Slayaway Camp will force you to choose between performance and play in a way that most other games won’t. If you can abide performance issues — again, lots and lots and lots of performance issues — the gameplay here might be strong enough to make up for it. But those issues are serious and occur with enough frequency that I wouldn’t blame anyone for not thinking this game is worth all those headaches.

If you combine certain elements of Hitman: Blood Money (that is, the sandbox nature of the levels) with certain elements of Hitman: Absolution (specifically, the better-looking graphics), you’ll wind up with something closely approximating the current games. Taken on their own, however, you get a pair of fun-but-flawed experiences. While they’re still worth checking out if you’ve exhausted both Hitman and Hitman 2, considering that you can pick up either of those games for a lower price than Hitman HD Enhanced Collection, you’ll need to decide for yourself just how badly you need more Agent 47 in your life.

Mind you, it’s no Fibbage, Survive the Internet, or Tee KO. And that’s why Jackbox Party Pack 5 isn’t quite on par with its predecessors. It’s a solid party game, to be sure, and if you’ve played Packs 2, 3, and 4 as much as I have you’ll be welcoming the new game options, but it’s not quite essential. Then again, “solid Jackbox party game” is still better than pretty much any other party game you could come up with — and for that reason, Jackbox Party Pack 5 is still a worthy addition to the Jackbox canon.

I’m sure that if you were to pull 150 games from any system, you’d have an equal number of hits and misses. So it is with Atari Flashback Classics. It may not make you rush out and find an old Atari cabinet or console in an antique shop, but it will make you appreciate exactly why Atari was, for a time, synonymous with video games.

It could be worse, I guess. Gear.Club Unlimited 2 could’ve suffered from the same fate as Asphalt Injection and been grind-heavy and ugly. Instead, you’ve got a game that’s just grind-heavy and boring. It works, which is nice, but with these load times, working feels like the least the game should do. The best games have some kind of exciting spark to them, and that’s one thing Gear.Club Unlimited 2 completely lacks.

So overall Monster Boy and the Cursed Kingdom is a retro inspired platformer and shows the genre at its finest. Not to mention it feels right at home on the Switch despite being a multiplatform release. If you’ve never played a Monster Boy game but have been looking for anything to scratch that Metroid or Castlevania itch then this is for you. And if you’re a Monster Boy fan wondering if this installment is any good then you should probably already own it. But if you don’t then take it from me you won’t regret your time with Cursed Kingdom.

Superficially it would be extremely easy to pass on this title. Yet when this title was pitched to me as Onion Soup Interactive’s digital love letter to all things Japan, the inner-weeaboo in me found the title to be oddly charming. I would certainly cast a more critical eye if I were tasked to review this studio’s future titles, but for a first effort this one’s not too bad.

Ultimately, it’s kind of a short game (around 20 levels or so, and it can be beaten in under 3 hours) that doesn’t do anything that revolutionary. But even so, it offers a nice tweak on the tower defense formula that will get your blood pumping. If you’re a fan of tower defense games, what more do you need?

The set features fan favorites like Attack from Mars, but I was surprised by how much I enjoyed The Party Zone, which is not a table I was familiar with prior to playing this release. Also included is the pirate themed Black Rose, another carry over from the The Pinball Arcade. Once again the new physics model that Zen Studios has incorporated for these tables feels great, with fast, fluid gameplay and actual weight behind the ball itself. The lighting models for the tables are outstanding, and each table really pops, looking as close to the real thing as you’re likely to get.

P3D recognizes that not everyone has the same aptitude when it comes to rhythm games, so it makes sure that the easier difficulty is challenging without being impossible (while, of course, making the harder difficulty levels hard enough to challenge even rhythm game veterans). Would my enjoyment of Persona 3: Dancing in Moonlight been greater if I went into it knowing and loving Persona 3 already? Possibly. But I can’t help but think that it’s a good sign that this game appeals to someone like me, who wouldn’t be able to tell you the first thing about the original.

If you’re thinking of revisiting Onimusha or just curious to try it for the first time then it’s a solid recommendation as a short and action-packed classic game with some good replay value after your first run. This just goes to show that a port in the right hands means it’s a good time to revisit older series that might now be forgotten.

Complaining about how hard a retro-platformer is seems kind of pointless — it’s been ingrained in the genre since they first started popping up in the first half of this decade, and it doesn’t seem like it’ll be going away any time soon. Which means that Super Life of Pixel gets a pass on its difficulty — and, more importantly, it means you get to compare it to many other games of this type. For Super Life of Pixel, that comparison is only a good thing, since — much like Life of Pixel — it’s a standout of the genre. Hopefully this time around, more people will discover it, because it absolutely deserves more recognition than it received the first time around.

