After my love affair with nearly every game that inspired Prey, it seems tailor-made to satisfy me. It is indeed a Corey-Ass Game. Although it does have a few rough spots, Prey is phenomenal, and I immediately dived back in to play more as soon as the credits rolled — a rarity for me. Arkane Studios has been on a hot streak with its past three titles, and I’m looking forward to whatever they try to hypnotize me with next. Or maybe the hypnosis is so ingrained at this point they’ve simply conditioned me to enjoy everything they produce? Hypnotists, indeed.

For players who want the deepiest, crunchiest, most byzantine and flexible factory builder out there without any distractions, Little Rocket Lab will disappoint. But for people who have tried the big names in this genre and found them daunting or chilly, and who are still looking for their entry point into the conveyor-belt and throughput analysis lifestyle, Little Rocket Lab may be the one. It’s a really good game that I personally didn’t like very much, but I think — and kind of hope — I’m in the minority.

For such a short game, there's quite a bit of fun to be had in Dead Rising: Case Zero. This is a definite improvement over the first title (plus you can actually read the font on a standard definition TV this time around) and has me completely excited for Dead Rising 2.

It represents somewhat of a mixed bag, a mass of good and bad ideas that vie for dominance as the experience alternates between genuine fun and genuine tedium.

I absolutely recommend the game, but it should only be played a single time—once the surprise wears off, the flaws become too great to ignore.

The third-person aiming is clunky and I found myself preferring to hide, rather than taking on soldiers face-to-face. Much of the campaign can be completed solely by sniping enemies from afar, but there are a few parts where close combat becomes a necessity. I was always pleased when these sections were over quickly. My only other complaint about Sniper Elite 4 is that it’s not a complete package. Three years after initial release, the Switch version arrives with numerous DLC options that require additional purchase – none of which appear to be new content. I’m not completely against DLC, but it feels like players are being nickel-and-dimed here. Fortunately, the core experience is enjoyable enough to look past these minor shortcomings, and more often than not, Sniper Elite 4 hits the bullseye.

Despite these minor miscues, Ys Seven proves that you can tweak a classic game series without ruining it in the process.

The Unfinished Swan isn't without its charms, and there were moments in the abandoned city, with the vines overgrowing walls and bridges in all directions, that I almost loved it. However, in its very short runtime The Unfinished Swan introduces too many different ideas and doesn't sufficiently explore or refine any of them-not even the bad ones. That might suit the theme, but it makes for a game that feels frustratingly incomplete.

It can be said that the game is made for players to start over, but it doesn't seem like a fair or enjoyable trade-off that a person should be willing to go back to square one of the story mode as a result of experimenting with and enjoying the item-crafting.

While Parasite Eve II meets most of the criteria for a fairly good horror shoot-em-up, the biggest problem with it is that it doesnt really add anything that hasnt been done before several times. The underlying, flawed control framework of the game has already been revised and improved upon by other games.

Pleasant graphically, but disturbing as a more complete experience.

I never got a sense that I knew what A Hat in Time was about either as a story or as a game. Its various worlds don’t cohere, its plot doesn’t exist, and its systems never really play off each other in an interesting way. No single aspect of the experience is terrible, but the good bits never build to anything. Consequently, A Hat in Time is a cute, breezy little thing that rolls off the mind as soon as it’s completed.

Anyone who’s after a colorful and quirky puzzle-platformer that just oozes personality, charm and cuteness will probably have a blast with Phogs!, and if there are kids around, then it’s absolutely recommended. Those who give it a shot will find inventive puzzles and charm galore — it’s an exquisite canine treat for humans to enjoy!

This title is full of new ideas, design that is coherent with its larger ideas and it offers an attempt to draw attention to real-life subjects such as social diversity, just like a true work of art. Taken in total, The Eternal Cylinder is an unforgettable experience.

It's really a shame that Rochard hasn't been advertised or promoted anywhere near as much as it deserves, but don't let Sony's oversight stop you... players seeking a fat-free experience with rock-solid fundamentals, polished production levels and cleverly engaging gameplay can hardly do better than this.

I don't want that to deter anyone from playing Isolation—truth be told, I think it's one of the year's must-play releases for those with as much adoration for the original Alien film as I have.

While not perfect in all areas, the craft on display in Metal: Hellsinger is a testament to the beauty and precision that a focused project with a great vision can yield.

In a world where competitors like Mortal Kombat 11 and Guilty Gear Strive are making great strides in presentation and content, it’s hard to feel like KoF XV is keeping pace. It’s still an excellent fighter and KoF is one of the most reliable franchises out there. However, for an installment that promised to ‘shatter all expectations’ in the publicity leading up to launch, the final product seems content to barely meet them — a real shame since the fighting is still some of the best out there.

The Call of Juarez series has had its ups and downs over the years, but Gunslinger stands proud—not only against its own checkered past, but against the FPS genre as a whole. It may not be a subtle or particularly nuanced experience, but it's certainly a cracking good time delivered with a style and confidence that's rarely seen in a full-priced title, let alone a $15 download.

That small matter aside, Atlus once again proves that they are the publisher who takes care of their fans—Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner 2 – Raidou Kuzunoha vs. King Abaddon is another more addition to a long string of superior RPGs, and a solid reason to stay in the last generation just a little bit longer.

Despite these foibles, Pinball FX2 VR is one the PSVR’s best titles to date. It’s a wonderful lesson in how virtual reality can positively enhance a gameplay experience, and is sure to bring a smile to the face of any pinball fan. Despite the current problems, I’m waiting with bated breath for the next tables to appear.

Does Hob serve itself by obfuscating its path and story as much as it does? I don’t think the experience is better for these choices. Forcing the player to bang their head repeatedly against the walls of the world undercuts, rather than strengthens, the game’s considerable charm. The inability to clearly communicate also interferes with the intended emotion of the finale, giving a supposedly solemn choice a silly prelude that doesn’t lay out the stakes in any intelligible way.

While the story is a bore and a couple of difficulty spikes pushed my parrying skills to the max, Wo Long: Fallen Empire still manages to deliver a solid and lengthy action-adventure on par with their previous successes, but with a slightly different and more refined flavor. Tecmo-Koei is better at the soulslike genre than most, and I am a fan of what they do — I just wish the developers would have reconsidered that abysmal first boss. Being an homage to something famously hard was an incomprehensibly poor choice, and it’s a shame that the rest of the campaign will go unseen by the people who walk away in frustration.

Hardcore Trials fans have probably already bought and completed this game, but for others who may be curious and haven't jumped in yet, I'd recommend either of the others before this one.

Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii is still pretty great overall, but this was one case where the devs should have pulled out all the stops to offer something truly different and unique within the series, and it didn’t quite get there.

Final Fantasy XIII-2 is an exercise in making the best out of a bad situation. Feedback was taken from the previous game, and corrections requested by the players dissatisfied with FFXIII are mostly for the best, but it suffers from being the middle child in what will (now) obviously be a trilogy. Old characters feel pointlessly shoehorned into the plot, and nothing feels accomplished at the end of the game. Fortunately for FFXIII-2, overcoming these issues isn't impossible given how enjoyable the rest of it can be.

Ultimately, any gamer who loves Harry Potter is going to enjoy themselves immensely with this game. While older gamers might not find many reasons to give it more than a good weekend's worth of play, the younger ones will have hours and hours of spell-casting fun.

An ambitious game that attempts to breathe new life into the genre. It's not entirely successful, but it is the best gladiator game I've played.