Dispatch feels like it harkens back to the early 2010s--a time when Telltale Games was creating incredible episodic adventure games inspired by graphic novels, superhero stories were beginning to fill to the brim with quips to counterbalance the angst of the genre in the 2000s, and office-based TV comedies were everywhere. If not for snippets of gameplay, Dispatch would simply be a great TV show that I would want to tune into every week. It sometimes feels like it skews a little bit too much toward its TV show inspirations, but superb writing and voice acting maintains investment in this character-driven drama and makes for a story I want to replay.

In Dispatch, you play as Robert Robertson III, aka Mecha Man. Once a prominent hero without superpowers who had to rely on piloting a mechsuit to stop monstrous supervillains, Robert finds his life adrift after his suit is damaged beyond repair. He's approached by Blonde Blazer, a famous hero-for-hire, who offers him a job as a dispatcher--someone who directs and assists a team of paid heroes. The catch: Robert's assigned group of misfits is entirely composed of former supervillains, and their crass attitudes, explosive tempers, and lack of camaraderie make them a poor team and ill-suited for hero work.

It's a stellar set-up, made even stronger by an incredible cast of varied characters. While trailers and advertisements offered an initial impression of Robert being your typical washed-up hero defined by dour sarcasm, the character is a remarkably refreshing take for a protagonist in a superhero story. Yes, he's depressed and often uses humor to deflect, but he has an earnest desire to help people and continue being a force for good. He doesn't view the supervillains under his command as a hindrance, but a mission: He'll mentor the roster into a group of heroes even greater than he was because it's best for the city and for the former villains' lives.

Editor's note: Given the nature of Call of Duty games and the way the audience plays them, this review is split up into multiple components, each covering a specific aspect of Black Ops 7 with a score relevant to it. Alongside this, there is an overall score for the game at the bottom of this review. Alongside the campaign, this review will be updated with sections Zombies.

Black Ops 7 Campaign Review - New But The Same

The Call of Duty: Black Ops games lean into fantasy and often surprise with a mind-bending narrative, and the Black Ops 7 campaign is no exception. It's themed around the enemy using fear as a weapon, and you're dropped into a storyline filled with hallucinations of monsters, trippy locations, and bizarre scenarios. This is a specific flavor of Call of Duty story that only developer Treyarch has shown the capacity to tell, and despite a few stumbles, the Black Ops 7 campaign does enough to leverage the potential of its more psychological narratives, while also moving the satisfying shooter gameplay into a new framework.

Confusingly enough, Black Ops 7 takes place over 40 years after the events of last year's Black Ops 6 and 10 years following the events of Black Ops 2. The story is set in 2035 as a direct sequel to Black Ops 2, and it brings back David Mason from that game as the main protagonist. In Black Ops 7, you see the effects of Black Ops 2's canonical ending, where Mason kills villain Raul Menendez and an uprising occurs. The world is now ravaged by violent conflict and psychological warfare, and The Guild, a global tech corporation, has stepped in to "protect" humanity from the chaos created by Menendez's followers. But uh-oh: Menendez seemingly returns despite his apparent death.

Editor's note: Given the nature of Call of Duty games and the way the audience plays them, this review is split up into multiple components, each covering a specific aspect of Black Ops 7 with a score relevant to it. Alongside this, there is an overall score for the game at the bottom of this review. Alongside the campaign, this review will be updated with sections Zombies.

Black Ops 7 Campaign Review - New But The Same

The Call of Duty: Black Ops games lean into fantasy and often surprise with a mind-bending narrative, and the Black Ops 7 campaign is no exception. It's themed around the enemy using fear as a weapon, and you're dropped into a storyline filled with hallucinations of monsters, trippy locations, and bizarre scenarios. This is a specific flavor of Call of Duty story that only developer Treyarch has shown the capacity to tell, and despite a few stumbles, the Black Ops 7 campaign does enough to leverage the potential of its more psychological narratives, while also moving the satisfying shooter gameplay into a new framework.

Confusingly enough, Black Ops 7 takes place over 40 years after the events of last year's Black Ops 6 and 10 years following the events of Black Ops 2. The story is set in 2035 as a direct sequel to Black Ops 2, and it brings back David Mason from that game as the main protagonist. In Black Ops 7, you see the effects of Black Ops 2's canonical ending, where Mason kills villain Raul Menendez and an uprising occurs. The world is now ravaged by violent conflict and psychological warfare, and The Guild, a global tech corporation, has stepped in to "protect" humanity from the chaos created by Menendez's followers. But uh-oh: Menendez seemingly returns despite his apparent death.

Metroid Prime meets PowerWash Simulator is the elevator pitch for Ambrosia Sky: Act One. Set aboard a derelict space colony within the rings of Saturn, you'll explore the apartments, science labs, and interstellar farms of this once-thriving community, reading notes, examining corpses, and using a tether to navigate unstable gravity fields. Equipped with a versatile chemical sprayer, you'll also cleanse the colony of the deadly fungi contaminating its every nook and cranny--a first-person cleaning process that's both cathartic and urgent, as you cycle through nozzle types and chemical agents to fight back against a hostile ecosystem by clearing it away.

