With a compelling story, strong graphics, and some genuine scares, Outlast 2 is one of the better horror games to come around in recent years. Some aspects of its gameplay may fall short and the first half of the game is a bit of a bore, but overall, it’s an experience worth having, especially for fans of the genre.

Like the anime it's based on, Fairy Tail 2 is a case of too much style and not enough substance. Despite its popularity, Fairy Tail has seemingly never been able to escape a reputation for being too formulaic, adhering to the style and qualities of Shonen anime just a bit too close for comfort. Similarly, Fairy Tail 2 is a game that ticks all the right boxes for a brisk and low-stakes RPG, but it lacks the depth that other similar games might offer. It's a title that players' enjoyment of will vary depending on their appreciation of the Fairy Tail manga and anime, with its snappy combat and eye-catching visuals the definitive silver lining of what's otherwise a fairly shallow experience.

Dustborn’s rhythm mini-game is just another way the game demonstrates how underdeveloped it all is. Its terribly paced narrative is married to an elementary view of authoritarianism and stars an irritating crew that never stops talking. Combat is woefully simplistic and lacks the necessary smooth controls. None of its systems fit together coherently, either, because they’re all underbaked in one way or another and, in some cases, plagued by glitches. It’s hard for Dustborn to fight the power when it’s too busy fighting with itself at every turn.

Last Word certainly stands out from the multitude of other JRPGs in terms of style and a few unique mechanics, but ultimately falls short where it should have been strongest — dialogue.

Session: Skate Sim is a skate simulation that was very clearly designed with skaters in mind. From the extremely involved control scheme to the perfectly captured recreation of skate culture, the game seems like it was never intended to be a gateway for non-skaters to get into the sport. But the bugs, difficulty, general lack of fun, and incomplete state of the game make it difficult to recommend Session to its target audience as well. Some gamers may be able to break through the learning curve and appreciate the thoroughness put into creating such an involved skate sim, but at the end of the day, it's simply not fun.

The MediEvil PS4 remake stays true to the original game while being a more enjoyable experience overall. There were still some ways that the developers could have made the MediEvil PS4 remake even better, but what's here is still a great game and will leave fans hungry for more.

Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water is a disappointing Wii U exclusive horror story that is more likely to put players to sleep than it is to scare them.

The game is a snapshot of the lives of three women, uncovered over the course of a few days, the discoveries they make about each other, and how the whole experience brings them closer together. And like most people’s lives, it’s not all action, dungeon crawling, and loot collecting. It’s mainly emotions, arguments, secrets, heartache, and love; in other words, what the game has to offer simply won’t seem very interesting to everybody. But for anybody looking to spend a relaxing afternoon with a heartwarming tale, taking a brief road trip with Tess and Opal in Open Roads may be just the answer.

It functions on a basic level as a competent dungeon crawler, but its repetitive gameplay combined with its cheap deaths will make most gamers look for other options.

Despite the occasional stumble, The DioField Chronicle turns convention on its side regularly enough that even the more familiar elements feel fresh much of the time. Players have regularly encountered evil empires, warmongering generals, sneaky alliances, and corrupt church officials within the genre, in classic RPG experiences ranging from Suikoden to Final Fantasy Tactics and beyond. Those familiar tropes and themes have rarely been married with such a fresh combat system, however. There’s room for improvement across the board, but what’s available already is worth a look by strategy fans new and old alike.

Underground succeeds in providing players with an interesting challenge, and the unusual control scheme makes users immediately sit up and pay attention.

Gamers who’ve never experienced the old-school variety of first person shooters may also still enjoy Turok – though it’s a bit more punishing than modern first person shooters, the availability of cheat codes and a wide arsenal of weapons and enemies should still make an entertaining adventure for gamers who don’t mind older, jagged-looking graphics.

At launch, Marvel's Avengers is a passable experience, with some big upsides to be found in its combat, stellar voice cast, and fun single-player campaign. However, its loot system, repetitive endgame missions, and technical hiccups seriously hold it back from reaching its full potential. But it's worth keeping in mind that Marvel's Avengers is a live-service game, and so a year from now, it may be a far better package. Those on the fence should wait for Crystal Dynamics to address some of these issues, especially since the superior next-gen versions are right around the corner anyway.

