Chorus is a fantastic space shooter that is woven together by a story that is great on paper but lacks proper execution. Its overall plot is very interesting, but the dialog and cutscenes didn’t do much to pull me in. That being said, Chorus is the most fun I’ve had in a very long time with a space shooter. With a packed holiday season, I found myself doing the impossible; I delayed playing more Halo Infinite and I died on purpose in Chorus to replay some sequences because they were that much fun. The abilities, the weapons, and the lightning-fast combat make it a joy to play. There is a lot to explore in the world, and I am hoping that this isn’t the last we’ve seen of Nara and Forsaken.

Subnautica is a fantastic exploring and survival game that I cannot wait to dive deeper into, but it is in desperate need of a patch that fixes the pop-in and framerate. I’ve completed a lot of what the game has to offer, but I know there is so much more of this ocean planet to explore. I learned of a fear I have that I didn’t know existed, and learning about that fear makes me respect guys like Jacques Cousteau and the guy in search of the blue diamond in Titanic so much more.

For a game that centers on life and death, it’s odd that there’s virtually no life within its world that you actually care about. Because of this it’s hard to become truly invested in it, and the constant ‘stop and go’ doesn’t help when you’re trying to keep momentum and fluidity constant. While there are some reasons for some to play through more than once, and find all of the secrets, I found that I was content after seeing the credits roll. Regardless of all its shortcomings though, I’m glad I experienced Valley and got to explore its intriguing world.

As I played I was pleasantly surprised with the number of homage to some of the classic games of the past such as Zelda and even Metal Gear, so if you’re looking to take a walk down memory lane with a crap load of guns and explosives, then Mercenary Kings should be on your radar. For $19.99 you are getting an overwhelming amount of content that should keep you and your trigger happy friends amused for quite a while.

Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town is adorably cute just like the original game, but it does feel a bit dated at times, even from simple things like switching tools that require a bunch of D-Pad presses. Even though many mechanics have been updated and modernized, it’s still quite a time commitment to get your farm back to its former glory. While the $49.99 CAD asking price seems a little steep, I’ve had hours pass by simply because I wanted to work on my farm ‘one more day’ before calling it for the night, constantly being distracted by one task or another.

To unlock the top tier attachments, and modes, it will take some dedication, and eventually gameplay does become easier, but no matter how good you get you’ll eventually crash or have the sun set on your gameplay. The pace is frantic, the speed is tense, and Race the Sun is a perfect pick up and play game that allows for short burst play. I don’t suggest sitting for hours at a time with it, as the courses change each day, but if you’re looking for a quick in-between game, you can try and Race the Sun, but your enjoyment may vary depending on the day.

It makes me happy that THQ Nordic and Purple Lamp Studios took their time to make a proper remaster with more than just a simple shiny coat of paint, and it shows in the final product. Other than the multiplayer being a slight issue, SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom – Rehydrated is a solid choice for any SpongeBob veteran. It's not very often that a classic is showcased so well that it even makes me reminisce of how awesome my childhood really was. I've always been a fan of SpongeBob SquarePants, from the TV Shows to their games back in the day, and it still makes me happier than Mr. Krabs seeing money, especially this remaster. Well, I gotta keep exploring Bikini Bottom to help stop Plankton!

Meet Your Maker gives you a really unique first-person shooter/dungeon crawler experience with fun base building that can all feel pretty rewarding if you put the time into it, though that comes with either the lack of a story or an extremely lackluster one. All of that can be easily ignored with its uniqueness and can keep even frustrated players coming back later for just one more base raid.

As we wrap up our adventure through the Star Wars Universe, it's important to note that this game has some amazing aspects to it, but in the end, it's the core story that disappoints most.

This game really could have been a must have with some more attention to the AI and some polished graphics to appeal to the general mass of gamers that feel graphics are more important than gameplay.

A mix of combat, platforming and puzzle solving, Pepper Grinder is a cute indie game that will last a few hours, more if you want to collect everything. Once you get a feel for the controls, when levels flow, is when Pepper Grinder is at its best as you leap from one dig to the next.

Garden Life: A Cozy Simulator was as advertised; a cozy gardening game, but I found the tasks quite repetitive and wished there was more variety of things to do. I am hopeful that the developers will add some additional content, possibly some more flower varieties as well. More than anything else, I hope they fix the messy inventory system. Garden Life: A Cozy Simulator is like a seedling in a greenhouse. It has all the parts to make something beautiful and is just waiting for the right gardener to come along and spend some time with it.

