A good entry in the series for those who skipped a year. Virtual currency is pushed everywhere. The Neighborhood is OK. Basketball action is fun and exciting.

Dawn of War III is a great platform with which players can delve into the Warhammer 40K universe. Even though typical and heroic unit types from the universe make an appearance it's difficult to care or become attached to a unit. It's a great addition to the genre, but the staggered rhythm and extreme micromanagement responsibilities do enough to consistently break immersion The multiplayer holds its own, as players forge 3v3 alliances to spill the blood of their enemies. The number of different units and the means with which players can customize their armies with doctrines and elites lends great variety to campaigns and online battles, but the game trips and falls when trying to deliver its narrative.

Garden Story is not the apple of my eye, nor is it rotten. I enjoyed my time helping Concord clear the rot, especially with the boss fights, but by the third town (out of four) I felt I had picked more apples than I could eat in a week. Dungeons were exciting, but the other mechanics left a sour taste as they were introduced too late to matter and became another mechanic I could easily ignore. Garden Story simply was not my jam.

When it comes to RPGs, FORCED is a pretty good game in general. The way the game works is different than other games in the genre and the mechanics are fun to play with (especially the different weapons), but the game just feels more geared towards co-op play and doesn’t seem as much fun when going solo.

Outriders is far from perfect. But a game doesn't have to be when it facilitates such a high degree of fun and interesting gameplay mechanics.

While House of Ashes takes a minor departure from pure survival horror, it manages to maintain its roots and tells a somewhat compelling narrative with a solid cast of characters. It's ultimately held back by a few technical issues and story loopholes that don't quite make sense.

Rogue is a good chapter in the Assassin's Creed body of work. Good but not great. Nor is it definitive. Without multiplayer, it's not even a standalone product as far as the series is concerned. But the story of institutional betrayal, severed friendships, and broken mentors is a worthy tale.

I had hoped that after a few initially rocky hours, The Alliance Alive would somehow turn it all around and be a game that I would love. Unfortunately that's not quite the case here, and on a system with no shortage of good RPGs, it's hard to sell The Alliance Alive to anyone but the most ardent of fans.

Addictive and fun, Germinator is an enjoyable puzzle experience overall.

Shadow of the Tomb Raider should leave us wanting more from the rebooted Lara Croft game, but with some clunky controls and a lazy combat system, what saves the game from being below average are beautiful visuals, fantastic puzzles and tomb layouts along with true adventuring. It’s as mixed up of a bag as one can get.

Chronicles of Mystara is a must-have for any fan of the original arcade releases, or D&D fans in general. However, the charm of this package is going to be lost on anyone who wasn’t already sold on these games in the past.

The Sims Aurora Skies is by no means the worst downloadable world, but it's neither the most perfect.

Earthfall is a solo or multiplayer FPS that pits four remnants of a human town against some underwhelming aliens that are rampaging and at times swarming. It will not stand out from the other dozen games of its type but it is another reasonable choice that - at least - doesn’t require lessons.

Owning the exclusive F1 license offered Codemasters the opportunity to make a game that would be fun for adults and kids to play together. Unfortunately, Codemasters took a different direction and built a game only suitable for kids who don't have a Nintendo console.

In Sound Mind might lack the scare factor but it is an unsettling experience throughout that will undoubtedly appeal to fans of psychological horrors.

Earthworms is, mechanically, a standard point and click adventure game with decent controls and a quality UI. But it is the general vibe of the game that makes it stand out from the crowd of other adventure titles making their way to the Switch. Non-adventure fans might want to check out the demo, to see if the story’s strangeness resonates with them, but fans of the genre should go ahead and just take the leap. While the unconventional story is meandering and sometimes obtuse, it is also bizarre and unique, making Earthworms an off-kilter game that adventure enthusiasts will probably enjoy.

2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil is a contender with new skill sets and controls put in place, but with some similar gameplay issues dealing with the same engine as FIFA 14. Captain Your Country mode is a lot of fun and will make players forget about those issues.

