The best thing that Pop-Up Pilgrims does is present a fascinating papercraft pop-up world that more VR developers should explore. Had it offered a more consistent growth on mechanics and rapid change between the variety, it would have stuck with me more than it did. Instead it was a monotonous and repetitive 60 levels that didn’t offer anything memorable during the five or so hours that it took to complete. Pop-Up Pilgrims isn’t a bad game by any stretch, but it’s not all that interesting or engaging either.

There’s just far too little to enjoy, and what is here feels like low-budget copy and paste of the last half decade of horror titles if you decide to play without the PSVR headset. Virtual reality escalates the atmosphere to a much more sustainable level, but there’s nothing about Don’t Knock Twice that makes it a must play horror game, inside of virtual reality or out.

While Absolver is up and down in a lot of places, the game just doesn’t come together well. There’s something about the underlying design that makes it feel disjointed. Most of this comes from the quasi-open world aspect, but the ridiculous level of grinding involved and the disconnected PvP mode makes Absolver feel like a game that’s at war with itself.

Despite being rather rough around the edges, Tannenberg’s unique nature breaks from the trends of most AAA first-person shooters today. It’s hardly what I would call a “good” game, and the console version needs a lot of work to feel like more than just a quick PC port, but in spite of all that, I enjoyed the time I spent with it. It was a refreshing breath of fresh air, something just a little bit different. To that end, I commend the development team for not making yet another action-packed blockbuster-style FPS. While it’s not going to replace my old multiplayer standbys of Warzone or Destiny 2, Tannenberg is a game I’d definitely consider going back to if I’m craving a bit of a different approach. I’m just hoping for a bit more polish and console accessibility by the time I return to the Eastern Front.

The second downfall, and possibly a deal breaker for some sim fans, are the graphics. From a distance the game looks great, but up close and personal it loses the detail and sharpness that you would expect on the 5 inch OLED screen.

Overall, the game is too short, even for a minigame, but each minigame is rather enjoyable – especially for younger children.

It does some core things right, like the combat and the numerous places to explore, but it does a lot of little things wrong, such as the huge amount of fluff and the useless crafting system.

While it does seem that Gameloft might have rushed the title a little to hit the PS Vita launch, it's still a well designed game with plenty of content to keep you busy for quite a while.

I cannot recommend it to you unless you love its aesthetics and fanservice.

Everybody Dance certainly isn't the greatest dance game on the planet and lacks depth in most of its features, but for the moment it's the best you'll do for a fun dance game on PS3 and makes for a decent party game, so if your looking to get groovy with the Move this is the way to go.

Odd control schemes, lack of core gameplay features from previous installments, and unfortunate legacy design decisions make this holistically feel like an inferior experience.

I enjoyed the idea of Surgeon Simulator, but the difficulty made the game futile more than entertaining.

Without the backdrop of nostalgia, The VideoKid would be a truly forgettable game. That it is only saved by its licenses was enough for me to extract a certain amount of enjoyment, but it probably won’t be for those not versed with the characters of 1980s Hollywood.

While the combat is entertaining and the dungeon crawling is okay, the story and the whole idea of having to “motivate” these girls are simply too unnecessary, too uncomfortable, and too offensive for this game to be worth your time.

Dangerous Driving can be fun in short spurts. The lack of car manufacturers’ licenses is expected when any game is priced at half the cost of bigger-scale games. But the lack of even a time attack mode means that once players have beaten the campaign, there is little reason to go back besides the inclusion of online leaderboards.

While there’s plenty of content on offer, Black Ops 7’s well-executed (if not overly familiar) multiplayer and Zombies modes are eclipsed by a truly baffling, nonsensical campaign. Here’s hoping that 2026’s Call of Duty manages to find its footing again and, hopefully, stick the landing.

