Rogue Legacy 2 takes an already great formula and packs it full of new content to explore. Sometimes there can be too much of a good thing and Cellar Door certainly flirts with that line, but House Rules keep it from fully crossing it.
If you look at WWE 2K22 as a foundational game for the future of the WWE franchise, then this is undoubtedly a step forward. The greatly improved in-ring action is not nearly enough to make up for ho-hum to poor modes that give you little reason to return to the actual wrestling.
OlliOlli World is everything a great skating game should be. It merges tight controls with a world you’ll want to explore and adds in an infinitely-listenable soundtrack and soothing visuals. The story might not blow you out of the water, but it doesn’t have to when the skating is this good. If you’re a fan of the sport or just like good action games, this is a must-play.
To some degree, this feels like an early access game in everything but the release schedule and pricing. It has its core down. It knows exactly what it wants to be. However, everything around that needs more polish before it’s ready for primetime. So, even though I didn’t really like my time with the game, I guess I believe in Dying Light 2? I truly think I’ll look back in a year or two — when memories have faded — and think past me was dead wrong for giving it such a low score.
Early in 2022, Nobody Saves the World seems like a must-play and the perfect evolution of nearly every idea Drinkbox Studio has developed since its founding more than a decade ago.
The Dark Pictures Anthology: House of Ashes is Supermassive's best horror game since Until Dawn made it famous.
NBA 2K22 has the best offensive flow in years, matched by improvements to defense. Still, technical problems persist and microtransactions are hard to ignore in some modes.
MLB The Show 21 doesn’t quite knock this one out of the park. Instead, it’s one of the most well-hit doubles I’ve ever seen. The foundation San Diego Studios has cultivated over the years has allowed them to almost seamlessly transfer over to the next-gen and has me excited to see where the series goes from here.
Medal of Honor: Above and Beyond has a few faults; however, the excellent campaign more than makes up for it with over-the-top scenes galore.
Empire of Sin brings X-COM-style combat and in-depth strategy to 1920s Chicago in a package with tons of great ideas, but a lack of real focus.
Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit Remastered takes the franchise back to its roots while showing once again that Criterion Games is the master of arcade racing.
Spelunky 2 takes the ridiculously polished foundation from the first game and blows it out with new content, mystifying secrets, and big-time cave mole jerks.
FIFA 21 continues the recent trend of mediocre gameplay being held up by shiny features, new modes, and an overreliance on the Ultimate Team cash cow.
Bartlow's Dread Machine is a solid bullet-hell shooter with an excellent look that's held back by a few curious design decisions.
Captain Tsubasa: Rise of New Champions lets players step into the shoes of Japan's Golden Generation and lead them to victory against the world.
Madden NFL 21 is a mess of lazy modes, bad gameplay, and a continued descent into a focus on over-monetized offerings. The Yard is a neat idea though!
"Hey yo, Dom! Why'd you bring the buster here?"
UFC 4 brings some great new ideas to created fighters, online play, and clinch gameplay, but can't live up to its full potential with the end product.
Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout is a joy to play, fun for all levels of video game players, and will only get better from here.
As a longtime fan of the series, Paper Mario: The Origami King has its trademark humor and charm, but misses its appealing RPG gameplay.