With a sexy appearance, capable hardware and its chunky SSD technology, the Xbox Series S is a fascinating companion to the Xbox Series X and one that finds its own balance between quality and quantity gaming.

Watch Dogs: Legion is a fascinating game, massively ambitious and crawling with technology that isn’t just on the bleeding edge of what’s possible, it’s pure magic to see unfold. All of that may sound impressive but slick software and a bustling metropolis of people power can’t hide the dull gameplay and shallow approach to the sandbox shenanigans of Watch Dogs: Legion. It’s still a fascinating game to experience in short bursts, and it’s going to be fascinating to see how Ubisoft evolves London to make it vox pop as a next-gen headliner.

There’s a decent game at the very core of G.I. Joe: Operation Blackout , but it’s buried underneath annoying controls, a bizarre focus on co-op play instead of multiplayer, and missions that feel like an endlessly repetitive grind. Still, it’s dedicated to its source material and it has its moments, but it doesn’t do much else to stand out from the pack. And now you know, because knowing is half the battle.

Airplane Mode is everything you’d expect from a well-crafted flight simulator where you’re not in control: Boring, hopeless, and a dangerous invitation into the depths of your own unhinged psyche brought on by a high altitude prison that you paid to be incarcerated in. It’s almost the end of the year, and I think I’ve just found the winner of the best horror game of 2020.

Like most Nintendo ideas, Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit has a certain magic to it, charm and some caveats thrown at you. It’s mad stuff that somehow works, and performs even better if you’re rich enough to own a spare living room to set up a lab dedicated to racing game experiments. Hindered or enhanced by your imagination, Nintendo’s latest mad project is still a well-designed and madly charming new entry in its beloved karting franchise.

Genshin Impact may be one of the biggest surprises of the year: A free-to-play RPG that gives players an absurd amount of freedom and content to dip into.

Neighbors back from Hell doesn’t do anything to change its original formula, but the added spit ‘n shine polish does give the fantastic pranking sandbox a new lease on life.

The Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 may bill itself as a gaming laptop, but it transcends that label by being simply that damn good in several other fields.