The highest praise due to Fantastic Four is that it occasionally trades with some success on the universal truth that breaking things is fun.

It features too few options, too little control and too many load screens. There are moments when the game shines and you will actually be really excited to play. The chess game that is NFL play-calling can exhilarate at times and frustrate at others.

As creative as the controls are, they can't hide the repetitive grind of the straight-up slaughterfest for which Koei's Warrior titles are known.

Ultimately, Dead Horde is in an unfortunate position. It is a technically well-executed game, and its flaws are easily overlooked when you consider its budget pricing. However, the game doesn't really try anything different, and many other games have done it better in the past. The heavy reuse of assets makes it a chore to get through levels after you've done a couple of them, and the gameplay boils down to little more than using jump as often as possible and shooting your assault rifle, regardless of what you're facing or where you are. The title isn't particularly bad, nor is it particularly good; it finds itself in an uncomfortable middle, where it lacks glaring flaws as well as any memorable qualities.

For a licensed game, Avatar: The Last Airbender — The Burning Earth turned out to be a pleasant surprise. While it is ultimately bound by some of its limitations, THQ's development team deserves some praise for at least doing a solid job on the product — other than the ludicrous decision that led to the game's achievements listing.

The Da Vinci Code is difficult in all the right areas for fans of the book's unique blend of fact and fiction, and all the wrong ones for most gamers.

It doesn't handle anywhere near as tightly as a good FPS, but this is forgivable, since aiming and the success of your attack is stat-driven instead of aim-based.

The sheer amount of repetition in this title makes it seem longer than it already is and considering that it spans three movies worth of content that is quite a feat.

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.

Drastically inferior compared to the one-year old "Chamber of Secrets."

It is ultimately this lack of personality, engagement and in-depth contextualization that makes East India Company just another run-of-the-mill trading game that doesn't really live up to the allure of the greatest historical simulation games that can actually transport you back and let you loose in another time and place.

But the game’s shoddy visual presentation, rampant recycling and annoying lack of online voice chat are glaring shortcomings that are hard to overlook. Overall, Ghost Recon: Jungle Storm just doesn’t bring anything new to the table or do much to attract new recruits.

Gunpey is simplistic and slowly paced, creating an experience that neither entrances nor exhilarates. Most importantly, it is missing that third element that is crucial in every great puzzle game: addictiveness.

I did have fun with Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League, but I finished the story a little relieved and exhausted, and I wasn't compelled to engage in endgame stuff because it was essentially more repetitive, conditional missions. I'd had my fill by then. I enjoyed the character and personality of the game — the banter among Task Force X is truly enjoyable, so kudos to all of the voice actors involved — and also the world that was built. Action-wise, the game gave me Crackdown vibes as I hurtled around the city and dove into its chaos. Unfortunately, it also had Crackdown depth to the point where I eventually got bored and irritated. I was not irritated enough, however, that I wish I had a bomb in my head.

Teenage Zombies: Invasion of the Alien Brain Thingys is the kind of game that you can take with you on a trip and play in bite-sized chunks, but the forgettable puzzles and overabundance of dull stages do nothing to help the feeling that it's trying to drag out the dead for as long as it can.

It comes to be what the public expects from the Adventure Company. The quality is there from the previous titles, but so are the flaws.

Endlessly recycled NPC models, horrid camera angles, and the failed lock-on system turn what could have been a really good action/RPG game into barely playable mess.

It's obviously been slapped together from action sequences in the film to make a complimentary game and hopefully some easy cash, but on its own, it's less than stellar.

Ultimately, it feels like Wreckreation tries to be too many things at once. An open-world setting allows for a lot of room for players to create events using the Live Mix tools, but driving between events gets dull quickly. As a conventional racing game, the rubber-banding AI makes me lose interest quickly, and the game doesn't emphasize the Live Mix content as strongly as it arguably should. It's a fun enough game, and it's smaller in scope since it was made by a smaller team. It lacks a defining feature of its own that it really focuses on, and it ends up making the game feel more like an imitation of other games.

The problem is that the Mario Party franchise hasn't really evolved or changed much from its days on the Nintendo 64. Yes, there are new characters, stages, and mini-games, but despite their clever designs, they're quickly growing repetitive and stale.

