Realms of Ancient Wars is a game. It's not particularly buggy and it's far more playable than last year's Daggerdale debauchery– in fact, you may even enjoy it for a piece of brainless weekend entertainment. But that's it, completely. It's a game. There's nothing memorable about it and you'll likely finish it and forget about it just as quickly as I have. You might pick it up if you can't find something else to play, but that seems unlikely given the flood of similar, better releases.

I really came into this game wanting to like it. As I said in my preview of the alpha version, it showed promise. That promise just never seems to be realized in the final version of the game.

Warriors of the Lost Empire is a game you'll want to like, but only hardcore fans of the hack & slash genre will have a very easy time forgiving its flaws.

Cing produced two of the DS's finest adventure games with Trace Memory and Hotel Dusk: Room 215, but AGAIN was just "meh." It's not a bad game, but it's not great either.

I keep a list of RPGs I want to play, or think I should play, or have to play for the sake of writing a review. Cross Edge was right on the bottom "edge" of the list. Now, I happily "cross" it off the list.

I would love to say that Game of Thrones is a great introduction to George R. R. Martin's world, but that simply isn't the truth. There are quite a few references to A Song of Ice and Fire and only those who are already fans of the series will get a significant amount of joy out of this title. Solid combat and interesting gameplay systems prevent it from being a licensed throwaway, but don't expect a gaming masterpiece if you're not already rooting for one of the lords of the Seven Kingdoms.

Fallout 76 is an underwhelming and disappointing mess, but may have the potential for greatness if Bethesda chooses to support it long-term.

The developers clearly put a lot of love into this game, and in my opinion, it paid off. I spent 40 to 50 very enjoyable hours with Alien Syndrome, and am several hours in with a second character.

At its core, Gomo is best suited for young adventurers who lack the experience to take on badder aliens and higher ransoms.

All-in-all, A Witch's Tale is not only just average aesthetically, but absolutely destroyed by one of the worst battle systems I've encountered in a long time.

If you've already beaten every DS RPG to date and you have plenty of money, then buy this one. If you're into repetitive dungeon-crawling and repetitive fighting to level monsters who are much less interesting than their franchise-based rivals (Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh), then give this title a play.

The sad thing is, there are glimmers of something better. The four main characters have the potential to be appealing, with interesting backstories and some good interaction between them. This is aided by some competent performances by their respective voice actors, although undercut by the messy translation. There is a grandeur hiding behind the failure, like finding the gilt edges on some faded theatrical scenery. For all my displeasure, I would like to see this studio approach similar subject matter again, but this time with more respect for the audience. It would take some serious persuasion to bring me back into the fold. I cannot see that happening for a very, very long time.

With more than forty hours of gameplay, a "versus" mode for you to battle friends, and a difficulty that is stout, Valhalla Knights 2 is one of the best buys you're likely to find on the PSP for quite some time.

The gameplay can be cheap, but it does have a good degree of challenge. Technical aspects are weak, but there is some style going for it.

Pretty much everything in Loop8 boils down to building up your stats past an arbitrary barrier by looping and repeating the same dull, boring conversations and tasks ad nauseum. The characters are tropey and uninteresting, the unique premise is squandered by disjointed storytelling, and the combat is devoid of strategy or depth. The only positive thing I can commend the game for is the visuals, which feature a nice mix of detailed 3D models and lovingly crafted 2D background elements. They really nailed the look of an 80’s Japanese island town, but the actual game is such a chore to play that I can’t recommend it to anyone. Spend your summer somewhere other than Ashihara.

In a word: yuck.

Lux-Pain is a decent, and quite lengthy, visual novel for the DS, although it does come with some stipulations. If you prefer your stories completely spoon-fed to you and are averse to digging through database menus to read backstories about everything, then Lux-Pain may not be the right choice for you.

Only an absolute die hard of the genre or the series will enjoy this.

While Epanalepsis succeeds at being thought provoking, most players will be left feeling empty, even after multiple playthroughs.

Since there is no dynamic gameplay to fall back on, the visual novel genre is driven 95% by story, and the stories were below average in this game.

Uninspired slop. MKA had quite a bit of promise, and we were extremely excited to play the game based on interviews with the staff members, but issues with the control scheme and gameplay functionality killed what we were hoping would come about in Mage Knight: Apocalypse.

One of the worst RPG experiences on the PSP, and one of the worst RPGs of the past few years. The terrible story, bland battle system, and the atrocious load times and slow down makes this Strategy RPG unbearable. And because of this, Spectral Souls is like eating your grandmother's fruitcake. It looks appetizing on the outside, but as you put it into your mouth, it's stale and hard to swallow.

In the end, Daggerdale is a passable hack and slash that seems like it needed another few months in the oven before release.

Zoids Assault is a bland, uninspiring game that will keep the interest of very few gamers after the first battle or two.

The game is obviously not Harvest Moon as we know it or even a "real" Harvest Moon game, but even when taken on its own merits and values, it's simply a throwaway game.

Don't go near this game.

There's not much I can say about Arc of Alchemist given its short runtime; there's just not a lot for me to work with. It's a very mediocre game with few redeeming qualities. Compile Heart is toying with my feelings once again.

Operation Darkness isn't so bad as to be unplayable, but it gives no motivation for the completion of more than a few hours of play.