The sequel rights many of the first game's wrongs and is a nice, iterative step forward on the formula Monolith's been perfecting since 2005. For those who were lukewarm on the first PXZ, these improvements may make the difference.

On paper, this should be the most boring, simplistic game ever: The player tosses a paper airplane, the end. However, the reality is surprisingly more engaging than it sounds.

Both of these tables are a joy to play and the Universal Monsters Pack is a solid addition to the Pinball FX3 library. It’s a slight shame the pack includes only two tables, but the price still beats buying a pair of working machines.

Despite this slightly middling RPG addition, there’s not much to knock Granblue Fantasy Versus for. Purists may scoff at the low barrier to entry, and there’s not many characters to choose from without dipping into the DLC offerings, but it’s still a beautifully-presented fighter that holds its own. It’s just a shame there’s not more of it.

Drawing from a pool of the classics – things like Rubik’s cubes, complementary rotation, circuit building – Iris.Fall has a puzzle for for everyone. Unfortunately, this has the corollary of ensuring that players with a weakness for a particular kind of puzzle will end up absolutely stuck at least once in the game. I personally found myself banging my head on a task involving building a bridge for the better part of a half hour, and it’s entirely possible that were I not reviewing the game, I might have quit there and then. I’m glad I didn’t, though, since the story deserves to be seen through to the end.

The monsters are creepy, the combat is great, and the setting is endlessly explorable – Achtung! Cthulhu Tactics has plenty going for it, and yet it still feels underdeveloped. The RPG elements are thin, and the story is little more than a skeletal justification for the next skirmish. There’s plenty of stellar design here, but it feels like a preview of a more robust experience. It’s a fantastic use of the Cthulhu Mythos and a solid game, but I’m guessing the franchise will have more to offer next time.

While not quite matching its previous heights, Axis Football 2026 has made marked improvements over the last incarnation and shows that it’s still a title worthy of taking the field. With the right bug fixes and continued improvement, it could once again become a solid contender in the increasingly-crowded football market. Axis Football 2026 is worth the time and the price of admission, but there’s definitely room for this franchise to tighten things up.

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.

I enjoyed Grand Kingdom quite a bit. On paper this game is everything I want in an SRPG, but it did leave me feeling a little underwhelmed. With a stronger narrative stitching everything together, I think it really would be the total package.

The game's core mechanics are all still there, neatly created and presented stunningly. But underneath this evident beauty, Prince of Persia fails to deliver on any sort of a challenge, and instead of carrying on the proud tradition of the series, deviates to a considerable and damaging extent because of its simple gameplay and excessive accessibility.

Overall, the game presents simple but compelling word strategy with just the right mix of predictability and random chance. One’s enjoyment of Oh…Sir!! may come down to whether or not the style of humor clicks, but it’s hard to deny that it delivers great value for its tiny $2 asking price. Also, your face smells of a dead parrot’s farts.

YIIK: A Postmodern RPG is a bizarre title that connected with me on several levels despite a number of issues, and it kept me coming back until credits rolled. While it did take a significant amount of time to get to the ending, the characters and the themes of coping with loss and Alex’s growth made the investment of time worth the effort. That said, I don’t know if I would recommend this game to anyone but myself, yet it’s so strange and offbeat that I think there’s something worthwhile here to check out for everyone who’s not me.

Issues aside, it's hard to discount the feeling of nostalgia that permeates Growlanser: Wayfarer of Time. Gamers like me, who experienced the golden age of the JRPG firsthand, will undoubtedly enjoy this title despite the occasional misstep.

Mulaka is a treat for the eyes that’s just fine as it is, but I can’t help but feel there were many opportunities where it could have, and should have, done more.

It may not have been a direct hit, but ­R-Type Command's mission was certainly accomplished.

Despite the lackluster mechanics and dull dungeon design, Soul Hackers 2 still has plenty of sheen in its presentation and characters. Ringo is an intriguing protagonist surrounded by a roster of dynamic characters who will keep the player invested as they struggle to save this colorful, neon world. If nothing else, it will serve as a welcome primer to Atlus newcomers, or a welcome draught for those looking to slake their thirst after going through more accomplished ATLUS titles.

It’s great that four years later Street Fighter V is still receiving updates and continues to have a decent online community. I can’t recommend that owners of the previous versions pay for the upgrade since the new characters can be earned for free within the game, but for anyone who hasn’t played Street Fighter V yet, there’s no better version to pick up than the Champion Edition.

Retro Machina is a game that diligently stays true to its title, putting on the table nothing more or less then what is implied with the opening menu. Unfortunately, the developers have kept too sharp a focus on the ‘retro’ aspect, and in failing to leverage the design improvements and innovations from recent years, the end result is an experience that feels far smaller and more limited than it should.

Bomber Crew is a fantastic first achievement, and flitting between micro and macro management is both stressful and rewarding in equal measure. That said, the game can’t decide if it wants to be a quirky management sim or a hardcore roguelike, so splitting the difference has weakened the whole.

The Forgotten City is quite interesting as a new release that’s actually an enhanced and expanded mod that retains all of its key elements while being offered to players who might not be familiar with Skyrim. Despite the performance issues, it’s an adventure that will fascinate until the end, and the riddle surrounding The Golden Rule is one worth solving.

Sporadic difficulty notwithstanding, it's certainly a credit to Mr. Cavanagh that a project with VVVVVV's basic graphics and simple controls can feel so completely energetic and entertaining. Much more than it initially appears, I was quite glad to have spent time with the title, and eagerly look forward to what Terry will be cooking up next.

It’s an intense experience easily played in a single (or very few) sittings that delivers with an engaging story via fascinating narrative progression. I do feel the overall quality of the game was compromised by the lackluster ending, but the thrill of the promise has enough momentum to carry a player to the end.

I can accept but no longer appreciate the conventions of the past that Soul Calibur III upholds and I look forward to a game that embodies the newer and more reality-based ideals of competitive fighting.

While the narrative falls utterly flat, Ereban: Shadow Legacy remains a good point of entry into the stealth genre, encouraging players to take things patiently and strategically while also giving them a unique adventure that lets them — quite literally — blend into the shadows. It’s worth a try for this, if nothing else!

Any fans of hand-drawn animation should download it immediately.

May get flack from the hardcore D&D crowd for simply being a "Diablo" clone set in the D&D universe, but it's still hard to deny the simple joy in teaming up with three friends to kick the crap out a Beholder.

In a year when games like The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt have redefined what open-world RPGs are capable of, I suspect that a lot of Fallout fans will be forced to question whether the usual Bethesda shtick of providing vast amounts of unpolished content with no emotional investment is still enough. I had a pretty good time, but despite its many strong points, Fallout 4 feels like one of Bethesda's minor works.

Duffers who like to spend more time on the couch than on the greens will find much to enjoy here and they can do it without looking like a dork in a pair of knickers.