An interesting take on the Metroidvania formula enriched with creative time manipulation.

Quotation forthcoming.

No multiplayer, but a multitude of point- and currency-systems. Even though you can unlock a lot for free, the finance model takes a toll on the game design – too much to make this an entertaining party game.

Yes, it is short. And it takes the by now well-known Telltale stencil and imposes it on our most favorite building block game. But the result is what the once announced “Adventure mode” in Minecraft promised: a big fantasy adventure with humor, suspense and real heroes.

At its content core, this a beautiful conversion of a very polarizing game. But with more technical problems than expected for the first time this game also feels very old.

With its focus on lackluster hack&slay fights and an interesting but totally underutilized narrative Gladiolus’ solo adventure doesn’t seem to fit into the big FF15 picture.

The narrative foundation sounds terrifyingly interesting, but you'll soon find out that as a character Lucius is disappointing. You'll encounter interesting puzzles on your way, but overall this adventure lacks pace and soul.

PlayStation VR Worlds is an interesting, but overpriced collection of tech demos showing off the possibilities of VR technology.

Quotation forthcoming.

The concept is the most intriguing part of Entwined. Everything else is rather bland.

Technically and conceptually this is a little gem for all the fans of games like Drox Operative oder Space Pirates and Zombies. But be aware that there are a lot of edges that need to be smoothed out and areas that need to be improved.

The battles are decent, but with the focus on wrong priorities, lack of character development and a few other problems this is little more than a mess with quite some potential.

Classical, but also old-fashioned and sometimes cumbersome turn based tactics based on the Netflix show.

You can feel that it was destined to become something great. And you sense, that this actually might become a really good game. Right now, though, it is not much more than a game with potential and a lot of work to do to get there.

This is an interesting interpretation of a virtual reality, but narrative and mechanics remain superficial.

Even though this is a good port of the Action RPG that appeared on PC, I ask myself the question “Why?” over and over. Why take the two year old game including its expensive character micro transactions when over the course of the last years this character as well as the content evolved into the Final Cut that was just released recently? Why?

It is atmospheric, it is intense and mysterious. But it is also too simple and too linear. A solid adventure for 3D-detectives.

This adventure shows some conceptually interesting ideas, but the lack of detail and atmosphere saps the motivation right out of you.

Quotation forthcoming.

If you consider how long we had to wait for Star Ocean Integrity and Faithlessness, everything seems rugged. Nonetheless this cornerstone of JRPG-franchises still manages to entertain on a solid level.

A touching story with loads of interesting facts about the hard working insects, but redundant as well as superficial gameplay.

An artdesign reminiscent of The Wind Waker is not enough to make a mediocre action-adventure interesting. Cornerstone shows a lot of potential as well as ambition, but in the end that is not enough.

Even with receding quality in the series over the years in mind I was looking forward to this game. But just like the 19th century became a cultural breaking test for Japan, this becomes a breaking test for even the hardest advocate of samurais in an open world.

It is hard to associate this dungeon crawler with the once fearsome name it carries. This is a bland hack&slay with little variation and even less horror.

This surely is a pre-release version with content to be added? It isn’t? But why? No tourneys? No career in any form? No elaborate online options? This is essentially gorgeous and easily accessible arcade tennis that has serious content issues.

Graphically expandable tennis with few options and a lame career - but this sports game has its strong moments on the court.

A weird and fascinating avian journey that falls short.

Despite nice visuals Defenders of Ardania has no chance of competing with games like Defense Grid, Sol Survivor or Anomaly. The balancing is below par, you hardly need any tactics and the interface is just poor.

A weak campaign and a fun but unimaginative multiplayer mode and the addition of zombies make Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 a mixed part of the series.

Rather unspectacular tactical rpg with roguelike-elements and a rather unusual open sea setting.

Sinister turn based tactics with interesting reload mechanics, but clunky visuals and navigation.

This rather feels like an Early Access release. While the foundation is rock solid, technical and content issues reduce the fun in this racer tremendously.

The battle system is catastrophic. Otherwise the 4X-system works. Which makes the ugly and confusing military confrontations even more annoying.

It has its moments, but they are too few so in the end the real horror lies in the monotonous game design.

A weird mix in which you don’t hunt and collect more than 700 Pokémon but toy versions of Pikachu and his friends. With redundant mechanics, dependence on sheer luck and annoying remnants of its free-to-play roots, this is a half-hearted “gotta catch em all”.

