The game could have benefited in taking just a bit more from the structure of older games in the series.

Immensely enjoyable. Almost endlessly so, in fact. If you haven’t played it yet, you’re missing out on a very clever 2D crafting/survival game that wears its retro influence on its sleeve. If you’ve already spent hundreds of hours in this world, there’s some new stuff to see in this version of the game.

Alien Spidy is so close to being an enjoyable, active puzzle experience, but it lacks the fluidity, both in gameplay and in progression, that would allow it to be a truly memorable and engaging experience.

There’s so much gameplay packed onto this disk, I feel like EA could skip next year’s Tiger Woods release and very few fans would notice.

The game sticks too close to its inspiration at times, but it still offers a meaty campaign loaded with non-stop action. If you enjoy Gears, you will enjoy this.

Anybody who enjoys the music and action but hopes to see a steadily increasing damage curve through the game should definitely pick it up.

The backgrounds are so insanely complex and detailed, with massive chunks of land that float through the sky and move around independently, that corners probably had to be cut somewhere so that our consoles didn’t simply buckle under the weight of all this stuff happening at once. And I’ll gladly take some pixilated textures over a small draw distance, which could have completely destroyed the entire feel of this painstakingly crafted environment.

The short campaign is best played in small doses, since its action otherwise rings a bit repetitive. Most frustrating, though, is the broken multiplayer mode, which only features two maps and one mode anyway, severely diminishing the title’s replay value.

There are so many fun improvements and interactive places outside the dungeons. It's when you enter those caverns that things get dreary.

Though the main game isn't incredibly long, there are collectables, bonus levels to unlock, and multiplayer modes.

What we have here is an incredibly long, incredibly flawed, and yet paradoxically engaging experience.

Fairhaven is packed with things to do, and the additional content packs it even fuller.

And it's not like Tyranny has intrigue to spare. The very promising core idea here—George Washington as king and maniac—hasn't really spawned any amazing storytelling or clever historical twists. Oddly enough, we've seen very little of King Washington himself, though presumably he'll be the boss of Episode 3.

Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate is a must-have purchase for anyone who likes challenging gameplay, big weapons, even bigger enemies, a hefty crafting system, and a satisfying cooperative experience.

A near-perfect port of DOA5 for the Vita. If you want to play DOA5 on the go, then by all means pick it up. The game has a few extra bells and whistles, but none of them are worth buying a portable copy for if you weren’t looking to buy one already.

It finally nails the spirit of LEGO, and does so with a great deal of panache.

Judgment is literally as much fun as Gears of War 2. It doesn’t have this scope or severity one and three had, but it operates on a grand scale. I, for one, couldn’t be happier.

If you were a fan of the first two games in the series, but you thought the third game missed the mark, Awakened could very well feel like the long-awaited return of an old friend.

There’s just a ton of content here.

The campaign is solid, but I can’t help but feel it could have been a bit more robust. The improved multiplayer more than makes up for this fact though.

If you enjoyed Darkstalkers in the past, you will absolutely love Resurrection. If you didn’t, Resurrection isn’t going to convert you. And if you never played Darkstalkers in the past, what’s the matter with you? Sign on to PSN or XBLA and get this game. You owe it to yourself to experience one of the most important titles in fighting game history.

A watered-down (no pun intended) stone-tossing experience that isn't even worth its $2.99 price tag.

Maxis set out to create a real living world for players to tinker with. At that, they’ve succeeded. Well, they’ve succeeded whenever the game actually works.

Unfortunately, that’s all the game is: a wonderful single-player experience for die-hard Naruto fans. It falls short in multiplayer depth, but this isn’t anything new for the franchise.

Instead of watching Kratos become less and less mortal, we are reconnected to him as a human betrayed by the Gods.

The problem is that MLB 2K13 doesn't feel like it was made by people who love baseball. It feels like it was made by a company who used to love baseball and is trying to milk a couple of extra bucks out of fans before Major League Baseball takes their contract away.

An excellent visual package and a versatile control scheme help to set it apart from its competition and secure it a spot on store shelves for years to come.

I'd say the Mass Effect 3 Citadel DLC is the add-on to acquire. It's full of fun and feel-good moments. In fact, I'd say that it's so good that it makes up for the lack of a happy ending.

