It might not get the balance right when it comes to deciding when and when not to teach players the rules in place, but for those willing to look past these frustrations and bear the brunt of a grueling introduction, BELOW‘s simplified stylings and anxious trek downward offer up a decent-enough spin on survival and roguelike exploration alike.

How We Soar is greater than the sum of its parts and is an incredible experience that should be played by all PlayStation VR owners. Its core formula can get old, but what’s here is executed quite well. More variety would have been nice, though, while some kind of sense of peril would have heightened the stakes. Fortunately, How We Soar excels as a game that allows you to both have fun and relax at the same time.

It might be a bit trite to say that being bad never felt so good, but indeed, the villainous escapades of Crow and company make for an incredibly fun platformer indeed. Led by a boastful and charming character and diving straight into a cute sense of humor with some gorgeous graphics, Nefarious then opens up further to reveal a terrific adventure that simultaneously features and pays ode to some classic ’90s action, while still throwing in its own twists and engaging story in order to craft a wicked little romp that makes being the megalomanic a delight.

The Pact provides a highly compelling, Bruce Wayne-focused episode that continues to push the momentum of this season forward at a fast pace. The lack of common Telltale features may be a bit off-putting to some fans, but those eager to see Gotham’s diverse cast of characters at their best will find plenty to enjoy with The Pact.

While it’s a game that says little — and in the end won’t stand out as immensely as some of the greats of both the rhythm and runner sub-genres — what NERVE lacks in unique identity, it makes up for with a campaign housing a difficulty curve that’s both well-balanced and creatively cunning.

If you can get past its more grind-y elements, Power Chord can still be a fun deckbuilding roguelike game thanks to its impressive blend of influence that makes great use of its “Battle of the Bands” setup. It’s something for every headbanger to check out, as well as fans of the genre who don’t minds banging their heads against walls as they gradually chip down each tough demon in their path. Not exactly worthy of a Platinum record, but it can still be an enjoyable listen.

When Full Metal Schoolgirl is at its best it's easy to see the game it could have been, with a good mix of enemies and behaviors making the rooms feel satisfyingly challenging. This can frequently go on for a couple of rooms at a time, but soon enough the enemy mix will lean towards unmanageable, packed with ground-based cyborgs, flying ones with guns, a turret or two or maybe missile-launching dog-bots and a couple spider-bots for good measure. Sure, the weapons make short work of each individual enemy, and if you could see everything all at once, the tools are there to avoid damage, but that's just not possible. Health goes down, batteries are used to replenish it but there's only so many, and the run is over. Dying isn't a problem, but losing a notable percentage of health from off-camera enemies, when you're at floor nineteen of a twenty-floor run and you used your only key to get there, and on defeat need to re-do the lower floors that were interesting when you were less powerful but now have the health, energy, special moves and experience to blow through just feels like busywork. A good run feels nicely satisfying, the combat can be great fun once you lock into its flow, and the variety of encounters means it's not too bad when there are twenty floors between one checkpoint and the next, but when a run feels bad due to elements you can't react to and the punishment is wasted time in areas you're done with, it becomes easy to find anything else to do.

Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge is a must-buy for anybody who skipped the initial release, or those still burned by a likely swift trade-in of the flawed original. It’s only forty bucks at launch and offers up a lot of fun gameplay that is back to feeling what it should feel like instead of a neutered version of it. This is the definitive version of Ninja Gaiden 3, and fits in nicely with the best versions of NG and NG II for scratching that action-platformer itch when you’re in the mood for some ninja-based killing sprees.

Though its stealth-based sniping gameplay can provide some exciting moments, Sniper Elite III is a decidedly mixed bag. Its abysmal narrative, outdated mission design, boring protagonist and weak non-campaign modes overshadow everything that it does well.

I found it enjoyable, but I also have an interest in old medical and mental illness treatment practices. Someone looking for action or a Resident Evil style horror experience should skip this, but those looking for a good story in a beautifully bleak environment to explore at a leisurely pace would likely find some enjoyment in The Town of Light.

