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.

I have to wonder what happened to this project over its lengthy development cycle that took it from a promising spin-off of one of Ubisoft’s most beloved games to what will undoubtedly be remembered as one of 2024’s more underwhelming big-budget releases. It’s not entirely disposable, but it’s far from the treasure it promised to be.

Kyn is a nice distraction from other games, but don’t expect it to endlessly enthrall you like other RPGs would. However, the scope of the game is well beyond what you’d expect from the two-man team who coded, created, and designed it.

Between a story that reduces much of the depth of the series and a combat system that makes every character play too similar, Ultimate Ninja Storm Connections feels like a Greatest Hits sampler that tries to include everything and doesn’t succeed at doing any of it very well.

Sword Art Online: Alicization Lycoris feels like a run-of-the-mill JRPG, done in the style of SAO. Not ever did I think the game was downright bad or poorly made, but rarely was I taken or impressed by anything going on from a story or gameplay perspective. The game would have benefited greatly from leaning more into the online/MMO universe that it’s based on. However, fans of the anime and manga will surely still find some enjoyment with the latest adaptation of Sword Art Online.

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.

Ghost Recon Breakpoint had every opportunity to improve on Wildlands, but instead of evolving, tore everything good about that game to pieces and replaced it with too few wins.

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.

It's an odd thing for a video game to bank so heavily on its aesthetics, but in the case of Desert Child, the plan works. This isn't a dense game, nor is it necessarily a complex game; instead, it's a simple title that suits retro gaming enthusiasts with good visuals, good music, amusing interactions, and a series of high-speed races.

I was surprised by how much I ended up enjoying Bulletstorm VR. With how fast the original moved, I thought I was in for a VR version of a town fair teacup ride. Instead, it was a rip-roaring gauntlet, and a refreshing twist on the terrible things I could do to my enemies with whatever weapons and environmental hazards I had at my disposal. The plot is still stuck at 2011, which might be grating for some, as are much of the visuals. However, if your goal is to kick a man into the air and then blow him to bits and pieces like a skeet shoot, Bulletstorm VR just might keep you entertained as an early VR offering in 2024.

There’s an action game underneath all of Wanted: Dead’s problems that is not half bad, especially if you liked games like No More Heroes, Devil’s Third, and Wet. It’s ridiculous in its context and action. Unfortunately, for everything good I could say about this game, there was at least one or two things keeping me from enjoying it. Between cringe-worthy dialogue, game crashes, clashing moods, random and ridiculously difficult moments, and broken mechanics, Wanted: Dead takes a lot of effort just to play, let alone enjoy.

Mario Party: Island Tour never seems a natural fit on the 3DS. It feels more like the game has been hammered into shape to fit as well as it can on the platform.

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.

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.

The problem is that while the game's ambitions are "XL," there's nothing "XL" about the full package. It feels like there are critical features missing, like the ability to play with friends or the ability to do anything with your skills beyond just perform them for yourself over and over. It's a slog once you've mastered these tricks and there's nothing left to do. It's even worse if you don't have the patience to learn, because at that point, there's literally nothing this game has to offer you. And given that the PS4 version of the game had performance hitches at various points, I can envision people's patience wearing thin quickly.

Spectre Divide’s main selling point, the Spectre mechanic, is admittedly rather cool. It’s great to get a second chance at a tactical shooter mid-round. Unfortunately, it doesn’t feel like a strong enough hook to draw players across from the other games that have solidified themselves as the leaders in the genre. Add to this the problems with match pacing, bland weapons, and laughable microtransaction prices and you’ve got a game that is unlikely to convince hardcore fans to dive in, let alone keep players around for the long run.

Foamstars is a lot of unrealized potential. It's like getting excited about a bubble bath only for the bubbles to quickly dissipate and leave behind only some filthy bath water.

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.

Toren is an experience that's worth at least one run. Then, it gets put up on a shelf like a nice book, where it ends up disappearing alongside the other novels.

While the multiplayer options are confusing, it's fun to have some friends along for the ride, even as you fight over the last remaining health orb in a massive boss battle. Hey, at least you won't have to worry about shooting the food, right?

Fort Solis is presented like an interactive movie, but with gameplay that detracts from the experience rather than complimenting it. The narrative tries to subvert your expectations to maintain the excitement, but despite the compelling circumstances in the beginning, the story failed to stick the landing in the end. At least the game does not overstay its welcome, clocking in at roughly four to six hours depending on if you pursue collectibles and side content.

What this game is really about is fan service and I must admit that it succeeds in offering folks up a hefty chunk in that department. Jump Force knows that it’s really for the Shonen Jump fans and if you are a fan there’s plenty to like here. One would probably be better off focusing on the core fighting game aspects though.

It is entirely possible that Speaking Simulator is just not made to be enjoyed by me. I could see where a streamer could use the game to make a video and get some cheap laughs, letting friends at a party take the controls, or something similar, but as a full-fledged solo game, I found it to be incredibly underwhelming.

The gameplay is boring, the landmarks and scenery are mediocre, and the story is almost nonexistent. Submerged is a rapidly sinking ship that never even left the harbor.

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.

Despite one-third of the game getting a passing grade, the rest falls short of meeting even the lowest of expectations. Clinging to the coattails of its predecessor, the reboot fails to capture the essence of what made the original Modern Warfare games so iconic. From its lame excuse for a campaign to its redundant multiplayer, finding redeeming qualities in Modern Warfare 3 has been nothing short of challenging. The game amounts to little more than half-baked expansion disguised as a full-fledged title, and the whole thing feels like a slap in the face to consumers. The most disappointing part is that it doesn’t even matter how much we can see through the ruse, because profits will always speak louder in the end. While there still may be new MM3 content on the horizon, it will likely arrive too late to make a difference.

Dolmen is a solid sci-fi spin on the Soulslike formula, even if there are some places where it falls short. Not being able to jump is a simple but detrimental design flaw, and the mediocre cinematics bog down what could have been a very cinematic experience. Despite that, Dolmen still features challenging combat, as well as a variety of ways to play to your own unique style. I look forward to seeing if and how Massive Work Studio will build upon this foundation in the future.

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.