Tetris Effect is a sort of instantly timeless puzzle game that is good about delivering the exact sort of single-player trial you need, when you need it.

Of course, the strength of Taiko no Tatsujin: Drum Session, beyond its time-honored musical mechanics, is the variety in its tracklist, its long list of goofy unlockables, and easily digestible score chasing.

Transpose came completely out of left field and knocked my proverbial socks off. It was a genuine pleasure to play. I went in with virtually no expectations and left feeling like I’d been swept up into something I never realized was even possible in VR. If you’re looking for a no-frills puzzle experience that can scratch that Portal itch, look no further. This is the kind of perception-altering title that PSVR owners owe it to themselves to play.

While Déraciné is worth playing and figuring out for yourself, it’s hard to recommend with enthusiasm. While intriguing and mysterious, the storytelling does have fundamental issues that make the overall mystery feel unearned and the tension intangible.

8 to Glory is bare bones in every way.

For all it aspires to deliver, Mutant Football League is a refreshingly vulgar, entertaining take on a tried and true football formula.

GRIP: Combat Racing is an impressive arcade racer, one that harkens back to the glory days of racers such as WipEout, while adding its own innovations.

Death Mark does nail its atmosphere of otherwordly unpredictability, looming dread, and urgency that sells its central plot quite well.

Call of Cthulhu is worth playing if you like your Lovecraft. It’s worth playing if you like horror in general, too. However, it isn’t a must-play, despite having the potential to have established itself as one.

The target audience for this product are either shameless zealots or complete newcomers. Given that there is no other legitimate source to play both games on a current generation console, either group will ultimately end up satisfied. However, if you are looking for fan service, you’ll be gravely disappointed. Imagine that: Konami phoning something in? Why does that sound so familiar?

Sinner is focused and simple, but over-complicates things with the sacrifice experiment. It’s a step in a new and right direction, but it’s only a half step at best.

While Nickelodeon Kart Racers’ provides plenty of content and has smart references that integrate well with some very solid racing, the poor visuals and botched battle mode leave plenty to be desired. If you accept the game for what it is there’s definitely some fun to be had but its shortcomings are jarring enough to require some substantial blinders.

Heavy Fire: Red Shadow had the potential to give gamers an updated version of Beach Head 2002 from the heyday of arcades. Unfortunately, an incredibly short campaign, terrible graphics, and a lack of any real challenge all coalesce into an altogether underwhelming product.

Red Dead Redemption 2 redefines the open world genre. Arthur Morgan's journey through the late 1800s American frontier never reveals the stitches at its seams. Whether you're engaging in a massive shootout in a saloon or quietly enjoying a moment of reflection while fishing on a lake, it all feels like a part of Morgan's life. The level of detail is unsurpassed, and it's a game that wants you to take it slow and enjoy those small details. Rockstar took some risks in eliminating traditional gaming conveniences, but everything pays off in service of the greater experience. Red Dead Redemption 2 sets a new benchmark in detail, immersion, and cohesion that will be heralded for years to come. It's just about as perfect as a game can get.

My Hero One’s Justice is a strong introduction to what could easily be the foundation of a valuable fighting franchise for Bandai Namco and a must-own for My Hero Academia fans.

While The Heist has a strong story—or at least the start of one—it doesn’t fill out the world or give Peter any additional gameplay growth.

A decent campaign is paired with a beefier custom story mode, to provide for dozens of hours of gameplay, even if most of the cutscenes are more visual novel than actual cutscene.

The collectibles are easier to amass, the puzzles have some challenge, and the character creation is enjoyable. If nothing else, you get to hear Mark Hamill’s sillier version of the Joker. That alone makes the price of admission worth it.

If I had to describe Haunted Dungeons: Hyakki Castle in one word, that word would be, “fumbly.” There’s a lot of fumbling, mostly with the controls, some with the menus and UI, and some with getting around the maps with their samey walls and lack of landmarks.

