Odd control schemes, lack of core gameplay features from previous installments, and unfortunate legacy design decisions make this holistically feel like an inferior experience.

I enjoyed the idea of Surgeon Simulator, but the difficulty made the game futile more than entertaining.

Without the backdrop of nostalgia, The VideoKid would be a truly forgettable game. That it is only saved by its licenses was enough for me to extract a certain amount of enjoyment, but it probably won’t be for those not versed with the characters of 1980s Hollywood.

While the combat is entertaining and the dungeon crawling is okay, the story and the whole idea of having to “motivate” these girls are simply too unnecessary, too uncomfortable, and too offensive for this game to be worth your time.

Dangerous Driving can be fun in short spurts. The lack of car manufacturers’ licenses is expected when any game is priced at half the cost of bigger-scale games. But the lack of even a time attack mode means that once players have beaten the campaign, there is little reason to go back besides the inclusion of online leaderboards.

While there’s plenty of content on offer, Black Ops 7’s well-executed (if not overly familiar) multiplayer and Zombies modes are eclipsed by a truly baffling, nonsensical campaign. Here’s hoping that 2026’s Call of Duty manages to find its footing again and, hopefully, stick the landing.

While the idea of being able to influence the evolution of your clan of apes seems novel and exciting the reality is that it’s a bit of a repetitive slog. Through bad decisions or sheer bad luck, it’s far too easy to wipe out your whole clan which means that you’ll have to start all over again from the beginning. It’s an interesting experience but one that’s tough to recommend to anyone but the most patient of gamers.

I want to love Fallout 76, namely for its addition of co-op play and the representation of a region dear to my heart. I simply can’t. I wouldn’t say the latest Fallout title is abysmal or even bad, just very middling. It removes many of the series’ strong suits and attempts to make up for it by adding in new mechanics or strengthening lesser ones.

Though the campaign is unimaginative and some areas are not fleshed out as well as they could have been, the game is still addictive stuff. But, once you’ve run through the campaign you’re only left with the sandbox mode, which grinds to a halt as soon as you start to do well.

While the battle system receives two thumbs up for trying, the rest of the game receives a thumbs down. The steep difficulty might turn off casual RPG fans, though hardcore RPG fans will enjoy the challenge.

For Virtua Tennis to survive, it needs new ideas, and a more robust experience wrapped around the fast-paced experience.

Rather than a true piece of DLC, The Taxidermist feels more like a deleted scene from the game–something that the developers began to work on, but, for some reason or another, never quite finished.

Ironcast has a fascinatingly complex base game, filled with myriad details to keep track of and a brilliant sense of strategy. Unfortunately, while serious tacticians will find themselves enjoying the nightmarish difficulty, anyone looking for a lighter challenge will be left in the dust, as permadeath and a merciless RNG slow progress to an unsatisfying crawl.

If this really is Suda51’s last major venture with Travis Touchdown, then it’s a passing ending for the “passing assassin.” There’s no re-invention here – if you got a kick out of the earlier games, then there is plenty for you to enjoy this time around. It might get a little stale as you fight a group of enemies in a Designated Fight for the umpteenth time, but at least you’ll look stylish doing it. If No More Heroes has never been your cup of wrestling-inspired ultraviolence, well, best move along then.

It's a completely generic affair, however, that does not stray from your typical formula of level grinding and copious, repeating dungeons.

It doesn’t take long to see that Warhammer: The End Times – Vermintide for PS4 was certainly not constructed with consoles in the forethought; it’s quite the afterthought, and it painfully shows. Stick to the PC for this one.

When looking back at my time with the game, I don’t feel horror at its revelations. I feel disappointment in light of what it could have been concealing, and simply wasn’t.

Kane and Lynch 2: Dog Days suffers from many issues. Everything from choppy gameplay to bland character design plague what could have been a semi-decent title. Simply put, these are definitely dog days for Kane & Lynch and after this sequel, let's hope they stay dead men.

A great little game that can burn up more than a few hours of your time. There is an option for downloadable content from the main game menu, so the developer is thinking ahead. The $9.99 price tag seems a little high due to the short story, but if future DLC were to be free, or minimally priced, the price would fit better.

Slam Bolt Scrappers serves its course as a good multiplayer title but feels incomplete, especially at its current price of $15. At a little more than a dollar a level, there is tremendous opportunity for a complete world of creative level design that you'll feel cheated out of.

You probably could have guessed this by now, but Dolmen should have released before Elden Ring. All Soulslike games from here on out will constantly be in that game’s gigantic shadow. It’s not that there’s not enough room in this genre for more entries, especially ones that are in such a wildly different setting. It’s just that whatever games release in this space must now meet such incredibly high standards or face intense criticism and likely faltering sales. Dolmen will surely appeal to those who want a Soulslike adventure in a sci-fi setting, and perhaps were disappointed by 2020’s Hellpoint release. Just go in with lowered expectations owing to a smaller dev team, and perhaps you’ll have some fun smashing enemies to bits.

Sure, it's not as refined as its competitors, but WRC delivers a solid rally experience, particularly for hardcore fans. But the sub-standard visuals detract from the otherwise entertaining racing experience and the lackluster presentation doesn't the help the game in any way.

From its sometimes frustrating platforming, to its button mashing combat, Tron: Evolution has many shortcomings. Even with these issues, fans of the Tron universe will get some enjoyment out of this game, and all in all it is not a bad rental, but for those who are not interested in the franchise, its best to steer clear of the game.

Just a demo of Move controls in the LBP universe.

Cool as it sounds, if you stick a circular saw on the front wheel of a motorcycle, it might slash the tire, or sever the brake line, or spark through the spokes. As good as Steel Rats is at world-building, it often fails when it lets you take control. Sometimes the answer it finds isn’t the answer it needs.

Dynasty Warriors 9 Empires is tailor-made for super fans of the franchise. While players may feel like a lackey at the start of any new Conquest campaign run-through, rising up the ranks and having the Prime Minister agree with your suggestions can feel rewarding. If you enjoy making decisions about whether to increase ration development or to collect tribute on a monthly basis, or politicking in general whereby interacting with important people gets your heart racing, then by all means check out Dynasty Warriors 9 Empires. The rest of us will get by on regular Dynasty Warriors 9 just fine.

Warriors of Rock is in no way a broken game – there is just nothing very compelling or ground-breaking brought to the stage.

While it doesn’t do anything vastly new for the genre and treads the ground of repetition that puzzle games like to, Shiftlings is a solid puzzle based platformer for both solo and co-op players.