While the idea of being able to influence the evolution of your clan of apes seems novel and exciting the reality is that it’s a bit of a repetitive slog. Through bad decisions or sheer bad luck, it’s far too easy to wipe out your whole clan which means that you’ll have to start all over again from the beginning. It’s an interesting experience but one that’s tough to recommend to anyone but the most patient of gamers.

I want to love Fallout 76, namely for its addition of co-op play and the representation of a region dear to my heart. I simply can’t. I wouldn’t say the latest Fallout title is abysmal or even bad, just very middling. It removes many of the series’ strong suits and attempts to make up for it by adding in new mechanics or strengthening lesser ones.

Though the campaign is unimaginative and some areas are not fleshed out as well as they could have been, the game is still addictive stuff. But, once you’ve run through the campaign you’re only left with the sandbox mode, which grinds to a halt as soon as you start to do well.

While the battle system receives two thumbs up for trying, the rest of the game receives a thumbs down. The steep difficulty might turn off casual RPG fans, though hardcore RPG fans will enjoy the challenge.

For Virtua Tennis to survive, it needs new ideas, and a more robust experience wrapped around the fast-paced experience.

Rather than a true piece of DLC, The Taxidermist feels more like a deleted scene from the game–something that the developers began to work on, but, for some reason or another, never quite finished.

Ironcast has a fascinatingly complex base game, filled with myriad details to keep track of and a brilliant sense of strategy. Unfortunately, while serious tacticians will find themselves enjoying the nightmarish difficulty, anyone looking for a lighter challenge will be left in the dust, as permadeath and a merciless RNG slow progress to an unsatisfying crawl.

If this really is Suda51’s last major venture with Travis Touchdown, then it’s a passing ending for the “passing assassin.” There’s no re-invention here – if you got a kick out of the earlier games, then there is plenty for you to enjoy this time around. It might get a little stale as you fight a group of enemies in a Designated Fight for the umpteenth time, but at least you’ll look stylish doing it. If No More Heroes has never been your cup of wrestling-inspired ultraviolence, well, best move along then.

It's a completely generic affair, however, that does not stray from your typical formula of level grinding and copious, repeating dungeons.

It doesn’t take long to see that Warhammer: The End Times – Vermintide for PS4 was certainly not constructed with consoles in the forethought; it’s quite the afterthought, and it painfully shows. Stick to the PC for this one.

When looking back at my time with the game, I don’t feel horror at its revelations. I feel disappointment in light of what it could have been concealing, and simply wasn’t.

Kane and Lynch 2: Dog Days suffers from many issues. Everything from choppy gameplay to bland character design plague what could have been a semi-decent title. Simply put, these are definitely dog days for Kane & Lynch and after this sequel, let's hope they stay dead men.

A great little game that can burn up more than a few hours of your time. There is an option for downloadable content from the main game menu, so the developer is thinking ahead. The $9.99 price tag seems a little high due to the short story, but if future DLC were to be free, or minimally priced, the price would fit better.

Slam Bolt Scrappers serves its course as a good multiplayer title but feels incomplete, especially at its current price of $15. At a little more than a dollar a level, there is tremendous opportunity for a complete world of creative level design that you'll feel cheated out of.

You probably could have guessed this by now, but Dolmen should have released before Elden Ring. All Soulslike games from here on out will constantly be in that game’s gigantic shadow. It’s not that there’s not enough room in this genre for more entries, especially ones that are in such a wildly different setting. It’s just that whatever games release in this space must now meet such incredibly high standards or face intense criticism and likely faltering sales. Dolmen will surely appeal to those who want a Soulslike adventure in a sci-fi setting, and perhaps were disappointed by 2020’s Hellpoint release. Just go in with lowered expectations owing to a smaller dev team, and perhaps you’ll have some fun smashing enemies to bits.

Sure, it's not as refined as its competitors, but WRC delivers a solid rally experience, particularly for hardcore fans. But the sub-standard visuals detract from the otherwise entertaining racing experience and the lackluster presentation doesn't the help the game in any way.

