Despite the logic issues, the lack of a two-player mode, and the utterly disappointing "secret" level and character, I still consider the game to be a success.

Small issues aside, Hand of Fate 2 is finely crafted and beautiful. The challenges can be difficult thanks to the element of chance, but never overly harsh. If something presents too much of a problem, a different deck can be created to solve it. There’s nothing quite like it out there, and while the campaign might run a little too long, I still enjoyed every minute.

While the multi never panned out for me and the campaign missions can sometimes be more frustrating than fun, there's something undeniably juicy about Frozen Synapse Prime.

Silicon Dreams asks important questions that address our nature as human beings and the rights of minorities, while also providing its own interesting brand of sci-fi narrative while avoiding shallow slogans and easy resolutions, and it definitely comes recommended for those wanting something more engrossing and relevant than the average visual novel.

The game is a showcase of everything Nintendo hopes for its new console: the novel simplicity of the Wiimote, deceptively simple gameplay that's easy for non-gamers to learn yet a challenge for gaming veterans to master.

Ballionaire earns its modest asking price many times over. It’s not earth shattering or genre-defining — it’s just amiable brain nourishment, on demand, any time, and as effortlessly enjoyable as a piece of chocolate or an ice cream cone. Thoroughly recommended!

There's no denying the sheer amount of joy and mirth to be had in Mass Effect 3: Citadel, even if knowing what led to its creation and how the story ends afterwards casts it in a strange, sad light.

Livelock isn’t a title that’s going to move its genre forward, but it is a great example of the genre it’s representing. Anyone who enjoys this brand of action will find spending time with this metallic trio of saviors to be worthwhile.

In the end, FIFA 18 isn’t a tremendous, leaps-and-bounds improvement over FIFA 17, but EA Canada did fix what matters most — the on-field gameplay. While the other modes either stay the course or take a melodramatic dip downward, ultimately FIFA 18 shows that EA Sports is aware of the competition breathing down its neck, and is willing to make the necessary changes to regain the throne.

Professor Layton and the Last Specter is easily the weakest entry in the Professor Layton canon to date. While the gameplay remains as robust as ever, the surrounding elements don't complement or support it quite as well as they have in the past.

The world’s beautiful, the cast is great, and Kat’s unique powers make it feel unlike anything else on the market. If the mission structure was anywhere near as inventive and enjoyable as the rest of the package, it would be an essential (and mindblowing) experience. As it stands, it’s just a damn good time interspersed with a scattering of tedium throughout.

Sure, it’s a shame Bluepoint Games weren’t drafted to take care of this collection of and give it some real love, but what the hell. I still had a great time revisiting them, and my only real criticism is that Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 was a poor pick in a world where Ninja Gaiden 2 exists. It’s a shame that more of an effort wasn’t made to jazz these up, but it’s still great that the classics are finally on PC.

As it is, I can only recommend it to those who have the patience and tolerance to work through significant frustration for the reward of a satisfying story about interesting people.

Shadow Labyrinth is equal parts magnificent and frustrating. The action is stellar, the setting – largely made up of deep-cut references to Namco’s arcade history – is uniquely fascinating, and the retro Pac-Man gameplay is perhaps the best the franchise has ever offered. At the same time, it makes exploration such a chore that I swore off finishing it and stepped away from it more than a few times. I always came back, though, which goes to show just what an incredible job the developers have done here. Even when I hated what I was doing, it was always a pleasure to engage with, and there aren’t a lot of games I can say the same about.

As it is, it's a damn fine game and definitely worth playing in spite of the stumbles that keep it from reaching its full potential.

Putting the issue of tedious battles aside, Immortal Realms is still an enticing product, especially on consoles where there’s not much else like it. For console fans waiting for something substantial, yet less labyrinthian than some of Kalypso’s other offerings, spending time draining blood from the countryside is a great way to go.

Overall, Super Woden GP II’s marriage of old-school arcade racing and a modern focus on car collecting is a fairly successful one, as I certainly enjoyed buying cool-looking cars and building them up for the big leagues. While the lack of options and accessibility features can use some fine-tuning, I’m certain those with a love of racing games (and a lot of patience) will get some good mileage out of this one.

