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.

A valiant attempt at fan service, but it focuses so much on capturing and reproducing the essence of the show that it forgot that it also had to be a decent game.

Cars Race-O-Rama tosses a lot of content at you, but it can't disguise that the game isn't very fun to play.

Even though it's competitively priced compared to its contemporaries, Urban Trial Freestyle can only be recommended if you've already gone through those other titles and if this game is on sale at a good discount.

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.

Fans of platformers might find Seed of Life to be a smidge more fun than puzzle game fanatics, but the overall experience in this beautiful, dying world is worth the time and price point, especially as a relatively short game that can be completed over a lazy weekend. Much like Cora's quest, the seeds of this game are high quality, and with some fine tuning and care, Seed of Life could blossom into something incredible.

Despite everything mentioned in this review, Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Breakpoint is still a fun game when everything is working well. Thanks to the very long-term support that Ubisoft provides for its games, there's little doubt that the crashes and other oddities will be patched over time. The gameplay remains a highlight of the series, even with all of the directional changes being made. With that said, the mashup of these different ideas has resulted in a game that has become rather generic instead of something special and different. There's a good chance that the game will improve in the next few months or a year, and at that point, players can easily jump into the game and enjoy the hell out of it. At launch, however, Breakpoint makes sense if you want to get into a looter shooter that isn't full of fantastical weaponry or you aren't playing The Division 2 anymore.

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.

This title would be a very good candidate for any child who's a fan of the "Cars" movie or enjoys cartoony racing games.

With each installment, Koei and Omega Force are not reinventing the wheel; it's there, and it rolls just fine. They're smoothing it out, steadily working out the bumps and making the whole thing roll much more smoothly.

Matchpoint: Tennis Championships manages to release a game that presents an easy yet technical approach to the sport. It results in a game where you can make more mistakes than the more arcade-like approach of some older, well regarded tennis titles, but it results in a game that feels more responsive compared to most of its contemporaries. Yet it doesn't manage to do anything beyond that due to a lack of players and modes, so cross-play only benefits those who want a no-frills 1v1 experience. It's fine overall, but no one would blame you if you skipped this one in the hopes that someone can transplant the gameplay into a title with more to do.

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

In the end, it really is a game for fans of the series and something of a hard sell for newcomers who can't separate the fan service from the game mechanics.

Passable, though there is not enough new to it to really recommend it, and its flaws stand out like a sore thumb.

Legend of Heroes III starts slowly, doesn't build to anything worth writing about, and doesn't even have challenging combat or an interesting plot. Keep well away, as Legend of Heroes III wasn't even a good game in 1999.

Space Hulk: Deathwing can't seem to win on either front. As a solo experience, the gameplay is mediocre, the AI is rather inconsistent, and the objectives lack imagination. As a multiplayer game, it is pretty much dead. There's stuff in here for a dedicated Warhammer 40,000 fan to be excited about, especially how the game looks, but it certainly isn't the best outing for the license.

Having experienced every facet of Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, it becomes readily apparent that its essence as a platformer has been haphazardly mashed together with a party game.

Dragon Ball Z: Ultimate Tenkaichi is a beautiful-looking game on the outside but downright ugly on the inside.

RTS fans will find it too simplistic, and Warriors fans will find the pace to be too slow. It doesn't hit the correct buttons to competently fill either role.

With 26 characters to play with, even if some of them are completely worthless, Samurai Shodown V is a quality 2D fighter from a developer that usually knows its way around a quality 2D fighter.

The experience would be improved if you did not have to take care of your fellow castaway or if the statistics didn't decrease quite so rapidly. In the time it takes you to explore a bit of the island and get to where you were the last time, you have to double back due to thirst and fatigue.

This game should have been as good and as much of a departure as the upcoming Splinter Cell is; instead, its gameplay piddles around with everything the series has already established.

Instead of making improvements, the development team made a game to appeal to a different crowd than their original audience, and I honestly don’t think the decision was a good one.

