Biomutant has a lot of the building blocks of a top-drawer action RPG but its cookie-cutter approach to objectives and puzzles starts feeling very repetitive very early on.
Monster Energy Supercross 4 has no time for beginners, but it's also an inessential upgrade for fans of Supercross 3.
Project CARS 3 is easy to pick up and play but impossible to recommend to Project CARS 2 fans.
The console versions of Assetto Corsa Competizione are capable of great racing, but they're also riddled with problems.
Hitman Episode 3: Marrakesh doesn’t reach the highs of the previous levels and suffers more than ever from the extremely superficial approach to voice acting. It’s not a bad level, but it’s definitely one that I’d be less inclined to return to than the others I’ve played so far. It's the first time I've had to question Io's episodic approach: Over the course of a traditional game presented as a single package you may come across levels that dip in quality compared to the best ones, but you can always put those levels behind you and play the next. In the case of Hitman, we can only go back to the previous two. Marrakesh is what we’ve got for now, and it’s a slight step backwards.
Despite its amazing driving simulation, Assetto Corsa just doesn't get the racing right. Out on track alone it feels amazing; there's no denying the remarkable realism Kunos Simulazioni has captured here. Unfortunately the team just hasn't been able to wrap a comprehensive or competitive racing experience around it this time.
Need for Speed looks the part, sounds the part, and is surprisingly reverent to real-world car culture. I like the direction Ghost has taken here, and I think it's the right one, but beneath its flashy exterior it's not quite firing on all cylinders.
A good intro to Forza Horizon 2's driving action but one that doesn't offer much for long-time Forza fans.
FlatOut 4: Total Insanity is better than I'd feared but not as good as I'd hoped. Kylotonn has dredged this near-forgotten racing rebel from the very bottom of the barrel and fashioned it into a basic but fun, stunt-filled speedster, but I found myself regularly frustrated with its repetitive career mode, its stingy economy and nebulous unlockables, its superficial demolition derby events, and its uneven difficulty. A respectable franchise rescue mission but one that still needs some fine tuning and some extra grunt.
This slick and shrewd supernatural sniping game is packed with satisfying spatial problems to solve (and shoot), but it's not significantly satisfying after the first time around.
The Crew Motorfest is a robust racer with a confident sense of style, but its smaller map lacks life, its multiplayer isn't really worth the wait, and its omnipresent microtransaction opportunities are still tedious.
Need for Speed Unbound hasn’t strayed very far from the fundamentals of 2019’s Heat, but its bold new animated style impresses.
Grid Legends is a sure step up from Grid 2019 – and its new story mode that looks all the way back to 2002's TOCA Race Driver is a cute and effective flex for a racing series with such history – but it's definitely treading water in some core areas.
Cruis'n Blast is an endearingly earnest arcade racing time capsule, but it's also a very lean package that struggles to disguise its origins as a wafer-thin 2017 arcade cabinet.
Operation: Tango is a clever and appealing take on a co-op spy experience, although it's short and not really as replayable as it may appear.
MotoGP 21 is a good year for new riders to hop on but it hasn't particularly distanced itself much from MotoGP 20.
The graphics are rough and it's lean on content, but Monster Truck Championship's simulation-style approach works well.
High on speed and low on polygons, Hotshot Racing is a fun, old-school ode to the golden era of early '90s 3D racers.
Fast and dangerous, TT Isle of Man: Ride on the Edge 2 is a plain package but boasts some top-notch two-wheeled racing.
Deceptively technical and tricky to master, Monster Energy Supercross 3 is a modest but solid two-wheeled racer.