Now that I think about it I don’t think I’ve ever played a game advertising itself as dark, sexy, and mature that’s actually any good. Demoniaca: Everlasting Night continues that trend. There was a lot I didn’t like about this game, but I have to give them credit for trying something different. I think most players should steer clear of this tower of terror, but if you are looking for a Metroidvania that’s a little different as well as a frustratingly challenging experience then it might be worth checking out. It’s not the worst in the genre, but it’s far from the best.

Without Escape has some great ideas and at times keeps you on your toes, but unfortunately doesn’t offer much in the way of excitement or thrill, at times feeling more like having a read through the family photo album.

Defiance 2050 has all the markings that you would expect to find in a game of this type. There’s an interesting story to soak up, heaps of weaponry and enemy variations to enjoy, a large sprawling map to traverse, and decent gameplay mechanics. The drawback, however, is that it looks very dated and comes with far too many technical issues. If this truly wants to survive, the game’s performance needs to be much better.

Cardaclysm’s deck building and tweaks to the formula are good, but this is weighed down by far too much grinding and not enough excitement.

It’s lazy, it’s uninteresting, and it’s utterly underwhelming.

The gameplay lacks finesse and refinement, serving up frustration in place of fluidity. Tennis is a game of endurance, precision and energy, three elements that AO International Tennis fails to deliver. With that in mind, its abundance of content means very little.

Pillar’s drawback is that whatever message it’s trying to relay, is completely undermined by its overly basic puzzle design. I commend the developer for creating something unique and somewhat various, but in the face of its sheer simplicity and its vagueness, boredom strikes far sooner than intrigue. The end result makes for a game that seems as though it has a lot to say, but ends up saying very little at all.

While the open-world transition was a welcomed concept it wasn’t utilized to the best of its ability. YouTubers Life 2 is exactly what it is. A YouTuber simulator. A constant grind to fame. Day in and day out it’s the same thing only a different trend than yesterday. It’s the smaller things that give this game life while the major elements such as the story end up lacking in the end.

I Hate Running Backwards’ deep pool of characters, weaponry, power-ups and unlocks will no doubt capture the attention of fans of the genre. Its procedural generated content ensures that subsequent runs, for the most part, remain fresh and engaging. It’s a shame, however, that most of this is almost completely undermined by its repetitive foundation, steep difficulty curve and lack of evolving gameplay functionality.

Time Carnage seems much better suited for VR platforms. Though, nevertheless, even with that support in mind, I dare say that the novelty would be almost instantly chased away by the game’s repetitive structure and its sheer lack of evolving gameplay. The game’s arcade mode and challenge mode offers some fleeting fun, but before that, you’ll need to hit the tiresome campaign to unlock needed features.

Socketeer is fun to begin with, I’ll credit it with that. The problem, however, is that the game is littered with cheap deaths and frustrating elements that punish you for merely being curious or even just slightly careless. This is an unforgivable design choice for a game that incorporates perma-death functionality and boasts hidden secrets. Enjoyable in short doses, yes, but even then you’re likely to leave annoyed.

There’s moments of beauty to be found in the parallel stories here, but much of that is lost in the midst of its abundance of heavy-handed sorrow. It doesn’t help that The First Tree is far too basic for its own good. Whilst the game’s several worlds seem diverse and interesting at first glance, the lack of any padding makes for a very empty experience, one that, despite its few highs, ultimately succumbs to its many lows.

Too slight to be seriously considered a Ja-copy of Jalopy, Road to Guandong has some adorable visual-novel moments that focus on family. It’s just a shame, then, that the road trip sections to reach them are so lifeless.

Asemblance does a good job at hooking you during the initial stages of play, yet fails miserably to maintain its creativity. Despite the decent visuals and some interesting moments throughout this confused experience, the game doesn’t quite live up to the quality of other psychological thrillers, such as Layers of Fear. The bottom line here is that if this truly is the beginning of a franchise, the second serving doesn’t have much to live up to. Make of that what you will.

Straimium Immortaly is a very odd game and a lot of it doesn’t make sense, though the weird designs and colourful layout has some charm about it. However, the game is not very fair and is downright tough when you can’t tell on screen what can or can’t hurt you and what is a power-up. The game has an old-style feel to it that you always strive to do better than your previous attempt. But with such childish writing and busy screens it may put a lot of people off.