Although the terraforming can become a bit tedious at times, the campaign missions are engaging and challenging.

It simply has no place in the current sea of PlayStation 2 shooters; it is far too flawed, far too easy, and lacks far too much of the intensity that gamers pick up tactical shooters for in the first place.

As stated before, Wizards of Waverly Place is an above-average game for the recent crop of Disney Channel games to come out on the Nintendo DS.

It has a pretty steep learning curve, but in the end, it's worth it.

Wanted: Dead is certainly an experience. It's a weird game with occasional flashes of something great. It's difficult to recommend it solely based on that. It's disjointed, repetitive, and feels more like a collection of ideas stitched together into the rough shape of a game rather than anything cohesive. For a certain kind of gamer, this is going to be catnip, but for the average person, it's probably going to be too weird to work, and unfortunately, the gameplay isn't strong enough on its own merit to overcome that.

If not for the weak animation, I would say that Constantine looks surprisingly good. Instead, its static appearance cheapens the overall look of the game.

Flyhunter Origins could have been a decent way for young players to spend an afternoon. The stages may not be expertly designed, and the enemies are way too easy, but the game is short enough to feel fulfilling without dragging on and the mechanics are solid enough.

By itself, Tales of the Shire: A The Lord of the Rings game is fine. The aesthetic is accurate, and the emphasis on cooking makes it feel very different from many other games of this type. However, the game feels like it is lacking in other areas that are seen as genre staples, making the game feel rather light at first glance. This is before you start to compare the game to other licensed cozy life sims and see that those games have much more to offer before the amount of stuff to do starts to dry up. Again, this game is fine, but there are better examples of the genre.

Shows an incredible amount of promise, but the final product is ultimately flawed in too many ways to get a hearty recommendation.

What we have here is a game that tries to hit all of the bases and instead misses every last one. It doesn't measure up as a Monster Rancher game, it doesn't measure up as a standalone RPG, and it doesn't measure up as a worthwhile PlayStation 2 title so far into the system's run.

Touhou: Scarlet Curiosity isn't that bad. The campaign is a decent length, and despite the limited combat system, the fighting can be enjoyable if you play in short bursts. The enemy monotony does drag down the experience if you want to play for extended sessions, and the presentation could certainly be much better, fan-made game or not. While it's not the best action RPG on the system, it's worth a shot if you've already exhausted the others.

Reynatis breaks the cardinal rule of not reminding players about better games. Everything from the concept to the gameplay feels like a less engaging version of The World Ends with You, and the fact there's an in-game crossover between the two makes it not feel like a coincidence. There's very little that makes Reynatis stand out, and there are quite a few baffling game design choices. I can see players gleaning some fun from it, but only if they've already experienced its better inspirations.

If your kids are looking for a game based on a familiar television show, I'd recommend Avatar: The Last Airbender on any of its available platforms. There are bigger, better, and far more entertaining games out there than this.

The whole station is one excruciating maze! Figuring out how to move from one position to the next is such an arduous task. Even though you may have the map, it doesn't reveal the secret passages that you need to "blowout" before you can move on.

There really is not much to TiQal. If you play the demo for five minutes, you've pretty much mastered all there is to the game.

Cartoon Network Punch Time Explosion is a decent fighting game.

The super-simplified combat soon trounces those expectations, however, as you realize that many characters' moves are gussied-up versions of web attacks and fireballs.

Some people are going to hate it on sight, but I believe that like SaGa Frontier before it, Romancing SaGa has a welcome place in the gaming library of anyone who appreciates a completely free-roaming experience and isn't above being patient with the quirks of gameplay it holds.

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.

I enjoyed this game completely and appreciated all of its little nuances, but I believe that the lack of replay value is detrimental and turns it into "another shooter game."

Bard's Gold is decent. The gameplay is good enough, but many will be driven away by the high level of difficulty in the opening stages, especially with a few unfair elements at play.

Creepy Road ends up being more frustrating than fun.

