One-on-one battles were a great way in the past to offer quick diversions in the middle of a longer AC campaign, but they are not enough to sustain a game all by themselves. Toss in the fact that the game's graphics are still as bare-bones as they were five years ago, and that there's virtually no new content with much of the material being recycled from previous games, and you've got something that would be a $20 add-on at best.

For players who'd be interested in a truly dark fantasy world and don't mind pushing through roughness to enjoy top-quality writing, worldbuilding and characterization, Of Orcs And Men is an overlooked gem waiting to be discovered.

Just inexcusably bad. How can a sequel suffer from the exact same problems as the first title?

The very definition of a missed opportunity. Thirsty mecha fans are still stuck in that same desert, and they’ll have to wait for something to quench their desires a while longer.

The concept of a game that joins dancing and karaoke sounds intriguing on paper, and if Boogie had managed to capitalize on its strange mix of gameplay ideas it might have been pretty enjoyable in practice.

I love the idea of a turn-based gothic adventure like Black Legend, but concept alone can’t carry it, and there’s little excitement to be had with these dull characters and this tedious, overcomplicated combat. I appreciate the attempt, but I’m going to abandon this city to its fate.

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

A decidedly mediocre game. There's nothing really new here, and nothing that hasn't been done better elsewhere.

Carried along by high adventure, interesting sidequests, and a cast of characters I was glad to spend time with, Rise of the Argonauts was an entertaining ride that I would recommend to people interested in the subject matter, or to players who crave an action-RPG that's a little on the lighter side.

As someone who likes the show and the concept, it checks most of the boxes I’d want from a licensed title – if the combat was solid, I’d have been totally content with One Punch Man: A Hero Nobody Knows as fanservice for a series I enjoyed. Instead, the part that players will be spending the most time on is also the worst part of the experience, and no amount of callbacks or cameos can carry it.

I wish I could say that there was some charming, redeeming feature that made my time with Pocky & Rocky with Becky worthwhile, but there isn't. The box art sure was cute, though.

I left Whispering Willows with the nagging feeling that it could have been elevated if the devs had added just a few more levels, a few more powers, and a few more story twists to bring it to a satisfying conclusion. In the end, I was... haunted... by the wasted opportunities.

It's always a great feeling to go into a game with no expectations and then come away highly impressed, and that's exactly what happened with Onechanbara Z2: Chaos. It's an irreverent, enjoyably kinetic game, and the takeway is that quartets of highly skilled warrior women murdering the absolute hell out of zombies in bloodthirsty fashion is, above all else, completely and totally rad.

The Way of Life tries to present a large number of situations where choices matter, but most of them fail to deliver any meaning at all.

Overall I think it’s fine for a puzzler. However, I resonated with In My Shadow on an emotional level and walked away feeling like I got something out of it despite my frustrations with the gameplay.

Unfortunately, despite the ranged combat perking the experience up, Dolmen‘s general design feels like it is too indebted to soulslikes and ultimately suffers for it. The melee is not consistent, enemy AI is weak, the exploration is not deep, and the level design is just passable. What Dolmen does well is sci-fi flavored third-person shooting with a good level of challenge that isn’t a cakewalk. I hope the developers get the chance to take a look at what worked in Dolmen and try again… as it stands, it’s too tempting to make comparisons to games like Dark Souls, and those comparisons aren’t favorable.

Anyone looking for a better example of TenNapel's creative spark should seek out a copy of The Neverhood—it hasn't aged perfectly, but it's far more entertaining than this failed follow-up.

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.

Fightback is as straightforward as its name, and equally dull.

The production values are pretty abysmal, and it's far too unforgiving for anyone new to the genre, but Neverland Card Battles occupies a unique space as far as digital card games go.

As is, it's a shallow, irredeemable miscalculation not worth anything close to the $20 asking price.

While taking on legions of shambling undead with Morgan's fists was a genuine high point, it's not enough to make up for the fourth-class experience that Riptide is. I forgave many of the original Dead Island's problems since it had such a fresh, exciting vision, but Riptide lacks the same heart. Don't get me wrong, though—the developers don't need to reinvent the wheel every time (and more of a good thing is usually a good thing) but there's no excusing the slapdash production values and shortage of good ideas on display here.

Although I like the idea of what Protonovus is going for, it plays its cards too soon and runs out of steam far too quickly. There simply isn't enough variety to sustain its extended run time, so fatigue and boredom set right in. It's a good try, but these rotating rings of death are in need of a more challenging, more interesting campaign.

Its puzzles and story aren’t really bad, they’re just bland. There are occasional mentions of philosophical and moral debates regarding the game’s artificial afterlife, and a deeper, more thought-provoking analysis would have made for a more engaging experience. Instead, these headier subjects were kept on the back burner in favor of a less-thrilling, more pedestrian adventure, and the game suffered for it.

Only a masochist would have the patience and stamina to finish it. I was on one of the game's final missions when, after what was at least my twenty-fifth re-start, I impulsively hit the OFF switch on my television. I'd had enough. I opened a beer, then sat in the darkness, enjoying the sudden silence and the fact that this game, which had been vexing me for days, was once and for all out of my life.

With so many great cooperative experiences already out there, it’s impossible to recommend Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance — it shows little promise from the start, and somehow only gets worse as time goes on. This is one quest that even the bravest warriors would be wise to avoid.

While I’m sure there is some novelty to be found in buying a new NES title in the 21st century, as a downloadable game on the Xbox, this leaves much to be desired. On the plus side, it does answer one long-standing hypothetical — it turns out that without the ability to swap powers, Mega Man would have been a pretty bad game.

With adorable characters having wacky adventures in space, Mugen Souls Z's charm and the solid writing kept me motivated to zip through the storyline, and the fights are still a thrill... It's just too bad that the deadly-dull non-combat sections and the ending-ruining bug keep me from recommending the game wholeheartedly.