Mana Khemia 2: The Fall of Alchemy feels like a half-finished game.

This title is very rough around the edges, but in spite of that, it's also still very fun.

If it catches on and gamers start putting together some interesting custom maps, it may eventually mature into a decent multiplayer shooter.

The only real worthwhile audience for this game is Wii owners who can't or won't get online and would like the chance to play their old favorites again. Anyone else would be better off avoiding this game, as the extras certainly don't make up for the high price tag.

Ultimately, Scene It? Movie Night: Mega Movies offers up a competent Scene It? experience at a budget price. If you're a Scene It? veteran, your 800 Microsoft points ($10 USD) basically get you a stand-alone DLC pack with new questions and movie clips. It may not be flashy, but it's more than functional. If you're new to the franchise, however, you're probably better off keeping an eye on Amazon, where the Box Office Smash! bundle (with Big Button controllers) can often be had for less than $15.

Deception IV: Blood Ties is a very divisive game for the general public. Its slower pace has limited appeal, and the constant act of leading victims to traps can quickly become tedious.

Shadows of the Damned: Hella Remastered is just as offbeat and captivating as it was when it originally came out 13 years ago. The story works partially because of how it isn't afraid to be funny and gross, and the lack of malice sells the game, even if the humor doesn't strike a chord for some people. The gameplay is fine enough that the rough edges can be ignored at times. It sounds just as good as before and looks much better, but one can't help wishing that more care had been taken to create something more than a barebones port of the original.

UFC fans who live and breathe online or local multiplayer will easily have a ton of fun with this game, but those who'd rather play solo are best served by renting the title first or picking it up if it gets cheaper later on.

Overall, The Bard's Tale is wonderful. Although it does lack in a few areas, the game's memorable characters and terrific sense of humor more than make up for any of these weaknesses.

Tokyo Dark serves as a very good primer for those who are either curious about the visual novel genre or just want more to do than click through text boxes. The multiple endings are certainly a tempting thing for completionists, while the short runtime makes it so that the journey to the endings doesn't feel so tiring. Though most of the journey is rather linear and there's a significant lack of puzzles, the various choices at your disposal and needing to actually move to the spots gives you more to do than idle mouse-clicking. More importantly, the story is engaging from beginning to end, so you'll want to see the various paths along the way. While Tokyo Dark may not drive players toward the visual novel genre, it provides a better appreciation for the genre's capabilities.

I so want to love Advent Rising, I honestly do. It's good, stable science-fiction with a heavy supernatural sub-plot and enough action to make Han Solo's trigger finger hurt for days. Unfortunately, all of that wonderful stuff is damaged by a hare-brained control scheme that simply doesn't work well enough when it has to.

It's not a perfect sequel, but for those who remember the original Two Worlds, it's an adventure that is finally worth most of its weight in loot.

Half of the appeal of X-Men: The Arcade Game is nostalgia, but the other half is still a genuinely fun experience. No, it's not as flashy or deep as any current-generation game, but there's still something to be said for taking control of Wolverine in his bright yellow spandex and mindlessly ripping through hordes of evil robot minions. If you're a solo player, you might want to pass, but if you regularly play with a group, especially a local one, then it's worth checking out.

Immortals of Aveum isn't a terrible game, but it is an incredibly forgettable one. Everything it does feels like a paint-by-numbers scenario, and it doesn't feel like it captures any sense of wonder. The annoying quipping dialogue drags you out of the world, and without that, you're left with a solid, if entirely unexceptional, magic-themed FPS. There's not much to recommend Immortals beyond giving you gun-themed magic instead of guns. I could see it perhaps finding an audience once its price point is lower, but most people will probably want to wait and see — or at least watch some videos of Jak's quips and see how tolerable they find it.

Codemasters and Sumo put up a valiant effort, but even they can't take more than the Wii gives them, and the Wii simply doesn't provide them enough to work with.

