Turn 10’s 8th kick at the Forza Motorsport can should have plenty of appeal to gearheads looking for a photorealistic, physically accurate simulation of high speed racing. And since it’s included with Xbox Game Pass, there’s no reason for subscribers not to take it for a test spin.

It may be comparatively short, but it begins and ends with an emotional bang and stuffs the second half full of surprises and gut-wrenching choices, all while setting the stage for a climactic finale poised to deliver revenge, war with those despicable Whitehills, and – for better or worse – some sort of resolution.

I think there’s an amazing amount of fidelity and love shown here to the source, and it’s one of the few adaptations of the material that seems to specifically get what made the 1979 film special. It’s certainly better than the atrocity that was last year’s Aliens: Colonial Marines. It’s just that it overstays it’s welcome a bit. A lot.

Sometimes all a person wants is a way to forget about the rest of the world while mindlessly ripping mancubuses to bloody shreds. In this modest ambition, and others, Doom Eternal succeeds sparklingly.

So to experience all the good of Deathloop you need also suck it up and suffer a bit of bad. Nothing too stinky, just enough to make you intermittently wrinkle your nose. But it’s worth it. Arkane’s newest isn’t perfect, but I suspect it will end up one of the most memorable games of 2021 simply because it’s so unlike everything out there at the moment. In a season of sequels and various licensed properties, it’s a treat to get to play something as original and unexpected as this.

It’s a member of a relatively rare breed of games the primary appeal of which is comedy. And in an industry slowly drowning in its own tropes and rehashed ideas, a fresh concept and some authentic laughs make for a nice change of pace.

It’s polished and fun – easily one of the top side-scrolling platformers yet released for Nintendo’s handheld – but there’s just not much significant new material here.

Strider is a great meaty throwback worth the $15 offer price.

My biggest gripe with Super Mario Maker for Nintendo 3DS is that it’s not designed to be shared between more than one person playing on different consoles.

Don’t even bother registering your Amiibo. That way you won’t be tempted to use them. And you’ll be able to play the game the way it was meant to be played for people who have to muddle through without any Amiibo. Do that, and Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam has potential to prove as satisfying as just about every other game in this great series.

It looks great, plays beautifully, can be surprisingly challenging, and puts a fresh and fun spin on toys that come to life inside games.

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare is undeniably distinctive within the Call of Duty family. But it might take a game or two for Sledgehammer to start delivering on the same scale as its sibling studios.

In creating a scoundrel of our choosing, we might actually end up learning a little bit about ourselves.

Ni No Kuni offers players an experience unlike almost any other RPG. At once, you are transported back to the innocence of a childhood filled with monsters, magic, and mysticism; but at the same time you find yourself immersed in an emotional story about a protagonist dealing with his innermost emotions.

It’s unlikely Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE will attract much more than a niche audience outside its native Japan. Not only is it exclusive to Wii U – sadly, a poor selling system that now feels like it has one foot out the door – but it also seems as though little was done to prep it for Western audiences beyond translating dialogue.

It’s inspiring to see a video game series make a leap from the 2D realm to 3D this seamlessly. Gaijin Games has made a quality experience that can have you hooked — if not a little addicted — after only a few minutes of playing.

While it might not be the perfect gateway drug to the series for players just getting to know Kratos, for die hard fans of the franchise, Ascension should provide an ample fix as they wait to see what the next generation of consoles holds for their favourite Spartan anti-hero.

It’s not so much what has been added that makes Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag good — but rather, what it lacks. Assassin’s Creed III was a grim game. The world was grim, and its protagonist grimmer. Strip away the environment, and you’re left with the sea. Strip away the American Revolution, and you’re left with humour and plunder of a lawless pirate war. It’s a welcome change — but it also deviates a little too far from the Assassin’s Creed DNA. The core mechanics are there, yes, but after ACIII, it’s been hard not to wonder how much is left to say?

Like Bram Stoker’s famous book Dracula, the source material on which the series is based, Castlevania continues to evolve and reinvent itself for new audiences.

