Mothergunship is for those who don’t mind punishing themselves and who like to break through walls to make progress. Challenging and with a unique gun crafting mechanic, the game manages to break the mold slightly. But with some performance issues and the uninspired settings I feel that the game may be better served with a price drop.

Nine Parchments is a pretty game with some wonderful presentation. While it may lack much depth in the combat and story department, I still had some fun times while playing co-op. Some design choices are also questionable, but in the end, I found the overall package contained a decent amount of content and had some fun collecting new spells and unlocks with some people online.

With a bit more focus and a little more tweaking, Assassin's Creed could have been a great game. Unfortunately, it fails to deliver on many promises we've heard over the last year.

This is one to at least look out for on the Wii U. Just keep in mind, there is some trial and error that has to be played through to get to the good bits.

Fracture tries to be more than every other shooter and at first it succeeds. Unfortunately after drilling through the game the hectic action and abundance of enemies causes you to forget what separates it from the rest of the herd and it quickly becomes what it is trying to avoid.

Rugrats: Adventures in Game in Gameland does exactly what it sets out to do. Nostalgia for the cartoon and characters are imperative to its enjoyment. It is a solid game with some awkward mechanics that make it feel like a passion project on most levels. I had fun with it but wouldn’t find myself coming back for more after finishing it.

Alien Isolation is a great game marred with problems that make it frustrating the longer it goes on, and it goes on for a lot longer than it should.

Ghost Blade HD is a niche game for a specific crowd. Most people know long before booting it up if it is their thing. There is really nothing special about this game, but what it does, it does well. Fans of the genre have yet another hidden gem to check out.

Overall, NSSR is enjoyable enough for non-Naruto fans and those craving a fighting game on the DS, of which there are few. For Naruto fans, though, the value of this title increases significantly, weaving in and out of the cherished Naruto Shippuden story.

Kororinpa is fun, but only in small doses. The lack of more levels, characters, and modes really hurt this otherwise solid game.

While it’s not going to blow any socks off, TeslaPunk still has a few decent tricks up its sleeve that make it a fun, but short shoot ‘em up that fans of the genre will enjoy for a time.

In the end, Youngblood is a budget priced spinoff that works in the gameplay department just like the previous games, but lacks in a lot of other areas. I would suggest it to players that have a co-op partner to play with and with the Deluxe Edition, a co-op pass code is available. Even then, players may find themselves burned out on this one much faster than the mainline games that came before it.

In conclusion, Homeworld 3 shines brightly in its graphical prowess, offering a visually captivating journey through the depths of space. However, its shortcomings in storytelling, controls, and AI behavior prevent it from reaching the heights set by its predecessors. For fans of the series expecting a seamless blend of compelling narrative and refined gameplay, Homeworld 3 may leave much to be desired.

It's a shame that technical issues hold KOF: Orochi Saga back so much, because it's a collection with a heck of a lot of potential.

As an exercise in fan service, Back to the Multiverse hits a lot of notes that fans of the series will recognize and appreciate. It's certainly offensive, but so is the source material, so that shouldn't be a surprise. As a game, it's a very average third person shooter that doesn't do anything special, but doesn't do anything horrible either.

In the end this collection has one good game, one mediocre game, and one travesty. Of course, I still had to have it. My nostalgia and love for these games includes the trash. For anyone with reverence for these games, this is a solid collection. For anyone curious about the franchise, but the first collection and avoid this one. That original trilogy is still classic. After that, these games went to crap until Crystal Dynamics took over the franchise in 2006. I do hope we see a collection of those early Crystal Dynamics games at some point, especially the remake of the first one, but if you own an Xbox, you can play them via backward compatibility, which is awesome. They still hold up, as for this collection, skip it unless you are just curious about how bad Angel of Darkness truly was.

It's not that Crazy Machines Elements is a bad game. There is absolutely enjoyment to be had, especially for fans of physics-based puzzlers. Unfortunately, this iteration of the series doesn't make a great showing, largely due to its control problems and finicky nature.

Developers spend so much time trying to recapture that magic of classic pixel-style games and instead forget about what made them special. It wasn’t the look, it was the loop. There are plenty of 8 and 16-bit titles with mundane game play and nowadays it shows why some games stood the test of time. Be challenging, but be interesting. Don’t just punish players and throw lush visuals at them. Make the game play interesting as well. This is something Valfaris lacks, and I wish more indie developers understood when making these games that I very much want to play, I just lose interest in far too soon.

Despite its flaws, God Eater 2 Rage Burst is a pretty fun game to play, with a fun cast of characters and a fast paced combat engine. If it had a larger player base on the PC for the multiplayer component to thrive, it would have been an easy game to recommend. However, as it stands now, I can only speak of this title as a single player experience and as such, its leaves much to be desired.

Inferno Pool is a cool concept hindered by slippery controls and poor replay value.

Out of all the experiences in Family Game Night Battleship is the hardest to recommend. Playing by the honor system is not always what it is cracked up to be, and there are often times where finding a solid online opponent will prove to be more trouble than it's worth.

Wild Guns Reloaded is a great trip down nostalgia lane with some bad decisions regarding price and lack of online. I had a lot of fun with it, but felt it was a bit too pricey for what it offers. Fans of the original will undoubtedly find plenty to love, but the steep price and lack of online make this hard to recommend for anyone who doesn’t have the fondest of memories for the original game.

Story of Seasons: Trio of Towns appeals more to the younger audience with its simplified mechanics, but it clearly falters in adding enough depth and satisfying progression to make the repetitive day to day cycle feel worthwhile.

My gripes really stem from the place of being a fan. Anyone entering Watch Dogs: Legion looking for a by the books open world game is going to find a lot to enjoy. There are small puzzles to solve, plenty of collectibles, lots of missions and I would say the shooting and driving are the best this series has ever been. Fans of the series like myself however will be disappointed by the lack of enjoyable characters as well as stand out missions and story beats. With how close Legion is releasing to Assassin’s Creed: Valhalla and Immortals Fenyx Rising it feels like Watch Dogs: Legion was left to fight for your attention and your money with less money put into development. I would recommend both Watch Dogs 1 & 2 as well as plenty of other Ubisoft experiences from the last few years before Legion at full price.

The song list is great if you love classic Eddie and the guest bands while not relevant, offer a solid mix. Not being able to export the songs into GH 5 or download any new tracks really hurts, but the lackluster presentation hurts even more.

If you are in the mood for some solid third-person action, great hand-to-hand combat, and some kickass driving sequences then this game is certainly worth a second look. Oh and it doesn't hurt if you are a big fan of Mr. Johnson.

The real draw to Via Domus is the sheer amount of fan service poured into this disc. From the subtle nuances to the show to the proverbial flashback in each episode the game does a lot to appease its fanbase. Unfortunately that won't be enough to warrant a sixty dollar price tag for a game that can be completed in roughly 5-6 hours.

Aside from the giggles I get every time I have to say Dogfight: A Sausage Bomber Story, I was surprised at how much I enjoyed my time with it. Not usually a fan of the shmups but the charming graphics and many sausage puns won me over on this one. It’s not a perfect game but if you enjoy Sausages and the technology they can create, then I’d recommend Dogfight: A Sausage Bomber Story.