From its sometimes frustrating platforming, to its button mashing combat, Tron: Evolution has many shortcomings. Even with these issues, fans of the Tron universe will get some enjoyment out of this game, and all in all it is not a bad rental, but for those who are not interested in the franchise, its best to steer clear of the game.

Just a demo of Move controls in the LBP universe.

Cool as it sounds, if you stick a circular saw on the front wheel of a motorcycle, it might slash the tire, or sever the brake line, or spark through the spokes. As good as Steel Rats is at world-building, it often fails when it lets you take control. Sometimes the answer it finds isn’t the answer it needs.

Dynasty Warriors 9 Empires is tailor-made for super fans of the franchise. While players may feel like a lackey at the start of any new Conquest campaign run-through, rising up the ranks and having the Prime Minister agree with your suggestions can feel rewarding. If you enjoy making decisions about whether to increase ration development or to collect tribute on a monthly basis, or politicking in general whereby interacting with important people gets your heart racing, then by all means check out Dynasty Warriors 9 Empires. The rest of us will get by on regular Dynasty Warriors 9 just fine.

Warriors of Rock is in no way a broken game – there is just nothing very compelling or ground-breaking brought to the stage.

While it doesn’t do anything vastly new for the genre and treads the ground of repetition that puzzle games like to, Shiftlings is a solid puzzle based platformer for both solo and co-op players.

As it is now, it’s a bit half-baked and feels rushed.

Neptunia ReVerse improves a few things from the Vita version, but it ultimately feels like a test of things to come. The fishing minigame is the only real use of the DualSense’s triggers, and while the game’s loading times have been basically erased, that is likely due to the PS5’s SSD speed and little else. It helps when the game’s assets aren’t all that graphically intense to begin with, after all. Neptunia ReVerse plays it safe with a standard JRPG setup for this long-running series, and while it’s something fans of the series will have some fun with, it’s not necessarily a standout title. Neptune has seen better treatment, but she has also seen worse. Thus, fans could hardly go wrong in picking this re-remake up in the near future.

It’s a garden-variety platformer, featuring garden-variety combat mechanics and a garden-variety narrative.

An admirable effort, bringing together characters from a number of visual novels and gaming franchises and pitting them against each other in a solid, energetic brawler. It’s a shame that there aren’t more interesting modes in which to test your fighting mettle, particularly when the two story modes offered are so dull and impenetrable, but at least there’s some good multiplayer fun to be had — just don’t get too interested in completely even-handed competition, as I highly suspect there are serious balancing issues at play here.

Melbits World is an interesting and fun party puzzle platformer, but its pacing is just a (mel)bit too slow to encourage repeated or long gameplay sessions.

Those wanting a group experience on par with the console versions of the same game might be disappointed in its less-accessible multiplayer and being limited to two people, in addition to the logistical problems presented by the touch screen-based play style. On the other hand, Jackson fans who don't mind the experience now becoming mostly single-player and involving no dancing on their part will find a fun, entertaining rhythm game.

Solo: Islands of the Heart is perhaps the most introspective game to release this year. The gameplay may not have much to do with the story, but the puzzles are decent roadblocks on the journey.

If you enjoyed these games the first time and just want more Trophies for your collection, then by all means, jump in a second time. But if you missed LEGO Harry Potter back then, it’s far too rough to come back to now.

Overall, Apache Air Assault offers players enough content across its 16 levels of multiple stages to warrant a purchase. However, because of the lacking variety in the missions and the all too quick repetitive nature of title, many gamers may find themselves growing tired of flying the Apache's before they have even managed to get past the learning curve.

Reel Fishing: Road Trip Adventure is a rather rudimentary game. It doesn’t have a huge array of fish, and its locations aren’t exactly packed with personality. It borrows ideas and looks from games that are much brighter and more engaging, then pales in comparison. It isn’t a terrible game, but it feels very bland and eventually feels like you’re going through the motions just so you can keep engaging in the same activities over and over again.

