On one hand, Dandara is a perfectly serviceable romp through a series of well-designed and attractive environments; on the other, it's a deliberate yet confusing sidestep of well-established gameplay conventions.

NBA 2K21 suffers from the same issues that have held the series down for years. A poor MyCareer story, reused assets, shoddy servers, and an over-importance of VC/microtransactions. The one redeeming quality that NBA 2K21 can boast is its high-level gameplay. Luckily, that’s what you want most from a basketball sim.

Bud is adorable, the world is visually stunning, and the game itself enticingly oozes whimsy. But those pure moments of bliss are undercut by Bud’s frustrating controls in a world filled with moments requiring his best precision.

Nickelodeon Kart Racers 3: Slime Speedway isn’t the worst kart racer I’ve ever played, but again, it’s also not the best especially when compared to previous entries in the series. As previously mentioned, Nickelodeon Kart Racers 3: Slime Speedway is a middle of the road racer in almost every aspect save for its character roster, graphics, and elements like picking three characters to be part of your pit crew.

Gargoyles Remastered is an interesting and pretty walk down memory lane, but you’d better be ready to have any rose-colored glasses shattered by its unforgiving gameplay if you take that walk.

It's a shame, because Forspoken's terrible story and its unlikable main character largely bog down what's otherwise a competent action RPG. There's a foundation for something good here, but it sadly doesn't realize that potential.

Like many sports franchises that release yearly iterations, EA Sports FC 25 is going to be much like the game you remember from last year. While FC IQ and roles do a good job of making tactics feel varied and exciting, there are many adjustments and improvements that need to be made to AI before things feel balanced. When slide comes to tackle, not too much has changed this year.

As an RPG, it's hard to recommend South Park: The Stick of Truth, given that there are a number of more polished titles that offer deeper battle systems and much larger worlds. As a South Park game, however, this is easily at the head of the class, nailing the show's humor at just about every turn.

In terms of couch co-op games, Capsule Force has a uniquely colorful look and can be entertaining with enough people in the living room. As far as a solo experience, there isn't much beyond the time trial challenges and a two-player game just doesn't bring the same intensity.

Romeo is a Deadman is an exceptionally strange game. Not only is it the strangeness players have come to love from Suda51 (a good thing), it’s strange in a way where nothing really quite comes together in a cohesive package despite offering some neat ideas. It’s almost as if, in a bid to be weird and whacky, Grasshopper Manufacture ran out of time to let it cook properly. For the cult followers, there’s plenty of zaniness here to sustain you with acceptable hack ‘n’ slash gameplay. For anyone else, it’s just a bizarre and hollow experience with shortcomings that are too hard to ignore.

If you’re a bigtime Marvel head and your goal is to maximize your collection of Marvel video games, then look no further than the Marvel MaXimum Collection as a hefty step forward in that endeavor. Pun intended. For a low price you get a fat stack of games, and if you ignore the fact that several of them are probably bargain bin occupiers in retro game stores right now, that’s not a bad deal from a collector’s point of view. You can hop online and have fun with X-Men, check out the other games out of varying degrees of curiosity, then admire the thing on your shelf once you’re done. That’s fine! Also, it’s easier than ever to hit your unsuspecting friends with Silver Surfer, and that’s always a hoot. Just don’t expect to set this bad boy up next to… any other reputable retro compilation.

I think Bomberman is cool and cute, but this title is not the launch that the Nintendo Switch deserved. By either offering more new content or pricing the game reasonably, Konami could have jump started the Bomberman franchise, which has been MIA for years. Instead, Super Bomberman R just doesn't give the value or the fun that the price commands. Instead, you're better off saving up an extra $10 and buying The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. If you already have a copy, you might want to think about just buying a second one instead of this title. As least then you'd get your money's worth.

While Dual Destinies may initially appear like a fresh take on the series, it ultimately doesn't take a lot of chances. Still, Capcom continues to do what it does best: creating a compelling courtroom drama with fun, campy, off-the-wall characters. It may be more of the same, but for fans, that's really all they need.

