'Dark Alliance' is a generically ugly and deeply unsatisfying action RPG. The enemy hit detection is suspect and there is an odd delay in the game's responses to not only your inputs but also to your actions. All of this makes it feel like the world of 'Dark Alliance,' and the enemy creatures within it, are barely aware of your presence. And no amount of unlocked attacks or tinkered gear will change that. At game's end, as powered up as I would ever become, an enormous sledgehammer whack to the head might not even get the smallest enemy grunt to turn around. For a game like this (equate this to the 'Diablo' series), you absolutely need to feel powerful. THAT'S the fun of these games. In 'Dark Alliance,' you are never allowed a glimmer of that feeling. Not because the game is difficult, but because the feedback loop is broken. I couldn't tell you if there is a decent story here. I played this with three friends online who talked through all the cutscenes. So, if there is any saving grace in the narrative, I can't be the one to speak to it.

I think I took too long to complete 'Signalis.' The story never connected all its dots for me. I finished a bit bewildered. I did connect with its moments though, and there are affecting moments communicating survival and life's value even when that life was manufactured. I really enjoyed the gameplay. Such a smart choice to include tank controls in a slow moving survival game like this. I exclusively used these controls and the game seems designed around them. The ability to walk backward while firing seemed essential and is impossible with traditional controls. Great visuals too, purposefully reminiscent of the golden years of the tank controlled survival horror game (2000–2006).

'Deathloop' is tedious, repetitive, and not nearly as funny or as clever as it thinks it is. First off, the dialogue made me instantly hate every character. Reminded me of 'Sunset Overdrive,' another game where I even hated (especially hated?) the player character. Everyone in 'Deathloop' speaks in the same excessively obscene, nihilistic voice and it grated on me so severely, that I would mute the game whenever I had to repeat scenes.

Speaking of repetition, I guess you can expect it in a time loop game, but even still, I think this was needlessly repetitive. For one example, you need four passwords to access a hangar. So you go to one area, find and charge two batteries, start two generators, flip a switch. Then leave that area, go to another, find the building now accessible from the flipped switch. Go in, hunt for the password. Leave the area. Loop the day. Time for password #2! So go back to that one area, charge the two batteries again, start the two generators again, flip another switch. Then leave that area, go to another, access the building now accessible from the flipped switch. Find the second password. Leave the area. Loop the day. Two down, two to go! Is this fun? Not to mention, fail on any of these steps and you need to restart the entire process.

And whose brilliant idea was it to have Julianna randomly pop into these stealth missions to not only try to kill you but also to call everyone's attention to your position. Like, who thought this would be additive in a stealth game like this? On top of it all, because massive progress may be lost by dying in a loop, game-crashing bugs are completely unexcusable. And yet they plague the PS5 version of this game to the point where the game is nearly daring you to abandon it. Add the bugs to the decidedly last-gen visuals and the whole package feels like it was dumped into market before it was ready.

I'd forgive it all if there were likable characters or if the story clicks into place and becomes something that transcends the trail of clues you uncover. But there weren't. And it doesn't. I anticipate the clever comebacks to my opinion, like 'get good' or 'you didn't understand it.' But the game isn't hard. Certainly not the puzzle that it should be, instead the game holds your hand along the one path you must travel to the credits. And I fully understand the story and didn't find it interesting. The concept of a time loop game is a good one, but not like this. Not like this. Two stars for the halfway decent play controls.

The art, sound, and music go a long way to establishing the foggy mood of this seaside horror game. So much so that hearing these sounds or songs immediately transports me back to the time I played this game, in the first few weeks of October. 'Dredge' will, for me, help October feel more like October. And the game is just so well designed. All the systems work. Everything makes good sense. The story is clear. The economy is fair. And it's actually fun to play. Start to end. I'm interested now to extend the experience with 'The Pale Reach.'

I’ve played many ‘WarioWare’ games and it’s not always obvious to me why some click and some don’t. My favorites are ‘Twisted’ and ‘Mega Microgames,' but I fell off during the age of motion controls and touch screens. ‘Get It Together’ refers to the multiplayer functionality of this newest game in the series, but I played almost entirely solo. So the real gameplay twist for me was the use of player-controlled, in-game characters who are the ones performing the tasks of the microgames. I’ve seen a lot of complaint about this mechanic but I liked the added challenge of not only quickly understanding the task but also how to apply the randomly selected character to that task. Because you have the option of playing each game round with characters you’ve selected from the unlocked pool, it is true that you quickly find your favorites and use them again and again. And based on their maneuverability and the presence of and effectiveness of their projectiles, I suspect we’re all picking the very same characters. But upon completing the story, you unlock the ability to be completely surprised by a completely random character selection for each and every microgame. And that breaks your reliance on your favored team, and adds good challenge to the game. What I’m trying to say is that this is one of the good ‘WarioWare’ games. I enjoyed all the time I spent getting every level beyond the fifty-game completion mark and I expect to continue to attempt to break my top scores throughout the remaining years of the Switch lifespan.

If this game worked, it would be right up there with the best of the 'Dark Pictures' games. I did like how the two players are given very different paths through the game. The problem is, it doesn't work. On PS5, the glitches, some of them game-breaking, make it a nightmare to play. I could deal with the broken interaction points, the parts of the game wherein my character was invisible, the deaths that were impossible to prevent, etc. What I couldn't deal with is the broken Options menu that doesn't allow you to change your controls. Fighting with the sluggish camera speed and non-inverted camera direction for the entire game length made the game a chore to play. And my co-op partner and I had to attempt the final sequence three or four times, with the game breaking every time. Left it alone, came back a week later, changed some in-game decisions, and somehow made it to the ending. We fought against this game and somehow won. Not the experience you want with a piece of entertainment.