Ravensword: Shadowlands is a passably playable RPG considering it is an aged mobile port. If you ever want to play an RPG that you can complete in days rather than months for a fraction of the cost then this could be something to pick up. But stiff NPCs, random hit detection/animation, bland storyline, and vast empty lands really make it challenging to fully immerse yourself into the game.

Those Who Remain puts on a passable front, but once we get past that there’s nothing here that’s worth getting worked up over. With a dull story, tedious searching of areas using unresponsive inputs, scares that never really come and some technical hiccups that make it feel like a last gen title, you’re best off looking elsewhere for your pulse racing thrills.

While Mekabolt has some nice, colourful visuals and snappy controls, there simple isn’t really much else going on here that I can recommend. Level design is basic, there’s no real challenge and it all just feels a bit of a slog to get through. As with other Ratalaika games, achievement hunters will likely lap up it up, but anyone looking for a solid platformer is best off looking elsewhere.

All in all, Orbibot is tough to recommend. For those willing to persevere the physics foibles, there’s a decent puzzle game here. But the issues are so frequent that unless you’re here for the very easy 1000g, then you’re probably best off looking elsewhere.

Casey Powell Lacrosse 18 is a poorly designed sports title at best, despite showing initial promise. This game’s tough difficulty spike and lack of fluid functionality alienates series’ newcomers. Veteran fans will more than likely appreciate what’s on offer, but for those that enjoy quality and quantity, look elsewhere. Copy and paste characters, shoddy visuals, meaningless commentary and much more, awaits those that don’t heed this warning.

Phantom Trigger looks great and plays well for the most part, that much goes without saying. However, the game is far too taxing and fails miserably to fill its interesting world with meaningful content and lacks exploratory structure. It doesn’t help matters that the core loop remains dull and repetitive from the get-go. In a nutshell, this game is sub-par at best.

EMMA: Lost in Memories simple premise means it is easy to get to grips with, but some vague collision detection and dull visuals/music lead to it all round feeling rather bland and frustrating to play.

The steep price tag and the inclusion of microtransactions will certainly raise eyebrows, especially for a game that’s as repetitive and as bland as this. There’s heaps of content to get through and no shortage of interesting characters and upgrades to unlock, but due to the lack of evolving functionality, the game fails to maintain its initial allure.

Eternal offers a pretty decent strategy card game at its core. However, the game’s monetary structure greatly holds it back, being that the game is chock-full of paywalls and microtransactions. This is normally acceptable for a free-to-play experience, but there needs to be a fair middle ground between grinding and expenditure. That sadly isn’t present here. You’re either all in or all out, for the most part.

Cyber Protocol is an alright puzzle game, but doesn’t really extend to be anything beyond that. It carries some levels that will keep you busy for a while, but the constant trial and error will soon wear you out and you’ll get bored of it easily. The retro graphics and 80’s synth music creates a great atmosphere, but content wise it’s empty.

North may indeed offer up some unique design choices, but the overarching plot is messy and underwhelming. Gameplay requires minimal effort, and even the puzzle aspects remain far too simplistic throughout. That being said, the game’s heart is in the right place, it’s just a shame that its structure is far removed.

World of One is far more frustrating than it is fun. Don’t be fooled by its decent Limbo-esque design, because for the most part, you’re either subject to cheap deaths, sluggish combat, or bugs that are seemingly game-breaking. There’s a few exciting moments and some interesting ideas thrown into the mix later in, but nothing that can be considered particularly redeeming.

Vera Blanc: Ghost of the Castle is the second in the Vera Blanc series. Despite being a port of a 10 year old game there are seemingly zero improvements or additions here. If you’ve played the first you’ll know what to expect; follow the story prompts to progress, earn some quick cheevos, and that’s about that. The story is passable at least, all ghost and murder mysteries, but it won’t last long enough to really get us invested.

Mages and Treasure is a lovely retro Zelda-inspired game but lacks the punch, depth and storytelling to really make it stand out as something worth checking out.

Steels Rats is the definition of a ‘meh’ game. It has some nice ideas and elements, but nothing is really pulled off particularly well. Combat is fine, if repetitive, but the awkward camera view, the unreliable collision detection, and the general lack of any real character, collectively brings the whole thing down.

