Magnetic: Case Closed isn’t a terrible game, but nor is it a particularly good one. It’s also very short – players can easily expect to complete one play through in five hours or less.

Garshasp shows some sign of promise, but these are soon worn thin as you trudge your way through bugs, frame rate issues, camera hiccups and only about 3 hours of gameplay. With a little more care and attention this could have been a pleasant surprise. Instead Garshasp: The Monster Slayer will leave you feeling out of pocket.

The concept is a sound one but the technology simply falls short. I would love to see this idea fully realized and perfected, but I fear that hefty price tag and poor reception may hinder future iterations in this direction.

The humor often falls flat when it isn't entirely offensive or grating. Zombies and twin-stick shooters should be a perfect fit, but this game feels more "noob" and less "pwn."

When it’s all said and done, MX Vs. ATV: All Out is an ok racing game. There’s a few issues here and there with the physics that could get to me, and the fact that if I crashed it pretty much meant a last place finish for me, but I can commend the game for improving from their previous outing with Supercross. I pretty much disliked that game, while this one has some tweaks to the controls and enough content to keep me trying it out. Obviously, only motocross fans should apply here and with the cheaper price, the extra DLC, players can find some enjoyment here.

I think the team at Silent Games is on to something with Empyreal. As I said the combat has some glimmers of greatness, it just needs to be refined a bit more. I love the fact they hand-designed the levels, but the overall graphics might have suffered as the game certainly is nothing to write home about in that area. But even with all that and the mostly forgettable story, Empyreal does have a solid loot system and some decent customization options which is nice but mileage will vary from gamer to gamer due to the frustrating and sometimes clunky combat.

TMNT Arcade Wrath of the Mutants wears its inspirations on its sleeve, and it is nice to get this once arcade-only port on home consoles. I just wish the replayability was there. Online co-op would have gone a long way, but I do appreciate the new content. It is fun and fits right into the mix. This is a solid game that just has too many shortcomings to make it an easy recommendation.

Need for Speed Payback is a victim of both progression issues and design choice. The driving and actual gameplay is still fun and well done. There’s actually a very good open world racing game in here, it’s just bogged down by level progression and needless grinding that is only there to extend the gameplay time and to get people to spend real money to potentially get upgrades for the cars. I enjoyed some aspects of Payback, but ultimately, I found myself overburdened with grinding, that I kept saying to myself I really don’t feel like doing this. After it’s all said and done, I would wait for a price drop at the very least before picking this one up.

My Hero One’s Justice is not a poor offering, just a thoroughly uneven one that only the hardest-core Manga fans will be able to immerse themselves into. I enjoyed the fast-paced, accessible fighting with an art style that looks great in action, but everything around that gameplay leaves things to be desired.

While there are highlights, such as the rhythm tapping game and the sheer amount of customization options for your feline, the rest of the game simply falls flat.

Shenmue III feels like a game that would have been revolutionary in 2003. Maybe that is what the fans wanted. This is a game that flopped massively when it released and somehow has garnered a cult following that clearly wants more of what it delivers. Shenmue III delivers just that. A game that feels like it time travelled to 2019 from the Dreamcast era and I think that is just fine with the fans. They got what they wanted and I am thrilled for them, but anyone coming in to see what all the noise is about is likely going to come away confused as to why it took 18 years to create the game in front of them.

For $15, there are other games in this same style that are better executed and are far less frustrating to play.

Dolmen just feels like scraps when a four course meal is literally right there. It was a bad time to release a game of this type when it falls so short of the mark set by the best in the genre and even falls below the current imitators. I am all for expanding on a game idea, but there has to be something there to make it feel special and unique and Dolmen just doesn’t have anything setting it apart on any level.

Like Total War, when the players massive armies clash in battle it is a sight to behold, luckily the game offers the option to simulate battles and watch the AI troops clash. This, to me was massively more enjoyable than trying to struggle through the games clunky combat. While I loved the depth offered in the RPG elements of the world, I came away disappointed enough by the combat that is just made the whole experience feel like a chore to play; combine that with the lack of a real story and I Mount and Blade II: Bannerlord just didn’t turn out to be the total medieval simulator game I was hoping for.

