It’s rather interesting that XSEED decided to bring Wizardry: Labyrinth of Lost Souls to the PC. It’s not that it’s old-fashioned because it’s a ten-year-old game. No, by the time the game was originally released, role-playing games, even first-person dungeon crawlers, had evolved in leaps and bounds from their ancient beginnings - and for a good reason. I remember playing aforementioned Eye of the Beholder games in the early 90s and being totally immersed in them. In its forced nostalgia, Wizardry: Labyrinth of Lost Souls is paper-thin in comparison.

I wouldn’t recommend the Vita version of Atomic Ninjas. The game itself is fine and could be exciting when played against a full compliment of human opponents but that’s a guarantee the game can’t make.

The combat feels great and this sort of game can be a real treat with friends. That’s a place where the game’s completely uninteresting story doesn’t really matter and where the repetition becomes more expected. Even then though, the game’s mission structure remains incredibly basic and the style while not completely unappealing certainly isn’t interesting. Fighting your way through these levels feels really good, but that can only sustain a game for so long, especially with this many issues. A certain type of player who really enjoys a good loot game and doesn’t care a bit about repetition will love Godfall but for everyone else, there are much better ways to break in your new video game system.

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.

Scooby-Doo introduces some nifty ideas, like the changing disguises, but fails to build on its fundamentals to take the franchise to the next level.

Unchained Blades is a challenging adventure that requires a methodical and patient attitude towards progression, a good thing as the amount of time you'll put in completing the main story and the secondary quests just about suits the $30 price tag.

I was pleasantly surprised with how addicted I was to Island Time, as each death was a personal challenge to do better and last longer. It’s one of those games I keep thinking about when not playing, drawing mental ideas and strategies for item management and tactical seagull intercepts. Though it doesn’t offer the comforts and stress-free environment of my real world island adventures, Island Time still manages to be a whole lot of fun.

The frame rate and over simplistic gameplay really makes this game not fun to play. Although Gretzky does have some nice features on paper, the overall play out of the game is just disappointing.

Bond is back, and this time on the PSP. While it's great to play Connery on the handheld, it misses some of the memorable elements from its console counterpart.

Lost Planet 3 pulls off some genuinely interesting and entertaining things with its story and exploratory nature, but that potential is all but covered up by its middling action. It lies somewhere between the wants of series fans and the needs of those who have been playing these kinds of games for years, and I wouldn’t recommend you play it.

The cartoon might be a hit with the younger crowd, but the game disappoints with its unresponsive controls and lackluster action.

Fans of the series don't need to hear me say go out and buy it, because I am sure that is already done and over. But for those who may have been interested in getting into the series, I would say move elsewhere, this game just doesn't have all the necessary ingredients to make it worthwhile.

The hit cartoon series comes alive on the GBA, with plenty of colors and baddies to beat up. Designer for the younger gamers, but even adults might have some fun here.

As with most puzzle games, Chucks Challenge 3D won’t necessarily appeal to the hard-core demographic, but there’s no doubt that Niffler has succeeded in rebooting a much loved classic of yesteryear, proving that the concept of crowd funded gaming is here to stay.

The biggest issue with The Keep is that as a PC title, it offers nothing to really distinguish itself from the legion of other dungeon crawlers, both retro-style and contemporary. Conceptually a game for a small-scale platform, on PC its limitations become amplified and its quirks become impediments to enjoyment. The Keep is not a bad game - especially on the 3DS - but doesn't feel like an essential experience to either fans of old-school dungeon crawlers or gamers who have grown tired of empty-headed, big-budget titles that are all sizzle and no steak.

Summer Catchers is a perfect pastime for the days when the summer is past us. During grim autumn and winter evenings, the game’s jolly escapism will no doubt be at its best.

The classic hack and slasher makes a comeback on modern consoles and provides pretty decent gameplay, if only it featured much more.

A very ambitious undertaking, StarDrive has a lot of promise. There’s a lot the developer hopes to add, and he plans on supporting the game for the foreseeable future, but the package as it stands is a bit of a hard sell to all but the most patient and driven 4X fans.

A pretty standard sci-fi story filled with your standard tropes punches slightly above its weight thanks to a great performance and some okay gameplay. The shooting isn’t anything to write home about, but a few of the weapons provide enough moments that the shortcomings aren’t easy to ignore, but mild enough to put up with. To paraphrase Hurk, sometimes you find yourself somewhere without context and just kind of have to roll with it. When you’re Lost on Mars, it’s really the only way to go.

