While what should be the biggest draw — the crossover and the story — falls flat on its face, Accel World vs Sword Art Online isn’t a complete loss. The actual game part of the game works well enough that players might find themselves more interested in taking on side quests and missions than working through the story campaign. Of course, Yui isn’t that great of a prize, but still. There is plenty of content with which to engage, but those looking for this type of gameplay would be better off playing Lost Song or Hollow Realization first. Those have more interesting stories and some better translation work in addition to the well-done game systems. If those have already been completed, then this isn’t the worst game for fans.

Throughout the game, you'll find all sorts of signs that the developers knew what would ruin the experience, and so worked overtime to avoid those pitfalls. As a result, Call of Duty: Roads to Victory is a serious contender for the handheld FPS crown. [Apr 2007, p.51]

Redeemer is at its best when being a brawler, which it does most of the time. Guns are nice to take out the small fry and leave room to concentrate on the bigger threats, and the occasional trapped room is best bulled through and forgotten, but when you’ve got a room full of enemies of different abilities and are darting about, looking for environment kills or things to throw while performing counters and working on chaining attacks together the combat flows incredibly well. Heading into a room, assessing threats, coming up with a plan, and adjusting it on the fly to pound cyborgs and mutants into the floor feels great, especially when you fall into the fight’s rhythm and come out with barely a scratch. At the end the difficulty increases by enemies that take a few too many hits to go down, frequently joined by armored sniper that require you to keep moving rather work on offense, but by then you’re almost done and can push on through to the final encounter. Ignore the story and show up for the fighting and Redeemer provides a nice, long quest with plenty of unique areas to wreak bloody violence through.

Strafe falls short of greatness, but is definitely great fun. Each of the three main guns feels good to wield, and if some of the mods aren’t as useful as others, there are still ways to use them effectively. The secondary limited-use guns provide a welcome opportunity to change tactics when necessary and grabbing an exploding bug off the wall to use as a makeshift grenade somehow never gets old. The bloody violence is particularly well done, because not only is it fun to get your carnage on, but the bloody trail you leave in your wake is surprisingly helpful in keeping your bearings. Plus you can always shoot an enemy on a toxic orange spill and use their blood to make the floor safe again, which is awfully helpful in a gory kind of way. There are plenty of secrets, occasional hidden levels and many other goodies and bits of weirdness to find amidst the carnage and mayhem, making Strafe a fun and highly replayable action roguelike FPS that wears its love for the 90s on its blood-soaked sleeve.

Disgaea Infinite is the funniest visual novel I've played - even funnier than the Ace Attorney series, and is carried by the strength of its characters, dialogue, and voice acting.

While it’s an indie game with issues that stem from a lower-than-average budget for its size and the bugs that come with it, RiME still captures emotion and beauty as it tells a heartwarming story. The bugs can be frustrating at times, but aren’t reason enough not to play it. Rime will run you $39.99 and takes about six to 10 hours to complete. In the same vein as Journey, RiME is a capable entry into the ranks of these emotional and heartfelt types of games.

The grid-less combat can be annoying to get used to—especially when learning how to properly position characters—but there’s enough small changes to put a good spin on otherwise stale tactical combat.

The biggest flaw is that it fails to leave a major impression despite getting most things right on a point-by-point basis. It controls well outside of some camera issues and looks gorgeous. The sound design is impressive, while the soundtrack leaves a bit to be desired. The overall game isn’t a classic, but everything is done well and there isn’t much outright wrong with it.

Where Forspoken should’ve been a striking and appealing fresh start for Luminous Productions, the end result sadly is a game not only bland and unpolished, but deprived of a reason to care for its unfolding mystery. A bevvy of technical inconsistencies, lackluster open world design and most disappointing of all, a handful of systems with genuine enjoyment at times that don’t see their potential fully realized.

Shadow Labyrinth is a simple and solid game that feels more like a thank you than anything else. Fans of the genre it now calls home, as well as fans of Pac-Man, get to enjoy a whole new take on the series and the world they belong to. The visuals add to the nostalgic feeling while still adding a new world and experience for players to fight their way through. There's satisfying Metroidvania combat and exploration, a new story to experience and a ton of references to games that we all know and love within this universe.

Murder on Eridanos is a fine send off to The Outer Worlds, giving players an opportunity to flex all their detective muscles in solving one final murder mystery. The writing and humor are able to maintain the high standard that was set by the core game, and even though the combat has been reduced to simply going through the motions at this point, the storytelling is able to make this a memorable experience. Eriadnos itself is a vibrant world to explore filled with its own culture and interesting inhabitants. Murder on Eridanos is a darkly humorous nod to film noir while staying true to the feel of The Outer Worlds, making it a worthwhile final addition to the game.