Detached is a great spacewalking simulator, with gameplay that has obviously been built up around that mechanic. While some of the more gamey elements might not be up to snuff, you can’t argue with the feeling you get when you leave a ship and are floating freely in space. Expect to be mildly frustrated with the lack of direction and irritating checkpoints. But also expect to be awestruck by the superb visuals and setting. Detached is a mixed bag, but the spacewalks alone are worth the price of admission.

Strafe is a game where you need to know what you’re getting into before jumping in. It looks like Quake but it absolutely is not; it’s a roguelike FPS with a retro art style. It’s a harsh mistress, and masochistic players will love that, but Strafe personally left me frustrated and cold.

The World War Z Aftermath next-gen update brings new visuals, fixes old audio issues, and introduces an expanded Horde Mode XL that packs more zekes on-screen than ever. The game is entirely predicated on the uninhibited good time that mowing down waves of onrushing enemies presents itself. Unfortunately, that's both where the game starts and ends. It's a rush, over and again, but when you want to look for something different, you have to go elsewhere to find it. A great gameplay loop to be sure, but a one-trick pony never the less.

The premise behind Nom Nom Galaxy wears thin after a can or two. Its neatly focused premise and evolving puzzles don't progress at a rate to keep things stimulating for more than a few planets' worth of corporate conquest.

Skylanders Giants is a perfect companion game for a Wii U-centric holiday morning. Any young kids on your holiday shopping list will love it, but keep in mind they'll probably get hooked on the little plastic figures and you'll end up buying more of them. As a standalone game, however, it's a merely decent dungeon crawler and the figure-scanning gimmick might actually present some redundancy and irritation for older gamers.

Sky Fortress cranks up Just Cause 3’s bombastic effects more, if that were even possible. The addition of the jetpack wingsuit and Bavarium rifle make a video game-y video game even gamier. They change up the game enough—and in enough good ways—that I wouldn’t want to give back the new toys.

Shovel Knight Dig is a fun little rogue-lite. While it took me over ten hours to beat, I know better, more rogue-lite skilled players will not need as much time. I did not encounter bugs or errors with my time; but more than a few of what felt like unfair deaths. The chaotic gameplay of Dig makes it hard to see how great the pixel art is at times, but being able to literally slow down the gameplay or adjust my health and damage output makes it easier to appreciate the visuals. I can see myself returning to Shovel Knight Dig in a few months just to give it another spin, but the overall replay did not entice me back immediately.

As much as I wanted to go back to Rapture, Burial at Sea is short on story and simplistic in the missions available. It is still good to see some familiar sights being powered by the Unreal Engine 3. Hopefully, the second part of Burial at Sea can help tie up a few things and improve upon the first.

Yet another solid adventure game from The Adventure Company. Nothing spectacular, but it’s still a fun way to scratch the adventure game itch.

There are some improvements to aspect ratio and analog movement, but, at its core, this is the same old Resident Evil we've been playing for nearly two decades.

Monster Harvest is retro in how it looks, which is great, but also in how it plays, which isn't as great. The gameplay doesn't feel addictive enough for a farming simulator, and the monster battle portion feels tacked on. I had fun with the game, but I never felt drawn into the world.

Mega Man Legacy Collection on the 3DS is a great collection of games and extras, but players who already have the Virtual Console games might be hard pressed to spend $30 on 54 challenges that have little replayability without any online functionality and leaderboards. It also doesn’t help that they left out the widescreen option from the console/PC versions. If you can get past that, you’ll find a lot of classic NES enjoyment within this collection.

Disney Magical World 2: Enchanted Edition is a port of a 3DS game, and it feels like it. But don’t let the primitive visuals stop you from digging into this very addictive little life sim. Tolerance for saccharine song and dance may vary, but almost any gamer will likely fall under the sway of this game’s addictive hooks, at least for a while.

If you can handle the game's slow pacing, World of Final Fantasy provides a good experiment to the classic formula. Given that Tose handles so many of Square Enix's ports, it's nice to see them be thrown a bone with an original title. I'd suggest this one while waiting for the eventual release of Final Fantasy XV.

