There are some things you expect coming into a Square Enix produced JRPG. You expect some grinding, you expect some weird dialogue, you even expect it to take a while to get going (I’m looking at you Final Fantasy XIII and the 30 hours it took to get good). What you don’t expect is for the game to feel like it’s just going through the motions with its story, for the central class system to not feel worthwhile, and for the battle system’s main claim to fame being you get to skip your turn to go later. Turns out Defaulting on this one is the right move.

Another Dawn is less of a game and more of a reeking pustule residing on a game storefront. While it can't be called "broken" insofar that it can barely be finished, this wretched shooter made me wish the opposite so I’d have a reason to leave earlier.

There isn’t much positive to say about OverRide 2: Super Mech League. Although the game provides a diverse cast of characters, it also provides a mostly online centric experience while lacking a playerbase to make it work. The graphics look relatively nice running on the Xbox Series X, however, the gameplay is extremely clunky and unrefined, especially when it comes to the awkward trigger-centric control scheme. The campaign is relatively non-existent and mostly serves as a tutorial to teach players important game mechanics. All-in-all, OverRide 2: Super Mech League is a disappointing brawler experience.

One of the biggest factors I always rate games on is whether they are fun to play. A game could be the most mechanically polished, gorgeous, epic game, but if I didn’t have much fun playing it, that would impact my score dramatically. So, while “fun” is entirely subjective, I just had absolutely no fun whatsoever with …If Found. As a side note: I completed this game is entirely under two hours. While that isn’t a problem for me personally, some gamers do make a cost benefit decision based upon length of content. So, it is something to be aware of.

In the end, Return to Shironagasu Island is a dull and disturbing visual novel for all the wrong reasons. When illustrations are nothing to shout about and the music sounds like it was recorded during playing lessons, I really can’t come up with any excuses for its existence. If I hadn’t reviewed the game, I would have stopped playing it after half an hour, but on behalf of you, dear readers, I suffered my way through it and I say, don’t you ever bother with it.

XIII Remake completely disgraces the original game by converting it into fodder for Internet memes. It’s better left to the digital wasteland of unfortunate titles that should have never existed. If you really want to play XIII as it was intended, dust off your old PlayStation 2 (or GameCube or Xbox) and scavenge garage sales for a copy of the game.

At the end of the day, G. I. Joe Operation Breakout is hurt by a campaign that is neither fun nor a fitting tribute to a classic pop culture license. There’s multiplayer - local only - but I strongly doubt people are going to stick around to try it out. What it all comes down to in the end is that $40 is far too great a price to ask for this limping tribute to G. I. Joe.

9 Monkeys of Shaolin is not anything to write home about, nor is it a must-play rebirth of the beat ‘em up genre that the publishers and developers claim it to be. Although the game provides aesthetically pleasing environments and some enjoyable music, it ultimately suffers from an uninspired and one dimensional co-op beat ‘em up experience and is hamstrung by a vanilla cast of characters.

I wish I had better news to share but Tennis World Tour 2, like its predecessor, is a very rough game of tennis that unless heavily patched feels like yet another tennis game to skip while we eagerly await a true spiritual successor to the Top Spin franchise.

Street Power Soccer lacks the street cred it really could use because as it is, there is little incentive to keep on playing. It doesn’t help that despite nice animations, the game’s overall appearance is so last generation. Local versus and co-op play lift spirits a bit until you realize that there is no real content to anything as the matches are over so quickly. There is also a very rudimentary online option but I couldn’t find any opponents whenever I tried it. It tells that Street Power Soccer is practically dead on arrival.

Those Who Remain looks and plays like it come through a time portal from the mid-90s. The graphics are washed-out, plain, and badly angular. The frame rate is choppy despite the simplicity of visuals and jerks horribly when turning the viewpoint. There is no cohesion to the production design; nonspecific props are just scattered all over the place and random images from the web are plastered into frames that decorate walls. The main character’s sedated delivery kills off the rest of the atmosphere. And no, being indie isn’t a plausible excuse because there are plenty of similar but better-done indie horror games out there. All in all, Those Who Remain is an unfortunate attempt at psychological horror that goes on to show it’s a hard genre to get it right.

The story is pretty OK despite its heavy lean on worn mafia movie stereotypes and tropes. However, this remaster of Mafia II is hurt by its poor showing on the PlayStation 4 because of numerous and frequent problems within the most vital portions of the game. This is the kind of show I’d expect from something that was rushed out to the market and the results are pretty disappointing. You’re almost better off tracking down the original PC copy of the game until Hanger 13 and d3t Ltd. make the fixes that are so desperately needed.

Mechanical Scrollery is an experimental title that is rough around the edges. There’s clearly some ambition with the direction the game was going, but a lack of polish and vision ultimately hinder the experience. Though I found some joy in the mindless, bland gameplay, it’s not something I’d be eager to return to. Past the core combat, the RPG system provides a progression system that delivered passable incentives for getting through the game. Overall, Mechanical Scrollery is not a title I’d recommend as there are plenty of more polished and creative Touhou fangames out there.

