It is a shame to say that Twisted Metal Head-On: Extra Twisted Edition wasn't able to recapture the same great flare that the PSP version had

Overall, King Oddball is a great game to turn on one in a while, perhaps after a rough game of Battlefied 4 or Titalfall, as it offers a fun, relaxing, and laid back experience.

Anyone with a fondness for classic, old-school strategy games will certainly enjoy the comfort-food vibe of Cossacks 3, at least in the short term. Where things become a little more problematic is with the overall lack of variety in both mission pacing and nation-to-nation unit design, where the small details are there but the big, gameplay-shaping differences aren’t so apparent or effective.

The real bright note though is a tightly constructed story that makes the slightly under two-hour experience worth going through, but left me wanting so much more.

Charnel House is too eager to scare its audience and in its rush to do so, it leaves some of its plot behind.

Tryst is a decent game for a decent price but know going in that it has a fair number of issues that (hopefully) will be patched.

I really wanted to like Rise & Shine. It’s one of the prettiest indie games I’ve played because of its beautiful and vibrant hand-drawn backgrounds, enemies and player characters. It’s also rife with fun, tongue-in-cheek references to the video games of yore. But that love quickly fades after spending hours and hours on a game that feels way harder than it needs to be. The demands and rigors of combat are unnecessarily stacked against the player, taking the form of frequent and cheap deaths. Love turns to fear, fear leads to anger, anger leads to pain, and pain leads to rage quitting and never wanting to play Rise & Shine ever again.

The train simulator market is not exactly burgeoning, but there are other games in the same space as Train Simulator 2018, most notably Trainz: A New Era, which features new graphics and physics engines and a slightly less -- though only slightly less so -- egregious DLC model. Still, the enthusiast has choices. While Train Simulator knows its trains and offers (at a price) a lot of available content, its outdated visuals, bland presentation, bugs and technical issues and inflated-price DLC make it hard to get on board with.

Trials Fusion isn’t a bad game at its core, but its design doesn’t take advantage of the best parts of the series well enough, and the technical issues surrounding it all are a bummer.

When the Past Was Around has beautiful art that I, also an illustrator, can really appreciate. However, the unfortunately jarring music and certain parts of the characterization fail to deliver the intended emotionality of the game. The story behind the sketchy, wordless narration is an important one but regrettably, the game doesn’t make it resonate in a way it matters.

Fallout 76 is a confusing experience, a discord of half-baked ideas and false premises but also some genuinely smart gameplay mechanics that allow solo players and groups alike adventure in equal terms. I want to desperately love it more but as it stands now, the game makes it pretty tough. Still, I will have my Frankie keep on going, no matter how stubborn that might be in the long run.

There's not enough variety here to sustain a full game, but efforts to make this into an Olympic game would likely have led to less focus on the ski jumping and that's not the answer here because the ski jumping itself is done so well. My recommendation here has to be measured because of the lack of variety even where there was room for more and because the gameplay loop feels off, but for the pure sensation of riding down that slope, Ski Jumping Pro VR is worth checking out.

A very mediocre Japanese RPG's, which unfortunately in this day and age that's just not good enough.

A decent adventure title for younger gamers, but don't expect it to please the masses.

If the Final Fantasy franchise has appeared intimidating in its more modern form, then Crystal Chronicles Remastered might be a decent entryway. The game is clearly its own beast. Again, I’m all for trying something new and if a lot of the things I found particularly annoying about the gameplay loop of Crystal Chronicles were overhauled, it could actually be pretty fun. The return to a sword and sorcery fantasy setting since Final Fantasy IX is in itself refreshing but that’s pretty much the only kudos I can muster right now. A product of a different time, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Remastered is a game that makes a hard case for itself to solo players.

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

Deadlight is, for the most part, a well-paced game that doesn’t linger very long in any one area or on one activity. It is also a rather short game, clocking in at about five hours, which is rather underwhelming for its price.

Your tolerance for weighed down controls and unpredictability determines what you’ll get out of Abyss Odyssey.

Its art style is unique but darkly opaque and as action/survival/roguelikes go, it doesn’t add much new to the genre. With wildly erratic difficulty spikes, the necessity for uninspired grinding and the inevitable and frequent loss of progress, Below is a niche game for a specific target audience that has enormous patience and determination.

Metal Wolf Chaos XD is definitely a game that will appeal to fans of quirky, kooky comedy. It’s a janky budget title that lacks polish in level design and game mechanics, but makes up for it in the weirdness.