It seemed like High Voltage gathered many good ideas that had been used by other companies and placed them into one game instead of coming up with hot new ideas of their own.

There isn't all that much to Multiwinia: Survival of the Flattest, unfortunately. The gameplay is short, and necessarily so, because any single match can drag on very quickly, and once a clear lead is established, it is quite difficult to break.

It manages to fit some of the series' feel into one of the most generic genres ever. Unfortunately, severe play issues limit its playability, and very few gamers of any age will get to enjoy some of the extras that Tomy took the time to add in.

Nine Parchments isn't necessarily a bad game. It's a very basic experience that lacks many different qualities, and from what I've witnessed, the title has to work out some major technical issues. However, many people will find a very enjoyable experience here, with a lot of unlockable characters and stuff to find. If you're into co-op experiences, you can't go wrong with Nine Parchments on Nintendo Switch. If you rely on online play, you may want to hold off until a patch is released to fix the connection and save file issues.

The Life gameplay mode is a very good idea that could use some more polish, as could in-game play. It's come a long way from its previous installment, but it's still not breathtaking, nor is it breaking new ground.

No matter how frustrating things get, the next comic sequence — which is often comic in more than one sense — makes you feel better.

In short bursts, the micromanagement isn't so bad and watching your park slowly flourish can be rewarding, but over time you may find that the whole thing just feels a little bland.

The Last Remnant is absolutely full of potential. There's a fantastic world accompanied by an incredible soundtrack, a great battle system in place and a ton of content to keep you going. However, the game is technically sub-par, and the story takes far too long to get anywhere remotely interesting.

As a tech demo, Deadly Creatures is an impressive piece of work, but as a game, it is merely average. For every good idea, there's something that holds back the game and prevents it from really shining.

Windbound looked to be a great many things, but it turned out to be a standard survival-roguelike crossover with some promising areas that never reached their full potential. An overly cruel death mechanic and repeating vistas are what ultimately drag down an otherwise solid and partially fun survival game. With the right expectations, Windbound is a solid offering that doesn't stray too far from its survival core.

An immersive game, but it's just too bad that the gameplay at the core of it is so ho-hum and bland.

A very generic RTS game. It's graphically appealing, but in terms of gameplay, there are many better RTS offerings out there.

Sure, it's another cheap knockoff game trying to capitalize on the overstuffed DS self-improvement market, but it's got a lot more heart than other games in the genre, and at times it is rather entertaining.

The mini-games in the pit are more bothersome than fun, while the opponent's AI makes the game more frustrating than it should be. However, the graphics are good, and the single-player challenges are a great way to keep the player engaged in the story being told.

Fans of the show will get irritated that the story with which they fell in love has been chopped up, cannibalized, and made into another generic beat-'em-up, and people new to the series will be confused as the plot bounces around viciously in Story Mode — which must be completed before the much quicker, more notable arcade-style Character Mode is available.

Brink's PR did everything to make people wonder just how the eight-versus-eight multiplayer-focused, story-based shooter would change the genre. The short answer lies in the clever tweaks it brings to the formula, whether it's your character's body type or the vast weapon customization options, all the way down to the teamwork needed to succeed. The SMART system feels more like a gimmick, and when it gets down to the actual shooting, it's nothing that we haven't seen before. Top that off with the issues it tries to parkour over, both off- and online, and Brink isn't so much of a revolution as it is a suggestion of where it wants to be.

Brink's PR did everything to make people wonder just how the eight-versus-eight multiplayer-focused, story-based shooter would change the genre. The short answer lies in the clever tweaks it brings to the formula, whether it's your character's body type or the vast weapon customization options, all the way down to the teamwork needed to succeed. The SMART system feels more like a gimmick, and when it gets down to the actual shooting, it's nothing that we haven't seen before. Top that off with the issues it tries to parkour over, both off- and online, and Brink isn't so much of a revolution as it is a suggestion of where it wants to be.

Despite these problems, the one thing that stands out in this game is that it stayed true to the Mission Impossible name, making it almost seem as if we were watching the movie.

