Dynasty Warriors 8 is a shockingly great game that offers an incredible amount of value in bringing a dramatized piece of history to the masses in very creative ways.

Bubble Bobble 4 Friends is the best-playing entry in the long-running series. If you’ve ever enjoyed a Bubble Bobble game, you owe it to yourself to give it a shot. The gameplay is faster-paced and tighter than ever before and it looks fantastic in either handheld mode or on TV. The core formula has been tweaked to include more puzzles and boss battles, but the root of the game remains intact. The end result is a classic-feeling, user-friendly game that isn’t bogged down by a lot of the clunkiness of games of the original’s era.

Rogue Stormers can be easily saved with some tuning from the developer, and considering how hard the people at Black Forest work, it probably will come around. In the meantime, it is not fun storming this castle.

While the ability to injure the other team by ripping a guy’s helmet off and beating him with it is attractive, it comes at the expense of the core gameplay.

Icon is a fun ride, but it's got some pretty deep shoes to fill. It is fun and the music features are pretty cool, so give it a look. [Apr 2007, p.46]

MotoGP 17 is a game that looks great on paper, but only manages to do enough to please the hardcore fan of the series.

Battleborn has done what I would have previously thought was impossible: it has kept me interested in its multiplayer. I typically grow bored with adversarial multiplayer after about an hour or two, yet I have spent so much time with this title already and want to keep going.

Cognition: Episode 2 fails to live up to the standards of Episode 1, which wasn’t exactly a lofty bar to aim for in the first place.

Don’t Stop Believin’ feels stretched out, but ultimately plays out as an enjoyable finale filled with humor and heart. If this does end up being the final appearance of Telltale’s take on the Guardians of the Galaxy, it’ll be reassuring to know that the season ended on a high note (in more ways than one), while still leaving an open door for the dysfunctional space family to return in the future.

If it can escape expectations, Runers will easily become a title with a devoted following.

Simple as it may be, Alien Breed isn’t unenjoyable. It’s a bit easy and straightforward, sure, but it’s also a very good update of an Amiga classic. You run through corridors, shoot everything that moves, pick up all the goodies, then make a run for the exit to do it all over again. There’s no denying that Alien Breed is pretty mindless, but sometimes a bit of brain-dead xenomorph extermination is a nice way to kill an hour.

Kromaia is by no means a perfect game, but the action at its heart has an excellent flow.

Technical issues aside, there’s little to argue against Yooka-Laylee doing a fine job identifying just what makes 3D platformers such a joy to invest in aesthetically.

All gripes aside, I’ve had less fun with games that were full price. This is a 2-on-2 arcade basketball game with some replay value for $20. NBA Playgrounds attracts you on the surface but brings a different yet inconsistent experience to the table that somehow still manages to be fun. Leveling up player cards and playing as legends while landing some awesome dunks are the main attractions. There’s enough nostalgia combined with an entertaining aesthetic to make NBA Playgrounds worth a look for basketball fans.

Sure, it has some flaws, namely its reliance on the same mechanics that never really change over the course of its 10 hour campaign. But even so, Strike Suit Zero: Director’s Cut still manages to pull off a fun experience that blends action-arcade and simulation just enough to please both crowds.

Most importantly, Space Giraffe is pure addictive fun, constantly demanding one more round as the pulsing light melts your eyes out of their sockets. [Oct 2007, p.66]

Like the new DOOM games, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine - Master Crafted Edition is pure, violent fun that focuses on gameplay and graphics. The revamp maintains what made the original fantastic, without sacrificing its identity and love for the Warhammer 40K franchise. There’s enough to keep longtime fans and new fans satisfied with the overall game, so if players are willing to overlook the minuscule issues and the unfortunately short campaign, they’re in for a blast. Now, grab a weapon and get out there, Space Marines. For the Emperor.

Much like a jalopy can become a classic, Arrrowhead has beautifully restored Gauntlet to its former glory and made it something you’ll be proud to take a spin in. Ride on, Gauntlet fans.

Perhaps Batman: The Telltale Series’ greatest flaw is inconsistency; playing each episode separately can make some of the weaknesses of the lesser episodes, like technical issues and poor pacing, more apparent in a way that most other Telltale series do not suffer from. But, for players who can dive into the full series all at once, Telltale’s Batman easily stands strong as one of the Dark Knight’s greatest video game outings, providing a gripping tale that clearly separates itself from a standard Batman affair.

Hatoful Boyfriend is not a genuine comedic venture, it’s just a ridiculous idea turned purposely bad game. Charging money for it is just wrong, even if it is the best pigeon dating simulator on the planet.

The cyberpunk world of The Ascent seems dazzling on the surface, but much like your standard cyberpunk world, the grime underneath all of the neon and futuristic landscapes ends up revealing a hefty mess once you go exploring it. The top-down shooter gameplay is fun on a basic level, but quickly becomes monotonous as it drags on in order to keep up with the RPG-styled length and ambitions, while the RPG side of things has a good story and some nifty gameplay tweaks, but its desire to keep the gameplay focus on being a top-down shooter means that any potential when it comes to depth and variety is never fully realized. If you’re a die-hard cyberpunk fan, don’t mind a lot of repetition or have friends to join along, there can be fun here as you ascend, but the rest might be better skipping the trip up.

Despite my many hangups with this collection, you can still have heaps of fun. The game is compelling as you set traps for your opponents, cast spell cards to improve your monster's ATK and DEF, and tribute your current beasts for stronger cards like the Blue Eyes White Dragon (which is also in Legacy of the Duelist). Playing Yu-Gi-Oh! World Championships 2004 sent a wave of nostalgia towards me, and if I had a Switch copy of this collection, I'd be playing it for hours, lying on my couch, just like my childhood. It's just a shame that this collection failed to modernize the classic games with better UI. The lack of save states is also frustrating, and the selection of games on offer may be a disappointment, especially because the Game Boy games are outdated. Also, I don't know about you, but Dungeon Dice Monsters might be the worst idea for the series, and that's unfortunately part of this collection rather than something like Duelists of the Roses. It's probably best to ignore this collection and check out the more recent Master Duel instead if you're not affected by nostalgia.

My Hero One’s Justice 2 continues the franchise’s trend of bizarre naming and sub-par story modes, but greatly improves on other aspects of the original. Combat pacing is faster thanks to an increase in mobility on the ground and in the air, while the mission mode has been greatly improved to add some RPG-esque mechanics to the core combat. Fans of the show looking for a way to recreate its action in game form will be satisfied, but due to its mid-season runthrough of storylines, the games remain a poor way for new fans of the series to be made. Still, if you don’t care about the plot and just want a great arena brawler, this is a good one to pickup for non-fans of the series as the bright character-based action helps transcend genres.

Juiced 2 is a nice change from the hardcore, but ascetic, sims you might be used to. This one manages to find a nice mix between the two extremes while remaining fun. [Nov 2007, p.54]

Germinator doesn’t do a lot new, but everything it does is done really well. It uses the basic framework of a Bust-A-Move game and tweaks it to craft the most addictive puzzle game I’ve played this generation.

Kromaia Omega is a giant hyper-saturated burst of color, speed and heavy firepower, as stylish as it can be difficult, and it’s impossible not to forgive a few questionable design elements when the enemies are swarming and the action takes off.

It might not break any new ground, but those looking for an old school shooter should take a look at this title, which is well worth the asking price of ten bucks.

The Silver Case was a seminal example of an incredibly influential game creator’s early days while he is finding his creative footing. It still remains a flawed, but genius, masterwork.