Gravel offers fun racing with a variety of cars and environments. The Off-road Masters mode that includes the Gravel Channel storyline is a unique way to include a story that features boss battles with the one-one-one challenges. Otherwise the modes in Gravel are lacking and the visuals are severely hurting. There’s better car models in some mobile games, but at least the selection is enough to get past this and the game looks good in motion with the colors and the lighting. Unfortunately, while advertised as PS4 Pro Enhanced, HDR isn’t included even though Milestone’s latest Supercross game included HDR. What makes the negatives more forgiving is that Gravel retails for $49.99, rather than a full-priced game. It has its moments and its variety, but it can’t be compared to something like the DiRT series.

Turok is a great example of a type of game the FPS genre moved away from, and is actually better to play now than it was in its original version.

There’s a real push and pull between wanting to love the game and finding it too annoying at points to proceed. Fortunately, the pros outweigh the cons and the journey into a haunted school is still worth taking for horror lovers.

Double Dragon Gaiden: Rise of the Dragons blends experimental elements with traditional Double Dragon gameplay. The roguelite design and the changing level structures encourage the player to complete the game multiple times to unlock all the additional characters to create experiences that feel less repetitive. This is a novel idea that works well for a couple playthroughs, but it can’t save things from feeling redundant forever. It’s fun for a couple playthroughs and does well at recreating the classic beat ’em up gameplay. Unfortunately, it also showcases the limitations of the genre, and even with the innovation approach the developers used to make subsequent play sessions different, most players will likely get their fill long before unlocking all thirteen additional fighters.

There’s some might in these heroes, just not enough to keep things interesting.

Unfortunately for all the minor smiles and well-orchestrated music that accompanies one’s travels, The Longest Five Minutes feels mostly like a sterile assembly of classic JRPG’s least-appealing necessities. Its premise of losing one’s memory and the relation that has between past and present occurrences could have been an interesting twist on RPG mechanics to uncover, but it ends up being little more than a stale alternative to what is a rather unaltered series of common JRPG affairs. The Longest Five Minutes heralds some pleasantries and quirky moments of respite at points, but with a near-offensively easy combat system, brief dungeons and a lacking overworld to trudge through, competently made it may be, The Longest Five Minutes sadly ends taking up a much shorter breadth of your attention.

There are nice customization options and the game has some personality, but even still, these concepts don’t feel fully realized. That’s the main and final problem with The Showdown Effect: it tries hard to be something folks want, but it comes up short, and needed to try a little harder.

Controlling gravity is fun and the game’s charming art design is well worth noting, but Constant C never gives the player a sense of command over its design, leaving puzzles that rely more on careless experimentation than thought-provoking logic to solve.

Although it provides fun in small doses, the difficulty quickly ramps up in a way that requires patience to progress. Hardcore puzzle fans, however, should not pass it up for exactly that reason.

Crashday: Redline Edition is an excellent pickup for anyone who loves intense racing action. It combines core racing with car combat and it’s surprising how well everything meshes together. There’s a healthy number of modes available and everything controls well, with a surprising amount of precision with things like gunplay and missile usage — even when you’re speeding around the area. It isn’t a visual tour de force, but remains a good-looking game consistently and never slows down even if a ton of stuff is blowing up all around you.

The actual game portion is well done, and fun in small chunks, but becomes a bit too repetitive for its own good.

Forgive its flaws, though, and there’s a lengthy — albeit dialogue heavy — adventure worth its weight in nuts and bolts.

Crash Team Rumble builds out a fun and engaging skeleton for a Crash-inspired multiplayer game; it just doesn’t have enough meat on those bones to keep the experience engaging. This is one Bandicoot you may not want to unleash.

Starship Troopers: Extermination is a frustrating game. Not because of the challenge, but because it’s so close to being good only to crash into the ground in a heap of green blood and mandibles. The technical glitches, poor lighting and unrewarding progression system interfere with the moments that capture the feel of the action from the film. With some patches and expansion, this title could be fantastic. In its current state, players would be better off going back to Earth Defense Force or Helldivers II.

