The Walking Dead: Michonne ends up an entertaining, if not quite as satisfying, addition to Telltale’s slowly evolving series. At its worst it simply provides more of the same action and difficult decision making that fans seem to love, and at its best it delivers fresh canonical insight into one of The Walking Dead’s most interesting characters.

EA Sports UFC gives them solid bones to begin with, but the series is going to figure something out how to win over casual sports fans if it wants to be a Madden-like success.

The Night of the Rabbit will make players wish that magic was real. The game’s charming world builds Jerry’s final adventure in his summer as something memorable and magical.

When a video game like Dead or Alive 5 throws around words like “sensual design” they’re really covering up for its appeal to the lowest common denominator of who they think are playing the games: Men who stare at boobs. Let’s be honest because the game’s producers certainly won’t be.

The transition to true open world play may not be going as smoothly as we might have hoped, but the technical issues have yet to push me away. In the end, I’m really just here for the weird wildlife, and there’s certainly no shortage of that in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet.

The transition to true open world play may not be going as smoothly as we might have hoped, but the technical issues have yet to push me away. In the end, I’m really just here for the weird wildlife, and there’s certainly no shortage of that in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet.

If you like Tolkien fantasy and all you really care about is finely crafted and gratifying combat, then you’re bound to have a ton of fun. Buy with abandon. You’re in for dozens of hours of bloody and gruesome entertainment. If, however, you want a fantasy role-playing game with a little more story, a more thoughtfully designed world that’s a pleasure to explore, and a pace of play that allows for more time engaged in activities outside of battle, then keep shopping. Middle-earth: Shadow of War won’t be for you.

It’s a breath of fresh air. A true next-generation rhythm game...But it’s not going to be for everyone.

Thanks to this brisk pace of play, a constant stream of skill points used to unlock new abilities, and a steady deluge of new equipment and armour that you can use, sell, or disassemble for crafting resources, the sense of progression is both real and satisfying. Once I was on the train, I didn’t want to get off. Still, it does feel like a game with unrealized potential. Players have been spoiled for choice over the last year when it comes to visually breathtaking, narratively rich games with huge and interesting open worlds. Rise of the Ronin is on the outskirts of that conversation rather than in the middle of it. Worth considering, especially for fans of historical epics and solid action, but the competition is stiff.

As a guy whose passion for golf games lies mostly in powering through single-player tours and developing a character’s skills and playing style, Mario Golf: World Tour left me a little unsatisfied.

The menus are still clunky and slow, players seem to run out of energy around the 60-minute mark of every game, and fancy animations are a poor substitute for basic functionality.

Guardian of Light felt like a nice little change of pace for the ailing Tomb Raider franchise when it arrived in the summer of 2010, and Temple of Osiris is a capable and – thanks largely to some great puzzles – fairly enjoyable extension of that experience.

The Xbox One edition I tested stuttered noticeably about once or twice per race, sometimes more. Even the slightest frame rate hiccups in racing games can result in collisions with potential to send you from first place to last in a blink – especially if they happen on a corner versus a straightaway. Frame hitching cost me a number of races in Need for Speed, and each was a maddening experience.

Of course, the fun that players have with Scribblenauts Unmasked‘s activities will correspond directly to their creativity.

I have a hard time understanding why Sleeping Dogs needed to be ported to Xbox One and PlayStation 4 in what Square Enix is calling the game’s “Definitive Edition”...It collects all of the game’s considerable post-release content – including a trio of story-driven add-ons – in one convenient place, which is laudable. But core game hasn’t changed much. And it wasn’t perfect to begin with...The expression “warts and all” to leap to mind.

But if you’re looking for an insight or two into the sociopolitical troubles currently haunting the country in which Far Cry 5 is set, best not to get your hopes up.

The Crew is far from a bad game and if Forza Horizon 2, the current top open-world racing game on the market, didn’t exist, I probably would have enjoyed it much more. Unfortunately, despite everything Ivory Tower’s latest title does correct, its lacklustre visuals, rubber-band AI, and disappointing story is difficult to ignore.

Good players may relish the more intense competition, but I find playing on the new multiplayer maps against the series most devout fans a bit disheartening.

Elegy for a Dead World may have its issues, but it provides the spark and kindling for a blaze of creativity. It ought to prove plenty of fun for anyone who chooses to keep feeding the fire.

Impressive as some aspects of the level design and interface might be, Guerrilla hasn’t quite delivered the whole package. This isn’t going to be a massive system seller with wide, mainstream appeal. Still, one can’t discount that Killzone: Mercenary may well be the most playable handheld first-person shooter yet made. That’s no small accomplishment.

Mad Max, despite his propensity for violence and vengeance, represents a flicker of hope that humanity’s best will always work to endure and survive its worst. And that, I think I finally understand, is what has kept me returning the Avalanche’s wasteland night after night.

While [the] handheld game stands on its own and recreates the same fun, bombastic, brawling experience it does feel a little pared down.

Clearly, The Legend of Zelda: TriForce Heroes isn’t going to stand among the greatest Zelda games. Instead, it will go down as one of the more experimental entries Nintendo’s decades-old series. And without much of a story, franchise fans who opt to skip it really won’t be missing much.

Part of the problem is that, outside of online rankings, there’s little in the way of long-term objectives. Players slowly earn currency while fighting that can eventually be used to unlock more arms for each of their fighters via a kind of lottery system, but it takes a long time to earn enough for even a single chance to unlock new arms. And there’s a chance you might earn arms you already have.

Encounters – generally set in bland open areas – tend to be pretty similar to each other. Jack uses his time shifting abilities – which evolve in terms of range and power, but not sophistication – in the same ways on a limited variety of enemies time and again while relying on an awkward automatic covering system as he reloads or waits for his abilities to recharge. Rinse and repeat. There’s simply not enough variety.

Worth keeping in mind for series n00bs: I’ve found Joe Danger games play a bit better on an iPhone or even an iPad Mini than an iPad.

But once I had the sense that there were specific things to be done in order to achieve goals, that became my focus, and the magic of the experience suffered for it. The sense of wonder I had with each new discovery was tempered by the logical part of my brain, which began looking for problems to solve and working out plans.

Racing fans will undoubtedly have fun with it for at least a little while.