Marshall Honorof
Babylon's Fall is an ugly, clunky, incomprehensible mess, and gamers should expect better from both Platinum and Square Enix.
"Call of Duty: Ghosts" embodies every lazy trope of which the franchise has ever been accused.
"Lightning Returns" completes the long-running "Final Fantasy XIII" story arc, but in a way that's just as polarizing as its forebears.
Grounded is an unusual take on the survival/crafting genre, with a clever premise and a decent sense of style. Tedious gameplay drags the experience down, though.
Diablo Immortal has solid core gameplay, dragged down by incessant and confusing free-to-play nonsense.
Sleeping Dogs: Definitive Edition is still a great game, but the asking price makes it a bit of a tough sell — at least on consoles.
Lords of the Fallen is a little bland, but it's a perfectly good distraction with a bit more bite than most modern action/RPGs.
Assassin's Creed Rogue can be just as enthralling as its predecessors, but it sometimes feels dated and inconsequential.
Tearaway Unfolded has an inspired art style and memorable music, but both the gameplay and the story are rather undemanding.
No Man's Sky is a gorgeous game that gives players a satisfying sense of exploration, but the experience can be incredibly repetitive.
Marvel's Avengers: War for Wakanda adds an interesting playable character, but the game's structure is as repetitive and unfocused as ever.
Buy Man of Medan if you liked Until Dawn and want to see how The Dark Pictures Anthology might shape up. Avoid this game if you can't abide performance issues or slow gameplay.
Assassin's Creed Valhalla: The Siege of Paris provides more familiar gameplay, but doesn't add much to the well-worn series formula.
Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot delivers a well-crafted, satisfying action/RPG, provided you’re already invested in the DBZ mythos — and ready to hear the same old story over again. The open-world elements aren’t as well-developed as they could have been, but the combat and gameplay variety help carry the game through some rough patches.
Live A Live presents an interesting take on the JRPG genre, with seven separate stories to complete across wildly different genres. The premise deserves a lot of credit, as does its confident execution. However, some chapters are much better than others, and the combat isn’t quite strong enough to work as Live A Live’s central mechanic.
Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers brings a daring and unusual JRPG back into the spotlight, but doesn’t smooth over many of its rough patches.
Although it's quite short, "BioShock Infinite: Burial at Sea – Episode 1" succeeds from both a storytelling and a gameplay perspective.
'Murdered: Soul Suspect' is a throwback adventure game that delivers plenty of fun — no bullets required.
Star Trek Online, while somewhat repetitive and a bit violent, still offers players an interesting, faithful Trek story.
In spite of some imperfect emulation, Mega Man X Legacy Collection reminds players why they fell in love with the series.