There are enough new features to ensure that the game is more than just a stagnant rehash, and the sheer depth of options is enough to keep the experience fresh for a long time - certainly long enough to get your money's worth and more.

Users won’t see a true next-gen NHL title until late 2021 at the earliest, so it’s refreshing to see the developers making a concerted effort to deliver a strong experience for current gen fans — EA did an admirable job here.

Fundamentally, Resident Evil 3 is two great chase scenes, four awesome boss fights, and a bunch of mediocre filler to make up the rest of the running time. It’s a magnificent, breathtaking ride the first time through, but once that initial ride is over, it becomes a competent zombie shooter and little else.

Sacrificing tone on the altar of entertainment has made Not Tonight 2 somewhat less of a “bold, politically charged dark comedy” that publisher No More Robots bills it as, but despite that it remains a beautifully-realized, genuinely enjoyable adventure.

While I found some frustration on my ranch, there’s no doubt that these Monster Rancher games offer a unique experience that I’ve never seen replicated anywhere else, and this DX release is clearly the definitive way to experience these forgotten classics.

For Wii owners jonesing for something besides the usual batches of brightly-colored shovelware and tired flagship franchises, The Sky Crawlers: Innocent Aces fresh take on dog-fighting along with a healthy dose of anime-inspired storytelling is just what the doctor ordered.

Despite the glitches, the addition of true, two-player co-op makes it a fantastic adventure to share. I found Brothers to be a hidden gem when it was first released, and that still holds true today.

At present, Bigbig's casual disregard for the casual gamer has undermined a game that, in almost every other respect, is so perfectly suited to its host platform as to truly be a showcase title. [UK Version]

Rather than trying to beat the giants at their own game, Airborne Kingdom carefully selects its core tenets and takes flight without getting weighed down by steep difficulty or stressful play. It might not be the kind of city-builder one comes back to again and again, but I enjoyed my time floating above it all.

Nostalgia and style are weak currencies to a mass market obsessed with content, and OutRun's primary commercial frailties are its simplicity, its repetition and its lack of long-term structure.

It’s not an absolute slam dunk for the return of the Tales series, but it’s a solidly-crafted JRPG with a great battle system and fabulous environments to adventure through. It’s a shame the dialogue and story don’t match the stellar work done elsewhere, but on the whole it’s still a trip well worth taking.

After all is said and done, Resident Evil 6 isn't a runaway success, but most of the time, it succeeds at what it sets out to accomplish. Unfortunately, it's such a departure from the rest of the series that those expecting more of the same will find themselves frustrated and foiled-despite the "6" in its title, this is an entirely new animal, and the developers have hamstrung their own work by doing an unforgivably bad job of explaining what the game is, and how they intend it to be played.

Tekken 7 is a tough one to judge. The fighting’s competent, the roster’s huge, it looks and sounds good, and there’s a ton of stuff to learn. It’s also easy to pick up for beginners, and experts have access to a veritable playground of skills to show off mid-match. However, it doesn’t feel like a particularly huge leap for the series, the online’s spotty, the rage attacks and move spamming feel way too pervasive in matchmaking, and I expected more content given how long it’s taken to hit home.

Though it doesn’t break the mold (and in some ways steps back a bit in terms of narrative scope) Fate/Extella Link is the ideal sequel, holding tight to what worked best about Fate/Extella: The Umbral Star and building on that foundation with a set of well-thought-out additions and changes. Fans of the previous entry and the Fate franchise should give it a look.

Ultimately, Pinball M is another solid outing from Zen Studios. Their typically-excellent pinball physics complement well-designed, original tables based on icons of film and videogames. For those who aren’t fans of the source material, the excellent new modes alone make it a worthy addition for any pinball fan.

Despite its simplicity, Europa establishes itself as a whimsical, wondrous experience floating through the wilds of a fallen utopia. I won’t forget it anytime soon.