I’ll be honest, I initially wasn’t expecting much from Killer Queen Black with my first impressions after getting through the tutorial, but once I started to really understand how each class is integral in their own way, you realize there’s a surprisingly amount of strategy needed to succeed. I’m not sure if it could hit eSports levels of competition, but it certainly did impress me overall once you start to really understand its gameplay and depth, constantly having to adapt on the fly. Games like Killer Queen Black will only be relevant as long as there is a large community playing it, so thankfully it has landed on Xbox Game Pass, removing much of the barrier to giving it a chance. There aren’t many games that allow you to win by riding a snail over a finish line, but this surely is one of them.

FUEL is a very cool world that’s been designed nicely with some great weather effects although lacks some depth in the gameplay to really draw you in like I really wanted.

Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord feels excellent in most cases, like whacking someone off their horse with a spear, or getting that perfect hit on an enemy in battles. The map is far more varied from the first game and they improved on a lot of mechanics in this sequel as well. Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord was shallow in some ways, and sometimes has annoyingly hidden game mechanics, but kept me coming back for how unique it felt from its freedom of choice.

Riftstar Raiders is a fairly solid entry into a usually forgotten genre in our modern world of gaming. It offers up solid, if not a little loose feeling, gameplay with tons of replay value and an adjustable level of challenge for gamers of all types. Its greatest victory is in the gear crafting system. Never before has an arcade style starship shooter felt this involved and this personal. Each ship that you make is truly you own as if you were the one sitting in that cockpit making those decisions.

As I reflect on all the time I spent playing this game for this review, I can't say I didn’t enjoy my curse-filled time with Odium, on the contrary, its addictive feel roped me in, but those that get frustrated easily will want to look elsewhere. If there was a mode that offered more checkpoints I would have gladly stuck with it longer and possibly beaten all it, but as it stands, this was a little too Odium to the HARDcore for me.

Train Valley: Console Edition was oddly addictive once I learned all of its intricacies and mechanics that wasn’t taught well from the beginning. Sure there’s not much substance under the surface other than delivering color coded trains to their respective stations, and the first hour or so will be frustrating, but it eventually clicks and become quite entertaining to make intricate track layouts and having trains narrowly miss one another as they pass by one another. Choo choo choose Train Valley: Console Edition if you want an addictive locomotive puzzler, albeit with some initial awkward controls.

Overall, WRC Generations is a well-put-together farewell game for everyone new or enthusiast of the series who've been there since the beginning. It may have some issues but they can hopefully be patched out in the future. WRC Generations may not have many major changes to the series, but it still is a good game nonetheless.

Full of puns, Cavity Busters certainly borrows heavily from The Binding of Isaac and Enter the Gungeon, yet does enough to make it stand out amongst others in the crowded genre. It’s chaotic, frantic, gross, and I enjoyed every minute of it once I was able to get over the learning curve and adjusting to the frenzied gameplay.

While graphics in games like this don’t generally matter, the voxel aesthetic works for its premise and silliness, but the real standout is the commentary by the announcers. Seriously, more than a few times I laughed out loud and the hilarity never got old. Unless you care about the online Last Bot Standing mode I’d question its longevity and the $26.99 CAD asking price. That said, Clone Drone in the Danger Zone will make you laugh on a number of occasions and can be fun to simply jump in for a few matches here and there.

Farming is hard work and takes time, and it’s no different here. You’re going to have to put in the hours to have a large, successful and profitable farm, but if you’re willing to do so, you’ll enjoy all that there is to do in Pure Farming 2018 that the competition simply doesn’t offer. If mod support and multiplayer are included in the hopeful sequel, there will be some serious farm sim competition in the genre.

At the end of the day, Immortals of Aveum is a good game, and a nice first effort from Ascendant Studios. It’s fast, it’s challenging, and it’s decently long. There are some things that keep it from being great, though, and they kept me from loving it overall. I’m glad I played this one, however, and had been looking forward to it ever since I saw its name on a release schedule and Googled it to find out what the hell it was.

iO is a great example of relying on a simple premise and fun gameplay over lavish visuals and an engaging narrative. Obviously there’s a niche market for platforming games like this, especially for those that love to challenge themselves, but given the number of rushed titles and influx of mediocre indie games on the market, iO really surprised me and taught me once again to not judge a game by its looks, but by its interesting mechanics and gameplay instead.