Unfortunately the considerable lack of polish, indecisively wonky aesthetic and utterly dismal implementation of random events both visually and structurally — of which can leave your six/seven/eight hour run feeling wasted for nothing — leaves Genesis Alpha One feeling like an early build with far too many a hole to plug. There are some pleasant joys and novel moments to be had amidst the mundane and the cumbersome, but in the end, Radiation Blue’s multi-genre spanning venture — ambitious its intentions may be — delivers both an underbaked and amateurishly constrained effort.

Virtual Toys has managed to develop a puzzle game with the ideal combination of ever-increasing difficulty, intriguing gameplay, and pickup-and-playability.

Some players may want to mainline Shenmue III in order to see all the story has it has to offer as quickly as possible. This is not advised. For one, there’s actually not very much new story information to glean during a playthrough. Secondly, doing so would make the more annoying aspects of the game all the more glaring. It’s much better to savor Shenmue III at a leisurely pace. There’s tons of enjoyment to be had simply taking in the scenery, wasting hours fulfilling weird requests for NPCs or even just fishing. It may not be perfect, but it is undoubtedly a Shenmue title. Even after all these years, there are no other games quite like it out there.

The story is dreadful and short with no personality, charm or consistent tone. The Wasteland is vast but feels empty with repetitive side activities and large sections of the map underutilized. There’s a lot of great ideas and ambition here, but the excellent combat never quite gels together with the game’s other elements. Rage 2 kicks off with a bang of explosions and personality but ends with a whimper.

With a few more tweaks in certain areas when it comes to the difficulty and improved farming controls, Atomicrops could easily be a terrific roguelike shooter. As is, though, it’s still enjoyable, with great action that easily keeps you wanting more, a lot of goods to hunt for and try out in order to come up with a good strategy, and eye-popping, vibrant visuals that make astounding use of pixel art. It may be a tricky crop to tackle, but there’s still a rewarding experience here that’s worth checking out.

Big Rumble Boxing: Creed Champions is a fantastic arcade-style boxing game that showcases a lot of fast action while still paying tribute to the long-running Rocky franchise. It’s lacking in terms of mode variety and it would be nice to have a more in-depth story mode that either recreated key parts of the lore or that allowed for alternate history versions of scenarios to play out. As it stands, the arcade ladder system offers up a tiny bit of story, but not enough to get invested into. Thankfully, the core gameplay is so fun that it keeps you hooked and having an unlocking system in place that rewards just playing the game instead of a pay-to-unlock setup is nice to see. It looks impressive as well, with crisp graphics and steady framerates allowing for the fast action to shine.

There have been a slew of movie franchises that have gone with cooperative multiplayer experience in recent years. Aliens: Fireteam Elite goes deeper and offers a lot for those that like grinding. The game just lacks a hook to keep players engaged as missions are long and redundant. The weapon unlocks and adding perks helps to keep things going, but the means of the game is separately leveling up each of the five classes across twelve long missions. Hardcore Aliens fans that liked the action-focused movies that differ from the original may find this right up their alley. The audio aspect could be amazing if there was a way to mute the comms narrative that ruins the atmosphere of the game. Ultimately, Aliens: Fireteam Elite is a functional cooperative third-person shooter that’s an improvement to Colonial Marines, but doesn’t supersede Isolation.

In spite of the preconceived notions and occasionally frustrating execution, Thief provides an intriguing and occasionally exciting foray into the shadows. It’s an experience that ranges from exceptional to entertaining — despite being as closeted as it is, and there’s enough to justify delving in if you can ignore a majority of its elements in favor of its superb stealth.

Kane & Lynch is more "Freedom Fighters" than "Hitman", so it should appeal to action junkies looking for their next fix. [Dec 2007, p.67]

A welcome return of Travis Touchdown. Amidst the enjoyable gameplay is great storytelling and dialogue set in imaginative game worlds. Fans of previous No More Heroes games and Suda51 games in general will find a lot to enjoy here. Going through the different game worlds watching the story unfold through an old-fashioned computer is highly entertaining and collecting the T-shirts from your favorite indie games gives treasure hunters something to occupy their time. More still, each different game level has enough variety to keep the repetitive combat from getting stale.

Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth2 provides many hours of gaming jokes, silly plot developments and strategic battles which adds up to a mostly lovable JRPG.

Unfortunately, the game comes up short in a few areas. The story is terrible and the way it forces players to unlock it through Memoria feels more to do with padding than anything else. NT doesn’t provide enough content to support the robust gameplay on offer and much of it is recycled from the more feature-rich PSP games. Dissidia Final Fantasy NT is a well-presented package with excellent gameplay, but doesn’t pack enough new in to support it.

Players are instead transported to a world where a unique, riveting story awaits them, with twists lurking around different corners and insightful commentary on a whole variety of topics. While the developer is able to achieve so much success with its story, it does fall short on the introduction of a core mechanic that stops the gameplay from becoming repetitive. But that’s not enough to stop players from reaching State of Mind’s climactic ending, though.

For $20, it's about the price of a graphic novel, which is exactly what it is. So if you can stomach the gore and overall obscurity, then this super niche PSP title may be worth a checking out.

Excelling with its simulation aspect and deep career mode, MXGP 3 is a solid motocross title in a market that is virtually non-existent. Back in the days of the original PlayStation, both 989 Sports (Sony) and EA had flagship motocross titles, but those days have sadly passed. For a smaller developer like Milestone to accomplish what they have with the game speaks wonders, but there is much room for growth. With the game featuring the FIM license, maybe it would be more appropriate to lock up the AMA license to have the official stadium tracks and drivers for this side of the pond. For having all the licenses and sponsors, the audience needs to be broadened.

Its interesting polygonal graphics spawn original PlayStation-era nostalgia, but its archaic shooting mechanics feel just as dated. The campy dialogue should provide players with a few smiles, but there simply isn’t enough of it.

SCHiM is a game that initially shows a lot of promise with a truly unique concept that'a realized through expert-level design that makes the world around you feel believable and dynamic. It's a blast to hop around and enjoy the lazy afternoon tunes as you experience a quaint, if rather unremarkable, silent narrative. In the end, however, the game fails to squeeze all the juice out of this fantastic concept, offering far too much filler content to pad the experience and not enough unique puzzles, engaging platforming challenges and environmental gimmicks to justify the amount of levels present. The optional challenges and collectibles will appeal to some who are able to make their own fun, but overall, SCHiM feels like a wonderful proof of concept that fails to achieve its true potential.

It’s not all bad for Hide and Seek, though, as it truly puts on an exciting, engrossing experience that The Mad Ones did before it. But for The Council to put itself back on course, it needs — and must — hammer out the technical issues holding back this unique episodic gaming title from flourishing.

In the end, Dungeonland is light on content and features, but that’s okay because it’s an absolute steal for $9.99. Players will get a hell of a little dungeon crawler that can provide hours and hours of entertainment, so long as they have friends to partake in the silliness.

’80s Overdrive comes to the Switch in top form and stands even taller on the hybrid console than it did on the 3DS three years ago. With games like the original arcade great Outrun and other modern games like Horizon Chase Turbo that it inspired, it would be easy to get lost in the shuffle, but it doesn’t. It stands out thanks to a bright visual style and a memorable soundtrack that makes use of some of the best ’80s-infused music you could ask for. It controls like a dream and even the original version’s touchscreen support is retained for menus to make things easier to navigate. It does fall a bit short with track creation, but is a must-buy overall. ’80s Overdrive is one of the best racing experiences on the Switch, period.

There’s some charm and striking art to admire on one’s travels, but other than the well-crafted pixel aesthetic, the other half-baked ideas on show in Resolutiion fall short on delivering a world you feel adamant is both realized and worth unraveling.

While complaints can be leveled at Sword of the Necromancer based on repetition, that doesn’t mean that it’s bad. In fact, it’s enjoyable and recommended. Sure, Supergiant Games’ Hades devours this title’s lunch in that it’s a superior action rogue-like with great story. Barring that, Grimorio of Games built a fun and interesting dungeon crawler that’s deeper than it appears at first glance. The tale behind the stabbing is interesting and heartfelt, drawing the player further into the depths of the dungeon, while the action is exciting. An expansion to add more level and boss variety would go a long way to making this required playing, but anyone interested in this type of game should give this Sword of the Necromancer a swing.