Jumbled, infuriating, and unfinished are a few choice adjectives I can attribute to Doug Hates His Job. The panoply of gameplay styles it wants to flex should be treated as a canary in the coal mine for other young developers. The mockumentary approach makes its dull humor more of a mockery than of the white-collar job climate it’s lampooning. As a result, Super Villain Games succeeded in helping me relate to Doug's plight in one crucial way: hating my reviewing job — if only for a short time.

Swordbreaker: Back to the Castle is a bargain-price game, but a low price point cannot balance the scale against the lack of quality that casts a shadow over every moment of playtime. If its combat were better or its storytelling actually existed in some form beyond rudimentary, and if its quests or enemies were interesting, Swordbreaker might be worth a look. The open world RPG space is populated by excellent, well-made and entertaining games, but unfortunately Swordbreaker: Back to the Castle is not one of them.

The Longing is one of those video games that dares you to see it through. Guiding a barely mobile creature who can’t be bothered to pick up the pace a little seems so nonsensical and completely antithetical to fun but if you’re the kind of person that likes to find their own unique brand of fun in video games - like following the rules of the road in Grand Theft Auto - then The Longing is bound to trigger some sort of positive electrical charge. And because much of the game can be accomplished while you’re away, it’s the kind of game you can have going on in the background as you sit through the latest Zoom meeting. Given the uniqueness and special circumstances of reviewing The Longing, Darkstation does not give it a score.

Separation is an apt title to illuminate its central problem. The adventure beckons you to experience a desolate world, utilize a VR headset, tingle your sensory stimuli in a way you can almost touch, and engage with a narrative tackling uncomfortable emotions. But, despite this magical potential, all of the accumulated shortcomings reveal the integral quality it sorely lacks: authentic connection.

STONE arrives at an uncomfortable middle more akin to a pile-up than a tightrope balancing act. The anthropomorphized backdrop feigns a more peculiar and memorable adventure, but the story is mostly lifeless and forgetful. It’s another third-person walking sim that’s not bothered to utilize our protagonist’s skills in any interesting or tangible way. Add on a fifteen-dollar retail price and you’re left considering a few rounds at the pub has more value, and I doubt our marsupial lead would protest to that.

Bee Simulator seems pressed into mixing action elements with educational tools about one of Earth’s most fascinating insects. I don’t decry Varsav Games, and publisher Big Ben Interactive, for trying to tap into this specialized market. But at virtually every turn I was simply going through the motions until completion after the opening half-hour. Whether it’s in respect to the repetitive gameplay structure, unsatisfying flight controls, or deflating brevity, there’s really no reason to see what the buzz is about. Bee Simulator is a well-meaning edutainment game but its honeymoon period is gone at breakneck speed. You’ve bee-n warned, and I’ve run out of puns.

For what it’s worth, I think the developers of Narcos were on the right track. They had a good idea that other games have nearly perfected, and tried to add their own twist to it. Sometimes those chances work out, giving us another way to play some of our favorite game types. This was not one of those times. Narcos tried to change the game. It just didn’t work.

There are interesting concepts at play here and I definitely understand why the team behind Interrogation were inspired to create it. It looks great with a black and white, noir-like visual style which really lands. From gameplay to messaging, though, Interrogation fails on almost every other level. Some of the more insane scenes that show up are something to behold but not for any sort of good reason. Don't be deceived into thinking Interrogation is worth your time.

As a hobbyist and critic, I’ve played a lot of games in the past few years that feel like they make a solid case for VR, games of imagination or innovation that simply couldn’t exist in any other medium. In contrast, Last Labyrinth just demonstrates that a poor game is not redeemed by VR, but made exponentially worse. Dark, dull and depressingly devoid of real entertainment value, Last Labyrinth is — like a shadow-filled room — best avoided.

Disney Tsum Tsum Festival is a conflicting title. It definitely appears to be a low-effort game that borders on shovelware, but there are glimpses of quality spread throughout. With more experiences like Bubble Hockey and Lost Treasure, the game would’ve been great, but as it is now, I’d much rather play Mario Party. Though it’s worth playing for dedicated fans, it’s not worth playing for others. Overall, Disney Tsum Tsum Festival can be fun for young kids who enjoy Tsum characters, but holding the game to a higher standard, there’s little to keep playing.

Overall, Super Monkey Ball banana Blitz HD is too difficult to play due to the controls. It made me feel sick, and it lacks a lot of the fun extras that were a draw for the series, or at least what should be expected in one for the current generation of consoles.

Overall, Iron Rain echoes Insect Armageddon as a spin-off that tries to take the well-loved series in a new direction. Unfortunately, it drained out a lot of the charm that made the older titles so fun to begin with. Admittedly, any Earth Defense Force game will have a passable fun factor just from how straightforwardly enjoyable it is to blow up giant enemies and buildings. However, the campaign dragged on far too long and relied too heavily on endless waves of bland enemies. Sadly, Iron Rain is a massive misstep that should probably be avoided by both fans and newcomers alike.

