I hate to say it, but Camelot has ruined the 'Mario Golf' experience with 'Super Rush.' Sure, the graphics are weak and the solo adventure is awful. But the gravest offense is the removal of the pro control mode that the game has used since 'Mario Golf 64.' Without the three-click power meter, timing no longer matters. And being forced to choose topspin or backspin before the swing means that late swing adjustments are no longer possible. Inexplicably the pro control mode has been replaced with a trajectory shaping mechanic that is broken. You are given no feedback on your trajectory. No way to anticipate it. The abilities to see, zoom into, and zoom along your trajectory have been removed from the series right when you need them the most. So shaping is just a blind luck thing you do for the hell of it, and it almost never does what you want it to. Most everything that made 'World Tour' wonderful has been stripped out and replaced with a bad idea.

What I love about 'Yakuza' games is how they tell stories. The stories start simple and then they keep unraveling to reveal hidden layers and connections among our characters and among the games in the series. It is the rare series of games that tells stories so well that I can actually keep up with and then remember the entire 30-hour story after it ends. The story of 'Yakuza Kiwami 2' is especially cinematic in its direction.

'Yakuza Kiwami 2' is a great story with great characters. It comes up a bit short in the simplicity of the action. I suspect it isn't fair to compare this remake of a 2006 game to the newest entries in the series, but it's worth noting that we've only got one playable character and one fighting stance here.

Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio makes 'Yakuza' games at a faster rate than I can play them. But it's a good problem to have. I'm four games in (having played '0,' 'Kiwami,' 'Kiwami 2' and 'Judgment') and look forward to the five (soon to be six) I haven't yet payed.

This is one of the better 'Ratchet' game I've played, and I've played a lot of them. And it's a great showpiece title for the Playstation 5. The series, and nearly all Imsomniac games actually, is held back by an absolutely awful sense of humor and characters that truly never shut up. Rivet, the new Lombax in 'Rift Apart' acquits herself pretty well, I will say. She doesn't have the signature Insomniac snark, thank god, but even she has some pretty cringey attempts at humor. I actually hope the next game stars Rivet alone. Leave Ratchet at home. Decommission Clank. Kill off Qwark.

Since 'A Crack In Time,' 'Ratchet and Clank' has been past the point of diminishing returns. The gameplay is SO FUN but it stopped innovating long ago. Perhaps the 'Super Mario' series is the closest point of comparison for 'Ratchet and Clank,' and one might consider how 'Odyssey' and 'Bowser's Fury' both recently showed how that series continues to meet the moment, and reinvent itself, after nearly forty years. 'Ratchet and Clank,' by comparison, is downright shameful.

This is one of the most satisfying, most emotional mystery stories I've ever played through in a video game. And it accomplishes this in a lean eight-hour playthrough. 'The Missing Heir,' then stands in stark contrast to the comically verbose 35+ hour runtimes of some of the later 'Ace Attorney' games. I will say that some of the conversational decisions in 'The Missing Heir' are impossible to logic your way through. But luckily, there are never too many possible options at any given time so you can easily brute force your way through any of that feeling of 'what do I do next?'

'Nine Parchments' commits the cardinal sin for this kind of game (the hack-and-slash dungeon crawler). It never lets you feel powerful. And the friendly fire is catastrophic, especially because the zoomed-in camera angle forces players to be close to one another at all times. I played this with two other able, life-long gamer-types and we could barely complete the campaign on Easy difficulty with auto-aim on maximum. That's sad. There's a little bit of fun to be had here but take my advice, stick with 'Diablo.'

I've played every 'Monster Hunter' since '3 Ultimate' and 'Rise' is not nearly as difficult as past entries. Perhaps the lack of voice chat, and therefore team coordination, has forced Capcom's difficulty hand. 'Rise' is, however, more FUN than any previous 'Monster Hunter.' And the new mechanics added (palamute riding, monster riding, and wirebugs) are so immediately essential that I can not imagine going back and playing a 'Monster Hunter' without them. 'Monster Hunter' is one of the best game series of all time and 'Rise' is a fantastic entry. Essential for any Switch owner.

I liked Honor Mizrahi as a character, but even after my thirty-five hour play session, I'm still not convinced by the combination of visual mystery novel and Picross puzzle solving. A single Picross puzzle can take around ten minutes to complete. Now imagine trying to stay engaged in a mystery while constantly being yanked out of the story for required Picross solving. Conversely, imagine wanting to solve some Picross puzzles and having long story sequences separate each puzzle.

One mistake of my own made the Picross solving especially annoying for me. I didn't learn of the "show mistakes" option until my last play session. So I would back myself into corners and have to start the entire puzzle over again. That's on me. I would have liked the game more if I knew of this simple way to locate my missteps.

For me, if I'm in a Picross mood, I'd rather play a Picross game. If I'm in a visual mystery novel mood, I'd rather play one of those. When combined, one or the other was frustrating me.

I can't really recommend playing 'Iron Man VR.' There are thrilling moments, no doubt, where you feel powerful. And I'm shocked that I never felt sick even with all the high-speed, spinning aerial combat. But there are some real down sides. It is exhausting to play because it is so high intensity. Using two move controllers (notorious for their limited controls), you have to both fly and fight waves of enemies at high speeds in all three dimensions of motion. The entire game is probably about eight hours long but, because of the intensity, it took me weeks to finish it.

Also the load times are atrocious. Several minutes to load a level even when refreshing the level after you die. And then, after you reach 100% loading, the screen goes black for another 30 to 40 seconds where you begin to wonder if the game crashed.

Finally, I'm convinced the developers are mistaken about how easy it is to control your flight. There are obstacle course time trials in this game and I consistently require, literally, TEN TIMES the amount of time recommended by the developer. 'Iron Man VR' is a decent effort in need of more polish.

I love the story of this game and its Scandinavian folklore setting. It's a story of two families, one in the physical world and one in the magical, one "good" and one "evil," who end up learning from one another. You play as Tove and her small acts of empathy and generosity amount to a story of enormous heroism.

I wish this was a more accessible game. Roki is a modern take on the point-and-click adventure. During much of the game, the world is so big and the tasks to accomplish so numerous and vague, that I kept a physical notebook to keep tracking of everything. And, even still, I had to consult a guide to keep myself reminded of what to do and where to go. I'm glad I stuck with it to the end, because the story was very satisfying. But I suspect many won't see it through.