There are enough different ideas at work to make it stand out from other anime and fighting games. It's a novel effort, but nothing else beyond that.

Unfortunately, Drag x Drive just doesn’t deliver the joy and excitement that I expect from a game developed by Nintendo.

The short Story Mode and the repetitive nature of the mini games available make for a game that you probably won’t come back to after you’ve exhausted what it has to offer.

Call of Duty: Ghosts is yet another serviceable entry to Activision's long-running franchise. The franchise's staleness increasingly leaves something to be desired, but at its core, Call of Duty is still reliably fun. New additions like Extinction and Squads will likely suffice for series fans, who don't mind the franchise playing it safe.

If Quantum Break is a game fractured between two worlds, the one reality set for us as players is the one in which it's a shooter that often isn't a shooter, and a story that doesn't fully explore its narrative potential. It has intriguing ideas regarding both, but in this case, two halves don't really make a whole.

Developer ClockStone gave this a good effort, but there wasn't enough in LEGO Bricktales to keep me feeling interested. Even the story, which is typically a franchise strong suit felt underwhelming with half-hearted humor and nothing really memorable. That's not to say there isn't a foundation for something better in the future. The concept of using LEGO building to progress and doing it in your own way is a strong one, but without better tools, like blueprints and the like, the novelty wears off quickly. For now, LEGO Bricktales is a fun curiosity and little more than that.

Tacoma lays the foundation for a truly great story, but a short length and some unexplored ideas leave it feeling lacking. I loved the characters I met over the course of the story and there are some standouts. ODIN, voiced by Justice League Unlimited alum Carl Lumbly, is particularly a treat. But by the end, I was hoping for just a little more from them, as well as more from the whole concept as a whole.

Ultimately, Black Myth: Wukong is what I like to call “Peak Fine.” It’s great when it finally opens up and lets you play it, and has a number of memorable bosses to fight. There’s a lot to explore and see and do, and I imagine most players will miss a good chunk of the game’s optional content on their first playthrough. But even at its best, Wukong never reaches the highs of the genre’s greats, and never completely comes together in the way the best action games do. It’s not bad, but it’s not special. It’ll take you to the dance and it has a few killer moves, but how much you enjoy it will depend on how much you’re willing to put up with when you get there, and how much you don’t mind if it steps on your toes now and again. Me? I prefer an Action Jackson that lets me lead now and again, and that can hit the high notes.

It's fast, frantic, and quite fun overall, but the surprisingly steep challenge and general lack of variety might have players moving on after only a matter of hours.

I hope this doesn’t read too negatively, but the build I played had all the makings of a great game but was held back by small technical issues here and there that just kept piling up. If you’re intro Metroidvanias with tight combat, there is a lot to love here but unless you can forgive some jank, I recommend at least waiting for a couple more patches before you dive into this one.

How you enjoy R.B.I. Baseball 14 depends on your love for the original game. This remake does play just like it, and its modes are good fun as long as you bring a fellow player along for the ride. However, modern gamers expect more from their games, even if its an homage to a classic. With no online support and no adjustable difficulty options, R.B.I. could have benefited from more of an update.

While the best fitness games are designed for people who play video games, Fitness Boxing 3 feels like it was made for non-gamers who may happen to have a Switch in their home. Sure, it gets you moving, but there’s not much there to make the idea of exercising first thing in the morning remotely appealing.

Only those who are really into realistic driving simulators may flock towards Project Cars, although they might get bored easily considering there really aren’t any unique game modes either. It carries a sense of realism in spades, but there isn't much under the hood.

Survival Kids is an interesting take on a popular genre, one meant for a much younger audience. At the same time, kids have been growing up on Minecraft for over a decade, so Survival Kids may not be giving the gaming youth enough credit. There are some neat ideas here, but ultimately the experience is a little too shallow for exciting play, regardless of how old you are. And retro gaming enthusiasts who may have been excited for an actual, new Survival Kids are going to walk away immediately.