Overall, Dune Sea feels like a work in progress. Though it generally succeeds with its pleasant scenery and occasionally inspiring music, the gameplay holds the game back from being the kind of experience it was meant to be. Had the flying been more polished and the glitches less abundant, Dune Sea would easily be a solid, relaxing experience. As it is now, it’s a good example of why playtesting and polishing are so important.

Due to unfortunate design choices, I just wanted to rush through everything and couldn’t exactly enjoy my time with the game. In short, Ancestors Legacy felt too much like a chore to play. Saying this doesn’t bring me any joy because the Middle Ages setting and the presented factions were actually cool. The idea to make a history-based, story-driven RTS title with dynamic features could have been great, but all these sides didn’t mesh well here. I really wanted to get into the gameplay, but the best I could muster was excitement for engaging cutscenes and disturbingly alluring images.

Conceptually, Repressed is exactly the type of game that appeals to me. Delving into the repressed depths of the mind provides plenty of opportunities to tell an immensely profound and intriguing story. In practice, however, Repressed is actually quite bland and uninteresting. Mechanically uninventive and stylistically dull, there was little that kept me engaged besides the passable but rudimentary story. Repressed is hard to recommend for anyone besides those that are completely sold on the minimalist aesthetic or a limited creative concept.

At the end of it all, Omega Labyrinth Life is a game that was not made to be remembered, but instead made to pander certain kind of players. The overt sexual themes, lackluster story, and misused features all came together to make me uncomfortable at worst, while making me only mildly amused at best. What the game does do well has been done before and better, and everything ends up suffocating under its lovingly rendered and bouncing massive mammaries.

Bitlogic: A Cyberpunk Arcade Adventure captures the feel of games from a bygone time, but it does so in a fashion that is almost entirely detrimental. The restrictions on aiming and movement makes combat unpleasant, and traversal is usually a matter of trial and error. Although the MSX version of the game, included in the package, has a fairly striking look, the updated graphics don't look nearly as inspired, and smaller details, like the lack of death animations for enemies or the protagonist, make the visual overhaul rather unconvincing. The more interesting enemy setups in the last few areas tease at undercurrents of potential that is never fully reached. There are many titles out there that utilize the archetypes of classic gaming to create challenging and rewarding gameplay loops, but Bitlogic is not one of them.

The Padre tried to incorporate various ideas that can make a good retro-style survival horror game but it ultimately failed to mesh all them into one coherent experience. The puzzles feel disjointed and directionless and the controls are clunky. Not to mention, the overall mediocre experience is ridden with glaring technical issues and glitches.

Koral is part science display, part puzzle game, and all design compromise. It feels like a roadmap on what not to do when designing an environmentally conscious game. Without a doubt, the visuals are initially captivating, but their flair quickly wears off and you’re left with the game’s dismal content. The game provides a clunky experience that doesn’t satisfy in any meaningful manner. Too shallow in both its educational content and puzzle-solving gameplay, Koral finds the perfect middle ground to embody an especially painful kind of mediocrity.

The outside looks good, but the moment you get close enough to interact with anything, it never ceases to reveal just how shallow it is. The missions, the few that actually exist, end the same way and are quite frequently unimpressive, the wasteland looks great but is boring to traverse and explore, and the few things that are good, like the combat, are mired with systems that are either a hassle to get access to or a hassle to deal with. It’s been a while since I have been genuinely disappointed with a game in almost every way. I don’t like this feeling. And neither will you.

Dick Wilde 2 is an interestingly bizarre game. It has a nice visual style, the music is catchy, and some of its elements are so bizarre that I want to love it. The problem is that the game is never more fun than it’s frustrating.

If you’re looking for a game with not even a sliver of hand-holding, Viviette will scratch your itch. If you need no motivation to explore a spooky mansion, you’ll find that in the game. However, If you need either of those things even in the slightest, this is one game I would suggest you hide from.

I won’t lie to you, I am trying to be positive, and I want people to enjoy this game. ARK: Survival Evolved is a solid survival adventure with unique mechanics, an intriguing mystery and lore, and plenty of years of development in its past to show for it. However, there are just too many issues on the Switch version right now to enjoy it to its fullest, making it near unplayable for many, and I really hope that changes as we move forward.

As a character, Grave fails to impress and comes off as a tryhard edgelord with his gothic-inspired coffin chained to both arms. Even the product page on the PlayStation website appears slapdash, with text seemingly lifted from Google Translate without any readability edits. Gungrave VR is a total headache (which has nothing to do with virtual reality) and no one, either series fan or VR enthusiast, should waste their time.

