It's a shame Nintendo didn't do more to up the 35th anniversary celebration vibes in this collection. As I told you up front, though, Super Mario 3D All-Stars remains a superb collection of gaming classics and a must-own for every Nintendo-loving Switch user.

Death Stranding builds a complex and surreal world, and it's hard not to marvel at the way it all comes together.

The mechanics are the straightforward stuff of third-person shooters with some bonus abilities thrown in. It's well-made and fun to play, no question. But that's not what tugs you to keep playing. Like the twisted and overlapping spaces of the Oldest House, Control's layered mystery and HOLY SH.T!! reveals are its biggest assets and its greatest successes.

With a few concessions to modern game design, Streets of Rage 4 could be a fun and rewarding experience. As is, it feels like a dated game only meant for people who played the old games in the '90s. If Streets of Rage 4 proves anything, it's that the beat 'em up genre died out for a reason.

I finished The Last Guardian with no small amount of hatred in my heart for its lousy execution. But even with all that baggage, I found myself forgiving of its frustrations...Blame Trico. Thank Trico. That creature is so infuriatingly easy to love. The Last Guardian gives you so many reasons to dislike it, and one, impossibly endearing reason to love it...Don't understand? Try raising a puppy. Then you will.

Despite those minor annoyances, Clubhouse Games is a welcome $40 distraction from the crumbling world outside. This isn't some branded cash grab like that lovably crummy old Mario game I told you about earlier. It's confidently modest new packaging for games that are older than any of us and will surely outlive us, too. Clubhouse Games knows exactly what it needs to be and doesn't aspire to much else. We could probably all learn from that.

Untitled Goose Game is inherently funny, but the comedy can be kind of subtle. Really, the entire game is a sandbox for causing mischief. There's no dialogue and minimal story, but the "try anything" sandbox factor means you end up creating your own little punchlines.

The opening episodes of The Walking Dead: Season 3 force you to think very carefully about the links between Javi and the people around him. All of those choices you make lead up to an explosive revelation that shatters Javi's perspective and sets the stage for the assuredly grim happenings to come.

Firewatch does some clever things with the central mystery to toy with the expectations of people accustomed to playing video games, but it never delivers strongly enough on that idea — or any other. As strong as the two characters at the heart of the game are, this is a story that struggles to find its voice.

BOXBOY! + BOXGIRL! is a delightful, unique puzzle game worth checking out. With the most lovable boxes in gaming history and the brainteasing powers of a New York Times Sunday crossword, only a square would miss out on this release.

The world feels stuck and gloomy and I don't want to lean into that. I want to be transported somewhere fun and exhilarating. I want to drive fast cars or pilot planes at top speed, or adventure across huge landscapes with swords and magic and mythical monsters, or run and jump through engaging platformers. I don't want to have my movement limited to three actions per round. I don't want to slog through brown and grey apocalyptic levels. I don't want to be confined to this game. Gears Tactics isn't giving me anything I want right now. It's not you, Gears Tactics, it's me.

Sony's VR headset has done much to help deliver this new kind of video gaming to a mainstream audience. But I'm sorry to report that Blood & Truth is a terrible fit for this platform. On the one hand, it's a brilliantly crafted VR excursion into Hollywood-style action that takes good advantage of the tech's capabilities. But PSVR hardware is the worst possible showcase for this kind of experience.

It's not a resounding success, but top-notch writing, great voice performances and beautiful, lo-fi settings keep you invested in 'Oxenfree' throughout its long and arduous night.

Modern Warfare's campaign trades on the same kinds of gratuitous thrills as its predecessors, but the grim reality of 2019's actual battlefields and terror attacks is a poor fit for the Call of Duty theme park ride.

In a departure from the last two games of the series, Metro Exodus sends players into the great outdoors of post-apocalyptic Russia where, unfortunately, the formula that worked for the last two games falls apart...If only Metro Exodus had a little more Metro and a little less Exodus.

Ultimately, Gravity Rush 2's biggest problem may be explained away as an ungainly leap from handheld game to console game. Instead of creating larger and more elaborate challenges around the game's wonderful core mechanics, Japan Studio stuffed this sequel full of undercooked odds and ends.

There's no question that The Division is an enormous accomplishment. The multiplayer technology behind the game is peerless, a perfect game to play with friends online. And even though the core gameplay may not stand out in a major way, The Dark Zone certainly does, offering a tense, thoughtful experience with plenty of expansion potential.

Star Wars as a whole has a long history of under-delivering when it comes to video games, but that's definitely not the case here. Yes there are frustrations. But more than that, there are lightsabers and Stormtroopers and wild displays of Force power. Fallen Order is a Star Wars game I didn't even know I wanted, but it's here now and I'm so glad it's real.

It's a great combination of really well-done elements and worth checking out if you find yourself in need of a funa ction platformer.

For me, Star Wars: Squadrons is hands down the very best space combat sim this series has ever seen. That's not hyperbole; the closest rival here is more than 20 years old. Even if Motive never supports Squadrons past release, what we're playing on day one is everything this X-Wing-loving nerd has ever wanted from a Star Wars game.

I enjoyed Prey. It’s tough, even frustratingly so, at first. But as the game opens up and rewards your commitment to it, you get to play out the fantasies of a horror scenario centered on big moral questions. It’s easy to get consumed by its mysteries, and get wrapped up in the guesswork/detective work of exploring those mysteries to their ends.

"Remember this is not just a story. This is our future," she says ominously...The aggrandizement of this statement sets the tone for the rest of the game, with its ham-fisted dialogue, questionable optics, and juvenile desperation to be taken as Serious Art About Social Commentary. It’s the first hint at how profoundly, confidently ignorant Quantic Dream is about how the future, history, society, oppression, and even human beings work.

Those who play Immortals Fenyx Rising on Switch should be wary of joy-con drift. Drifting is annoying in some games but catastrophic in this one for aforementioned cliff-tripping reasons.

Even with a couple of major missteps, Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity is a welcome excuse to return to one of the most beloved video game worlds of the last decade and spend some quality time with characters who were already dead by the time Breath of the Wild started. There's an irresistible charm to making Mipha annihilate dozens of monsters at once with a cartoonishly large water tornado.

My Friend Pedro is one of the most exciting and well-executed Switch indies released to date, and easily one of the strongest options in 2019 so far. It leaves the first impression of a fun game that doesn't require a whole lot of thought, but the deeper you go the more it establishes itself as a standout.

Far Cry Primal starts off strong, throwing you into a hostile, untamed world and letting you flail until you figure things out. But it's too unfocused, too patchwork in the later stages and too much of a step away from the things that make Far Cry great...Yes, it's thrilling to tame a cave bear then ride it into battle while spitting fiery arrows in all directions. This is a fun adventure that'll keep you occupied for 20 hours or more. But Far Cry Primal is also, inescapably, a lesser entry in a series that's continually raised the bar for itself with each successive release.

The idea of having a feature-length live action mini-movie peppered throughout is undeniably ambitious. Yet the game frequently struggles to stand out; it doesn't stick the landing on its most ambitious pieces. Outside of the fantastic, time-bending visuals, the story and combat are merely fine, and the live action elements are nothing short of a chore to get through. It's a shame, as these sort of game releases are a rarity, with safer, more familiar sequels becoming the order of the day.

The weirder your tastes run, the more you'll find to love here. Good comedy is a rarity in video games, and the simple-yet-engaging puzzles are crucial to sewing this ridiculous story together. Donut County makes you laugh, loudly and repeatedly. That's all it really needs.