While I’ve had fun with Bubble Bobble Sugar Dungeons, I don’t think it really succeeds at its own premise. It’s kind of a good time despite itself, with the core of Bubble Bobble’s unique, arcade-flavored gameplay shining through all the weird, clumsy roguelike stuff that doesn’t work well at all. Part of the problem is a bizarre balancing act and poor communication of what your expectations should be, and the other part is how annoying it is to have something inherently repetitive made artificially even more repetitive by making it structurally more punishing. More clarity and intuitive access to the upgrades would have helped a lot, and made especially the earlier hours feel less grindy and arduous. The roguelike stuff just ends up feeling not just tacked on, but limiting as well. But hey, if Sugar Dungeons sparks a craving for the real deal, Bubble Symphony is a perfect pack-in companion to satisfy that sweet tooth.

Meaningless microgames water down the package considerably. Instead of 80 plus games, many of which don't use the GamePad at all, Wii Party U would have been better served focused on what makes Nintendo's new home console unique. Of course, that kind of creative decision would have gone against what the real goal of Wii Party U is: to sell more Wii Remotes.

For those that have followed Yoshi since his first starring role nearly 20 years ago, this game is a tremendous disappointment.

Valkyrie Elysium is a disappointing, befuddled, and mistimed return for the Valkyrie series.

To its credit, Steel Seed doesn’t overstay its welcome. You can clear the whole thing in about twelve hours, and nothing here (well, aside from the combat) is bad. It’s just dull. Storm in a Teacup clearly knows how to make games and knows what they’re doing here, but it’s such a mismatch of parts from so many other games that none of them really manage to come together in a coherent way. Steel Seed never finds its identity, which is a shame because Storm in a Teacup is clearly a talented developer who understands how to make games. But Moran was onto something when he said that technique wasn’t as important as conviction. Zoe may be the chosen one destined to save the world, but the game around her never really feels like it's convinced of it — or itself. And if you can’t persuade yourself of the story you’re telling, it’s damn hard to convince anyone else.

Alex Kidd in Miracle World DX from Merge Games and Jankenteam is a very niche product with very niche marketability. I imagine the game will be received well in territories where the Sega Master System held on to a longer life-span, such as Brazil and Europe. For the rest of the world though, there just isn’t enough here to bring Alex Kidd into the modern age.

Admittedly, many of the flaws or problems I have with Dynasty Warriors 9 are nothing entirely new to the series. It’s just that now there’s a whole new layer of problems that have been put on top of them that make the original issues that much more apparent. For almost every aspect of the game's features that I felt were on par with the quality of past titles, there is a contradiction.

What holds Way of the Hunter back is that most of it doesn’t feel fully realized or polished. Performance is an issue, bugs are an issue, accessibility is an issue and, in many cases, the quality of the game’s systems are an issue. While I suspect things will improve over time, Way of the Hunter is a long way from where my expectations lie.

I had a good time playing Concord. The gunplay feels good, and the match pacing made it easy to jump in and quickly play a couple of games before peacing out. That said, I’m not confident that “just fine” will be enough to survive in the brutal landscape of live-service games in 2024. Concord suffers from a lack of innovation and identity, and I’m curious to see how Firewalk Studios and PlayStation will navigate the path forward.

As a modern blast from the past, Akimbot is an acceptable adventure that takes its cues from PS2 platforming classics but falls short of its own expectations. Its gunplay, platforming, and variety of mini-games are mostly adequate, and some levels show moments of creativity. However, the lack of character progression, uneven difficulty spikes, and unrewarding exploration hinder the effort. Ultimately, the original Jak & Daxter and Ratchet & Clank have stronger level design and more interesting ideas, and those games came out over two decades ago.

Dynasty Warriors: Gundam Reborn is sure to be a welcome return for some, but the rust is clearly showing on this series.

Had it been released under a different name, it'd be a perfectly serviceable mutliplayer mech adventure, but even with the Metroid name it's well worth picking up for a fun little weekend jaunt, especially if you're the type to return again and again to a game to best your previous scores and advance from there, you'll find an excellent entry in the Metroid series here.

Way of the Passive Fist is a fun diversion for an afternoon, with the Story Mode coming in at about four hours, but there isn't much reason to keep wandering beyond that.

Volition knows exactly what the Saints Row series is. It's dumb, enjoyable fun that's not to be taken too seriously. Gat out of Hell certainly fits that criteria and though it's a smaller package this time around, it's still nice to take a short weekend trip to hell. Just don't expect to stay very long.

