Unfortunately, the inability to speed up the game when you have about an hour of troop-building ahead of you, or when your hero must rely on auto-regen to heal, means that you'll be watching HoAE more than you'll be playing it. [Mar 2007, p.61]

This game is strictly for DBZ fans who, in addition, are crazy about the early Budokai games. [June 2007, p.63]

The concept is reasonably well-executed, but this isn’t the kind of experience that gives you a lot to sink your teeth into. Still, as a bonus thrown in with another game and made available as a super-cheap download, it is easily worth its asking price.

Nearly seven years later, and Gigantic: Rampage Edition is still just as fun to play as it was back in the genre's heyday. New additions like Rush mode are fun and make for a quicker blast, though hopefully we can find a way to deliver more major content later on. But as is, there's still a crop of fun heroes on display, all of whom are still a joy to try out, and it's just a joy to see a unique bit of action like this again, especially with Overwatch still having soured its reputation. In fact, if this takes off, maybe we can see about reviving Battleborn in a similar way next, if only because it would make for one hilarious scenario...

Deathbound is a game that has a lot of great ideas that seem amazing on paper, but few of them actually end up hitting the mark. The clear high points of this game pretty much all relate to the setting, the story, and the characters presented, but even this is marred by the goofy vocal performances and the frequency of the swearing in a bid to seem edgy and cool. But in the end, the game is dragged down by a wonky multi-character combat system, a messy health system, an all-round unresponsiveness, which is a death warrant in a Souls-like such as this, and the fact that the game's performance is enough to make you throw in the towel before you even have a good reason to write the game off. It feels like a game that would have benefited from pivoting to an all-out hack-and-slash format because, despite labeling itself as one, Deathbound simply doesn't have the polish or the attention to detail needed to truly call itself a Souls game.

Edens Zero is an enjoyable action RPG that offers solid variation in combat skills and an interesting look into Hiro Mashima’s work. Despite its worlds feeling oddly devoid of life due to the lack of interactive opportunities beyond battle and looting, it’s still a good journey to depart on.

Bubble Bobble Sugar Dungeons tries to update the formula of the series with new ideas that are very popular in the indie sphere. While the concept is interesting, the end result is actually much more frustrating than anything else. Repetitive and artificially padded, the ideas end up not shining as bright as they should, though fun can still be found by understanding its limitations from the start.

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

There are so many glaring flaws right up front; the framerate bottoms out, the story characters forced upon the players are atrocious and the always online requirement simply eats up bandwidth while adding nothing to the experience. When it hits that perfect line, however, this manages to be a satisfying and beautiful experience.

While Blacksad: Under the Skin shows a lot of promise in its story, world and a couple of neat gameplay mechanics that help put you right in Blacksad’s shoes, it unfortunately suffers when it comes to the execution. Be it clunky pixel hunts, an awkward interface or a myriad of potential glitches, the end result comes off as a bit of a janky, unpolished mess. Pendulo isn’t exactly a perfect developer, but this may end up being their weakest work yet, at least until future patches can improve things. For now, though, best to just turn down this case.

Unfortunately, even a stable framerate can’t save it from faulty mechanics, kicks that cross players without landing, some iffy visuals and weirdly ’90s animations.

Taken on its own, the game is fairly enjoyable — albeit pretty limited — but with games like Smarty Pants on shelves, I really can’t recommend TV Show King.

Overall, this is more of a game to snag out of the bargain bin than buy new. [Apr 2007, p.52]

It’s simple, fun, and funny. Sure, it’s not overflowing with content, but for five dollars, you could do a lot worse.

Risen 3: Titan Lords is a clunky mess of a game that fails to capitalize on the potential it has put forth. While the concept sounds alluring, and it’s chock-full of charm, it’s weighed down by stodgy design and a lack of polish.

As a whole, Pro Cycling Manager suffers from too many elements that are closed to the player unless they’re dedicated to uncovering the confusing interface. Indeed, the game can’t be recommended to those not willing to spend hours trying to come to grips with the huge amount of detail within it. That said, those who put plenty of hours into the game will be rewarded with an addictive and satisfying experience that is well worth working past the flawed and mind-numbingly difficult opening that most players are sure to have.

Skelattack doesn’t know what it wants to be but despite this I did end up getting just a little more enjoyment than aggravation out of it. There were two areas I simply got through rather than explored, because they just weren’t worth the annoyance, but for the most part the story and characters carried it along. It didn’t hurt that the game is short, and I beat the whole thing in a single four-hour sitting, which meant that when any one section was in danger of wearing out its welcome another was coming right along to replace it.

Tears to Tiara II: Heir of the Overlord is a more than competent SRPG.

Unfortunately as enjoyable as the combat is everything else about this title comes up short. It’s not that the ideas presented in the story are bad, it’s that they are so minimal they make the game almost feel incomplete. The potential was there to make Valkyrie Elysium one of the greats, but instead there’s an uneven experience of great combat with uninspired storytelling and level design.

Calling in powerful weaponry and vehicles to blow up bases of enemies rarely ever gets old. Traversing the distinct biomes while swapping between the wingsuit and parachute remains a fun way to get across the world. On the other hand, the terrible enemy AI quickly turns combat into a real bore and the redundant objectives strip the game of what makes it a blast in the first place. It also doesn’t help that, aside from the supply drops, the game’s signature features never live up to their potential.

Maneater is a ridiculous, fun title that should be applauded for its ambition of making a viable action RPG starring a shark. The snarky narration provided by Chris Parnell helps cement the tongue-in-cheek nature while the gameplay reminds us why a shark is a good choice for a game that focuses on a violent force of nature. The repetitive nature, lack of variety and sometimes wonky camera hold Maneater back from being a true Apex RPG, but even with its limitations Maneater is a fun and unique game that should be experienced by action RPG fans who want something unconventional on Switch.

The engine may be aging and looking a bit ragged around the edges, but the game’s heavy emphasis on strategy and the persistent units in the campaign make for hours of scaling castle walls and slaying your foes.

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

Journey of a Roach is a bog-standard adventure game built around a single kind of nifty idea.

Fairy Fencer F should serve nicely for those who don’t want anything too complex or something that will force them to think, but those hoping for something with a serious, epic story and meaningful exploration will want to look elsewhere.

Sword Art Online Re: Hollow Fragment is entirely average, which is frustrating because there are elements of greatness sprinkled throughout its somewhat mess of a product.

Poi‘s greatest weakness lies in its sound design, but the core game is well-crated and a lot of fun. The smaller world size keeps players focused on the task at hand, while keeping mandatory collect-a-thon parts to a minimum puts a stronger focus on the platforming action. Thankfully, this is the game’s strongest point and anyone looking for a solid 3D platformer should check out Poi. It controls nearly-perfectly, with only an iffy camera causing issues from time to time. It looks solid for the most part too, with impressive lighting adding some impressive visual flair to what can sometimes be bland-looking stages.

Super Motherload does a great job of satisfying one’s inner miner, letting you dig to the heart of Mars and the bizarre mystery lying in its core.