Dungeonoid 2 Awakening is a good idea done wrong. Fusing the arcade gameplay of Arkanoid with D&D style, fantasy elements had lots of potential, but the way the whole thing has been executed offers a repetitive experience with not much meat on its bones, and can even get annoying when it comes to "reading" the screen, which can lead to lots of unfair deaths.

Nine Parchments can be enjoyable in small doses with others. Playing alone can feel depressing as the grind of pressing on feels strongly palpable. There really isn't anything wrong with the mechanics since it controls nicely and feedback is satisfying. The art direction is top-notch and fantasy atmosphere has a much more colourful Magic the Gathering vibe going on. It is the sheer unimaginative level design and pedestrian scenarios that will bore most people. There is very little variation from the first stages to the end game stages and there is desperately a need for something to mix up the action.

It's technically impressive in comparison to its bigger brothers on PC and home consoles, but JYDGE still fails to impress on iOS. It's unremarkable and repetitive, and is made even more impenetrable by an unpolished control scheme and a foggy display in the heat of battle; not to mention a particularly bland presentation and premise - spelling the name with a y certainly isn't enough to make this firmly average shooter stand out from the crowd.

This is, for the most part, a disappointment. By no means a terrible game, Vambrace: Cold Soul plays it a bit too safe with its concepts, as most of them are straight up copied from better tactical rogue-likes and RPGs, and especially Darkest Dungeon. Gorgeous character design can only get you so far...

Overall, Playgrounds 2 is lacklustre and feels too much like a mobile game franchise. It takes advantage of its audience and never offers enough satisfaction in return for the money, or the grind sessions. Ultimately, NBA 2K Playgrounds 2 is a bad game, and certainly no spiritual successor. Stick with NBA 2K19 or NBA Jam itself.

Sexy, sultry ninjas and pretty vistas can't save this from being a mediocre brawler; one with a couple of good things to talk about, but mostly with plenty of flaws. The gameplay can get repetitive, and the action, while somewhat enjoyable, can soon turn into an irritating chore that has you multitask, in a game that doesn't really let you do so. Small tip for those who still want to try Shing! out (this does have sexy, sultry ninjas, after all): do avoid the default control scheme, and don't play it on your own under any circumstance.

This title can be enjoyed by very young fans of the movie because it's not a bad one, and it does offer some things that Nintendo's popular franchise doesn't - maybe not enough of them that would make anyone choose this one over the latter one, but even though it's lacking in more than one department, it can still provide some fun, under the right conditions.

Taking the role of a small, under-equipped squad is a novel angle for a real time strategy game like this. Some aspects of Partisans 1941 were interesting, but the core of the game has too many small complaints to recommend it in a high regard. Combat being far too random is the largest problem as it is causing constant saves and reloads with how deadly it is. Strategy games are in a dearth right now, so this is not a bad game in the slightest if there is a need to play something new, but it simply does not stack up against some of the heavy weights of the genre.

Super Pokemon Rumble is an interesting diversion from the core Pokemon formula while 3DS owners wait for a mainline RPG, and the real-time combat approach feels quite visceral and satisfying.

There are worse soulslikes out there than Skautfold: Shrouded in Sanity, but there are far better ones as well. There's a somewhat good 2D Bloodborne experience somewhere here, hidden under repetitive, unimpressive, and unpolished combat, and a decent-to-forgettable atmosphere and plot. Enter its gothic world only if really starving for this type of game, and only if the price is right.

Issues aside of UI problems such as losing villagers, hard to click, and so on, the general pace of As Far As The Eye belie its "relaxing" appearance. Requiring a very strict, lucky, and strategic play from the beginning knocks a lot of the fun off. With how much dedication there is simply to food and not starving, it leaves little room for exploration, trying new things, or really anything beyond a narrow strategy. It is not that the difficulty ruins the game, it is that the difficulty and luck swings require such a narrow avenue to take, getting in the way of fun.

The charming Game Boy style sprites can only go so far until all that is left is a very mundane platformer.

The arcade mode trims most of the fat, but it lacks the challenge and polish that defined the arcade era.

Nightmare Boy, while stylistically interesting and unique, amounts to little more than a frustrating take on the Metroidvania genre in the long run. Its inconsistent difficulty curve means it's too hard to be entry level at times, while also being too easy to be anything else. Along with the inability to play with a Pro Controller while the Switch is docked, Nightmare Boy comes out as a messy Metroidvania at best.

Black Desert successfully ticks all the requisite boxes expected from an MMORPG, but it doesn't really push the envelope forward in any meaningful way. While there are a number of jarring performance issues that tarnish the overall experience, it can still deliver an enjoyable, if slightly hollow, time-filler when consumed in small doses. However Pearl Abyss has failed to sidestep the common concerns that tend to plague the genre as a whole. It just feels like a lot of needless, repetitive busy time, designed to prolong user engagement and drive micro-transactions which ultimately, leads to an unavoidable feeling of ennui.

