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.

While Shantae and the Pirate's Curse may fall on the simple side when it comes to Metroidvanias, its simplicity winds up being one of its biggest strengths. With little-to-no padding, and a constant feeling of progression, the main adventure flies by at an incredibly comfortable pace. Shantae and the Pirate's Curse is creative, charming, and one of the most cleverly designed Metroidvanias on the market.

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.

Rad Rodgers is a love letter to games from an older time, and manages to succeed in delivering a violent and satisfying 2D shooting experience. Unfortunately, unpolished platforming and a short length keep it from being a must play, especially considering the plethora of alternatives out there. The humour may not be for everybody, but for gamers looking for a blast from the past, Rad Rodgers is a rollicking and violent nostalgia trip to a simpler time.

Much like a relic from a forgotten age, Assault Gunners HD Edition struggles to find its place in today's gaming landscape. There isn't anything wrong with dozens of missions centred on destroying anything that moves. Really, it's the charming simplicity that helps keep this shooter afloat. The main problem is that there just isn't any depth, nuance, or fun.

Swim Out for Nintendo Switch certainly won't rock the world in terms of its originality; however, it is definitely good at doing what it does, which is to combine great, pick-up-and-play puzzle gameplay, along with a very relaxing, summer atmosphere that will keep gamers looking for some pleasing entertainment more than satisfied.

MotoGP 17 is a good motorcycle-racing game that does offer a deep managerial mode, which takes the cake for this recent offering. While it's really an expansion of the Rider mode, with the added focus on running the team, managing the riders and staff members, signing on sponsors, while upgrading the bikes performance and managing marketing campaigns, this is a robust mode that can easily steal plenty of hours.

Being given the ability to play some of the 'major minors' of World War II in Hearts of Iron IV: Death or Dishonor is a solid expansion of content for the original base game. It is not quite as good as it seems, though, as they all have to be played in the 1936 scenario to be viable at all. While not as entertaining as the main powers, it can offer replayability for those that in general that actually want to try a different path of history.

Having more small nations might seem good, but the reality is many of the nations are completely unplayable, short of some strict gambit or cheap AI tactic. The nations are too small, too irrelevant to matter and, as a result, the entire premise of this DLC is rendered negative. Sadly, Hearts of Iron IV: Together for Victory falls into the issues seen with other downloadable content from Paradox Interactive.

The complexity and slow speed of how things evolve take the fun down notches lower than it otherwise would deserve. Endless clicking through menus, and a glacial speed, ruin what could have been a pretty slick overall experience.

If the tense run-and-jump sections of the base game were appealing, and the thought of a few more jump scares sounds right up your street, then dropping a few quid for another hour's worth of intense action is certainly well worth it.

Super Toy Cars feels like a preview build of a game that is not yet ready for home release. Races play out as expected, and the power-ups do exactly as they are supposed to, while the AI racers provide enough of a challenge to make this fun. However, a huge abundance of glitches ruin the overall gloss, as some walls or other environmental track obstacles are not programmed as solid, while trying to initiate a couch-multiplayer race is a most painful experience.

Those looking for a lengthy narrative may be disappointed, but the Time Trial features and quick burst gameplay will keep many coming back for more.

Bleed 2 is a master-class in how to design a sequel. It improves the elements that work, while cutting out everything that didn't quite gel before. The result is a more refined and polished run & gun. Wryn's sword is an awesome addition. All of its new mechanics make for battles that are more dynamic and exciting than ever. A delicious layer of extra content rounds everything out, giving experts more bang for their buck. In short, fans of the original should have already picked this one up by now; it's fantastic.

Last Day of June is a great example of how to turn a short tale into an engaging interactive experience, one that importantly does not overstay its welcome. There may be one or two frustrations along the way but, all-in-all, it tugs at the heart strings in the right places on the story front, and also engages the brain on the gameplay side of things enough to make everything feel extremely satisfying once it reaches its conclusion.

Scribblenauts' charm was always in challenging the players to use their imagination and their diction to come up with fun and original solutions over the obvious or the mundane. While there's still some of that in Scribblenaut Showdown's Sandbox mode, it's too little to truly enjoy and too much focus has been placed on the mediocre party games instead. Even for the low cost, this is a considerably disappointing entry into the series.

Hitting the right notes of the genre, Galactic Civilization III: Crusade is a fun play and there is always the feeling of wanting to have just one more turn. The main issue holding it back from being truly great is the mid/late game grind of simply far too much stuff happening that needs to be dealt with. It will be interesting to see if the next major update fixes these issues, but fans of the genre will more than likely still enjoy this classic.

A Clockwork Ley-Line: The Borderline of Dusk is a decent-to-good light mystery visual novel that will please for those who look for something Harry Potter-ish to fill a couple of evenings with. Its flaws are its somewhat strong prologue-vibe, the awkwardly removed 18+ scenes, and its lack of anything substantially different than what the genre offers, but, as a whole, it's a decent read.

Kiryu's final chapter is a beautiful one that has its heart in the right place, but feels slightly let down quite likely due to the new engine not allowing the developers the time they required to flesh out other areas such as the battle system and sections of Kamurocho. Despite slipping in parts, though, Yakuza 6 recovers with a compelling and intricately woven narrative featuring an appealing cast, rounded off with the side distractions expected of an entry in this series.

The state of KARAKARA 2's post-apocalyptic world is of no importance, as this is nothing more than just another harem visual novel that is not as funny, sexy, dramatic, or interesting as it thinks it is - but at least it doesn't overstay its welcome…

Where Q.U.B.E. 2 really succeeds is reminding the player what is great about being locked in a room alone with a puzzle. It's a shame that the execution doesn't spread across all the areas, but there is certainly enough to enjoy and cherish in this gratifying design.

It is a sloppy mess that gets off on the wrong foot, only to shoot itself in the foot right after. It is a weird hodgepodge of body horror, cyberpunk sleaze, and secret agent shenanigans that, in theory, should work, but don't.

The first few hours with A.O.T. 2 feel like a huge disappointment, a cheap-cash in re-tread that doesn't reach further into the original story and feels almost identical to the first but as the story develops and more and more elements are unlocked, this really shows off its strengths. The gameplay is explosive and dynamic, the ODMG is an absolute joy, and there's enough content to keep playing for a very long time.

Admittedly shorter than the previous two, yet more satisfying overall, it leaves gamers thirsty for more, with an eventual sequel hoped for.

Mixing in the four-player element makes for some hilarious antics, and the augmented powers that can be utilised make for some extremely exciting scenarios. The only drawback is the age-old concern of things being a bit simpler than desired, but HAL has packed in plenty of entertaining content to appease fans new and old alike.

Tesla plays differently in each stage, but they can sometimes be repetitive as they are quite simply slaughterhouses. For a twin-stick shooter, however, this plays exactly as expected and time quickly flies due to the simple nature of the mechanics; blast everything and watch the screen fill with a crescendo of colour.

Old Man's Journey is such a gorgeous looking title, complete with a beautiful soundtrack. Those aspects are then draped over a moderately engaging puzzle idea, and comes with a story that aims to be touching, but will leave many feeling either apathetic to the theme, or actually frustrated by the progression of the old man's life and foolish choices.

It is hard to come to The Fall Part 2: Unbound after experiencing the (very) rough diamond that is its predecessor, as everything feels inferior. Most puzzles are annoying, the controls are even clunkier than before, and the plot feels less... hard sci-fi than it previously did, as well as less focused on what it wants to offer.