I felt such a sense of whiplash jumping into Star Wars Galactic Racer after playing Zero Company. Unlike Zero Company--and plenty of the other Star Wars games we've gotten in recent years, like Survivor and Squadrons--Galactic Racer isn't trying to emulate the science-fantasy drama that defines the majority of the Star Wars movies and other assorted fiction. Instead, it's silly. We're not making morally gray decisions in a fight against an evil empire here. No, we're trying to win a racing league in order to dethrone the comically evil rich competitor mounting some kind of hostile takeover of the league. Oh, and we have an infinite number of chances to qualify, and protagonist Shade can walk away from the most violent of wrecks without a scratch. It's such a ludicrous situation that makes no sense if you think through the logistics of it for even a moment. 

And yet that very absurdity is exactly what racing in the Star Wars universe is all about. It sees competitors strapping themselves into barely functioning death machines to jockey against each other at breakneck speeds while soaring past lava, through narrow desert canyons, over acid-filled valleys, and alongside icy cliffs to the cheers and jeers of a bloodthirsty audience. Everything about the competition is comically ridiculous, and by leaning into that irrationality, Galactic Racer not only feels authentic to that fantasy, but it's also a hilariously good time. 

You race through the game as Shade, a former-racer-turned-cargo-pilot, who finds themselves brought back into the sport as both a favor to the league's commissioner and as a means of seeking revenge against Kestar Bool, an arrogant champion who wronged Shade in the past. Galactic Racer doesn't do too much to set up the stakes for this plot, framing Shade's revenge through a lens of a mystery. What did Kestar do to Shade? Why does Shade always wear a helmet? Why is it so important for Shade to get Kestar to remember who they are beneath that helmet? Don't you want to learn these things? Yes, yes, I do.

However, while the mystique surrounding Shade, their relationship to Kestar, and the ramifications of the racing league at large for the galaxy are all intriguing setups that drive much of the drama in the early hours of Galactic Racer's story, the payoff to these questions is disappointing. The story eventually tells us the answers, but they're often hand-waved off in brief conversations, while Shade and the rest of the cast barely show any emotion--the direction for the voice acting is pretty good, but the final result sounds a little stiff, and the character models barely move and don't seem to change expression at all. These shortcomings don't ruin the experience of playing Galactic Racer, but they do detract from any sort of emotional depth that might be provided by the story.

Read more

The best prequels typically share the same thing in common. Whether it's Red Dead Redemption 2, Yakuza 0, Metal Gear Solid 3, or Halo: Reach, each game tells a story that recontextualizes what came before. Revisiting a game after playing its prequel should alter the experience, providing you with new knowledge that changes how you perceive certain characters, places, and scenes. 

The events of Red Dead Redemption 2 add emotional weight to the first game and John Marston's mission by humanizing his targets, just as Yakuza 0 deepens the bond between Kazuma Kiryu and Akira Nishikiyama, making the first game's tragic finale much more impactful.

Gears of War: E-Day doesn't do anything like this. 

The Coalition's latest venture back to the world of COGs and Locusts is a prequel to the 2006 original with nothing new to say. You already know where it's going: protagonists Marcus Fenix and Dominic Santiago go to war as the human world of the surface is invaded by the subterranean Locust, and the heroes survive to fight another day. Even then, there aren't any surprises on the way there. 

The most notable changes occur within the framework of its third-person, cover-based shooting. It's still distinctly Gears of War--full of meaty men wielding crunchy weapons--just with a few new bells and whistles added to improve aspects of its signature action. It's good, and the increased spectacle is impressive, but it doesn't do enough to elevate to greatness.   

For a series that has struggled, or been unwilling, to let go of the past, purposefully going back 14 years prior to the surprise attack that incited the series at least sounded like a solid idea. By tackling the past head-on, with one of the most important days in the series' fictional history, The Coalition gave itself the chance to examine the origins of Marcus, Dom, and the antagonistic Locust Horde from the very moment their fates intertwined. 

Instead, E-Day tells a fairly boilerplate story; one that feels like it was written specifically for series newcomers, rather than anyone who's already fought to the conclusion of the Locust War. There's one moment, for instance, when a character explains that throwing a grenade into a Locust-spawning Emergence Hole will close it, while familiar enemy types like Boomers, Tickers, and Reavers--creatures fans have been fighting for two decades--are given grand entrances.

Introducing or refamiliarizing players with certain aspects of the Gear's universe isn't a knock on the game in and of itself, but the heavy emphasis on treating these known quantities as novel is indicative of a wider issue. E-Day seems uninterested in surprising longtime fans or appealing to the series' own history. 

