A painfully average portable that offers nothing but ugly graphics and stale gameplay.

As brief as it is shallow -- pacing the gamer through six modest levels of gameplay -- there is little to no reason for you to invest in this title.

The controls are atrocious, a definitely no-no when they're also your big hook. However, the game is not without any redeeming qualities. It really all depends on how much players are willing to pay for a game that ends up being mediocre at best.

The controls are buggy, the graphics are choppy, the sound is average and the voices will make you crawl up a wall in fear of your life.

Everything from the graphics, sound and the frame rate should have been a whole lot better, not to mention the confusing and burdensome control scheme.

Something like a trick match or dunk contest in "NBA Street" would have been far more in keeping with the team's character than a run-of-the-mill two-on-two basketball game.

Astro Boy: The Video Game is not a bad game. It's also not a good game.

Ultimately, it's that combination of small subject matter and small target audience that keeps this game from reaching its goals. I Love Beauty tries, but road trips with your daughter will be annoying as ever.

Hammy is merely average, but is made worse in the light of other games that its key demographic will enjoy.

It’s way too hard in places for the youngest gamers, but older players will be annoyed by the trite story and senseless collecting.

Unfortunately, Over the Hedge for the GBA is a typical example of uninspired licensed game design.

It feels unpolished and gives very little bang for its buck.

Is this game for you? Why bother? Pick up a newspaper and flip to their crossword puzzle. You'll end up with more money in your wallet and less frustration in the long run.

You can easily play through it over a weekend. If countless bad reviews cannot dissuade you, then perhaps submerging yourself in AM: SH2's zombie-like framerate will bring you to your senses.

If you really want a good Astro Boy handheld experience, pick up Astro Boy: Omega Factor if you can. Otherwise, you would be better off looking elsewhere for a platforming experience on Nintendo DS.

True Crime: New York City is bad for entirely different reasons than expected: the graphics are awful, but the scope in certain ways outstrips its GTA ancestor.

A castrate of its GameCube counterpart, Splinter Cell for the DS lacks many of the levels, abilities, features, pathways, and audio enjoyed in said console version. Bungled load times and inherent slowdown (in simple menu navigation!) is completely unacceptable on such a powerful handheld.

Greater attention to gameplay mechanics might have resulted in a broader appeal, but with an off-putting control setup, poor hit detection and repetitive objectives, gamers who've never heard of Naruto probably won't want to take the plunge.

On the whole, Thor: God of Thunder is probably only going to be for people who are seriously hardcore about their Thor, as it's clear the Wii version did not get the lion's share of the development resources.

There are better options in the eShop, but if someone is looking for something new, Iron Combat might do in a pinch.

As it stands, RAD will likely please roguelike aficionados who will forgive ill-conceived gameplay ideas because of the challenge it adds to the experience. But I couldn’t help but see the wasted potential from beginning to end. The various mutations could present clever ideas for unique builds and a multitude of ways to solve problems in a planned, not random, world. This course would have also allowed for more balanced combat and a greater focus on narrative. But… NOPE! Roguelikes are popular now and so is nostalgia for the 80s so let’s just squish those things together and call it a day! Thus, RAD was born.

Compared to the slickness of the movie, Spider-Man's DS outing just doesn't make the cut. It's not abysmal, but it also doesn't rise above the mediocre.

Power Rangers is all over the place in terms of gameplay and presentation, and thus suffers accordingly.

There aren’t a ton of endless runners on Wii U, so anyone who’s been hankering for one can do worse than Run, but not by much.

Soon Shine is a hard game to review. There isn’t a whole lot of depth to the title, but it is fun, in spurts. At an asking price of $1.99, it feels a bit difficult to ask for a much deeper experience, however. As it is, it’s a quick diversion that probably would have been more appealing as a portable title.

Really, PONG Quest as a whole would probably benefit from more time in development. It comes across as incomplete on occasion, with gameplay that might be very engaging with a faster pace of movement and another gimmick or mechanic to go along with the special balls. The dungeon crawling is similarly half-baked, offering a sense of exploration not quite on par with even a game like Adventure on Atari 2600. Even with these shortcomings there’s still enough to enjoy that retro gaming fans or even longtime Atari aficionados may want to give PONG Quest a chance, but for everyone else there are more inventive games of this ilk to consider playing.

