Despite an exciting story, the second Ichiban outing suffers from somewhat lengthy grind and filler passages that artificially stretch out the playing time.

The action is explosive, the direction of the story sequences is intense at times, but still I can't really feel at home on these islands. Far Cry 3 is the ultimate open sandbox: The player can do what he wants, where he wants it, when he wants it. But the credibility of the world suffers – and with it my motivation.

“They cannot be serious!” became my mantra with Celeste. I like a steep challenge, but this is way too much. While the retro platformer shows off some interesting ideas the fun largely depends on your capacity for suffering as well as patience. This is one of the hardest games out there. They cannot be serious.

Alien Breed was and still is very challenging dual-stick-action. Unfortunately the virtual sticks are not as accurate as needed to survive the tough enemies. Nonetheless even over 20 years after its debut Alien Breed is still cool.

If you label a game Max Payne you should put Max Payne in it. I loved Max, because he had style and character – like a good whiskey. But this tastes like a colorful cocktail and plays like an explosive military shooter with Latinas in their stringtangas dancing to the bullet-staccato. Nonetheless you'll get solid entertainment with cynical comments, convincing digital actors and the occasional bullet in the head.

Visually this is the best mobile Pokémon adventure yet. And while the new pocket monsters with their final forms are creative as always the island hopping lacks the challenge of older Pokémon games.

Gotham City looks astonishing while the story is full of suspense and surprises. Mechanically the star once again is the freeflow fighting system. But somewhere along the way Rocksteady lost the focus and missed the point, especially with the overpowering, omnipresent inclusion of the Batmobile. Those sequences (and there are far too many) are nothing but a second-tier shooter which takes away too much from the dark knight and everything he stood for up to now.

At one point Max mumbles almost like Sylvester Stallone. And that's when I thought "Killing is as easy but also as boring as breathing". What once was a stylistic masterpiece with rough edges now becomes mass compatible mainstream action for the Call of Duty generation.

Visually this is the best mobile Pokémon adventure yet. And while the new pocket monsters with their final forms are creative as always the island hopping lacks the challenge of older Pokémon games.

This game is killing me. After a few days with Spelunky everywhere I look I see arrow traps and giant spiders. But why does it have to be so damn hard? One wrong step and there it is again: Game Over!

There is more of everything and it works as good (or bad) as always. But you won’t find an important ingredient: Fresh ideas.

It feels weird to experience the franchise that called Sony consoles a home on the PC for the first time. Having said that, the port is extremely polished and should be a good indication for things to come.

It looks great, it plays surprisingly well, but there is still quite some distance to the likes of Infinity Blade 2, which simply offers more of everything.

It’s nice to see Sonic back on track: Mania manages to capture the franchise core better than Segas last tries like Sonic Boom. There are some shortcomings here but if you can look past them, you will get a decent comeback from the speedy hedgehog.

I still think that Monster Hunter belongs on a big screen. Having said that, even without a lot of innovation and relying on well-known mechanics this hunt still manages to entertain.

More playground than living breathing world. BioWare opens a gigantic fantasy theme park. But unfortunately the only thing that is epic is the amount of content. Story, character behavior, quests and minigames are a mere shadow of the studio's former glory.

If you’re into accessible over-the-top arcade sport this might be for you. But be careful when you play: At certain times the network problems are horrible.

Slight changes in the fighting system, and slightly rearranged visuals: Even 30 years in the past Yaukza is the game it always was. The concept is still cool – but feels slightly overused.

You have a lot to do, a lot to learn and a lot to forgive. Especially since the battles might be impressive, but haven’t progressed for years.

The tactical as well as explosive action delivers and gives me loads of options. I am changing the skirmish with my behavior, I can play it to suit my play style, from straightforward attacks to sneaky head shots. But I also find myself in the middle of a mountain range theme park with animals more fierce than any herpetologist could imagine while the map throws places at me that I rather want to discover myself.

