With a patch to clean up the technical issues, The Bard’s Tale: Remastered and Resnarkled would be an incredible value. It’s a classic title that too few people played when it was new, cleaned up just enough to be visually acceptable, sold at a reasonable price. The game itself will take around twenty hours to polish off, depending on the difficulty level chosen and the dedication employed for finding the stat boosting tokens. When approaching this title, I was fully expecting to sing its praises for being the unappreciated gem that it is. It this edition’s current state that cannot be done with a clean conscious. Hopefully, InXile will take the time to address the bugs. Should they do so, this would be a title worth recommending to any one with a sense of humor and a desire to play a protagonist that deserves every piece of grief he receives.

Fragile Dreams’ premise of a young boy having to fight his way through a dead and lonesome world has some weight behind it, and walking down a desolate hallway with nothing but your flashlight to guide you does have its particular merits. However, with the clunky combat, overly punishing weapon system, and hollow writing the game never really builds up any steam to keep you going.

Sure, this isn’t the broken mess that Assassin’s Creed Unity was, but in some ways it’s more of a blemish than its predecessor. After all, this is a functional game that simply isn’t all that fun to play, which is far more damning than any technical glitch could ever be.

Diehard fans of the series will get a kick out of this, but most others (including music game fans) can feel confident in skipping it over. There are both better rhythm games as well as better Senran Kagura titles available on Vita.

Those looking for a truly rewarding challenge are better off looking elsewhere.

The Mean Greens has a strong core concept, but wrapped around it is a game that feels a few major patches short of its potential. Levels are clever and gameplay modes are varied, but the shooting is imprecise and lackluster and without specializations or level incentives, there isn’t much reason to keep playing.

There’ll always be a time and a place for a game like Syberia 3. While not all of the tradition of its previous mid-2000 ventures have translated well into the modern age, Kate Walker’s third outing in this subtly steampunk universe, if sporting a few technical faults and some fairly sub-par voice acting, holds up well enough in its gameplay to warrant a playthrough. Microïds may not be looking to radically shift the formula from what came before all those years ago and while at points its controls clearly show an unpleasant age to itself, the charm of its aesthetic not to mention the design of puzzles in parts keeps Syberia 3 firmly away from the gated-off litter of games often referred to as sequels we never asked for. There may not be as huge or as lucrative a demand here, but the adventure undertaken — after fourteen years of wait for some — is a satisfactory but modest one all the same.

Bubble Bobble Sugar Dungeons tries to update the formula of the series with new ideas that are very popular in the indie sphere. While the concept is interesting, the end result is actually much more frustrating than anything else. Repetitive and artificially padded, the ideas end up not shining as bright as they should, though fun can still be found by understanding its limitations from the start.

Visual novel readers who enjoy relaxing with a slow-paced, sweet tale may find A Sky Full of Stars a worthy next read. Its astronomy-focused tale provides an unique take on the slice of life genre and provides characters who care about something other than the protagonist. Those opposed to censorship, however, will likely need to skip the game entirely to get their message across. With so many of MoeNovel’s peers taking the route of optional restoration patches, it’s becoming increasingly tougher for MoeNovel to justify their stance.

It’s a marginal enhancement over Armored Core V, but it’s enough to keep its core fanbase invested in the game. It’s just a shame the series is so unwilling to expand past it.

Ryse has an interesting dilemma. It contains a fun combat system, a fine story and beautiful visuals, yet fails to make an impact. It’s damaged by being painfully short (under six hours), linear and repetitive, the combination of which proves hard to overcome.

Cat President ~A More Purrfect Union~ gives us all a chance to step back from potential fears of the actual impending election and have a laugh at the whole process.

Overall, Rubble Without A Cause is a disappointment. The first chapter was great, but the tonal shift and structure found here just doesn’t hit the right notes.

Kirby Battle Royale is by no means a bad game overall, but it just has so little content that it barely warrants a lengthy play session, let alone a purchase. The mini-games themselves are fun and well-designed, but the overall package doesn’t do any of them justice. If you need a dose of classic Kirby action, you’d be better off waiting for the upcoming Switch game, because this is one party that you can safely skip going to.

It is hard to recommend Backbreaker since there are so many problems with it, but dig deep enough and you may find a fun gridiron game at its core.

