New Gundam Breaker definitely has some great nuanced aspects to its core concept of mix-and-match mech model making, but what it needed was more variety to spice up the gameplay. While last year’s Gundam Vs was nothing mind-blowing it was a much more solid and mixed combat experience.

At the end of the day, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora just feels like a game that’s been made a million times before. You run around and grab resources, craft items, fill out skill trees, shoot bad guys, and search for sets of similar landmarks as you explore a massive map. But it’s all Avatar-flavored, so it’s blue and there are giant cat people running around alongside the humans.

Ultra Street Fighter II tries to add a robust package around its tried-and-true Arcade mode, but much of that package doesn't pan out. All that leaves is the Arcade and Versus modes and for as great as Street Fighter II is, it's a game that also shows its age after a while. Fighting games have come so much farther since SF2 pioneered the genre, so it's hard to imagine going back and especially for a hefty $40 price tag. Thanks for memories, Street Fighter II, but I'm hoping that this is indeed the Final Challenge.

Battlefield 2042 has a serious identity crisis. It clearly wants to be like Call of Duty: Warzone, with its overreliance on fast-quip Specialists that will serve as mannequins for endless cosmetic microtransactions. It also wants to grab some of the audience who religiously play Hunt: Showdown or Escape from Tarkov with its undercooked Hazard Zone mode. Finally, it also wants to be Battlefield to what’s left of a dedicated fan base that’s been left to watch the franchise chase the tail of its competitors for years. We loved Battlefield because it wasn’t Call of Duty or Counter-Strike or Fortnite or Apex or any other popular shooter. This mismanaged project clearly needed more time in the oven and a cohesive design that works to Battlefield’s strengths rather than a game attempting to be multiple things to multiple audiences. In a year where so many releases have been marred by a lack of polish and bugs, Battlefield 2042 may be the biggest offender.

For those that have followed Yoshi since his first starring role nearly 20 years ago, this game is a tremendous disappointment.

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.

For WWE fans, there is a lot to like with the package, but ultimately, bad design cripples what could be a real winner. While I was not the biggest fan of them, the removal of the showcase events is a huge loss for longtime wrestling fans.

Monster Prom had so much potential and so much to offer that I couldn't wait to tear into it. And on a superficial level, it's an interesting experiment that I thought I would love. Unfortunately, just like the monsters you're courting, once you get to know it it's only a great-looking shell with some fairly rotten insides.

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.

Wrath of the Mutants is a functional beat ‘em up. I’ll give it that. If you liked the 2012 show and want more TMNT beat ‘em up goodness to play, it’s fine if your co-op friends are nearby. Otherwise, there are far better options at similar or cheaper prices, even within this IP.

Too much of Game & Wario feels like it's been done before. Its handful of smart designs provide fleeting thrills, while the rest are unfortunately forgettable.

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.

As much as I wanted Rage 2 to work, it just doesn’t deliver the best that it could from the two top-notch studios working on it. Right now, I can’t rightfully recommend picking it up at full price, as I just don’t feel there’s enough content here to warrant what they’re asking.

Mighty No 9 does present a few concepts that feel like they could have been the next iterative step. Even if it had avoided its many pitfalls and baffling design choices, though, it's likely a few decades too late for such minor improvements.

When compared to the other golf juggernauts in the video game landscape, the physics are poorly executed. Swings, timing, impact, and reads are far too inconsistent and hinder the enjoyment of the realistic aspects of the game far too much. Combine this with annoying camera angles, bad textures, and grindy gameplay unlock mechanics, and the air gets completely sucked out of the room...The main saving grace for Everybody's Golf Hot Shots is that Wacky Golf is chaotic fun with friends, especially if you don't care about winning. If you're going into the game expecting this to be a next step in the evolution of the series, though, I hope you've got a pretty high handicap, as you're going to need it.

It's really only good for mindless entertainment. I guess the same can be said of most YouTube channels, too.