Pretty graphics or no, so much of the gameplay of Company of Heroes 3 is flawed in one way or another that it's difficult to recommend it. From campaign-breaking bugs in Italy to the inept AI that renders most Africa maps unsatisfying, the game came out in such a state that it's hard to believe it's part of the same series by the same developer. To the development team's credit, the game has been patched several times since release, but many of the issues persist. There are occasional glimmers of a brilliant game, but with so much of the content damaged by bugs, it is impossible to recommend it over replaying one of the other games of the series.

There is nothing wrong with Sega Superstars Tennis that six more months of development wouldn't have fixed. The game is not broken in any way; it's just graphically underdeveloped and retains control issues that make actually playing tennis against the computer an unfulfilling experience.

The controls are hit-and-miss, and although you can play with a friend, you won't be able to progress through the circuits together, which makes it a moot point.

For all the Yu-Gi-Oh fans out there, it is 10 out of 10, but unfortunately, not everybody is.

The true Achilles heel of the game, however, is its playtime. Like many movie-licensed games for portable systems, Barnyard is done in three hours, tops.

I hate to say it, but Pariah is basically bogged down by so many issues that no matter how neat its little quirks are, or how many things it kindly borrows from Halo, it still feels several years behind the pack.

When it comes right to down it, DanceDanceRevolution: Universe 2 is the type of game that only series fans will love. If your idea of a fun evening is laying down a dance pad and stomping around until the downstairs neighbors call the cops, then this title is right up your alley. However, if you are not, nor have you ever been a professional dancer, there's very little here to make this title worth your time.

Transformers: The Game for the Wii featured fine graphics, and the mission objectives weren't that bad, but the controls really killed the entire experience.

Unleashed has numerous severe issues; however, the core of the game can still be very fun, especially if you are a fan of dirt racing, or at least have watched a few races at a real track.

To make the game really enjoyable, the developers should have added a choice to re-spawn a pinball if it drops through the flippers within the first few seconds. That, in addition to fixing the sluggish flippers, would have made this a game a lot better.

While Naruto: Clash of Ninja 2 is an improvement over the original in many ways, it is also, at its core, a rehash, continuing where that game let off and making sure to stop at a point that can lead into the third.

Battlelines appears to be much more polished than its predecessor, but the improvements are only skin deep. Many of the issues found in the original Full Auto have not been addressed, and the changes made to the single-player experience render it both ridiculous and frustrating.

With the number of cookie-cutter titles out there, it's a breath of fresh air to see developers taking a risk with a new genre. Unfortunately, innovation does not necessarily translate to quality. Jam Sessioins is dull, and calling it a game doesn't seem right because it's mainly one big music lesson.

Jericho is a title with great ideas. The squad-switching mechanic works very well, the various magic abilities are mostly sound and the plot is potentially very interesting. However, great ideas don't make up for shoddy execution, and Jericho just isn't a $60 game. It's far too short and easy, and the complete lack of any post-game content is almost unforgivable.

The dynamic strategic campaign is also a welcome addition and works well. However, where the game’s strength should lie is in the tactical mode, yet this is disappointingly weak, particularly in single-player mode.

Overall, Animal Crossing: City Folk for the Wii seems like it should have been held back until more work was done on it. The transfer to the Wii didn't add enough polish to justify a purchase in my eyes, so those who really want the Animal Crossing experience can go get the GameCube version for a steal and not really miss very much at all.

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.

Pac-Man World Rally looks and sounds the part, with strong, though simple, visuals and a score created in part by Dweezil Zappa and Tommy Tallarico. Yet these are the only areas of the game that feel fully developed.

While Barnyard has a few shining points such as the bike and Sharp Squirter, it just isn't entertaining enough to account for a purchase, unless you have children who are really, really into the movie.

Unfortunately, as imaginative as the X-ray camera and creative gadgets are, they simply cannot make up for Cold War's countless missteps

Unfortunately, as imaginative as the X-ray camera and creative gadgets are, they simply cannot make up for Cold War's countless missteps

It looks nice, plays decently, and is okay at distilling the plot of the third season of the show. It's just that it doesn't do anything especially right either, missing the humor of the show and not quite feeling the same.