A touch of paint was added to Star Wars: Republic Commando, but the brush was small. Gameplay feels just like it did in 2005, which is great because of the solid foundation, but this enhanced port can feel like it runs slow at the worst times. By not changing much players might be better off remembering the past with rose colored glasses.

There’s nothing new under the Dawn of War sun. Soulstorm is just a repeat of the Dark Crusade expansion, with two different factions thrown into the mix. It might be worth a look for those who absolutely have to complete the series, but most will get just as much mileage from the previous expansion.

After the Fall works best when four players are working together against hordes of swarming baddies. The shrieks and gun shots are exactly where you want them to be. But the game is held back some by a limited number of levels and some fiddly UI design. Still absolutely worth a look, but with the understanding that some refinements and more content are still on the way.

When the pedal is to the floor, its a great experience. However as soon as you let up and are left to explore the other aspects of the game, things start leaving a lot to be desired. The new direction of the franchise shows promise, but there is still a ton of room to grow.

Hardcore fans of the series and the pro players will likely love Samurai Shodown. This game is gonna be great to watch and I suspect it will thrive in the FGC tournament scene. Unfortunately that while the fighting game part of it is great, the rest is a really barebones package that most likely won't hold the attention of others for an extended period of time.

The Falconeer sets players in a gorgeous setting with a storyline that keeps you entertained and intrigued, but falls short on both the amount to do and in keeping the gameplay as interesting as the story.

A technically solid game that has some pretty glaring issues with presentation, I still found myself going back to play round after round. It's challenging and rewarding, even if it's not the best entry in the long history of golf titles.

Great for kids, but might not be enough there for older VR gamers.

War of the Vikings provides gamers with entertaining and hectic online multiplayer combat that ultimately suffers from a slow unlock system and lack of unique gameplay features.

An OK effort for an Arkham game, Batman Arkham Origins feels too similar to Arkham City and there are a few game breaking bugs that prevent it from being worthy to stand with the other two.

Barn Finders is a surprisingly good time for a game as janky and weird as it is. Exploring spaces for weird treasure is a lot of fun, selling it back at your shop maybe less so. While the game does little to explain itself, its sense of humor carries it further than it might deserve. Go in expecting to struggle a bit with controls and menus, and you’ll be rewarded with a unique experience unlike any other in VR.

Never short on content, Rune Factory 4 is full of things to do that'll keep players engrossed for a long while.

Utopia 9 has a lot of good ideas but for me at least they just didn’t come together in the end, and the somewhat clumsy controls just exacerbated the situation.

Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 is another entry in this long running franchise, and it feels like it's been running for a bit too long now. It's not a bad game by any means, it's just starting to really show its age, and the minor tweaks aren't quite keeping up in keeping the game fresh. But for the series newbies there's no better place to start.

Goat Simulator is a great time for the first few hours when you're seeing everything for the first time, but once you've seen everything, there's no reason to keep playing.

Tales of Xillia is most certainly a good game, but it's not the best the franchise has to offer. The scattershot story kept me from really enjoying the game, and I'm hoping the sequel can tell a more cohesive tale.

While not as polished as other racing simulators, MotoGP 14 does a good job recreating the exciting sport.

Outriders is a game that launched with an array of bugs, glitches, and crashes during its initial launch. It’s probably the best time to jump in and play Outriders right now, especially after the free New Horizons update along with this massive Worldslayer DLC. The new expansion comes at a steep price point, but shines with its polished endgame content and loot pool. Sure, it can get repetitive, grindy, and tedious, but that shouldn’t be a problem if you’re into this type of game. Just make sure you have two buddies who are down to play with you because playing solo just isn’t that fun.

What goes down must come up. The Sinking City is more than the sum of its glitchy b-game parts. Balanced detective work makes up for shoddy gunplay. A gruff and well-realized cast makes up for brain-dead AI. This is unironically a highwater mark for both detective fiction and Lovecraftian Horror in video gaming.