Those who enjoyed Grasshopper’s previous work or are tired of repeatedly being spoon-fed the same game should check out Killer is Dead before it’s rightfully put on “most underrated game” lists in several years by the same people who criticize it now.

There is no doubt about it, Arc Rise Fantasia wants to be a hardcore JRPG. In many aspects it achieves this, but before fans go rushing to buy it they have to ask themselves: just how much grind is too much grind? If killing the same weak enemies over and over for innumerable hours before any story progression is made doesn't deter you, then by all means buy Arc Rise Fantasia.

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.

The Witch and the Hundred Knight: Revival Edition adds the necessary adjustments to a game that simply wasn’t what it should have been the first time around, and while the result is hardly an action RPG classic, it’s somehow become not only enjoyable, but bizarrely likeable in the process.

Probably the most disappointing thing about The Edge of Fate is how skimpy it is on new content. With just a campaign, location and raid, The Edge of Fate is the worst value proposition of any piece of Destiny content since Destiny: The Dark Below. Ushering in a new era, the next Destiny release needed to be bold, hook players and continue to show that Bungie can release quality products each go-around. A Destiny 3 might have been able to do all that. As an expansion, Destiny 2: The Edge of Fate doesn’t accomplish any of that outside of introducing an intriguing concept. This is one fate the Destiny franchise might not be able to escape from.

In the end, this Chrome needs more polish.

Tales of Symphonia is still one of the biggest highlights in the series with a fantastic assortment of characters, some simple but enjoyable combat and great story to keep players invested throughout. What hurts is that this remastered version has glaring issues that need to be fixed. It’s far from making it impossible to recommend, in fact we still absolutely would for those who haven’t ever played it before, but without autosave and with multiple recorded crashes experienced, it’s hard to tell people to run out and pick it up immediately without proper patches to work out the bigger issues here. With fixes to address the problems, Tales of Symphonia Remastered could easily be considered another fantastic port on modern systems that we hope to continue to see more of from Bandai Namco.

Despite these flaws, Alpha Protocol is still a fun and entertaining experience with a dynamic storyline and solid RPG mechanics.

Anyone looking for a unique RPG experience that takes full advantage of the DS hardware should give it a shot. [May 2007, p.62]

There's no denying the Gex games have more than a few rough edges by today's standards, but that's also a major part of the charm. Gex Trilogy is a great collection of '90s gaming, reviving a set of minor classics that had a real impact in gaming history.

Windlands is easily the best platforming experience available on the PlayStation VR, and a must for anyone who wants to see what a Mirror’s Edge-style blend of platforming and parkour is like in that format.

The World Next Door is not a title that’s going to rock anyone’s world, but it’s a good title that would be worth checking out for someone wanting something a little different. The puzzle combat system is enjoyable but could have benefited from further development to flesh it out a bit more. The story isn’t extraordinary but is still an enjoyable journey despite its anticlimatic ending. The game takes about four hours or so to complete, so it isn’t a huge time commitment. The world of Emrys is an interestingly designed world that can be fun to visit but is also not a bucket list destination.

Some may be content with more of the same, but there’s just simply not a lot here to carry the series forward.

It’s gorgeous with a killer soundtrack and impressive sound design as a whole. If you want something that blends overhead action RPG gaming with a faster-paced dungeon crawler motif, give Penny-Punching Princess a go.

What makes While the Iron’s Hot work is a combination of a pleasant series of tasks and quirky, entertaining characters in every new town and point of interest. Nothing is particularly difficult, from crafting to puzzles, but it’s nice to visit Ellian and wander around, picking up jobs or helping people while beating metal into shape. Even after the main plot is through there’s post-game content to play, completing the upgrade of buildings in the home town and taking on new quests while wrapping up any unfinished ones, all of which are documented in the journal. There can be a lot to keep track of, but features like being able to pin a recipe or view the character list help when you need a reminder, and the whole game feels designed to make becoming a master blacksmith as accessible as possible. While not particularly deep, While the Iron is Hot succeeds on charm and pure likeability, and it’s almost impossible to resist enjoying the blacksmithing journey through its world.

Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion must not be overlooked; it may be marketed towards today's youth, but it's adult gamers who grew up in the '90s that will truly appreciate it.

Namco Museum Virtual Arcade is an impressive release from Namco Bandai that could have been even better.