Treyarch and its development partners have done their best to cobble something together with Black Ops 7, but you just can't get around the rushed nature of this back-to-back Black Ops release. The game's campaign is almost an insult to Call of Duty single player offerings of the past, and while the core of multiplayer is solid, technical issues are dragging that experience down on Xbox at launch as well. Zombies is the highlight for me and I can see myself dipping back into this mode a fair bit - in fact, it's probably the only bit of Black Ops 7 that feels truly finished on day one. It's probably worth checking back on multiplayer down the line when the issues I've mentioned inevitably get ironed out, but campaign can't be saved - and overall, Black Ops 7 just feels undercooked after the care and attention that was put into last year's release.

The Order of Giants is more Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, for better or for worse. Those of you who liked the base game's slower paced sections should get on well with the DLC, and its puzzles feel satisfying and fair throughout. Combat and exploration are lacking though, and just like the core game, I feel like the pacing is completely off - which definitely takes something away from the sense of adventure here. The Order of Giants is a solid expansion to MachineGames' 2024 title, but don't expect anything wildly different or unique from the team's brand-new DLC.

NHL 26 introduces some long-awaited improvements to Be A Pro mode, as well as some meaningful gameplay tweaks (particularly when it comes to goalies) that result in the best NHL game of this console generation. There's a lingering feeling that $69.99 is an expensive price tag for a series that's not changing that much from year-to-year anymore, but the development team have still done a commendable job with the seemingly limited resources at their disposal.

Warhammer 40K: Space Marine Master Crafted Edition (that's a mouthful) is a proper 360 throwback, for better or for worse. The game's tight shooting mechanics make this one worth a play for anyone who's into the genre, but its 2011 foundations are still showing here in this modern remaster. If you're properly into your Warhammer lore I'd expect you to get a little more out of the experience than I have, but the game itself is still a fun time, and we recommend giving it a go on Xbox Game Pass. The short and snappy campaign will take you just a few nights to finish, and who knows, maybe the multiplayer will find a cult following here in 2025. I'll be hopping on in the coming days to find out.

Getting to play more old-school Tomb Raider titles with the option of modern controls and modern visuals is another win from Crystal Dynamics, and I've had good fun revisiting these Lara Croft adventures. While The Last Revelation is the only game in here I'd consider a classic, both PS1 era games are still worth playing, especially now that Aspyr has given us the option to run through them with OG visuals at 60FPS. Despite being the newest title in here, The Angel of Darkness has aged the worst, and remains a stark reminder as to why the series moved to a new studio after this release. Tomb Raider 4-6 Remastered's adventures might not be essential, but they're worth adding to your library as this era of Lara Croft makes its Xbox debut.

There will likely be some Jedi out there who succumb to nostalgia and enjoy reliving the events of 'Episode 1' in this game no matter what, but for everyone else, Jedi Power Battles is a tough one to recommend. The co-op mode does offer some fun moments and is perhaps the best way to experience this package, but the overall design hasn’t aged the best and we encountered some technical problems on Xbox. Maybe wait for a sale on this one, if you aren’t the biggest prequel trilogy fan.

The Thing: Remastered, as expected from Nightdive, nails all of the technical aspects of a superb remaster. It gets full points from us on this front. However, the game itself is very much a tale of what could have been, had the devs stuck to the eerie exploration and atmospheric fear/trust system of the first couple of hours. Get past these opening hours, though, and overwhelmingly poor action sequences become more and more commonplace, resulting in a game that's just not much fun to play once it settles into its depressingly bland action rhythm.

Ever since we caught wind of MachineGames making an Indiana Jones title, we've been very excited by the prospect, but ultimately - we're a little disappointed in the final product. The overall experience isn't bad, and it successfully sells the Indiana Jones fantasy, but the gameplay elements here just don't match up to the vibe of a fun-time Indy adventure. The pacing is all out-of-whack, the open stealth-driven levels don't work in the context of an Indiana Jones romp, and the game just feels at odds with itself overall. We're always up for trying something different and for teams breaking genre tropes, but in the end, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is at its most fun in fleeting moments - which is a shame considering the amount of care and attention that's been put into adapting this famous old franchise.

A Quiet Place: The Road Ahead delivers plenty of spooks throughout its roughly eight-hour adventure, but it does run out of ideas somewhat during the back half of that runtime. When called upon, the cast is well-acted (even if the story is quite threadbare) and the whole thing does enough to cement itself as a worthy entry in the 'A Quiet Place' universe, which is a nice achievement for Stormind Games. Some more late-game variety and additional options for dealing with the enemy could have made this a horror great, but as it stands, The Road Ahead is just a decent romp through what's becoming quite a popular movie universe. Horror game aficionados and A Quiet Place superfans should definitely consider this one, but for those less experienced, there are better options out there on the horror game market.