Robots at Midnight brings little to the genre that is new. It is decent enough but lacks the spark to elevate it.

If I’ve discovered one thing playing Balancealot it’s that physic’s based titles like this are not for me. The controls can be highly frustrating, with the triggers used for movement and the analogue stick used to keep our balance. Having enemies to avoid adds some variety though, and the helpful checkpoints do alleviate some of the frustration, but certainly not all. One for those with patience then.

Masters of Anima has a decent concept and a worthwhile story, but sadly falls short almost everywhere else. The combat is tedious, often unfair and utterly frustrating. Take into account that outside of light puzzle solving and exploration, this is pretty much all that you’ll be doing. It doesn’t help matters that Masters of Anima rarely evolves as you proceed, making for a game that’s not only annoying, but repetitive too.

Must Dash seems to have a framework of a decent game, and it’s clear that multiplayer is the way to go here; though there is just not enough content for this to remain appealing. With no interesting single-player options, no online multiplayer and very little content, you will be hard pushed inviting friends over to play this for more than a couple of goes before your amigos say “I would love to stay and play more, but I really must dash”.

Doodle God: Crime City just isn’t challenging enough nor interesting enough to recommend. There’s no doubt whatsoever that Doodleheads will find enjoyment here, but if you’re on the lookout for a compelling puzzle experience that innovates and excites, you’re not going to find those qualities in this game.

Outbreak: Epidemic has a concept I can get behind, being a fan of survival horror titles. Unfortunately, attempting to stand next to the giants of the genre only shows just how flawed the end result is. Poor visuals and repetitive gameplay mean it’s unlikely to have you sticking around for long, though if you’ve enjoyed the previous entries in the series you may find some fun here too.

Random Heroes: Gold Edition is a simple platform shooter with an easy to medium difficulty. It is very easy to pick up and play with simple controls and a basic storyline. There is a nice variety of characters to play as and guns to use, but this game can be completed quite quickly and some of the levels don’t differ too much from each other. The achievements, however, can be collected quite easy for any hunters out there.

All in all, Bouncy Bullets 2 is a fun enough title, acting as a good palette cleanser in between other, meatier experiences. It might not be quite worth checking out before a sale if you’ve still got plenty to play, but cheevo hunters will be happy grabbing that sweet, sweet 1000G no doubt.

I’ll commend the game for its level detail and variation, but Spencer could have been a lot more than what it is had the developer spent more time refining the game’s mechanics. The game’s repetitive enemies, its rinse and repeat functionality, its disregard as to what makes the jump ‘n run concept fun, together with its technical issues, makes for an adventure that’s more often frustrating than it is exciting.

Desert Child suffers greatly from its poor interconnected structure, which is a shame, because the game oozes potential throughout. I’ll credit the game for its gorgeous retro aesthetic and its brief moments of excitement, but ultimately, much of the game’s fun is bogged down by its constrained flow. Furthermore, the game constantly builds to a fabled event, one that turns out to be puddle deep and underwhelming.

Horror Tales: The Beggar has its moments (mainly thanks to some half-decent world building) but the introduction of combat, and its slow moving puzzles, underwhelmed me completely. Go and play The Wine instead, and hope we get more of that for the next outing.

Destiny 2: Warmind is better than Curse of Osiris, but only marginally better. We’re still fighting the same reskinned enemies within recycled locations, day in and day out. The same can be said about the design choices here, being that new activities are akin to the activities found in The Taken King and vanilla Destiny. Despite its interesting and compelling premise, Warmind is lazy, rushed and underwhelming.

Tiles would have been a standard puzzle game, at best, had it not have been for the lack of innovation and depth. It will no doubt please a few fans of the genre, but if you like your puzzle games to challenge you and captivate you, stick with Tetris.

NBA 2K21 is in the end another basketball simulation game. Nothing here will catch you by surprise and leave you in awe. The biggest thing this game suffers from is the painstaking grind for VC so you can be on par with everyone else, which is not very welcoming to newcomers. It’s an enjoyable game but without any new updates or features it will end up lost in your backlog.

Elea’s opening episode serves as an interactive trip into a fractured, nonsensical story, in which consistency seems to be almost completely absent. While this alone wouldn’t be a bad thing if the storytelling was better produced, the main drawback is that barely any of the game’s aspects come together well at all. Despite its impressive visuals, the end result makes for a very awkward and bland experience.