The Punisher isn't quite a top-notch must-own title, but is definitely worth more than a cursory glance from anyone who likes their action games to be a fun romp with big guns, large amounts of enemies, and fairly solid gameplay.

The voice acting is great, the innovative game-play mechanics are a breath of fresh air, and the developers really did a great job of creating a wartime battlefield atmosphere.

Genesis Alpha One is a game with some good ideas but no elegant way to execute them all. The merging of ship building and exploration is quite good once you understand how to do it. DNA splicing is also a neat little touch, but it doesn't fix the fact that the clones are as dumb as bricks and about half as useful. Planetary exploration feels fine, but the gunplay is undercooked. All in all, there's a decent title here if you're able to overcome all of its issues.

Provided you keep expectations in check, City of Brass can be fun. The game is set up well for those starting out with roguelikes, and the various tweaks ensure that everyone has a chance to see the ending. For the hardcore, it can also be tweaked to be tougher, and that'll be necessary if you want any kind of challenge. This doesn't feel like a long-lasting experience, but the presence of leaderboards will be an incentive to those who might want to speed-run through the game. If you don't mind a few of the aforementioned flaws, then give this title a chance.

The character’s irrational beliefs make the story impenetrable, and the rest of the game doesn’t hold up well in the face of the PS2’s RPG library.

In the end, Fortified is a decent tower defense game. The classes add some variety, and the shooting is fine, but the tower defense portion could use more work.

A brilliant, challenging and rewarding game.

Realistic instruments and an easy-to-use set of creation tools are innovations that should become common across all rhythm games. While only players who are able to overcome the painfully shortened and poorly vocalized set list will truly enjoy the title, all fans of the genre will find something to like.

The controls are just too shoddy, the graphics and sound don't make up for it, and the basic concept has been explored all too many times as it is shown here, with no real evolution presented.

The Fidelio Incident is a solid narrative adventure game. The actual gameplay may be light on challenge, but it does enough to feel significant without hindering the overall experience. The presentation is also well done, especially in the audio department where the music really sells the player on the mood. However, it is the story that is the real highlight, since it deals with some heavy subject matter without being too preachy. The two main actors really give the tale some humanity and emotion. For those who enjoy the narrative-heavy experience, The Fidelio Incident is definitely worth seeking out.

Quite simply, Speed Racer works while it lasts. It is not an exceptionally long or difficult game, but while it lasts, it is unusually awesome, managing to distill many of the greatest elements of the original "Speed Racer" series and movie into one manic whole.

Final Fantasy Explorers is a poor Monster Hunter clone but still a reasonably fun game.

Despite some big changes to the overall formula, Wolfenstein: Youngblood remains another solid entry in a very reliable series. The strong shooting mechanics are accompanied by co-op, which makes things a bit easier and retains the fun of the first game. The lighter story tone may not be to everyone's tastes, but when you consider how dark the last game went, the shift isn't too drastic. The more open approach may break the enemy AI in a few instances, but the newfound freedom over more environments is a fair trade. Shooting fans will like Youngblood, and the appeal only increases when you consider the dearth of co-op games in the genre.

Overall, Deliver Us Mars is surprisingly compelling, with a story of a daughter searching for her wayward father despite his crimes — while others on the crew are searching for him because of said crimes. Most of the gameplay does a great job of keeping things varied, but I wish that there were just a few more puzzle ideas to break up the times when it feels like the game ran out of ideas and popped in another MFT puzzle. Endure those, and Deliver Us Mars is a great game that balances the narrative with allowing the player to have agency. It is further proof that sci-fi stories don't need to involve aliens or explosions, and the humanity within the game's story is admirable.

The type of game that the Wii needs more of. It's instantly accessible, yet there are times when its genuine challenge and excellent design can cause the player to pull out his or her hair. Hudson needs to make a sequel to this ASAP.

