It's tough to recommend Civilization: Revolution 2 in its current state. It makes few meaningful improvements to the original game, and in some ways its even takes a step back. Depending on your taste for 2D art, I would actually recommend the original Civilization: Revolution over this version. This sequel that feels like a missed opportunity to improve on a good idea.

The Bureau isn’t nearly as good as Enemy Unknown. Muddle through that initial disappointment though, and you’ll discover a fun third-person shooter/strategy hybrid that, while flawed, refreshingly taxes the brain cells and trigger finger in equal measure.

Innocent and whimsical, Doki-Doki Universe was made for your inner child. The adorable cast, the kid-like doodles, the heartfelt stories and its unabashed fondness of the off-kilter might make it a bit too twee for some but for those who want a change of pace from hard-hitting action games, Doki-Doki Universe works. Just be advised that it isn't the most technically perfect game in the PS Vita's stable.

Manual Samuel is a good-looking, genuinely funny button-pressing test of dexterity that starts out well, but unfortunately becomes increasingly complicated and frustrating as the game wears on. It's a nice idea, but one that will probably only appeal to those who enjoy games like QWOP.

Ultra Street Fighter II is an admirable effort; a pitch-perfect version of Street Fighter II on the Nintendo Switch. Capcom has re-balanced the game from its Super Turbo release, thrown in the Super Turbo HD Remix art, and added some additional Switch-only modes. Unfortunately, the whole package just feels adequate. Ultra Street Fighter II doesn't feel like it goes above and beyond for the series' 30th anniversary and the asking price is steep for what's there.

This spiritual successor to Tourist Trophy delivers exciting and challenging racing action that's thoroughly enjoyable. However, graphics that feel more last generation than this, rather weak sound, and very slow loading times take the edge off the overall experience.

For all its weirdness it actually is a pretty compelling adventure. Excellent combat mechanics and the pairing of an open world with a harsh time limit help the game overcome its technical shortcomings and impenetrable story.

If you can deal with a healthy dose of bugs, State of Decay 2 is an extremely satisfying and unpredictable management sim with a solid action-survival game laid on top. The sequel's improved UI, new multiplayer component, and additional maps help it stand out from its predecessor, even if the moment-to-moment is largely the same.

If you're a big fan of these light novel characters or the anime they've been in, Dengeki Bunko Fighting Climax might be your jam. If not, this fighter is accessible, but that accessibility makes many characters on the small roster feel the same. A solid effort, but there are better 2D fighters out there.

Full Mojo Rampage is challenging, but entertaining. It might have some stiff competition in the form of similar games like Binding of Isaac, Enter the Gungeon, and Crypt of the Necrodancer, but its voodoo theme, four-player co-op, and twin stick chops help give it its own identity. Ultimately, it's a fun game that might occasionally be frustrating, but it looks good, sounds great, and plays well.

It aims to be a chaotic, haphazard mess targeted toward kids, and it succeeds on that front in large part because Bowser Mode rewards them for being a complete jerk to everyone else.

A gorgeous-looking, very well designed game that offers five different racing styles to tackle - and a bevy of interesting cars to modify and make your own. Its story is a lot of fun, and it's set in an impressively large environment that is very enjoyable to drive around. A great arcade racer that's both challenging and addictive.

Level difficulty is a bit uneven at times and DRP can get repetitive, but there's still a lot of fun to be had here.

Featuring an impressive roster of bikes and tracks, and a broad spectrum of events to participate in, Ride 2 starts out being a bit of a grind, but eventually becomes a very entertaining racing game. Its action might be a little too hardcore to appeal to anyone other than a real motorcycle fan, but if that's you, definitely check it out.

The entire thing doesn't come together as a solid whole. The citizens you can recruit are interesting, but the rest of the game's story is only skin-deep. Combat is solid, but it can get tedious and boring at times.

An entertaining, challenging, and thoroughly psychedelic music rhythm game that has great audio-visuals. It's a little on the short side at only a couple of hours, but it's a fun game nevertheless.

Excellent albeit not terribly inspired. It keeps to traditional motifs, eschewing more grandiose ideas in favour of a more familiar flavor. Think comfort food except more cerebral.

