With incredible combat, a solid story and voice acting, and gorgeous graphics from top to bottom, the handful of bugs in Chorus can’t hold it back. Come for the story, and stay for the high-speed power drift as you unleash your vengeance.

Pokemon Shining Pearl and Brilliant Diamond, despite ignoring some of the original's issues, is a great remake that runs remarkably well and sports excellent visuals.

Pokemon Shining Pearl and Brilliant Diamond, despite ignoring some of the original's issues, is a great remake that runs remarkably well and sports excellent visuals.

For better and worse, Evil Genius 2 on console is exactly the same as on PC, complete with glitches and menu navigation. It needs a bit of work to smooth out the experience, but the game itself is a ton of fun and well worth playing, however you can get your hands on it.

Skyrim: Anniversary Edition is full of lackluster additions to a fantastic game. Some new areas are blocked off, quests feel like busy work, and the new items aren’t all that useful. The best parts are already in a free update, so stick with that.

While the Final Fantasy Pixel Remasters aren’t perfect, they’re certainly the best and most convenient ways to play these classic games. The soundtracks are lovingly orchestrated and the pixel art is gorgeous, though the latter does lose some detail in the translation. Each game feels great to play, but I do wish extra content from previous releases or remakes had been included.

While the Final Fantasy Pixel Remasters aren’t perfect, they’re certainly the best and most convenient ways to play these classic games. The soundtracks are lovingly orchestrated and the pixel art is gorgeous, though the latter does lose some detail in the translation. Each game feels great to play, but I do wish extra content from previous releases or remakes had been included.

While the Final Fantasy Pixel Remasters aren’t perfect, they’re certainly the best and most convenient ways to play these classic games. The soundtracks are lovingly orchestrated and the pixel art is gorgeous, though the latter does lose some detail in the translation. Each game feels great to play, but I do wish extra content from previous releases or remakes had been included.

While the Final Fantasy Pixel Remasters aren’t perfect, they’re certainly the best and most convenient ways to play these classic games. The soundtracks are lovingly orchestrated and the pixel art is gorgeous, though the latter does lose some detail in the translation. Each game feels great to play, but I do wish extra content from previous releases or remakes had been included.

While the Final Fantasy Pixel Remasters aren’t perfect, they’re certainly the best and most convenient ways to play these classic games. The soundtracks are lovingly orchestrated and the pixel art is gorgeous, though the latter does lose some detail in the translation. Each game feels great to play, but I do wish extra content from previous releases or remakes had been included.

The Grand Theft Auto series will always be seen as a cultural milestone in video gaming which led to the open world games that we cherish now, but the years have been a bit harsh on the trilogy and the complete lack of care put into what is essentially an afterthought of a remaster doesn’t help matters much. The few updates made with controls, shooting, and lighting are nice, but not enough to justify the $60 price tag. The games are still worth revisiting, especially if you’ve never played the original releases, but only if you aren’t playing on PC or the Switch as those versions seem to share the bulk of issues the game is currently experiencing. So far PS5 is the way to go for a hassle-free trip into Liberty City, just maybe wait for a price cut first.

Bright Memory: Infinite is an incredibly mixed bag. The story is nonsensical and the bosses are a bit disappointing. However, the overall gameplay is immensely satisfying, and the graphics are incredible.

Sherlock Holmes: Chapter One is an exemplary experience for anyone wanting to enjoy time with our eccentric investigator. The story behind Violet Holmes' demise will pull at your heartstrings, and the cases you’ll decipher on the way there just make you appreciate Chapter One all the more. Yeah, there are some technical issues, and you’re most likely going to get stuck at least once, but unraveling the best laid plans of the most conniving criminals is a delight to accomplish.

The story is lackluster, the microtransactions are everywhere, but everything else is amazing; it's like being on a rollercoaster ride every single second you play. Ubisoft put its heart and soul into developing every location just so that each race and each moment feels immensely different from the next. It's an absolutely thrilling, immersive experience that does well to keep you entertained for hours and hours on end. If only you could spend more time racing people instead of bots, then it'd really feel like you're working to become the amazing triathlete Riders Republic wants you to be.

Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is frankly a fantastic game and is objectively one of the best Star Wars games ever made. The languages are accurate, the character designs are flawless, and the art design is incredible. It's no surprise that the game is revered by both standard RPG and Star Wars fans, and thankfully, the Switch version pulls through with a highly efficient port.

