DeVuego ES_COR

Laika: Aged Through Blood mixes motorbikes and gunplay to create an incredibly unique metroidvania experience. Bolstered by a beautiful soundtrack and brutal story, its unapologetic approach to mastering both bike and bullet rewards learning from frequents death with some seriously slick and satisfying combat.

Blasphemous 2 is an orthodox Metroidvania with style, creepy bosses, and a gloriously gross return to Cvstodia.

After Us has a wordless story that doesn't effectively communicate its environmentalist themes and platforming that frustrates with unreliable controls, but it does look fantastic.

The Mageseeker: A League of Legends Story is fairly straightforward, but it nails the feeling of playing as Sylas. The story goes to some interesting places and is accompanied by some great bosses and a momentous finale.

Red Matter 2 is one of VR’s finest adventures yet. With an intriguing mystery, impressive graphics, and intuitive design, Vertical Robot’s sequel pushes the Meta Quest 2 to its limits to nearly match the PCVR experience.

While Aragami 2’s serpentine levels are fun to stealth around in, especially in co-op, a needlessly drawn-out campaign rife with frustrating combat and game-ending glitches prevent it from becoming a tale worthy of song.

There’s so much to love about Narita Boy’s style, which makes its comparably simple combat and exploration all the more sad to see. Its 2D sprite work, animations, and soundtrack are among the best I’ve come across this year, and the story told through its unlockable memories is still is worth playing through the mediocre action platformer built around it to experience – at least, every part except that borderline broken speeder bike-style level, which is in desperate need of a post-launch patch.

Developer Out of the Blue’s debut game is a gorgeous homage to the films and games that inspired it. Through engaging Myst-style puzzles and a captivating story, Call of the Sea triumphs in bringing its island alive, along with the characters that have explored it. It delivers a short-lived but engrossing experience through stunning art direction and an excellent voice cast, with the biggest of its minor annoyances being a slow movement speed. If a fun, but emotionally affecting adventure is what you’re searching for then Call of the Sea most definitely answers that call.

Going in the direction of a simple, easy to pick up and play pro wrestling game was absolutely the right move as an alternative to the simulation-heavy mainline WWE 2K games, but WWE 2K Battlegrounds botches what should’ve been a sure thing. Its gameplay is too shallow, its microtransactions are incredibly obtrusive, its cartoony art style lacks charm, its hit detection is constantly wonky... the list goes on and on. It can be fun on a very casual level for a short amount of time if you’ve got a group of friends to play with, and it's not quite a disaster on the level of WWE 2K20, but WWE 2K Battlegrounds is nonetheless another in a growing series of misses for WWE video games.

A creepy and unsettling action-platformer, Blasphemous has an eery atmosphere, gorgeous pixel art, and intricate animations that never fail to impress. The combat can be satisfying, but relies too heavily on memorization, which makes backtracking through its non-linear world eventually turn stale. And while the visual variety at least keeps things looking fresh, superfluous and poorly implemented upgrade mechanics keep Blasphemous from having the amount of depth seen in many other games across the genre. It’s still an enjoyable Metroidvania, just not an all that memorable one.

Gris is, at times, a meditative, affecting exploration of complex emotions that uses its levels as a canvas for some of the most beautiful visual design in any platformer, backed by a fantastic score. At others, it’s a maddeningly simple and confusing game that lets its artistic ambitions run roughshod over its gameplay.

While it’s been marketed as a remake of Metroid II: The Return of Samus for Game Boy, Metroid: Samus Returns is more of a much-needed reboot of the 2D Metroid games we know and love. It’s a safe, modern take on Super Metroid, one of the greatest games of all time. Aside from some repetitive boss fights and hand-cramping controls, it’s nearly everything I could ask for as a fan of old-school Metroids.

I enjoyed the process of solving every murder in The Sexy Brutale, and by the time the enjoyably twisted ending came along I was really only disappointed to not have more murders to prevent. Every murder The Sexy Brutale includes is uniquely fascinating to investigate, with the central loop of searching for clues and executing a plan to alter time continually engaging. I found Boone’s quest so fascinating, the Brutale’s secrets so alluring, and its world so charming that I rewound the clock just to spend a few more days in Lafcadio’s beautiful nightmare.

Randal’s Monday has a clever premise that deserves better treatment than it does in this crude, baffling adventure. Though its visuals and acting perfectly fit its ‘90s-era slacker aesthetic, Randal’s Monday lacks the sharp writing necessary to make its odious hero amusing. But it fails the most at being a competent adventure, presenting players with nonsensical puzzles so confounding that the built-in hint system is a necessity instead of a crutch. While it’s great to hear Jeff Anderson riff as another Randal, and see the (virtual) return of Jay and Silent Bob, you’re better off popping in Clerks and seeing inane chatter the way it was meant to be - funny.