An intriguing horror experience with some neat ideas, but it doesn’t seem to have the muscle to make those ideas work as well as they could. It’s a short, concise experience, but it’s often interrupted by frustrating trial and error challenges that interrupt the flow with frequent checkpoint loading and rewatching cutscenes.

While the adventure may be incredibly short, it is one that groups may enjoy, to see how others react to the horrors that await within. However, much like a scary movie or haunted house, once you know where the scares are located, they don’t have the same oomph as the first time through.

While it’s not perfect, Starlink is a fantastic base for a new wave of toys-to-life games, innovating on the genre in a special way that further connects players with both the toys and the experience. And even when the game is off, for this 30-year old gamer at least, the spaceships are still fun to play with.

As an NBA Playgrounds apologist and lover of arcade sports sims, this game can only be characterized as a disappointment, and a frustrating one at that.

You won’t be disappointed.

The ceiling on combat potential has been shattered here, and using the new tools at players’ disposal can allow them to more or less combo indefinitely to their hearts’ content. While the breezy, fast and simple style of Musou isn’t for everybody, fans will undoubtedly have a blast pushing this one to its breaking point, should one even exist. Warriors Orochi 4 is an easy highlight in a series that has consistently improved (Dynasty Warriors 9 being an exception) over the past few years.

While it isn’t going to be blowing the doors off of the tactical strategy genre, Space Hulk: Tactics is a perfectly adequate game. Thanks to a solid combat engine, good writing, twin-headed campaign, and level designer, players will certainly be getting their monies worth for the forty-dollar price tag.

It takes exactly what people love about the series and continues to fine tune the things it does best. This is the Call of Duty that Treyarch is known for. The story is still there, intertwined with lore about the multiplayer Specialists, but this drastic shift for the series has allowed Treyarch to pour far more resources into the parts of their game that keep fans coming back. Black Ops 4 might be missing a campaign, but it still feels like the most robust the series has ever been.

WWE 2K19 suffers from the same problems the WWE product does as a whole: a failure to move forward. The game is great and makes some very notable improvements, especially in MyPlayer and Showcase modes, but it also refuses to move beyond the dated engine that limits actual gameplay innovation.

Evasion is another example of a fast-paced VR game that doesn’t seem like it could work in theory, but has been executed with a care and precision befitting of a developer that has a lot of expertise in the VR field.

It lends itself well to those who simply want to quickly boot up a game and knock out a few matches within minutes. But if the basic loop of fight until you win isn’t enough to keep you coming back for more, there is nothing else on offer to change your mind.

The game was a joy to experience and I cannot wait to see how the world is saved. Visual novel fan or not, the characters, writing, and unique gameplay are all easily appreciated and enjoyed. And while the fan service is definitely there, it’s not the focus of the game. In fact, in a perfect, non-destroyed world, you’ll see as few panties as possible.

While the series may not reach the same critical heights it did as with the inaugural season, things were finally starting to get interesting again. The Telltale Tool engine runs well, the art style is unique and fun to look at, and the writing has improved. If this is how things must end, it could have been much worse.

This is not a game for a more general audience. Hell, I have been playing visual novels since before they became popular in the west, and I had trouble sticking with it. Lots of strange choices were made in this game, and all of them made it more difficult for me to connect with the story and its characters.

At its core, 8-Bit Armies is a an imitator. A competent one, a throwback, with a few clever tricks of its own, but nothing wholly original or revolutionary. If you’re itching for another strategy game it will satisfy well enough, but it doesn’t feel essential.

Creed: Rise to Glory is superb as a boxing simulator, but it’s almost non-existent in its storytelling. The spirit of Creed and the Rocky franchise isn’t just in the fights, it’s in why they fight, and that’s something this game completely fails to capture.

What you’re really getting out of Disgaea is a lot of fact-paced, tactical gameplay, tons of grinding well beyond what you see in similar games, and quirky, off-kilter humor that will appeal to your inner irony goth.

