The Battle Cats POP! is a game that's as fun as it is weird. When it's not putting you in time out with the energy meter, it can be addictive as hell. Too much of its free-to-play roots are still present, but even with those elements it's still a worthwhile time killer.

A thrilling, hectic vehicle shooter that's quite a bit deeper than the forebears that inspired it.

The blemishes are raw and sore, the flaws impossible not to gawk at. This is what took another five months? It’s a damned shame that only adds to the increasingly sad story of Street Fighter V -- an amazing fighting game that is almost impossible to recommend.

BoxBoxBoy! has a simplistic elegance to it. You can look at one screenshot or watch several seconds of video and understand what it's trying to convey. For that reason, it never really dives into new territory in any significant way, but it does everything so well that you won't really notice it.

For folks still entertained by the base content, it's probably safe to upgrade with the assumption that the next two expansions will at least be decent. After Bespin, I'm fairly confident they will be.

LEGO Star Wars: The Force Awakens still feels limited in nature, but it's a better, more pointed effort than Marvel's Avengers, which was all over the place.

Similar to Katamari Damacy, WarioWare, and other inane Japanese creations, the heart of these games are really in their core, catchy repeatable gameplay.

Drawful 2 is a phenomenal vehicle to waste away an entire evening with your friends doubled over in fits of laughter. It's hard to care about the lack of real innovation when tears are blurring your vision and you can't catch your breath from laughing so hard.

Inside stands on its own merits as a superbly captivating and moving experience, one that's bound to be on your mind in the time you spend away from it.

Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness is a weird game in that it's a by-the-books RPG one minute, and a completely new feeling the next.

An embarrassment to the series.

Heart & Slash is a hardcore game built on top of a niche genre, but I think a lot of people will appreciate it. Even then, those same folks won't dig the frame rate and camera issues, but the juice is still worth the squeeze.

"Sameness" defines 256. It's Pac-Man, with its classic gameplay intact, twisted to the side with an endless runner tint instead of a level-based progression system. It's good, but could have done much more and built on the killer advancements that were made in Pac-Man Championship Edition DX. Maybe that's expecting too much, because for five smackeroos, you could do a whole lot worse.

It's just a shame there isn't way more game here. If this truly is the start of a franchise, I'd potentially be up for more titles, but I can't deny how much this sparse pilot entry leaves me wanting.

If you're not absolutely crazy about the settlement building aspect of the game (or trying to build an online empire of clickable content), this is a hard pass.

VA-11 HALL-A is a damn fine video game, and that’s the bottom line.

I encourage everyone else to give Zero Time Dilemma a try -- just make sure you play the first two games in the series before you do.

The best thing to come out of Trials of the Blood Dragon is that we get a continuation of the Blood Dragon story and a setup for a possible proper sequel. Other than that, it's a forgettable jumble of things that don't live up to either the Trials or the Blood Dragon names. It's kind of ironic that Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon is one of the best-executed novel gimmicks in recent memory, because taking that idea and tweaking it to a new extreme has made Trials of the Blood Dragon one of the worst.

While folks probably won't be rushing out to buy a Wii U for it anytime soon, the famed publisher has once again proved that it is at the top of the food chain when it comes to JRPGs.

It still has a lot of baggage to unload (the 3DS and Vita ports aren't even dated yet), but most Mega Man fans will find solace in the fact that it didn't end up being a disaster. Other than the art style, of course.

I'm not a fan of One Piece: Burning Blood and it's not because of the unfamiliar source material. The combat here just isn't that fun, and no amount of colorful anime action will change that.

Forced Showdown is a game that left very little impact on me. I played it, it was a game, and I understood every part of it. The parts come together nicely, but aren't mechanically deep at all. Combat is simple, even with the card system at play, the structure is extremely repetitive, and everything else just falls in line around that.

Mech Land Assault falls completely flat. The mechs are great, but they also make missions and liberating towns way too easy (the same way the jetpack made flying way too easy and thereby less interesting). There are only two missions, both of which are completely bland. Oh, and also you're forced to liberate the entire DLC island because if there is one thing that people were clamoring for, it was more town liberations. Good lord, is this season pass over yet?