If one can look past the technical limitations and lack of control customization, Lords of the Fallen is a strong addition to the soulslike catalogue. With solid combat and fascinating, multi-layered exploration, not only does Lords of the Fallen do enough to stand out from a crowded field, it manages to be a great game for those with a Dark Souls itch to scratch.

Romance Of The Three Kingdoms XIII is a deep, highly rewarding strategy title that insists on persistence, patience, and a high commitment. I’m unable to speak on behalf of ROTK die-hards, but as someone who came in completely bereft of knowledge of the franchise, this thirteenth entry does a solid job to bring in new players, which, considering how damn intricate it can be, is commendable.

Although I can't say it's a must-play for Lord of Shadow 2 fans, Alucard is cool, he's classy, and I want more of him in a leading role. Until then, Revelations is two or three more hours of quality content for an underrated title, and the cleverness of its core idea was definitely worth the price of admission.

So what we have with Flowstone is a big, shaggy, messy game — it’s something that stumbles from time to time, but is also crafted with obvious joy that succeeds in its suite of core mechanics, and that’s where it matters most. It’s one of the more uneven titles I’ve played this year and this is not an unqualified recommendation, but it’s memorable, charming, and worth supporting.

On the whole, Thief is a worthwhile entry into the stealth genre and genuinely better than many I've played, but it's hard to ignore the number of obvious things that it whiffs.

Sokobond Express’s biggest strength is also its most significant obstacle. By putting all their eggs into one basket, the developers have crafted a mechanically excellent puzzler with a strong logical backbone and a remarkable ability to communicate its complex notions. However, by neglecting the thematic side of the equation, Sokobond Express hews too closely to its source material, ultimately feeling academic to a fault. The result is an exercise in solving puzzles for their own sake, and while the puzzles are of a uniformly high quality, the overall experience lacks the hooks to make a truly lasting impression.

Overall, Freedom Planet 2 is an excellent (though imperfect) love letter to Japanese ’90s style platformers, and anyone who enjoys either old-school design or platforming in general will find it worthwhile thanks to solid mechanics, plenty of content and strong replayability via the different characters available. Maybe skip the story, but don’t miss it.

Videogames this ain't. Art it might be. But what is it? Electroplankton is. And that's all it sets out to be.

As far as my advice goes, it’s simple — for those who dig Rick & Morty, this is a must-buy, even if one doesn’t own a VR headset. Those who think the show is over-hyped, unfunny nonsense should stay as far away from it as possible. The gameplay or VR implementation isn’t anything earth-shattering, but as a delivery mechanism for Justin Roiland’s humor, Trover Saves The Universe is a fantastic success.

Anger Foot is at its best in motion. Falling into a hallway hypnosis of garish ’90s aesthetics and murderous footwork, I don’t have to think — I just react. It’s when I’m forced to slow down and hear a joke or fight a boss that requires pauses in the pace that I begin to notice the seams. While these moments aren’t dealbreakers, they’re unfortunate stumbles in an otherwise sure-footed experience.

An almost completely successful swordfighting simulation. It does a better job with its setting than any game I've seen, and even though it's a little limited in scope, it's satisfying and effective at what it tries to accomplish.

It’s ironic that a story about the value of discipline and restraint would feel like it needs more time in the editing room, but that’s the new God of War – promising but aimless. I like the new Kratos, but I hope his next adventure is more focused than this, and I pray that it actually gives him something interesting to do.

An adrenaline rush can be a very welcome thing, and playing something this fast and trigger-happy on the PSP made me feel glad that I had spent the money on the unit after so many months of boring, flawed games.

In the end, Kofi Quest is a homage to the pathetic and it feels good to play a title that doesn’t take itself seriously and have some laughs while doing so. Kofi Quest has the potential to resonate with the most enthusiastic players of the RPG genre and the studio has shown potential for a great game series here as they already have the characters, the visuals and the concept. I look forward to more in the future.

