It lacks the character of the previous versions. Its stripped down war engine and laser-like focus on battles ends up preventing it from being a classic.

Does exactly what it sets out to do and no more by laying down a passable combat engine and little else. In a way it's almost refreshingly straightforward.

While Gigantic Army feels like it's aiming for those who crave nostalgia, it comes with just enough material to make it stand out.

If you didn't like Rise of the Tomb Raider, the Baba Yaga DLC isn't going to change your mind, but fans of the base game will find plenty to love here.

Pato Box is a flawed experience but still fun. If you can live with the sometimes-uneven presentation, then the adventure segments will prove to be an exercise in tedium, especially with the small roster of enemies to fight. Then again, those fights bring back so many memories of the games it tries to emulate that you'll be willing to put up with walking around and doing odd jobs in between. Pato Box isn't exactly the spiritual successor to arcade boxing that many were hoping for, but it's worth a look.

Enjoy Kosmokrats in short bursts and avoid frustrating yourself into burning up in orbit, and you'll be fine. The puzzles are fun for a while, and the silly Russian accents and exemplary voice acting is cute. Quit before you get frustrated and start to rush and fail. That's your cue! Come back later, potato peeler pilot. If you do come back, there are higher difficulties to unlock, should you become a drone pilot pro. Until then, das vedanya, peeler, and may you gently nudge together your Space Force pieces with finesse and not punt them all over the solar system.

At the very least, Habroxia 2 is a very solid shoot-'em-up thanks to the number of elements that it manages to mash together quite well. The merger of bullet hell and twin-stick shooter in this kind of environment feels distinct, and there's some good depth to the shooting mechanics due to the options at your disposal. The branching pathways give the campaign some legs, since you have some incentive to uncover all of the pathways, and the new modes feel like more significant reasons to keep playing after the campaign is done. For shooter fans, Habroxia 2 is a great game to play and a good turnaround from the team's first efforts.

In the end, GigaBash is a game that's loads of fun if you're playing with local friends. Even if you don't partake in the minigames, the combat is deeper than expected in a fighting game like this, so you'll spend more than a few rounds playing with others. It doesn't have much going for it if you choose to play solo or are trying to get online, but as long as you have a group ready for a get-together, GigaBash fits perfectly in a party-style rotation.

Excite Truck may underwhelm with its audio/visual presentation, but it has gameplay in droves. The high-speed acrobatics that would have had you pumping quarters into an arcade machine five years ago have been fine-tuned to create a console game that will keep you coming back for more.

H.A.W.X. is a nice, action-packed distraction with some promise, but if you're squeezed on cash and are still waiting on the next Crimson Skies or Ace Combat, you might want to sign on as a pilot-for-rent instead.

Crimson Alliance is a simple but entertaining and deceptively addictive hack-and-slash title. It's very light on the RPG elements but makes up for it with a very satisfying combat system.

For those seeking good online play on the PlayStation 2, Combined Assault is the best there is, for better or worse. Anyone seeking a strong single-player game is strongly advised to look elsewhere.

An above average shooter with some fright tossed into the mix.

That basically sums up The Dark Pictures: Episode 3 - House of Ashes. It's a cheesy action-horror movie, except you can help characters survive (or die) with your button presses. It's not my favorite of the lot, but I was relatively engaged. It's an enjoyable enough B movie and feels like it would thrive the best as a multiplayer party game. If you've enjoyed the rest of the franchise so far, you'll enjoy House of Ashes because aside from some quality of life changes, it's largely in the same mold.

Rock of Ages is the rare game that manages to stand completely on its own and also deliver a memorable experience.

In the end, Styx: Shards of Darkness is a solid stealth title. The lack of real combat puts your ability to go undetected to the test, and the breadth of each level means that your solutions to each problem are wide open, giving you some flexibility to your approach. While your abilities are fun to use, it would've been nice to see them make a difference, especially since the game reuses some environments instead of going for new ones. Shards of Darkness is an improvement over the first game, and it's worth checking out if you're a stealth fan.

Haven is a cute and enjoyable mix of light survival, light RPG, and serious romance novel. It's exactly the kind of game to play if you want to relax for a few hours and see adorable people being adorable. The surprisingly enjoyable RPG combat and gentle survival mechanics make the game feel more like a game, while at heart it is closer to a visual novel. If you like warm and fuzzy feelings, Haven is a great choice, as long as you don't mind the occasional risqué dialogue.