RPGs rarely hold my attention but I happily sank my time into this one no problem. There's enough quality content here that it feels like the developer or publisher is selling itself short by setting the price so low, as I would have easily been satisfied with this at double the price. It's even more impressive knowing the game was developed by three people.

The destruction doesn't have much of a satisfying crunch, exacerbated by the floaty ball controls when you're in peak destruction mode. The load times and egregious re-purposing of assets and areas kill any desire I have to get high scores on holes. And it doesn't even lean into its anachronistic, extreme-sport silliness thanks to its sterile Unreal 4 tech demo aesthetic and character-less "world tour." It's fun for a bit and then exhausts itself completely.

While it was easy to ignore the first time around, nearly two years later this non-starter of a mode stings a bit more. Sure, the core is just as strong as ever and arcade mode still exists, but even with that in mind, Revelator's new narrative isn't even compelling.

The main knock here is that Marrakesh almost feels like three unrelated areas (school, consulate, public) stitched together -- there's even a secret, sterile-looking corridor that basically connects the school and the consulate.

Not a terrible game, not a great game, and from my point of view, not worth $40. [Tested with Rift]

If Dungeons 2 [were] just a competent dungeon builder held back by a few technical bugs and some bad interface design, it might be something worth checking out. As a dungeon builder horrifically Frankensteined to one of the lamest RTS experiences I've played in years, its an unfortunate monstrosity that should be safely avoided.

If you're looking for a puzzle game that will make you both laugh and jump, I can easily recommend Please, Don't Touch Anything, even if you've played the original. For $15, you get hours of gameplay in a polished experience, which is a steal compared to most of the other expensive titles on the Oculus Store. [Tested with Oculus Rift]

It was so hard to acclimate to the changes and suffocating AAA mentality after the original was near perfect, but I think once people get over that initial shock, they'll come to adore it in spite of that.

In many ways Raiden has been left in the dust by its successors. The series that have survived have moved on and tried new things in an attempt to remain relevant, whereas MOSS is content on clinging to old-school sensibilities.

The majority of its levels are slow-paced and exploration-based, and there's something surprisingly cathartic about gradually lighting up the entirety of an area. It's just too bad that Brainy Studio wasn't comfortable enough to stick to TurnOn's strengths and had to turn to alternative sources for its energy.

I never thought we'd see Odin Sphere again, but here we are with Leifthrasir. Even if it kept all of the classic frustrations as is it would still be worth checking out, but Vanillaware and Atlus have somehow managed to cater to both crowds with the remake. This game is required reading, and now is the time to curl up and see what you've been missing.

An uncompromising game to get into, never once changing gears from its difficult plateau. It’s firm but mostly fair, where your failures are usually based around that one lapse into laziness. But when you play back your success, and see this 20-minute incremental strategy turn into 40 seconds of ferocious B-movie action, it’s a violent ballet that even John Woo would be proud of.

If you’re looking for a jump-out action packed horror game, The Town of Light is not for you. But I urge you to open your mind and consider it a separate learning experience.

It is a joy and a treat to spend time with a world so different, so unique and intriguing. Even if it is a dying and depressing one.

However many little nagging issues I have with Wild Hunt (the combat is still a bit too simplistic), Blood and Wine is the best The Witcher has ever been since the first game. I came in merely expecting a bigger Hearts of Stone, but ended up getting something more expansive in nearly every sense of the word.

While the robot motif comes in half-cocked, Planet Robobot is still a safe, serviceable Kirby game. After beating the story and reflecting on it, many elements felt like just going through the motions, but those motions haven't gotten stale yet after nearly 25 years.

It's a very short game that still manages to be far too long.

You can't help but take note of the attention to detail immediately, even during the first few seconds of booting it up and watching a random character emote on the title screen. This arena shooter (not a MOBA) looks, sounds, and feels great, with the polish of a Pixar film without feeling overly childish. That extends to every facet of the experience, from its 60 FPS frame rate (even on consoles), beautiful locations, and insanely detailed character models.

If you are absolutely starving for more Fallout 4 content, Far Harbor will give you another impressively large landscape to explore and some great side content to dig into. If you were already tired of Fallout 4 and hoping the expansion would provide something unique enough to justify coming back, this isn't it.

