If you grew up in the early ’90s or just have an affinity for the license, it does it justice and delivers a rock-solid racing experience as well. Its mode selection is impressive and there’s always something to do if you’re tired of racing.

If you’re looking for a challenging, fast-paced action platformer should simply flock to games like Velocity 2X or Guacamelee, as both of these titles do everything that Aaru’s Awakening does, only better.

Contrast is a mess. It’s ugly, tiresome, insipid and occasionally insulting. It aspires to be like other, better games, and wears that on its sleeve, but has nothing worthwhile to call its own.

As a whole, Mars: War Logs is a game well worth checking out for RPG fans and, at only twenty dollars, there’s no reason not to. Although frustrating at times, the developers’ ambition puts it above other indie RPGs which seem happy to settle for less considering their price.

When all of the parts are added together, it becomes apparent that Rogue Trooper Redux doesn’t quite meet the standards of modern day gaming. Instead, this is simply an underrated classic with the dust of age knocked off. Instead of making a few quality of life improvements, such as with the controls, the powers that be were happy to keep the game as is. For fans of the original title, this is absolutely great. It still manages to be enjoyable when viewed with the understanding that this is an older title. When contrasted with other remasters that took some time to tinker with what wasn’t great the first time around, Rogue Trooper Redux comes up a little short. Seemingly simple items like improved use of cover and a basic reload button would have gone a long way towards improving the experience. For fans of gaming history interested in the evolution of a genre, this release provides some much desired context for the times. People looking for a top notch shooter should realize what they are getting into before they go on a tour with the militant version of Arrested Development’s Tobias.

With all of its issues, and in its current state, DUST 514 is a title that has lofty ambitions, but also far too many problems and contingencies to deal with right now. Only the hardcore EVE enthusiasts need apply.

As a whole, Face Noir is a forgettable disappointment. Nothing stands out or inspires discussion other than its inherent blandness. With boring dialogue that drags on too long, bad facial animations and frustrating gameplay, even the most committed adventure game players will have a hard time staying involved. There’s potential for something interesting here, but Face Noir simply isn’t worth your time to play.

Tartarus doesn’t quite deliver the experience it’s aiming for. It’s light on story, but manages to make Cooper interesting and easy to identify with. Frustrating stealth segment aside, this can be recommended to those who enjoy feeling computer savvy or are just looking for a different kind of puzzle experience.

NBA Live 16 is the best game in the series since Live 10, but that’s not saying much.

The bad part is about Damascus Gear: Operation Tokyo is that there’s just not a lot to sink your teeth into.

I was pleasantly surprised by Squeeballs Party. As one of many who grew tired of party games due to the over saturation of Mario Party games, I found this to be a much fresher, more modern take on the genre.

There’s some fun to be had with LEGO Worlds, but you will need to trudge through a lot of problems to get to it. The UI is unintuitive, especially on the Switch, the combat is clumsy, there’s a serious lack of drive in the adventure mode, the missions are beyond repetitive and it’s buggy, just to name a few. With that said, there are a plethora of worlds to explore, and even after countless hours with the game, we were still seeing new environments. Creating a custom world is also an entertaining feature, even though it’s purely tied to the Free Mode. In the end, though, LEGO Worlds had incredible potential to be the next Minecraft, especially considering the pedigree of LEGO, but it winds up being weighed down by a lack of vision.

It would probably be cheaper to buy a used Gamecube and used version of an older Monkey Ball game, as you’d get better controls and save a little money without missing out on very much.

While roguelike and roguelike-inspired games such as these feel like a dime a dozen in recent times, Necropolis stands out simply by being the best that it can be, with a striking visual style, great sense of humor and an enjoyable co-op mode working together with immense, randomized, yet terrifically-designed levels and some great combat. Developers Harebrained Schemes have crafted a stellar entry into the genre, one that’s still tough as nails and yet has you coming back to it again and again. It’s a superb hack-and-slash game that’s fun all around and comes highly recommended.

