Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 does little to make you excited for the real event next year. Its collection of sports minigames varies in quality, the story is dull, and with a surprising lack of structured party play, there's not a lot of value here for the full asking price.
Luigi's Mansion 3 brings the franchise back from slumber without skipping a beat, offering tightly designed gameplay mechanics, enticing exploration, and the typical Nintendo charm.
Concrete Genie is a charming and wholesome adventure that makes up for its rather ordinary gameplay with striking art and personable creatures.
FIFA 20 brings the franchise back to great form after last year's minor deviation. It plays a solid game of virtual football, and if you're mostly focused on online modes, there's plenty to do. Volta makes for a great addition, and offsets the lack of progress in Career mode.
If you're in the mood for a quirky puzzle game where you're responsible for creating the funny moments, Untitled Goose Game fits the bill. Before it steals and drags it into the lake.
NHL 20 finally offers some forward momentum for this sports franchise, and though it's not all smooth as ice, at least fans have a variety of good reasons to lace up the skates again this year.
Daemon X Machina is an underwhelming mech game that offers too few enjoyable qualities to recommend, even for the fans of the genre. Fleeting fun from the action is buried beneath a poorly told story, lackluster presentation, and barebones mechanics.
What's in a name? For eFootball PES 2020, it's just words. Even with the new moniker, this year's footballing title offers more of the same - mostly solid gameplay, but lacking any sort of forward momentum in all other areas.
Overall 80 - Astral Chain successfully combines great action, exploration, and puzzles together with a strong narrative. Despite a few problems with pacing and repetition, it's a fun, engaging, and above all original experience.
Gears 5 offers a familiar action experience that should satisfy fans who gravitate towards its expanded multiplayer options. And yet, the uneven campaign and lack of significant gameplay innovations mean this latest chapter does little to draw in the uninitiated.
Telling Lies makes great innovative tweaks to its gameplay formula, and offers a high-quality live-action adventure, but it completely fumbles merging these two elements together. A word of advice would be to try your hand at the puzzle and discovery for a while, and then eventually just watch the clips outside the game to enjoy the narrative.
Erica offers a very casual take on the adventure game genre with a rather convoluted story, but a great price and solid production values make it a novelty thriller that's worth a look.
The Great Perhaps is a nice looking adventure game that takes players on an interesting journey with solid dimension-shifting gameplay. Just be wary of the poorly handled mood swings and occasionally annoying design elements.
Quench is an okay puzzle game that has a few solid mechanics with a noteworthy art style, but its linearity and awkward controls don't help offset the somewhat steep asking price.
Metal Wolf Chaos XD has moments of entertaining mayhem, but they are hidden beneath layers of dated gameplay, nonsensical story, and gated behind a high asking price. Instead of being able to potentially discover a lost classic, mech fans get a rusted out blast from the past.
Tetris Effect reflects the classic puzzle game through a particle filled kaleidoscope, putting players into a mesmerizing trance with its unique presentation, alongside classic gameplay. Its price point might jolt you back to reality, though.
Traffix is nice little game that takes a seemingly straightforward puzzle concept and makes a fun experience out of it.
While an exciting sim on its own, F1 2019 does the bare minimum to qualify as a brand new outing. There are no breakthroughs this year, so unless you're a hardcore fan, those just looking for a great F1 racing experience can safely pit stop to last year's version.
Alt-Frequencies has a unique hook in its gameplay and story, with plenty of potential, but it skews towards being an all-too-brief mobile game rather than a full fledged adventure puzzle.
Koral's ambition to bring awareness to the problems faced by marine life largely falls flat. While it looks nice, the formulaic and repetitive gameplay means this title fails to stand out in a sea of similar indie releases.