Hotel Barcellona has a plethora of interesting concepts, but the majority of them are executed so poorly it almost ruins even the merits of the ideas. Simply, the game just isn’t enjoyable outside of some dialogue.

From diplomacy to war, there are far better games to occupy your time in this genre even if some are getting on in age.

Access Denied is a rather forgettable puzzle game that doesn’t do enough with its mechanics to justify a recommendation. While there are scant moments of brilliance, there isn’t much here to excite even the biggest puzzle fans.

At its heart, Megaton Rainfall is a solid superhero score-chaser that understands the freedom of flight, and empowers the player with a myriad of interesting abilities. Random difficulty spikes and a painfully generic design do hold this game back from being the best that the genre has to offer, though. On top of that, Megaton Rainfall, specifically on Switch, falls victim to a series of unacceptable technical issues which both mitigate Megaton Rainfall’s strengths, and aggravate its weaknesses. In its current state, it is impossible for me to recommend this game.

Angry Birds Star Wars is a shameless 50 dollar repackaging of a 99 cent iPhone game. There’s little to nothing added in the console release.

Drive Girls is a hack and slash slog where you quite literally drive girls who transform into cars to fight evil bugs. It is every bit the stupid, ridiculous, freaky fun game that it sounds like, and has some guilty pleasure elements that can endear it to players even while they recognize it is a total wreck. Battles are unique, but ultimately boring, and a bad story and lackluster look makes Drive Girls a mostly forgettable mess.

Cloudpunk started off unique and interesting; you’re new to its world and are exploring it alongside the main character, Rania. Eventually, you’ll realize it’s only a cyberpunk delivery simulator with cringey voice acting and an even worse script. By that point, the game loses any redeemable qualities and becomes a burden to play. Just like the main character, and the mechanics, the game has little to no substance to offer.

Blair Witch fails to impress at every turn. The story is interesting but unfulfilling, the environment is dull, and the creatures are boring. Worst of all, everything you do is very repetitive. I love horror games but the only thing scary about Blair Witch is how boring it is.

If you want to kill an hour with a serviceable mystery game, Doctor Dolittle could be up your alley. While it does serve up a nice pixel art style and an admittedly charming premise, it botches the execution with its terrible translation and simplistic logic.

Tomba! 2: The Evil Swine Return Special Edition is an absolute mess. It changes and swaps around things like menus and the soundtrack for seemingly no reason, removes options from the original game, and generally makes everything at least slightly worse. This is a phenomenal game, one of my absolute favorites, and it deserved so much better than less than the bare minimum.

My First Pet Stuff adds basically a new critter, some hair and clothes items, and items that require Cats and Dogs. It is DLC for DLC and feels like this all could have been part of that expansion instead of its own stand alone product. I am disappointed in the lack of items, the reskins of the critters, but most importantly how they thought doing a pack that requires another expansion was a good idea.

Everybody 1-2-Switch! is just a very difficult game to enjoy. Most of the minigames are boring, and you have little say over how or if you can even engage with them. The game would be inoffensive if you had access to all minigames from the get go, and needing to unlock all of them individually is a baffling decision when combined with the random selection and weird preference towards UFO and Squats.

SaGa Frontier Remastered is a game for die hard fans of the original only. Veterans will appreciate the quality of life features along with the addition of Fuse, but everyone else will be put off by the sheer amount of grinding, barebones plot and characters, and tedious leveling system.

When you get right down to it, A Valley Without Wind 2 is just a bad game. I can’t think of anybody who I’d recommend play this title. The heavy use of randomization means that all the character is sucked out of the game, while the awful controls leave this a title devoid of any fun. Pass on this title, and go play AI War instead; you’ll be glad you did.

While Vroom in the Night Sky isn’t a spectacular game, there’s no denying that I had some fun with it for the short-lived time I spent with the title. I just wish it could be more over-the-top with its presentation rather than dull and unoriginal for most of the ride.

Syberia was a series built around amazing puzzles and unique storytelling. Syberia 3 was an opportunity to bring all of that to a new generation. Unfortunately, it has remained mired in the pixel-hunting past, riddled with bugs, obtuse controls, and an uninspired storyline coupled with head-scratching voice work. I wanted to enjoy Syberia 3, but too many issues may leave this series stuck in the frozen snow.

In concept, Bird Game + seems like a pleasant spin on the traditional on-rails genre. In execution, Bird Game +misses the mark in nearly every way from its surprising lack of mechanical polish to its shallow design. While its aesthetic and genuinely enjoyable boss fights are undeniable highlights, they’re nowhere near potent enough to outweigh the game’s fundamental issues.