Schrodinger’s Cat has a bizarre title, but rewarding gameplay. It’s a puzzle-platformer for people who don’t usually like the genre since the puzzles are all action-oriented. It will test your mental might, but also your dexterity with its controls.

This is a game that’s meant to be both played and savored, and anyone looking to try something that combines familiar gameplay elements with a very tranquil tone should give it a shot.

Rudimentary puzzle design overshadows every emotional undertone so greatly that boredom is more likely to ensue than introspection. Whether or not Pillar teaches us something about ourselves is irrelevant; the fact that we’re left wondering what could have been is the true tragedy.

Thus, for 700 points, ColorZ is simply not worth the aggravation if you plan to play alone, but if you have friends or family to play with, ColorZ may be worth a try if the premise intrigues you.

The Inpatient’s short duration and lack of entertainment value doesn’t warrant its forty dollar price tag. For fans of Until Dawn, it does a decent job of filling in important information prior to the events of the original game. For everyone else, it’s a dull experience that never quite feels like it’s going anywhere worthwhile. Horror and VR are a natural fit, but with The Inpatient, it’s clear that the pairing doesn’t always work quite the way it should.

Anyone who is a fan of South Park needs to play SOUTH PARK: SNOW DAY!, especially if they really enjoyed Stick of Truth. The cooperative gameplay with the action/adventure combat element actually makes this more approachable to play with others compared to Stick of Truth, which was a turn-based RPG. If you are not a fan of South Park, some of the gameplay limitations may inhibit the experience as it seems the development team didn't want to over-complicate the gameplay while also focusing on the story being told. With post-game options and the ability to play with others, this adds replayability, but currently it's hard to tell if the longevity will be there unless there are plans for narrative DLC down the road. The horde mode option helps to add to this. The art and combat design here does work, but the main issue comes with the audio complaints with mixing and repetitive lines. The world of South Park is the driving force of SOUTH PARK: SNOW DAY!.

School Girl/Zombie Hunter had the potential to be a B-movie style good time that unfortunately is so bad that it’s bad. There are tiny bits of fun to be found among the numerous flaws, but the bad vastly outnumbers the good. Die hard fans of this type of thing could maybe give this a look if there’s a heavily discounted sale, but even then the bad gameplay will overshadow any camp value to be found. Onechanbara Z2 is actually a better alternative to this title, if that tells you anything, since it provides the same level of fan service but with better visuals, music and combat. School Girl/Zombie Hunter is basically Lollipop Chainsaw without the fun or any of latter’s redeeming qualities.

Slender: The Arrival boasts some genuinely scary moments, but offers little beyond them.

While Rise of the Argonauts offers lots of hacking and slashing, which is fun for a time, its story, style and sound aren’t enough to atone for its shallowness and elevate this odyssey to the epic heights to which it aspires.

While its concept is unique, its execution leaves an incredible amount to be desired. Unfortunately, the mystery of Ronan’s murder is not nearly as thought-provoking as the mystery of when Murdered: Soul Suspect will be offered at a discount.

Deadly Premonition is a mechanically stiff game that’s fortunate enough to have a compelling and intriguing murder mystery backing it up. Unfortunately, the PC port is mired with issues. It’s not the lackluster visual, repeating animation or the slow and unappealing gameplay that’s the problem; it’s the multitude of technical issues that will push players away.

Not only is PlayStation VR Worlds playing it safe, it is not selling virtual reality in a strong enough way. It’s easy to show off the technology with a space-piloting game and first-person shooter, but what these tidbits of games fail to do is entertain players in the long run. They make it seem as though virtual reality is a novelty with absolutely no depth to it, which isn’t the case at all.

Since the heyday of Rollercoaster Tycoon and Theme Hospital, it’s not often that lite-management sims get a chance to strut their stuff. This was not originally meant to be that game, but it could have been with a change of the business model. Instead this is a title that is balanced for tedium.

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.