In short, if you’re absolutely desperate for more demonic combat and can’t wait for the all-but-inevitable release of the far superior Devil May Cry 3, then I suppose there are worse options than giving this disappointing sequel a try.

When Rise & Shine‘s gameplay works, it works well, providing a fascinating take on the run and gun genre that I hope Super Awesome Hyper Dimensional Mega Team has a chance to refine and perfect at some point. If you can take the pounding, Rise & Shine might be worth a look.

Mantis Burn Racing is an incredibly frustrating game. An overview of the game reveals a lot of promise thanks to its solid visuals, rewarding upgrade system, and interesting career structure. However, once you actually start racing, things begin to fall apart; your first few events will be fun but you’ll quickly realize how the content is spread thin and you have a long way to go before you’ll get to experience something new and fun. In other words, there’s some good stuff buried in Mantis Burn, but getting to it is a real slog, thus making hard to recommend for all but the most hardcore of racing fans desperate to relive the top-down experiences of yesteryear.

Virtua Tennis 4 isn't a terrible game, but given that there is a better option on Wii, system owners looking for their tennis fix probably want to look elsewhere.

Trailblazers is a compilation of gorgeous race tracks with not a lot to do on them. If a sequel ever manages to come about, it’s easy to imagine a version of Trailblazers with better combat, a wider variety of ways to take advantage of painting the track, and more changes/tweaks besides, but until then this is a wasted opportunity on Supergonk’s part. Trailblazers can be fun, but it’s fleeting.

I wouldn’t say it was a mistake to bring Rodea to 3DS, but the game is so rough that it either needed more time in development, or the handheld was incapable of fully handling Naka’s vision. For fans of the creator’s previous works and players who enjoy 3D adventure titles, Rodea is worth a look, but be prepared to fight with it in order to get any enjoyment out of the game.

The control and QA problems are unfortunate, really, because this is easily the best Spider-Man game in nearly every other respect.

Overall, while Star Horizon isn’t high art, it’s an otherwise interesting little mindless space shooter that gives you enough things to do to be worth a couple hours of diversion.

As modern games go, this one looks pretty bad, is short, and has very little beyond the core game.

Dedicated fans of the JRPG genre, especially those of you who grew up playing SNES, might be able to find at least some fun with Chronus Arc based on the fact it delivers a mostly competent version of the sights, sounds, and gameplay mechanics of the era. However, when you delve any deeper than that nostalgic veneer the experience feels rather hollow.

It's frustratingly hard but well-made; easy to pick up but quickly repetitive.

If you relish the days when death by bad jumping mechanics was commonplace in gaming and enemy hits were cheap, you might like the nostalgia Caveman Warriors brings. But, if you’re looking for a refined experience, this is probably not the co-op experience you’re looking for.

Really just The Incredible Machine gussied up with new paint, courtesy of Marc Eckō and his company. The story framework is just that– a very, very loose framework– and new tools, though interesting, don't do anything particularly newfangled.

Though the game has nice visuals and is the continuation of a creative series, Two Realms failed to maintain the magic Drawn to Life had on DS. Unfortunately, my disinterest in the story kept me unmotivated to wait through cut scenes to get to the next levels. Levels could be fun, but they could also be terribly too easy or frustratingly hard. The best moments in the game are dispersed too far apart and they don’t feel worth the hassle to get to.

Despite some good looking lighting and vistas, the fine details are lacking and the sound design really feels quite amateurish. Still, hopping into the offline death matches and objective modes does allow for some combat focused fun which is where the game shines. Unfortunately, you shouldn’t expect it to hold your attention for too long once you’ve filled your flying fix.

All told, Wolfenstein: Youngblood is a rather baffling experience that doesn’t quite seem to fully understand what it’s trying to be. Many of the factors that made previous games enjoyable are still here: the core gameplay mechanics are solid and the presentation is legitimately impressive considering Switch’s hardware limitations. However, the changes they made both in terms of structure and the addition of RPG mechanics simply don’t work together in a cohesive way.

That isn’t to say everything is lackluster here, as the artwork is fantastic and the music and sound are also quite solid, but it isn’t enough to carry Tamarak Trail when so much could be improved upon elsewhere.

