After playing through both The Signal and The Writer, the biggest impression I'm left with is that these two chunks of game (hateful combat aside) are better than anything that came on Alan Wake's retail disc. They illustrate Alan as a character, they immerse him in a world of his own internal madness, and they play to the strength of the premise in a way that actually makes sense. I can honestly say that if these levels had been included in the main campaign, my overall evaluation would've been significantly higher.

Developers looking to break into the platform genre these days have to go above and beyond the standard requirements while completely nailing the technical side at the same time, which is no easy feat. Billy Hatcher is a perfect example of a title that fails on both counts.

Parts of LostMagic are brilliant. But that brilliance gets bogged down in physical awkwardness and bad artificial intelligence.

The Book of Unwritten Tales isn’t bad—it just feels like the developers weren't sure if they would rather homage LucasArts or ridicule Blizzard, so they tried to do both. Sadly, they succeeded only in making both aspects tepid and bland. That said, I would honestly recommend it to people who love adventure titles because beneath the fetch-questing is a solid game with quirky characters, decent puzzles, and some amusing self-aware humor.

While it's great to see a developer take a new (and very welcome) approach to spicing up combat in an RPG, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning is purely mechanical where the soul and inspiration should be. Players who can content themselves with massive amounts of loot and an endless series of simpleminded errands may be in heaven, but RPG players craving depth and the ability to make real choices or play a role will be out of luck. It might be a great game if the goal is to kill hundreds of hours of free time, but Amalur doesn't have much to offer otherwise.

For fans of Tempest and previous Minter games, Tempest 4000 is more of what they love. For those wanting precise arcade action or something new from this creator, it’s a flashing, overwhelming disappointment.

In its current state, Survive! Mr. Cube doesn’t have enough juice to be a solid recommendation to roguelike fans. More than anything, it feels like a beta that still needs six more months. I don’t want to sound too harsh, though – this small team of devs is 100% on the right track, and with more resources, more polish and a little more depth, I could easily see this one becoming a favorite. I hope they keep at it.

Fans of hand cramp-inducing button mashing or extensive weapon combos might find a lot to like here, but for everyone else there's just a pretty face and some scattered body parts.

The campaign can be finished in about seven hours without any real difficulty or climax, and it holds no replay value beyond achievement hunting. The Unexpected Quest does scratch a certain itch for the good ol’ days of the RTS genre and the lack of difficulty makes it a solid buy for those who aren’t genre vets, but with just a little more on offer, this could have been a must-play.

Newcomers or devotees to the RPG genre may find some basic value in it, but my feeling is that most players who've been there and done that probably won't want another helping.

Dark Souls 3 was a wonderful coda for the series, revisiting the best parts of Soulsborne while skillfully buffing over the pieces that didn’t work. Still, the Souls tricks and tropes that have become hallmarks are no longer groundbreaking, and there isn’t much left for Souls proper to achieve. As such, the run-of-the-mill quality of the experience offered here just doesn’t cut it anymore. While I still hold some hope that the second (and final) piece of DLC will be more substantial, Ashes of Ariandel illustrates exactly why Souls needs to end for the foreseeable future.

Overall, The Force Unleashed is a fairly ordinary game that is bolstered by its IP. If not for the Star Wars connection, it would have been forgotten long ago. Going wild with force powers does have its charm, but that’s not enough to elevate it into must-play status, by any means.

I want to love Battle Princess Madeyln. NPCs exude personality, the dialogue is always clever, and I admire Madelyn’s pluck, self-confidence, and determination. She is forthright, strong, and always willing to lend a hand — she’s a tremendous hero, and I’d love to see more stories about her in the future. But in her current incarnation? I’m just not patient enough to ignore the flaws despite all the good she’s trying to do.

It's a short and mildly engrossing action romp that, while probably not worth the price of a full game, will make a nice time killer for those long Saturday afternoons when the big game of the month hasn't hit shelves yet

This is very nearly the exact same single-player excursion from last-gen consoles. There is no local or online co-op. There's no traditional multiplayer. There are no update-exclusive features. It's simply a mildly prettier, equally flawed action title with a few pieces of DLC adding more of the same to an already samey package.

Boobs aside, Senran Kagura Burst feels a bit mediocre—it's not a bad beat-'em-up, but it's not one of the best.