Override 2: Super Mech League is a great local and online multiplayer 3D brawler. With a ton of moves, a huge roster of cool and unique characters, and flashy special effects, Override 2 offers hours of fun. Go into the game with the knowledge that the online implementation is somewhat limited, with no cross-platform or cross-generation play. But when battling friends at home or online, Override 2 can’t be beat.

Kitiara Fables is a fun action RPG, with significant time spent farming in between quests. Though there are some issues with couch co-op, the story is still entertaining enough to recommend a look.

Manticore: Galaxy on Fire is a good game but with a few issues. The occasional collision detection issues had me bouncing off of stuff that was at least a few feet away from me which didn’t help during boss fights, plus the boss fights themselves can get really difficult in the early going since you’re limited in how much you can upgrade until you level up a bit. Still, if you like these kinds of games it’s still worth checking out.

Brakes are for Losers is a fun throwback to the racing games of yore. Fans of RC Pro Am or Super Sprint ought to feel right at home once they stop freaking out about having a basic racing control pulled out from under them. Single player has a number of good modes for practicing, but the game really comes to life in multiplayer. If you are like me and are constantly on the lookout for local multiplayer titles, this is an inexpensive way to add a fun title to your library.

While Super Arcade Football puts you into the action instantly, it would have been nice if it would have shown me the ropes before expecting me to win my first match. The retro look and simple controls make picking up and playing with friends who haven't played before easy and welcoming. For a short, fun party game without much on the line, you can't go wrong. But for the single-player experience, while not terrible by any means, it wears out its welcome long before you actually finish it.

Ash of Gods is a solid strategy RPG with impressive production values for its modest budget, but its story and lore and incredibly dense and could make it difficult to get into the game’s visual novel elements if the plot and setting don’t immediately grab you.

A brief jaunt through a side story in the Star Wars universe is made better with some sky-high production values and some fun lore drops. Don’t expect a ton of interactivity, though it is fun to throw Stormtroopers around with the Force. A nice side mode allows for endless lightsaber battles, but the main draw is Vader himself, delivered by the game in all of his intimidating glory.

Hatoful Boyfriend is not the pigeon-dating sim you're looking for: It's more than that. Curb your enthusiasm for branching storylines after playing through the early romance portion of the story.

While the picky controls and fixed camera angle can be annoying at times, Jack Keane 2 provides witty writing and attractive art combined with sensibly logical puzzles to provide a pretty good adventure.

There's nothing horribly wrong with The Assignment, but the instant death rules that I disliked about The Evil Within continue to plague the DLC, making Kidman's story one of frustration and retries.

I have to admit I was pretty impressed with Brave. If you have a child that enjoyed the movie, were a fan of the movie yourself, or are a parent and are looking for a fun family friendly game you can play with your kids, then Brave should be right up your alley.

Mech Land Assault is not here to make friends. This piece of DLC is made up of some of the most fun—and some of the least fun—you’ll have in Just Cause 3. It’s harder to get your hands on a mech than it should be, but it’s a power trip every time you do.

Despite a gorgeous art style and good attempt at RPG progression, both the gameplay and interface are just too clunky to make Dungeon Punks stand out from the crowd.

A remastered game is still the same old game, but with prettier graphics. Current owners of Sniper Elite 2 probably won't find better graphics to be worth a purchase, but new players wanting to start the venerable series near the beginning might want to give it a try.

Sometimes you’re a rat in a cage. Sometimes you’re a lion. But when all your planning, patience, and possibly plain old good luck finally pays off, The Escapists rewards in a rare way. Because in The Escapists, whether you catch a break or catch a beatdown, you’ll know you’ve earned it.

While it is appreciated that Flying Wild Hog has addressed many of the concerns surrounding Shadow Warrior 3 and even added a bit more content, there isn’t a justified reason to repackage the entire game into a Definitive Edition. Can’t complain though, because it’s still a fun time with Lo Wang and best of all, it’s free for existing owners.

Konami's newest Castlevania sequel is marred by repetitive gameplay, terrible stealth missions and an uninteresting story that overstays its welcome

Even with its issues, Agents of Mayhem is still a fun experience that anyone who is a fan of hero shooters or the previous Saints Row titles will be able to enjoy. Shooting hoards of Legion scum won't get old any time soon.

