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 game's variety and length come across as nothing more than smoke and mirrors, the endless, grinding busywork that contributes nothing to the overall gameplay is inexcusably plentiful and mind-numbingly repetitive, and to top it all off, the game can't even compete in the visuals department and somehow looks worse than the original.

Ultimately, while Accel World VS Sword Art Online: Millennium Twilight means well to try and merge what's cool about both Sword Art Online and Accel World, its high points are too few and far between to consider it a success.

As much as Warp's presentation gives you the illusion that you are playing a charming game full of personality, a lot of the initial goodwill and attachment to the cute critter protagonist is slowly eroded by your actions and the problematic controls. In the end, all that is left at your disposal is a virtual representation of your imminent failure and repetitive demise.

A lot of the issues are tech-related: crashes, geometry bugs, load times, and framerate can all be fixed with patches. As of now? The interesting puzzles and fantastic music are not worth suffering through the bugs, lackluster models, and mediocre combat and skills. If your interest is piqued here, wishlist it and come back at a later time; I have no doubt that this game will reach its potential, but it's just not even close right now.

It's unfortunate then that the game is buried under a myriad of problems, from dated, ugly presentation to shooting that feels clumsy.

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.

It is a mediocre title at best and one which revels in that fact. A sticky, filthy little pleasure that I have had quite a bit of enjoyment playing.

In a world where THPS 2X is still readily available for less than $10 on eBay, it's hard to give this HD downgrade any sort of recommendation. The original games earned our nostalgia, while this release abuses it. It's short on content, quality, and personality. This is not the Tony Hawk I remember spending middle-school summers with.

Although its premise was simple and delightful at first, playing through FEIST was a trying experience and one that I would not want to repeat.

Even though Noby Noby Boy's shallow antics aren't fun or interesting enough to justify the lack of actual goals or structure, there's just too much new and quirky stuff here to not be deserving of its incredibly meager $5 asking price.

If nothing else, Magical Drop V succeeds in featuring one of the most busted English translations I've seen in years. It's the closest the game comes to offering some genuinely entertaining '90s nostalgia.

Mundane boss confrontations don’t allow you to exhibit your fighting prowess. Awkward platforming segments slow the flow of the game to a crawl. Weird clipping issues and dangerous framerate drops deter the action of the rather short (five to eight hours) span of play. I wish there was more to Afro Samurai, but there isn’t much to sink your teeth into. The game feels 75% complete.

It did propose some thought-provoking questions about mortality, but I was too busy being frustrated at the controls to give any of it a second thought while playing.

Sadame is as repetitive as a song about thongs sung by man named Sisqo. The vast majority of encounters in the game follow the same pattern: enter an area, watch enemies appear, defeat enemies, watch more enemies appear, defeat more enemies, go to next area. That's it. That's the whole game.

While the characters are fun, much of their characterization comes from Go! Go! Nippon!, as does the idea of visiting various places to earn date points. Not talking about the locations much defeats the purpose of the traveling format, and the plot wavers between comedy, romance, and real drama too much to fully capture you on any point. The lack of accuracy on the country lessens the impact of the serious moments as well.

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.

The multiplayer works about 45% of the time. The "challenge" mode is more like a training simulation for Skynet. 2/3rds of this game are not up to par. I cannot get three other people together to play Lethal League on my couch. My experience with Lethal League is valid even though I didn't contort my life to satisfy a hypothetical. Some other people might be in the same position, and I hope this review is useful to them.

Spy Chameleon is a short game that feels too long. It's one good idea not fully realized and a reptilian mascot who deserves another shot.

Enjoying Sir Hammerlock's Big Game Hunt is about managing expectations, about knowing what you want out of Borderlands 2's constantly expanding menu -- its strong suits are the subtle twists on combat and enemy behavior, exploration, farming, and a hidden raid boss that costs almost 100 Eridium to spawn.

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.

Clumsy, visually sub-par, and disrespectful of the player's time. While it revels in its own stupidity and hopes you'll do the same, it's one of those sad games that believes a ridiculous concept is enough to make for a worthwhile game, and in Tank! Tank! Tank!'s case, that's just not true. Indeed, there's nothing more upsetting than a game that believes, if it's wacky enough, it can get away with being crap.

Escape Plan never aims to be anything more than a showcase of the PlayStation Vita's touch controls, but said controls are so insensitive and poorly implemented that the best it can hope for is to be used as an example of what not to do when designing a Vita game.

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.

Dragon Ball Xenoverse has some of the worst design decisions ever embedded into a videogame. There are no menus, the story mode's difficulty is all over the place, and the game's best aspect, creating characters, is locked behind hours and hours of frustrating play. It certainly has its moments and the core fighting mechanics are great, but the game falls flat in too many other areas to be standout title.

It's almost like developer Hapa Games had two really cool ideas and tried to integrate them both into Ascendant, with mixed results. At times it has flashes of brilliance with its focus on raw skill and combat, and others, it feels like you're just aimlessly wandering another barren landscape, in search of a rush.

F1 fans will be drawn in by the licensed racers and circuits from the 2011 Formula 1 season, the idea of using the DRS rear-wing control, and KERS boosting abilities. They may even be entranced by the depth of the career mode or the number of race options both online and off. But when it comes down to the presentation -- endless menus, muted graphics, and the races themselves -- many will lose interest in F1 2011 very quickly.

If you're a die-hard fan of the Transformers film series, I would recommend picking up Rise of the Dark Spark when it's heavily discounted (like, under $10) with a group of friends just to play Escalation.