Although the game tries its best to teach new players the ropes, it falls short due to the overwhelming amount of techniques and options the player is disposed to out of the gate.

Titan Souls isn’t a bad game, it’s just noticeably lacking. If players are just looking for tough, often short, battles that involve one hit kills, then this is the perfect game. But, if a fleshed out, well rounded experience is what’s desired, then Titan Souls will leave you wanting.

Making a debut on new hardware has its pros and cons, but for NHL 22, the overt emphasis on Superstar X-Factors was a huge gamble to take that did not pay off. If this is your first NHL game in a while, then there is a solid foundation in NHL 22 with various game modes that can appeal. For fans who are hoping for more, however, it is disappointing to find little to no improvements despite all the hype, just like a draft pick that turned out to be a lemon.

By all means many may enjoy the experience to be had in 199X, however don’t expect a lengthy nor particularly engaging gameplay experience. You’re there to push the story along with your directional keys and space bar and little else.

Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood starts off on the right note, engaging players with the type of action I imagine werewolf fans will find exciting. It quickly runs out of puff, though, and what excitement there is to be had is spoiled by too much tedium in between. Ultimately, enthusiasts of the Apocalypse TRPG are unlikely to feel satiated by what is a rather shallow video game experience overall, which makes it difficult to recommend to those outside the hardcore fanbase.

To my surprise, Styling Star charmed me a lot more than I initially expected.

Ultimately, Brawl falls well short of being a great game. The control issues and, in my personal experience, difficulty finding players to match up with fail to capitalize on the visual design and setting.

It’s quite sad that Chamber of Time so actively works against you in many ways. The tediousness of everything, from school exploration to combat, can really start to drag on you after a while, even if you do enjoy the story and characters.

If you’re looking for something to pass the time on a flight with a friend, or just something to occasionally whip out once you’ve had a few drinks then it’ll do the job, but it’s unlikely to be a staple party game for years to come.

Arguably the biggest flaw with Overkill’s The Walking Dead is just how generic and bland it feels.

An action game that is fun in the moment, but is quickly forgettable thanks to a poor story, one-note characters, and mixed visuals. While the actual gameplay itself is incredibly enjoyable, there just isn’t enough new content to justify this game’s existence.

If you loved Outlast for its story and the fact that it stripped away any sense of viable defense, then there's something special waiting for you. The story really does sing. But if you were hoping for something a bit more fresh and different in a genre that has started to become one-note, then you may be disappointed by what Outlast 2 has to offer.

Despite how negative I sound to this point, Super Lucky’s Tale isn’t a bad game. Everything about it is fine, adequate, and distinguished as an effort.

I think the most disappointing thing is that, at the moment, there is very little replayability. After only about five hours, I beat the game, which included the three extra DLC dungeons and gods from the Valiant Edition.

What Hunter Gatherer is missing, really, is content. There’s not an awful lot to do, but it can take a while to get the hang of accomplishing it.

If you strip that away from Cris Tales, what you have left is a charming and serviceable RPG that is also packed with quite a few flaws and questionable design choices. Cris Tales is definitely worth a playthrough if you’re looking for something light-hearted and a little bit old-school. Just keep your expectations low when it comes to time-based gameplay.

Danganronpa: Ultra Despair Girls offers an exciting and decidedly chilling story for fans who have followed the series since its inception, with callbacks to the original game and important revelations those in touch with the games won’t want to miss. Unfortunately for newcomers or those who aren’t as in tune with Danganronpa, there’s not much here to convert anyone.

The moment-to-moment combat, smooth animation and attractive visuals are serviceable enough to see most players through to the end of the game’s modest duration, but it’s impossible to walk away from Chasm without feeling like the game is a missed opportunity.

When it comes right down to it, I’m just not getting what I used to out of Madden. It doesn’t do much for me, and issues that I’ve had for several years are still there. That’s why I suggested a break at the beginning of this review. Something tells me it wouldn’t spell the end of the world. And yet, something else tells me dreaming of such a thing is wishful at best.

Brigandine: The Legend of Runersia is a good addition to a genre that is gaining popularity. While it may lack the accessibility or even the swifter pace of other titles, it still manages to deliver a strategy roleplaying experience that is largely good on all fronts, supported by six distinct kingdoms and storylines. As long as you can accept that it might feel repetitive in a long game, Brigandine: The Legend of Runersia is an experience worth trying out.

Madden 20 is fine and serviceable but other than The Yard (and that’s a stretch), there’s almost nothing that is worth getting excited over this year. Here’s hoping the new home consoles do something to move Madden forward at some point in the near future.

At its core, Infinium Strike is a game of learning, devising, and applying. And while the story is pretty laughable and 30 missions feels a bit too short, the gameplay definitely feels crisp and well thought out.

The online leaderboards and tournaments alone may be worth the price of admission if you’re the kind of person who likes stacking your skills up against the general populous, but enabling online play would have gone a long way to improve the multiplayer experience.

Jupiter & Mars may only be a few hours long but it feels like a drag. Its message is admirable but swimming through its empty world is tedious. The basic stealth sections, block smashing mechanics, and environmental puzzles simply aren’t a lot of fun and the visuals are too lifeless to make it a world still worth visiting.

Both the story mode and multiplayer modes succeed best while playing with others in the same room, but poorly implemented in-game currency, a repetitive and short story mode, and currently broken online system hinder this title, so the fun moments get lost within the frustrating ones.

Mario Party: Star Rush has some fun and original mini-games, and looks great. Toad Scramble’s new fast-paced simultaneous is enjoyable enough, but it’s too bad it can’t be played online. What is also unfortunate is that luck plays way too much into who wins and loses and will inevitable frustrate players. Some minor tweaking along with the inclusion of online play could have made this one of the best entries in the series in a long time, but instead, it’s another disappointment.

If you’re looking for a vibrant world to explore in virtual reality then Windlands is certainly worth trying. However, if you are looking to feel like Spider-Man seamlessly swinging around a new landscape, keep in mind that poor traversal mechanics and awkward movement will make that feel less authentic that you might have hoped.

Despite promising a fresh take on the farming genre, the execution just falls short. Decent farming mechanics aside, the clunky combat and slow burn of a story really just take away from the experience.