Several technical issues aren’t game-breaking but they hurt the flow. As it its, some parts of the game take more perseverance than they should. All the problems bugging Ginger: Beyond the Crystal could be fixed with some serious patching. I really hope the developers rise up to the challenge as there’s clearly a fun and chirpy game bubbling under, something a whole family can enjoy together.

Pleasing aesthetics aside, Zwei hasn’t aged all that well in parts that matter the most. The game lacks the wit and charm of its sequel, the gameplay is unwieldy and the progress amounts often to guesswork. Everything The Arges Adventure does, the superior sequel The Ilvard Insurrection refines further - and beyond, as any good sequel should. There’s no guesswork in which one of the Zwei games I recommend to fill the need for a funny and smooth Japanese action RPG. In the end, The Arges Adventure is not a bad show, it’s just has passed its shelf life.

Human: Fall Flat enthusiastically proclaims its commitment to unscripted creativity, but in reality, it’s reading from the teleprompter. As a linear puzzle game, this is an enjoyable experience, but it offers little of what makes physics-based games enticing.

Trials of the Blood Dragon is a great idea on paper but when it messes with the design that makes Trials so fun to play, the whole experience nearly collapses under the weight of its ambition.

I just can't get into the story here and the gameplay isn't exciting enough to hold my interest. I blame the dull characters and the repetitive hands-off approach to the battle system, respectively. There's a lot of individual things I like, but the game drops the ball on the most important parts of JRPG in my opinion, namely the story and the gameplay. I honestly can't recommend the game to anyone other than the most hardcore JRPG fanatics who are looking for their next fix. I suppose there is a reason it took ten years to get this game on PlayStation after all.

If you already have a PlayStation 4 and want a wrestling game, WWE 2k15 will satisfy your wrestling urges, although next year’s game might be worth waiting for.

After tediously fiddling through all the menial puzzles, the ending just made me shrug my shoulders instead of giving me shivers that I was supposed to have felt. It’s too bad that the promising premise fizzled as soon as the gameplay showed its true colors, watering down the prevailing mystery in the process.

While it is technically the best version of Crysis out there, it is really only a slightly better version of Crysis 2’s mechanics and graphics. Because of that, Crysis 3 feels more like an expansion pack to Crysis 2 than a true sequel and more than likely not worth your time.

There’s a land of wondrous play and exploration somewhere in this premise, but Never Alone isn’t it.

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.

Sadly, the truly unique quality of proper airship-to-airship combat can't justify all blemishes that come with Guns of Icarus Online. It would simply be deceitful for this reviewer to say there aren't better, free, and readily accessible alternatives.

Fly Punch Boom is a fun multiplayer game that will keep you and your friends entertained. Although lacking a lot of variety for a single-player campaign, playing with a group of friends will bring laughter and frustration (the good kind). With a unique take on the genre, JollyPunch has created a title that is accessible yet tough to master. So, if you’re looking for a new fighting game that doesn't follow the formula, then Fly Punch Boom is certainly worth your time.

Maldita Castilla EX: Cursed Castile is very much a love letter that will satisfy people who yearn for the good ol’ days of arcade games; however, it carries with it the same kind of content, blemishes and all. There are no bugs or crippling design choices that ruin the game, but there’s little incentive to play it more than once unless you’re truly enraptured by the initial experience.

Grow Home is worth checking out if you’re looking for an interesting romp through a beautiful world with new mechanics in terms of platforming, just be ready to fall to your death and not understand why.

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.

On paper Sorcery is a game that seems perfectly suited for the launch Playstation Move, not a game to come out for the platform two years after its release. Sorcery ends up being held back by a lack of creativity. It manages to use the Playstation Move pretty well but everything else is easily forgotten.

There will be something here for those looking to scratch the Left 4 Dead itch, but Earthfall revels in simply functioning like it should, rather than standing out on its own. It exists in a limbo between a great and bad game, simply becoming a perfectly adequate but forgettable experience. Earthfall will be very heavily reliant on future updates to decide which side of the fence it falls on.

Though the idea of flying inside a spherical globe is cool, I’ve come to appreciate just how valuable a horizon is for collecting my navigational bearings (maps can sometimes be very confusing to look at). The lack of clear and defined objectives combined with a novel, yet disorienting, sense of place does make the adventure a little more confusing than it needs to be at times. When the flight controls, camera issues, and framerate drops become a problem (and they will), they are loudly disruptive to the meditative experience InnerSpace tries to cultivate.