If you enjoy puzzles games and have a like-minded friend, then We Were Here Together should definitely be looked at. I figured that since I reviewed the previous game with a friend, I would try this one with a different one to see if I had the same result in communication breakdowns. Sad to say, the results were almost identical, even with a completely different friend this time around. When frustration sets in and things don’t make sense, I promise you, you’re going to end up blaming your co-op partner, regardless if it’s their fault or not. We Were Here Together will give a cooperative adventure unlike any other, but it will surely put your friendship to the test, one that I almost failed, again.

Despite my sounding somewhat negative, 20XX is actually a very good game built upon a solid and well tested foundation. Most of my grievances come from a personal place made of emotion and lack of experience with the source material. Still, there is the part of me that struggles to see a need for games that intentionally limit themselves to a set of old rules that no longer exist. 20XX is a game, more than most, with a clear audience in mind and flaunts that with no shame.

MOTHERGUNSHIP is a crazy frantic bullet hell FPS, a first of its kind experience for me. Crafting weapons and seeing how they perform is fun, even if it’s trial and error. I wish that there was more upgrades in relation to leveling up, but even so, I enjoyed my time with it. Boss fights are what kept me going from ship to ship and the humorous writing along the way helped balance the experience. It may be a little shallow aside from its shooting mechanics, but sometimes you just need to turn your brain off and shoot an onslaught of robots to relax.

I had high hopes for Unusual Findings. The concept, graphics and overall aesthetic really captured my attention when I first saw the trailer and I was excited to play it. It has a promising premise, but the convoluted puzzles just didn’t keep me invested or engaged as I had hoped. I consider myself to be quite smart and good at puzzles, but at times I felt dumb playing this. If you are not good at critical thinking games, you will have a tough time with this. However, the witty writing and pure throwback to my youth with the music, clothes, décor, and pop culture references has to pull on my heart a bit. Unusual Findings may not be perfect, but any fan of the genre or 80's should take a trip to Southplanes and see where the story takes them.

NBA 2K22 is probably best entry that the series has seen in many years. On the court everything flows exactly as it should with many improvements from last year. Unfortunately, microtransactions are still rampant everywhere in the game, and to be able to compete online with your created character or in MyTeam you're almost forced to spend money if you actually want to be competitive. If you have skipped the series in the last year or two, it may be time to take a look now. It is not best of all time, but it has taken a very big step in the right by listening suggestions from its players.

Dust & Neon could be a worthwhile try for twin-stick shooter fans, or even rogue-lite fans to some extent, but it can become repetitive and somewhat easy. Dust & Neon will be enjoyable for a short amount of time, but it won't provide endless hours of gameplay.

Limbic Entertainment has done a great job overall, and Tropico 6 is a fantastic addition to the strategy genre. With the amount of content in the “Missions” mode alone, I feel it's well worthwhile to try it out if you're a fan of the genre. Some gamers may thrive in a game that literally gives you every option you could ever think of in addition to a ton of quests and challenges to keep you on your toes. Although I didn't care too much for Multiplayer, I thoroughly enjoyed the core campaign 'missions' and really enjoyed learning how the entire game works through the tutorial chapters.

Overall for the price you can't go wrong with this title, especially if you are a fan of the series.

For $10 it’s a great diversion from your regular go-to titles if you simply want a break from the norm. While Grim Legends 2 wasn’t very challenging overall, save for a sliding puzzle or two, it doesn’t wear out its welcome. Even though it’s a sequel, it’s still a great title to jump into if you’re new to the genre and looking for a relaxing HOG puzzle game, even if it doesn’t necessarily add anything new.

Robocop: Rogue City offers an ever-changing storyline based off your character's choices while paying homage to the amazing source material found decades ago on the silver screen. While not a perfect game by any stretch of the imagination, neither was the Robocop movie trilogy and it has become an icon of film, so why not this game? This is when I realized that I needed this game to be imperfect to be a perfect representation and Teyon delivered that in spades. If you're a fan of the classic Robocop and would love a chance to dive into a story that links movies 2 and 3 perfectly and have it been cannon, then you owe it to yourself to pick up Robocop: Rogue City, or else there could be.... trouble.

Overall, the game does not having a long lasting appeal to the casual gamer. Its fun in the beginning but it quickly gets repetitive with the drama scenes, dialogue and basic fighting.