A solid game that definitely has an audience. Might lack replay value, could be too short or there are some hard-to-ignore faults, but the experience is fun. [Tested with Oculus Rift]

This is the kind of game where the people who are going to play it and love it already know they are going to play it and love it.

In the buffet of 3DS RPGs, Langrisser Re:Incarnation Tensei is the day old, slimy tilapia Golden Corral employees forgot to take out. Other than the fact the game didn't crash on me, there isn't an iota of quality to be found. I knew I was going to have a rough go at it when I booted up the game and realized the developer switched the traditional roles of the "A" and "B" buttons for no goddamn reason. But that was only the tip of the poor execution iceberg that is Langrisser Re:Incarnation Tensei; a game I have no qualms calling the worst RPG I've ever played.

Developing this project must have been a massive undertaking, because it somehow manages to not sacrifice the core tenets of the series while staying true to the ever-expanding source material of the Warhammer universe. After nearly two decades of historical battles, having the chance to command a magical undead army is a breath of fresh air.

Yet, I can't stress enough how much I loved The Call of Starseed, it hit all the right spots for me. The story feels like the dark adventure films of the '80s and '90s, the voicework is great, and the immersion is unmatched. [Vive Tested]

Now all I'm hoping for is the sequel that this is a little too set up for. I'm hoping it goes the Diablo route and lets me go to a heaven dimension to blast some weird, fu.ked-up angels. Uh, sorry. I've been playing too much Doom. I'm going to go rip up a steak or something.

I’m really disappointed in Shadwen and certainly wouldn’t recommend it, but it’s still difficult for me to write it off completely. If you can get through the wonky controls, the pants AI, and the visual stylings that are just a blur of identical guards and barrels, and the endless escort mission featuring the most annoying little girl ever, there are small glimmers of a good game shining out from the cracks.

As it stands, and as a review of a product, Back in 1995 is a gimmicky curiosity, not unlike its graphical approach; flat and askew, with some semblance of structure if you squint between the lines.

At 10 hours for the main story, Hearts of Stone is rather brief given the sprawling scale of Wild Hunt, but with that brevity, it never overstays its welcome. It melds well with the overall themes of the core adventure even if it feels wholly detached from it, but sometimes all you need is more Witcher-based antics.

Knee Deep is still an overall good experience, but it's clear that the final two episodes don't live up to the game's potential.

Bejeweled Stars is a fantastic example of what the developer is capable of, and it is only held back by its insistence to monetize users at every turn.

The game is smothered by a poor camera, an excess of short load screens, a forgettable campaign, simplistic missions, portions of undubbed dialog and an overall lack of polish. But even with all that, I still managed to have a bit of fun pulverizing the bad guys with a little help from some scantily clad girls online.

If you're a fan of games like AudioSurf and own a Vive, you owe it to yourself to pick up Audioshield. It's an incredibly polished VR imagining of the generate-music-into-levels concept, and it was only let down by the physical realities of how gross VR gets after energetic use by multiple, sweaty people. [Tested with Vive]

All told, there's a decent game in here somewhere, but it's bogged down by annoying difficulty spikes and movement and aiming controls that never feel quite right. Even without those issues, Rocketbirds 2 does little if anything we haven't seen before. Its premise and world can only take it so far.

Valkyria Chronicles Remastered is just as great of a game as it was eight years ago. Having it perform better and run smoother is a gift. A few things hold it back from perfection, but I'd rather have a war game strive for something new and risky like this than go with safe boilerplate action sequences. I'm happy Sega took a chance on this one.

Stellaris is easy to comprehend and exciting to execute, which is a perfect combination for a genre notoriously difficult to break into.

Nearly 14 years after first bursting onto the scene, Melty Blood has aged to the point of near-perfection. While a few aspects of the package leave something to be desired, the fact remains that, at its core, this is a supreme fighter with a diverse roster and deep, compelling mechanics that merit your attention.

No hyperbole, Kathy Rain is yet another milestone in this resurgence of old-school point-and-click adventures.

