Nintendo World Championships: NES Edition is an interesting idea for a compilation, but it's hard to enjoy when so much of it reveals a game that blatantly feels rushed, be it in its weak online modes or the uneven spread of challenges with little variety. There are definitely nice challenges here to tackle that put up a good fight, and hints of clever inclusions like the Classified Information guides, but there's too little here at the moment to keep anyone hooked beyond a few hours at best. Sorry Nintendo, but this won't even get you the bronze.

Nitro Gen Omega is a game that still feels a little rough in its 1.0 release, not being as approachable in its multitude of systems as it could have been. It’s not a bad game per se, but one that demands effort to understand and pull through. Nonetheless, its battle systems and animations shine through to the point it can be worth giving it a try for fans of unique RPGs and simulators.

There’s still a lot to do — so far as amendments to the overall flow, as much base content to warrant the grind to get there — but Hood: Outlaws & Legends has at least found a way to fit sufficiently, if not entirely successfully, into the PvPvE mold.

Castle of Illusion is a welcomed change to the original remake formula, but it falls short in a number of areas.

Overall, it’s is a gorgeous game that doesn't fully cultivate its Metroidvania roots, and while that’s a disappointment, there’s still enough fun to be had here to be worth a look.

Stonefly had all of the right parts to create an impressive and cool-looking machine, but unlike its heroine, it wasn’t able to fully assemble them properly. The end result is an ambitious journey that has a lot of moments worth checking out, but quickly begins to grow tiresome thanks to overly-repetitive combat, backtracking and grinding. Stonefly is a game with a lot of terrific concepts, but unfortunately undermines them by stretching things out in various ways. Come for the journeys across breathtaking bits of nature, leave when it comes to the combat.

While it may not indulge as much on its aesthetic to better hide the distinct lack of gameplay, Empathy: Path of Whispers can’t excuse itself for letting its eye go too far a stray from keeping its player both focused and interested in the tale being spun. Though it’s far from the actual narrative’s fault for the game’s all-round mediocre delivery, the insistency on following an established formula across a bulk of the game’s all-round length doesn’t excuse the choppy, blurred and fairly average quality of its visual design. The warranted need to fine-tune its brief puzzles aside, Empathy: Path of Whispers is intriguing in moderation, but little else.

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

Despite the lack of content at launch and the long waits to join matches, I still can’t seem to put Firewall Ultra down. The game is only $40 currently for the standard version, and it improves on the original quite a bit. The eye tracking needs polish, but it can also be turned off in the options. The quality-of-life also needs improvements, but there is quite a bit here. After doing PvP to start, I found myself enjoying PvE despite the AI being sneaky yet overwhelming. Finishing missions, which really equates to hacking different laptops on a map, started to happen. Firewall Ultra requires your time and effort and while the in-game rewards are minimal, the rewards of improving and playing in the social atmosphere is the hook.

Starstruck Vagabond is an audacious attempt to provide a space-based life sim that doesn't go the same well as many developers have done in the post-Stardew-Valley landscape. In this bid to stand out from the rest, however, this game feels like a smorgasbord of simple, repetitive and generally uninteresting mindless chores. The game has a solid foundation with understandable, intuitive mechanics and the promise of an addictive gameplay loop. And while it delivers in one way to offer a 'switch-your-brain-off' sort of feel, the game feels as vacuous as the setting. The humorous writing does help to motivate you to begrudgingly push for the finish line, but in the end, it's all just busy work, and not the fun kind.

Tenta Shooter is a perfectly decent bullet-hell arcade game with a simple mechanic that provides nice flexibility in both score-chasing and surviving the levels. While the bullet-canceling can get you through heavy onslaughts untouched with proper use, there are enemies with attacks it can’t counter so you still need to be careful. Each level has secrets to chase after in the form of tentacle tokens, hidden in enemies that need to be defeated in a specific way to earn the drop and fairies tucked away in places even more obscure. While nobody will be ranking Tenta Shooter with the best of the genre, it’s still a fun ride, with a good balance of skill, memorization and reflex needed to clear its challenges. The porn aspect, though, just doesn’t work due to a combination of poor art and having nothing to do with the actual game, and Tenta Shooter would have been stronger without it.

