I fell in love with my little blue poor janitor in her small alien world. I don’t know if the game started its life as something of a jest against usual gaming trends but it has turned into a poignant metaphor of today’s world, like how it feels to be struggling, different or alien to your surroundings. I must warn you though, this game is not for everyone and certainly not for those who only seek their thrills from the latest big-budget extravaganza. Or is it? Maybe a modest but honest game like Diaries of a Spaceport Janitor can help to see these strange new worlds beyond AAA-games.

The game might have inherited the movie's convoluted mess, but it is a somewhat decent adventure title, albeit marred by a frustrating control.

The story is a tad bit generic, but perfect in the sense of a children’s tale. The control and movement feels very fluid, and the game overall demonstrates mastery of basic mechanics typically used in games of the same genre.

I still have major concerns about the game's combat, but Age of Empires: Definitive Edition is a good history lesson for what inspired me and so many others to love RTS genre so much. It’s a brilliant game with a ton of content and for such a low entry price, I think it’s worth a look even if it’s not perfect.

With nothing to call its own, other turn-based strategy games have a distinct edge over Panzer Tactics HD. Make no mistake, the game is by no means bad, but there are plenty of other more memorable entries in the genre to keep you busy.

Abyss Odyssey is a simple and enjoyable game. That is, if you have patience for its learning curve!

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.

Though it is basic, Korix is a great game to play in VR because it’s real time strategy games couldn't be a more perfect use of the medium. At $20, the game offers a fair amount of content spread between an offline campaign and skirmish mode. There’s also multiplayer, where up to four players can play against or with each other against human and AI players. Sadly, no one was playing so I didn’t get a chance to try it out. That’s probably for the best though. I can’t fathom going against a human player--I’d be ripped to shreds! Korix is a great entry level RTS that uses the technology of the PlayStation VR in a spectacularly immersive fashion.

Nightmares from the Deep 2: The Siren’s Call is a top tier title in its casual gaming genre. From game mechanics to visuals, everything is polished to max out the entertainment this kind of game can offer. It’s also a great stress relief. The game makes you forget your mundane worries for the time spent on weather-beaten alleys and hidden rooms of Kingsmouth.

A full-featured online mode and excellent variety of computer opponents.

In its current form, The Serpent’s Curse is half finished. The second episode isn’t due out until sometime this month but do not fear, episode one is pretty substantial and ends with a satisfactory cliffhanger.

Taking a trip down memory lane with this classic sim on the handheld was a quite decent experience, aside from the DS' small screen and dated visuals.

Murasaki Baby is a game unlike any other and anyone wanting a different non-traditional gaming experience should diffidently give it a go. Some games are all about the grind, yet others are all about telling a deep story.

Ubisoft brings the Japanese RPG experience to the 360, but sadly doesn't dazzle us with truly next-gen visuals and revolutionary gameplay.

Check vs. Mate is a good game to check out if you enjoy playing combat/strategic style games that make you think and leave you upset when the computer beats you.

Whether or not you’ll enjoy the game is entirely dependent on how much you enjoy oddball humor and being surprised. In short, if the title Freaking Meatbags piqued your curiosity, trust that instinct and dig in.

Granted, when you’re as intelligent and debonnaire as Poirot, humility is beneath you. Where this adventure mystery game lacks in technique, it excels in creativity, humor, and puzzles. As a librarian who enjoys puzzles and escape rooms, Agatha Christie: The ABC Murders is an excellent nightcap to round out my day.

The once celebrated Driver series seeks to return to glory with a fantastic recreation of the 70's Big Apple, but is marred by the severally limited on-foot missions.

Racing purists may thumb their nose at it, but if you're the kind of person who prefers Burnout over Gran Turismo, you'll eat it right up.

Unfortunately, my opinion of this game is that if you’ve ever played any side-scrolling shoot-’em-up platformer in the past, say, fifteen years, then you’ve pretty much experienced what Guns, Gore and Cannoli has to offer when it’s at its best.

I would love to say that I recommend everyone to pick up this game, but if you already own NCAA March Madness 2007 the need for an upgrade probably isn't necessary for this game.

Where The Water Tastes Like Wine is a fascinating idea for a game that is probably best experienced in small, shorter doses.

Gamers who love Stardew Valley primarily as the opportunity to live a vicarious alternative life might be disappointed by Graveyard Keeper, but those who are attracted to the slow and steady rhythm of building, crafting, and management will enjoy the many systems at play. The game is rarely punishing but maybe not always rewarding in the same measure some would prefer. Its humor is dry and witty without being too obvious and its presentation and polish are only marred by some infrequent bugs.

