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.