As a sci-fi cleaning game, Ambrosia Sky is relatively novel. Yet developer Soft Rains goes one step further by taking you on a melancholic and sentimental journey about death. Specifically, dying alone in the far reaches of our solar system.

Playing as a woman named Dalia, you assume dual roles as both a field scientist and a space-faring undertaker known as a Scarab. When you're not hosing down fungus and piecing together what happened before everything went to hell, you're collecting biological samples from the dead and laying them to rest. "Where catastrophe strikes, Scarabs go," is the mystical group's unofficial motto. Their mission is to sequence the DNA of the recently deceased and find a way to reverse cellular decay in humans, all in pursuit of achieving immortality. But this lofty ambition takes a back seat to Dalia's personal conflict as she's forced to confront her past.

Metroid Prime meets PowerWash Simulator is the elevator pitch for Ambrosia Sky: Act One. Set aboard a derelict space colony within the rings of Saturn, you'll explore the apartments, science labs, and interstellar farms of this once-thriving community, reading notes, examining corpses, and using a tether to navigate unstable gravity fields. Equipped with a versatile chemical sprayer, you'll also cleanse the colony of the deadly fungi contaminating its every nook and cranny--a first-person cleaning process that's both cathartic and urgent, as you cycle through nozzle types and chemical agents to fight back against a hostile ecosystem by clearing it away.

As a sci-fi cleaning game, Ambrosia Sky is relatively novel. Yet developer Soft Rains goes one step further by taking you on a melancholic and sentimental journey about death. Specifically, dying alone in the far reaches of our solar system.

Playing as a woman named Dalia, you assume dual roles as both a field scientist and a space-faring undertaker known as a Scarab. When you're not hosing down fungus and piecing together what happened before everything went to hell, you're collecting biological samples from the dead and laying them to rest. "Where catastrophe strikes, Scarabs go," is the mystical group's unofficial motto. Their mission is to sequence the DNA of the recently deceased and find a way to reverse cellular decay in humans, all in pursuit of achieving immortality. But this lofty ambition takes a back seat to Dalia's personal conflict as she's forced to confront her past.

As many video game studios continue to leverage technology in the pursuit of photorealism, developers Enhance and Monstars Inc. understand that technology can also be used in the pursuit of emotional impact. Their new game, Lumines Arise, exposes you to a display of perpetual creativity, where every inch of the screen is bathed in a cascade of visual effects that mesmerize you. It takes the foundation of a series that started back in 2004 and turns it on its head by giving it the Tetris Effect treatment, presenting a sensorial experience that's equally enchanting and confident.

Lumines has been largely dormant for the past decade. But while Arise is a synesthesia-fueled sequel, the core conceit of this popular series is largely unchanged. You're still presented with a playfield divided into a grid, in which 2x2 blocks descend from above. Each of those blocks is composed of four squares, and each of those squares is painted with one of two colors or patterns. The goal is to drop the blocks so that squares of the same pattern touch each other, combining them into larger squares of the same type--the bigger the combined square, the more points you earn.

All the while, a timeline--which is represented by a vertical line that moves from left to right with the tempo of the music--will sweep away the combined squares when it comes into contact with them. Therefore, the key is to make squares of a single type so the timeline will remove them and prevent the playfield from becoming full, which is an instant game over, while also attempting to make as many square combos as possible, either by enlarging existing ones or creating several at once. Your squares only score when the timeline sweeps through, so it's a race against the clock to make the biggest combos you can for each pass.

As many video game studios continue to leverage technology in the pursuit of photorealism, developers Enhance and Monstars Inc. understand that technology can also be used in the pursuit of emotional impact. Their new game, Lumines Arise, exposes you to a display of perpetual creativity, where every inch of the screen is bathed in a cascade of visual effects that mesmerize you. It takes the foundation of a series that started back in 2004 and turns it on its head by giving it the Tetris Effect treatment, presenting a sensorial experience that's equally enchanting and confident.

Lumines has been largely dormant for the past decade. But while Arise is a synesthesia-fueled sequel, the core conceit of this popular series is largely unchanged. You're still presented with a playfield divided into a grid, in which 2x2 blocks descend from above. Each of those blocks is composed of four squares, and each of those squares is painted with one of two colors or patterns. The goal is to drop the blocks so that squares of the same pattern touch each other, combining them into larger squares of the same type--the bigger the combined square, the more points you earn.

All the while, a timeline--which is represented by a vertical line that moves from left to right with the tempo of the music--will sweep away the combined squares when it comes into contact with them. Therefore, the key is to make squares of a single type so the timeline will remove them and prevent the playfield from becoming full, which is an instant game over, while also attempting to make as many square combos as possible, either by enlarging existing ones or creating several at once. Your squares only score when the timeline sweeps through, so it's a race against the clock to make the biggest combos you can for each pass.

