The Red Star is an amazing game; it's fast, fun, and loaded with variety. [July 2007, p.52]

Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origins re-imagines the earliest Final Fantasy in a manner befitting of a popcorn action film and for the most part succeeds. The story is an interesting re-interpretation of the Warriors of Light even if there are a few elements that seem nonsensical and shoehorned in. Like most things involving a timeloop, it’s just better for one’s sanity not to contemplate the finer points of the story too much. A lot of the story wants to be taken seriously, but Jack’s over-the-top obsession with killing Chaos brings the overall tone into comedic territory. The gameplay is frenetic action with several difficulty options to make it accessible to newcomers and challenging to veterans of the genre. Approaching Stranger of Paradise with any sort of expectations of what a Final Fantasy game should be will likely lead to disappointment. When viewed through the lens of a campy B-movie, however, killing Chaos can be a thrill.

Papo & Yo's story is powerful and riveting. The puzzles aren't numerous, but are highly imaginative, proving a puzzle game should never have to recycle material.

With a solid fighting engine, plenty of room for customization, a copious offering of modes, delightfully oldschool graphics and sound and some solid controls, Battle Grounds is a game that should be played by anyone who loves nostalgic beat’em ups, especially ones that are very stylized and very Japanese.

If you’re up for an artistically ambitious puzzle game and don’t mind getting lost in the stages (literally), Qbeh-1: The Atlas Cube will mesmerize you the whole way through.

50 Pinch Barrage!! is a textbook example of archaic design and control; even at a budget price, this isn’t worth your hard-earned cash.

Amnesia: Memories has a great many strengths which include its fantastic visuals, high quality voice acting and tremendous replay value.

Minecraft: Story Mode – Episode 5: Order Up! shapes up to be an incredible introduction to the Order of the Stone’s newest adventures, but still manages to fall a little short.

Mutant Football League: Dynasty Edition is a respectable spiritual successor to a legendary game. Yes, technically Dynasty Edition is added DLC, but it is the first to come out on a physical format and also on the Nintendo Switch. Even though the football action is a 1-to-1 representation of NFL Blitz, the strategy involved from the Dirty Tricks and field traps add a deeper and strategic experience to football. The Dynasty Mode is a worthy edition as has enough elements to make it stand out on its own. For $29.99, the package that is here is worth the price for a football fan of any level. Football nerds will all enjoy the name and team parodies where casual football fans will enjoy the action and comedy on the field.

An excellent collection for tactical RPG fans. The genre can often be pigeon-holed into being full of FFT clones, but both included games here manage to nicely stand out both from that series and NIS America’s own Disgaea. With a variety of tones offered up in each game, they each help scratch the itch for SRPG fans while also working for those wanting a more serious experience in Soul Nomad or who want to kick back with a light-hearted tale with Phantom Brave. Both games are fun to play, but it’s a shame more wasn’t done to help the visuals out as both do suffer from blurry character sprites that clash against the backgrounds that actually did get more work done for modern-day displays.

Pupperazzi immediately impresses with its adorable dogs bounding across a variety of colorful levels. Once digging into the game, it’s clear that there isn’t too much beyond the basic concept of collecting adorable photographs. Sure, there are ways to tweak the photos via lenses and filters, but there’s not much beyond that. With that said, there doesn’t need to be more to it. Pupperazzi is exactly the kind of game designed for players to unwind with after a stressful day. It demands little from the player and offers copious cartoony cuteness in response.

Considering that past Sonic collections offered more games for less money, it’s hard to say that this one is worth it. Ultimately, Sonic Origins is a well-polished wrapper for old games that were, until recently, available at much lower prices. Unless one is a real super fan, this is a collection that’s better-grabbed on sale.

Yooka-Replaylee is a bright and upbeat platformer-adventure starring a pair of fun and likable characters, so it's hard to complain too much about it being overly referential. Each level is a platforming playground with mini-games, a boss encounter, unique challenges to help keep the returning ones fresh and a reasonable play-time to completion. The move-set isn't huge, but they're all effective, making navigating the world feel smooth and responsive. Thematically it's a bit all over the place and skews young for its humor and difficulty, but neither of these take away from the satisfaction of Yooka-Replaylee giving constant rewards for looking in odd places. If there's an interesting spot in the level then there's something there to collect, and more often than not the reward is an item worth the effort of the search. That's exactly how a collectathon platformer is supposed to work, and whether a game is twenty-seven years old or just a couple of days, the formula is timeless.

It is a definite step back from The Dark Descent, but even several steps back makes this better than almost any other horror game released in the past decade.

