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.

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.

Whether it's true or not, Fuse does feel every bit like another victim of the heavily focus-tested, leader following, perpetually terrified mainstream game industry. It's every cloying and desperate element of the retail console market, brought together -- fused, if you will -- to create a factory standard example of a game that tries to be everything the hypothetical mainstream consumer drools over, and ends up as nothing remarkable...That's Fuse in a nutshell.

It's very simplistic, despite the appearance of having a complex system of creature building. Apart from my issues with the combat, at no point is the game really bad, but it's never a whole lot of fun either. It is charming for about an hour's worth of play but not much else.

Packing Life offers a simple and satisfying premise: packing oddly shaped items into boxes. But its awkward story mode, clunky camera movement, and frustrating placement restrictions constantly get in the way of what could've otherwise been relaxing organization gameplay. It scratches the packing itch for a short time, but the jank makes it hard to recommend.

It takes more than graphics to make a game, and Final Fantasy XIII offers very little else other than eye candy. Ultimately, this latest addition to the Final Fantasy series is a pompous and masturbatory affair, created seemingly to promote the developer's ego first, and the player's enjoyment second.

The highest praise one can afford this game is that it's playable. It's not broken, nor is it really that offensive. It's just a condensed exercise in bromidic game design, a brief waste of time squirted out of some mercenary developer's squalid hole.

The major problem with The Consuming Shadow is that it’s a bubble-gum experience, especially compared to its peers. When it works, it’s only because of a new discovery. There’s something genuinely thrilling about finding a connection and jotting it down in your table of suspects, before setting off to the next hotspot. But when you enter another procedurally-generated dungeon, it’s a wearisome slog again.

A great credits sequence isn't enough to keep the game from getting a [40].

At first I started to enjoy it, but soon all I found was frustration. I can't recommend this game to anyone, and I don't want to play it anymore myself because I am afraid of seeing all my efforts lost due to server issues. It's a decent game if it worked right, but the online dependency, forced multiplayer, and DRM ruin it.

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.

As much as I wanted to rave about this one, I must begrudgingly admit that those who love freedom would probably be better served hunting down a copy of the PS2 version or downloading it for PSP.

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.

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.

The story is too light to augment the game's core mechanical focus, while ideas like the follower system feel tacked-on and inconsequential to strategy. Fans of dungeon crawlers may squeeze some enjoyment from the grind, but most players will be turned off by the tedious progression and repetitive battles.

Eufloria is tough, but not impossible, to love. You may have to fight through (or altogether ignore) the campaign mode to get to the good stuff, and even then you may spend more time waiting and micromanaging than you'd like, but I can't possibly deny the strength of Eufloria's most basic design choices.

Without much option of anything besides leaning on the NES version's method of using Blob (a non-playable character) as the means of gameplay execution, WayForward's take on A Boy and His Blob is frustratingly imprecise and inaccurate. But, by deviating a bit and adding the jellybean wheel, it killed any momentum and turned the game into a slog. That is truly the worst of both worlds.

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.

There are many games that will only appeal to "fans of the genre," but this goes farther than that and becomes a game that appeals to "fans of the series." It's not really a terrible thing, but it's not a great thing, either.

Chilla’s Art has a long history of making games in this style and has built up a cult following. The developer’s games are bite-sized adventures into a digital world of pulp horror. While they fill that role of inexpensive uncut gems that delight a few, I would love to see a few more passes on a title and have it really shine. As it stands, even this “restored edition” feels like a first draft rather than a finished product.

The bad menus, controls, unplayable online component, and terrible campaign mode completely shroud any real accomplishments made in terms of the game's balance and feel.

Overall I felt as if Daylight was made as a jump-scare machine with a loosely tacked-on plot.

There are plenty of other more meaty and fulfilling visual novels out there that may be a little more expensive than this budget indie release, but you'll come out of those feeling much better about your purchase than you would about World End Economica.

There are many more baffling design decisions or ideas hampered by poor execution I could cover, but honestly, this is way too long a review already and I'm only going to get more upset the further I dig. I wish there was some redeeming value to Silver Falls: 3 Down Stars or it ended up in a "so bad it's good" situation, but it's just a bland survival-horror game that's light on scares and heavy on aggravation. When I wrote about it back in 2018, I had hope it would end up as one of the great final games for my beloved Nintendo 3DS. But after a month of struggling to get through it, that hope is dead.