In the pantheon of pinball tables bearing the Star Wars name, Rogue One runs close to the middle of the pack. Some exceptional visuals serve as standouts, but are not enough to carry the sadly banal play of the table itself. It never reaches the lows of the American Dad table, but unless you are looking to fill out your collection, Rogue One is nothing to go out of your way for.

Punch Club is a cleverly devised fighter management sim, and could have been better if not for the arduous stat decay system. The monotonous grind screeches gameplay to a halt, possibly demoralizing you to the point of quitting. The decay itself doesn’t need to be removed to improve this title. But if it was less harsh and appropriately factored in the pressure of the daily grind, it could have been more manageable. Punch Club is only for the most hardcore micromanagers who don’t mind the long, grueling road to fighter stardom. It’s challenging, but it manages to replicate the hardships of real fighters, who constantly toil against vicious diminished growths, but then achieve amazing feats in the ring.

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.

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.

The respectable Commandos series goes away from its RTS roots to a full-blown shooter, but loses much of the franchise's greatness in the transition.

The things that Insurgency does well can already be found in its original Source mod form while the new changes are not substantial enough to really make the game something worth trying out unless you’re completely wet behind the ears or looking to scratch an Insurgency itch.

Inside My Radio, as a concept, sounds more enjoyable than its execution.

I came away feeling like it was a launch title. It’s missing the robust features and course set that video game golf enthusiasts have come to know. It has a lot of the mechanics down well enough but the game doesn’t have enough content to warrant the price tag.

Misses the mark as the vague plot and unchallenging gameplay makes for a very tedious shooter.

I have to be honest, after only a few hours of playing the game, I got bored and lost motivation to keep playing.

The use of procedural animation and rag doll physics for a protagonist may pay off some day down the road once the idea has been refined. In this game, however, it usually just gets in the way of what is otherwise a charming and colorful platformer.

The easier difficulties might be a bit too easy for some but I found hard to be a challenge. Like I said previously, the game does start off a little slow. But if you give it time, you just may catch the fever.

SCEE London brings the whole Getaway British gangster feel to the handheld, with unfortunately the same dull plot and uneventful gameplay.

The Aquatic Adventure of the Last Human is both enchanting and incongruent, engrossing and annoying. The best moments are the quiet ones, when you’re just drifting among massive kelp forests and futuristic ruins. The sense of loneliness is masterfully implemented - you really feel like the last of your kind. There are plenty of messages in the subtext, some subtle and others obvious, but there’s a general trend of bad choices compounding on each other until humanity loses trust in itself. If the boss fights were replaced with more of this interesting lore, we’d probably have something great. Regardless, if you can handle a lot of trial and error in the name of a good story, go ahead and take the - wait for it - plunge.

Overall, The Escapists is not a game that I particularly enjoyed, but at the same time I didn’t dislike it either. It was a decent time, but that fun was rather short-lived. The game suffers from a lack of explanation and there's no real indication on what you can actually do. The depth is there, but only if you're willing to do and try every combination of actions and items over and over. The crafting system is mostly guesswork and random chance. But the freedom you have in planning your escapes, the strategy aspects, surveying the area and pulling off your breakout, are thrilling in their moments.

This RPG exudes some of the series' old school charm, but its dated combat and uninspired visuals fails to impress modern gamers.

Effie has a lot going on, but without any real direction. It evokes vague senses of nostalgia from games with clear visions, but fails to do much with the inspirations it draws from. The open world’s visuals are somewhat of a treat synergized well with the impressive shield-surfing gameplay. Mechanically unfocused, the game is ultimately hindered by an overly ambitious approach to the design. Effie might be worth looking for those who are okay with a simple, shallow platforming experience.

In the end, if you are just looking for a no-thrills platforming game, Awesome Pea may just be for you. Granted, it’s pretty short, but the price point is right and the controls and difficulty are on par. It also doesn't hurt that there are plenty of trophies to earn along the way! If that sounds awesome to you, this Pea is worth a shot.

As much as I wanted to get into DCUO there was nothing about it that made want to continue to throw down the monthly fees after the initial 30 day trial. There is some obvious potential in this game but at the time of this review there is not enough here to warrant the price of entry.

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.

