Brawlers aren’t the most complex genre, so the fundamental mistakes of visual noise and sluggish controls mean that it’s difficult to recommend Coffee Crisis to even the most dedicated brawler game fans.

Uppers is a tough game to recommend. As much as I love the settling and style, the gameplay, writing and progression path leave much to be desired. It also becomes repetitive within just a few stages, and even showboating for the girls adds nothing to the package. It’s a shame, really. Uppers gets the style half of the experience right, but it really should have spent more time on the fundamentals.

Despite Papetura‘s interesting nature, the puzzles were not entertaining and the story lacked a strong central theme or premise beyond ‘paper’. As a demonstration of the craft involved in animation, Papetura is a wonderful artifact. As a videogame, it is considerably less successful.

Ultimately, the small amount of content at launch is Ancient Amuletor’s greatest weakness. With no story whatsoever, only four characters, and four levels, it feels more like an early access game than a full release, although its low price point does somewhat reflect this. The core mechanics are solid the characters all feature distinct combat styles, so it does offer an engaging, immersive tower defense experience, especially on higher difficulties and with more players added. However, with the release schedule and pricing for DLC still vague, I can only recommend Ancient Amuletor to PSVR owners starving for something to play.

Blood Bowl 2 suffered a poor launch, but was eventually patched into something enjoyable, and the developers have already been at work on fixes for Blood Bowl 3, so I am guardedly confident that it will eventually be a good experience… but that time is not now, sadly. In its current form, Blood Bowl 3 is not worth the purchase price — yet — but I’m ready and willing to love it when it matures.

WarTech: Senko no Ronde is a trite piece of airy piffle with nothing meaty to recommend it.

There are moments of brilliance, but it's tough to enjoy them while being kicked in the face at every turn. It's a genuine shame, but I can't recommend Natural Doctrine when so much of it is so terribly wrong.

Corpse Party: Blood Drive has very little going for it. The amusing contrast of seeing cutesy anime kids in a horror story can't sustain such a jumbled plot, muddy visual design, and irritating construction. It may be worth investigating as a cultural curiosity, but otherwise this is a party to avoid.

SNK Heroines: Tag Team Frenzy is a tough sell. Dedicated King of Fighters fans and SNK enthusiasts like myself will find the battle system too simple and limiting, and the roster is missing too many of SNK’s finest female characters. Also, anyone hoping to perform a five finger knuckle shuffle while seeing Leona cosplaying as Heidern or a female Terry Bogard will be stymied by the poor graphics and inferior character models.

Fans of Dynasty Warriors 6 will know exactly why they like this game and no further understanding is needed.

There isn't a plot to speak of, nor any gameplay elements beyond the fighting. But the fighting really is exceptionally fun for novices and experts, which makes this game extremely successful on its own terms.

When it was first announced by Konami and revealed to have not only a survival focus but (gasp!) zombies, a lot of folks, myself included, rolled their eyes at the idea. But after playing and completing Metal Gear Survive, it won me over. It’s an enjoyable, bizarre and flawed creation, and I’m glad it exists.

I'm sure there's a small cadre of super-hardcore math majors into intricate medieval costume drama and puzzling out the mysteries of Generation of Chaos, but I'm not one of them.

Overall, Zombie Driver: Immortal Edition misses a lot of opportunities and manages only to deliver repetition, failing even a basic level of entertainment. I won’t be driving back to this city anytime soon.

Despite how anxious I am for the devs to continue the mainline Senran Kagura story, I can’t deny that they’ve put out an exceptional title here. The racing is thrilling, the characters are wonderful, and the story has charm to spare.

If video games were running shoes, Cold War would be the designer lookalike sold on the streets of Chinatown for nest to nothing.

Fans of the series will find lots to love, but fighting fans who don’t know anything about One Piece shouldn’t shy away from checking out the wonderfully balanced action. By the time players reach upper tiers the opposition is formidable, but smart play is rewarded and it always feels fair no matter how weird the pirate plotline gets.

For children who are fans of Mysterious Cities of Gold, it’s likely a serviceable companion piece. For everybody else out there, this game isn’t worth the time.

Regardless of the bizarre lip movements, Twin Mirror is an excellent adventure game. Not only was I enthralled by its mystery, I was absolutely enamored with the presentation. I wasn’t expecting something so filmlike and cinematic, but I walked away delighted and I can say that some of its powerful scenes will stay with me for a while.