Super Street has a lot of potential. Though, as it stands, the developers need to address the game’s many problems before this racer can be taken seriously. The most notable of issues being the game’s horrendous physics, its terrible handling and its overly aggressive, T-800 AI. Praise goes to the game’s DIY concept and its impressive list of parts, but this means very little in the face of its several downsides.

Nowhere near the classic the true Alfred Hitchcock – Vertigo was, this pretender does an unsatisfactory and un-compelling job of providing a worthwhile experience. The story takes its time to truly materialize convincingly, and the payoff isn’t worth the effort. From an appearance standpoint, the game looks atrocious and will not have the looks your mother could love either. The act of controlling and playing Vertigo is passable, but unfortunately it hasn’t been properly optimized for console – which goes for both how the game looks, and the absence of a proper cursor when pointing and clicking the environment. Despite flashes of intrigue in the story and some enjoyment with the past memories Ed relives, Vertigo is a shoddy game that fails to live up to lofty standards – and as it shows you quite vividly, this one has fallen off a bridge and splattered on the ground below.

Even though I love indie horror, this was a bit too broken to appreciate properly.

Artistic expression is what will strike the biggest chord in Strayed Lights. There are lovely moments of beauty to unearth, and you will no doubt find a game ignited with a love for tranquillity and colour. However, empty spaces make Strayed Lights world feel uncomfortably abandoned at times, and the combat is based too heavily on precision and colour matching to engross. Thankfully, Strayed Lights is short, but it runs out of momentum too soon despite some impressive boss encounters and some gorgeous skies. Give it a whirl then, but you won’t feel like Strayed Lights is anything but a shallowly gentle gust that will blow by without the force it needed to stick in the mind.

Drunken Fist hides wonky physics, hard to use controls and a toilet humour behind the set-up of being drunk, and while it’s passably funny for a short while, it’s also not something that will be on the playlist for more than the hour or so it’ll take to beat the seven levels.

DYE may well offer up a great deal of content, but this means very little when the journey from start to finish is far more irritating than it is entertaining. This is a game that solely relies on accuracy, but when the protagonist offers very little precision to lean on, it inadvertently destroys the appeal that DYE tries to relay.

The basic function of the game works, but it’s all wrapped up in a package that is lacking in most areas. That said, grab some friends and beer and you’ve probably got a few hours of fun here.

Vasilis isn’t going to revolutionize gaming, but as an art form you can’t knock the creative style Marginal Act were aiming towards. Unfortunately slow and confusing, this is a title for the players that don’t mind a bit of experimentation in their play experiences.

Guts & Glory is a game that’s far too bare for its own good, consisting of little other than a range of challenges across a variety of uninspiring maps. The game’s most defining aspect is that it’s brutally gory, and although it is indeed fun to begin with, repetition swiftly rears its head soon after. Furthermore, performance issues, dated visuals and a lack of content diversity mars this already bland experience.

I came away from my time with The Otterman Empire feeling very little at all. Despite some good looking character designs and multiplayer ideas, there’s a distinct lack of atmosphere or excitement to the whole affair. Vague, tricky to decipher mode mechanics lead to confusing opening rounds, the shooting feels inaccurate and unresponsive and despite the dev’s best intentions, I just don’t feel it’ll be sticking around many people’s gaming night playlists for very long.

Drift Zone offers up deep customization and a diverse selection of tracks and missions. It’s unfortunate, however, that this rests upon an experience that just isn’t as innovative and exciting as it should be. It doesn’t help matters that the game looks both dated and bland throughout the entirety of play. Drifting should be fun and rewarding, but Drift Zone fails to truly nail those targets.

Apparently, Josh Journey: Totems of Darkness started out as a short cartoon, and the creators were encouraged to turn it into a video game. Whoever handed out this advice did their friends a disservice; I think they should have focused on creating a full-scale movie or show because art is obviously their strong point. The gameplay in Josh Journey is severely lacking, and with no difficulty options, it will only appeal to more advanced players. Perhaps this game is a blast when playing with four players, but without any online options, most players won’t have enough people or controllers to try that out.