Dark Void winds up being less than the sum of its parts.

Nevertheless, a satisfying game in doses, Shadwen does enough to warrant repeat returns and while it lacks visibility beyond the central pillar that is its gameplay, it’s said gameplay that keeps the game from fading completely out of sight.

For an HD remake that no one asked for of a game that few people played, Cel Damage HD is actually pretty charming and entertaining.

Project Sylpheed costs forty bucks, making this a budget title, but it's hard to play unless you're playing in HD. [Oct 2007, p.56]

Since Aero Porter only resembles a traditional airport sim, it's hard to recommend for Aerobiz fans, but those with an affinity for fast-paced puzzlers will probably like it. It's certainly not a graphical showcase, but there's a lot of enjoyment to be had once you get past the crippling difficulty spikes. It's a lot more fun than a baggage-sorting game sounds, so If you've got the patience, give it a shot.

The story is too loose and doesn’t display a proper direction just yet. It’s not all bad as there is a rather striking moment halfway through the story, but if this is truly all that remains, then we’re in for a rough season.

Felix The Cat is a commendable effort to bridge the gap between the simplicity and complexity of video gaming's past and present. While it shines for speedrunners and retro gaming fans, its steep difficulty curve and some design choices may alienate casual players, although the rewind feature might be able to alleviate some of this. Nevertheless, for those willing to embrace its challenges, Felix The Cat offers a rewarding journey back in time, with enough modern twists to keep it engaging in today's gaming landscape.

While it's a solid and enjoyable game in its own right, Reynatis suffers from being unable to visually stand out. Animations in combat and cutscenes are sometimes stiff and robotic or even overtuned to the point where they look outright silly for what they're trying to accomplish.

When all is said and done, Dragon Age: The Veilguard is a solid experience. It's flashy, pretty and entertaining, standing out through the combat and environments. It no longer feels like this sprawling world that we explore and save from the brink of destruction, but rather a small pocket that needs constant supervision. This is a more on-the-rails experience when compared to any of the past Dragon Age games. Considering the struggles that Bioware has undergone since Dragon Age: Inquisition, however, it's still awesome that we received a game of this quality. It doesn’t share much in terms of style and gameplay, but we do see characters we love again in a beautiful world and fun combat. It isn’t the most mind-blowing entry to the series and does play it safe, but it's still a good game. The combat and soundtrack are solid, the environments are gorgeous and the game is still filled with a ton of world-building.

Toren is very rough-around-the-edges, but there is some charm during the few hours it lasts.

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]

Postal 4: No Regerts is a return to form to the cult classic Postal 2. Unfortunately, while it does stay true to what made it successful among its fanbase, it doesn’t raise the bar in any area where it could be considered a great game. For a series known for pushing the envelope, Postal 4 feels like it plays things too safe. The gameplay mechanics are rough around the edges, while the attempts at edgy humor fall short. The potential is there, but regerttably the writers never push it to a level where it would be memorable. What we end up with is a game that is enjoyable but ultimately unremarkable.

If you already have a Beyblader in the house, there’s a good chance they’ll like Evolution, but the learning curve is too steep for newcomers to get much enjoyment out of it.

There’s a lot to love about Grow Home, and if controlling Bud was one of them then this would have been a truly fantastic adventure instead of the flawed platformer.

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

Its methodical pacing will put some off, but those wanting a wrestling match simulator will welcome 2K15 with open arms.

A spiritual successor to Actraiser, SolSeraph is one of those titles that goes into the file of games we really wanted to like because in theory it had all the ingredients, good ideas and influence from great games of the past, but unfortunately comes together in an uninspired way. The basic elements of Actraiser are present but SolSeraph is an homage that fails to capture the spirit of the game that made players feel like a god 28 years ago, resulting in a pale imitation. That’s not to say there isn’t any fun to be had here, as I did enjoy playing it, but it failed to reach the bar set by the game it tries so hard to emulate. Despite being a new IP, the Jay Sherman quote “if it’s a remake of a classic go see the classic” is applicable in this case.