A stealth game that sticks to its core values and offers some excellent level design, Styx: Shards of Darkness is a solid sequel. It is not without some presentation issues and could really benefit from some better controls on the more delicate maneuvers. If you can get past the crassness of the main character there is much to like.

Serious Sam 4 feels like a game that suffered through development hell. The core gameplay is still tight and satisfying. There are some innovative new ideas that expand on the series' longstanding formula. But there are a lot of elements that just don't fit, feel half-finished, or just distract from the best aspects of the game. I really hope the fans and Croteam can have an ongoing discussion about Serious Sam 4 and bring it up to a higher standard that everyone is happy with.

Torchlight III is an enjoyable game but is also a bit more simplified than the previous entry in the series. While the Relic system brings some new ways to customize your character, the lack of a regular flowing of skill trees and spending stat points makes it seem like you can't quite customize your character as much as you'd like with stats being tied into your gear. The new fort system is nice but I really only found myself using it to stash gear I wanted to keep and to swap out pets. Overall while I did enjoy my time with Torchlight III, it felt like a downgrade from Torchlight II and fans of the series might want to wait a bit before picking this one up.

With unspectacular graphics and only six courses, Jeremy McGrath's Offroad is hard to recommend. Ultimately the solid gameplay can't overcome a short campaign mode and uninspired events. Worse yet, this is one of the easiest racing games ever developed. Jeremy McGrath's Offroad is a low-energy take on one of the most world's exciting sports!

I'm not sure what caused it, but I definitely did not have the same sense of dread and fear in Corpse Party: Blood Drive. It's definitely an improvement over Book of Shadows, and worth playing to end the Heavenly Host saga, but know that it's going to have some flaws, from a design, and technical standpoint.

While Storm is challenging but not impossible and still somewhat unique from its fellow puzzlers, it may ask for a little too much precision and patience from those who tackle it and could even use a little fine tuning.

While technically competent and armed with a good story to tell, Apex Construct doesn't provide a compelling reason to keep going after the first few levels. A couple of upgrades to your single weapon appear, but the primary increase in challenge is simply more of the same.

Wasteland 2 is quickly becoming a modern classic – and deservedly so. If you have not played this game, you really owe it to yourself to give it a shot. But some usability issues on the Switch might not make it the best choice for newcomers to a game that some already find difficult to parse. This version of Wasteland 2 is serviceable, but not ideal.

Spacebase Startopia is a reasonably fun management/strategy game, slightly too complex to play with a controller. Though genre veterans will not find much challenge here, Spacebase Startopia is unique and cheerful enough to make it worth a look.

Most of the time Mayhem in Single Valley feels like a step above a sneaking game. I throw some food to distract something, jump over a pit, or dodge a train, avoiding some type of zombie creature, rinse and repeat. That’s not to say Mayhem in Single Valley doesn’t have some great stuffing going for it. The pixel art and chiptunes soundtrack are a perfect combination. While combat was not something I got into, it is different and a unique take, and could be seen as refreshing to the right person. There are also plenty of hidden elements to discover that would keep you busy. Overall, Mayhem in Single Valley can be an enjoyable game, but its flaws prevent it from being a must-play experience.

Star Fox Zero offers a blend of a familiar story with fresh gameplay experiences and mission variety. The controls are the biggest hurdle for this game and will likely deter a lot of players. Those who stick with it and eventually get the hang of things will be thankful that they did in the end.

A Fistful of Gun is a tough-as-nails throwback to classic top-down arcade shooters. It's best played with friends, but its finicky control schemes and steep learning curve make it difficult to get into.

Star Wars fans and Pinball fans rejoice! Zen Studios is easily going to fill that void with Star Wars Pinball.

Lost Odyssey doesn't break the JRPG mold, but it does fill it out quite nicely with a strong story and great characters.

I don't know how good I feel about the fact that it's an expansion that fixes a ton of the issues gamers had with the original release, sure Loot 2.0 is available to the vanilla players, but it doesn't give players the Adventure Mode which is a key component to the package, and probably should have been included in the game in the first place.

