It’s hard not to be disappointed with this 2042 offering. You know when the devs said this is a game to “celebrate Battlefield”? They’ve stripped away some of the most fundamental elements of the series and added tornados and Wingsuits to make up for it. It’s Marketing 101. Explosions, tornados, and swooping helicopters look great. One day, they probably will be great. DICE is one of the best when it comes to post-launch patches - for better and for worse. But if you’re on the fence about buying Battlefield 2042, I would just wait. It’s hard for me to condone purchasing what is essentially an unfinished product - an unfinished product with Battle Passes, too. Just wait. It will be a better game in a year’s time. Maybe even six months. If you’ve never played Battlefield and want to experience some of the sheer beauty of 64v64, I say go for it. Just don’t expect an experience that will keep you interested for more than a couple of weeks.

The problem with creating a dungeon crawler game and calling it Munchkin is that there is too little connecting to the source material.

As a single-player experience, Table Manners is very much like a bad Tinder date: after one awkward night, you'll probably never want to see it again.

The Last Worker tries to be a lot of things. It’s a satirical puzzle adventure at heart, but a large part of it is spent stealthily avoiding sentries, it’s got an endless runner minigame starring SKEW that overstays its welcome, and there’s a lot more first-person shooting than I expected. While the story and stealth are both great, the rest of the puzzles are frustrating exercises in tedium, and that’s the feeling that lingers after playing. When the most compelling gameplay is the tedious day job that the game is trying to satirise and not the exciting revolution empowering you through the bowels of the Jüngle warehouse, you know there’s a problem.

Although there are lots of ways to upgrade and decorate your van - which, I suppose, is just about the only saving grace of this game - I had absolutely zero interest in doing so. Why should I bother putting the time into making my van look nice when the world is so devoid of character? There are dozens of cozy survival games that nail everything Outbound is trying to do, and go so much further. I do expect another developer to pick up where Outbound has dropped us off though: people want a cozy campervan game, and I’m certain someone else is already cooking one up.

For now, Shadowgun War Games isn’t a threat to any of the big competitors. Call of Duty Mobile, Fortnite, and PUBG can all relax knowing that Shadowgun War Games feels more like a proof of concept than a finished game. With that said, developer Madfinger Games is likely aware of the game’s shortcomings, and over the coming months there should be substantial additions in content, else we won’t be hearing much about the game.

There's just too much to fix to make Funko Fusion worth your time. Even if all the broken issues were fixed, the onslaught of enemies, the confusing puzzles, and zero incentive to help the player will remain. Even after several patches to balance some of these issues, the overall product remains the same, and so will the fundamental issues affecting it.

Kingdom Under Fire 2 has some really cool ideas, but it would seem there's just too much baggage built up over the years.

If you loved the original Shenmue and Shenmue II, then you'll likely love Shenmue III for how closely it adheres to the original games. If you enjoyed the HD remasters of Shenmue & Shenmue II, then you will likely enjoy Shenmue III as a faithful sequel. There isn't much to recommend for everyone else, as Shenmue III is a ponderous experience that exists more to waste player's time than tell a compelling story.

If the game were to do away with its heart rate resource, which severely limits the style of play, and added more procedurally generated content, the game would be a hit. As it stands, Breathing Fear misses the mark and is a forgettable experience.

Fashion Dreamer was never going to be a Game of the Year candidate, however it did have the tools to be a favourite game for many. On a purely technical level it runs smoothly (as smoothly as games ever do on Switch), but with its aimless story, lack of depth, oddly colourless world, and misguided focus on influencer culture means it finds itself as one of 2023's worst dressed instead.

It's mildly amusing to rattle Joy-Con like maracas, but a Nintendo table setter should strive to be better than 'mildly amusing'. And that's the strangest part here - Nintendo has not failed with Welcome Tour. It has succeeded in its ambitions. But if the Switch 2 is to match its predecessor, those ambitions had better grow, and quickly.

I wanted to love Destruction AllStars. I still do. There’s just not enough there to make it worth my while right now. A couple of times, I ran into a weird technical issue where I would jump into a brand-new car, but it just wouldn’t move. I think that issues like this can certainly be fixed in a future patch, though. I also know that the development team of Lucid Games has a year’s-worth of content planned for the game. As such, although I can’t recommend playing Destruction AllStars right now, I do have high hopes for the future of the game. Especially since the car combat genre is ripe for the taking with no new Twisted Metal in sight.

