It's like a boring meal that did nothing more than chew up a little time. It does lack any real flavor. It didn't leave me any different than it found me. It's tolerable, but not anything special.

A Game of Dwarves is exceedingly easy to get to grips with, and it's functional, if not as fleshed out as one would have hoped.

Tanzia's disparate parts are held together with the chewed gum of love put into the project which manages to do just enough to keep it all from falling apart.

A Fistful of Gun’s only major errors lie in its repetitive and muddied action, all blasted through an ADD pacing. It’s still fun and humorous, but that relentless nature condenses its longevity into just a couple of sessions.

It's like Sega baked a delicious chocolate cake, but mixed a bag of nails into it.

Alex Kidd in Miracle World DX is a visually gorgeous upgrade to a very rose-tinted release. While the flaws of the original game remain laid bare, Jankenteam accentuates the positives, reimagining one of console gaming’s earliest universes with stunning artwork, great animation, and a sophisticated score. New players may struggle with some dated and baffling design choices, but those who hold tight the carefree afternoons of the Sega Master System will find a delightful trip down memory lane awaits.

There is a lot to love with All Zombies Must Die, from its more humorous writing to its charming visuals, but ultimately the game fails to deliver the in-depth multiplayer experience it set out to. There's a solid experience to be had from start to finish, but unless you've been in a coma, or underneath a rock for the last few years, you've probably already played this game.

Zack Zero feels like it was made by going down a checklist. Lava level? Check. Rudimentary puzzles? Check. Arbitrary baubles and hidden treasures to collect? Check. Boss fights at the end of levels? Check. There's no charm, save for the enemy designs and certain environments, and no sense of identity. The game alternates between being an unexciting, stale, middling affair, and being a somewhat broken game that hits some remarkably low lows. I don't know which is worse.

At best, it's an alright game, but everything good about it was good in 1992. The iPhone itself has added nothing, and you could get five better games on iTunes for the cost of one mediocre Genesis port.

The new HD graphics are not perfect, but they're suitable. The character models don't look too bad, but some of the environments and textures just look weird in their "upgraded" form.

Constant C is a solid puzzle platformer that takes a few familiar ideas and mashes them together to create something partially new. The difficulty of the puzzles ranges from trivial to diabolical, with most falling somewhere in between. Its greatest sin is the repetition of certain puzzles, but if that is the worst aspect of Constant C, then it should still please fans of the genre.

There really just needed to be more of everything: more story, more to do, and more reasons to do it. With such a beautiful art style and such a unique character Beyond Eyes had a chance to be something really special but instead it just feels like walking past a beautiful painting, as it is over in the blink of an eye.

Vault-Tec Workshop has comparatively modest aims. It isn't as wild as Contraptions, but offers more than Wasteland did. Creating a vault shelter might not be as flashy as taming Deathclaws or setting up factory lines to move scrap around, but the appeal is much more apparent and lasting.

XV will likely go down as one of the most divisive games in the series, and not in a 'it was more liked over time' sort of way: I'm fine with that.

There isn’t much that Janitor Bleeds really nails, which is the real shame. The concept itself is tantalizing enough, but the scares and the narrative needed more consideration. It neither subverts expectations nor does it execute standard horror cliches very well. It’s not a total wash, it just lands so consistently in the middle that it’s hard not to be disappointed. Like many of the games in the derelict arcade, this one is, unfortunately, out of order.

It hurts that the gameplay loop is so enjoyable, but falls apart when it comes to progression. The whole product has a fun aesthetic, a sense of humor that avoids the pitfall of being too mean-spirited, and an impressive soundtrack. Godlike Burger works better than it has any right to be, but lets itself down when it comes to tying everything together. It’s like having a perfectly good burger that someone has topped with grilled pineapple; it doesn’t matter how good the meat is, you completely ruined it with your horrible life choices!

Fundamentally, the game offers a similar amount of content to 3 on 3 NHL Arcade (playing the computer, playing a friend, playing online), but it costs 50% more, and the most logical assumption I’m left with is that EA figured they could charge an extra five bucks just because the hallowed Madden name is attached to this product. Madden Arcade isn’t bad, but I would’ve had a much easier time recommending it if it were priced at $10.

Crackdown 3 is a good Crackdown game, which, unfortunately, doesn't mean much anymore.