Despite having some neat ideas across the board, the final execution of Colossus Down just feels a little too awkward and uninspiring. Clunky, repetitive combat and a teenage angst-filled story do little to inspire continued play. There are far better examples of the genre out there, on which your time is better spent.

There is still a spark of what made Industria intriguing in some of the settings and lore we can find, but the package as a whole just misses the mark for me. It is technically average at best, with slow, plodding, and uninteresting gunplay and a story that feels like a step backwards from the original in almost every regard.

There’s no doubt that Visual Concepts have an affinity for the world of sports entertainment. The huge roster, plethora of modes and atmosphere they’ve created here is admirable. Unfortunately, the technical side brings the whole thing crashing down, with glitchy, broken mechanics and some bizarrely woeful representations of the stars that are an obvious step down from previous entries. Even die hard WWE fans (such as myself) will struggle to maintain much interest here, which is a huge shame.

Rift Keeper throws its hat in the Rogue-like genre but unfortunately comes up a little short. There are some solid ideas buried in there and it’s clear to see the team ambitions. but some technical hiccups held the experience back.

Bow to Blood certainly offers a unique experience, but its transfer from VR to traditional console hasn’t transitioned well enough at all. The game is sluggish across most aspects of play; from its basic movement and maneuverability, right the way up to its combat functionality. Furthermore, and despite some commendable features, there isn’t much depth present, ultimately making for a fairly repetitive journey that fails to maintain its allure.

The generously priced Iron Snout offers a silly endless high-score fighting experience that, despite its varied modes, is only fun for as long as you can stomach its repetitive loop. Whilst there’s some excitement to be found during the initial stages of play through the introduction of new enemies, new maps, and new cosmetics, you’ll have seen everything the game has to offer after just fifteen minutes. Past that, there’s little else to enjoy.

Western Press is far too repetitive and far too short for its own good. The game does indeed dish up some unique locations and interesting characters, but the gameplay loop remains the same throughout the entirety of play, rapidly becoming dull and boring as a result. Marginally fun in short bursts, but this has no hope whatsoever in the long run.

Gang Beasts is a competitive brawler in a Human: Fall Flat skin. Nothing more, nothing less. The physics-based play doesn’t always suit the multiplayer concept, and as such, the whole ordeal comes across quite tedious and frustrating. Whilst I’ve no doubt that it will find an initial following, I do doubt its ability to maintain a fan base due to its lack of variation. You’ll certainly have some laughs here, but you’ll mostly be laughing at it, not with it.

Planet of the Apes: Last Frontier’s core functionality relays little more than a choice-driven interactive experience. We’ve seen this formula many times this gen, and although it can indeed work when effort has not been spared, here, it just doesn’t add up. Indeed, Last Frontier offers a decent multi-branching plot, but its hands-off approach and its poor production value holds it back, tremendously.

I’ll commend the game for being faithful to the era that it attempts to adopt, but outside of a few decent boss encounters and some serviceable visual and audio design, Cybarian gets a lot more wrong than it gets right. The combat is far too bland, the game is littered with cheap deaths, and above all else, it’s chock-full of irritating design choices that make for an overly frustrating, somewhat boring trek. Less is not always more, as evident here.

Switch: Or Die Trying is a game for those who relish a challenge, though oftentimes the challenge comes not through design, but lack of polish. If you are looking for something to scratch that Meat Boy itch, you’ll find some fun here, but be prepared for that to quickly give way to frustration.

The core loop that made Road Rash such a classic is just about present here. However, it doesn’t come without problems. Whilst it’s fun to have a vehicular duel as you tear along the road, such weightless impact, its floaty physics, and the heavy reliance on randomly generated tracks and objectives, massively pulls the game short in the long run. The foundation is on the right track, but it definitely needed more time in the oven.

Bounty Battle appeals to the indie game lover with its expansive roster, but any half-interested fighting game player would tell you to stay away. A lack of modes and, more importantly, much fun in the gameplay department mean even the allure of the character list isn’t enough to save this title.

Castaway Paradise has an obvious comparison to Animal Crossing, but in its current state, it’s a long way off before it’s anything truly alike. There’s an endearing quality to the game, but its repetitive gameplay loop, its bugs, and its basic visuals, ultimately holds it back. That said, this is indeed fun in short bursts and there’s no lack of quests to fulfill and things to collect. Just don’t expect it to meet its inspiration.

