The game isn't deep or diverse enough to justify the 20-plus hours players can expect to invest before reaching the end. A tighter, narrower scope would have elevated Rebel Galaxy beyond being the sort of mild distraction derived from marathoning a TV show.

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

Despite the fact that the game is only two or three hours long (depending on how lost a player gets) I found it to be absolutely unbearable. I became so bored with the lack of interesting things to see and do that I literally put a rubber band on my controller's left stick to keep her moving for long stretches of time, which gives an idea of how interactive Beyond Eyes is. I badly wanted to quit after the first thirty minutes, but I was determined to see where the story was going. Naturally, the ending was a total non-event and not worth the time and aggravation.

As a philosophical rumination on the ownership of art, The Beginner's Guide is what Boswell might call an "ingenious sophistry", but not a compelling argument. As an exploration of an obsessive relationship that failed painfully, it's a sneakily effective success. Is the latter so bound up in the former that it loses impact? I thought not, but that's just me.

For a two- or three-hour game with an asking price of $7, Leo's Fortune might seem a bit overpriced, but throughout the journey I found myself enjoying the controls, the well-placed puzzles, and yes, even the nostalgic gaming environments.

Anyone looking for a better example of TenNapel's creative spark should seek out a copy of The Neverhood—it hasn't aged perfectly, but it's far more entertaining than this failed follow-up.

Tales is far and away the most entertaining game I've played from Telltale yet.... And given the way the final episode ends, I'm very much looking forward to the sure-to-come second season.

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.

While Disgaea 5 definitely had me hooked once things got cooking, it's unfortunate that so much of the game is tucked away at the start. I understand not wanting to bombard newcomers with too many systems, but doling them out at a snail's pace over ten or so hours takes far too long, and runs the risk of alienating returning vets.

Older gamers who aren't Minecraft devotees may find Story Mode skewing a bit young, but that's quite all right. We've had plenty of mature offerings lately, and it's great to have something that's fit for families and kids.

A tightly-designed and visually pleasing title that could stand to wring more content out of a clever and relatively under-explored central mechanic. Players who click with it will likely enjoy hours of maximizing scores and minimizing accidental deaths, but those not in love with the core mechanic aren't likely to be won over by this spooky shooter.

As time goes on, I grow more intolerant of the extreme eleventh-hour difficulty spike found in so many games. Mushroom 11 begins wonderfully, with some striking 2D background art and a bounty of inventive puzzles in its earlier levels. I want to recommend it for that, but the unfortunate truth is that too much of my time with Mushroom 11 was spent writhing in fury.

A decent installment in a long-running series, but this reboot is perhaps a bit too authentic in that it lives up to its predecessors, but fails to exceed them. Since it's been over a decade since the series's fourth entry, the sights might have been aimed a bit higher.

A peerless piece of fanservice wrapped around a pretty enjoyable brawler, and the developers' love of the subject matter shines through as brightly as the sun.

The sheer immersion of Madden NFL 16's gameplay makes this the best football video game since the series's salad days, and the most improved football experience since NFL Gameday first graced the PS1.

Despite my issues with the story, Technobabylon remains an exceptional game. Its clever puzzles, complex characters, and unique setting make it a gem that stands out as a welcome change from more gritty, nihilistic cyberpunk stories.

It's decent in short bursts, but I have a feeling that it will be quickly forgotten once the Vita's upcoming Senran Kagura: Estival Versus hits.

Afro Samurai 2 sports questionable design, is broken in many ways, and is generally unworthy of anyone's time or money. I wouldn't even recommend this to the hardest of hardcore fans of the series. Why the developers and publishers let this game hit the market, I'll never know.

The beauty of its locations can't be denied, but it seems to be at odds with the game's core. The backstory didn't grab me, and the avatar's journey lacks internal logic or a narrative thrust of its own. Rapture coasts a long way on the strength of its visuals and score, but in a minimalistic game, production values can't mask the weak storytelling and thematic inconsistency.

Atlus has got themselves one hell of a spinoff.

While Evoland 2's trip through video game memory lane made me feel like a kid again, the high points are outnumbered by the times I muttered "Ugh, one of these." Nostalgia can be great at times, but but most of this stuff is better left in the past.

Party Hard is not a game that rewards players who take chances or attempt to learn the layout of levels, since the developers randomize the stages after each failure. Trap elements, items, and victim gathering points change every time. There's no value in practicing techniques when there's no guarantee players will have a chance to use them.

It's always a great feeling to go into a game with no expectations and then come away highly impressed, and that's exactly what happened with Onechanbara Z2: Chaos. It's an irreverent, enjoyably kinetic game, and the takeway is that quartets of highly skilled warrior women murdering the absolute hell out of zombies in bloodthirsty fashion is, above all else, completely and totally rad.

It's kind of insane that the spiritual follow up to Peace Walker and easily the most ambitious Metal Gear title to date somehow winds up as arguably the least interesting entry overall, but there it is.

Armello has tons of appeal. The art is gorgeous, the premise is engaging, and I'm always interested in new virtual boardgames. Unfortunately, the mechanics don't feel like they're quite where they need to be, the singleplayer mode comes up short, and the online mode can be slow and frustrating depending on the other players.

Zenzizenzic is a neat take on bullet hell, sans the Anime kitsch that it's usually wrapped in. For a debut project it shows professional execution and polish, and the catchy soundtrack should sweep players off their feet. With a price around ten bucks, it's a must-see for fans of the genre.

While Mad Max doesn't reinvent the open-world genre, I loved reveling in the things it gets right. Burning through the wasteland in a guzzolene-fueled killing machine and smashing desert raiders at high speed is a perfect screen-to-screen translation of this seminal cinematic series, but the deeper richness of the world itself is a masterclass in subtle presentation, and it goes a long, long way towards selling the experience overall. Top class.

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.