Nothing in Varlet’s gameplay or narrative is outright terrible, with even the worst aspects being non-intrusive. Despite this, repetition is what makes the whole package less than the sum of its mediocre parts. My heart sank realizing how its promising foundation within the first few hours is all the game has to offer. Worst of all, as someone often moved by FuRyu’s flawed, but heartfelt games, Varlet commits the biggest sin of all. It made me feel next to nothing.

There are a decent amount of weapons, enemy types, and environments, but those are cold comforts in the face of frustrating issues like awkward weapon management, unpolished platforming, wonky enemy AI, and tedious combat encounters. A good first attempt, but the game suffers from poor design all around.

There just isn’t a reason to play Carrion. There is little narrative, repetitive combat, limited puzzles, and almost zero horror elements. The atmosphere is okay and it reminds me of Alien but that’s about as far as it goes with horror. Just leave this monster stuck in the vent.

The Inquisitor fumbles what could have been the premiere mystery game of 2024. Despite the strong setting and cast, the mystery rapidly unravels into nothing but noise, and the gameplay is bereft of difficulty. The never-ending stream of bugs means that whatever joy you can find in the game will most certainly be derailed.

Loop8: Summer of Gods aspires to capture the human experience through a multitude of ambitious subsystems. Unfortunately, virtually none of these ideas make a meaningful impact on the game. The end result is a shallow, disjointed, and undeveloped experience. Rather than reflecting the nuances of our everyday lives, Loop8 most closely resembles the lives of aquarium fish.

Bugs, glitches, game freezes, and other technical issues mar what would have otherwise been a passable, if unsurprising and uninspired Batman game.

An FMV interactive thriller that’s rather light on the “interactive” element. Choices are sparse and do little to promote player agency but some solid production and a stylish, campy aesthetic save the experience.

New Tales from the Borderlands is confusing, messy, and accomplishes nothing over the course of 10 hours. The game meanders from incident to incident hoping you’ll laugh at a constant barrage of bad jokes, and lacks any heart.

BONELAB is an incredibly interesting piece of tech with a terrible shooter holding it back. The physics barely work, the mechanics are cumbersome, and the puzzles are unintuitive and frustrating. There are a few moments where the combat can shine, but that’s not enough to make the game worth it.

Gun Jam fails to capitalize on a novel idea through its unpolished and at odds mechanics. There’s not much content here and what is there isn’t particularly fun.

I was a fan of the first Swords & Soldiers’ fiery and rambunctious Viking hordes and their quest for grandeur and grilled meats, and I had high hopes for the sequel, but Swords & Soldier II wound up just being a dusty old lamp with no magic to speak of.

The Fabled Woods collects all the necessary ingredients for a solid, meditative casual adventure, but its awkward execution leaves its narrative beats without any real weight.

Third-world politics have fundamentally changed in the 21st century, yet the world of Tropico has been left behind.

Zeroptian Invasion wants to ape the style of Space Invaders and the vertical shoot-em-ups of the 80s but fails miserably. While it does have a nice presentation style, the fact that its main gameplay loop struggles with you at every possible moment means that this game unfortunately can’t hold a candle to the genre greats.

Corpse Party: Book of Shadows is definitely not for everyone. People who enjoy a heavy dose of Japanese in their horror stories and who don’t mind that they are playing a video game that doesn’t have much game in it will be able to enjoy Corpse Party: Book of Shadows. As for me I found the storyline to be entirely too juvenile and non-sensible.

SNK Gals’ Fighters is a reminder of why fighting games didn’t really work on portable consoles back in the day. While the additions to this port are nice and the game looks good, the game itself feels unresponsive and the controls are too complex for its own good.

Trine 3 is an incomplete mess that feels like the game’s creators just ran out of time (despite four months in Steam Early Access). The graphics, art style, and landscapes are stunning, but aren’t enough to make Trine 3 a game worth your time.

Aragami 2 is so ridiculously easy that you can breathe in its general direction and you’ve exploited some gameplay mechanic. It’s great for those who like speedrunning, or those who might not have a lot of time in their day, but if you’re hoping for the slow and methodical stealth gameplay of Aragami 1 then you won’t find it in the sequel. Just like most developers (eyeing you Ubisoft over Splinter Cell) it seems working gameplay formulas mean bugger all.