Starship Troopers: Extermination is a pulpy, schlocky and suitably violent take on the Starship Troopers universe that gives you big beefy guns and a ton of exploding alien bugs to get busy decimating in online warfare. There are some big old hordes to take down, thanks to some impressive tech on display, and everything looks and feels properly great when you're in the thick of the acid-spewing action. However, there are way too many technical bugs just now, this doesn't feel like a game that just left a prolonged early access, and so for now it's a janky-but-fun experience that, with a couple of patches and content drops, could become a great one.

SpongeBob SquarePants: The Patrick Star Game feels like another excuse to cash in on the SpongeBob name. The game doesn't do anything offensive, but it's so barebones that it doesn't even really feel like a complete experience, particularly for seasoned gamers. If you absolutely have to try anything with the animated sponge's name on it, then frolicking around in Jellyfish Fields for a few hours or so could be fun - but otherwise, don't bother. It's probably worth just booting up Battle for Bikini Bottom Rehydrated again if you're in the mood for some SpongeBob gaming in your life.

Starfield: Shattered Space is a big disappointment in almost every way. We loved the base game, for all its flaws, and we were willing this to be the big, exciting DLC drop that'd make us love it all over again. However, what we've got here is a very average narrative expansion that fails to add any big choices, upgrades, new enemies, biomes, loot or anything that could potentially excite or draw in new players. It's buggy, janky, badly acted in places, and there are a myriad of bugs and performance issues to be ironed out. What a missed opportunity.

Mortal Kombat 1: Khaos Reigns is fun to play through but the quick runtime and light amount of gameplay on offer means you’re far better off waiting until it’s at least half-price or less. Part two only lasts for a handful of hours and Havik's timeline shenanigans never really feel like a high-stakes main mission. The new fighters are a redeeming aspect of this expansion, but the whole package seems overpriced at launch. For now, you might want to save your koins.

Looney Tunes: Wacky World of Sports is a mediocre collection that does a few things really well - such as the overall presentation and its fun rendition of golf. What drags it down are the other three sports, which are functional but arguably too clunky to attract long-term attention, as well as the lack of online multiplayer and any kind of a proper single-player mode. This game has charmed us for sure, and we'll keep coming back to it now and again, but it's definitely hard to recommend paying £39.99 / $49.99 for it.

EA FC 25 still plays a fine game of football in all of its online and offline modes, but it's fairly hard to get excited about any of it this year. The new depth to tactics, and ability to switch them up on-the-fly, are welcome additions. However, Rush feels a bit flat and forced, whilst the rest of the modes on offer are overwhelmingly familiar. We can see what EA was going for, and it's worked in some respects, but the focus on Rush, and a lack of big changes elsewhere, make for a bit of an uninspired year in the land of football/soccer.

Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster pretty much does what it says on the tin, but we were hoping for a little bit more from the game's 'Deluxe' moniker. The new visuals and performance improvements are nice, and the game's fresh control schemes and autosave options make this the best way to play Dead Rising in the modern era. However, the game's ever-controversial timer feels even more restrictive in 2024, and we feel like other dated elements such as the constant load screens could have also been brushed up for this new re-release. If you're looking for an excuse to replay the original Dead Rising, this is it, but if you were hoping for a big modernisation of this Xbox 360 era zombie-slayer, Deluxe Remaster falls short of delivering on that.

Don’t get us wrong, Lollipop Chainsaw RePOP is a fun fling from start to finish but it was never really a role model student when it arrived on the scene in 2012. Despite the enhancements and improvements in this latest release, the core gameplay and level design can feel quite outdated at times, and the chapter-breaking bugs have been hard to look past. If Dragami's updates resolve these glitches, or you're just a longtime fan of this one, maybe consider giving the zombie slayer an extra star for her efforts.

Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown is a really tough game to sum up in its current state. The game's vast open world and asphalt driving physics give the title a solid base to launch from, and we definitely think this series still has something to offer that differs from the likes of Forza Horizon and The Crew. However, Solar Crown's issues run deeper than launch-week server load, and the game needs quite a bit of tweaking to feel properly finished. Nacon and KT Racing are intending for this to be an ongoing live service game, and as long as the teams stick with it, we definitely think this new Test Drive game will be hugely improved months down the line. We can't recommend Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown right now, but if you're into your big open world racers, we definitely think this one is worth keeping an eye on as it gets fixed up and improved - you should be able to get it on discount that way as well. Solar Crown is yet another rocky launch for the franchise after similar issues plagued TDU2 back in the day - but that game did go on to become a bit of a cult hit, so there's hope for this Test Drive Unlimited title yet. It just needs a bit more time and attention for its solar crown to start to shine.