If Quantum Redshift achieves anything, it’s to make us aware that this genre is in serious need of some new ideas.

Players who enjoy the adventure genre in its most traditional format will likely be pleased with Secret Files: Tunguska, but my take is that this type of approach is simply past its time.

Deliver Us Mars demands a sequel, in the sense that it artlessly uses a couple of post-credits scenes to set one up, but there’s nothing here that left me wanting more. Its puzzles are rather dull and the most notable gameplay activity, rock-climbing, feels like it belongs in an entirely different game. I don’t care for most of the characters that survived Deliver Us Mars’ sloppy, facile plot, and its scenario is hopeless and depressing. A third installment may be inevitable, but I’m not eager for that package to arrive.

Instead of finding innovative means to explore new narratives, they are content to rely only on its effective control scheme and Jet Li's face to drive the core experience. Everything else falls back on tired videogame conventions and that makes Rise to Honor an acceptable game, but a deeply flawed next generation model.

Project Nimbus left me feeling mixed. I wanted more from the campaign, both in mechanics and story. On the other hand, the mechs are responsive and the Warfront mode kept me coming back. I can’t wholeheartedly recommend it, but hardcore mech fans may find something here to like.

There’s nothing inherently special about the platforming, so if it plans to lean heavily on visual nostalgia, it needs to do it well. Awesome Pea isn’t a bad game, but it’s probably best suited for players who want to re-embrace childhood after their Mom sold their Game Boy for $5 at a yard sale back in ’97. For everyone else, I’d suggest a pass on this one.

Robots at Midnight is promising, and if this were an Early Access title, I’d be excited to see where it’s going. The combat is solid (if basic) the art style offers a cartoony take on a world post-collapse, and the mechanics of exploration were satisfying from moment to moment. Still, the whole thing feels like an idea for a game, as what was in front of me for review felt miles away from being a full, complete experience.

Fundamentally, the palette of action choices felt too limited, and the stately procession of single challengers makes each melee seem slow and boring. The premise feels compromised by the use of defense solely as a way to build up to violent attacks, rather than a way of dealing with bosses on its own. There’s an interesting idea or two in here, but they’re not developed into a complete, coherent experience.

For all intents and purposes, Torchlight 3 seems like it’s an action RPG struggling to find its identity. It feels generic, repetitive and boring, and comparing it to earlier, superior Torchlight titles does it no favors. Pretty colors aren’t enough to save this one from oblivion, especially with so much quality competition out there.

Enemies in Return from Darkness are dumb. They're not so bad at visually spotting a character, but when it comes to chasing a spotted ninja down, they suck.

Overall, the entire endeavor is extremely costly and a good chunk of playtime is necessary to amass enough money to trick out the small mansion after blowing thousands on the initial structure. Yet this is perhaps the true quality of Hearthfire-the ability to simply get players back into the world of Skyrim after abandoning it after exhausting the main quest or slaying through the Dawnguard expansion.

Though there’s nothing in the puzzles of Willy Morgan and the Curse of Bone Town that offends, there’s also nothing that surprises or delights. The story and visuals equally lacked anything to seize my attention. Willy Morgan and the Curse of Bone Town is a passable few hours of adventure gaming, but its design would have been below-average in the ’90s and is well behind the curve of what’s available today.

Another shortcoming is that the game's world is relatively engaging with its cotton candy color scheme and map hinting at tons of locations to explore, and yet the real world of the game is little more than a series of interconnected pathways with arbitrary roadblocks to keep players progressing in the most linear fashion possible.

Habroxia 2 certainly looks like an ’80s shmup with its the space theme and retro-style graphics, but it fails to capture the thrill and challenge of those titles. It’s an enjoyable ride for the three or so hours it takes to finish, but it will fade from a player’s memory soon after.

The Digimon Story titles can only blame themselves for the failure to realize the themes they seem to chase. The mechanics are unsuitable for developing a relationship between the player and the Digimon. The cliché-ridden characters and plot defeat the emotional impact of Cyber Sleuth, and poor scripting makes Hacker’s Memory feel irrelevant. What’s left is an astonishing quantity of JRPG grist. While there’s some satisfaction in grinding it down, none of it leaves a lasting impact.

