To get the most out of the experience, Producing Perfection practically mandates that its players have some kind of working knowledge of the Hyperdimension world to enjoy its trappings. If players are in that category, then perhaps there’s enough here to sustain interest, as the excessive dialogue is really only entertaining for those who know the characters and established lore well.

Some occasionally-credible voice work and performances from its cast aside, The Last Worker (in a fitting, albeit ironic, kind of way) ends up as deprived and joyless as the very corporate setting it means to ridicule.

While not a supremely inspired game, its limited premise is implemented so well from a technical and design standpoint that it's very easy to enjoy despite itself. [Mar 2007, p.56]

Unfortunately, the age of the collection is its greatest undoing. While World Heroes certainly isn’t the worst 2D fighter ever made, it isn’t the best, either.

It’s hard to fully recommend a game when so much of it is waved aside with “you’ll get used to it,” but once you fall into The Witch and the Hundred Knight‘s peculiar tempo, it’s not a bad way to dominate the world.

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.

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.

It is likely that the game will continue to see patches in the future and hopefully some of these bring the game up to the standard it deserves. For now, however, Windforge is weighed down by its unpolished nature.

It's a nice try, but it still needs a bit of polish. [June 2007, p.61]

Over Fence has an average game on their hands with Flip Wars. There is so much potential here for bigger and better things, but for the time being, it’s fun and worthy of parties. If you’re into multiplayer games, it isn’t a bad choice at all. That being said, patience is key when waiting for matches to start and actually playing them. It has only been available for several days now so the fan-base is slowly developing. If purchasing Flip Wars, make sure you have others to play with in person or good enough internet connection to play online. The free access to Nintendo’s online connection is limited, but at least you can enjoy it with friends.

RENNSPORT has no business being a full-price game on consoles for what's offered. The post-launch DLC will cost extra as well. Excellent driving physics with the ability to race on well-known circuits with nineteen touring or grand touring cars from recent years is the core of this game. Online racing with a community also helps as it pools together three platforms to assure lobbies have players. Unfortunately noone is using the matchmaking and the offline options are barely an option. No tutorials, no content and no substance really take away from the fact that this is a video game and more of the game you go to a racing arcade to play its simulation (which this author has done). The DualSense 5, in particular, works both surprisingly and exceptionally well, but do you get a simulation racer to use with a controller? Also, with another racing sim offering more content on the horizon for the same price, you're better off waiting for a steep sale on this.

From a studio having delivered far better and should in all likelihood have done so once more, Redfall is an uncharacteristically poor and cobbled-together brand of tedium. Though pockets of the developer’s signature traits remain when it comes to exploration, level design and reading up on the world of this fictional small-town settlement, it’s as far as the game goes in injecting a sense of care or thought to what it’s offering and asking of its player. Shamelessly limping from one half-hearted implementation and excuse to pad out its run-time to the next. The killing blow undoubtedly coming by way of its PC performance. A myriad of issues big and small that will take some doing to rectify. But even then, with a lack of enemy variety, creative mission design and simply reason to stay invested or evolve from out of, its gameplay just isn’t all that fun to engage with from the off. A bare minimum effort with such scarce appeal, Redfall stands as a devoid and near-lifeless pivot away from the standard we’ve come to expect from Arkane Studios.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Arcade: Wrath of the Mutants is a decent addition to the collection of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles games. It succeeds by playing it safe. The two original arcade games are regarded as great arcade brawlers in addition to being some of the better Turtles games, and the gameplay of Wrath of the Mutants is heavily patterned after Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Turtles in Time. Fans of the franchise and genre will undoubtedly enjoy playing through the game once or twice, but outside of collecting all the trophies, there isn't much incentive for repeated playthroughs. There are no different game modes, no collectibles and the only difference in difficulty levels is the number of lives. Even with the additional content, it takes only slightly more than an hour to put an end to Shredder's plans and rescue April. It's fun enough to kill some time on a boring afternoon, but even the most hardcore Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles fan would hesitate to say this game kicks some serious shell.

Hopefully, with the potential that the series holds, the following episode will focus more on Jessie and give players a much wider variety of things to do, decide and explore.

This game has personality and that elevates it to being a more memorable experience than if it was just left to the repetitive button mashing.

If you have a lot of nostalgia for Speedball 2, you’ll probably enjoy this HD remake for what it is, but those looking for a new arcade sports game should look elsewhere.

Natural Doctrine is an exhausting game. It’s punishing, unfair at times and hell-bent on funneling players through a narrow corridor that leaves little-to-no room for tactical experimentation. That being said, it has its moments.

Virtual reality is an incredibly exciting technology. Unfortunately, The Assembly follows safely along the path of other VR games with a functional, but absolutely cumbersome, movement scheme.

The ideas behind Loading Human: Chapter 1 are exciting, but they don’t get to shine like they should due to a weird control scheme and ineffective acting.

Fairytale Fights is not a game that’s going to revolutionize the genre. It is, however, a very fun, unique, and beefy (15-20 hours of gameplay) game that’s fun to tear through.

While Monopoly for Nintendo Switch doesn’t feel like a big enhancement of the three-year-old iteration that came before, the flexibility of options it retains does incentivize those initially put off by the game’s infamously, never-ending demeanor. Unfortunately the questionable frame-rate levels, wonky online experience, not to mention the plague of lengthy load times one can suffer through at unknown times, ultimately stop the game far short of being considered an essential Switch library addition. Charming and surprisingly effective moreso with its strategic elements it might be, the issues present will require anyone going into this to be just that bit more wary.

If you grew up racing RC cars, then you might want to give HTR+ a chance. Otherwise, existing games in the genre will probably scratch the itch for you.

There are much better puzzlers on the 3DS eShop than Bit Boy!! Arcade, so you’re better off skipping this flawed endeavor unless you really want to hear a red, cherub-faced cube talk like a serial killer.

Fallout 76 tried to take the series in a new direction, and while Bethesda has done great things with the franchise in the past, this ultimately feels like a misstep. Fallout has always excelled as a single player experience, so hopefully we can see a proper Fallout 5 in the near future.

Deadfall Adventures rises above its issues and somehow becomes an average bit of adventuring, and while that may not do it any favors during a crazy-busy holiday season, it’s still not a bad way to blow off a couple night’s gaming.

The Revenant Prince is as far from joyous as one can get, resulting in one of the most frustrating, tedious and downright awfully cobbled-together RPGs to release in recent years.

Lord of Arcana has got more problems than being a clone of a better game can account for. It's boring, repetitive, tedious, and only rarely fun.

Eat Lead The Return of Matt Hazard does a good job of creating a cohesive universe. However, the game play is so poorly executed that even its best moments are not worth the time.