It’s sort of like saying you loved a really bad movie (like "Plan 9 From Outer Space") or saying you really hated a great movie (like "Gone With The Wind").

My personal opinions about the overproduction of WW2 titles aside, Brothers in Arms DS is utterly playable and an incredibly ambitious graphical step for the DS. It's slick, action-packed and surprisingly atmospheric for such a small screen, although its problems are very noticeable, and getting shot through supposed "cover" can get extremely irritating.

If you’re happy to ignore its single-player mode, Evil Dead: The Game is a well-balanced and fun asymmetric horror title that stands above all other games in this growing sub-genre.

The game's narrative is told by way of full-motion video news clips (with a genuine news anchor - none of these are rendered or anything) that look incredibly authentic, yet are cheesy at the same time.

European Assault will not take you by the hand and lead you to the finish. You'll have to fight for every inch of ground that you gain, and you'll meet your untimely demise more than a few times. Along the way, you'll experience a gritty, raw, and realistic combat experience that will give you a greater appreciation for what veterans of World War II went through.

In Lamplight City, you aren't led around from room to room, clickity-clicking your way to success. For the most part, logic and reason are at play. Brush up on those skills, and you will find your way. Take your time, enjoy the well-themed music and ambiance, enjoy the story, solve the crimes, and for goodness' sake, listen to Bill.

There's a good golf game hiding in EA Sports PGA Tour. The litany of courses is enough to entice fans of the sport, while the roster of pro golfers is amplified by a presentation that looks gorgeous even if the TV-style broadcast feels excessive. However, the imprecise controls make one hope that the upcoming three-click system will make the gameplay more palatable, since everything else related to the actual sport does a great job of trying to help you understand how to perfect shots. Although PGA Tour 2K23 is the better golf game this time around, there is a good base to work with here. Hopefully EA's future iteration can fix the issues to make this a contender for best pro golf simulation on the PC.

The "use anything, make anything" mechanics that have made zombie-smashing so fun are still intact, and some changes only amplify the experience when dealing with the expansive world. While the story is good on its own, Frank's presence provides a nice balance between silly and serious, and the multiplayer also finds a sweet spot. The title has some issues, but they aren't enough to dampen the sheer fun this game provides.

The game especially shines when competing head-to-head with friends in ad-hoc mode. On the down side, it loses a great deal of depth with its poor outfield control.

Mahokenshi has a cool concept and plenty of high moments. It lacks that special something to separate a good deck builder from a great deck builder. It's too slow, too repetitive, and a touch too easy. Even taking that into account, you'll still get hours of gameplay out of the loop, and if that works for you, it's easy to see it becoming a niche favorite. With the deck builder market so crowded, Mahokenshi doesn't stand out as much as it should, but it's still a well-made game.

Adding up all of the changes between NHL 20 and NHL 21, it's still hard to justify the full-price release in comparison to what's new this year. I appreciate the focus on the Be A Pro mode, but there is still a lot of work to be done to improve its consistency and reduce frustrating and demotivating moments and bugs across the entire experience. The gameplay feels like it did a small leap forward with some basic AI and animation improvements, making NHL 21 very fun and smooth to play, but it's not enough to hide its aging foundation. I sincerely hope the franchise can make up ground with its next entry and, hopefully, an improved engine. If you are a dedicated fan or have skipped several of the previous entries, NHL 21 is a solid purchase, but otherwise, there isn't enough here to justify the price tag.

A remarkably detailed game with a level of depth that is usually reserved for full game consoles and PCs.

Serious Sam 3: BFE is a game worth checking out, especially if you were a fan of old iD Software titles like Doom or Wolfenstein, or the even the Serious Sam series itself. If you're a gamer who's only played modern FPS titles, you'd still do well to see what Serious Sam 3 has to offer. It's more unique nowadays, and it's polished just enough to be an enjoyable experience.

Altogether, WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2009 is a decent enough wrestling title on the PSP, but I think it also lacks a little polish, especially with the visuals.

Zombie Army 4: Dead War is a solid, workmanlike zombie shooting game. It's quite fun to play and makes for an enjoyable co-op experience as you and a friend team up to buzzsaw your way through Hitler's legions. That's basically the beginning and end of it. If you want a game where you kill a lot of Nazi zombies, then Zombie War 4 provides. If you're looking for something more, then it doesn't. It's still a fun co-op experience and worth picking up if you're looking for something new to add to your gaming library.

