It offers a nice mix of strategy (almost reminiscent of Dynasty Tactic's "push, attack, push, attack" combo system) and action where timing plays a crucial role.

SingStar Vol. 2 is still one of the best music games the PS3 has to offer. The great mix of songs and casual attitude are a great way of getting people to play the title in the first place.

For a game that's almost 20 years old, Munch's Oddysee on the Switch holds up incredibly well. It's a fun and creative platformer in an odd world that is still super fun to play and figure out from start to finish. Don't expect any technical leaps forward or special additions to this Switch version. If you already own Munch's Oddysee on another platform, there is not much reason to buy the Switch port, unless you must have a portable version of it at all times.

All in all, The Mage's Tale is a great VR title that showcases how well games in the genre can work if they're built from the ground up for the technology and the developer pays attention to the details. It's funny and immersive, and while it surely isn't a masterpiece due to its technical issues and lackluster enemy AI, it's a good title that anyone who's hungry for more VR will surely appreciate.

Road to the Show remains the soul of The Show 18 to me, with everything else feeling like a fun distraction, like getting to step into the shoes of baseball's past greats or the tasting the 8-bit flavor of retro mode. As I progress more into my player's career, there's this unshakable knowledge that he's never going to be better at some things than he is now. He will be in a box — an enjoyable one, but a box nonetheless.

Huntdown has been out for a while, but it's a good, silly tonic for players looking for a nice distraction from all of the heavy and involved open-world adventuring out there. It'll scratch most of your action itches and, if you're a certain age like me, it'll bring back a few memories of a bygone era. It's not the worst thing to think about.

The combat is tedious and boring, the visuals are bland and ugly, and I can't remember the last game I played where so many words were spoken and yet so little of substantive importance was said.

Whether you're a Sudoku vet looking for a new challenge or a newbie wondering what all the fuss is about, Buku Sudoku does a fine job of bringing the phenomenon to a digital audience. Its only real shortcoming is that in some cases, it is content to be complacent, rather than moving the genre forward.

Brutal Legend isn't a bad game by any means, and there is certainly plenty of fun to be had while playing it. It simply tries to do too much at once, and as a result, doesn't do anything as well as it should.

A pretty good trivia game. The questions are of the right difficulty level and the presentation, while not perfect, is good enough so that fans won't feel like they were given a bare-bones effort.

It was refreshing to play through a title that was[n't] simply a copy of the film, either; the game picks up right where the "Cars" movie left off and lets you decide McQueen's fate.

Bloober Team is no stranger to making games that feature concepts with immense potential, like Blair Witch or Observer. The Medium is probably my favorite of theirs to date. It's got a couple of warts, but it's easy to get lost in its world (both of them), even with its pitch-black narrative overtones. It makes it feel important, though perhaps not something you'll feel compelled to play on repeat.

For PS3 owners, SingStar Country is also a very easy game to recommend. Of the 30 titles included in this disc, none have ever been included in the PS3 discs nor are they available as downloadable content.

The atmosphere is somewhat ruined by lackluster music, sometimes shoddy level design, and repetitive battles, but if you don’t overdose on the game, you’ll have a lot of fun.

The lighthearted banter, the brightly colored scenes, enticing mystery, and solid puzzles make this something that the original Kickstarter campaign promised: "fan service aimed directly at those aching to experience one more story involving one of adventure gaming's favorite teams."

A must-have for fans of the board game. The promise of future DLC is invigorating and the sheer amount of content out of the box is already impressive enough.

A fun arcade-style sports game that suffers from just enough shortcomings to keep it from being great.

Halo Wars is a fun, if unexceptional, real-time strategy title. It does many things right and a few things wrong, but nothing about Halo Wars really stands out except for the fact that it provides a surprisingly solid RTS on a console.

Interested players new to the genre would likely enjoy Suikoden Tactics, except it comes off as a straight sequel to a mediocre RPG which was itself a sequel to three underappreciated RPGs – and this game is much more enjoyable if you know the mythos.

Splinter Cell: Double Agent offers more of the third-person stealth action we've come to expect from the Splinter Cell franchise, and it adds a unique, fast-paced multiplayer format unlike any online game I have played before.

It's not going to make anyone's "Best of" year-end lists, but it's a perfectly decent little game for folks who miss the bygone days of marbles racing around improbable tracks. At its discount price, it's the sort of game you can take a risk on and not feel too bad about if it isn't your cup of tea.

Hours of pure, smart fun for me. I haven't laughed out loud at a game in a while (where it was meant to be funny), and I would certainly recommend at least spending some spare weekend time on it.