At the very least, Eragon is tolerable, bug-free, and does not try to stuff the console versions into the tiny, low-power package of the GBA, thereby producing a distinct experience by licensed game standards.

Regardless of how much it may resemble Cooking Mama, there's fun to be had with Iron Chef America: Supreme Cuisine. The game structure makes for a fast, intense handheld experience, but there's not a whole lot of gameplay to be found.

To my chagrin, EA Sports UFC 5 feels like a mega-update to UFC 4 that flexes the muscles of the Frostbite engine and the PS5 for the sake of visuals and not much else. The score I 'm giving the game is out of respect for the slightly tweaked but still intricate fighting system that's flexible enough for people of all skill levels and time availability to enjoy. Also, it really does look fantastic, and would probably be a solid library addition for fans who haven't played any of the previous UFC titles and want a way in. For me, this wasn't the level change I 'd hoped for, and I can only hope there 'll be some newer pieces in the next one.

There are enough flaws in the compilation, however, that a purchase can't be truly recommended.

A mixed bag. It certainly adds plenty for loyal players, but I think it fails to do much to bring in new faces or draw former players back into the fold.

Old school dungeon crawlers or fans of puzzles and long dungeons will enjoy this title. Those looking for a quick game to pick up and play here and there, or looking for great visuals or audio with a detailed storyline, should look elsewhere.

I always find a message within the selection of the Madden cover athlete, and in the picks of Tom Brady (arguably the greatest quarterback of all time) and Patrick Mahomes (arguably the most naturally gifted QB of all time), the message felt like a dual nod to Madden's age and enduring legacy as well as the promise of a bright future. However, even with the new stuff, I can't shake the sense of sameness in the experience of Madden NFL 22. The love of football keeps me playing, but there were no moments that made me think, "OK, we are in the next generation." That holds the series back while other games have passed it by. It looks like another year where "the leap" will have to wait — if it ever comes at all.

The simple fact is that Brain Buster Puzzle Pak is a great title for beginners to puzzle gaming and a fine way to give someone a bit of enjoyment. Unfortunately, the novelty will begin to wear thin after a little while, and the gimmicky presentation fails to make up for an entirely too-brief experience.

While new and veteran fans of the Transformers were thrilled with Bay's movie, the Activision game is a complete bust.

The European aspects with gallant warriors fighting off the impending doom of dragons is incredibly fun in this game. It's the perfect amount of challenge, and it almost presents the player with a JRPG-Musou hybrid that's rewarding to play. However, music and story are largely lacking in the game, either being convoluted or unimaginative, if not both. Given the overly complex customization and sexist tones, the whole project drops from above average to lackluster. Shining Resonance: Refrain is a learning opportunity in recognizing when parts of a game are overextended or outdated.

As a game that manages to encapsulate the feeling of being Superman, Superman Returns does an excellent job.

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.

he open world remains impressive but less so when there's barely anything fun to do. Although it's designed for constant online play, good luck trying to find someone who stays long enough for you to engage with, let alone someone who can witness the sweet decal job on your vehicle. It may get better in a year's time, but for now, The Crew 2 is more of a chore than an enjoyable experience.

There's potential in Clid the Snail. The postapocalyptic setting feels fresher thanks to the new perspective, and the characters are charming, even if they fit expected tropes from stories about a ragtag bunch being forced to come together. A fascinating setting cannot overcome gameplay that feels repetitive due to unexciting shooting mechanics and enemies that fail to become intelligent until you reach a boss fight. It can be fun if you temper your expectations significantly, but for most people, Clid the Snail won't do it for them.

This is one of Bandai's better Gundam efforts ever, but it still doesn't play like a full-featured, real Japanese RPG. Let's hope for a sequel, I guess.

Although it does a few things well, Kingdom Under Fire: Circle of Doom seems to punish you at every turn for trying to progress.

One of the biggest issues with this game is the common sense factor, meaning that the common sense of a person starts to balk at some of the things expected in the game.

