There's a good skeleton to Nickelodeon All-Stars Brawl. The fighting is fast and extremely deep, despite having only one more attack button over the Super Smash Bros. series. For pro-type players who always play without items and can quickly master the game's nuances, this is excellent. However, the presentation is as basic as the game's modes, and the lack of anything that provides more of a Nickelodeon "feel" (e.g., voices and music) makes the whole thing feel rather cheap. While the online performance can be good, it doesn't matter much if there's no community behind it. The game is a contender, but some serious effort in more than a few areas needs to be done if Nickelodeon All-Stars Brawl or a potential sequel wants to be taken more seriously.

While the story is decent and the graphics impressive, the overall level of frustration is too much in this game, ruining what would be an otherwise excellent game.

A City Sleeps is a better experiment than it is a game for dedicated fans of rhythm games and shoot-'em-ups.

If you can ignore the nonsensical story and execution, Shooting Stars is a decent arcade shooter.

Skylar & Plux: Adventure on Clover Island is not that bad. The game mechanics are good, and the platforming is fun, especially on a short game where things don't feel like they drag on for the sake of matching game length with monetary cost. At the same time, it is far from being good. The story feels like an afterthought, and the bad characters, dialogue, and technical and design issues sap away at the game's fun. If you're a young platforming fan, you may dig it, but veterans of the genre may come away feeling disappointed that the game doesn't realize its full potential.

I Heart Geeks is far from an extraordinary puzzle game. The gameplay is fine, as not too many games try to emulate The Incredible Machine, but the spotty physics dampen the experience.

Pretty darn easy to get into, but it doesn't have a ton of depth or historical significance beyond that.

Ultimately, James 007: Blood Stone feels like a licensed movie game without the corresponding movie.

It's tough to say whether Gundam Versus is worth the purchase at full price. It lacks content, especially for those interested in single-player modes, and the multiplayer portion can easily be tarnished if you're matched with someone who has a poor internet connection. When the stars align and everything is functioning properly, there's a lot to love here. It doesn't make any efforts to impact gamers and bring in new players. When you have a small community to begin with, the only way to go is down. The only reason to buy Gundam Versus is if you have friends who will play it with you, or if you feel you'd get enough use from the single-player options to merit the purchase.

A step back for the franchise.

Unpolished promise. The idea of a whole game centered around casual riding is pretty brilliant, the presence of a decent amount of user content this early, and a robust means of generating the content equates to a game that can seem infinitely replayable. Having said that, the learning curve for the controls can be too high for some, while others will not be happy about the little quirks that can quickly become big annoyances.

A very average shooter – as was its predecessor, "Conflict: Desert Storm" – that will receive attention only because of its setting.

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.

Senran Kagura: Peach Beach Splash works as a third-person shooter, and the card system adds some variety. It has a variety of single-player modes that could be fun if the enemy AI were any good. However, the lack of an online audience kills much of the potential, and the title can only be recommended to die-hard series fans or those who have friends who have purchased the game and can meet up for online matches.

Just feels like a small game that the developer attempted to draw out for an excessive period of time. It could've stood to be either a bit more succinct or injected with more variety.

A passable, but small, collection of mini-games that'll appeal to a pretty large group of players, but it's hardly something that you can get excited about playing, especially since we've already seen all of these mini-games in some form or another, and most likely under different names.

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.

I can feel its charm and want to like it, but at the end of the day AFDS doesn't deliver what it is supposed to: high velocity action with white knuckles wrapped around your controller. What you are left with feels worn out, slowed down and paper thin. A shame really.

Warhammer 40,000: Mechanicus is incredibly intriguing and draws in the player with its world-building and tone. The art and music provide just enough to pique one's interest, but as a game, Mechanicus leaves a lot to be desired. I makes itself into such a cookie-cutter experience that progression doesn't feel rewarding, and it reduces the battles to pauses in narrative progression. Top that off with insufferably written narrators, and you get an experience that's tough to sell. The concept and world of Mechanicus are interesting, but the follow-through, laced with lethargic gameplay and sometimes indecipherable characters, is lacking.