Even though there a few things I wish to have been added, I for one found Cycle 28 a joy to play, fun to blast through and a game that would be a nice addition to any gamer’s library.

Captain Tsubasa: Rise of New Champions is not a replacement for annual soccer sims in the market as it’s entirely a different beast. Instead it’s a fun and decent arcade soccer game that successfully scores its goal.

If your a big 2K hockey fan your probably still going to want to pick this up, but if your just looking for the best hockey title of the year, this one doesn’t take top billing.

NASCAR 09 had a great opportunity to really take the NASCAR franchise for EA to the next level but in my opinion it did the opposite and went in the wrong direction. NASCAR 09 isn’t a bad game it just unfortunately doesn’t have the necessary elements to really do justice to the sport of NASCAR.

Injustice is the most successful attempt at a fighting game on a cellular device that I have seen, but it certainly has its downsides. Simply, the game can get boring very quickly because of the simplicity of the controls and just the sheer volume of fights that are available to you.

Decent attempt, but doesn't quite deliver the goods.

If Darkstation had a category for “best comeback game” I’d feel confident that AO Tennis 2 would win it for 2020 and we’re only a couple of weeks in. The improvements in this game over the last two years are absolutely incredible. This is a great game of tennis that has some rough around the edges that with time, patches, and future installments could make for quite the franchise. Had you told me that after the first game I would have laughed, but AO Tennis 2 is the real deal and I’m excited to see where the series goes from here.

While I did like The Bunker, it definitely feels like it suffers from the same things that old FMV games like this always have, feeling like the only difference that’s occurred in the 20+ years since the first FMV adventure game was released is fidelity. With a stronger script, the game would be an easy recommendation, but as it is it’s mostly coasting on novelty, with just enough hooks to get you going through to the end.

Midway ports the Blitz on the 360, but doesn't feature anything new, apart from visual improvements here and there. Get it only if you didn't already.

There isn’t much in terms of actual content, and the developer promises to patch this in at a later date, but I can’t help but feel the game could have done with a few more months in Early Access.

Super Exploding Zoo would have been a good way to kill an hour or two if it were fun. Instead, it’s trying, boring and a chore to play.

Epic Manager's conceit is refreshingly unexpected and, for the most part, its two genres manage to coexist pretty well. The game seems to own its absurd premise and leavens the experience with humor, bad puns and wordplay. There is a lot to do, although it's often not clear what to do, and I wish its core RPG elements were a bit more appealing. There are many games where dissimilar genres feel at odds, but Epic Manager manages to make a pretty convincing case for itself.

With developers shifting their focus on next-gen consoles, we're left with a rehash of last season's efforts, albeit with minor changes here and there.

Agetec gives you the means to fulfil the dream of creating your own RPG, with an intuitive interface and loads of customization options.

I got plenty of amusement from Knack 2, especially when I was hopping around and solving puzzles. That's not to say the combat system is bad- it just starts out rather bland and could've been more fleshed out. Strong production values are used in the delivery of a competent story marred by bland characters, but they also benefit the gameplay. And in what's surely a testament to smart design, I was never bored in my 14-hour story playthrough. And that's the best way to describe this package. For 40 bucks, you get many hours of solid, charming fun wrapped in a smartly-made platformer. Far from the archaic dinosaur that its predecessor was, Knack 2 is a worthwhile, modern, and entertaining game.

Oninaki is a flawed but overall an enjoyable experience. Instead of joylessly emulating turn-based RPGs of the old days, Tokyo RPG Factory took a step in the right direction and created a fantastic and refreshing action combat system. Apart from that, the game offers nothing special when compared to many similar RPGs. Still, Oninaki is the best game by Tokyo RPG Factory so far.

In its current state, Sea of Thieves comes off as a boring and meaningless. It’s astonishing how void of content it actually is. Absolutely beautiful to look at but completely underdeveloped as a game. In comparison, Pirates! from 30 years ago was ugly even at the time but brimming with things to do and rich world to explore. As a full-priced title, Sea of Thieves is daylight robbery.

It’s just such a shame that the game is such a shame to play, then. I even wound up looking up a video of a puzzle solution because I thought the game was broken, and it was a guy playing the PC version and I was so envious about how it looked. Frame rates! Smooth camera control! Foliage that isn’t popping in and out at random! It was lovely, I mean, seriously, I’ve already harped on it but if you can play another version of Q.U.B.E. 2, then go play that instead. It’s a great puzzle game, it just needs to play better.