Mother Russia Bleeds feels like the creators wanted to make a side scrolling beat ‘em up for adults, but it ends up feeling like what a middle schooler would come up with if you asked him what their idea of a mature game would be; one that’s full of blood, sex, and drugs. While the combat is challenging and often satisfying, the lack of variety between the characters and a graphically messy multiplayer keeps Mother Russia Bleeds from being an exceptional game.

While the original might have a following, this sequel fails miserably with drab story and pointless combat.

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.

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.

There’s fun to be had if you look for it, but if it’s a matter of choosing one group of tables over another, its certainly something I would take into account.

Unless you are a die-hard fan of the series, most of us can probably stay clear of this one.

The one thing that does however drag the game down is the poor computer AI, which at first can be funny but after a while just becomes a big annoyance.

This budget game serves up some basic and ordinary poker action, with decent Xbox Live support.

Nitrobike is a good idea, it does a lot of things right, but it isn't the final product I think Left Field Productions wanted it to be.

It’s not a great all-around experience but it gives you the tools to make some memorable moments.

Loot Rascals does a lot of things differently, but not necessarily better. It looks great and has a fun premise to it, molding together board games, card collecting, and dungeon crawling but the randomness of runs sucks some of the fun out of the game. Loot Rascals is easy to pick up and play and much like Nuclear Throne or Enter the Gungeon, it’s a great game for a quick run or two before bed. However, there is a real lack of progression throughout the game, making you feel like even if you spend hours with it you accomplish very little if you don’t beat the game. Sure, you might get to a new level, but once you die your progress is basically wiped out completely. Loot Rascals tries a lot of new things in its design and some of those things come across really well, but the lack of progression and roll-the-dice mentality make it somewhat frustrating to spend time in this otherwise pleasant and cheery world.

Pathologic 2 looks unlike anything on the market, and its genuinely surreal and emotionally twisted tale and graphics are at least unique, if not actually appealing. It won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, but neither was Carmac McCarthy’s The Road. Miasma of poorly explained and confusing systems and unforgiving survival mechanics are more clearly a problem and they make Pathologic 2 nearly impossible to enjoy on any level, and certainly not fun.

The variety of puzzles and things you do helps break it up so you’re not just endlessly trying to combine items to win, and you never really feel lost about what your goal is, which is a big plus for an adventure game in my book. It’s in these more traditional parts that it’s a little too slow and simple, though. Unfortunately, this slower, simpler stuff is what takes up the bulk of the experience.

Party Hard 2 is a serviceable, yet mostly bland game with little going for it besides some of its music and the tense gameplay. Planning out killings without getting caught was the true highlight for me. The story lacks writing prowess and it’s further held back by the low budget production values. Overall, Party Hard 2 is a game I’d only recommend to those interested in some virtual mass murdering.

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

Taking a break from the platform genre, Sonic goes racing ala Wipeout, with plenty of speed and more speed. Decent racer, albeit marred by a momentum-killing annoyance.

To me, Deep Sky Derelicts is a rare foil to the games of today. A title that hones in on creating exciting and rewarding gameplay systems is both difficult and rare. It’s the missing half to the atmospheric, but gameplay thin, Darkest Dungeon. That’s a real shame, too, because given the unique setting, there was so much space for creative expression. If you’re looking for another loot-based dungeon to crawl around in, there’s a solid game in here, but there’s just too many underwhelming things for me to get excited.

As much as I like the Bloodbowl tabletop, I've never felt that it translated well into video game form, and Dungeonbowl didn't change the way I feel.

There is fun to be had with Warriors Orochi 4, as I certainly found myself hooked in once I got going, yet I don’t recommend the game for the uninitiated. It failed to leave a strong lasting impression, and I lacked the emotional connection to the story concepts. If you’re a veteran of the franchise, you’ll find Koei Tecmo has made a solid entry to add to your library. If, like me, you’re still fresh-faced, wait for a sale or work your way towards it.

Suda51 is nothing if not subtle. His games always feel outrageous and over-the-top in ways that can be difficult to hold onto some measure of appeal. I love his stuff solely because I can never expect what he’s going to do. Travis Strikes Again was a huge disappointment because it doesn’t have the same high energy or memorable experiences of its predecessors. I do like all of the weird mixed media stuff going on but if you strip the presentation away, there isn’t anything left worth sticking around for.

An average first person shooter on a console that is full and rich of these sorts of games. The game has some nice touches, like the map editor, but in the long run it's just not a good enough FPS to stand out against the rest of the Xbox library.