Mario Tennis' transition to the Wii U feels like one step forward and two steps back. The addition of Mega Mushrooms is clever enough, but the game doesn't commit to the idea of power-ups enough to sustain it. Meanwhile the no-frills package feels so anemic that I was burned out on the experience after only a few hours. If you want a great Mario Tennis game, stick with the better, cheaper, and more complete 3DS version.

The game works decently, in terms of mechanics. I can just think of plenty of other games you'd probably rather play more than this one. If you're in the mood for a relatively quick cyberpunk-tinged romp, though, Liberated isn't the worst you could do.

Blue Estate shows that an on-rails shooter can work efficiently on PlayStation 4.

Song of the Deep has a sweet and appealing core at its center, but small frustrations make it difficult to appreciate those qualities.

With a little more polish, God of Rock may prove itself to be a worthwhile rhythm game title yet. Unfortunately, in its current state, it feels like more of a swing and a miss than a headbanging hit.

I often felt like I was fighting the game just to get around, which was frustrating in a software kind of way rather than an atmospheric enhancement. I wasn’t scared because I was too busy squinting or yanking on the flashlight’s pull cord just so I could pull on doors and latches. No amount of spooky ambiance in the background could bring me back into the experience.

All things considered, it took me a little over an hour or so to see just about everything that Cruis’n Blast has to offer. The Nintendo Switch racing scene has been dominated by Mario Kart and I feel like Cruis’n Blast had a chance to make a real case for bringing other classic Nintendo racers back into the scene. But if lackluster graphics and mediocre racing mechanics are all we’d get it might be better to leave our precious memories in the past. Cruis’n Blast isn’t unplayable though and would probably make an enjoyable experience for someone with kids or younger siblings. Everyone else should probably head to the arcade and hope they have a much more enjoyable arcade experience available to try out.

The richness of the atmosphere and charismatic lead performances pulled me through the story. That paired with a solid, no-frills investigation mechanic helped mitigate some of the technical problems and the sadly tacked-on demon hunting sequences. It's a distinctly average experience, but it has enough going for it that I'm glad I was able to conquer the bugs and see it through.

Despite the issues, bugs, and nitpicks I have with 2022’s take on Kao the Kangaroo, at the end of the day the game is functionally playable, looks gorgeous, and there’s plenty of fun to be had with it especially in regards to platforming and combat.

With all that, what you’re left with is a sort of checklist-style experience. You go to each ooting, fill stuff out, unlock new clothing items and collectibles, and do that over and over again. If you’re the kind of player who finds satisfaction in a low-pressure grind to simply gather a bunch of things until you’re done, that’s the kind of system you’re engaging with here. If you’re a SPYxFAMILY fan and think Anya is insufferably adorable, there’s a lot of fun in simply hanging out with her and snapping photos of her legendarily goofy facial expressions. But if you need a little more substance and goal-oriented action in your games, you won’t really find that here. I found my interest deflating quickly, especially after giving all the minigames their first tries. The game may as well have been over after that point, and any further cravings for this IP were better met firing up Crunchyroll or opening up a book.

It seems to suffer from many of the same launch and ongoing issues that plagued Friday the 13th: The Game, but there's a silver lining here. Should the issues I lined out be addressed and improved with future updates, and additional maps and objectives rolled out over time, this could indeed be shaped into an exciting prospect. In its current state, however, it's best left to hardcore Predator fans insistent upon adding any related media to their collection.

It has some nice Metroidvania moments, although it sputters towards the end to only rely on its color-coded components to keep me out of certain areas, which felt like a cheap way to finish the game.

The finished state of Balan Wonderworld is disappointing to say the least. For all of its style, I was really interested to see how they would expand upon the preview. The aesthetic and characters are there, the music is captivating, the level design made me want to explore and experiment where I could, and the abilities mostly gave me options to do so. However, these things are held down by a lot of contrivances and outright holes in either functionality or context.

Samurai Shodown manages to present a superb alternative to quicker, more bombastic fighters. This comes across as more of the thinking man's fighter, testing a player's reaction time and rewarding those who are able to read their opponents over those who try and go for meaningless combos. Samurai Shodown doesn't need to stand atop a crowded fighting game mountain, because it's done a nice job staking a claim over on a nearby hill.

