The concept is not as fascinating as it was ten years ago, but nonetheless Kirby still is a source of creativity. The clay’ish artdesign is as cute and cuddly as its star. The inclusion of the precise touchscreen controls is a perfect example for the capabilities of Wii U. Unfortunately Kirby’s excursion is rather short.

While the star is undoubtedly the cartoony art design with its hand drawn backgrounds and animations that make you feel like watching a mafia show on Adult Swim the mechanics are as conservative as can be.

Yes, it is bigger than the original Toukiden. And it doesn’t look to shabby on the PS4. But one major problem remains: The core is nothing but an uninspired Monster Hunter clone.

Verdun is a welcome change of pace in the almost always hectic multiplayer shooter arenas. The rules offer a successful mix of realism and the usual unlocking mechanism. But there are not enough modes nor maps to keep you busy for too long.

This is the most creative match-3 game since the good old PuzzleQuest: Challenge of the Warlords. As usual you are depending on luck a little too much, but nonetheless the tactical possibilities when it comes to matching your orbs are huge. Plus: Gong Ho managed to replace the micro transactions from the phone version with well suited mechanics.

This variation of the classic board game Risk isn’t pretty, the UI is rough sometimes, but it has a very vivid community that gives you an enormous supply of maps where you can try to conquer almost everything from Middle Earth to Westeros.

When it comes to the realtime elements Sins of a Solar Empire is more defined. But the economical and political aspects of the galactic conquest make this one an interesting choice. Not to mention the individual construction of your fleet. There is enough substance to spend a lot of time in this universe.

Was it the right decision to bring wrestling back to the PC? With the abundance of sports games on this platform you would definitely think so. But as a straight port from the HD console versions it shares the same problems when it comes to presentation or controls. But as with the console siblings there is hope that new edition (which will hopefully come to PC as well) will step up to the plate and improve. The foundation is solid.

While the puzzles are challenging and a clear improvement on act 1, the humor as well as the storytelling are below Schafer standards.

Even with all the progress compared to the predecessor it seems that the dev team bit off more than they can chew. While the dungeon building is rewarding albeit not challenging enough the overworld battles lack any strategic depth.

It is technically improved but still far from being up-to-date. But behind the façade hides a very tense and multifaceted fight for survival. Once you’re infected it is damn hard to get away from State of Decay.

A rather bland reiteration of the well known formula. While the user generated challenges are fun to play the base game itself is rather not.

Pixelart western that combines a whodunit with an open world and consequences that even Bioware never dared to touch.

Even without the overpowering Geometry Wars 3 breathing down its neck, We Are Doomed would face serious problems. While the geometric colorful art design is interesting the mechanics are as generic as anything.

While there are a lot of games out there combining creative construction with useful goals, including the almighty Minecraft or Space Engineers, none of them adds the economical depth like Kerbal Space Program. And on top is is great fun to experiment with all the tools at hand to figure out the best solution for the given problem.

Quotation forthcoming.

I can appreciated that Wales Interactive wants to deliver more than just another endless runner. But the setting with werewolves in space sound more interesting than it really is while the mechanics are nothing more than a sequence of quick-time reactions.

It is a small game, but it is so beautifully crazy that you find yourself goating more often than you want to admit.

A charming 2D action adventure that captivates with its pixel aura like Sword & Sworcery but suffers from technical glitches.

Once you get past the cumbersome introduction with its meager tutorials and hopefully find a helpful group to play with the constant change of being hunter and hunted is an interesting chance of pace.

Even though the UI is clumsy the coordination of numerous planets is motivating while seeing your self-designed vessels blowing the enemy to smithereens gives you the extra kick. Too bad that a lot of weaknesses like rudimentary diplomacy options and restricted research makes this a very mediocre 4X experience.

This is – once again – brilliant fantasy. Hours fly by as you dive into ruins, magic and sword fights while the story is surprising as well as mysterious. Creative storytelling at its best. I am looking forward to the fourth and final installment.

The soundtrack is great. The conceptual mix of rhythm game puzzler and dungeon crawler is ingenious. Games like this show that the indie scene is still dancing to a different beat.

Call me old-fashioned, but I liked the China Chronicles. A lot. Starting with the art design and its mechanical nods to the Prince of Persia series that started it all while keeping everything “Assassin”, this is a nice distraction from the big siblings. But the storytelling is way below average.

I am thankful that the indie scene produced games like Amnesia, Outlast or Slender and thus helped build the renaissance of survival horror. Unfortunately House of Caravan with its uninspired borrowing from games or concepts like Gone Home or P.T. will be remembered for … Well, for… Nothing. A game that nobody needs.

Surreal and unforgivingly sinister Adventure in a post-apocalyptic world that stumbles over the generic puzzle design.

What did I expect? An atmospheric trip thru an exotic world and challenging battles against imaginative titans. And that is exactly what I got. No frills. Just one arrow and one life point.

It is not just the frustration that comes with the randomly filled and arranged levels and the difficulty spikes that can occur that harm this nonetheless entertaining roguelite shooter. It is rather the technical hiccups that you wouldn’t expect on current console systems.