The Gunk is not a disastrous game. I enjoyed turning my brain off for five hours and exploring this strange and mysterious planet. It’s okay for games to just be empty calories sometimes, and I wouldn’t knock The Gunk for just being a generic popcorn flick. The Gunk aspires to be more than that though, and it falls considerably short. The quality of the SteamWorld games gavethe expectation that this would be a fresh take on the third-person adventure genre, but The Gunk is too shallow for me to recommend - even in the slow December months. If you’re looking for character-driven action-adventure games on Game Pass, Lake and Firewatch were both added earlier this week. Give those a look and leave The Gunk in the gutter.

While the VR medium definitely makes the game scarier, there’s absolutely nothing about Wraith that wouldn’t have worked just the same in a normal game. The hide-in-seek genre of horror games has been done to death, and Wraith would have been much better served by more scripted encounters, on rails scares, and fewer (or no) fail states. Once a monster catches you and sends you back to your last save, it loses almost all of its power to scare you. Wraith stopped being scary when it started being tedious. It’s one of the most disappointing horror games I’ve played because I loved the way it started, but its strong introductions never developed into anything more compelling.

It’s a fairly bog-standard sci-fi show at the end of the day, but it’s mine and many’s favourites because of the Doctor. The Doctor is the show’s edge, a lovable idiot that’s too smart for their own good tying everything together, ending up in random situations and being forced to interact with strangers to uncover plots of intrigue. We do none of that here. You go to A, do what you’re told, go to B, do what you’re told, until the game ends. Given how short it is, you’re better off watching a few episodes from the show, because this is barely Doctor Who, let alone a good game.

High on Life just isn’t very good, and there’s not much more to say. I think a lot of people are taking the route of ‘well, if you love this humour you might enjoy it’, but I already do love this humour and I did not enjoy it. It’s the ghost of video games past, with boring shooting and a bafflingly slim progression loop propped up by bad jokes that feel like some bros on a podcast writing their own Interdimensional Cable skits. It’s free on Game Pass, but your time on this planet is precious. Give this one a miss.

Perish could’ve brought Hexen and Heretic’s medieval boomer shooter vibes kicking and screaming into the 21st century to the tune of howling metal riffs, topped off with a roguelite twist. However, it offers little to incentivise you to go back for replays. Every death feels like starting the whole game over from scratch, with so little changing that each run turns into a chore. The striking set-pieces, like the twisted Herculean monster, with a cage of heads for a, well… head, crumbling the moon just to beat you, are fantastic, but they’re too few and far between to justify Perish making you start from scratch and slogging through shallow mechanics to reach those exciting moments.

I was really hoping to be wowed by Maquette, but my time spent with it was not the magical, romantic experience I was hoping for. The bugs, overall wonkiness, and lame puzzle design annoyed me to no end. Especially when it would punish me by making me start a chapter over because it had broken itself. As a result, my already low tolerance of the love story between Michael and Kenzie grew to the point where I couldn't stand the couple. I would actively cheer when things went wrong because I didn't like them. The game seemingly wants you to feel like their relationship is one for the ages, but it just felt like a couple who had issues after the honeymoon period was over. It's a tale as old as time, but not one worth basing a game on.

While I may not be interested in replaying Werewolf: The Apocalypse - Earthblood any time soon, the game did increase my intrigue to learn more about the World of Darkness universe. I think maybe I’ll steer clear of werewolves for now, though, and instead see what the WoD’s vampires have to offer.

If bringing Sakura Wars back means sacrificing tight, strategic gameplay, good characterization, and memorable storytelling for a sloppy heap of half-melted vanilla ice cream, I'd rather it stay dead.

It’s fair to say that I’m disappointed with Chronique des Silencieux, but mostly because there is so much here to appreciate. Held back by translation faults and a buggy experience, there are compelling mysteries, lush artwork, and strong characters to enjoy. It feels very much like a game in Early Access that needs a whole lot more cooking before it’s ready to tell its tale.

Even with my love of the 2012 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and my enjoyment of the fun, but simple gameplay, Wrath of the Mutant's short run time and high price point make it an incredibly hard game to recommend. If this was a bonus game added to The Cowabunga Collection or a part of a sequel collection for some of the modern games then it’d be a notable treat, but on its own, it's simply not worth it.

But, I will say that Immortal Realms: Vampire Wars is very true to its subject matter, as it did feel like the life was being sucked out of me as I played it.