Brawlout is positioning itself as the sort of indie Smash, especially with its addition of Hyper Light Drifter and Juan into the mix. With proper post-launch support, and most importantly, an audience, it could grow and fill that Bowser-sized hole that Smash Wii U left. Until then it'll serve as a fun party game that could be a little more.

If you're willing to ignore the annoying system the game employs, then there's a few good hours of engineering impossible vehicles and general silliness.

It hit me how superficial a lot of the mechanics in Best Friend Forever are. I had thought that, similar to a typical dating sim, you’d have to train specific stats to score points with your lover, but it’s more segregated and mechanical than that. The dog lends a layer of brightness to the game, so it’s not entirely wasted, but from a gameplay standpoint, it’s pointless. From a purely visual novel standpoint, the game is entertaining and well-written, but it fails to make use of the one thing that makes it unique. It has the love it needs, but it will need more training before it can truly be called a "good boy."

As a home console game, though, it has a lot of trouble justifying its own existence. An old friend of mine had a way of describing games like this. She'd say (with a really entertaining British accent), "It's sort of like the later work of Phil Collins. It just sort of washes over you, occupying your attention, but eventually leaves you completely unaffected either way."

Though SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy is not the Gals Fighters 2 we may have been hoping for, it is a daft, fast and fun brawler. There is a serious question of longevity to be considered, and veteran players should consider the game's shallow simplicity before purchase. But in a group setting, especially among newcomers, SNK's sisterhood of sluggers will get the job done, looking fabulous while doing so.

Unfortunately, nostalgia doesn’t operate in this game’s favor: it’s too faithful to the original. The broken levels, mundane combat, meager play options, and short play time are factors that dwarf the delicious presentation and whatever fond memories you may have.

If you're a fan of hack n' slash, I recommend you go get this flawed but immensely satisfying title.

Metal Gear Survive should have been a free-to-play game just like Grasshopper's Let it Die or an actual Metal Gear release. It doesn't accomplish either aim.

If this were on mobile I'd have deleted it after my first trip to Avocado Roller. As it's a PS4 game, I was holding to hope there'd be something, anything, I could grasp on to here that would signify it as a quality kart racer for the platform. There isn't.

It is visually atrocious, interactively vapid and incomplete to a degree that a full retail price is an insult. It's tempting to buy this just to have something new on the system, but good things come to those that wait, and it's hard to imagine anything not being good compared to this mess.

Kandagawa Jet Girls delights with its boisterous, glowing presentation, cast of vibrant characters, and array of fun side-attractions. But the jet-ski action itself is mostly dull, struggling to offer a decent challenge or a genuine sense of speed. Jet Girls rides waves of goodwill thanks to its infectious personality, but this eventually gives way to tepid, monotonous gameplay, hampering what could have been one of Marvelous' best releases yet.

Ultimately, this is what you need to know: for ten bucks, you can buy the videogame equivalent of a bag of Cheetos and a porno mag, except the Cheetos are zombies and the naked people are driving cars with flamethrowers attached to them.

It’s not a ridiculous proposition, but it’s not an outstanding one either. Snow Bros. isn’t exactly a classic, so while I’m happy to see it pop up again, I’m not very enthusiastic enough about the end result to start throwing around recommendations. It’s not a game that has been ported very often, so having it available at all is worth the release.

Although it may not be the best game in the franchise, Gates to Infinity is still an enjoyable dungeon crawl, and a beautiful-looking game to boot. So long as you can deal with an easier adventure, this is another mystery worth solving.

The art and customization are really the game’s strong suits, so hopefully Minicore studios can bring the rest of the package up to the standard set by those elements. Regardless of my issues with The Sun at Night, I’m looking forward to continuing Laika’s journey.

Taxi Chaos is fine in short bursts if you want to chase high scores, but for $30 to $35 depending on your platform, there just isn't enough content here to recommend this. Especially considering you can still buy Crazy Taxi on Xbox Live for a third of the price.

Mind Zero is in no way a travesty, but despite glaring shortcomings, it's very average.

If you're a die-hard Chibi-Robo! fan, or if the possibility of having to replay the same levels over and over again doesn't bother you too much, then Zip Lash might be for you. Unfortunately, it's tough for me to give this game a good recommendation after the frustrating time I had with it. I still love you, Chibi-Robo, but this was not your best effort!

Dreary and annoying in equal parts, this is a game best left avoided.

The game play is entertaining enough, and battles and missions provide callenges that keep you coming back. It's just that the lackluster presentation and boring story really hurt the overall package.