Auto Age is a fascinating misfire, making one weird mistake after another. This talented group of developers generate a wonderful setting and engineer great control mechanics for exploring a world, and then cram it all into the most ill-fitting genre possible for the foundation they’ve laid. I don’t know what convinced them to aim so low with their concept, but Auto Age: Standoff is an experience that’s only a shadow of what the intro and tutorial suggest it should be.

Vambrace: Cold Soul is a confused title that apparently wants to deliver a rich story and hard choices, but due to strange systems, exploitable mechanics and weightless characters, none of it feels consequential in any way.

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.

Playing Finny the Fish & the Seven Waters was about as close as I come to relaxed reverie with a controller in my hand these days, and I'm glad that Natsume took a risk (and will likely take a loss) by bringing such a refreshingly quirky niche game to break up the monotony of infinite WWII recreations, look-alike FPSs, and customizable racing games currently boring the hell out of me.

Despite the issues outlined above, I've been enjoying my time with Mind Zero, and would recommend it to fans of Persona open to a different take on combat, while being accepting of something that's not as heavy on story.

These rough edges don't take much away from the overall experience, though. How to Survive is a great adventure from start to finish, the ending was great, and I can't remember the last time that I enjoyed collecting wooden sticks, seagull feathers and protein-rich roots as much as I did here.

In the end, Spectral Force 3 is more disappointing than bad.

Sometimes it’s best to let things rest, and that is definitely the case with Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles Remastered. It was a game that is mostly remembered for its ties to one of Nintendo’s many hardware gimmicks, and without that, we are left with a rather mundane game that hasn’t done enough to correctly update itself. As a game to be purchased and played in 2020, it’s just not worth returning to — it needed a remake (or, better yet, a sequel), not a remaster.

Lost Sea has some good ideas. Exploring randomized islands alongside talented crewmates sounds exciting and it looks like an enjoyable swashbuckling adventure, but the annoying music, repeated areas, boring combat and terrible AI sank this game long before the ship reached its destination.

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.

A nice way to kill a few hours when guests are over, but I wouldn't have paid full price for it.

The sort of inspiration-deficient throwback that wore out its welcome long ago.

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.

The game does offer a 4-way link for both singles and doubles matches, though finding four people with a copy of Davis Cup Tennis is likely to be the biggest challenge.

In a way, that latter ending fits Mars: War Logs best. It's a competently executed brawler-style RPG, with a political story at its core that actually has some potential. Irrelevant mechanics and sidequests get in the way of the game's best aspects, however, and Mars: War Logs never manages to focus on what's important.

Rogue Trooper is strange in that it stars a character too large and interesting for the game he’s the center of. The devs were clearly pushing the limits of the hardware back then, and this property and its ideas deserve a bigger and better canvas than a simple Redux can deliver.

Like any scientific breakthrough or new invention, Hydrophobia does represent a significant achievement in its own right. We're just going to have to wait until someone does anything worthwhile with it.

On my list of “most pleasant and unexpected surprises” this year, Struggling is near the top. The sad, blobby heads are endearing, it offers a significant test of skills, and it has a sense of humor that I found absolutely delightful. I sometimes wanted to pull my hair out and I had to walk away from my Switch and cool off a few times, but I always came back to it and I’m glad that I did.

Rain World asks players to get to know its world over dozens and dozens of lives, to figure out each area one at a time, learning to time jumps and hurl spears to earn their right to survive in a ceaselessly hostile environment. It’s a gorgeous jaunt through an alien world full of horrors, like Another World crossed with the open map of a Metroidvania title. With its incredible art design, tight controls, and extremely deep set of gameplay mechanics, this is a truly special platforming experience that anyone with a high tolerance for constant failure owes it to themselves to try out.

Damascus Gear: Operation Tokyo kept me busy in short bursts, but I only got halfway through the campaign before I'd had my fill. It's great for 5 or 10 minutes at a time, but without more combat depth and variety in mission and level design, it's a good first start that's not quite ready for prime time.

So once again, Traveler's Tales gets the Lego right, only this time they screw up everything but.

The kinetic running and gunning is there and it has the right style, but Coded Arms in its present form seems more like the first few pieces of something larger, rather than a complete product.

It's the perfect example of the sort of game that seems to poised to make its mark on the world and then inexplicably proceeds to hang out at the local mall for its entire adult life.

But for those of us who play games with the controllers that came with the system, NASCAR 08 is just too flawed to be worth playing.