Last Flag's biggest problem, unfortunately, is that it feels limited. Two maps at launch, regardless of how well-designed they are, is an undeniable disappointment. I wish I could have seen the developers go to town on multiple maps, giving them the same detailed treatment that they gave to the game's characters. I wanted to feel the same love for Last Flag that I did for Team Fortress 2 (and its CTF mode) back in the day, but that intangible hook just wasn't there...Still, if you're into Capture the Flag, I wouldn't wave the white flag on Last Flag and its budget price point, because it's certainly a solid debut effort from the Night Street Games crew.

The clever puzzles and vivid visuals can only do so much to quell the frustration caused by the unfortunate glitches and bugs I encountered throughout the game. However, if you can push through the myriad of technical hiccups, Airhead is a decent puzzle-platformer that simply needs a bit more tuning under the hood.

At its best, The Fisherman leaves you amped up from an intense fight with a river monster you’ve been trying to coax out of its hole for hours. At its worst, it feels like an attempt to quickly cash-in on work done for the freemium version that came before it.

Mario & Luigi has also become known for its sharply humorous writing. While that's definitely present here, it's obscured by the sheer mass of dialogue.

Star Wars: Battlefront is everything a Star Wars fan could want. The game’s locations feel iconic, complete recreations of the beautiful settings introduced to us in the movies. But the game’s casual attitude towards weapons, and the limited number of locations to explore make Star Wars: Battlefront sizzle out far too early. Top that with an exorbitant DLC offer, which features content that feels like it could be in the base game, and EA has already done a great job of freezing Star Wars: Battlefront in carbonite before it’s even had a chance to live a fulfilling life.

It’s hard to imagine Touken Ranbu Warriors having strong appeal to anyone that’s not a die-hard Musou fan itching for a new Warriors-like. Those that played the original Touken Ranbu will surely get a kick out of seeing those characters come to life in a new way, but there isn’t much to write home about beyond that novelty. Touken Ranbu Warriors feels like just enough to maybe hold you over until the next mainline Dynasty Warriorsentry comes around.

Hello Neighbor 2 feels more like an updated version of the first game. It’s considerably larger than the first game, and the expansion of the AI technology to additional characters is a welcomed decision. Outside of that, there is very little separating the two games. Hello Neighbor 2 still has a clunky UI, unsatisfying controls, and problems being consistent with its own rules. Where there was a real opportunity to take the franchise to the next level, this sequel just feels like more of the same.

How much fun you’ll have in the bleak, frozen landscape depends on how much you are still smitten with mid-90s first-person shooter mechanics. Serious Sam would rather die than apologize for being what he is. Those looking for an evolution or some sort of next step in gameplay design may as well look elsewhere. All encounters in the game play out exactly the same way they have for the last thirty years. You can mix things up with weapon choices, co-op, and difficulty settings, but that’s about it. 2016’s Doom received loads of (justified) praise for finding a way to push this genre forward. Siberian Mayhem is clearly content to keep touring with the hits. While I won’t drag it for being true to itself, only devout followers of the church of Sam need apply.

Everything its predecessor was: an intense and enjoyable RTS that gives you the feeling of really being an armchair general. It is just unfortunate that after waiting so long for a sequel, it doesn't offer too much in the way of innovation.

In the end the new abilities, like taming animals and riding them, are great additions to the game, but they just aren't enough to save Far Cry Primal from being a fairly average and mindless adventure in a time long forgotten.

As a modern blast from the past, Akimbot is an acceptable adventure that takes its cues from PS2 platforming classics but falls short of its own expectations. Its gunplay, platforming, and variety of mini-games are mostly adequate, and some levels show moments of creativity. However, the lack of character progression, uneven difficulty spikes, and unrewarding exploration hinder the effort. Ultimately, the original Jak & Daxter and Ratchet & Clank have stronger level design and more interesting ideas, and those games came out over two decades ago.

