The Godfather II's failure is that, outside of the most utilitarian sense in which it is a smoothly-playable game, it doesn't accomplish anything at all.

For fans of the show it's a wonderful new piece of new Animaniacs content. For everyone who isn't lucky enough to have seen the show, it's a solid piece of gameplay along with an opportunity to connect with some really wonderful comic characters.

Rememoried is a deeply flawed and inaccessible title and I can't in good conscience recommend it to anyone. Its central conceit isn't a striking idea, and it mostly results in frustration. The lack of a plot means the game doesn't have any draw to pull the player forward. Yet even when it's at its worst, Rememoried has an interesting atmosphere that can be rewarding. There's something valuable here, but Rememoried gets in its own way no matter where you look.

Hyperdevotion Noire: Goddess Black Heart is both too similar to and too different from its parent series to hold my interest. Trying to “fix” the lackluster battle system with more minutiae has only made it less tolerable, and worse, I just don’t care about these characters anymore. I’ve played worse games—far worse—but Hyperdevotion Noire has lost the soul of a franchise I once loved.

It’s heartening to see Behold’s latest effort result in an improvement on their unique strengths. Galaxy of Pen & Paper feels like a worthy indicator of their rise, even if its less savory quirks keep it – and by extension, Behold – from shaking the weight of their other weaknesses.

For a title on Switch, it’s great — do a run or two while waiting in line for the bus or commuting on a subway and then set it down. On console or PC, I’m not sure it would be worth the pricetag.

There’s not much within the game that is poorly done, or even downright bad, but the problem is Nefarious tries to do too much, and in that attempt, ends up doing none of it exceptionally well.

Some dialogue options lead to sluggish sequences in which ten text boxes deal with the question of whether or not to pick up a phone or open a door, only to ignore the player’s choice in the end. The lack of a ‘skip’ button during replays is also annoying. Rough edges like this and others hint to its status as a small-budget indie, but SELF remains a solid text experience and I found that its narrative stuck with me long after finishing all possible routes. However, as I alluded to at the start, this game isn’t really about finding all the endings — each branch on its own provides a unique look on contemporary society and an individual’s weakness… or strength.

The flexibility in deckbuilding is a fresh angle for the genre, and Cardaclysm does scratch the itch for the collectible card games. That said, while the developers have been good about putting out patches and updates that smooth out some of the rough spots, I’m going to give it a bit of time to marinate before I return.

Much of Golden Force is very, very good. Any diehard fan of 16-bit games will find a lot to like, but in an age where games like this are common, Golden Force is too technically flawed and too hard to recommended to all but the most dedicated players.

There’s definitely something to be said for performing fitness routines to visuals of rambunctious post-apocalyptic punks being smacked in their stupid faces to keep players engaged. And hell, if Kenshiro himself can’t get players to burn off some excess calories, who can?

If the game does not play like road cycling, look like road cycling, or sound like road cycling, the question can be posed whether it simulates road cycling at all. In the last four years, road cycling has changed immensely. Pro Cycling Manager has not.

Overall, Hypercharge: Unboxed is a delightfully enjoyable old-school shooter that harkens back to games of the past and action figure-obsessed childhoods. Being able to fine-tune many aspects of the experience with various options on top of the solid action and exploration makes this one of the most enjoyable shooters I’ve played. If the devs can use the groundwork laid here to deliver an expanded experience in a potential follow-up, I have no doubt it’ll be even better. For now, though, anyone with an appreciation for action and action figures will want to keep an eye on this.

Stark mastery of skills has its place, but it's a true shame that the developers couldn't shape Chaos Legion into a more compelling experience.

It's well presented and Brave's misshapen but personable face and tape-like hair make him an oddly likeable hero (that one wouldn't necessarily mind seeing again), but for the most part his showcase adventure ranks as an inescapably hollow and forgettable experience.

F1 2015 is enjoyable enough and gives gamers a refreshing break from the usual car porn and Vin Diesel simulators, but in its effort to make the title as realistic as possible, Codemasters forgot about the casual gamer—the one who only has a few hours a week to play, and who doesn't want to be bogged down in endless laps when a quicker option would suffice.

The Testament of Sherlock Holmes's execution is ordinary, and its flaws elementary.

Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl is the most disappointing kind of game as it’s one that offers so much promise and then fails to deliver on it, even when it comes to the most obvious, low-hanging fruit.

Getting a few things right just isn’t enough when the core of play — the platforming — is this troubled. Jet Kave Adventure was so awkward and problematic that I had to stop playing. When I see games with problems, I usually want to offer suggestions on how things could have been fixed, but the issues here run too deep — all I can say to the developers is that I wish them better luck next time.

Given the subject matter, Kane & Lynch never had a chance of being a fun game, but it had every chance of being a good one. It's not.

With middling gameplay and a questionable story, The Crow’s Eye has only its solid puzzles and a fascinating mixture of genres to recommend it. This is nowhere near the top of the first-person puzzle-platform genre, but it’s certainly one of the strangest and most intriguing I’ve played.

As damning as it sounds, owning a VR headset elevates Downward Spiral from skippable to must-play. It genuinely feels that good to experience, even if the design in its most basic form – removed from presentation and mechanics – is somewhat uninspired. VR opens a world of possibilities to this medium, and it’s thrilling to see new territory mapped out in real-time. I long for the day when a concept like this is matched with the production values it deserves, but for now, Downward Spiral is simply unlike anything I’ve ever played, and that’s enough.

While the story about the fate of humanity and the mystery surrounding the unseen alien race was ultimately a disappointment, I still find myself thinking about the most memorable moments from The Solus Project, such as encountering my first raging storm or wading waist-deep through that subterranean pool. At its best (and in VR) it evokes the strange and wonderful sensation of exploring a truly unknown environment. At its worst, it’s a slog that undercuts its unique qualities with finicky survival elements and an inconsistent, sometimes-buggy experience.

I commend the developers for keeping true to Orwell’s work, depressing endings and all, but unfortunately what we have here is a worst-of-both-worlds situation — as a visual novel, it’s a slog to get through the repetitive mundane, choices, and the gameplay isn’t refined or engaging enough to be a solid management sim. Simply reading the book might be a better option.

Instead of being a series savior, Dead Aim is more like Pete Rose finally admitting he bet on baseball. Too little. Too late.

It never builds on the gameplay or aesthetic qualities of Doom in any meaningful way—it’s merely content to cover the same old ground and hope no one notices.

I think most disappointing for me was how Transmission lost a great opportunity to expand on the concepts "Battle Network" was built on.

However, in the end, I felt that much of what made Risen 2 such a charming adventure was missing from Risen 3—it has fewer flaws overall, but the ambition has diminished as well. As a result, it's simply less interesting, and the return trip isn't as enjoyable as the previous journey.