MX vs. ATV Reflex shows that Rainbow Studios and THQ still have it when it comes to crafting a good off-road racer.

Prototype 2 is undeniably an improvement in many ways over the original game. It controls smoother, has plenty of simple quality-of-life improvements, and it lacks many of the frustrating features that plagued the original. Unfortunately, it solves problems by erring on the side of simplicity.

Kung Fu Panda can be summed up as a game that doesn't do anything perfectly, but does everything pretty well.

In the end, Little King's Story is a cute yet exceptionally deep title that will provide hours upon hours of gameplay for anyone willing to master it. However, poor control and pathfinding, coupled with overwhelming scale and some exceptionally frustrating bosses, might turn off a lot of gamers who are looking for a game to ease them into the RTS/simulation genre.

SingStar: Queen is the type of track pack that you want other music games to follow. It takes the songs from one band, puts it in a compilation for fans to enjoy, and retains features from the series' previous titles.

A flawed attempt at fixing the problems with Guitar Hero III. While vast improvements have been made to the game's look and engine, a critical mistake was made when Neversoft chose to focus on a single band. The core Guitar Hero gameplay is still there and as fun as ever, but unless you're an avid fan of Aerosmith, you probably won't be happy with constantly playing Aerosmith songs.

Assassin's Creed: Shadows is an experience that was enriching, beautiful, and at times, gloriously confusing.

For parents looking for a good game for young children, this would be a great purchase. I personally prefer Piglet's Big Movie, but that is for the slightly older kids.

I enjoyed it, and you might too, but your mileage may vary, depending on your tolerance for repetitiveness and a steep difficulty curve.

SingStar: Queen is the type of track pack that you want other music games to follow. It takes the songs from one band, puts it in a compilation for fans to enjoy, and retains features from the series' previous titles.

Trackmania United targets a specific niche amongst racing game fans and does everything it can to emphasize and cater to this niche, creating a game where precision matters, skill is clearly and easily quantifiable, and yet where fun can easily be had, even in failure.

It seems a bit convoluted and rather forced, yet if you play it in the dark late at night, it will still spook the bejeezus out of you.

EA Sports College Football 26, especially patched up, will definitely get you ready for this year's IRL college football season. But I can't shake the feeling like it slipped a half-step or two. The honeymoon period is over. Let's see how they respond.

A fun 3-D fighting title. It's not going to re-invent the genre, and it has its own set of issues, including rather questionable balance between fighters and a massive amount of clone fighters even before you get into the Create-A-Soul feature.

For those who are willing to invest the time, Smackdown is a really good and interesting wrestling title that's worthy of its namesake.

The whole new aspect of animals is a welcome addition, but it could definitely do with some more fleshing out.

Most who manage to make it through to the end-credits of XIII will likely do so due to its consistently interesting and engaging storyline.

Despite a plethora of technical problems that make Mercenaries 2: World in Flames feel like an unfinished title, it remains a lot of to play. You can bring down a city with the press of a button, and the explosions are simply breathtaking. I had a lot of fun while I was playing, but the mediocre length and frequent bugs make the title a little hard to recommend for $60.

It is a loving re-creation of an experience from a bygone era, warts and all. Keep that in mind going in, and you won't be disappointed.

It does have its fair share of flaws and rough edges, but it also has quite a few areas where it absolutely shines.

All told, Pipe Mania for the PlayStation 2 is an excellent example of what companies should do to revive old games.

A fairly solid economic strategy simulation where the player can utilize a number of varying tactics and maneuvers to gain an advantage in a well-designed medieval environment. Unfortunately, the impressive level of detail and the interesting gameplay options at your disposal take a backseat to the technical issues and repetitive micromanagement.

As much as I personally love it, there are plenty of people out there who will outright loathe it. Many won't manage to see past the colors and will simply be unable to play the game. It can also be deeply unforgiving, and while there are concessions in the form of the automatic save, you'll usually advance two or three levels and then hit an absolute brick wall of a stage that will take multiple tries to finish.

For all that it does and doesn't do, Call of Pripyat is a unique experience that only S.T.A.L.K.E.R. can be counted on to deliver behind the Irradiated Curtain.

One of the best storylines I've seen for a while, but to my surprise it also had poor game play. It's probably one of the first times I've seen such reverse psychology.

A slow starter, especially when enemies run away from your character like there's no tomorrow. Once you acquire charge attacks, the game gets a lot more fun.

Not a bad game, but with its lack of replayability and quick playtime, it's just not a keeper.

