Need for Speed: Payback features the same fun arcadey racing from 2015’s entry, minus all of the heart and soul that game had. With a by-the-books story, and a downright frustrating system to upgrade your car, it’s hard to recommend Need for Speed: Payback.

Would you prefer a tenacious coach who encourages you to do better or an obstinate teacher who seems aroused by failure? Necropolis expects its audience to compose the latter. No one needs their games to be nurturing or complimentary, but the decency to spotlight meaningful content and abandon waste is a manner Necropolis could stand to learn.

Fortune Street is a good board game in terms of premise but as a videogame, it suffers in many areas that we would expect would be enhanced by being a virtual experience.

The gameplay is not fun at all and the visuals aren’t that good either. Fans of the series may find some redeeming qualities within the game but if you are unfamiliar with the One Punch Man series, I would stay away from this game.

Freakyforms Deluxe: Your Creations, Alive! is an admirable premise that spoils well before its implied expiration date. Creating hilarious living monstrosities out of crude odds and ends yields satisfying and impressive results, but endearment becomes tragedy when you discover there's nothing of interest to do with them. The simple act of creation might be enough for some, but I was bored to tears after that particular novelty wore off.

I still have hope that a game like this can really work and be really fun -- but The Fight: Lights Out isn't it. There are simply too many things wrong with this game to recommend it.

A run-of-the-mill action/adventure game—sort of a Zelda game for kids with some pretty serious mechanical issues under the hood.

Enhanced as it may be, Risen 3: Titan Lords is still a very rough experience with too many problems that outweigh its merits.

The game's visuals are on par with other DS FPS titles out there and 1-4 player wireless download play is a nice addition for any DS game. However, this game really has nothing more to get excited about as the dark and unrefined level design, dull A.I., and flawed weapons make the game difficult to enjoy.

It's okay, as long as things are moving right along -- but when you're stuck or don't know where to go, the game's problems come to the surface and your patience will be tried.

While it misses the mark in general and douses the hopes I had when I first saw the E3 2018 trailer, The Quiet Man does have some value. It’s reasonably priced despite its issues and brevity, and if you’re looking for something a little different, it’s worth a look, just keep your expectations considerably tempered.

If Colonial Marines were a film it would be one of those quiet indiscretions sent directly to video, but instead it's a game, one in which every interactive and visible aspect feels dated by any measure.

I like Supermassive Games' idea they had for Doctor Who: The Eternity Clock, but I think the execution fell far short of what they planned. Had they given the game a bit more time to cook, then it would have turned out far better. The 2D platformer genre worked well for this title, but it couldn't overcome the shoddiness of the finished piece and the frustration it creates.

Overall, Mario & Sonic Rio 2016 Olympic Games feels like many of the event based games that came before it: full of events, but shallow in substance. The lack of an online multiplayer mode, and the inability to play as any Mario or Sonic character in any event makes this entry in the Mario & Sonic games a bore.

Infinity Runner's boasts an attractive premise - a werewolf must escape a space station - but its thinly sliced narrative doesn't contain any satisfactory hooks and its moments of player agency rarely reach any sort of plateau. Infinity Runner's beautiful premise isn't an invitation to something greater; it's an excuse for an otherwise incidental experience.

Earth Defense Force 4.1 is a lesson in how endearment can turn into exasperation. Like the best magic tricks, it's astounding the first time you see it, but a waste of time when the performer can't figure out how to move on.

It hits some of its marks—a generous frame-rate and a firm commitment to kitsch melodrama among them—but it's closer to the edges boredom and mediocrity. For a game meant to elicit a range of responses, all that it leaves the player is trite indifference.

Pokédex 3D Pro is most certainly a Pokédex that is well done in terms of aesthetics and quality. However, it is of little help to the competitive community due to its lack of numbers and advanced searches and they will no doubt find more useful tools on the internet.

Overall, Left Alive was not a fun game to play. It lacked personality, even though it wanted to be an MGS clone so bad. It lacked complication for a stealth game, as well as comfortable character movement and slow ramp-up of difficulty. I think if the devs could have had more time to smooth out these rough areas, then the game would have been decent, if not good.

Getting stuck in room-escape or point and click adventure games is par for the course sometimes, but what DYING: Reborn does not have going for it is other strong qualities to keep things interesting and “worth the effort.” It wasn’t long before I resorted to a walkthrough once, and then again as needed. I wasn’t compelled by the story, the characters, or the atmosphere. I didn’t feel any sense of tension or immersion with Mathew and his plight. The presentation of the game from graphics to on-screen font to voice-acting was very generic and lackluster too, making the whole experience a struggle and not very enjoyable. Without a walkthrough, I probably would not have pressed on because I just was not finding the experience worth my time and effort. If you really enjoy room escape games and puzzles, DYING: Reborn at $20 or less might be worth a look, but it’s hard to recommend otherwise.

Perception's attractive thesis—a blind woman should be capable of investigating the menacing house from her nightmares—creates space for an original protagonist inside of an extraordinary circumstance. A premise isn't a promise, however, as Perception quickly abandons novelty in favor of rote objectives, aimless antagonism, and a narrative set adrift in a sea of platitudes.

Dynasty Warriors 9 is extremely repetitive, and it gets to the point of frustration and boredom. The graphics in game are nothing to talk about. It would be different if the game had subpar gameplay and beautiful scenery, but you won’t find that here. Unchallenging combat is just salt in the wound. This is not a game I recommend, and its 80 something playable characters cannot save it.

Through the eyes of an exasperated protagonist, Those Who Remain borrows from better games to tell a by-the-numbers horror story with the illusion of morality. Rife with puzzles so simplistic they become tedious, its delivery may leave players in the dark.

Fist of the North Star: Ken's Rage is so terrible that it can't even satisfy an established template.

Dead Rising 3's inability to operate without consistently crashing wasn't a simple technical shortcoming, but rather a comprehensive failure that came to damage and define every aspect of its experience. Looking back on my time with Dead Rising 3, I'm not thinking of open-world mayhem under the stress of a cataclysmic time crunch, but rather the ugly and sudden halt of everything I found enjoyable in the intended game.

The battles became a chore after a while of playing, as no enemy after the second level presented anything new to deal with, and my options were limited in what I could actually do during battle.

Either wait for a further price drop on the peripheral (from the current $30-$40 you can find it for on Amazon) or hope that Nintendo will bundle one with the one game that everyone is still looking forward to on the Wii: Zelda.

Jump Force has plenty of potential and source material to work from, but falls flat. It is a little disappointing to see such a beloved franchise celebrate its 50th anniversary with Jump Force. The only thing that the game has going for it is the graphics. The story is dull. The combat is disorienting. Unfortunately, Jump Force does not live up to the hype.