Naruto to Boruto: Shinobi Striker is not a great game. Though it has an entertaining character creator and some fantastic customization options, separate the game from the license for a second, and it becomes clear that Shinobi Striker is a sub-par action game and an even worse multiplayer experience. The game sets an interesting foundation for future Naruto games, if only conceptually, but no one save for the bravest of Naruto fans would likely enjoy Shinobi Striker in its current form. Better off next time, Naruto. Believe it!

There’s a lot of promise to Morphies Law, but there’s also a lot of frustration for the ways it fails to meet this promise. As you play it, you find yourself noticing more and more things that feel like they should be there to help you enjoy what the developer came up with, but it’s not there, so it winds up feeling empty, lifeless, and unclear as to what you’re doing. A cool idea will get you partway there, but without the right follow-through, it just winds up being a game you’re not interested in playing much longer.

It’s a shame that Team17 have found it hard to strike a balance between complicating things enough to keep Mugsters interesting but not too much to make it tedious and frustrating. The first few levels are a fantastic hook into the game, showing off its terrific abstract graphical style and some fun, yet simple puzzle mechanics, but the more you play, the more it gets bogged down by the burden of adding more. The multiplayer does add some fun novelty, but ultimately Mugsters probably isn’t a game you’ll feel like completing.

I would never go so far as to say that This is the Police 2 is a poorly or incompetently made game, but it is by no means a fun one. Even if you loved the first game, I cannot recommend this sequel to you, either for its gameplay or its story. For what it's worth, the game's story ends on a cliff hanger, and I am still interested in seeing how the next game turns out. I don't know if the third game will end up being a good one, but I do know that I have no desire to ever go back and play through the second one.

If you want a true Gundam Breaker experience, it might just be worthwhile to import the older games in the series from Japan. As far as this title goes, it's better left forgotten.

Unfortunately, the graphics and sound feel like they could have been made in an old flash game. Now, that isn't a bad thing, but it certainly isn't spectacular for a new PC release. With some control tweaking Quest of Vidhuraa could have been a nice little mobile game. But as it stands, I can't really recommend it for the fans of hardcore platforming genre until a complete overhaul of the controls and/or the wall jumping physics is implemented

There is certainly an audience this game will appeal to, but for me personally, I was left tired and listless after each of my half hour sessions (I’d probably make a terrible psychiatrist). Also, 95% of the game takes place in the same room with the same backing ambient track that slowly worms its way into your brain after hours on repeat.

After playing through Legend of Kay, I really have mixed feelings. I got used to its outdated features that were popping up from time to time, and really enjoyed the overall story and especially its delivery in a comic book fashion. But bringing back Legend of Kay, which was arguably a good game back on the PS2, the developers should have needed to make it stand out today. Visuals are good, but there are still outdated features present.

Dream Alone makes a valiant effort to live up to its inspirations, Limbo and Inside. However, it falls short of creating an immersive world that would cleverly combine fun platforming and crafty puzzles. What’s left are awkward, frustrating platforming and forced puzzles. Combined with an overly dark display and cheap level design, this is a tough recommendation for even the biggest dreamers.

I can’t recommend Shaq Fu: A Legend Reborn - it’s a joke that fizzles out quickly, and leaves a sour taste in your mouth.

What's most depressing about House Party is that some folks probably believe that this poorly written mess of a game is somehow daring. A juvenile take on sexuality, liberal profanity, and objectification of women are not daring, they're just... juvenile. Creating lifelike, complex characters with believable motivations and emotions - that is a difficult task, obviously light years beyond House Party, which fails as a sexual fantasy, as an interactive story and as a game. This makes Leisure Suit Larry look like Noel Coward. [Early Access score = 20]

I really hope to see Membrane revisited at some point with a greater focus on making satisfying puzzles and using the mechanics to their fullest extent. As it stands, though, there really isn't much to go on here. Membrane's got great aesthetics and all, but there's nothing to really back it up, and so you wind up going through the game without feeling much like engaging in it. There are fun levels sprinkled throughout, but for the most part, I found myself wondering what the point was, and never wound up finding an answer.

I’d talk about the game’s graphics and expand on the discussion of using VR to expand on the Planet of the Apes mythos but right now? I just don’t care anymore. I'm so frustrated thinking about all the problems that made this game so miserable to play that I’m done. Don’t play this game or, if you have to, wait for a sale. Damn you, Crisis on the Planet of the Apes VR. Damn you all to hell.

At the moment, the Xenoblade Chronicles 2 Expansion Pass doesn't have enough major content to be called a meaningful one. You're not missing out on anything substantial from not getting the expansion. Luckily, the more interesting contents such as new BLADEs, Challenge Mode and even a brand new story are promised to be released in coming months. I recommend that you wait and see what those promised contents would bring to the table first, before picking up this expansion pass.

Alaska has a story to tell that could have been an interesting drama about a murder in an extremely isolated small town. It’s too bad that the whole affair is bogged down by slow movement speeds, generally unpleasant visuals, ineffective minigames, and bad writing. If you’re looking for a game that marries good storytelling and an interesting mystery with framed around mundane work made fun, play The Station instead. It’s best to leave Alaska on ice.

