I didn’t enjoy most of my time with it, but I wasn’t miserable either. There’s nothing wrong with being Ethan Brady, but you could have been Benjamin Walker.

Every once in a while, a game comes along that that does something surprising, different, memorable. Anthem is not one of those games. Much of this PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC game feels incomplete, while other portions are borrowed from games that did it better.

The most important thing to say is that this is an authentic Space Channel 5 experience. The wacky situations, the charming dialogue, the classy dance moves, the signature sounds of the classic 1966 jazz anthem “Mexican Flyer”—it’s all here, and it’s as timeless an aesthetic as it was 20 years ago. If that’s all you’ve wanted to hear, you’ll be as excited as I am for this interstellar dance adventure. Just know that it’ll be a short trip.

I came away from I Love You, Colonel Sanders confused more than anything. It’s not actively hostile to the genre, but also doesn’t take the genre seriously enough to be funny to fans of it.

Funko Fusion could have been something fun! A wacky adventure mixing together different franchises and worlds. Instead, its a boring, annoying, barely functional third-person action game starring ugly Funko Pops solving bad puzzles and fighting the same 10 enemies over and over again with guns and laser pistols. Don’t play Funko Fusion. Save your money, buy some pizza, and watch one of the movies included in this collection instead. It will be much more enjoyable and you won’t have to restart the movie five times to reach the end.

Left Alive is a clunky disaster whose good ideas are undercut by horrible gameplay.

I have no idea who this game is for, and I don’t think it will find an audience. Perhaps after months of updates, MindsEye will run better and feature fewer bugs. But that won’t change how boring, bland, and utterly unremarkable this game is. MindsEye is a bad game that isn’t even so bad it’s good. It’s just bad, and it will probably be forgotten in a few months, only remembered briefly when the game’s servers are shut down with little warning.

Working through puzzles (and even brute forcing a few) occasionally made my head pound, but Pan-Pan made it very clear to me that challenges are temporary. But if you keep trying, push hard enough, and persevere? There’s a wonderful world waiting for you.

Narco Road makes no sense in a broader context. It seems antithetical to the franchise’s realistic aspirations. If the goal was to make sure no one takes the game seriously, it definitely succeeded.

Hypothetical conquests aside, Order of Battle is still a fantastic prospect for anyone down with the idea of turn-based warfare but without the inclination/time for the more serious side of the genre. This is a fast, smart strategy series, and even if some of the campaigns are a bit of a let-down, the beauty of it is that you can just ignore them and focus on the battles you want to fight.

Brawlhalla is a dynamic take on platform brawler that feels good to play. It’s never going to replace the game that inspired it, but means that there’s another (non-Nintendo) game to play when I invite my friends over to hang on the couch. Also, it means that at long last, I can confidently pull off a spike in a platform brawler.

Spy Party captures what espionage must feel like—the sly satisfaction of hiding in plain sight, the tense uncertainty of whether or not you’ll blow your cover. It has just as much in common with games like Hide and Seek than real world cloak and dagger affairs, though. When Spy Party stops holding your hand and lets you run free, it becomes a unique and satisfying multiplayer experience. [Early Access Review]

The experience was as captivating and memorable as I’d hoped. I was glued to it until I was done. My only wish is that I could erase my brain and play it again.

I know this won’t last forever, but it doesn’t have to. The whole point of the app is to establish patterns and break down resistance to something that’s really quick and easy, and it’s definitely doing that, so if it’s taking some Pokémon stickers to get that through to them, then whatever, that’s awesome.

I don’t want to have to work just to enjoy a game of basketball. I just...want to enjoy a game of basketball. In 2K22 the only place I can do that in peace is the meaningless collection of one-off “play now” modes.

If you’re happy with the shakedown, or are happy paying full price for the half a game that’s unaffected, then by all means keep buying it. But if you’re tired of this game’s preoccupation with hustling you, and you want something to change, you’re going to need to stop buying it, and you’re going to need lots of other people to stop buying it along with you.

I tend to avoid seriously talking to people about my OCD, too, especially in times where it’s been as physically and emotionally isolating as it is for Emily. Because of how personal it is, I don’t thirst for OCD representation in games, or in any media at all, really, but playing Homebody has been surprisingly cathartic. It’s an autopsy of the run-of-the-mill terror I’ve learned to live with and let go.

It might be for kids who need to be taught good sleeping habits by way of Pikachu tracking their rest. But inevitably, there will be people, even my age, who find Pokémon Sleep’s long-winded way of tracking sleep helpful, soothing, and even fun. I just think the raw utility of a sleep-tracking app is easier to achieve elsewhere.

If this year’s satiric but more aggressive New York Times Simulator is a less subtle game about the risks, responsibilities, and struggles of modern-day journalism, then Times & Galaxy takes the spoonful of sugar approach with sharp and funny writing that makes it endlessly entertaining—even if it stings a bit.

I would hope the short runtime and cheap price tag would be enough for you to say, “Ah, what the hell,” and download it onto your PC or Switch, but times are tough, and not everyone likes to go into a purchase blind.

This is such a delightful game, and so wonderfully intelligent in its creation.

Dosa Divas is, in the end, as blemished, bruised, and beautiful as its slickly animated characters and lavishly illustrated world. It feels like Outerloop threw the whole kitchen sink at this game, and while I admire its craft as well as the various spices and ingredients thrown in the mix here, it feels like the essence of what Dosa Divas is trying to communicate was lost in the concoction.

So far, 007 First Light feels like an awesome blend of what makes a good James Bond story work. It’s equal parts moody espionage thriller and high-octane action film, and its gameplay mechanics reflect these tenets well, despite it forgoing some risk-taking in terms of exploration and combat. Despite playing it safe, it feels like IO Interactive has concocted a recipe for a great 007 game, if not a mechanically revelatory one. The game truly shines when it comes to its story, characters, performance capture, and sandbox elements, and even when combat feels like it treads familiar ground, it’s some of the most fun and engaging I’ve had the pleasure of previewing, with enough of its own DNA to set it apart from the pack. From what I played, I anticipate 007 First Light will be a standout among 2026’s slate of blockbusters. [3-Hour Hands-On Impressions]

I came into Legacy of the Dark Knight with my walls up against its typical Lego humor, only to find that it functions as a rebuttal to my proclivity for self-serious Batman games. Not only is it tremendously satisfying to play, but by making its linear scenarios so rich and absorbing, it also grants Batman the freedom to be as comically endearing as he is ruthless. Batman doesn’t have to be any one thing, Legacy of the Dark Knight reminds us, and Batman games don’t, either. [Hands-On Impressions]