It's a solid start for a game capable of excellence, but so frequently squanders the credit it earns on frankly confusing design.

Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash feels like it was rushed into the holiday season to mask the absence of Star Fox. You're better off just playing any other previous game in the series, which is particularly easy to do since the first game is on the Wii U Virtual Console for just 10 bucks.

It’s great for some rather mindless fun, but don’t expect anything too intricate. I have some genuine fears about this being live service, as I’m not sure there’s enough to really justify that sort of design. But I’m also currently Infamy Rank 6 out of 10, and maybe as I reach the maximum rank and experience some of the new content I will see more that gives me hope Skull and Bones could find its sea legs. [Review in Progress]

One Piece: World Seeker tells a surprisingly well-realized story that fans of the series are sure to enjoy, but only if they can make it through repetitive and frustrating gameplay.

Realtime Worlds is so much better than this, and it's horrible to see that years of effort have produced this substandard, outdated, thoroughly pointless game.

The plot is banal, the writing is tone deaf, and the acting is wooden. Those who can ignore the dressing and focus on the puzzles alone can find some good head-scratching moments and interesting logical interactions.

I really wanted to enjoy the adventure of living as a lynx mother, but technical flaws alone have me weary of playing another Might and Delight title. Although the game is only $14.99, the entertainment value offered is far below that.

In the end, Front Mission Evolved feels like more of a lateral step. As a mech shooter, it's functional, but unremarkable.

It's a shame Nintendo cut and ran with microtransactions after one misstep, their first, no less, in the mobile market.

Episode 4 feels like we're back to square zero. One big story moment, a puzzle that leads into a cliffhanger, and more backtracking. I guess Episode 3 was just lightning (albeit a small baby bolt) in a bottle because this is crap in a can.

I had a fairly good time with Bleach: Soul Resurreccion. I never really knew what was going on in the story, and the button mashing destroyed my hands, but it was an enjoyable, mindless romp in a really pretty anime world.

I won't lie: htoL#NiQ: The Firefly Diary feels like an ordeal to play, but it is worth noting that historically, surviving an ordeal was often taken as a sign of being blessed by a higher power. That notion may appeal to some types of players, and it's they who'll find the fun in this gorgeous, cruel game. Everyone else should just hang back and ask how it went.

It's fairly shallow but very fun in spurts, and the best part is that players can truly enjoy the game for more than a few minutes at a time without feeling like they aren't getting anywhere.

Players desperate for traditional action gaming may glean some passing repletion from what is ultimately an inoffensive waste of time. However, the monotonous action long outstays its welcome and a series of this pedigree should be bringing so much more to the table. Instead, it does just enough to be a videogame available for purchase, and not a lot more than that.

The game is boring for long stretches, has an uneven level of difficulty and no worthwhile story.

A worthy experience, but it's lacking in too many minor areas to achieve greatness. While the voice-controlled strategy gameplay is engaging, it does lead to some design hiccups. While the narrative is entertaining and even intellectually demanding at times, it just as easily falls into navel-gazing jargon. While the technology is impressive, it feels like it belongs in a much bigger game.

This just feels like an all around sloppy port that was quickly pushed out to try to score some cash off of Friday the 13th's bungled release. The console version doesn't even include all the download content released for PC, including the Halloween DLC with Michael Myers. The mouse-like controls in the menus, coupled with the fact that most all the actions are mapped to the triggers and shoulder buttons, makes it feel like whoever ported this doesn't play consoles to begin with (thankfully you can remap the controls).

I hope that in the next few months, Space Hulk: Deathwing goes through some drastic changes and becomes a more engaging romp through grimdarkness. For now, I'd say get your bloody jollies elsewhere.

What's here is decent, there just isn't much of it.

Even if the price was right (and that price is free, regardless of platform) Goat Simulator is not worth playing. It's a game designed for YouTube, not the average consumer. Reward this shrewd business decision by not buying this game and just watching some clips online instead.