Gods Will Be Watching can stand with other contemporary adventure games as a revitalization of the genre. By utilizing time and resource management, inside claustrophobic and violent situations, it builds tension and instills panic like very few games. It’s a demonstration that even with the simplest of interfaces and old-fashioned graphics, new combinations of storytelling with gameplay are possible.

Lords of Shadow 2 may have gained an open world, but a poor story, uninteresting enemies, and a bland cast of characters came with it. Combat might be improved, but forced stealth sections cause nothing but dismay and frustration. The end result is something that doesn’t come near the level of overall quality found in the original Castlevania: Lords of Shadow.

Unepic is an unabashed homage to classic 8-bit adventure and role-playing games. Its sharp wit and bevy of nerd-culture references offset the frustration that arises from an unrelentingly challenging dungeon crawler. Uneven character balance and some exploitable enemy AI limit the ways you can play enjoyably, but there are still rewards to be found in the careful exploration of the sprawling castle.

Crushing disappointment is a feeling superhero fans know well. You get your hopes up that a game will capture the action and flavor of your favorite comic book, movie, or (in this case) animated TV series, only to play something that doesn’t quite come close to resembling the brilliance of the source material. That’s the case with Young Justice: Legacy, a listless, unattractive squad-based action RPG that squanders its heroic potential.

The greatest shame with Mirror of Fate is that its heart is in the right place. As far as I can tell, MercurySteam did its absolute best to chart its own course with handheld Castlevania, one that borrows from the greatness that came before it, but without copying it outright. But in going off the beaten path, the studio ended up diluting what has made Castlevania so great in the last 15 years. Its emphasis on fragmented exploration and shallow leveling is the exact opposite of what Castlevania fans like myself love, want and have come to expect.

Deadlight lacks neither style nor substance, and it lasts just about the perfect amount of time. The story is minimal but engaging, and the ending is unexpected -- in a good way. A couple of sections stumble a bit, but not enough to detract from what is an engaging, memorable experience.

Zack Zero's elemental platforming and bright colors might grab your attention, but its inconsistent gameplay and embarrassing glitches will waste your time and money. Little redeeming value lies here, especially when you suffer through the poorly-written story and awful narration.

So overall, Soccer Up is OK. The unique ball control sets it apart a bit, but I don't know that that will be enough of a selling point to really generate a lot of interest here.

Stick with games like Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth to get your gothic action fix on WiiWare and leave this clone behind to atone for its failings.

NyxQuest delivers memorable puzzle platforming full of thoughtful brainticklers and leisurely challenge.

Asphalt 6: Adrenaline is a fun arcade racer with a bunch of cars and tracks. If all you want is speed and exotic locations, this is the game for you. But let’s be honest, the Asphalt series is starting to get really familiar. Though it’s still reliable fun, the series needs to do something next time other than just offer more and more.

Invizimals is really cool, but it's not polished enough to be the next generation of monster battling. If I was under 10 years old I'd love this game, and I think a lot of kids are going to be psyched for it, but the novelty of the augmented reality wears thin too quickly. I really want the developers to make a sequel, and focus on making the interactions more believable, and fleshing out the game (fewer cutscenes, more actual missions). Ideally I could see this franchise on the PS3 using the PS Eye, possibly using collectible cards, or even merchandise to earn new Invizimals. With a better camera, a bigger processor, and a system that's easier to use online, Invizimals could be something that beats the crap out of the sickeningly cute EyePet, and gives Pokemon some much needed competition.

In the end, I'd rather play a more traditional 2D Castlevania game, but there is no denying that this is a beautiful and enjoyable change of pace.

Better options might be to stick with other, more notable WiiWare point-and-clicks like The Tales of Monkey Island or Strong Bad series, or, if you really wanted to walk a mile in Fenimore's boots, just order a copy of the 2004 PC version of this game. It was budget-priced back when it launched six years ago, and now just a quick consult of your favorite search engine will let you find it new for around two dollars – a fifth of the price you'd pay here on Wii.

Is Dive an amazing WiiWare title? Eh, not really. But it's certainly plenty good for 1000 Wii points. It's a slower paced, exploration game where every misstep kills you, yet somehow comes off as a casual, play-it-every-so-often kind of game. One thing is for sure: WiiWare doesn't have a title like this, so if you're looking for something different, check out Dive.

