The most beautiful version of Dragon Quest 3 to date knows exactly how to make a visual impression. However, the teeth of time have been gnawing mercilessly at the plot and gameplay.

It might sound a bit more harsh than the game deserves, but sometimes you have to call the developers out when a game suffers under ill-advised direction. Thanks to the beautiful and richly filled houses and some really great characters, Luigi's Mansion qualifies as a really good game. It's just not the fantastic one it could have been.

JRPG fans who subscribe to the school of thought that imagination can triumph over any of the logical inconsistencies this particular genre regularly brings with it, will welcome this as the new king of their genre. Everyone else will find this to be competent in the gameplay department, visually and acoustically arresting - and completely confused in terms of story.

The resource management is pleasantly challenging, and the story poses interesting questions. However, the emotional component is crushed by inconsistent, far too pragmatic dialogue and decisions.

Non-stop brawling, neon lights and bouncer-marsupials.

Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake from Square Enix goes right back to the beginning of the JRPG genre. Unfortunately, I'm not sure the trek there is worth taking. Well, at least the two role-playing games now look fantastic.

Ninja Gaiden: Ragebound is a fast-paced and pleasantly challenging, but also very straightforward and short-lived adventure.

Unfortunately, the game itself is too simplistic and hardly challenging, but the concept is incredibly fascinating from start to finish.

You are not Columbo with muscles nor are you Sherlock in a pelt. You're a charismatic version of Chazz Palminteri dropping the coffee mug at the end of The Usual Suspects.

It's just so charmingly old-fashioned that you cannot really fault it for its slight problems.

Not only have these JRPG-bedrock games never looked or sounded better, they also give you all the comforts you could ever want, to experience them again.

There's nothing wrong with the design of the levels or the gameplay in and of themselves. It's just that OMD!2 feels more like a sizeable update complete with co-op integration. It is a good game, though, which manages to best its predecessor. Soloing veterans of that game should think very hard if the amendments are enough to buy this sequel at launch.

It's a lot of fun for a considerable amount of time – until you hit that skill-ceiling and wish there was something more to strive for than a place on the leaderboards. Still, with every single go being very short indeed, Vlambeer's newest game is perfect for short bursts where ever you have to kill a few minutes.

For years, Dust: An Elysian Tail will be a testament to what one person is able to create. But it also shows how problems in a game can sometimes be missed by the creator as well as the players.

PES 2015 just lives and breathes Soccer. After years of decent iteration on the series' core tenets, I almost didn't expect something as impressive as this. That being said, it's just a crying shame Konami seemingly insists on confirming every single stereotype one might have had when it comes to the pathologically shaky online aspect.

After all, the combat system is pleasantly complex without being overloaded, while you can develop all characters very precisely into the specialists you desire in your party. Plus the motivating building of your own empire... Despite the formulaic course of events, you can spend a lot of good time with this remake.

While this is still expertly made and well worth the time and money, really relevant information regarding the murders was few and far between. You don't feel like Bigby is running the investigation, he's hopelessly trailing behind for the third consecutive episode.

Paranormasight features a multi-layered story with interesting insights into Japanese myths, even though it promises more than it delivers in terms of content and gameplay.

Octopath Traveler 0 is a kind of cozy and solid pastime for curling up on the couch during the cold season. But it's certainly not the next big JRPG.

There is a lot of good to be found in Alien Isolation. In the end, this one is just one good writer and five levels less away from being a true classic.

It's not easy to score Kentucky Route Zero's first act. It's not an isolated product, as it sees itself as exposition to a much bigger narrative. Even though it succeeds marvelously in opening up the game, we don't know anything about where this "Lost Highway" will take us. Who didn't fall in love with this on first sight, should rather wait for the next few acts to come around before he decides if this is something for him. If you did though, get it. It may not have a lot of gameplay substance, but its atmosphere will suck you in quite like nothing else.

Nocturnal has got its problems. Locking you out of areas you feel you haven't completely cleared yet, being the main one. I still did enjoy myself playing this, however. To me, it was the right game at the right time, managing to simultaneously be a taster and a alternative draft for Ubisoft's upcoming Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown. So, if you have 5 hours to kill, you'll find a (mostly refreshingly) bare-bones, tight and mostly well-made indie title that loves the old 2D Prince of Persias as much as you do. Worth a look.

This still is a seasoned and distinct piece of rpg. But between the slow start, the often slumberous and drawn out palaver and some redundant carrot-dangling in the main quest, this clearly is the weakest entry in the acclaimed series.

It's a dialogue-heavy, but ultimately solid bridging episode that's probably going to be compared to the fourth part of season one, when it's all said and done. You get the feeling it's only about to really get started now.

Sadly, this is the second-best way to experience part 2 and 3 of the franchise. As an idea for a 'satellite-game' to the home edition, leaving out Peace Walker from the Vita-collection was hardly a stroke of genius. For the moment it seems that the series should stay where it calls home: On a enormous widescreen, support by a gigantic sound-system.

If you were to ask me if you should play Skulls of the Shogun, I'd first go ahead and give you a list of better titles in a similar vein. If you're already past the Advance Wars', Fire Emblems and Valkyria Chronicles', this is well worth a look. It's just not all that memorable.

The Outer Worlds 2 is a damn good, classic role-playing game in which you can pretty much do whatever you want...At the same time, I have to admit that I found it to be quite formulaic for long stretches. Factions, conflicts, open character development with numerous gameplay options: none of this is new, and because every distribution of perks, weaknesses and abilities always leads to a certain goal, proceedings feel somewhat arbitrary and lacking a certain special spark.

The multiplayer is the true heart of this game and offers a ton of strategically challenging missions. If you don´t care about the campaign, love to play online against others and can accept quite a few issues concerning comfort and gamesystem, than this highly tactical game could still offer something for you.