It’s a bummer combat feels like such a swing and a miss, because everything else about Fairy Tail 2 feels like an improvement from the first game. It’s a more full and lively-feeling experience, which is crucial for adapting something like a beloved anime series. The playable roster is larger, and a multi-pronged skill tree system allows for lots of customization for each character’s skills and passive abilities. As it stands, fans of Mashima’s fantasy epic will still probably have a good time seeing this version of the story through (and checking out the new epilogue!), but Fairy Tail 2 doesn’t get any closer to must-play status than the previous game, and oddly enough for different reasons.

It’s a decent enough arcade shooter, and if you look at it that way, the length and mood of the game make sense. However, it doesn’t make as much sense as a game with the Dark Pictures moniker. As widely varied as the quality of those games have been, they take the time to tell a story. Switchback doesn’t. It focuses on the gunplay, action, and thrills. While it does a decent enough job of that, the performance issues bring even that end down a bit. If you’re a fan of Supermassive’s brand of horror, it would be hard for me to recommend this over their other games. If you want to play something more like a modern light gun horror that makes decent use of the PS VR2’s technology, then you could do worse than Switchback, but you could also do better.

Star Wars: Bounty Hunter is an excellent revival of the GameCube/PS2 classic. It retains all the charm that made fans fall in love with it back in 2002, with several quality-of-life improvements to make it enjoyable for modern audiences. There are cracks where outdated designs/mechanics shine through, but Star Wars: Bounty Hunter remains a fantastic story from a galaxy far, far away.

Unfortunately, because the pace feels so plodding and this beat 'em up formula doesn't mix particularly well with RPG-style combat, it's hard to recommend coming back for more. I like Treachery in Beatdown City's concept, but it's not something that really worked for me in practice. You can't always mix peanut butter with chocolate and end up with something good.

To put it simply, I just didn’t have a good time with God of War Sons of Sparta. This game stepped into an overly crowded space, brought nothing new or interesting to the table, and has this weird, corporate, “how do you do fellow kids” energy with its faux-retro trimmings that don’t have any historical verisimilitude. Sauceless combat, a do-nothing story, and striking lack of personality don’t do any favors to a novel premise and quality voice acting that gave an initially promising first impression. A God of War Metroidvania could have been a productive and exciting use of the IP, especially in a post-Silksong world, but Sons of Sparta doesn’t have a fraction of that juice.

AEW Fight Forever’s gameplay, modes, and campaign are quite a fun time, if not occasionally cheesy. Unfortunately, rough graphics, strangely limited features beyond the wrestling, and some very phoned-in commentary are just a few of the things that distract from what might otherwise be a solid competitor to WWE and its 2K series.

It honestly feels like Windbound could be a great game. There’s a strong foundation and a lot of spirit in the idea, but ultimately it fails to live up to the endless ocean that it promises. I really wish that there was more to this experience and that it took more advantage of the things it does have to offer. Unfortuntely, if you’re looking for a great survival roguelike to put your time into, then you’re probably better off setting sail in more abundant seas.

The season does end on a strong note, with plenty of bloodshed, and a special mystery with what Gared finds in the North past the wall. It's too bad that the some of the season's highest points are little more than a setup for the next season. I admit that there were a few intense situations, like poking a guy's eye out, but they are overshadowed by the fact that my choices generally didn't much matter in a game with the primary focus on decision making--underscored by how the same one eyed-man still talked crap to the cripple that beat him up.

Batman has trained these heroes for this moment, but they aren't ready to rise to the occasion just yet with Gotham Knights.

Phantom Breaker's best features are its multiplayer modes, especially the cooperative ones. While it's disappointing that the game doesn't have online play, the chaotic fun of throwing multiple fighters into the mix makes up for it.

In an industry where many games are about completing a checklist of objectives, Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey doesn’t tell players what to do, it asks what they’re capable of.

Despite the early promise brought by its measured sense of style, interest in intellectual concepts, and distinct combat system, Varlet falls flat in almost every way. It’s still an eye-pleasing RPG experience with fun combat, but all of its surface elements are just that: surface elements. The whole game is dressed up as something it isn’t, which is a shame. I’d love to play the game Varlet presents itself as, rather than the sterile, conveyor belt production line version of a Persona-inspired RPG it feels like.

Even with some annoying free-to-elements that can be very difficult to swallow and take away from the Trials experience a bit, this winds up being a pretty sweet ride that stands out on its own.

Calling Gods Will Be Watching "fun" would be a gross misrepresentation. It's not even an experience that one would necessarily recommend, but it is one worth trying. The game is certainly challenging and engrossing in its way, but I wouldn't necessarily call it fulfilling. More often, the game is almost painful to play, and relief comes when you finally manage to make it through a single scenario.