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

Had Reforged been an optional and free graphical update, undersold and understated and a gift to fans, I doubt there would be any backlash. Instead, Blizzard suggested a revolutionary re-imagining of one of gaming’s most popular titles and failed spectacularly to deliver it. Warcraft III: Reforged does not diminish the core experience that made the game great, but its relatively modest improvements are coupled with some missing features and technical issues that make it a disappointment.

There were many times in my playthrough of Hellpoint where I had the same delicious salad of feelings that I get with Dark Souls — frustration at my own carelessness, need to try again or satisfaction at besting a challenging encounter — but these highs were balanced by some disappointments with the design that seemed to intentionally frustrate. Even more than Nioh, The Surge, or Remnant, Hellpoint goes all in with the Dark Souls model. When it’s good, it’s great; when it’s not, it just reminds you why Dark Souls is and will be a classic.

NBA Live 16 feels like a game that has a lot of good pieces but it’s still looking for its James, Bryant, Durant or Curry to help get it to the next level. Until they find it, NBA Live will continue to be a middle of the road game of basketball.

Apart from the name, this is not a pet simulator, but rather a collection of quirky minigames. It's fun for a while, but lacks variety and depth to take it further.

The core experience in Tetris Ultimate is fondly familiar and as enjoyable as it was thirty years ago. As a product created to honor its legacy, however, it is lifeless and bland.

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

Keepers of the Void offers a nice change of pace to Darksiders III’s From Software-enriched action experience. If you’re playing the game for the first time or enjoying the New Game Plus mode that was added back in April, the added zone should provide a nice break from the main story (especially on harder difficulty modes). To that end, I just wish the puzzles were more exciting. If nothing else, I was pleased to see that the area of Limbo runs very well and at no point did I run into issues that plagued my experience last year.

With a load of quirky characters, great comedy value (I seriously laughed my chops off at the awesome dialogues and amazing voice acting) and original game ideas, Schrödinger’s Cat and the Raiders of the Lost Quark could’ve been an easy 5-star entry, but I’m afraid the developers did not fully take advantage of all they could offer us, to the point of insulting my craving for challenge, instead giving me unwanted repetition for the sake of extending the game’s duration.

Summer in Mara is as charming as it is frustrating. The game has a lot of potential but it feels rushed and unpolished. Hopefully, future updates will fix many of its issues. It has an instantly likable visual and a well-crafted world but the overall experience is blemished by awkward game design choices.

Every genre has a mechanic that a game has to nail. For a roguelike, it’s that tantalizing feeling of almost getting to the end and being just short of the power or skill to do so that makes it so fun to try again. While Warlander has a decent core combat system, it’s surrounded by frustrating mechanics, dull writing and a story that goes nowhere. Like its empty environments, Warlander above all feels like missed opportunities and unfulfilled potential.

No matter what your favorite character platformer series is -- be it Sly Cooper or Ratchet and Clank -- Skylar and Plux is likely a game that won't measure up to it. It is a game that can be forgiven for all of its flaws though, because so much genuine love went into the game that it is nearly impossible to actively dislike it. There is nothing cynical whatsoever about this game. Instead, it oozes with an almost childlike enthusiasm, which is something uncommon in today's environment of dark, gritty games and hopelessly bloated development budgets. It is that enthusiasm, along with the constantly changing music and scenery, that wholeheartedly carries the game and gives you the ability to overlook its shortcomings. The game may be guilty of relying on that sense too much, forcing you to look the other way at everything that it is missing or does wrong. Gamers who require more robust gameplay mechanics or more collectibles may find themselves underwhelmed by Skylar and Plux. They should still be able to appreciate the effort though, if not the result.

Visually striking, yet mechanically dull, Spirit of the North is all style and no substance. Tied with a minimalist story and no spoken words, the journey tries to be meaningful, but its self-imposed limitations make it hard to understand. It is loaded with vast, beautiful environments, which end up functioning as a double-edged sword as many areas felt labyrinthine in design. Often, the game felt pretentious to the detriment of the gameplay. Ultimately, Spirit of the North has its appeal, but I would only recommend it to players drawn in by either the visuals or the concept.