Playing as the Grim Reaper's son should have been cool, except for the lazy platforming bits and repetitive action.

There is definitely an interesting and unique idea underneath the problems which far outweigh everything else.

If you are in the mood to spend a weekend enjoying some graphic ultra-violence with your brain turned off, then Ryse: Son of Rome should make a nice addition to your library, especially if you can find it on a Steam sale.

While the anime was outstanding, the video game port massively disappoints us with its frustrating controls, repetitive environments and lackluster combat.

Rogue Agent just isn't that fun of a game because of the somewhat sluggish gameplay, the lack of a real good story, and pretty average multiplayer.

Phantom Trigger is decent at being the top-down hack-and-slash game that the developers at Bread Team set out to create. The compelling story, stunningly pixelated neon world, and challenge are its strengths. If it weren’t bogged down by dull dungeon design, a limited move-set, and tedious gameplay, this action title could have stood out. As it is, Phantom Trigger is recommended only to those willing to look past its repetitive nature to experience this hardcore neon slasher.

Blackgate should be a good time for anyone willing to pick it up as long as you can look past some speed bumps.

All in all FaceBreaker K.O Party is a decent Wii boxing game. Its definitely not up to standards with the Fight Night series, but it also doesn’t strive to be.

You might enjoy the time that you spend with Violett, but you should approach it with modest expectations and a good deal of patience.

Having enjoyed limited success on the PC, this console port comes off a bit uninspired, plagued by dated visuals and poor enemy AI.

The highs are very high. Conversely, the lows are quite low. For everyone else, your mileage may vary. Regardless, I did enjoy my time with Woodle Tree 2: Deluxe. It’s just a bit disappointing that there were so many technical issues on what could have otherwise been a pure expression of unbridled love for the genre.

At the end of the day, Mutant Mudds is a great tribute to the platformers many of us grew up with. The art style is well done and the difficulty is spot on – it literally feels like it could have been made 20 years ago. The only problem is that games have changed a great deal since then and Mutant Mudds is left feeling stale and boring. If you’re looking to play a platformer the feels harkens back to your childhood, then look no further than Mutant Mudds; otherwise you’re probably better off playing something else.

Evoland is by no means a bad game but really just feels middling once you really get into it.

You won’t find the fast-paced action of Diablo, or the tactical challenge of Dragon Age: Origins or Pillars of Eternity. Whatever you are looking for, you will probably find it somewhere else in a better game that you already own.

Bringing the casino experience to the handheld remains an elusive dream, as this is just a lazy compilation of simplistic parlor games.

Capcom's attempts to revive the 2D fighting genre hits a major snag, as this fighter doesn't offer anything new to modern gamers, aside from online support.

Although not exactly a gaming masterpiece, Build-A-Bear Workshop does exactly what it sets out to do, make for a simple enjoyable experience for the young people in your life.

Like the games before it, Fable: The Journey stands strong on its accessibility, its sense of charm and wonder and because it, more than any other game, makes you feel like the hero of a fairytale.

Zeno Clash II has that unique quality about its world and combat that the first game possessed but it’s polish that is sorely lacking from the overall package.

As a fighter on the DS however it makes great strides in the right direction and if you're a fan of the show or previous games, this is a great game to go check out.

Its definitely worth a look and you might even find yourself enjoying it rather a lot, if you can look past a lot of the games obvious shortcomings.

With a multitude of character customization options and out of control boob physics, Bon Appetit has everything one could expect from a Senran Kagura title. If the gameplay were given the same attention and creativity as the girls, it could have been amazing.

There are things to like in Schrodinger’s Cat. The gameplay shows signs of brilliance, but the writing and poor level design ultimately hold it back.

At the end of the day, Game and Wario is a compilation of a few good and a lot of mediocre experiences. You can see a ton of potential in a great Wario game for the Wii U but Game and Wario is not that game.

The game just doesn't come through like it had the potential to do. Spider-Man 2 just didn't take advantage of the new hardware and left us with a very average side scrolling action game.

For me Kinect Sports Rivals is a passable Kinect game that does little to nothing to push Kinect game experiences forward. If anything it might do the exact opposite.

Setting traps and luring your enemies to their doom is a brilliant idea, but Tecmo doesn't build on that with more gameplay variety.