Final Fantasy Type-0 HD is a hard game to judge. As a PSP title, it's impressive and contains a bunch of content that clearly pushed the tiny system to its limits. However, released four years later as a full-priced $60 console title, it's lacking. It's still a solid game, but it demands that you remember its roots and overlook some of its foibles.

I have to give praise to Omega Five, which is a great attempt at bringing an original shooter to XBLA that definitely feels old-school but with enough of a visual emphasis to make it something appealing to play for today's fans of the genre.

Although the game has a well-designed and highly customizable driving system, it fails to build upon the gameplay with quality surrounding features, like compelling online play or an extensive career mode.

While retro fans are sure to appreciate its nostalgic sense of game design, the simple-minded combat and primitive graphics severely take away from its entertainment value. And since the main selling point of Ys is that it plays just like old games... well, why not just put this game down and go play some actual old SNES RPGs?

For now, this is still the most fun you can have hitting random people with random things by the hundreds, while still whetting your appetite for more of the same.

Lost Records: Bloom & Rage is a game that's saved by its characters. Their personalities are as fleshed out as we'd expect from a Don't Nod adventure game, they're the driving force in getting you through the story. The presentation is top-notch as usual, and the tweaks to the choice system give the game enough room to feel a little different from the studio's past adventures. It's just too bad that the story isn't paced so well, and the tale feels like a setup for something bigger in a future game rather than something that is more self-contained. The game is still fairly enjoyable if you know what you're getting into, but don't expect the title to feel as complete as others, like the first Life is Strange or Tell Me Why.

Thrillville is a worthwhile game if taken at face value, and it's the closest you could get to having an actual amusement park held in your PSP.

Whether your interest in Narnia is religious, literary or both, little of the wonder that accompanies Lucy on her first trip through the wardrobe makes its way into this Xbox version of the journey.

Though it's short and not overly difficult, Leo's Fortune is a solid platforming game.

The story is conveyed well via good writing, with enough twists and revelations that make it feel like a children's show due to the subject matter and higher stakes involved. The puzzles are great brain teasers but also have the good sense to not fall into the trap of being difficult for the sake of it. Most of all, that art style is too attractive to pass up, with every character being extremely likeable. Provided you don't mind the cliffhanger ending, Nairi is a worthy pickup for adventure fans.

I still highly recommend this expansion to current owners of Raven Shield, but for the rest of you, you may want to save a few bucks and wait until the “Deluxe Edition” comes out.

The mediocre graphics bring the quality of the game down somewhat, and, while the need for frantic strategies will probably keep you playing, the lack of any sort of selection of different game modes may reduce Battlegrounds to being a rental, at best.

LEGO DC Super-Villains offers a lot of great things to like, despite my small quibbles. The title makes up for redundant core gameplay with its sheer variety of playable characters, robust character creation suite, and abundance of side content to complete. Meanwhile, its relatively by-the-books story is bolstered by phenomenal voice acting and classic LEGO charm. It may not be the mature, gritty super-villains game that many would like, but LEGO DC Super-Villains is still worth your time and money.

Feels like the same game that we've been playing for years. The developers have certainly taken some steps in the right direction with the class system and a couple of new moves, but the game is plagued by frustrating and boring challenges, weak presentation and a glitchy level editor.

All in all, The Sims 3: University Life is another fun addition to the The Sims 3 collection, and it adds a lot of new stuff to do. University Life would have been better served if it had been released earlier, as going to college is more important and interesting in a Sim's life than, say, werewolves.

The new incarnation of Warlords isn't great, but it isn't bad, either, under certain conditions.

Return to PopoloCrois: A Story of Seasons Fairytale is exactly what it tries to be: an old-school charming JRPG with some farming.

Ultimately, GripShift is not precisely original. Its elements can be clearly traced to many other racing games, and it's not even the best in its particular racing sub-style (that reward remains with Trackmania).

Atomfall is a fascinating yet familiar game. The story is mysterious, even if the ending might not be that conclusive. The freedom that lies within is very appealing, as is the predominant use of melee versus firearms. The presentation is fine, and while other elements of the game (like stealth) are flawed, those issues are outweighed by the previously mentioned positives. Atomfall is well worth checking out for those looking for a very different experience.

