Spy Drops is a game with a novel concept but bad execution. The idea of smaller missions for a bite-sized stealth experience is neat, and the game mostly nails the graphical aesthetic of a top-tier game from the original PlayStation's timeline. Everything else, especially the stealth mechanics, are so poorly done that the whole experience feels like an absolute chore to get through. Unless you're the forgiving type who's absolutely craving any kind of stealth experience, don't bother with Spy Drops unless it massively overhauls everything with patches.

There's no getting around the fact that just about every aspect of La Quimera is bad. From the story to the gameplay to the presentation, there's barely anything that seems to work as expected. Even the game's short runtime is tarnished by the fact that it abruptly ends. Unless the game gets a major overhaul when it eventually gets released, steer clear of La Quimera and play almost any other first-person shooter instead.

There are a few good things about Neptunia Riders vs. Dogoos. The silly story provides a good vehicle for the shenanigans of Nep Nep and her friends, and going for a completely different genre is always a welcome move. It would've been nice if the game were actually good in every other area. The gameplay loop is far from exciting, especially since it gets very repetitive rather quickly, and the graphical presentation is terrible when you consider the hardware the game is running on. This is also a painfully short experience without any multiplayer capabilities, despite the format being perfect for team or versus play. Unless you're in the habit of collecting every Neptunia-related game, stay away from this title.

It's difficult to muster up any excitement for Pac-Man Mega Tunnel Battle: Chomp Champs. The formula is decent, but the lackadaisical AI doesn't encourage you to play with the parts of the game that make it distinct. The lack of other modes makes this package feel expensive, while the lack of any human players this early on robs the game of any reason to keep playing. It's a dead game that makes you wish that Bandai Namco would resurrect Pac-Man 99 instead.

Wildshade: Unicorn Champions is a very messy game. The racing is simple in execution but suffers greatly from a heavy use of rubberbanding, while the tracks don't offer up too much incentive to look for shortcuts. The modes are sparse, and the breeding feature is ultimately boring. The presentation is decent enough in segments, but the visions of horses tumbling while you they whinny destroys any impressions of it being a family-friendly game. This isn't an outright terrible kart racing game, but considering the breadth of titles in the genre across the two platform generations, there's very little reason to choose Wildshade over the spectrum of vastly superior ones.

Overall, Rollercoaster Tycoon Adventures Deluxe isn't right for fans of the series. It isn't right for anyone, really, and especially not for the price of $40. It works, and it looks nice enough, but it's a smokescreen that hides a game that's been simplified beyond recognition. The experience is also devoid of any fun that I'd usually associate with building a dream theme park.

Discounting versions that were developed for dedicated handheld systems, the 2023 version of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III represents the series at a low. The campaign is painfully short, and while the open combat missions are a neat idea, they needed more time to feel substantial. Zombies are still fun enough, and the same can be said for multiplayer, but the absence of new maps feels wrong for a brand-new game. If the original plan to make this a DLC package were still in play and the price were reasonable, then one could see it being a recommendation for dedicated series fans. As a $70 full price game, however, what's available is pitiful to the point that gamers should stay away from this title and stick with the older stuff instead.

There's nothing to recommend Quantum Error. No part of the game shines, and the ambition of a small team can't save it from the fact that ambition didn't pay off. The bad combat, incoherent story, awkward firefighting mechanics, and clumsy level design all come together to create a game I couldn't recommend at $10, let alone $60. There are too many games out there that do a much better job, and the unique ideas in Quantum Error are too poorly executed for anyone to enjoy.

Crime Boss: Rockay City isn't a complete disaster. The idea of fusing together managerial duties with action-oriented shooting works well on paper since the gameplay styles complement each other. However, neither aspect plays out that well, and when you combine it with a lackluster story and worse than mediocre performances, the experience doesn't improve as you get further into it. Unless you're hard up for a crime-based game, there's little reason to give this title a shot.

Arto isn't ready yet. There's a good premise, the mechanics play out well enough, and the hook of painting the environment with different art styles is certainly appealing. However, there are simply too many issues in every category that cannot be ignored no matter how hard you try. Should this extensive list get fixed, players will encounter a decent game that we could recommend checking out if you're curious. As it stands now, you should avoid Arto.

There is a good game somewhere under all of this, but it is buried under the weight of every part of Dakar Desert Rally being unlikable for some reason or another. There are the briefest moments where it shines through, the sun is hitting you just right, and you're blasting through the stage skillfully at top speed. The problem is it's at that moment that you round the bend and slam into a random truck or the game hitches and you suddenly understeer into a rock wall. Substantial patching would do this game wonders, but as it stands, it's a joyless mess that delivers frustrations at a far greater rate than podiums.

Itadaki Smash isn't exactly the worst beat-'em-up on the Switch, but it gets close. The graphics are drab, with some bad-looking character models and mediocre animations. The humor is tiresome, and the lack of moves reveals the game's shallowness. The game is short, but the cumbersome saving combined with the overall instability makes it difficult to like. The Switch has a plethora of very good beat-'em-ups, both old and new, so there's no need to check out this offering.

The only saving grace to Ashiragu: The Last Shogun is that it runs, and you can get one Bronze Trophy out of it. Aside from that, there are no redeeming qualities. Under no circumstances should anyone play this. It's a mystery why Sony continues to let this and other games from the developer/producer exist in the marketplace at such a high price.

In the end, to The Top, Mammoth! is a mobile game that's found itself awkwardly ported over to the Switch. The core gameplay loop is enjoyable enough for some quick gameplay sessions, but starting things off with some devious level design doesn't endear it to the target audience. Several design decisions, from the menus to the vagueness applied to power-ups, don't help the game's cause, and the obvious padding in a few areas and some pretty big bugs leaves much to be desired. The more tactile controls make this better than the mobile iteration, but on a system that already offers a plethora of quick pick-up-and-play experiences, it's difficult to recommend this title.