It is at times dauntingly difficult, but there’s no denying Simogo’s slightly deranged Year Walk is among the most daring and innovative gaming experiences yet available for iOS.

Mr. Meier has come up with a smart and innovative game of turn-based tactics for gamers on the go. Now it’s your job to be a smart consumer and show him what you’re willing to pay for – as well as what you’re not.

Players swarm to new Fire Emblem games not to see the latest in graphics and mechanics innovations, but rather to enjoy a bit of classic Japanese RPG-style melodrama mixed with captivating tactical combat. And that’s exactly what they get here. The added bit of nostalgia that comes with revisiting past heroes is just the gravy on the side.

There is, in other words, a lot more to this seemingly casual console RTS than meets the eye. Legions of Halo fans are likely to drive its initial popularity. They won’t have any trouble figuring out the basics and giving the Banished a good pounding. And a few months from now many of them may still be playing Blitz. But I won’t be surprised if Halo Wars 2 also develops a strong and faithful following of serious RTS fans who regularly wage epic multiplayer matches well into the wee hours.

Last Voyage may be less than an hour long, but that time is enjoyable and thought provoking. And paying a dollar for something like this seems a small price to avoid the sort of bland, carbon-copied free-to-play junk currently clogging most app stores.

I was utterly flummoxed by the last boss, and there were lots of frustrating sequences through the game. On the other hand, those moments of victory made me feel ecstatic and invigorated for beating a challenge like I haven’t in a long, long time.

Ultimately, Until Dawn is a clever romp through horror movie tropes that is good for those who want fun interactive narratives. It’s cheesy, and there’s perhaps less to do with it once you’re done than I’d like, but it lacks the rough edges of many other narrative-first games...Personally, if we got a few more of these each year and a few less samey shooters, I wouldn’t mind one bit.

Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom remains a flashy fun time for fighting game fans and pop culture junkies who love “who would win in a fight between X and Y” arguments.

Which isn’t to say that these build and smash missions aren’t fun. They are loads of fun. I just didn’t get that same feeling of personal progression I did when I played WoL; I felt when I was done with that game I was better at StarCraft. Here I felt like I had just completed some enjoyable levels.

Even if no one in your family gets into the Toy-Con Garage, the Nintendo Labo Toy-Con Variety Kit should still provide plenty of fun. My family was amazed while making these ingenious, multifaceted models and delighted as we watched them come to life with a little digital magic.

Beyond saying, “Limbo on the iOS is great for people who don’t have an Xbox 360 and want to play the game,” there isn’t much else to this version of the game.

Fire Emblem: Three Houses does a laudable job of bringing Intelligent Systems’ strategy series to Nintendo’s hybrid console, and I’m likely going to be playing for months to come. The ability to take command of three different houses, each with their own roster of students, adds plenty of replay value. Still, I’m going to keep my Game Boy Advance Micro loaded with a copy of Fire Emblem handy for those days when I want to feel what it’s like to really risk the deaths of beloved heroes in battle.

Like a good film, 1979 Revolution often makes you feel like you’re witnessing real events, or at least an accurate depiction of those events.

Eldritch is a punishing difficult game that tests a player’s ability to survive in a Lovecraft-inspired world.

Whether you think of Immortals Fenyx Rising as a Breath of the Wild set within Greek mythology, a kid-friendly Assassin’s Creed, or something all its own (likely because you haven’t played either of those other games), the plain fact is that it is eminently playable. There’s never a shortage of things to do, and doing these things is generally a lot of fun. And at the end of the day, that’s pretty much all most folks want out of an open world adventure.

Despite falling into a genre and being released on the kind of gaming platform I typically ignore, I’ve found Feeding Time’s gameplay to be surprisingly compelling.

A little game like Mario and Donkey: Minis on the Move would make a perfect test title for the broader mobile market. I’d be shocked if it didn’t rocket to the top of app sales charts.

At its core, the game delivers. The gameplay — always the most important factor — is as good as it has ever been and the level of depth, customization and replayability makes this one a winner.