You're going to have a love-hate relationship with Paw Paw Paw. The story is wacky but not necessarily funny, with a presentation that's at odds with itself. The combat is easy to grasp but has a tendency to frustrate. The campaign is lengthy but feels too long due to the repeated backgrounds and long grind needed to handle the abrupt difficulty spikes. If you're not too discerning about your beat-'em-ups, then the game is a decent way to while away a weekend. Otherwise, you might want to hold off until you've at least beaten some other, better genre titles first.

There aren't any ridiculously awesome animations or eye-popping visuals that would grab the attention of a casual gamer, and the actual gameplay and content are much more enjoyable if you actually have an appreciation for the special powers and possibilities of the Marvel characters that appear in the game.

The game is just as good as the show at doing what it does, so I'll leave the purchase decision in your hands, capable parents.

Dynasty Warriors: Gundam Reborn is rather unexceptional. It improves over the previous games in a number of ways, but not every change is for the better.

Frogger: Helmet Chaos is not a bad game by any stretch, nor is it particularly good. It seems like yet another licensed re-hash that attempts to re-imagine a gaming classic.

It's not a great game when compared to other fighting titles on the portable console, but it's decent and can provide a bit of fun.

In the end, Lake delivers on producing a "slice of life" experience but with some issues that keep it from being excellent. The characters are interesting to talk to, even if only a few of them break out from being one-dimensional. The vocal performances are good, but the stiff facial and body animations and rushed story don't give it a chance to connect with players. If you can forgive these shortcomings and don't find the mail delivery mechanic to be tedious, Lake is relaxing and different enough from other offerings to warrant a glance.

Alone in the Dark is full of potential, but never actually pinpoints and executes it.

In the end, Battlefield: Hardline is its own worst enemy. There are some great ideas here, but they aren't fully realized, and the game suffers for it. It's not a bad game, but it's also not an exceptional game.

Hyper Knights is a game played best in short bursts. The quick fights are fun on their own, even if you never become strong enough to take on entire armies without dying, and taking over a territory is effortless but still exciting. Having said that, the flaws — from the unresponsive AI to the inability to do simple things like break structures on your own — seem like baffling omissions. The title only costs $5, so you will get your money's worth of fun, but don't expect it to be a hidden treasure.

Fantasy Hero: Unsigned Legacy is a decent action RPG but nothing more.

The game has an absolutely abysmal inventory system, basically a dumping ground for anything that you find throughout your wanderings.

Combat could certainly be tightened up, and the rewards for exploration could've been much more enticing. It also could've done better in the presentation department, since it doesn't stand out in this area, either. The title has the basics down well enough that it can remain enjoyable, and those who aren't too picky can have a good time with this, especially when you take into account the relatively low price of $6.99 on Steam.

Unlike the actual figures, your enjoyment of Funko Fusion isn't just going depend on whether you like the franchises or characters that made the cut. You have to be a fan of the constant backtracking and revisiting of worlds needed to unlock the better secrets. You need to be forgiving of some of the faults in the combat system. You also have to be fine with this being a strictly single-player game and patient enough to wait for the complete online-only multiplayer experience to be available. If you are, then you'll have fun with the game. Otherwise, you might want to wait to see if patches smooth out some of the existing issues.

For those who haven't played a match-three puzzle game before, there are plenty of other games that do this formula better, some of which are cheaper and downloadable. Seek out those first and then come back to this if you still crave a match-three puzzle fix.

A very hastily put together offering with gameplay that falls far behind what other titles have been doing on current systems for years.

As a stand-alone title, it's without an audience. Even the most die-hard Nintendo faithful would be better off waiting for the next title to come down the pipeline.

Fans of the show will likely relish the opportunity to relive one of their favorite series through the eyes of the protagonists, while everyone else will simply wonder what's going on and why one of the main characters is dressed like a cat.

If you can get past the nonexistent story, lengthy load times and aggravating audio, there's some good point-and-click puzzle adventuring to be had here.

It's not terrible by any means, but the horrible driving mechanics, repetitive missions and the horrible timer keep this game from being great.

The similarities to Return to Castle Wolfenstein, the laughably poor voice acting, the distracting AI, and the terribly unfortunate inclusion of the Starforce copy restriction system makes this a harder game to recommend than it should be.