For an anniversary edition, Namco's latest compilation just rehashes some of the classics, and doesn't bother with anything else.

Brawl’s two aces are its price and, in this case, its platform. The game is a cheap buy on a system that makes local multiplayer easier and more practical than anything else on the market. Even on the dinky little Joy-Cons, it’s very accessible and easy to pick up on. Yes, lackluster singleplayer and the lack of online harm the game, but not as much as they would have in more typical circumstances. The multiplayer is genuinely fun, with a surprising longevity thanks to its more unique modes. If you’re looking for a solid party game and don’t mind dropping ten bucks and a bucket of blood, the Emporium is a good place to be.

There’s occasionally some fun to be had but in the long run, the gameplay is so rigid and repetitive that despite seemingly big amount of content to play, the game’s appeal wears thin pretty quickly. Even the multiplayer lacks further enthusiasm for the very same reason and micro transactions that are practically force-fed are the last straw. Given the game’s rather modest production values, it feels like it should have benefited from being a free-to-play title and then paying for more content would have been completely plausible. As it is now, WWE 2K Battlegrounds simply lacks lasting fun, challenge and creativity to fill the void of not having a main entry in the WWE 2K series this year.

Dynasty Warriors Gundam is the kind of title that fails to live up to gamers expectations, especially when it carries the name of two very popular franchises.

Despite its limited vocabulary, Oh... Sir!! The Insult Simulator is far more than just a novelty - it's absolutely superb. It's hilarious, therapeutic, and - thanks to unlockables and a stellar online mode - packed with longevity. Rarely does a game come along that's inexpensive, juvenile, and profound all at the same time. Definitely give this one a shot.

A pretty simplistic game and many people might look at this as a bad thing but I see this as actually what makes the game so fun.

In the end, I’m quite mixed about Beach Buggy Racing. On one hand, there are enjoyable elements that I’d love other mascot racers to implement, such as the career mode’s mission structure and the characters’ unique abilities. On the other hand, the frustrating physics and screen tilting make gameplay less than ideal. In addition, the uninspired tracks, dull presentation, and lack of online play leave a lot to be desired. Nonetheless, Beach Buggy Racing is still a decent game that kids may enjoy. As a cheap alternative to the much more expensive Mario Kart, it offers more than its price suggests.

This is not a game that will win any year-end awards but is worth at least checking out for those who have a yearning for more Captain America.

In the end, I think that an FMV game should offer more variety in locations and interactivity than The Complex. A one-location drama doesn’t necessarily carry through consecutive playthroughs all that well in this media. When you are skipping through scenes, you only begin to pay attention to iffy special effects and some extras who really look a bit out of place. The Complex has a well-written story, some witty dialogue, and a likable cast, but the lack of true branching for most of its running time dilutes its appeal beyond a few playthroughs. In the hunt for all the endings, you will most likely grow feeling indifferent to everything the story tries to say.

The ideas behind Conflict: Vietnam are there, the execution of the game just is not.

Dragon Quest I, II and III on the Switch are great picks, especially if you enjoyed the recent eleventh entry and wanted to experience the origins of this great series. However, these are ports of the mobile versions with some audio and visual enhancements. So if you have them on your mobile phone already, there is little point in picking them up on the Switch again, unless you really want to play them on your TV in full glory.

It absolutely nails the mechanics for a city-builder and makes it super easy to jump in and build a great city.

The sequel continues where the hit movie left off, but the action is constantly marred by repetitive gameplay and surprisingly uninspired visuals.

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.

While the different control types for the characters is super cool and all, the game only has fleeting moments of enjoyment before crushing you in defeat, leaving you with nothing to show for it.

In the end, the experience Firefall offers is one that’s almost there. It’s almost a fully engaging, entertaining shooter. It almost tells a fairly good story. Its systems almost feel worth the time, or money, you would put into seeing them through to their end. It’s almost there, but in the end, Firefall falls short.

The writing has its fair share of material that’s worth a few sharp exhales through the nose and sensible chuckling but the committed delivery of the cast is a nice surprise and adds value. If you’re a fan of the Explosm! webcomic series and shorts, then Freakpocalypse is bound to hold a measure of interest. Just don’t go in expecting too much.

All Zombies Must Die is a $10 downloadable game that fails to reach the bar it sets by its own absurdity.

GTA clones are a dime a dozen these days, but Luxoflux's True Crime franchise has stepped up to the mark with an engaging plot, and fun-filled free-flowing action.