Sure, if you want to hook up with a friend and bash some skulls in, you can do that here and even have a great time marveling at the impressive gore system. But stick around for more than a few hours and you might find yourself wondering if spending thirty minutes digging through trash to make your baseball bat do five more damage was a mistake.

There’s no doubt in my mind that Lord of the Rings fans will appreciate a lot of what Gollum is offering. It’s genuinely cool seeing such a fascinating side character step into the protagonist role in a story that further expands on a universe teeming with secrets to discover. It’s a bummer that there isn’t much else to write home about. A dull gameplay experience and technical hiccups make The Lord of the Rings: Gollum just as much of a polarizing experience as its main character.

For fans of Namco Bandai, Capcom, and Sega, Project X Zone 2 is full of the characters you love, in-jokes you'll laugh at, and over the top attacks and pairings that would make a FanFiction.net author blush. However, if you're just looking for a turn-based RPG to sink your teeth into, there's better to be had on the Nintendo 3DS.

The focus on speed and chaos is what ultimately undoes Mario Golf: Super Rush. I would say that when it comes to Mario Golf, slow and steady wins the race, except this game has shown me that racing and golf don't really mix.

I am disappointed by the mixed feelings I get from Backbone. It is absolutely worth a look solely on the merits of its audiovisual presentation, but its attempt to offer commentary or insight into the topics its narrative broaches repeatedly fall flat, particularly in the latter half. EggNut clearly has the goods in the art and music departments, so I would love to see what they can do with a stronger narrative in the future. If you do choose to give Backbone a shot, make sure to get the Artifact Edition, as it includes the wonderful soundtrack. 6/10 otters in 3-piece suits.

NHL 24 puts a few pucks in the net but ultimately falls short of expectations.

This review has certainly gone off the rails but, in my defense, it’s my eighth one and I’m shocked every year that I find a new way to say the same thing. Yes, everything that EA Vancouver added is cool or nice or awesome but, no, it’s not enough. I know it’s not the developer’s fault, and I genuinely feel bad for them. They seem like hockey nuts, like the rest of us, but it’s not my job to pat anyone on the back for delivering patch-sized video games at full price just because their boss sucks. It’s actually my job to call that out, but hopefully one of these years I get to gush over a fully updated, feature rich game that doesn’t pick one mode to care about each season.

Death Note Killer Within is truly fascinating, even to look at from a distance. It’s a smart adaptation of a Shonen Jump manga that is famous for challenging what “Shonen Jump manga” could be at its moment in time. Seeing the characters pop up in games like Jump Ultimate Stars or Jump Force was always awkward, and the other games based on the series remain obscure. So it’s cool to see the folks who made this identify a trend and realize the IP is a good fit, then execute it in a way that both adapts Death Note and have fun with it at the same time. I think it has a pretty limited audience though, as you have to cross several barriers of entry to get what feels like the only way to have a good time. If the gameplay gave more time for its nuances to breathe and shine, was more adaptable to the inherent instability of online play, and was more approachable, there’d be something really special here.

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 continues to swing with energy, but you can see some of the strain peeking out of his suit. Between the glitches from rushed development and some unnecessary gameplay segments (go…away…Peter!), it's not nearly as good as Beenox's other efforts. Here's to hoping that for the next game, Activision lets this team run wild on something inventive and new. Certainly couldn't hurt this web-slinger's chances.

Alex Kidd in Miracle World DX from Merge Games and Jankenteam is a very niche product with very niche marketability. I imagine the game will be received well in territories where the Sega Master System held on to a longer life-span, such as Brazil and Europe. For the rest of the world though, there just isn’t enough here to bring Alex Kidd into the modern age.

I do wish that you could do something unexpected to help break up the monotony, like start a prison riot. Or form dance troupe with your fellow inmates.

I would have liked to have seen this game get a more polished release, lessening the grinding and leveling, improving the world-swapping abilities, and adding more things to participate in overall that aren't just hacking through enemies. It's pretty enough, but perhaps it was mainly meant to inhabit the Beyond.