At the end of the day, I ask myself these questions about Quantum Error given the many genres it is trying to tackle. As a shooter game, is it fun? No. As a horror game, is it scary? Nope. As a firefighter simulator, is it cool? Sometimes I guess. Would I recommend this title as a full priced 60 dollar game? Never. TeamKill Media has done a commendable job being only a team of 4 to come up with something this massive and ambitious. However, this is another sad case of biting off more than you could chew. This might be up your alley if you’re into janky, B-movie messes.

Dying Reborn is an escape room game with some creepy elements to it. The story has an interesting premise, but quickly becomes uninteresting and confusing. Some puzzles feel rewarding, while far too many feel obscure and annoying.

A mediocre, meandering mystery game hiding under the mask of something greater. While it has a competent story to tell, it lacks the means to tell it in an engaging manner.

Spirit of the North may look beautiful, sound beautiful, but is a confusing and boring mess. It tries too hard to be artsy while disregarding the importance of fun gameplay and an interesting story. During their short playtime, players are required to interpret the weak narrative and their overall purpose in the game. The only replayability comes from completing the collect-a-thon. However, that provides zero satisfaction to the player and has a hard time trying to stay relevant to the gameplay and story at large.

The Sims 4 Horse Ranch is unfortunately a wonderful concept rendered almost unplayable due to bugs, and both my Sim and animals getting stuck. The CAS clothing items and Build Mode pieces are fantastic and add a lot to the game, especially if building a ranch or country theme is your jam. Bonding with your horse and the interactions between both your Sim and the animals is heartwarming, and riding is loads of fun. I’d have liked to see more with the Equestrian Center and competitions, not being able to go inside is kind of a bummer and a waste of space. As much as I’d have loved to explore all that Horse Ranch has to offer, I just can’t play it in its current state. I’d love to adjust my review at a later date if things improve.

This skater not only fails by today’s standards, it wouldn’t even be passable during Tony’s heyday. Lousy controls, bland visuals, and an abundance of bugs make Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 5 a broken mess.

Shiness: The Lightning Kingdom is the product of a small team trying to do too much and, ultimately, falling flat. It pains me to say it, because I saw the potential in Shiness way back when it was a fledgling Kickstarter upstart, but this is one of the worst gaming experiences I’ve had in a long time and I cannot recommend it to anyone that likes fun.

NBA 2K22 is less a video game and more an advertisement for the sport. The controls are obtuse and unresponsive, slowdown is constant, the story is bland, and it’s simply not fun to play.

Whipseey and the Lost Atlas shows promise with its cute art style and nice soundtrack, but without longer levels or collectibles to encourage replay value, the minor annoyances that drag this game down are all the more apparent. If you have a few bucks to blow, you can try it out, but otherwise just stay away.

If a quick and dirty deathmatch is something that appeals to you, go for it, but be warned. Soldier of Fortune: Payback is very shallow and at best is a budget game, and there are far more compelling shooters out there.

It fails as a 2D sidescroller, it fails as a 3D platformer, and on a system that has no short supply of absolutely amazing examples of both of those genres, Sonic Lost World is absolutely inexcusable.

The Pizza Delivery Boy Who Saved the World aims to be a cheesy but endearing visual novel, but with a very linear story and a host of other problems, it unfortunately needs some more time in the oven to get baked properly.

Someday, when a better title takes its place, Romance Dawn will have a respectful position for where it all began. But for now, this is just a dud of a game in the box of a collectible import.

If the value of the game didn’t suffer enough from the lifeless gameplay, the painful dialog and storyline, and the cumbersome controls, the game also suffers from some fairly significant bugs.

I'm going to put this fairly simple: this game is really boring.

At no point in your life should you ever play Monster 4X4 World Circuit. Even if there's money on the table, you'll come up a loser.

The controls were raw at best, and infuriating at worst. The graphics are workable, but not stunning. The game play was repetitive and drab.

Try the demo, and if you like it, support them because I think they tried but just didn’t quite execute. Football fans can empathize with that.

Either way I suggest steering clear of this title even if you are looking for a resurrection of some nostalgic dodgeball gaming.

Sluggish would not even begin to describe the controls. Moving Alex around is like driving a ten ton dump truck through wet cement in a blizzard.

A game that does well on visual and audio presentation and utterly fails in execution. With the worst set of controls I have ever encountered in a video game and some of the weakest A.I. I have ever seen in a squad shooter.

SwapQuest is a mix of puzzle and RPG gaming that fails to provide a fun experience with either.