It really is sad to see a game like King of Fighters XII turn out this way. It has a solid fighting mechanic and great graphics, but the surrounding features are so meager that they kill everything good about the game.

Naruto Shippuden: Kizuna Drive is at its best when enjoyed with multiple people. Playing missions with a team that's totally in sync makes for some fun gameplay, and this is only helped by a combat system that feels faster than most Monster Hunter clones. However, as a solo game, the free missions are painful, as the CPU AI never feels intelligent enough to do anything unless you're babysitting it every step of the way. As with the rest of the games in the series, fans will have already purchased the title, but non-fans who crave a simpler game in this vein should try renting Kizuna Drive.

Neither fantastic nor terrible, instead landing somewhere in between. Final Fantasy fans might find the addition of an action game to their favorite series to be odd, while shooter aficionados will wonder why it's so easy.

Vast amounts of patience are required for some of the more peculiar puzzles, and this may turn off many gamers. There are better options available, but adventure fans may still want to give U:OW a whirl.

With bothersome controls and repetitive characters, Dragon Ball Z: Raging Blast 2 falls short at a time when the franchise should be at a high point. The series needs some fundamental reworking if it's going to stand up as well as some of its predecessors, and fans, whether they got into the series during the original run or "Dragon Ball Z Kai," certainly deserve better.

Akiba's Trip: Undead & Undressed is a frustrating game. There is a lot of good here, including an excellent localization and a lot of really enjoyable customization. It goes hand-in-hand with an awful frame rate, frustrating load times, and a central premise that crosses the creepy line too often for its own good.

Nothing, and I mean nothing, could justify purchasing this game unless you have an extremely powerful need to wade through an assault of boring training missions so you can take down your friend in system-link.

DBZ: HD feels like the developers actually put some effort into its creation. It's fun, and — dare I say it — somewhat innovative.

If the premise of taking photos of fish on rails sounds good to you, then you won't be disappointed — and if it doesn't, then move along because there's nothing to see here.

All the elements of a good shooter are here. Good graphics, good sound, good depth, bloody gameplay...it just doesn't add up. There's a stubborn sloppiness to the game that makes it tough to recommend.

An adequate, albeit not outstanding, way to keep a very small child occupied. It may help kids learn, but it will more likely keep them distracted for a few minutes before they close their DSes.

It's surprisingly rewarding to climb in levels and get a new gun only to trick it out with some mods and a new paint scheme, and for what the game lacks in complexity or a plot, it definitely makes up for it with its fast-paced and enjoyable gameplay.

A disappointment for fans of the series. A story with as much depth and variety as Naruto should have been an epic role-playing game, but the end product with which we are presented is remedial and random, seeming very much as though the producers of this title were told to slap something together at the last minute, shove the Naruto characters into the game somewhere and get it to market in a hurry.

Shadow Puppeteer is a fun and simple co-op game.

As it stands, the game can be considered a noble attempt with failed execution, and only those with a good amount of patience or excellent lighting should consider trying the game. Everyone else would be better off waiting for a sequel or a patch that irons out the game's technical issues.

If you're not sure on the game, wait for a price drop or two, and a weekend where you and a buddy don't have much to do.

It’s infected with ‘consolitis’, it carries the malignancy that is the Starforce copy-restriction system, the code is unstable and slaps Windows with an illegal operation every time you exit the program, and has even gone so far as to render my system incapable of a standard shut down/restart.

Anyone who likes simple simulation games, is a fan of the "Hell's Kitchen" television show, or was a die-hard Root Beer Tapper fiend will find that the Hell's Kitchen game is definitely worth a play.

Perhaps you'll see something that I did not, and find an enjoyable game that's average at best.

Given the lack of online play and some of the bland presentation, it's difficult for even the biggest Gundam fan to get behind this title.

Give this game a chance. Yes, it's got the Acclaim name on it, and the engine is less refined than others. However, the incredible cast alone is with the price of admission, and the game itself is fun enough.