I think the developer, Cheesemaster Games, had the passion and the vision to make Spirittea something special. And, to be fair, one person’s boredom is another’s relaxation. However, all the parts should have been better planned out before they were assembled. Instead of a bunch of complementary systems that build into a satisfying, captivating, and relaxing game, it’s just an inescapable tub of annoyances. After that experience, I really need to take it easy for a bit.

I wanted to enjoy Uncanny Valley, especially with its opening concept and jump scares, but despite all the assurances and hard work with those patches, it just wasn't to be.

If this what Fatal Frame is now, I don't want it anymore.

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.

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.

It just misses the balance, leaning too heavily on the side of frustration, with too little to show for all the hard work a player could put in.

Ratchet & Clank: All 4 One should have been about $15, five hours shorter, and released on the PlayStation Network. It's a game that does a disservice to the high pedigree of the Ratchet & Clank series and takes too far a departure from what made such an excellent series. It's sad to see these fantastic characters appear in a poorly structured, mediocre game, full of camera issues and silly bugs that add insult to injury.

In a word, Cobalt is clunky. It has a lot of decent ideas, but it doesn't execute them very well.

Warriors of Troy just about delivers some simple button mashing action without too much fuss, but hack n' slash fans would do best to wait for Dynasty Warriors 7. That game sports more character in a single trailer than this does in the entire experience.

A love of the movies can only get you so far when the experience is this frustrating and hollow. What a letdown.

Nothing about EVE is done poorly except for the fact that it isn't fun. If you like charts, reading directions, and being blown up for no reason, give EVE Online a try.

Buggy, unnecessary, and outstays its welcome before the credits close...Army of Two has never been an especially bad series, it's just never been an especially good one. The Devil's Cartel is the ultimate example of this. Is it bad? Not especially. But it's a far, far cry from good.

The game we've been presented with works against itself more often than it does not.

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.

Final Fantasy 7: Ever Crisis is just a gacha game. Nothing more, nothing less. It’s not the worst thing I’ve ever seen, and it does offer adequate fanservice for those who love Cloud and friends. But otherwise, Ever Crisis doesn’t do anything that other free mobile games already do better. Maybe it’s worth a download for bored Final Fantasy fans, but otherwise, you can spend both your time and money better elsewhere.

For long-time fans, Mega Man X on iOS is at best tolerable and at worst insulting. It's a "remake" rife with unnecessary alterations that only serve to make it feel more dated than the original game.

To put it bluntly, Seasons After Fall is "pleasant." A world with a great feeling experience that tends to knock you out of it when moving around. As much as I appreciate a game as relaxed as this, that relaxation never quite became true enjoyment.

If you are truly desperate for good puzzles and sumptuous art, then you could do worse than play A New Beginning, but I found it impossible to look past the many issues and really enjoy the few things it manages to do right.

The game just isn’t fun. The spotty controls, rigid character movement, and frail character creation drag Smash Court into the ground.

Gambonanza is a charming but extremely limited chess-and-gambling roguelike that fails to produce a compelling challenge or an experience with any sort of staying power.

The latency, disconnects, freezing, and generally poor structure cripples the game’s ability to deliver its characteristic style of play.

This episode could very well be considered the finale for the first season. It wraps up the Wither Storm saga, it answers the questions about the Order of the Stone, and it delivers a semi-happy, hopeful ending for the crew. If only it did that without an utterly boring first half and the clumsy insertion of mandatory Telltale story elements, it might have also been a good ending.

Six years later, in that timeframe, Capcom did the opposite with Resident Evil 7 — which has now sold over 10 million copies, making it one of the most popular games in the franchise. I think if Koei Tecmo still has an interest in reviving the Fatal Frame franchise, they need to go back to the drawing board or give newcomers a good collection of games that made this survival horror series great in the first place.

Test Drive Unlimited 2 isn't a horrible game. It's just surrounded by a bug filled world, glitchy gameplay, and a core mechanic that doesn't function.

Sloppy, glitchy controls and graphics, tedious gameplay, and spotty co-op makes for one adventure you'll wish would boldly go away. It's dumb, Jim.

A big mess of a strategy role-playing game, as it seems to fall short on just about every level. Fans of strategy games can easily overlook a lackluster presentation, but Zoids Assault also suffers a severe lack of appealing game play, making it hard to recommend to anyone.

