It’s a silly game with an equally-silly concept, but Nintendo somehow does just enough to make it work, if not excel.

Despite its minor disappointments, I enjoyed White Wolf a lot, and it's clear that the developers at Her Interactive really know how to integrate story and gameplay and create a smooth production. [Sept 2007, p.63]

Bowser Jr’s Journey is easy to overlook and it’s a shame it wasn’t a more thought-out experience that could have been enjoyable given a good shake up instead of just being a glorified mobile title. There’s a lot of things done right here, but also some missed opportunities that could have been better executed overall. Anyone who wants to dive back into the Mario & Luigi RPG series will likely enjoy their time with Bowser’s Inside Story, but it’s an extremely relaxed experience that won’t be too memorable outside lots of chortles along the way.

The atmosphere and bits of story can easily help keep one hooked to it, so you may want to give this one a chance if you’re up for a good puzzler. Just don’t blame yourself if you pull the occasional hair out because your character has a lead foot.

Lords of Shadow has incredible production values and an astonishing length for a character action title, but not only is it far too late to the party, but dapened by uninspiring combat.

Refreshing if sadly not as fleshed out as one would wish, The Last Hero of Nostalgaia does still provide enough of a charm and a challenge alike for Souls veterans looking for a new take on the formula.

Much like the hero himself, The Knightling might seem small and unimportant, but it can produce great results when it needs to. Exploring the colorful environments is an enjoyable time. There's a ton to see and do and the game invites players to make the most of everything it has to offer. It can be challenging, but it's never frustrating. The light puzzles break up the combat and exploration, and the combat allows the player to find solutions to encounters that fit their preferred play style. Traversal is the true star of the show, especially after all of the abilities have been unlocked. Putting together strings of moves to zip across a region is extremely satisfying. It all comes together to create an action platformer that isn't flawless, but proudly owns its B-tier status. And it should be proud.

Forgive its flaws, though, and there’s a lengthy — albeit dialogue heavy — adventure worth its weight in nuts and bolts.

There is depth and relevance to The Political Machine 2016’s gameplay and content. It’s easy to pick up and play and whether you take it seriously and really play to win or approach it with less reverence, the game will accommodate you. Because it is so tied to the issues and candidates of the moment, it is both amusing and instructive, but probably not something you’ll want to revisit after next November.

If you do any type of eSports racing or are a long time fan of racing in general, Circuit Superstars is worth a look. If you enjoyed the classic games of racing’s past such as RC Pro Am and the like, then this will be right up your alley. While the Grand Prix is fine for single player, it’s going to take devoted effort to learn the game and the tracks. It lacks the hook and appeal of Mario Kart, which makes Circuit Superstars less inviting to spend hours on learning everything. This is a fun racing game to play with friends with the same light-hearted approach the developers had when creating the game. For $19.99, this is a great good option to have in your arsenal when friends come over.

Is Rocksmith+ the perfect substitute for guitar lessons? Absolutely not, but it is a good tool for learning some techniques and songs. The comprehensive library of video lessons covers a wide variety of techniques; from beginner to advanced, to whatever technique a player is struggling with, there's a video to help show them the way to improve. Unfortunately, unlike actual lessons, the videos are one-way communications, so there's no constructive feedback to cater to the individual's needs. The song library numbers in the thousands, and while there's likely something for everyone, many favorites are omitted. Even with its limitations, however, video instruction can be an effective means to learning an instrument. Rocksmith+ does have all these limitations, but with its vast song library and comprehensive video lessons, it is one of the better options for learning how to play guitar without taking actual lessons.

Birushana: Winds of Fate is an interesting follow-up to the original story, adding a healthy dose of romance, comedy and drama to bring more endearing moments with the characters. As the game only does a quick recap of events, it’s hard to recommend for those who haven’t actually played through the original. Players coming back for more, however, will find it offers legitimate reasons to dive again into this world of samurai conflict.

Toukiden: Kiwami is a great entry in the PlayStation 4’s catalog, specifically due to the lack of its genre’s presence on the machine.