The game is not much fun from a single-player perspective, but it can be incredibly entertaining if you are playing with friends.

Wraith: The Oblivion – Afterlife has some very good and tense moments. It gradually lures you into quite a few scary encounters, and it doesn't rely on jump-scares but an atmosphere that is carried by its strong audio design. It isn't necessarily a looker, and the visuals are a bit janky at times, but if you get over the slow start and occasional annoyances, you're left with about eight hours of a creepy and entertaining VR adventure.

Midway has actually succeeded in creating an acceptable sequel to The Suffering, one which fans of the original should definitely look into.

It's not unplayable, but there are so many flaws that consistently and almost constantly crop up. The lack of post-launch support makes it feel as though Call of Duty is a victim of its own success, and it really doesn't matter what state it's in or how quickly it gets fixed because millions of people have already purchased it, and it'll all be forgotten before the launch of the next one. My hope is that the players won't be simply taken for granted going forward, but in the meantime, Modern Warfare II certainly subscribes to the mentality of, "Screw it. People are going to buy it anyway."

It possesses the sort of open-ended gameplay structure that will nurture your addictive tendencies and have you tweaking and expanding your city way beyond the time you promised yourself you would stop.

Taken as a whole, the selection of games in JPP5 is more than solid, with better-than-average games and a high-profile version of YDKJ ensures that this is one of my favorite packs so far. It doesn't have extreme standouts like Quiplash or Fibbage, but apart from Zeeple Dome, they are all fun and have the potential to become a favorite based on player preferences. It's the consistency that makes JPP5 one of the better ones, and if you're a fan, there isn't anything to worry about here in terms of quality.

Puzzle Quest: Galactrix does an admirable job of trying to hold your interest for a lengthy puzzle game, but it has a weak story, the AI feels cheap, an aggravating hacking game and the extremely weak multiplayer drag down the experience.

Fans of the WWII era or the RTS genre — or both — will get the most out of Sudden Strike 4. It is a high-quality product in terms of graphics and immersion, and the title provides a great experience full of tense and satisfying moments. There's a lengthy campaign that'll take more than a dozen hours to get through, and multiplayer and skirmish modes offer endless playability. The multiplayer portion requires planning ahead with friends or joining the small online community. Gamers who are on board with all of that will be fine with buying the title now, but others may want to wait until the price drops a bit.

Solatorobo: Red the Hunter is easy to play and appropriate for all ages.

Although engaging, the single-player campaign is just too short and will provide very little replay value.

Katanaut is a perfectly fun but ultimately rather forgettable Dead Cells-style title. It's perfectly competent at what it sets out to do, and the strong presentation goes a long way, but at the end of the day, it doesn't manage to carve out its own identity. It's absolutely worth a shot if you're burned out on similar games, but don't expect quite as much replay value.

Concrete Genie is far less than the sum of its parts. A strong early game is lost by a bizarre late-game twist that undoes a lot of the charm. If it had just focused on the genies or had been about combat from the start, Concrete Genie would be a much more cohesive experience. Instead, the game has a lot of good moments but ends on a particularly dissatisfying note. There's still a lot to enjoy, but the flaws stand out as brightly as the strengths.

If you enjoy flight games, can still stomach WWII-themed titles and are willing to step away from the single-player campaign when the later missions make you start grinding the enamel off your molars — better yet, if you'll forego the campaign mode altogether — Blazing Angels 2: Secret Missions of WWII is well worth your time for a different sort of deeper, involved multiplayer flight game.

The Career mode may be a bit too simplified, but the arcade nature of the Top Shot mode makes it fun for those who miss classic light gun gaming. With good graphics and sound, the game ranks up there with some of the best the series has offered, and fans will immediately take a liking to this entry.

Despite a ho-hum presentation and some odd design decisions, Unsolved Crimes is definitely one of the more solid adventure titles on the DS.

Hollow Survivors is a good game that's held back by a lack of content. The core gameplay loop is a ton of fun and provides engaging gameplay, but there's not enough meat on the bones to keep it fun and compelling for more than a couple of hours. If you're looking for something swift and breezy, Hollow Survivors does the job, but it's lacking when compared to other similar roguelikes on the market.

The mixing of fighting game mechanics with a more modern beat-'em-up set of mechanics works well thanks to the fact that you're flooded with varied enemies. The leveling system and the inclusion of a good roster of characters adds replay value, while local co-op play makes up for the lack of online play, especially since the Switch has been touted as being big on local multiplayer. Overall, Battle Grounds Overdrive is another good choice for the console.