Redfall resembles the vampires it's based on. It lacks identity, and sucks the life out of you. Every time I see a spark of potential, it's stomped out by bugs, braindead AI, and an empty world not worth exploring. I wish Arkane well in their next endeavor, because they need to let this one die.

Utawarerumono: Mask of Deception is a text based adventure that masquerades as a tactical RPG. There are hours upon hours of low-grade, simple cutscenes with countless lines of text that you’ll be reading instead of playing a video game. There are elements of this title that shine through the darkness of boredom, but there are few who can stomach the ride finding them.

Old Gods Rising is an unfortunate mess. While it has a story that immediately hooks the player, a world that’s begging to be explored and understood, and boasts fantastic environmental sound design, the current state of the game is unplayable. The numerous bugs and glitches restrict this game from being a great title. Until those bugs are patched out, you’re better off spending your money elsewhere.

Homefront: The Revolution is a reboot of a mostly acceptable game. A reboot that brings about nauseating visuals, lackluster combat, and a dull narrative. An impressive customization feature is far from enough to save this sad installment.

Safety First wants to be a strange puzzle game (emphasis on strange), and while it has an inkling of innovation here and there, the game is tarnished by poor graphics, tame humor, and terribly broken controls.

Hindsight 20/20: Wrath of Raakshasa tries to convince you that your choices matter and that you should feel bad about some choices and good about others, but they don't matter because you don’t connect with the characters or the world they inhabit. Your choices change outcomes, but many of them feel unnatural or contrived, and most are signposted making it feel like the game is trying to tell you that choices matter rather than letting you experience the impact. Tack on an awful presentation and bland combat and you have the recipe for a game that ultimately doesn’t matter.

Flint: Treasure of Oblivion feels like an incomplete game with poor storytelling and little to do. At about 10 hours to complete it’s certainly not worth the $25 asking price. If you’re looking for real-time exploration and turn-based combat, look elsewhere. Games like Divinity Original Sin 2 or Baldur’s Gate do everything Flint wants to do but exceedingly better. If Fantasy isn’t your jam, check out XCOM.

Saint Seiya Soldier’s Soul is a quaint fighting game that has its small playability value robbed by a unique fatal flaw in the restart option that drags the action and frustrates the player.

It’s hard to recommend The Delusions of Von Sottendorff and his Square Mind. On one hand, it has a pretty nice room switching mechanic, and if it used a pure puzzle gameplay system, it would be a great title. However, the inclusion of action elements makes the game frustratingly difficult, and mixed with poor presentation, becomes a disappointing mess.

While CounterSpy on consoles is a delight, the iOS version is a near unplayable mess that should be avoided at all costs.

The Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth series has always been a potential-filled experience that ultimately disappoints, but the 3rd installment in the series passes right over the endearing and interesting elements of the game’s cut and paste formula for the most boring.

Front Page Sports Football belongs in the obituaries on page 2. This game is a hard to navigate, depthless nightmare that will leave you questioning your actual worth in the scope of human reality.

UnderDread is a Slender Man game disguised as an 18th century horror game, but there are no Slender Man appearances and it isn’t scary. If you dig far enough down, it has a redeeming quality or two, but at the end of the day it’s an unpolished game with a weak story that doesn’t do much more than waste your time.

Between fumbling through the menus, mashing your way to a choppy and exceedingly easy victory, and clicking through meandering dialogue scenes that hold no weight, you’ll find yourself too bored to actually collect all the parts you want to make your perfect Gundam. If you’re itching to fight big robots, play Gundam Versus instead. Or, go punch that actual Gundam in Japan (don’t do that).

There's really no redeeming quality for the teams behind CrossfireX to look at and say, "We can build off of that". It's a bland shooter that doesn't do anything special, and now that I'm done reviewing it I have no plans to ever touch it again. Maybe if they drop another campaign piece I'll try it, but if I'm Remedy I'd get as far away from this one as possible.

Cartoon Network: Battle Crashers could have been the crossover that fans have been waiting for. However, with the game including nothing that makes any of the series represented great, it ends up as another title in the pile of countless generic licensed games.

Overall, Assassin’s Creed Liberation looks and feels like a cheap knock-off of the series, and almost every aspect feels like a dumbed-down version of what players have come to expect from the series.

Eden Rising: Supremacy has an interesting premise, but it absolutely fumbles its execution. It combines awkward combat with a mediocre tower defense game and a bland open world that never feel connected. Add to that poor optimization and shoddy network stability, and Eden Rising squanders its unique free-to-play model and what sounded like an interesting multiplayer time sink.