Black The Fall isn’t exactly revolutionary when it comes to the world of atmospheric platformers, but it still excels in what it sets out to do. It paints a frightening image of a land deep in the grip of Communism back in the day, but never sacrifices enjoyment in order to get its message out. The visual style is striking and eye-catching, the puzzles are well-crafted and put up a perfect challenge, and everything controls almost perfectly. It’s an impressive piece of work with a lot of heart put into it, and the end result is a brutal but beautiful bit of platforming that comes highly recommended. Indeed, it did end up having the same quality as its peers after all, and can proudly stand beside them.

While a murder mystery survival scenario may not be the most unique concept ever made, Yurukill manages to twist things on its head by going all in to make one of the most unique Visual Novel experiences. Even the SHMUP sections don’t feel unforgiving with multiple difficulty options that allow players to make things as easy or challenging as they’d like. The characters are all endearing in one way or another, and the story keeps being invested with every group and wanting to see just how everything will tie together in the very end. Whether people survive or struggle to make it is up to them and putting the pieces together correctly. Yurukill: The Calumination Games is well worth playing for those who love the mystery that awaits even if they’re hesitant about taking flight and shooting down enemies.

What could have been the definitive entry in the Assassin’s Creed series is actually the definitive example as to why releasing an unfinished product is always a bad call.

Regicide can make players feel far more capable than chess allows, but also occasionally powerless. Those who find comfort and excitement in Regicide’s middle ground, though, will have the joy of experiencing the strategic depth and twists its scrutinized balance and flexibility can offer.

Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince forgoes complexity in favor of creating an accessible and enjoyable gaming experience. The basic story and one dimensional NPCs could be a turn off for those looking for a story-rich RPG, as those seeking a grand story with a complex battle system won’t find them here. Capturing and synthesizing new monsters, however, is a simple pleasure that can easily generate dozens of hours worth of enjoyment from this title. Fans of Dragon Quest IV will likely be sold on seeing an origin story for Psaro and revisiting the world of Dragon Quest IV from an alternative perspective. As a fan of Dragon Quest it was easy to overlook the shortcomings and just enjoy monster wrangling, but those less invested in Dragon Quest may be less forgiving with the basic plot and simple gameplay.

Forced is a gleeful return to form for cooperative play and a nuanced single-player adventure with trials you’ll be scratching your head over for days. It can become needlessly difficult and frustrating at times, but in the end you’ll feel all the better for sticking with it.

Space Hulk: Ascension Edition is the more complete and refined version of 2013’s title bearing the same namesake.

Dream Daddy: A Dad Dating Simulator has ample promise and a lot of heart, but wasn’t given enough time to grow. Most of the dads are lovely to get to know and worth dating. Players want to spend more time with these guys, but only get three relatively brief dates to whet their appetite. Then there’s the fact that it doesn’t yet feel finished due to a fair share of typographical issues, mishmash of art styles and the amount of gameplay bugs still impacting the experience. Once patches go out these latter issues should be resolved, but nothing short of DLC or a sequel will bring players more time with the cast of dads who simply weren’t given enough time in the spotlight to really shine.

The game is not without some technical issues, with crash bugs and UI glitches needing to be addressed, but for anyone still invested in The Sims — or curious to see how the game has evolved since 2014 — this expansion is worth picking up.

So, players with a strong sense of patience and more forgiveness than should be required in their souls should check this out. There are jewels among the rubble of this tower.

Destiny: Rise of Iron is a big step back from The Taken King. While The Taken King was willing to push Destiny forward with brand new ideas, features, and a ton of new content, Rise of Iron is perfectly fine with recycling what has been run into the ground.

Warriors Orochi 4 is successful in maintaining the essence of the series while introducing new gameplay mechanics, making it a definite step in the right direction for the evolution of the series.

While it ends up stumbling in a few areas and can use a patch or two, Fall of Porcupine still succeeds when it comes to delivering an enjoyable story that sheds light on all sorts of struggles that health care workers face, while still providing several doses of fun gameplay and a nice town filled with interesting and unique characters to interact with. It isn’t exactly something that’s on the level of a miracle cure, but if you’re looking for a good, quick graphic adventure game, it has what will ail you.

While Megaton Rainfall may have bitten off more than it can chew in regards to the stage it takes place on, the alien-fighting action is a fantastic spectacle. Buildings crumble dynamically, shockwaves ripple the earth, zippy little enemies fly out of massive motherships and I even failed a mission once when a laser cut the entire planet in half. The enemies are constantly changing, with new ones showing up all the way to the final mission, and while there are only nine missions total each one is memorable. The only truly weak part is the story, which left me hoping there’s an alternate ending somewhere I haven’t seen yet. With the size of the universe away from Earth it’s hard to imagine that all the action is focused on one little globe circling a yellow star on the outside of an arm of a pretty galaxy. More likely, though, it’s the mark of a good game that, when the fighting is done and all that’s left is score attack and Hard mode, it still leaves you wanting another epic battle against the destructive alien threat.