What started out as a promising sojourn into another world, where I could single-handedly take on a horde of Giants, ends up feeling much like the citizenry of Extinction, tired of fighting, tired of Giants, and tired of being there. There’s enough good here that the failures just hurt more. There’s fun movement when it works, fun puzzle-like combat, but despite its best efforts, there’s no portal big enough to save it from the weight of its own systems.

If you're already familiar with Payday 2 and are dying to play the game on the go with a group of equally excited friends, then Payday 2 on Switch will scratch that itch. For those unfamiliar with the Payday series looking to give it a whirl, you're better off sticking to the far cheaper (and feature complete) version of the game on PC. Meanwhile, everyone else should probably spend their money on something much newer and fresher than this.

At the very least, Gun Gale Online could have been a world worth exploring. But no, Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet offers nothing to keep you but freely gives more than enough to make you wish you had the time you spent playing it back.

As an experience, this title is truly exceptional, and has me looking out for Outlands' next title. But I am a game reviewer, and as a game, I cannot in good conscious suggest you play North, as it falls fatuigingly flat fairly fleetly.

I wasn't the biggest fan of this one. It's a simple game that quickly left me bored and never got much better. The game is alright in some areas but it suffers from being mindless and simple, which isn't what I look for in a game. Phantom Breaker serves a purpose, though the Switch is so loaded down with games at this point that space on the console is better off being used for something else.

Little Red Lie is depressing and misguided. However, it curls up so much in its self-pity and vitriolic hate towards everything that you can’t take it seriously anymore. And the game is meant to be taken very, very seriously. Not all entertainment is meant to make us feel good, but Little Red Lie pushes the envelope. At the very end, the game even falls into mocking at the player who has suffered the self-indulgent boredom of it all. I’m not sure that’s a good sales pitch for Will O’Neill’s future projects… I played this game through for you, and I hope you won’t ever make the same mistake. I’m sure the author meant for us to go all reflective on ourselves at the end but the game didn’t make me look into the mirror. I’m better than that - and so are you. And I’m not lying.

As a VR game, I would say that League of War: VR Arena an interesting concept that was rushed in design and was poorly executed. There's little reason to play the game for more than fifteen minutes, and I honestly can't recommend it to anyone. It's definitely a cool idea, especially if you like strategy games. However, I would wait for a better game to be released in the future that can hopefully stimulate the palette of any seasoned strategy veteran, while also providing an immersive virtual reality experience. League of War: VR Arena simply fails to make itself as thought-provoking as a strategy game should be. It's just not fun to play.

In its current form, I simply cannot recommend Hello Neighbor to anyone until all of the problems are fixed. Again, I am shocked and disappointed that publisher tinyBuild would charge $30 for a product that clearly needs a lot more work. It really sucks because this game has a few things that work well, like its unique mechanics, a great art style, and good, measured horror. There’s a glimmer of something neat but right now, it's best to treat this as Hello Neighbor Game Preview Edition.

Do not spend your money on this game. Thirty dollars could buy you so much more than what Touhou Kobuto V: Burst Battle has to offer. It's almost appalling how badly designed this game is. Even if it were five dollars, I still don't think that the price could excuse the pitiful piece of software that I was given to review. The game looks and feels like a PS2 launch title that went wrong. Thankfully, as all Touhou fans have come to expect, the music is the only redeeming quality that this game has to offer, but that's no reason to buy the game. Do yourself a favor and forget this even existed. As a Touhou fan, I can objectively say that this is one of the worst games to have come out in the series, period.

In the end, what we have in Tokyo Tattoo Girls is by far one of the most shallow strategy games I've ever seen, with absolutely a joke of a story, and shallow and repetitive gameplay. It's just so utterly disappointing in just about every aspect. As someone who doesn't have any tattoos (although my wife more than makes up for me), I think I'd rather go get my first one than play this game any more than I had to.

So, Road Rage is crap. It’s not broken as it’s still somewhat playable, despite its all rage-inducing qualities. It just feels like there’s no effort put into it anywhere. Except for the music. The soundtrack is quite good and trashy, though I’m sure I have heard some of it before. Anyway, if any effort was put to the rest of the game, we could at least have an okay biker action at hands. As it is though, Road Rage can only be recommended for the collectors of really bad games. I know you are out there! Everyone else, steer clear!

Ultimately, Mario Party: The Top 100 is not an awful game. The multiplayer is fun if you can find people to play with, but even then it overstays its welcome rather quickly. The modes are shallow, the only Mario Party style board is tiny and non-interactive, and the minigame selection leaves something to be desired.

I went into this game hoping for an example of a well-made arcade hunter. And with Glu’s record, that was a reasonable desire. I take no pleasure, then, in acknowledging that Deer Hunter: Reloaded is simply atrocious. It’s ugly, sluggish, obtuse, counter-intuitive, and brimming with game-breaking bugs. Its few positive qualities are directly negated by some of its many, many faults, resulting in what sits among the weakest functional video games I have ever played. Maybe one day we’ll get a nice version of what this game was trying to bring to consoles. Regardless, I am confident that we won't get anything worse.