Coin-ops need to be easily approachable and need to produce an immediate satisfaction while home games need to have lengthy play-life with a long-term sense of growth and development. Legends manages to be a good (but not great) example of both of these styles of gameplay and have melded them successfully into a neat hybrid.

Lifeless Planet is a world well worth exploring.

After a few runs I’d heard all the jokes, fought all the enemies, and seen all of the mild shifts in aesthetics. I wanted to rush through the content I’d already seen and finally, hopefully, get a glimpse of something new, but this Souls­-inspired combat prides itself on punishing the impatient, and hasty Necropolis players get a full reset. This was my internal struggle—I wanted to get the game over with, but I didn’t want to be even more bored with it by repeatedly dying and restarting in the process.

I’m sure there are those who will enjoy the atmosphere, cute art style, and the fail-and-repeat mechanics that Hungry Baby: Party Treats has to offer. Perhaps sharing this dish with friends does give the game more life, but I’ve had my fill of frustration.

While the base game punched above its weight to deliver a satisfying and varied journey, this is weak, watery content that only holds the slightest hint of what endeared me to it in the first place.

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.

At the moment, Skater XL feels more like a skateboarding and lifestyle simulator rather than a fully fleshed-out game. There’s plenty to try and the difficulty level will keep enthusiasts glued to their screens in hopes of nailing those elusive combos, but as a gaming experience, it comes up short.

When it works and the quests follow a natural flow, Summer in Mara can be wonderful. At its best moments, I found it to be relaxing and effortlessly charming. Sadly, the horrendous backtracking, time-wasting filler content and frustrating resource management make it less of a vacation and more of a job.

It tells a story I've heard already and never really cared for, and its intended message is rendered meaningless by a shallow morality system.

For an Xbox game, Fellowship Of The Ring sure does take a long time to load.

Sadly, my drive to persist was sapped by a series of glitches in one section that led me to replay the same should-have-been-easy bit over and over again. That was bad enough, but combined with the poor controls, lack of engaging gameplay, an inability to manually save and infrequent checkpoints, every session was a slog. Writing a negative review for Spirit of the North is tough because on paper, it seems like something I’d fall in love with. That said, it’s just not a good experience — my appreciation for its non-violent content and environmental themes can’t carry its many shortcomings.

To pan the game for not being more like GTA 3 is misguided, disrespectful to the each title's unique contributions, and also speaks volumes of the lack of critical thinking of the X-Play critics and the industry as a whole.

South Park: Snow Day! features some interesting mechanics that change up the drudgery of its mediocre combat, but it ultimately feels too shallow and underdeveloped. The short length doesn’t allow much room for the content to grow or develop, either. In the end, I think this is one snow day I’d rather stay inside for.

School Girl/Zombie Hunter does almost everything right. I could pretend to be annoyed that the story never gets around to explaining who the villain was or what he was doing, but the writing does such a good job of making the heroines’ emotional journeys resonate that the fact that their story doesn’t make sense is a minor quibble at best. It’s a game about teenagers with assault rifles shooting technicolor zombies – how much sense does it need to make? The missions are well designed, the dialogue is witty, and the combat mechanics are solid. The low-budget look and grindhouse premise make me feel like I should be apologizing for loving this game, but I’m not — this is one of the most delightful things I’ve played all year.

I’m fine with the fact that Dragonborne is a throwback RPG, and in that sense it’s a lovely tribute to a classic console. What I am not fine with is the lack of meaningful combat and character-building. This title would have been barely satisfactory in 1997, and players looking for similar retro-themed experiences today have a wealth of better options.

Line Rider 2: Unbound is a cute idea, but in my opinion it doesn't have the chops or the longevity to become a successful handheld title.

Those issues aside, I have nothing but appreciation for Murdered: Soul Suspect. It's fresh, it's different, it doesn't adhere to genre conventions, and it's an experience all its own.

While the question of whether it's a good idea to put players in the role of a dead-eyed mute psychopath is open for debate, it's undeniable that Lucius's developers have captured the feel of their inspiration perfectly. There are missteps that keep the game from truly excelling, and the story is serviceable at best, but Lucius provides a unique horror gameplay experience, and any hardcore fans of the genre owe it to themselves to give it a look, provided they have strong stomachs.

It’s difficult to recommend a title that serves only the most experienced racing fans, while alienating the rest of us. When coupled with a bland visual presentation and more than a few technical issues, players should to go back to older motocross titles to get their fix.

