Lately it seems like the second half of summer hasn't seen a high quantity of big releases. Sure there are still huge hits, like last year's Guardians of the Galaxy, but that movie was such a powerhouse, it scared other movies off the schedule altogether. This year, that's not the case. While none of these movies looks to dominate like Guardians did, most of them have big name notoriety with blockbuster potential every week between the 4th of July weekend and the end of August.

After the fall of developer Neverland, the team behind Rune Factory didn't take long to start a new project. The first game they did was Forbidden Magna, and it was quite a departure from their previous works. Swapping out Farm-sim/Action RPG mechanics for a more tactical combat system, the game is finally available in the West under the new name, Lord of Magna: Maiden Heaven. While the game has some nice ideas, it doesn't exactly execute them as intended.

Sekai Project is known for bringing mostly visual novels to steam, but this is there first attempt at publishing a game outside of that genre. Tobari and the Night of the Curious Moon marks the debut of this first step towards the companies' strides to off more variety to the consumer, and it's a fun time, although it could use some polish.

Akiba's Trip: Undead and Undressed originally released in Japan as Akiba's Trip 2, the sequel to the PSP original. It initially launched on the Vita and PS3, and received an enhanced port on the PS4. This latest port is based on that version. I'll say though that when I first heard of Akiba's Trip, the West would never get it, seeing as the original was passed up for localization. Thankfully XSEED games stepped in and brought this little bit of zany brawling to the masses in a number of ways. It's a fun time, even with a bit of rough edges to deal with.

Aksys Games isn't a stranger to visual novels or RPGs, but this is likely the first time they have taken on a hybridization of the two genres. The game has a great localization and interesting concept. But there are a number of odd design decisions that keep it from greatness.

The Perils of Man originally released on iOS platforms late last year, and now the game's PC version is out. As an iOS title, it's a small adventure. But this length of the game has some adverse effects; in addition to some other issues which make it a bit weak.

Sayonara Umihara Kawase, Originally released on the Nintendo 3DS a year ago under the name Yumi's Odd Odyssey under the publisher Natsume. For this Vita port, the game was published by Agatsuma Entertainment and developed by Studio Saizensen. This version of the game has some additional features to the game, but it might not be enough for early adopters to double-dip, and some things have actually not been addressed or they have been removed. Nevertheless it's still a fun time all-around.

The original release of YS VI happened back in 2003 for the PC. While the West missed out on that version, it did make it's way to the other side of the ocean through a PS2 and PSP port from Konami in 2005. The port was generally good, even though there were some odd design choices. It replaced the pre-rendered 2D sprites with 3D models, and had planned to completely replace the soundtrack with an orchestrated score, and the anime sequences were too be replaced with some awful CG. The game also had voice acting, but the English dub was also cringe-worthy. Thankfully the decision was made to retain the original score and anime sequences, but they needed to be activated through the use of passwords; as if it was a last minute quick fix. So the game's quality was all over the place. However, this new release for steam doesn't have any of that, but that doesn't mean that there weren't additions made to spruce the game up. And those new features are actually pretty great.

There are a lot of movies to look forward to this summer. I've whittled them down to ten and, of course, you the readers will always have the last say and get to rank them when it's all over. Let’s get started.

It's been quite awhile since I've played a meaty Visual Novel, and Princess Evangile saw fit to fix that. Luckily for me, it's a good ride. The story is one that has been told countless times before, but there's a nice twist in the way that it presents itself that sets it apart.