Poi, gripping with nostalgia, delivers standard 3D platforming in a adorable and relaxing way, putting nothing between you and the thrill of exploration, but this resolve to keep the game simple and to the point leaves it lacking in content. It's a fantastic way to unwind, though not much else. The exclusive content to the Explorer Edition adds little to the experience, and you're better off purchasing the title on Steam or another console, unless you want to pay the premium to have the option of mobility. A charming presentation coupled with dull interaction leaves this specific product mediocre.

Battalion 1944 is a WWII shooter that doesn't do much to set itself apart or feel very memorable. The gameplay is alright, but bad spawns and quick deaths can be frustrating. Graphical issues are noticeable and break immersion. Wartide drags on for too long.

As a The Walking Dead fan, a fan of puzzle games, RPG games and retro-style graphics, there is nothing I can say I enjoyed about this game.

Sifu Arenas gives players 45 new challenges to help them master their Kung Fu. However, the challenges felt more like a chore than something to achieve. This is definitely geared more towards achievement hunters and completionists and less towards those who want to actually get better as it doesn’t actually present that opportunity.

Test Drive Unlimited Solar Crown doesn’t break the mold of any other generic racing simulator, which isn’t inherently a bad thing. It definitely scratches the itch of purchasing cool cars, racing them, upgrading them, and customizing them. The backdrop of Hong Kong Island is beautiful, but the overall visual fidelity here is lackluster and disappointing, especially in 2024. The progression wipe and constant server issues along with other technical bugs are unacceptable though, so I suggest waiting for a sale or more patches to polish out the experience.

Oninaki has one foot in the grave while the other doing a pleasant tap dance. It has an interesting story held back by bland characters and filler, and its gameplay can feel great when you’re not getting pounded in the face and stunned to death. Unless you can find it on sale, I’d skip this one.

Danger Zone 2 attempts to bring back the crashing thrills of the Burnout franchise, but unfortunately falls prey to presentation issues and a lack of overall content. It’s still a fun time for the couple of hours you have with the game, but there are much better arcade racing titles from which to choose.

Cities XXL is a unique and innovative city builder that is among the best, but there is not enough new features or content for returning players to justify buying.

ANNO: Mutationem had a lot of promise, but ended up spread far too thin. Both the exploration and combat lack any sort of depth, the story is nonsensical, and the sprite work looks ugly in motion.

Gal Metal is a weird rhythm game that unfortunately doesn’t live up to the hype that its premise promises. It’s worth checking out if you want some metal in your Switch diet, but other than that, you can probably skip it.

Sisters Royale is a decently fine title for die-hard bullet hell fans (or those that yearn for the craziness of Castle of Shikigami), but some glaring issues and uninspired presentation makes this a quarrel from which you’ll want to step away.

While it’s a decently fun time for 5 bucks and easy to pick up and play, Mini Golf Resort is an unremarkable 3DS port of a game with generic design choices and some strange physics.

Pokémon Scarlet & Pokémon Violet: The Hidden Treasure of Area Zero Part 1 The Teal Mask offers nothing we haven’t seen before. Kitakami, despite the Japanese theming, feels exactly like Paldea just with different Pokémon. The story is uninteresting and has characters changing completely on a dime, and quite a lot of the included Pokémon already appear in the main game. There’s just not much going on here.

After a year of delays, the Switch version of Pocket Rumble unfortunately disappoints on multiple levels. While it has a distinct art style and some great multiplayer options, the overall lack of content and limited moveset hinder the game’s true potential.

Disney Infinity: Marvel Super Heroes 2.0 feels like a failed attempt at rushing a game out to cash in on a trending genre, that ultimately suffers from too little development time and polish.

The definitive edition of Dead Island Riptide is hardly an improvement. The gorgeous visuals may distract you from the tedious gameplay and odd bugs for a while, but it doesn’t last forever.

Scars Above is unfortunately bland, with dull combat and very few puzzles. It has hints at interesting ideas and ambitions, but couldn’t execute on those.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants in Manhattan’s charming visual style doesn’t make up for repetitive level design and combat that would leave even Master Splinter frustrated.

Gestalt: Steam & Cinder looks and plays the part of a competent action game. However, its heart lies more in its narrative. While I admire the ambition, Gestalt left me asking, both as a game and as a story, one simple question: “so what?”.

Drakengard 3 is a disastrous mix of high potential and very low execution.

The Sims 4 Outdoor Retreat has fun new items, a unique aspirations, and new activities. It is nice to bring your virtual people to the outdoors but fails to give longevity outside of a brief vacation.

Samurai Maiden would have been a fun and satisfying RPG if its several stark issues didn't hinder the experience so significantly.

For only $10, it gets you a couple of hours of playtime and you can soon return it to the dusty corners of your digital library. It’s an ok VR title on its own that most should consider buying if they’re new to the platform to ease into VR controls. Though the story is very bland and it feels more like a concept than a fully-fledged title, it’s the gameplay that keeps you playing just that bit longer before you release how repetitive those levels are.

With a sour stomach and a lot of disappointment, Wolfenstein: Cyberpilot delivers a gorgeous visual feast with more motion sickness than I’ve encountered in any VR game to date. Insult to injury, it’s also painfully short, smacking more of AAA tech demo than meaty Wolfenstein tie-in.

Nepenthe is half as good as its source inspiration, and while it’s still in need of much more improvement, it is an ambitious first effort. While it suffers from derivative gameplay and a shallow story, it does have a unique presentation and some fine music.

The game’s bland look and feel only serves to further highlight the abject shallowness of the entire experience.

Minecraft: Story Mode is left with a lot to prove in the coming episodes. “Assembly Required” doesn’t do much to convince players that any of its drama is genuine, or that any of its plotlines can adequately fill up what they’ve come to expect in a full episode of a Telltale series.

Flip Wars is a very simple, shallow party game. It’s not actively terrible, but it barely offers anything to do. It only costs $9.99, so if you think it looks really fun, it might not hurt to buy it. Someone else might like it more than I do. But personally, for that amount, I’d much rather have Shovel Knight: Specter of Torment, since that offers far greater enjoyment over a longer period than the few minutes I had with this game.