Aksys Games nailed the localization with Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors and they've done it again with the excellent writing in Fate/EXTRA. Unfortunately, a sea of monotony and repetitiveness plagues the game's potential for being one of the PSP's elite RPG's.

Even though Compile Heart had a couple interesting ideas with this game, its execution failed to bring out its true potential. And despite having two Tales of series members on board, their involvement couldn't stop Dark Rose Valkyrie from wasting people's valuable time. At least Fujishima's character designs continue to look gorgeous.

I'd have had no hesitation in recommending 1-2-Switch if it were included with the Switch or maybe $20 max, but as it stands it is far too expensive for the dash of entertainment it provides. 1-2-Switch is a good distraction for parties with people who don't game much, or those looking for something a little different than Cards Against Humanity for the millionth time. Otherwise, wait for a deep price drop.

Peaky Blinders: Mastermind is built upon a highly inventive central concept and smartly dressed in an authentic audio/visual package that accurately captures the dangerous world of The Shelby Family. The inventiveness of this core element is not captilised upon, however, resulting in uninspired action and repetitive gameplay. Peaky Blinders fans might find a few hours of entertainment but, overall, Mastermind is a missed opportunity.

Tales of the Shire is a charming life sim that leans heavily on cozy game comfort but rarely ventures beyond it. The gorgeous world and a few unique mechanics offer fleeting moments of greatness—especially for fans of the genre or Middle-earth—but the experience feels safe, familiar, and ultimately too shallow to truly stand out.

A game for puzzle fans who have a high tolerance for frustrating design. It's a great game that sometimes fights with players due to its loose and sometimes confused stylus control, but the game's fun-factor and satisfying puzzling gameplay overrides the annoyances to create a pretty good little portable title.

The level design is dull, the platforming is simplistic, the graphics look a few generations old, the RPG elements are basic, the music is forgettable, the enemies are pushovers, the difficulty is turned all the way to easy – I'm honestly at a loss for words.

I wish I didn't want to like The Caligula Effect as much as I do, but it's just tragic how far it falls from its own obviously lofty goals. For a game about a virtual world where everyone appears as their best possible self, The Caligula Effect is a walking worst-case scenario, representing the most disappointing possible execution on the huge potential of its best ideas.

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]

An impressive, if flawed, effort. Toting an interesting setting and some standout design choices, ELEX goes farther than any previous Piranha Bytes game in making the case for sticking with it in pursuit of a certain old-school ideal of RPG gaming, even if it can come at a cost in polish and presentation.

For a game about a bunch of girls finding their voices and path in the world, it has distressingly little "voice" of its own.

Hawken has never been a terrible game, but it has never made a case for itself as anything more either. This console version puts up even less of a fight.

There are too many creepy statues, too many pools of blood, and too many run-ins with the knife woman to keep up the pretense that I'm supposed to be terrified. Viviette tries to go gonzo with the jump scares and frenetic furnishings rather than showing a crumb of constraint, something that would have gone a long way to keeping the tension from the first 45 minutes or so alive through its conclusion.

This isn't a bad idea, but the game doesn't do much to justify its existence.

The lack of online play and the overall single-player experience is a pretty big bummer. Unless you’re desperate and need a quick Mario Party fix on the go, stick with a console version if you can.

This isn't a bad game and some of the activities can be quite fun when played with real people. But these sub-games have always been the side-dish to the single-player main course, and without a worthwhile entrée, Kirby Battle Royale feels deficient.

The beginning of Typoman showed promise, full of amusing and creative moments, something that anyone could enjoy. But unfortunately it wasn't able to hold that momentum for very long and quickly devolved into tedium and confusion, and lots of standing around doing nothing.