West of Dead does most things right as far as roguelites go. The random nature of almost every element of every run can cause some large difficulty spikes, but the overall difficulty evens out in the end. The premise works fine even if it means having to hear it countless times over multiple runs, and while the measured combat feels fresh for a Western, the zoomed-out camera angle doesn't help you appreciate it. Overall, West of Dead is a solid roguelike for those who aren't burned out on the genre yet.

Despite the volley of issues that'll be unique to your experience, committing to the universe that Warhorse has built in Kingdom Come: Deliverance still carries an ultimately rewarding feeling. I wonder how much more I'd enjoy it if it were a little smoother (fast travel is not fast), but the atmosphere doesn't shy away from the brutality of the era, how rugged life was centuries ago as well as the omnipresence of God in their everyday lives, from conversation to action.

In short, Rhem 3: The Secret Library has one audience, and that is truly hardcore Myst-style adventure/puzzle fanatics. This isn't a bad thing, as niche games can be quite enjoyable. Unfortunately, the game's lack of presentational quality weakens it to the point that it has no ability to pull in a larger audience.

It is a perfect showcase of what's to come and although it is somewhat frustrating at first, it truly is a rewarding experience later on.

This release, however, is a merely average Prince of Persia clone with a bad movie sewn onto it. It may be worth investigation if you need your next wall-running fix, but don't come with high expectations.

It isn't particularly deep or thought-provoking, or noticeably challenging. It's just fun.

The title is funny, but I can't honestly say if it's particularly fun, as the brand of fun it offers is restricted to an extremely narrow audience. To all those who enjoy their punishment with a side of laughs, by all means check this one out.

The Driver franchise isn't quite ready for a bullet in the head, but it's definitely tired. Atari needs to let the series take some time off until there's a compelling non-financial reason to produce another installment, and Reflections should do some soul-searching to figure out which parts of the game work.

For the most part, it succeeds, but slippery control, merely average graphics, and short playtime leave this one to be a rental at best.

With a unique combat system, colorful graphics, and character upgrade options that deliver plenty of challenges, Rondo of Swords might not be the kind of war that everyone may want to fight, but it won't hold back those who decide to take up the struggle.

The worst flaw in any RPG is the lack of a decent save system, and in that respect, Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer is guilty as charged. This frustrating trait, combined with the mediocrity that's prevalent in the rest of the title, makes for a pretty poor showing.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix has a gigantic amount of things to offer gamers, whether you're a dedicated follower of the series, or simply one wanting to experience a different way to use the Wii's motion controls.

In my opinion, Absolver is in the upper echelon of recent releases, but it still has a few issues. The camera can work against you at the most inopportune times, like when you're cornered, but that's more bearable to me than the motion blur. Other than those complaints, the game slows down its offerings after a dozen hours or so, unless you're playing co-op with friends. On the plus side, there's supposed to be free DLC in the future, and it seems like a pretty solid promise. Given Absolver's $30 price tag, you can't really complain about this purchase.

The campaign mode is outstanding and provides quite a few hours of fun and mayhem. Who can resist fun and mayhem? The lack of multiplayer severely hurts this title for me, but the cost helps ease some of the pain.

If your PC is good enough to run this and you're a big Aerosmith fan, then you could probably add as many extra points to my score as you feel that it requires.

It has a great many strengths going for it, and at the core, there’s a good game in here. Unfortunately, due to its scope, and more importantly, few ways to deal with that scope, few people will actually want to finish the bloody thing.

It may be a very straightforward journey and it may feel like a knock-off of Sega's Alien Syndrome, but Alien Breed Evolution: Episode 1 is still a darn fun and tense game with redone graphics and well-used sound.

Livelock is still worth checking out, so long as you know you're getting a B-level, sci-fi action-RPG with guns. It would've been great if it had received some more care and polish. It doesn't add anything new to the genre, and it can be rather obtuse when it comes to upgrading and learning about your new upgrades, but the basic gameplay is solid. The fast pace of upgrades may provide players with enough encouragement to forge ahead. The blemishes in the aesthetics and audio throw things off, and the lack of a more robust multiplayer, especially offline co-op, definitely counts against it.

