A lack of interactivity and an over-simplistic puzzle system quickly engender apathy and boredom.

Chronicles of Mystery: The Scorpio Ritual manages to partly succeed in introducing the world to a clever and adventurous character in Sylvie Leroux, and while she's got a long way to go before she can catch up to Niko from Revolution's Broken Sword series, there's enough potential for future installments to see her on a much longer episode of hidden secrets and ancient mystery.

Ultimately, Akiba's Beat is a poor sequel, a weak homage, and a lackluster game. The strong localization elevates it slightly, but it's crippled by its attempts to impersonate better games. With Persona 5 and Tales of Berseria still fresh on the shelves, it's hard to justify why you'd play this over those games, and once you do, you'll find it difficult to stop noticing the game's "me too" trait. It's not the worst JRPG on the market by any means, but it has very little going for it in terms of strengths. The humor hit enough to give the experience some value, but otherwise it's something for those who've burned through the other top-notch JRPGs on the PS4 and are desperate for a little more.

It's certainly more of the same when it comes to the stealth action and FPS genres that it follows, and doesn't really rise above or try anything particularly new in order to provide that little bit of an edge that it needs to make it out of the realm of mediocrity.

Def Jam: Icon is undeniably stylish, sporting wondrously surreal next-gen visuals and bumping the latest and greatest of mainstream hip-hop. But for all its flash, the fighting engine disappoints, coming off as sluggish and unrefined.

If you enjoy the thought of watching Kamille Bidan and Heero Yui team up to blow away an army of Zakus and Z'Goks, or if you're simply a fan of the hack-and-slash gameplay that the Dynasty Warriors franchise provides, then you could do far worse than Dynasty Warriors: Gundam.

Feels like the same game that we've been playing for years. The developers have certainly taken some steps in the right direction with the class system and a couple of new moves, but the game is plagued by frustrating and boring challenges, weak presentation and a glitchy level editor.

Your impression of Fort Solis is going to depend on many factors, with the biggest one being how forgiving you are of its issues. The story seems fine until you break down motivations. The graphics look good until you start looking beyond the characters. The acting is good, but the gameplay isn't as tight as it should be due to some odd design decisions. It is a game that might be fine for fans of modern story-based adventure games, but don't expect it to be anywhere near the height achieved by some of the bigger titles in the genre.

Recommending the Arcade Classics Anniversary Collection is a bit of a mixed bag. If you're a fan of the Gradius games or a shmup fan, the collection is a solid, if basic, way to get these classic games on console. The lack of features and the wireless controller bug make it difficult to recommend for anyone who is merely curious about Konami's history. The emulation may be solid, but the package around it has some pretty rough edges.

Conception II: Children of the Seven Stars is bland, tedious, and unexceptional.

The emphasis on twitch action means that gamers looking for a surreal puzzle experience are going to be put off, while the short length and straightforward mental challenges make the 1,200 Microsoft points ($15) price tag seem a little steep for the hardcore. If you're a sucker for the visual flair, go ahead and jump on this one; otherwise, it's probably best to wait for a sale before purchasing.

Age of Pirates 2: City of Abandoned Ships has a lot of flaws on a very good premise. Players who are better at handling horrific control schemes and a labyrinthine manual will find that the game has a lot to offer, especially for hardcore naval combat simulation fans.

However, while the game has lots of graphical polish, it can be highly lacking in a many gameplay areas, which limit it to being average in the overall scheme of things. It caters to fans of realistic European racing, but its appeal to everyone else will be highly limited at best.

While the sound and controls are fine, the somewhat-finicky detection system for clues doesn't help make things easy for beginners. The game length is also very short, and you have very little incentive to keep playing once the main story line is finished. The biggest offender, though, is the graphics; blurry pictures and a small playing area don't make this a very desirable title, especially for the $10 (800 MS points) asking price.

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.

The definition of mediocrity. It is an amusing game with good play mechanics and solid physics. It is also an irritating game with long waits between turns, annoying voiceovers, and silly obstacles that are often not conducive to the type of golf game this is.

Max: The Curse of Brotherhood is a solid puzzle game with some platforming elements, even if it isn't a particularly great platformer on its own. If you can look past the occasionally clunky controls and its inherent frustrations, you're in for a treat with the great level design.

Your enjoyment of Deemo Reborn is going to depend on how you choose to play it and what sections you're focusing on. Pure rhythm game fans will lament the expanded focus on the adventure game, while adventure game fans will find the puzzles to be too easy. Those playing in VR will be fine with both the adventure and rhythm sections, even with a lack of tactile feedback, while controller fans will feel comfortable with the adventure game but loathe the rhythm game. The game remains decent enough to recommend to rhythm-loving VR players who want something more than Beat Saber, but there are enough caveats to make this a cautious recommendation.

The biggest problem with Evil Dead: Regeneration isn't that it's not simple fun, but that it never rises above that in any way that Evil Dead fans might hope, or that comedy-horror genre fans might expect.

If you have a dedicated group of friends who are ready to toss down on some Mario-themed minigames and game board shenanigans, then you're probably good to go with Mario Party 9.

Vampire Moon: The Mystery of the Hidden Sun is a good hidden object game despite its faults.

Invizimals: Shadow Zone may sport some marginal improvements, but the core game still isn't much to talk about. With a narrative that you rarely interact with, you'll watch most of the game instead of playing it.

Powerdrome doesn't really stand out on its own but instead follows an essentially generic formula. If you are already a devout fan of futuristic racing titles, this competitively priced game may just be for you.

The lack of multiplayer wouldn't hurt so much if it weren't already promised, and the fact that the game launched without that feature makes it feel like an Early Access title rather than one with a $25 price tag. If you don't mind such things, then Tiny Metal is still worth checking out if you're a fan of simpler strategy. For anyone else looking for some challenge, it might be best to hold off to see if and when multiplayer goes live.

Deception on the Gamecube is Deception minus online play, plus two characters everybody wishes were in the first runs of the game.

LEGO City Undercover: The Chase Begins is an overly ambitious game that isn't as good as the home console edition.

Some fans might be able to look past the issues in Dragon Ball: Raging Blast, but they'll have to work hard at it. For those in desperate need of a DBZ game, a good alternative to Raging Blast would be last year's Dragon Ball Z: Burst Limit. It has a better fighting system and, by now, a much lower price tag.

My biggest complaint about FIFA is its name. It simply isn’t a FIFA game, it should simply be called World Cup 06 or something that accurately describes it and distinguishes it from the game that EA wants you to believe it is when you’re buying it.