There's a solid adventure game in Beyond A Steel Sky. The puzzles make sense and ease newcomers to the genre, the story is mostly on point, and the writing is robust. Whether you're a longtime fan of the original or just coming to its world now, there's plenty to enjoy in Beyond. The multitude of technical gameplay and presentation issues make it difficult to eke out all of the joy you can from the title. If you can deal with all of that, then you'll find a fine adventure game to sink your teeth into. Otherwise, you might want to wait for a few patches to see if the issues get ironed out.

A flawed attempt at fixing the problems with Guitar Hero III. While vast improvements have been made to the game's look and engine, a critical mistake was made when Neversoft chose to focus on a single band. The core Guitar Hero gameplay is still there and as fun as ever, but unless you're an avid fan of Aerosmith, you probably won't be happy with constantly playing Aerosmith songs.

It's unfortunate that this promising combination comes mixed with a good amount of frustration.

Overall, Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Heroes takes an okay series of PS2 games and manages to downgrade them severely, not once, but twice — once from PS2 to PSP and again, in mostly inexcusable fashion, from Japan to the U.S.

It's a shame that MLB 2K8 is the only baseball offering for Xbox 360 owners, as the efforts to do more than a simple roster update have resulted in a game that has solid ideas and a deep set of features, but is so buggy and inconsistent in almost every regard that it isn't worth your time unless you absolutely have to play a baseball game.

One downside is that there's a heck of a lot here that's pulled together from other games, if you're up on your gaming history you can play 'spot the element' here and rattle off a good five or so games that do bits of Ty 2 better than Ty 2 does.

While the Professor Layton series comes highly recommended if you're in the market for a puzzle adventure game, don't pass up this one.

Tekken Revolution won't inspire people to toss out their old Tekken copies and embrace this wholeheartedly. Unless you exclusively play online, you'll miss out on the offline features and local multiplayer that make fighting games so much fun.

In the end, DuckTales Remastered is a great modern take on the now-classic NES game.

In the end, Ember is a good RPG that caters more to genre beginners than veterans. The trimming of the traits and the abolishment of classes makes it easier for some players to concentrate on the gameplay instead of character and party micromanagement. That's not necessarily a bad thing, as everything from the gameplay to the story is rather solid despite not really doing anything to stand out from the crowd.

Blaster Master Zero is what a nostalgic game update should be. It isn't bogged down in the past, and it doesn't lose what makes the original game so memorable and fun. It's not quite a masterpiece, but it's a ton of fun to play. Whether you're getting a new upgrade or battling a brutal mutant, it's a well-paced and enjoyable experience. Fans of the franchise should be delighted, and those who have never played the original Blaster Master will find Zero a much better place to start.

Provided you're not short on empathy, Blackwood Crossing has a good tale to tell. The various forms of loss and growing up are dealt with quite well, while the fanciful setting gives you the impetus to keep going even if you know exactly how the tale will end. It does need some work on the puzzle mechanics, as a fiddly detection system and slow walking can be frustrating once the solution is known. Overall, this is a good first effort from the development team, and it's worth a look if you're a genre fan.

Cyberdimension Neptunia: 4 Goddesses Online is a game that fans of the series will enjoy. The dialogue-heavy nature and comedy are well done, and the story doesn't get in the way of it. It does a serviceable job of making the MMO-style gameplay work, but you have to accept the grind in order to not be bothered by it. It isn't a good title for those who are just jumping into the universe, but if you've played anything previously released for the series and fell in love with it, then 4GO isn't a bad addition.

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.

Split archives aside, your love of Namco Museum Archives Volume 1 will be dependent on how much you love the NES and how you feel about this mix. Half of these games are better represented by their arcade versions, and depending on your platform of choice, you may already have access to them via the older Namco Museum compilations. However, NES originals like Splatterhouse and Dragon Spirit are as excellent today as they were decades ago, while the demake of Pac-Man Championship Edition simply has to be seen to be believed. For the investment price of $19.99, retro fans will like this title quite a bit.

Assassin's Creed Valhalla: Wrath of the Druids is a solid stand-alone story experience that takes place during Valhalla's storyline. While boasting a decent story, it never breaks the mold of the established formula, feeling more like "yet another kingmaker story" rather than an adventure that lives up to the potential of the setting. It has a few new ideas and spins a few old mechanics into a new form, but at the end of the day, it plays it way too safe, which causes it to feel uninspired. If you loved Valhalla, this DLC will give you more of that, but if you're already fatigued by its repetitive gameplay, Wrath of the Druids won't change that.

Just Dance 2023 Edition is almost critic-proof at this point. You're either already on board and have been dancing away since it became available for download, or you have no interest and no reviews can sway your decision. With that said, the change to a service model has the potential to be exciting provided it can quickly get its Plus service on par with its old Unlimited service in terms of content. If Ubisoft can do that while keeping things like online play intact, then the series will be in good hands for quite some time.

Like most Suda51 games, Lollipop Chainsaw is an acquired taste. There might not be too many people who will be fine with the short gameplay length, the humor and dialogue may be offensive to some players, and the scattershot mix of minigames and combat may not sit well with those who are looking for a more straightforward title.

Rather than delve deeper into the Ludlum's Bourne universe, with all the intrigue and conspiring, The Bourne Conspiracy gives us a standard third-person action romp with a clunky interface, brain-dead enemies, and a story we've already seen in a framework that isn't nearly as good as any of the games it aspires to emulate.

Saints Row: The Third – The Full Package is no masterpiece. It never was. However, it is a fun action game that could've been a decent open-world game on the Switch. Instead, it is one of the most poorly optimized ports we've seen on the system thus far, making it hard to recommend. It is not unplayable and it is still somewhat fun, but the technical limitations get in the way almost all the time. For the $40 price point, The Third isn't worth the price of admission.

Neves has a simplistic elegance that is incredibly elusive in the gaming industry.

Not overly complicated or time-consuming to learn, and it was actually incredibly fun to play. The uncluttered interface and visually pleasing design seems to help reduce the information overload that is often associated with this genre.

It includes an incredible amount of fighters from the series, and with all of the unlockables and story modes to complete, the replay value simply shoots through the roof.

Your enjoyment of Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon: Wildlands is going to depend heavily on how you react to the game's fundamental changes. On the one hand, the move to an open world makes it feel less like a traditional Ghost Recon title, and the inclusion of a radio station that sounds like it belongs in Saints Row or Grand Theft Auto doesn't convert those who want that classic feeling. On the other hand, that same open-world setting combined with the more traditional gunplay mechanics plays out well, there's plenty to do at any time, and it's loads of fun either playing solo or with others. Wildlands is a great game that is worth playing, so long as you aren't averse to change.

Adults can stick to waiting for The Sims 3, but for kids, MySims is definitely worth a bet, even if you may be better suited to the more child-friendly Wii console.

Longtime fans might find the new take on Garrett hard to swallow. Thief's thin story doesn't explain much in the end when it tops things off, but I enjoyed the time spent in the City. I wouldn't mind revisiting for another go in Garrett's shoes, but I hope that by then, some of the training wheels will have been removed.

Dynasty Warriors 8: Empires is in need of serious polish.

Despite the lack of a physical Taiko drum controller, Taiko no Tatsujin: Drum Session is a great game for rhythm fans. The songs are excellent, and although the amount of available DLC songs is overwhelming, there are more than a handful of tunes anyone can have a good time with. Better yet, the challenges presented by the bingo cards and online play give you plenty of incentive to start getting better at the whole soundtrack, and it's something you'd like to see utilized in other rhythm games. In short, Drum Session is well worth checking out.