Everything that worked in the first game has been improved, and everything that didn't has been fixed or discarded. Is there anything new here? No. It's the exact same game that Headhunter was, only better.

Although it's too bad that Gladiator Begins landed with nary a whisper, it's clear to see that the title would never have found a large audience to begin with-it's aimed at a certain hardcore niche, and for those outside of that niche, there will be little here of interest. However, for players who love to take a zeroed-out character and build them up into an overwhelmingly powerful force via grinding, creative equipping and numeric management, this combination of swords, sandals, and statistics is an experience not to be missed.

I completed Entwined in about 90 minutes, and I was bored with it halfway through.

Side-scrolling combat games aren't new, and plenty of them are heftier, more substantial and cheaper than this one. Steam users can do better.

I can confidently say that I wouldn’t have completed Anthem if I didn’t need to write this review. No amount of pretty environments or impressive flight can make up for the sorry, incomplete state this game was released in, and given the flimsy foundation BioWare has laid here, I’m not confident in Anthem’s ability to survive as a loot-based co-op service. Until there’s more content, variation, and stability, players should definitely steer clear of this one.

The game is ultimately too stripped-down and simplistic to warrant a higher score; a more engaging surface world, compelling storyline and ambitious gameplay would have driven the final tally up considerably.

This is not the worst game ever made, but it's so inept at so many different points that it inspires more anger than a genuinely awful game.

Gamers will play Van Helsing because it scratches the itch for this type of action adequately at this price, but the repetitive action, awkward controls, poor graphics and strange tower defense levels make it feel like an unfinished title. Despite being a cheap (or free, on Xbox One) diversion, Van Helsing is a bad value, and a worse investment of players' time.

With not much of value in the narrative or the gameplay, Forgotten Fields’ merits are some pretty virtual environments and an original soundtrack that often takes the spotlight. There are ways in which Forgotten Fields could have worked as an emotionally powerful experience, but these avenues go under-explored and the result is something that I can’t recommend, even to enthusiasts of this particular genre-transcending premise.

While the launch price of $8 feels a dollar or two too high, I definitely enjoyed the game (when I wasn't stuck) and felt satisfied when it was over. I would recommend it to players interested in the genre, and especially to those who prefer puzzles with a foothold in actual logic. Players interested in elegant, small-scale design might also learn a thing or two from this tasteful interstellar jaunt, as well.

This type of design is an infuriating and transparent attempt to pad out the length of the game by making simple quests take longer to complete. Worse still, the occasional need to fire off a spell or two is entirely governed by Akko’s magical potion supply, which can only be replenished by spending money earned by repetitively grinding dungeon battles. It breaks my heart that Little Witch Academia: The Chamber of Time turned out the way it did, because the aesthetic success is undeniable, as is APlus’ attempt to design something that functions on a deeper level than just delivering fanservice.

The concepts behind the The Weaponographist are interesting ones, and they incentivize combo-hunting better than most titles I've seen in a while. It's just too bad that the developers weren't able to get a better handle on character progression and combat design. With a lot of tweaking, this could have been a bite-sized little gem. As it stands? The Weaponographist is a drawn-out mess.

It's a game that asks too much of the player and offers too little in return.

Despite thoroughly grasping rules of Tharsis and even being able to offer advice on how to be more successful to others, my winning runs were entirely due to luck. Chance might be a solid basis for gambling or having a good time with friends, but when it comes to single player games, I should have a bit more say in whether my crew survives or not.

Entirely competent in all technical respects, Commandos is a passable FPS, but absolutely nothing more.

In rudely flipping Gunblade NY & L.A. Machineguns onto store shelves for some quick cash, Sega has shown that they can't be bothered. If that's true, then why should anyone else?

So, how well does Hunting Simulator simulate hunting? I can’t speak to its verisimilitude, but as a game, this is a solid animal-stalking experience which has its best parts undercut by a frustrating menu system and unrealistic tracking mechanic. The shooting, simple though it may be, is satisfying, and there’s definitely a worthwhile amount of challenge to be found in carefully sneaking up on prey. This is a good hunting game, but these technical issues keep it from being a great one.

Those searching for the traditional Silent Hill experience on a portable (story? What story?) should stay far, far away. However, players who enjoy dungeon crawling and aren't afraid of a little difficulty will find that Silent Hill: Book of Memories gets it pretty right-it's just a shame that an FAQ is required to enjoy it.