It takes more than fun mini games to make a good Mario Party game. It’s also about carefully crafting a meaningful game experience that allows you to screw over your friends in the most skilled, fair way possible (with a dash of luck, obvs). Hopefully Nintendo can keep the series alive and perfect the spirit of Mario Party for the Switch, but for now I think Mario Party games are officially dead for the 3DS.

Subject 13 as a whole is thoughtfully challenging. I can see it working really well for casual and hardcore puzzle fans alike as it intermingles timeless puzzles with original concepts. Despite the storyline having some slightly cheesy and generic moments, it was intriguing enough to keep me interested and engaged.

Late Shift is interesting enough on its first go around, but without reward in its narrative or punishment in its gameplay, there's not enough reason to go back.

Truly a strange beast. As a fan of the series, I really wanted to enjoy myself, but the constant fighting with the camera, poor enemy AI in single-player, and terrible pacing keep this one from the top of my list of strategy shooters. It's not terrible by any stretch of the imagination... it's just not very good, either.

Too much of Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Remastered Edition is tied to an experience that is no longer available. The moment in time that made the GameCube original possible has long passed, and trying to capture that nostalgia with so many missing pieces, is a fool's errand.

Overall, Air Twister is a fine arcade title. It’s initially fun to play, and its trippy fantasy visuals do a decent job of drawing you in. However, once you’ve managed to topple the final boss and are treated to the end cutscene, there really isn’t much to keep you playing or cement the game in memory. The main story mode becomes just what you grind on to afford better butt dressings. I think the fallen swan deserved better.

A fine game which presents a grueling challenge, Aaru's Awakening is perfect for the player who thinks 2D platform games today just aren't difficult enough.

This game was better than I thought it would be, and better than it perhaps should have been. With more refinement and redesigned (or eliminated) platforming, this could have been a classic in the beat 'em up genre, but as it stands, Splatterhouse is pretty damn good for what it is, and packs enough content to keep fans satisfied. Ridiculous gore, silly metal music, and endless amounts of brutal, nostalgic combat.

It does a nice job of weaving a sweet little tale of a young girl and her struggle to maintain her innocence in a (literal and figurative) dark and dreary world, but it's nothing special, and nothing you haven't really seen before.

Mars: War Logs is the kind of experience one can only call serviceable. It exists, it does what it does, and it performs its job suitably. It doesn't do anything terrible, but it never once goes above a basic standard of acceptability.

The old Blizzard, in fact, wouldn't have shipped the game so quickly at all. There are more sinister changes lurking below the surface, like the inexcusable choice to ruin the original Warcraft III launcher and bring it into the modern era: a cardinal sin.

Hydrophobia isn't straight-up, unforgivably dreadful. It's mostly just boring, uninspired, and vapid. Were it not for the combat, one could get away with calling it an almost decent waste of time and money. The whole package, however, amounts to a tedious and frustrating exercise in futility.

It's been a while since a Dynasty Warriors game was this addictive, and that's a huge bonus. While established fans will find the game to be incredibly fun, it's highly doubtful that longtime DW haters will be drawn into the series by this new one. Definitely a worthy purchase for those that like Koei's work.

It reaches high and attempts to accomplish something not many games have even tried to this day, which should be commended. But right now, it needs a few more major updates before it gets there. With a hefty amount of microtransactions that border on offensive, there is a very ambitious, competitive game underneath the sloppy veneer.

For some, the promise of a genuine noir adventure will be enough to capture their interest, but absent a love for the genre, its strange mix of cynicism and romanticism. Even staunch adventure game fans might find that Face Noir has a few too many problems.

Rain World is sloppy, clunky platformer. It's a game of fumbling controls, arbitrary deaths, and tedious repetition. Why should I bother figuring out what all those twee little glyphs mean? Why should I devote dozens of hours to figuring out what spitting up one kind of plant might do in a specific situation when the controls can't even be bothered to feel consistent?

I think the combination of Minecraft and farming is a winner, but more attention needs to be paid to the activities outside of planting and pulling crops if Harvest Moon ever wants to compete with the superior farm sims out there.

The only thing that really differentiates it from similar Wii games are the Squeeball characters, but even they aren't enough to make Squeeballs Party worth picking up. Plowing through the 150 mini-games can be done in a day or two, but after a few hours in you'll find yourself not wanting to continue; most of the challenges stop being fun at a startling rate. The repetition is a killer, here.