Absolver is a great and interesting game as a whole, but the biggest part of the game, actually playing it, is both frustrating and unbalanced. The combat works and is very customizable, the pacing and level progression is nice, and the world is interesting and looks great, but in the end, it has all these great things about it, and I honestly don’t feel like playing it due to the fights turning into frustrating encounters. Now, that’s not to say everyone is going to feel that way and I’m sure there’s going to be at least one person saying I’m playing the game wrong, and I may very well be doing that, but in my time with it, I have given it my best shot and found it to be a great game in many ways that I just don’t want to play.

Eliminating the rough edges and making the leveling up actually fun and frequent would go a long way to improving Rogue Stormers. It drips compelling things every now and then, but those don’t justify all the grind and frustration that lords over them.

The execution kills it almost instantly the first time you try to take down an enemy.

I just found the experience couldn’t really ever pull me in or hold my attention. In a lot of ways it feels like it’s taking from the genres that it obviously grew inspiration from. There is a unique vision here for the world at play, but the design decisions, along with frustration, just didn’t leave me with a great experience. It won’t last players more than a few hours, but maybe that’s for the best.

There is not an Ice Age movie out right now, and I have to ask does anyone have nostalgia for the series? Are kids still interested in Ice Age? I asked for this game because it looked like a decent platformer and I guess I got that. Clearly someone cared enough to make this, and I did enjoy my time with it. It just feels half cooked in a lot of its design. I want to say it took me no more than 5 hours to collect most of the collectables and finish the game, and at $40 for something of this quality and length I can’t recommend it. It’s a mistimed, mispriced decent game, and right decent isn’t enough.

Unfortunately Toy Story Mania squanders its substantial potential through poor design choices and technical issues.

I remain interested in how Gaming AB plan to conclude this story, and what the final episode holds in store for each of these characters. However, if the story-telling and dialogue is not an improvement on Episode 4, players may be in for a derivative ending that undermines the interesting ideas set up by earlier chapters.

Despite its early promise, The Descendant’s rushed, extremely short ending felt clumsily executed. While it contained a few surprises, the delivery of Episode 5’s conclusion felt arbitrary, contrived and slightly out-of-sync with the narrative that’s been told over the course of the season. Perhaps most disappointingly, the player has very little agency in Episode 5 – a real let down, given the game’s initial promise that the choices made by the player would be impactful as the story progressed.

Epic Mickey 2 is disappointing. There is no other way to put it. For a game I was genuinely excited to play, I found myself constantly forcing play sessions.

Dungeon Hunter: Alliance isn't a terrible game, just an overpriced one. When you can nab the same experience somewhere else for nearly $30 less, it is hard to ignore that fact.

It has some redeeming qualities, but in the grand scheme of things, it stumbles more than it flies. Fans of the anime should really be the only ones that pick this up, and even then, I would say at a discounted price.

If you are a fan of the Naruto or Boruto anime or manga then you will find loads to love about Naruto X Boruto Ultimate Ninja Storm Connections. Touting the largest roster in series history and an in-depth encyclopedia that covers all the various titles and terms that are used in the series which makes it easy for newcomers to understand. Fights are dazzling and chaotic and developer CyberConnect2 has done an amazing job in that regard. But with the multiplayer being broken on Xbox and the fact the gameplay has been largely unchanged I can’t help but think that this series is in need of some sort of shakeup to push it forward into the future.

Werewolf: The Apocalypse – Earthblood is a long name for a short, uninspired game. I was really hoping this would be a hidden gem that managed to rekindle my love of b-tier titles. Instead it just feels generic in every sense of the word. The combat is its only saving grace, and that cannot carry the game.

Tiny Troopers: Joint Ops is not a bad game, it just has that mobile feel to it that hinders it in many ways. The progression of the player’s soldiers, the slow movement, and short missions don’t really translate well to the controller.