It's a chore to make it through each room, finding the small split-up objects isn't all that fun, and ultimately it's a frustrating experience.

It trades off tried-and-true design decisions for things that would have made great bonuses in a better-made title.

Xenon Racer is made for those who have laser focus and dedication to nailing every detail. The sleek design and flow of the game are constantly disrupted by either the constant destruction of your own car or the jerky stop-and-go you must embrace to make tight turns, which are a necessity. It's certainly playable, but it's vexing and not recommended for the casual player. While the visuals shine in some respects, as a whole, they don't muster much more than a passing glance and a shrug. The game plays with ideas from the racing genre, but nothing quite sticks to make it a memorable experience. It's difficult to recommend to anyone who isn't interested in racing games. While it starts off strong, Xenon Racer ends up flatly spinning out (and probably slamming into the wall).

Unlike a majority of twin-stick shooters out there, Death by Cube will only be enjoyable to a select group of gamers. The high level of difficulty exhibited in the first few levels of the game will likely turn off those who aren't looking for something very challenging.

For $20, Once Upon A Time isn't that bad. On the one hand, you get four classic stories and some simple activities to go along with it. On the other hand, there's not much actual gameplay in the game, and the boring animation minigame decreases the value of the game since it comprises one-fourth of the content.

There's the seed of a good game here, but it's underdeveloped. Garage has style and wit to spare, but its cheap deaths, poor map design, murky graphics, and frequent bugs all add up to a frustrating experience. I'm usually willing to give any zombie game more credit than most sensible people would, and even I can't recommend this.

Rooms: The Main Building for the Wii seems to be trapped between a play design that's suited to a smaller distraction game and dreams of being a full-scale, widely released, properly realized Wii game. Unfortunately, that trapping immensely weakens it, causing the graphics to be just sufficiently detailed to slow the gameplay, introducing horrendously slow controls that could have been easier and smoother on a PC.

New Tales from the Borderlands tries to go all-out but ends up with unlikable characters, mind-boggling story twists, and forced comedic writing. Even some interesting decisions and entertaining side characters cannot save what is otherwise an uninteresting romp through the world of Borderlands. If anything, NTFTB confirms that the original was indeed a perfect storm that isn't easily replicated. Fans of the franchise may end up enjoying the adventure, but I'd advise waiting for a sale before embarking on this strange adventure.

This title is not bad, but it's not particularly good, either; it simply blends into the crowd. That trait may be great for a ninja, but it's not so good for a console title.

Sword Art Online - Re: Hollow Fragment is definitely for the fans, especially since it makes no real effort to ease newcomers into the world.

For us older fans (especially those raised on the fansubs) and people with even a tiny knowledge of how fighting games work, one shouldn't even bother giving this a second look.

At $10, the price is fine, but if you enjoyed the demo, it would be best to wait for this to go on sale.

If you can get some friends together for local multiplayer, you'll probably have some fun with this title, but if you're picking it up and hope to get into the online side, I'd definitely suggest avoiding this one.

It doesn’t offer enough of a twist to lure people away from their current game, and there are plenty of established games that are simply better.

With sluggish movement and imprecise aiming, the game does not meet shooter standards, and to make things worse, the terrain is limited and may give you a tough time in finding the way around blocked objects.

At the end of the day, a Harry Potter game should evoke the magic and wonder that the books or recent movies do. Instead, this just wrapped the look and feel of the Harry Potter world around a rather unpolished children's action game, not even seeming to care about the real reasons the Harry Potter series is so well-established.

Although I was pretty impressed with the look and presentation of the fledgling sports title, Shaun White Snowboarding left me with a pretty empty experience mostly due to the sub-par gameplay.

Mushroom Men: Truffle Trouble can be best described as a game with a good idea that's buried under sloppy execution.

