Luckily, between the hundreds of collectibles, tons of challenges with leaderboards, and enjoyable multiplayer, you will always have more to do than just that. This is the most fun that I have had on the Xbox One to date.

Need for Speed Rivals is a repetitive adrenaline rush, both good and bad, in the fact that the game will torture you with constant cop chases, but with constantly repeating tracks. Even with this, the game is still fun and is a great pick-up for those who need that fix for open world racing.

The Pacific Surfliner LA - San Diego route is a solid addition to the collection of Train Simulator 2014 downloadable content. Unfortunately, the route's design can be more challenging for series newcomers with its frequent speed changes.

EA UFC 2 is certainly an improvement over the original game and while it does add more game modes and more to do, it's just disappointing that the main game mode, the career mode has almost gone untouched and the new additions don't really add much to the experience.

The first episode of Revelations 2 starts off a little slow, thankfully Raid Mode keeps things interesting and alone justifies the price of admission. Hopefully the story picks up in the future chapters.

While I'm disappointed that the controllers are infrared and there's no online play, Scene It? Lights, Camera, Action is a solid entry in the casual area of games.

If you can overlook some control issues you’ll find quite a lot of game play that will have you going for months to come.

If you liked Strike Suit Zero, you'll like Strike Suit Infinity, simple as that. It takes all of the mechanics, visuals and sounds from the first game and distills them down into a tight, concentrated arcade mode that will test the skill of even the most seasoned Strike Suit veterans.

Interesting and unique in its design, Remember Me takes a by-the-book approach to the action genre to create an enjoyable adventure.

Outlast is an incredibly effective horror game with a satisfying story, good looks and good pacing. Unfortunately, the whole thing is nearly derailed by linear level designs and painfully simple gameplay. But many horror fans will ignore all that when they discover just how scary Outlast really is!

Updated graphics and player visuals are what make FIFA 14 worth picking up. The stadiums and fields look spectacular, though some minor issues with gameplay elements can bring the game back down a notch. For a title that may not have been rushed, but definitely hurried for launch, EA Sports did a good job in getting soccer fans their fix.

This isn’t the Saints Row you are used to experiencing but as long as you can deal with the technical hiccups, including constant, awkward collision issues, occasional hang-ups in the environment, delayed scene transitions, and a drastic departure from the typical Saints formula, you will find a lot to love.

Action packed gameplay? Check! Hardcore heavy metal soundtrack? Check! A great online mode that keeps you coming back for more? Check! A seriously steep learning curve? Check!

If you have wasted great gobs of your life playing Civ 6, or feel like you have figured it out, this is a good expansion to make you rethink a game you thought you knew.

A buddy-cop duo, a gypsy-cursed clown, and a hopeful video game developer walk into a reboot of Maniac Mansion. Jokes ensue. Thimbleweed Park's sense of humor works best if you can easily laugh at easy laughs. It's a great throwback, but I don't expect today's adventure games to borrow much from this lovingly refurbished template. You don't have to be a Gen X'er to appreciate it, but it wouldn't hurt.

Borderlands 4 is an incredibly fun game with a couple of flaws. The world of Kairos is beautiful to play through and there's no shortage of challenges to dive into. While the Unreal Engine still has some issues, the stuttering is corrected without a big hit. With over 30 billion combinations of weapons, no two guns are the same. Multiplayer makes this game a must play if you have friends that are interested in the series. Simply put, Borderlands 4 is fun, immersive, and worth picking up right away.

Nidhogg 2 is a surprisingly short game, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a lot of fun. While the Arcade Mode is rather short at eleven stages, the local and online multiplayer options will keep fans coming back. If you were a fan of the original game you’ll likely enjoy this game as it’s pretty much more of the same but with some new and enjoyable additions.

The Surge isn’t interested in creating variation in its gameplay mechanics, or exploring more diverse settings or ideas, or creating compelling characters. It washes over you, but it’s a refined wash, and the foundation for a great game to come. The Surge is a good thing, and I’m glad it exists as another answer to the Souls-esque games coming out – its dull, but refined sci-fi action makes the game feel like a first step, if only a step, in the right direction.

Kingdoms and Castles is entering into a competitive genre and may struggle to get noticed, but the ease of play and nice balance between simplicity and complexity makes it worth taking a look at. Just be sure to consider what you're going to do when the Vikings come calling.

