Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz HD isn’t a perfect recreation of the original game due to some things being improved and others being taken away. The overall presentation is more enjoyable when it comes to the main game, but the massive drop-off in mini-game selection hurts the replay value.

It works, and it will bring some laughs (especially with friends), but there are better beat ‘em ups out there.

Lella’s journey is compelling, and the game itself is unlike anything we’ve seen before.

As it stands, Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days proves to be the perfect weekend rental. In that weekend you can plow through the campaign with a friend in an afternoon, and get as much as you want out of the multiplayer.

Despite a few wonky issues with combat at times, YIIK: A Post-Modern RPG more than succeeds in delivering a fascinating and unique tale that isn’t afraid to get bizarre and humorous while still making you sympathize with its cast and keeping you on the edge of your seat. Between the quirky visuals, stellar soundtrack and fun gameplay, Ackk Studios managed to polish the gameplay of late ’90s polygonal games while not losing sight of what made RPGs from that era fun.

The flying itself is decent, and greatly enhanced by the game’s outstanding soundtrack, but ultimately Ace Combat Assault Horizon Legacy+ feels like nothing more than a poorly-disguised cash-grab.

In what is at times an incoherent and questionable selection of titles — compiled in what feels as drab and corporately sterile an attire one can find — there does remain worthwhile moments to look back on with Taito Milestones.

Trailblazers is a fantastic game that blends racing and a team-based dynamic to craft a memorable experience. It plays like a dream and offers up a surprisingly high amount of strategy to excel. By offering up enough twists on a traditional racing game, it finds ways to create excitement that haven’t been done before in the genre and is a must for anyone looking for an arcade-style futuristic racing experience. If you like F-Zero and/or Splatoon, you will find a lot to like here.

Deadpool gives what his fans want, but exciting gameplay moments are too few and far between. It’s a great shame that the rest of the game isn’t up to snuff with the character performances as the industry needs more comical stories such as this.

In the end, calling this a "rebirth" or even a "reboot" just doesn’t cut it. If one looks hard enough, they can see the ambitions SNK had with this game, sadly outstripped by time and budget.

There is nothing wrong about the game, though, and if you like tower defense games then Defense Technica might provide a suitable distraction for a couple of days. The experience isn’t bad, but it is one you will forget almost as soon as you finish playing it.

Planet Alpha creates an amazing atmosphere thanks to its visual and audio design.

Crush Your Enemies is a fast-paced RTS that combines a need for strong strategy with pick up and play accessibility.

Madden NFL 21 is a mix of missed opportunities. While it’s the best-looking version we’ve seen to date, EA Tiburon seems to have swayed the game in a different direction with new modes that keep you busy rather than engaged. The Yard is a mode that nobody asked for, and even if worth a shot, ended up shortsighted in its execution. Face of the Franchise continues to improve, but the fact an entire game has to be played on both sides of the ball just to extend the life of the mode is aggravating. Load times and transitions seem to be slow and it makes going through the fluff of MUT annoying. While the marketing has changed as the game lacks that true NFL feel, I do think the introductions are cool. The team also removed stats before starting a game. There are still legacy issues and bugs including Cam Newton being introduced as the Panthers quarterback even though it’s stated he’s on the Patriots. The gameplay is faster and the running game is more overpowered and that goes along with Superstar X-Factor 2.0. It’s hard to say where the franchise stands now in what it’s trying to accomplish with Madden NFL 21, but hopefully a new generation will bring a new experience.

Simply put, Call of Cthulhu is a game of wasted potential. Its investigation system is fun, and something that could have easily carried the game on its own, working perfectly with the world of Lovecraft. And even any of the other gameplay elements could have made for a good adaptation. But when they mix together, the end result is a mediocre, cluttered mess that’s over too soon for anything to make an impact. Maybe hardcore fans of Lovecraft or the tabletop game can get some enjoyment out of things, but you’re better off waiting for The Sinking City instead.

It’s just not particularly fun.

Weapon Shop de Omasse is sort of what you’d expect from a game made by a comedian, which is to say, really funny and awfully clunky.

Conflicks is like eggplant: it’s a taste that requires effort to acquire. Once the feathers get smoothed out, though, there is a robust, entertaining game to explore.

Sword Art Online: Lost Song has so much going for it. The battle and flight systems are top-notch entertaining time sinks, the artistic style is nothing short of gorgeous and being able to hang out with characters from the show, with dialogue written by the creator, is an engrossing experience.

At the end of the day, though, it doesn’t know its audience — and games that don’t understand who they’re for typically fail to capture anyone.

Survios has another winner on its hands with Battlewake. Instituting an anti-sea sickness technology should allow people who are more prone to this to actually enjoy the game. While the single player allows for getting the premise and feel of the game down, it truly shines in multiplayer. Multiplayer is seamless and works extremely well and people can hop on with friends. Single player will get redundant, but what is done here will go towards the multiplayer experience. Motion tracking is wonderful along with the controls but will take a little bit to master as there is a lot going on at times. The visuals are vibrant and vary based on environments. Battlewake is the only game of its kind and even better, it retails for only $30 on PS4. Battlewake is a must-have game for VR owners.

Games built entirely around boss battles can be great. Furi is popular for a reason. Gods Will Fall might have been better served if that was the route they went. Instead, it’s bogged down with levels that, while artistically solid, weigh on the entire experience. There’s one group of folks that should check this out: students of game design. This is not along the lines of “ha ha, this game sucks so bad everybody should see it.” This isn’t Ride to Hell: Retribution. Instead, people much smarter than this reviewer will be able to thoughtfully debate and discuss what didn’t work, why certain things didn’t work, and learn from this. God Will Fall is mostly tedious, but it comes from an honest place with real effort. Clever Beans has the talent and potential to create a fantastic title. Their first swing, though, isn’t it.

For a game with so many valid criticisms, a recommendation might not seem forthcoming, but Astria Ascending rises above all of these issues as a total experience, with the art alone making worth the price of admission. The character customization gives a feeling of constant, incremental progress that fulfills the effort put in. There’s always a new skill to learn, a new strategy to try. It would have been nice if the story was better and if the dungeon exploration was less frustrating, but this is a game that’s well worth the time for any fan of JRPGs, especially since it’s being sold at a lower price than most new titles. So long as the player knows what they’re getting into, then there’s too much superlative stuff in this package to ignore.

Be sure to pick up F1 2014 if you’re a lapsed fan of the franchise. It does everything right and eliminates the clutter that has hurt past entries in the series.

The developers' chutzpah regarding Shock Force's premise is admirable, and if you fall into the game's narrow audience, there may be a lot to like about it. [Oct 2007, p.59]

River City: Knights of Justice is an excellent beat ’em up on the whole. It has some graphical and audio shortcomings that drag it down, but long-time fans of he series will still find a lot of enjoyment here.

Fashion Dreamer is not necessarily a title that someone is going to sit down and play for hours on end, but it’s impressive how addictive the simple gameplay loop quickly becomes. The excitement of getting new clothes, creating new styles, trying on outfits others are wearing and so many other little things is fantastic. Even for someone who only has a mild, passing interest in fashion, there’s fun to be had here. The ability to simply have fun in a digital world where it doesn’t cost real money to buy and wear fantastic outfits is well worth picking up this title in and of itself, and it’s simply a wonderfully-welcoming title for anyone who loves the creative side of clothing. Fashion Dreamer is a fantastically-designed title that’s perfect for those who are fashion-forward or anyone who even remotely is interested in the idea of playing in the creative digital dress-up world of Eve.

While it’s a little rough around the edges and the characters and plot aren’t too intriguing, Hero’s Saga is a well-made SRPG.