If you're in the mood for a good JRPG, Zestiria fits the bill, but don't expect anything outside of the norm.

I definitely enjoyed Naruto: Clash of Ninja Revolution 2, but at the same time, I didn't come away impressed with the small amount of changes and additions.

Submerged: Hidden Depths feels like what the first game should have been. The main story is more interesting now, but the ancillary story lacks gravitas since the game can spoil the ending for you. The actual gameplay is easy for anyone to manage, which makes for an enjoyable experience. Some of the stuff you're collecting now actually serves a purpose, even if it's cosmetic. The experience is short if you're just going after the main storyline, but it feels just right. For those who want the equivalent of a walking simulator with more to do, Hidden Depths is well worth checking out.

Despite the rough spots, Cars 2 still presents an enjoyable experience because none of the issues impact the core game. Whether you're a hardcore Cars fan or just looking for a kid-friendly racing game, Cars 2 is sure to please. It's perfectly tuned for the younger set, while at the same time packing in enough quality gameplay to keep things entertaining for all the older gamers out there. In short, if you happen to be a parent with kids, this one is right up your alley.

If you take it on its own merits, Robocop: Rogue City isn't exactly a great experience. The combat is simplistic, the mechanics are slapdash, and you spend as much time finding someone's lost towel as you do shooting bad guys. Despite all of that, it's oddly compelling. It's ambitious and charming enough that if you're a fan of Robocop, you'll probably find it appealing to take a trip in his robo-boots. I can't imagine it holding much appeal for anyone who isn't excited for the chance to revisit the iconic locations of the franchise, but die-hard fans will probably revel in it.

A capable fighter, but a great Dragon Ball Z game.

Mount & Blade boasts solid battles and the eventual freedom to fight whoever and whenever you want while maintaining a kingdom, and it's a powerful draw.

All in all, Team Sonic Racing is a good, but not exceptional, kart racer. It fails to meet the heights set by its predecessor, but it's still quick, peppy and a delight to play. If you're a fan of the characters or kart racers in general, Team Sonic Racing is absolutely worth a shot. Most of its flaws are nitpicks or easily overlooked, and it's hard to dislike such a charming game. Now if only we could only get some non-Sonic characters next time….

Backbone starts off strong with an interesting premise and setting and tops off everything with great visuals. What starts as an intriguing detective story quickly loses its appeal, as it doesn't scratch more than the surface of its potential with a rather unsatisfying ending and a setting that is never explored to the extent that it likely deserves.

Overall, Gamedec delivers on its premise. It's a fun and intriguing story with plenty of choices to make and cases to solve. It never gets remarkably deep in lore, world-building, or character development, but it pulls off the decision-driven storytelling quite well. The limited scope hurts the experience, though. Environment maps can be small and feel on rails even when they're not, and some cut corners distract from what is a thoroughly entertaining narrative experience.

The story is well done, and the story is fairly engaging, especially if you are already a fan of Salvatore's writings.

Like any good walking simulator, The Invincible thrives on its story. Even though it feels similar to what the book already touches on, the differences are enough to make the game feel new and somewhat fresh, considering how many people may be approaching the game without prior knowledge of the novel. The decision to go with a walking simulator works as far as being able to effectively deliver the story, and it pays off with a gripping narrative, but some of the dialogue sections can run longer than expected. If you can live with some of the bugs that still need ironing out, you'll find this to be a fascinating experience that's well worth checking out if you're a genre fan.

Lacking in everything that makes a game enjoyable, this one should have spent more time on the drawing board before hitting the shelves.

It feels far more like a fleshed-out and glorified DLC than it does a true sequel.

Your enjoyment of Mothergunship is going to be dependent on how much you liked Tower of Guns. Even though other games are starting to adopt the style, the fast pace is still refreshing, and the enemy variety could be better. Players will have tons of fun trying to make up new and ridiculous guns, but they'll also curse the game when it becomes so hard that they lose all of the parts they worked so hard to get. Mothergunship looks and sounds great, and with new modes and items coming in from future patches, there's still some enjoyment to be had after defeating the game. For shooting fans, Mothergunship is well worth checking out.

If you're an RPG fan looking for something new and different ... stop kidding yourself and go look into the Shadow Hearts series.

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.