Ultimately, Pokemon Scarlet & Violet finally lets you experience a story in this world that doesn’t feel out of place, marked with a tone of childlike innocence that, for once, doesn’t diminish the seriousness of the subjects that it presents. Unfortunately, the performance is so abruptly bad that it completely ruins, to an infuriating extent, what otherwise could have been the best Pokemon game to date.

Ultimately, Pokemon Scarlet & Violet finally lets you experience a story in this world that doesn’t feel out of place, marked with a tone of childlike innocence that, for once, doesn’t diminish the seriousness of the subjects that it presents. Unfortunately, the performance is so abruptly bad that it completely ruins, to an infuriating extent, what otherwise could have been the best Pokemon game to date.

Just Die Already has its charms, but the novelty wears off pretty quickly. I’d even go so far as to say this toes the line with the masocore genre. It’s a difficult game, but I did find myself chuckling often at the utter ridiculousness that I was witnessing. I could see it being a fun game to casually stream with an audience.

Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse is a disappointing remaster that fails to hide its age under the pretty mask of shiny new character models. While the concept and story are intriguing, they’re impossible to enjoy when you have to wade through the awkward, clunky gameplay at such a snail’s pace. This one was better left on the Wii.

For anyone who’s never heard of Crazy Taxi, Taxi Chaos will be a good enough racing title that’s fine for a quick pick-up-and-play experience. For everyone else, this near-duplicate ride likely won’t be worth the cab fare.

For everything Digimon World: Next Order offers, there is something better. If you want monster-taming, Pokemon and Monster Rancher are right there. If you want specifically Digimon, Cyber Sleuth and Survive are more than enough to have your fill. If you want anything other than wonky pacing, shallow combat, and frequently cringeworthy writing, Next Order probably isn’t for you.

Fort Solis is all presentation and no substance. It feels like it blew its budget on getting this cast to build up some hype before launch, and then forgot it needs substance to make it worthwhile. With an appalling story, bumpy technical issues, frustrating UI, and a pace so glacial I literally fell asleep at one point, Fort Solis is a waste of everyone’s time. And not even the deliciously grizzled voice of Roger Clark can help that.

Messy doesn’t even begin to cover the state that the Star Wars: Battlefront Classic Collection launched in, and even though updates are rolling out to make things more tolerable, the ‘improvements’ are loaded with issues that only make matters worse. This might be the worst port since the Silent Hill HD Collection, so get ready to warn away newcomers until it’s fixed.

Unfortunately, just about every decent thing about this game is offset by dull writing, buggy performance, and a core loop that grates on the patience after thirty minutes.

Dark Descent is a generic XCOM clone with brief moments of engaging puzzle-piecing strategy. The horror is underused and feels wholly out of place as it pushes you further and further into action. Music is adrenaline-pumping and clearly designed to compliment firefights, troops yell ‘LET’S GO TEAM’ every time you move, and xenomorphs are easier to mow down than avoid. Nothing about Dark Descent wants you to be scared, but everything about Aliens does. Mix in the cocktail of performance issues and thin mechanics, and what you have is another disappointing entry in the catalogue of Alien games.

I wanted to enjoy this game, but I didn’t. I expected smoother movement, interesting characters, and better expression of the game’s themes, but The Library of Babel fell short. Its premise was interesting enough, and its eclectic influences could have elevated it, but it was undercut harshly by its design flaws – and its unoriginal plot couldn’t save it.

If video games had an equivalent of Mystery Science Theater 3000, The Uncertain: Light At The End would be a worthy candidate to appear on it. Everything from the story to the acting to the gameplay to the constant onslaught of bugs makes it a title deserving of mockery. Its only saving graces are its passable graphics and the puzzles that made me temporarily forget that I was playing a horrendous Telltale clone. I may be uncertain about a lot of things in life, but I'm 100% certain that you should stay away from this.

Jumanji: The Video Game is best left in that dark and dusty cupboard that it will no doubt end up in.

It’s disappointing to see a project that had potential come up short, but if like me you were anticipating the launch of Untamed Tactics, it turned out to be far from what we were hoping for. The game’s biggest selling point could have been a dynamic Parley System with witty banter and opportunities for hidden characters and plotlines, but like the rest of the title it falls disappointingly flat.

There are more positives – character designs, too, are phenomenal interpretations of Tolkien’s descriptions, and the creepy folk horror vibes of the Mirkwood Elves is inspired – but they’re too few and far between to save this boring game.