I am nothing but conflicted regarding The First Descendant. It’s a Modern Prometheus of parts and ideas that looks and plays wonderfully when it works. However, the Dr. Frankenstein who assembled it is clearly profit-driven and has a bit of a reputation for its microtransactions. Throw in the equivalent of a Dell Dimension 8400 for a server and things look grim. I don’t expect The First Descendant to get a lot of support in the time it’s around, and I’ll enjoy it for what it is, but I won’t make the mistake of believing it will hold much attention outside of a small, dedicated player base.

Sacred 3 feels distinctly average. The game works well enough at what it presents and is largely annoyance-free (though the checkpointing system could be better and I had a save-game issue where my progress wasn't saved from one session to another) but there's better and more rewarding games out there right now that you should seek out first.

There's something genuinely charming and interesting to Micro Machines World Series, but whatever that is quickly drowns in repetitive tedium.

If you're no fan of the series, this title will not sway you. Those of us who dig the formula, however, will be able to spot the significant changes made to the series, and enjoy a huge amount of gameplay. The only thing holding it back is a handful of poor design decisions that let the experience down, but not quite enough to stop this being an engrossing, addictive button smasher.

Akiba’s Trip: Undead & Undressed is an interesting culture shock of a good time if you can see past the silliness, especially if “quirky Japanese games” happen to be your cup of tea.

The Princess Guide is a game I enjoy less and less the more I play it. There is a sound structure here and some really clever ideas, but the weight of all its small issues really burden what should a fun and frivolous experience.

It's mostly just exceedingly average. Levels are short enough where I never once felt like they were a chore to complete, and there's enough variation in there in terms of setpieces where you can really start to see the framework of an expansive, epic Sonic. Hopping around Eggman's base in space while navigating moving platforms gives me flashbacks to the great pair of Sonic Adventure games -- a simpler time.

Shadow Puppeteer tries to do interesting things, but ultimately comes off as unpolished, bland, repetitive, and mediocre. I really tried to enjoy it, but I just couldn't bring myself to care about it.

The worst thing I can say about Calico is that it’s undeveloped.

Uno is a shining example of misleading marketing and a great argument for Xbox Live to adopt Steam's refund practices.

For a game that is already light on multiplayer content, this really feels like a lazy, half-hearted effort to generate a quick buck from the fans of a dedicated franchise.

It's a superlative amount of content and refinement compared to many so-called "triple-A" productions that sell for six times that amount. Anyone looking for a good space dogfight should feel obliged to give it a try.

A DLC that as is, is up there with House of Wolves as the worst Destiny add-on to date. It's a stop-gap solution meant to spackle some of the game's cracks, and the real coat of paint hasn't quite come yet. Destiny 2 is still a fantastic shooter at heart, Bungie just hasn't figured out how to actually incorporate all of the Frankensteined MMO parts.

It's more charitable to see One Punch Man: A Hero Nobody Knows as more of a Hero Association RPG than a fully qualified fighting game. You won't be seeing it on the main stage at EVO anytime soon, but you can at least have a fun few hours raising your own hero.

For a game that is clearly geared towards children, the difficulty spikes and grind in the later part of the game didn't really make sense, nor did teaching kids to win their battles with what equates to a mean steroid habit.

To put it simply: Final Exam is forgettable.

Onechanbara Z2: Chaos could have been decent, but it seems content to revel in mediocrity.

If you're looking for a reason to jump back into Just Cause 3, the biggest draw with the Sky Fortress DLC is easily the addition of the jet pack. It's great to fly around in, but it never reaches the same excitement as the old-fashioned wingsuit. The missions don't do anything interesting and the straightforward story is told with static images, making Sky Fortress the definition of mediocre.

At worst, it's like you’ve watched a great horror/thriller with a faulty remote by your side. And if you get over that, you’ll enjoy The Bunker. Well, as enjoyable as a post-nuclear holocaust story allows, anyway.

Armikrog does not surpass The Neverhood, but just like a successor to any celebrated piece of media, that would have been an impossible task. However, it does contain a unique charm in its own right which fans of The Neverhood or other old-school point-and-click adventures will especially appreciate.

he game is definitely built to favor more methodical, communicative teams over groups of lone wolves. However, aside from diehard fans of the genre, it's difficult to imagine someone convincing enough of his friends to buy Breach to form a cohesive team.