Overall, this game was pretty bad, and I did not enjoy it. It was a nice concept to have a game completely devoted to Corvettes, but the game physics need to be fixed.

The economics of the game simply feel shoddy. The AI is frustrating. The bleak emptiness of your mall initially and the fact that the best way to build a satisfying mall is by taking out loans seems a little funny.

Here it is, Gundam fans: The game you have been waiting for. And, as usual, the rest of us are left with our copies of Virtual On: Oratorio Tangram -- not Marz -- with the sad notion that there will never be another game like it again.

Perhaps the best way to describe Puzzle Chronicles is that it feels like an effort out of Infinite's "B" team. We know the company can do so much better, yet Puzzle Chronicles looks and feels more like a college project rather than a AAA XBLA title.

Despite the flaws, Captain America: Super Soldier is actually a decent game.

Games generally work when the player is either presented with goals to reach or a world to explore, but Skater XL doesn't provide enough of either to be a fulfilling experience.

Star Wars: Beyond Victory is a neat experience. The Adventure mode does a good job of mixing together VR and mixed reality while telling a good story in the beloved universe. The racing is novel yet forgiving when you consider the viewpoint, while the Playset mode is pretty neat if you're into posing action figures in semi-ridiculous ways. Unfortunately, the entire experience is fun but pretty short (even by VR standards), making this feel like a fleeting experience.

It's worth checking out if you're already a fan, but if you've never tried an adventure game before, this is a pretty solid entry point.

The game’s modest modes of play, underwhelming presentation, and ill-conceived points system are a far cry from the series’ glory days, but the gameplay is solid and the courses can be a lot of fun under the right circumstances.

Even some of the older games, like "Samurai Showdown 3," had more going on with the same quality of graphics and sound.

In spite of its technical shortcomings, Rise of the Argonauts is still a truly fun game that has gotten a bit of a bum rap. The story is very intriguing, and the leveling system is handled superbly.

As a final verdict, I'd recommend Bolt for anyone old or young who liked the movie and enjoys platform-style adventure games with a healthy mix of fighting.

The hack-'n'-slash gameplay is fun, the graphics are serviceable, and the audio is fitting, if a bit sparse, but the artificial lengthening of the game can make it tedious, due to the incessant backtracking you'll have to do, and the lack of a map.

Much like Jump Force, One Punch Man: A Hero Nobody Knows is a game with a decent premise but lackluster execution. The idea of building a new hero from scratch is fun, even if you're just a side character in the overall scheme of things, but the grind from beginning to end makes you lose interest quickly. The fights become boring due to their simplicity, enough so that the appearance of the famous named characters doesn't improve things, and the presentation is far from impressive this late in the console cycle. Perhaps the hardcore fans may find fun in A Hero Nobody Knows for an afternoon, but for those who are looking for a substantial adventure or a good anime fighting game, this is not it.

Despite the unique look and direction this takes on the RTS genre, the feeling of "I've been here before, done this before, and seen this before" pervades the entire experience.

If you enjoy adventure games on the PC, you could do worse than Art of Murder: Cards of Destiny. For the price, it'll provide you with a pretty lengthy and well thought-out adventure, but there are enough problems with the story's presentation to keep it from being an excellent, must-have purchase.

Onechanbara Z2: Chaos promises two things: fan service and zombie killing. It delivers on that but not much else. XSEED's lively translation and the sheer fun of zombie killing make it an enjoyable enough romp, but low production values and repetitive gameplay really drag it down.

When looked at through a modern lens, it is difficult to recommend Postal Redux to anyone who didn't play the original on the PC decades ago. The early attempts at being edgy backfire now into groan-worthy territory, while the singular focus gets tiresome if you're playing through the short campaign. The inaccuracy of your guns and their muted damage makes ammo management almost impossible, while the larger hitboxes create far too many missed shots and accidental deaths. The result isn't a terrible game since there's still some grim fun to be had, but there are certainly better shooter titles out there unless you're set on experiencing the shooters of yesteryear.