Marcus is still as gruff, authority-bucking, and no-nonsense as ever, despite a 14-year gap and everything that happened in between, while Dom's still going through the same emotional beats as before, worrying about the fate of his wife Maria. The pair haven't fully developed the close relationship they share in the original game, and mostly bond over their shared grief for the loss of Dom's brother, but their relationship isn't explored deeply enough to add anything interesting to what we already know. 

Even something like the invention of the iconic Mark 2 Lancer--the assault rifle with a chainsaw bayonet that has been a staple of the Gears of War games since the beginning--happens off-screen with a character you only briefly meet twice. It's a throwaway scene that demonstrates just how much this prequel feels disappointingly superfluous.  

End of Abyss pulls from a lot of inspirations. It has the same texture to its creepy world as Little Nightmares, which makes sense, given the team at Section 9 Interactive includes some former creators of that series. It borrows a bit from soulslikes, with its towering bosses who pack a mean punch if you don't time your dodge-roll well. Its fixed camera angles are reminiscent of Resident Evil, especially when you can hear something monstrous in a room before you can see it. 

First and foremost, it's a third-person metroidvania in which you shoot monsters, solve environmental puzzles, and regularly unlock upgrades that enhance exploration. Some of its best parts are staples of the genre, but due to a few flaws, including one that broke my trust, and some poor blending of these influences, it winds up being an inconsistent patchwork instead of an inspired amalgamation.

In this 12- to 15-hour sci-fi horror story, you play Cel, a voiceless technician sent to investigate a facility that has gone dark for reasons unknown. Elsewhere in the third-person adventure, other characters try to help solve the mystery, each decked out in hazmat-like coveralls, as you reveal the massive facility floor by floor, section by section. You'll routinely unlock new items meant to send you backtracking to solve puzzles, uncover secrets, and ultimately beat the game. Of course, End of Abyss didn't invent this formula, but it uses it well, consistently giving me strong incentives to retrace my steps as I'd recall old routes I couldn't take until milestone moments in the story. 

This tried-and-true mode of exploration is my favorite part of the game. It was a tantalizing prospect to fight through a tough area with the game's twin-stick shooting mechanics and survival-horror-like limited resources to uncover things like explosive charges that can destroy some weak walls and floors, or a grappling hook that can pull down previously inaccessible ladders, revealing huge new avenues to explore, including many optional areas. Most upgrades are only found in optional areas, so I always made the time to seek them out as I tried to stay ahead of the many punishing enemies shambling around most corridors.

Physically, the explorable space is well-designed, often leaving me to chart much of the facility myself, with some valuable maps hidden off the main path that regularly rewarded my efforts with a full view of a given area. However, End of Abyss betrays its genre and the player alike with one particular area lacking in polish: those all-important maps sometimes lie to you. Due to an apparent bug, sometimes a door you've opened will still register as locked on the map, or a door for which you have the key won't remind you of that with the map icon the game uses to say, "Come back! You can open this one now." 

These are visual bugs only. I could still open a door if I had the right key, even if the map didn't tell me I could, and some doors locked on the map were wide open when I got there. But it meant having to juggle two versions of the game's many intricate areas in my head at once: the world according to the map, and the world according to reality.

It made my favorite part of End of Abyss more frustrating than it needed to be, with more than a few instances of this

When Minecraft Dungeons launched in 2020, it was difficult to know exactly what to make of it, or where it stood in the franchise as a whole. One of the world's most popular games had been transformed into a Diablo-lite-style action-RPG, taking away the mining and crafting that give Minecraft its name. In its place was something far more straightforward: kill monsters, collect loot, and repeat.

The simplicity of Minecraft Dungeons was both its greatest strength and its biggest weakness. Its streamlined gear system made it easy to understand, while its enchantments gradually introduced more interesting build possibilities. But its combat could feel a bit too basic.

Minecraft Dungeons 2 feels like developers Mojang and Double Eleven focused their efforts with those limitations in mind. The sequel is far more honed in on what happens between the battles, with expanded inventory systems, more customization options, more reasons to explore, and--perhaps most importantly--a world that actually feels connected to the larger Minecraft universe.

Dungeons felt like it deliberately separated itself from the main game, and that was partly the point. Mojang wanted to create an experience that couldn't be found in vanilla Minecraft, while still using recognizable mobs, environments, and items to make it feel familiar. 