It isn't the best title in the series, but it certainly isn't the worst, and if you're looking to play a fighting game that tries something new, rent Battle of Z before committing to the purchase.

The controls are obtuse, and it becomes obvious with a bit scrutiny that the game is definitely a port; it's nice to see an online mode included, but it isn't particularly fleshed out or engaging.

Pure Chess is both an excellent title for the solo player and a disappointment for those who want to play the game online.

It's still the lack of high-velocity thrills - and not necessarily the Axe body spray and iRiver billboards - that make for the biggest disappointment.

The Redemption is not great. It is not good. But it is sure as shoes better than Atari’s first attempt at doing the license justice, Rise of the Machines, a terrible first-person shooter with more in common with "Fugitive Hunter" than "Halo."

Mugen Souls Z does little to rock the boat, so fans of the original might be interested in revisiting this title, but anyone else will want to give it a pass.

Goes back to those simpler times of morally questionable, top-down gameplay, but a lame story, shoddy control, and uncooperative camera derail any standards that its brethren have set.

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.

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.

While it would be easy to slam this Collection due to all of its alterations and lack of optimization, the very fact that these games are on a disc instead of being lost to the digital download ether is a huge plus in its favor. If you still own a Dreamcast or have the means to get one (they're cheap and the games featured on this disc, aside from SC5:2, are even cheaper), this title is hardly the best option unless you're a fan of saving work and consolidating game collections.

Hole in the Wall is both fun and short. It's initially amusing to see players try to go through ridiculous shapes, but it is a novelty that wears off quickly if you plan to play it for long periods of time (instead of in the advised short bursts).

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

Stranger Things 3: The Game is a throwback to a time when the only audience the game is suited for are non-discerning fans of the series. Even then, there's not much here unless they're completely fine reliving the events of the season in a loose way. The gameplay is serviceable, but there's not much here to draw in people who just want a solid title or something to enhance their experience of the show. It isn't that bad if you can get it for cheap, but it isn't something to actively seek out, either.

Combined with the price and lack of cross-buy, which other twin-stick shooters on the system offer, it's rather difficult to recommend #KillAllZombies to anyone but the most dedicated twin-stick shooter fans.

Sadly, first-class presentation can't save Atelier Iris 3: Grand Phantasm from disappointing mediocrity.

Assassin's Creed: Unity is full of ideas and systems that don't gel or haven't reached their potential.

A simple puzzle game. It follows a well-beaten path, and it lacks polish in almost every area one could care to polish, but it's still fairly addictive, simple and long.

BurgerTime Party is a title that feels overstuffed. The mechanics are still good if you aren't thinking about the oddity of making burgers by walking over the ingredients, but this only works well when playing solo. Going multiplayer, as the game's title would suggest, makes the experience less enjoyable due to the aforementioned odd design choices. The base co-op experience is enough to prevent the other modes from being looked at, given their diminished overall appeal. It is a game best played in short bursts because tedium sets in when you're playing for longer. This can only be recommended to those who want nothing more than a short arcade-like burst of enjoyment before moving on to meatier fare.

Arcadian Atlas is the definition of a fine game. It isn't bad, and it isn't great; it's just perfectly passable. There are some solid moments and a nice hit of nostalgia for PS1-era RPGs, but that's about it. Other spiritual successors like Triangle Strategy and Fell Seal have proven that the genre can do a lot more on a lower budget, and Arcadian Atlas feels dated. If you're a fan of SRPGs, this might be worth a look, but it's mostly forgettable.

Going online will pit you against some opponents that are much more fun to play, but the problems with the clunky controls are never alleviated.

Neptunia Shooter gets the core mechanics right for an 8-bit shooter, and it adds bullet hell mechanics and character-switching to spice things up. It's length also isn't a bother due to the lack of continues, stretching out a very short experience to a more acceptable one for the $5 price tag. What makes the game feel hollow is its bare-bones approach, including the lack of music and a dearth of enemy variety. If you're willing to overlook this, you'll find Neptunia Shooter to be decent enough for a quick spin. If you're expecting something grand with the trademark Neptunia charm, you'll come away disappointed.