The story is told in a very tongue in cheek way and the writing is quite clever. There were even a few twists towards the end that I really didn’t see coming. A short run time of about three hours depending on your skill level, Dandy and Randy DX was quick and didn’t overstay its welcome. It’s a very low-cost game if you are into quick achievement hunting as well which is always a nice bonus.

There is clearly a lot of love and attention to detail involved here. I think if you are a fan of craft beer, if brewing interests you, or you are into simulation style games, you should check out Brewmaster to see if its flavour profile matches with your tastes.

Darksiders, when it was released, became the definitive example of a sleeper hit, and like the Phoenix that arises from the ashes, Darksiders III has been resurrected in a fashion that lays the ground work for a tremendous conclusion to the series should we get Darksiders IV and the final chapter of the horsemen and the apocalypse. If you're a fan of hack and slash adventure games with an incredible story, then this should be on your list of must have games to purchase.

Simply looking at its bright and colorful aesthetics, you probably wouldn’t guess that Super Animal Royale is a Battle Royale with its adorable characters until you see them shooting one another with some assault rifles. Super Animal Royale doesn’t take itself seriously and I think that’s why I find myself going back to it now and then, dabbling in a few matches here and there. Super Animal Royale might not be what comes to mind when you think of a Battle Royale game, but it’s absolutely adorable and very simple to parachute into for nearly anyone to enjoy.

My previous complaints aside, as a longtime Fight Night fan, I will continue to show up and support every effort this series puts out, but there's a lot of rebuilding that will have to be in-store for whatever they choose to call the sixth game.

If you’re a fan of the tower defense genre you’ll no doubt enjoy your time with this game, testing out the upgrades, working on optional objectives and fighting bosses that break up the monotony. Even though fatigue may eventually come quickly for casual fans of the genre, and the difficulty can spike quickly, kudos to EXOR Studios for creating a different tower defense X-Perience.

Even though there are only 5 missions, Sniper Ghost Warrior Contracts 2 does a wonderful job highlighting the actual mechanics of what it takes to be a sniper when it comes to planning your shots. Sniper Ghost Warrior: Contracts 2 takes a lot of what was fantastic of the original game and improves upon it in many ways. A graphically beautiful sandbox game that blends strategy and gameplay into an incredible tactical experience and a realistic firing mechanism that immerses you into a real-world situation. This game does have its faults and shortcomings, and yes, sadly it has a lot of them, but that didn't stop Sniper Ghost Warrior: Contracts 2 from finding the target even if it wasn't a bullseye.

In all, Greed Corp is very different from typical strategy but a lot of fun - it feels like a really good tabletop board game and is easy to play, and is well put together.

I’ll admit, I learned a substantial amount about the world of trains and locomotives thanks to Train Sim World 3, and while non-fans might not see the enjoyment of running a train for over an hour getting from point A to B, I oddly become quite addicted to the relaxing enjoyment it brought. Veterans are sure to be excited about all of the authentic content, though due to its niche audience, casual or new fans might find it difficult to understand at first.

Overall, Midway has put out a solid wrestling product that should compete with its rival very well.

From its opening moments, to the credits and everywhere in between, the humor The Last Hero of Nostalgaia brings is surely part of its focus, bringing a more lighthearted approach to a Soulslike. Nearly every item description has some humor, even to the achievements, all topped off with plenty of fan service and gaming references you’re sure to recognize. Sure the humor wears a little thin the latter half, but fans should enjoy this different take on their favorite genre.

While I can’t recommend Jurassic World Evolution 2 based on it being a park management sim, its real draw are the dinosaurs which are undeniably intriguing and captivating. The large variety of them kept me looking for more species to unlock through expeditions and gene splicing. The Chaos Mode was enjoyable as a fan of the Jurassic Park movies with ‘What If’ type scenarios, but Sandbox mode left me wanting more from the game. I would say this was more geared to fans of the Jurassic Park movies as opposed to fans of park management sims, and there are much better ones out there. For fans of the movies and dinosaurs, you’d be hard pressed to find a game more in line with the franchise.

The animation was a blocky pixel style and played well into the family-friendly chilled aesthetic. The music was lovely and in keeping with the simplistic style of the game. Most lifestyle sim games have a certain feel to them, and Alchemy Garden is no different. Although Alchemy Garden has some rough edges, and could really use some accessibility options added to it, it’s a delightful and cozy lifestyle sim, and I will likely continue to dabble with it, creating potions and gardening, for some time.

