The levels are small but challenging, the hunt for carrots surprisingly motivating. But what looked charming in the beginning, soon became redundant.

As good as the concept was three years ago and as entertaining a successful coop session may be, in the end this is little more than an interesting design study.

What happened to Digital Extremes? This bland shooter with Kirk and Spock looks and plays unfinished, even though some design ideas look promising. The visuals remind me of the first 360 games, the reptilian opponents’ AI is way below standards and sometimes the not much better partner AI puts me into dire straits.

Soccer management meets The Movies – while the concept seems intriguing, the execution isn’t. The mechanics are superficial and for every aspect the game introduces there is another game that does it better, the mix just doesn’t add up.

There are zombies? Really? I don’t care. I’d rather die than to stay on the beautiful island Panai where all I can do is participate in a boring fight for survival, filled with collectable overkill and horrible quest design.

In theory Overclocked is a successful remake of one of the DS’ grand role-playing games. Unfortunately preventable technical glitches like regular freezes and occasional crashes take a lot away from its’ theoretically well deserved glory.

While I appreciate the effort to put the open world of Lego City on the handheld, the technical and above all the gameplay reductions make me doubt that there is space for open worlds on mobile systems.

The audiovisual presentation with its retro flair is charming and thanks to the constant challenge the motivation starts on a high level. It is replaced by frustration though, because challenge quickly becomes routine, which in turn made me go back to more classic jump&runs.

This is arcade racing in its purest form: Controls and rules are as simple as anything. But still you need finesse to get around the bends and turns in style. Unfortunately it is rather short.

The good: The weak storytelling aside, Sacred Citadel doesn’t do anything wrong and ticks off every box in the fantasy-beat’em up manual that was written by Segas Golden Axe. Then again, it doesn’t do anything particularly right, either.

That Slitherine opted to release the strategy previously released on PSP, is not a bad choice. Unfortunately the conversion is below par and technically not up to date – not at all.

Colorful, charming, challenging and full of humor: Guacamelee celebrates classic exploration, fighting and jump&run on the highest level.

Average tower defense with a wide range of multiplayer options and unique visuals.

While the humour is back to its sarcastic bite and the visuals are improved, Neptunia still suffers from old problems: incredibly boring quest and level design.

The well-told campaign is a little short, but this is compensated for by a plethora of things you can do offline. Unfortunately none of the extra battle modes are available in versus mode, while the online battles suffer from balancing issues. Nonetheless: If you’re tired of Street Fighter or Tekken it’s time to let the superheroes take care of business.

Once you dive into the campaign, you can’t take your hands off this turn-based tactic gem, despite some downfalls in the story department with its’ sometimes corny dialogues.

Shootmania Storm proves everybody wrong who thought that there are no innovations possible in multiplayer shooters. But with the focus on competition, the potent editor as well as gameplay, the visuals suffer tremendously.

The mechanics will keep you hooked with a fresh mix of strategic planning and real time action. Unfortunately the presentation can’t keep up.

If you like mysterious games like The Room this is definitely worth a look: great art design, great music and great puzzle variation.

Simple action, a boring story: This tie-in to the TV show is mostly irrelevant, although the approach sometimes is interesting. But even without bugs and with better visuals Defiance would have problems in giving other online action games a run for their money.

The learning curve is steep and if you’re easily frustrated you might consider going back to the predecessor. But if you’re willing to invest time and a lot of trial&error in this mass transit simulator, behind all the glitches and the useless tutorial you’ll find a motivating diamond in the rough that shows a lot of potential and keeps you awake longer than you’d like to admit.

Crazy Golf and Augmented Reality don’t mix well.

The steampunk approach in track and vehicle design is charming, but mechanics lack variety and most of all tight controls, regardless if you enter the course with a gamepad, keyboard or mouse at your disposal.

You think you can ride with Age of Empires 2 into the high definition era? Think again. Instead of offering full social penetration with “like us”, “subscribe”, “watch” and “follow” the visuals should have gotten the attention this classic deserves. If you can live without online battles and the pseudo HD, here’s some advice: The gold edition from 2001 is a bargain…

Chaotic, frenzied platform action with loads of entertaining online modes: This is a dream come true for sociable jump&run fans.

Razor’s Edge delivers more content and more gore compared to the original, but nonetheless the fearless Ryu Hayabusa is still miles away from his former self.

A lot of games tried to copy Minecraft – or at least participate from its' success. But this two-dimensional take on the well known formula is the only game that is able to step out of the shadow of the indie phenomenon that inspired it. It leads you into a unique world full of creative magic and translates well onto consoles thanks to the very good pad controls.

Yes, engine and presentation are old-fashioned. But the mixture of exploration, hunting, gathering and fighting still works. The turn based battle system was tweaked here and there and is more attractive than ever.