Blind Fate: Edo no Yami is a good game that’s held back by a lack of polish. It has a diverse array of kinds of platforming action with a blend of swordplay, platforming and sense-based puzzle-solving, but it needs work when it comes to the visuals as they’re inconsistent. Some parts look fantastic, like the animation and overall movement, while parts of the environment suffer from still images being used instead of objects being in motion. The soundtrack is excellent though and the voice acting hits the notes it needs to, making Blind Fate worth a look.

What makes FIFA 23 so great is the product on the field, but the lack of change in the locker room brings it down a notch.

An intriguing tale full of interesting world-building and appealing character moments alike, brief visual and performance issues aside, The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero — specifically for those on Switch — should not go overlooked.

Voice of Cards: The Beasts of Burden doesn’t stray far from what made its predecessors successful. The addition of capturing monsters to use in battle brings a fresh element to the gameplay. but otherwise plays just like the previous Voice of Cards titles. How many more times this formula can be successfully replicated is up for debate, but The Beasts of Burden is possibly the best Voice of Cards games to date. Compared to most JRPGs, it’s simple game in regards to its mechanics and difficulty. For many games this would sound like a condemnation, but these factors don’t work against Voice of Cards. Challenging it is not, but the gameplay is still enjoyable largely due to the story and accompanying soundtrack. Difficult games will always be fun, but for the times when a more relaxing game is in order, Voice of Cards is perfect for such an occasion.

It’s still an enjoyable action platformer, and while there are some unique elements to help make the game memorable, it still falls short of some of the great titles that inspired it.

Metal: Hellsinger is the first-person shooter/rhythm game mashup I had no idea I wanted. Being a fan of metal helps as metalheads are clearly the target demographic, but the developers didn’t use metal as a gimmick to sell an unremarkable game. The gameplay in Metal is fast paced and unforgiving where the player constantly has to fight for their own survival. This a great first-person shooter regardless of what an individual’s taste in music might be. Metal: Hellsinger combines great FPS and rhythm game mechanics in way that brings challenging and rewarding gameplay to a hellscape any metalhead would love to visit.

NBA 2K23 is the game the community has been wanting, but that hardcore community is far more advanced than any casual player looking to just play a basketball game. It’s the little things that help to make NBA 2K23 the best sports representation to date, and the legacy content now puts the series far ahead of any other sports series out there. It’s not without its fault, beginning with the difficulty and learning curve of the game. Every bit of content in this year’s game is fresh and useful and you’ll find yourself playing every mode. If you purchased the version that offers 100K virtual currency, you have to choose if that’s going to MyPLAYER or to MyTEAM. The modes remain a grind to keep the player on the game, but the Jordan Challenge is worth the price of admission to begin with. This is better than the 2K Showcases in the WWE series due to the presentation aspect. It’ll be difficult for 2K to one-up NBA 2K23, one of the best video game sports adaptions of all time.

As it stands Splatoon 3 feels more like a delayed expansion than a brand new experience, but for those who just wanted more of the same old Splatoon, this will offer up more inking and splatting for them to partake in.

Ooblets is a must-play for life-simulation fans and is a great gateway game for folks who enjoy a good deck builder and have wanted to dabble in the life-simulation genre thanks to the dance battle system.

For the Gundam curious looking for a robot action game, this isn’t a terrible entry point, especially considering the library does a good job introducing the player to a series. As it doesn’t quite scratch the itch for a general Japanese mecha through its combat mechanics and gameplay, however, SD Gundam Battle Alliance should only be considered within the confines of its source material and those who have no interest in Gundam can skip it.

Pac-Man World: Re-Pac takes an already-great game on PS1 and makes it even better. This is low-key one of the most diverse and enjoyable 3D platformers on the market and should be enjoyed by everyone who missed out on it in its time. It plays better now than it did before thanks to smart improvements in play control and has some of the most fun classic Pac-Man-style mazes on the market. There’s a lot to enjoy here and if you enjoy 3D platforming or Pac-Man games, you need to give Pac-Man World Re-Pac a shot.

With The Last of Us Part I, Naughty Dog opted to create the ‘definitive’ experience by staying as faithful as possible while incorporating some elements of The Last of Us Part II. The result is an impressive-looking facelift that exceeds the visuals of Part II, but doesn’t offer much new beyond graphics.

This collection’s inclusion of thirteen games is enough to make it worthwhile, but the inclusion of all the extra content shows that the developers wanted to make this something special for TMNTfans. This collection is great reason to spend an evening ordering pizza and party like it’s 1989.

Like many of the B-movies that inspired it, Destroy All Humans! 2 – Reprobed isn’t something that will be considered great by a general consensus, but does have a certain appeal to the right audience. The game makes many attempts at subtle and not-so-subtle innuendos and while the intention is humor, many of them fall flat. Not because they’re offensive, they just mostly go for the low hanging fruit which may have been more risque in 2006, but nowadays just doesn’t seem that creative. There are sections of enjoyable gameplay, but these moments come as part of a greater narrative that’s difficult to care about. Fans of low-budget sci-fi are clearly the target audience, and for those this will probably be a good time, but there are better options available for the rest of us.

