Those hoping Rune Factory: Guardians of Azuma was going to be Devil May Cry meets Animal Crossing will sadly be disappointed. Experienced hack-and-slash and dungeon-crawling players will probably want to play at a higher difficulty, but if you love city management sims, you’ll have an enjoyable time building and decorating your villages. Though there are quite a few mechanics players have to learn, they’re easy to remember once the game fully sets you loose and lets you do your own thing. All in all, Guardians of Azuma falls into the category of a cozy video game. It’s not too hard, so players will be able to sit back and have a stress-free experience.

Although the visuals may not be much to look at, the combat and story are the soul of Caligula Effect 2 that holds it all together. The music and characters are far more enjoyable than the first title, with a combat system that feels more fine-tuned and makes it flow at a better speed than the first entry. It’s harder to recommend for those who haven’t played the first as they will miss out on important references to the first, but it may be worth popping open a synopsis of the first or playing through it to get to this sequel which improves upon basically every aspect. There’s so much to love here, but the experience would be improved with amped-up visuals and more English support for some of the smaller dialogue. The Caligula Effect 2 is a unique story that touches on sensitive subjects with a lot of respect wrapped up in a wonderfully-enjoyable RPG that’s the perfect length without overstaying its welcome.

Lord of Magna: Maiden Heaven is a quality, albeit quirky, JRPG. It doesn’t take itself too seriously, and doesn’t dabble too much in the story department.

It’s no doubt a value, and if you need your fix of The Walking Dead, then this will certainly tide you over until the second season, but don’t expect a consistent plot full of meaningful and difficult choices.

The "Worms" series has been around for years, but it's finally found the perfect home on Live Arcade. [May 2007, p.68]

Without forgetting a presentation that harkens to the best of past and present-day animation techniques, even if Klaus is not one of the most extravagant of platformers, it’s at least one of the more memorable.

Quantum Break has an identity crisis going on for itself, not knowing if it wants to be a TV show, action game or puzzle platformer. There are elements of everything here, but they’re underdeveloped and improperly paced...Quantum Break is a great game at heart, but it comes with a lot of underutilized potential.

Seasons After Fall is unique in that its beautiful artistic style almost makes you forget about the lackluster gameplay. While it’s far from perfect, it still manages to be an enjoyable experience, especially for those who treat games as an experience rather than a task to be completed.

Moomintroll: Winter's Warmth is an interesting way to dive into the world of Moomin, offering a simple but fairly competent adventure that doubles down as something akin to a coming of age story. Unfortunately, what could have been a fantastic adventure is dragged down slightly by the way quests are presented as repetitive chores. Nonetheless, it’s still a curious adventure, especially for fans of the original universe or those curious about its rendition of a world reminiscent of a fairy tail.

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.

Raiden V: Director’s Cut ends up being a shooter worthy of its history and does a good job of keeping alive gaming’s longest-running Japanese arcade shooter series.

This is a worthy entry in the series, giving an enormous dose of the quirk and charm that earned the series its place.

While the presentation could have been more robust and gameplay mechanics more refined, it remains a concentrated and entertaining dose of Naruto fanservice, like the developers dropped a hundred different Naruto action figures into your lap and told you to go nuts.

Despite some of the issues with the game, Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero is a solid arena fighting game that has tons of action and content available to players on day one and is worth a shot for fans and newcomers alike.

After making a terrible first impression, Trillion: God of Destruction manages to be a unique experience.

In the end, Toukiden isn’t the Monster Hunter killer many were expecting, but it becomes an enticing package if you can get past its shortcomings.

Samurai Jack: Battle Through Time is a great-playing game that falls just a bit short of being a well-crafted overall experience. The filler-filled stages and wave-based enemy rooms bog down the experience and get in the way of the fun. It’s a shame too as the core gameplay greatly exceeds the norm for licensed fare and delivers well-crafted swordplay, gunplay and melee combat all in one package. Beating up enemies is satisfying, but tackling waves of them in a weirdly laid-out labyrinth chips away at things. The graphical design is sharp and nicely matches the show, but is hurt by low-quality texture work from time to time. The sound design is top-shelf and not only fits the show, but makes you appreciate playing with a nice audio setup to better-discern enemy locations. Fans of the show will enjoy the game, while those just looking for a well-crafted action game may be disappointed.