Yup, there’s no online mode in Ninja Shodown. This means that as enjoyable as multiplayer is, it’s only playable locally in a living room. Combine this with the simple truth that Versus Mode is the only good part of the game, and you’re left with a product I just can’t recommend. If the performance issues were cleaned up and the price slashed down drastically, my verdict might look very different. That’s because, again, the game is surprisingly engaging when played competitively. Games aren’t necessarily outright bad when they’re too hard or even broken; it’s when they effectively don’t give you anything to do that they truly fall apart. And because it lacks an online multiplayer mode, Ninja Shodown fits that description for many players.

As it is, PS4 version of Trulon: The Shadow Engine is sadly broken. It’s a crying shame because I really liked the game up to that point. With its spirited attitude, it even evoked vibes of old Final Fantasies, which is always a positive feeling. So, I’m calling out Kyy Games to patch the PS4 version. You owe it the customers who bought your game in a good will. When that happens, I’m happy to return to Trulon: The Shadow Engine and give it a score it would deserve based solely on its gameplay and presentation.

There really isn't that much to talk about, and I think that's what really makes this game unappealing. There isn't much to do outside of arcade and versus mode, and even the addition of Senko no Ronde DUO included in the game, it's not all too different from the new version for it to really make a difference. It's not that I think Senko no Ronde 2 is a bad game per se, but I definitely don't think the price tag is worth the few minutes of fun you'll have with a friend. It can be a fun game to play, but it's definitely not worth it at the current price point. Even if it were ten or fifteen dollars, I still don't think it brings enough to the table.

Maize is a premise without a core. It’s corn without the cob. There’s no foundation in the gameplay for its various ideas – both good and bad – to stick to, and it leads to the whole experience feeling hollow. This could be forgiven if Maize was funny, or if the narrative was humorous but heartfelt. Unfortunately, jokes are the only component here, overemphasized over anything else, leaving the rest bare. This is just a comedy script devoid of any subtlety that has been reluctantly stapled onto a game.

Imagine Soviet Union in the dark 1980’s, home computers being a scarce luxury. Maybe, just maybe, DreamBreak is a pastiche of those old Commodore 64 games that were pirated to behind the iron curtain. Due to a language barrier and lack of manuals, such classic games as Impossible Mission and Project Firestart - another obvious inspirations behind DreamBreak - must have felt exotic but strange and clumsy. DreamBreak mimics those nostalgic sentiments with its awkward gameplay married to a thin narrative. Nah, that would be just a bad excuse. The transient Russo-retro experience isn’t enough to carry the game and the final verdict is that DreamBreak just isn’t very good.

Trackless provides a glimpse into a fascinating world. Its intriguing lore and phenomenal soundtrack encouraged me to see the game through from beginning to end. Ultimately, however, its performance issues and rough difficulty spikes hindered it for much of the journey. Poorly optimized, buggy, and unwieldy, Trackless lacks the polish of the strong adventure titles it looks to emulate.

R.B.I. Baseball 17 is a decent arcade sports game but doesn’t do anything particularly special to sell itself beyond its authentic rosters and MLB license. There is some fun to be had with scoring big plays or home runs, but that should be a given for this type of game. This one is only recommended for the biggest sports fanatics who are craving a baseball experience on Switch and can overlook its glaring drawbacks. While the simplistic gameplay promotes pick-up-and-play matches, the lack of online, faulty fielding, and bland presentation make it feel like a watered-down version of other sports titles. Add in the game-crashing glitches and R.B.I. Baseball 17 strikes out.

It is too bad that what was good about AereA did not ultimately find a better game in which to reside. It is a bad game, but it is one that does not feel like a soulless cash grab. On the other hand, it is also not a game that stumbles because it is overly ambitious or because it banks on one or two game mechanics that just don’t work. It is a game that sets a low bar for its gameplay and then fails to hurdle it. It is hard to tell what, exactly was the goal of developer Triangle Studios when they developed this game, which is far too simple and repetitive to compete with any action RPG produced in the past 20 years. What is easy to conclude, however, is that AereA is not good, and regardless of your interest level in action RPGs or classical music, you will likely not enjoy it.

In the end, I didn’t feel that Bit Dungeon+ respected my time. Much of the gameplay is tedious, and the dungeons are very simply designed. The repetitive and annoying grungy chiptunes and the lack of story didn’t do anything to motivate me either. The roguelike structure is more stressful than entertaining, mostly because death can await at any turn, including via game-crashing bugs caused by errors in the programming. There are better dungeon crawlers and roguelikes out there, so while this is a cheap option, you get what you pay for.