While the concept with its “groundhog day of destruction” is intriguing, the technical as well as mechanical execution is not.

Yakuza’s comeback shows off a great fighting system, while the tasks that you’re following are tedious and boring.

Graphically polished and therefore visually attractive gem for genre and series fans. However, a lack of depth in the story and characters quickly leads to monotony.

Capcom delivers a horror carnival with a ringmaster, who wants to deliver the maximum amount of beasts, stunts and clowns. You will experience spectacular boss fights and beautiful audio as well as visuals, but also quite a few embarrassments and frustrating elements.

The RPG saga benefits from new battle and fighting systems, but still has lot of room for improvements when it comes to visuals and staging.

The audiovisual presentation with its retro flair is charming and thanks to the constant challenge the motivation starts on a high level. It is replaced by frustration though, because challenge quickly becomes routine, which in turn made me go back to more classic jump&runs.

An interactive cartoon complete with cute characters and creative puzzles that is entertaining despite lacking depth and moderate difficulty.

For a quick game this “Blockbattle Royale” is good choice, but after that it becomes too tedious too soon.

I wish I could love Kid Icarus more. Because in theory it has everything: A top-notch presentation, loads of minigames and stuff on the side that is almost more interesting than the campaign, a brilliant soundtrack. But there is one thing that overshadows everything: The frustrating controls!

It still is a decent collection of one of the most difficult game franchises of the NES era.

Right now military shooters share the problem of the WWII action games from about five years ago: Eventually you have seen everything and played everything, over and over, again and again. Sure, the campaign has its moments, but nonetheless Black Ops 2 would love to be Modern Warfare – and that is a five-year-old game. And so it is once again the established multiplayer with its plethora of modes and personalization option (all of which are basically known) that comes to the rescue of this run-of-the-mill shooter.

14-year-old adventure, which despite only minor adjustments is technically at its best on the PC. The dramatic story and the gripping soundtrack in particular still manage to inspire, but the price is high and the quality of the game is no longer quite as high as it was in 2010.

A basically competent campus construction simulation, whose humor doesn't hit enough and doesn't fully ignite with too much repetitive hard work.

Combining little blocks was never more stylish than with Lumines. Unfortunately this rendition is a mere shadow of its former PSP-self.

As good as the concept was three years ago and as entertaining a successful coop session may be, in the end this is little more than an interesting design study.

It finally had to come to this: Where Konami’s competition stagnates in terms of mode selection here you get a lot of content but hardly any progress on the pitch.

A neat collection of JRPG classics for Switch, a little light on extra content though.

If you're looking for a challenge and appreciate interesting game mechanics, Cairn is the right choice for you. However, the story and atmosphere fall somewhat short of expectations.

Superficial tuning, an unbalanced difficulty level: Aside from the visuals this as average an arcade racer can get.

This PES delivers a stability in the build-up and situative elegance – almost like in the good old PS2 era. But with an unstable online mode even a few days after release as well as a few visual shortcomings this is only one more step back to greatness. It will still take a while to get there.

Visually it is mostly stunning and while the antagonists are highly charismatic, they are also very one-dimensional. Mechanically on the other hand the series takes a few steps in the right direction but the main story missions aside there is nothing that its predecessors or the Just Cause franchise haven’t done before. But even that could be forgiven, if there would be an ounce of either believable or challenging AI behaviour could be found.

It may sport a new name, but still carries too many burdens of the past. The experience can be great, the build-up is pleasantly tactical. But there is way too much wasted potential.

Tricky puzzle fast food that will keep fans of randomly generated dungeon action busy.

Loop Hero delivers an entertaining flow, has a certain esprit and the card placement is a neat idea. But the visuals are bland, there is too little tactical impact and the constant repetition gets tiring.

A charming first act that gives you an outlook into interesting storylines. But since puzzles are too easy and it is rather short all the hopes lie on the conclusion.