A moderately fun action-adventure title that creates an interesting, albeit confusing experience to play through, which just needed a little more polish, spark, and character progression to make it great.

I really like the story that Omensight sets out to tell, but I really wish that it was more fun to actually play. The characters and learning about their motivations made it worth seeing the game to its conclusion, but a finicky fixed camera and somewhat lacking gameplay made my playthrough less satisfying than it should have been.

Trinity: Souls of Zill O'll can be summed up in ultimately one word: average. It's nothing you simply must buy.

While The Good Life has its charms, most of the gameplay just feels really sluggish. Many of the story quests will have you making your way to a point on the map to watch a cutscene, you’ll then have to make your way somewhere else to watch the next one, and so on until the quest ends. The side quests also end up feeling repetitive and while it can be pretty relaxing to go through all the quests and slowly tick them off, for many players this will get tiresome pretty quickly.

The Dead Island series provides for more challenge, a better story, and a whole lot more content at around the same price. So unless you’re bored with other zombie games, you can wait for a sale.

Among the Sleep would be a good buy at $9.99 or under. As it stands now, $14.99 is a bit too steep a price to ask for a game that is very short, and not particularly emotionally investing.

It’s really surprising that a game could be configured so well from PC to console and yet fail in so many other areas under the hood. InXile has the controls, menus, and navigation down pat for console, but it needs more tweaking in its engine before this game can be recommended to anyone. I hate giving this score for Torment, especially knowing that it’s a patch or two away from being a shining cRPG example on the PS4.

Front Mission Evolved is a bold risk, a gamble, and a new direction for the series. Unfortunately the negatives outweigh the positives making a purchase a tough decision when games are expensive.

It is known how much I adore LEGO games, but these last two have been glitch-filled messes. I can’t recommend this one at all, even to those who loved the first one, until TT Games puts out a hefty patch to resolve these glitches. LEGO Marvel Super Heroes 2 isn’t unplayable by any stretch, but it’s a downright frustrating adventure with these game-breaking issues.

Dynasty Warriors 9 is more of a foundation for the next title than the dawning of a new era for the franchise. That’s perfectly acceptable, too, given that series like Dynasty Warriors inevitably must evolve to stay relevant. Right now, there are just some growing pains, and anyone who was interested in the newest iteration because of its new gameplay features would do better waiting for the next one instead.

A great throwback aurally and visually, but the frustratingly tight timing required and delay of PaRappa’s audio samples make it a chore to play. It’s a shame that the menu wasn’t reworked to highlight the additional arrangements or to take advantage of how control schemes were updated over time, and I’d rather just listen to the songs than hear PaRappa freestyle his own messy groove over the tracks for the sake of a high score.

Samurai Warriors 4 Empires is definitely an entry for hardcore Empires fans — with the same repetitive combat, and even reused graphics and audio assets, this release will not do much to convert anyone who isn’t already heavily invested in the series.

Uninspiring AI combined with numerous technical issues makes for an occasionally frustrating experience.

Blood Stone is an enjoyable game if you can see through the bland driving action, forgettable story and the shoehorned multiplayer mode, but at the end of the day this ambitious game has a lot of unfulfilled potential that could further add onto the promise that this series has going for itself.

It seemed like Alex was damned to wallow in limbo until the end of time, but it’s Oxenfree 2 that ended up being caught in a loop. Some of those replicated features work in its favor, like its fluid dialogue and cast of decently well-realized characters, yet it’s too heavily anchored to its predecessor. The aforementioned dialogue system is mostly the same and hasn’t been further streamlined or upgraded. Traversal is still too slow. And even though its narrative builds on what came before, it struggles to provide a comprehensive summary of that first game and contextualize those all-important events. All of these stumbles mean that Oxenfree 2’s signal isn’t lost, just full of unnecessary static.