While the start of Into the Pit is unquestionably rocky, the follow-through is a blast, with fast action and serious pyrokinetics as monsters turn into blood splats decorating the walls. While the overall theme could have been dark and gloomy, everything lights up and the darkness becomes the backdrop for the neon-magical lightshow to illuminate. The variety of enemies and level types helps each run stay engaging, and while fifteen sets of levels plus the final area can feel like a bit much, there’s no need to try to blow through it all in a couple of days. Into the Pit is about action, after all, with only just enough story to get things moving. There’s a village in trouble and a ton of monsters to destroy by way of magical annihilation, and if it takes a bit to rescue everyone they’ll be fine waiting for a combat mage to do a run or two a day until the evil is finally dispelled.

Kirby’s Dream Buffet is an absolute tasty delight that shouldn’t be overlooked for anyone hoping to pick up a new fun multiplayer title that doesn’t have the pressure of more competitive titles or the fear of missing out on content.

Hot Lap Racing succeeds far more than it fails as a more serious racing game on the Switch. It's hurt a framerate-wise by the hardware, but still manages to control nicely with digital inputs being recognized on either controllers with purely digital inputs or analog. Controlling the cars feels natural and that plays into the harder-than-usual difficulty that makes the player get better to excel and doesn't offer as many options as other modern-day racers to ease the burden. Veteran racing fans will probably appreciate that approach to an extent, while the inclusion of many kinds of driving challenges evoked more of the fun of Project Gotham Racing than the more laborious classic Gran Turismo license tests. It's a flawed, but fun racing excursion on the Switch and offers far more racing variety than its contemporaries in the Gear Club Unlimited series.

The Little Acre is worth every minute; I only wish I could have stayed a little longer in its wonderfully handcrafted world. The tale is a good one, but cut short, and I was ready for more.

Whereas the PC adaptation of Deadly Premonition was a god-awful buggy mess, D4: Dark Dreams Don’t Die has been ported with care and love.

The mix of action adventure with stealth gameplay elements creates a gaming experience that doesn’t get boring and the overall atmosphere has a bit of a Silent Hill vibe. The unclear circumstances that lead to the current state of Sally’s town help build intrigue as pieces of that world’s history gradually are revealed throughout the game. GYLT may not be the killer app to necessitate acquiring a Stadia, but it is an enjoyable game and a few more exclusive titles of this caliber could help make Stadia a viable contender in the video game market.

Super Daryl Deluxe is a must-play title for fans of ridiculous and random humor as this is a definite contender for most ridiculous RPGvania ever made.

Far from the most complex, in-depth or even immersive game it may be, Chronos: Before the Ashes‘ straightforward, if a little dry, non-VR trip does avoid overstaying its brief, pleasant-enough welcome.

It’s a game that tries too hard to be vague and ambiguous that it ultimately leaves the content that is there to process feeling disproportionately stagnant.

Small Radios Big Televisions isn’t the type of two-hour indie experience that’s going to blow your mind, but there’s something oddly relaxing and engrossing about navigating through its creepy factories. Despite its story falling short as a whole, there’s enough context given here to create the foundation for a special experience, but it doesn’t quite cross the finish line. It’s a pretty, atmospheric title that doesn’t shy away from how truly weird it is.

Fragile Dreams’ premise of a young boy having to fight his way through a dead and lonesome world has some weight behind it, and walking down a desolate hallway with nothing but your flashlight to guide you does have its particular merits. However, with the clunky combat, overly punishing weapon system, and hollow writing the game never really builds up any steam to keep you going.