This game isn’t for the uninitiated. It’s clearly created for fans who think the idea of a pot bellied pig named Fluffy is funny, who can’t look at Barbara Streisand and not think about Mecha-Streisand, and who randomly yell “BEEEEFCAKE!” to their friends every now and then for no reason.

Play it with a few good friends or family members and it can be the video game equivalent of a bowl of soup for your soul, leaving you smiling, content, and just generally feeling pretty good.

It’s been a bumpier ride than I’d expected – especially given the potential comic goldmine that is the Borderlands universe – but Tales from the Borderlands seems to be back on track just in time for what’s shaping up to be weird and wild final episode.

Snipperclips is going to cause arguments, ruin friendships, and break up couples. It’s also as much fun as I’ve had with Nintendo’s new hybrid console outside of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

If Harmonix continues to build upon what its laid down, Rock Band 4 could end up being a monumental interactive music experience.

For the first time I could feel seething anger and resentment boiling just under the surface of most of our heroes, and it’s coming close to bursting through.

It’s wonderfully accessible. The music library here has something for everyone, and the interface is so intuitive that players of all skill and experience levels can play without much worry of failure. It ought to prove a hit at family game nights and small social gatherings alike.

I’ve only spent a couple of hours with Disney Art Academy, but I was pleased with the quality of a Chip – or was it Dale? – drawing I was able to produce completely from scratch following instructions.

Pikmin 4 doesn’t revolutionize Miyamoto’s nearly quarter-century old concept. Instead, in much the same way as the pikmin themselves continue to gradually evolve, it grows the franchise’s ideas and themes slowly and naturally, with a bit of sci-fi whimsy and a feel-good, family-friendly vibe. I’m here for it.

This high-priced Dr. Mario clone is still loads of fun – especially in groups – and serves as an effective prescription for anyone suffering a deficiency in accessible, competitive puzzle play.

It’s not as moving as the first season finale, and it doesn’t tie things together in a satisfying narrative knot the way the preceding season did. But it’s still compelling, thanks largely to its unflinching and sometimes disturbing depiction of no-win situations. Telltale Games refuses to let Clem or the player off easy.

I don’t know how much longer this pandemic will go on, but I’m happy to have New Pokemon Snap as one more weapon in my arsenal to combat lockdown boredom, alleviate my creative listlessness, and encourage a little more socially distanced friendship and community.

It may lack new and novel features that we can use to easily define it, but Supremacy gives us something that might be even better: Some Advanced Warfare‘s most sophisticated and entertaining competitive and cooperative maps yet.

If you are looking to play this game without having to go through the story, the Magnagate feature is a great way of hopping into a dungeon just for fun. Be sure to have good lighting, though, otherwise getting the feature to work can be a little hit or miss.

There’s still some engaging play, including a lengthy and well choreographed stealth action sequence starring Asher that makes good use of Telltale’s traditional point-and-click interface. If you can manage to pull off everything without any mistakes it plays out in deliciously cinematic fashion.

Far Cry 4 is filled with crazy action sequences and harbours a deep disregard for political correctness that dares players to complain about its depiction of bare-breasted women wielding machine guns and jokes about maxi pads used as bandages...However, if you’ve played Far Cry 3, it’s all going to seem pretty familiar. Routine, even.

The slog is real, but worth it for hard core JRPG fans.

I don’t see Returnal becoming another Uncharted-style mega-franchise for Sony. It’s just too punishing and quirky to nab a massive audience. That said, it’s a well-produced and polished play that doesn’t really feel like anything else out there at the moment. If you’re not afraid of a challenge, it may be worth adding to your PlayStation playlist.

Bravely Second: End Layer is probably the superior game. But sequels come with a different set of expectations. And from my perspective, those expectations haven’t been entirely satisfied.

It doesn’t take a lot of risks. You’ll run around a little hub world choosing visiting shops and choosing levels filled with various running and jumping challenges, plus some signature Sackboy moves involving tugging, pushing and hanging onto stuff. But it’s well executed and wonderfully easy to just sit down and play for 20 minutes here or there. Plus, the action is set to a buoyant soundtrack filled with music that perfectly matches the family-friendly hijinks. Don’t be surprised if you find yourself humming these tunes long after you stop playing.

