Better jokes, a stronger art style, a better battle system and a recruitment process that fells more involving would move this game from simply mediocre to a whole lot of fun. Though, that’s sort of a laundry list of problems to overcome.

If you played through Kyoto Winds then you largely owe it to yourself to finish the story here in Edo Blossoms. The story’s finale isn’t quite as interesting as its beginning, but the romantic fireworks that occur are certainly a payoff. It’s just too bad that the best way to experience Hakuoki is through two awkwardly split in half releases.

Its charming world and creatures will keep most kids entertained, and playing with them as you explore the world can be rewarding. With most puzzles able to be solved in a few minutes' time, Okabu can be repetitive and slightly dull, but if you can get past the slow start there is an enjoyable game to be found here.

There’s a lot to like about Rise of the Dragons, even if it doesn’t fully click and deliver a new all-time great brawler. The core action is fluid and enjoyable, some of the unlockable characters are a blast to play, and the roguelite elements work well enough (even if it’d probably be better to just play as fully powered characters from the get-go). However, the stages and the boss fights aren’t unique enough to make this a truly memorable experience. It’s doesn’t add a ton to the franchise’s legacy, but it’s easy enough to settle into and be a worthwhile new diversion, especially in co-op.

Even though it’s unlikely to be something that keeps you enthralled for long, when you take into account the game’s fairly low price tag, it’s still worth a look if you like these kinds of puzzles.

Akiba’s Beat is in a strange position, having been released right after two other Japanese role-playing games dealt with very similar topics. While it doesn’t have strong enough writing to eclipse these titles, it does feature a few story beats that keep it from being a D-grade Persona. From a combat perspective, the game feels like a Tales game, but without any of the polish. There’s room for improvement in practically every area, but it’s still a decent RPG that is worth playing for those that somehow ran out of RPGs in their backlog.

The headset becomes a magician’s prop, and you the performer. But its welcome wears thin too quickly, its traps, tricks, and inner workings too easily revealed, and gimmicks too often expected. It’s just not the magic of video games that I was hoping for from two of magic’s greatest.

It’s ironic that a game all about breathing life into pictures can’t breathe life into its own core mechanic. Witnessing a flat picture expand into something tangible or using photography to reposition the existing stage is a technical marvel that hardly goes beyond being just a visual spectacle. These systems deserve much more than that, but, like film lacking contrast, it’s underdeveloped and only a faint outline of what it should be.

The shocking moments, choices, and deaths that occur are some of the best in the series and we see a glimpse of a stronger Clementine, yet somehow it all seems contrived.

Godfall is a beautiful game with a shallow story, but could have been so much more had someone taken the time to really hash it out and tie each Valorplate into a different character and expand on the realms. Instead we are given a confusing story that doesn’t fit the equipment and realms that really don’t care which suit you are wearing. While the weapons and armor gave the game a serious chance at success, I’m afraid the storyline and repetitive gameplay will doom this game to the bargain bin. It is beautiful, though, and that is its greatest achievement as a launch day PS5 title.

Neopets – Mega Mini Games Collection – The Neopian Arcade Odyssey is exactly as advertised, but there’s nothing beyond some quick hits of nostalgia. The new minigame falls flat, and there’s nothing here that will compel you to keep chasing high scores. At least the Platinum trophy is easy, so you can eventually delete the game after a few hours that are enjoyable, if not overly fun.

There are a lot of good pieces in place here, with the gameplay mechanics and the co-op, but they’ve been packaged in a very scant box that doesn’t do them justice. Ancient Amuletor needs to be more than a short PSVR experience that is barely longer than the demo that’s already available for free. Perhaps all of the elusive “Coming Soon” content will fix that, but at launch Ancient Amuletor finds its quiver running out of arrows too soon.

And perhaps that's why Tron: Evolution feels so disappointing–it replaces too many ideas with not enough.