Tron: Evolution has too much going for it to write it off as another inspiration-free paycheck game, but I can't help but feel that if the developers had had another six months and perhaps a little more freedom to stray from the film's narrative, the end result would have been much better.

J&M was released on Earth Day, and includes information on two nonprofit organizations aiming to preserve the world’s oceans. Between that and its jubilant presentation (aided by a bouncy main theme that briefly fooled me into thinking that the game would be much more enjoyable than it turned out to be) J&M is too well-intentioned to get angry at. Unfortunately, I imagine most players will be too bored to be persuaded by its important message.

Mars or Die‘s design is beautiful and the RTS and Tower Defense elements work fine, but there’s just not enough here to recommend it. Once I’d finished the tutorial, and all that was left was to get through slightly harder versions of the same fights until credits rolled. It has some good bones for a better game to be built on, but in its current form, this title feels empty and incomplete.

In some ways, Shelter 2 improves on its predecessor, but its brevity and lack of depth make it much weaker than the first overall.

This is a game that, on every level, is built around reaching out to the player and making sure they’re having a good time. The developers have tuned every part of it to put power in the player’s hands, as long as they’re willing to learn. No, it doesn’t play like anything else out there – it’s not supposed to, because it’s something better.

With these splintering narratives I wanted to come back to Church several times to to see what the varying outcomes would be. However, I started to see behind the curtain, and apart from the central four characters, the other NPCs have little impact.

Secrets of Raetikon is thoroughly unenjoyable to play, and the secret itself is a miserable discovery.

Every time I came close to defeating it, my game would freeze up (no pun intended) and I'd have to reset. After half a dozen interruptions like this, I gave up.

Overall, Nickelodeon Kart Racers 2: Grand Prix is generic, yet serviceable. Nick fans like me will get a big kick from all of the characters and references that were stuffed into the package, while younger kids and those new to kart racers will enjoy the accessibility of play. It may lack the features or amount of content that I would have liked, but I can safely say that I still managed to get some enjoyable mileage out of this kart racer.

With Modern Warfare 3, Sledgehammer has tried to offer something both for fans of the classics and those who want to see this series evolve, and like Ghosts, Black Ops 3, and Infinite Warfare before it, I suspect this will be an entry that people will be calling underrated five years from now. I’m not waiting that long to show it some love, though. I’ve had a blast playing Modern Warfare 3, both in the campaign and in multiplayer. The Zombies mode may be lacking, but I can live with that. My only real concern is that I hope Sledgehammer and Treyarch aren’t forced to crunch like this again for the sake of annual release deadlines.

The combat is solid, the characters are interesting, and like the ocean the ship sails over floats over, the developers have ensured that their work has impressive depth.

A wonderful survival horror game. The new control scheme is so good that if Capcom were to redo all the previous RE games in the style of Outbreak they could probably convince me to go ahead and buy all four titles for a third time.

Unfortunately, Stitchy in Tooki Trouble might look enticing but my feeling is that it might be a great starter for kids, but will end up being to basic and simple for anyone with even minimal experience in the platformer genre.

If "Tony Hawk's Pro Skater" is the American sitcom of skateboarding games, with predictable pacing and familiar set pieces, than Yanya is the genre's ridiculous Japanese anime, always ready to mess with your expectations of what the genre should be.

Maybe the connection between gameplay and theme existed more clearly in the developers’ heads than they managed to convey in the finished product. As it stands, Solo feels like a passable, if slight, puzzle-platformer trying to snag a little extra gravitas by gluing on a bunch of unrelated stuff about relationships. Despite the surface charm provided by the art style, the whole exercise felt disingenuous and gross, and I’m glad I never need to touch it again.

A Knight’s Quest opens with a masterful sequence as its hero leaps across crumbling pillars, wallruns over pits, and slashes the occasional beast. It’s tight, focused, and incredibly entertaining, and if the rest of the experience had felt anything at all like that, I would have loved it. Instead, the minute players get out of the first dungeon, the developers’ assumptions of intuition and inability to design a playable open world absolutely ruins everything. With a map and markers, A Knight’s Quest would be a little rough, but charming. In its current state? It’s a borderline-unplayable mess.

I see no reason to purchase and play a mediocre amalgamation with no exceptional qualities to recommend it, though I guess I shouldn't be surprised because nearly every game employing dragons as anything but enemies ends up stinking.

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.