Battlefield Hardline feels like a valiant attempt from Visceral and EA, but the gritty crime drama that they're aiming for comes out as an underwhelming effort. Multiplayer offers some fun moments, but it doesn't do enough with the concept to feel like a major leap in the world of first-person shooters. Meanwhile, the campaign feels bogged down under the weight of silly cliches and doesn't offer enough of a tactical, strategic cop experience.

Bury Me, My Love is an ambitious game with a great premise. I just wish it didn't feel so disingenuous so much of the time.

If you’re looking for a game to kick back and play race after race with a sizable campaign and other options including an online mode, Need for Speed Unbound has plenty to keep you busy and entertained. That said, it’s also one of those games that’ll likely feel more enjoyable and worthwhile when purchased on sale rather than its arguably steep $70 (USD) purchase price. I can’t in good conscience recommend it at $70 but closer to $40-50? Absolutely, especially given the performance, campaign length, and fun assortment of races on offer.

I enjoy Pokemon TCG Pocket the most when I hardly play it at all. Logging in daily to do my free pack pulls and claim my free rewards is a simple and quiet life. However, the more time I spend in the app, the more frustrated I become with the game’s negative feedback loops and manipulative systems. I’ll undoubtedly check in for new events and the eventual Pokedex expansions, but as a lifelong fan of this franchise, it’s best that I keep Pokemon TCG Pocket at an arm’s-length.

Dynasty Warriors: Gundam Reborn is sure to be a welcome return for some, but the rust is clearly showing on this series.

It’s a shame that Seeking Dawn didn’t perform as well as I hoped, especially with the production values through the roof. Multiverse clearly has a firm grasp on creating worlds within VR. Hopefully, their next experience will trim the fat and give us the lean adventure VR game the team is certainly capable of delivering.

The somewhat ridiculous bugs and some slight repetition leave Sniper Elite III just short of joining the elite action pack alongside other games. In itself, it's still a pretty good experience for those who like to leave their mark from a distance.

It honestly feels like Windbound could be a great game. There’s a strong foundation and a lot of spirit in the idea, but ultimately it fails to live up to the endless ocean that it promises. I really wish that there was more to this experience and that it took more advantage of the things it does have to offer. Unfortuntely, if you’re looking for a great survival roguelike to put your time into, then you’re probably better off setting sail in more abundant seas.

At the end of the day, No Man’s Sky isn’t a perfect game. It’s really not even close. The ride has been bumpy, with Murray and the team keeping their lips sealed tightly about anything and everything pertaining to the game, and the overhyped nature of this industry has pushed many away from the title. But if you’re just looking for a game that can be both intense and relaxing, while offering lots of opportunities to explore colorful and interesting worlds, No Man’s Sky fits the bill perfectly.

Pac-Man World Re-PAC Edition might be worth checking out if you’re extremely curious about the game, genre, or even the time period it comes from, but there are just better games to spend your time with. If you insist then just try to get it on sale, or better yet, during its inevitable visit to Xbox Game Pass before making its way to the bargain bin.

As harsh as this may sound, I’ve lost faith in the NHL franchise. My first game was NHL 93, and although they haven’t all been good, it’s clear that this franchise has settled into an annual loop of delivering the bare minimum. There is zero justification for a full-game price tag when you consider that other games offer free updates larger than what’s on offer as new in the entirety of NHL 23. It’s mind boggling.

In theory, I understand why people like Patapon so much. It’s cute, there’s a primal satisfaction in staying on beat, and the shrill “Pata-Pata-Pata-Pon” chanting along with your commands is something I can see being infectious in a Tetris Effect sort of way. But every time I played, all I could think was, is this really it? This is the PSP’s premiere music game that everyone loves? Parappa was sent to cross the rainbow bridge for this? How can I be this bored playing a game about music? These questions may haunt me forever. Or at least until I go back to the local arcade for a few rounds of Pop‘n Music.

Aztech Forgotten Gods tries and that's probably the best thing I can say about it. Lienzo journeyed forward with lofty ambitions and, like Mulaka before it, has laid down a foundation that makes me excited for their future projects.