Regardless of whether you choose to partner up or go it alone, Foul Play is a grand ole adventure. Easy to pick up and fun to master, the combat alone would make this a worthwhile venture, but adding in the game’s theater aesthetic and unique visual style makes this an easy recommendation.

Whatever you decide to do, it’s easy to just hop into the game and have a spin - or a splash or a woosh! What comes to the comparison I presented in the beginning, Forza Horizon 3 (and not to mention its upcoming sequel) might be clinically prettier but it lacks something The Crew 2 has; charisma. Overly serious big games don’t often allow having much fun nowadays, so it’s refreshing to see a title that is built around it.

Cinders ultimately provides players a truly enchanting, wholly unique, modern re-telling of Cinderella, that undoes all the classic tales' faults and awes its audience with a compelling cast of distinctive, engaging characters.

In the end, Rayman 3 just doesn't make much sense on the gamescape of 2012. It would have been more logical as a pre-order bonus for Rayman Origins than its own thing. It's a good port of a pretty good game that relies too heavily on combat rather than platforming and should only be experienced by those that can't get enough Rayman.

ChromaGun is a fine enough puzzler, though it feels like it's missing things you might want from games of the same ilk. The puzzles don't particularly evolve much and neither does the looks, making the game feel rather static and simple most of the way through. Despite some odd difficulty spikes, the game is something you can mostly breeze through without too much issues. If you're looking for a quick puzzle fix something in the vein of Portal, it's gonna scratch that itch decently enough.

Poker Night 2 doesn’t have particularly deep pockets as far as original content goes, but considering its budget price you could spend your money on worse things. If you like poker and just want to fold some 2’s and 7’s there are definitely better games for you out there already.

Almost everything about Ghosthunter is great, from the amazing visuals, genuinely creepy sound, and decent story. All it needed was a little bit more behind the gameplay.

Mario and Sonic’s collaborative Switch outing may not be a huge upgrade from previous entries, but there’s enough variety and content, all wrapped around a ten-hour story mode and adorned with multiplayer functionality.

It is a shame that the story for Conan wasn't developed further, it really could have been something that pushed the experience from start to finish.

There are certainly worse games selling on the digital marketplace for both systems and I Am Alive is eons better than the somewhat similar Amy released early this year. Still, you'll need pretty strong rose-tinted shades not to be absolutely disappointed in what I Am Alive could have been.

The single player isn’t anything to really spend to much time with but the online play is good enough to come back to over and over again.

Sparkle 2 has some fun moments in the form of color matching addiction, but little else makes the title worth playing.

The problem with all puzzle games is that they are almost always a single-play through experience, so that initial run has to be the memorable one. Moons of Madness has some jump scares and other surprises, but its biggest draw might be that it takes Lovecraftian elements into a wholly new environment and replaces combat with exploration, puzzles and a slow-growing sense of confusion and dread. Fans of all those different elements and genres might find Moons of Madness just the right companion for Halloween night video gaming.

A game that has plenty to offer fans of the genre, combining great strategy with great action.

Thunder Wolves aims to embody the 80′s action flick and does so in a pretty fun manor. The gameplay is simple and enjoyable for the short time you’ll play, and the story feels appropriately campy. Enemies explode by the dozen and missiles fly left and right at all times.

Activision's blockbuster shooter gets on the Wii, and uses the console's controls for more precision. Pity it doesn't have anything else.

Perhaps the main reason why Slain: Back from Hell is both a successful tribute to the old school gaming and a damn good game in its own right is the track record of its developers. They really did some of those Amiga games I grew up with back in the day. A heartfelt thanks to the graphics artist and the man behind the concept, Andrew Gilmour, and his co-developers for taking me back to my teen years. A time machine isn’t invented yet but Slain: Back from Hell is surely the next best thing. Those pampered modern gamers might think otherwise as the game takes a good chunk of old school masochism to go with it.

Octodad: Dadliest Catch doesn’t always play to its strengths – mechanically or conceptually – but it’s still an enjoyable and unusual game whose charms ultimately won me over.

The featured gameplay is too samey and numbing to hold excitement through longer spells of playing. Even in shorter sessions, you can’t help but wonder if you’re just wasting your time. The thing is, everything in the game, from visuals to the gameplay, is definitely B-grade stuff - except for the price tag.