Hitman: Absolution does stand out from the ocean of gray and brown shooters that populate the market, but not in enough good ways to warrant a recommendation.

Röki pretends to be smarter - and more emotional - than it really is. As hard as it tries to impress and touch, it left me feeling as if I had eaten a plate of stale pickled herrings. Röki has gameplay and pacing issues but the biggest annoyance is that the lovable character you will play as has not been given any humanly worth beyond her obsessive mission. Maybe I take things too emotionally but overall, when reaching the unfortunately cliched ending after 14 hours of playing, I felt I could have spent that time better. While I enjoyed the game in parts and admired its enchanting look, it left a sour taste in my mouth.

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

When viewed against the other two games in the series, Darksiders III is a disappointment. While I feel the gameplay is harder than it needs to be, I’m more concerned that the product seems half-broken in a lot of places. This is an upsetting follow-up to a great series and it deserves better.

The battles you encounter in both the single player and online modes are fun and can keep you entertained for a while. However, the gameplay became pretty repetitive after the first few fights.

Having introduced the revolutionary story-driven basketball title last year, Sony unfortunately takes a few steps back with an unpolished gameplay and severely dated visuals for its sequel.

Simply put, #killallzombies feels like half of a game.

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

There is an ideal way to approach Space Hulk: Deathwing, which is with a trio of Warhammer 40K fans and pretty modest expectations. In that situation, blasting through the game and taking turns with the four distinct classes can be a lot of fun. As a solitary experience, the lack of engaging story and characters, class limitations, frustrating AI and various technical issues tip the scale to the negative.

If the concept of Salary Man Escape’s brand of slider puzzles sounds like it scratches an itch, and you don’t mind suffering from genuinely difficult setups, you’ll likely learn to look past the faults in favor of sticking it to your virtual corporate masters.

In the end, Archangel makes a good first impression, but the fact of the matter is this is a game you’d play at a Dave & Buster’s. The on-rail nature of gameplay makes it better suited to an experience rather than a video game. There’s no reason to play through it a second time, either. Nothing about the two to three-hour story, the characters, or the gameplay made me say, “Gosh, I really want to play this again!” As much as I wanted Archangel to be a first-person Zone of the Enders, I do have to be realistic. That sort of experience isn’t possible on the platform yet. Maybe if it came with a Steel Battalion-like control system, it’d be a lot more fun and interactive. But considering the limits of the Move controllers, what I want the game to be isn’t possible right now. And that’s a shame because Archangel has some promise, and I wish I could engage with it more than I am allowed to. A decent way to kill an afternoon, though you might want to wait for the price to drop below $40.

Overall, it just exudes an overall lack of polish and detail, which, unfortunately, detracts from the few new features the game touts over other bus driving games and falls short on its ‘simulation’ aspect.

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.

There’s an old school vibe that permeates through The HD Adventures of Rotating Octopus Character. Its simplicity, difficulty and colorful, Japan-inspired visuals are a call back to a bygone era of games.

0RBITALIS succeeds at being much more accessible and artistic than most games where scientific accuracy is a core aspect of the gameplay. Unfortunately, complexity and artistic ability usually aren’t those games’ weaknesses; the unforgiving and uncooperative nature of reality is.

Papo & Yo leaves me conflicted. On the one hand, I couldn’t be happier that Vander Caballero turned to video games as his means for self-expression. Unfortunately, the uninspired, frustrating gameplay adds nothing to the heartbreaking story contained therein.

Obviously, PS5 and XSX versions of the game will look better but that doesn’t change the shallow gameplay. The recent Project Cars 3 was too arcadey for its own good and DiRT 5 follows on the same easygoing tracks. The game is just too meh all around. Winning races is always fun but if you don’t need to put any effort to it, it just isn’t all that rewarding or exciting. If you want your racing games easy-peasy, then go for DiRT 5 but those who crave for some real challenge are better off sticking to other, better titles.

Overall, this series is worth starting if you have yet to jump in, and it was more than good enough to have me looking forward to what I hope will be Season Two.

Demon Gaze II is a confounding experience, with enjoyable combat and a strong premise undercut by poor writing, inconsistent tone and graphics that really belong to a tiny screen. Hardcore fans of JRPGs that lie on the fringe of mainstream gaming might appreciate its quirky humor but for the rest of us, there are better RPGs to spend our limited time with.