Beat Me! is a cheap, indie version of a Smash Bros-style game. Some other titles have tried to provide a decent alternative but I haven’t really come across a successful one yet. This is no exception to that rule unfortunately, as although the puppet characters are quite interestingly designed the game just isn’t that fun. The combat is too melee strong and with no attack variants, it gets old very quickly. Online play is a nice touch but I don’t know how often you will find opponents.

Destiny 2: Curse of Osiris is a waste of both money and time. It’s a shame that Bungie couldn’t use the Infinite Forest themselves to find a timeline in which they had actually crafted a content drop that was as interesting and innovative in practice as it was on paper. Curse of Osiris does house some solid elements, such as decent voice acting and gorgeous design, but that means absolutely nothing when the content itself is meagre and half-baked.

Strawberry Vinegar has 6 possible endings, with 1 play through possibly taking you around 6 hours. If you’re keen to see them all, then you’ll get a lot of content for your money. I liked how characters moved within the scenes, rather than being just static images too. However, it’s likely you’ll know if this is for you from the visuals above, and sadly I do not fall into that camp.

Gem Smashers fails to build on its otherwise decent core mechanic, ultimately making for a game that feels well out of its depth alongside its more sophisticated and robust peers. It doesn’t help that it’s just far too easy for its own good, which isn’t an ideal characteristic for any puzzle game to bear. Fun at first, indeed, but its lack of both innovation and depth massively holds it back from its potential.

Overall, Train Station Renovation hits all the marks that it aims for, but sadly those marks weren’t set very high. It is a lonely, solitary experience that just isn’t very fun. As with all reviews this is just one man’s opinion. Personally it does nothing for me. I don’t dislike it but the whole premise of Train Station Renovation I find to be uninteresting. Achievement hunters can easily pad their Gamerscore. Other than that I just don’t see repeated playthroughs of this game.

Past Cure offers an interesting story, one that’s buried deep underneath a plethora of technical issues and poor execution. Despite a few intriguing moments within, this game is nowhere near as exciting as it makes out to be. It’s over-priced and over-hyped.

Crackdown 3’s campaign is shockingly under-baked, consisting of little more than overly repetitive mission structure, hit and miss functionality, and several technical issues. Things don’t fare any better in its Wrecking Zone. Whilst its multiplayer component does indeed house some potential that may be realized through post-launch support, as it stands in its current form, it’s a shameful representation of Microsoft’s lofty promises.

Unknown Fate could have been the next Q.U.B.E. had the developer spent less time focusing on mysterious set pieces, and spent more time focusing on refining the game’s functionality and its mechanics. The end result makes for a puzzle adventure that tends to be more convoluted than it needs to be, and far less engaging than it should be. There’s certainly fun to be had, but it’s oftentimes chased away by the game’s lack of care.

Marooners isn’t anywhere near as exciting as a party game should be. Despite some well detailed maps and a few innovative game types, the overall package just doesn’t cut it. I have no doubt that this will please the younger audience, but there are better party games available on Xbox One that offer much more fun and longevity.

Top Run has a lot of good things to offer arcade veterans, regardless of it being a mobile port. With a rock-solid aesthetic and soundtrack, you will like what you see, but the total package on offer is bare bones and basic. A lack of interesting mechanics, cosmetic-heavy motivation, and the ability to play through one, singular level to start hurts what could have otherwise been a pretty decent endless runner experience for the Xbox One.

There is some heart in this simple third-person RPG, but with terrible gameplay, infuriating controls, insane difficulty spikes, enemy spam, and repetitive mission design, only the most determined players will find it.

Poor combat and stealth only serve to highlight the rest of the issues with Blood of Mehran, and far too soon does it become a slog to play rather than the epic Arabian adventure it could have been.

Dynasty Warriors 9 is a platter full of mess. Take your pick; delayed rendering, lack of rendering, jittery camera, framerate drops, poor animation, dated visuals, bad voice acting, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. The biggest shame is that this game reeks of potential, potential that’s never fully realized due to all of its faults and shoddy design choices.

