Painkiller: Hell & Damnation is what it is. So what is it? It’s a low-budget game that would have received the same poor marks at the dawn of this generation as it does at its dusk. The simplistic action can be fun, however, so play it at your own risk.

If you decide to give A-Men 2 a try, make sure you have plenty of patience. This is a VERY difficult game and you will probably be pulling out your hair as soon as you start playing.

Unplayable is the best word to describe this debacle.

City of Beats has a lot of genres combined into one, and it may have too much going on for itself. With the game literally stopping you from progressing the way that you want to, it's a little hindering. For the price, you may want to give it a shot. A shot. Like, just one. Don't worry if you lack rhythm, City of Beats does sometimes too.

Roving Rogue is okay, but I got bored after awhile. Once you learn how teleportation works, there’s not a lot of challenge, as any enemies introduced as the game progresses are easy to either defeat or avoid entirely. If it ever goes on sale in the eShop I’d say give it a shot, but if you’re looking for a challenge, you'll want to look elsewhere.

Werewolf is firing on all cylinders when it lets you take on a wave of enemies, turning them all into puddles of jam. You don't have to think too much about the gameplay, and that gradually becomes a good thing. If this came out 10 years ago, I'd be thinking about it more during end-of-the-year talks.

The battle system in Growlanser: Wayfarer of Time isn't really at fault here, it's the numbers game behind it that seems to be rigged in the computer's favor that makes playing this game a chore. The slow story pacing will also require a lot of patience from prospective gamers.

Yupitergrad is a well-made game that I simply didn’t enjoy very much. The suction-cup based line swinging works great and is a lot of fun on its own. But trying to get through difficult sections with any sort of precision can be very challenging. For the strong-willed and strong-stomached only.

Breach and Clear offers some turn based, strategy fun, but the game really lacks variety. The most fun I got out of the game was buying things from the marketplace and upgrading my squad, but even that gets old after a while. Decent, but not great.

Beyond: Two Souls is a beautiful and well-crafted interactive experience that is encumbered by some odd writing and questionable game-design decisions.

Gat out of Hell is not bad, but it's not great either. To put it simply, it's more Saints Row IV. If you go into it thinking its going to have all new gameplay with an all new story, you are going to be disappointed. It's fun but the overwhelming feel of deja vu may sour you a bit on it.

This sweet little comfort game is an adorably cozy little farming simulation. Difficult to learn at first, but easy to play as you continue on. Grow crops, sell them to the townspeople, make money, restore harmony to the island. And best of all, adopt cows and chickens! But unfortunate technical issues that cause the game to randomly lock, resulting in a repeated loss of progress, eventually took their toll. I'm hoping the game's issues are resolved so players can actually enjoy the charming experience at the core of Sugardew Island.

Another Fisherman’s Tale eventually tells a heartwarming story that many people will relate to, but whether or not they stick with it to the end is the big question. The narrative feels contorted to accommodate the gameplay, which itself stales rather quickly, and by the time it gets on track the game is over.

If you haven't played Until Dawn before, then sure, go ahead and pick this up. But for those who have played this before I see no reason to pay full price when it's pretty much the same game. While some of the updates to graphics are nice, there really isn't any thing new here that is worth the price of this remake.

Steep: Road to the Olympics adds a ton of new content that will surely please fans of the base game. However, for those who weren’t able to get on board with the game’s free roaming aesthetic, there is little new that will change their minds. While the new Olympic story campaign offers some much-appreciated structure, it is over quickly, and players are left with an avalanche of content and no map directing them where to go next.

Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness has some good ideas, but they don't jive with the messy camera, the short campaign, and the shallow combat. Fans of the series might be willing to put up with these shortcomings, but with games like Odin Sphere Leifthraser out there, it's hard to recommend it.

Moonshades drops you into its world and expects you to know what's going on, which is fine. Dungeon crawling is fun, combat can be as well. But Moonshades is being held back due to its controls and use of screen space, an unfortunate product of its mobile phone origins. Controls are confusing, and half the screen is taken up by spells and menu buttons. If you can work through the issues there is a fun dungeon crawler to play. Moonshades doesn't shine bright—it's more like a low glow from a campfire left unattended.

Even with good looking graphics and catchy retro-inspired tunes, Spectra is disappointingly shallow.

Sanctuary Saga strives for greatness, but just doesn’t quite get there. While there are a lot of good elements to Sanctuary Saga, they don’t feel like great or amazing ones. It feels like a SNES game from the early nineties in a lot of great ways, but also feels like it is trapped in that style, which is holding it back. I needed more variation in enemies, dungeons, and a bit more focus on story progression to fall in love with Sanctuary Saga. As it stands, I only have slight flirtatious feeling for the game.

Though technically something of a wreck, I still enjoyed I Saw Black Clouds’ narrative audacity. The choices the game makes aren’t necessarily good, but they are often bold. Even through the rough editing and sound issues, the game still delivers some surprises and suspense. Holler at the screen and throw popcorn with your buddies, and you just might enjoy this one.

Shoulders of Giants: Ultimate is not the roguelike that breaks the mold for those trying to get into the genre, and I can’t say that roguelike veterans would find its gameplay loop compelling either. It’s wide range of weaponry and abilities does create bursts of fun, but unfortunately it wears thin relatively quickly.

Young kids will have a lot of fun with Spiderwick Chronicles, especially if they liked the books or movie. It’s suitably attractive and has tried-and-true gameplay mechanics, but it ultimately amounts to a series of fetch-quests and shallow combat.

Dark Souls Remastered is a nice, shiny new edition of a game that I have never enjoyed. While I respect the game’s genre-creating precision gameplay and acknowledge it’s place in gaming history, I just don’t like this game, and can’t recommend it to new players. That said, it plays fine, and looks better than it ever has. Dark Souls fans already know who they are, and will enjoy this new edition immensely.

Evoland is a great concept but comes across as more of a “proof of concept” than an original adventure. There are some great ideas here, but too much time is spent paying tribute to its RPG predecessors than it does crafting an identity of its own. Shiro Games has a great concept here, now they need to build on it.

Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 has its moments. The events themselves can be fun and challenging—sometimes too challenging—but overall it misses the mark in a couple of areas. The Story Mode can get tedious and boring when you're wading through text more than playing the events, and the fact that there's no tournament mode is a bit puzzling. The game isn't bad by any means, but it feels like more could have been done to enhance the multiplayer experience and to just add some replayability.

While I eventually began having fun with Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, the game was a very difficult nut to crack. Rather than being open to the way I wanted to play it, Avatar pushed me to find the way it wanted to be played, and then kinda punished me for doing so. Frontiers of Pandora should feel free and flowing, but I've found a lot of the experience to be restrictive and near-punitive. Once I pushed through the game's many barriers to entry, I started having a good time, but don't expect to just jump in and have fun. Like Jake Sully, it's going to take a while to find your Avatar-legs.

Infinity Runner does provide a few moments of intense fun. Unfortunately, those moments are broken up too often with gameplay choices that really bring the game (and the fun) to a screeching halt.

If you’re looking for a portable Trials game, Urban Trial Freestyle isn’t a bad alternative. However, the track designs could have been a little better, and I’m appalled at the lack of multiplayer. A motocross game is a perfect example of a game to play with friends, but apparently the developers didn’t think so.