This is Left 4 Rats 2: Challenging co-op action with loads of Warhammer charme and a well conceived focus on teamplay, but also some flaws.

The concept actually isn’t too bad and is supported by mainly immersive controls. Nonetheless the execution is mostly superficial while the pacing is underwhelming.

Thanks to the technical power of PC VR this version is even better than on PlayStation VR. With a great amount of options catering to all hardware specs and VR needs get ready top be drawn into the most immersive version of Skyrim.

Part 1 didn’t show off the best mechanics but made up for that with atmosphere and a great story. Here even that is in jeopardy. It feels too fragmented to become one entertaining experience.

Definitely the weakest part of the most recent Atelier trilogy. Almost everything feels outdated. Having said that, the tactical turn-based battles are still fun, though.

This stationary, wave-based shooting gallery starts out slow. But thanks to the dynamic weapon changes and the overall fault-free movement detection this delivers decent no frills arcade shooting.

This is a surprisingly charming rhythm game. The music is a little bit too generic though, while the cool drumming mechanics lack a serious amount of content.

You can have fun with this game - in a weird sense. The video-episodes are amateurish and the topics mundane. Nonetheless there are some interesting moments that made me laugh and think about male dating behaviour.

Quotation forthcoming.

Quotation forthcoming.

Quotation forthcoming.

The finale of the trilogy doesn’t get more challenging or better than the other episodes, but at least take all the loose ends and brings the story to a convincing end.

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 starts strong and looks stunning throughout, but the missions soon become redundant, while on this stormy seas you’re not only at the mercy of the elements, but the fun you’ll have depends largely on the behaviour of other players. It can be a tremendous pirate adventure with gripping PvP, but can deteriorate to a frustfest, if the other players on the server just want to create chaos.

This still shows off one of the deepest characters in franchise history, but came across (and still does) mechanically as old-fashioned.

The extraterrestrial city builder has a lot to offer, but suffers from design flaws, feels downright unfinished here or there and would have benefited from more depth.

Johnnemann Nordhagen created a truly compelling experience, an adventure that almost defies words. It has its flaws but once you are drawn into this rich world it is hard to get out.

I definitely want more tactical adventures enriched with epic storytelling like Banner Saga. But definitely not like this brash copy, that shows almost no individuality.

There are mechanical as well as technical flaws. But in its good moments Distortions delivers a strangely bizarre action adventure like no other.

Ghost of a Tale has its share of problems and can be superficial at times. But mostly Lionel Gallat brings a charming little hero to life with a coherent direction and a setting in which every element serves one purpose only: to infuse this little adventure with a big soul.

For the longest time A Way Out is a co-operative popcorn action movie with a good narrative and promising, albeit sometimes redundant mechanics. Unfortunately the finale is a big downer in almost every aspect.

While topics and storytelling might be a tad too childish and the challenge level of this fairy tale is a little too low, it nonetheless is hard to escape the magic of this beautiful JRPG, with its varied mission and level design.

While mechanically and visually A.o.T. 2 shows improvement in almost every aspect to its predecessor the retelling of the “old” story that takes place over two thirds of the campaign playtime is definitely a downer.

More or a less a ramped up sequel to Crimsonland the fight of the master of electricity against the genius behind the Cthulhu myth is a very entertaining no-frills twin-stick shooter.

It has a few minor problems and shows its age mechanically, but overall it is still a decent action RPG proving why it is found on almost every best-of-list in its genre.

If you are indeed a Kerbalist, you will definitely spend more hours with you favorite space travelling critters. The mission editor is powerful, while the included missions are challenging. Nonetheless this expansion is a bit superficial and still omits interstellar exploration or colony management.

This is a convincing excursion on one of the most difficult and challenging motorcycle tracks in the world. But as a game it shows a serious lack of content and would significantly improve with a decent career mode.

Yakuza 6 sure has some weaknesses. But it also is a fitting finale for an underappreciated franchise, where storytelling, compelling minigames and above all, beautiful visuals craft one extraordinary experience.

While the minigames on display are absolutely nothing out of the ordinary, they are just a part of a bigger picture. And that is a cynical satire on the American way of life that feels even more relevant with the unfortunate events as of late.

Yes, some mechanics feel a bit old-fashioned after ten years. But as a no-frills arcade racer with an open world and hundreds of races, tasks and cars this is till one hell of a ride.

Expanding on the strengths of its predecessor (in its Dirctor’s Cut, of course) while trying to eradicate its weaknesses, this a thoroughly entertaining ego puzzler with an interesting story.

Solid collection with three classics, all of which still pack a punch. I would have expected more than a mere resolution upgrade to 1080p, though.

This town builder looks decent and it shows off some great mechanics. But if you want depth, you should look somewhere else.

There are loads of combinations possible when it comes to abilities and co-op-options. But the feeble difficulty level will underwhelm players of all ages and experiences.

This is one of the weakest shooting galleries for Sony’s VR system. Faced with technical problems throughout only the coop-option with another player shows occasional potential.

Like in its first outing roughly six years ago, de Blob 2 is a charming and creative jump & run. But while the audiovisual design aged very well the low challenge level is more evident than ever. Which makes it perfect for a family game, on the other hand. And that is something you can’t have enough on consoles that don’t come from Nintendo.

