Insanely over-the-top action spectacle that plays in the usual first-class manner, but lags behind its predecessors in detail.

It looks great, it plays surprisingly well, but there is still quite some distance to the likes of Infinity Blade 2, which simply offers more of everything.

Good things come to those who wait. After three years filled with content and with the added Shadow Lords mode Killer Instinct evolved from an ugly duckling that hardly didn’t offer any content to a potential prospect for the beat-em-up throne.

Intelligent Systems wears its name with pride: The puzzles are as elegant as they are tricky. Fallblox is a small but enthralling addition to the 3DS download library.

Not quite as well rounded as its predecessor, Ghost of Yōtei offers more variation, but falls short in terms of story and depth of side characters. Nevertheless a great open world-adventure with a fantastic presentation.

While the emotional storytelling, the control concept and the on-the-spot soundtrack shine, the gameplay itself is rather bland. The puzzles are not worth mentioning and even the boss fights are rather dull and predictable.

Thanks to the facetted battle and gambit systems this is still one of the most interesting Final Fantasy games of all time. Technically it could have been enhanced even more, but overall this is still a very good JRPG that in most not only stood the test of time, but can still compete.

The coherent presentation and the original gameplay concept make Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective a very special genre title, but the puzzle passages can cause frustration at times.

A labour of love that serves as homage to 16-bit RPG classics and MMOs, but also manages to stand on its two feet, even though technically not everything is as solid as it should be.

This is one of the best singleplayer shooters in a long time - with a surprisingly strong story that blends drama, fun and shooting Nazis almost perfectly.

It is silly, it is challenging and it is highly motivating. Even with its flaws it is hard to resist Rayman.

Ninja Theory had big boots to fill. But they mastered the reboot of the iconic stylish action series. The fighting system manages the balance between traditional dynamics and contemporary combo madness. The art design is close to perfect. The narrative though is sometimes losing focus and refuses to give the characters room to grow for most of the time. Nonetheless this is the first big action highlight of the year.

You’ll get a mixture of everything that people want from a new Assassin’s Creed. But all the known challenge-free mechanics fail to impress me like they did in older games of the franchise, although I like the rediscovered focus on stealth – as semi-automatic as it may be while the few new ones are not strong enough to carry the burden. There is no doubt about the excellent visuals though.

The focus on action takes away from the spookiness, but Silent Hill f is nonetheless a really brave survival horror game that fans of the genre shouldn’t miss.

Technically solid collection with loads of bonus material for eight games spanning three console generations.

This is a big step for Codemasters – well maybe not that big after last years’ weird “in-between” racing experience. But that aside the strong comeback of the career, the presentation and the good driving physics make this the best Formula 1 game in quite some time.

Survival, building, exploration and the best building block sandbox since the invention of LEGO. Minecraft didn’t lose any of its fascination on the PS3.

This is a disturbing trip into the inside of a videogame, a new interpretation of the era of arcade gaming machine. The last time a game played with the player that much and tried to confuse him, was Eternal Darkness. You gotta love this.

In terms of mechanics, visuals and the cinemastyle storytelling of the main campaign this is Netherrealm’s masterpiece. Unfortunately spiking AI in the Towers of Time as well as the grindy progression still need to be adressed. Still this is one of the prime fighting games of this generation.

This is hands down the best baseball game available right now - especially if you are willing to ignore the microtransactions that impact some of the game modes.

A decent port of the global turn based strategy that will entertain you for weeks.

Capcom finally realized that the return to the roots must not only be promised, but implemented. This is the return to classical survival horror everybody was waiting for with the added ego perspective for heightened tension and convincing VR inclusion.

Rise of the Tomb Raider still clings a little too tightly to certain elements of its predecessor and has problems with enemy AI. Nonetheless with the renewed focus on actual tomb raiding and exploration Lara slowly returns to her older grand self.

This game is a phenomenon. Not only because of its success. But rather that this Battle Royale is so fascinating even though it has significant flaws. It is the situational suspense, the half hour of sizzling tension that makes players come back again and again.

It can’t spark the fascination of its predecessor on 360. But nonetheless this road trip through Southern Europe still is one hell of a racing experience with fantastic driving mechanics.

FIFA 14 still is a very good, very complete soccer game. And whilst the tweaks, changes and additions to the core mechanics are well executed, overall the progress made is smaller than last year.

On consoles this whodunnit adventure has its flaws, but in its best moments this is an intense, clever constructed as well as challenging experience.

Music and sweaty lightsaber choreographies merge into an impressive VR experience that unfortunately lacks content and song-import for your favorite music.