While the core gameplay is engaging (albeit cut short by a relatively short runtime), the satirical throughline in the story, character interactions, and live-action cutscenes make for a very entertaining experience. Starship Troopers: Ultimate Bug War! is a great little piece of satire hidden behind a goofy, fun sci-fi shooter, doing a great job of reflecting the film that inspired it.
John Carpenter’s Toxic Commando delivers a wild ride through the undead apocalypse with just enough new to make it worth your time. It takes the familiar bones of the genre and wraps them in something bigger and louder. Sometimes that spills over into repetition, but when everything clicks, which it will for your first several hours of play, it feels like standing in the middle of a raging river (of zombies) and letting the current (of zombies) carry you straight through the storm.
The charm of the characters and the laidback presentation of the inventory itself open up for a very relaxing experience. While it’s not quite a comfy game, it’s a surprisingly close one. While more game modes and styles of poker could have added depth to the expeirence, Poker Night at the Inventory remains as easy to fall in love with as it did when it was first released. Hopefully, this remaster draws enough attention for a follow-up that remakes the second game — or lays the groundwork for a new sequel that adds more gameplay elements to flesh out the underlying strength of the gameplay design.
Despite those issues, the wrestling in WWE 2K26 is outstanding, and the depth of the roster and the updates to the array of modes make this game considerably better than last year’s version. Considering last year’s game was already stellar, it only makes WWE 2K26 that much more impressive.
For all its minor snags, though, I do think Game Freak and Koei Tecmo have created something special with Pokemon Pokopia. The game feels at once like a well-crafted and engaging cozy game and an impressive Pokemon spin-off. Even without familiar staples like battles or catching, it does very much feel rooted in the world of Pokemon. And it’s also just plain fun. Even if I sometimes felt overwhelmed at the amount of work it’ll take to turn the block-filled expanse into a cozy home, I kept wanting to come back for more.
Rather than trying to do something entirely new, the ninth mainline installment in the saga, Resident Evil Requiem, finds a way to perfectly mesh all of the best aspects of the series so far. The result doesn't just make Requiem one of the greatest Resident Evil games yet, but it stands as a perfect celebration of the franchise for its 30th anniversary.
Those who are familiar with the Reigns series, or who are big fans of The Witcher, will no doubt enjoy the game and the wealth of different options and choices it offers. But there are some stumbling blocks here that could put more casual players off the game after a few runs gone wrong.
God of War Sons of Sparta is not a terrible game by any means. Even in spite of all of its flaws, this is a very competent Metroidvania that will undoubtedly scratch any itch you might have to play a game in the genre. Still, Sons of Sparta is a major swing and a miss on PlayStation’s part. This game had the potential to establish God of War as something new outside of the mainline series that could help keep it fresh for years to come. Instead, I’m now hoping that we see fewer experiments with the IP going forward if this is how they’re going to pan out.
Death Howl comes from small indie developer The Outer Zone and publisher 11-bit studios. It uses a unique color palette to bring its dark spirit world to life in stunning pixel art form. With a combination of deck-building and tactical grid-based combat, Death Howl will challenge your strategic skills as you explore 4 different realms of the spirit world on Ro’s quest to save her son. Though the grind can admittedly get a bit frustrating, Death Howl is an engaging blend of strategic gameplay and emotional storytelling. It feels right at home on Nintendo Switch.