The Child’s Sight tries to bring a more relatable horror – that of a young child in a dark room at night – to the table, but the brief glimpses we get of its creepy world are vastly outnumbered by staring at a black screen, occasionally interrupted by the exact same jump scare after thunder drowned out the cupboard door opening yet again. It’s only a few quid on the store, so you might find an hour or so of enjoyment to make it worth checking out, but I soon grew tired of it.

Treasure Stack attempts to stand out on the basis of its concept mashup, but fails miserably to do so. The game’s difficulty curve is far too steep after even just a few minutes, with the overall product further hindered by its tedious structure and its lack of depth and refinement. Fans of block droppers that want a competitive online experience will no doubt find some value here, but I would caution against getting your hopes up.

Milo’s Quest was a very short journey. As always with Ratalaika games, if you want an easy 1000g then pick this up. It’s cute and simple and has a different gimmick. There’s nothing stressful or annoying. It was a game that just worked, with simple puzzles and fun gameplay.

If you fancy some childish ‘adult’ humour interspersed with a simple choice based dialogue system, Scheming will do you for an evening. Just don’t expect to get much more out of it than that.

The idea of this game is appealing, but the execution fell short and didn’t give enough to fall in love with. It feels like a game that you would play a couple of times before becoming bored and letting it gather digital dust at the bottom of the game pile. There’s no story, just basic single player and hectic multiplayer action, both of which become frustrating pretty quickly.

Tempest 4000’s price-tag is wildly unforgivable when you factor in the meager content that you’re getting in return. This is greed at its absolute finest and despite the series’ fame for being colorful and fast-paced, which indeed the game is, there’s just not enough content within to justify its cost. Easy to get into and nostalgic Tempest 4000 may be, but it ultimately becomes bland and uninteresting quite quickly.

The concept of the story had me excited to play, but gameplay wise it didn’t live up to its potential. I didn’t enjoy Blind Men, it’s an adventure novel that would have been better served as a book. A lack of voice acting took me out of the immersion, and the music was very off putting. Multiple endings are a little saving grace, but that’s even if you want to go through it more than once.

Megaton Rainfall is one of those games that clearly houses a great deal of potential, but sadly fails to meet it on almost all fronts. Credit needs to be given to the one-man developer for the sheer amount of ambition here, that much has to be said. However, the end result, despite its environmental diversity and its clever mechanics, makes for game that’s short, sloppy, visually bland and ultimately uninteresting.

A loving rendition of Mike Mignola’s world, with excellent voice work (RIP Lance Reddick), but sadly Web of Wyrd is still not the Hellboy game I was hoping for. The score I provided is due to some debilitating bugs and I’d be happy to revisit if this were ever to get a major overhaul.

There’s a lot that interested me with this one going in but in the end, the gameplay soured my experience and for a platformer, that has to be top-notch. While aimed for kids, I don’t even know if this one could hold their attention unless they were a die-hard fan of the franchise. Regardless, it’s an easy miss.

Super Soccer Blast is more of a bore than a blast. The first game is enjoyable, but then you notice the flaws very quickly. However, I do take pleasure in shooting from 50 yards out and scoring with ease. The create your own team and player is a nice addition, but it’s a shame there isn’t more content and teams to pick from from the off.

With the gameplay in its current state there isn’t much that would compel me to play this game for any length of time let alone keep coming back for more. I won’t say that a $17.99 price tag isn’t justifiable but if I paid cash for this game I’d have some serious buyers remorse. If you’re positive that Under the Jolly Roger floats your boat than by all means have at it, as this review is just one man’s opinion. But if you have doubts as to whether or not you want to set sail on this adventure I suggest waiting for a sale.

What the Dub?! is a single focused party game trying to crack into a genre where titles like Jackbox have been dominating. What the Dub?! has real movie clips and the answer read out by automated voices though, which is more inclusive, but the thought of having to watch the same clip 12 times with different players scripts one after each other, with only a few seconds in between for chuckles, makes me cringe more than it excites me. It’s a shame as I am all for party games as they can be real ice breakers at times, but I can’t see this being fired up more than once or twice before it has outstayed its welcome.

While the Contra name is renowned, especially amongst older gamers, this modern take on the franchise is simply not fit for that legacy. With dull, repetitive combat, bland and uninspiring visuals and some out of touch design decisions, I’d recommend any one looking for some fun arcade action to look elsewhere.