Star Wars Jedi: Survivor lovable unpretentiousness is what makes it such a blast - but a lack of true focus holds it back.
A half-interesting game is buried by a mess of its own making - and represents an industry conundrum that will only continue to grow.
This year's Modern Warfare 2 has some good moments, some beautiful cinematics and some typically moreish multiplayer - but it's a cowardly retconning of the original's story.
FIFA 23, like so many FIFAs before it, sums up the best and worst of football culture - a joyeous game in the vice-like grip of profiteers.
Despite an endearing commitment to its relentlessly positive tone, Tiny Tina's Wonderlands almost feels designed by a dice roll.
The original Pok'mon Diamond and Pearl were strange, uneven games. The remakes file them down to something still enjoyable, but textureless.
Amplitude's big play for the historical grand strategy crown is ambitious and considered, but it's missing a little magic.
Superliminal meets The Unfinished Swan in an admirable debut effort from Grateful Decay, that's best when it sticks to the ingenous premise.
Pok'mon Sword and Shield's final expansion is a fantastic, enticing endgame area that also shows just how great these games could have been.
A mostly thorough remake of 2002's original, Mafia: Definitive Edition has its moments - but it struggles by the standards of today.
Limited by a rote and rigid world, Sucker Punch's samurai homage pairs okay action with enjoyably committed, if awkwardly fawning melodrama.
Pok'mon's first ever expansion offers sunny vibes and another, more open world, but is still lacking the substance to do much with it.
A predictably grim spin on a legendary action license that really deserves better, Predator: Hunting Grounds is unworthy prey.
A likeable indie with cracking source material and a special setting, The Flower Collectors is just missing the magic of detail.
Pok'mon Sword and Shield add some brilliant new creatures, but like their gargantuan Dynamax forms, the games feel like a hollow projection.
Competent strategy pastes flat-footed, surface-level sci-fi over a genre that lives and dies by its nuance.
The former Civ 5 director's long-running passion project is filled with nice ideas, but they never threaten to pull together.
Quality of life tweaks and vast depth can't overcome Football Manager 2019's uncharacteristically clumsy, all-consuming training rework.
Navigating a tonal minefield with just enough confidence, Company of Heroes 3 is a big, refined, and beautifully textured addition to an already brilliant series.
Disparate parts pull together to form a beautiful game that's only more potent for its awkward adolescence.