This expansive arcade racer may be ambitious, but it doesn't nail all of the basics.

Mad Max's combat system is too dumbed down to enjoy, and repetitive activities such as searching for scrap and invading small enemy camps gets old fast. Mad Max offers some great experiences, but for a game that tries to impose the realities of survival on you, it does a poor job of following up on this pressure.

Way of the Samurai 4 isn't the prettiest package, but for those with a taste for weirdness and a measure of patience, it's a gift that keeps on giving.

Gory combat comes at a high cost in the uneven Shank 2.

If you aren't already dedicated to reaching the level cap and completing every late-game activity, Warmind doesn't offer many draws for you; the only reason to do anything is to level up or get new loot, and that can keep you busy for a while this time around.

Limited multiplayer options and a decidedly shallow single-player side weigh down trivia king Buzz's portable debut.

The Last Case of Benedict Fox is one of my favorite flavors of metroidvania: the kind that keeps you guessing all the way up to the end on what's exactly going on. In the first half of the game, it goes too far in terms of setting up its mystery but the narrative payoff in the latter half partially makes up for it. This is the type of game where having a trusty notebook on hand is a good idea because the world design and cryptic story--though wonderful--aren't going to do much to guide you beyond hinting at a potential path forward. The combat and platforming don't quite match the game's intriguing story and wonderful Lovecraftian-inspired art direction, but the game does include ways for you to transform the experience of playing the game to make it more approachable.

Driver '76 is a GTA clone that's technically uneven and short on originality, personality, and content.

Team battles aren't enough to make this latest entry in the Budokai Tenkaichi series stand out from the crowd.

Faces of War proves that even something as formulaic as a World War II real-time strategy game can still go awry.

Taken as a whole, however, Valkyria Revolution just doesn't come together as well as it should. Between the poor story presentation, AI issues, and numerous superfluous systems that add little to the experience, it feels like the game needed a bit more time and planning for all of its ideas to properly congeal. While Valkyria Revolution offers some enjoyment, you're going to have to wade through the trenches to get there.

Clash of Ninja 2 seems more like an upgraded game than a true sequel, and it ultimately does little to improve upon the original.

All of Bloodstained's excellent qualities make the Nintendo Switch version even more disappointing. Though 505 Games has acknowledged its technical shortcomings and committed to issuing updates, at launch it is simply too compromised for its own good. If you have no choice but to play on Nintendo Switch, it may still be worth overlooking the weak spots and taking in the experience. If you have other options, though, play on a different platform. The portability of the Nintendo Switch could have made it the absolute best version for a retro-inspired game like Bloodstained. Instead, it’s the worst.

Playing The Sims Medieval is like looking at your neighbor's vacation slides: You're hearing about someone else's grand adventure rather than having one of your own.

The single-player portions of the game are ridiculously easy, even on the hard settings. Only a few campaign missions are remotely challenging, and even these cases are due to poor AI with Allied forces.

Tales From Space: Mutant Blobs Attack was and still is an enjoyable platformer, regardless of the device on which you play it, but it's difficult to recommend this new release to anyone who already has access to the superior Vita rendition.

Despite various minor improvements, Mega Man Star Force isn't significantly different than the GBA Battle Network games.

First Battalion is an action-heavy World War II tank game with fairly simple gameplay mechanics and not much depth.

Such is the turbulent nature of Thief, a clunky, intriguing, slapdash, atmospheric stealth game that leashes you to its inconsistencies and gives you no choice but to submit to its whims.

Death Tank offers an exciting twist on tactical action, but its price tag will leave you feeling robbed.

The gameplay is so far removed from the legends, and the story is so bare-bones, that the setting rarely feels meaningful. Thanks in large part to its more frustrating puzzles, Munin ends up feeling too long. It has its moments of brilliance, but ultimately it doesn't have the legs (or wings) to let it reach the heights of similar games in the genre.

RIGS controls are top-notch, and aside from the grating, repetitive announcers, the arenas are colorful places that I love competing in. But the smaller details that RIGS stumbles over make it hard to justify continuing after completing an initial season. RIGS is a great showcase for how to make a VR shooter, but it's also a game that could learn from the "less is more" mantra.

Cannon Brawl is interesting enough to enjoy in small doses, but it wears out its welcome once you realize its efforts to inject a little variety into the proceedings only go skin deep. If you can find a few friends at a similar skill level to challenge, you'll likely enjoy several hours of strategy mayhem. Otherwise, you're better off in another castle.

This stand-alone zombie expansion for Sniper Elite V2 can be a lot of fun in 4-player co-op, but the action gets monotonous over time.

As Thief seesawed up and down, my enjoyment of it followed suit. Each time I thought I might fall in love, the game doused my passions with a new annoyance.

If the game had made better use of its assets and given us a reason to care about more than the fleeting pleasures of customization and combat, it might be worth enduring the currency grind. As it is, like its strongest mechs, it runs out of power far too fast.

The game can't escape its shortcomings, but patient explorers can still find a few stars shining in the darkness.

The Vita version of Dungeon Hunter: Alliance is a fine Diablo clone, but a lack of ambition and a high price hold it back on the platform.