The $30 price tag might scare away a few people, but there's no denying that Namco Museum is a bundle of fun. Just about every game is a classic, and while the overall collection could stand to be bigger, the fact that three games are new to the series shows that there's hope for some newer titles in the future, as opposed to the same library of classics. If you're a fan of retro gaming, Namco Museum is an easy purchase to make.

Dark Sector is a very good game; the off-world, strikingly science-fiction oriented FPS demonstrated years ago bears very little resemblance to what has been shrink-wrapped and shipped off to your local game retailers — and that's a very good thing.

Dead Rising 2: Off The Record likely will only appeal to a couple of audiences: serious long-time fans of the titles, and people who've never played them before but want to sample the franchise in a version with photography, immediately available sandbox mode and a discounted retail price.

The inability to save at will is the only real weakness in this title. It is one of the few immersive Gameboy Advanced titles out there.

The best of the Test Drive series and a personal favorite. The game is realistic in execution. The music rocks. The gameplay is a blast.

The Intercept DLC pack may feel like something that should have launched with the base game, but it's a welcome addition.

In the end, Need for Speed Heat is a return to the series' old form, with an emphasis on "old." It's not completely stuck in the past but clearly tries to emulate different features from different past titles and consolidate them into one experience. That means returning players will find many things to like here, but not all of that is purely great. Looking at the bigger picture, NFS Heat is a small win for a franchise that has lost its way for years and is slowly getting its stride back. Heat plays it a little too safe, so it'll be interesting to see if the series builds on this progress with a bolder next entry to deliver a great experience instead of a decent one.

It's a real shame that these problems are so prevalent because there's a lot to like in Born of Bread. It's a very cute and charming game, and I enjoyed myself enough when playing it that I was willing to redo chunks of the game every time I broke something. I replayed sections until I just couldn't do it anymore. There's a good chance that there will be a bunch of patches for the game that will help it rise to its full potential, but at the moment, it's a bit too raw to readily recommend. I look forward to revisiting the title sometime later, after it's been thoroughly patched and stabilized.

Overall, Capes is just fun. If you like XCOM but wanted your heroes to have more power from the get-go, Capes scratches that itch incredibly well. The by-the-numbers plot and somewhat-thin characters hold it back slightly, but the title is engaging enough to keep you invested in the next fun stage or exciting boss fight. It's a great example of how the XCOM formula still has plenty of life in it, as long as you're willing to look at things from a different angle.

Admittedly, the overall quality of Matterfall hurts more than usual because we've seen exactly what Housemarque can do. The core game is fun, but mediocre platforming holds back the game's strengths of dashing and shooting. Controls seem fine on paper, but the inability to map the buttons means that there's a learning curve to the game that will result in many deaths and wrong moves. It may look and sound pretty, but with a short game length and a punishing leaderboard system, consumers may want to wait for a price drop before jumping in.

All in all, Sunday Gold has an interesting premise and gameplay mechanics, but it doesn't come together as well as it could. Some parts of the game were completely engrossing and entertaining, but there are several segments that I did not enjoy. The story and puzzles are fun, but the combat is rather shallow and difficult, which isn't eased by the restrictive AP system and minigames. It's an enjoyable indie with a great idea, but the execution doesn't always match. If you're in the market for something new and point-and-click-adjacent, Sunday Gold is a great pick-up for all of its strengths. If you're hoping for a great RPG like Disco Elysium, you'll want to look elsewhere.

In addition to being easy, Sudeki is ridiculously short, clocking in at twenty-five hours max. For a game that was purported to be the first real epic RPG on Xbox, this is almost incomprehensible.

It's very scary, but it's held back by an annoying save system, limited inventory and respawning enemies.

Prinny: Can I Really Be the Hero? is perfect for platformer lovers and Disgaea fans alike. It's loaded with fan service, extremely well-polished, looks and plays good, has subtle depth despite a simple move set, and doesn't punish players for trying out new things with their huge squad of prinnies.

With "Halo 2" and "Unreal Championship 2" being available on an already FPS-abundant console, Area 51 just doesn't deliver the same way those two can, even if you are a "believer."

If you're a fan of simulation games or enjoy creating theme parks or managing funds, Theme Park is an excellent port from the original PC game, and it plays amazingly well on the NDS. Despite the lack of true new content and any form of multiplayer, Theme Park proved to be simultaneously challenging and interesting.

