If EA Sports and Codemasters intended to create a WRC experience that is immersive, welcoming to newcomers, and a fun and reasonably faithful representation of the sport, then they have absolutely succeeded. As someone who enjoys racing but has never participated in the rally side of motorsports, the learning curve was manageable and the end result is that I can't wait to get back behind the wheel for another sweaty and adrenaline-filled session as soon as possible. The hardcore crowd that was hoping for a deep simulation of rally racing will likely be left wanting for more...Perhaps the biggest compliment I can pay EA Sports WRC is that the experience in this game has prompted me to explore more of the rally sport in real life. I'll be checking out some rally championships in the future and strive to improve my driving skills on something other than a nicely asphalted racetrack with gentle flowing curves.

Robocop: Rogue City is an argument that not only can licensing IP work well in smaller-scale games, but given the right combination of creativity and focus a more dormant IP can be especially effective. A property like Robocop does not have a clear position in pop culture right now, beyond the obvious late-80’s movie nostalgia. But the team at Teyon, with a combination of awareness and sincerity, definitely found one. I had so much fun blasting through waves of jabronis and laughing at Robocop’s earnest policing antics. In a crowded year like 2023, Rogue City is an unexpected gem.

A solid entry in the Riot Forge universe and yet another example of how many interesting flavors League of Legends and the universe of Runeterra have to offer. If you’re looking for something both lighthearted and heartwarming, Song of Nunu will give you something to keep warm on a winter evening.

Alan Wake 2 builds upon a foundation that I felt was effective, but missing something in the original. In narrative, atmosphere, and gameplay, this sequel captures the sense of a self-aware fictional world that’s always contorting itself in real-time to move forward, and the result is a surreal horror/thriller masterpiece.

One More Level has nailed the important bits in Ghostrunner 2: the combat, the movement, the visuals, the soundtrack, and the challenge. It’s all a cacophony of intense action and pulse-pounding exhilaration – it’s just that the connective tissue keeps it from being a cohesive vision. By increasing the scope and breadth of the game, Ghostrunner 2 loses part of the essence of what made the first game so great. And yet, for the faults I do have with Ghostrunner 2, it’s still an awesome game that had my head bobbing to synthwave beats as I slow-moed around lasers and turned my foes into giblets with a flick of my cybernetic katana.

If there are indeed plans to continue, Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1 is a hell of a first volley. From tweaks and fixes of previous re-releases to an abundance of supplemental material across a whopping seven (arguably more) games, Konami really rolled up its sleeves. Even with some problems and weird choices here and there, this collection exceeded my expectations for sure. Whatever follows this will really put the format to the test, as there’s less precedent and/or existing ports for games like Metal Gear Solid 4 or Metal Gear Acid. The foundation laid is awesome though, and shows that despite past drama there are people at Konami who definitely care.

It's been a fun ten years, and The Jackbox Party Pack 10, like so many Jackbox efforts before it, is a worthy inclusion into your family game night rotation.

There’s still work to be done, but Cities Skylines 2 is an impressive improvement over the original. Its systems work together seamlessly, and you have more control over how your city develops without it feeling overwhelming or intimidating. It's a shame some features like green building are gone, but I'm looking forward to seeing how Colossal Order keeps building Skylines 2 in the future.

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.

Super Mario Bros. Wonder is a delightful surprise in what has been an amazing year for Nintendo's iconic mascot. The game offers the right amount of challenges while remaining accessible to a wide cross-section of players. It can be enjoyed as a single player and also as something to be broken out in a party atmosphere. At its core Super Mario Bros. Wonder is a fun and fantastic escape from reality that will leave players smiling for years to come.

Honestly, unless you’re a big fan of Hot Wheels themselves, and derive a lot of joy from unlocking the different digitized versions of real-world toys, you can do better. Cruisin’ Blast came out the same year the first Unleashed did, and that game captured the essence of banging toy cars together in over the top racing environments perfectly. In comparison, Turbocharged is more scattershot, trying to be a Jack of All Trades and only hitting the bullseye with the IP’s aesthetic.

Wizard With a Gun is a strong start for Galvanic Games, and the effort that has gone into the crafting system and elemental mechanics is well-appreciated. You can lose a lot of hours simply shaping ammo and gathering resources. However, the controls are loose, the lore could be better integrated, and the endgame is bare. Despite these issues, though, Wizard With a Gun is a competent shooter that has a lot of potential and is well worth watching as it develops over time.