Dark Eclipse has a good foundation, with a good outlook for the future.

If you ever wondered what it would be like if Kazuma Kiryu gained like 200 lbs and fell into the Mad Max universe, well that’s Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise summed up pretty neatly. On the other side of the coin, Fist of the North Star fans will have a blast tearing it up as Kenshiro, but those still hoping for a great video game adaptation of the classic manga may come away disappointed in that respect.

Aside from a few minor platforming quirks thanks to the introduction of the third dimension, this is still the Blue Bomber that you’ve come to know and love. But don’t let the gorgeous presentation fool you, because it will still mercilessly kick your dick in with remorseless gusto.

Ubisoft set out to create an Assassin’s Creed game worthy of Odysseus’ name, and bravo, they have done it. It’s certainly as long as one of Homer’s poems, but every minute of it is entertaining, and, well, fun.

The game was enjoyable when it worked. However, there are far too many times that it didn’t work that marred my experience.

This is an excellent game. Life is Strange 2 is bold, ballsy, and wildly ambitious, promising an epic and personal odyssey across America circa October 2016. Dontnod is capturing the mood of a powerful country in the midst of a crisis of identity. If they can stick the landing, Life is Strange 2 has the potential to be a masterpiece.

There are so many better options for those who want to shoot men on a budget, that there’s almost no good way to recommend Warface above them all.

I know what it feels like to walk that fine line between patience and anticipation while holding a rod. That’s the part of fishing Fishing Sim World failed to simulate. The energy. There’s simply nothing exciting about catching fish in this game.

Transference’s subtlety is meant to create additional depth, but keeping the player at arm’s length only works if you eventually let them in. Unfortunately, Transference never fully shows its narrative hand and that’s the game’s biggest detriment. Gameplay-wise, the game is easy but satisfying to navigate.

Forsaken will persistently be a different game with new things to do and discover each and every week, and I don’t see that slowing down anytime soon.

Timespinner will definitely take a place on the list of games I remember and recommend over the years.

It’s refreshing in its earnest nature, and is actually more hopeful than nihilistic. But it is still on the simple and tropey side.

A disappointment in all aspects. Clunky driving, a blurry presentation, generic sound design, boring upgrade options, and mind-bogglingly terrible physics all mash together into one “arcade” racer you’re better off avoiding, especially at its launch price of $49.99 USD.

Without question, The Golf Club 2019 has received a large credibility injection thanks to the involvement of the PGA Tour. Sadly, this feels like a half-implemented crossover that doesn’t utilize the license to anywhere near its full potential.

The Gardens Between stands out among its physics/puzzle/metaphor-driven peers. It’s beautiful to look at and listen to, gratifying to solve (most of the time), and in the the end tells a simple story that’s just bittersweet enough to sting your brain into thinking about your life a little.

FIFA 19 is yet another crisp, clean, and innovative offering from EA. I’d say that this game is a lot more like FIFA 17 than 18 when it comes to shaking things up, however, which is definitely a good thing.

The Zero-G gameplay remains fun throughout, and a wide assortment of weapons and tools helps to allow players some freedom in the way they dispatch enemies. With death being meaningless, and a story told without any real clues to go off, some players may not feel rewarded enough by simply progressing to the next room.

Blind banks a lot on, well, the blindness being the big draw, but I don’t think using it as simply an extra hurdle on top of familiar puzzle-solving elements does much to elevate the experience as a whole.

The brief levels offer a perfect bite-sized morsels, and you may even end up biting off more than just a nibble each time you play, slamming just one more coin into the slot to start another round.

Whether with friends, strangers, or by yourself, Boundless ensures there’s always something new to do in a connected universe, one which rewards those who put in the time.

Virtually everything about NHL 19 is a genuine step forward in quality. While some modes received the lion’s share of the attention, it feels like damn near everything received SOME love. If you have been on the fence, now is the time to lace up and hit the ice. We’ll see you between the pipes.

