Muhammad Ali Bari
While not everything sticks the landing, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War is a well-rounded package that’s bound to have something or the other for Call of Duty fans.
Ghostrunner’s trial-and-error gameplay caters to the hardcore community but leaves the rest a little frustrated. There’s a fun experience hidden deep within the game, but to get there you have to, well, get good!
Crusader Kings III’s role-playing elements take the center stage, with your choices leading to a plethora of possible outcomes. The wargame side of things is less engaging, however, as battles are largely a strength in numbers affair. Regardless, whether you play solo or online, there are many hours of gameplay hidden beneath the surface of what is effectively a Medieval Sims game.
Desperados III is a faithful return for the series, occasionally to a fault but often to great success. It’ll please fans of strategy games but won’t make a fan out of those that aren’t.
The Walking Dead: Saints & Sinners’ moment-to-moment combat makes it easy to recommend to PSVR owners.
Despite the lack of a few features, this latest installment does for Streets of Rage what Sonic Mania did for its respective series.
Persona 5 Royal is a love letter from Atlus to Persona 5 fans. It’s essential for RPG enthusiasts who have yet to experience the original, but the amount of fan service here also makes it worth checking out for series veterans.
One-Punch Man: A Hero Nobody Knows delivers style over substance. It’s a casual adventure/fighting game where chaos and spectacle take precedence over deep and strategic combat.
Sam’s Story offers more of Metro Exodus’ core experience in a fresh setting but doesn’t add much new to its formula.
Marred by problematic controls, Golem is otherwise the closest thing yet to Dark Souls VR.
Need for Speed Heat drifts in the right direction but doesn't quite reach the finish line.
Modern Warfare’s re-envisioned take on realistic combat may not be for everyone, but it establishes a great foundation for something special and has the potential to eventually get there. The campaign delivers a short but provocative story coupled with some spectacular action sequences, while the multiplayer brings a broad range of fresh content and options that are bound to keep FPS fans hooked.
The Outer Worlds succeeds as a contemporary realization of Obsidian’s classic RPG formula. It’s an experience in which player agency takes center stage, therefore, it carries plenty of replay value. However, it’s best played by focusing on its core strengths, taking the passive approach, and leaving combat as the last resort.
Control can be summed up as a psychedelic trip through a labyrinth full of mysteries. Its psychic abilities and gunplay work in tandem to create enjoyable and creative combat encounters. While short on replay value, the experience is fun while it lasts. Physics-based gameplay could be the future, and Control gives us a glimpse at it.
For the budget price of $30, Wolfenstein: Youngblood is packed with a decent amount of content, marred by a few mundane design decisions.
While Rage 2 falls short in most areas, it excels in the one that matters the most: gameplay.
On the whole, Jupiter and Mars is a game that exhibits a lot of potential, but only briefly realizes it in occasional traces of worthwhile gameplay. Nevertheless, it’s worth appreciating the powerful message that it carries.
Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice marks the artful fusion of Tenchu’s core design philosophy with the tried and tested Souls formula. Its fresh combat loop offers tense and engaging moment-to-moment gameplay that tests your wits and rewards you for your concentration, all while making things more accessible without taking away the soul of the experience.
Devil May Cry 5 is a worthy entry in one of the most beloved franchises in gaming history. While it tends to play it safe in certain areas, it more than makes up for it with its fluid, fresh, and familiar gameplay and over-the-top action.
All in all, Metro Exodus takes great strides in evolving the series into a methodical sandbox experience that usually knows when to liberate and when to confine you. Held back from true greatness by its raw and clunky mechanics, it is otherwise a worthy conclusion to a near decade-long trilogy.