Black Desert Online is a beautiful game marred by inept tutorials and an impenetrable story.

It is, however, an experience that leaves a bit desired. Newcomers looking to get into the roguelike genre for the first time though, will probably find this to be the ideal experience.

Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare is an incredibly frustrating game to review as everything that’s here is great, but there’s simply not enough of it.

Phantom Abyss is a trek into a lost and trap-filled temple that constantly has you on your toes. Each room is filled with several ways to die, or at least take a good amount of damage, and the constant pressure from the guardian means you have to think while moving. While there's something to be said for tearing through the level at top speed, the rooms are frequently interesting enough that it would be nice to stop and look around for a minute without being pushed forward. The secrets are highly satisfying to find, and when a guardian is dropping poison bombs or just relentlessly advancing that can feel like it's working against the necessary concentration or experimentation needed to reach them. A lot of the time it can feel easier to just dash on through, ignoring the intricate room design to reach the door to the next one, and the next and the next until finally reaching the exit. Every once in a while, though, Phantom Abyss manages to balance the speed and exploration, and that's when it's at its best.

While Wreckreation still needs work to get the remaining kinks out, there's still a hugely entertaining racer once you get used to the fact that there's no reasonable way to expect Burnout Paradise-levels of polish. It's the kind of game you can spend half a day listing its flaws and the other half having a great time playing, bashing opponents into scrap metal while seeing what kind of trouble you can find or create. Wreckreation shoots for the stars and doesn't quite make it, but it's hard to complain when drifting a mountain road's switchback at two hundred miles per hour or building a series of ramps up a mountain just because you can. It's a lovely peaceful world in the countryside of Wreckreation, but with a little bit of creative mayhem, that's a problem it won't have for long.

Transference is a novel concept with with adequate execution. It’s intended to be played in VR for the greatest impact, so those with multiple platform options should factor that into the decision process of choosing which one to go with. The story is fascinating and fans of horror will most likely find an enjoying and disturbing experience. The short length is a double-edged sword, though, as it can be comfortably played in VR in one sitting but is ultimately a very short game. Being story driven, the simplistic gameplay is just interactive enough to keep the player engaged, making Transference a worthwhile descent into madness to take once but offers little reason to come back for more.

Joseph: Collapse is a welcome addition to Far Cry 6. It isn’t the most substantial piece of DLC, but that works in its favor. It’s a straightforward roguelike experience that can be enjoyed in a single sitting of less than an hour. The short amount of time required for completion ensures that Joseph doesn’t wear out his welcome over the multiple playthroughs required to unlock the highest difficulty level and fully upgrade all of his abilities and weapons. Joseph Seed is a memorable villain and being able to learn more about his backstory makes revisiting a corrupted version of Hope County a worthwhile trip in Far Cry 6: Joseph: Collapse.

Samba de Amigo: Party Central isn’t exactly the deepest rhythm game, but there’s still fun to be had here, even if the overall product is held back by its finicky Joy-Con controls. A great soundtrack, enjoyable gameplay modes and a bold, eye-catching visual style help keep the party going even longer, but with a little refinement, future shindigs in this series can be even greater than ever.

“Thicker Than Water” has its moments of enjoyment and incredulity, but the slow build-up and the meandering nature of the episode as a whole turns it into a frustrating chunk of a mostly consistent season. Players who stick through it will be well-rewarded with an intriguing finale setup that will hopefully pay off, but individually, the episode feels more like an obstacle than a continuation.

Prey is a fun game with its highlights rooted in beautiful yet creepy levels that contain a lot to explore, but its lack of originality sadly holds it back quite a bit. It’s a classic case of “jack of all trades, master of none,” except with a couple of flaws in some of its trades as well.

Millennia is an interesting, if flawed, take on the civilization-like experience that could be so much more with polish and time taken to it. It’s worth experiencing if you like these types of games, but it’s not going to revolutionize the genre, or dethrone Civilization anytime soon. With some polish and the right updates, it can get better, but for now it's a good, but flawed experience.

There's a lot to explore and a huge amount of potential stat tweaking, but it would have been nice to get a proper explanation on how Legasista's systems fit together.

NASCAR ’14 offers up a solid racing experience, and should be a satisfying pickup for fans of the sport. Casual fans may want to wait for a price drop, but die-hards will easily get $50 worth out of — especially with DLC coming monthly that updates everything to the current season.

There’s a lot to love about The Gunk even if the core gameplay rarely rises above being pretty OK. It’s a good adventure through a unique and pretty alien world, filled with character and life. Rani and Beck are a good team and their dialogue is great fun, even as the pressures mount on their relationship. The story of the alien civilization makes sense, and it’s good to play a game where the mysteries have clear solutions rather than get lost in heavy-handed world building. If the platforming and combat had lived up to everything else then The Gunk would be top-tier gaming, but even so it ends up being a playable adventure that will keep you invested to the final credit roll.

Angry Video Game Nerd I & II Deluxe is the perfect game collection for fans of the difficult 8-bit games and the Angry Video Game Nerd. That being said, while it’s a great game collection for people who fit that criteria, if you remove the character and humor it ends up being an average old-fashioned action game with a ridiculous difficulty level. Fans of the Nerd probably have this game already and are enjoying it but it seems like it would be a hard sell for anyone who isn’t into retro gaming and the Nerd. Still, from any objective standpoint this game is much better than having a buffalo take a diarrhea dump in your ear.

LEGO Dimensions feels like it wants to be the ultimate LEGO game, but never quite gets there.

Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origins re-imagines the earliest Final Fantasy in a manner befitting of a popcorn action film and for the most part succeeds. The story is an interesting re-interpretation of the Warriors of Light even if there are a few elements that seem nonsensical and shoehorned in. Like most things involving a timeloop, it’s just better for one’s sanity not to contemplate the finer points of the story too much. A lot of the story wants to be taken seriously, but Jack’s over-the-top obsession with killing Chaos brings the overall tone into comedic territory. The gameplay is frenetic action with several difficulty options to make it accessible to newcomers and challenging to veterans of the genre. Approaching Stranger of Paradise with any sort of expectations of what a Final Fantasy game should be will likely lead to disappointment. When viewed through the lens of a campy B-movie, however, killing Chaos can be a thrill.

Devil’s Dare is a dedicated return to arcade beat ‘em ups of ages past full of familiar-feeling characters, opponents and music. It provides difficult and skill-based combat and a constant stream of challenging encounters that will prevent you from losing interest.

Nobunaga’s Ambition: Awakening is a worthy entry in the forty-year-old franchise. The unintuitive user interface and vague explanation of game mechanics give it a steeper learning curve than it should have, but once the player has invested a few hours into it, the journey to unify Japan can be a rewarding one. Because of this it’s difficult to recommend this title to someone new to Nobunaga’s Ambition or RTS games in general. Nobunaga’s Ambition: Awakening isn’t casual friendly, but like most endeavors can be a worthwhile game for those willing to invest the time.

River City Saga: Three Kingdoms is an enjoyable yet unexpected take on Kunio and company. One of the areas it excels is in bringing a new interpretation to the Three Kingdoms story while making it feel at home alongside any other River City game. The controls feel dated, and while recreating many positive elements of classic gaming, they’re too unforgiving when it comes to the required precision in fighting off hordes of enemies or jumping on moving obstacles. In spite of this complaint, River City Saga: Three Kingdoms is a blast to play and maintains the essence of what made this series so popular. It would be interesting to see other source material get the River City Saga treatment in the future.

Destiny 2 has its share of issues, a lot of them to be frank, but it’s still an entertaining adventure that the developers have properly improved. The shooting mechanics are some of the best in the business, and the art team has done an amazing job in bringing this futuristic universe to realization. With that said, it’s not a monumental leap, feeling less like a sequel and more like an overloaded expansion. That’s not to mention the worlds, while beautiful, are less memorable than most of what the original game had to offer. Thankfully, Bungie and Activision have outdone themselves with the PC port. While the graphics are primarily sharper and more defined, the 60 FPS frame rate is the real game changer, ensuring you’ll never want to go back to another 30 FPS shooter. The keyboard and mouse controls also add a level of precision you couldn’t find on consoles, making this the go-to version to get. In the end, the PC release will give players a decent idea what console players have been talking about over the last three years, for better or for worse.

Not the first game to focus so literally on the contrast between light and dark, Morkredd isn’t brimming with aesthetic originality, but its puzzles make up for in plentiful amount. It’s the surprisingly deceptive nature of its puzzle-solving — and the many hidden dangers its rendition of darkness brings — where Morkredd‘s best moments are to be found. Puzzles that somewhat rely on a preconceived assumption of movement so as to trip you over, yet more importantly are designed in such a way to encourage you to think carefully about your next move. Slow and steady is the general order of play here. Its world may seem too insistent on its own implied sense of shock and surprise, not least when it tries to be climactic for climactic’s sake. But despite the lack of any real meaningful exposition with its narrative or its world-building, the true revelation lies with how Morkredd makes each step forward into the dark an anxious yet entertaining one to consider.

The actual game portion is well done, and fun in small chunks, but becomes a bit too repetitive for its own good.

It’s such a shame that Street Fighter V launched in the state it did; it’s impossible to wholeheartedly recommend to everyone as a result. If you’re on the fence or a newcomer, you’re better off waiting for another update or two for the game to get fully fleshed out. But even right now, beyond all its rough edges and missing modes, Street Fighter V is a tremendous fighting game at the top of its class.

For $20, it's about the price of a graphic novel, which is exactly what it is. So if you can stomach the gore and overall obscurity, then this super niche PSP title may be worth a checking out.

When Sea of Thieves clicks, most likely because you have a full galleon of fellow pirates to work with, it can create a rousing, fun experience whether completing a long voyage for the Gold Hoarders or even just sailing around, looking for any hidden secrets or loot. But remove that and becomes clear that you have a game with little in the way or content or variety. It’s still decent, of course, but it’s nothing to write home about without a group.

An actual campaign, a good amount of Strikes, the Crucible and a plethora of side activities ensure that Destiny 2 will remain in your console’s disc-drive for a long time. In other aspects, however, Destiny 2 feels more of an expansion than it does a sequel.

Soul Hackers 2 is a by the books turn-based JRPG that doesn’t do anything particularly memorable nor offensive. The story is lacking in scope, dungeons are bland, and there’s questionable design choices to tried and true systems. It doesn’t help that there’s less-than-stellar load times on the current generation consoles, especially considering the amount of traveling that’s required. With that said, there’s decent character development, a fantastic combat system and of course all your favorite demons and creatures you’d expect, and then some. On top of that, the visual aesthetic (at least outside of dungeons) is tremendously vibrant, bringing your screen to life in the most enticing way possible. In the end, I thoroughly enjoyed my time with the game, but it comes with numerous flaws. Soul Hackers 2 has all the trappings of a great Shin Megami Tensei game, including heart, but lacks the substance to make it special.