It may sound like I’m being tough on Onimusha: Warlords, but it’s still a solid experience with entertaining mechanics; just don’t go in expecting a whole lot.

Despite being a bit basic in its presentation, Aegis Wing is a fun shooter for any group that can work together. [Sept 2007, p.69]

While Asteroids: Recharged is a decent update of the classic game and is a welcome return for the series, it’s also not as effective at tugging on the nostalgia strings as the previous Recharged games. Asteroids as a formula is well-traveled ground, and it’s hard not to miss the long-gone Spheres of Chaos while playing. It’s a good update to the game with all the same features and pitfalls of the others in the Recharged series (three games in and the leaderboards still need a way to scan through them rather than be stuck seeing just your own score and those around it) but there’s a lot more “been there, done that better” going on here. Ignoring that for the sake of focusing on just Asteroids: Recharged, though, it’s great to see the series live again as a nice bite-sized snack of classic shooting action.

The Star Named EOS delivers on creating a world basking in colorful delight, but is shadowed by a lack of gameplay direction. For those who don’t mind the look past that, the game is sure to please those who love an atmospheric experience within the world. With captivating music and animation, The Star Named EOS brings forth a story that's told through its character and design.

Nearly a decade on, Teslagrad 2 strides into view where the original left off, with a modest but still entertaining palette of magnetism-based gameplay and precision-platforming alike. A justifiable approach from Rain Games in parts given how easy it is to grapple with, though one that isn’t as bold and surprising a second time round — lacking the broader creativity a sequel of its nature could have and should have brought. Curious in many ways, when it comes to applying one’s abilities. In others, a game whose short run-time and lacking narrative sadly isn’t offset by a more memorable and meatier world to explore. Short on meaningful exploration it may be, however, a focus once more on the intrigue of its mechanics, one that helped the original shine all those years ago, in similar fashion helps Teslagrad 2 establish itself as that of a solid, though flawed, follow-up.

Number One Hits has a few things going for it and is worth picking up if you own the original Lips, but ultimately falls short at being the must have karaoke game.

At its core, the overall gameday feel and experience is largely unchanged. There are enough mild changes here to sway your eyes enough away from that aspect.

Fortunately, where Darktide shines the brightest is in its gameplay, as the combat is highly engaging, and the soundtrack is groundbreaking. Even though a good deal of maps lack variety, Fatshark still captures 40k’s atmosphere perfectly, creating a compelling, depressing world to shoot and slash your way through. While combat feels better than, say, Vermintide, everything else about the experience is a step backwards in its current state. At the end of the day, Warhammer 40,000: Darktide is a highly-addicting mess that we can’t put down.

After everything is said and done, Infamous: First Light is a solid standalone expansion to a great game, but because there weren’t any risks taken, it ends up being an uninspired adventure.

Perhaps with future content updates and tweaking, Free Lives can elevate Broforce from the good game it is to the great game it can be.

Mass Effect: Andromeda is an unbalanced experience. It’s an incredibly ambitious game with a colossal scope, but it doesn’t always hit the right notes.

Overall, Ghostbusters: Spirits Unleashed is a well-crafted game that has a lot of polish and a ton of quality content to enjoy. Each stage is large and full of different things to do no matter what kind of playstyle you prefer. There are many different roles to play whether you’re a ghostbuster or a ghost and the core framework of both roles offers a variety of mayhem to either solve or create. Changing up how you play each role is easy with upgrade chains and skill trees and it’s got a generous leveling up system as well to minimize grinding. It’s a good-looking game with room for improvement when it comes to reflections, but nails the sound design perfectly for a team-based Ghostbusters adventure.

Noby Noby Boy is weird, but that's ok. Less game than activity, there's no point other than what you decide there ought to be. [Summer 2009]

It’s a simple, basic, kid-friendly RPG that has a few good tricks up its sleeves, and makes a nice round of gaming even for experienced players when they just don’t want to think too hard.

Ride has far more good points than bad. As a motorcycle racer, it’s exciting and manages to stand out in a fairly crowded market. As a sim racing game, it’s accessible and plays like a dream right away.