Dungeons 2 takes a bold and unusual approach that not many other large franchises could pull off. Its story brings the Sift dimension, which was created for this game but is also coming to the vanilla game in 2027. The Sift is accessed via a portal--a mechanic that will feel familiar to anyone who's played Minecraft--and houses an ethereal dimension with all-new environments, friendly mobs, and enemies. The Sift's being added to the base Minecraft game makes the relationship between the two games feel far more deliberate than it did in the first installment. It also allows Dungeons 2 to feel like a bigger part of the Minecraft universe, rather than a smaller branch forging its own path.

As a result of that, Dungeons 2 made me particularly invested in its new dimension. As a Minecraft fan and veteran player, I was also intrigued about whether any of the narrative elements would be carried over to the main game. I walked around the Sift feeling like I was intruding on an unreleased Minecraft build, eager to check out the biomes, friendly mobs, enemies, and potential materials that can be found in the first new Minecraft dimension in a decade and a half. The Sift is the first Minecraft dimension outside of the Overworld that doesn't feel immediately hostile. In Dungeons 2 it's under threat, so there are hostile mobs to deal with, but the pearlescent lakes, muted blue, pink, and purple color palette, and mobs that cheekily poke their tongue out by way of greeting all lead to a very serene world, one that I'm excited to explore in vanilla Minecraft in 2027. 

By having multiple armor pieces, adding Enchantment Books, and having the ability to jump, Dungeons 2 is actually closer to the vanilla Minecraft experience than its predecessor. It feels almost unbelievable that the first Dungeons didn't include jumping, but Dungeons 2 does. This allows for a broader scope of exploration as you can hop up to hidden platforms to uncover chests, jump across gaps to reach previously inaccessible areas, and dutifully check behind waterfalls for hidden loot. It also adds the jump-attack combination, which allows for a more powerful attack that affects any enemies

I never knew I could be so enamored by clouds. There were times in my youth–typically sitting on a train or in the back of a car–when I would absentmindedly stare out the window at interesting cloud formations. Nowadays, phones, laptops, and handheld consoles tend to distract me from the world passing by, but in Ace Combat 8: Wings of Theve, clouds are its ever-present pièce de résistance. 

For all the high-tech jets, explosive action, and melodrama at the game's core, it's the bountiful sky and its stunning portraits of a version of our planet at varying altitudes that truly grab the eye. Flying through a rain cloud as it douses the cockpit window with droplets of water never gets old, and simply cruising through the air is almost tranquil at times. 

Yet Ace Combat 8's clouds aren't mere window dressing. From gauging your altitude by the density of the clouds around you to using them as cover to break a missile lock, Ace Combat 8 uses this technology to push the series forward in tangible ways that go beyond aesthetics.

Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown is one of the best examples of a game singlehandedly reviving a dormant series–and earning back its goodwill after the disappointment of Assault Horizon–so Ace Combat 8 didn't have to change all that much to keep the good times rolling. It stays true to the series' arcadey dogfighting roots while implementing a number of incremental improvements, making for a slightly more dynamic and intense experience as you go from sustaining heavy G-forces to unleashing a barrage of missiles. 

The story is more prominent and also personal this time around, too, strictly focusing on the members of a single squadron amid a major conflict. Set in Ace Combat's fictional war-torn world of Strangereal, the story begins as the Republic of Sotoa invades the Federation of Central Usea (FCU), quickly occupying much of the nation and scattering its military forces.

Outmanned and outgunned, the FCU relies on propaganda to keep morale alive. This is where the eponymous Wings of Theve comes into play: a legendary fighter pilot known for taking down dozens of enemy aircraft in the fight against the invading Sotoa forces. 

Except none of the pilot’s legend is true. 

War propaganda is nothing new, of course, but this immediately reminded me of Ukraine's Ghost of Kyiv. This mythical flying ace was alleged to have shot down six Russian planes over the capital city of Kyiv back in February 2022. The Ghost's exploits quickly spread like wildfire in the media and online, but two months later, the Ukrainian air force revealed it was simply propaganda to boost morale.

It's easy to see how this might've influenced developer Bandai Namco Aces when creating Wings of Theve. But this is also an Ace Combat game, so it doesn't take long for things to get weird. Top Gun has always heavily influenced the series, so just imagine a scenario where Top Gun: Maverick opens with Tom Cruise crashing and dying, then passing his spirit on to a new pilot who adopts the Maverick callsign. 

For the rest of the movie, Tom Cruise exists as a dead guy in the new, silent protagonist's head, passing on sage wisdom and sharing his jaded thoughts on the war with a melancholy similar to the most recent Wolfenstein's B.J. Blazkowicz. Oh, and Top Gun is an anime now, too.

That is Ace Combat i