Forced delivers this kind of pure enjoyment in spades, a feat not every developer can boast of having mastered. Give it a try and see if you can’t convince a couple of friends to as well, I guarantee you won’t regret it.

Overall, I had a mixed feeling about Anoxemia. The game is, by no means, terrible. It has a rather interesting story, although told in a minimalist style. It successfully evokes the ambience well with both music and aesthetics. However, I found myself unable to invest in both story and the environment. There is foreboding presence in the deep, but instead of being pressured or scared, I am just largely annoyed by the glaring flaws in the game design. If one could overlook these frustrating factors, this could be a somewhat enjoyable adventure game with a unique premise and solid puzzles. Unfortunately, these infuriating shortcomings require a great deal of willpower to overlook.

Games that hybridize several genres often suffer from a confused identity, but Medieval Kingdom Wars succeeds in fusing the grand and real-time strategy genres in a way that makes sense. The problem is, both modes lack the kind of sophistication that a single genre game might be expected to have. I wish it had a more compelling narrative and varied campaign and that each battle didn’t replay the same basic beats, but Medieval Kingdom Wars is both a reasonably successful proof of concept and should be of at least passing interest to both RTS fans and grand strategy gamers.

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.

Morkredd's main mechanic succinctly reflects my own thoughts on it altogether. The glowing orb represents life: punctuating atmosphere, inspired visual design, and a motivating gimmick. But when you begin to step away, as you wander outside its glow, you encounter death: day-one DLC, technical problems, an atrocious finale, and more. These severe disparities, bright day and atramentous night, imply even genre fans will be ambivalent towards it.

Really one of those games that can be compared to a roller coaster in many ways. It has a lot of upsides and a lot of downsides, but in the end it just depends on whether you like roller coasters.

The action on the ice is fantastic. It looks great and plays even better. However even with the beauty on the ice there is a lack of substance within the game that makes NHL 15 feel like it needed another year before being released on the new consoles.

Off-Road Drive is a good example of a game trying too hard to imitate reality when the technology behind it is simply not there and is unbalanced.

Any goodwill to come out Ancient Amuletor (there is a lot!) is largely ruined by a shocking lack of content. I don't know what the developer’s post-launch plans are but unless they offer the game for nothing over $5, there’s no reason to play this (admittedly) great game until there’s enough content to justify your time.

In the end, Crackdown 3 isn’t a bad game. It’s just... fine. It’s largely inoffensive, the combat is generally OK, the driving is harmlessly average. Graphically, the game looks alright and retains the finely cel-shaded look adopted by the 2005 game. It’s a fun enough to spend a couple hours with at any given time, be it hunting orbs or taking down Terra Nova facilities. I imagine it’d be even better with friends, being one of those games that’s fun to meet up and just goof around for a little bit. The thing is, though, Crackdown 3 feels stuck in 2005. Hero-based open world games, like Spider-Man, Just Cause, hell, even Skyrim and Grand Theft Auto, have either pushed the genre further in their own ways or made playing around in sandboxes fun, fast, and thrilling. Crackdown 3 isn’t bad, it just drives aggressively down the middle of the road.

While the movie wasn't exactly a resounding success for a Pixar-less Disney, the game is a surprisingly decent adventure that will please the younger gamers.

Disintegration falls somewhere between its spiritual forefather and the potential it could have achieved. Neither single-player nor multiplayer is satisfying enough to guarantee staying power in the ruthless battle for gamers’ souls.

Namco's brawler does thrill, but misses out on the crucial online play and a decent story.

Despite its many minor flaws and even significant issues, Wolcen nails that action-combat-loot dopamine drip that fuels the longest-lived games in the genre. Even after four years of pre-release tinkering, Wolcen is pretty messy, but enough fun at the core that the problems are worth dealing with, at least in the short term.

There’s absolutely no variety, not even when the lurking horrors start to crawl in and the characters are taken into a dream world once in a while. They, too, play out painfully similar to everything else in the game. As a reviewer, I’m obliged to play games throughout so that I can give an objective view of them. But I have a hunch that if I had purchased Achtung! Cthulhu Tactics for my own pleasure, I would have played it only for a couple of missions and then moved onto something more exciting. When the Cthulhu mythos is left largely untapped in the tepid action, the game is yet another addition to the long list of unsatisfactory takes on the subject.