Dungeons & Dragons: Dark Alliance has the potential to become a fun showcase for the long-running franchise. Despite the issues, none of these are game-breaking bugs, and it is a passable RPG. Now we just have to see if Tuque Games has what it takes to turn things around. Fans of Dungeons & Dragons, of which there are untold millions, will love the lore and story of Dark Alliance. Who knows if their love of the franchise will translate into enough sales to warrant a sequel? If so, then there is a lot of work to do, but we’ve seen plenty of comebacks before, and we’ll no doubt see more in the future. With any luck, in the not-too-distant future we’ll gather ‘round the virtual campfire and enjoy a higher-scored adventure in the Icewind Dale thanks to the lessons learned from Dark Alliance.

At a full asking price of $60, this is a tough sell to anyone who is not a hardcore MotoGP/AMA fan.

Frank and Drake has a few interesting story beats, but they never culminate in a truly compelling mystery. It doesn’t help that the puzzles often feel out of place rather than part of the world. Despite the gorgeous art, it just doesn’t fully come together as a complete experience. Hopefully, the development team will be able to deliver on its promise in another game in the future.

At this point, while trying to honor Batman and give unexpected beats, Telltale has managed to make Batman actually feel dull. There’s a lot of potential in what they are doing, but Children of Arkham is more poorly rehearsed high school play than engrossing Batman fiction.

It’s not a bad game, and if Metronomik updates it to address my concerns I would be glad to get back into the groove of things. The story is engaging and the music sticks in my head for hours but poor controls and bad camera angles have ruined what should be a fantastic game.

Dynasty Warriors: Gundam Reborn feels like it could do with some fresh mechanics, and maybe a jump to next gen could offer the capabilities needed to improve it.

It’s quick and dirty, the video game equivalent of a greasy burger, and Nights of Azure 2 will leave all but the most hardcore fans of yuri tropes feeling the same kind of shame that comes after consuming fast food as well. Nights of Azure 2 isn’t a bad game, but it certainly isn’t a good one either—it’s just empty calories, with nothing having been gained or lost after a playthrough.

Though animations are nicely captured, the way they blend into each other is extremely wonky; herky-jerky movements are the norm, and getting temporarily stuck on another wrestler of part of the environment is nearly as common.

Despite the major frame-rate drops and the repetitive quests and gameplay, Sword Art Online Re: Hollow Fragment is fairly entertaining, thanks to a fast-paced combat system and a large amount of weapons and skills to pick from.

Those 13 years should have led to something better, and it’s surprising that they haven’t. Alan Wake’s gunplay has gone from dull to frustrating in the sequel, while its venture into true survival horror has been plagued by predictability and amateurish jump scares. Its narrative has a few memorable moments and is able to periodically use its outlandish antics to its advantage, yet it is still dragged down by its refusal to provide enough rewarding resolutions to its litany of riddles. Alan Wake 2 doesn’t improve on what made the original such a cult hit and is instead an uncharacteristically rough draft that needed more edits. It’s not a lake or an ocean. It’s a disappointment.

There are some truly fantastic ideas that are here, but the whole thing feels like it should have spent much more time in the design phase. The game’s dearth of compelling content makes the experience a chore, and it’s hard to empathize with any of the characters in any meaningful way.

Everything about Batman Arkham VR is about putting you in the shoes of Batman. So, it’s unfortunate that those shoes don’t ever move. And for a character with endless depth such as Batman and Bruce Wayne, Batman Arkham VR seriously lacks the depth of a game that represents the first time gamers get to experience being Batman.

Flyhunter Origins features a wacky and fun story, and gives players a beautiful view at what the world look like at the size of a tiny bug. This, however, is marred by the game’s incredible lagginess and short length, but during the short time that it took me to complete the game, I had fun.

There’s real challenge to be had with the game’s true-to-life physics, and varied weather and track conditions. But the game feels lacking in presentation. It needs something to inject some adrenaline into the career mode. Reading tweet-like messages from your agent gets old, fast. Still, for diehard motocross fans, this is your game.