Assassin’s Creed: The Ezio Collection contains of a trilogy of great Assassin’s Creed games that remind players why Ezio and his games are the most celebrated within the fandom. The gameplay mechanics function just as they did in the original releases which is a double-edged sword of authenticity and nostalgia going against modernized quality-of-life improvements. While these are great games and should be played by all Assassin’s Creed fans, there are unfortunately concessions mentioned above that hold this back from being the definitive collection. The only real reason to recommend this version over the PlayStation 4/Xbox One version is the portability factor.

Those in the mood for a fast-paced experience that won’t require a massive investment of time for a play session should give Funk of Titans a shot.

Overall this seems like a game that would be good for die hard fighting fans who love playing against other people, but not recommended for anyone looking for a substantial single player experience.

Ride 2 doesn’t do everything it could have to become the premiere motorcycle racing game on the market, but it comes far closer than the original. The racing action is more intense than before, but the core game is still held back by a bit by long load times. The online play remains solid, so anyone who enjoyed the original’s online play will find more of that to enjoy here. Anyone who felt that the first game was a world of unfulfilled potential will find more to like here. The core action is far better and there is more to enjoy than before. It’s a well-crafted game and well-worth buying for anyone who enjoys fast-paced sim racing and has a passion for motorycles.

Those looking for something more fleshed out and demanding of a deeper trudge through its own brand of desolation may feel short-changed, but The Tarnishing of Juxtia just about manages to stay the course and avoid getting too indulgent in its blatant inspirations. A committed action-platformer that doesn’t outstay its welcome.

Gunplay has never felt better, but the bullet-sponge nature of the enemies and lack of necessary ammo dilute what is otherwise an enjoyable game to play. Wolfenstein: Youngblood is a different beast from its predecessors. While some of it works, other aspects fall flat. Youngblood is a fun distraction with a friend, but if you want the full Wolfenstein experience, you’ll need to wait for Wolfenstein III.

Assassin’s Creed Odyssey is not a perfect game and the tech issues in particular are fair grounds for complaints. Even with its faults, however, the positives greatly outweighs its flaws, though some old school Assassin’s Creed fans may be in an uproar over some of the more drastic changes to the traditional formula. Despite its issues, this is a worthwhile odyssey to embark on.

While cumbersome controls and an oddly-behaving combo meter can betray the underlining intention of pace and of orderly chaos ruling over, Zombie Army 4: Dead War does just enough to shun these unfortunate moments. Players voluntarily, not forcibly, involving themselves with such madness with sufficiently-positive results.

Blade & Soul is a free-to-play MMORPG and as such offers a lot of content and gameplay for literally nothing.

Even with the over-zealous use of effects and seemingly-obligated need to snapshot every significant moment mid-game, Tsubasa understands that to truly craft an entertaining sports title, it has to convince its players that the depth it houses is worthwhile. But much like the lofty heights of the best PES iterations, the game nails the tenuous, juggling of emotions that soccer can bring. Crafting on top two solid (if a touch slap-dash on presentation) story campaigns, that have all the trappings of some of the best and most resonating of emergent gameplay. I sincerely hope these issues are rectified sooner rather than later — Captain Tsubasa: Rise of New Champions is an unabashed yet joyous rendition on what makes soccer games so good.

Coming at arguably a fitting time of the year, The Block — simple and small in scale it may be — makes for an adequate palette-cleanser of a release. Balancing a stripped-back and minimal appearance with a gameplay loop open to self-propelled challenge-making. Its variety on object selection and grid sizes isn’t the most expansive. So quickly prone to repeated use and suggestions that a more substantial selection wouldn’t have gone a miss. Even so, for a game devoid of true objectives, progression or anything else you’d consider standard fare in most games, The Block does just enough in providing a fascinating short-burst of a clicker-type release. One whose simple premise but obsessive potential means that an hour spent in The Block is just as viable and likely an outcome as any number of minutes.