It's hard not to suspect that deciding to put SaGa Emerald Beyond onto mobile gaming platforms hurt the game in many ways. From its lackluster art style, to a bevy of mostly un-engaging characters, the few hints of that Square Enix touch can't be found anywhere except within the cinematic combat moments and the length of the story overall. While interesting combat can carry a game a long way, there isn't enough of it to satisfy the majority of users. There will be some players who don't mind the pages and pages of dialogue, and won't care about the seemingly made-for-mobile art styles, but it's hard not to see these dragging SaGa Emerald Beyond down towards mediocrity and below.

Those that give Crash Team Rumble a chance will find fun, fast-paced platforming gameplay that rewards coordinated teamwork but is still perfectly entertaining with randoms. Toys for Bob has proven that the Crash Bandicoot-style of platforming is right at home in the online multiplayer space, but the game's longevity is a legitimate concern. Anyone interested in the game should jump in now while the community is most active, but those that don't want to risk spending $30 on a game that may fall off in a few months may be better served waiting to see if Crash Team Rumble gets a free-to-play re-release down the road.

Rage 2 is a short game with a weak story and dull open world elements. However, the core shooting gameplay is strong enough that hardcore FPS fans may still want to give it a look once the price goes down.

Aliens: Fireteam Elite has an interesting premise: co-op shooter set in the Alien universe where players must push their abilities, refine their build, and face a continuous onslaught of enemies. In reality, though, it’s a bug-filled slog that proves to be a one-trick pony.

With future updates, Payday 3 may even be a game that surpasses its predecessor, but it has a seriously long way to go.

Those after a light bite of RTS/RPG gameplay with a positive attitude will find a lot of fun with Champions of Anteria. It is unlikely to blow any players away, and fans of The Settlers will find little to keep them occupied, but there’s a nice little game here. Without expecting too much, Champions of Anteria delivers a decent injection of fantasy humor into the market.

On the whole, Tron: Catalyst feels like a successor of sorts to the classic AA games from the Xbox 360 generation. It's a simple and fun action-adventure game that doesn't have any bloat, but it has a handful of notable problems that hold it back from greatness. Tron: Catalyst is being sold for just $25, and honestly, it’s worth the asking price. It can keep players entertained for a day or two, even if they're a newcomer to the Tron franchise.

Miitopia is certainly unique in its execution, but the core RPG framework for the title is far from innovative. In that regard, the it’s one of the more accessible turn-based role-playing games currently available on the Nintendo 3DS, and this is made even better by the often-bizarre blank canvas that users have at their disposal.

Aside from the glaring technical issues and the almost blatant copy-paste job of the formula from the Left 4 Dead series, World War Z should offer a satisfactory experience for anyone wanting to kill some time and some zombies in the process. Of course, there are a wealth of far better games out there which one could spend their hard-earned money on, but $40 isn’t too steep of an asking price for what WWZ‘s third-person shooter action has to offer.

Oddworld: Soulstorm's bugs are a huge downside and keep the game from reaching the same heights as its predecessors. The original version of the game, Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus, is a much more polished experience and it may be best for players to check out that one instead while they wait for Oddworld Inhabitants to fix the many issues that Soulstorm is currently dealing with.

It’s a shame, because for all of the story missteps and relatively simple gameplay, there are plenty of small touches in the game that make it rather enjoyable.

Tron: Identity is an entertaining, but short, visual novel mystery. It uses the history and atmosphere of Tron in pleasing ways to create an interactive story that fans will enjoy the first time through. It looks pretty and reads easy, and the only other obvious stumble is with a non-challenging mini-game that players will quickly grow bored with. Despite its confined exploration, fans of the Tron universe that like visual novels will enjoy the decision-making of a story set far away from the usual digital and non-digital protagonists.

Despite its short length and occasional technical hiccups, Gylt is an OK stealth-horror game with knockout visuals and great audio design. It's not nearly compelling enough to sell someone on the Stadia service, but those with the platform wanting to check out something original will likely have a good time with it as long as they don't go in expecting the game to be Stadia's killer app or anything like that.

Samurai Jack fans who simply want more of the franchise in their life may find this game is worth its $40 price tag. On the other hand, fans who care about the canonical events of the show or those who are less invested in the franchise may find they have mixed feelings about it. It has the fun factor many may seek but is ultimately a mixed bag of odd decisions and nostalgic moments.

Great graphics don’t make a great game. Even if we ignore the loot box controversy, Star Wars Battlefront 2 is still just an “OK” shooter that fails to leave a lasting impression. The single player campaign starts out strong, but quickly becomes a more generic Star Wars tale and makes protagonist Iden Versio far less interesting in the process.