Demon Slayer -Kimetsu no Yaiba- Sweep The Board! appeals to a very specific type of player: someone who's already a big fan of the series and also loves digital board games. The concept is fine, and the day/night cycle and demon fights make this an intriguing party game. That said, between the mediocre collection of minigames, small board selection, unfair CPU characters, and poor online performance, there's not much to keep players interested for very long. It's not a terrible party game, but you'll only be tempted to grab it if you really, really need to play a party game.

Tsukuyomi is an odd duck of a game. As an off-brand Shin Megami Tensei card battler, it's pretty fun, despite some obvious balance flaws and a low budget. The story isn't anything great, but it was enough to bolster the gameplay, and I had a good time playing through the main story. For a game that prides itself as being the work of Kazuma Kaneko, the AI-bloated art style deeply detracts from the experience. It's a fun enough experience, but it has enough warts that it can be tough to recommend.

Your enjoyment of The House of the Dead: Remake is going to be highly dependent on your nostalgia for the original arcade game and a firm understanding of what you're getting into. It's a lightgun game on a platform where it's almost impossible to encounter another one like it unless you're into emulation. It is a faithful enough arcade experience that you have time for at least two runs of the campaign in an afternoon. It remains a fun, fleeting experience if you have no intention of going through all of the paths and uncovering all of the secrets. It's good enough to recommend for arcade nuts, but everyone else might want to wait until they feel the need to play a game like this or when they acquire their own lightguns for a more authentic experience.

As long as you're looking to kill thousands of bad guys, you'll find something to like in Dynasty Warriors Vol. 2.

Even with all of the setbacks plaguing it, though, this Wii port of Blazing Angels: Squadrons of World War II has it where it counts. It adds motion-sensing functionality without sacrificing the fun — it, in fact, manages to enhance it in some cases.

Wizardry: Labyrinth of Lost Souls is certainly fun, but it's fun for a specific group of people. Those who love the old school of RPGs before they became more about the cinematics and fast-paced action will find a lot to like.

While Zatch Bell! Mamodo Battles may be a lot of fun, especially for any Zatch Bell fan, it fails to be more than a button-masher.

It's hard to recommend Neverland Card Battles when it mostly feels like work, but it's difficult to not love it a little after seeing it through to the end, despite its prickly exterior.

There's really no reason to buy this game, especially if you're expecting anything resembling a return to Stronghold's roots of castle-building sim.

Were this priced right, the bite-sized platforming combat would be worth checking out, but $20 is a little too steep. Unless you're really hungry for some new Vita games, it's best to wait for a sale before giving it a shot.

Iro Hero is a decent game with a poorly thought-out execution. The game is difficult but almost unforgiving, as longer-than-usual levels and a high enemy count mean you'll start at the beginning of stages far more often than you'd like. The mechanics are barely explained in-game due to the ill-conceived layout, and the story suffers the same fate as well. With an inconsistent presentation to boot, Iro Hero is a game that's solely for hardcore genre fans, as everyone else will barely make it out of the first stage before deleting it in favor of other, better-executed shooters.

In the end, I found Dead Island: Riptide to be a fun stopgap in the series, despite not being a full-fledged sequel. Certain things could have been better, like the characters, story, and more innovation. There are a couple of new skills, a new character, and new locations, but it's not wildly different. The initial location is nearly identical to the starting island area from the original game, and while it might feature a different layout, it's really hard to initially tell them apart.

I don't want to close with the impression that I had a bad time with Gungrave G.O.R.E. I didn't. But I didn't have a memorable one, either. It was a nice bit of action nostalgia for a short while, but in a world where less glitzy action titles feature so much more depth, agility or even wit, Gungrave G.O.R.E. will have a tough time separating itself from all of the bullet-fare that's out there.

The “At-Once-Turn-System” adds a welcome strategic element to dungeon-crawling, but monotony and repetition destroy any redeeming value the system might have.