If you ever find Michael Jackson: The Experience at a fraction of the asking price, I'd definitely recommend picking it up. It's not an astounding game, but it's a decent distraction that can soak up an hour of two of your time.

Fightback is a waste of time and money. As a full premium game for a buck or two, it could have been a decent brawler to pass the time with. But as it stands, you're going to be waiting to play it more than actually playing it. At the end of the day, this is just another depressing chapter in the book of Ninja Theory.

For your seven bucks, you get an extra hour of content that adds a new layer of mystery to the Dead Space universe and a rather shocking ending that would've been compelling if the campaign had been long enough to build up any emotional ties.

This is a solid experience that 90% of people won't appreciate, but 10% of people will love. It lacks the charm and staying power of other titles in the genre, but it will definitely keep Japanese strat-fans satiated for a good deal of time.

It may not be the best-looking game in the Vita's launch line-up -- and it's definitely lacking in the variety department -- but the frantic gameplay and the insane death metal soundtrack help take the sting off. Go ahead, go to Hell.

While Riptide banks on you having loved the first, in actuality you have a lot more to gain if you've never touched it...If you played the first game, however, I'd recommend waiting for a real sequel, because Riptide fails to get away with pulling the same trick twice.

Go into Gungrave Gore with an open mind, the mindset that you're going to kick some ass in an old school action game, and maybe, after a sale.

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.

If Pulse had a longer, more in-depth story with evolving gameplay, it would be easily recommendable. As it stands now, it feels more like a proof-of-concept than a full-fledged game.

Overall, Soul Axiom is a painful experience...I love the plot premise; the idea of a digital, man-made afterlife and how that affects society is a cool idea. I just wish Wales Interactive explored it in a bit more detail, instead of giving us the half-baked story, sparse and boring environments, and easy, repetitive puzzles that it did. It feels like an opportunity for something special that’s been completely wasted.

Videogame fans want something more engrossing and comic book fans want something with more fan service. Spider-Man: Edge of Time satisfies neither demographic, and can safely be ignored by everybody.

At worst, Tiny Troopers is a forgettable distraction. It works as intended (most of the time), it's easy to get into, and there are some tough missions for those looking for a challenge. It isn't really bad, it's just rather boring.

It's very much the type of game you play for the story, which has flashes of brilliance that can only be effectively realized in an interactive medium such as this. Unfortunately, it's tied to lackluster mechanics, technical problems, and a disappointing lack of polish.

This one goes in the so bad its good category.

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.

I hope against hope that studios calm down and learn a little restraint when it comes to exploiting these features, as this collection of clumsy, discommodious distractions is indicative of what can happen when developers forget the elegance of simplicity. New features are only worth including if they enhance an experience. When they get in the way of it, they should be axed on the spot.

A hangover of abandoned game design, dressed up in unruly aesthetics and powered by cyberpunk Pat Benatar. The unforgiving gameplay and changeless, repetitious action will leave some appalled, but the radiant cast of reprobates, silly mini-games, baffling dialogue, and shameless commitment to the bit results in one of the most bewildering, hypnotic releases in some time. Simply put: Wanted: Dead is a fucking train wreck, and you better get your ticket punched.

If you're hoping for a story at all, you'll be disappointed. The opening just drops you right into a mental ward without much of any information, and barely anything gets revealed throughout the story. The ending was the rotten cherry on top that just screams directly into your face "find out what happens next in the sequel."...No thanks. Fuck that. That is two and a half hours of my life I'll never get back.

Toren is a very cool concept that's held back by its rough presentation, especially on the PC platform.

No matter how much things have changed, bad gameplay is the same now as it was then, and the questionable design decisions and performance of this game have a bargain-bin feel about them. If you're hankering for some good wrestling times, look elsewhere. This one's down for the count, even if you can play as Sheamus.