It it not difficult to imagine, why the original on the PC was so well received. The mix of classic tower defense and light RPG elements still works and should prove to be a good foundation for the sequel, that is already in the works. Unfortunately the visuals are subpar - especially since the genre has evolve quite a bit since its PC premiere more than five years ago.

The typical motivational loop of level exploration, dynamic action, death and character improvement works well. That is until it falls into the hole of redundant content that eventually catches up to almost all roguelikes.

A monotonous arcade survival experience with a few interesting ideas, but even more so a lot of mission recycling, tedious grind and impudent micro transactions.

Mechanically well executed rhythm game that takes a page out of Samba De Amigo’s book. It seriously lacks content though.

A run-of-the-mill JRPG prone to grind - more so than usual.

With a steep learning curve and the focus on multiplayer team duels this is not for everybody. But Cherry Pop Games managed to capture the team dynamics that are necessary to have success together. The fun you have depends heavily on the squad you are in, though, and how they treat you as a player - and as a person.

Especially the artdesing in this trip to Hell will remind you of Enter The Gungeon. But while the challenge is steep the rewards are too few and take too long to achieve to keep you motivated for a longer period of time.

With a potent PC the visuals are nothing short of stunning. And with all the content bundled plus all the enhancements that have been introduced to the console versions since the release, this so far is the definitive version of this thoroughly entertaining roleplaying experience.

At first glance just another shooting gallery, the clever inclusion of bullet hell elements and the weapon smithing make this an interesting, yet short VR action game.

An interesting, but sometimes clunky puzzle trip with a very unique art design.

Even with the technical problems that are even more evident on Switch than two years on PS4 or One, this is still one frightening horror-trip.

In terms of technical achievement Detention is mediocre at best. Having said that, it is hard not to like the suspense and weird moments you encounter in this surreal horror adventure.

Kudos to Crazy Monkey Studios. Instead of relying on only the strengths of the predecessor, the team decided to tackle all the shortcomings. And the result is a blast, filled with guns, gore, zombies, nazis, tongue-in-cheek humour and a visually beautiful cartoon design.

This is a beautifully crafted timetravel adventure that is content rich every which way you turn and tactical battle with tremendous depth.

A magical mixture of Advance Wars, Chess and FTL that will keep every turn based tactician glued to the screen for weeks and months.

Moss is an enchanting little puzzle game with a cute design and creative puzzles. Fight mechanics and areas of the motion controls could use some improvement, though.

All the additions brought to the strategic table by Rise and Fall fit harmonically into the main game. But they rarely constitute this to be a must-have. Especially since it doesn’t address one of the main problems of the main game, the sometimes highly incompetent AI.

If you like tactical action, a dystopian scenario and and the isometric design as made famous by the Bitmap Brothers, this one will entertain you - albeit just a short time before you see the end credits.

If the goal was to demonstrate what can go wrong in terms of game design, presentation and visual quality: Congratulations, you passed with flying colors! Nothing in this game is appealing or entertaining.

Sure: You’ll find something to complain about in almost every aspect of the game - except the great narrative. But Apex Construct with all its flaws is more than the sum of its parts. It is yet another thoroughly entertaining glimpse into how VR can inject immersion into known concepts to enhance the experience.

Crossing Souls is a charming adventure trip into the 80s. But the mix of mechanics is too rough around the edges. It has a decent amount of references to movies and games though that might keep you entertained where the gameplay doesn’t.

The story is interesting, the logical puzzles are challenging. But nonetheless this is little more than an elaborate creative exercise.

Sorry, but no! The re-imagination of one of the most beloved JRPGs is mediocre in almost every aspect. Bugs, crashes and on top of that the visual renovation is lackluster. If you really wanna play Secret of Mana, you should think about investing in the Nintendo Classic Mini SNES.

If you like a modern take on Golden Axe and can enjoy the comic design, you’ll get a decent amount of fun out of this brawler.

Like Universal Classics Pinball the pinball adventures into the world of dinosaurs lack some atmosphere in terms of original music, but if you like the Zen approach to pinball, Jurassic Park is a worthwhile and thoroughly entertaining addition to your library.

Supercross brings you solid motocross action with a decent track editor. AI, collision detection and presentation still need work, though.

Decent retro beat-em-up with an interesting battle system. But you’ll have to invest some time to understand and use all the subtleties it has to offer.

The artdesign is beautiful (minus the big headed ugly pilgrims), the depth behind the VR glasses is impressive. But to be honest, the lemmings principle is not enhanced in any form by virtual reality and gets redundant too fast.

“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.

The nostalgic flair from back in the early strategy days is still there. But sind RTS came such a long way and has improved even with its successor (in 1999) tremendously, the gameplay deficits are also more evident.

With opening up the world this is the most radical step the series has taken since moving from classic brawling on the original PlayStation to the musou-action we love and hate for almost 20 years now. And while some elements are overdone and others are not elaborate enough, at its core this is still a good first step into a promising future of the franchise.

