Alex Varankou
Fall Guys has a decent foundation for creating some whacky multiplayer mayhem, but with so much of your success resting on luck, the lack of maps, and occasional server problems, the entertainment value rapidly dissipates.
Fast & Furious Crossroads just can't get anything right, becoming yet another licensed movie tie-in that fits the negative stereotype. The presentation is dated and actors reprising their roles is but a small consolation. A brief and very linear campaign with poor gameplay offers terrible value for a full priced release. The PC version suffers further, with empty multiplayer, instability, and barely any options.
Roki starts off as a straightforward narrative-focused adventure, and while it looks the part, the game is more of a traditional puzzle title, with a few of the typical downfalls of the genre.
Rocket Arena is a dull misfire that fails to compare even to EA's own Garden Warfare franchise. A few original ideas are lost behind a forgettable art style, small maps and questionable gameplay mechanics.
Ghost of Tsushima offers a well-designed open world that combines great combat with enticing exploration. The excellent art style brings this unique historical setting to life, and smart design choices help the game overcome its minor flaws.
F1 2020 continues to offer a great sim racing experience, and boosts its value by adding an engaging management mode. Elsewhere however, the presentation remains underwhelming, alongside a scattering of minor technical issues.
The Almost Gone is an occasionally enjoyable puzzle game, with a unique way of presenting levels. However, its high price and inability to adequately tackle heavy narrative themes leave it lost in the sea of mobile game ports.
West of Dead is full of style and brooding atmosphere, but the clunky controls and a lack of polish overshadow a few of its original ideas.
Disintegration is a dull experiment. Taking shallow replicas of two genres and squeezing them together results in a largely forgettable game that can hardly even be considered a curiosity. The technical issues and average presentation don't help matters.
The Last of Us Part II offers more of the same great stealth gameplay, as you face overwhelming odds in increasingly challenging and haunting environments. But with an ambitiously structured narrative that doesn't pay off, and the new cast lacking chemistry, this adventure can't quite live up to its predecessor.
Minecraft Dungeons is a straightforward action RPG spinoff that doesn't try to be anything more than an accessible entry for existing fans of the franchise. The low asking price helps offset the areas where the game comes up short.
Despite a fair amount of repetition and simple design, Maneater offers a surprisingly fun atmosphere with lots of bloody action to sink your teeth into.
Deep Rock Galactic offers some enticing exploration, as discovering randomly generated caves can be a thrill each time, and the unique abilities of each class are fun to combine. But things quickly begin to grow stale, like the air this far down into the earth, with repetitive missions and little reason to grind out your experience levels.
Streets of Rage 4 is both a sequel and a throwback to the original 2D brawler series. The gameplay has been tweaked and the presentation updated for the modern day, but it's still an unabashedly retro experience that will appeal to a select few.
Predator: Hunting Grounds occasionally offers a satisfying and violent asymmetrical multiplayer showdown, but doesn't look or play well while doing so. Hardcore fans of the series might get some value out of this title, if they're patient enough to wait in the long matchmaking queues.
112 Operator is more of a spinoff than a sequel. It adds a few things, but also carries over all the problems of its predecessor. While there's still potential here for an enjoyable micromanagement game, it gets lots in the shuffle of bad design choices and repetition.
Gears Tactics is a worthwhile spinoff that does a great job of integrating key franchise elements into a different genre. The story is shallow and the missions get quite repetitive, but fans of turn based tactics should get some gory fun out of this one.
The Complex is a run-of-the-mill live action adventure game, in a genre that can't really afford to phone it in. The decent price tag makes it at least a bit endearing for the curious, but fans will find The Complex to be an underwhelming movie and a forgettable game.
Bleeding Edge has a solid foundation as a melee-focused multiplayer action game that tries to appeal to the masses, but it is a bit short on content, and has a few notable issues that need resolving. Within such a highly competitive genre, hopefully changes arrive sooner rather than later, if the game is to have a shot at longevity.
The Political Machine 2020 doesn't really capture the magic and madness of the US presidential race. It looks better, and can offer a few rounds of strategic election planning, but on the whole it's a bit dull and lacking in variety compared to the previous version.