Overall, South Park: Snow Day! is a mixed bag with its pros and its cons. It hits the nail on the head with the humor and charm that recreates what the South Park universe is all about, but its repetitive gameplay, technical issues, and lack of depth holds it back from reaching its full potential. Die-hard fans of the series may find enjoyment in the game’s humor and multiplayer modes more than the solo adventure. If there was some more polishing done and a more varied gameplay, Snow Day! could have been a standout title, but as it is, it’s best enjoyed in short bursts rather than fuller extended play sessions.

It’s just too bad that this dungeon crawler just doesn’t live up to what it looks like.

Shapes of Gray is ultimately disappointing. With so many fantastic ideas at play, both mechanically and aesthetically, it is heartbreaking to see the whole thing get tarnished by mere technical errors.

It's Flappy Bird with 3D graphics and a stereotypically French art direction some, myself included, might find charming. Some might find the ultra simple gameplay addicting.

The mechanics are tried-and-true and the actual gameplay is pretty sound. Unfortunately, the game also hurts itself with long load times, the lack of co-op, fuzzy graphics, and a weird menu system, among other issues.

There’s an earnestness to Rogue Corps that makes it even sadder to see the game fail as it has. There have been updates since the game launched, but nothing thus far has been able to elevate Rogue Corps to the standard of quality set by past series installments. If Konami wants to modernize its franchises for future generations, the message should be clear: fans want what made those classics so endearing to begin with, not misguided radical redesigns.

Governor of Poker on 3DS is a decent game of single-player poker, and if it were the only portable poker option on the market, it would be a must-buy. But it isn’t, so it’s not.

It doesn’t quite live up to its premise, but many fans are still pitching in their two bucks for the downloadable eShop title to tell Nintendo there’s a market for independent games on Wii U. I fully support that! But I still can’t in good faith recommend a game with no sound effects or even any save function.

It is a competent enough game that will generally please the monster truck fanbase, but it is also a fairly limited game that isn't as deep as it might appear.

With so much effort going into presentation, it seems like more could have been spent on tweaking the game mechanics.

The game cuts its own legs out from under it by locking content so many different ways– whether it’s via toys or play sets. And possibly the worst offense is the lottery system within Toy Box, which holds back cool items like helicopters or assets from Tron (can you tell I like that universe yet?). Disney Infinity shows a spark of brilliance with the Toy Box mode, but everything else in game is rough, raw or boring.

The game mostly looks the part, but the gameplay is just far too loose and repetitive to make it a compelling play for all but the most desperate of gamers looking to scratch the Jet Set itch. Then again, even some of those players might be turned off once they actually have to deal with the horrible menus. The fact that the music is pretty decent and the game isn’t unplayable might satisfy some out there, but I think most gamers are better served by simply skipping this one.

This is not the first time an Activision-published title has taken shortcuts on a Wii version of a multiplatform title, and in each case it has left Wii fans not simply with a lower-res product (which ought to be expected), but a completely different and inferior game (which ought not to be).

Overall, this is one of those games that’s going to appeal based on your tastes. If you like a punishing twin stick shooter that pretty much sends you back to square one each time you die, you might like this game. However, if progress is important to you, you’re probably going to find this game to be pretty frustrating after a while, especially if you make it deep into the stages and then end up having very little to show for it. That will go a long way toward determining if the $14.99 price tag is worth it.

The core of the experience is sound, and even works, but a game is only as good as its technical parameters, which means Giants suffers and stutters far too often.

A collection of missed opportunities. It's a game that wants to be like a Layton game and not be like one, and suffers in the comparison because of all the ways it falls short. The incredible amount of French history, clever story elements and extensive dialogue filling the game establish this wasn't a title that was thrown on shelves with minimal investment.

Fails to be entertaining in every category.

There’s just not enough redeeming qualities in horse-riding to keep me interested in it long enough.

When there are so many other basketball titles out their that up the bling-bling factor and offer better gameplay, perhaps the Globetrotters should have invested in a game more suited to their forte, one focused on courtside comedy instead of competition.

The developer for Marvel Super Hero Squad is Blue Tongue Entertainment, who masterminded the superb Wii title de Blob. That pedigree makes the failure of Super Hero Squad all the more disappointing.