The tragic story of Vergil and the comic-book way it is told, as well as the ability to play as Vergil himself, make these few short chapters more than worth getting. This content may not be quite as good as the original game, but it’s a must-have for any fan of the Devil May Cry series.

If you like action RPGs, KingsRoad is a must-play.

It isn’t that Akaneiro is terrible. It might have been released earlier than it perhaps should have been, lacking gameplay features that would have made its freemium faults less egregious.

Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 Plus is a sub-par port of a game that was impressive when it launched, but has since been overshadowed.

If you are a fan of Dynasty Warriors, especially the Empires series, then by all means pick up the game. However, as I mentioned earlier, there are lots of Dynasty Warriors to choose from, and if you are looking for a more traditional experience, you might want to stray away from the Empires series.

Casual Mode is a godsend for anybody who wants to have a good time exploring the labyrinths without having to grind too much, and the game's many strong points have elevated Etrian Odyssey to the best dungeon crawling series around.

There is simply a ton of content, with the original game, the expanded edition, and three extra level packs.

This first episode leaves you with a feeling of “That’s it?”

Delivers an evenly paced, action-packed, evolutionary tale that explains the genesis of one of gaming’s most beloved heroines. Along the way, we are treated to top-shelf visuals, a soundscape that rivals a Hollywood blockbuster, and gameplay that is both thoroughly engaging and aesthetically varied.

Omerta is a great idea, but it drags too often and enthralls too little.

There is simply a ton of content, with the original game, the expanded edition, and three extra level packs.

There's certainly a case to be made that Crysis 3 is mediocre in numerous ways. Most players will finish the campaign after five hours or so, the attempt to add vehicles doesn't work well, and the intense focus on graphics can make the gameplay feel like an afterthought. But it's hard to deny that the visuals are beautiful, and that the franchise's sandbox approach to tactics has always worked well. In the end, it's different from other first-person shooters in ways that are more than just skin deep, and it's a ton of fun.

Revengeance can be summed up in one word: "fun." Well, maybe two words are better: "stupid fun." As was shown with DmC, there are still a lot of fans out there who want to have button-mashing fun and be rewarded with carnage in its most primal form.

Antichamber is so much more than a first-person puzzle game. It’s indie development at its best. It’s simple in premise but it makes you question everything you know. It tells its entire story and expresses its entire theme through gameplay and gameplay alone. This is art—admittedly abstract art, but art nonetheless.

Even though I have a terribly high tolerance for bad monster movies, I still couldn't find an excuse for Aliens: Colonial Marines. The game has been in development for over five years, and nearly every single component has some major flaw. It's yet another black eye on a franchise that's already taken a heavy beating.

In the eight years that Sly Cooper has been absent from the video game universe, things have changed a bit. Pacing, characterization, and storytelling have become an important part of the industry, but all of these things are missing from Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time. What we're left with is a schizophrenic collage of historical tropes, pop culture references, and antiquated storytelling.

Fist of the North Star fans will probably like this game just because there hasn’t been a whole lot of love for the franchise in the gaming world recently, and Dynasty Warriors fans may like the game just as a short beat em’ up fix. However, the general gaming populace likely won’t fall in love with Fist of the North Star: Ken’s Rage 2.

All things considered, Dead Space 3 just isn’t made for those of us craving another horror experience. It’s far less scary and far more shooter-y than the previous games in the series. But for fans of set piece-based action games, Dead Space 3 has a pretty healthy buffet of amazing content. Just don’t spend any money on the microtransactions; EA needs to know that we’re not going to tolerate that sort of crap.

Not a game for everyone, or even for all horror fans. It will appeal to those in the very narrow center of the horror/visual novel Venn diagram. Those people, however, can expect an extremely well-written, disturbing set of mostly-disjointed tales that are united by the terror they propagate.

Small criticisms aside, Fire Emblem: Awakening will have you hooked from the very beginning, and will be incredibly hard to put down throughout. You'll always want to take just one more turn to build more relationships, gain a level, forge a new item, and see what will happen next in the gripping narrative.

Despite its flaws, The Cave is a unique experience that explores a genre that few other games on the market dare to touch.

Ni No Kuni easily stands with the best Japanese RPGs of this generation, and I believe it will stand the test of time to become one of the beloved adventures that people remember for years to come. This is the game for everyone who wishes they made RPGs like they did "back then," but who also loves the advancements we've seen in graphics, sound, and gameplay systems over the years.

