Marvel MaXimum Collection gathers a sizable selection of 90s Marvel games into one package, offering both genuine arcade highlights and titles best remembered as curiosities. While the collection shines brightest with classics like X-Men: The Arcade Game, uneven quality and limited bonus content keep it from matching the very best retro compilations.

This is probably the cutest game that I have ever experienced.

Henry Halfhead is essentially a semi-open playground that rewards curiosity and ingenuity. It works best for children as the tasks are not very difficult or demanding. At first, playing with everything seemed refreshing, but the idea quickly became boring. The end result is a warm, playful but not very memorable puzzle game.

X-Out: Resurfaced comes close to hitting the mark but doesn't quite make it. It stays true to its era and is overall a solid shooter, offering a refreshing experience that stands out both in gameplay and audiovisual presentation. However, its punishing difficulty level inevitably pushes less experienced players away, making it hard to recommend without reservations — except to fans of the original game and the most dedicated bullet-dodgers. That said, if you're feeling lucky and looking for new challenges in the realm of 2D shooters, feel free to add an extra star to the score. Once you master X-Out’s intricacies, it rewards you handsomely. Now, we can only hope that its sequel also makes its way to modern platforms for everyone to experience.

The Precinct is a peculiar case. Its roughly ten-hour campaign doesn’t offer many thrilling moments: mostly talking heads and crazy criminals. Yet, it's surprisingly enjoyable in small doses. One would have hoped Fallen Tree Games had focused more on the story and clear objectives, rather than just a day-by-day shift cycle.

Echoes of the End is hugely ambitious and often delightfully traditional in the best kind of way. It's also riddled with baffling design choices, clunky mechanics, and some truly clunky dialog. Nevertheless, it's a great calling card for a studio that will do better in the future.

Syberia - Remastered is successful re-release (especially visually) that remains faithful to the original, though it could perhaps have been refined a bit more towards a modern gameplay experience. However, in my book, the points of criticism are so minor that they don’t spoil the experience at all. On the contrary: even in its remastered form, Syberia remains one of the finest works of its genre from the 2000s. Hopefully the sequel will receive an equally polished treatment in the future, as the first game famously ends on quite a cliffhanger.

It pains me to say this, but Shadow Labyrinth feels somewhat like a relic in terms of structure, level design, and combat – one that seemingly never witnessed the birth of games like the Ori series or Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown. In principle, it offers the foundations for a solid Metroidvania and is by no means a bad game. In practice, however, many of its competitors do things significantly better, especially when it comes to art style and combat. Unfortunately, not even the occasional nods to other Bandai Namco retro titles or the random Pac-Man mazes can quite make up for this.

Deliver at all Costs is a light-hearted, isometric driving game that simulates the trials and tribulations of package delivery. Players step into the shoes of Winston, a driver for WeDeliver. The game's narrative is largely forgettable, with its strengths lying in its humorous take on delivery routes, car upgrades, and the comedic interactions with customers whose property you might accidentally demolish. While the jazzy soundtrack and destructible environments are enjoyable, the game offers little challenge, providing unlimited attempts and moving checkpoints, making it overly easy. Collecting in-game currency and blueprints for car parts, which offer minor humorous upgrades, is not particularly motivating due to the lack of difficulty. Despite its charming cartoonish graphics and overall pleasant aesthetic, the game's simple mechanics and repetitive nature make it best suited for short play sessions, appealing to those seeking a laid-back, humorous delivery simulation.

Aphelion is a fascinating and visually stunning adventure that has some of the best audio work that I've ever witnessed. Gameplay-wise it is quite simplistic – and that may drive some people away.

The unique co-op approach captures the edgy feel of Control, but still offers only a sloppy experience.

The sequel to the legendary Bloodlines disappoints expectations, even though it constitutes a functional, narrative action game.

Lost Soul Aside is a particularly frustrating case. Yang Bing and his team have managed to create flashy and quite fun action game full of mostly well-designed boss fights, nice graphics and great music. But nearly everything else around it is so hollow and tedious that it was hard to muster the energy to see it through to the end. And I apologize for nitpicking about the price, but when a game drains roughly 70 euros from your wallet, certain aspects really should be in a much better state.