Where Jet X20 falls short is in providing a single, consistent experience. The way racing and tricking are implemented, it is impossible to concentrate on both at the same time.

While Painkiller’s attempt to reboot is a worthy goal, but the reality is that it just doesn’t get the franchise where it needs to go, as it’s not something easily recommended to a friend thanks to its mediocre nature, nor is it a a true single-player experience for those old-school Painkiller fans out there. Just like its protagonists, the game is caught in a purgatory between the modern online gaming landscape and its classic arena shooter legacy, fighting for a redemption that isn’t looking likely to come.

Some of the puzzle design is solid enough that I could easily have pictured Full Bore working as a more linear game. As it is, it's dull and frustratingly misguided, and there are too many low-budget indie puzzlers in the market for one like this to stand out.

The twin-stick genre is one of my favorites and I can’t help but take it a little personally that Bad Trip only made half the journey toward being a great game. Here’s hoping that Zombie Dynamics can build on their solid aesthetics and create an experience worthy of such a slick look next time out.

Ultimately, Falcon Age feels undercooked and under-developed. While the basic mechanics mostly work (when using a controller) and the setting carries a bit of charm, it’s clear that the experience lives and dies on the connection the player has with the bird. Without that, there’s little reason to care about the bird, little reason to care about the rest.

This is definitely a title that fans of MMOs and Final Fantasy should give a shot, just not on the Playstation 3.

Overall, I Saw Black Clouds is an ambitious FMV game that fails to deliver. Those who want a genuinely dark and terrifying game might be disappointed by its flaws, but it might suit those looking for a so-bad-it’s-good “midnight movie” experience to play with friends.

It may sound like I’m focusing on the negatives too much here, but much of what I enjoyed about Trepang2‘s premise was ultimately undercut by its various weaknesses. What initially seems like a promising concoction of bloody firefights, psychic superpowers and absolute bedlam suffers from poor pacing, muddled direction, odd enemy AI and controls that are more suited to a mouse and keyboard than a controller. When it works as intended brief flashes of brilliance are tucked away in the combat, when taken as a whole it winds up being a fairly middling experience.

Sadly, decent platforming is not enough to save Exodemon. I was looking forward to a dose of ’90s era nostalgia offering visceral shooting at high speed, but what I got was a drab-looking project which is far too simple and greatly lacking creativity in art design. It may seem competent at first, but Exodemon lacks anything to keep it interesting past the first few levels.

Tanuki Justice ended up being more frustrating than enjoyable. It’s not quite the bullet-hell platformer I was expecting, but its difficulty curve will likely have many giving up before reaching the end.

To be fair, Lords of the Fallen isn't terrible in any way, it just fails to measure up to its inspiration by every conceivable measure, save perhaps "easier."

It's a shame because the art style attractively breaks away from the typical anime-esque lines and also sports some gorgeous animated cutscenes more interesting than the game itself. Despite these meager positives, there's nothing to recommend it outside of the fact that it's an RPG on the PSP.

American Fugitive will probably strike a note with people wanting to play a solid old-old-school GTA impersonator with modern adornments, but those looking for a meaningful story and evolution in the gameplay won’t find much.

Spyhunter 2 isn't intolerably bad; it's merely average and uninspired.

Reservations aside, my love for indie RPGs pulled me through and I did have an appreciation for Orangeblood‘s pixel art and catchy soundtrack. It definitely has some personality and it’s worth a look as an oddity, but it’s just a shame that the combat doesn’t support the experience.

Overall, Jump Force feels less like a celebration of beloved anime franchises and more like a half-assed attempt to cash in with the widest fanbase possible. With other great crossover fighters like Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and Injustice 2 out there, it’s hard not to think that these iconic characters deserved better.

Overall, I enjoyed my time with World Mission even as a casual Dragonball fan, though the gameplay did leave me wanting. Super Dragonball Heroes: World Mission is worth the price of admission, just come to it for the fanservice and not for the deckbuilding.

The potential of a ghostly character capable of leaping from soldier to soldier, causing chaos in the middle of a firefight has barely been scratched, not to mention the poltergeist scenarios that could be crafted around possessing exploding lightbulbs, flying bedsheets, rattling pots and pans, or any number of other things that could be employed for the purpose of haunting.