Runaway: The Dream of the Turtle starts off as a great adventure game, with plenty of potential, but basically throws it all away. [June 2007, p.58]

Killing Floor 3 is extremely fun in its initial stages, but will this wear off over time? Tripwire Interactive has done a good job at updating the previous games, and judging by the Helldivers-like progression system here, the staying power should be there to keep players engaged. Adding six-player crossplay and cross voice will assure the best online multiplayer experience that the series has ever had. Offline single player is more difficult, but the game is designed for online multiplayer. The visuals do a good job of showcasing the Unreal Engine 5 with Lumen Lighting, but stutters and hiccups happen a fair amount. Using Frame Gen on PC works well to compensate. The Specialists and Perk Systems help to add longevity, but you have to dig through the menu to see the other Specialists. In the end at launch, however, Killing Floor III is a bloody fun time.

The monsters and bosses of Dungeon Souls are dead-set on seeing you escape, but practice, determination and getting to grips with the different characters will eventually pay off with a win. And then it’s back down to the dungeons again, because one victory is rarely ever enough.

Tyranny: Bastard’s Wound is an impressive piece of DLC as it takes the choice-heavy gameplay of Tyranny and seamlessly weaves it into the previously-made choices by the player. Whether or not this content is essential depends on how much someone enjoyed Tyranny and if they want more of it.

Developer Serenity Forge might not get away with the whole artistic storytelling approach in the backdrop, but up front, The King’s Bird — while not without some unnecessary frustration to begin with — does deliver, where it matters, on its challenge and integration of physics to end up a satisfying precision-platformer overall.

Double Dragon: Neon is in an awkward position. It may be a bit too Double Dragon for today's generation to understand, yet not Double Dragon enough for hardcore fans to eat up. This is far from the long-awaited Double Dragon revival, but it's a great opportunity to revisit the Lee brothers (or to be introduced to them for the first time). Regardless, Double Dragon: Neon is a challenging, fun game definitely worth looking into.

Although they are not executed to perfection, Silence of the Sleep provides a fairly solid adventure game experience.

General Interactive deserve applause for their unique approach to detective work in adventure games, but the central mechanic in Chinatown Detective Agency feels like it deserves to be in a more substantial game. Still, what’s here features a fun story with a lot of memorable characters and nicely-challenging puzzles that test how well your online research skills are, so wannabe sleuths or adventure game fans will still want to take a trip out to this version of Chinatown, where an enjoyable adventure awaits.

Star Wars Battlefront II is the epitome of taking a step forward, shooting yourself in the foot and then falling backwards in pain. It goes to great lengths to rectify the mistakes of the previous game but ends up opening a new can of worms. We finally got a single player campaign, but the story is lackluster and Iden never gets a chance to shine. There’s more content and depth, but the game is severely hampered by the lack of a progression system. What really stands out about Star Wars Battlefront II is just how terrible its Loot Crate system is, because it permeates so much of the game. DICE has stripped away an actual progression system and hidden away its contents behind overpriced microtransactions. With Credits and Crafting Parts doled out at such a low rate, Star Wars Battlefront II puts players in no-win situations in the hopes of making a quick buck. The sad thing is, there’s a lot of fun that could be had in Star Wars Battlefront II. Galactic and Starfighter Assault are fun, the game runs well, and servers are holding up, but there’s nothing rewarding to keep coming back for more. It really is a shame DICE took Star Wars Battlefront II to the Dark Side.

Featuring an enormous roster of over 200 characters with revamped gameplay, WWE 2K18 is a solid upgrade from last year’s game.

Among the Sleep is a surprisingly bad execution of a deceptively weak idea.

It’s an amazing title that exceeds all expectations, and even during some of the more difficult sections is hard to put down for more than a few minutes. There isn’t a single recent title that comes to mind that truly captures what made retro titles great while also managing to be outstanding all by itself. Save Me Mr Tako! is a title that is for anyone who loves amazing platformers with a perfect balance of puzzles, combat, challenges and story.

NHL 25 returns to form with impressive hockey. Satisfying changes to gameplay and updates to Franchise Mode including the addition of the Grudge Match breathe much-needed life into the series. ICE-Q works well and the changes to AI and being able to square up offensively against the goalie will create different results rather than just going through the motions in games and exploiting. There are still a few legacy issues here that are more personal annoyances including passing and a dated presentation model, but the move to current generation consoles has only allowed the team to create a significant upgrade to the series.

