Dragon Ball Z: Dokkan Battle is worth a try for fans of the franchise but is powered by fond childhood memories more so than solid content.

Manic Mechanics is aimed primarily at the multiplayer co-op experience, with support for up to four players via local or online play. As a solo affair, it’s probably not going to satisfy you. Taken as intended, as a multiplayer experience, it’s quite a lot of chaotic fun. I’d be hard-pressed to recommend it over Overcooked but if you need something similar to that game, and I mean really similar, this game checks off all the necessary boxes with sufficient level of quality to satisfy.

If you have access to a Steam Deck, especially an OLED model, Goat Simulator 3 is an easy recommendation. With how good it is here, I don’t need the Xbox or mobile versions anymore, and will be dipping into the game often to play on Steam Deck. Goat Simulator 3 on Steam Deck is not only my favorite portable version, but my favorite version of the game in general. It has a few issues like prior entries in the series, but is still worth your time regardless of if you are a fan of the series or a newcomer.

I really wish this game didn’t come in as hot as it did. Pokemon Scarlet and Violet represent an excellent new vision of what a Pokemon adventure can be, and it says a lot for how many good new ideas are in here that I still found the game incredibly enjoyable despite the severe technical problems. I understand schedules must be kept. Well, the schedule was kept. It’s too bad what it ended up costing, because something this absorbing shouldn’t come with so many provisos.

There's a lot to love with Strike Team, but I think the most important thing it nails is that simple feeling of playing a Call of Duty game.

Squid Drop won't set the App Store ablaze as the next fully featured console-like game, but it offers a good dose of simple fun if you're looking for a new high score time waster.

The Switch port of Gothic II delivers the game more or less as-is, plus the Night of the Raven expansion. There are some new motion controls here but I wouldn’t really recommend them. For better or worse, this is the game. If you enjoyed the port of the first game, you’ll like this even more. If you didn’t, you might want to step cautiously. There are a lot of things you’ll have to deal with in this game to properly enjoy it, and only some of those are due to it being a game from the turn of the millennium. If you can get used to the quirks endemic to this series, however, the rewards are many.

In the end, your likelihood of having a great time with Frontline Commando is directly proportional to your opinion of freemium elements in action games. There's nothing inherently wrong with Frontline; it's just that games based on free-to-play economies tend to become long and drawn out (if you don't pay).

A flawed experience, but the chances Oda takes make the ride invigorating. I would love to see what else he can do, and I hope he continues making many more games before... the inevitable. Sorry, this game is making me morbid.

In reality, Frontline Commando 2 isn't quite the game the first one is, and isn't even half the game D-Day is.

While Dungeon Rushers offers a lot of fun for at least a few hours, some balance issues see it turn into something of a party guest that just doesn't know when to go home. Even when it hits that point, it's not as though it becomes actively unpleasant. It's just a bit wearisome and out of new topics. If you don't mind the idea of making slow progress through a game through a ton of shorter sessions, you'll probably have a blast with Dungeon Rushers.

Really, Beyond Gravity is a ton of fun and it overcame my skepticism.

Smashing up cities and making mayhem with Zilla is great fun.

By the end of it all, Siegecraft feels like it could have been much more. While the easy to pick up and play gameplay is nice, I can't help but think there was more that could have gone into the campaign to create a better sense of progression.

Tower defense fans should be delighted by the zombie-slaughtering good times that lay ahead.

I just can't escape the feeling that I'm being nickel and dimed for upgrades, ammo, and IAP doesn't seem anywhere near as optional as it should be in a PvP-driven online game where investing real-world dollars can make such a difference, essentially making the game less about skill and more about who has either spent more money or invested more time grinding up coins.

It's hard to knock Smooth Operators for its complexity when most sims have been streamlined to the point where they're hardly interactive. Its biggest issues are early issues: there simply isn't much to do at the start, and you don't have the resources you need if things start to spiral out of control.

Personally, the engaging combat was more than enough to keep me interested through the game’s fifteen or so hours. The rest of the game around those battles is decent enough glue. Awkward and rough, but charmingly awkward and rough.

The Gap on Nintendo Switch was a fascinating experience in its structure as a walking simulator. It brings in quite a few elements you don’t see in the genre and tackles some interesting and important themes. My only complaint is that it was a bit annoying to move the cursor with the right stick to a specific location to interact with some objects. It needs a snapping option.

I absolutely recommend Tales of Kenzera: ZAU, and the Switch version was a lot better than I expected, but the Metroidvania aspect isn’t as well-realized as the rest of the game. You’re here for the narrative, music, art, and voice acting more than the Metroidvania bits that felt too linear.

This isn't innovative or the first of its kind, but Surfers does expand and evolve what we've come to know as the endless runner.

Who I really expect to sway into checking out Madden NFL (11) 12 are the casual sports fans, or people like me, who are vaguely interested in sports games but found the various technicalities of football games to generally be annoying.

Tinkering and experimenting is rewarded- it's a joy to see every moving part a half-moment from lining up. The elegance of the later levels, as each piece takes its part in a grander pattern-that's something worth experiencing. Assuming, of course, you can get that far.

If you enjoy this style of social RPG, there's certainly no harm in giving it a try and seeing if you take to it more than I did, but for me, the whole thing just feels incredibly redundant.

Despite the game's many flaws, it's still Ghosts 'n Goblins, and I doubt I'm alone in enjoying this game just because of that.

Brainnsss strategy and action feel pretty unique in a space that's been done to undeath, and they probably really pop outside of this vacuum. I can dig it, at least.

Platforming controls are thankfully solid, but the combat simply doesn’t have enough depth to it to keep things interesting across the many skirmishes you’ll engage in. The presentation of the game is quite good, though the lengthy loading times make deaths sting that extra bit more. I think if you’re patient with Blue Fire you’ll find a lot to like here, but it really could have been a lot more.

While Feed Me Oil 2 is wrapped in a rather pretty package, it's still fundamentally the same game as it predecessor, and doesn't push the puzzle genre in any way. Having said that, if you loved the original, this one is a no-brainer.