It's not a bad deal for ten bucks, but it's shorter than we had hoped, there's no level cap increase, and the Trophy/Achievement offerings are meager once again.

Tokyo Crash Mobs isn't a game that you'll want to play for long periods of time, but it's good fun for short gaming sessions. It is certainly the perfect game to play while standing in line, ninja levels excepted.

I had a ton of fun with Earth Defense Force 2017 Portable, and, as long as you don't try to take it seriously, there's actually an enjoyable experience buried under all these layers of campy schlock.

I really enjoyed DmC. Yes, it's darker, grittier, and deals with more relevant issues, but it's still everything I want from a Devil May Cry game.

Anarchy Reigns simply doesn't live up to its hype. It's not the big multiplayer brawler that finally brings action games into the online world, but it is a pretty solid action game nonetheless.

Given the tremendous variety of downloadable tracks available for free, courtesy of both the players and RedLynx itself, charging five dollars for a smattering of content without some serious sort of hook seems almost disingenuous.

It's a fun diversion, to be sure, but with its less-than-extensive customization options, absurd reliance on grinding to incentivize microtransactions, and limited variation in actual gameplay, it probably isn't worth a monetary investment.

But hey-it's a fan-made Mega Man/Street Fighter crossover, complete with lots of stages and great boss fights, released for free with Capcom's blessing. It's hard to imagine anything cooler than that, and hardcore Mega Man fans will be more than willing to sink hours into mastering each and every stage, discovering tricks and secrets along the way.

A few minor control issues aside, the gameplay is incredibly tight. It's not the most challenging platformer you'll ever play, but if you have any sense of curiosity, you'll want to keep playing just the see what the creative people at Grasshopper Manufacture and Digital Reality have come up with next.

The Dunwall City Trials are a bit like the Disneyland version of Dishonored. They've cut out some of the most compelling parts of the game, such as exploring the expansive levels and learning the secrets of Dunwall's citizens. There are no interesting moral choices to make and no lore-filled books to read, but there are some fun challenges that remain true to the spirit of the game.

Guardians of Middle-earth just doesn't seem to have the lasting appeal it needs to, and it overcompensates for this by whitewashing itself with a thin coat of Tolkien paint. Don't get me wrong, it does a lot of things right, and it does several things brilliantly. Unfortunately, this is a genre that requires a healthy community, and it's hard to be optimistic about that here.

There are parts that are exciting, yet others that I know need work, and some features that feel unnecessary.

Mass Effect is quality. The story is very well done. The characters are well written, and it's amazing to see how they were at the beginning. It's like I got to see them as they were, and can now appreciate how they've grown from Mass Effect to Mass Effect 2 and 3.

There are problems here, but it's a decent experience for fans of card games.

Sure, it comes with a ton of bugs, and some of those bugs are damn near game-breaking, but if you can give Bethesda yet another (probably undeserved) pass here, Dragonborn has a ton of content to enjoy.

Unfortunately, it is not the most played or the most updated version of the game, and the sloppy netcode doesn't make things any better.

A very short campaign is offset by additional modes and some insane difficulty settings. And Trophy completionists will spend a long time ranking up on their way to Platinum Trophy glory.

Even if you don't play Batman's story again, just the extra content is enough to justify the purchase.

Perhaps the biggest perk to the Wii U version of Ninja Gaiden 3 is the addition of Dead or Alive's Ayane. In the last few NG titles, Ayane made a couple of cameo appearances, but on the Wii U, players can take control of the Dead or Alive mistress in her very own mini-campaign.

The game sometimes gets in the way of allowing players to express their creativity.

By far one of the most impressive games of this console generation.

Tank! Tank! Tank! probably shouldn't have elbowed its way onto the Wii U. Like most arcade games, the title is fun in short bursts, but any longer than five minutes, and you're looking for another game to play.

An okay little game. Overall, it's fun, but the gameplay can get grindy, repetitive, and frustrating at times. It's certainly a good idea that had a lot of potential, and at downloadable price it's really not the worst deal out there. However, it's not the game that R&C fans wanted to celebrate the series' ten-year anniversary with. It doesn't have the story, the action, or the overall feel of classic Ratchet and Clank adventures.