There is potential for a great creative tool in Elegy For A Dead World. Anything that can give more people inspiration to write should be supported. However, without a way for players to interact and respond to others, they have no concrete method of learning where their strengths lie and what they need to improve.

When I finish off an enemy ship in Black Flag, time slows and the camera zooms in, allowing me to witness the magnificent brutality of powder stores exploding as masts snap like matchsticks. Skull and Bones can’t offer spectacle, because playing with time and camerawork might risk affecting another player’s experience. The result is something that’s dulled down to the point that everyone sharesthe same mediocrity, and I have to wonder what happened to this poor little project during the many years it was stuck on the seas of development hell.

Overall, there are some incredible ideas in We Happy Few‘s dystopian world, but the tedious gameplay gave me the feeling that a project like this has more potential as a story-driven adventure in a more compact world. With greater focus on its excellent narrative, sound and visuals, and an addition of moral choices, it would rise above the unsatisfying mixed-genre affair that it currently is.

If Uncharted 4 played even half as good as it looked, it would be a masterpiece… but it doesn’t. In fact, for all its splendor and all the obvious care taken towards making it look and sound as good as humanly possible, it makes one cardinal sin that’s impossible to forgive—it’s downright boring to play. There are moments when it’s easy to get swept up the visual opulence and bombast, but then the moments pass, and it’s straight back to snarky comments and auto-climbing up mountainsides...But hey—it sure does look nice, doesn’t it?

In the end, I found Minoria to be a muddled experience. Without the beautiful pixel art to paint over its flaws, this new work has lost much of its charm — and worse, it’s made me reassess my enjoyment of its predecessors.

Seed of Life features weak production values, questionable design decisions and repetitive play. Online research tells me it’s the work of only two people, but the hard truth is that despite their efforts there are dozens of similar, better titles available. Still, the devs seem to be constantly patching it up and trying to fix things, so I commend them for at least trying. I wish I could give it my seal of approval, but from any perspective this is an extremely hard one to recommend.

I was initially excited for Hyper Scape thanks to its sleek style and movement. Unfortunately, the game doesn’t do much to stand out from other offerings on the market. Hopefully Ubisoft will find some way to inject more personality and consistency into this online shooter.

Unfortunately, this version of Mafia II feels like a barely-touched-up version of a last-gen game that constantly tested my patience and despite my love for the script, I can’t recommend that anyone play through hours and hours of a mediocre, buggy mess just to see the cutscenes. In its current state, Mafia II: Definitive Edition is not worth a player’s time or money — without any further improvements or substantial patches, this one needs to sleep with the fishes.

Overall, Tamarin is an admirable attempt to bring back a type of game not widely popular in modern times. However, despite my love of old-school experiences, this sticks too close to its roots in the worst possible ways — this adorable monkey can’t save shoddy, outdated game design.

Overall, CarneyVale Showtime offers striking presentation and promising core gameplay which is let down by some questionable design decisions, sometimes-poor controls, and a lack of accessibility options.

Yes, the style of The Glass Staircase is predicated on nostalgia, like so much of our current cultural output, but there’s clearly a craving for this sort of old-school design and aesthetic, and it’s a craving that The Glass Staircase will undoubtedly satisfy for an hour or two.

The excellent color palette, cute yak animations, witty writing, and excellent soundtrack were simply not enough to encourage me to play further. All of the novel concepts and innovations presented to me were swiftly undone by the insufficient interface controls near the halfway point of the campaign. Fighting with this interface felt like I was a monk trying to coax my yak up a ramp, and that yak was unwilling to take another step.

Cross of the Dutchman feels lightweight and disposable. The action is basic, the world is tiny, and the story doesn't cover the most interesting bits of the hero’s history. Unlike its giant titular character, Cross of the Dutchman is a thin slip of a game that passes by too quickly to make much of an impression.

Looney Tunes: Wacky World of Sports won’t replace my daily Madden NFL or NBA2K sessions, but they were a nice distraction and offered enjoyable arcade vibes throwing it back to an era that focused on simpler gameplay and colorful aesthetics. While I appreciate the final product, it’s ultimately hampered by a lack of variety, so if the developers follow this up, I’d love to see an expanded version.