It may not be as deep or sophisticated as many other modern racers, but Dirt 5 is nonetheless an entertaining outlet for engine revving on Xbox Series X or PlayStation 5.

Fantasy Life appeals to the dad in me because it teaches kids that work can be fun. It encourages kids to think that jobs – even real ones like tailoring and carpentry – are like a game.

This one definitely won’t be for all tastes, but players with a penchant for Japanese culture and a love of tactical combat are bound to find a little slice of criminal soap opera heaven in Yakuza: Like a Dragon.

Still, I was left with the feeling this episode simply fills the space between the first and third, moving our heroes from one important location to another without much of consequence happening along the way.

Regardless of whether I stick with Fallout Shelter to the end, filling a bunker a couple of dozen stories deep with 100 bustling dwellers, I’ve definitely had some fun.

I can only provide thoughts my own experience, and my experience with Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture was one of delight and wonder punctuated by many unfortunately long stretches of interface frustration.

Running across a horde of freaks in Days Gone is a helluva thing.

Needless to say, Paper Mario: The Origami King doesn’t have the general appeal of a traditional Mario game. It’s smart, creative, and rarely less than lovely to look at, but its combination of odd combat mechanics and sporadically subversive wit are bound to reinforce the franchise’s status as distinctively niche within the Marioverse.

They may have to fight their way to liking the game instead of it capturing their imagination from the very start. Xenoblade Chronicles X is probably the best RPG on the system, but your mileage, much like your Skell’s, will vary.

This is Far Cry reduced to its core elements, both good and bad.

The second season and occasional special episodes haven’t managed to recapture the emotional peaks of the series’ devastatingly emotional first season, and I’ve yet to see anything to suggest that this season will be any more successful. But it’s still well written, expertly acted, and filled with tense moments dealing with both the zombies and the true monsters of Kirkman’s world, humans.

The second season and occasional special episodes haven’t managed to recapture the emotional peaks of the series’ devastatingly emotional first season, and I’ve yet to see anything to suggest that this season will be any more successful. But it’s still well written, expertly acted, and filled with tense moments dealing with both the zombies and the true monsters of Kirkman’s world, humans.

The modes and minigames are quite good, but I think the need to use Joy-Cons rather than traditional controllers could prove a little frustrating for people who only have two Joy-Cons and prefer using a bigger gamepad.

Even with lacklustre combat, Paper Mario Color Splash’s gorgeous art style, lush music, and great writing make it a pretty easy recommendation, at least for fans of family-friendly single-player adventures.

Just seems kind of small and limited to me. I think people might expect a little more from an Animal Crossing game.

PGA Tour 2K21 delivers an excellent simulation of my favourite physical pastime, and I expect I’ll continue to come back to it whenever I’m blocked from the real thing by weather, winter, or a pandemic. However, I’m also anxious for this new series to blossom into a more polished and full-featured golf experience. And, given HB Studios’ provenance, I can’t help but hope one day to see a Canadian course or two (perhaps Inverness’ famed Cabot Cliffs?) make the official course roster.

While all the elements are in place for a traditional and memorable Resident Evil experience, Revelations 2 is – at least through this first chapter – missing a spark.

Just be aware that it can also be a bit intense.

A minor entry in a major series. A footnote in a story that’s already been told. An artificial extension of a series made to fill the tail-end void created by a console cycle stretched too long and too thin...Franchise fans will have some fun here, no doubt. I’m one of them. But I’m also more interested in seeing what Epic has been prepping for the next-generation.

Befriending (and perhaps even falling in love) with artificial humans is not an entirely novel premise for a story, but Benjamin Rivers approaches the idea thoughtfully and with tact, avoiding obvious pitfalls. What he has to say on the subject is worth a few dollars and few hours of any sci-fi aficionado’s time.

Something much more tame, a word that should be the antithesis of the series...Game developers won’t fix what isn’t broken and to do so is taking a huge risk, but Bayonetta is a series of firsts and this game feels like it’s playing on repeat.

