The infectious humor, delightful graphic style and high gameplay variety of Super Mario Bros. Wonder provide a surprising and unique gaming experience, infused with an abundance of character. Super Mario Bros. Wonder ensures that the 2D Mario genre is in full bloom again.

Spider-Man 2 is a high-quality mega production of top quality and not only offers an astonishingly good story, but once again spectacular, extremely varied gameplay wrapped in stunning, sleek images. The sequel may not innovate hugely in terms of specific gameplay additions or tweaks, but as an overall package it's nothing short of AAA, and maybe even an extra A.

In the end Mirage was mainly one thing: boring. It is not a game with embarrassing bugs or crashes, but one that fails to fascinate. It took hours to get going, after which it told a lame story and didn't introduce any cool new ideas. I worked my way through it reluctantly. It's great that the game handles its setting a little better than the first part, but that one bright spot does little to make the game worthwhile.

This extra long pit stop for the series has raised certain expectations, but secretly this is just Forza Motorsport 8. Fortunately, Forza Motorsport still has that wonderful magical combo of arcade and simulator gameplay.

Not the players, but developer Starbreeze and publisher Deep Silver pulled off one of the biggest video game heists ever with Payday 3. Forty bucks for a lightweight, buggy and downright boring product: this is theft in broad daylight.

EA Sports FC 24 is secretly just Fifa 23.5. With the same advantages and the same problems. It all looks a bit more dignified and mature, but the new, chic costume cannot disguise the fact that EA Sports FC 24 is a shady players' agent who wants to get as much money out of your pocket as possible with as little effort as possible.

Lies of P borrows very enthusiastically from FromSoftware games and is therefore fun to play, but it adds very little to the well-known formula. The only exception to this is the weapon system, which comes out well and just in the nick of time gives the game the right to exist and its own face that it so desperately needs. It's a nice treat for Game Pass, but the five bucks you have to put down makes it a little more difficult to recommend in a jam-packed gaming year.

As a reboot, Mortal Kombat 1 is a complete success and the series has a colorful, sunny future thanks to the completely overhauled combat system, characters and aesthetics. If you look purely at the content and the way the modes have evolved, it is all a bit less impressive, but this is still a bold but successful new direction for the now classic franchise. It almost made me forget Injustice...

The Crew Motorfest is still not a real competitor for Forza Horizon, but in itself it is an entertaining open world racing game that plays well. Hopefully in a possible next part it can finally skip those ancient consoles and then go all out with switching between vehicles during events, then The Crew will have an attractive face of its own.

For die-hard fans, We Were Here Expeditions: The FriendShip feels like coming home. Compared to the larger Forever, developer Total Mayhem has pulled the handbrake and opted for a smaller-scale adventure in which you can easily reach the finish line in one evening. But due to the nice variation in puzzles, small innovations in game elements and reasonable but satisfying replay value, The FriendShip will certainly ensure that you will not soon forget that evening, at least until the next Expeditions adventure is ready.

We had to wait a while, but Starfield fully lives up to his sky-high expectations. It is special how Bethesda makes such a huge universe manageable, tells fascinating stories in it and manages to keep your urge to explore intact even after a hundred hours. Starfield is certainly not perfect, but it is a worthy successor to both Fallout and The Elder Scrolls, and much more than that.

Immortals of Aveum is a great shooter with nice and fast gameplay, nice world building and a fairly interesting story. It doesn't do much wrong, but just lacks soul to become your new favorite FPS, unless you were really waiting for a Call of Duty with magic and dragons.

Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon offers a pulse-pounding and demanding gameplay experience, deep customization options and a desolate game world that looks like something straight out of a sci-fi painting. The influences of especially Sekiro and other soul likes are palpable, but Armored Core is really its own game. It's a must-play for fans of hardcore gaming experiences and manages to hit that chord flawlessly, save for some solvable balance issues.

More than any RPG in recent gaming history, Baldur's Gate 3 challenges you to experiment with its many fantastic game systems while drowning in the rich, unprecedentedly detailed fantasy world where Larian has the most wonderful adventures, creatures and characters in store for you. On top of that, it also hits a nostalgic chord for me, and the Dungeons & Dragons element has a huge appeal. A 100 is therefore nothing less than justified.