Wreckreation tries to bring Burnout back to life, but it lacks the things that made Burnout fun in the first place.

Bye Sweet Carole is a very frustrating gaming experience. The adventure is really beautiful, but the impressive appearance alone cannot save the game. The clumsy controls, the back and forth trotting and running away from monsters cause ultimate irritation, so it doesn't matter how beautiful the adventure looks. The thing would work better as a movie: Bye Sweet Carole is nice to watch, but not to play.

Swery and Suda together! What could possibly go wrong? Well, unfortunately, quite a lot of things. It’s just a true shame that personality and horror movie references alone doesn’t make for a good gameplay experience. Maybe masochists and roguelite veterans will get more out of this, but for me it fell disappointingly flat. Here’s hoping that Suda’s next epic will deliver on its promises better next year.

RENNSPORT promises much but delivers very little. A competent driving experience is ultimately ruined by several technical problems and general lack of passion towards racing.

Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour is an interactive introduction to the new console’s features - the concept is fun and very Nintendo, but the execution feels dull at times, making the experience feel like doing chores.

Sacred 2 Remaster is an updated version of the nearly 20-year-old action RPG. It suffers from severe technical issues despite only modest improvements to controls and visuals. While the game still offers a vast world, countless quests, and the familiar loop of battling monsters and collecting loot, the remaster is plagued by bugs, missing tutorials, confusing mechanics, and the removal of multiplayer. Frequent glitches affect quests, inventory management, and trophies, leaving players frustrated even after multiple patches. Despite moments of enjoyment in its monster-slaying grind, the remaster cannot yet be recommended due to its instability.

I thought for a long time on how to rate this release. From a preservation perspective, Glover is an interesting case indeed, but as a remaster, it barely deserves two stars. However: when the game works and the level design shines (rarely), it does have some fun moments and quirky ideas. The music is also quite catchy in many places, so it's not a completely hopeless case. Nevertheless, Glover would've needed a lot more work to make it more appealing and relevant for younger generations.

Ambulance Life: A Paramedic Simulator is pretty mediocre title. There are some realistic puzzles which keep you occupied for a while. However, don't expect to be driving around with an excessive sense of speed, where you're rushing through the city and saving the patient's life with heroic actions, defying dangers. It's not that.

MindsEye is still not a good game. It has received several fixes after the release and now it is at least playable. But the story, gameplay... Everything screams mediocrity. The driving is fun though.

Without a Dawn feels down-to-earth, even small-scale compared to Makkonen's previous games, but at the same time it's a truly heavy experience. The visual novel takes you straight into darkness, both literally and figuratively.

Kvark is an old-school shooter that pays homage to Half-Life, but doesn't bring anything new to the genre. While it successfully captures the aesthetics and design quirks of turn-of-millennium games, its low-resolution textures, clunky enemy models, and frustrating gameplay mechanics make it feel outdated rather than nostalgic. The story unfolds through diary entries, posters and videos with a touch of Slavic sarcasm, but ultimately, the repetitive action and rigid save system remind players why modern shooters have evolved past these limitations.

Despite its minor flaws, Stratogun is a minimalist, enjoyable, and visually striking arcade shooter that pushes players to their limits but rewards effort generously. It’s not the easiest game difficulty-wise, but thanks to its well-designed gameplay loop, frustration never really got the chance to set in.

Little Nightmares Enhanced Edition is the best way to experience the series' first installment. It's still a great game, even if it's a bit frustrating at times due to the difficulty spikes.

Stranded in the icy wilds with only a therapy bot for company, Arctic Awakening promises mystery and emotion but delivers frustration and bugs. There’s a great game buried in the snow, but it’s still waiting to be uncovered. Maybe the upcoming updates will help.

Earthion is an amazing shoot 'em up, that by no means revolutionizes the world, and those who are already lukewarm toward the genre may not find a new favorite here either. But it’s impossible not to appreciate how everything that Ancient and Bitwave have done radiates love and passion for the genre as well as for the Sega’s old hardware. Since the final product is simply a thoroughly well-designed and polished game with awesome soundtrack, why not reward it with five stars?