If you try the demo, and you're having fun it's worth playing through it, just realize the game isn't going to give you much more than that outside the story, its just more of the same.

Overall, I have to say that for $14.99, Fernz Gate delivers a quality retro RPG experience that shouldn't be missed by fans of the genre. While it may seem a bit shallow at first, Fernz Gate offers a wealth of bounty should you have the time to investigate its depths and acquire it. While you're doing that however, get ready for an fairly amazing experience that will take you straight back into the glory days of quality RPG gaming.

Your enjoyment will surely depend on your resilience to frustration when it comes to dying over and over again, and while I would at times border on rage from having to do a certain section dozens of times, finally completing that section or boss was exciting and felt incredibly rewarding. Completing Battle Kid: Fortress of Peril, even on Very Easy, was quite a challenge, and I can’t fathom Unfair where you get one hit and life, but the challenge is there should you desire. While not as polished as some of the greats of the genre, Battle Kid: Fortress of Peril was an exciting yet infuriating time down 8-Bit nostalgia lane.

As an indie bullet hell title, Ghost Blade HD was a fun little title I sunk a few hours into. Once I learned all of the mechanics it utilizes I had a lot of fun with it, as should you, regardless if you’re a casual or hardcore fan of the genre. Is it going to sit amongst the legends in the genre? No, but for the price of admission, shmup fans like myself should have fun trying to climb the global leaderboards trying to prove their shmup prowess amongst the community.

With the amount of content provided and the increased audio and video fidelity upgrades, Shattered Remastered Deluxe will provide you with some of the best quality brick breaking action you will ever play. Challenging, rewarding and always entertaining, PikPok did a fantastic job remastering this game and it's definitely one that should be strongly considered given the quality for the price.

I was surprised that Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed was priced at $29.99 USD ($38.99 CAD - currently a sale), expecting a fully priced game. This is basically that sweet spot when it comes to value and replayability given its repetitive nature and lack of maps. Nostalgia will certainly be the main reason many pick it up, but without any friends to bust ghosts alongside with, I’d question its longevity.

As a game, there’s no real mechanics here aside from choosing between multiple options and selecting them with the ‘A’ button. So, while it may not be interesting in its gameplay, that’s not what it’s setting out to do. Late Shift is attempting to blend two mediums together, something I think they did well, making certain decisions weigh heavily on your conscience, unaware of the ramifications later on. You’ll need to commit some time to see all of what Late Shift has to offer, but finding a new branch to the storyline is exciting, and I’m still trying to find a few of the different endings. It's a game experience where your decisions are yours alone to make. Your decisions are you.

With four separate factions, each with two campaigns, there’s a ton of content here to keep you busy for quite some time, and that’s not even factoring in the multiplayer skirmishes as well. It may not be the most robust RTS out there, but it’s a great console RTS that vets and newcomers alike should enjoy. Plus, who doesn’t like Vikings?

Double Kick Heroes a very fun add to the Game Pass library and it’s a blast to play with friends passing the controller back and forth while sipping on a few adult beverages. The soundtrack slaps and the story and dialog don’t get in the way while you’re trying to just chill and have a good time. Double Kick Heroes knows what it is, and it does it pretty well.

Overall, I have really enjoyed the overall challenge and experience of playing Vangante. With the ever-changing levels I often have felt frustrated every time I die and have to restart from scratch again, but the bonus is that you earn XP and level up each time, slowly making overall progress. So while you may feel like it's one step forward and two back, there is a great sense of accomplishment as you progress, even if it's quite slow at times. Vagante will be on my recommendation list to anyone who loves a good challenge and enjoys the fact that no two runs are the same.

Ship of Fools is a game full of rough battles and tough decisions. I firmly believe it should be played with a friend, and I totally lost count of how many times we thought a run was ‘the one’. Ultimately how much fun you have with Ship of Fools comes down to if you have someone to play with. Solo was fine, but co-op was a blast. I can see myself grabbing my first mate and heading out again on our very own Ship of Fools.

While I enjoyed my time with Howard, unravelling the case before me, I’ll admit, it won me over early on simply for being based in my home town. Seeing a familiar yet strange version of my city was exciting, and while most won’t have the same connection, that’s what drew me to Backbone initially. While some might question the latter half of the narrative, I’m still glad to have experienced it, and since it’s currently available on Game Pass, you can do so too with little barriers.