In retrospect, I like having this unique story to tell. However, I found little joy in actually playing it. Frustration, irritation, and boredom, sure. But little joy. I might have been better off playing the slots in my local, dilapidated amusement arcade. At least then there would have been a chance I could have won a few quid, and with my winnings, I could just have bought a book.

Somewhere, hidden in foreboding mountain peaks, deep under a gloomy cave, or in the back of a forgotten whorehouse, there is fun to be had in Risen. To be honest, I'll probably keep looking for it -- but I'll do so armed with a walkthrough and the knowledge that playing Risen might be a game of diminishing returns.

The bad news is that this entertaining and occasionally surprising narrative is wrapped around an inadequately polished Hitman knockoff.

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

As you might have gleaned I'm totally into this eccentric insanity more often than not, but there's a limit.

Milanoir takes an appealing aesthetic with a promising setup and turns it into a dutiful slog without much of a payout. It's basic, it's petty, and it's laughably crude. It is a noir title that really doesn’t have a whole lot to say.

Apart from its visuals and recognizable voices (when they're heard at all), there's nothing South Park about it and could have easily been any other multiplayer platform game; a pretty mediocre one at that.

A beautiful intro does not a great game make, and the full product is a disappointment to say the absolute least. Tequila clearly has a lot of talent and an ability to craft genuinely intimidating, memorable environments -- Deadlight demonstrates the wealth of inventiveness the studio possesses. Yet it feels squandered on lazy design in the second chapter and mistreatment of player trust in the third.

Hail to the Chimp is a collection of decent ideas, all poorly executed to some degree. The satire, while welcome to the genre, has been managed in a much better capacity by other games. The mini-games are all weak, mundane, and especially repetitive.

There's a tease of depth in the fights, and I even managed to have quite a bit of fun when things fell into place. Too often, however, it felt like accidental fun. Like I wanted to enjoy what I was playing so much, I stumbled into a good time.

It took me 10 hours to get to the end of Flashback 2, but I suspect I could have cut that down to 5-6 hours if it wasn’t for bugs frequently forcing me to lose progress. I didn’t enjoy much of it, and I barely paid attention to the plot because it didn’t matter. You can’t focus on the plot when the game is so broken. I cannot in good conscience recommend this. Your time and money is better spent elsewhere.

The old school charm quickly wears off and gives way to a game that simply does not want you to have fun. It's absolutely tragic, because I was just starting to really get into it before the game basically slammed the door in my face and said "f..k off." So I fu..ed off.

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.

Credible as it is taken solely on its own, DYING: Reborn VR comes across as a cynically motivated cash grab rather than a genuinely developed standalone product. And in an age where what's considered acceptable for a VR game is changing, that renders the game's prospects dead on arrival.

Vane has a very strong opening, some unique visual ideas, and an atmospheric electronica soundtrack. Unfortunately, all of this is quickly muted by aimless and frustrating gameplay.

At around three hours, it's hard to recommend Corpse of Discovery to starved sci-fi fans, let alone the general public, and especially at full price. With some optimization patches it would be at least worth a play through for sci-fi fans, but as it stands I'd let this one get lost in space.

Unlike its predecessors, Escape Dead Island feels devoid of heart or identity. It is a cruel reminder of the shovelware that plagued the PlayStation, PlayStation 2, and the Wii and behind its generic facade hides a malnourished newborn of a game starved for nutrition and attention.

It's a huge shame, because Dungeon Keeper is such a great franchise. I vividly remember getting hooked on the original for the very first time, and hooking in non-strategy fans with its unique perspective and visual style. But you're getting none of that here, as you're instead presented with a hollow freemium shell of what once was.

Fracture feels like a concept forged many years ago, but it just doesn’t stack up with any conventional standards. If you enjoy shooters, feel free to rent. Otherwise, it’s safe to pass this one up.

Might be appealing to a younger audience that wants an RPG without too many advance systems to over-complicate things, but if you're looking for a deep role-playing game set within the land of Ooo, you'll be sorely disappointed. On top of that, all of the performance issues with the Switch version make it incredibly difficult to recommend.

Tedious dialouge, bland visuals and confusing combat make Xuan-Yuan Sword: The Gae of Firmament a joyless experience.