Red Goddess isn't a bad game, but not being ‘bad' isn't enough to make it stand out. The Metroidvania holds up well enough for those looking for an indie-sized experience, but the story is where it falters most—it promises a great set of ideas and fails to deliver the necessary elements to make it resonate.

I wanted to like Mistover. While I initially came to it hoping to find something that delivered on its obvious promise of being similar to Darkest Dungeon, what I got was more like a poorly-balanced work-in-progress. With annoying encounters and dull dungeons, it falls far short of the game it was so clearly inspired by.

Akimbot presents a lot of ideas that don’t significantly learn from or build on the milestones established by the 3D platformers that have come before it — and there are a lot of them to learn from. In the end, it’s a middling, uninspired entry into a genre crowded with bangers, and finds itself in need of both more polished mechanics and a livelier world. My hope is that Evil Raptor will improve on this first effort and expand on Exe’s story in a more realized way.

Since it’s a multiplayer-only title with exactly one mode, Hunting Grounds was clearly banking on the strength of its premise. Failing that, there’s just not much to it, and players will have seen everything there is to see after just a few matches. Maybe we should take this as a signal to stop trying to make Predator games a thing — if this didn’t work, I’m doubtful that anything will.

Under pressure of shapes coming at the block from multiple sides, it's sometimes hard to distinguish between the bluish-green hexagon and the greenish-blue hexagon, and to position them accordingly.

The core idea of a balancing a strategy game with limited player control is intriguing, but I found the execution of that idea, and the representations it used, unsatisfying. Arcen has made an ongoing and admirable effort to keep tweaking the game (although some patches have rolled out insufficiently tested), but I'm just not sure that anything they can do will address the essential dullness of its opening and closing phases.

Aside from that irritating final segment there's nothing significant to complain about in Planet of the Eyes, but neither is there anything to praise. It has solid action, and it looks and sounds fine. What it lacks is a hook, something for the mind or eye, or even just the reflexes to work over. Without that, Planet of the Eyes is just a competent thing that passes quickly and leaves no impression.

Such a wide range of inconsistencies results in an experience that never feels right — Snow Bros Wonderland is ultimately a game that’s on par with trying to squeeze a marshmallow through a keyhole. Even if one succeeds in doing so, it’s definitely not worth the trouble in the end.

White Night is meant to be a slow-burn investigative horror story, but I grew impatient with how incompetent its mechanics are and how they combine to make the experience as irritating as possible. I'm a fan of old-school horror, but one-hit kill enemies, mazelike, hard-to-parse level design, obtuse camera angles and a punishing save system override any nostalgia I might have. I admire that it's trying to pull off a bit of an homage here, but with every good element canceled out by a misstep, I'll stick with the original stuff.

Just a decent sci-fi story mixed with some rather unambitious gameplay. Nothing is done gratingly poorly, but neither is anything done with any sense of innovation or panache.

Caustic Reality is a one-man studio, and I applaud the creator for the game he made — I enjoyed Infliction and discovering Gary’s truth. It might not be a groundbreaking title in the horror genre and its antagonist might need a bit of rehab, but this psychological adventure is still one worth taking.

While Static didn't really work for me, it's short, it's free, and certain aspects of it are very much open to interpretation. I've been sitting on this one for a while due to a fear of misrepresenting a piece of art that I don't entirely understand, but I can still recommend that interested parties check it out for themselves and come to their own conclusions.

The core of the Walking Dead experience depends on the writers making a connection with the player, and for me right now, that's just not there. Without that, I'm just going through the motions without much worry over the consequences.

Although it’s got some serious shortcomings, I would strongly encourage the developers to keep going in the direction that they’re going and to deepen and enhance what they’ve already built — this piece of work is absolutely headed in the right direction, it just hasn’t reached its destination yet.

Taken on its own, though, Lego Marvel Super Heroes does not offer much that an adult player will find engaging, let alone competent.

In a certain sense, Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch seems to be exactly as advertised. The quality of the artwork is unimpeachable, just as one might expect from the studio that created it. Unfortunately, the beauty of Ghibli has been painted onto the unimaginative and poorly-executed design of Level-5. As a result, Ni No Kuni turns out as blandly as its name suggests.

