Shoot Shoot Mega Pack is fun for those who still crave local multiplayer. The short nature of each game mode ensures that matches don't last too long, while the customization means that you can mix things up if the four main modes are starting to wear on you. It may not have a single-player mode, online play, or even bots to practice against, but it's very good at what it does. If you want another go-to game for local multiplayer sessions, Shoot Shoot Mega Pack is worth a shot.
Yooka-Laylee is classic 3D-era platformer. It brings an updated presentation to the genre, and it provides some solid and familiar platforming mechanics. The large levels provide a nice playground for those abilities, and while the combat isn't anything special, it's a lot of fun to complete the various tasks to collect pagies. If you can deal with the problematic camera, Yooka-Laylee is worth checking out.
Prey is simply exceptional. The story is twisting and confusing in a way that is exciting, and it makes you crave the next scene. The survival-horror approach to combat and gameplay creates the right amount of tension, while the crafting elements and ability to use almost anything in the world allows for emergent solutions thanks to the different approaches to almost every situation. Most of the flaws are technical in nature, and they're not enough to severely impact the game, so Prey earns its place as one of the hallmarks of this platform generation.
Your enjoyment of Alone With You will depend greatly on your expectations. If you're taking it as a traditional adventure game, then you'll be left wanting more. You'll spend more of your time walking than solving anything, and the few puzzles that are available present very little challenge. If you're looking for a melancholy sci-fi tale, Alone With You delivers on that expectation quite well. The illusion of choice is broken rather quickly, but the characters and their dialogue more than make up for it, and the intriguing tale comes to some satisfying conclusions. Alone With You is recommended for that latter group, but anyone who's looking for an adventure game that's a bit out of the ordinary should also check it out.
Sniper: Ghost Warrior 3 has the potential to be a solid B-tier title. Most of the good trappings of open-world games are here, and the sniping mechanics are as solid as ever. The missions provide some great variety since you can take different approaches, and the crafting and different weapons are nice to have, even if you never use more than your default set. However, the presentation isn't up to par. Some of the mechanics are finicky, like shooting and tagging, and the AI can waffle between being superhuman and dim. More importantly, the load times immediately sap any fun that could be had from the title. A few of these things can be fixed with a patch, but until they're addressed, it's best to approach GW3 on consoles with caution.
Although it's short, Momodora: Reverie Under The Moonlight is solid. It hits the beats of a standard Metroidvania game perfectly, and while it doesn't add anything groundbreaking or new to the genre, it gives the player a great combat system to work with. Except for the lack of music in spots and some enemy blending due to the color palette, the presentation is solid, especially for fans of pixels. The level of difficulty on display can be hit-and-miss depending on your expectations, but otherwise, fans of side-scrolling adventure games will want to check out Momodora.
The conclusion of Thicker Than Water is exactly what you'd expect from the series, and that's not a bad thing. For action fans, the setup means that the final episode is sure to be full of gore. For everyone else, though, having to spend so much time with some unlikeable and underdeveloped characters makes the episode feel like a drag, so the end is met with relief rather than longing to see the conclusion. It shouldn't be long before the final episode hits, but here's hoping things end on an upswing.
The Keeper of 4 Elements handles the basics of a tower defense game well enough. It may be too difficult for most people, but it's not done in the pleasing way that other titles can get away with. Without a strong presentation and no real defining factors, however, there's not much of a reason to pay attention to this game when there are far more exciting offerings in the same genre and on the same platform. Unless you really like cheap games, you should pass on this.
If you can stand the grind, Sky Force Anniversary is great for fans of the classic shooter style. The pacing is done well, and the upgrade system gives you something to work for, even in death. The medals provide an incentive to aim for perfection, but their forced nature will turn off a few players. Sky Force Anniversary is worth checking out.
There's a germ of a good idea in RWBY: Grimm Eclipse. The counter system alone makes this button-masher feel more refined. However, the rest of it — the presentation, the actual gameplay, and the lack of story — does such a terrible job at supporting this system that the overall game feels unfinished. Only a handful of fans may be fine with the title, but everyone else can easily ignore this offering.