My third child is due in January. When my wife and I sent our first child to kindergarten, we were among the youngest parents in our school community. But when this next baby is grown up and ready for school, I'll be over 40. I sometimes think about how our kids get more or less time with us on this planet based on when we had them. I'll be in this child's life for less time than I was in their siblings' lives, necessarily. It's simple, unconquerable math, and it bums me out. I promise myself I'll stay healthy and attentive to the best of my ability so that I can wring every last day out of my life with them. But even in the best-case scenario, there's no catching up in years. How do I make those days count when they feel so numbered? How can I make up for lost time? Goodnight Universe, the next game from a team comprised mainly of those who made Before Your Eyes, explores this space magnificently and, as should be expected if you played the team's last game, to heartwrenching effect.

In Goodnight Universe, you take on the novel role of a baby named Issac. Played in first-person and using optional camera tracking (on PC, but not consoles) like Before Your Eyes, you'll live out Issac's unexpectedly adventurous life. Early on, you'll meet his parents and sister, as well as his grandfather and other significant figures who enter his life. As an adult, Issac narrates his memories from infancy, and you'll live them out yourself, smashing the tray attached to your highchair, playing with your teething toys, and finding yourself utterly mesmerized by the children's TV show, Gilbert the Goat.

While these sound like typical things a baby would do, it doesn't take long for Issac to admit he was different--special, even. According to Issac, from birth, he could think fluently and problem-solve like an adult. He could even go beyond those behaviors. As a telekinetic, he's able to move things with his mind or read people's thoughts. In gameplay terms, you'll perform these supernatural feats using a controller if you prefer, but more engaging is to use camera tracking and perform them with your own face and hands.

My third child is due in January. When my wife and I sent our first child to kindergarten, we were among the youngest parents in our school community. But when this next baby is grown up and ready for school, I'll be over 40. I sometimes think about how our kids get more or less time with us on this planet based on when we had them. I'll be in this child's life for less time than I was in their siblings' lives, necessarily. It's simple, unconquerable math, and it bums me out. I promise myself I'll stay healthy and attentive to the best of my ability so that I can wring every last day out of my life with them. But even in the best-case scenario, there's no catching up in years. How do I make those days count when they feel so numbered? How can I make up for lost time? Goodnight Universe, the next game from a team comprised mainly of those who made Before Your Eyes, explores this space magnificently and, as should be expected if you played the team's last game, to heartwrenching effect.

In Goodnight Universe, you take on the novel role of a baby named Issac. Played in first-person and using optional camera tracking (on PC, but not consoles) like Before Your Eyes, you'll live out Issac's unexpectedly adventurous life. Early on, you'll meet his parents and sister, as well as his grandfather and other significant figures who enter his life. As an adult, Issac narrates his memories from infancy, and you'll live them out yourself, smashing the tray attached to your highchair, playing with your teething toys, and finding yourself utterly mesmerized by the children's TV show, Gilbert the Goat.

While these sound like typical things a baby would do, it doesn't take long for Issac to admit he was different--special, even. According to Issac, from birth, he could think fluently and problem-solve like an adult. He could even go beyond those behaviors. As a telekinetic, he's able to move things with his mind or read people's thoughts. In gameplay terms, you'll perform these supernatural feats using a controller if you prefer, but more engaging is to use camera tracking and perform them with your own face and hands.

It's exceedingly rare for an annual sports game to skip an entire year, but that's exactly what developer Sports Interactive did when it canceled Football Manager 25. With so many changes--including switching game engines to Unity--and numerous delays, the game simply wasn't up to standard in time. Couple this unforeseen gap year with the promise of a brand-new foundation built on an improved match engine and a completely overhauled interface, and Football Manager 26 quickly became the most highly anticipated game in the long-running series. Unfortunately, the end result is a cliched game of two halves. While the match engine is as impressive as advertised, the UI debuts with significant teething problems. Throw in some missing features and a multitude of frustrating bugs, and FM 26 would be disappointing even if expectations weren't so high.

It's not all bad news, though. As I mentioned, one of the game's two halves plays some excellent football, starting with a tactical revamp that significantly alters how you set up your team on match day. It's a long-overdue shake-up, as even back in 2016, when I reviewed Football Manager 2017, I bemoaned how rigid the series' tactics had become. "The tactical side of Football Manager would benefit from giving you more control over how your team functions, especially during specific phases of play--perhaps letting you fluidly shift from one formation to another depending on whether your team has the ball or not," I said. It might've taken nine years, but this exact scenario is the basis for FM 26's tactical overhaul.

There's now a clear delineation between when your team has possession and when it doesn't. If you're so inclined, you can set up to attack in a particular formation and then fluidly switch to another when defending, giving you more granular control over your team's structure. As manager of Arsenal Women--FM 26 adds 14 women's leagues for the first time--I mainly used a 4-2-3-1 formation in possession, then transitioned to a 4-4-2 shape when I didn't have the ball. As the defending team, this allowed my two forward players to lead the press while the rest of the team sat in two banks of four, providing a solid base that could also spring a counterattack whenever I won the ball back. When this happened, the three midfielders gave me more control in the middle of the pitch, and this also allowed players like Olivia Smith and Frida Maanum to play in their more natural positions behind the striker.