For those of us that have played Dead Island before, there’s not much in the Definitive Collection to drag us back. Lack of adding previously missing features like split screen and the inability to import last gen character saves make playing Dead Island again feel more like a chore than an enjoyable experience.

Little King's Story was a unique and interesting Wii game, and New Little King's Story does well overall in delivering that experience on a portable system. While an okay follow-up to that game, there's something about the magic of the first one that has worn off a little bit this time.

If you’re willing to brave the wonky controls, bland looks, repetitive sounds and wholly uninspiring story, there’s a content-rich base-level appeal to Earth Defense Force 2025 that will draw you in.

Earth Defense Force 4.1: The Shadow of New Despair is amazingly dumb, which is exactly the reason the series became such a cult hit in the first place.

The stealth sequences are so bad I could nearly throw out the entire experience.

The gameplay is far too simplistic for older gamers who will have the game deconstructed to the bare basics in a matter of hours. In other words, easy to learn and easy to master results in a mildly repetitive game.

Golf Club: Wasteland has a great vibe for its somber and solemn story about the end of the Earth, and I loved the concept behind its world. But it’s burdened by a golf game that is simply not all that fun (granted, perhaps it shouldn’t be fun to golf on the headstone of humanity). Occasional moments that seemed to portend exciting new golf puzzle mechanics were quickly followed by more lobbing to almost out of reach platforms, made intolerable by frustratingly simple mechanics that seem to have an air of randomness and luck. But while I won’t be subjecting myself to Iron Mode, I did thoroughly enjoy the story, art, and music throughout as it plainly commented on the state of the world, making at least one round of golf on this post-apocalyptic world very cathartic indeed.

Quell: Memento is nice and a good way to kill a couple afternoons or trips around town.

The graphics and presentation feel like you’re playing a mobile game, yet this is a PC port. Multiplayer has been removed. Some sections don’t make it clear what you’re supposed to do. The story is mediocre. Yet, the basic premise of the game remains fun.

A good yet unspectacular game. There is a lot of content here between the story and coliseum mode, with a good 30+ hours of things to keep you busy. Yet, the content isn’t overly impressive and things like bug catching, fishing, and farming just feel forced and not fully thought out.

Blind banks a lot on, well, the blindness being the big draw, but I don’t think using it as simply an extra hurdle on top of familiar puzzle-solving elements does much to elevate the experience as a whole.

Buildings Have Feelings Too can initially feel frustrating and difficult, as well as completely unforgiving. Mistakes often end up being incredibly costly and the save system can feel unfair. Despite this, it’s a fun puzzle game once players can fully grasp all of its different aspects and it’s satisfying when everything falls into place.

It’s a bit rough around the edges, but Foreclosed’s story and style are worth a look, especially for the PS+ launch price of $15.99 ($19.99 normally). When I think of my time spent in Foreclosed, I think it made for a good, short adventure that had me impressed by its presentation, but ultimately left me wanting more. More story, more combat, more world building, more consequences from my actions. Just about the only thing I didn’t want more of would be the stealth sections. So, with any luck, the open-ended nature of Foreclosed’s endings, combined with enough sales of this game, may result in us seeing a sequel down the line.

While I'm sure that some of my disappointment can be chalked up to its younger target audience, the truth of the matter is a tougher pill to swallow: Lego Horizon Adventures is a half-decent game, but at the end of the day, it's not a good Horizon game, and it's certainly not a good Lego game. Somehow, it manages to be less than the sum of its parts.

Weird West is a fun, but awkward game. The aiming and gun fighting mechanics often lead to frustration and make it almost unplayable at times. The story is interesting and different and the characters are fun to get to know, but the weapons aren’t very diverse and the armor and clothes are a minimal addition. It’s one of those games, that if you can master the mechanics of it and like this type of camera angle, you’ll probably enjoy it, but still find it lacking in overall depth. Personally, I love Diablo-type games and found Weird West to be enjoyable, but often tedious. Luckily, there’s a quick save and quick load feature for those untimely deaths and missteps. Trust me — those will happen often.