While not without its list of issues, the length of Pathfinder: Kingmaker – Definitive Edition is deceptively long, the voice acting is quite well done, the dialogue is written well and the world has more than enough lore to get lost in. While its console port could have used a little more care and work, it’s still a great gaming experience if you crave those classic cRPG’s from the late 90’s – early 2000’s and want a classic D&D-like experience.

Warhammer: End Times - Vermintide, although not perfect as it has some issues, still manages to bring about a fresh and deeper evolution of the Left 4 Dead gameplay formula making for a somewhat enjoyable gaming experience.

ClusterTrack is very aptly named. At times it truly is a complete cluster &$%@, but in a good way! It’s a chaotic, yet smartly designed platformer, one of the best I’ve played it quite some time.

Even with its minor issues and lengthy grind it still made the cut.

If you see this title being offered around the 400 Microsoft point range, give it a try; if only to battle the exploding penguins and evil Lighthouse.

Steep is a beautiful package that unfortunately, once opened, gives you more hassle and trouble than you may imagine.

MechWarrior 5: Clans is a solid mech game that does have a lot of drawbacks. Yes, the story isn't the best, and yes the graphics outside of the cinematic characters leave a lot to be desired, and the sound outside of the weaponry should all be removed... But despite all of that going against it, I have to say that MechWarrior 5: Clans is a fairly enjoyable experience if you're into the genre. While priced now at $49.99, I can say that you should save your money and pick this up when it's on sale. There is a lot of room for growth with this game, and hopefully with some upgrades of its own and some fine tuning, this can become a truly sensational mech experience.

I actually enjoyed Cuisineer more than I thought I would. Once I got a few upgrades and didn’t have to come running back to town after filling my bags in ten minutes, I started to enjoy it much more. Having a fridge full of ingredients meant I could run my restaurant all day and make some good coin. There’s certainly some pacing issues, an endgame grind, and could use much better tutorials, but playing casually, running a dungeon or serving patrons here and there is quite enjoyable and relaxing.

With so many options at your command, Defenders of Ardania tries to overcome some shortcomings by incorporating some new innovations, and while this works somewhat, the fact that these shortcomings exist does hinder the overall enjoyment of this game.

I can never fault a game based on my skill to play it, so I am not letting that affect my review score. A blurry story and strange choice of button mapping were my only real downsides to Teslagrad 2, but it’s beautiful game that doesn’t really try to outstay its welcome. If you like puzzle platformers/metroidvania style games or anything inspired by Scandinavian design, Teslagrad 2 might be worth checking out. It has a fairly inexpensive price tag of $20 USD/$26 CDN and is a good way to enjoy a few hours (or many hours in my case). Teslagrad 2 identifies itself as “Metroidvania meets Scandinavia” and I don’t think I could ever think of a better tagline that that.

At the end of the day, Need for Speed Heat is a decent arcade racer that racing fans will enjoy, but shouldn’t be expecting a top tier title like others in the series or in comparison to premier arcade racers like the Forza Horizon. At the end of the day, if you’re looking for a new Need for Speed game, this brings police chases and big crashes to an average at best title.

You can tell that a lot of extra love and attention went into this pack. The animations of the menus and games have all received an upgrade, and every game has a special closing song that is a lot of fun to listen to. Stuff like that was usually only saved for one game in the pack but I am glad they had the extra time and money to do it for all the games this time. I think this pack has a good variety of games, and none of them missed the mark this time. If you have a group of 5 to 8 friends or like to stream online and have your viewers play along, then you’ll find there is a lot to do and a lot of fun to be had with The Jackbox Party Pack 8.

The story is interesting, characters have growth and mystery, acting is done wonderfully and the multiple endings means you’ll always have some sort of surprise by the time the credits roll again. My first ending was dramatically different from my second, so I’m glad it wasn’t just minor differences for the outcomes as a way to sell the multiple ending angle. The real question is, will you choose to smash or blow up the toilet?

Fun would be a good word to describe Disco Dodgeball with. It’s not a GoTY contender, but it isn’t the worst thing I’ve ever touched either. It simply is what it is and does that thing well. It looks serviceably good while selling its theme perfectly, it sounds like a night on the town in your twenties and plays as well as a dodge ball game ever could. Disco Dodgeball is a great game for kids and grown-ups alike, and offers up enough content to keep the player busy for a long while.