It's a healthy combination of Fight Night and WWE mixed together in terms of gameplay, and if you love mixed martial arts, you'll find something to love about this title.

Gorn has aged reasonably well. Sure, there are bigger and prettier games available, but few of them match the almost cathartic and brutal fun that Gorn so innately delivers. It works well enough in PSVR to warrant a purchase if you're OK with its limitations. The controls are frustrating and more limited on PSVR than elsewhere, and visuals are clearly a step down, but the core experience is still intact. If that fits the bill for you, it can be a blast, so ready your fist and blade and enter the arena. Just don't lose a limb.

At the end of the day, the Mega Man Zero Collection is a functional compilation that will please the hardest of hardcore Mega Man fans.

Banishers: Ghosts of New Eden is a great example of less being more. What it does well, it does very well, but those elements are bogged down in a needlessly large, open world that's been padded out with thin gameplay. When you reach the meat of the game, it's usually worth the effort, but there's so much dilution that it has difficulty shining through. The poor performance also makes the tedious elements feel more so. Like its main characters, Banishers is stuck in limbo between excellence and blandness, and I can only hope that any sequel will focus on quality over quantity.

While there is no shortage of puzzle platformers on the PS3, Teslagrad is worth checking out.

Despite the aforementioned low replay value, however, I'm glad PaRappa the Rapper was released. It still holds up even today, and perhaps having some renewed attention given to the Hip-Hop Hero will convince Sony to have a development house revamp PaRappa the way it should have been revamped, instead of the horrific sequel we got five years ago.

For those with the patience to navigate the corridors of office spaces looking for the correct crumpled-up note, or those captivated by the idea of a British political thriller in video game form, The Occupation may just be your cup of tea.

If you want more Arkham Origins, then it delivers. Otherwise, it'd be wiser to wait for Arkham Knight when it hits later this year.

The Golf Club 2 is exactly what you want from a sports sequel. It's a much better version of the game that makes you forget about the previous title instead of longing for it. The number of modes still feels sparse when compared to EA's older golf titles, but the major additions do a good job of working toward something more comprehensive for golf game fans. The dedicated community shows that the game will have legs for years, much like the first game, and while the presentation hasn't improved greatly, it looks respectable by today's standards. Even though The Golf Club 2 is the only current serious golf game around, fans should be happy to know that it's still a very good title.

For most, the mileage you'll get out of Trover Saves the Universe will depend on how much you love "Rick and Morty" and how receptive you are to Roiland's improv-heavy brand of humor. Those who swear — perhaps literally — by the Adult Swim cartoon will assuredly have a good time; those seeking a slightly more involved VR experience may be better off looking elsewhere.

If you never had those songs, then SingStar Legends is definitely a safe purchase for those wanting to expand their karaoke library.

Saints Row IV is a giant playground for gamers. The superpowers are a boatload of fun, and the metahumor is amusing and holds the gameplay together. On the downside, it's glitchy, and it suffers from many little problems that can add up. Despite that, the game is absolutely brimming with heart.

In the end, Green Day: Rock Band's biggest strength is its collection of songs. However, given the limited scope of the bonus material and the otherwise basic gameplay elements, it is difficult to recommend it as a stand-alone title.

Hot Wheels Unleashed is perhaps the best stand-alone game to use the license by far. It nails the feeling of racing with tiny die-cast cars and melds it with a presentation that looks far better than what you'd expect for a licensed title. The race variety is lacking, given the presence of only two race types, but the track variety greatly makes up for that shortcoming. It may have flown under everyone's radar, but Unleashed is worth everyone's attention.

It is by no means a masterpiece, but Attack of the Earthlings provides a fun and a solid strategy experience for those who aren't looking for something extremely deep. The levels have a good layout, and there's a wide variety of smart and dumb enemies to keep you invested. Your offensive abilities, from setting up traps to body disposal, are fun, and the humor keeps things lively. It is a short experience that doesn't have much replayability due to the lack of variable difficulty, but you'll still enjoy your time with Attack of the Earthlings.

Dawn of War III is a strong single-player campaign tied to an inconsistent multiplayer. It feels like a more ambitious game than it is able to be. Players who are looking for a single-player adventure will have a lot of fun rampaging through the 15-hour campaign, but those who are in it for the multiplayer may be frustrated by the new and somewhat muddled multiplayer mode. If the multiplayer clicks for you, Dawn of War III will be a delight, but it's a tough sell if you're looking for advancements on prior Dawn of War titles.

