There’s a compulsive, checklist quality to the action in Thief Simulator 2. Once I developed a successful sequence, I found pleasure in its repetition – I dotted every “I” as I deftly picked locks on my way in, and then crossed every “T” as I shut and relocked those same doors on the way out. However, these moments were just base mechanics and never developed beyond that – planning is as simple as planting a camera, and a successful robbery is just a matter choosing the right the time of day. I have to imagine that being a real thief is more complicated than this, and I wished Thief Simulator 2 asked more from me.

Fat Chicken doesn't really succeed either as a reverse tower-defense game or as a political statement. By clinging too tightly to a standard in-level economy that doesn't play well with its twist on the genre, Fat Chicken ends up with play that's overly constrained.

I can’t praise Valkyria Revolution‘s story enough. It’s a clear-eyed meditation on the horrors of war – even, perhaps especially, justified war. If the developers had found a way to make the dreary, repetitive combat as worthwhile as the story that frames it, this would have been an incredible game.

While it seems like Omega Force should have this formula locked down tight, the truth is that Samurai Warriors 4: Empires doesn't quite gel.

Lynked: Banner of the Spark feels like a game that wants to combine several elements into one dynamic package, but the attempts at high-speed action trip themselves up before they can even get started, and the lifestyle sim sections are sleep inducing.

Lacks the cohesion, pacing, and spirit the others possess. All else being equal, those missing qualities put Jak II squarely at the rear of the pack.

Greak: Memories of Azur is an action-platformer weighed down by a complicated multi-character concept that doesn’t feel fully developed, and it’s tough to recommend such an experience when there are so many superior offerings in the same genre. Fixing its issues and ensuring that its main claim to fame works more effectively would do wonders for it, and I’m hoping we’ll see an improved version in future.

Three Kingdom: The Journey has the makings of a great roguelike deckbuilder, but a number of issues like the harsh difficulty of surprise bosses and minor technical hiccups prevent it from reaching its full potential. However, despite this, the tactical and random nature of play meant that I discovered something new each time. The theme of Three Kingdom makes it stand out by forgoing fantasy tropes for a more grounded military-style affair, and there’s a good journey waiting to happen here… players just might have to power through a few issues to get to it.

Manages to be engaging thanks to its rich storyline, and the typically luxurious cutscenes provided by Square Enix. I found it challenging enough for my level of twitch skills (or lack thereof) in the genre.

The game is easily short enough to finish in an afternoon even if you're doing other things at the same time. Its finale feels even more abrupt than it is, because there's no crescendo of difficulty or complexity, no "boss" puzzle. With little warning, Unmechanical simply ends, and without a strong story or memorable puzzles to hang its hat on, it fails to leave a mark, despite its lovely visuals.

The combat is brainlessly entertaining, but this sort of content only occupies someone for so long, and with no other improvements or expansions to the core play, I can't in good conscience praise this game. That said, I did find it interesting enough to want to find out more about the IP, and I strongly suspect those who are already fans will happily climb aboard this particular pirate ship.

Its stealth is too repetitive, its gunfights too familiar, and its driving too boring to support anything else that’s going on. Despite how clever it manages to be in portraying the conquest and control of a criminal enterprise, the nuts-and-bolts missions feel like busywork, and it never fully explores the most interesting aspects of its setting. It’s better than Mafia II, but that’s damning it with faint praise.

Given the length of the game—around 12 hours or so at Normal difficulty—Brütal Legend gets more tiresome the further in you go. Stage Battles (the official name for the RTS sections) kill the pace, and the side missions are repetitive and boring. Somehow, all these negatives don't counterbalance an amazing artistic style. R

Assault Android Cactus is good, but it used to be great.

Patient racing fans will find things to enjoy, but everyone else should weigh both the game's pros and cons before making a final decision on whether or not this one is worthy of a purchase.

As a new music game, Helix sounded like a fun concept and I wanted to enjoy it more than I did. I just had a hard time staying with it. Taken on its own terms, the game definitely provides a challenge and some sweat—for the gamer that gets into the spirit and avoids cheating with mini-waggles.

Unfortunately for those sticking to the main route, Rise is a repeat of the 2013 title with less character development and several years' worth of mounting standards.

At the moment, Skater XL feels more like a skateboarding and lifestyle simulator rather than a fully fleshed-out game. There’s plenty to try and the difficulty level will keep enthusiasts glued to their screens in hopes of nailing those elusive combos, but as a gaming experience, it comes up short.

I'm always eager to see developers carve new territory in interactive narrative, but I'm not convinced that Her Story's format of chopping up bits of exposition and hiding them behind a nonsensical search engine mechanic is a major step forward for the medium. There's enough solid standalone writing to prevent it from being a waste of time, but I ultimately value Her Story more for its audacity than its success.

As a triple-A holiday blockbuster from a renowned studio and a major publisher released after years of build-up, it doesn’t feel like a product that has justified this much anticipation. Furthermore, as yet another live-service title expecting players to sink who knows how many hours into its ecosystem, it completely fails to convince me that anybody will be playing in a year without a great deal of work needed to elevate it out of mediocrity.

Dungeon Lords provides solid, if glitchy, Action-RPG experience.

While I appreciated the stylish, neon-soaked city and the fantastic soundtrack, No Straight Roads switches between brawler, platformer, and rhythm concepts, but fails to deliver a memorable experience overall.

Ultimately, Biomorph is a serviceable addition to the metroidvania subgenre that I think most fans of the content will enjoy thanks to the appealing look of its graphics and the novelty of the main character’s ability to transform. It might not break much new ground, but a solid experience doesn’t necessarily have to.

Everything in Genesis Alpha One ultimately boils down to being over-ambitious. I appreciate the attempt and see something great beneath the surface somewhere, but in its current state it’s just too rough to recommend. With more assets, more things to do, and shortening the grind of finding resources and blueprints, it might be worth building a spaceship and breeding a clone army. For now, it looks like humanity’s mission to repopulate is a failure.

Ultimately, The Thing: Remastered is mostly successful in recapturing the essence of the film, but it just didn’t give me good reasons to care about the characters, nor did it offer gameplay that was engaging enough for me to want to spend more time in such a dreary world without Kurt Russell there to fire things up. Even after being remastered, The Thing may have been better off left in the ice.

Drop Duchy attempts to ease the hard feelings of a busted run with its progression-unlocking Challenges, but the proliferation of new features feels like it dilutes rather than strengthens subsequent runs. As a consequence, Drop Duchy falls too far into the frustrating regime of RNG-dominated games. There’s an interesting concept here, but Drop Duchy lacks the kind of snappy gameplay or compelling aesthetic that would sustain it through the unfairness of waiting in vain for that dang line piece that just won’t drop.

Without the distraction that lovable licensed characters provide, I was faced with the inescapable conclusion that Mercenaries 2 was a mediocre title, suitable only for those who fantasize about using attack helicopters to slay entire countries.

In the end, Desert Child is best played as an interactive tribute album to Cowboy Bebop, where its multitudinous soundscapes can carry the weight of expectations and leave an element of surprise to its various mechanical bits — the soundtrack really is that good. Even without that charitable framing, however, I can squint and see a more cohesive and expressive game hiding in this hard luck heap. Though Desert Child’s eclecticism may not hold up when it’s weighed against the conventional expectations of what makes for a Great Videogame, it’s certainly interesting. For players willing to brush off its rougher edges, that may make it even more worthwhile.