The campaign delivers as it did on other systems, but suffers from framerate issues. The multiplayer drags the Wii U experience down. I can live with the small number of available players, even though some modes suffer from that. But the connection losses are a big disappointment.

With its visuals Echoes might lure you into believing that it is as captivating as Fire Emblem Fates. But in the end this is the weakest and most unnecessary entry of a franchise I played and loved dearly since its humble origins.

This time the screenplay just doesn’t work. But even though this is the weakest episode of the whole series by a mile, it still shows enough “Walking Dead” to be entertaining.

Overall it lacks the punch of the first two episodes and focuses too much on action, while character development is put on the back burner. Nonetheless I am curious how Telltale will continue their journey to Pandora.

Quotation forthcoming.

The granddaddy of shoot-em-ups gets an interesting touch remake, but fails to motivate in the long run.

Wonderfully weird and always surprising: Indika is a real experience that is worth a look despite the monotonous gameplay.

This is Grid’s dirty brother. And it shows similar flaws in terms of depth as well as on the technical side. Nonetheless this can deliver short-term arcade off-road fun.

Surprisingly well playable mobile shooter, with loads of in-game-purchases and bots.

On PS4 Pro with framerate prioritized you’ll get an almost identical experience like on current consoles or PC – an impressive port from Capcom.

Some inconsequences, e. g. in terms of AI and the short leash are annoying, but story and characters are very convincing.

A solid conversion of two roleplaying classics. There are technical issues though.

The campaign is sterile, the presentation mediocre and in the long run the battles don't reach genre standards. A lot of good ideas are sabotaged by annoying flaws.

While the story marks an interesting step in a new direction for the shooter series, the mechanics stay very conservative. With the added gadgets you get more variety, but the level design doesn’t demand these mechanics too often. And while the multiplayer is as solid as always and content-rich I miss fresh and creative modes.

A solid motorbike racing game with some interesting new ideas for the franchise. There is still room for improvement in terms of AI, presentation as well as the career mode.

The fights, the gun battles and all the little tasks are quite entertaining, but they all lack depth and finesse and often feel separated from the main story and its emotional impact. This is a solid but very conventional open world action.

The spruced-up port of Sonic Generations isn't worth mentioning apart from the 2D levels, but the Shadow campaign scores points with fun levels and serves up a worthy comeback for the shadow hedgehog.

While the visuals are sub-par at best, Battle Brothers is an interesting turn based tactics beast with a multi-faceted battle system but also serious balancing issues.

The concept is interesting but too soon everything will be sacrificed to in-app-purchases that are forced by design dead ends that can just be solved by spending money. This is pay-to-win at its worst…

Vice City is a magical place that is home to my most memorable videogame experiences. And everything is there, or at least it seems: Crusin' through the city is fun, the soundtrack is as good as ever, so is the dialogue. But as soon as you really have to play, the systems' limitations spoil the fun.

The quality of this Russian odyssey is as inconsistent and varied as its climatic zones. But despite all its flaws and weak AI it still manages to create a solid post-apocalyptic action experience.

Depending on the collection of Skylander figures that you already own, the number of areas that can just be opened by your wallet will vary – and so will the fun you will have with the Giants. That aside the new adventure in the Skylands shows improvements on almost every level.

At its core this is first class hockey. But the virtual standstill in almost all areas while focusing more on arcade aspects makes me go back to last years’ version.

Depending on the collection of Skylander figures that you already own, the number of areas that can just be opened by your wallet will vary - and so will the fun you will have with the Giants. That aside the new adventure in the Skylanders shows improvements on almost every level. Unfortunately the use of the Wii U GamePad is quite superficial.

A return that could make fans of the series happy. Graphically and technically magnificent; a small roster and lackluster presentation of some modes prevent a better rating.

Although there is almost every cyberpunk cliché to be found somewhere, the themes and dialogues are put together well. Which can’t be said about the actual playing mechanics, since they leave a lot to be desired.