I truly wish I could just say ‘ending aside, this is an incredible game’, because it’s true. This is the best-paced interactive movie I’ve ever played, and the mysteries of Little Hope are both intriguing and satisfying to solve. However, that ending. I simply can’t overstate how atrocious it is, and I wish I could just erase the last five minutes of it. I can still recommend it as an excellent interactive movie, just be ready for love to become hate right before the credits roll.

I’m used to crafting-themed games being huge, sprawling, self-guided odysseys, so compared to them, Wytchwood is a bite-sized revelation. It’s bleak, it’s funny, and it has character for days. By focusing on the story and puzzles, it creates an item-focused adventure that rarely wastes the player’s time, and then gets out on one heck of a high note. This one is a truly charming adventure that’s as gruesome as it is sweet.

That Rogue Legacy got a lousy port is particularly damning, because the game is otherwise perfectly suited to the handheld, with an average round lasting no more than ten minutes but with depth encouraging much longer sessions if possible.

Small issues can’t detract from a solid puzzle game. Worm Jazz offers plenty of challenging head scratchers while providing a relaxing gaming experience at the same time.

Mass Effect die-hards will certainly want to invest, but more casual fans of the series might want to think twice before purchase.

Ultimately, it may not have delivered as much variety as I was hoping for, but with the right expectations there's still a good amount of job-flavored questing to be had.

In a world where competitors like Mortal Kombat 11 and Guilty Gear Strive are making great strides in presentation and content, it’s hard to feel like KoF XV is keeping pace. It’s still an excellent fighter and KoF is one of the most reliable franchises out there. However, for an installment that promised to ‘shatter all expectations’ in the publicity leading up to launch, the final product seems content to barely meet them — a real shame since the fighting is still some of the best out there.

Ultra Despair Girls could've been a dynamite ten-hour experience. Unfortunately, it clocks in at about twice that length and runs out of gas long before credits roll. However, spending time with Komaru and Toko remains worthwhile despite the filler and late-game sluggishness, and this genre-switch is definitely a must-play for series fans.

The Kids We Were offers quite a long main story with a bonus episode once it’s finished. The simple voxel graphics feel like a good fit for something centered on the past, though one might wish for something a little more detailed during some of the more touching scenes. Perhaps, cutscenes in a different style might have been useful in providing a little more variety and emotional impact. That said, anyone looking for a rich narrative supported by wave of Japanese nostalgia would do well to look into The Kids We Were — just don’t expect complex gameplay mechanics or fancy visuals.

The game has an undeniably amazing world to take part in, and I never once stopped marveling at it from start to finish.

The Spirit Lift won’t be a game for everyone, but there’s joy to be found for players who might like a smaller bite.

The Devil In Me is a brutal, harrowing experience. The killer is monstrous, the choices to be made are nail-biters, and the story, when finally revealed, offers all the satisfaction of a opened puzzle box. The new gameplay mechanics fit seamlessly into the experience, and the additional player agency encourages investment in the story, rather than distracting from it. While nothing in the plot reaches the audacious heights of House of Ashes‘ finale and technical issues prevent co-op here from being the series’ best to date, it’s still a great experience, and the developers can be satisfied that they’ve ended the first phase of this series on extremely solid footing.

Dread Delusion’s best content overshadows its flaws. Even with some disappointment at the lackluster outcomes to my decisions, the build up to those moments was rich, engaging, and founded in human emotion. The storytelling in Dread Delusion is top notch, and I found myself transfixed, exhausting each dialogue tree, and reading every lore-book I came across. There are moments from Dread Delusion that will haunt me for months to come, and that quality alone makes it worthwhile.

Death’s Door is a strong offering featuring challenging combat and amazing art design. The amount of love and care Acid Nerve put into this quirky afterlife can easily be seen in every little animation or dialogue. Granted, the combat may be a bit overwhelming at times (especially when the puzzles become infrequent) but for lovers of the genre and those who won’t mind a bit of swordfighting and dodging, Death’s Door might be one of the best titles to come out in 2021.

Grabbing this title is a no-brainer for the show's legions of devotees.