It is difficult to recommend MX vs ATV Legends under any circumstances. The opening moments are punishingly slow to get through, and the whole process of going through the events lacks any polish. The races all suffer from a myriad of issues — including bad track design, wonky physics, constant stuttering, and a fiddly handling system against braindead AI. With the ability to power up all three of your vehicles after only three races, the drive to progress is barely there. This is a case where there are plenty of other motocross racing games that are worth your time, unless you're willing to wait a year or two to see if the team can throw enough patches to make this somewhat decent.

CrossfireX is a mess. If you manage to connect to a server and can deal with a menu that becomes sluggish after every game, you'll find an experience that is dulled by bad design decisions. From a pair of lackluster campaigns to a pittance of maps and modes, there's not much to work with. Combined with tiny maps and shooting mechanics that don't feel good, the shooter is only appealing if you only play free-to-play titles, only care for modern military shooters, don't care for Call of Duty: Warzone, and don't have the Xbox Game Pass.

In Nightmare is an experience that will leave players more frustrated than frightened. The story is decent enough, if predictable, but it quickly loses steam since you can guess what'll happen and the pantomimed scenes are too vague. The gameplay teeters between fine to unplayable due to technical issues and an overall design that favors trial and error and memorization versus crafting a more dynamic challenge. All of those things rob the game of a scare factor; there's nothing really horrifying about what you're up against. The ideas are sound, but unless you have to play every single horror game out there, you can safely skip In Nightmare and not miss a thing.

I hate to be this negative and scolding in this review, but in its current state, Babylon's Fall should not exist, especially not with such a hefty price tag. It's a live service game that's hell-bent on monetizing everything, but it's uninterested in being engaging, rewarding, or nice to look at. There are plenty of glimpses of the familiar Platinum Games talent involved, teasing the game that could have been, but it ultimately fails to make an effort except for microtransactions. Even hardcore fans of the genre or Platinum Games should likely avoid this title.

Neptunia Virtual Stars is a tough game to recommend even for the fans. The regular cast of characters remains as engaging as ever, while the newcomers fit in quite nicely. The story is a nice take on parodying the current state of the internet using the unique viewpoint that the series has carved for itself. Beyond the overly long cut scenes, the gameplay is dull despite the variety that the title and minigames try to provide. While this game won't attract any newcomers, hardcore fans might want to dabble with this after a very deep discount.

Green Phoenix aims to serve two distinct audiences but succeeds at pleasing neither. Shooter fans will hate almost everything about it, from the lack of proper aiming to the lack of enemies. Fans of deep narratives will find the story to be derivative and uninspiring and will hate that it is told so poorly. It may look pretty, but there's no real reason to give this a shot.

32 Secs might work fine as a mobile title, but it doesn't feel like much was done to ensure that it would be a good fit for the Nintendo Switch. From the lack of an overall objective to an intense amount of grind, it feels exactly like the mobile game but with a higher price tag to replace microtransactions. The Switch may not be the first platform for racing games, but racing fans should look elsewhere to get their fix.

The concept behind Open Country is solid enough. A more relaxed hunting and survival simulator in a traditional game structure has an audience: those who feel that hunting games are too vague for newcomers. While some of the quirky bits can be forgiven, the busted hunting mechanics and the dated presentation bring everything crashing down. Unless you're the very forgiving and patient type, pass on this title.

There are things that DreadStar: The Quest for Revenge does right. The actual shooting is quite good, with a nice enough enemy layout even though the levels feel rather long. It also nails the look of a classic late-era DOS game. However, the seemingly endless grind mixed with questionable design decisions and poor performance make it a chore to get through. Unless you get lucky and get a smooth experience with no loss in controls, DreadStar is probably one shoot-'em-up that should be approached with a heap of caution.

The concept behind Redneck Ed: Astro Monsters Show is fine. Going through battle after battle in a galactic game show is a workable premise, and it's only been done a few times before. However, from the dated references and the half-baked presentation to the cheap deaths and lackluster combat, it is difficult to stick with the game after a few levels, since it game does its best to drain any semblance of fun from the experience. Unless you have the patience and willingness to deal with the lack of polish, pass on this one.

I did have some nuggets of fun with Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood, but there's too much I can't ignore to recommend it to anyone, especially with the dawn of next-gen systems and titles that execute their concepts much better and simply look like what current games should be.

To put it bluntly, Tamarin is messy. The story isn't that interesting, and the characters try to make it sound important but come off as pompous. The platforming is decent once you learn that you have useful moves, but the finicky nature of some elements and the slippery physics mean that asking for precision is inviting frustration. While the thought of resurrecting a Jet Force Gemini-style game is intriguing, the execution fumbles greatly due to it casting aside the advances that have been made in third-person shooters in the last 20 years. Unless you're craving an exercise in frustration, steer clear of Tamarin.

Even at its relatively cheap $5 price tag, it is difficult to recommend Connection Haunted. The premise could be interesting, but its vague nature means that there's no impetus to pursue the game's endings even though they're short enough to conquer in an afternoon. It is supposed to mimic first-person shooters from the early days of online play, but it looks decidedly worse than most of them, and the performance is passable at best. Worst of all, with no scares of any sort or action or intrigue, the game is utterly boring. Unless you're a collector and absolutely need every single Switch game, it's a hard pass on Connection Haunted.

G.I. Joe: Operation Blackout is messy. The presentation is inconsistent, while the story is serviceable at best. The addition of local multiplayer outweighs the lack of online play, and the game is lengthy enough. However, the poor combat mechanics drag down the experience heavily, and on a platform that's absolutely bursting with more competent third-person shooters, this is one that you can easily pass on.