Although rough around the edges, Deception IV: The Nightmare Princess gives players a chance to kill people in some of the most brutal ways possible. Fans of wanton violence and Rube Goldberg contraptions will have a bloody good time setting off traps. And with two full games to choose from, this PlayStation 4 port will keep sadistic murderers busy for dozens of hours.

With its attractive price and workable controls, Tomb Raider: Anniversary is easy to recommend to anybody who enjoys exploring dank and dark caves looking for hidden treasure.

When you set aside the horrible audio and the poor graphics a pretty good wrestling game lies beneath.

Dead Star is a cool twin stick shooter with fun online multiplayer. Teamwork however is essential for both victory and fun, that like with most games, that all comes down to the player base themselves and doesn't reflect on the quality of the game.

Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden is a deeply emotional collection of human stories, of both the protagonists, but also the settlers of New Eden. The combat is nothing great, but the stories within certainly are. You’ll be surprised at how easily you can empathize with late 17th century colonials, which is the magic of developer Don’t Nod.

Akka Arrh is a resurrected version of a game that never existed. And if you don't know the lore, it's ok. It's colorful chaotic nature will keep you at bay for a few hours. You can get those high scores, and win, but it won't be easy. If you want that Atari pain, this is a little less hurtful than usual, but mastering it will still take a while.

World of Tanks' stories are written and measured out in one shots, potshots, ramming speeds, camping grounds, slugging matches, and Hail Marys. It's a game that makes you study topography and geometry, and measure probability. It's a game of Know Your Role. It's a game that earns its rightful place in living rooms and tournament circuits alike.

A simple concept that is very well executed, Hue is a nice change of pace from the usual game releases. The narrative is the provoking in the game play what surely stretch your mental muscles.

Strange Brigade is a rollicking good time, allowing teams of four to take on armies of the undead in a solid approximation of a 1930’s serial film. There are tons of mechanics to play with and puzzles to solve, but in the end, this is a fun, fast-paced shooter with awesome graphics and enjoyable multiplayer. There was no need for Strange Brigade to try to be anything more, it is plenty great as it is.

There’s nothing crazy about Peglin. The game is straightforward but still offers plenty of twists the further into your game session you manage to get. This is one of those no two rounds are the same games, a staple in roguelight titles I have come to enjoy. The better you become at playing Peglin the longer those sessions tend to become. I don’t daydream about Peglin, which is to say the worst thing I can think about Peglin; it’s there, it’s fun, but I don’t feel much of a sense of accomplishment once I move onto something else.

Loot River has a lot of good features. Controls, artwork, music are all very nice. The combat, while not bad, does nothing to move the genre forward. The unique Tetris-like platform moving is enjoyable, but nowhere near the complexity or difficulty of Tetris. I can see the potential for a great experience, but it just isn’t quite there. Occasional difficulty spikes that knock me for a loop and put me out of the mood to make another run leaves Loot River as a good, not great, game.

Turok: Dinosaur Hunter is an intriguing walk down memory lane, and Night Dive Studios have done their usual good job of optimizing it for modern hardware. That said Turok hasn’t aged very well at all, and there are some inherent flaws that keep the original from being as fun as the sequels.

2D platformers are a dime a dozen, and 2D puzzlers aren’t far behind. But The Bridge takes a unique, focused approach and sees it through from every angle.

At $15 it's a little on the pricey side, but it's also a far sight prettier and more creative than Angry Birds.

A delightful creature-collecting zen ‘em up, Flock’s charming vibe and flowy movement is a perfect weekend game.

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater HD may accomplish all of its goals, but there is still a lot to be desired. The graphics are outdated, the gameplay is missing a key component, there aren't enough levels and the create-a-character mode has been removed entirely. If you can get around these disappointments, you'll find a good, but not great, skating game for cheap!

As a tycoon game, Megaquarium strikes a very nice balance between having too much complexity vs. not having enough depth to remain entertaining. While micromanagement is not required, you do still have a lot of decision making to do. Fortunately, no in-depth knowledge of fish is required.