The base gameplay is solid, with smooth controls and the odd exciting mission. However the amount of content isn't large enough to keep you going for more than a couple of hours, though replaying certain missions with another player may extend that time.

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

NBA 08 for the PS2 may be the last time we see The Life on the PS2. Unfortunately Volume 3 just felt too familiar to the last two outings, and we're expecting much more for the third game in the franchise.

Necromunda: Underhive Wars is a lot like many other Warhammer video game adaptations. It has rugged charisma to it and I got really immersed in its customization tools, atmosphere, and mechanics but once again, the game lacks that final polish. Alongside the uneven implementation of gameplay ideas and dodgy AI, I experienced crashes and loads locking up, so the game is in a severe need of patching (luckily, exiting, and re-booting the game takes back to the latest autosave). If only one day we got a big-budget Warhammer game with appropriate finishing touches. Meanwhile, anyone seeking for a grittier and more personal and transparent XCOM-type could do a lot worse than give Necromunda: Underhive Wars a shot. It has many genre-firsts that should be applauded for.

While it may have its problems and feature lackluster content the games still hold up and are able provide an entertaining collection to fans of MK and other fighting games.

Overall Victorious Boxers: Revolution is a good game, worth a rental for sure, but more than that might not be the best choice.

There is no doubt that Crysis was a landmark game in the history of first person shooters and some gamers had to take a pass at the time due to its high system specs. Much of what made Crysis fun and innovative still holds up, but it is disappointing that the Remaster does little more than selectively improve the visuals and make relatively minor changes to the controls. Crysis was amazing in 2006 and all shooter fans should play it at least once, but Crysis Remastered is hardly an essential purchase for shooter fans in 2020.

Tower Wars feels as if it were designed specifically for hardcore strategists. With a tutorial that skips important concepts and the tendency for matches to become one sided, the result is an uncomfortable and frustrating experience for beginners.

Slender: The Arrival is the definition of a one-trick pony. But it’s a mangy-looking pony, and it isn’t especially good at its trick. It is a shaky start for a series that hasn’t left me all that excited for any sequels. Blue Isle Studios nailed the tense atmosphere, and with some improvements to graphics and story, it could be the foundation of a decent horror franchise.

Overall, Paul Cuisset's Subject 13 is challenging, but for the wrong reasons. There are perhaps a handful of very well-designed problems to solve, but most of the challenge comes from fighting the game's camera angle and infuriating controls. The easiest solution to those two problems would be a switch to first-person, as it is at the very beginning of the game. (I was actually rather disappointed when it switched from first-person to a fixed camera perspective.) Sure, the graphical fidelity might suffer a little bit from the closer perspective, but it would be so much easier to see and interact with the environment.

When a game carries the Tony Hawk label, that usually infers that it's going to be a good game - the series has just been that good. Downhill Jam is the first in the franchise to have failed miserably.

As of now it feels super rushed despite only being the second episode in the season. Hopefully it’s not a harbinger of things to come.

With its massive number of creatively designed set pieces, StarDrone VR proved itself to be more fun than I initially gave it credit. The virtual reality element adds a nice sensation of depth to the visual aesthetic, but I never felt the headset was necessary nor the definitive means to play. Replete with puzzles of varying difficulty and scope, StarDrone VR is a fun, pick up and play activity that won’t upset even the most sensitive of VR owners.

EA extends their NBA franchise for the next-gen 360, but sadly fails to refine the whole formula, resulting in an uneven and unpolished game.

You don’t have to dig too deeply to find that Golem, for all its inane faults, has some really interesting mechanical ideas for VR gaming. It’s one of the very few adventures that give you a sword to swing around in real-time and makes a concerted effort to make melee duels look and feel meaningful. And like I said before, it’s cool when it works correctly. The technical problems and physical discomfort were just too hard to ignore because of how actively they work against you, causing me to stop playing. From the needless complexity of the game’s pathfinding and a boring world to its physically bothersome movement mechanics, too often does Golem feel like a beast of burden.

Crossroads Inn might not be the first medieval sim (that honor probably goes to 2011’s The Sims Medieval) and there are quite a few castle builders out there as well, but as a narrowly focused genre blend of builder and sim, Crossroads Inn stakes out some specific territory. Whether the game reaches its potential to own that little niche depends on whether the developers can squash the many bugs that plague the game and degrade the experience of playing it.

