Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown carries the weight of its heritage but has yet to deliver the whole experience expected of a modern racing title. While it is evident that the developers have a clear vision for the game, the execution leaves much to be desired. It can be fun if you go into it with expectations in check. And I do have high hopes for what is still to come. Though, as is the case with so many games these days, this is not the launch anybody would have been hoping for.

With 15 story missions, a batch of time trials and a few online modes, Golem Gates has a lot to offer. Unfortunately, the online lobbies were about as lively as a can of air. If you’re a beginner to RTS or CCGs, Golem Gates might be worth a shot; however, those more experienced players to the genre may be annoyed by the lack of depth.

If you’re accustomed to the themes and genres that the anime world offers and you want a humorous and customizable beat ‘em up game, feel free to look into Akiba’s Trip: Undead & Undressed.

Overall, it was hard to care for Ao and Bo’s story. The dialog was a slog. The character’s perspectives often changed too fast. And while going over their dilemmas, again and again, I found myself not wanting to play anymore. I’d rather just go out for a beer and talk to them in person and let them know life is going to be okay. High school and college are but footnotes in hopefully a long healthy story of yourself. In the end, if you find yourself at this particular time in life, it might be worth experiencing their story. But if you’re past it, you may not find much here to resonate with.

The game is fun and different than most other games I’ve dabbled in, but I found it became redundant quickly.

With the amount of detail put into the game, dynamic cast of characters, superb voice acting, and addicting soundtrack that’s sure to put anyone in a zombie slaying mood, Onechanbara Z2: Chaos can be enjoyable beyond the very two things it feeds off of.

I’m utterly torn with Bloody Ties (no pun intended). On the one hand, I genuinely found myself enjoying my departure from Villedor in favor of a brutal, balls-to-the-walls tournament. On the other hand, no game I’ve played in the last decade has been as unstable as Dying Light 2. I’ve been forced to curse the sky and proclaim Techland’s latest DLC nigh-unplayable. When it works, it’s great. But these developers have some serious fixin’ to do.

An ambitious outing for a smaller studio to be sure as Mars: War Logs is big on ideas but sadly a bit lackluster on actual execution.

Dex felt unoriginal and generic, and the long load times really did not help.

The core mechanics have heaps of potential, but I was disappointed with the overall package. Server issues persist, the game has numerous bugs, and isn’t as open ended as one might expect. I definitely encourage potential players to do a little research about SimCity before diving in – you may or may not like what it has to offer.

Disney Illusion Island is the exact same experience on PS5 as it was on Switch. There are no extra features, and it still looks crisp and plays tight. But I have to ask the question “Who was Disney Illusion Island made for?” It fails as a Disney-themed game, as a retro 2D platformer, and as a continuation of the Disney “Illusion” series. It absolutely succeeds as baby’s first Metroidvania. This would make a great game for a parent to introduce a young child how to play platformers and Metroidvanias. I can’t imagine an adult playing this and not getting bored after a couple hours though. And if young kids can figure out Minecraft, they can just play a classic Metroidvania instead. A co-op Metroidvania is an enticing idea, but this one is only for newbees.

Prison Tycoon: Under New Management checks off the basics of a building and sim game. There’s even some low-key, pleasant, mindless fun to be had for a while. Pretty quickly, though, the game’s absence of creativity and simplistic approach start to overshadow the experience. The lack of a real story or more than one mode further restricts the game’s depth and longevity. It’s not that prison games have to be about violence and punishment but in a sim, drama or interesting incident have to come from somewhere. Ideally, it’s from giving the player the tools to create it or emergent systems that allow it. Prison Tycoon: Under New Management locks them up.

It’s a shame that the actual gameplay is so stale and repetitive because Senran Kagura 2: Deep Crimson is polished in many other areas.

Massive visual improvements definitely count for something, but when you can’t fix the original problems with a game’s dated mechanics and design, there’s not much else you can do. Outcast: Second Contact is a solid attempt at returning to the original classic, but it’s far from perfect.

One Dog Story started out as an ambitious project, with many ideas and references that unfortunately seems to have fallen short when it comes to embodying its proposal. I was never fully engaged in the experience, and while I do commend Big Ways for pressing on and finishing the game, perhaps not every dog should have its day.

