Slain lathers on the gore with gusto, and everything is covered in a heavy layer of blood and guts. On top of that, it's got a very loud soundtrack that seems like it was tailor-made to score blood splatters and exploding bodies. That's not enough to make the game worth playing, though. Slain undoubtedly gets points for having a clear vision of what it wants to be, but all that is negated by the fact that it doesn't bridge the gap between its ambition and its execution.

Double Dragon IV is fun for a limited time. while it captures the look and feel of the classic games, it tends to get a bit stale and starts to grind on your nerves. Its awkward platforming and imperfect controls hinder the overall experience, while the lack of online play hurts as this game would be perfect for some drop in / drop out action! Overall, I still liked the entire package and can ignore its minor issues long enough to have a great time. New players may find it boring, while fans of the classic games will feel right at home. Pick this up if you want to try out what beat-em ups were like in the '80s!

Toby: The Secret Mine is a somber experience executed using a visually stunning setting. Most of the puzzles are an experience in exploration and intelligence. Unfortunately, the technical issues keep it from being the masterpiece it could be. A truly great game is hidden underneath all the frustrating problems.

If you're looking for a futuristic racer that'll get your pulse pounding, Air Race Speed will do the trick. The vehicles are sleek little spaceships that extremely handle well, the courses are challenging without being impossible, and the whole time trial/star rating thing means that, particularly on the Vita, it lends itself perfectly to replayability. In isolation, each of these things would be great; taken together, they make for a genuinely fun game.

The story is exciting and fun, plus the characters are very memorable. Dragon Quest VIII is a must-have for JRPG fans and should earn a permanent place on your HOME screen.

I really don’t have any gripes with Resident Evil 7. The story hooked me, it’s beautiful to look at, and the gameplay is new and refreshing with sprinkles of homage to franchise signatures… whats not to like?

It takes a unique concept — you're a spider, trying to catch various insects — and turns it into a whole game, complete with a mysterious story, cryptic clues, and high score leaderboards. It may not sound like much on paper, but in practice it seems like the most natural thing in the world.

Basically, Space Overlords consists of a game with a somewhat neat tutorial level, and barely anything else of note. If you ever find yourself wondering what you missed by not playing this game, just stare at a wall until the feeling goes away, since that's a pretty good approximation of what you'd be doing with it, anyway.

What makes KH 2.8HD enjoyable more than most would expect is how it properly comes full circle with the story. Playing 1.5 and 2.5 leaves many questions that don't get answered until KH3D. This may come as a bit of a shock considering KH3D was a 3DS exclusive prior. Because of that, some fans haven't fully experienced what's out there for Sora and Riku's journey leading up to KH3. As a fan, this was a great way to start the New Year. As a gamer, watching a series like Kingdom Hearts evolve into what's included in this release is what we could hope for in other franchises.

On the whole, though, I have to think that what you see with Volgarr the Viking is exactly what you get — and if you're the type who looks at ultra-hard platformers and sees something you like, then you'll really like what you get here.

Dex is so bad in so many ways, everything it does encapsulates all that it does wrong. That's kind of the way it is for bad games, and when a game is as bad as Dex, it shouldn't be a surprise when everything about it is awful.

This is a game from the '80s, for the '80s and should be enjoyed as such.

Really, that's the overarching theme of Gravity Rush 2: it takes what made the first game intriguing, it builds on the proof of concept that was Gravity Rush Remastered, and it shows what Kat and co. are really capable of doing. It may start out a little slowly, but once it hits its stride, it quickly becomes apparent that the sky's both the literal and figurative limit as to what this game can accomplish.

The best way to enjoy this collection is with low expectations. Expect to play the originals, just a little prettier. I say this because, even with the updated textures and character models.

Boom Ball 2 was an enjoyable experience despite its technical flaws, with an upbeat soundtrack and vibrant color palate. I enjoyed getting up off the couch and playing a game with my wife late at night, but as for the actual quality of the product I was not astounded. At $9.99 you might get a few hours of enjoyment if you play multiple times and try to beat your own high scores, but if you are looking for something to play through once and move on from I would recommend waiting until it hits a summer sale and drops down below $5.

Still, despite the flaws, Final Fantasy XV is worth checking out. You can easily get lost in the open world and side quest portion of the game, which you’ll gain access to pretty early. There’s a lot of stuff to fight, the combat system is fun, and the game looks pretty amazing for the most part. And despite the last quarter of the game being lackluster, you’re not locked out of the side content or open world areas, so if you need a break from that stuff you can easily put the story on pause and move on to something else for a bit. Is Final Fantasy XV my favorite in the series? Not hardly. But it’s a much better game than I expected it would be, and certainly something I’ll play again in the future.

As I said earlier, this game wants you to feel uneasy the whole way through, and it’s hard to think of a better way to do that than not telling you what you’re doing. It means that their game isn’t for everyone — but I suspect that if it’s for you, you’re going to love (and fear) every second of it.

The Keeper of the 4 Elements doesn't add in anything new, nor does it throw in some crazy twist. It just gives you a map, a variety of enemies moving along set pathways, and towers of varying abilities. This isn't a game looking to reinvent the wheel.

I still sank hours upon hours into Lara Croft GO, seeking out hidden treasures and trying to solve its very clever puzzles, and I have no hesitation in saying that if you have a Vita, you should pick it up, too.

If you are a fan of the point and click style games, or someone with no familiarity with the genre I definitely recommend picking up The Little Acre. It has a great short story element and intuitive, precise gameplay. The few puzzles to be had are easy enough to figure out without getting frustrated, but still make you think enough to keep you engaged.

It's not a complex game, by any means. But it doesn't need to be, either. Stranded aims to be a simple little runner/platformer, and it succeeds at that beyond any shadow of a doubt.

I was genuinely surprised as to how long I played Bridge Constructor. At first I thought it was a cheap simulator, but after hours of play, I was actually having fun.

There's enough built into these early episodes of A New Frontier to keep you coming back for more, and hopefully we won't have to wait too long to see how things pan out for Javier and crew.

These two episodes start off strong, the new cast additions seem solid, and I'm excited to see where this entry takes Clementine.

To the game's credit, it retained one of the things that set Long Song apart: the combat. True, thee's a lot less flying involved, but much like the games before it, Hollow Realization is good at making fighting enemies nice and satisfying...It's just too bad that the same can't be said for anything else here. The first two games in the Sword Art Online franchise showed promise and then delivered, respectively. It's a shame that it's hard to view Hollow Realization as anything but a giant step backwards.

On the plus side of the ledger, it has a lot of great ideas and a pretty decent sense of humour. Those positives, however, are counterbalanced with a hideous colour scheme and a feeling of repetition that creeps in unfortunately quickly.

Best of all, though, is the one trait it didn't bring over from mobile games: there's no paying to win here. It would've been the easiest thing in the world for SPL to implement paid add-ons in all kinds of ways, but they didn't, and for that, they should be commended.

Obviously, I can't say that any of Tokyo Twilight Ghost Hunters Daybreak: Special Gigs! did much more for me this time around than it did the first time. But, as I said up top, the opposite is true, too: if you liked the first one, then get this one too, because they're basically functionally identical.