A high school staple. This is Ubisoft at their peak, when they first designed their open-world formula but before this became their entire identity. The gameplay loop of activating radio towers, taking outposts, doing a main quest, rinse & repeat is perfect "no thoughts head empty" gaming for folks who just want to relax while they deliver headshots. The Apocalypse Now/Heart of Darkness-inspired story is surprisingly effective even now, even as the dudebro main character and his buddies come off as more and more corny with the passing years. Modern Far Cry at its best.

Back when the Switch first released, one of my most wanted games was a new Advance Wars title. Now that it's finally here (sorta), I'm pleased while also slightly disappointed? There's a lot of fun to be had here with WayForward's remake of the first 2 Advance Wars games - games I played when I was still in grade school on a friend's borrowed GBA. Maybe it's just because I've played more sophisticated tactics games in the many years since, but Re-Boot Camp left me a little colder than I expected. Still, this is a solid remake and is still worth a pickup for fans of the genre. If nothing else, I'm glad that there's an Advance Wars available on modern hardware.

It's taken over 20 years of me playing video games to finally find a fighting game that I can get good at.
World Tour is really just the greatest tutorial system in the history of the genre. The roster is fantastic, the art direction is stunning, and the gameplay itself is a blast regardless of your skill level. Modern controls are a blessing and actually give me the confidence to fight something other than NPC's, all while reducing my fear of learning Classic going forward.
I wouldn't be at all surprised to see Street Fighter 6 become the defining fighting game of this generation.

I'll play anything made by Suda and Grasshopper Manufacture on principal. NMH3 is kind of the perfect antithesis to current conversation surrounding why people enjoy games and that creativity somehow doesn't matter.
It's artsy, weird, and feels like something that should have come out it 2003. It fucking rules, basically.

By finishing No More Heroes 3, I finally finish a journey I started 17 years ago when my best friend called me to talk about Suda's goofy-ass new Wii game. It's bittersweet.

Nicky Austin forever.

Insomniac once again proves that they're the masters of the super-mainstream AAA experience. Spider-Man 2 takes everything great about the first game a amplifies it with next-gen tech and an all-around sense of refinement. The main story isn't quite as strong as its predecessor's, and the boss fights often overstay their welcome, but the entire experience here is so wonderful that those criticisms disappear under just how much fun you're having. A complete success as both a game and as a piece of Spider-Man fiction.

As someone who approaches racing games as a car enthusiast first and a gamer second, I really appreciate the approach to progression that Turn 10 has implemented here. Instead of throwing piles of cars and endless modifications at you, Forza Motorsport makes you work for your dream builds. It's a very track enthusiast approach that is unsurprisingly drawing the ire of gamers who don't really care, and just want Horizon but on the Nürburgring. The series categories take me back to the old days of Forza, and in terms of structure this is my favorite experience in the series since Motorsport 4.
My only real gripe with this entry is the abysmal PC performance. This is the hardest I've ever had to work to get a game to run a steady frame rate - let alone 60 fps. Altogether I'm really happy here, but I hate to see that even Forza can't escape the garbage state of PC optimization in 2023.