The game's core mechanics are all still there, neatly created and presented stunningly. But underneath this evident beauty, Prince of Persia fails to deliver on any sort of a challenge, and instead of carrying on the proud tradition of the series, deviates to a considerable and damaging extent because of its simple gameplay and excessive accessibility.

Overall, the game presents simple but compelling word strategy with just the right mix of predictability and random chance. One’s enjoyment of Oh…Sir!! may come down to whether or not the style of humor clicks, but it’s hard to deny that it delivers great value for its tiny $2 asking price. Also, your face smells of a dead parrot’s farts.

YIIK: A Postmodern RPG is a bizarre title that connected with me on several levels despite a number of issues, and it kept me coming back until credits rolled. While it did take a significant amount of time to get to the ending, the characters and the themes of coping with loss and Alex’s growth made the investment of time worth the effort. That said, I don’t know if I would recommend this game to anyone but myself, yet it’s so strange and offbeat that I think there’s something worthwhile here to check out for everyone who’s not me.

Issues aside, it's hard to discount the feeling of nostalgia that permeates Growlanser: Wayfarer of Time. Gamers like me, who experienced the golden age of the JRPG firsthand, will undoubtedly enjoy this title despite the occasional misstep.

Mulaka is a treat for the eyes that’s just fine as it is, but I can’t help but feel there were many opportunities where it could have, and should have, done more.

It may not have been a direct hit, but ­R-Type Command's mission was certainly accomplished.

Despite the lackluster mechanics and dull dungeon design, Soul Hackers 2 still has plenty of sheen in its presentation and characters. Ringo is an intriguing protagonist surrounded by a roster of dynamic characters who will keep the player invested as they struggle to save this colorful, neon world. If nothing else, it will serve as a welcome primer to Atlus newcomers, or a welcome draught for those looking to slake their thirst after going through more accomplished ATLUS titles.

It’s great that four years later Street Fighter V is still receiving updates and continues to have a decent online community. I can’t recommend that owners of the previous versions pay for the upgrade since the new characters can be earned for free within the game, but for anyone who hasn’t played Street Fighter V yet, there’s no better version to pick up than the Champion Edition.

Retro Machina is a game that diligently stays true to its title, putting on the table nothing more or less then what is implied with the opening menu. Unfortunately, the developers have kept too sharp a focus on the ‘retro’ aspect, and in failing to leverage the design improvements and innovations from recent years, the end result is an experience that feels far smaller and more limited than it should.

Bomber Crew is a fantastic first achievement, and flitting between micro and macro management is both stressful and rewarding in equal measure. That said, the game can’t decide if it wants to be a quirky management sim or a hardcore roguelike, so splitting the difference has weakened the whole.

The Forgotten City is quite interesting as a new release that’s actually an enhanced and expanded mod that retains all of its key elements while being offered to players who might not be familiar with Skyrim. Despite the performance issues, it’s an adventure that will fascinate until the end, and the riddle surrounding The Golden Rule is one worth solving.

Sporadic difficulty notwithstanding, it's certainly a credit to Mr. Cavanagh that a project with VVVVVV's basic graphics and simple controls can feel so completely energetic and entertaining. Much more than it initially appears, I was quite glad to have spent time with the title, and eagerly look forward to what Terry will be cooking up next.

It’s an intense experience easily played in a single (or very few) sittings that delivers with an engaging story via fascinating narrative progression. I do feel the overall quality of the game was compromised by the lackluster ending, but the thrill of the promise has enough momentum to carry a player to the end.

I can accept but no longer appreciate the conventions of the past that Soul Calibur III upholds and I look forward to a game that embodies the newer and more reality-based ideals of competitive fighting.

While the narrative falls utterly flat, Ereban: Shadow Legacy remains a good point of entry into the stealth genre, encouraging players to take things patiently and strategically while also giving them a unique adventure that lets them — quite literally — blend into the shadows. It’s worth a try for this, if nothing else!

Any fans of hand-drawn animation should download it immediately.

May get flack from the hardcore D&D crowd for simply being a "Diablo" clone set in the D&D universe, but it's still hard to deny the simple joy in teaming up with three friends to kick the crap out a Beholder.

In a year when games like The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt have redefined what open-world RPGs are capable of, I suspect that a lot of Fallout fans will be forced to question whether the usual Bethesda shtick of providing vast amounts of unpolished content with no emotional investment is still enough. I had a pretty good time, but despite its many strong points, Fallout 4 feels like one of Bethesda's minor works.

Duffers who like to spend more time on the couch than on the greens will find much to enjoy here and they can do it without looking like a dork in a pair of knickers.

A little more challenge, depth, and length with the trimming of the lame on-rails levels would have made this one a near classic. As it is, though, it's an above-average shooter with just enough variety and charm to make the familiar trip worth your time.

Having put Poi down for a while to collect my thoughts for this review, I find myself looking back fondly on it, as I would with Banjo Kazooie or Gex, but I’m not sure it will make a lasting impression. Players who own a Switch and want something besides a a chubby Italian plumber on their screen can’t go wrong with Poi, but it’s hard to see it in that massive shadow.

I enjoyed my time with this blend of warring states Japan, three kingdoms China, and mythological fighters colliding with each other. The character roster and amount of magic flair is deep (even if the combat itself is simple) and Warriors Orochi 4 scratches a very specific itch with its over-the-top action — but not everyone has that same itch. But for those that do, it’s more of the same that fans love.

An efficient (i.e. — boring) playthrough of Hitman 3 could probably be finished in a few hours for players who know what they’re doing, so the fact that I’ve spent more than 30 hours in six maps trying to master each one says everything about how much I love this series. However, despite how much I love Hitman as a whole, I can’t deny that the middling innovations and repeat rewards are starting to make 47’s adventures feel slightly stale.

While people pinching every penny might want to hold off since this DLC such a quick play, those in the mood for a little eggnog with the Saints would do well to ring in this holiday Third Street style.

Those who’ve read this far probably know better than to expect a fair or balanced gameplay. The philosophy underpinning this entire genre is that the player should share the misery that their avatar is suffering, and since they can’t trap players inside the game, they make things as difficult to engage with as possible. Cannibal Abduction is aimed at a very niche audience, but anyone with a passion for this kind of masochistic experience will find a great example of it here.

The replayable Outposts and Expeditions are a blast (even moreso in co-op) and the mild RPG mechanics of base building is a great start, even if it needs to be expanded upon. However, in a larger sense, the adventure is brought down by a comparatively small size and cookie-cutter bad guys. New Dawn isn’t a terrible experience, but it would have been better served by being delivered as DLC material, not passed off as a full game.

Iron Rain is a completely different animal than its predecessors, so it’s almost unfair to compare them. This one never aspires to offer epic action, so how can I criticize it for failing to deliver? Its goal is to offer a more grounded, focused take on the concept, and while I’ll admit that I missed seeing fleets of alien ships being blasted out of the sky by satellite weaponry, the new enemies can’t be ignored. Iron Rain won’t make it to the top of a best-of EDF list, but as a discrete experience, it’s pretty great.

In the end, Windjammers is a mechanically interesting experience that still feels fresh 23 years after its release, but this PS4 edition doesn’t include much to enhance the original. As it stands, Windjammers is enjoyable for an afternoon with friends, but it doesn’t offer much to hook players for the long term.