I hope that Nintendo sees the error of its ways soon and pulls Fox & Co. out of this interminable nosedive.

It’s great to finally have Everybody’s Golf on PC, and even though this entry fails to meet the series’ usual high standards, it still offers a fine walk out on the links. That said, it’s impossible to shake the feeling that it’s only achieved the absolute minimum here. Until the various bugs and other issues are patched out, I simply can’t recommend Everybody’s Golf in its current state. No matter how good the general golfing experience is, it’s impossible to ignore the wonky physics and overall lack of ambition. What should have been a near-effortless hole in one is perilously close to becoming a triple bogey instead.

Those who want to use speedruns as a demonstration of their twitch skills will likely find Lovely Planet a 50-hour obsession. Nobody else really need apply.

In attempting to juggle so many balls at once, it simply loses control and bats them all over the place in a crazed, lurching frenzy as it tries to stop the whole thing from falling apart.

Breach isn't terrible, but I don't see anything here that hasn't already be done better by another game, resulting in an instant recipe for mediocrity.

It’s a shame there’s not more to Bound than there is. The artists are incredibly talented people and the visuals they’ve crafted can legitimately be described as poetry in motion. Sadly, graphics can only go so far and there’s nothing of significance past them, reducing Bound to being another beautiful art-house trifle that doesn’t capitalize on its potential.

As a whole, Shiftlings is a good concept that falls down in the execution thanks to a lack of a clear identity, potty humor and poor physics. Although I had some good moments with it during the course of play, it feels a bit too mixed to recommend.

Despite how thinly-sketched I found many of these elements, I have to admit that I was surprised when Void Sails ended as abruptly as it did, with an ending that largely focuses on the protagonist’s relationship with the characters met along the way. However, it wasn’t a well-rounded wrapup, things simply… end. It felt like listening to someone tell an interesting story for a few hours, only for them to suddenly stop mid-sentence and walk away. Given the clear talent and passion on display here, I firmly believe that Ticking Clock Games are capable of building Void Sails into something a bit meatier, or perhaps crafting a different, more fully fleshed title in the future. They’re a studio to watch.

My time with Gauntlet was educational since its existence was clearly a step in the process that led to Helldivers. As an experience unto itself? It's neither satisfying nor worthwhile, and I can't recommend Gauntlet: Slayer Edition to anyone when a superior product from the same developer is readily available on the same platform.

It’s great to see more of Travis Touchdown, but it’s also a shame that he’s not in top form. Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes isn’t necessarily a bad game… but it’s not a very good one either. Players who don’t have an appreciation for Suda’s trademark style or any emotional attachment to the series will undoubtedly wonder what the fuss is all about.

A gimmick can make for a classic game if done well, but High Strangeness doesn't develop its ideas enough to get there.

Compile Heart’s ambition in trying to leave its comfort zone should be lauded, but unfortunately, Dark Rose Valkyrie‘s release in a period full of landmark JRPGs (not least among them Persona 5 and Final Fantasy XV) highlights how tough it is to make a JRPG that can stick the landing. In leaner years it would be endearing enough for a player to push past its awkward aspects, but against such stiff competition, there’s simply no reason to settle for this botched execution.

Underneath its shiny graphics and dynamic movement, most of its characters aren't distinct enough to be interesting, let alone loveable in the way that great visual novel characters should be. The writing isn't bad, but it's too repetitive to carry an entire game's worth of storytelling and dialogue.

Boiling it all down, Lighting Returns is a flashy combat system lacking some basic components that's wrapped up in soporific item hunts and fetchquests that don't feel worthy of the time that's required to do them.

Antigraviator is the kind of game that disappoints by showing the bones to be a great experience, only to fall short of its lofty goals in nearly every aspect.

The game is perfectly, almost proverbially, meh.

As a puzzle game in its own right it's mildly diverting, but doesn't hold up against the platform's best in any real way.

At the end of the day, Virtua Tennis 4 is a game that trades largely on its lineage-but given that this game, like VT2009, continues to muck up a really good formula, it's hard to imagine gamers continuing to be forgiving of Sega's recurring missteps.

It seems impossible that a game featuring multi-partner dating and demon-battling with an army of combat children could somehow be boring, but there it is.