So, I'm impressed. Hello Flowerz surprisingly checks in one of the deepest and most engaging, yet most subtle experiences in the DSi Shop. It's not for everyone, but if you're at all a fan of gardening, invest 500 Points here with confidence.

Wholly playable online multiplayer over Wi-Fi. Excellent track design with lots of stuff that goes boom. An all-new location exclusive to the iPhone version. And it's pretty smooth, too, considering how fast it is. (I played it on a 3GS, by the way.) But it just never gels.

For fans of classic 2D gaming, Chronos Twins is a must-play offering whether you find a way to dig up the original DS version or download it on WiiWare. For US gamers, this is the first time the game has seen a release stateside, and for that reason alone I highly recommend the purchase. It's got its random issues mainly in the overall presentation and interface but thankfully the outstanding gameplay has in no way been sacrificed during its transition from Game Boy Advance, onto DS, and then back onto a single-screen format. I truly believe that EnjoyUp was ahead of its time when Chronos Twin was originally crafted for GBA, and having a chance to own it after all these years just shouldn't be passed up, even if the game is showing its age a bit. The puzzles will twist your brain, the bosses are fun, and the game's "two screen, two dimension" hook is not only well thought up, but also well executed from top to bottom.

Avatar is easily one of the best movie tie-in games on the App Store, but more than that it is a very good action game that I recommend to any gamer, whether they're looking forward to the movie or not.

NyxQuest is a very well made and fun platforming game in the style of LostWinds. The two titles share in common very ambient presentations complemented by great graphics and moody music. And for better or worse, they both also brandish slow and methodical pacing, so if you found LostWinds a bore, you probably won't like NyxQuest either. I happen to like Over the Top's first WiiWare effort a lot. Main character Nyx controls well. The Wii remote-manipulated abilities are inspired and entertaining. The puzzles complex and smart. The difficulty challenging, especially as the quest wears on. And the entire package is realized by way of artistry and graphics of a caliber -- well, shall we say, uncommon on WiiWare. So if you're looking for your next purchase, this is it.

Elite Forces: Unit 77 can't survive on its impressive visuals alone. Had the game upped the pacing, swapped out touch-screen control for traditional D-pad, added multiplayer and…oh, while we're throwing ideas out there, added an actual incentive – like a scoring system – to play the missions over again, then maybe Elite Forces: Unit 77 could have been one of those sleeper DS titles that slip in under the radar. As it is in its current, complete form, though, there's nothing special about this game other than the desire for it to be something it isn't.

Maybe that's why board game conversions have found more of a home over on Xbox's Live Arcade service -- there's just more effort put into them there. WiiWare developers have got to learn that players want more than the bare minimum here, especially when the system's capable of more. Give us higher end visuals -- the Wii can handle it. Give us the ability to play against opponents who aren't in the same living room with us -- again, the Wii can handle it. And, for goodness sakes, at least give your penguin characters a shot at personality by at least giving them names. It'd be much more fun to yell "Hey! That's my fish!" if I knew who I was supposed to be.

I have nothing against short games, so long as there is proper incentive to play multiple times. Wanted lacks any such incentives. Something as simple as an arcade scoring system or in-depth stats might have been enough to make a second playthrough interesting. Even though the first time through is enjoyable (yes, it's fun at times!), there's a real lack of content. This is best as a rental, since you can beat Wanted in one sitting.

Animal Boxing is more of a novelty than a compelling game. It's got gimmicky controls and a genuinely good-looking art style, but there's not much in the way of gameplay here. I would like to have seen a greater variety of boxing techniques in the animals -- you know, what Punch-Out! did way back in 1987. The fact that Animal Boxing is shallower than an NES game is a problem. Slick visuals and, like I said, novelty gameplay will draw you in initially, but play one round and you've basically seen all the game has to offer.

The back of the box promises 40 hours of gameplay. You do not want 40 hours of gameplay here. Between the could've-been-awesome art, the never-could've-been-awesome-in-a-million-years voice acting, and the fact that monastery intrigue is a very niche proposition to begin with, even if the writing were stellar (which it is not), Murder in the Abbey utterly fails to be something I can recommend to anyone.

Upon first entering the game world, you'll probably want to like this game. The visuals can be pretty good, particularly some of the enemy designs and larger indoor environments (the sprawling coliseum battle springs to mind). Voice work tends to be rather forced, and not in the campy sort of way. And while environmental sounds held up thanks to some well produced ambient tracks, the visuals and audio never coalesced to form any real sense of atmosphere. They don't distract you from the game's simplistic underlying structure. Instead of getting caught up in the struggle against a demonic force that threatens the continued existence of your race, you're left with tacked-on squad elements, poor friendly and enemy AI, repetitive encounters, and unabashedly linear levels. Jericho has a few memorable moments, but they're not worth the cash.