I went into Marvel’s Spider-Man 2 expecting it to be one of my favorite games this year and still walked away impressed by what the developer was able to pull off. Both story and gameplay have taken large steps forward, and I’m fully convinced that there is no studio that could make Spider-Man games better than Insomniac Games. It’s a massive win for the Insomniac, for PlayStation Studios, and for longtime fans of Spider-Man.

If Sonic Superstars is the future of the franchise, then it's bright enough that the blue hedgehog will have to wear shades.

Mix its intertwined-worlds mechanics into good melee, magic, and archery in a beautiful gothic setting and 2023’s Lords of the Fallen feels like something I’ll more than remember for what it did right and how it set itself apart. The duality of this game’s settings is both dastardly and dazzling.

Look at Wild Card Football as a late-round NFL draft pick that dramatically overachieves on the field. People likely didn't expect much from it, but what they have now is a pleasant surprise.

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

Because of its simplicity, Detective Pikachu Returns is an easy recommendation for young kids and their parents. Hardcore fans will have some fun comparing and contrasting the game's story with the 2019 movie. For everyone else, there are better, more challenging adventures out there, even if none of them feature an electric rat with a children's sized Sherlock Holmes hat.

Assassin’s Creed Mirage is a worthwhile experience for invested fans of the series. It’s going to give you that stealth and stab gameplay that you’ve enjoyed before, even if it doesn’t build upon it outside of the tools. It’s bookended by exceptional first and third acts, but Ubisoft has again failed to create a detailed and meaningful world that you want to explore beyond its waypoints.

After six years of waiting for the next iteration of Forza Motorsport, Turn 10 Studios delivers a solid offering, packed with hundreds of cars, upgrades, and tuning options, all bundled in a gorgeous presentation package.

Payday 3 gets most of the important stuff right: the heists offer a nice variety and encourage players to experiment with different systems and mechanics. Customization is deep and will keep players on the hook for dozens and dozens of hours. But it’s hard to overstate the blunder that is the online foundation that this game was built on. It makes Payday 3 needlessly frustrating and was the cause of one of the most severe online game outages I’ve seen in a long time. Payday 2 was a game that grew into a co-op masterpiece in the years following its release, so I’m confident that Payday 3 will only improve as time goes on.

The Expanse: A Telltale Series is a return to form, though that form is almost out of style. Each of the five episodes takes an average of about two hours to complete if you’re hunting for all of the collectibles, so the amount of content is on the shorter end. But if you’re looking for solid writing and characters that fit well within The Expanse universe, this adventure is another chance to revisit the series and see Camina Drummer be a badass all over again. However, the dated mechanics and the game’s choice to be a prequel impair the effort.

A more coherent story and confident use of setting could've helped Ad Infinitum live up to its full potential. The dilapidated mansion, nightmare trenches, and horrible creatures still give it a unique identity that goes some way toward making up for the narrative shortcomings. However, I hope there's a "next time" for Hekate and Ad Infinitum and a chance for both to play into their strengths.

In an ideal world, the remasters probably would have worked better as proper remakes. Baten Kaitos and Origins’ pre-rendered backgrounds were gorgeous on the Gamecube, and they’re just as lovely now. Some aspects would have benefited from more improvement, though. Character animations, limited dialogue illustrations, awkward battle structures, and wonky localization weren’t great at the time and don’t hold up quite so well. Both games are still worth experiencing, but there are a few more hurdles to enjoying them than there should be.

The team at Geometric Interactive made something truly compelling, mind-bending, and immersive in Cocoon, and though it can prove difficult to handle all its tools, solving its mysteries is an absolute delight.

Infinity Strash plays with its own legacy a bit, mostly by using models from Dragon Quest proper instead of imitating the manga’s art style. But the rest of the game, while fun in that lizard brain kind of way, doesn’t do a ton to separate itself from its peers. Fans of the series will have a decent time, but there’s not much here for folks on the outside. If you’re curious about Dragon Quest as a whole, we recommend starting elsewhere.

For a while there, things weren’t looking so great for Bomberman, one of the most underappreciated gaming mascots out there. But it feels like the weird, little guy’s alive and kicking now, with two retail games within a few years of each other and more. Super Bomberman R 2 isn’t the ultimate Bomberman experience, but it’s a cute, wholesome package of old school, multiplayer videogame glee. Which is weird to say about a game with Pyramid Head in it.

Fans waited four years for NetherRealm to release a new fighting game, and all that waiting paid off. From the surprises in its new mythology, to the white-knuckled pace and creativity in its gameplay, Mortal Kombat 1 is the freshest take on the series in years.