Despite the early promise brought by its measured sense of style, interest in intellectual concepts, and distinct combat system, Varlet falls flat in almost every way. It’s still an eye-pleasing RPG experience with fun combat, but all of its surface elements are just that: surface elements. The whole game is dressed up as something it isn’t, which is a shame. I’d love to play the game Varlet presents itself as, rather than the sterile, conveyor belt production line version of a Persona-inspired RPG it feels like.

Back to the Dawn is a fascinating game at first glance, due to its uncanny mix of prison, animals, and laid back music. But as you dive into its systems and figure out what your goals are, you run into a sort of identity issue. Does this game want to be open-ended or not? It’s hard to tell, and the rush to complete goals within a strict time limit betrays the offerings of things to do and people to meet. This confusion between what this experience does or doesn’t want to be, and a surprising lack of personality beneath the surface, both made my time with this adventure feel laborious.

Unfortunately, Sons of the Forest doesn’t quite manage to bring all of its elements together in a tidy package. While the building, crafting, and survival elements are neat, they’re not intertwined with the story, with both feeling like they’re completely separate ideas. Even the story seems unsure of what it wants to be, with odd pacing and poor audio design. I feel that fans of the original Forest game will relish the experience on offer here, but for everyone else, there are far better survival games out there.

Star Trucker shows a lot of promise. Its ease of entry, limited learning curve, and beautiful environments promise many hours of enjoyment. However, this welcome simplicity is also one of its main drawbacks. There's so much more that could have been done to improve the user experience. The biggest problem, however, is the skewed economy. Resources essential for enjoying Star Trucker are too expensive and hard to come by, making it more of a power management simulator than a space truck simulator. Choosing an easier difficulty level may alleviate some of these issues, but it points to an overall imbalance in the game. Nevertheless, given its low price and easy approachability, Star Trucker can be a lot of fun for fans of space and truck simulations, but you may not want to visit this truck stop very often.

Encodya truly has some neat aspects going for it. Endearing characters, beautiful art design, solid quality of life features. However, none of those are enough to overcome a heavy-handed narrative and some messy gameplay mechanics. Encodya is a sometimes passable, middling take on Cyberpunk, and an average point-and-click adventure.

While it is undoubtedly better in most respects than Donkey Kong Country Returns, that game spent its goodwill as a nostalgic throwback. Tropical Freeze is left suffering many of the same weaknesses, but without the sheen of a comeback story to set it apart.

Blades of Fire is probably going to end up as one of those games people refer to as a PS2-ass video game (complimentary), and I feel that. It’s a kind of game that feels out of place in time, but benefits from its accidental time travel by doing things a PlayStation 2-era console simply can’t. And in turn, it benefits from not being beholden to several more decades of convention that burden so many games coming out today, in a much more risk-averse and audience-starved environment. In that respect, Blades of Fire is pretty cool and interesting. It also annoys the bejeezus out of me at every possible opportunity. But I’m glad I played it, which is way more than I can say about Samus Returns.

Nidhogg II is a case where bigger isn't always better. It's like trying to improve on a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Sure, it's possible to add things to it, but the PB&J isn't something that really needs improving. That's how I felt coming away from Nidhogg II. It's a good attempt at improving on the original, but the end result didn't leave me feeling the same magic that I did when playing the first game. But with that aside, for those looking for chaotic dueling action, it's hard to argue with either Nidhogg game.

I see and respect what Bubble Ghost Remake attempted here. Take an obscure game, reimagine it, make it big and beautiful, and offer something fresh to puzzle fans. But as it turns out, “bigger” was a crucial mistake. Not everyone will see this and seek out the original, but if they do, they’ll plainly observe how a smaller, stage-based challenge structure turns something kind of wonky and frustrating into a true hidden gem. And considering how my biggest takeaway is how grateful I am to have Game Boy Bubble Ghost in my rotation now, I suggest anyone and everyone do just that.