As a parent with two very young daughters of my own, I'm always on the look out for Wii games that they can actually grasp and play. Cosmic Family may be the best option yet with its very easy to understand interface and simple minis, but it also feels like a game that was meant to run in flash on an Internet browser and not a full-fledged Wii product. Bearing that and some of the sound glitches in mind, there are much better values for your dollar.

That said, it is nice to see an adventure game maker trying to do something other than the realistic point and click adventure slide shows that seem to be so prevalent these days. Runaway: The Dream of the Turtle reminds me of the days when LucasArts had mastered the art of point and click adventuring with games like Maniac Mansion, Sam & Max, and Grim Fandango where crazy stories could happen outside of real-world influence. Runaway doesn't get everything right, in fact, there are some very frustrating aspects to the gameplay, but the story is wacky enough and art style fun enough that adventure gamers may way to give this one a shot.

With the "next-gen" games clocking in at $50 and up, Strike Force rolls in at $39.99, which in my opinion is just a bit above what I'd pay for a game that can't consistently distinguish itself with the excellence and challenge we've come to know from the series. And it should run quite well on a midrange computer, since it's not technologically demanding. I'd say that fans of the series ought to check this one out, but those of us who've gotten spoiled by Brothers in Arms and Call of Duty will only see glimpses of that intensity and cinema.

King Kong is an excellent companion to the upcoming film, as it smartly tells the story, but gives you full control over the proceedings -- unless you count the game's drive toward the predestined ending. Playing as Kong is a delight, watching his beastly moves destroy dinosaurs with seemingly so little effort. Even the human sequences are good, even if they feel a little like a Persia game. (There are worse games to be reminded of while playing...) However, it must be said that King Kong is a bit short. I didn't exactly mind, as I don't mind console games that last eight hours -- but provide eight incredible hours of game play, like Sony's God of War, which I paid full-price for. King Kong is one of those rare example of short games worth their admission price, as the Kong segments offer a level of action fun not often found in mobile games.

It's hard not to compare this game to those in the Total War series. Fortunately, the comparison is pretty favorable. Though the battles themselves aren't quite as easy to manage, the added strategic elements and highly detailed environments should definitely have Creative Assembly sitting up and taking notice. As I said before, though the game offers up many pleasures, it's not for the faint of heart. The campaign's tedious start is a significant obstacle to gamers who want to "get to the good stuff" without going through the motions of developing a massive resource base and drafting an army from scratch.

I know the potential is there because there were some cool segments where I had to race someone else to hunt down a certain number of items, and a few escort/defend missions, and some fun racing. The flag hunt and deathmatch modes are present in multiplayer, in addition to team deathmatch and CTF, and you'll get to play them in areas taken from the game, which is cool, but I would have liked to have seen more variety and lateral flexibility in the single-player.

Torrente kind of reminds me of State of Emergency, only not nearly as fun. It's a shooter, so it's pretty much constant action. Many of the nearly 60 missions are timed as well, meaning you have to keep on your toes to get through each level. For a budget title, the world is fairly active, with lots of cars, pedestrians and baddies filling the streets of digital Madrid.

I know the potential is there because there were some cool segments where I had to race someone else to hunt down a certain number of items, and a few escort/defend missions, and some fun racing. The flag hunt and deathmatch modes are present in multiplayer, in addition to team deathmatch and CTF, and you'll get to play them in areas taken from the game, which is cool, but I would have liked to have seen more variety and lateral flexibility in the single-player.

I really think this could have been a title to be talking about--a great adventure game. The story was really well done and they had some obvious talent behind the game. However, the oversights involved in not allowing cut-scenes and dialogues to be skipped and allowing many bugs to slip through take this game down a few notches. At the end, all I can talk about with this title is what could have been. It could have been a contender.

ltimately, War Times is a pedestrian real-time strategy game that barely manages to offer up the basic mechanics that define the genre. Add its failure to deliver the spirit we'd expect from the setting and there's very little to separate War Times from dozens of other all-too-predictable real-time strategy games. It feels too much like generic RTS mechanic #3 married to generic RTS setting #4 with little thought put into innovating or even integrating the two.

If you're looking for serious WWII tactical action, it's still hard to beat the Combat Mission series...at least in multiplayer. Still, the format of those games isn't always appealing to the RTS fan. Those players may find games like Blitzkrieg or Desert Rats vs. Afrika Korps to be more enjoyable. They'll also find that the Patton campaign in Empires: Dawn of the Modern World offers much more personality and polish.