Demon Slayer: The Hinokami Chronicles is basically a game for the fans. Do you want to pick your favorite character and beat up your other characters? Or do you want to see scenes from the original story re-created in beautiful 3D? However, that is about all it offers. It's beautiful, plays well, accurately captures the source material, and that is the beginning and end. If you're curious about the uber-popular franchise, it's probably best to watch the anime or read the manga before diving in.

I've struggled to properly rate Sherlock Holmes Chapter One. On the one hand, it does some great things in terms of the cases and the provided tools to solve those cases. I enjoyed that it never gave me an answer, and I had to arrive at my own conclusions given the evidence I'd found. On the other hand, the game is in a rough technical state with frequent frame rate issues on the PS5, basic animations that feel robotic, an empty open world, and voice acting that can pull you out of the experience at times. Fans of Sherlock Holmes or adventure games can check out Chapter One, simply for everything that it does right.

In the end, LEGO The Hobbit is most aptly described as Skyrim-lite.

It has slapdash controls and is riddled with gameplay issues, but the game achieves what it sets out to do: be a temporary distraction that's good for relieving a bit of tension.

Compared to the magnum opus of the series that was R-Type Final, R-Type Final 2 serves more as an epilogue that maintains how solid the series still is. The level design and combat feel just as good as in past games, with a level of challenge that'll test those who have cut their teeth on modern bullet-hell shooters. The number of unlockable ships and the processes needed to do so will make players spend more time with this than most other titles in the genre, and that'll make up for the lack of extras like online scoreboards. Despite having a few issues in presentation and a rather annoying load upon death, R-Type Final 2 will please genre fans.

It has a pleasing look and feel, and it’s simple but forces some cognizant thought to play it.

The lighthearted banter, the brightly colored scenes, enticing mystery, and solid puzzles make this something that the original Kickstarter campaign promised: "fan service aimed directly at those aching to experience one more story involving one of adventure gaming's favorite teams."

Section 8 is difficult to recommend to anyone but fans of the space-marine shooter subgenre.

You'll have to play through at least 10 cities before you see everything the game has to offer, and no other simulation title provides the amount of details and complexity that SimCity DS does.

Outcast: A New Beginning is the epitome of a "perfectly fine" game. It plays well, runs well, looks fine, and is a decent experience that never manages to go beyond that. The mobility options make it a delight to explore the open world, but it lacks the punch needed to keep the momentum going. If you're looking for a solid and by-the-book, open-world game, Outcast does everything it needs to — nothing more, nothing less.

An excellent first foray into the next generation of RPGs for Microsoft. It's both beautiful to see and a lot of fun to play.

There's really nothing new here. It is truly just GH2 with a garish color scheme, some different character models, 30 new songs and nothing else. It feels incredibly bare, but as a song pack, it stands up surprisingly well.

Fans of survival horror and the Silent Hill series will enjoy Silent Hill: Origins, while others will be turned off by its morbid nature. If you don't have a PSP and didn't get the chance to check out the title a year ago, now's your chance.

I wanted to like Star Ocean: The Divine Force a lot more than I did. It has a lot of interesting ideas and concepts, and I'm a prime target for Star Ocean 2 nostalgia bait. The game didn't have the time or budget to do what it wanted to do, and what we have is a half-baked title that does very little well. The story is dull, the combat is repetitive and poorly balanced, and the unique features fall by the wayside as the game progresses. There are glimmers that something great could have been created, but it isn't the game that we ended up with. It's difficult to recommend The Divine Force to even die-hard JRPG fans, since the game's few strengths are eclipsed by its many flaws. Wait for a sale if you're curious, but otherwise, there are plenty of other better JRPGs to play this year.

