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.