If you're a really, really big fan of monster trucks, this game certainly features them and a lot of events that they're in. It also has a horrendous camera system, random trucks with no stats, terrible voice acting, badly designed courses, and characters that look so bad they're funny. If you're dead set on a monster truck, I would strongly recommend renting this for a few hours first.

If you're a really, really big fan of monster trucks, this game certainly features them and a lot of events that they're in. It also has a horrendous camera system, random trucks with no stats, terrible voice acting, badly designed courses, and characters that look so bad they're funny. If you're dead set on a monster truck, I would strongly recommend renting this for a few hours first.

Certainly, this isn't a game for everyone. The difficulty level might scare some folks away that have yet to experience a good strategy title, but the distraction of building a base and managing resources might help a little bit. Those looking for a fictional story to accompany their game will need to look elsewhere, but it really wouldn't have fit in this game so I'm glad they left it out.

There is no denying the overt level of difficulty that Commandos 2 boasts but thankfully, it isn’t completely unforgiving; you’ll have the option to save your game anywhere in a mission so that you don’t have to restart each time you bite the dust.

A fantastically challenging and fun ride...[but] if you have high blood pressure and don't react well to stress and frustration, don't buy this game. You'll go crazy and your heart will explode.

A pretty darn satisfying experience. The battles are intense, the gore is outrageous, the levels are well designed, the graphics are superb, and there is a save anywhere feature. Thank God for that. So if you are looking for a challenging and beautiful adventure, you'll want to check this one out.

Each Turok game on the Nintendo 64 vary in quality from one game to the next, but Turok on the Game Boy systems increase in quality with every release. This game is the best yet, and is a well-designed action game on the handheld. I still want a two-player link cable mode somewhere in the Game Boy version ¿ maybe when Acclaim moves the series to the Game Boy Advance. Until then, this game makes for a great action-adventure fix.

This is when I start being hypocritical and tell you that even with that in mind, this game is strangely addicting just like Missile Command used to be. There is just some kind of call when you play a game that makes you think you can go just one level more. That your reflexes and hand-eye coordination is good enough to get you past the next flood of enemies. The good thing about this game is that the levels are very short and last only for a couple of minutes. This means that you can just play a quick game for a break without having to worry about needing to save or anything because you can just jump in again later. So if you're looking for a cheap game that doesn't require much thinking, and you can get past the striking similarities to the opening scene of Saving Private Ryan, this may be a winner for you.

I liked Turok: Rage Wars a lot more than the past two bland Turok games from Acclaim. I'm a little disappointed that Bit Managers didn't adopt the N64 design for the Game Boy Color rendition ¿ a deathmatch game would have been really cool on the Game Boy Color, even if it had to be put into an overhead perspective. Still, for what it is, Turok: Rage Wars is a decent action game that blows away its successors.

Head Games once again shows gamers what they're all about -- product placement. And we all know what you gamers out there want to spend $20 on an advertisement for skiing, snowboarding, and snowmobile gear, right? The games in the Extreme series never cease to amazing me, and it's obvious that the marketing team at Head Games works hard at getting big licenses, only to give small developers next to no time to create a game that's nothing more than a glorified commercial. To be perfectly honest, I'd rather be stranded under an avalanche than play this game anymore.

Turok 2: Seeds of Evil is a very average game all around. Whereas Acclaim's N64 dino hunter games pushed the console to its limit in the graphics and sound departments -- at times at the expense of coherent gameplay -- T2 on the Game Boy neither shines nor totally disappoints. Once you brave the boring first stage and get your hands on some weapons, T2 turns into an entertaining little game. It would have been nice if Acclaim had exercised the same kind of commitment for the handheld Turok games as for their N64 brethren. One can only imagine what the game could have turned out to be if development had actually started with an idea -- not just a name.

In the end, BtCoD is not much different than Behind Enemy Lines. But if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Pyro has expanded on their original idea in this stand alone expansion pack, offering up another helping of unique gameplay that's challenging even to the most seasoned strategy veteran. It just leaves me wondering what the real sequel to Commandos might be like.

Action fans probably aren't going to like Commandos. Although the game is very fast paced, it doesn't satisfy the urge for wanton destruction, and there's an awful lot of sitting around waiting for the right moment to act. But if you're into strategy games, own an attention span, and are looking for something that's a lot different than anything we've seen since Cannon Fodder, you owe it to yourself to give this game a try.