I suspect most of my qualms wouldn’t exist had République been designed from the ground up for PlayStation 4, which is perhaps a point in favour of the hardcore crowd who raise their noses at mobile games. However, these problems are too minor to greatly distract from a game with a compelling dystopian story and stealth action that’s both pleasantly reverential and legitimately innovative.

While I’ve had plenty of fun with Fallout 4 and, to a slightly lesser extent, its DLC, I’m feeling pretty ready at this point to wait a few years for the fifth numbered entry in the series – a game that, hopefully, will receive a little more of a buffing than its predecessor.

Rollers of the Realm aimed for the big points and, while it might not be dead centre, they’re mostly on target.

So Dungeon Rushers isn’t the most polished or finely balanced game you’ll play on your phone. But the combat and exploration is challenging, the characters’ banter sometimes made me snicker out loud, and – most importantly – it’s fair. That’s enough to earn my five bucks.

Nuka-World doesn’t constitute the best time I’ve had playing Fallout. The action and mild role-playing don’t grow the core experience in any meaningful ways. But it did remind me why this epic post-apocalyptic adventure has kept my attention for nearly two decades, and it has everything to do with the series’ setting, culture, and mythology, all of which echo our own in ways familiar and sometimes uncomfortable.

I can’t deny that I enjoyed it. It proved a fun little distraction perfectly timed to kill a drying cycle in the laundry room on a Sunday afternoon. And I’ll gladly play the next episode, whenever it arrives.

Call of Duty: Black Ops III isn’t the best game in the series by any stretch, but it provides some safe and familiar shooting action and plenty of bang for your buck. So long as you aren’t a franchise hater, you’re probably not going to go wrong.

Perhaps most importantly, you’ll earn all of your victories through skill and strategy without being prompted to pay to win. It’s strange that such a simple thing ought to earn praise, but such is the current state of mobile gaming.

The few hours I spent with Everything were far from wasted. It is a one-of-a-kind interactive experience that will lead most players to think long and hard about the universe and their place in it. Any game that can do that – and especially one that does it with such panache and fearless ambition – earns my stamp of approval.

What really would have brought the game over the top would have been a Robert A. Heinlein-style narrative carrying you through the campaign. Sure, there’s some hints of political corruption within the upper ranks, but like many games it feels throwaway compared to everything else.

If you’re not afraid of the repetition that naturally comes with slowly wading through literally tens of thousands of monsters (I suggest pacing yourself over a few weeks or a month) there’s plenty to like in Victor Vran.

The better the game, the more money the company made; the more money the company made, the better games.

Even with Zombies proving less of a draw than it has been in a couple of years, the well designed multiplayer maps ought to make Eclipse worth the download for franchise fans.

The main reason to consider grabbing Reckoning, of course, is to see the finale of the Exo Zombies story that began with the co-op mode’s introduction in the first DLC and which has seen new chapters in each succeeding content drop.

I doubt Continuum will go down as one of Call of Duty’s best DLC packs. But some of its settings might end up proving among the most memorable within Infinite Warfare‘s library of co-op levels and competitive multiplayer maps. And for a casual Call of Duty player like me, that’s enough to make it worthwhile.

Massive Chalice – with its dual-gendered cup, regents of all ages and both sexes, and heroes with a variety of skin tones – is perhaps the studio’s best example of diversity and representation yet. It’s welcomes all players.

This sense of freedom combined with the game’s unbridled love of destruction and mayhem is what will earn Just Cause 3 a spot on millions of gamers’ shelves. It’s not particularly polished, pretty, or innovative. And no one would make the mistake of calling it intelligent or vital. It’s just a bit of stupid fun. And sometimes stupid fun is all we really want.

Despite it’s narrative strength, Freedom Cry somehow lacks the polish and teleological glue of the game upon which it builds.

Doom in 2016 may not be quite what I had anticipated, but it has just enough old and new to make me a fan.

I don’t expect many people will organize online Peggle 2 parties, and playing a puzzle game against strangers isn’t as much fun. Pity there’s no local splitscreen play.