If Talisman is new to you, Prologue can be a good way to see if you want to invest your time and money in the boxed or digital versions of this flawed but enjoyable classic.

For fans of the original, Miner 2049er is an instant grab. But, then, it's free -- so it can't hurt to check it out if you're remotely intrigued. As mentioned, some things about the game are a bit shaky right now, but I feel that they will be worked out in short order, based largely on how responsive the folks at Magmic have been to my inquiries.

The set-up is exhaustive, I'll give it that, but the breadth of the gameplay balanced against the length of the story causes it to feel like I've just played through a tiny sliver that was mercilessly sliced off a larger game with little regard for where it was cutting

While it gets the core gist of the Spelunky formula right, and does some rather cool things, the game suffers from its short development time, leading to a lack of variation in level designs. Also, the game just doesn't have the tight platformer feel necessary for what the demanding difficulty requires to give the player a good shot at succeeding.

It sounds odd to rail on a story in a puzzle game, but Perfect Angle could have been so much more if it dropped it entirely, or just went in a different direction.

With so few competent dog fighting games on the App Store, both H.A.W.X. and Ace Combat Xi are worth considering.

I'd love to see Duke Dashington expanded on from here, I think there's more that can be done with the concept in either new content or finding new ways to play that existing content. But for a mobile-friendly platformer, I sure had fun with Duke Dashington.

A solid port of an imaginative game that puts a lot of control in your hands.

That all said, Deadlings is challenging, entertaining, and oodles of fun.

It's worth a shot if you're a fan of Square's classic RPG series, but in trying to stretch out to two different camps, I fear it may not entirely please either.

Throwing Chuck into danger is a great pastime, even if we're the ones that suffer when he fails. As the game deepens in difficulty, there's a real satisfaction to be found in slipping around the opposition, taking them out when they're not looking.

A solid port of an imaginative game that puts a lot of control in your hands.

If you’re on the hunt for another crafting/survival game and dig low-fi vibes, you might want to give Nira a look. A mysterious talking totem pole dishes out quests to complete, and you have to go forth and do whatever needs to be done in order to gain experience and level up. The game is played from a top-down perspective where you explore procedurally generated islands. Gather resources, battle enemies, and craft to your heart’s content. It seems very simple at first, but it ends up being surprisingly complex. As an affordable alternative to the likes of Terraria and Minecraft, I think it has a place.

I think that the thing that makes Orbitum so compelling for me is that it is so punishingly difficult.

The biggest problem we ran into was that while the chaotic moments were the most fun, the game punishes you for indulging in them. I understand that’s the point of the game, and I suppose it’s not so different from things like Overcooked! in that regard. But here it feels like the competition should be more the focus than the cooperation, and it just doesn’t work out that way. We still enjoyed it well enough to bring it out for a couple of evenings, but no one is in a big rush to cycle it back in again for the moment. I’d say if you do gaming nights often enough, it’s a nice thing to pull out now and then.

While Bastards isn't some ground breaking game release, it's definitely a really fun pick up if you have your expectations set appropriately.

Even without any of this, Magnetic Shaving Derby delivers a lot of entertaining moments based on just the craziness alone.

Poor Gladiator doesn't have much to it and is slow going at the start, but it's the perfect game to play for a few minutes at a time while you're out and about.

This is a rough port of an excellent game, and while you can still enjoy it in this form, it’s probably the absolute worst way to do so.

In the end, WarioWare: Move It! is a decent follow-up to Smooth Moves on the Wii, but it really doesn’t add up to much more than that. A little too complicated for casual play with those who don’t have a lot of familiarity with games, and a little too inaccurate and light on things to do for more experienced players. With the right mix of players you can have a lot of fun here for a few hours, but I find myself unable to recommend it with much vigor.

There really isn't a whole lot to Mr. Ninja, but the gameplay mechanics are solid and it's a fun time in either short or long bursts.

Pocket Creatures is a charming pet sim with a lively, sandbox world that promotes exploration and experimentation.

It’s easy to pick up, but the puzzles get quite tricky as you go. Nothing we haven’t seen before, but it’s well-made and wrapped up in an attractive presentation.

If you can tolerate the initial confusion, though, Metro 2033: Wars does have some enjoyable surprises to share, and unlike most surprises you get in the subway, these ones are mostly welcome.

I think if you’re planning on playing locally with friends, you’re better off buying the real thing. There’s just enough friction here that it’s not as good of an experience. If you think you’ll want to play alone or online a lot, then this is obviously the better choice. I can see a lot of room for improvement here in terms of options and making everything more approachable (why no touch controls?), but all in all this is a fair bit better than the option we had before on Switch.

Make no bones about it, the game is squarely hanging its hat on its chief gimmick. Still, that gimmick is so interesting and thoughtfully implemented that even with everything else riding the line of mediocrity, Adventure Land is well worth your time to check out.

If you played and enjoyed Monster Strike and are looking for something to spice up your love of slinging, you should give this one a try. It has a few new ideas that make for some exciting battles, and the graphics are certainly quite nice. Just be aware that as sweet as it is in the early stages, it gets a lot tougher as you go along.

In short: Sage Fusion 2 is a story worth experiencing. I just wish it were attached to a better game.