By far the best-looking World of Warcraft expansion yet, and it's filled with quality content. However, the character and stat overhaul has left the gameplay feeling a little too simple and rote.

For all its derivative nature, The Order: 1886 falls well short of classic status; yet the premise here could definitely serve as the groundwork for a more creative, more substantial series. It's one of the most convincing steampunk/alternate history worlds video games have offered up. Now Ready at Dawn just needs to bring the script and mechanics up to that same standard.

An interesting attempt to channel the feeling of '90s shooters that is successful in some ways but lacking in others. Fun for a while, but then the flaws start to show. Stick with it and there's a surprising amount of depth to discover.

Life Is Strange 2 has a better core relationship at the heart of its game, but it fails them with the episodic adventure's at times boring, formulaic episode structure; something its predecessor did not suffer from. Some of the story beats are preachy and unearned. Where Life Is Strange 2 hits its stride is more a technical feat: in how its core relationship between brothers Sean and Daniel becomes a game mechanic in itself, and how all the choices you make shape Daniel as he grows up.

Saints Row: The Third time travels to 2020 with a solid remaster. This is the same game you remember from 2011, with all of the DLC and content packs along for the ride. Developer Sperasoft has redone some of the models, especially with regards to the vehicles, and added an all-new, more realistic lighting engine. Unfortunately, it still doesn't quite measure up to the original PC release, and all the bugs of the original are still here. Still, Saints Row: The Third is a wonderful experience despite all its flaws, and that remains true of this remaster release.

Madden 21's gameplay takes some appreciable steps forward as the generation comes to a close, with The Yard providing some casual fun. The experience is marred by an abnormal number of bugs though, and the single-player modes remain a major sore point. Ultimately, it's able to pick up a few yards on the way to the next generation of consoles, but just a few.

Earth Defense Force: Iron Rain plays around with the concepts players have gotten used to with previous EDFs. Classes are open, and the new Prowl Rider offers a new flavor of play that hasn't been seen in the franchise before. Weapons are open, giving more player freedom in terms of character loadouts. But Iron Rain loses some things from the main series, notably the huge swarms of enemies in favor of larger, more meaningful enemies. It's a fine entry in the EDF franchise, but it doesn't step far beyond its predecessors sadly.

Ultra Street Fighter II is an admirable effort; a pitch-perfect version of Street Fighter II on the Nintendo Switch. Capcom has re-balanced the game from its Super Turbo release, thrown in the Super Turbo HD Remix art, and added some additional Switch-only modes. Unfortunately, the whole package just feels adequate. Ultra Street Fighter II doesn't feel like it goes above and beyond for the series' 30th anniversary and the asking price is steep for what's there.

Does beauty alone justify a game? Can the novelty of swimming through majestic oceans teeming with life overcome an otherwise fairly by-the-numbers experience that never quite achieves the creative heights it so earnestly aspires to? I suppose that's down to the player, but as much as I wanted to love Abzû, the end result fell just short of brilliance. It's worth playing for the incredible presentation, but don't expect something profoundly new here.

Paradise Killer drips with endearing style and charm, but can't quite make its finale match up to its opening hours. Discovering intrigue and mystery is compelling at the start, but the good gets lost in its collectible busywork. Paradise Killer is a good option for virtual detective fanatics in need of new mysteries, but it lacks the staying power of other modern mystery giants.

The charming dungeon crawler builds itself around the chaos of dice. Choose one of six characters, each with their own unique skills and way utilize your rolls of the six-sided die. Combat is rather fun, the artwork feels like a pop-up book, and the electronic soundtrack will have you tapping your foot. Despite the characters and additional modes though, it doesn't feel like Dicey Dungeons expands upon its early hours of play enough. Still, it's an enjoyable roguelite dungeon crawler.

The entire thing doesn't come together as a solid whole. The citizens you can recruit are interesting, but the rest of the game's story is only skin-deep. Combat is solid, but it can get tedious and boring at times.

NHL 21 tries to end the current generation on a high note, but legacy issues continue to hold it back. Its revamped Be a Pro mode is particularly disappointing, proving to be a disjointed, somewhat sloppy experience. It has its usual strengths, with online team play being a definite highlight, but longtime fans of the series will likely find this year's entry eminently skippable.

