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.