Lack of new-age help features and visuals cues leads you to banging your head against a wall. Which coincidentally, sounds more fun than playing A-Men 2.

Weapon Shop de Omasse is an interesting idea that doesn’t go anywhere — a humorless, flat, and repetitive package that squanders its unique concept in almost every respect.

House Flipper is emblematic of why every game doesn’t need to be on Switch. Its nauseating performance, terrible controls, and laggy menus combine to make an overall awful experience. The game itself, while relaxing at times, seems to want to waste your time in any way it possibly can.

Funk of the Titans is a game with its heart in the right place, but repetitively boring gameplay and QTE’s keep the charm from winning out in the end.

Zombeer is, in all honestly, a cute idea stiffly marinated in Leisure Suit Larry sensibilities, Duke Nukem- like execution, and Stubs the Zombie inspirations. However, this title succeeds almost only in resurrecting those title’s shortcomings while piling on some of its own.

Dynasty Warriors 8: Empires fails to make the leap to portability, as it’s marred at every step by technical limitations and boring metagames. Lacking any of the endearing qualities of other Warriors titles, it’s hard to recommend it even to the most diehard musou enthusiast.

Alien Rage is as bad as you expect, and something that all video game lovers should keep their hard earned dollars away from.

I stared deep into the eyes of the deer, waiting for it to speak. There was no grass, no trees; just a white void surrounding me and her heavenly grace as she judged me and my actions. But she did not speak. She did not even blink. As the silence dragged on, I grew more desperate, bargaining with her to just make sense of this, please! What should I be feeling? What should I be believing!? Deer God, what lesson do I need to learn? She screamed, for she did not know. I screamed, for I did not know. Perhaps that was the lesson to learn, that there is nothing to know. Don’t buy this game.

Bon Appétit is one part rhythm game, one part cooking, and endless amounts of grimy sexuality. The more time you spend with it, the more likely it is you’ll come away feeling dirty and depressed. If you want to both enjoy a game and look at boobs, there are plenty of better titles out there.

Dollar Dash is a briefly enjoyable, but uninspired game. It has its moments for those playing amongst friends, and if they can overlook minor details like “game design,” but is there are better ways to spend your money. With a $10 price tag, you’d do well to dash away and use your dollars elsewhere.

I have reviewed some bad games, but this is even bad even for movie tie-in games. This is bad on the level of Aquaman bad.

The Kinect idea is a solid one, but the problem is that with a poor implementation and no customization (save the underused controller itself), you're looking at a potentially unplayable game.

The development team behind this one really needs to look back at why the Animaniacs were funny, and reconsider their design for this game.

Even a game with a bad story can be salvageable if the gameplay is fun. Unfortunately, this isn’t the case.

Pangeon is simply a bad attempt at trying to capture the nostalgic feel of a classic dungeon crawler. With its lack of attention to detail, gameplay continuity to give confidence to the player, and a design that feels incomplete and uninspired, it struggled to keep my attention.

A portable version of this game seems unnecessary, and overall the game is not worth even a moment’s time even from the most dedicated a hack-and-slash player.

Honestly, the nicest thing I can say about Heavy Fire: Red Shadow is that it’s over in two hours. It is at least technically playable with some interesting mechanics. But even if you are specifically looking for a wave-based, arcade-style turret game, I’d still stay away. This game offers little of value and is fun only if I stretch that word beyond its absolute limit.

Don't Stop, GirlyPop! has a fun premise and charm with great feeling movement and guns that are fun to shoot, but it's ultimately inept and even its best parts are clumsy.

Getting back on track, I really can't recommend Spider-Man Edge of Time on the DS to anyone. The gameplay is extremely basic, the story is neutered, the graphics are a dull mess, the map system is broken, and the game's level design can't hold a candle to the games it is trying to emulate.

I was excited to try out Sacred 3 at first, since I had heard good things about the previous games. The more I played it, the more the cracks showed, and the more disappointment set in.

This game needs to go-go back to the drawing board.

Despite the split-second bliss derived from picking up an alien resource upgrade, Battle for the Sun possesses no redeemable qualities that make it worth a purchase, even at it’s paltry ten-dollar price tag.

Saddled by amateurish design, unskilled gunplay, and technical issues, Morphies Law fails as an online shooter. The game does have a great core concept and aesthetic, but it just falls short at every step. Not even its robust offline mode and customization system can prop up a shooter too flawed to receive even a feeble recommendation.