WRC 6 isn't all that bad. It's up to you to learn how to drive the rally way, as the game fails to help you out in that regard, but everything feels fine once you master it. The career mode is lengthy, and the number of available tracks and the various multiplayer options give you plenty of ways to extend the experience long after the career is finished. However, the bad co-driver system makes things unintentionally harder, and the presentation lacks some real polish. It certainly isn't the best rally racer out there, but it does well in a pinch, especially if you've already worn out Dirt Rally and are trying to satisfy your craving until Dirt 4 hits.
Danmaku Unlimited 3 is a gem of a shooter. The frantic action you'd expect from a bullet hell shooter has been improved with interesting attack patterns and mechanics that reward quick kills and exhibiting some flair. There's a nice balance for veterans and genre newcomers, with the latter being served especially well since the difficulty level and lack of continues foster a need to get better while ensuring that death isn't as immediate as in other games. Topped off with a great presentation, Danmaku Unlimited 3 is a watermark in the genre, and fans shouldn't miss it.
In the end, Table Top Racing: World Tour is fine. The physics can be wonky at times, and the upgrade system is laughable given the large coin payout per race, but the racing itself is solid enough that a few people will be able to overlook those flaws. It's a solid single-player experience due to the game's overall length, but with inactive multiplayer community, it becomes a tough sell. It's cheap enough that people who don't normally play multiplayer in their racing games won't mind anyway, but for those looking for a more complete arcade-style racing experience on the Xbox One, World Tour falls squarely in the middle of the pack.
Thimbleweed Park is the right kind of throwback and a hell of an adventure game. It adheres to all of the old ideals that defined adventure games while still adding new things to accommodate new players or veterans who haven't reacclimated themselves to that old style. The puzzles can be intimidating, but they make sense, even if you're tempted to use a walkthrough to solve the more difficult ones. It sticks to a classic aesthetic, but it also knows how to deliver a compelling story to bring it all together. Time will tell if adventure game fans can call this a classic, but right now, Thimbleweed Park is certainly worth playing.
If you don't mind a drip feed of soul-crushing events, then This is the Police will work for you. The actual gameplay is littered with questionable content, but the core is engaging for both quick and marathon sessions. The story is what holds things together; the many twists are fascinating, and the presentation is charming due to its artistic simplicity. It may not be for everyone, but for those looking for something a little different, This is the Police is worth a shot.
In the end, Vikings: Wolves of Midgard is good. It retains most of what makes the genre so appealing, and the other changes, like environmental dangers, amplify the formula instead of watering it down. It doesn't move the genre forward, though, and the lack of a custom preset combined with spotty performance on middle-of-the-road hardware will make some people see this as rather unpolished. For those who want something new in the genre, Vikings is worth a shot.
It'll be curious to see where the next episode of The Walking Dead: A New Frontier goes from here. The retread of similar plotlines from both the comic and TV show feels stale in Above the Law, even with the slight twist regarding the new characters. At the same time, the character development balances that out, and they remain as engaging as before. The last two episodes will determine if the season can pull through, but for now, prepare for some rehash.
For a console game, The Onion Knights feels very low budget. The presentation is threadbare from beginning to end, and hardly any effort has been put into creating a consistent theme. The upgrade and progression systems hit snags here and there, but they're fine when compared to the gameplay, which feels like no improvement was made from the mobile iterations. This title makes more sense as a mobile or Vita offering, but on the home console, this is one that can be easily skipped.
There's a cool concept in Super Blackjack Battle II Turbo Edition: The Card Battlers. The idea of making a game by integrating blackjack into a fighting game model seems silly, but the quick nature of the game and the finite amount of time needed to amass a healthy purse add some excitement to the experience. Unfortunately, there's no longevity to the game. The AI battles can be played way too safely to guarantee wins, and there's no online community to scratch the versus itch due to lack of local multiplayer. Super Blackjack Battle is a curiosity, but it's not a title that needs to be in your library unless it's available for cheap or you have a taste for bizarre game concepts.
If you can live with the technical hiccups, Torment: Tides of Numenera is one of the more fascinating RPGs for any platform.