If you have to play a game from the Hyperneptunia franchise, I suppose that Super Neptunia RPG is as good a place as any to start. Thanks to the “hero with amnesia” plot device it introduces, newcomers will be acquainted with a cast of characters that players of the series will probably be familiar with and maybe even look forward to seeing again. But brace yourself for almost immediate disappointment. The platforming, combat and quests have all been done much better by many other games and while the game references are cute and marginally unexpected, they aren’t enough to balance the scales in Super Neptunia RPG’s favor.

Sadly, Resistance's debut on the PS Vita is undone by the very concept it proves. In time, we may see first-person shooters thrive on this system, and that's a relief, but Burning Skies doesn't warrant a place among them.

I can’t help but think that Kandagawa Jet Girls is a rather half-baked attempt at a new media franchise to please Senran Kagura fans. With a more prudish approach to the looks and the game, the possible audience might even be wider than before but that would require a great game as an incentive. Beneath their lewd surface, Senran Kagura games were excellent third-person action games. Unfortunately, Kandagawa Jet Girls is a mediocre racing game at best as it fails in the essentials of the genre. It simply lacks the speed, the excitement, and the challenge to make it to the top.

The title could make for a thrilling spy game, but instead of Splinter Cell-style action, we get sub-par stealth, poor controls and dull plot.

Hardcore horror fans will appreciate it, as presumably they’re used to tolerating subpar gameplay and sub-subpar production values, but casual players would be better off sticking with the more venerable titles it draws influence from.

Morphite definitely has its place on the PS4. While its shortage of depth discourages extended play sessions, the game fulfills its desired role as an escape - not just from the real world, but the explosiveness of other games. The things you're able to do are a collective excuse to soak in the experience, and that's precisely why I wanted there to be more of them. Regardless, it does enough to ease whatever tension you might be feeling and replace it with a serene brand of happiness, making it a solid stress-relief title.

Jeremy McGrath's Offroad is an unchallenging, bland bore not worth your time or money. There are more engaging racers out there, retail and downloadable that will satisfy your driving needs.

With lackluster looks and a lame story serving as ballast, the combat would have to be spot on perfect to carry this game out of mediocrity. It’s good, far and away the best part of the game, with the scoring system adding challenge, thought and tension to the proceedings, but it’s not enough to push this into “must have” status.

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.

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.

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.

Auto Age: Standoff is a tough one to recommend at $20. There's a great game wanting to claw its way out, but there’s hardly any content, and it doesn’t go far enough with its concept to leave any kind of lasting impact. I was ultimately left wanting more. There are upcoming content updates, but without a solid singleplayer mode or a strong playerbase, there's simply not much to enjoy here.

I was annoyed by the writing and combat and a pervasive and unwarranted “too cool for school” attitude that began with the character creation screen and never really went away. Streamline the dialogue and expository overkill, re-tool the combat and YIIK: A Postmodern RPG would be closer to those classic games from which it draws inspiration.

Too much in the game depends on random checks on everything with not enough variables or interactions on the player’s side, giving you always a bad hand. It feels like you’re preparing for an arm-wrestling contest but someone breaks your wrist before that. With luck - and only with luck, mind you - you can make progress but all the trouble (read: multiple retries) you go through will no doubt make your head hurt. It’s as if there has been no play testing at all to see whether playing Vambrace is any way meaningful. If the developers themselves would realize what’s wrong with the game, it still wouldn’t help.

This isn't a game for me, nor is it a game for most kids I think, but it isn't hard to see what Sony saw in Okabu. As a game, it's not much fun, and as an aesthetic piece of entertainment, it's neither here nor there. However, it continues a proud, understated tradition for the PSN: make non-violent games that champion color, intelligence, and goodwill amidst the sea of edgy-ness that our beloved medium is wont to overproduce. Now if only the game design had matched the script, we'd have another Flower on our hands.

It would be harsh to call The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance Tactics uninspired, but it’s clearly more focused on promoting the Netflix series than providing a rewarding, standalone gameplay experience. Fans of the streaming show may enjoy seeing their favorite characters through a different and more interactive lens but those unfamiliar with the series may find Tactics’ story opaque.

The simple combat system works really well for the game and the storyline for me was really interesting. I would have liked more diversity in the single player mode, but the online mode really helped out its cause.

Puzzlers are supposed to thrive on a handheld such as the PSP. Alas no luck here, as this one doesn't provide enough to last you past 20 minutes.