I like the concept of the resurrected murder hotel. I didn't like the storytelling, in that nothing really makes sense unless you connect the dots among all the documents and photos you encounter along the way. But none of that really matters if you're considering playing this on PS5. The game barely works. Damn shame to end Season 1 of 'Dark Pictures' on this note.

'Alba' is a great little open-world photography game set on a Spanish-influenced island over one week of a young girl's summer vacation. I found it all to be very charming and comforting and the perfect kick-back video game for my own summer vacation. Along the way, you'll get more goals than just filling out your photo album. Alba becomes an important part of the culture of the island over the one week of game time. It's a stress free game but also one that promotes action, both political and conservational, to make one's living space better than it might be otherwise. 'Alba' is exactly what I needed in my quest for games to give me some summer vibes.

'Fall of the Foot Clan' is from a time when games could earn praise for having 'responsive controls.' So that gives you an idea of the standards to which this game should be held. In 1990, we were impressed when a game simply responded properly to our input. And 'Fall of the Foot Clan' does just that. It controls well and the hit boxes make sense. You just walk to the right and slash away foot soldiers at the rate of one kill per weapon swing. The only resistance you'll encounter is with the five bosses. But even still, you'll instantly grok their attack/movement patterns. I beat the game after only a few playthroughs and they go quick. A full game playthrough start to end credits takes around twenty minutes. It is notable that these 8-bit characters look even better, and are better animated, here than they are in the original NES game. 'Fall' is an enjoyable game from the early days of the GB. Better than much you'll find on that platform from this time.

I hate to say it, but Camelot has ruined the 'Mario Golf' experience with 'Super Rush.' Sure, the graphics are weak and the solo adventure is awful. But the gravest offense is the removal of the pro control mode that the game has used since 'Mario Golf 64.' Without the three-click power meter, timing no longer matters. And being forced to choose topspin or backspin before the swing means that late swing adjustments are no longer possible. Inexplicably the pro control mode has been replaced with a trajectory shaping mechanic that is broken. You are given no feedback on your trajectory. No way to anticipate it. The abilities to see, zoom into, and zoom along your trajectory have been removed from the series right when you need them the most. So shaping is just a blind luck thing you do for the hell of it, and it almost never does what you want it to. Most everything that made 'World Tour' wonderful has been stripped out and replaced with a bad idea.

I'm glad to report that nearly every complaint you might have had about the original 'JWE' has been corrected here in the sequel. And the new features, including botanical feeding, staff management, dinosaur herding, and medical services, are truly additive. The content distribution is unlike the original, in that the campaign plays more like a three- to four-hour tutorial, and the bulk of your time will be spent on Chaos Theory story maps (one for each of the six films in the franchise) and on Challenge maps. Building and perfecting in 'JWE2,' whether it is theme parks or wildlife preserves, is just FUN. I played only this game for six weeks and only tore myself away from it to move on to other games in the backlog. A very worthy sequel to an already great game.

I played this entirely in VR and it is the stuff of lifelong dreams coming true. I appreciate how complex the controls are and how much control you actually have over your ship while flying. This goes far beyond the dogfighting sequences of the Battlefront games. Some of the mission objectives were confusing because your understanding of the space battle is limited to a very simple radar and what you can see out your windows. But I felt right there in the incredible action of Star Wars space battles.

I can't really recommend playing 'Iron Man VR.' There are thrilling moments, no doubt, where you feel powerful. And I'm shocked that I never felt sick even with all the high-speed, spinning aerial combat. But there are some real down sides. It is exhausting to play because it is so high intensity. Using two move controllers (notorious for their limited controls), you have to both fly and fight waves of enemies at high speeds in all three dimensions of motion. The entire game is probably about eight hours long but, because of the intensity, it took me weeks to finish it.

Also the load times are atrocious. Several minutes to load a level even when refreshing the level after you die. And then, after you reach 100% loading, the screen goes black for another 30 to 40 seconds where you begin to wonder if the game crashed.

Finally, I'm convinced the developers are mistaken about how easy it is to control your flight. There are obstacle course time trials in this game and I consistently require, literally, TEN TIMES the amount of time recommended by the developer. 'Iron Man VR' is a decent effort in need of more polish.

'It Takes Two' is just about as bad as a game can be while still having outstanding play controls. May and Cody are probably the two most obnoxious video game characters of all time. And you know how long cutscenes can be annoying even on a good day? Well, how about an endless parade of 5+ minute cutscenes wherein two awful characters berate, gaslight, accuse, and abuse one another? This game is about divorce but it handles the subject with all the depth and grace of 'The Santa Clause.' If a toxic couple are forced to spend some captive time together, they will fall back in love, right? Right?! Because the game's understanding of human relationships is so shallow, I presumed that I was the wrong audience. Maybe this was MEANT for children. But that feeling slips every time the characters drop a curse word or do something darkly, depressingly violent.

Despite the tight control and some fun co-operative play concepts, 'It Takes Two' is culturally tone deaf, juvenile in its storytelling, and is ultimately a chore to play. I dreaded every time my play partner suggested we get back to finishing it. I understand this has won game of the year awards, but I know only four people who have played it and none of them liked it. So take that for whatever it may be worth.