Between a few novel minigames in Neighborhood and some simple esports integration, 2K19 sometimes feels like a title update as opposed to a full-blown sequel. But what really matters, the basketball, is better than it’s ever been.

A solid remaster that fans of the original shouldn’t hesitate to pick up. Having said that, the game hasn’t aged all that well.

This is by far the best way to experience the studio’s vision and their unique take in narrative driven games.

While it has some good ideas that are well-intentioned and will surely provide some entertainment to die-hards, NASCAR Heat 3 is missing all those things and, in the wider scheme of racing games, is still several laps behind.

Definitely not a fairy tale, but if you’re okay with playing something with a darker, more mature tone then it’s worth giving this a go. Exploring every inch of the labyrinth is addictive, and its unique battle system and an in-depth character creation system will keep you busy for quite a while.

An excellent game, compelling in both its character roster and its gameplay.

It's comfort food for seasoned Tomb Raider fans, and yet it will still be appetizing to newcomers.

I cannot recommend it to you unless you love its aesthetics and fanservice.

Naruto to Boruto: Shinobi Striker is a good start and will provide you with a good time, just don’t be surprised if you find yourself growing tired of the rinse and repeat of VR missions and PVP.

There are many things to appreciate in this year’s installment of NBA Live. The addition of mixed gender rosters, female created players, the introduction of Court Battles, and the new commentary team all help the game keep pace with their previous improvements. It is not going to raise the quality bar anytime soon, but they’ve managed to deliver an authentic NBA experience. If you’re looking for a solid alternative to 2K’s offering, look no further.

While it struggles with how simple it does or doesn’t want to be, Blade Strangers has a cute vibe, an earnest sense of humor, and flashy enough gameplay that running through it with all the characters is definitely worth a few weekends in-between Evo training.

Technical issues aside, I greatly enjoyed my time in the Heretic Kingdoms. The hack-n-slash combat with puppeteering strategies always felt fresh, the enemies always presented a challenge on the Normal difficulty, and I never got tired of the vast exploration and puzzle solving.

If you want a game, there are better music puzzlers out there with heaps more content, and if you’re looking for someplace to fire up your musical chops, there are actual music production tools that will serve you in better ways than Track Lab’s isolated creation mode.

Marvel’s Spider-Man isn’t innovating on the open-world genre, but Insomniac doubled down on creating a spectacular Spider-Man fantasy. It simply feels good to travel through Peter Parker’s New York as the webslinger, even if whatever Spidey-suit you choose is covering a competent and entirely expected open-world formula. Filled with more emotion, heart, and humanity than we’ve seen in superhero adventures before, Insomniac doesn’t need to reinvent the open-world wheel. Marvel’s Spider-Man embraces the man behind the mask and gives us the best interactive Spider-Man experience to date.

I have never played a game quite like 428: Shibuya Scramble. It’s hands-down the best visual novel I’ve ever experienced. Anything you could want in a visual it offers.

There’s no bullshit in Planet Alpha, to put it plainly. It knows exactly what it wants to do, and it does it. There’s no filler, no cheap puzzle solutions, no game-breaking glitches, no gratuitous lean towards overused narrative crutches. It’s just a platformer, but one that emanates a graceful radiance of character and color.

Firewall Zero Hour is an intense, immersive experience which will put the Aim Controller through its paces, and may be the best VR shooter released thus far.

If you take a step back and look at the big picture, it’s hard to shake the feeling that Pro Evolution Soccer 2019 may actually be taking a step backwards this season. However, upon closer examination, a vast majority of the criticism consists of minor problems in an otherwise stellar football simulation.

If you’re looking for something that will challenge you and twist your brain into knots, this game isn’t it. There’s no real skill curve, and most of the puzzles are simple enough that you can more or less accidentally stumble on the solutions, with a few rare exceptions. But I assure you that from the first moment you tip something into that hole and see it grow, you’ll be hooked.

