Star Wars: Squadrons is exactly what it sets out to be: a modern revival of the old-school Star Wars flight simulators. It isn't particularly ambitious, but it is a lot of fun. Just being able to zoom through the wreckage of a ship battle while trying to get a bead on that darn X-Wing is enough to keep your attention for a while. The game lives and dies by its multiplayer, and hopefully the community is thriving for a while. Do you want to pilot an X-Wing? Then Squadrons is the game for you. Die-hard simulator fans might find it to be too simple for their tastes.

After the initially painful learning curve, the game suddenly snapped into place, and things got fun; collecting the cards and participating in tournaments had great appeal.

A solid brawler with a nice selection of new and familiar characters. It sports a great deal of interactivity with the environment, and gives a number of fighting styles to work with.

As expected, the Jurassic World Pinball pack continues the studio's impressive quality streak. The table layouts are well thought out to please both casual and veteran fans of pinball, while the gimmicks inherent to video game pinball are done well. If you're a fan of pinball, add this to your collection.

Conduit 2 isn't a revolutionary shooter by any means. The plot is cookie-cutter, the graphics and sound design are good but not exactly eye- or ear-popping, and the campaign doesn't present a plethora of new features. The experience is still enjoyable, especially the multiplayer portion and its robust gameplay options. The game still shows a willingness to experiment with a few new guns and modes, and those who love finding bonus material will find a bevy of them here. It's a familiar but solid shooter that Wii owners will appreciate with open arms.

Boulder Dash-XL does a good job of convincing its audience that the original idea can still hold up today. The core gameplay is simple but addicting, and the multitude of levels with varying difficulty make it tough to put down once you pick up the controller.

Darkest Dungeon II is not the game I wanted. It's its own thing that is a darn fun game with a lot of interesting mechanics and beautiful artwork. One can't pre-judge DDII based on a player's opinion of the original. It shares a tone, a combat system, and a general aesthetic, but the flow and style of gameplay is so different that it is entirely its own thing. It will take hardened Darkest Dungeon players a bit to adjust to the change. If you're willing to go with the flow, it's an engaging and exciting title, if not quite the masterpiece of the original.

If you played RE4 to death like I did, play RE5 on Veteran with a like-minded friend and you'll probably have a blast, but keep in mind it's not as good as its predecessor. The real question about Resident Evil 5, though, is whether or not you'll reach a point with what's happening where you just have to walk away.

I found the gameplay in The Sims 2: Castaway to be quite entertaining and, to a point, addictive, especially after delegating a large amount of the repetitive resource gathering to island primates and other castaways.

Bridge Constructor Portal is no Portal, and no one expected it to be, but it's close when you consider the general enjoyment that can be had while playing it. GLaDOS is an extremely welcome resurgence, and it was oddly a pleasure to find myself under her thumb in the Aperture Science world once more.

From the moment you boot up PopCap Hits! Vol. 2, you realize that PopCap didn't just copy and paste two of their titles with the old structure of Vol. 1 and call it a day. They looked at some of the issues with the first compilation and improved on it in every way possible.

For me, the biggest impact of MLB The Show 24 was the way it honors the game's history while also offering several high-end gateways into the game-playing experience. As a sports title, it's whatever you want it to be. If you want the hardcore stuff with every pitch and swing, you got it. If you want to just destroy the CPU for a quick 10 minutes, you can do that, too. If you want to just know more about baseball's legendary figures, this is also a pretty good place to start.

Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 is overall a better game than Ninja Gaiden II. It may be less gory, but it has a better pace, is less frustrating and overall more fun than the original.

Prototype has a few flaws. It seems to forget what it's good at with all its focus on the sprawling overworld, and the open-ended gameplay has no real purpose other than prolonging the progression of the game, but it's still a remarkably well-made package.

Flashback: Remastered Edition remains a stone-cold classic, and old players will love how so little has been done to it, helping to preserve what caught people's attention in the first place as opposed to covering it all up with a more modern sheen. Newer players who aren't accustomed to the classic single-screen style of gameplay might find the control scheme and lack of real help frustrating at first. Stick with it and you'll discover why Flashback was more than just a display of pretty graphics. Overall, this title is a worthy addition to the Switch library.

F1 2010 isn't for everyone, but if you like it, you'll like it a lot for quite a while.

Abraca: Imagic Games is a good party game for those who don't want another minigame collection.

Observation is an enjoyable experience. It has its flaws, ranging from an awkward UI to tedious puzzles, but they are overshadowed by the excellent plot and atmosphere. It's pretty much a one-and-done experience (aside from a few collectibles), but the game provides a genuinely fun time. If you're a fan of sci-fi drama in the vein of Stanley Kubrick's masterpiece, give Observation a shot, but be prepared to work through some rough spots.

As I said before, Minecraft is what you make of it. The game has no real end goal and a minimal set of instructions, so you decide what you want to do. It is a sandbox in the truest sense of the word, so it'll please those who like making things up as they go along. It still needs updates to unlock the true vision and potential, but what you have here is a very enjoyable and versatile experience that should be played at least once.

Sideway: New York is a charming side-scrolling platformer.

Nine years may have passed since LEGO Harry Potter first released, but the games still feel as fresh and enjoyable as when they debuted. If you didn't know that LEGO Harry Potter Collection was a remaster, it would be easy to mistake it for a new release. The only real downside has to do with those who own the original Xbox 360 games. Since they've been withheld from BC, if you want to replay these on the Xbox One, you'll have to buy the LEGO Harry Potter Collection.

All in all, Mystic Vale is a fun, no-frills card game. I am extremely fond of the fact that it's built around shared creation instead of blowing up one another. It's a well-designed card game that translates well into the video game medium. Based on the number of cards that are shuffled in every turn, I suspect the digital version is more fun than the physical version. If you like card games and deck-builders, Mystic Vale is absolutely worth a shot.

F1 2010 isn't for everyone, but if you like it, you'll like it a lot for quite a while.

EA Sports UFC 3 is a solid title that comes highly recommended for both die-hard UFC fans and those wanting to get into the series. Even with some fighters occupying several different weight classes, the roster count is huge, and it complements the improved striking system. The modes contain some depth and some twists that work well, while the presentation remains as good as it was before. The knocks against the submission system make it a little tougher for grapplers to deal some damage, and while the loot box system doesn't hurt the game as badly as the publisher's other titles, the additions to the economy seem extraneous. Overall, the combination of good and bad changes makes UFC3 a sideways upgrade rather than an essential one, especially if you're still deeply entrenched in the second title.

Catherine Classic may have lost some of its freshness over time, but it remains an intriguing title for those looking for a game that defies expectations. Its more adult style may seem too simple for some, but it's something that very few visual novels attempt to do. The puzzle aspect remains hellish in difficulty but is still fun once you learn all of the tricks and can deal with the imposed time limits. For longtime fans, there isn't much here to bring you back, but unless you don't have your PS3 anymore or an Xbox One to play the Xbox 360 version, Catherine Classic is worth checking out.

The Last Tinker: City of Colors is a solid 3D platformer.

Flaws are plentiful and at times glaring, yet somehow, the game is so shamelessly addictive that once you actually play it, you can't be pulled away.

It's a surprisingly adept blend of various types of nostalgia and does a good job of capturing the feel of SNES-era style RPGs without overstaying its welcome.