Pacing issues aside, Cursed to Golf is a unique and terrific blend of different genres that makes for a highly enjoyable and fresh spin on the classic sport. Be it through golfing skills, puzzle-solving skills, luck or a mix of all three, each hole presents a multitude of options to try out and paths to take, with each perfect shot providing a sort of golfing high as you soar through a passageway filled with spikes and vines. Throw in charming old-school style and aesthetics, and you get one challenging course that’s a blast to play through.

Dusk Diver 2 shows a notable improvement over the original by adding a second playable character to switch between in-battle at any point, but doesn’t improve the formula enough to be a must-have for anyone who didn’t love the original. The combat system has been beefed up, but variety is still in short-supply and the same environments being used throughout dungeons hurts things. The overworld exploration is the most pure fun the game offers up in its current form and it’s a shame some streamlining wasn’t done to dungeons to make them less laborious and more fun to complete.

Kirby’s Dream Buffet is an absolute tasty delight that shouldn’t be overlooked for anyone hoping to pick up a new fun multiplayer title that doesn’t have the pressure of more competitive titles or the fear of missing out on content.

A combination of a streamlined length that doesn’t overstay its welcome, terrific level design, fluid controls and an overall aesthetic that’s both charming and well-integrated, Tinykin is a joy to play and an easy recommendation for any fan of 3D platformers.

Technical issues notwithstanding, Saints Row is not without its shortcomings, but it succeeds more often than it doesn’t. Even with the release date pushed back it still doesn’t feel finalized. The tech issues can hopefully be ironed out in a patch or two, but the characters could have also benefitted from further development and being more fleshed out. Santa Ileso is a great open sandbox to explore, but it seems like a greater emphasis was placed on repetitive criminal venture activities and less on the more exciting story missions. Still, what Saints Row does well is it does very well with memorable missions after the Saints have started to establish themselves. The banter between characters is generally entertaining and a lot of the humor is derived from this series never taking itself too seriously. There’s a lot of potential with this reboot and new cast of characters, but it doesn’t seem like it was fully realized in this title, making it a game that’s fun for Saints Row fans, but isn’t the spectacular reboot we were hoping for.

Madden NFL 23 takes a few good steps forward, but seems to forget other aspects that will hopefully be addressed in the future. FieldSENSE is a good change that goes along with the other recent additions in the series. The Freeform Passing is a huge and fun change and the new hit animation engine is nice, but it can leave the occasional strange animation and outcome. The defensive coverage needs to be addressed as there seems to be glaring issues. The visuals continue to improve to bring a more realistic approach and the change to the presentation is a nice touch. Franchise Mode players should enjoy the changes to scouting and the offseason even though the in-season portion remains largely unchanged. The mode still needs a better attachment to the storyline of the season. While the changes are good, there’s still a good bit left in the dust. Ultimate Team returns with new ways to earn rewards with Field Pass. Couple that with an unchanged Yard, a largely unchanged Face of the Franchise, online play and the Franchise Mode, and there aren’t a lot of options for play here. The changes will appease Madden fans looking for gameplay and Franchise Mode improvements, which is mainly the community that provided the feedback.

While Midnight Fight Express falters when it comes to keeping things fresh, there’s still enough of a nicely-twisted plot, impressive levels with great action setpieces, and a terrific techno soundtrack that goes alongside the fast-paced combat to keep things enjoyable overall. Beat-’em-up and/or fighting game enthusiasts and speedrunners will probably get the most satisfaction out of the game, but there’s still enough here for anyone that’s worthy of giving things a whirl.

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.

Rollerdrome effortlessly combines thrilling speed and adrenaline-inducing combat to create an exciting mashup of genres that will appeal to sports and action fans alike. The surface-level story, needy challenges and lack of environmental variety hinders the game from becoming something special, but in the heat of the moment, Roll7’s latest creation makes it nearly impossible to not pull off epic bits of slow-motion, high-flying carnage that will leave you wanting more. By rewarding players for taking advantage of enemy weaknesses and performing last-second dodges, Rollerdrome creates a satisfying and engaging gameplay experience that will have you returning to the arena for one more round again and again.

Even with these blemishes and moments where the admiration for what’s come before gets in the way of basic consistency and much-needed fluidity, OverBorder Studio have at least landed in a much better position with a foundation that’s challenging and entertainingly so.

I wanted to like Xenoblade Chronicles 3 a lot more than I did as it has a number of faults that made me drift away from it, but in the end it’s an undeniably well-constructed JRPG that succeeds far more than it fails.

Thanks to a nice set of challenges, a charming style and sense of humor, and a ton of unlockable items to toy with combined with a hefty chunk of customization options, Two Point Campus easily graduates at the head of its class. The task of having to manage a successful university is tough but fair all around sucking you in as you try to figure out how to best increase your campus’ attractiveness for that one goal without breaking the bank. Two Point Campus is another winner from Two Point Studios and we can’t wait to see what profession they bring their unique simulator style to next…

Whether you’re a comic book or PC gaming enthusiast, Marvel’s Spider-Man is well worth experiencing for the first time or once more.

Digimon Survive is a strange combination of genres that, taken as a whole, is enjoyable, even though the sum of its parts doesn’t wholly mesh. Digimon Survive is a worthwhile adventure for those looking for a strong story, but expect things to move slowly and not much actual gameplay.