Some occasional technical issues and an unwillingness to truly burst out of the norms for the genre keep Darktide from reaching enormous heights, but within the confines it sets for itself, this is about as good as it gets.
If you don't mind the short campaign and the underwhelming story, Evil West's above average combat and cool graphics make the game a fun ride.
The newest Dark Pictures game tries some new things and offers some good scares despite not out-doing previous entries by much.
WRC Generations lacks the depth and polish of its simulation counterparts but still delivers a fun capstone to the several WRC games that lead up to it.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 beats out the last several Call of Duty games, but resists the potential to be truly great.
New Tales from the Borderlands is a safe, risk-averse sequel that gets more right than wrong.
The Last Oricru gains momentum about as often as it trips over itself, resulting in a very mediocre game overall.
Dakar Desert Rally is almost great with its beautiful environments and nice variety, but falls short because of its inability to nail down some of the basics.
This entry to the Valkyrie series makes a graceful shift into the action RPG genre while only stumbling in a few small ways.
While the characters and story don't do enough to push it over the top, Soulstice delivers a great action game that just about anybody can enjoy.
SBK 22 has a solid core for fans of the sport who want to sink time and master their bike, but it's not a game you're going to want to go into blindly.
NBA 2K23 does a good job with introducing some cool ideas into its stubbornly lackluster larger format.
Biomutant still sits in the slightly-above-average tier of its genre, albeit much more confidently than before.
Despite dropping the ball in one of the most important categories for a modern fighting game, this is a fighting game that stands out from the pack, plays great, and honors its source material more than it needed to, and that certainly counts for something.
F1 Manager 22 does a decent job learning from other management simulations but only rarely feels like a step forward for the genre.
Destroy All Humans! 2: Reprobed has been brushed up nicely despite some inconsistent performance and prolific bugs.
Madden NFL 23 is the best of the last several entries, but by lacking the overhaul it really needs, it only achieves so much.
Midnight Fight Express is a surprisingly fun and rewarding beat-em-up that gives you more choices than you might expect.
Despite some decent combat and sustainable charm, Rumbleverse has very little going on to hold your attention beyond one or two sittings.
Hard West 2 brings the original game's ideas to full fruition while sacrificing very little in doing so.