Once again, Zen nails the Star Wars look and feel with another set of tables. There are issues to be taken up with both, but overall they prove to be a lot of fun and great additions to the Star Wars Pinball line.

The technical issues in Star Trek: Resurgence unfortunately detract slightly from what is possibly the truest Star Trek video game ever made. This is a game that knows and respects the franchise, delivering an epic story with a great new ship and crew. The branching story elements and performances carry the day, but some of the interactive segments stumble. Regardless, the game is highly recommended for fans of both Trek and interactive storytelling.

Magicka 2 is a stellar adventure as long as you have friends along for the ride. The mechanics of the spellcasting system and the gameplay in general are tuned perfectly for multiple wizards, however flying solo will only bring you frustration and fits of rage.

Real Boxing has a lot of the core fundamentals in place. It has customizable fighters, training mini-games, a career mode and competent multiplayer online matches. Unfortunately, the whole thing is marred by simplistic controls, cheesy animation and computer opponents that don't put up much of a fight. The groundwork is done, but Real Boxing comes up short of the KO!

Quarantine leaves a bit to be desired with only six scenarios and three difficulties as well as its lack of multiplayer, but that doesn’t mean it’s a bad game. It’s definitely challenging on the higher difficulties as the viruses start out a little stronger. However, if you’re looking for a good challenge, Quarantine can definitely give it to you, plus the custom scenarios on the Steam Workshop will help keep things fresh…or at least as fresh as they can be with the same gameplay.

Twelve years after first hitting the Game Boy Color, Toki Tori remains an easy game to recommend.

A beautiful retro game with a great concept. However, there are a variety of hurdles along the way that keep it from being as good as it should have been.

While Dillon’s Rolling Western: The Last Ranger isn’t a perfect game, it’s far from a bad one. While it is more of the same from the first game and you do have very limited resources, there’s actually quite a bit of strategy involved in how you use them. If you enjoyed the first game, you’ll enjoy this one. However, the $11 price tag might be a bit of a turn off for what equates to more of the same.

Who knew that playing SpongeBob SquarePants: The Battle for Bikini Bottom Rehydrated would deliver such a solid dose of nostalgia? But deliver it does. Having played both versions of the game in the past week, I can attest that this is a rock-solid remake of fun but somewhat flawed game. You take the bad with the good on this one, but for the most part Bikini Bottom holds up surprisingly well.

Fast paced and hard hitting, Speedball 2 HD combines full contact sports with association football and comes out pretty well. Since this title has some flaws and lacks online multiplayer, it isn't going to win the top division, but it holds its own and is certainly fun to play.

Nuka-World is a monument to the raider aesthetic, poor life decisions and sugary soda-induced diabetes. You'll need a higher-than-normal glitch tolerance. But if you’re willing to assume a raider's principles for good, then you’ll want the uncompromising, combat-heavy lifestyle that Nuka-World provides.

Join Oswald Mandus as he takes a harrowing journey through his creepy mansion. With its great presentation and well-written story, Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs gets a lot right. Unfortunately, the game is marred by a lack of scares and puzzles that even a pig could solve.

Braveland Trilogy is a fairly solid set of games, simplistic as they may be. You can adjust the difficulty during the game so you can make it as easy or as difficult as you wish at any time. While it would have been nice if the games were at least a bit more complex, keep in mind that these are ports of mobile games so the simplicity makes sense here. Even still, if you want a complex strategy game, you might want to look elsewhere but if you’re okay with simple, Braveland Trilogy is worth checking out.

Legend of Keepers is a fun roguelike that relies a bit too much on the luck of the draw. Constructing custom teams is a non-starter, which leaves players doing their best with whatever the game doles out. The font size might be an issue for some, but overall, Legend of Keepers is a pleasant not-overly-difficult way to kill twelve hours.

A fun diversion for those quick commutes and / or times when you just want to kill a few minutes with a game. I keep going back after unlocking everything just to double-check my positions on the scoreboards, even if just for 5-10 minutes a day. That is a good sign!