Block building mixed with RPG and survival elements and even farming works quite well within the Dragon Quest backdrop. Slimes and traditional enemies are fitting for a cute aesthetic like this and I kept wanting to progress further to see what new items I could craft and build with. Able to focus on any aspect you desire, DRAGON QUEST BUILDERS 2 is a great blend of genres and may surprise you with how expansive its world actually is.

Even after a dozen hours and more, I still want to log on every night with my friends and grind some genie challenges out to try and get a new piece of gear and upgrades. Best enjoyed with friends, visually it can become quite chaotic when four players are all casting their spells and abilities, filling the screen with particles, explosions and damage numbers. I don’t normally get hooked on ARPG’s like this, but Torchlight III is addictive, beautiful to look at and sounds great, it’s just a shame that there’s so many issues and crashes that are a constant frustration. With a patch or two that fixes its main problems Torchlight III could easily hang with the bigger names in the genre, but until then it’s still an entertaining game to enjoy, but you’ll constantly have to battle against the game itself.

Multiplayer is where Tricky Tower shines, causing some hilarity at the best of times, and anger directed towards your friends the other times. Sure, you’ll get frustrated now and then, as it’s sometimes hard to recover from a misplaced block, but that’s where the challenge comes for this game. Tricky Tower is quite 'tricky' to get the hang of, as it takes some time learning, and remembering, the ‘half’ moves the blocks make, and that these same blocks aren’t locked in place once they land. At the end of the day Tricky Towers can be an enjoyable experience, especially if you’re craving some Tetris-like gameplay with a unique twist.

Overall, I found Islanders: Console Edition to be a little under-stimulating, while my wife found it truly enjoyable. She appreciates the calming nature of the game combined with the ability to be competitive in the leaderboard. While we’re not 'wowed' by the quality of the graphics, we do feel that the developers hit the mark with what they were after. We recommend Islanders for anyone that likes Sim City or other such puzzle and strategy games as well as anyone, young or old, needing a quick brain break.

Stories of Bethem: Full Moon is a great old school RPG with lots of action in it. Although this title definitely hits the nostalgia level, the story had me wishing for a little more substance. All in all the gameplay and exploration aspects are a lot of fun and will easily entertain for hours. Hopefully the developers will build on this title and release a sequel or two in the future because there is most definitely room to expand on the world they have created for Stories of Bethem.

If you’ve yet to play it, give LEGO City Undercover a chance on Xbox One. It’s a smartly written and often hilarious game that has a lot to offer for the first time player, while also being a good option for kids who are simply too young to play Grand Theft Auto proper.

While Long Gone Days may not be the most engaging RPG I’ve played recently, you would be hard-pressed to find one with as much passion for the subject matter presented. How you feel about the story will likely vary between person to person, but as someone with strong ties to the military, but also being a person who strongly dislikes the thought of war, it spoke to me on a deeper level than I anticipated. I would have liked the combat to be more engaging and some of the topics to be covered in more depth, but overall it was a surprising and ambitious game that I am glad I got to experience.

If you're a hardcore fan of 2D platforming that feels impossible to beat then step right up to Fenix Furia and see what lasts longer, your controller or your patience.

Instead of just porting over the original with a few pieces of polish, DICE made sure to try to address every single aspect in Mirror's Edge Catalyst, from the plot changes to the upgrade system, and the heavy amount of attention given to balancing the fairly fluid gameplay with realistic and enjoyable controls.

At 400 Microsoft points and the fact that it’s going to charity, I can easily recommend it to those looking for a new music based puzzler.

AEW as a promotion is my favourite. Their talent and presentation are a spectacle, and I was hoping for that same feeling from the AEW: Fight Forever game. I enjoyed it, and I’d recommend it to wrestling fans with a few caveats. It’s not a full game yet, but it’s also not a standard full priced game either, so that’s the fair trade off. It has great bones and there is something enjoyable there, it’s just not fully formed. It needs much more content for its creation suite, and more content overall. If you don’t play online, there just isn’t enough there to stay interested long term. That being said, I’m hopeful for the future of the IP and hope to see more from them. Also, there really was something special about when I saw my create a character join AEW and I got that “Ophelia Payne is All Elite” graphic. That is my favourite memory of AEW: Fight Forever.