The Sims 4 Blooming Rooms Kit adds in a lot of plant-type decorations to your home, not only in the form of potted plants, but also planted lights, shelving, a vine curtain, and tables. It gives the player more choices for cozy and homey decorations, but I feel some of them only fit specific aesthetics. While The Sims 4 has definitely had better Kits release this year, at only $4.99 it’s worth picking up so you have options.

Mario Party Superstars is the culmination of all that is great about the Mario Party series. Sporting many of the best boards and mini-games pulled from the series’ long history and featuring multiple quality-of-life updates including online play, the ability to save and return to a game later, faster gameplay, a variety of different playstyles between the boards, a leveling system, and a ton of items to unlock, Mario Party Superstars may be the best entry yet in the long-running series. Here’s hoping Nintendo supports this release and adds new boards in future DLC.

Blue Reflection: Second Light provides an intriguing story and challenging battles despite its derivative gameplay. As such, I’d easily recommend it to fans of both anime and JRPGs.

Whether you’re a seasoned Jurassic World Evolution player or brand new to the franchise, I can guarantee you that you will have a blast with Jurassic World Evolution 2. While I think a couple of things could be tweaked to make certain things more obvious, it doesn’t stop you from having an absolutely wonderful time playing the game. The addition of the flying and aquatic dinosaurs has been excellent, and I really hope for more content and DLC to go along with it!

War never changes, and Call Of Duty is in fact still Call Of Duty. Sledgehammer Games however has happened across an intriguing formula, connecting what has worked in previous games and integrating it into their own. The campaign is stunning, and while short lived has a ton of heart, Zombies is as fun and maybe more inviting than it’s ever been, and the multiplayer hard carries this entry to a round 11 victory. This culmination of all things Call Of Duty has resulted in something the entire series can look to, a blueprint on how to build a meaty and superb first person shooter experience.

New World’s ideas come across as very solid, but the more I’ve engaged with it, the more I see problems. Those problems have nothing to do with the foundation of New World, however. There is nothing fundamentally wrong with New World besides the economy and lack of main missions, and only the former can destroy the game. The rest of the issues can be fixed with time and enough attention to the details. We’ll see how Amazon Games decides to proceed with what’s working and what doesn’t as I work towards the end game.

Tandem: A Tale of Shadows is a surprisingly unique twist on the puzzle genre, making incredible use of light and shadow. The dual character perspective is clever, and helps to create increasingly complex puzzles, which thankfully avoid crossing the line from challenging to frustrating. The short length may upset players hoping for a longer adventure, but helps keep the game flowing smoothly and prevents its core gameplay from becoming stale. Add in a beautifully crafted world and unique boss fights, and Tandem begins to stand out from other puzzler games currently on the market.

While there is a great game somewhere in here, Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy: Cloud Version has many, baffling issues seemingly exclusive to this version. On top of not being comparable to other console versions, it somehow performs even worse to the point of being almost unplayable most of the time. As usual, your results may vary depending on internet connection, but this version still needs a lot of work.

Shin Megami Tensei V is a masterfully made JRPG and fascinating work of art. While the characters could have used more fleshing out and the leveling curve is wildly uneven, it’s still incredibly fun with thrilling combat and a gripping plot.

A lot of Forza Horizon 5 feels similar to Forza Horizon 4 in a way previous Horizon games haven’t felt with their prequels, but Adventures bring unique storytelling and slight edutainment to the Horizon formula and if more Horizon’s are in the future, particularly ones not in Europe and America, it’s not a bad foundation to build on. Driving feels as good as it ever has and Playground Games absolutely succeeded in interpreting the beauty of Mexico. The seasonal model returns and it does a better job of incentivizing people to group up, but it’s still not quite enough to entice people to do activities like Forza Arcade.

There’s no doubt that Just Dance 2022 has fallen into some of the traps of other annual games by not making it feel like a total makeover, but once you feel the quality of the choreography and see the improved visuals, you can’t deny that Ubisoft is still trying to deliver an exceptional product where it counts: the dancing and song selection. Even as one who is slightly out of touch with current hits, most of them successfully motivate me to get off my butt and start dancing.

A shiny time capsule housing six years of sci-fi shooter evolution. Performance-wise, the Switch is two for three, with the Crysis remaster struggling to keep up with the sequels. If you're in it for the visuals and not just the nostalgic flavors of the previous decade, then the remastered trilogy is best experienced on more powerful hardware.

The Sims 4 has released a lot of quality content this year, and the Fashion Street and Incheon Arrivals Kits don't disappoint. Both add wonderful pieces of clothing to your Sims wardrobes, with new and unique options we were desperately missing. The kits are reasonably priced at just $4.99 each, and definitely spice things up for your Sims!