Observer is brilliant in dozens of ways, yet deeply flawed in just as many. The quality of its story ranges from a confusing mess to some of the best written characters of this generation. The game’s biggest issue is its inconsistency on when and where to deliver its moments of horror. There was little to keep me going besides the next opportunity to speak to a troubled citizen of futuristic Krakow’s most interesting building block.

It’s really rather unfortunate just how much is missing from Blue Reflection. The bones of a good story and combat are there, with likable enough characters, but that’s it. The lack of options in both the school life and the Common are just deflating. The game feels like a Persona starter kit to a certain extent; it just needs more polish and more to do.

Causal racing fans looking to simply mess around with their dream cars will find more tension here than it is really worth to get what you want out of the game. But, hardcore racing fans who have no concept of repetition being a bad thing, will find the game’s 22 different locations and five very diverse race types an interesting departure from the status quo.

Vita’s already seen a number of dating sims, but none of them combine action-RPG gameplay with visual novel elements like A.W.: Phoenix Festa. Because it handles both of these decently, it’s worth checking out for fans of the Asterisk War franchise and anyone who thinks they might enjoy such a combination. Unfortunately, it’s way too light on narrative to leave much of an impact; for a game about a tournament, it lacks the sort of excitement and tension you’d expect, and even the dating sim elements pay off in thin dividends.

Edna & Harvey: The Breakout – Anniversary Edition takes the much maligned English version of the much lauded German original and gives it a fresh coat of paint that feels right at home on modern consoles, yet still retains some of the original problems that kept it from joining the point-and-click pantheon of greats. It’s got a great new art style and a fantastically intuitive console interface, but never breaks out of a kind of plodding mediocrity that keeps it from moving up from being just okay to something better.

The proverbial meat of the experience consists of interesting concepts that are executed poorly. Much like what the player will encounter during several puzzles, gameplay itself feels like an ill-informed leap of faith that elicits more far exasperation than elation.

When the final Stormtrooper is slain, only one word comes to mind that describes Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II: disappointing.

Deathwing has so much potential sitting there with the Dark Angels alone, not to mention roaming a Space Hulk, it’s an absolute shame it falls short of the Emperor’s expectations.

This is an average game wrapped up in an abysmal marketing choice. Avoid for now, just be sure to give it a second look if it hits an amount you’re willing to pay.

Root Letter has many interesting ideas, but they never fully gel together at the end.

There’s a lot of interesting ideas, but very few are capitalized on in any captivating way.

R.B.I. Baseball 2015 isn’t a bad game. It’s not a genre-defining game, either. At $20, there are certainly worse things you can throw your money at (I’m looking at you, Yorbie). If you need a quick arcade baseball fix, then R.B.I. Baseball 2015 can hit the spot. However, when last year’s MLB 14 The Show can be had for a mere $5 more at this point, you may want to save up a little bit to experience a more complete package.

After the strong start with The Mad Ones, I can’t help but feel disappointed with Hide and Seek.

The Escapists holds the methodical tedium of a prison life simulator with some escape mechanics built in, rather than a thrilling game in which you plan your escape.

There’s a small shimmer of something fun and interesting under the 13 years of rust that coats Cel Damage HD.

Morphite is exhausting in its meandering loop of planet-hopping, and it doesn’t work hard enough to keep the players’ interest.

NBA Live 16 has a few new modes and features that help elevate it above last year’s offering, but that’s practically a footnote when you consider how the game flubs some of its basic controls and AI.

It just doesn’t work.

If you are looking for a top-down car combat racer with a ton of content for a relatively low cost this could be a title to check out, but if you are looking for a well polished game that does not need a number of hours to crack the surface, you should probably pass.

The game does deliver an initial burst of exhilaration, but this is unfortunately unsustainable beyond a few outings. When the dust settles, what remains is a run-of-the-mill class based shooter, set in a series of drab environments. This is a genuine case of getting what you pay for.

Deadpool is a weekend rental for sure, or pick it up on sale; just don’t rush to buy it at full price.