Kingdom Hearts meets a boring MMO meets Tales, and the result is strictly for hardcore fans of the series. [Vol 3, Issue 2, p.61]

It’s hard to recommend FIVE: Guardians of David to anyone. Fans of action RPGs have literally dozens of better games to choose from. Even gamers who would like to play an RPG without being assaulted by bloodshed have some excellent choices, such as the Torchlight games.

For the uninitiated, Nights of Azure 2: Bride of the New Moon is an enjoyable action RPG, and while it has a strong yuri element to it, the gameplay and other aspects of the story are strong enough that it should be played even by people outside of that niche interest group.

BlazeRush is a solid-looking game that is held back by some iffy textures, but benefits from never slowing down despite tons of stuff happening on-screen.

The anime and magna iterations of Black Rock Shooter are so enjoyable because they’re crazy, over-the-top Japanese awesomeness. Unfortunately, not much about the video game take on the series is all that awesome, or even very good.

While designing homes is a relatively fun thing to do, having to do it twenty times with no real challenge makes it seem a little pointless.

Everybody’s Golf Hot Shots is a solid game, launching on most of the main platforms players will be on. It has a well-designed and fun gameplay loop that will reward players seeking a decent challenge while also having plenty of unlockable content. The cast is diverse and fun to play, but their dialogue is repeated so often that it can be grating on the ears. Many of the quirky moments that happen are fun for the first few times, but get old fast. What ends up making these issues somewhat mute is the learning curve the game offers.

Driveclub VR is an outstanding showcase for PlayStation VR. As the lone racing game available for it, it stands atop a short mountain — but its core foundation being so well-crafted bodes well for it working as a showpiece for quite some time. Anyone who loved the original game should check it out, while those who always wondered what was so good about it will find out in the best way possible by experiencing it in VR.

NASCAR Heat 2 offers a lot to do for players. It might feel a bit rushed, but it’s extremely addicting and fun. The racing is a consistent experience and Career Mode features aspects that haven’t been seen before. While it may lack the options of true simulation racers, the admirable A.I. should make up for that. Top that off with some excellent visuals and a coupon for a real race ticket, and Heat 2 continues to trend in the right direction.

Agatha Christie - Death on the Nile is a good mystery game that expands on a classic narrative with new elements due to the new setting and dual protagonist structure. The expansive areas to explore, however, are a double-edged sword as they offer good-looking visuals and may be compelling to explore for hardcore adventure gamers, but may end up being labyrinthine and hard to enjoy for a more casual playthrough. Fans of the genre are likely to enjoy the experience, whether they know the original Agatha Christie story or not.

Awesome Games Studios wanted to create a fun, casual, goofy game and that's what Oozi: Earth Adventure is. Despite issues with the controls and musical selection, there isn't much wrong with it.

The issue with this Vita version as that the publisher just decided to bring that same exact version over without tailoring it to fit the platform. Many can look past this and enjoy a better looking, but faithful recreation of Final Fantasy Adventures, but we as gamers should expect better.

If you haven’t been fully committed to the series before now, however, this is a terrible point to jump aboard as there aren’t enough good features to attract non-fans of the show.

There’s an engaging storyline in Miniature Garden which unfortunately gets cut a bit short by the end. Even with a multitude of endings, things still feel a bit lacking after completion. Still, the ride provided by the game offers a whole lot of creepiness as our cast of high schoolers work to their school before its curse gets enacted upon them. If you appreciate mystery visual novels which won’t take dozens of hours to finish then Miniature Garden is one new release to check out.

From a technical perspective, Crysis Remastered looks fantastic when taking in the sights, but that presentation is ultimately marred by consistent and noticeable framerate hiccups and technical issues. Crysis Remastered manages to outshine the PS3 and Xbox 360 console versions and stands as a solid return to the Crysis franchise. It just feels like too much was sacrificed to get such a demanding game running on the Switch.