It's extremely unfortunate that the Ac!d team couldn't reshape the opening hours into something more welcoming and tolerable.

If a sequel is made with a more consistent vision and a better development schedule, I wouldn't be surprised if it ended up being one of the best hack-and-slash games ever made. Until then, Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance will simply stand as a "very good" action game that survived cancellation through the hard work of an incredible developer.

A fan of the hidden object genre who doesn’t mind a little extra padding will certainly find this to be a worthwhile entry.

Archangel is a highly ambitious game despite the on-rails shooter genre to which it belongs. The mechanics of balancing weapons fire with energy shielding make for an engaging fighting system and its narrative tries to surpass expectation with creative choices, but it ultimately lacks the environmental detail and moments of awe that would have made its adventure a memorable one.

For most of its length, FTL is good, bordering on great, but the end is so poor I'd rather quit than win the game.

People willing to enlist for the full tour of duty are going to find a tactical experience unlike anything else out there—just make sure you know what you're getting into before you sign on the dotted line.

It's odd to run up against a stealth game where the leaderboards are significantly more compelling than the scripted story, but that's Volume in a nutshell. Its stripped-down aesthetic parallels the tight constraints of its levels and the careful curtailing of player power, verging on making some parts feel shallow.

Although some sequences in the second half may have players running to find an FAQ if they don't skip the puzzles outright, I found The Testament of Sherlock Holmes to be an enjoyable, offbeat experience that serves as a great change of pace for players who don't mind putting the guns and explosives aside once in a while.

Despite its shortcomings, I ended up liking Lost Eidolons. It’s an indie title that aspires to be a big budget epic, whose worst qualities are more than compensated for by a strong story and inventive — sometimes brilliant — gameplay mechanics. As the old saying goes: don’t judge a game by its characters’ lifeless, blank stares.

The formula of play still holds much appeal, and there's a lot of game on tap for the now-lower-than-average price of 800 Microsoft points. Ms. 'Splosion Man may not be a perfect sequel, but it has little trouble justifying a return trip to the lab that spawned 'sploding in the first place. R

Although I'll be the first to admit that online multiplayer is usually the least interesting aspect of any game for me, Section 8 did a great job of making it easy to learn and easy to take part in. That facility combined with the excellent abilities of the armor and fast-paced nature of play make for a solid experience that 360 owners should certainly take note of.

If The Siege of Spinner Cay has a weakness, it's that the game's secondary characters aren't as rich or as interesting as they were in the first installment.

In its base form, Chariot is cute but frustrating—a great idea with a lot of flaws.

Monday Night Combat may not come with as many of the bells and whistles of a bigger game, but the sweet, bacon-filled core is tasty enough on its own-even if it is a bit lean.

Exploring and appreciating a visual novel with writing as good as this one shouldn’t be tiresome. With luck, future patches and updates will address these minor concerns because Coteries of New York is something well worth sinking one’s fangs into.

In contrast to the lighter, peppier Persona titles that Atlus has been putting out lately, Shin Megami Tensei III: Nocturne HD Remaster is a more hardcore experience delivering a tactical, in-depth RPG with a unique setting and a presentation that’s been brushed off around the edges for modern players.

A sound choice that will not disappoint.

And Guybrush is so likeable-in that pestering, caddish sort of way-that I want to know what happens to him. That, really, is what a serial game should accomplish; to leave players hungry for more.

While I appreciate that Shogun Showdown distills the roguelike experience down to its essence, the overall speed of play is too slow thanks to preparing attacks and dealing with facing during fights, and this pacing is a big problem for a roguelike since they’re built on frequent runs and repeat plays. Even so, there’s a lot to like here for fans of the theme, or for roguelike players wanting something a little different.

Although Cause of Death: Volume 1-The Maskmaker isn't the sort of thing that I'd want to play all the time or for long stretches, it suits the iPhone to a "T" and pleasantly fills little gaps in my day where other, more involved games wouldn't fit. It's sort of like a snack, really-a little morsel of romance-flavored cotton candy to tide me over when I don't have time for some triple-A steak and potatoes.