It’s certainly light on content, light on songs, and rarely feels great to play from a video game standpoint. Yes, you can get a little workout in, but it would be nice if the Switch would accurately track movement more consistently. I think Fitness Boxing has the opposite intended effect after you whiff 3 or 4 hooks or uppercuts due to poor motion sensitivity, which in turn leads to some dejected, frustrating moments. As it stands, I wouldn’t recommend Fitness Boxing to Switch owners, at least not without some deep discounts involved.

Given that we’re talking about a budget casual title and not some expensive extravaganza, this is probably all you should expect out of Instant Tennis — which is why I started this review off with that exact admonishment. There’s not a lot here, but what is here will provide you with a pleasantly decent experience.

I’m fully aware that my perception of Energy Cycle Edge is skewed by the fact I’m terrible at it. But at the same time, because it’s so lacking in variety and so intimidating right off the back, I suspect my experience with the game might be the most common one. If you’re really into puzzles that push your brain, then by all means check this out, but otherwise, you’ll probably want to avoid Energy Cycle Edge.

If you thought it would be hard to screw up a port of Out Run then you’re right! Everything turned out just like you’d hope and it’s a great addition to retro games on the Switch.

If you like challenging word searches, this game certainly has them in spades. But as someone who deliberately left these puzzles until last when playing Word Puzzles on the Switch, I can’t say that I loved them any more this time around.

If my biggest complaint about a game is that I desperately want a sequel, that should be a sign that it’s doing something right. I don’t know whether one of those will come, but even if it does, I’m still glad that Donut County’s release on new platforms means that I — and, I hope, many other people — will get to chance to either experience it again, or experience it for the first time. Regardless of whether camp you fall in, it’s fun enough that it won’t disappoint.

Even with its flaws, Wordhunters is pretty fun. Less fun, of course, if you aren’t the kind of person who plays vocabulary and spelling games for fun, but if you live for a good game of Scrabble (and, better still, if you have a large group of like-minded friends), then Wordhunters will be a perfect addition to your game library.

The level designs are extremely varied and pretty smart, with fun puzzles that feel unique and make good use of the environments in each world. The grappling mechanic gets a lot of use, but in a way that feels fresh throughout the game.

If you do pine for the days where Battletoads and its ilk were kings, I Am The Hero will scratch that particular itch. If, however, you’re already not predisposed towards the genre, I can’t imagine there’s anything here that would change your mind.

Your enjoyment of Call of Cthulhu will depend entirely on what you’re expecting. If you want to be scared, look elsewhere, because this game will just come off as boring. If, however, you want a decent mystery, and don’t mind sitting through a few dumb attempts at stealth and scares, then this might just be up your alley.

If you’re anything like me, Word Sudoku is a dangerous time sink. But, at the same time, it also means that it’ll provide you with hours and hours of fun — which is really the point of these kinds of games, isn’t it?

Just about the only reason not to get Ticket to Ride on PS4 is if you’ve played it to death elsewhere at a much cheaper price — which, to be fair, is probably a lot of people. Still, if you’re looking for a way to experience a classic board game on your PS4, Ticket to Ride offers exactly that.

Atari Flashback Classics is a decent release. Despite some small issues, it is a great way to experience the early days of video gaming. Some games may not appeal to you, while others will bring back great memories. I would have liked better emulation in some areas, and more licensed games but what we get for the price isn’t too bad at all. If you’re a fan of classic Atari, or just want to see where gaming basically began, they you should definitely check this collection out. It’s certainly not the best it could have been, but definitely not the worst classic game collection available. As a huge Atari fan, I would say it’s worth your time.

State of Mind is smart enough to borrow heavily from all kinds of other, better media, but nowhere near good enough to come close to putting a fresh spin on those ideas. You’d be better served taking the dozen hours this game expects of you, and putting them into some combination of Blade Runner, Heart of Darkness, The Matrix, and Deus Ex.

The overall experience is just not there. If you want to guess words or answer trivia questions, it’s fine — but it never aspires to be more than simply “fine.” Given how easy it should be to make these games fun, just being fine doesn’t do the trick.

Admittedly, the good-natured dialogue isn’t enough to lift Revenant Dogma out of the realm of your standard RPG — not when such hefty portions of it are devoted to telling instead of showing. But that’s Kemco for you: RPGs that do little things here and there very well, but that, on the whole, don’t do anything spectacular.