Challenging tower defense/action mix for up to four demon hunters that needs quite some fine-tuning as well as a local co-op mode.

Alicization Lycoris is set in a new location, in which you like to spend time with your virtual friends and their stories. In terms of visuals and game structure there is room for improvement, though.

A mystery thriller set in a deserted hotel. Interesting characters und tense dialogue make this first person adventure a trip worthwhile.

Almost everything that you associate with Ninja Gaiden is missing, above all the challenging difficulty level. Furthermore the intensity of the fights has been sacrificed to please the casual gamers. This feels more like a Dynasty Gaiden or Ninja Warriors than a true sequel to the once-feared franchise.

It is easy on the eyes, but in this mysterious subterranean world there is only boring storytelling and sluggish button pushing.

While the roaming through the open world can be fun at times (especially if you are touring with a co-op-team), this amalgam of various elements from other Ubisoft franchises lacks character.

Even without the overpowering Geometry Wars 3 breathing down its neck, We Are Doomed would face serious problems. While the geometric colorful art design is interesting the mechanics are as generic as anything.

While Kylotonns rally games showed positive tendencies with the WRC series, this is a serious setback. This is a disappointing comeback for the franchise.

There Came an Echo with its surprisingly effective speech recognition is pure immersion. But it definitely could be more challenging, offering more tactical depth and more content in general.

This power up-less arcade racer is entertaining if you have some friends over, but even then there are better alternatives out there.

Quotation forthcoming.

I haven’t been this disappointed with a Nintendo game since Wii Music. Superficial tech demos camouflaged as mini games. If at all, the fun is very short-lived.

For educational purposes or as an installation in a museum this could be interesting. But as a a game it is disappointing. [Tested with Oculus Rift and Vive]

The activities are interestingly connected, but balancing problems and finicky controls make this platform puzzler a frustrating encounter.

This is a solid rendition of the well known formula, catered to the needs of the handheld generation, but without an online mode the fun is limited.

Fans of the pink blob will be happy about this minigame collection that could definitely use more content.

Datura fails in a lot of areas: The world is small, the interaction limited, playing time is rather short and controls are sloppy. Nonetheless the game paints some interesting pictures.

A lot of untapped potential remains, even though it starts as a fascinating mix of platforming and word puzzler with well conceived integration of the Wii U gamepad.

This could be a halfway decent addition to the ever-growing number of open world survival adventures. But certain design decisions like permadeath (which even From Software stayed away from) keep it from escaping mediocrity.

At first glance, a solid, if not very creative loot shooter, where massive weaknesses in the mission design quickly become apparent. Added to that is a boring story, excessive in-game prices and hardly any motivation to stay on board in the long term.

Charming but too soon redundant mix of coffee house management (including cookin rhythm minigames) and raising a dragon with very obvious technical problems.

The concept is interesting, the story is remarkably light-hearted and quirky. But technical issues and control problems make the trip to a accurately remodeled Akihabara a chore.

A typical run-of-the-mill online shooter that doesn’t offer anything special with the exception of the fresh map voting.

When it comes to dualstick shooters you don’t have to ask me twice. Nonetheless Zotrix isn’t love at first sight. But if you get used to the quirky arcady feel à la Galaga where positioning is as important as reflexes you might develop an interesting friendship.

Freeskate indie game with an accessible trick system. The lack of story or unlockables as well as the few locations give the impression that it is unfinished.

The uninspired mission design is not the only problem that Exodus is confronted with. After the short campaign you hardly find any reasons to blast into space. But not everything is bad: Controls are spot on, the upgrade system works well and the plot delivers some well executed cynicism.

The mechanics are as mediocre as they were on the other systems, but additionally the Wii U version suffers from a stuttering framerate and superficial usage of the Wii U gamepad.

Very conservatively presented and executed tagteam battles with not a lot of challenge, but a lot of grind.

It is fun but it is not always easy on the eyes and in terms of gameplay as thin as the next supermodel.

I don’t really care about technical problems like tearing or aliasing. What I care about, is that this could have potentially been a modern Streets of Rage in space. Unfortunately the abysmal balancing and sometimes clumsy evasion controls impede lift-off.

The direction is good, the actors are convincing. The movie experience is intense, but as a game it just never really takes off.

Quite entertaining comedy adventure that builds on a “Groundhog Day”-theme, but keeps getting lost in illogical and strangely connected puzzles.

