Every Vita owner needs to experience Murasaki Baby. By creating a personal and engaging story, all while wrapping it in a hypnotically original art design, Ovosonico have gone where most other developers fear to tread.

Much like its predecessor, Magicka 2 is a flawed game whose faults generally contribute to its charm. There’s something wonderfully engaging about a game that knows exactly what it is, doesn’t try to be anything more, and succeeds on nearly all fronts.

Outcast - A New Beginning is an excellent sequel with a lot of great gameplay elements that go a long way to make up for its need for further polish. Bugs are common, from an outpost with the robots stuck in the floor to breakable helidium crystals floating several feet above the ground they should be poking out of, and the conversation trees are in desperate need of re-ordering. Despite this, though, it's almost impossible to resist seeing what the next villager is up to and their relation to the rest of the world, following the dialogue and fishing out quests as an excuse to see and do more. The world is also beautifully designed, with each village having its own architecture and style while the world map is covered in points of interest and different biomes, providing gorgeous views from just about any spot in the landscape. Combat is also great fun, especially when stumbling on a particularly effective gun combination or figuring out how the latest upgrade fits into the flow of the next hostile encounter. It took over twenty-four years for Cutter Slade to return to Adelpha, but the wait has paid off with an epic adventure on an alien world.

Strand is fabulous, some of the campaign missions are truly masterful, and the game remains genuinely fun, but these can’t offset Destiny 2: Lightfall’s shortcomings. Destiny 2: Lightfall is just another filler expansion on the pathway to the final showdown.

I couldn’t be more disappointed in how Star Ocean: The Divine Force turned out, to the point I’d rather go back and replay tri-Ace’s Infinite Undiscovery. You can take solace that The Divine Force is at least better than Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness as there are moments of intrigue, but they’re overshadowed by how severely underwhelming the overall package ended up.

Earth Defense Force 2017 is the action game equivalent of potato chips: no nutritional value, but tasty nonetheless. [May 2007, p.61]

Anyone looking to get into the Deception series should do so with The Nightmare Princess, it’s as a top-notch game and one destined to be a cult classic down the line.

New players should choose Re;Birth over the PS3 original, while fans who haven’t yet worn out on the series’ charm should jump back in. The new Plan system and revamped battles make Re;Birth a much better game than its predecessor.

It’s undeniably fun to bolt together some sort of “airplane”-looking thing and watch it crash and burn, but once the novelty of failed construction wears off, the game doesn’t offer an easy or gradual method of entry into the decidedly non-simple world of aerodynamics and practical flight design.

One of the best-looking releases of the past few years from a technical and artistic standpoint, so heavily undermined by everything else surrounding it, The Callisto Protocol caps off 2022 with a release devoid in substance and all the more disappointing because of it.

Desync is not the worst first person shooter I have ever played, but it just doesn’t bring anything to the table to make it that worthwhile either. It does a good job at recreating how the ’80s tried to create something that looked futuristic, but this stylized homage to that decade is definitely style over substance.

While its lacking narrative and world-building comes off a missed opportunity that, despite momentary hints, never properly materializes, Hauntii and Moonloop Games' admiration and understanding of collectathon-styled adventures is what keeps this latest journey through the afterlife feeling anything but lifeless. The two-tone aesthetic and use of light-and-dark contrast, specifically in the context of level design, is where the game is at its most cleverly-orchestrated. Despite its minimalist appearance, this is a game whose subtle suggestions to maybe venture off the beaten path now and again is never too far away. Complimented along the way by a possession-based mechanic that plays host to challenges, mini-games and even a couple of set-pieces providing just the right amount of variety. It may not go down as the most memorable or indeed the most fulfilling example of its genre or indeed this style of game, but Hauntii still proves that even flawed creations can still bear a welcome level of enjoyment.

When the layers of the experience are peeled back, what we’re left with at Arcadias‘ core is a sluggish brawling RPG that can sometimes lack the kind of gameplay merit needed for sustainability beyond a handful of hours.

Octodad succeeds as both a gut-busting slapstick routine and a touching treatise on what it means to be a family. It’s a little short, and it won’t turn the gaming world on its head, but at least it’s fun, replayable, heartwarming and didn’t cost 15 million dollars.

At the very least, it earns points for its attempts to make the most out of this subgenre thanks to its unique hook in the way they achieved their setting and some fine acting, but much like the titular bunker itself, a lot of it does sadly feel a bit empty after a bit.

tar Fox Zero is a good game to play and it’s one many will get stuck into through some frantic attempt to rack up an even greater high score. Just don’t be surprised if that franticness ceases short of what you may have initially come to expect.

If you go into Dynasty Warriors 8 Xtreme Legends Complete Edition knowing that it’s just a slightly better looking port, you’ll have a blast with its addictive mindless button mashing mechanics.

I did have a good time with SNK Arcade Classics Vol. 1; despite some emulation issues and some poorly chosen extras, it's still an excellent value and will bring back memories of the good old days.

So how does Cryostasis: Sleep of Reason stack up? With mediocre horror themes, poor level design, and a poor story all muddled with poor stability, this is one game you wont miss playing.

With dozens of levels to try out and a lot of replay value thanks to the three-starred system, Furmins is an easy recommendation if you grew up loving Lemmings or the Incredible Machines (or if you just dig a good physics puzzler).

While this is a relatively weak episode in the Minecraft: Story Mode world, it isn’t the worst episode and with the addition of the new characters, it will be enjoyable for fans and players alike.

Rifter is a fantastic neon-synth action platformer with a gorgeous, distinctive style and a rewarding challenge. It can be a bit merciless at times, especially when chasing after success on the bonus levels, but the tools to win are available even if they can be a bit tricky to access sometimes. You’ll need to bring your A game to wring the most from Rifter, and the reward is a lightning-fast 2D adventure that sees frustration turn to a satisfying mastery as one goal after another eventually falls to a combination of persistence and growing skill.

Metamorphosis manages to whip up an impressive tribute to Franz Kafka in its quick story thanks to its offbeat sense of humor, style and eye-catching world. It’s just a shame that the game flounders when it comes to figuring out how merge together the various gameplay aspects needed to keep going in this tale of transformation. Still, it does have enjoyable platforming and a few surprises here and there, so if you have about three to four hours to kill, this is a crash course in abridged Kafka worth checking out.

The game does control well, but it’s an eyesore with low-end textures that would be more at home on a PS2 launch title than a new release in 2020. Thankfully, it does sound great with strong voice work from the newest Transformers series cast and its soundtrack gets the blood pumping when needed.

Millennia is an interesting, if flawed, take on the civilization-like experience that could be so much more with polish and time taken to it. It’s worth experiencing if you like these types of games, but it’s not going to revolutionize the genre, or dethrone Civilization anytime soon. With some polish and the right updates, it can get better, but for now it's a good, but flawed experience.

Shuten Order is a fantastic text adventure that truly sets itself apart from the crowd with its brilliant use of multiple routes to create the complete story. Other than some technical issues that hold the game back, it’s an impressive feat that shows how the Too Kyo team knows very well how to tell compelling stories.

During the later stages of Knack II, the titular hero says, “We all make mistakes. What matters is what you do next.” Knack II addresses some of the previous title’s mistakes, pushing forward the combat depth and enhancing the satisfying loop of gradually overpowering the world around the player through size management. Unfortunately too many of the past mistakes remain, including an unapologetically bland story and presentation, to have Knack’s return be justified to anyone but young players or dedicated 3D platformer fans.

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.