The gameplay is its own reward and once one gets into it, one finds it quite hard to get back out. It's a shame that the plot holds it back, but otherwise Megaman Starforce 3 is pretty bloody good, and well worth your time if you like your roleplayers with a little more action in them.

If you can get a group of people together you know to play with, I really do think this game is worth the $25 they're selling it for. It's not perfect, but the first commercial game from an indie developer rarely is. Isotx has shown a ton of promise, and is definitely a company to be looking out for in the future.

Congratulations to AvP: Evolution! You've managed to be marginally worse than an unfinished, buggy, outsourced piece of trash. You must be very proud.

It's all such a shame because at its heart NHL 15 is a very solid hockey game. It just doesn't do any of the non-hockey stuff right. Honestly, newcomers to the franchise might not even notice. But, series veterans would feel incredibly cheated.

Without company, the initial dungeons begin to blend together a bit, and restarting isn't so much a pain from a pure skill-based roguelike standpoint, but a crisis of variety.

Long-time fans will find a warm familiarity in its cast and dialogue, but for anybody else, they might see it as nothing more than a breezy cop show experience.

Astro Duel Deluxe is easily the least impressive game visually on the console, does little to nothing to show off your fancy new tech, and it isn't all that fun for more than half an hour at a time. I will say it has a decent soundtrack -- not "$15 for short bursts of gameplay" decent -- but pretty good.

Foundations is more of the same niche-scratching space exploration from previous iterations with a more immersive feel and I can't wait to dive back into my personal galaxy. For those that have been watching the X series from the outside, Foundations is a great entry point, provided you meet the beefy system requirements.

Beyond the bugs and pesky purchases, Ultima Forever is actually a pretty solid touch RPG.

It feels like a game created mainly to remind people that the franchise still exists, rather than actually satisfy those who'd deign to play it. Utawarerumono fans are better off waiting for Utawarerumono: Prelude ot the Fallen (a remake of the first game in the trilogy due out next year), while newcomers are advised to pick up Mask of Deception and Mask of Truth, or even just watch the anime instead.

I really do feel that there are some great ideas and potential here, though. I enjoyed running around the beautifully serene landscapes as a majestic deer, so if that's all you really expect from The Deer God, then you'll likely get some enjoyment out of it.

For those of you who don't have a motion option on PC, Blue Estate is one shooter you can absolutely pass on. One day it may catch your eye on a dirt cheap Steam sale, and a light gun may come across your desk -- at that point, you may as well give it a shot.

Although it could have done with more playable characters (where's my Juda!?), there is a huge amount of content, with story modes for each of the game's eight warriors taking several hours apiece to beat.

It's a gormless, chafing, unquestionably horrid little waste of time. Only the hardcore Disney obsessive need look into this one, and I don't advice they look too deeply.

I couldn't help but wish it was more, well, exciting. It's a technical marvel, but at times the experience feels hollow and uneventful. In the end, even though I'm glad to return to this universe, The Inpatient comes across as a bit of a missed opportunity.

AeternoBlade may not move the genre forward in any way, but it's a fun little game for action enthusiasts. It has a deep combat system, just the right amount of RPG elements, and an engaging enough narrative to keep things moving.

Despite it’s many, many flaws, School Girl/Zombie Hunter was a solid, camp-drenched romp, and it left me craving more.

Mario Kart Tour is a blemish on the franchise it shares its name with. The genre-defining creativity found in past entries is completely absent here, replaced by a hollow experience that's simply coasting on the name and goodwill of the games that came before it. I can only hope this is Nintendo's mobile initiative hitting rock bottom, and that it's all uphill from here. Because I can't stand the thought of another one of my favorite series having its reputation dragged the mud in search of a quick buck.

Tower Wars is completely functional and full of spirit; however, lack of a single-player mode and unruly queue times will likely leave many gamers unfulfilled.

After two episodes of Minecraft: Story Mode, I find myself struggling to care.

If you're incredibly desperate for a sidescroller, then Blade Kitten will waste a handful of hours for you, and might even scratch your itch. You really would have to make sure there's nothing else left to play before considering opening your wallet for this, though.

As someone who absolutely loved every member of the bro-trip party, I was hoping for a little bit more from the first major round of Final Fantasy XV DLC. The game has already received a ton of fantastic free updates, but so far the "Episode" format seems to be something all of us should enjoy in the Game of the Year edition, and not piecemeal.