Remnant 2, like its predecessor, is an almost infinitely playable amalgamation of a soulslike and a looter shooter, mainly thanks to the co-op that perfectly matches the game's 'procedurally generated' content. It's not a huge improvement on the first part and as a single player experience it's only recommended for the most hardcore gamers, but the original bosses, levels, beautiful music and exciting Events make it highly recommended for game packs.

Pikmin 4 is not so much better than its predecessor, but it is more. In terms of gameplay, variety of levels and puzzles, upgrades and creature types, the delicious Pikmin formula is pushed to the max in this phenomenal sequel. Dandori is my new way of life.

Crash Team Rumble is pretty fun, but should have been part of a collection of minigames, or a nice extra in a full-fledged Crash Bandicoot adventure. In itself it is very scanty, even for only 30 euros.

Diablo 4 looks and plays incredibly well, and Blizzard shows that it is back at the top in terms of story and cutscenes. Yet the game starts very slowly, it starts to show a lack of quality of life in the endgame and this MMO ARPG is also very unsocial. Nothing that can't be solved in a few seasons, but until then D4 certainly doesn't deserve a 9 or higher.

Impossification and the roller coaster hooks are the best elements of Park Beyond; very nice, and they actually offer something new. In terms of customizing your park and adding details, the game does very poorly compared to what we already know from the king, Planet Coaster, partly due to bugs and glitches. If you don't want to bother with that much, this is an entertaining amusement park sim.

Final Fantasy XVI isn't the next gen game I expected and as a fan you tend to be disappointed but if you go in with an open mind and Square Enix fixes that frame rate it's an action RPG not to be missed .

After the somewhat scant F1 22, F1 23 is back in the right gear. Braking Point 2 is an enrichment, small tweaks to the gameplay keep the racing fresh, while EA's experience drips from the online content. Enough for an eight minus, but if F1 wants to score big eights and nines again, a major MOT service is needed.

I really can't recommend The Lord of the Rings: Gollum to anyone. From the ghastly gameplay to a story that adds nothing to, and actually only detracts from, Middle-earth's brilliant overarching history... Not even the biggest LOTR fan can get anything out of this. The only bright spot is that J.R.R. Tolkien is spared.

Street Fighter 6 makes a serious effort to bring all those departing players back in - and I think it has what it takes to succeed. Online the game is more social, the story mode is great if you're not competitive and the modern controls make the game more accessible. This has what it takes to become the big EVO tournament sport again.

After Us is a stylish looking game with a very gloomy, but also realistic view of the future that awaits our consumer society. The level design is creative, the platforming is challenging using both horizontal and vertical route options, and the matching synth music enhances the surreal atmosphere. Yet After Us also drops a lot of stitches in the field of gameplay progression, character development and the story, so you don't miss much if you ignore this reality check.

Lego 2K Drive combines aspects of popular arcade racers like Forza Horizon and Mario Kart, but never does it to the same level of those competition. However, thanks to creative and varied level design, typical Lego humor, stable performance and an almost bug-free experience, this is a very worthy racing game for young and old.

On older consoles, the magic of Hogwarts Legacy is sometimes broken by technological flaws, but if you've been waiting for a letter from Hogwarts in the past, that's no reason to pass up on this game. Hogwarts Legacy has a fairly basic approach, but the beautiful music, detailed world and fun combat ensure that the game is dripping with atmosphere and also plays nicely.

Breath of the Wild is one of the best Nintendo games ever made, and Tears of the Kingdom improves on the formula in just about every way. Yes, there's a sense of déjà vu with Hyrule's existing map, but the wow factor of the first game is regularly matched as you venture into the new areas.

A shooter in which you slaughter vampires with your friends sounds fun on paper, but in the case of Redfall it is especially frustrating in practice. The game has a nice game world and great shooting action, but that doesn't make up for the bizarre choices, technical problems, stupid enemies and extremely short playing time. Redfall is an Arkane-unworthy product.