The artwork is splendid, the music should be on rotation on my iPhone, and, barring a few bugs, the easy-to-grasp point-and-click gameplay works. Its issues lie in the writing, the element that should be the glue that holds the package together. Its lightweight, cornball comedy opts for cheap and easy jokes I never really find funny.

Hey! Pikmin is a little too simplistic for its own good, especially early on, but Arzest does a fantastic job of distilling what makes this series so special into bite-sized chunks. The transition cutscenes that play out like physical comedy shorts and the adorable little noises really sell it.

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.

It's fascinating how Team Ninja is mostly catering to the hardcore crowd with this string of add-ons up through Nioh: Defiant Honor. You can't really just jump into these levels without having mastered everything up through the campaign, and although that mentality might feel a little unwelcoming for some, I feel like Koei Tecmo gets it, and knows their audience.

Despite some of these hiccups, it’s difficult not to enjoy being part of this strange world and participating blindly in its customs. Although I wasn’t quite as attached to the characters as I had hoped, I did appreciate the medley of personalities and felt the world and its customs were admirably orchestrated within everyone’s backstory. It might not be for everyone, but Pyre delivers on its fun gameplay in a way that beautifully illustrates the struggles of redemption and what it means to gain true freedom.

I kept thinking that Fallen Legion was a much more expensive game with just how it looked and sounded. The art and music are standouts, despite their modesty. Everything else would have greatly benefited from more polish, but there is great potential in these games. I cannot wait to see what the developers make next.

Were it not for the successful conversion of the multiplayer mode for this port, I would have rated this game lower. Even without an active player base, though, the prospect of getting friends involved for a night of classic fragging is really tantalizing. Hopefully more people get this in the future, because letting these crazy weapons go to waste is a damn shame.

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.

With more concessions for higher level play and a deeper meta, veterans will be jumping ship from Wii U to Switch in an instant.

Fire Pro Wrestling World is a great wrestling sim that requires effort and patience to be mastered. However, it does reward those who commit to the game with intense, exciting and satisfying matches, featuring some of the greatest wrestlers in the history of the pseudo-sport...or at least 3,538 of them. [Early Access Review]

It's fun in spurts.

Spend enough time with Get Even and you're likely certain to see why it's so arresting. There's something unique and original and intriguing at the core of this game. But hey, maybe I'm wrong. Maybe this is just the Stockholm Syndrome talking.

The music is repetitive and worse than what you'd hear on an elevator, and the randomness of the difficulty just isn't fun, at all. You could even say it's baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad.

It's a fun distraction to casually play with friends -- be they competitive or casual -- and will perhaps help hold us all over till a proper Smash Bros. releases on the Switch; much like how the developers waited for a 3DS version. This is one fun little dance.

As much fun as it is to share with loved ones, Death Squared is considerably more difficult than Snipperclips, which didn't even have a failure state. Even though it has a "party mode," it's not a game I'd advise pairing with alcohol, since fine motor control is one of the first things to go when you're hammered. If you're persistent and willing to work together though, Death Squared is a good time, and definitely worth picking up on the Switch.

Slowly but surely XII has wormed its way into my heart -- it only took 11 years.

This is probably the closest thing we will ever get to a proper Courage the Cowardly Dog game, so if you have nostalgia for that show, pick this up. The two-hour length and lack of replayability will probably be a turnoff for some, but if you're like me, you're desperate for content to play on your Nintendo Switch and for $9 you could do much, much worse.

Infinite Warfare has had an uneven Season Pass but it's far from a disaster.

Blowout Blast is another game I'll stuff in the "Kirby" folder on my 3DS, occasionally going back to it when I have a few moments to spare.

If you read up on the planets for fun, enjoy movies like 2001: A Space Odyssey, Interstellar, Star Trek: The Motion Picture, or Moon, or find the idea of hauling cargo from system to system and maybe getting in the odd fight along the way appealing, there is very little else out there like Elite Dangerous. I'm highly recommending it despite the tedium in its game play and the long periods of time you will spend just looking at stars/reading stuff on a screen. It is a beautiful, one of a kind experience that I cherish, one of my favourite games in the last few years, and the PlayStation 4 release is no exception.

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

If you've got a hankering for a game with a stamina meter, sword swinging, and pot smashing, there is at least one other better title on the Nintendo Switch that I can think of, but Oceanhorn is an alright little throwback to retro Zelda titles that could help you bide your time between Nintendo's slow trickle of AAA games this year.

Trials is a hodgepodge of stuff that should have been patched in and stuff worthy of extra development time.

The combat here is good, really good, and for some, that may be all they need. For you, that may be enough to convince you to plop down your $40 for this game. For me, the fun in Tokyo Xanadu is buried beneath so much unskippable, unpauseable, and unmemorable story I can’t in good conscience give it my full support.

The Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy serves as a time capsule of sorts before the series was ran into the ground.

If you’re new to the dungeon or it's been a long time since you ventured into its depths, do yourself a favor and get your sea legs ready before wading into the bloody pools of The Crimson Court. If you’re an experienced delver looking for a new challenge, then by all means, step into the moonlight and find out what the night has in store for you.

Hover ends up as a game that's a blast to maneuver around and explore but becomes at odds with its own design. There are a lot of peculiar decisions that make everything much more frustrating than it needs to be. Hover is something I desperately wanted to fall in love with, and although I’m happy to have been acquainted with it, we’ll be headed our separate ways moving forward.

Every time I boot up D3, whether it's for a new season or a new group of friends, I have the option to level up a new Necromancer, and that's going to be invaluable down the line for me.