An, initially fun, mix of a pachinko and pinball machine, Pachi Pachi On A Roll won't stay with you for long, especially due to its - mostly - luck-based gameplay. Throwing some busty anime cuties in there doesn't help much either. This clearly belongs in the world of free mobile games.

Dusk Diver struggles to make a memorable impact due to its story and gameplay failings. This is not helped by its technical issues. Nevertheless, despite its blandness, there is some charisma beneath the surface thanks to a memorable supporting cast and a clear sense of passion in its world's conception. It's difficult to recommend it, but for those who do give it a go, there is a noteworthy personality here that keeps things ticking.

Hysteria Hospital: Emergency Ward is an unfortunate game. It begins well enough by luring you in with a simple yet satisfying mechanic, but eventually breaks down into an overly frustrating and repetitive slog as complexity and difficulty increases but the rewards do not.

As mentioned earlier, a name carries expectations. Strictly in terms of game design, Fear Effect Sedna is quite possibly the strongest the series has ever been. However, it doesn't go far enough to make up for its deficiencies in atmosphere and storytelling. As it turns out, this title is as cold and distant as its locales and isometric perspective suggest. There's very little imagery to provoke thoughts or spark the imagination, just a high body count and a lot of swear words. Even if that were enough for a Cyberpunk game, it's handled in a manner that isn't stylish or memorable. All in all, this entry is a difficult recommendation, especially for Fear Effect fans.

I fell from Grace, is pleasantly... unpleasant. It's a very dark tale of a man, who, while - hopelessly - trying to save his dying wife, loses a lot more. The rhyming dialogue will be off-putting to many, yet it's actually an element that creates a nice contrast with all the tears and blood that will be spilled throughout this pixel-art, horror-ish adventure. On the other hand, the actual process of playing this leaves a lot to be desired, and the pacing is painfully slow for what is essentially a narrative-driven experience.

PositronX feels as if stuck in that awkward game development phase where the title is ready… but also isn't. In other words, it feels as if it wasn't sufficiently tested in order to make sure that, apart from being a working product, it's also a fun product. As a whole, a pretty average rogue-lite FPS.

The Long Reach just barely misses the mark thanks to a painfully tone deaf script full of juvenile dialogue and puzzles that rely on process of elimination as much as actual thought-work. The general aesthetic of the world is appealing, with just well-crafted sprites, and the atmosphere is appropriately oppressive, but the overall story feels bound together by a script that can't decide between humour and tension.

The open-world aspect of Biomutant did more harm than good, with the gargantuan, post-apocalyptic realm this heroic, mutated rodent will explore being mostly an empty one, and with the rest of the experience being repetitive and unpolished. More of a disappointment rather than a bad game, try it out only if willing to spend around many fun, but not that fun hours.

AI WAR 2 is the type of game that would normally be very good. The concept and guerrilla warfare are both interesting ideas. However, this just doesn't really click or feel that interesting. Given players have access to so much stuff from the beginning, there is no sense of progression which might be the largest killer, if not the steep learning curve. Some might really enjoy it, but general strategy players won't want to hop through all the hoops.

For what is the debut creation of a small indie studio, Asterigos: Curse of the Stars is quite the impressive feat, and the team behind it should be proud of what has been accomplished here. A very good video game, however, this is not. Combat and generally the controls are good, the developer worked really hard to provide tons of world building, the whole thing looks pretty, and everything works as intended…but it’s just not that exciting. Almost everything on offer here sits exactly in the middle of the fun factor spectrum. It’s an okay game that lasts about 40 hours.

This Is the President grows more tedious with each multiple-choice dialogue sequence, and there many of those here. The tactical aspect is almost nowhere to be found, with your choices barely affecting the game, the narrative/writing is mediocre, and the characters/story forgettable. As for the political satire on offer, it's very, very weak, as it avoids saying anything more thought provoking than "politicians suck!"

As far as STGs go, Terra Feminarum plays well enough and could take many hours to master. The arcade and story modes approach the game from different directions, and they complement each other nicely. The bosses are also capable of some clever patterns. However, the wide playfield is more a hindrance than anything. The extra real estate is just an excuse to pile enemies and bullets into every margin. Even for a Bullet-Hell, there's just too much going on at once.

STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl is lucky to have seen the light of day. The trade-off is one of the rockiest launches since Cyberpunk 2077. The game is already a very specific acquired taste, but compounded with the hopelessly unplayable state, it cannot be recommended...yet. Maybe one day after the developers' home is free from the global strife, they can take the time to salvage what could be a pretty cool game. Until then, stay safe, stalkers.