This one-man-project is definitely worth a look. A lot of elements are far from perfect, but in terms of atmosphere and story-telling this is one of the best indie jump&runs out there.

Next to the beautiful art and sound design, Fe has some great moments - and one truly monumental. But unfortunately that moments is wasted to early in the game, followed my mechanical routine bar any surprises. It is entertaining throughout, but in the end it could have been much more. Nonetheless a good entry point for EA’s Originals indie label.

I cherish the medieval authenticity that Kingdom Come strives for. And that Warhorse implements some mechanics that separate it from other roleplaying games. But there are also loads of elements that are not worked out well enough, that are just painful to see unfold or plain buggy that I am really torn. I want to applaud the devs, but sometimes I just hate them.

Platinum Games did a solid job with the conversion of the sequel to one of the best action games ever. I would have wished for a higher resolution (at least docked) and more visual finetuning, though. And I could do without the “pay-to-shortcut” Amiibo implementation. Having said that, this still is an instant classic.

While the art design truly captures the manga/anime source, the mechanics never really stand out and try to accommodate fans of beat-em-up, musou and 3d-brawling - all at the same time.

It has some flaws like a weak story and a brash art design. But it also has some innovative ideas and stages the strategic battles of minatures in glorious dioramas.

While the economy model is superficial at times it is a lot of fun to lay tracks, connect the cities and drive as a passenger. A solid logistics sim with model railroad appeal.

This is the first VR surprise of this year. The simple duel concept keeps the tension high behind the headset and with added puzzle elements and weird story surprises this one-shot-one-kill-nervewrecker will keep you on your toes.

This is a solid start for the planned trilogy. Mixing stealth, shock effects and survival horror, the experience is truly terrifying - at least in the beginning. Towards the end it becomes routine while the minigames and trial & error sequences become tedious.

A solid port of an entertaining building-crafting-roleplaying hybrid. Unfortunately the rough edges of the PS4-version haven’t been smoothed out.

A breath of fresh air for classic shoot-em-ups. While the multi-colored ruleset, that takes a page out of Ikaruga’s book is cumbersome at times, it will captivate you once you get the hang of it.

While the action could have been a little more challenging, this nonetheless is a fascinating and surprisingly story-rich trip into a bizarre fantasy world.

While EA Sports usually manages to avoid the “fullprice update” moniker with its yearly franchise iterations, UFC 3 (on a two year cycle, after all) can’t escape the update screams. There is progress, but the better presentation aside nothing that in the end couldn’t have been put in a patch for the predecessor.

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.

Finally Monster Hunter is back on the big screen, where it all started and where it can show its gorgeousness and splendor once more. With progress in almost every aspect this is a monster that will keep you busy on- or offline for weeks to come.

In theory there is an interesting concept hidden in the futuristic labyrinth Vesta has to escape with the help of her wits and her robot guardian. But the execution is too inconsequential too often, thus rendering the interesting mechanics redundant.

It is unbelievable how intensive the experience feels after all these years. One of the best games of all time is back with a vengeance in this exemplary remake that delivers a sublime adventure from the first to the very last minute.

While the battle mechanics of this team brawler are pleasantly “different” and there is an abundance of cosmetic fan service items, the actual gaming content is quite shallow. Here you feel the most that the journey of the almost 30 beloved characters started in the arcades.

Once you get used to the problems like the arduous generation of drinking water, the story start getting you in its grips while you literally dive deeper and deeper into the mystery.

The visuals are fantastic and do the source material justice. The toned down fighting mechanics are a blast. But the weak AI in the redundant story mode and the occasional hiccup with matchmaking during the mostly lag free online battles still need to be addressed and cost dearly.

At first Full Metal Furies is just another coop-action. But the more you play, the more you discover - and sometimes the only solution is grind. But nonetheless this is a surprisingly captivating action romp.

It starts strong, then it deteriorates and all of a sudden it is over. While the audiovisual presentation is classy the content is too thin.

This must be one of the worst and most boring horror experiences of all time. Catastrophic game design, redundant shock moments and an abysmal script: The Nightfall is scary for all the wrong reasons.

While the essence of this twinstick shooter is still as interesting as it was on Xbox One in 2015 and PlayStation 4 in 2016, the technical execution leaves a lot to be desired.

With the sarcastic narrator and the test chambers it tries to emulate Portal a tad too much, but in the end there are enough original ideas to make this an interesting puzzler.

It might not be the longest game of all time, but the exploration of this very unique take on exploration adventures is worth the admission fee.

While the first hour is as im- as depressive (at times), the limitations of the mechanics slowly take over. The moral implications of each decision you make (or have to make) are clearly there and always impactful - up to the very end. But since it is always black or white with no grey areas whatsoever, the concept is reduced to trial and error.

You don’t necessarily need a Nintendo system to dive into an extensive and thoroughly entertaining monster catching experience.

It took almost two years, but finally with its Arcade Edition Street Fighter 5 is the beat-em-up you always wanted.

An interesting story based on the aftermath of the Moby Dick novel hampered by monotonous mechanics.

While the font size is a little too small for mobile demands, the core of the game of course is still the same. And that means that now also Switch users can enjoy this beautiful and challenging tactics-rpg with its excellent art design.