Give No Shelter is another good episode of The Walking Dead: Michonne that showcases some slight improvements and sets the stage for a potentially great showdown, but still suffers from a few cliches and an all-too-short length that leaves you demanding more.

Just Dance 4 is a hard game not to like. It's completely unpretentious and simply exists to make you have fun, hopefully starting a party in the process. The soundtrack is strong and the choreography is as good as ever. Unfortunately, without full body tracking, the game is simply not as enjoyable as it is on the Kinect. Knowing that it's only tracking the motion of the Wii Remote, and a single arm by association, lowers the motivation to perfectly nail the moves. Those used to playing the game on the Wii or who don't care about accuracy will be content, but anyone who owns a Kinect would be better off picking up the Xbox 360 version - especially considering it costs $10 less.

Operation Abyss: New Tokyo Legacy is a fine DRPG. It has all the facets one would expect from a game of its genre and manages to implement those features effectively. What it does not do a lot of, however, is think outside the box in big ways.

Maneater: Truth Quest is an enjoyable but unessential expansion for Maneater. Westhaven is an entertaining narrator but his over the top conspiracy theories just aren’t as entertaining as his documentary narration in the base game. The new missions end up falling into the same type of repetition the other missions. The new atomic shark powers are actually one of the better parts of the expansion and having a green nuclear energy ball fly from a tail whip attack was a great addition. While taking on the new sea life monstrosities provided an enjoyable challenge, Truth Quest is a necessary reason to return to the water for only the most devoted Maneater fans.

Copycat perfectly encapsulates the feeling of self-doubt, fear and hesitance that comes with building a close relationship with another individual. Although the narrative is told through the eyes of a cat, its message is universal and urges players to accept love and nurture one another regardless of differences. The technical side of the game was buggy at certain parts of the story during my playthrough, but the game truly flourishes when it centers around storytelling.

It appears that Game Arts made this to appeal to more than just a niche audience, and the game is much better for it.

Ride has far more good points than bad. As a motorcycle racer, it’s exciting and manages to stand out in a fairly crowded market. As a sim racing game, it’s accessible and plays like a dream right away.

Playlink doesn’t get enough credit. At first it seemed like PlayStation simply trying to get on the Jackbox bandwagon, but they seem to be invested in the program and it’s working out well for them. Supermassive has done impressive things with the technology and thought of a new way to take advantage of it. Hidden Agenda tells a good story and is great for a fun night in with friends. It has problems in the graphics and writing areas, but it’s a fun and entertaining game in the end. $19.99 is a great value for the quality of the content throughout the five chapters and it signals exiting things to come for Playlink.

Strike Suit Infinity is not a game that is terrible by any means. It’s just a game that had some really high hopes for itself but failed to deliver those things in a way that was organic and a little bit more fun.

The Last Tinker: City of Colors is a throwback to a simpler time in gaming. Complex, harrowing storylines can be absolutely fantastic, but sometimes it’s nice to relax into a charming tale.

The Descent is a decent addition for players who are dying to get back into the game for a bit or prolong their experience, but ultimately casual players will want to skip it, or wait for holiday sales.

With the lessons that Digital Dreams has clearly learned, it’s going to be fascinating to see what the small studio does next. After all, this is a team that clearly understands how to improve over time.

Re Mind rehashes so much Kingdom Hearts III that, when stripped away, leaves little new and worthwhile to dig into. The base game remains as fun to play as ever, but players don’t need to pay extra money to enjoy that. The new Limit Cut battles are a highlight that displays the complexity of the mechanics, but the other new additions aren’t anything special. Scala Ad Caelum and the Final Fantasy characters are deeply disappointing. The new cutscenes are nice, but they don’t answer many of the lingering questions. Kingdom Hearts III remains an excellent game, and Re Mind does allow players to jump back in for a few hours, but $29.99 is too much to ask for a DLC that barely adds anything new.

The lack of multiplayer holds Berserk and the Band of the Hawk back from being the greatest Omega Force title, but players who are okay with this will find an experience that both captures the soul of the source material as well as one of the purest, most hyperviolent, titles to hit the market.

At the end of the day, it’s tough to recommend Life is Strange: The Arcadia Bay Collection as it is near launch. It’s easily the worst-possible way to experience two classic games and not in small ways. The dramatic drop-off in texture quality and abundance of texture pop-in hurts the experience, as do long loading times. The foundation of what made the games so great is still present, but hampered. In hindsight, having it titled as the Arcadia Bay Collection was a tip-off that this wouldn’t be the exact same as the Remastered Collection that hit other consoles. This is a downgraded version of the experience in every way except voice acting and should only be played by those who must have it available on the go.