I'm not sold on Battleborn's commitment to the MOBA genre but there's something fun there underneath all of it. I'll probably hop on occasionally to play Capture throughout its lifetime while the bulk of my efforts are spent on more polished shooters.

I never want to stop playing Pocket Card Jockey. This game hit me the same way Tetris hit millions around the world back in the 80s.

That the interpersonal relationships aren't overshadowed by $400 million in pirate gold, or by hundreds of dead mercenaries, is a testament to the caliber of storytelling.

Only for the most hardcore VR enthusiast, Bazaar gets the job done if you're looking for cheap thrills for an afternoon. Like most tech demos, it could stand to have most of its facets expanded upon (full-on flight would be cool), as developer Temple Gates Games is definitely onto something. [Oculus Rift Tested]

There's a fascinating story here, but it's seemingly stretched out just to justify a price point comparable to That Dragon, Cancer, at the expense of quality.

It's the kind of oddball party novelty you play once with a group, get your fill of, and don't touch again until the next distant get-together.

The deciding factor on whether or not Chronos is worth the $50 asking price is probably how much you love Zelda games or how hard up you are for something that feels like a fully-realized game for the Oculus Rift. Even with satisfying combat, an art style reminiscent of Guillermo del Toro, and virtual reality, I can't help but feel $50 is a smidgen too expensive. I guess that is the price you pay as an early adopter of VR. [Tested with Oculus Rift]

While the bland nature of the dungeon designs and ease of the adventure make it difficult to recommend to hardened DRPG players, those looking to get into dungeon crawlers may find the simplicity of the title a poor representation of what it usually found in the genre.

The main place Hitman continues to struggle is on a technical level. On the PlayStation 4 I'd need two hands to count the crashes I've experienced all week (plus one freeze necessitating a hard reset) and while the long load times aren't as much of a problem this time given the extra slack I found the lax coastal town to offer, it still does put a ding in a game that otherwise encourages you to try new things at the risk of failure. On the whole, though, Sapienza feels more robust than Paris.

Forget Crysis, The Climb is Crytek's best achievement in a long while. Is it worth $50? That depends entirely on how sold you are on VR. [Tested with Oculus Rift]

As for the base game in Soda Drinker Pro, just don't.

King’s Quest: Once Upon a Climb isn't the most enthralling tale I've played, but I'm still very much all-in on the series and was grinning throughout. It's a nice slice of life with a likable cast, and with the goodwill this reboot has gained so far, that's all I need.

Koi has an alluring exterior, but is ultimately a shallow puzzle game lacking in both focus and direction. As someone with an interest in Chinese culture, who has been following the reintroduction of foreign consoles into that market with great interest, this is a disappointment.

Despite some repetition and a handful of weird glitches, it'd be hard for me not to recommend Stories: The Path of Destinies. The "Goosebumps" kid in me was just too excited to have branching narratives from a developer that had fun with the concept instead of using it as another box to check in its marketing plans.

Really, it's hard to find anything wrong with Severed. It obliterated my conceptions of how a touch-based game can play, it looks breathtaking, and it gave me a reason to break out my Vita.

Aliens vs. Pinball is great, both as a novelty and as a serious set of tables. Whether you're just a fan of Aliens stuff and like the idea of a fun way to kill a few minutes here and there, or the kind of fanatic that will obsess over a table, playing over and over again to complete all the objectives and set a massive score, you can't go wrong.

What We Deserve is an action-packed conclusion, but I wouldn't necessarily call it satisfying. It's interesting, because this Michonne series in general hasn't been the best side project, but it's far more satisfying than say, Jurassic Park, which was a failure all around. Grab it all on a sale if you really like the first two seasons.

Alienation is one of the best-feeling twin-stick shooters I've played, so I can't be too bummed. It wasn't long before I had that realization, and now that I'm 20 hours and several character save files in, I'm even more convinced. Housemarque could stand to flesh out the endgame content and also add support for local co-op, but even if it doesn't, I love what's here.

Sega 3D Classics Collection is an uneven package, but nothing outside of Altered Beast is what I would consider a "bad game."

That said BlazeRush is easily recommendable as one of the experiences to show off your fancy new toy if you get a Rift. It certainly has that initial "wow factor" even though it isn't the kind of game that comes to mind when most people think virtual reality.