It still has that Katamari Damacy charm, but if you've played one Katamari game you've played them all. The game uses the Vita's capabilities in a competent fashion, but I'd much rather use the joysticks to control the ball instead of the touch screen.

Burnout Crash is better served as a something to do when you have a few minutes to kill.

What is left is a run-of-the-mill 2D sidescroller grafted to a superficial Assassin’s Creed theme. More than anything Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: China makes me less interested in the rest of the new series. Give me a proper Assassin’s Creed game set in China instead.

Plus R is a fine tune-up of one of the most technical fighting games around, but its skeletal packaging makes it all but impossible for non-fans to get excited. There are untold hours of value here that will be all but impenetrable to most. Unless you know the game and have a local community of like-minded opponents ready to go, I can’t recommend it.

If a fast and brutal magic melee is what you’re after, Lichdom fits the bill nicely.

To succeed in its ambition as a homage to the long-lost genre, Raging Justice should have been an excellent street brawler. Now its desires are only skin-deep, basking in leftovers of aesthetics the time deserted. The game can be fun in short bursts, but only in short bursts. Any longer and the frustration due to the gameplay issues will kick in again. It’s a shame Raging Justice is not nearly as good - and more importantly, as fun - as it sets out to be.

All this makes Tembo a fine game where the really bad, really rough parts are REALLY bad and REALLY rough, in a way that brings the rest of the game down.

That the whole story ends here, with the franchise that started this wild ride, in a manner that leaves the fates of its characters in limbo, is somehow fitting to The Walking Dead as a whole. In the end, we were the real monsters.

Despite its issues, Dillon's Dead-Heat Breakers is a solid recommendation for 3DS owners looking for something new. Its bold and unorthodox setting makes for an experience unlike any Nintendo game before it, while its odd mashup of different genres makes it especially rewarding for open-minded gamers. It might lack the depth of other single-genre titles, but Dillon's Dead-Heat Breakers makes up for it with uniqueness and furry-filled charm.

The game is not a bad outing by any standards, but it also just doesn't have the depth nor the sure fire power to hang with the other big boys that are already on the Xbox.

If DDR started the whole music genre, this one made karaoke enjoyable! Cool mic and EyeToy integration translates into hours of good, clean fun.

A game that plays extremely well but is missing the modes to go along with it.

There is fun to be had in Megabyte Punch but just not to the extent of its obvious inspirations.

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX is not for every Pokéfan. Younger children who want to experience an easier more forgiving roguelike dungeon crawler with their favorite characters will get the most out of this charming title. Catching ‘em all and training teams of rescue parties are entertaining, even though this game includes just the first half of the National Pokedex. Older gamers and those who played the original may not be as impressed by the monotonous dungeon crawling and simple difficulty. Although the Switch game looks and sounds great, it does not update the original games enough. I would sooner recommend one of the more recent offerings in the series or hold out hope that we get a brand new title featuring the Galar Pokémon one day.

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.

If taking to space in a starfighter built to send murderous bandits into the cold vacuum of space is your idea of a good time, then Manticore: Galaxy on Fire is certainly worth considering.

Outside the career mode there are no significant improvements made to the game, though. The physics and the gameplay remain great and it feels like it’s even more important this time around to balance your rider with the right thumbstick of the controller, especially when landing jumps. When playing the game on PC, I couldn’t help but notice how the visuals drag behind the standards of modern gaming. Character models are the same as before and by each year they get more outdated. Landscapes look bland and boring and there are hardly any particle effects which would have helped to improve the feel of ripping through mud and gravel. Of course, it’s always great when a yearly iteration of a sports game has had courage to revamp its core experience. Granted, the new career mode allows long-lasting gameplay but it’s simply not fun to play anymore.

Art and glitches aside, Giana Sisters: Twisted Dreams is a surprisingly enjoyable platformer, and the developers have done a lot to breathe life and personality into a series that was never really allowed to live in the first place.

If Dead Synchronicity sounds intriguing (it did to me when I first heard about it), playing the game should be done at your own risk. This game has no ending. The conclusion is thoroughly unsatisfying and because I have no idea what the future looks like for this game on the platform, I’m at a loss to offer much in the way of a recommendation

Despite being a fun game, it's very bare, with few levels just relying on replaying for it to get any kind of lasting value. No matter how much you loved the game, though, replaying the same five is not enough for me to give this amazing, fun, beautiful game the high rank that it deserves.