It's difficult to be positive about Dragon Ball Heroes: World Mission because you have to give it the benefit of the doubt and be a big Dragon Ball fan to enjoy it. The core game is pretty fun in a simple time-wasting way, and the "What If?" scenarios are significantly more engaging than the ones in Xenoverse. Unfortunately, to reach all of that, you have to deal with awkward UI, convoluted explanations, and just about the worst graphics you'll see in a $60 game. Fans who have the patience to deal with a lot of caveats can enjoy World Mission. Casual Dragon Ball players will want to go for the Xenoverse games for an overall higher-quality experience.

One of the slight problems I had with this game was the difficulty. At many points in this game the difficulty got to be very testing. At times it seems like you are being swarmed by enemies, and some parts may take a lot of practice to get through.

But since the majority of the time you’re playing the game you’ll be slowly walking from point A to point B completing mandatory fetch quests, the game’s solid RPG foundation collapses under the weight of its own failed potential.

Objectively, it's not hard to tell that Earth Defense Force 2017 is poorly made compared to the vast majority of 360 titles, although the localization is quality work on D3's part. What makes it so compelling to play, despite its many obvious flaws, is that the gameplay formula is by itself amazingly addictive and satisfying regardless of the graphics.

One-third of a complete game, and it really feels like it. Despite the fairly large variety in things to do, all of it feels like setup for something that is going to happen later on.

The PSP version is a definite second stringer. Again, it seems aimed at players so obsessed with the game that they also need a portable fix, because it is not nearly the complete product its bigger brothers are.

An uncreative yet valiant attempt at a lighthearted arena battler, if one with a somewhat tiresome presentation.

Deception IV: The Nightmare Princess is a surprisingly sadistic guilty pleasure.

Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth 1 is an improvement on the original game.

You have to be willing to forgive quite a bit to enjoy Crysis Remastered. Questionable enemy AI is bad enough, but a reduction in content is baffling, and the effort feels incomplete because of it. The extra lighting is nice, but the spotty performance is the real sore spot, as it ensures that a polished and well-performing version of the game is simply unattainable. Unless you have issues trying to run the original on your system or absolutely need controller support, you're probably better off skipping this until a better, proper remaster comes along.

You really, really have to like the kind of humor in High on Knife to enjoy the DLC. You're not going to get any character from the new gun, and Knifey's psycho nature doesn't take long to become grating when compared to the rest of your living loadout. The combat is less enjoyable than before, since the pinball gun is the only weapon you can use to deal any real damage, and the act of collecting everything in the game feels more meaningless since you don't get anything from it. If you're into the rambling nature of the jokes with a sense of humor that's often crude or referential with no real payoff, then you might want to check this out, but anyone who's hoping for good gameplay to balance the humor will be disappointed.

Bulwark: Falconeer Chronicles is an interesting piece of work. As a city builder, its simplicity in the actual building process is complemented by the unusual environment for the genre. That alone is enough to make simple settlements look cool. As a strategy game, the attempts to simplify some of the traditional mechanics of the 4X genre work surprisingly well, but some elements, like combat, could've used more attention so it doesn't feel like an afterthought. The end result isn't going to be for everyone, but it is worth a look for those who want to jump into the genre and appreciate something out of the ordinary.

Despite some little glitches, the outdated graphics and the obvious catering toward a younger and more inexperienced audience, SimCity Creator is a step in the right direction for the ancient, lumbering SimCity games.

The simplicity of Military Madness: Nectaris may be a turn-off for seasoned veterans of the strategy genre, but it proves to be a great game for those who are just starting to discover this game style.

The Golf Club 2 is exactly what you want from a sports sequel. It's a much better version of the game that makes you forget about the previous title instead of longing for it. The number of modes still feels sparse when compared to EA's older golf titles, but the major additions do a good job of working toward something more comprehensive for golf game fans. The dedicated community shows that the game will have legs for years, much like the first game, and while the presentation hasn't improved greatly, it looks respectable by today's standards. Even though The Golf Club 2 is the only current serious golf game around, fans should be happy to know that it's still a very good title.

Ultimately, Wet is a fun, if slightly flawed, single-player romp.