The combat system is too watered down to be compelling and the strategic aspect too simplistic. The only real challenge derived from the game lies in balancing these two aspects, which is satisfying for brief moments.

Choo-Choo Charles could have been drawn out, fluffed up, or watered down in so many ways. Any additional brush strokes could have detracted from the bigger picture, but Two Star Games didn’t do that. Instead, they focused on delivering, and deliver they did. It’s small, tight, and its ambition doesn’t go beyond its central concept. Thankfully, that central concept is a pretty juicy morsel.

It's a shame there isn't more of an adventure -- or even just more of a game -- to back up the Minotaur encounters. Theseus feels like a small-team effort, and a middle-of-the-road one at that. The myth-turned-game concept is smart, but the execution and scope aren't where they need to be.

MeiQ: Labyrinth of Death isn't a bad game, it's half-assed. There are a couple of interesting ideas here that, applied to a competent dungeon crawler, could have made for something great. Instead, it's just passable. But I still had fun.

Like the Dissidia series, Jump Force is something I'm going to be coming back to for random bits of fun throughout the years.

3D Classics: Xevious might have met most gamers' standards ten years ago, but in the age of such incredible classic remakes as Pac-Man Championship Edition DX, Galaga Legions DX, and Space Invaders Infinity Gene, it's hard to be confident that fans wont be disappointed with this minimally enhanced port.

Solid but unspectacular. Though the game never outstays its welcome, the puzzles never felt truly inspired at any point, especially later on. Most of them felt like a setup for a pleasant gag but nothing more. The latter half of the game sags a bit, particularly after the kidnapping and prison break storylines are resolved.

Adventure Time fans would do better to wait for WayForward's upcoming DS game, because that stands a chance of actually being good. This is little more than a shameless little attempt to make a quick buck at the expense of a fun little show. I know it's a show primarily for kids, but even kids can reasonably expect better than this.

Fans of the genre should already be accustomed to the repetition that comes along with mercilessly (and sometimes pointlessly) pounding thugs into the ground, stage after stage. Unbound Saga is no different, but it certainly does it well.

The PSP release should be considered the superior one, running so much more smoothly than is console-based predecessor, packing more content, and feeling at home on a system more suited to its gameplay, despite the fact that playing for too long isn't recommended if you don't like pain in your fingers.

It's a game with serious potential, but it's far too overwhelming in its current state. For one thing, the lack of a jump button is absurd.

Roving Rogue failed to really capture my interest throughout the entire adventure, but from a raw gameplay perspective I had some fun with the platforming bits. You'll enjoy it even more with friends.

If you wanted any real form of closure, it's not happening here. I was honestly shocked when the game ended. Not because of some amazing revelation that blew my mind, but just because The Council simply... ends. This is easily the shortest episode, yet it still feels like it drags at times. Now that is what I call an accomplishment.

Anything truly enjoyable about the game is ruined by the microtransactions.

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.

Hardware: Rivals has a good core concept and engine, but it needs some work around the edges. A lot of little things added up for me the more I played it in an increasingly annoying fashion, most of which can be fixed with proper updates.

How many times can you say that you hexed an old widow so that you could go bowling in the past...oh say decade or so?" Deadly Premonition 2: A Blessing in Disguise is another trip. You've been warned.

Fallen Angel is a much better effort than Broken Eagle, but the Lost Chapter DLC saga still isn't quite there, and certainly hasn't justified the Season Pass cost yet. It needs a lot more pizzazz to really rise to the bar that the core game set, and I hope Capcom follows through with the remaining two chapters.

I wanted to love Tokyo Beat Down, but in the end there wasn't enough there to win me over. The game is certainly packed with charm and style, but holes in the control and some balance issues hold it back.

The chaos implied by 100ft Robot Golf’s wild, imaginative title never fully materializes, instead leaving players with some fine jokes, obvious anime references, and a kinda crummy golf game.