The Switch makes a near-perfect home for Super Mario Maker 2, an exceptional platformer as well as a boundless course editor.
Trials Rising, another excellent racing platformer hybrid, is bogged down slightly by an ugly loot box economy and an unnecessary leveling system.
Below is a punishing dungeon crawler, mixing elements from roguelikes, Dark Souls and survival games to create an often painful, yet oddly enticing action-adventure game.
Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker is another excellent addition to the Switch's expansive library of quality platformers.
Pure Farming 2018 recreates modern-day farm life to a tee, creating a complex, yet painfully mundane, farming simulator.
The core premise and style of Overcooked is a perfect fit for Nintendo's portable console, but its technical performance ruins the experience. There aren't many issues that couldn't be fixed with a patch, but as it stands, Overcooked offers an exciting cooperative experience which is quickly hampered by performance issues.
Dishonored 2 is like a pretty painting stuck in an ugly frame — painfully close to being complete. New abilities and upgrades, the addition of a second playable character, and creative level designs illustrate Dishonored in its peak condition, but the game is hampered by technical issues on console as well as a predictable plot. These criticisms are easily forgivable though, because Dishonored 2 is so engaging in its moment-to-moment gameplay. Very few games can boast so lofty a degree of player agency as Dishonored 2, and when you consider this, the ugly frame doesn’t seem as important after all.
Moon Studios' Xbox One platformer is a gorgeous Metroidvania with a heartwarming story and gut-punching challenges.
There is very little fun to be had in MilitAnt. After spending most of my time breezing through half of the game’s bosses, all but submitting to the other half (with a pair of very green exceptions), and rushing past nearly every basic enemy, I get the impression that this ubiquitous imbalance in difficulty is more likely a vast oversight than a design choice. I appreciate Xibalba Studios’ focus on old-school level design, and some of the boss designs showed real inspiration, both in gameplay and aesthetics. But the desultory approach to enemy design and combat mechanics completely overshadows any of MilitAnt’s potentially redeeming qualities.
Psyonix's rocket-powered battle cars soccer hybrid is an insanely fun and surprisingly deep sports game, and is my game of the year.
Ubisoft Reflections' 3D platformer reminds the player what made the genre so great
The explosive battle of shapes shoots into the third dimension with flying neon colors.