The major downside to Battlecry was the repetitive nature of the game, which thankfully is not present anymore in the game.

This is not a good game, and its few shining moments make it all the more frustrating that it was released feeling so unfinished.

I know games like this take a lot of work from creators with a very small budget, but sometimes, an idea just isn’t that great.

Defying classic RPG storytelling , Anthem‘s missions and campaign lack the variety, momentum and character-building that define the best games in the genre, and especially the best games from BioWare itself. That said, the voice acting is often great, the environments are incredibly beautiful and the action can be fantastic but eventually Anthem feels like all that colorful combat, sound and fury are in the service of nothing very interesting or innovative.

I certainly appreciate the game existing on the eShop, but unfortunately, The Starship Damrey needed to have better storytelling and a better payoff to make the download worth it.

Chamber of Time is slow-paced, looks a bit drab and it can be repetitive and awkward to play. In a way, it’s much like Akko herself. She’s far from perfect but spunky and open-hearted, making her irresistibly disarming. There’s a strong positive vibe going on that rubs on you, and it helps in overcoming the game’s shortcomings. Fans of the anime series should look no further and invest in Chamber of Time to get their little witch fix.

In the end I found the game to be fun in small doses, but the repetitive levels and grindy gameplay turned me off.

As much as Battle of the Bands could have been, it ends up being a game that takes good ideas from other games, adds the very odd weapons, and gives a lackluster performance.

God Mode is a game that’s fun for about an afternoon, if that. Because of how dull the game is, there’s no real incentive to play for long stretches of time.

There’s a reason scope management is taught in game design schools. Overflow Games’ underestimation of its own limitations is the source of almost all of the faults in Cornerstone: The Song of Tyrim.

Way of the Samurai 4 is plain simple fun, but it is still fun!

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.

While RPGs and dungeon crawler games are my favorite style of hand held games, there are better options than Book of Memories. The Silent Hill aesthetic is pretty well represented, but the game itself struggles to maintain mediocrity. The game is great in short bursts, but fails to hold your attention for long periods of time.

Attractio is a good game that you can play in a weekend, share with your friends, or give your brain a complex challenge.

The game’s utter lack of compelling mechanics and scenarios, combined with a dreadfully dull world, make it a laughable proposition at fifteen dollars, and the most disappointing sequel I may have ever played.

In the end, Front Mission Evolved is not the disaster that many fans feared it to be, delivering an overall decent campaign and customizations for robot junkies to mull over. However, it is also an unnecessary diversion for the series, attempting to increase its mainstream appeal but ultimately having the opposite effect.

The game is flashy and can be pretty addicting while pushing you to your limits. It’s by no means a perfect game, but it’s not bad either.

The celebrated racer's modern incarnation gets bogged down by poor controls, repetitive races and the lack of online capabilities.

It's a pretty standard action RPG with simple controls and decent action.

It is rather hard to recommend God Mode. Even though it has competent mechanics, flat out there isn’t enough content to see you playing for more than a couple of hours, especially when there are full retail games out there with similar game modes bundled in as well as with full campaigns and full multiplayer offerings for the same, or lower, price.

As a point-and-click adventure fan, I liked Subject 13 despite its flaws. There were some shining examples of environmental puzzles and an interesting story that hooked me. Due to the faulty controls and the horrible final puzzle, I can only recommend this game to the most devout fans of the genre. This game was made for those fans, as the Kickstarter suggests. With just a bit more polish, Subject 13 could have been a solid example of a modern point-and-click adventure.

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

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.

The randomized nature of the game does allow for new-ish experiences each time you play, though I wish the game took it further, such as making Freedom Town modular so that its camps, playground, open-air theater, and places of worship could be moved around and really shake things up. As it stands, The Church in the Darkness is a decent exploration of cults from the perspective of those participating in it.

Its puzzles are frustrating not because they are hard, but because cost-management means you spend more time trying to figure out what parts can be deleted so you have can build elsewhere.