It's still a far cry from the top-tier classic puzzlers, but Dr. Luigi manages to be fun enough... even if there is that nebulous whiff of tragedy about the whole affair. On the other hand, it doesn't leave the nasty taste in your mouth that you get from exploitatively designed free-to-play puzzlers like Candy Crush Saga, so that's something.

An exceptionally cute match-three puzzler whose completely off-the-wall (and comedically mis-translated) Story Mode packs a fun challenge that'll keep you entertained for a good few hours.

No, Yoshi's New Island may not be the game we fans of the original want, but it's definitely the game its creators set out to make. And a lot of fun, too. It's hard to be cynical about that.

There are times when Just Cause 4 is amazing, but the final result is a game that loses parts of what made Just Cause great in the first place. The new mission structure repetitive and causes the series' staple destruction to take a backseat. The tether customization is top notch and the new weapons are a winner, but things like throwable C4 are gone. And the extreme weather, which is exciting when it appears, doesn't make its presence felt during most of the game. I had fun with Just Cause 4, but it's a game I want to love more than I actually do. Temper your expectations.

You probably know what you're getting into if you're picking up Dynasty Warriors Gundam Reborn. Any resemblance it might have to depth is purely superficial.

Federation Force has proven to be a pleasant surprise, and my feelings on playing the game quickly went from "reluctant dread" to "respectful delight."

Shadow of the Beast takes the original Commodore Amiga's platform-combat gameplay and brings it bang up to date with plenty of exploration, and a more sophisticated fighting system. The result is a thoroughly enjoyable platform game that features an interesting story, entertaining combat, and excellent audio-visuals. The main campaign doesn't take too long to beat, but the game packs enough secrets and unlockables to keep you coming back for more.

It's not a bad game, as I never felt like I was gritting my teeth to play it, but it lacks a strong hook to keep you playing. Without that hook, you spend your time noticing all the small ways that the experience lets you down.

I'm down with crazy. I've enjoyed things like Twin Peaks and Mawaru Penguindrum. Crazy is fine, but you need to give me a hook. Killer is Dead has no hook for me. A great story and characters could get me through boring gameplay. I've been there before. Great gameplay could get me through a crap story. But, Killer is Dead offers me neither. It's not even bad enough to hate.

Borderlands 2 for the Vita is a case study in how a great game can get lost in a really bad port. There's just no getting around this version's raft of technical issues, nor the fact that the Vita doesn't have enough buttons to make it really work. Given more time, Iron Galaxy might have made it work. But as it is, even hardcore fans of the series should stay far away.

Aside from its cute art direction, there's not much joy to be found in Game Freak's Little Town Hero. Its battle system has a glimmer of potential, but finds itself muddled in system after system, making what should be its standout boss battles a tedious affair. Even for a budget price, this is a town you probably won't want to visit for more than a day.

Nuka-World's fantastic new setting and cool new opportunities belies its overall lack of depth. There's a lot to do in this expansion, but not a lot of it is all that interesting. It could be worse, but it could also be a whole lot better.

Dead Kings brings back the challenge rooms from Assassin's Creed Brotherhood and Revelations. That means a dark, dank underground setting full of platforming and puzzles. If puzzles aren't your thing, Arno's latest tale may not be for you. For everyone else, it's a solid, but unspectacular addition to Unity.

With P.O.L.L.E.N, Mindfield Games goes beyond the basics of first-person adventures for a time-traveling journey full of things to tinker with. And if you have an Oculus Rift, you may find it even easier to fall in love with their well-crafted world.

For every cool "a-ha!" moment in Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey, there has been something that has me on the verge of rage quitting. There's a fascinating, novel concept in Ancestors, but with so many bugs and other tedious issues blocking it, the joy of this survival game feels like it's constantly kept millions of years and a bundle of evolutionary feats away.

A host of graphical improvements and some new missions can't hide the fact Assassin's Creed: Liberation HD needed to do more to bring the Vita game closer to the outstanding Black Flag. Ubisoft Sofia did what they could, but the resulting game is still an average, limited Assassin's Creed experience. If you haven't played it, try a demo. If you have, there's no reason to play it again.

Instead of a heavy narrative, the game is more of a resource management sim, with the resource being the other characters. When taken like that, it's a solid puzzle game with some rough, repetitive edges.