This is a pretty simple game to break down. You’re drifting through a beautiful ocean paradise, scanning marine life. Doing so teaches you more about them, and also saves the world. Getting to this story gets harder and harder as things progress. If you love the simple gameplay loop, you’re in luck! There’s so much of it to be had. But if this simple premise doesn’t immediately appeal to you, then this game will disagree with you completely. For the ocean life lovers out there, Endless Ocean Luminous will be a peaceful meditation and an extensive learning experience. There just isn’t a ton of gameplay to go along with it, is all.

Even with my frustrations with the interface, the game itself made me want to keep going. I credit the style of gameplay and my total need for world domination for that. Anything related to the Roman Empire is compelling, but even though I sank 14 hours into this game, I didn’t even get strong enough to unlock any of the other clans. I got closer, though, with each restart, but in my last playthrough, I found myself stuck because right after creating a fishing and galley joint army to begin an exploration mission, my game crashed. I tried returning to the previous save, but it won’t allow me to play in that Kingdom again. So I suppose, my conclusion is that the game has a lot of potential and I intend to keep playing it. I get the feeling that a lot of this will be worked out in time.

Outbreak: Endless Nights does everything it sets out to and while I enjoyed some dungeon crawling and shooting zombies in the face for a little while, I’m still going to go back to my very full game library… I have far too much to catch up on to spend too much time in 2002.

There are so many Soulslikes to choose from that no gamer has time to sample them all. Although it can’t find a consistent tone, The Last Oricru has a much better narrative arc than it does action or gameplay. Whatever small stabs it takes at originality are counterbalanced by deeply unsatisfying combat and poorly implemented mechanics. Only rabid Soulsborne fans who have to play every game in the genre should check this one out.

Although there are flaws in the games design, for dedicated Transformers: Prime followers there is some fun to be had here. At the end of the day, for young fans of the Transformers Prime series this game is a fairly good choice; however, for older fans a weekend rental will probably suffice.

Dead Alliance may not have the best visuals or the biggest budget, but it implements a MOBA-like system into an appropriate zombie shooter mold and provides a unique experience, unlike anything I’ve played in the genre. Other developers would do well to take notes from Psyop Games on their brilliant combination between MOBA and multiplayer shooter.

If all you’re looking for is fan service, I guess Jujutsu Kaisen: Cursed Clash provides it, though it adds almost nothing to the established lore or characters. If you’re primarily interested in Jujutsu Kaisen: Cursed Clash as an anime-inspired fighting game, look elsewhere. A very short story mode, no 1v1 matches, poor design choices, and an overall lack of polish more often than not overshadow some occasionally fun combat.

As enjoyable as a lot of the sections are, too much of the game focuses on the poor combat, and I found myself constantly wishing the next area was either another boss fight or a cool platforming section.

The Infectious Madness of Doctor Dekker puts a ton of work into the acting and presentation of the characters but lacks in the actual gameplay to make it stand out as a video game.

Kukoos Lost Pets is a short platforming adventure that harkens back to the old days. There isn’t a whole lot of content. In fact, you can easily finish the game in an afternoon. Maybe two afternoons if you’re intent on collecting every coin, flower, and rescuing a pet. A few extra features would have gone a long way to build on the game’s foundation. Using coins to unlock cosmetic options for your character and pets would have been nice. But then again, there’s no real value in sticking around after the story is over unless you’re looking for that Platinum trophy.

The combination of rumor, magazine publication, and CD trading is what made the Monster Rancher games special. It’s hard to recreate that kind of feeling today. But, Koei Tecmo did it very well. The only problem is that there’s not much content in the game, and without multiplayer capabilities, mileage doesn’t go very far. If I have any advice for anyone attempting to play this game, it’s to share this nostalgic story of how the game worked, and don’t just look up the stats of the best monsters on the internet. Play with some friends, use your favorite albums, and see what you get, because that is what makes Monster Rancher 1 & 2 DX unique. Monster Rancher 1 & 2 DX is an effective nostalgic novelty, but as a monster raising sim, it’s pretty meh.

Custom Mech Wars is all about construction and experimentation. There’s a dense system for putting mechs together, and all of it feels friendly and approachable. You have a ton of options, a lot of freedom, and multiple ways to test things out. But that’s sort of where the good times dry up. The campaign is crazy boring otherwise, and the multiplayer options are equally threadbare. If you can get a good group together for playing online, you might find more fun than I did. But on your own, Custom Mech Wars has limited appeal. If you’ve got a lot of mechs in your heart begging to be built, you’re in for a good time. Otherwise I can’t really recommend this game.

Papo & Yo really tugged at my heartstrings, like few other games have managed as of late, and on that basis, despite some valid criticism, I feel it really is a worthwhile little game.