As a first game this was actually pretty impressive, and although the mechanics could be a bit frustrating at times it was still worth it to put the work in and enjoy fishing.

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 you like fighting games and are looking for a very light-hearted not overly dramatic fighting experience, then you should check out Samurai Shodown V because it offers just that.

While not broken, it’s simply not that much fun past the initial “OMG I’M PLAYING AS A SUPERHERO!!!!!!” moment. It saddens me to say, but even for free, I can find better things to do with my time.

I wanted to like Prime World: Defenders as it really had me going for the first few levels. I had a couple of close calls where my HP almost went down but I managed to keep it perfect with well placed towers. This exciting back and forth between me and the enemies rarely showed its head again during the rest of my playthrough.

No character differentiation, the lack of arenas, the frustrating gameplay, inconsistency of AI and the unheard of lack of online for a car game makes this game feel incomplete. After about three hours you may never pick this game up again, unless you have a game night with friends.

You get the sense that the developers are simply going through the motions and don't didn't bother to offer a refreshing take on the genre.

Peaky Blinders: Mastermind isn’t a bad game by any means, it’s just a familiar one. It captures the tone of Birmingham really well, and exploring this world can be fun at times, but otherwise, nothing else really sets itself apart. For puzzle adventure fans there are plenty of other options that may have more to offer, but fans of the show may find some enjoyment in this title despite some of its shortcomings.

Werewolf: The Apocalypse - Earthblood is such a schlocky, longwinded title that's complimentary for this schlocky "B-game." There's a potent stealth-action template and renowned universe to explore that — sadly — neither of said hopes are fully actualized here. That said, the valiant attempt deserves some credit. Should genre fans go in with modest expectations, perhaps they'll excitedly sink their teeth and claws into it.

Neat ability to create monsters from discs, but repetitive gameplay will please only its hardcore fans.

It’s repetitive, unrewarding, and confused.

Nintendo release another title that makes perfect use of its quirky controllers, but with just a few truly memorable games in the collection, it's best as a weekend rental.

Square Enix's track record is questioned here, as the update to the 'SaGa' franchise fails miserably due to a disjointed plot and lack of directions.

There are better shooters out on the market.

Although some may have fun with Rabbids: Alive and Kicking, the overall package is far from optimal. When your load times last longer then your mini games that poses a major issue. If you were looking at buying this game because you enjoyed the Rabbids games that are on the Wii, Alive and Kicking kicking doesn't live up to the bar set out before it.

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

It needed a little more tightness and guidance in some way that it just didn’t have in the end.

It’s a particularly dire case of style over substance, putting you through an easy, unremarkable rollercoaster ride that you’ll play in an afternoon and forget about a couple days later. And with the number of quality family titles and platformers to choose from this year, I just don't see a place for a game like this. There’s a point in the weak story where Classic Sonic has to go home, making Tails feel sad. Sonic cheers him up: “I’m sure we’ll run into him again.” Well, 3D Sonic, with Mania’s quality and success, I'm sure we will too. It’s you I’m worried about.

The delightfully cute children's tale gets a movie, and naturally a video game too. Pity it's not that good and will bore the younger gamers away in no time.

Although Dynasty Warriors 9's hack-and-slash fighting is fun for a while, and it contains a deep roster of characters, a sprawling story and an even larger landmass to explore, it's hard not to conclude that the franchise is in need of a more radical re-imagining than this installment provides. While there is challenge to be had in the boss fights and the carnage of the large-scale battles, Dynasty Warriors 9 feels awfully familiar.

The computer AI is frustrating and the shooting mechanics are not the best of the bunch.

What Sinner: Sacrifice for Redemption ultimately lacks is the kind of flexibility and variety that makes the Souls games so engaging. I actually think that Sinner’s bosses are interesting, well-designed and sort of terrifying, and in the context of a game with a fleshed out story, character-defining progression and better pacing, those bosses could be memorable level-ending encounters. In its present form, Sinner: Sacrifice for Redemption feels like a proof of concept tech demo that badly needs to have a real game built around it.

This latest AC continues to cater for hardcore fans, as casual gamers will be turned off by the absence of a story and online multiplayer support.