It's at that point in Rule of Rose, when combat becomes a dominant factor but the provided elements simply don't hold up, that frustration sets in.

There are a decent amount of races, events and courses to keep you occupied, but there's not much to it, gameplay-wise, to keep you playing for long, as everything is fairly basic and by-the-numbers.

In the end, Micro Machines: World Series is disappointing. The offline modes lack variety, so those who aren't interested in online play must contend with a shell of a game. Those interested in playing online will feel like they're playing offline anyway since the community just isn't there. While the racing is enjoyable, the increased emphasis on skirmishes hurts the game when you realize that your contributions have little to no impact on the overall match. You can still squeeze some fun out of this, but most people would be better off leaving this title alone.

Much of Kandagawa Jet Girls is done incredibly well. The gameplay is varied and interesting, allowing the player to explore how to best approach races and competition, while also offering fun and upbeat music and visuals along the way. It's all strung together by a well-defined aesthetic, from the menus to the loading screens and the UI. What cannot be forgotten — and what takes away the most from this game — is the obsession with these teen girls' bodies in the design. It's cheap and gross, and it completely detracts from the experience. While the races sometimes become bland with ease, the most glaring point that I took away from the experience is how girls' bodies are depicted and designed in media. When it comes down to it, you can make a game that knocks it out of the park in every way, but if you can't show your teen characters without highlighting their massive cleavage or design them without massive breasts in the first place, then frankly, it's not a respectable product that should be taken seriously, and therefore it isn't good.

If you have no other console sitting under your television, you are left with the very worst version, the b-side of the b-side, the version with more P-Diddy-esque muck clouding the surface, the version with more of the good stuff ripped out with nothing to gain for it, and a few months wait to boot.

All in all, Yonder: The Cloud Catcher Chronicles is an exploration-based, open-world collect-a-thon with crafting and quests that are both beautiful and fun when played in small bursts. Ultimately, it doesn't provide any substantial challenges and doesn't run too well on the Switch's hardware. Unless you're a die-hard fan of relaxing games that you can play for the sake of playing, Yonder may not be your cup of tea.

There are some fairly good ideas in place, and the game premise is pretty well done. However, the various technical issues and the lack of any real difficulty make the game real boring real fast. For the Bratz fan, this title is a rental at best.

This isn't a terrible racer by any means, but when you're up against the likes of Grid Autosport, it becomes hard to recommend this one unless you have played Grid to death and see this title on sale.

A graphically impressive party game. Although it may seem a bit droll and uninspired to the hardcore gamer, it does an admirable job of being a fun party game for the younger crowd.

ManaCollect embodies the definition of niche game. The core inspiration, a battle version of Minesweeper, can be pleasant, but it can only excite those who have very fond memories of the simple game.

As long as your expectations are tempered, Halo: Spartan Assault is a serviceable game. It works as a top-down shooter, but you'll miss the enemy intelligence of the older games.

Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes feels less like a passion project and more like an obligation to return to an old hit. It has some of the same style and punk feeling of the Wii original — but much less of it. Instead, it feels spread out far too thin, and the moments of tedium tend to outweigh the absurdity that made the previous game so enjoyable. There's some fun to be had here, and fans will probably be glad to get a chance to see Travis one more time, but it's certainly not the No More Heroes sequel they were waiting for. However, there are some hints that Travis Strikes Again is just a prelude to something more.

It's really too bad that everything didn't come together for Honda ATV Fever. It was rather impressive for a budget title in that it looked fine and had a decent amount of tracks and events. It's too bad that the controls were insufferable and the difficulty level was high enough to cause people to quit. If you have an infinite amount of patience, give it a shot as a rental. Otherwise, hold off on playing it unless you really want a session in frustration.