Not only is it short enough to beat in a single setting, the journey along the way is a blurry, unoriginal retread of everything mediocre about 3D platformers and rhythm games.

The problem is that Chicken Shoot isn’t $5.

A yawn-inducing game that even fans of the series will want to steer clear of. It looks nice enough, but the story is a joke, and the gameplay is as stale as month-old bread.

If you really must have your poker in video game form, several online gambling sites offer free poker games for users to test out. These are both terrific and cheaper alternatives to this overpriced title.

Fighting game fans, whether into Kamen Rider or not, should bide their time and put their money towards Eighting's vastly superior offering Tatsunoko vs. Capcom.

Even at $20, you would be better served browsing Amazon for any of a thousand better trivia books.

The game is unforgivably short, looks bad, the waggle controls hurt, and the game forces players to do too much melee.

Many parents may not want their children to play this game because of characters like Stigmartha, a girl whose hands bleed when she gets nervous; but parents shouldn't subject their kids to such a mundane, undercooked game anyway.

When all is said and done, Spore Hero Arena just fails to keep one's attention.

Like a teenager hooking up with a lady. It’s fun while it lasts, but it doesn’t last long!

The vibe on the PC version seems good, but this DS port proves mediocre. Many had great expectations, but this is not our vision of fury.

All-in-all, rent it if cooking is a huge hobby. Everyone else can let this one cook.

If you’re looking for a gift for a child, look elsewhere, unless you like watching them break systems.

Purchase it knowing it's an average-at-best side-scroller that might seem ridiculously easy even to a child.

As it is, this is an incredibly tough game to recommend, especially when the market is stuffed full of similar titles. Only serious zookeepers should apply.

The controls, combined with the difficulty level, make the single-player game mind-numbingly frustrating.

The finicky controls, the horrid announcer and uninspired presentation offer little incentive to warrant a purchase.

If I could overlook that pesky lock-up bug (which, for a review, I really can’t) I’d say they’re only about 30 yards short of a touchdown.

This cricket doesn’t ever get off the ground.

Overall, Ben 10 Alien Force: Vilgax Attacks is a pretty forgettable experience.

When it’s all said and done, The Price is Right is a classic example of a lost opportunity. Serious fans of the show will do better sticking to the real thing.

It’s good to see a Star Trek game on Wii; it’s just too bad it’s such a short and shallow affair.

A good strategy game will stretch the mind here and there. In theory, tactics should be applicable with actual results. In the simplest terms, strategy games should require strategy to play. Perhaps Konami thought they could slide by, being the only new game in town.

Little fun is to be had from this experience, for any thrills will be derived from the first couple levels, if at all.

Godzilla Unleashed does too many things poorly to be recommended to anyone but the most diehard of Godzilla fans, who will be attracted to some of the game's attempted fan service, like the impressive roster of monsters.

Too few mini-games, too little fun, and frustrating navigation ruin what is essentially an interesting concept. The whole debacle lasts approximately three hours, the first of which is spent locating all of the attractions and being told you can’t enter.

To fans of the comics, movies and other mutant-themed games: wait for that next stellar title.

This type of slow, clunky nonsense goes on for the entire game.

Friend or Foe attempts to give players their ultimate fantasy of controlling the legendary webslinger and his infamous villains. However, redundant gameplay and level design are hidden behind a solid presentation with great voice-work and clean graphics.

If you want a good scare and the experience sounds interesting, rent the game for the first level only. After that ten minutes, take it back for a refund.

Spider-Man: Battle for New York should have been a fun and easy to play title, but instead the game is frustrating, bland and difficult, despite short levels and simple tasks.

X-Men Origins: Wolverine only shines in one way. It’s a prime example of how careless publishers and developers can be with video game adaptations of summer blockbuster films.

Onimusha Tactics wouldn't be that bad if there weren't so many strategy games already available to the GBA. But there are. And compared to the rest of the flock, Onimusha sucks.

Anyone looking for a game that plays in the old Space Invaders style can surely find an arcade compilation somewhere. The "just move right and left and shoot the enemies" idea was great back in the 1980's, but it just doesn't cut it by today's standards.

If you have any DS-playing daughters, do them a favor and don’t buy this game, even if they beg for it.