Super Stardust Ultra VR does everything that had made the series work before and expands on it with a new cockpit view. This really brings the action close to you and sucks you in like never before.

Biomutant’s highs owe a lot to just how stacked against the odds it appears. And how over the span of an average twenty-or-so hour single-run it comes out not just unscathed, but victorious. Experiment 101 finding a way to incorporate the surreal and the strange, yet maintaining a consistent thread wherein the gameplay loop is both satisfying and intriguing to engage with. All of this, despite such continued reveling in its own eccentricity. But it’s that very eccentric attitude that marks Biomutant down as an unmistakably curious, but more importantly, entertaining open-world adventure to lose one’s self in.

The strict linearity of the game’s thirteen cases means that you’ll have little reason to replay the game, but the clever logic puzzles and mini games give you plenty of reason to play through it at least once.

Blue Refletion provides a unique twist on the JRPG format. Having the protagonist reflect on her own feelings of loss while trying to gain insight into other characters’s feelings in order to acquire their friendship is an interesting idea. The problem is the game doesn’t delve deep enough into this territory, and while this is a great design concept, it could be so much better if they took the idea further and added more depth to the characters. The mix of the real world with the Common is a good blend of environments and the gameplay in both is enjoyable but the time we spend in the Common exploring and fighting demons feels disproportionately short compared to the massive usage of cutscenes.

Sunset is refreshingly original in putting players in the role of a housekeeper, but with poor instructions and no real choices, it never meets its ambitions.

Give No Shelter is another good episode of The Walking Dead: Michonne that showcases some slight improvements and sets the stage for a potentially great showdown, but still suffers from a few cliches and an all-too-short length that leaves you demanding more.

Just Dance 4 is a hard game not to like. It's completely unpretentious and simply exists to make you have fun, hopefully starting a party in the process. The soundtrack is strong and the choreography is as good as ever. Unfortunately, without full body tracking, the game is simply not as enjoyable as it is on the Kinect. Knowing that it's only tracking the motion of the Wii Remote, and a single arm by association, lowers the motivation to perfectly nail the moves. Those used to playing the game on the Wii or who don't care about accuracy will be content, but anyone who owns a Kinect would be better off picking up the Xbox 360 version - especially considering it costs $10 less.

Operation Abyss: New Tokyo Legacy is a fine DRPG. It has all the facets one would expect from a game of its genre and manages to implement those features effectively. What it does not do a lot of, however, is think outside the box in big ways.

Maneater: Truth Quest is an enjoyable but unessential expansion for Maneater. Westhaven is an entertaining narrator but his over the top conspiracy theories just aren’t as entertaining as his documentary narration in the base game. The new missions end up falling into the same type of repetition the other missions. The new atomic shark powers are actually one of the better parts of the expansion and having a green nuclear energy ball fly from a tail whip attack was a great addition. While taking on the new sea life monstrosities provided an enjoyable challenge, Truth Quest is a necessary reason to return to the water for only the most devoted Maneater fans.

Copycat perfectly encapsulates the feeling of self-doubt, fear and hesitance that comes with building a close relationship with another individual. Although the narrative is told through the eyes of a cat, its message is universal and urges players to accept love and nurture one another regardless of differences. The technical side of the game was buggy at certain parts of the story during my playthrough, but the game truly flourishes when it centers around storytelling.

It appears that Game Arts made this to appeal to more than just a niche audience, and the game is much better for it.

Ride has far more good points than bad. As a motorcycle racer, it’s exciting and manages to stand out in a fairly crowded market. As a sim racing game, it’s accessible and plays like a dream right away.

Playlink doesn’t get enough credit. At first it seemed like PlayStation simply trying to get on the Jackbox bandwagon, but they seem to be invested in the program and it’s working out well for them. Supermassive has done impressive things with the technology and thought of a new way to take advantage of it. Hidden Agenda tells a good story and is great for a fun night in with friends. It has problems in the graphics and writing areas, but it’s a fun and entertaining game in the end. $19.99 is a great value for the quality of the content throughout the five chapters and it signals exiting things to come for Playlink.