Last Stop feels like a glorified interactive cutscene, though a cutscene I was eager to continue watching. It’s just unfortunate that the gameplay comes across as an interruption rather than anything that lifts the experience.

Rock of Ages 3 is an additional serving of the series in a party-sized bag. What could have been the culmination of a decade of progress feels more like a thrown-together greatest hits collection. Diehards will find lots to like about the potentially endless supply of community creations and this also drives up potential value for newcomers. A high level of patience will be required as the bugs nearly derail the experience but the current version of the game can be made solid with the help of a few patches. It is not as exciting as it once was, but you could certainly do worse.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 feels more like Black Ops 6.5. Everything from the in-game UI, to the gameplay feel of the core modes, are hardly different from last year’s game. There are a few meaningful changes to Multiplayer and Zombies, but they don’t overcome some baffling design decisions, which are tied together by the worst Black Ops storyline to date. Treyarch, for my money, is still the best studio making Call of Duty games, but Black Ops 7 is clear evidence that Activision and Microsoft need to give them more time to cook.

I’m more than ready to put The First Descendant down and not come back for a while. Its character playstyles are fresh and interesting, but underbaked gimmicks, overly familiar ideas, and underwhelming encounters make it hard to recommend. I’m hopeful that The First Descendant can outgrow its need to imitate other games and eventually turn into something interesting in its own right. It’s a live service game and Nexon’s first shot at making something in this style, so there’s every chance it might turn around in future updates.

Street Rumble isn’t terrible, but it’s not good either. Sure, it looks good, but the music is boring, the gameplay is bog standard, it has serious design flaws, and in a lot of cases, it just isn’t interesting. Yeah, there’s an arcade mode, boss rush, and so on, but you need to beat the story mode to unlock them, and if I hadn’t been playing this for review, I would have stopped around thirty minutes in. Beat ‘em up fans deserve better. Licensed games deserve better. And The Karate Kid deserves better than to be resurrected as a coat of paint used to gussy up a mediocre beat ‘em up.

Project Cars 3 is the first game to feature the all-new 8th generation Corvette, a car that driving enthusiasts were itching to get their hands on. It is used in the opening tutorial where its grand first impression is wasted on a two-lap quagmire of bad AI drivers and garish UI popups. Maybe that Mad Box console will come out one day and make things better

If you love H.R. Giger, unsettling body horror such as those seen in the works of Junji Ito, or creepy alien experimentation scenes from films like Fire in the Sky, you’ll undoubtedly appreciate Scorn’s overarching concept. Sadly the execution leaves much to be desired, which is a shame as I feel like Scorn could have been a real standout as far as atmospheric horror games go.

The game has some nice fan-features, including Prime Ministers with varying personalities and perspectives on Godzilla's threat potential, and Diorama Mode, which is a virtual dollhouse for custom scenes. There's also a great kaiju encyclopedia, detailing the long list of monsters Godzilla has confronted, along with various versions of the monster itself. However, none of that helps the game overcome its overly simplistic and boring gameplay.

Had 'Russia' stuck to some of the roots of the main AC series, this could have been an interesting departure from the 3D games. But making the main characters feel paper thin while stacking the deck with inconsistent stealth mechanics, fussy controls, and timed objectives starts to make 'Russia' feel like a weekend in Siberia.

Fallout 76 is a bit of a disaster, which is a shame because there are good ideas and good bits of content here. There wasn’t a single play session where I didn’t have a lot of fun, but there also wasn’t a session where something ridiculous didn’t cause frustration. It feels like it should have been released into early access as a work in progress for the next several months, thus alleviating some of the frustration from poor performance, bugs, and balancing issues.

It’s a game that feels like it should have had a big manual when it first launched, but without that manual, you only have half the picture, and so you’re stumbling around in the dark trying to make sense of everything. Sometimes that’s fun and mysterious. But a little too often, various parts of the game clash, and Labyrinth of Lost Souls becomes more trouble than it’s worth.

Simply telling the story in chronological order would not only make the story flow better, but it would be more effective at giving the illusion of player agency.