Super Impossible Road has a solid core of gameplay, with a racing mechanic unlike any we've seen. The gameplay is fast and tight, and the visuals are astounding. Perhaps most fun in multiplayer, as the career can be a bit of a slog, this is still a unique racing game will worth a look.

Despite looking a bit dated and not quite as good as Xseed’s recent Ys games, Xanadu Next is still an enjoyable dungeon crawler. It’s not without its faults such as some known bugs and the constant increase in key prices, but once you get around those quirks you’ll find a fun game that’ll keep you coming back to the ruins to explore some more.

Even with its faults Crackdown is still a solid game that is well worth playing through. While it's not nearly as strong as some of Microsoft's other first party offerings, Crackdown does prove to be a solid first entry into what will no doubt be a franchise.

A good title, but definitely with flaws.

Aliens: Dark Descent is a tense real-time strategy shooter that will keep you on the edge of your seat. If you prefer not to be stressed out playing video games, it is certainly not for you. On the other hand, if you have the patience and mental fortitude to withstand relentless Xenomorphs, it is a clever take on the RTS genre that can be tough to put down.

Story of Seasons doesn't rewrite the book on farming sims, but it's a big, healthy break from the Harvest Moon series that adds a few strong new ideas. It's Harvest Moon in everything but name, and one of the best of this kind of game to come along in a while.

All in all, the game is a great addition to the collection of any fan of Final Fantasy Tactics or Final Fantasy XII because it melds the two games together seemlessly.

Rendering Ranger_R2 Rewind isn't the prettiest package, but that's ok. It's mainly here to give you some of that old school retro pain. Two of my favorite genres wrapped into one game feels like a good move, so give it a shot.

Samurai Jack: Battle Through Time is a competent, if linear and somewhat unbalanced, action adventure. You can tell that the game studio was made up of true fans who poured their love for the show into this game. But the scope and grandeur of the Samurai Jack IP are sadly limited by this game's low-budget restrictions. It's fun for what it is, but it left me hungry for more.

NBA 2K24 delivers the most authentic on-court gameplay in the series’ history thanks to the new ProPLAY technology. Gameplay feels less scripted, animations feel less canned, and modern players perform closer to their real counterparts than ever before. Some modes and features still feel largely untouched from years past, while MyCAREER caters to veteran and pay-to-win players, but I guess we can’t have it all.

Assassin's Creed Valhalla: The Siege of Paris is less of an expansion and more of a continuation, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. While Eivor's character development seemed to take a step backward, fans of the base game will still enjoy another 10 or so hours of gameplay thanks to Francia's new storyline, characters, weapons, and abilities.

Rare Replay is one of the best compilation titles you could ever pick up.

Dragonborn is great for those who have exhausted as much as possible in Skyrim.

Power Washer simulator 2 builds on the first game's addictive simplicity, offering a more polished and visually appealing experience. It takes all the core mechanics and layers on larger, more complex levels that add depth without losing accessibility. Ultimately, it remains a relaxing escape and something that transcends the gaming experience to become something more: an outlet for frustration and your worries.

If you’re a true fanatic then you shouldn’t think twice about purchasing this game. It contains everything you’ve loved about the previous entries, coupled with some new mini-games and a bevy of new tracks to dance to.

Decent gameplay, a solid dynasty mode, and an improved physics engine more than make up for poor team creation and few major enhancements as NHL 06 goes "five hole" on the competition.

Windscape has its rough edges, but the scope, ambition and heart of this one-man passion project help it to punch above its weight class. If you want a Zelda or Skyrim-style game that’s great for relaxing after a long day, Windscape fits the bill nicely.

Resident Evil 3 may not be as good as Resident Evil 2 but It's still a fantastic game. I would say, so far, it's one of the best games of the year. I really want Capcom to continue with this series of remakes. Hopefully we can get a remake of Code Veronica because that's really the one Resident Evil game that needs a remake the most as it's pretty much unplayable today.

Shadowplay: Metropolis Foe is interesting and challenging, but definitely not recommended for players new to deck building games. The amount of strategy needed to progress through even the early stages can be far greater than more basic deck builders such as Ascension and Star Realms. However, deck building veterans should already have the skills needed to properly build and maintain their deck as they play and can work with equipment that goes along with it. If you want a challenging deck-building game, Shadowplay: Metropolis Foe will give you that challenge.