I'm not sure what the appeal of Deadliest Catch: The Game is supposed to be. There just doesn't seem to be much of a point to anything you do. At least the TV show offers up some drama and excitement by depicting the plight of these fishermen as they fight each other over the right to keep Red Lobster stocked with endless buckets of crab legs. This game just features you as a faceless avatar doing menial tasks without any story or even a dramatic voiceover about your struggles. There's no stakes or tension, just a giant pile of crabs.

I'm not sure what happened with Reynatis. Yoko Shimomura and Kazushige Nojima are legends. It feels like FuRyu had everything they needed to deliver a great JRPG. However, game development is difficult, and some projects are bound to miss the mark. That happened here in a big way. Reynatis is one of the most miserable experiences I have had with a game in decades. It is an ugly, repetitive mess that houses some of the worst writing the medium has to offer. Outside of the OST, there is almost nothing of value here. If this is, in fact, anything like what Final Fantasy Versus 13 was supposed to be, then I can comfortably say that Final Fantasy fans dodged a bullet.

Animal Friends Adventure feels like a title that needs to go back into development. It has the potential to be a reasonable retro-style platformer, but there are just too many errors in it right now for it to even hit average. In its current state, I literally cannot complete it. Not a good move for any game.

Little Witch Nobeta is not for me, but then I’m not certain who it is for. It is a catastrophic fumbling of the bag with a narrative that makes no sense, combat that feels far too basic, puzzles that don’t even warrant a mention, and a distinctly unappealing target demographic. The only magic I want from Nobeta is a disappearing act.

Even with PlatinumGames’ signature combat and some mechanics brought in from its past work, Babylon’s Fall babylon-falls short in every department. Any hopes I had were quickly dragged down by wonky combat mechanics, a below-average narrative, poor graphics, and even worse aesthetic choices that only make the whole experience even more unenjoyable and frustrating. Babylon’s Fall is a poor attempt at a cash grab that doesn’t even get that right - no one is going to want to spend money on it.

Artificer: Science of Magic has a lot of potential, and with time, it could become one of the most challenging and interesting games in the survival genre. As it stands, the game is a mess and should not have been released in its current form. The ideas present in the game are interesting enough that we might take another look further down the road if the gameplay has been significantly improved and the bugs are fixed, but for now, we can't recommend Artificer: Science of Magic.

I'm not bashing this game because it's about religion. It isn't bad because it's a religious satire. It's bad because every aspect of it misses the mark. The graphics are bland, the music is repetitive and dull, the satire isn't funny, and the point and click interface isn't easy to use. I've never before encountered a point and click adventure that made it so difficult to point and click.

The only silver lining of Narcos: Rise of the Cartels is that the game itself is such a disappointment in what it sets out to do that few people will play it in the first place.

This game does nothing to deserve your attention. I honestly can't believe that the developer is charging ten bucks for this. It feels like the unfinished alpha build of a game that would still probably be bad. Down To Hell is so lame that the devil would be ashamed to be associated with it.

There's no reason to bother with this game. In fact, there's already been a great River City Ransom game released this year that completely blows this out of the water. River City Girls is a fantastic game that honors the series' legacy, has amazing music and characters, and features gameplay that's actually enjoyable. Play that instead, because Stay Cool, Kobayashi-san!: A River City Ransom Story is about as far away from cool as you can get.

This is the first major game from the developers at Itzy Interactive Inc., so hopefully, they learn from the mistakes made here and deliver something better in the future. But Mad Devils is what they have right now and it's a hell of a bad way to waste your time and money.

The Pirate Queen - A Forgotten Legend is an underwhelming game not worth your time. Its barebones gameplay and unmotivating storytelling failed to entertain or excite, and its disappointingly short runtime only disappointed me further. The story of Cheng Shih is a fascinating one that more people should become aware of, but this game does her legacy little justice.

Do not play Greyhill Incident. It is a great idea that falls apart utterly and completely. The core gameplay loop is infuriating, unrefined, and unenjoyable. What specks of quality I may have encountered do little to mask the sully of the rest. The biggest commendation I can give this game is how well it implements the store-bought asset packs. There’s potential for this developer to create something better in the future. But for now: hard pass.

Truthfully, the only kind of person I can recommend this game to is a diehard Sword Art Online superfan who has never played a JRPG (or honestly, any other video game) in their life and therefore has no basis to compare the trainwreck that is Alicization Lycoris to anything else that has substance. Otherwise, just watch the anime. Or play a different game.