This is a game that does absolutely not need to exist but does for the sheer fact that the original game had no way of raking in the dough.

In its current state, No Time To Explain is in serious need of polish. One day, this might be a solid platformer, because the concept is fun and worth iterating upon. For now, though, the annoyances aren't worth putting up with.

In order to make a game with this subject matter really stand out, you have to put a new spin on it like we’ve never seen before. Unfortunately, Hindsight didn’t really manage to do that, either in its gameplay or its story. At the end of the day, story is what’s supposed to matter the most here, and if the writing were stronger, I’d be able to forgive Hindsight many more of its transgressions.

Take out the Mutators and you have one of the most generic-looking FPS games ever designed. I get nauseated looking at the uninspired player models and wimpy guns, yet the game seems aware of where it came from. Like the original 2005 Nexuiz, this is a game made by a community. It's just that it's an enclosed community of people who seem to misunderstand what made the classics so good.

It can be fun, but the pacing is annoying and the difficulty will frustrate all but the devoted.

I didn’t expect to have so much vitriol for Little Town Hero going into it, however, I found very little to like. Its 18-ish-hour runtime felt like an eternity as I slogged through battle after battle. I struggle to fathom who this game is designed for, but all I can recommend is to stay away lest you get dealt a bad hand.

Cartoon Network really needs to re-evaluate the developers it chooses for the Adventure Time license, because this series deserves better, and has performed poorly for far too long.

Unfortunately, I spent most of my experience with the title cursing in frustration at all the bugs, or wishing I was doing something -- anything -- other than sitting in front of my PC, watching ships move with the haste of a geriatric. With enough patches it could be a perfectly serviceable RTS, if not a particularly fun one.

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.

If The Last Story is the Wii's swan song, it is a miserable dirge, full of regret and remorse.

Despite its impressive audiovisual presentation, it fails in the areas that make a game a game. It is beautiful in its own dismal way, and the story it tells is decent, but I could not wait for it to end so I would not have to deal with the frustrating control and dull design decisions.

Tappingo is a semi-clever idea held back by its lack of ambition and amateurish presentation.

The first twenty minutes of playing this game, I detested every second of it.

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.

For the relatively low price of four bucks, Dolphin Up is a fair purchase, but I feel it's better suited for mobile devices where it already exists at a slightly lower price. This is exactly the kind of game I could see myself enjoying far more on bus rides rather than on the couch in my living room.

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

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.

A lethargic combat experience marred further by grotesque bugs, The Cursed Crusade is a game that truly does feel cursed, like no amount of hard work would put it right.

So we've got a game that I don't enjoy from any angle (which sucks), but it's also dominating the cultural conversation right now (which is great). I'm torn on this one, honestly! See, I don't recommend Pokémon Go the video game. But I can't get enough of Pokémon Go the cultural artifact. It's a Videodrome-esque obsession, and I'm very disappointed in how excited I am to play my part. Long live the new flesh.

One of the dumbest ideas in this game is the “Shut ’Em Down” move. Basically, you fill a “special” meter by doing well (hitting shots and dunks, and doing jukes), and you can build up three different levels of Shut ’Em Down moves.

Fable Heroes is merely boring beyond belief.

The Journey wants so desperately to impress you, but it can only ever ruin your day.

There's no escaping the issue of this being a shameful followup to a genuinely great brawler. I like Koei, but I'm the first to admit it can cut corners wherever it feels able to get away with doing so -- and even for that particular studio, this is a notably substandard effort. Uglier, more boring, as stale as week-old French bread, Fist of the North Star: Ken's Rage 2 is best ignored by fans of both Dynasty Warriors and Hokotu no Ken alike.

Even if Akiba's Beat had a higher budget and more time, it lacks any unique features, mimicking what other games do, but worse. For 40 hours you'll mash X through slow dialogue, then run around a dead environment, and then do more dialogue until you get to mash square against sponges. If Akiba's Trip is the shirtless jock who kicks the door with beers in hand, Akiba's Beat is the timid cocktail-drinker standing in the corner with one hand in his pocket. Technically functional, but spiritually dead.

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.

As far as endless runners go, the only thing Shred It! has going for it is the art style, and even that is feeling old hat these days. The gameplay follows the same formula as all the other runners you've played.

A miserable little game that does nothing for anybody.