For someone looking for a new shooter, Special Forces Team X fits that description. For 15 dollars, the price point is a low enough point of entry that you should feel you’ve gotten what its worth out of it by the time its lack of character becomes all emcompasing. As sad as it is to say, the liberal application of glitter might have gone a long way. Or tanks. Nothing wrong with some tanks.

This is one of those games that of course tried to put the "open ended" gameplay into play, but failed to do that, and threw in some clunky controls with it.

I want to be as explicit as possible and say that Epic Mickey 2 is not worth your time. A bad camera system, a poor help system, bad AI and the lack of substantial Wii U features make this game dull, uninteresting and frustrating.

If the combat was more fun and parts of it didn’t feel so cheap, this series could have some legs, but for the third entry in the franchise, it still feels like it has a long way to go.

While the first The Amazing Spider-Man could have been a great launch point, The Amazing Spider-Man 2 feels like the same thing all over again with, at most, half steps taken to improve.

Whispering Willows has some pretty interesting ideas but most of them are never truly realized.

Koei's epic brawler continues its adventures on the PSP, and improves a bit from the washed-down original with decent multimedia and a large cast of fighters.

Barring the possible subtext about adventure game protagonists (which may be entirely in my head), the game is artistically bankrupt – it copies ideas, spouts constant references in lieu of jokes, and features a story so flawed that even its own writers seemed to give up by the end of it.

A solid rhythm game and probably one of the best to ever be on a handheld, Michael Jackson the Experience is a great offer for fans of music games or if you just love yourself some classic Michael Jackson songs. The audience may be limited because of the single artist in the game but if you can appreciate Jackson's music or just love any music game than Michael Jackson the Experience HD is definitely worth checking out.

If you like Bomberman, there is no reason not to check this game out, it's a perfect weekend rental.

Koei jazzes up their flagship franchise just in time for the holidays, but doesn't seem to offer enough to warrant the asking price.

Sumioni won't set the world on fire, but it finds ways to be challenging and entertaining and I see it taking the road that leads it to becoming a cult classic.

This game is worth neither your money nor your time.

Were Eclipse: Edge of Light released prior to the PlayStation VR and even the HTC Vive, it might have been a good showpiece for virtual reality gaming. By bringing it to the PlayStation 4 after the platform has gathered a fine collection of similar, and better, sci-fi experiences, Eclipse feels ancient, an artifact from the first generation of VR. There are better games available on the platform - Farpoint, Obduction, hell even Skyrim VR - that make great use of the technology to create compelling and mysterious adventures despite the system’s limitations. VR-enabled or not, I came away feeling that Eclipse: Edge of Light was very middle of the road. It’s not terrible but it won’t leave a lasting impression.

The game has a solid storyline, and some interesting ideas, but fails to really do much with it at all.

Believe it or not, there is fun to be had in Cyberpunk 2077. Night City is an amazing place to explore and parts of the gameplay are kinda fun. But for all the promises and potential of a game that spent eight years in development, is this really it? The Witcher 3 managed to grow into a powerhouse of a game by the end of its lifecycle. Perhaps the same will be said about Cyberpunk 2077 in a year’s time? Maybe.

If a little more effort and refinement had gone into the game’s level design, those feelings would have been stronger.

I truly believe that Beenox needs to re-look at how they develop their future Spider-Man titles because games like Edge of Time give me little reason to ever want to play another Spider-Man game again. Sure the game is competent, but worth recommending, not in the slightest.

I really can't recommend Tiny Troopers for the PC. Even ignoring my own issues with the trooper design, I think the publisher's are asking a lot and not delivering enough for the $9.99 price tag. While the controls are tight and responsive, I think this title is one better left to the quick play opportunities of the less expensive mobile market.

It’s certainly not for everyone, but for those willing to look past the bumps and bruises, there is a decently fun time to be had with Gemini: Heroes Reborn.

Despite having some cool narrative hooks and an overarching premise that will span several player-influenced chapters, City of the Shroud lacks a coherent, consistent tone and central character about whom we care. Verbose and in need of an editor's red pencil, the writing falters when it tries to be funny and the combat lacks fluidity, variety and intensity. City of the Shroud contains some original ideas but the game built on them doesn't quite do them justice.