Collecting things for the sake of collecting them isn't a very compelling reason, and given there isn't much more to Full Bore than that, it ends up being a decent incomplete puzzle platformer and not much more.
A stronger emphasis on an overarching narrative, more flexible range of actions on the field and a proper save system could have made "The Masterplan" into an excellent game. Without all that, it's merely serviceable.
Going in fully understanding that this is basically a NES game at heart with all that implies, you might be able to endure and find some charm in the classic formula.
Lords of the Fallen is a marked improvement over the original and the mechanic of traversing between two realms makes it feel unique among its contemporaries. If not for a handful of questionable design choices and an overall lack of polish, this could have been something special.
Due to a myriad of issues both big and small, Star Ocean: The Divine Force feels less like a step in the right direction but instead, a stumble towards the goal. Still, the excellent combat and a more enjoyable story shows that there is still life amongst the stars and I sincerely hope that the series will continue and improve even further.
Soul Hackers 2 is a game that compares unfavorably to the recently released SMT V which I consider one of the series best. However, even when viewed on its own merits and nothing else, it falls far short of excellence due to its poor pacing, simplistic combat and endlessly dull dungeon crawling.
Mortal Shell is built around a solid foundation with a fun and responsive combat engine propped up by strong visuals. While some obtuse design choices and an uninteresting world holds it back from escaping the moniker of being, “just yet another souls-like”, it’s guaranteed to scratch that itch, at least a little.
Scoping out a new prison for its vulnerabilities and formulating a plan to carry out is a great time, but getting to those thrilling moments of misadventures are often plagued with days of scavenging, looking for those one or two materials I desperately needed and as the tedium began to set in, I wasn't looking for a way to escape from the prison but rather from this cycle of boring, repetitive gameplay.
While I can most definitively say that Akiba's Beat is a marked improvement over its predecessor, I can't help but feel that in its aspiration to become like the much beloved Persona and Tales series, it has lost an identity of its own. Despite its improvements, with the stellar lineup of games all bidding for your time this year, it's hard to recommend Akiba's Beat over its superior alternatives.
Chaos Code -New Sign of Catastrophe- is a solid, albeit unremarkable fighter that plays well, and even though it lacks many features I would consider a staple in a modern day fighting game, the budget price point helps to forget what is unaccounted for. However, what can't be ignored is the incredibly small player base where it's a struggle to find a single match online. In a market steeped with excellent titles like Blazblue, Guilty Gear and UNIEL, just that one glaring flaw alone is enough to make it very difficult to recommend.
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.
Fate/Extella is a title that has a lot to live up to due to the immense popularity of the Fate series as a whole. However, it doesn’t do much to stray from the typical formula set forth by the countless other musou titles on the market. It sports a serviceable but unremarkable combat engine, along with a story that felt just as disposable as one of the tens of thousands of enemies I left in my wake.
While it’s great to see the talents behind the “Hotel Dusk” series back in action, “Chase: Cold Case investigations” is a much smaller and less ambitious title than its predecessors. Even though the bargain price point justifies its rather short length, the sequel bait ending and lack of variety in the gameplay leaves much to be desired. However, a visual novel lives and dies by its story and this one’s well worth reading. It just remains to be seen where the series goes from here.
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.
It promised an experience quite unlike anything I have played before but in the end, the surrounding pieces around the core began falling apart one after another until all I was left with was that idea itself, buried deep within the rubble of potential.
PopoloCrois follows in the footsteps of other hybrid genre JRPGs like the Atelier series, and instead of alchemy mixes in a heavy dose of a farming instead. While the farming aspect of this hybrid title is compelling enough, the dull combat and a snail’s pace holds it back from greatness.
I was glad to see that SAO:HF was able to put forth a more earnest effort with its improved translation and gameplay tweaks but when it's all said and done, it's still not a particularly good game.
Mother Russia Bleeds has a great title and a unique look with its ugly and yet beautiful 2D sprites. Unfortunately, the combat gets dull rather quickly, and with the lack of online multiplayer, it's a difficult game to recommend to anyone but the true enthusiasts of the genre.
While Strike Vector has a very solid foundation to work with, it seems as though it might have been better served in development a little longer to flush out the bugs with the servers, and perhaps add more content in the form of different game modes. As it stands, it's a difficult title to recommend at the current asking price, except to those that are die-hard fans of the genre.
[F]or fans of the genre who love beating down countless enemies as cute anime girls and don't shy away from a serious challenge, they can expect to have a good time with Phantom Breaker: Battle Grounds.