If you've played pretty much any Supermassive game in the past — from Until Dawn to The Quarry — you'll know what to expect from The Casting of Frank Stone. This Dead by Daylight tie-in doesn't quite match the lofty heights of those two games in particular, but it gets pretty close, delivering an engaging popcorn horror experience along the way. We'd have been well up for a few more hours in this universe, which certainly says something, but ultimately results in The Casting of Frank Stone sitting just below greatness.

Kena: Bridge of Spirits is a super solid debut for Ember Labs that serves up an enchanting atmosphere, slick and challenging combat and some very cute companions in the form of the ROT. It does all feel a little muddled in who it’s trying to attract at times, with simple puzzles and streamlined upgrade options attached to combat that pulls no punches. However, a respectful run-time, stellar visuals and a procession of very decent boss scraps ensure that this one still manages to find itself on our recommend pile.

More than two decades later, Star Wars: Bounty Hunter is a tough one to recommend. If you do have fond memories of this game, you might be more forgiving of its dated design and gameplay, but ultimately there are much better Star Wars offerings out there. Aspyr hasn't changed much beyond adding the modern controls and camera, so unless that's a big enough reason for you to return, this might not necessarily be the Bounty Hunter game you’ve been looking for.

Dungeons of Hinterberg is a hugely stylish and hipster-cool action-RPG that does a fantastic job in building a world that feels worth exploring, replete with dungeons that require effort whilst remaining fittingly chilled out. This is a puzzle-orientated affair more than an action-heavy thing, and that's a wise choice, as the puzzles here easily trump the fairly average fighting. Make peace with some naff dialogue and simplistic but likeable social aspects, and you've got yourself a unique and addictively atmopsheric adventure that puts vibes over violence.

By the time we rolled credits, that was the prevailing feeling we were left with. While we found more enjoyment in the latter two thirds of Flintlock than in the initial intro and opening area, we couldn't help but feel let down by Flintlock in almost every way. It's still a competent action-RPG that you can have fun with, and the pieces of the experience have been stitched together decently - Game Pass is a great way to check it out. However, so much here feels underdeveloped or half-finished that Flintlock: The Siege of Dawn was likely most damaged by its ambition when the project was in its early days. Now, in July 2024, upon the game's release, we get the sense that the ammo in the development chamber simply ran out.

Just keep in mind before you make a purchase that none of the other chapters exist yet on Xbox, and depending on how difficult you find it, Chapter 1 could take you less than an hour. We still don't think it's particularly bad value considering the low price point, but you're not getting much longevity here. Hopefully Chapters 2 and 3 will arrive on Xbox in the near future, but until then this is still a decent buy if you're interested. Just don't blame us if you have a nightmare or two.

All up, Gold Road offers another familiar slice of adventure in the land of Tamriel. If you are going in expecting big things for the 10th anniversary, try to temper your expectations. We've enjoyed our time with the story and what the rest of the expansion has to offer so far, and we're looking forward to seeing what the future holds for Elder Scrolls Online.

Senua's Saga: Hellblade 2 is the best-looking video game we've ever played. It sounds incredible, Melina Juergens acts herself inside out, and on a purely technical level this is just next-level stuff all round. However, we still don't feel as though extending Senua's plight into a Saga is a good idea. We remain unconvinced, and it's because this sequel feels like diminishing returns, as we had worried it might. It's not as vital or as unique in 2024, and it goes for bombast as a means of smoothing things over, resulting in a good game, an interesting eight hour romp, but nothing that screams must-play. Weak combat and dull puzzles are just more salt in these wounds, unfortunately.

Little Kitty, Big City is a purrfect addition to Xbox Game Pass and, in our view, is worth checking out if you have a subscription. If we’ve learned anything from our three hour romp through the city, it’s that… we’re glad humans have faces. Also that contributing to a circular economy by recycling cans is important. But most importantly, we affirmed what we thought we already knew: that being a silly cat is very good fun. This is the first ever release from Seattle-based developer Double Dagger Studio, and we think they should feel proud for delivering some much-needed, cat-shaped joy to Xbox.

Tales of Kenzera: ZAU is a solid debut for Surgent Studios and a genuinely heartfelt and moving piece of art to boot. We love its focus on narrative aspects, and the obvious time and effort that's been put into its characters and dialogue. For anyone who's had to go through the pain of losing a family member there's a genuinely emotional and uplifting adventure to undertake here, regardless of some slight clunkiness along the way.