Every time I found myself having a bit of fun with XEL, something would happen to ruin it. A weird bug here, a tiny hard-to-spot thing there, or just some vexing performance issues. Without those problems, I’d give the game a mild recommendation to action-adventure fans. With them, it’s hard to be very positive about it at all. There are so many great games of this sort on the Switch that it’s hard to muster much enthusiasm for a merely decent one, let alone one that trips over its own feet so often.

Ultimately this is one for diehard Monopoly fans only, who are in the market for a quick and dirty arcade version of the app they've undoubtedly already got on their iPhone or iPad. For anyone interested in a digitized board game, this is just too anemic and pandering to satisfy.

If you're looking for a simple, weapons-based racer with multiplayer and don't care about customizability or excessive replayability, then Mad Wheels may be a title worthy of your attention. If you're looking for a game with more substance and depth, then Death Rally still remains the perennial favorite and recommended title.

While I respect Topple Zip‘s unusual design, the PC-8801 probably wasn’t the best platform to realize it. This release is up to the usual standards of the EGGCONSOLE line in terms of the wrapper’s options and extras, and there’s almost no language barrier to worry about either. But the game itself just isn’t very fun to play, so it’s really just one for people who enjoy poking at ancient oddities.

I found enough things to like in Hell Pie that I could probably see my way to recommending it on other platforms. On Switch, there are just too many technical issues dragging down the experience for my liking. If you’re very tolerant of that kind of thing, you might still enjoy the game. It has some fun ideas, a crass but amusing sense of humor, and some interesting levels. But it’s hard to enjoy any of that when you miss a jump because the framerate took a dive and the camera went wacky at a critical moment.

Mighty Switch Force! Hose It Down! isn't a bad game, but between its brevity and lack of interesting ideas, it's not a very good one, either.

In spite of its insistence otherwise, Cube Blast is more about getting a good shuffle and/or abusing power-ups than any actual strategy. The production values are nice enough and there’s a basic appeal to this sort of thing, but I simply can’t see any reason to recommend throwing money down on this over playing the free mobile version.

Overall, Volcano Tower is an interesting diversion from the standard platformer and many runner or roguelike games, mixing a few genres together. However, it is very repetitive and a bit obtrusive with the ads.

As it stands, Fish Pond Park is an afternoon trip to the pond and not much more than that.

It's bland, SimCity type of stuff with Kairosoft's characteristic wrapper.

It’s a shame that the game’s flaws detract so much from its innovations, because I’ve never seen a strategy game that feels as tense as Overland, and I was always compelled as I slowly unlocked its mysteries. But each time I died and had to start over, I found myself wanting to restart less and less, frustrated at how tedious, buggy, and poorly-streamlined the game turned out to be.

Hammerwatch 2 is an interesting game that would probably be controversial enough on its own merits, but with frequent bugs of the worst sort and an interface clearly designed for computer users, it crosses the line into something I just can’t recommend in its current state. I actually enjoyed the game when it was working properly, but there are only so many times I can lose a dozen hours of progress before calling it a day. Maybe after a few patches this will be worth spending time with, but for now I’d avoid it.

I agree with the sentiment of Limited Run Games on Plumbers Don’t Wear Ties: Definitive Edition. We shouldn’t only preserve and make accessible the good games from gaming history. The bad stuff has its place too, at least in the context of the medium as an art form. But this is also a product, and taken in that context I have a really hard time recommending this. The game itself is as awful as advertised, and while there has been a good effort made here to provide a lot of extra material, I didn’t come away from this with any real insight into how this whole mess happened or even really why we should care about it specifically. There’s probably a story here, but it’s one this release doesn’t do a good job of telling.

Croma isn't a bad game, by any stretch – in fact, I enjoy it a lot. But it is a simple game, one that might endure in the same way that Canabalt endures, something to come back to when an errant OpenFeint notification reminds you how easy it is to kill an afternoon chasing the dragon.

I don't think it will take a lot of hammering to make this into a more challenging game, and it will be all the better for it. That will just leave Ms. Spell with the problem of being a rather ordinary example of its genre on a platform positively drowning in more interesting ideas. I suppose if you like the idea of a roguelite but find the general difficulty of the genre intimidating, you might enjoy Ms. Spell. Otherwise, this is a hard game to recommend in its current form.

The writing in Hearts of Iron: War Stories was interesting enough to hold my attention for its brief running time, but the dull choices and disappointing ending system make it pretty hard to recommend.

Overall, Marcus Level is a great casual game if you’re looking for something to kick back to, but it’s definitely only a game for those who have oodles of patience and a lot of spare time on their hands.

I appreciate that Everdream Valley zigged where I expected it to zag, and there are times when I think it almost gets what it’s going for. There’s certainly something here that a person could grab on to if they’re in the right frame of mind. But there are just so many bits of the game that feel half-baked or not properly thought-out, and the technical issues are frequent and unpleasant. It might eventually get updated into something worth punting on, but for now I’d give it a wide berth.

It's worth a pass unless you're the most die-hard fan of Crescent Moon games.

There are plenty of games out there that respect my time and money, and this isn't one of them.

It has all the makings of a good game but fails to execute most of them well. Rather than rewarding you the more you play, it feels like it’s punishing you by everything you have to do the further you go. If there was just the one change of your crew being able to make daily items for you, it would be tremendously better. Until then, it falls into mediocrity.

I think Warbot Assault is perhaps interesting to check out for its 'giant robots punching others in the face' premise. It's just not one with much lasting appeal beyond that.

The biggest issue with Valthirian Arc: Hero School Story 2 right now is the general bugginess of it. If it gets some fixes, I’m sure it will settle into that same niche the first game did. Not that interesting for simulation fans, nor all that exciting for RPG fans, but for those who feel like dabbling in a low-impact version of both put together, it’s okay. It’s too bad it isn’t more than that, because the concept is really good and a sequel is ideally where things ought to come together.

Perhaps with updates, Gamevil will add more to Dark Avenger, and bring it up to a competitive level. It’s worthwhile to try because it’s different enough and free, but unless you’re playing on the subway or are bored at work and have nothing better to do, it won’t last you long.

For all the merits of Samurai Love Ballad: Party, it's that essential aspect, more than anything else, that makes it hard to recommend.

It is just a simple tilt-based game, but as far as the game's core concept is concerned, it's really cool– Especially if you've got an extensive Facebook photo collection.

On paper, the looping concept and setting could’ve worked well, but it feels like there was a disconnect between the people working on the in-game combat and dialogue systems with the rest of the game. Loop8: Summer of Gods is one of the biggest disappointments of 2023. It had so much potential, and I hope this idea is revisited in the future, but I cannot recommend it right now unless you’re ok with boring gameplay that feels more like a chore than anything. The great art, music, and voice acting sadly isn’t enough to elevate this to something I can recommend at full price. It should’ve been better.

Still, the gameplay is fun enough to have a go at once in a while and for a dollar you can have a Rainbow Pony in your pocket, which is a statement I'm proud to be able to say in my lifetime.