It doesn't come close to living up to the concept. Unexpectedly glitchy, terribly repetitive and incredibly easy, Just Cause might be fun for a rental, but even the most die-hard fans of sandbox games will want to look elsewhere for their fill.

The Darkest Tales is a game that you want to like but can't due to some significant issues. The concept isn't exactly new, but it is interesting to see known fairy tales embrace a much darker side. The 2D perspective makes it feel fresh, since other similar titles tend to go with 3D. The characters are fine, but their intrigue comes from the dark turns taken in service of the game. The platforming and combat feel off, and even though there's some depth in the skill tree, those aforementioned factors will make it difficult for players to press through to the end. If you have the patience or don't mind playing on the easy difficulty level to get through this title, then snap it up if it goes on sale. Otherwise, with the platform already flooded with excellent 2D adventure games, it feels safe to skip this one.

Starpoint Gemini has some great ideas and concepts, but it lacks the budget and vision to really drive home those ideas.

While Bleed 2 is a romp that makes it feel good to shoot the bad guys, the experience fades quickly, and the player may not want to replay the game at all, losing the worth of the depth of abilities, characters, modes, and weapons. Can nostalgia be balanced with originality to create something fresh enough? Absolutely. However, Bleed 2 stretches itself too thin in both of these respects and ends up feeling less like a love letter and more like fan fiction.

The addition of a few extra areas does not make up for the massive amount of flaws, both gameplay and graphical, that turns a fun game into a chore.

Home Run Stars is meant for brief moments of gaming and nothing more. The hitting is quite fun, though the aiming takes some time to get used to, and the addition of targets gives provides some variety. Multiplayer is fun enough, but it really takes off if you have a Smartglass-capable phone, especially since the online community for this is pretty much nonexistent.

Payday: The Heist is an ambitious game that doesn't quite manage to nail down the little things. Of course, as any good career criminal will tell you, the devil is in the details, and Payday's failure here is the difference in making off with the cash and getting gunned down in the street. The pieces were all in place, but this just fails to deliver in any meaningful way.

Super Neptunia RPG negates the positives that it brings about. The fresh perspective that comes from being a classic 2D RPG with a simple battle system clashes with the unintuitive and unresponsive platforming. The presentation is beautiful, but the performance is hampered when compared to its predecessors. The ability to explore also seems nice until you realize that the streamlined side-quest system has been replaced with the more time-consuming method of visiting each quest-giver individually. Fans of the series may still enjoy it.

Legend of Kay: Anniversary is a below-average adventure platforming game. The platforming and combat have flaws but are otherwise fine, while the camera makes bad situations seem worse.

All in all, Farming Simulator Nintendo Switch Edition kind of achieves what it promises: a smaller Farming Simulator that borders on machinery porn. It's not overly exciting, but it doesn't have to be. It has good moments, and the portable nature of the Switch makes it easy to drop in and out at any given time. Technically, it's underwhelming, and the world is cold, empty and feels too disconnected to engage the player. When repetitiveness sets in, only hardcore fans and enthusiasts can look past it and still enjoy the game. The core experience is fun enough that I'm reasonably surprised. If developer Giants Software can expand on the idea, I'm certain the Farming Simulator series will gain even more traction in the coming years.

Monster Energy Supercross 25: The Official Video Game is specifically for the hardcore motocross fanatic. Those fans will love things like the ability to play a current season of the sport and the presence of tangible track deformation. For everyone else, this is a difficult game to recommend. From the high difficulty level and steep learning curve to the bare-bones campaign, there's not enough to entice interested players to give this a try. At this rate, your best bet is to wait and see if this game or older entries in the series will reach Game Pass, so you can see if you can gel with this title.

Blind Fate is a game with great ideas but doesn't live up to them. The combat system is a lot of fun, but the title does everything it can to not let it shine. Outside of the combat, you're left with a predictable story, dull levels, and a boatload of QTEs. I can see a sequel that polishes up some of the mechanics that feel half-baked, but at the end of the day, Blind Fate doesn't really do anything that stands out.