Fictorum, to me, feels like a game that has a single focus, its destruction mechanic, and everything else was slapped on after that was nailed down. It feels like the kind of game that is acting more as a business pitch to bigger companies, a way for the developers to say look at this cool thing we did instead of hey gamers, check out our awesome game. There is a great mechanic here that is fun to play with, but Fictorum lacks any kind of soul beyond that. It’s worth checking out for a weekend or two, but I can’t recommend much more than that.

Mario Party 7 has a minigame, Tile and Error, in which players must ground pound tiles to claim territory. The fact that Flip Wars can so easily be compared to a 30-second minigame from over a decade ago should say a lot about what you’re getting yourself into if you purchase this. Some of the hip dropping, tile-flipping mechanics are genuinely interesting, but Flip Wars is essentially a $10 minigame and a rather average one at that.

This all may come across as overly harsh and a tad vindictive, but I really wanted to love this game. There's so many juicy elements in Valkyria Revolution that could have been molded into a truly wonderful experience, but all those pieces just never seemed to properly assemble. I appreciate that the designers tried something new with the combat, but trying to blend strategy RPG elements with a hack 'n' slash just didn't work in this case. If you're curious about the Valkyria franchise, my advice would be to pick up the HD remaster of the original Valkyria Chronicles. I can't speak for the two follow-up games released on the Vita, but I can say, with certainty, that Valkyria Revolution is not worth your time or money.

In the end, the whole game really does rely on a single type of puzzle game play, which makes it feel rather cheap - almost like the entire game was programmed by a single person for a college programming project or something (complete with SoundCloud.com links showing up for the music's credit section). Thankfully, the developers agreed. At a $2.99 price point, the dedicated puzzle-lovers out there may want to think about picking this title up, as it is guaranteed to get your brain working at later levels. While this review is for the PS4 version (Energy Cycle is also out on Steam and Xbox One), I can't help but think this type of simplistic puzzle game is better served on mobile devices. It almost seems like wasted potential, honestly. Weird, right? Regardless, outside of die-hard puzzle lovers though, Energy Cycle is just too repetitive to really recommend to anyone.

Lazaretto lacks focus on what exactly it wants to do. Does it want to scare players with a sense of horrific immersion, or does it want to send us on a mind tripping journey? The game doesn't seem to know, and neither do I. Ultimately, Lazaretto has a strong start and truly great sound design, but I think the developers should have spent more time at the drawing board for this one. As this is Chapter 1, let's hope Chapter 2 can pull it together.

This is the freshman effort for developer We the Force Studios and it is certainly noticeable throughout the entirety of Randall. The Mexico based developer has crafted a game that obviously pays homage to a style of gameplay that they are fond of. However, the end result is little more than just that: an homage without any of the hooks that make other games of this variety so great. There is certainly potential for a great game within Randall and I hope this fledgling developer is able to learn from its mistakes to craft a more cohesive game in its next attempt.

In the end, Spellspire feels like a game that was clearly made for mobile devices and was designed to be played very casually. When it is played on a console, the shortcomings become glaringly apparent. With the wide variety of games available on PlayStation 4, it simply is not compelling enough to demand attention.

The Town of Light features a harrowing, historically-accurate story of mental illness and society's failure to understand it. Unfortunately, its steadily-worsening gameplay ultimately obscures the impact and importance of this tale, rendering even one playthrough far from worth it. I will grant that it made me want to read about 20th-century mental asylums on my own time, but I suppose that says it all; just read about these asylums and you'll spare yourself a lot of pain.

However, the hard truth is that Puzzle Showdown 4K is being sold to us as a game. And by that standard, no price justifies a purchase. It's such a shame, too; it didn't have to be like this. What if the interface was better? What if you could choose from a decent stack of pieces? What if the mechanics didn't directly conflict with one-another? Hey, what if you could make your own puzzles from your capture gallery? This is a game that takes extra measures to avoid the advantages of being a video game while doubling down on the limitations. I was really optimistic about this one, too. Hopefully it doesn't take too long for the concept to be executed properly.

There’s an interesting idea in Oafmatch but the execution is poor. While the game tries to live and die by its main attraction, an RPG overlay to a match-three game, it doesn’t do so in a meaningful or fun way. Oafmatch is a game that could only be enjoyed by absolute fanatics of the match-three genre who have exhausted every other outlet.

Somewhere, buried deep in the design document for Reservoir Dogs: Bloody Days was the idea for a decent game. The time rewinding mechanic, to its credit, does not feel gimmicky, as if it were tacked on to give the game a defining feature. Unfortunately, it isn't worth nearly the amount of frustration that it brings. Between its misuse of a license and its joyless, repetitive gameplay, there is little in this game that provides any entertainment value. Like most failed movie games, if you want the genuine experience, you are better off simply watching the movie.