The game isn't funny, and that's inexcusable.

There is just tons to do in this game. The Wii U version's additional features aren't phenomenal, but they'll give you more to play around with.

In an age of overpriced character skins and pay-to-win microtransactions, it's nice to see that Gearbox is willing to put out substantial content that is well worth the asking price.

If only the main story and gameplay could begin to keep up with the wondrous vision that the game's world-builders came up with, Epic Mickey 2 could have been a fantastic game. Sadly, instead it's a journey of discovery that is bogged down by mediocre gameplay, bad A.I., and occasional bugs.

This is an exercise in tedium, a substandard brawler that exudes laziness at almost every turn.

Simply put, The Walking Dead from Telltale Games is a shining example of what interactive media should be. If you miss out on this, you are missing out on one of the greatest works of art of our generation.

It doesn't push boundaries, but it reminds us all that Mario will always be the king of the 2D platformer genre, even long after that genre has been buried beneath decades of gaming history.

This is a massive game, even on the first playthrough, and it warrants multiples since there are so many different social links to explore, side-quests to do, and even multiple endings to see.

Even with all of its problems, I genuinely love the technology. It feels like a strangely inventive step forward for Sony. And, if developers can get behind the tech, we might see a string of educational and entertainment titles hit the market soon. That'll just depend on the bugs getting worked out of the system.

It gives fans precisely what they want: more of everything they're already enjoying. Some might wish for an expansion that pushes the boundaries a little more, especially when so many other MMOs are shaking up the genre with radical new ideas. But at the end of the day, Storm Legion adds a ton of fresh content, including two enchanting new continents, at a reasonable price.

It's a well-thought-out game with responsive controls and a magnificent roster. It's the first game that I can confidently say gives Smash Brothers a run for its money. However, it's not perfect, and it certainly doesn't hold a candle to more balanced hardcore fighters on the market like Street Fighter, BlazBlue, Tekken, or Skullgirls.

LEGO The Lord of the Rings takes the charm of the LEGO games and mashes it up with the brilliance of Tolkien's beloved masterpiece in a way that does justice to both. This is a refreshing, from-the-ground-up rebuilding of the LEGO formula, making this perhaps the best LEGO game to date.

It's fun to play, addictive, and certainly worth adding to the collection of those Rabbid fans out there.

The campaign isn't too terribly long, but its innovative perma-death mechanics make that experience enjoyable throughout.

Definitely has a more long-lasting appeal than Wii Sports, but also has a much higher learning curve.

Yes, this game retails for $40ish instead of the typical $60 of other big-budget titles, and that's a fantastic deal for a game that, despite a few personal quibbles, would have been well worth the full price of admission.

Despite being a strictly single-player experience, Absolution packs more replay value into its two game modes than most games would do with five. It has its fair share of deficiencies-a goofy narrative, okay gunplay, a few bugs here and there-but overall, Absolution is a game that demands you explore its nuances over and over again.

Black Ops Declassified isn't a Call of Duty game. It's like one of those grey-market cameras that has an almost-recognizable brand name on the front. And Activision, in all of their laziness, may have inadvertently kicked off the Vita's funeral procession.

Painfully low production values, unsatisfying action, and outright confusing controls.

The game's superfluous combat and unforgiving puzzle-solving mechanics only serve to bog the experience down; I can only assume that, without them, Sticker Star would have been infinitely crisper and more enjoyable.

In a lot of ways, it feels like Treyarch is giving a gigantic middle finger to Infinity Ward, the Modern Warfare developer that always seems to dominate the spotlight. Black Ops 2 isn't just the culmination of the Black Ops series, it might become the most-loved title in the Call of Duty franchise. Either way, fans won't be disappointed this year.

Pid is a clever little indie title that looks great, sounds great, and provides a decent challenge. Sure, there's currently an almost overwhelming deluge of triple-A blockbusters due to the holiday gaming season, but don't let that distract you from the indie goodness that is Pid.

It offers both a substantial kart racing experience and a heaping serving of that LBP flavor we've grown to love. It's not perfect, but it's an absolute blast.

Okami HD is the definitive version of Okami. It has the best graphics, fewest bugs, and most responsive controls if you are using a DualShock. It runs perfectly in widescreen 1080p without a hitch.

Painfully mediocre and flawed at its very core.