Party Hard is good clean fun, but that fun tends to devolve into waiting and tedium towards the end of any level. The core gameplay is an idea that can be expanded upon though, and the developer is already adding new content to the game to resolve the issue.

Not even striking art direction and sincere storytelling can save the unfortunate nature of Sea of Solitude. Marred by dull action and, at worst, frustrating sequences, Sea of Solitude ends up feeling like twice the length of its runtime. Those monsters and that world sure are gorgeous though.

Outside of combat, it suffers from poor design decisions, dated visuals, and a disjointed story. Its biggest shortcoming, though, is that doesn't live up to the promise and potential set by its superior predecessor.

For all its derivative nature, The Order: 1886 falls well short of classic status; yet the premise here could definitely serve as the groundwork for a more creative, more substantial series. It's one of the most convincing steampunk/alternate history worlds video games have offered up. Now Ready at Dawn just needs to bring the script and mechanics up to that same standard.

If you relish the thought of idly polishing a sword while reading through a stack of cleverly-written in-jokes based around RPGs, then don't hesitate to open shop.

Hangar 13 tells a great story in Mafia 3, pitting Lincoln Clay against those who took his family from him. Great characters, solid dialog, and some top-notch motion capture flesh out the world. Unfortunately, the open-world nature of the game kills the story pacing with a repetitive mission loop. Mafia 3 could've been great, but it's just good.

While Super Bomberman R brings back the classic Bomberman action, the package could stand to be better. Once you've polished off the short Story Mode, you're left with multiplayer. Local and online multiplayer is solid, but lacks match customization options found in older Bomberman games.

Disintegration is solid, but uninspired. The gravcycle and squad gameplay that defines it works when it's allowed to, but pacing proves inconsistent in the campaign and the FPS/RTS hybrid mechanics are only mildly interesting in multiplayer. A commonplace story and what feels like missed opportunities to fill in more of its universe threaten to drag things down further, but when provided with a good mix of weapons and squad abilities, the core combat and mission design show V1 Interactive can craft something engaging. Disintegration is not the next great sci-fi action franchise (as if we really need another), but hopefully, it can be a stepping stone to something more distinctive and unique from V1 in the future.

The Old City offers a great story, and one that's at its most rewarding when approached with a literary mindset. If you're not offended by a game with an ending that raises more questions than answers, Postmod's creation delivers an experience with a noteworthy amount of restraint—and one that's begging to be revisited multiple times.

There's a lot to like about We Happy Few, with its unique psychedelic dystopian setting and well-developed story, but it's the moment-to-moment action that crashes down on you like a bad dose of Joy. So-so survival elements, the lack of mission variety, frame rate issues, prolific bugs, and tedious stealth and combat will make you want to cook up some Joy for yourself, so that maybe you too can forget the bad stuff and remember only the bright side of things.

Bleeding Edge has some really good ideas, but not enough content or progression to back them up. It's a solid pick for a few game nights with your pals if you all have Game Pass, but it still needs some time to develop into a true competitor.

LEGO Dimensions feels like the bare minimum required to qualify as a video game in this day and age—it's a shallow, repetitive experience that leans heavily on the appeal of LEGO toys and a dozen very expensive licenses... which probably explains why the $99 starter set only gives you access to a fraction of the total game content.

Contrast is a bit of a hot mess -- kind of like the bumbling Johnny Fenris in its core. Rife with bugs and prone towards glitching in the worst possible ways, Compulsion Games' pretty little title can and will outrage. If you're willing to overlook the brokenness of its platforming, Contrast is dazzling in almost every other capacity.

A good-looking, minimalist twin stick shooter that delivers intense, if somewhat repetitive action at a price that feels a little too steep.

While a bit muddled in combat design and pretty dull in world design, Godfall is a passable 3D action game. Under normal circumstances, you'd be safe to skip it, but if you need something to play on that shiny new PlayStation 5, it's not the worst option.

An adequate but forgettable shooter that does very little to distinguish itself from the colossal number of shooters on the market. The mechs help, but Lost Planet 3 is ultimately dragged down by poor level design, boring enemy encounters, and far too much filler.