Despite the amount of cool and interesting features this game has, the game isn’t enjoyable, and it never wants to work properly. Deformers is pretty interesting in concept and really changes up the arena-based shooter genre with quirky graphics and unique gameplay elements. But the game is mostly broken, and all of the players have pretty much already abandoned ship. For a thirty dollar game, I couldn’t ever recommend giving it a go. It’s a waste of time and money, to put it quite simply. If the bugs were cleaned up and the game was free to play, I could see Deformers standing on its own as a pretty decent game. Perhaps if they also added some additional content or single player modes, it could hold a bit more value, but I don’t think it could save the game. Ultimately, considering the number of currently active players and lack of initiative to fix the game by the developers, I think the damage has already been done. There is simply no reason to buy this game, period.

The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing was a fun game when it came out for the PC in 2013. It was a hack and slash RPG that gave players yearning for more Diablo something to bide their time while great titles came out to refresh the genre. No one will say that this game changed or evolved the genre upon release, but it was fun and worth playing for the action-RPG crowd. However, the same cannot be said about the PS4 version. This is a poor port of a decent game that should be avoided. There are other action-RPGs to play on the PS4 with better performance that offer better value and experiences. Stay away from this version of The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing and either get the PC version or pop in Diablo III instead.

Pinstripe is a game that has such promise at its start but fails to capitalize on what makes it special by its completion. The simplistic platforming and combat take away from the game’s excellent atmosphere and world building and instead give the game this odd mix of tension in cutscenes immediately followed by easy-to-beat levels. While the minister was in Hell, facing the fears of humanity, I never felt like I was there with him. While the art and atmosphere are worthy of all the praise in the world, the gameplay and storytelling hurt the game exponentially, leading to a short and forgettable experience.

It’s worth noting that the way to play Old Time Hockey is with friends. The game offers up to 4 player co-op but even then I wouldn’t recommend it. While it can be fun to get a group of friends together for some couch co-op, the game just isn’t that fun to play. The novelty of it all wears off fairly quickly and before you know it you’ll be looking to play better games like Blades of Steel or Gretzky. To be honest, you’re probably better off playing one of those anyway. Old Time Hockey tries to capture the attitude of hockey’s past with the arcade fun of historic hockey games, but it does neither particularly well.

Is Knee Deep worth it? Is Knee Deep, with so many alternatives available whether you are looking for an adventure game or a deep, thought provoking indie game, really worth it. If you're looking for a good adventure game with choice driven dialogue that impacts the overall story, I would suggest you check out a Telltale game that has been relesed in the last 3-4 years, or maybe Grim Fandango, I know that it's a bit old school but come on it's good.

With its fast-paced, superhuman action and buckets of mucky pixel gore, Rogue Stache hits the player with great first impressions. Within an hour, though, its problems become apparent. Poor balancing choices, a crippling deficit of personality, and an agonizingly sluggish progression system combine to pull this game below even mediocrity. In a strange, ironic twist, the very elements meant to keep you engaged are those that will leave you irritated and bored. While forthcoming changes might result in a superior experience, right now it’s best to leave this last manly man to fend for himself.

Unearthing Mars begins as a serious expedition to Mars only to transform into a laughably bad science fiction space opera about angry aliens and partying pig dog beasts. It won’t leave you with anything to remember it by, except for how laughably bad it is. The experience of Unearthing Mars is a lot like being EPCOT Center’s Spaceship Earth while riding high on bad weed.

Don’t Chat With Strangers feels less like a game and more like a practical joke being played on the gamer. It fails at just about everything besides delivering punishment through trial-and-error. It isn’t a clever puzzle game – it’s just an irritating one. Each scare or surprise is effective once or twice, but they all wear out their welcomes before the end. And, when you finally do get to the end, the game reveals how little content it actually has. It is a ten minute experience stretched into three hours via insta-fail and permadeath mechanics that force you to play through a series of boring, mundane events dozens of times.

I wanted to like 99Vidas after it promised to faithfully live up to the classics and add new beat ‘em up elements, but it couldn’t hit its own hype at all. The beat ‘em up genre is one that is filled with monotony and it desperately needs a fresh new face to give it the revitalization that other genres, like fighting games, have seen in recent years. I wasn’t expecting 99Vidas to be that game but I was hoping it’d be a competent beat ‘em up. Instead, it leans too heavily on lazy writing and tired mechanics while only adding mechanics that serve to make the game more frustrating.

No Man’s Sky is a missed opportunity to do something truly epic, and while the final game, when measured moment by moment, showed glimpses of something more than merely ordinary, the final result, was far less than. Promises aside, there’s just not enough to this universe to make it worth exploring.

I have never played a farm simulator video game and based on my experience with this game, I don’t want to ever again (despite how interesting the new Farming Simulator looks). A simulator like this doesn’t have to be sexy, but Professional Farmer 2017 has all the energy of a pig waddling in the mud.

The game shines most through its aesthetics with impressive environments and an atmospheric score. Its lack of agency and action may bore players, especially if the confusing story doesn’t reach them.

Despite how short the game is, it maybe emphasizes why the other games use this idea to break it up – the concept never really evolves or grows in any way, and with the platforming so basic, there’s really not much else here to dig into. It winds up being a rhythm game with disposable musical elements, a platformer with uninteresting mechanics.