On the whole, Octopath Traveler II is soundly an improvement on the original, but it’s been quite a long time since that first game and the impact of the visuals and ideas aren’t as fresh as they once were. This game will not solve the issues people who bounced off the first game want to see solved, as the stories are still disconnected and dungeons mostly amount to straight paths with treasure chests dotted along the way. However, if you really enjoyed Octopath Traveler and want a better, improved version of the combat and overall exploration, Octopath Traveler II will deliver that in spades. This is a strong RPG that I enjoyed my time with, but it’s not a bold new step forward. Instead, it moderately iterates on an enjoyable formula to good success.

It’s refreshing to find an entirely self-contained mobile game that doesn’t have in-app purchases and doesn’t require a constant internet connection. Sadly you can reach the end in one play session and it doesn’t take much longer for 100% completion, but it’s worth the price of entry for the joy of that Nintendo polish in mobile form.

Playing it is fun and quick, but the Lunar Ruins are tedious and are a task for completionists only. The biggest disappointment is the lack of a bonus ending for completing the Lunar Ruins, but fans of the game and/or series will still appreciate the added content.

An experience not to be missed. Personality drips from the television screen - personality you do not want to miss.

It’s as addictive as it is satisfying, and the hours I’ve spent with it have melted away like the cares of my newly-cured patients. Whether you’ve been in a simulation game coma like me or living it up as your tycoon of choice, Two Point Hospital more than lives up to its forebears. Let’s add eight more points to that title.

Overall, Professor Layton and the Curious Village is a very interesting game but it definitely caters to a niche audience. If you don't like brain-teasers, it's probably not for you.

It makes rather poor use of the dual screen displays (the map feature is largely useless), the touch screen control isn't exactly perfect, and it runs the risk of establishing a long trend of N64 ports that might crowd out original games on the system. Yet, on its own merits, SM64DS is an exciting, revamped version of a monumental game.

The game itself remains a remarkably deep RPG with well written characters, even if the story itself doesn’t grab you right away. This is a largely successful version of the game with a few caveats but it is certainly one of the best ways to play Cyberpunk 2077 on the go.

Whether this game is seen as the next great portable skateboarding game or a less visually pretty home console game, the most cogent point is that it plays incredibly and with so much to do across both of the remade games, this is one of the best skateboarding games ever made.

Hunters is really two games; one is fantastic, the other is not. One is easily worth buying if you have good access to wireless Internet, while the other feels slapped together to dupe hardcore Metroid fans and to put "Action-Packed Single-Player Mode!" on the back of the box.

Minishoot’ justifies the case for being worth your time in spades. This one may fly under the radar for most, but I beg of you to look up from the new triple A hotness and enjoy this fantastic diamond in the rough–for all the retro feels that it invokes, but also for doing something wholly new. Top to bottom, Minishoot shoots for the stars, and lands among game of the year material.

Mario Kart 7 isn't a huge leap forward for the series. Instead, it's another damn fine iteration in a proven series.

Doki Doki Literature Club doesn’t disappoint as an off-kilter visual novel. If you, like me, tend to avoid this genre, you might consider DDLC as an exception to the rule if you can handle some disturbing content.

Despite these problems, Darksiders II is an excellent, lovingly crafted game I wholeheartedly recommend, especially if you liked the first. From a production value perspective, it's at the top of its class, and my problems with the game are largely personal preference quibbles. Just like the first, Darksiders II is the Zelda game we never got.

It's a great package for fans of the band and die-hard fans of the Guitar Hero series starved for new music.

I wish the new playable content was more substantial or there was online play, but the additions are still an overall positive. The variety of difficulty settings makes the game harder if you want it to be, while also making it far more approachable for gamers of all skill levels. The controls don’t quite match the elegant design of the Wii U, but the tweaks here approximate it well enough. I know for me, as someone who played and enjoyed Pikmin 3 on Wii U, revisiting this game again was well worth the time. Pikmin 3 Deluxe is very close to being the definitive version of a modern classic. Now please, bring me more Pikmin adventures. I would like to visit more areas with these little plant aliens.

This game is difficult, even on the easiest setting. For those who have been craving a difficult game ever since the GBA titles held off, "Maniac" mode is waiting and it is positively brutal. [JPN Import]

The anime art style may not be everyone’s cup of tea but that’s a small thing that is easily overcome by everything else this game does right. In a year that we have Silksong incoming, I feel like Ender Magnolia is at serious risk of getting overshadowed but don’t sleep on this one. It’s a top to bottom fantastic experience.

The upshot is one of the best Wii games yet.

Dragon Quest Builders 2 features solid controls, attractive presentation, online multiplayer and limitless charm, but these don’t tell the whole story. Each element of the experience on its own would be less than impressive, but like a pile of wood, bricks, mortar, and steel before its shaped by human hands, the sum of its parts culminate in an impressive and memorable architecture.

An extremely well conceived game. While some may complain that it is too much like past titles, it's hard not to get drawn into the charm and depth of the universe.

The game is brutally, unrelentlessly difficult, and it very much expects you to play through the same levels and same situations over and over again until you get it right. [Import]

West of Loathing succeeds by making you giggly and happy while you play it. Treating this game like a super-serious RPG is the wrong way to go about it, as that’s where the holes start to emerge, whether it’s the middling combat or the mildly annoying quest and item management troubles. This is a comedy, pure and simple, and thankfully it’s one that’s clever and funny in a way that makes up for any lesser gameplay segments. It’s a great chaser between the ample supply of serious games out there, especially if you have Stupid Walking turned on.

I had some trepidation when Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3+4 was announced. While the 1+2 remake was excellent, Activision’s track record with the series since the mid-2000s has been spotty at best. I’m thrilled that the skateboarding in this game feels just as good as it did 20+ years ago and that this goes beyond just a simple remake, with so many fun and enjoyable post-game challenges that builds off of the foundation. Something is lost in Tony Hawk 4’s transition to the 2-minute timer, but I still had a great time saving Painter Neal from the shark in San Francisco. And the quality of the original levels Iron Galaxy made makes me hopeful for the future of the series, whether it leads to a brand new game or an attempt at remaking Tony Hawk’s Underground. Regardless of whether or not you bring nostalgic baggage for the format from the fourth game, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 3+4 is an excellent video game that will keep you kickflipping and reverting to increasingly higher scores for a long time.

This is a game that simply must be played to be fully experienced, standing at the forefront of truly wonderful storytelling in videogames.

Overall, A Space for the Unbound is a must play for those that enjoy getting an emotional experience from their games. The puzzles are generally easy to understand, and the game does a good job of making each space dive throughout the story feel different from the last in some meaningful way, helping gameplay not get stale as you go. It may take a tad longer than it should to get to the various emotional payoffs, but those moments are well done and generally worth it.

The overall case is somewhat neat and tidy - it won’t take you much more than a few hours to solve the mystery - but the journey along the way is enjoyable. The voice acting and standout art and animation fits the distinctive characters very well, and with few exceptions, the puzzles and deduction sequences are engaging and brain-wrinkling. I hope this is the start of a new era in Detective Grimoire’s career, because I wouldn’t mind revisiting this world and gameplay style again soon.

It was an unparalleled experience in the early 90s and holds up remarkably well today.