Overall, Autosport does things well enough and offers a decent compromise of customization versus accessibility without going off the deep end for serious gearheads the way Gran Turismo does.

Dungeons III is a good hybrid of real-time strategy and dungeon management. The quests are fun, the simple mechanics are tight, and the humor is nice, even if it can be grating at times. Its lack of difficulty will turn off anyone looking for a challenge, and the lack of a community means that those who like playing with others will find nothing here. The whole experience is worth it if you like what's on display here.

Teslagrad is a fun little adventure that works well on the Nintendo Switch. Its forgettable story is easily forgiven since smart puzzles, a well-designed map, and carefully hidden collectibles extend the life of the game. Frustrating bosses and the occasional poorly designed level bring down the experience, but not enough to quell Teslagrad's electromagnetic current. Fans of Metroidvanias looking to work their brain and reflexes should enjoy what Teslagrad has to offer.

Witcheye is one of those games that lives and dies on how much you love its quirk. The controls take some getting used to, and it is frustrating to see yourself miss on some easy gems while you're learning things. Once you get everything down, you'll find the game to be pretty short but very enjoyable. Considering how cheap the title is, fans of non-traditional platformers shouldn't be afraid to try Witcheye.

Embers of Mirrim is a solid puzzle-platformer with atmospheric visuals and storytelling woven into interesting puzzle segments. It's rather short and can sometimes be frustrating due to a few shortcomings, but the overall package is quite fun and engaging to play through once.

Your perception of Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance is going to heavily depend on how you want to play. If you want to go solo, prepare to toil away at the easiest difficulty level before taking on anything else. If you're planning to go with a team and don't mind the current restrictions, then you'll find this to be an enjoyable romp despite some occasional quirks. Considering its $39.99 price tag, Dark Alliance is worth a shot for those looking for an online co-op fix that isn't another shooter.

All in all, Final Fantasy VIII: Remastered is a solid port. The new character models look nice, and the additional features are all welcome. At its core, it's still Final Fantasy 8, and almost nothing has changed about it. If you were a fan of the original, you'll like the remaster, and if you weren't, then it's unlikely this will change your mind. This is likely the definitive version of the game, blurry backgrounds and all, and it's well worth picking up for anyone who's looking to experience FF8 for the first time.

It'll be curious to see where the next episode of The Walking Dead: A New Frontier goes from here. The retread of similar plotlines from both the comic and TV show feels stale in Above the Law, even with the slight twist regarding the new characters. At the same time, the character development balances that out, and they remain as engaging as before. The last two episodes will determine if the season can pull through, but for now, prepare for some rehash.

A flawed gem. It’s a lot of fun to play, it looks and feels great, and it’s very reasonably priced, but a number of omissions (most notably multiplayer capability) give it a short life-span with very limited replayability.

The fights aren't overly strategic, but you are rewarded if you know the weaknesses of monsters you're facing; there are tons of these fights, and each is rather short unless you pump up the difficulty.

And there is no better battle for souls than in multiplayer, which I would say can be the heart of the game. There aren’t that many modes of play, but it can last a few hours with fellow friends.

You already know whether you're a fan of the series, and Just Dance 2024 Edition won't sway your opinion. With that said, it is great to see that the game makes a strong, conscious effort to keep the song library fresh without juggling different games; each iteration is now essentially a big track pack expansion. It's also good to see that the video quality has only gotten better, with a combination of dynamic backgrounds and a few songs that feature different animation styles (instead of people in full-blown costumes). It may still be the only dance game in town, but at least you'll be assured that there's some effort in earning that title rather than winning it by default.

Ultimately, Watch Dogs: Legion – Bloodline is a bit of a mixed bag. There's fun to be had here, but the story driving the expansion could have spent more time in the oven. Being able to play as Aiden and Wrench is a nice addition, with each offering a distinct style of play.

Big Rumble Boxing: Creed Champions is a pleasant surprise for fans of arcade-style boxing games. It might not overflow with modes, and the lack of online play hurts, but the Arcade mode offers some well done, if ridiculous stories. The mechanics are simple to understand but deep, allowing for some technically smart fights to occur. In the end, the game won't go down as a classic, but it provides a fun experience and would be a good addition to your local versus game lineup.

Give this game a chance. Yes, it's got the Acclaim name on it, and the engine is less refined than others. However, the incredible cast alone is with the price of admission, and the game itself is fun enough.

Skylanders: Trap Team is a mixed bag. The core gameplay is still enjoyable, and the new villains are some of the most charming, creative and fun characters in the franchise.