It's just too bad the developers didn't offer even the smallest figleaf of a storyline; to anyone who isn't already desperate for the near-ultimate DBZ experience that the game offers, all of this must look like an ungodly confusing mess.

There’s a lot going for Criminal Girls 2: Party Favors. The characters are likable, the writing is solid, the combat is fresh, and it feels like a great fit for the Vita. However, it’s embarrassing to level up when others are around, and the ‘sexy’ minigames wore out their welcome in a hurry.

This defines the limit of Antichamber's scope. Bereft of any real narrative, it becomes a game about games. Indeed, it becomes a game about a game: a game about itself. Like the singularity that collapses the game's world in its final moments, Antichamber folds in on itself until its revelations get obscured by its own self-absorption. The player can ultimately escape the Antichamber, but it seems like its creator didn't.

Devil Slayer Raksasi wasn’t the game for me, but I still appreciate the quality behind it. If I had to nitpick, it’s that the gameplay (as a whole) is mostly standard for the roguelike genre. Even with the top quality, well-polished content it offers, I don’t see this changing the minds of people who aren’t already fans of these experiences. That said, it’s extremely solid and well-done in all aspects, and those who enjoy a good dungeon run should check it out.

Although I've spent more time in this review on the rough spots of The Walking Dead: 400 Days than I did on what was right, it's still refreshing to play a title that puts its focus on something besides large-scale slaughter, and Telltale's take on The Walking Dead remains one of the most compelling intellectual properties in gaming today. If my biggest criticism of 400 Days is that there wasn't enough of it, that can only be seen as a good thing.

Viola: The Heroine’s Melody is a simple story about Viola exploring a fantastical world, meeting new friends, defeating foes, and growing up, but when our real-life pandemic casts a lingering air of dread and gloom over everything, spending time with a game like this is a relaxing, calming escape. There’s value in that.

I liked God Eater 3 more than I expected to. It may be a fairly shallow and repetitive experience, but downing a colossal foe and carving the bastards up as a crazy J-Rock song springs to life in the background is pretty damn cool, especially when experienced with likeminded friends online. While it might not satisfy genre aficionados looking for something new, Bandai Namco has mapped out some free updates for the future, and it’s an easy recommendation for anyone who liked the previous entries – not to mention a great starting point for anyone interested in checking out what the series is like.

Overall, Echo of Starsong is another strong showing for the OPUS series — pleasant graphics, along with minor gameplay elements that successfully break up the visual novel sections, and an interesting story. This one will definitely please fans of the series and can be easily recommended to fans of the visual novel genre as well.

Frustration and SMB have never gone hand-in-hand before, but these issues have lessened my overall enjoyment of Super Mega Baseball 4, especially when compared to the superlative third entry in the franchise. There are a lot of high points here, but I’m hoping the team tightens things up in the next iteration.

Sanctus Mortem isn’t perfect, but the flaws can be overlooked in favor of characters I cared about, engaging action, and a story that kept me hooked the entire time I was exploring Kisareth’s universe.

Knights in the Nightmare struggles under the weight of its own complexity but the bizarre melding of divergent gaming subgenres make it a title I'd recommend to anyone bored with gaming's status quo.

Eminently playable.

Ape Escape borrows too heavily from games on other systems and doesn't deliver enough to help it stand out beyond the Mario clones flooding the market.

It may not be a technical marvel or something that will keep you occupied for days on end (it's best played in 30-minute bursts, in my opinion), but it's hard to deny the energy and enthusiasm the game brings with its off-kilter PaRappa-style characters, a kooky sense of humor, and the welcoming playability that developer Jamworks has packed onto the disc.

Overall though, this game was the best $20 I ever spent during the pandemic, and it provided not only hours of enjoyment, but a little exercise when I needed it most. It’s flirty, active, diverse, and the perfect activity for a rainy day. For dancers age 10 or age 60, finding rhythm is delightful with Just Dance 2020.

All in all, Shining Force EXA is a solid game that doesn't quite compare to its predecessor.