Even if you play solo, Crawl is a fun title that doesn’t require a huge time investment to gain some enjoyment. Defeating a dungeon’s massive boss is exciting and rewarding, as is landing that final blow to the survivor and regaining your humanity. With 4 friends on a couch, playing locally is a blast, though expect many swear words to be thrown at each other while doing so, in the best possible way of course. Even though an online component is sorely lacking, Crawl is still worth crawling through the dungeons for.

Section 8 looks great, sounds above average and tries really hard, but the short campaign mode will disappoint the non LIVE players; there are some out there, and the LIVE experience for me was just too much work for little reward.

What LEGO Marvel Superheroes 2 does really well is what all of the LEGO games do as it provides an entertaining adventure filled with nearly every franchise character you could think of, many of which you may not even know exist. You’ll be smashing bricks, collecting studs, fighting baddies and building objects throughout your adventure, the backbone of any LEGO game experience. For me though, this is more of the same, as it’s essentially the same game I’ve played for about a decade now, causing some fatigue to set in.

Fragments of Him is a fascinating take on storytelling with the game medium, and while I know that many simply won’t “get it”, I appreciate what it was trying to accomplish: showing the fragments of a man that touched people in his life who died much too young, and the aftermath of said event.

At the end of the day, even though I personally feel the difficulty was set a little too high, I enjoyed my time with A Hole New World for the most part, save for the horrendous framerate issues that pop up here and there. I grew up in the NES area of gaming, so titles like this are close to my heart and whisk me back to a day where I would sit at home all day on the couch trying to beat a single game. Sure, the game is unfair at times with its difficulty, but that’s how games were back then, and this is a love letter to an era long gone, which is a shame, as the artwork and gameplay comes from a special time in gaming, something you don’t see replicated well very often.

Drive on Moscow is very unfriendly towards new players if you’re not willing to put in the time to learn all of its strategic intricacies, though if you put in the time and really plan ahead, there’s some great historical gameplay to be had within, even if it looks extremely bland and uninviting. Sure, it’s going to only satisfy a very specific niche, but those fans will most likely really enjoy this theatre of war.

Having devoted lots of hours into this game I can say that The Dwarves provides a lot of content, but not a lot of meaningful content. It is definitely a game that will drain hours upon hours of your life away, but I felt that the more I played it, the less I actually wanted to.

If you love puzzles games with some great music you’ll enjoy Chime Sharp as long as you do have the time and patience to learn how to play properly, as it doesn’t hold your hand in any way, or even to teach you the proper mechanics. It’s rewarding and quite fun once everything ‘clicks’, but I do think that the difficulty level will most likely be a little too demanding for the average player to master the music, the gameplay, and the need to learn on their own.

Overall, for $9.99 Artifex Mundi has put together a point and click adventure game that relies on its strengths of presentation, and now also innovation, to entice your wallet to open up and relinquish some of your cash. Despite some drawbacks, such as issues with gameplay and little no replay value, there are some incredibly enjoyable aspects to be found within should you have the patience to find it. Rarely will we see puzzle games such as this done with such level of quality and detail, so if you have an extra $9.99 burning a hole in your pocket and you want a quality puzzle game, then look no further than Eventide 2.

ELEX II offers a continuation of the foundations that ELEX was built upon while providing you dynamic story options to choose your path, new characters and factions that enrich a narrative that thankfully continues. Faults and flaws aside, THQ Nordic created a game that was fun to play and, in the end, that's the only thing that matters.

As an overall package it has a solid foundation of gameplay mechanics that should keep you entertained for a while. If you love RPG’s with a mix of hack and slash combat, then give Anima: Gate of Memories a look and join The Bearer and Ergo as they fight back the darkness.

What the Dub?! is a fun way to spend a night with your friends either in the same house or miles away. It is an easy party game for friends and family to pick up and non-gamers will be able to just jump in with their own devices and play. They really do have a lot of clips to work with and it has us looking forward to playing more with the same friends and introducing new ones. It’s a great addition to our party game rotation which includes Jackbox, Cards Against Humanity and Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes. That is good company to be in.

With a couple small personal preference issues, I still believe that NASCAR Heat 3 is a fairly solid game. Is it perfect? No game is. With the sheer amount of content, modes, and overall experience while in gameplay, I would have no issue recommending this game to someone if you're a fan of the sport. If you want a fun racing game that you can just sit back, relax, drink a beer or two and race, this is the game for you. 3... 2... 1... Race!