The art direction is simply beautiful. But unfortunately the devs didn’t have the same attention to detail when it came to bug fixing and level- or puzzle design.

I expected worse from Jacko's Vita performance. With the first songs the finger dancing manages to entertain, but if you compare the experience to its' bigger cousins you'll miss variety as well as a whole lot of content.

This is an ambitious mix of Pikmin and Overlord plus loads of heavy metal. Unfortunately it lacks everything that made the aforementioned games so special. If it wouldn't be for the interesting bossfights this corps could stay in hell.



There are zombies? Really? I don’t care. I’d rather die than to stay on the beautiful island Panai where all I can do is participate in a boring fight for survival, filled with collectable overkill and horrible quest design.

This realtime tactic is as inviting as an Ukrainian dugout. But strangely enough, if you finally got yourself immersed in the partially unfair skirmishes, all of a sudden you want to continue.

Gruff retro RPG with 16bit visuals, tactical projectile battles and hiphop beats.

Interesting variation of classic tower defense with a well planned rotation concept.

Pulse takes a distinctively different approach to blindness than Beyond Eyes. And while I welcome the gaming aspects that give you a sense of danger the audiovisual concept is hardly more than a tech-demo – a very arduous one, which makes the short playtime even sweeter.

Mechanically and in terms of storytelling this is an enhancement of Master Reboot – but a lot happened in the last two years. The combination of story and puzzles feels more organic in The Talos Principle while The Witness shows off the way better puzzles.

The idea is good, but the execution suffers from half-heartedness on all fronts.

This minigame collection serves as a good example for the potential of the various control options the Vita has to offer.

Below average from A to Z: Trashy action mix of katana fighting and shooting - technology and game mechanics undercut modern standards.

They could have called this one "Mashed+". Handling, track design, weapons, malicious joy: This feels like the eight year old predecessor. But it still works – unless you're alone on the track.

As a tactical roleplaying game it serves its purpose, but when it comes to details in storytelling or game mechanics it becomes monotonous rather quickly.

It starts very mysteriously and sparks your curiosity. But unfortunately you’ll see through the mechanics too fast and while the idea of conveying the story via scribbles is interesting, the lack of gameplay challenges drops the suspense too soon.

It is short, visually stimulating and very relaxing. A different approach to gaming that works quite as well on PC as it did before on Wii U.

A lot of the problems that made its PS3-sibling such a bittersweet pleasure to play are gone. But while I can appreciate the effort Acquire made to enhance and improve the surreal vampire/beat-em-up/roleplaying mix, still a lot of the potential remains untouched.

As a full-fledged action rpg à la Diablo this is merely average. Where Zenith shines is the humor and its delivery. Similar to The Bard’s Tale (2005) nothing in the genre is untouchable and will be used to get a punchline out of it.

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.

It is a step in the right direction - but nothing more. While the more tactical fight system plays refreshingly different from the past-gen versions it still lacks refinement and balancing.

Spiders Studio drew a lot of inspiration from almost every role playing game that was a hit over the last five years. But in the end it falls short in every aspect, although it shows a lot of potential.

While Insomniacs Edge of Nowhere proved that classic action-adventure can be enhanced by VR, Theseus feels like a “normal” game. One, where it seems that Forge Reply didn’t understand the possibilities that virtual reality has to offer. While the meetings with the minotaur are tense due to its sheer size, the rest of the game becomes a tedious below-average experience.

If only the mechanics or the content were as rich or voluptuous as the curves of the leading ladies, this could have been something.

Concept and artdesign are not too bad, but the game suffers from bad movement recognition.

Quotation forthcoming.

I have to admit: the first five minutes are fun. You can’t escape the surreal and morbid fascination to operate on the helpless virtual patients. But even that won’t keep you coming back once you start getting frustrated about the careless controls or the bugs and freezes.

Crazy Golf and Augmented Reality don’t mix well.

The best part of the package is the emulation of the old arcade machine, while all the new levels and mechanics work against a lot that good ole Q-Bert was fighting for more than 30 years ago.

Solid but totally unpolished and unspectacular fantasy roleplaying game with turn-based battles.

On consoles you won't have the opportunity to challenge your friends online, but otherwise you'll get a straightforward port of a well-crafted PC-strategy with focus on economy.

Even though the immersion is actually decent behind the Rift glasses, the game itself is as boring as the visuals.