The Crew is a vast, expansive driving game that packs a solid story mode and tons of things to do. However, much of its endgame content feels like repetitive filler.

Chuck's Challenge is an enjoyable puzzle game and a worthy follow-up to Chip's Challenge, but some rough edges keep it away from greatness.

Need for Speed returns with another flawed entry. There's the core of a great racing game here and when you're just driving around the open world, it's wonderful. The progression system encourages grinding and the basic story is delivered with B-movie seriousness, taking away from the racing pleasure. There's a better game inside of Payback, but you have to go through everything else to get to it.

Drakengard 3 is rough, to say the least. Fundamentally, I like the focus on action, and the battle system is competently executed. However, it's all buried beneath a poorly optimized engine, terrible camera, and a story that's alternately infantile and gross. I've played a lot worse; but by an large, Drakengard 3 is a pretty bad game.

RYSE's stunning visuals, solid story and a nearly unmatched cinematic flair, are unfortunately offset by simple and repetitive combat, and gameplay that offers little challenge.

Lifeless Planet is an interesting mash-up of genres, blending a walking simulator and platform-puzzling with a mysterious and quite gripping premise. Its slow pace mightn't be for everyone, but if you enjoy action adventures, are partial to tricky third-person platforming, and like classic sci-fi yarns, it's worth checking out.

NHL 15 is right to focus on improvements to the gameplay and the presentation, but they aren't nearly good enough to justify the cuts made elsewhere. It dazzles out of the box, but it doesn't take long for the upgrades to feel shallow in comparison to what's missing. Ultimately, NHL 15 feels like a major misstep.

Crackdown 3 isn't an instant hit, but after a slow start it rapidly builds into an action-packed shooter with brilliant character control and movement. While orb collecting is the key for prolonged play, the campaign in Crackdown 3 is always entertaining and visually there's a lot to appreciate if you look at the bigger picture. Crackdown is back. Shame about the multiplayer Wrecking Zone, though.

Metal Gear Survive isn't a great game, but it is a fun game. Journeying into the Dust to find resources and survivors is a legitimately tense experience and your progress through the game feels satisfying. Unfortunately, hunger and thirst drop a bit too quickly, leaving you diving into menus for upkeep far too much of the time. With some tweaks and changes, Survive could be great, but as it stands, it's just good.

The roguelike nature of Darkest Dungeon combine with more substantial narrative and exploration, and a Korean manhwa aesthetic. Unfortunately, the mechanics of Vambrace need work. Your squad of mercenaries is largely disposable, there's too much randomization in terms of progress, and there are several issues with the user interface. Perhaps a sequel can bring the gameplay closer to the excellent aesthetics, but Vambrace: Cold Soul doesn't come together completely.

There's talk that Zip Lash could be the final Chibi-Robo game, and that's a shame. I'd prefer to see him go out with a bit more style than Zip Lash offers. The irony of this game focused around acquisition and collecting is that it's not really worth acquiring for your collection. Even if that Amiibo is awfully adorable.

While the brilliance of its director's past games occasionally surface in Cold Case Investigations, this thoughtlessly designed and incredibly brief adventure will do nothing but disappoint fans of the defunct developer Cing.

I really wanted to like Murdered: Soul Suspect, but -- like L.A. Noire -- it's a detective game that manages to gets its most essential quality absolutely wrong. The backdrop of Salem lends a lot to its central mystery, but at no point will Soul Suspect ever put your deductive skills to work. That's fine if you're indulging in an episode of CSI, but I like my thinky games to require more than just passive interest.

After a solid start, Minecraft Story Mode Episode 2 is disappointingly short. Coming in at around an hour in playtime, the adventure is brisk and active, but it ends right when you're getting into it. A lot happens, but the impact is dulled due to the breakneck pacing.

PlayStation VR Worlds does a great job of showing off Sony's tech, but the experiences contained in this collection are far too slight to be anything more than sideshow attractions. If you're looking to make the most of PSVR, you're better off buying full games than a modest collection of tech demos.

Anthem is a frustrating experience. There's a core gameplay idea that's fun, but it's not enough to keep the experience alive in endgame and beyond. It wants to sell us on flying and combat, but Grandmaster levels stop that dead. It offers a wide world to explore, but offers no reason to do so. Anthem ultimately doesn't feel like the best BioWare can do, and that's a horrible shame.

