Though occasionally likable and basically inoffensive, Mario Strikers: Battle League struggles to build on its ideas and ends up feeling pretty undercooked as an experience.

Both shallow and a waste of a good property.

An otherwise serviceable boxing game on the Wii that doesn't work with the motion controls, which is the whole appeal of playing a boxing game on the Wii.

It's dull, with rare moments of huge reward, and the only game it's competing with in the graphics department came out about 10 years ago, but it is not poorly designed.

There are better satires of gaming in other forms, and they likely won't leave you feeling kind of dirty afterwards.

You know, there's a little thing called the multitap that allows four people to play the same PS2 game. For whatever reason, you PS2 owners only get to hook up with one other gamer, as two-player split-screen is the option you're given. You may not be fighting over who gets to play anyway, but the feature would have been nice.

It's dull, with rare moments of huge reward, and the only game it's competing with in the graphics department came out about 10 years ago, but it is not poorly designed.

Ragnarok Odyssey Ace learned its tricks in the school of MMO fundamentals, and though character customizations are initially fun, the shine quickly wears off in the face of levels and battles as repetitive as they are unrewarding.

Jaws: Ultimate Predator isn't a good game by any stretch (although it's still more interesting than the bloodier 3DS version). It's ugly, clumsy and buggy, and will hugely disappoint anyone who's just looking to play as a giant shark that messily eats people. For all its faults, however, it's still surprisingly competent.

There's a few notable characters and story beats in Murdered: Soul Suspect, but they're completely overshadowed by unremarkable gameplay and shoddy production values.

This is a racing game that's not fun. It's basic, tasteless, and doesn't use any creativity with its cool cars it's focusing on in the game.

The very definition of mediocre. The storyline isn't integral enough to the gameplay experience to really snag fans, and the gameplay won't do much for anyone else.

If you’re interested in Republique purely as a tech demo, its smooth animations, realistic models, and excellent touch-controls would have you raving. Unfortunately, the story is so shallow and the central character is so bland that, despite a top-notch supporting cast, Republique’s narrative simply can’t carry the weight of the game.

A bit of stylus-powered frog-in-a-ball rolling occasionally interrupts the bounding, but even this is clumsily controlled, with mad stroking more likely to erode your DS screen than get the spherical spawn of the devil to respond.

Neither great nor terrible, Crisol: Theater of Idols lands with a wet, inoffensive plop precisely between the two. It largely fails as a horror and struggles as a shooter, but stands solidly as a curiosity that follows its own rules.

It’s really too bad that Afro Samurai is bogged down by nagging annoyances, because the core game is actually decent, if not spectacular. If it had a healthy dose of polish it would be a solid rental (but not full-price purchase).

Despite a decent story, a great combat system, and a large, non-linear world to explore, Lightning Returns' tedious structure makes seeing this journey through to its end a laborious grind.

If you absolutely must get your hands on a next-generation RPG now, give it a shot, but don't be surprised if these Arms feel weak.

Serial Cleaners' main problem is that it's kind of a wasted opportunity. There's room for a game like this on the market, and it's stylishly presented enough that it could easily garner an audience of obsessive stealth-loving cleaners. It just doesn't achieve the necessary tension to make it a compelling stealth game and its mechanics are too open to abuse to reward careful play and smart decisions. As a result, the potential thrill that it could have been is lost.

Duke Nukem 3D: Megaton Edition is a mediocre game that is relying on misty-eyed nostalgia for sales, rather than offering a new spin on 18 years-old content.

Heroes of Ruin is ultimately just another run-of-the-mill experience, which is truly unfortunate considering it's pretty much the only title in the genre on Nintendo's hardware over a year after launch. Its potential is totally squandered on a highly forgettable experience.

You've got one track, a small assortment of vehicles, stupid opponents, an antique setting, and little variety. Unless you're a historian of racing, better leave this one in the garage.

It's hard to recommend that someone drop ten bucks into a prettier version of a game you might play better on a site like Kongregate or Newgrounds, but there really isn't anything god awful about MicroBot, just nothing at all very good.

Episode II isn't an atrocious game, but poorly implemented mechanics and questionable design decisions consistently hobble its attempts to deliver the exhilarating speed that we've come to expect from the series.

It's hard to recommend that someone drop ten bucks into a prettier version of a game you might play better on a site like Kongregate or Newgrounds, but there really isn't anything god awful about MicroBot, just nothing at all very good.

It's not a great fighting game, but its wide array of characters, scenarios, and unlockable junk could be just the thing for less critical fans.

Unfortunately, this genre requires a lot more panache and even more addictive gameplay hooks, something The Chosen fails to accomplish in its quest to push you that much closer to Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. At its best, this is a pretty game that seems to understand the target it was aiming for but fails entirely to hit the mark.

We hate ripping on something that's such an earnest effort, but the stark reality is that Rock of the Dead was released in the wrong way at the wrong price with nowhere near enough complexity to justify its length.