One step forward and two steps back for the XIII saga and will only attract those looking for fan-service or high-octane combat.

Milestone delivers on its slate of upgrades introduced in Monster Energy Supercross 4, but the racing remains frustrating and unapproachable for new players. The Career Mode is a welcome addition even though it may not match up to other franchises that are out there, while The Compound gives players a new location to free roam around in, but is ultimately the same thing outside of the location. The PlayStation 5 version allows for better visuals and the inclusion of the DualSense Controller, but the engine that everything is based on is old. Those that are hardcore fans of the series will enjoy these additions if they continue to overlook the legacy issues. The next-generation version is basically an improved version of the previous-gen version by default due to the hardware, and outside of the Career Mode, Monster Energy Supercross 4 is more of the same.

If you’re a returning player of the Payday franchise, you’ll like what Payday 3 offers with multiple heists and keeping its core gameplay design intact. Increased visual fidelity is a big bonus and adding cross-play to increase the player base allows for even quicker matchmaking when the servers are actually online. The first two weeks were difficult, but once in, the confined sandbox design of cooperative heist play is still fun and addicting. Going above those means and looking for something more will mean you will be introduced to the grind of unlocking skills and more guns, no matter how much money you make on a heist. When Payday 3 is clicking on all cylinders, it’s a proper upgrade to the previous game and you won’t care about the grind, but rather the fun that is had on each mission.

With some modifications and continuous work, State of Decay 2 could be a great and meaningful experience, but in its current state, it’s far from the best zombie game out there.

If you haven’t been scared off by the concept it presents, then The Novelist shall likely prove a worthwhile experience.

Battletoads revives what was thought to be a long-dead franchise without missing a step. The game benefits from modernized game mechanics but maintains the overall gameplay feel of the original titles. If you have fond memories of the earlier titles, it’s a no brainer that this is a title worth playing. The game does rely on nostalgia, but this is one of the better reboots around. Battletoads succeeds at making a game look and feel modern while maintaining the essence of what made it good so many years ago. Battletoads does offer a variety of different modes in addition to primarily being a beat ’em up title. It’s a truly ridiculous game that doesn’t take itself too seriously, and it’s good to see that after such a long break the ‘Toads are still on top of their game.

Chaos Code – New Sign of Catastrophe doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but what it does provide is a lot of high-quality 2D fighting action. The cast isn’t the most diverse in gaming, but still offers up a great deal of variety when it comes to play styles and the usual fast-paced Arc Systems Work fighting action keeps you on your toes at all times. Online play is a huge missed opportunity due to the sheer of lack of players currently, so anyone looking to buy it for that would be wise to wait a bit until the player base is built up over time. It’s a visually-pleasing game despite some archaic aspects to the graphics and presentation, and delivers a satisfying soundtrack alongside exceptional sound effects that make each blow feel that much more damaging.

It is still an icy tomb, but even the wrecks are rather glorious once you get up close to them (and loot them for rare books and whatnot).

Despite its brevity ultimately doing some notable harm to it, Rise & Shine is still ultimately a solid platformer for the most part, one that has a lot of cute callbacks to classic video games while still having its own unique charm, along with some impressive graphics and nifty ideas sprinkled throughout. The action gets nice and intense, and save for the end, puts up a meaty yet fair challenge. So while it isn’t exactly the greatest at skewering gaming culture while also honoring it, it’s still an overall good game.

The solid controls and reasonably-exciting gameplay make it fun for a while, but the modes are far too similar with only surface-level changes beyond the overall length of the events to set them apart.

Not only does it look perfectly like a modern iteration of the classics, it also provides fast, frantic tank gameplay. The single player mode gives a great space for players to practice before taking a shot at helping others out online. Unfortunately, an already middling amount of server activity makes this mode’s future worrisome.

Monark weaves an engaging story even though it may rely on tropes and archetypes to do so. While characters and certain themes may feel familiar from playing similar games there ego centric method of character development helps carve a unique identity for Monark. The puzzles and exploration aren’t very difficult but occur in a way that feels organic within the story. The tactical turn based battles do offer a challenge but nothing that can’t be overcome through learning the system and properly strategizing. Level grinding can become tedious quickly and can disrupt the overall pacing. In spite this, Monark is a very enjoyable RPG that offers satisfying combat along with a compelling story.

Whether or not this brief glimpse into the future of Metal Gear Solid is worth 20 or 30 bucks is up to you, but I can say without any hesitance that Ground Zeroes displays the biggest evolution of the series seen since the original Metal Gear Solid on Playstation, even if that evolution only lasts for a short, fleeting instant. Bring on The Phantom Pain.