Despite its veneer of limitless design possibilities, players are ultimately constrained in the types of attractions they can create and pursue during the campaign. While Sandbox mode is your best bet for getting creative with all the bells and whistles Park Beyond has to offer, it too is not immune to the myriad of glitches and technical issues present throughout the game. Although you can spend hours designing and constructing your ideal park, the looming threat of crashes diminishes the incentive to do so, even in Sandbox mode. While there is an innovative theme park sim beneath all the glitches and design flaws, Park Beyond ultimately doesn’t break new ground in its genre and would benefit from taking a few pointers from its predecessors.

It’s tough to recommend Flint, though. While I did enjoy combat well enough, there was no real payoff for it. I didn’t care for why I’d win in battle or what that meant for the characters and the overall story. If you’re looking for a deep narrative adventure, this is probably not the game for you right now, but if you’re really itching for more strategic turn-based combat, or just really love the pirate setting, maybe consider giving Flint a try.

Life is Strange: Reunion is going to make a lot of people happy and I don't begrudge any of them. There are people out there who waited a long time to give Max and Chloe a happy ending. However, as someone who watched Max Caulfield persevere through tragedy to build a happy life for herself, Reunion felt like a regression for this character. If the story was told well, I could overlook a lot of my personal hangups with the story. Unfortunately, I saw the potential of what they were setting up with Chloe and Safi, with Chloe's uncertain place in existence, with the nature of fate and the idea that some events are fixed and always meant to unfold. Reunion set up some tantalizing plot points and all of them underwhelmed.

This will be a better game once the community goes to work, but I’m not willing to drive my truck over this bridge just yet. 5/10 snapping steel beams.

Ebenezer and the Invisible World is a run-of-the-mill Metroidvania with the wrong story and outdated design. Except for the beautiful background art and an interesting variety of enemies, the adventure is a short, stodgy, rudimentary affair with weakly executed ideas. On the Christmas table, it’s the dry and underbaked fruitcake that is still technically edible but is surrounded by far too many better options.

As someone who plays a lot of games, it is very rare to question “Why am I doing this?” “Why am I getting platinum trophies?” “Why am I levelling up every sub-class?” “Why am I prestiging?” We do it because it's fun, or satisfying, or because it will reward us in some way. Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap had me questioning those rewards and that satisfaction in a very fundamental way. I have leveled up characters, beat hidden bosses, and gotten golden gun skins… But to what end though? So I can do it again? So I can move the boulder ever slightly further up the mountain before it slides back down again? For most games, we do it because the answer is, “It's fun.”...Simply put, the act of playing Orcs Must Die! Deathtrap is not fun enough to abate that existential question from rattling around your head while you play.

Despite the developer's pedigree with slower-moving games like Echo Night, it had great difficulty putting together a meaningful narrative that was pleasurable in any real way to watch unfold. If From Software opts to create another VR title in the future, I hope it's at the very least a different genre.

Valkyrie Elysium is a disappointing, befuddled, and mistimed return for the Valkyrie series.

Reviews aren’t the place to weigh in on how to fix things, so I won’t do that here. Deep down I hope the developers who are making this are kicking down Electronic Arts CEO, Andrew Wilson's, door asking for more time, budget, or anything really. Developers tend to be super fans who love making amazing games. I believe that about EA Vancouver, but this is not good enough and hasn’t been good enough for years. The players who return year after year deserve better.

In its current state though, it doesn’t feel like it’s worth its $20 (USD) price tag. Unless you’re ok with the extra work of digging through its file folders to import your own music that is, because as the game is right now, you can burn through all of its 10-track base game content in less than an hour. And there's nothing much else to it beyond that.

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.

If you're looking for a deep, well-rounded driving simulator with a career mode, then Taxi Life is going to fall short on all accounts. There are a variety of similar titles available that do everything that Taxi Life offers and do so much more competently. Taxi Life can look pretty at times, but it's a big ask to overlook its many bugs and short-comings. Driving a taxi around a city isn't the most interesting idea to begin with, so Taxi Life needed to get all the details right, and unfortunately it doesn't come close to doing so.