Breath of the Wild is probably the first thing that comes to mind when I hear the phrase "modern classic." It is a landmark in the modern gaming industry, and its influence will be felt for years to come.

Breath of the Wild sports a very pleasing art style that feels like you're running through paintings or jumping straight out of the concept art, and the very lowkey music is an interesting approach that subtly adds worldbuilding.
The core gameplay loop is satisfying and just feels like a video game. Collecting materials, finding new weapons once yours break, battling enemies, discovering the huge, sprawling map you're allowed to discover...there's always something to be done and it's almost always something you want to do. The champions are also great supporting characters and gaining their abilities while learning their stories is tragic but beautiful.

I think I'm taking half a star off NOT for anything objective--I appreciate the objective quality of this game--but just because it wasn't my favorite game to play. Nothing wrong with it! I just haven't ever been a big Zelda fan and there were times where I would have preferred to be playing Devil May Cry 5 because the action is more instant gratification-y.

It's GTA 5. Who hasn't played or at least heard about this game? I would review the campaign exclusively, but that takes away so much from what its role in gaming is.

GTA 5 has a fantastic story mode, and it seems conceptually strange that a series known for vulgar jokes and senseless violence would have such a well-crafted story. I'm not trying to argue that it's some beautiful flowery tale of friendship or love or morals or anything. The main trio is (mostly) irredeemable psychotic criminals whose only ambition is their own gain. But that's the story GTA wants to tell, and it tells it so well.

It's a story of greed, self-obsession, and the supposed "American Dream" being played out to all its horrible ends. Trevor represents the lower-class, the white trash who has been abandoned and clearly lost a mental health battle a long time ago. His story is the comic relief and he's set up to be the clear "crazy evil GTA-centric" character of the group, but you find over time that he's not always the worst person you encounter. Michael represents the so-called American success story, who has everything he wants in life except happiness. He kept filling holes with money, and once that money gets jacked from him thanks to the tennis-coach-gone-wrong-into-cartel story, he finds himself empty. Franklin represents the struggles of the American slums; a man who desperately wants to make it out of his neighborhood but has to resort to crime to do so. All three characters are dynamic, compelling, and bounce across the moral compass constantly. You are very invested in their journey, and the true ending leaves you with a strange sense of completion. You've followed these characters to a happy ending, where they've pulled off the greatest heist ever, tied up loose ends, and found their peace both with each other and with the outside world. These characters are complete, and you helped them find that completion. But that completion comes through countless murders, robberies, and horrible life decisions. How much stolen money and how many dead bodies does it take for these characters to find peace? It's really an interesting approach, and I appreciate that they didn't try to make these characters redeemable.

Aside from the story and characters (mostly Franklin, Franklin is the GOAT), the gameplay is really fun. Gunfights are sometimes repetitive, but satisfying and the settings/scenarios usually change enough to keep it fresh. Driving vehicles feels great, and some of the most fun parts of the game are getting in a car and getting the heck out of dodge. Fast travel of some form might be nice for HUGE landmark traversal (I don't want to drive on Los Angeles highways for 10 minutes straight), but I understand that with a map this huge and detailed you want people to actually traverse it. It's a great game for its legacy AND its gameplay.

And, of course, how I could leave out GTA Online? Easily one of the greatest and most prolific online experiences in the industry. From 2013 Vanoss videos to new challenges and minigames to years and years of updates, the Online experience is filled to the brim with content. It truly feels endless.

GTA 5 is GTA 5. I would like to hear any explanations of why it DOESN'T deserve 5 stars, because I really can't picture any.

A fantastic entry in the Mario series, and easily one of the greatest platformers there ever has been. The story is somewhat fresh and interesting, but the gameplay is really where Odyssey shines.

This game never gets old to move around in. With smooth, intuitive motion and a plethora of options at Mario's disposal, you never take the same approach to something twice. Honestly, there doesn't even need to be objectives in the bigger kingdoms, it really is just fun to run around and get creative with movement.

The Capture mechanic is pretty fun, too, even if each capture serves exactly one specific purpose and there isn't much diversity to problem-solving or combat.

The music and settings are beautiful. I constantly found myself smiling at how visually interesting each kingdom was, with sublevels and unique worlds built into each one. Tostarena and Bowser's Kingdom are two personal favorites.

I really think this is the quintessential Switch game and you can't own the console without playing it.

I mean, it’s a Kirby game. Other than some subtle differences, they all can generally hit the same targets. It’s cute, it’s fun to move around in, getting new abilities is fun, but the gameplay stays at about a 4/10 and doesn’t pick up at any point. Star Allies gets a little bit of extra credit for its wide range of, well, Star Allies. It has a disappointing lack of new Kirby abilities, though. I’m glad I finished it and tried some new characters but I wish I could put it at a 2.75 because 2.5 stars is disrespectful to how cute Kirby is and 3 stars is too high for how mediocre the gameplay is.

DNF Duel is a game that has a "chewing gum" problem: it's amazing at the start, but loses a lot of flavor as time goes on.

This game also serves as one of the more glaring examples of a big problem in modern fighting games: the wrong end of accessibility. By making this game so accessible, and simplifying a lot of aspects of fighting games, it becomes very easy to figure out the good stuff very quickly. Within 20 minutes, you can master an optimal combo for nearly any character. It literally took me 10 minutes of watching Youtube gameplay of Troubleshooter to figure out how to play him and win. You just can't do that in this genre; there needs to be layers to it and a level of time commitment required to get good.

A big benefit of this game, though, is that everything is huge and crazy. The combos are incredibly freeform, and special moves practically feel like supers. They really went all out to make simply hitting the MP button make you feel like a master player.

The cast of characters are very cool visually, but a sleek costume can only get you so far when they have cardboard cutout personalities. Each character gets one "attitude" and no quirks whatsoever to differentiate them. In terms of personality, there's nothing separating Ranger and Troubleshooter. Or Grappler and Striker. Or Vanguard and Inquisitor. There's no recognizable IP to hold on to, and no dynamic personalities to make these characters last in the gaming landscape. Plus, there's no story mode and the arcade paths feel like a chore to get through, so it's not like they even have a chance to get cooler.

DNF Duel is all style and sick combos on the surface, but lacks content and longevity. It gets two stars for super fun combo trials and a half star for Troubleshooter looking like Maximillian Dood. However, I would not recommend this game to experienced or casual fighting game fans.

I don't think this is quite as bad as everyone makes it out to be, but it definitely isn't good either. I enjoyed some of the movement: it felt mostly smooth, and wasn't quite as jerky as Advanced Warfare. There were some satisfying guns, and a few okay maps. I actually really liked the 80's zombies map; it was a direct ripoff of Treyarch zombies in every facet, but was pretty fun with friends and the throwback vibe was spot-on. Overall, though, this game lacks so much identity that almost everyone forgets it existed, and it really didn't have anything to keep you coming back. Plus, loot box variants discouraged you from playing without spending money.

I KNOW WHAT EVERYONE SAYS, OKAY? I know. But I had a lot of fun jumping around like an idiot playing this with my friends. The exo suits are jerky and clunky but honestly it was so dumb it was kinda fun. I thought the campaign was pretty cool, I stand by that. And exo zombies? Sure, it might not have the personality or depth of a Treyarch zombies experience, but it was dang fun. I poured countless hours running in circles around the bus in the spawn room and shooting at a giant horde of exo-suited zombies leaping at you.