Croc: Legend of the Gobbos Remastered is a faithful re-release of the original 1997 3D platformer, with more user-friendly controls and slightly - just slightly - more modern graphics. The retro charm remains intact with levels full of secrets, funny enemies, and simple but rewarding gameplay. While not shining in technical innovation, it includes extra content such as the Crocipedia and the original game. A nostalgic remastered, more conservative than revolutionary, designed for historical and curious fans of digital vintage, proving that even lesser known video games can deserve a second chance.

Tales of Arise: Beyond the Dawn is a good opportunity to return to the role of Alphen and discover the facets of a new world that now only needs to be rebuilt. On the gaming side, unfortunately, something is missing and some new features could have been added, especially to draw a difference between the original chapter and the expansion, which is very useful only in narrative terms.

Freedom Wars Remastered is an operation that fails to restore luster to its former glory. Already narratively it was not something never seen before that could be defined as seminal and, even today, unfortunately the absence of a charismatic character is felt throughout. Not helping are the technical problems, such as a slowdown in the pace due to excessively long loads and an unstimulating work from a gameplay point of view, really old.

The Valiant is a decent enough game. It most likely won’t amaze you, especially if you’ve played other small-scale RTS games before, but its campaign is the right amount . And if you’ve liked Dawn of War 2 in the past, you’ll feel right at home.

Disturbing and outside of any canon: horses is a journey into the loss of innocence.

The Eternal Castle [REMASTERED] try to demonstrate the current maturity of the videogame medium simply using a few modern tools in a structure inspired by the adventures of the 80s, playing with the player mind starting from the title.

Aslightly lazy conversion of a rather disappointing game at the time of its original release. It's a decent budget game, but it's not as good as the previous games dedicated to professor Hershel.

Of the many ingredients of Iron Danger, the combat system is for sure the best designed and comes across as fresh and most interesting. I can't say the same for the RPG and narrative components though: not bad, but not excellent either.

Theoretically, the idea of ​​turning this edition of PES into a simple update is a good idea. Last year’s football season went totally crazy, the two tournament seasons almost overlapped and the pandemic stopped or slowed down videogame development for a long time. Focusing on next year’s game still seems a good choice, and it would be even better if Konami tried to dedicate the least amount of commitment to this update, which it didn’t. The absence of even a partial roster update update on day one is unacceptable, as is the ugliness of the Inter and Milan uniforms, even for a game that is still the best option for any football lover.

Despite the hardware limitations, circumvented by falling to 30 frames per second, the competitive shooter made by Blizzard turns out to be a valuable job. A conversion that aims first and foremost to reach new players, pulling them into what is certainly one of the generation's cults.

The RPG side of SpellForce 3 works better than the RTS one. Some important bugs and a bunch of balance problems prevent the game from reaching a higher score.

Deck of Haunts is fun for its mechanics and the reversal of perspective, but it lacks a real narrative bite and a crescendo of tension: it is interesting from a conceptual point of view, but it lacks that extra spark that makes the difference.

The console version of Assetto Corsa is a story of courage and ambition. If you love motorsports and you have a driving wheel, this is a must buy for the simple reason that you won't find a better simulation on consoles. If you play with a traditional joypad, you'll find a much more difficult (and sometimes frustrating) title. Assetto Corsa is a very good porting, and like its PC counterpart, it's bound to improve greatly in the upcoming months.

In the first decade of the 2000s, Cing was synonymous with atmospheric adventures and extraordinary gameplay ideas. Two of those now arrive on Switch with a complete graphic makeover and modernized gameplay. Slow pace, plenty of atmosphere and intriguing storylines are strengths of two productions that have kept (quite) intact their charm.

Giving Outriders a score is a tougher challenge than I thought. The core gameplay loop is fun, incredibly so when it clicks, the loot system is well thought out and wielding the powers of the Anomaly is power-tripping. But the game is also a slow burner, enemy variety is disappointingly poor, there is no scaling of content for party members of lower levels, and audio and animations aren’t always that great. But the core is good, and we have faith that People Can Fly will polish those rough edges.

While True: learn() is a nice puzzle game that manages to be both funny and educational.

Mandragora: Whispers of the Witch Tree combines souls-like combat and Metroidvania structure in a layered, dark gothic world that's compelling, both artistically and in its setting. There are some technical issues, but it's a 2.5D adventure worth experiencing.

Those who expected major innovations in Sonic Superstars should not have expected major innovations in Sonic Superstars. Sonic always remains Sonic, precisely because he is Sonic. New heights have been reached in this particular type of level design, which alternates sections in which the hedgehog splashes like a pinball, apparently without any possibility of control on our part, with almost pixel perfect movements in which excellent timing is also required . Bosses, as always, require careful analysis of movement patterns. Everything else is a pleasant side dish, but at the base there is always the old but superlative Sonic gameplay.

Same as its predecessors Verdun and Tannenberg, Isonzo is a niche shooter, and this reflects both in its gameplay mechanics and in its production budget. Undeniable technical limitations, however, cannot hide the fact that Isonzo is a solid game that fully shows the passion Blackmill Games poured into it, and is especially enjoyable if played with an organized group. Recommended, as long as you’re aware of what you’re getting into and don’t mind getting killed by someone you can’t even see.

Overall, Marvel's Iron Man VR is a successful "superhero simulator" that skillfully exploits virtual reality to deliver a cinematic experience worthy of the big screen.

Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot is a fairly good game that qualifies better than the sum of its parts. Some mechanics aren't quite convincing, but overall the game is one of the most inspired representations of Akira Toriyama's work.

The collaboration between id Software and Avalanche Studios brought us a nice open-world first person shooter, despite a bunch of issues with the world building and a shallow plot.

After many years, finally Space Hulk: Tactics represents a transposition as faithful as possible of the original board game. The two campaigns of Space Marine and Genestealer aren’t very long, but they allow the players to familiarize with the game mechanics, and they tell stories that are consistent with the Warhammer 40,000 franchise. There are a few bugs to report, but the fans of WH40K should not miss the title developed by Cyanide Studio.

This new installment of the Skylanders franchise relies upon a solid and deep collectible card game. There are some interesting ideas here and there, unfortunately ruined by some over-simplifications in the design, that ultimately make the game a little boring.

Encased is an old school RPG with lots of content and an exciting story. However, it is perhaps a little bit too faithful to the classics.

We would have preferred a proper sequel, but the gigantic roster gives JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: All-Star Battle R that encyclopedic value that will keep Hiroiko Araki's fans busy for a long time. The partly revamped audio-visual presentation still holds up well against the weight of years, and the variety of characters is put at the service of a sufficiently complex and satisfying combat system. Too bad about the lack of rollback, but never say never.

Evil West isn’t a bad game, but it’s certainly a disappointment. Jesse Rentier is a fun character to play, but unfortunately the encounter design doesn’t always let his full capabilities shine, and the boss battles are downright awful. Still worth playing if you’re looking for a decent single-player (or coop!) action with over-the-top characters, but perhaps wait for a sale.

Yooka-Laylee is an excellent homage to the best works of Rare on Nintendo 64 (with the notable exception of GoldenEye 007). It's challenging, fun, albeit a little heavy on the hardware requirements. If you still love the old-school platforming, you should definitely consider it.