Journey to the Savage Planet puts you in a brilliantly colorful world, and tasks you with exploring to your heart's content. The moment-to-moment exploration is enjoyable, but the act of combat offers very little in the way of a challenge. The score and insane FMV adverts give Journey to the Savage Planet a lot of personality, but the tiresome parody nature of the writing really lets it down.

Modern audiences, though, will still have to overlook some serious rough edges to find out what the big deal is.

While a bit muddled in combat design and pretty dull in world design, Godfall is a passable 3D action game. Under normal circumstances, you'd be safe to skip it, but if you need something to play on that shiny new PlayStation 5, it's not the worst option.

John Wick Hex has a solid enough foundation, but it largely fails to build on its core concept. It's a one-dimensional tactics game that moves at a glacially slow pace and features few unique wrinkles. It offers a slightly deeper look at the lore, but otherwise it adds little to the burgeoning John Wick-verse.

On the surface, Where the Water Tastes Like Wine seems like it has a recipe for an incredible game. It stretches the lengths of what story-driven, Twine-like games can accomplish in scope—thematically, narratively, and in terms of the dozens of writers from different cultures and backgrounds behind them. And yet, the game's onerous pace and the way it relegates the stories you collect to flash cards ends up doing a disservice to the game's strengths.

If Marvel's Avengers was just the single-player story campaign, it would be amazing. There, Crystal Dynamics sells you on its version of the Avengers and introduces the charming and endearing Ms. Marvel to players everywhere. Combat has depth to it, and each hero truly feels distinct. Unfortunately, the endgame is where our heroes falter, with broken matchmaking, rough options in terms of progression, and endlessly reused environments and enemies. Surely, Marvel's Avengers will see improvements, but here at launch, the endgame needs a good deal of work.

After a solid start, Minecraft Story Mode Episode 2 is disappointingly short. Coming in at around an hour in playtime, the adventure is brisk and active, but it ends right when you're getting into it. A lot happens, but the impact is dulled due to the breakneck pacing.

The roguelike nature of Darkest Dungeon combine with more substantial narrative and exploration, and a Korean manhwa aesthetic. Unfortunately, the mechanics of Vambrace need work. Your squad of mercenaries is largely disposable, there's too much randomization in terms of progress, and there are several issues with the user interface. Perhaps a sequel can bring the gameplay closer to the excellent aesthetics, but Vambrace: Cold Soul doesn't come together completely.

Mitsurugi Kamui Hikae is an arena fighter that features a great combo system that makes it fun to play... for a while. Unfortunately it has a limited number of enemy combatants, and once you learn the strategies for beating them, the gameplay quickly becomes repetitive.

Bedlam's concept is absolutely brilliant, and it's voiced very well too. Unfortunately, its stiff, unforgiving gameplay just isn't much fun, and what you're left with is a great idea whose potential just hasn't been fully realized.

While Coffin Dodgers follows the Mario Kart formula fairly closely, it's neither polished or finessed enough to really stand out. It's fun for a while, but unfortunately the easy single-player mode and lack of online multiplayer limits its appeal.

Bleeding Edge has some really good ideas, but not enough content or progression to back them up. It's a solid pick for a few game nights with your pals if you all have Game Pass, but it still needs some time to develop into a true competitor.

A swing and a miss. The developer has improved the web-swinging mechanic and getting around Spider-Man's Manhattan has never been better. Unfortunately, the rest of the game drags it down. A schizophrenic story, a lifeless New York, and boring villains are what you can expect for the price of entry. The game's Hero/Menace system even takes all the fun out of just randomly swinging around the city.

The tragedy is that THPS5 gives us a tantalizing glimpse of the game's full potential - but doesn't realize it. With an online mode that really meant something, with better presentation and graphics, with more interesting and imaginative missions, with a more comprehensive create-a-skater, and more intuitive create-a-park mode, this could have been a truly great game. But sadly it's lacking in all those areas.

Malicious: Rebirth doesn't impress but neither does it disappoint terribly. Best in brief bursts, this action brawler is a short experience that could have used a tad more time in the oven. Bosses are surprisingly easy to exploit, which isn't necessarily a bad thing given the atrocious camera.