An interesting title with fun gameplay. It can be frustrating at times but a solid game and a welcome addition to the service.

Lacking in personality, visually ugly, harshly limited and pieced together sloppily, Lucius is a sad little waste of a good idea. I've waited years for another great game that lets you be the unrepentant bad guy. Looks like I'll have to keep waiting.

I'll be showing off London Heist and Scavenger's Odyssey to just about everyone that asks me about PlayStation VR, but those are worth about $10 each. Wait for a price cut before grabbing PlayStation VR Worlds, or better yet, just enjoy them with your PSVR bundle and skip the rest.

When everything comes together, Golem has some of the best PlayStation VR combat I've played, and a story worth hearing. When it's off, even a little, frustration follows. If you can tolerate backtracking and don't mind dealing with occasional VR tech idiosyncrasies, you're gonna have a grand time.

A brawler with a weak combat system. Had the combat been tighter, then perhaps I could have given this a glowing review, but when the heart of a game is flawed, all of the other components are going to suffer.

The whole production is imbued with stunning environments replete with this trenchant sense of beauty. It's just really a pity the gameplay is rarely as cogent as these ornate landscapes or the gauzy, resonant soundtrack. There's obviously something special at work here bubbling beneath the surface, but it's too subtle and poorly realized to merit delving into.

The cheap fan service of Tig (one of my favorites) drew me in, and the idea of slowly working your way into the Sons of Anarchy is fun enough.

You could do worse — there are still two fun games here — but you could do better. I always applaud when old games become more widely available, but I prefer it when they go the extra mile to present a definitive version. This isn’t the definitive version of either game, so I hope you’re happy with just a version.

I want to make this clear: without microtransactions in play at all, Diablo Immortal is actually a fun little multiplayer-centric take on the formula, especially on its native mobile home.

BioWare will need to build quickly on top of its shimmering jet-fueled foundation to hold people's interest, but folks looking for a new neighborhood to move into might want to give Anthem a try -- either now or after fixes and updates.

Although the game isn't visually ugly, the grey color palette and awful designs of the robots themselves (the movie versions look like computers that were exploded and put back together by horses) make for unpleasant viewing.

There is no reason to waste your time on a game as unambitious as Shooting Stars! You can say it's a small game, a joke game, a mobile game, and that's all true. I'm not holding it to ridiculous big-budget standards. But even within its genre and scope, there are better playing games out there that don't insult your intelligence on a regular basis. Play those instead.

Despite being entertaining in its own way, The Starship Damrey ultimately fails to provide a hardcore, old-school adventure as promised. There's potential for an even more expansive campaign, which I hope Level-5 explores one day -- if Liberation Maiden can get a sequel, so can this! For now, rein in your expectations.

A disappointment. You can see the brilliance of its world, characters and heart shining through like a star. You can even see the skeleton of a genuinely deep RPG title. But the game fights your efforts to enjoy yourself at every opportunity, be it via bad design choices, repetitious gameplay or infuriating technical problems.

As a hypothetical free PlayStation Plus title, The Weaponographist would have some room to flourish as a mindless hack and slash game with a poorly implemented, but nonetheless existent, reward loop. But as it exists right now in its sole PC incarnation, there are many more titles worthy of your time -- including that 1000th run of Isaac you've been putting off.

RPGs are going to have to do a lot more these days than simply say "Look at how old school I am" in order to impress. This game has not done that. It's not really done anything well at all.

The gameplay is its own reward and once one gets into it, one finds it quite hard to get back out. It's a shame that the plot holds it back, but otherwise Megaman Starforce 3 is pretty bloody good, and well worth your time if you like your roleplayers with a little more action in them.

The Castle Doctrine is certainly an experience unlike any other, but I also find it hard to recommend since it's so obtuse and seems to want to put new players at a huge disadvantage, increasing the skill gap between the best and the worst. Intense research and work must be put forth to succeed, but there's no real motivation except bigger and better death traps.

The musical combat and genre hopping madness of Battle of the Bands showed so much promise, it's just disappointing that the gameplay is too shallow to hold up in the long-term.

God Mode is the type of game that grows on you. The biggest complaint I have is a lack of variety, which is to be expected of a budget title. What Old School Games did include in this straightforward, arcade-centric shooter shows promise of a more fleshed-out project. There's also a hint of personality with a goofy narrator, but the execution isn't quite there.