While Star Ocean started as an innovative series full of fun, bold ideas, its current form amounts to the most middle-of-the-road RPG experience you could possibly have. It's not particularly awful, but in a reality full of RPGs, so many better options exist.

Space Hulk misfires more often than it should have. Players disconnect at random, games crash. Glitches happen and the occasional typo will surface like a bashful shark. Still, it can be an engrossing few hours in spite of the lack of polish.

Mitsurugi Kamui Hikae is an arena fighter that features a great combo system that makes it fun to play... for a while. Unfortunately it has a limited number of enemy combatants, and once you learn the strategies for beating them, the gameplay quickly becomes repetitive.

ReCore is a style of game we haven't seen in a while. Part Mega Man Legends, part Metroid Prime, ReCore puts exploration and platforming at the forefront. With your trusty corebot pals, you'll double jump and dash through an open world and some damned fiendish dungeons. While ReCore trips up a bit with some odd combat and gating mechanics, it's still worth your time if you remember how platforming was in the old days.

You might add a little to the score if you’ve got friends who are frequently ready and willing to play, but Mario Party: Island Tour ultimately feels par for the series’ course. It’s still good, but is mostly hurt by a higher barrier to entry for multiplayer, a lack of continuing the push towards truly "Mario" feeling mini-games, and the series’ ever-present dominance of luck over skill.

ZHEROS is fun to play for a while. Its combo system is entertaining to use, and its graphics look good. However, flaws in its design include frustrating difficulty spikes, some punishing later levels, and occasionally awkward controls, which results in a game that falls short of its potential.

Playing Cyberpunk 2077 is like suffering a death of a thousand cuts. If the bugs don't get you, the bad quest design, the insensitive writing, or a million other small problems will. All told, Night City might not be worth the visit.

At its best, Dangerous Golf is an addictive and enjoyable game of wanton destruction. Its levels are challenging, and destroying the beautifully-rendered interiors is just plain fun. However, a few flaws are evident in the gameplay that take the edge off the enjoyment, making it just a good game, rather than a great one.

Deadly Premonition 2: A Blessing In Disguise is hard to love, even by the standards set by its predecessor. In leaving Greenvale behind for a style of prequel and sequel storytelling split across Louisiana and Boston, Deadly Premonition 2 jettisons the much of what made the original charming (along with some interesting mechanics and variety) in favor of an empty town and a story that serves up tropes and bits of lore that do little to enhance or build upon what made the original fascinating. All the while, terrible performance makes it more of a slog than its uninspired ideas and pacing do on their own.

There is a shell of a good game in Predator: Hunting Grounds, but severe balancing issues, poor console performance, and general clunkiness hold it back from standing shoulder to shoulder with other solid 4v1 multiplayer games—even the one its developer has made before. While its Predator callbacks are solid, for fans looking for another good Predator game, there's not one to be found here. At least not yet.

A solid arcade hack-and-slash with easy-to-understand, hard-to-master mechanics.

The story is nonsense, but it's just a vector to dump the art down your throat. Longest Day alone isn't worth the $40 asking price though, so if you're buying it, pick it up for the entire Short Peace package.

Bound By Flame is a number of good ideas poorly crafted into a final product. The story itself is rather generic, with poor dialog and voice acting preventing you from getting emotionally invested in the world. The core combat is good, but once it meets with the larger game, it begins to break down. Even an excellent crafting system can't save Bound By Flame from being a budget RPG.

Mighty No. 9 contains the seeds of a good platforming franchise, but for now they're exactly that: Seeds. In its current state, Keiji Inafune's intended successor to the Mega Man series lacks creativity, joy, and character – not to mention several weeks' worth of polish.

Personally, after enjoying this installment immensely, I'm very much looking forward to seeing what's next, and sincerely hope that between this title and the impending Gabriel Knight remake that we can well and truly see Jensen getting back to doing what she does best on a more regular basis.

About all Knack is good for is inspiring new and creative curses. I certainly spent more time improvising strings of epithets at its substandard gameplay than I did improvising strings of combo attacks.