Go pick it up and give it a try, you’re bound to find something unique.

Whether Erica is a successful fluke or the start of a FMV renaissance is impossible to predict, but the game is a solid and beautifully crafted example of how the technique has evolved and just how effective great interactive storytelling can be.

What Vader Immortal excels at is showcasing really good Star Wars VR content of which there’s been far too little outside Battlefront’s Rogue One VR mission and the upcoming Star Wars Squadrons. The dojo sequences are worth the price of admission because they offer pure gameplay using a VR control setup that is so immersive and fun that it makes you feel cool as you cut down droids and toss training remotes at unlucky Imperial troops.

The single player campaign is a bit of a wash, but your experience depends on what you want from the game. Daemon X Machina excels at playing against skilled human opponents and taking the time and care to customize your arsenals. I enjoyed it for what it was, but I don’t think it will be a game I want to play again, at least not for a long while. I’m glad I played it, though. I needed that giant arsenal-sized hole in my heart filled once more, at least temporarily. Also, there’s a really bizarre ice cream-based mini game. I’m not sure what they were thinking with that one.

Painballing gets its own video game, with smooth gameplay and decent visuals that will appeal only to fans of the sport.

Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon is an archaic, explosive and entertaining experience that deserves to be played. It's a great way to unwind after a long and tiresome day, and the co-op and character classes should appeal to whatever niche audience it may attract – while it's short and lacks variety in just about every department, it still deserves a few hours of your free time, provided you find yourself in the right mindset while playing it.

The Marvellous Miss Take is a fun and near flawless heist adventure.

Unfortunately, Maneater does not have very much post-game content or replayability, but it’s a tremendously epic, over-the-top open-world action RPG where you dominate the ocean as an apex predator, gaining new and improved bio-adaptations as you rank up. Kindly do yourself a favor and play it!

It's possible to enjoy Conan Exiles, primarily for its tie-in to the legendary character and his mythology, which is subtly reflected in the game world. At its core, Conan Exiles is another open world crafting and survival game: heavy on grinding, lonely for single players and frustrating for most in multiplayer. Overall, it feels like a product coming a little too late to an overcrowded table. As a genre, the realistic survival/building niche (Minecraft aside) is still opaque and in need of a streamlined, mass-appeal hit. Conan Exiles is not that game.

MySims is not a great game, but it does enough right to earn a good rating. I would say this is the type of game that if you're bored one weekend looking for a game for your Wii, then MySims is a game that can take up a lot of your time and make for an enjoyable experience.

The command system is not perfect and can feel slightly convoluted to utilize at times, and the tedium of solving cryptic puzzle after puzzle may wear down the patience of most players, yet despite these shortcomings, Shadowgate still remains a stimulating adventure, for both veterans of the and newcomers to the series.

Gang Beasts is one of those games I wanted to try because it captured the attention of a small, but vocal portion of the Internet. Like Battlegrounds, this ended up being a game I’d rather watch other people play. The controls don’t feel particularly intuitive and are pretty punishing for new players. You’re going to take more than a fair share of lumps before the game “clicks.” On the other hand, I think you'll get the most out of the game by playing it with friends in the same room, especially since online matches can easily be one- or two-sided. Despite being a published video game, Gang Beasts has the feel of an early access title. For it to be something accessible to a larger audience, I think it needs more time to bake.

EA plays it safe with their latest Harry Potter adventure, featuring the same smooth gameplay and visual flair we have come to expect from the franchise.

NCAA Basketball 09 has the underlying element of what could be a huge step in the right direction, but the lack of depth ends up being the games great fault.

I will admit that there is a sizable chunk of content here as my fifty five hour playthrough was made up of about ninety five percent main story and five percent of late game sidequests. But when the game feels chore to play, some brevity would have been welcomed. It's a shame to see a title with so much promise feel so flat, but I guess Lost Sphear's main characters' optimism has rubbed off on me. I still think the folks at Tokyo RPG Factory have the ability to make a truly outstanding game. Here's to hoping.

While I applaud Metrico for using the Vita’s various tools, it is a game I might not be fully comfortable playing at a park bench or bus ride. I can only imagine the puzzled looks I get as people see me twist the handheld in different directions. And when the game requires the camera, I had better be in an area with a good light source.

Squids Odyssey is very lengthy and may get repetitive, but for the times in between games or while watching TV it is the perfect fit.

Under the auspices of creating a “hardcore RPG experience,” Daedalic has instead created a rage inducing time waster.