It still does what it does incredibly well, and every new campaign in a Civilization game brings originality and variety on its own. I thought the extra-terrestrial setting was badly wasted, but even without any real innovation it’s still a very solid game, just not one that’s much different from Civilization: V.

Sometimes I walked right past a guard in broad daylight, right in front of him, and I wasn’t detected. Sometimes I crept by quietly in the dark 100 metres away with the guard’s back 3/4 turned away from me, yet somehow he saw me and madness ensued.

It is a chilling, suspenseful and downright terrifying love letter to fans of the Alien franchise.

This year brings a nice upgrade and meets the new visual standard of virtual sports. Sure, there are a few bugs and errors. Yes, the problem with the face mapping is a thing, but it’s hilarious. I hope to see some scary faces out there, and it would be great if 2K had some sort of contest like who can make the scariest face. If the team can just spin this small set-back in a positive way, who cares if one small part of the game doesn’t work that well? Everything else is rock-solid and super fun.

Despite the technical issues, my displeasure with the voice acting, and the addition of the hints in the conversation tree, underneath it’s still very much the Gabriel Knight I fell in love with back in 1993.

A pretty solid package, and has no glaring flaws that I could find. But looking back at it, it doesn’t feel all too different from its previous iterations (totally flying the face of the name “revolution”).

It’s more average than definitive.

The Evil Within should have been the best next generation horror game we have seen to date. Shinji Mikami has the pedigree, credentials and budget to make it happen. Unfortunately The Evil Within falls short and doesn’t come close to living up to its billing.

While it doesn’t reinvent the wheel, Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel is tweaked sufficiently to warrant being its own entity.

Short Peace leans towards its visually appealing aspects instead of its story and gameplay features. It’s a nice anime and video game hybrid to mindlessly keep you busy for about two hours, but if you’re looking for a serious game to invest your time in and explore this might not be what you’re looking for. Your eyes will be thanking you, but your brain might say otherwise.

It really feels as if DriveClub shot itself in the foot by even suggesting that it was on the same level as other simulation racers out there. It’s more of a hybrid arcade/sim style game that just doesn’t have the chops to compete highly on one side or another.

Anyone who digs the horror or suspense genres should absolutely pick this up. Being born out of personal torment and inner conflict makes this game a unique experience, and sometimes you can’t help but relate to Thomas’ confusion as he wanders through the dark.

Fans of puzzlers, horror and story driven games alike will find enjoyment from Ethan Carter as it manages to be compelling, challenging and terrifying, all at once.

It might take a bit of time and effort, but once you’re past the initial start up process you’ll soon be in for a treat.

With a brilliant blend of silky smooth yet brutal combat and some memorable stealth sequences, Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor offers up some of the best open world combat we have seen in quite some time. It is not without some faults, and will frustrate many to the core, but in the end you are left with an excellent Lord of the Rings game that should please any “Mature” gamer.

Defense Grid 2 ‘s gameplay is fun enough to deserve some of your time, even though the visuals aren’t what you might hope for on a next-gen system. The game offers an impressive amount of variety in its missions, and coupled with great multiplayer, it’s a solid experience.

Nintendo’s newest treasure lives up to its predecessors and improves upon the formula in well thought out and engaging new ways.

Whether you’re in it for the fights or the characters, Persona 4 Arena Ultimax shouldn’t just be on your mind, it should be in your hands.

Obviously Fenix Rage loses some points for coming after, but if the worst thing you can say about a game is “Damn near as good as Meat Boy” then that’s very high praise.

The fact is that most players will just want to hop in and play rather than build. Those players will ultimately be left wanting after play set boredom sinks in. Still, it is an improvement over 1.0 and it makes me hopeful for what we might see out of the eventual successor in Disney Infinity 3.0.

Clunky controls, frequent and time consuming travels between areas and the ability to literally skip through all of the challenging sections are real setbacks to what could have otherwise been a very enjoyable game.

With great character and level design, and so much to do, there is more then enough to keep anyone busy. The new trapping of enemies adds a more immersion to an already busy game.

It’s clever use of familiar faces and settings with the most satisfying style of over the top fun to watch combat is flawless. It isn’t without its short comings, but has more than enough strengths to make them seem un-noteworthy.

For those who have yet to experience this highly addictive combination of tower defense, physics destruction and real time strategy, CastleStorm: Definitive Edition offers a unique game experience that is fun to play solo or with friends.

Probably my biggest gripe with the game was the number of bugs we encountered. These ranged from being stuck behind a door, to the end-screen not generating the stats and gold bars. They were usually just minor annoyances, but happened just a bit too frequently.

Anomaly 2 takes the tower defense model, flips it, adds some bells and whistles and makes one hell of a fun time out of it. While not having the most extensive story and somewhat repetitive gameplay, Anomaly 2 makes up for it by throwing in enough in game variations to keep you interested as well as having quite challenging difficulty curves to keep you coming back.

This is just a very solid purchase if you’re looking for quality content at a low price that offers nearly endless hours of fun gameplay centered around an oft-forgotten race so key to true fantasy worlds. Thank you Triumph, for doing justice to these noble little people and bringing them to the center stage for a grand performance of dancing, singing, and a little bit of blood-letting.

Daunting to an almost discouraging degree at first, but once you get the hang of it you’ll get sucked right in, and afterwards you’ll probably need a cooling off period before trying again. But you WILL try again.