Having come from the imagination of a few of LucasArts alums, A Vampyre Story had the potential to spin a gothic comedy steeped in that tradition, which my score reflects. But I won't recommend half a game to players.

In many ways, Indianapolis 500 Legends is more an interactive history lesson than a proper game. By limiting you to certain drivers and certain years, players gain a deep historical knowledge of certain races at the expense of all the others.

This title could've had any name, and you'd never have known that it was related to Quake in any way. With franchises such as Call of Duty, Rainbow Six, and, of course Halo, Enemy Territories: Quake Wars falls way behind of the pack.

As intriguing as the concept is, the climax is not as nearly as exciting, and the weak ending makes the problem-plagued trip hardly worth the effort.

The net result is a step back for the franchise, as it sadly stands as one of the least fun WWE games to play in recent years.

The odd control changes, some pretty bad graphics and presentation, and problems in half of the 24/7 mode, make the PSP iteration the bottom feeder of every available version. Avoid this, and wait to see how SvR '09 turns out.

It's got little to offer for SoulCalibur fans, little to offer for hack-and-slash fans, and little to offer in the realm of gameplay substance.

At its core, Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast remains a good title. Get past the shooting, and you're rewarded with a ton of Force powers and lightsaber combat that remains at the top of its field to this day. However, the port job isn't up to snuff, as it lacks some slight auto-aim and lock-on to make the experience more user-friendly for console players, so the opening levels are a real chore to get through even if you can handle the outdated textures and adherence to the old way of doing puzzles. Not only is it recommended to go with the PC release for this title, but it also gives one pause about how the eventual port job of Jedi Academy will turn out.

Ancestors: The Humankind Odyssey aims to tackle the evolution of mankind from our animal forebears, a hefty task for any one piece of media. While the goal is incredibly admirable, Panache Digital Games puts too much on its plate. It attempts to break down the process of human development in a fascinating way, but the concept ends up being tremendously difficult to translate into typical controls and gameplay. The information conveyance and gameplay implementation are ultimately disappointing, given how much curiosity the game fosters and inspires. The game still offers interesting content, especially in the audio and visual departments. While the effort put into the game is certainly laudable, the result of Ancestors is ultimately middling.

Trailblazers isn't a bad racing title. Despite some floaty controls, the actual racing is fine, and the painting and team mechanics are interesting. The modes are also good, but the lack of a community means that local multiplayer is your only other option once you consume all of the single-player stuff. You'll wish the developers did something more interesting with the concept, as it feels untapped. For that, Trailblazers is only recommended for those who have already checked out other racing titles first.

Altogether, All Star Cheer Squad feels like mishmash of decent ideas muddled with bad design.

Activision's chance to capitalize on the Spider-Man license should not fall on deaf ears, though, because the simple mechanics and easy gameplay in Spider-Man: Friend or Foe are the perfect fit for any young Spider-Man fan or casual gamer looking for an action title for the Wii.

In the end, Dance Magic lacks the sort of magic that makes rhythm games so mesmerizing.

Your appreciation of Gods Remastered is going to come down to whether you're familiar with the original. By today's standards, the general movement and combat is clunky, and the enemy appearances can be considered cheap. However, changing any of this would run the risk of destroying the memories that old players have of the title. If you've played the game before, this will be a nice nostalgia kick. Otherwise, new players might be better served elsewhere unless they are really into retro titles, warts and all.

It isn't so much consolitis that consigned the sequel to the pit of disappointment for me, nor is it crying over PC-flavored milk because it doesn't try to harness what the platform is capable of doing. Instead, the wholesale changes reflect a deeper problem in assuming that your audience isn't as smart as it was to enjoy the first game. It makes the only answer that of dumbing down the sharp edges in an effort to appeal to a wider audience.