Divinity: Original Sin 2 – Definitive Edition is still the RPG dream it has been since its release. Better still, there are a few compelling reasons to own this title on PS4 this go around, and players don’t need to sacrifice how it looks or performs in order to do so. If you haven’t played Divinity: Original Sin 2 – Definitive Edition and you’re into RPGs, tabletop gaming, or sprawling narratives full of choice, now is the time to jump in.

Strange Brigade has perhaps the most finicky, inconsistent gunplay in my recent memory.

Fire Pro Wrestling World is just the best wrestling game I’ve played in years. It’s also a perfect fit for the PS4, with its arcade-style input commands right at home on the DualShock 4. If you want to play a wrestling game on the PS4, there’s only one option, and Fire Pro Wrestling World might be set to have art imitate life and experience the same kind of global renaissance that NJPW is experiencing.

I found myself engrossed in the usual grind I’ve come to love over the years, the silly and fantastical creatures from my favorite artist, and the storytelling that met and even rattled my expectations.

As hilarious as Pizza Titan Ultra can be, it is a one-note experience.

While Fall of Light: Darkest Edition does have an interesting tale to tell, it’s wrapped up in so many layers of mediocrity that it’s unlikely you’ll get far enough to care. Poor combat, annoying death mechanics, and an irritating inventory system make the game tedious to play through.

Warhammer 40,000: Inquisitor – Martyr isn’t perfect, but it’s the first enjoyable WH40K action title to grace the consoles since Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine.

Little Dragon’s Café is a unique and utterly delightful adventure. There is no better way to unwind then adventuring with a dragon, while helping people solve their life problems, and indulging in a little bit of cooking.

A faithful return to a PS2 classic. Whether it’s taking in the town, interacting with the people, or running into random restaurants, there’s always plenty of things to stay busy doing when not playing the main campaign. Combat still feels a bit stiff, but this should be manageable and overcome with ample inventory room for health items at any rate.

Let’s be honest, the remaster isn’t perfect and the versions that I played were before any patches had been issued. These are not remakes of the original Shenmue games. We accept these ports as they are, flaws and all, because they have a wonderful and engaging story that has kept fans wanting more for 18 years.

Whereas the characters, gameplay, and stages pack a fair punch, overall it suffers due to dire loading times and a stale state of a single-player experience.

Death’s Gambit had such promise. At its core, it is the blueprint to properly take risks and make attempts to improve a game design that we all take for granted. But it’s just surrounded with poor quality of life choices, while missing some things it should have absolutely nailed. Weird animations, strange pacing, counter-intuitive combat, and way too many bugs holds this game back from being something truly great.

Fast, fun, funny, challenging, and chicken-filled, Juan Aguacate shows us he’s still got a few tricks up his mangas (sleeves), especially when he takes on his chicken form.

At first, playing Candleman will be an unsatisfying, slow-paced act of just going through the motions, but if you stick around, you’ll discover some magic by the end.

The cartoonish art style, the dark sarcasm, (most of) the puzzles, and the unpredictable story all heavily suggest this game has the makings of a hit. It’s unfortunate that a few bad eggs spoil the experience a smidge.

VROOM KABOOM has big ideas, but I don’t think it’s a matter of execution. I think these ideas are just disparate enough that it makes putting them together naturally problematic.

While H1Z1: Battle Royale doesn’t do anything particularly special yet, it sets up a solid foundation that can be expanded with future events and additions, a la Fortnite.

It’s visually striking, earns its laughs, and gives plenty of reasons to re-explore both the living and dead sides of Penny Doewood’s little town.

This is an average game wrapped up in an abysmal marketing choice. Avoid for now, just be sure to give it a second look if it hits an amount you’re willing to pay.

Anamorphine makes an important distinction by not only exploring the mental illness, but exploring the impacts that it has on those around you.

For those who just can’t get enough of futuristic adventure point-and-click games, State of Mind is worth the virtual trip.

Phantom Doctrine is good tactical action game with a great spy culture motif.