The story is dreadful and short with no personality, charm or consistent tone. The Wasteland is vast but feels empty with repetitive side activities and large sections of the map underutilized. There’s a lot of great ideas and ambition here, but the excellent combat never quite gels together with the game’s other elements. Rage 2 kicks off with a bang of explosions and personality but ends with a whimper.

If you’re dying to play Stealth Inc. 2: A Game of Clones, you’ll certainly be able to get what you’re looking for here, but bear in mind that it’s not even close to being the definitive experience.

The daemonic theme took over far too much of the story’s focus. When coupled with technical issues, it has reinforced that The Council has lost potential written all over it. Despite the many negatives, there are positives to take away from the experience. Gameplay is engaging from start to finish, with its RPG mechanics reinventing an episodic experience. Big Bad’s multiple endings offer plenty of reason to revisit not only Checkmate, but also the first four episodes and see the different outcome from making a major choice. Once the finale is all done and dusted, either the player or Big Bad will utter one simple word depending on the final outcome of the story. That word is none other than checkmate.

While there’s intrigue to discover amongst the structure and layout of locales in Aragami 2, the sequel’s turn away from the distilled charm of its one-man stealth prior leaves more perplexed questions than convincing answers.

Her Story is a tough act to follow, and unfortunately, Telling Lies does not hit the same emotional highs that Barlow’s previous game did. Opting to use the same barebones video player both does not make sense for this storyline and introduces an annoyance that players are forced to deal with. The story is still intriguing, but not to a binge-worthy degree. Telling Lies is worth playing for Her Story fans, but can’t quite hit those same high notes despite its best efforts.

Stories: The Path of Destinies is a clear example that the framework for success can only take you so far; the execution of an awesome idea has to be there for a game to reach its true potential.

That’s kind of the crux of the problem: everything in The Charnel House Trilogy is too obvious. You see most of the scares coming a mile away, it’s super easy to see through the psychological tricks that it tries to employ and once you understand what’s going on with the train it doesn’t feel particularly ominous anymore, no matter what tone the graphics and music might otherwise set. Horror benefits from ambiguity.

Tokyo RPG Factory appears to have one goal: remind us of the Golden Years of RPGs. Unfortunately, Oninaki captures that era of gaming and does nothing remarkable with it.

The Casting of Frank Stone may be something for die-hard Dead by Daylight fans or those who truly love Supermassive's adventure games, and can even act as a good entry point for new players, but it can't help but feel like a disappointment. While the story is great and the camera mechanic is neat, the overall experience is dragged down by the likes of repetitive, bland areas and a few aggravating characters. Still, it's great to see a franchise with a lot of variety such as Dead by Daylight expand into other genres, but let's just hope that next time they bring along a lot more personality.

SUMMERHOUSE by Friedemann is a visually striking game that offers a serene building experience, perfect for players seeking a creative outlet without stringent gameplay mechanics. While it shines in its ambiance and artistic design, the game could benefit from more refined controls, clearer objectives and enhanced accessibility features. It's a game that won't necessarily consume hours of your time in one sitting, but will be a delightful escape for those who appreciate its laid-back, creative charm.

When it works, Oddworld: New ‘n’ Tasty is a beautiful, quirky, and devious puzzle platformer that deserves a spot alongside the likes of LIMBO, Another World and the original Abe’s Oddysee in the gaming canon. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work nearly often enough.

This would have been a great game for $39.99, but is very hard to recommend at $60. [July 2007, p.59]

The lack of single-player options is going to be missed by many while they look to dive back in and feel the nostalgia of the series. The soundtrack, visuals, sound design and actual gameplay are still solid but can seem dated. These aspects are still special in their own way and almost seem to add more charm to this classic fighting game. While the foundation of what makes Virtua Fighter special is still here in Virtua Fighter 5 R.E.V.O., it's still lacking in a lot of aspects. With that said, it's still a cheaper fighting game that's reliably fun and a good game to play while you wait for the newest entry in the series to make its debut. What we have here is a solid PC port of the PS4 remaster and its still a welcome addition to the PC fighting game community. This isn’t an overwhelmingly huge update and new release of the game, but rather a way to give new and old players alike a taste of the classic fighting game.