The Callisto Protocol is frustrating as a game because it's so easy to see how it could have been great. There's no single thing that drags down the game, but it's an endless stream of annoyances that are exacerbated by the constant reminders of better titles. The Callisto Protocol can be fun, but it's constantly getting in the way of its own fun. It's possible that patches might smooth out some of the combat issues and improve the game a fair bit. At launch, though, it's more frustrating than fun. There's a lot of potential for a sequel that takes the lessons to heart, but for the moment, you're better off waiting for a sale.

Going out on a limb, but a thick limb, The Conduit is an FPS that will stand well among lots of contemporary shooters, but the game is by far the most fully realized, expertly designed experience of its type available on the Wii.

Its mix of arcade and realism — combined with almost no challenge from the AI, unimpressive graphics, mediocre audio, and dated controls — drag down the title.

NASCAR 09 adds some notable additions such as Rep points and the Sprint Driver Challenge mode, but the core gameplay has not changed much at all.

Battle Princess of Arcadias could have been exceptional but ends up being average.

In the end, Fate/Extella: The Umbral Star serves as a good appetizer for those who want some Musou action now. The action goes at an almost non-stop clip, and there's rarely any time to breathe before you have to unleash triple-number combos again and again. There's a ton of content to go over, and while the story can be nonsensical at times, it remains entertaining for those who aren't averse to anime or a visual novel style of game. Overall, Fate/Extella is a solid game to bide your time with while you await some of the bigger titles this year.

While Downhill Jam is by no means brilliant, it works well as an extension of the Tony Hawk franchise. It may borrow liberally from both SSX and Downhill Domination, but it differs in execution, largely because of the unique nature of the Wiimote.

The traditional Tony Hawk gameplay has several twists - some for the better, others not so much - but has had the difficulty significantly dumbed down to the point where Story Mode is boring much of the time, and is insufficiently counterbalanced by Classic Mode.

Slave Zero X has a few too many rough spots to make it an easy recommendation, but it isn't a terrible game. When you get into the groove of combos, cancels and bursts, it can be incredibly satisfying to leave the forces of fascism in bloody chunks on the ground, but the effort it takes to reach that point feels like too much to be worth it. If you're in the mood for a bloody, execution-intensive beat-'em-up, then Slave Zero X might be for you, but it might be tough if you're used to playing modern beat-'em-ups.

Overall, NBA 10 The Inside provides a thorough basketball experience, with a nice franchise mode and, via the exhibition option, customizable tournaments and the like. However, if you're playing most of this season's basketball on a home console, you, like I, will probably be more entranced by the mini-games.

BloodRayne: Betrayal is one of the most enjoyable platformers I've played in a long time. Even if you didn't enjoy the previous BloodRayne titles, there is a lot to like here, $15 price tag and all.

A mediocre release.

Nostalgia enthusiasts could do a lot worse than to pick up a used copy at their local game store, and $20 is about right for the new price.

MagnaCarta 2 is a reasonably fun, but rather flawed, RPG.

Overall, there's very little that can be said about Glory of Heracles that sets it apart from the pack.

It's unbelievably short, not very fun, and quite unpleasant on the eyes. The potentially fun online play and solid soundtrack manage to save NiGHTs from total failure, but even these elements can't do much to improve the overall experience.

Even though it's basically a port with some additional features, Blitz still has addictive and intuitive gameplay that you can pick up time and time again.

Your enjoyment of Jurassic World Evolution is going to depend on what you're looking for from a park management sim. If you want a full campaign without worrying about minutiae, then you'll find this to be a well-done take on the genre that looks stunning and sounds very nice. If you want freeform play from the beginning, you'll come away disappointed at what this package offers. Evolution is still a good use of the license, but you can't shake the feeling that it could have been better.

Though it may lack much of a storyline, and seems a little rushed or even corny at times, King of Fighters still manages to come out swinging.

Most first-person shooters are over after 10-15 hours. It'll be at least twice that before you see all that Ghost Squad has to offer. Its brevity on paper is not a curse, but a blessing.