Tries valiantly to weave a tale of political intrigue, but it's undermined by repetitive mission design, poor menus, and an anonymous cast. If you were hoping for a worthy successor to Valkyria Chronicles, you will be sadly disappointed.

The Legend of Korra is a game that has a clear understanding of the source material, but without the budget to really dig in and do that material justice.

While light on what we'd traditionally call "gameplay" and aimed at an even more specific audience than your typical modern Japanese games, Producing Perfection is a solid, character-driven experience that is a lot of fun.

While far from Nippon Ichi's best game, The Witch and the Hundred Knight's interesting interlocking game systems and unconventional, dark narrative make it an enjoyable affair well worth spending some time with, assuming you have the patience to deal with its quirks along the way.

Bedlam's concept is absolutely brilliant, and it's voiced very well too. Unfortunately, its stiff, unforgiving gameplay just isn't much fun, and what you're left with is a great idea whose potential just hasn't been fully realized.

A certain addictive or compulsive quality isn't sufficient to make a genuinely good game, sadly; Flappy Bird is addictive and compulsive in the same way that popping bubble wrap is addictive and compulsive. It may be immediately satisfying to waste your time with it in the short term, but when you look back on how your day went, you'll find yourself wishing you'd used those hours for something more productive or stimulating.

Fallout 76 isn't particularly indicative of the best of the modern Fallout games, nor is it an amazing survival game given its competition. It's not the worst game in the world or anything, but it very much just exists. It merely says, "I'm here too," instead of standing out. Fallout 76 in its current state is the game version of the Amphicar Model 770: it sometimes works, but it's still the worst of both worlds.

For Disaster Report's grand return to the West, Disaster Report 4 puts its focus on humanity struggling for survival amidst the destruction. And it's here, that is unfortunately its greatest misstep, with long stretches of tedium and even moments that feel exploitative. In paring down the campy charm of the series before it, Disaster Report 4's more serious tone often crumbles like the very buildings you find yourself running away from.

Though it does a handful of things right, Ninja Gaiden Z is overshadowed by a litany of awful design decisions. There's just no getting around the fact that it's a wretchedly bad action game. Even the most dedicated Ninja Gaiden fans should avoid this one.

A swing and a miss. The developer has improved the web-swinging mechanic and getting around Spider-Man's Manhattan has never been better. Unfortunately, the rest of the game drags it down. A schizophrenic story, a lifeless New York, and boring villains are what you can expect for the price of entry. The game's Hero/Menace system even takes all the fun out of just randomly swinging around the city.

Double Dragon IV feels like the developer Arc System Works discovered an unreleased old NES game and emulated it on PS4. Its graphics, sound, and gameplay are utterly authentic to the period. Unfortunately, so are its cheap shots and frustrating design elements. It's certainly a lot of fun to play for a while, but once its nostalgic novelty wears off, only hardcore retro fans will likely want to come back for more.

Homefront: The Revolution is a very ambitious game that has all the ingredients of a blockbuster, but somehow doesn't quite feel fully-baked. The single-player game has aspects that are interesting and challenging, but unfortunately it's let down by average gunplay and flawed AI. Add to that a multiplayer mode that's fun, but limited in scope, and you have a game that falls short of its considerable potential.

More of a game for your younger sister than you, Hometown Story pales in comparison to the many 'life simulation' games already in the market. In many ways, it's a bare-bones version of Recettear: An Item Shop's Tale, stripped of all its zaniness and sly negotiations. Hometown Story isn't necessarily bad but given the price tag that it commands, I'm unwilling to recommend it. More deserving games are waiting for your money.

While Coffin Dodgers follows the Mario Kart formula fairly closely, it's neither polished or finessed enough to really stand out. It's fun for a while, but unfortunately the easy single-player mode and lack of online multiplayer limits its appeal.

A retro-feeling throwback to the days of arcade baseball games. It offers simple, basic fun, but the pitching and hitting just doesn't feel robust enough to appeal to anyone other than the most casual of baseball fans.

Attack on Titan contains the premise for an amazing video game, but never delivers on this potential. With their overly literal interpretation of the source material, Spike Chunsoft really limited what they could do with their adaptation, leading to an incredible amount of repetition.