In the end, The Last Faith is good but not great. The weapon variety makes the combat system feel very nice, while the special moves and parrying can be safely ignored by most players. The side-quests feel like unnecessary fluff, but at least the main questline is good enough to keep players engaged. The misuse of classes and lack of the ability to re-spec your character feel like missed opportunities when more modern games in the Soulslike genre have started to adopt this. The obtuseness in various areas gives off unwarranted but pretentious vibes. While it may not be the kind of game you should immediately launch into, The Last Faith is a title that makes for a good time when you want to get into hardier fare between other titles.

It is easy to pick up and play, and there are enough varied elements to keep veterans of the genre interested, but it doesn't break any new ground.

The core issue with Rune Factory 3 Special is that Rune Factory 4 Special is already out, and without any significant improvements, there isn't a ton to recommend Rune Factory 3 Special overits sequel. There's more structure to the storyline and more freedom to break the game early on, but beyond that, it's basically the same experience that is a step backward. Rune Factory 3 is still fun, but it feels like it's missing things so soon after Rune Factory 4 Special because, well, it is. On the DS, Rune Factory 3 was a huge improvement over the previous game, but when you're going in reverse, it loses a lot of its luster. Short of having burned yourself out on Rune Factory 4 Special while still hankering for roughly the same gameplay, there's no huge reason to grab this over its sequel.

After Burner Climax sets out to be exactly what people expected it to be — a port of an arcade game — and nothing more.

Nintendo Switch Sports shows that the company still knows how to make simple but extremely satisfying experiences intended for everyone. The simplified representation works wonders for old and new sports, and the controls are easy enough that anyone can become good at their favorites in no time. Solo players who don't go online will be disappointed at the lack of content, but those looking to play against others either locally or online will have a blast. Be sure you're a Nintendo Switch Online subscriber if you want to squeeze the most out of those unlocks.

An enjoyable story mode and pleasing visuals are overshadowed by the mediocrity of everything else.

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.

Unfortunately, many of these positive aspects are undone by the game's presentation: bizarre design choices, overly long and deeply uninteresting cut scenes, creepy and off-putting character models and an extremely lackluster dub. It's not a bad RPG; it's simply a mediocre one with a lot of uninteresting filler between enjoyable, if not particularly challenging, gameplay segments.

NBA Live 18 feels like it can be a competitor to the NBA 2K series. The game still needs some work in the presentation department, and while the streamlined modes may be pleasing for players who can feel overwhelmed with options, the available modes can feel pretty bare-bones. The gameplay is solid most of the time, and The One is a pretty good way to do a story mode, even if it doesn't have the writing depth. NBA Live 18 is now a decent alternative, and as long as EA Sports can keep up this momentum, it has a good chance of putting up a tighter fight next year.

The Club succeeds in part, in that essential element of gameplay over lofty ambition — essentially, function over form, that most laudable of design goals ever — but falls far short of brilliance in presentation.

Adventure Pals seeks to be the weird alternative game that your kids will love, and it looks attractive because it's reminiscent of a mix of different games and familiar shows. Unfortunately, its unashamed emulation of other works is both glaring and disappointing. What isn't disappointing, though, are the game mechanics, which may be similar to others, but can be framed as a teaching mechanism for game experiences to come. Combined with punchy controls, this makes for a wonderful skeleton of a game, although it's regrettably tightly draped in the likes of superstar media from yesteryear.

It's certainly a great half of a game; the somewhat limited gameplay aspects, pretty lights and revving engine sounds are good enough to make the title entertaining and fun, but they're not enough to comprise a convincing whole game.

Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is going to appeal the most to die-hard fans of the film series. The ability to ride some of the creatures of Pandora and take in the lush surroundings of the moon are more than enough to satisfy those who want to wander around and soak in everything. For everyone else, the game is simply decent. The missions are very hit-and-miss in quality and execution, while the ability to use human and Na'vi weapons isn't as appealing as the developers may have expected. The world looks gorgeous, but navigating it isn't that intuitive due to a poor map and navigation system, and that also goes for other elements, like hunting and gathering. The game isn't terrible or as bleak as the first title, but you'll need to temper expectations to get some enjoyment out of Frontiers of Pandora.

Though SWON can be a little linear and two-dimensional (in a console-kinda way), it succeeds in being fun and gives you an immersive (if romanticized) jaunt through the terrifying and fascinating world of flight during WW2.