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.

Dead Age is intuitive and houses a good concept, but greatly lacks in the visual department. Fans of the likes of the original Final Fantasy games may pull more enjoyment from this title than I did, given its style and its turn-based functionalities, but outside of that, there’s really not a lot going on, and the slow gameplay really holds it back.

Alchemic Cutie is a relaxing RPG that relies too much on the patience of the player. I have reviewed similar games like Monster Harvest so I wasn’t expecting miracles. But demographically this is all over the place. The quests and simplicity seem to feel it was aimed at kids but the sheer tedious of waiting for something to happen will make many lose interest. There is only so much crap you can pick up before your soul starts slipping away.

I held hope that Tennis World Tour would at least be better than AO International Tennis, but in truth, this is equally as poorly developed, if not worse. The game houses more issues than content, hindered further by its bland visuals and shoddy audio. Tennis is a game of fluidity and precision, two things that Tennis World Tour, despite its decent career mode, fails miserably to realize.

If you fancy torturing yourself or some friends (or are a wacky YouTuber!!11!LOL) with this hard as nails, repetitive jumping game then you may get something out of Jump King. But for those of us just looking for a fun platforming challenge, there are countless better games out there fit for the task.

With such a vast amount of iconic material on show here, it’s disappointing to see the sheer lack of effort put forward in regards to its overall execution. The game’s combat is indeed reliably fun, but this means very little in the face of its several shoddy design choices, its horrendously lengthy loading times, and its cast of characters that are painfully devoid of characterization. Fans of the IPs would do well to temper their expectations.

If you can put up with the unresponsive controls for long enough, there’s a decent puzzle title in Tetragon. It’s just a shame that almost every turn of the world is met with frustrating UI and inputs.

Pangeon had some elements to reel in those that enjoyed retro-style dungeon crawlers. But one gentle tap on the outer coating reveals a very empty centre filled with a couple of bugs. I know bugs can be patched but the other 80% of the game’s content needs to be here as it feels like it got pushed out the doorway before it was ready. It’s a shame as the retro feel is achieved well but with such little content, it is just a shell of a game.

Guilt Battle Arena is a game that’s overpriced and under-delivers. Granted, there’s a good blend of different modes on offer and the visuals are fun and colorful, but that means very little when each mode becomes repetitive and boring before long. The fact of the matter is, is that you can get much better elsewhere for the same price or less.

Music Racer was at first fun to play but got boring very quickly. There’s really only 4 tracks I like and it’s a shame you can’t import your own music. It is visually a colourful light show, but that’s about it – it could have been so much more.

Carnivores: Dinosaur Hunt doesn’t have the budget to be a competitive sim hunting game and doesn’t have the humour to be a goofy game. The few moments of enjoyment in there require an archaeologist’s focus to unearth.

Heal is an experimental puzzle game, and despite some nice visuals the gameplay doesn’t quite hit home for me. I felt very little attachment to the story or events, and I ended up resorting to a guide for the most part just to get through it. If you’re keen for a new type of puzzle game then it might be more up your street, but there are better examples of the genre out there.

I tried so hard to enjoy I,AI. I don’t mind a good challenge, but the key to getting me into retrying over and over is to have that challenge be fun. Unfortunately I,AI’s slow pace, weak ship and drawn out upgrades mean that the fun ran out long before it should have.

I’m a big fan of playing old games, remembering how things were, and appreciating where we’ve come from. Sometimes though, it’s best to leave things in the past, and Toki is a prime example of that. Whilst the updated visuals and audio work will please those that hold fond memories of this classic, everything else just fails to impress, and if anything, only demonstrates exactly why we’ve moved on from such tedious functionalities.

Explosive Jake is a very short and simple Bomberman clone. It doesn’t really stand out in any way other than trying to claim a nostalgic feel of the elder console generation. It is quite fun to play through, but the challenge level isn’t too high and as the rooms are static the game can become repetitive. It could still be seen as a quick pick up and complete for the achievement hunters.

This addition to Beamdogs rejuvenated D&D games didn’t hit the mark for me as the others did. Its slow-paced combat really kills the momentum and is much tougher than its predecessors even on an easier setting. The story itself is still interesting and gripping, but it’s not enough to save the game from its flaws. With it being so slow, tough and not very pretty it will be hard to pick this over games in the same genre. D&D fans, or fans of the original game may still find some joy here, but newer players may not see what all the fuss was about.

With all this negativity going on is there anything nice to say about Tennis World Tour 2? Yes of course, if you like Tennis and you want a challenging gameplay experience then this will be a fine game if you don’t stumble upon difficulty-based weirdness, but there is too much here that’s off-putting to anyone but the most ardent of tennis fans. Tennis World Tour 2 has a bland career mode, dull presentation aspects, unfair matches thanks to difficulty inconsistencies and it’s largely just a safe but lifeless experience. Big Ant Studios served up better aces with their A.O titles, go and play them and forget about this one.

Bones of Halloween is a game of timing from the Ratalaika factory to cash in on Halloween. It doesn’t look so terrible but it is overly simple with very little variation. The gun inventory layout is a little broken and the look sensitivity is overly slow. With a little more care and a little more variation, this game could have been a fun Halloween pick-me-up. But instead, it will grow old very quickly and just be a game for achievement hunters.

Xuan Yuan Sword: The Gate of Firmament is bait without a hook. Everything from the visuals to the several elements of play remains shoddy and poorly presented throughout. The story is interesting to begin with, but even this is let down in the long run by crappy localisation. It certainly doesn’t help that the game is riddled with bugs, wonky animation, and a general lack of polish.

Throughout its 5 hour run time, Aritana just throws hurdle after hurdle between you and any enjoyment you may get out of it. Somewhere in there is a fun, retro-style action platformer, and at points it comes through. But, the technical issues, and outdated controls and aesthetics are just too prevalent to look past.

Popular games get liberally borrowed from all the time, yet Smash Bros. seems to have avoided this somehow. Brawlout takes on this challenge, but its lack of modes, iffy character balance and poor online offerings, all fail to inspire that same spark that Mario and friends have mastered so well. The basic gameplay is OK, but without the same love, spectacle and reverence to lean on, it all falls flat.