In terms of storytelling, atmosphere and visuals Metro is up there with the heavyweights like BioShock Infinite. But the action is rather ordinary and held back by the appalling AI.

Vlambeer’s latest offering shows a lot of potential. It mixes a lot of mechanics and adds a few good ideas to make the dogfights special. But the controls do their best to keep me away from this.

Sucker Punch plays it safe. Compared to its predecessor there is almost no progress. Of course the visuals are better – sometimes they are plainly brilliant. But at its core it could have been so much more.

Realtime strategy on a global scale with very entertaining multiplayer skirmishes but disappointing campaign.

Compare this to Ori and the very conservative interpretation feels old-fashioned. It shows some cool gadgets, though, while the weaponry and abilities are well connected to the exploration. But nonetheless this is “too” retro for me.

Technically crisp hybrid of dogdeball and online-action. But despite on-the-spot controls you’ll never get the “one-more-match"-urge.

The New Order showcases a few good ideas that would help to bring old school action into a modern era. Unfortunately AI and technical issues hinder the progress. In the end BJ Blazkowicz’s comeback is entertaining though.

The charming and idiosyncratic mix of platforming and action roleplaying is held back by some design flaws as well as some inconsistencies.

Nice old-school action with challenging boss battles and rad sound, albeit not as pretty or polished as Blazing Chrome.

If you want nothing more than a party snack, this is it – especially with the cross-platform gaming. But in the long run it lacks variety.

While the beginning is almost everything you could wish for from a classic horror experience, Wilson’s Heart soon loses itself in uninteresting “explore, pick up, use, repeat”. It still shows how effective subtle horror can be in VR even though it never gets to prove it fully.

The surreal world shows a lot of potential but fights as well as puzzles are too simple and too monotonous too often.

Is it better than its Wii U sibling? No doubt. But “better” doesn’t make the DX version automatically “good” - especially since some of the flaws on Wii U like the redundant solo campaign or the still unbalanced fighting squad are not ironed out. At least you get a little more content and improved multiplayer capabilities.

Relaxed photo safari with plenty of charming Pokémo. But the concept is very limited and shows problems with picture recognition and assessment.

Small and sometimes clumsy, but nonetheless charming action adventure in the tradition of The Legend of Zelda.

Assassin's Creed Shadows immerses us in a beautiful and, above all, atmospheric feudal Japan, where individual aspects of the game have been cleverly improved. However, an unexciting story, weaknesses in the AI and the repetitive, monotonous gameplay prevent the latest installment in the series from generating much excitement.

Metal: Hellsinger is an exciting genre fusion with a great soundtrack. Scope, arsenal, boss design and enemy variety leave a lot to be desired.

A solid and bloody zombie hunt, that neither offers server browser or user content, but makes up for it with bonus material and integrated DLC.

Quotation forthcoming.

Konami sets the wrong focus, namely myClub etc.While the core gameplay is really good the Master League and career are stale and old-fashioned.

Quotation forthcoming.

This is a charming arcade-puzzler with an interesting approach on storytelling. The concept worked on the PC and it works well on Wii U. But in the end it is just a small appetizer: After little more than three hours the fire is extinguished.

The presentation of battles and especially cut scenes is extraordinary. Unfortunately the tactical options are rather shallow, while there is not enough content to satisfy in the long run.

L.A. Noire transcended quite well into this console generation. The crime solving adventure still has some highly captivating elements. But it also kept its deficits like the boring fist fights, the trivial shoot-outs or too little mechanical variety overall.

A solid alchemist adventure that sticks to the formula. Don’t expect anything new.

4K and ray-tracing seem to push the Series X to the limit, but in perfomance mode System Redux definitely looks better than the original – and runs smoother. Nonetheless the core stays the same: a weird cyberpunk thriller with repititive mind-games.

Compared to the similar War of the Roses you get tighter controls and more game modes, but it lacks in entertainment value.