In the end, I love what Octopath Traveler is trying to do with its shieldbreaking and its eight-way narrative, but it’s probably better suited to the Switch than the PC. It feels like a title that needs to be played in short bursts, as is fitting for Nintendo’s portable platform. Perhaps I wouldn’t be as frustrated with its quirks if I walked away from time to time and did something else — I will go back and complete the quest, but for now, I just need a break.

Not a bad game by any means-it's simply one that tries to be many things to many different people and it doesn't quite succeed at any of them.

As I put in more time, the game kept opening up and more of my own light bulbs lit with the realization of potential.

Cryptark is a wholly satisfying action-roguelike. The developers have offered an embarrassment of riches when it comes to weapons and equipment, and pilots can figure out their playstyle in settings that reward exploration and experimentation. There’s a huge amount to see and do, and tight combat mechanics support it all. Cryptark is a perfect example of how well-implemented randomness can elevate a great action game into an endlessly replayable work of art.

While it’s nearly impossible to hate a Pokémon game, Let’s Go Eevee doesn’t rank with the greats. Rather than forging a new path in the current generation, this quasi-remake relies too heavily on the weak gameplay of the mobile hit and lacks both the strategy and motivation to succeed. Eevee is cute and innocent, but this particular entry has not reached its fully-evolved form.

The Last Story feels like a JRPG that took incomplete notes as it tried to learn from Western design. The simplistic implementation of massively multiplayer online (MMO) combat motifs makes battles boring or frustrating. The character customizability, though wonderful, is purely cosmetic, never really extending into the play or storytelling. Worst of all, the gameplay and story might as well be two ships passing in the night. While Zael confronts the game's real antagonists in cutscenes, the player simply sits on the sidelines. In games, that's the last way you should try to tell a story. Ra

Diablo II: Resurrected is far from perfect. The changes in character design are likely to rile up returning players, and the archaic gameplay probably won’t agree with younger generations weaned on more streamlined, sophisticated experiences. While I appreciate that this legendary title is now available in an improved format, it’s not a caveat-free recommend.

It doesn’t quite reach the level of quality found in Kingdom Hearts II (which I don’t particularly think is fair because I don’t like to compare a sequel to its predecessor when said predecessor was one of the best games ever made), but I find it hard to believe that any fan of this series would walk away from Kingdom Hearts III unsatisfied.

I love what it’s going for, how it looks and also enjoy how it plays — for the most part. On the other hand, I burn out on it incredibly quickly during each session. Even so, I’m genuinely glad it exists and wish there were more developers out there like Vanillaware who indulge themselves in creating passion projects like this one.

Luftrausers is a great pick-up-and-play game in the short term, with most sessions providing a few minutes of entertainment before culminating in a bloody ship-shattering climax.

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.

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.

The time-scrubbing mechanic in Arise is interesting and the many of the levels have a compelling concept. It also offers several visually striking moments and in certain places, it delivers on its emotional content. Unfortunately, it also has too many muddy, unclear visuals for a work of its brevity, and the core platforming disappoints. I wish I could give it a full-throated endorsement, but in the end this is a well-worn theme and Arise: A Simple Story falters in too many places to be truly notable.

A singular RPG experience with much to offer those who are open to something very different from just about every other RPG out there.

For the most part the simplified controls work like a charm, allowing the player to zip around the map, easily locating their prey. It's the maps themselves that are the problem-they're far too small for the number of players that regularly compete on them.

Its recipe is a simple one — take rock-solid FPS and survival fundamentals, and flesh them with high-level, imaginatively distinct, and powerful horror. It’s not a subtle experience, but met on its own terms, warts, Wranglers and all, it hits like a sledgehammer in the best possible way. Brace yourself.

While it's not as glitzy and gadgety as the titles on the consoles, it's one hell of a portable title that will bring back fond memories for anyone who grew up with the 8 and 16-bit era baseball titles.

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.

However, anyone who loves games like Zelda and Alundra would be well advised to give Oath in Felghana a shot. Falcom isn't trying to reinvent the wheel with these games-they're more interested in refining it to the point where it rolls even more smoothly than before.

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.

Sadly, it’s also incredibly dishonest and manipulative in ways that I wouldn’t feel comfortable spoiling here in this review. That doesn’t matter, though, because the goal isn’t to offer the player an airtight story or any justification for a second playthrough. No, the goal is to wrap the player so completely up in this dog’s journey to the place of its youth that by the end of the tale they’ll be feeling exactly what the characters are. As far as I’m concerned, that aim was a complete success.

While there's no question that The Division has plenty of room to grow, it also gets a surprising amount right. It's a great fit for consoles, solo players are welcome, and it delivers a fantastic multiplayer experience that's easily accessible in co-op and PVP.

The difficulty of Downwell will turn away just as many players as it attracts. While persistent effort will ultimately unlock alternative starting stats that benefit less-skilled players, the game starts players from zero after each death—it’s a formula that will either exhaust or inspire the player depending on how they feel about this kind of experience. As for me, Downwell joins the ranks of Spelunky as a go-to, action-oriented roguelike, but I expect many who try it will quickly shelve it for less difficult adventures.

I think that Tainted Grail could have benefited from more time in development even though it had already been a couple of years since the demo dropped. Though it often stumbles over the technical weight of its own creative ambition, Tainted Grail has the makings of a phenomenal RPG — but readers just might want to hold off until that weight has been lifted.

The amount of content in Hatsune Miku: Project Mirai DX is simply staggering, and will surely offer hours of fun for Vocaloid fans.

The graphics have a grainy low-resolution edge (similar to all 2D fighting games), but there's no denying the gorgeous colors, beautifully meticulous hand-drawn art and vibrant animation.

Rejects spectacle in favour of the sort of satisfaction that results from a slow culmination of small triumphs—a video unlocked here, a trickbook completed there. In the end, though, it's because of this very process that Amped 2 fails to evoke the butterflies-in-the-stomach level of excitement that I get from playing the very best video games.

Maybe the typical, indirect solutions to problems were designed deliberately to poke fun at the genre’s flaws, but they were so frequent that they were just as much of an irritant as this kind of puzzle was back then. Topped off with a wildly lackluster twist to explain Yelltown fever, and Unforeseen Incidents leaves a lot to be desired on nearly every front.