The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing was a fun game when it came out for the PC in 2013. It was a hack and slash RPG that gave players yearning for more Diablo something to bide their time while great titles came out to refresh the genre. No one will say that this game changed or evolved the genre upon release, but it was fun and worth playing for the action-RPG crowd. However, the same cannot be said about the PS4 version. This is a poor port of a decent game that should be avoided. There are other action-RPGs to play on the PS4 with better performance that offer better value and experiences. Stay away from this version of The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing and either get the PC version or pop in Diablo III instead.

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.

This all may come across as overly harsh and a tad vindictive, but I really wanted to love this game. There's so many juicy elements in Valkyria Revolution that could have been molded into a truly wonderful experience, but all those pieces just never seemed to properly assemble. I appreciate that the designers tried something new with the combat, but trying to blend strategy RPG elements with a hack 'n' slash just didn't work in this case. If you're curious about the Valkyria franchise, my advice would be to pick up the HD remaster of the original Valkyria Chronicles. I can't speak for the two follow-up games released on the Vita, but I can say, with certainty, that Valkyria Revolution is not worth your time or money.

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.

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.

A serious lack of fun and no desire to break free of its own monotony are reasons enough to avoid the game altogether. Spend your money on something else.

With a shallow combat system and boring mission structure and unbalanced online function, Battle of Z is not for the faint of heart and can easily be skipped, but if you REALLY want to play a Dragon Ball Z game you could do a lot worse.

Regardless of the setting and the fantastic visuals, Adr1ft feels like an also-ran walking simulator with more rules and less explanation along the way. It’s a good distillation of the limits and how the genre both does and doesn’t work. It may have been a cool idea but it’s unable to deliver on the promise inherent in being trapped in space, resulting in something too slow, too tedious, and too unsatisfying when you reach the end of its too-long running time.

Naruto to Boruto: Shinobi Striker is not a great game. Though it has an entertaining character creator and some fantastic customization options, separate the game from the license for a second, and it becomes clear that Shinobi Striker is a sub-par action game and an even worse multiplayer experience. The game sets an interesting foundation for future Naruto games, if only conceptually, but no one save for the bravest of Naruto fans would likely enjoy Shinobi Striker in its current form. Better off next time, Naruto. Believe it!

Vergil’s Downfall is not fundamentally broken, but it’s over quickly and falls far short of the quality of the main game. It’s super disappointing.

There’s still some fun to be had in each game and the price is very low, but the ability to brute force you’re way through each one with unlimited continues means that only those who enjoy chasing their friends on leaderboards should purchase this first collection.

Conceptually, Repressed is exactly the type of game that appeals to me. Delving into the repressed depths of the mind provides plenty of opportunities to tell an immensely profound and intriguing story. In practice, however, Repressed is actually quite bland and uninteresting. Mechanically uninventive and stylistically dull, there was little that kept me engaged besides the passable but rudimentary story. Repressed is hard to recommend for anyone besides those that are completely sold on the minimalist aesthetic or a limited creative concept.

The outside looks good, but the moment you get close enough to interact with anything, it never ceases to reveal just how shallow it is. The missions, the few that actually exist, end the same way and are quite frequently unimpressive, the wasteland looks great but is boring to traverse and explore, and the few things that are good, like the combat, are mired with systems that are either a hassle to get access to or a hassle to deal with. It’s been a while since I have been genuinely disappointed with a game in almost every way. I don’t like this feeling. And neither will you.

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

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

My final opinion is that it could have used a lot more quality testing.

If you want a real survival horror then find something else because this one is not worth your time.

Beneath what I had originally found so interesting I found a game frustratingly vague, that held for me no wonder, nothing that drove me to want to explore or survive.

Swordbreaker: Back to the Castle is a bargain-price game, but a low price point cannot balance the scale against the lack of quality that casts a shadow over every moment of playtime. If its combat were better or its storytelling actually existed in some form beyond rudimentary, and if its quests or enemies were interesting, Swordbreaker might be worth a look. The open world RPG space is populated by excellent, well-made and entertaining games, but unfortunately Swordbreaker: Back to the Castle is not one of them.

Those hoping for a taste of the old good times best look elsewhere, as the game ruins the arcade classic with terrible camera and barebones-simple gameplay.

The unfortunately named Enhanced Edition fails to make a compelling case for its existence in any meaningful way, especially when you consider its asking price of twenty bucks can net you both the original Baldur's Gate and the far-superior sequel from a site like GOG, and downloading a few free mods that make them really shine takes mere minutes of your time. I would highly recommend that course of action instead.

Broforce is a fun concept that just never coalesces right.

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.

Girl fight is a difficult game to recommend. It’s clear to see where the developers were drawing their inspiration, however they have succeeded only in creating a game which emulates the bigger budget titles on a very basic level.

Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City is an unfortunate addition to an otherwise great franchise. With this being the second of three Resident Evil games coming out this year it would probably be best to just skip this one entirely unless you are a diehard fan who wants to see every game in the series. This title had a lot of great potential but falls flat on almost every part of its delivery and while it may not do everything wrong what it does right is hardly enough to save this alternate take on a great franchise.

Maize is a premise without a core. It’s corn without the cob. There’s no foundation in the gameplay for its various ideas – both good and bad – to stick to, and it leads to the whole experience feeling hollow. This could be forgiven if Maize was funny, or if the narrative was humorous but heartfelt. Unfortunately, jokes are the only component here, overemphasized over anything else, leaving the rest bare. This is just a comedy script devoid of any subtlety that has been reluctantly stapled onto a game.

I can’t recommend Shaq Fu: A Legend Reborn - it’s a joke that fizzles out quickly, and leaves a sour taste in your mouth.

There are too many strategy games out right now to warrant giving A Game of Thrones: Genesis a try. With games out there like Starcraft 2, Civilization V, and Total War: Shogun 2 it just isn't viable to play Genesis when it feels stale and unfinished. Even for fans of the books or show it just isn't a good enough game, even in the fan service perspective, to go out and spend $40 on. Do yourself a favor and read the books, then go play a better strategy game.