While the game is playable on both desktops and the Oculus Rift, the difference is minimal. Playing on the Rift makes it easier for those with the manual to keep from sneaking peeks at the screen, while also using your main computer screen as a location to pull up a copy of the manual, but it is just as easily played on any PC. [Tested with Oculus Rift]

As far as playing this in virtual reality on the Oculus Rift, I can't recommend it. Maybe it is just me, but every time I've ever tried to play the game on the Rift I've gotten physically ill. I managed to stomach about half the game before switching over to the desktop version to finish it up. It's one of the creepiest experiences available for VR at the moment but I just couldn't stand it consistently...Only clocking in at roughly two and a half hours, the whole experience is over rather quickly, but that's enough time to give players a clear satisfying story for those that paid attention to notes. It isn't all that innovative but truly, it doesn't have to be. If you're playing this, you're playing for the narrative. [Tested with Oculus Rift]

If MLB The Show's new MO is just coasting on the good gameplay and providing minor tweaks to disparate modes, each with their own appeal (or lack thereof, depending), then there's no greater candidate for games-as-service that I can see. Because there's good money in it, however, I doubt we'll drop the yearly release format. It would at least be nice to cut the PS3 version, provided that the freed-up resources would make the yearly changes a little less incremental. Still, the baseball itself is as good as ever, and one of the better modes, Road to the Show, is far less clunky this time around.

Ultimately, Star Fox Guard's relationship to the adventures of Fox McCloud is skin deep.

Hearing about how different Star Fox Zero was compared to its inception, it's almost like Miyamoto jettisoned most of the new ideas in favor of playing it safe due to complaints from testers. Even with Platinum's involvement, it's a confusing project that isn't quite sure of itself, wanting to try new things while simultaneously reigning it in. Despite these blemishes, I enjoyed my time with it.

As a mostly outdoor affair, the layout is a tad scrunched, and sadly, the indoor areas are too tight-knit for their own good.

Once the game begins and things actually have to be rendered in motion, the facade slips away and the game's unfortunate, misshapen, true form is revealed. Outside of the fantastically realized hallways and background details, everything else looks like trash.

As a product for humans though, I can't see Wasteland Workshop as anything but a bad buy. A cynical ploy to pad out the “value” of the Season Pass and maybe milk a few weirdos like me who just can't resist neon lights.

Bravely Second is a missed opportunity in many ways. It's too similar to the original to woo a new crowd, and any risks it takes are narrative-centric and mostly fall flat.

This one goes in the so bad its good category.

Even with the slow grind, I have no reservations saying Stranger of Sword City is a damn fine dungeon crawler.

Ratchet & Clank also manages to mix things up to an extent throughout, albeit with things you've seen before. There are some really cool cinematic moments like foot chases, dogfights in space, hoverboard races, and the like. In other words, don't expect Rachet & Clank to reinvent the wheel, but expect to have fun playing it.

Since its release, Killer Instinct has slowly become one of the most competent fighters in the genre. It's accessible at all levels thanks to its approachable yet deep combo system and extensive tutorial. Its characters, including the new ones from Season 3, all have unique mechanics and tons of small touches that bring them to life. With an efficient and non-scummy free-to-play model and PC availability, there are few reasons not to jump into Killer Instinct.

It's a different sort of game when compared to its brothers, but it works very well in the space it occupies. It's unfortunate that there are quite a handful of technical issues, because otherwise this is a great excuse to head back to the Sword Coast.

Aside from the self-contained story arc in a new land, Minecraft: Story Mode: Order Up! serves up exactly what is expected.

Aegis of Earth: Protonovus Assault is proof positive that one good idea can’t carry a title. The central gimmick is a good one, but there is just no reason to subject yourself to a game so unambitious and condescending.

It borrows a lot of inspiration from classic PC adventure games, but also manages to inject some of its own signature humor in and usher us into the new dawn of virtual reality without feeling like a tech demo -- even if the experience itself is fleeting. [VR Tested]

While it doesn't totally reinvent the twin-stick shooter, it has all but perfected it and is worth every penny.