In any other year it would stand head and shoulders above the competition. But in a year like this, where we can compare and contrast CrossWorlds with Mario Kart World so easily, its faults seem a lot more glaring. As it stands, it’s a very solid kart racer that has the misfortune of being compared to one that’s just more enjoyable.
It’s absurdly easy to pick up, and it only sucks you in more and more as you see your accumulated wealth get bigger and bigger and bigger. It’s not likely to replace Balatro (or whatever your deckbuilder of choice may be), but if you want something that gives you a quick hit of adrenaline without being too demanding, you should probably check it out.
Hitman: Absolution represents the series’ awkward, stumbling growth period. Play it you want to see where some of the ideas in the World of Assassination trilogy got their start, but don’t expect the game to reach anywhere near the same heights.
If you have a Smash Bros. hole in your life and can’t wait for SSB Ultimate’s official successor, you should definitely give Kirby Air Riders. You may just love what you discover.
SpongeBob SquarePants: Titans of the Tide is kind of like comfort food for 3D platforming fans. Even if you aren’t a fan of the TV series, it still delivers the kind of action you want with a minimum of fuss, and it’s not like you need to know the show very well to keep up with what’s going on. It wraps all that up in a solidly competent package, which means that if you’re a fan of the genre, you could do a lot worse than picking this up.
I wish I could say that everyone wins in the end when playing Jackbox Party Pack 11…but they really don’t. It’s certainly a step up from last year’s Naughty Pack, but the games on offer here are too inconsistent to be worth your while. As always, a good group of friends can always probably make anything fun, but it’ll take a lot more effort here than you’d like.
No matter how cute and whimsical Dog Witch may be, you still need to play it in the end – and that’s where it doesn’t quite measure up, in no small part because the field is so incredibly crowded right now. Still, it gets all kinds of bonus points for effort, and if you want a bit of adorableness injected into your roguelike deckbuilders, you’ll get that in spades here.
You’d have hoped that after ten years trying to recapture the brilliance of Burnout, Three Fields Entertainment would be further along than this. Wreckreation is better than anything they’ve done so far, true, but it’s still very far from the kind of racing game that anyone will want to play.
Plants vs. Zombies: Replanted is still the great game it was all those years ago, just a tiny bit better. Is that enough to justify the higher price? Maybe, maybe not – but it’s one of those games that always feels worth it to me, no matter how many times I’ve played it or how much I’ve paid.
Even with controls and camera work that feel slightly like a relic, there’s nothing here that would make you think the world got it wrong 15-20 years ago as far as these games are concerned. They were pinnacles of 3D platforming then, and they remain that way today as well.
Death on the Nile isn’t a must-play adventure, but it’s at least generally tolerable – which is more than can be said about it as an Agatha Christie adaptation. On that front, it fails, so if that’s why you’re interested in it, prepare for disappointment. Still, if you’re fond of point-and-click mysteries, there’s probably enough here to be interesting.
I feel like Nicktoons & The Dice of Destiny is meant for a very, very specific target audience: you need to a) have been a big fan of Nicktoons about 15-20 years ago, b) have grown up and become a huge fan of Diablo and other similar ARPGs, and c) now have kids of your own that you’re trying to make into fans of both Diablo <I>and</i> Spongebob, TMNT, and other cartoons from that very specific point in time.
It feels like CloverPit relies on the same kind of inertia that compels people to sit in front of slots, feeding coin after coin for hours at a time. It’s an intriguing idea for a game, but it’s not nearly deep enough to sustain itself
Is NBA 2K26 worth buying? Again, it really depends on how much time or money – or both – you want to spend, and how much you want to have an online-only experience. If you’re fine with installing Anti-Cheat software and have no issues with either paying through the nose or grinding away to improve your player, then it’s hard to imagine a better basketball experience. But that’s a very big “if”, and if you just want a game you can pick up and play like you were able to a decade ago (or maybe more, at this point), those days are long gone.
Creepy Redneck Dinosaur Mansion 1 Re-Raptored is a pretty weird game. But it’s also highly addictive and a joy to play, and it deserves all the love and attention (and players) it can get.
Bad Cheese feels like it’s a perfect fit for the YouTube/Twitch era of gaming. I have no doubt that if you’re the kind of person who likes to watch other people stream their games, it might be fun. But as far as playing it yourself goes, it’s a whole lot less interesting.
As Switch 2 editions of OG Switch games go, Kirby and the Forgotten Land is probably the best.
Weirdly, it’s not hard to imagine a world where Morgan: Metal Detective didn’t devolve into an endless trip of scanning and digging – it just would’ve taken a few less random items to come across, and you would’ve had a cute, relaxing game with fun characters and pleasant visuals. As it stands, though, anyone who picks it up hoping for a cozy respite will probably come to regret it.
I can see a place for Lost Soul Aside, even if that place isn’t on any modern day GOTY lists. Its combat is solid enough that if you want something that captures the same feeling as PlatinumGames or Ninja Theory circa 2011 – and don’t mind sitting through a little too much talking to get there – then it’ll more than do the trick.
It’s rare to see a game in this genre – or any genre, really – that defies easy classification, so in a world where everyone wants to be the next Slay the Spire or Balatro, it’s fun to see something try (and mostly succeed) at doing its own thing.