There might be an honest-to-goodness game somewhere in here, lurking underneath the slew of technical issues, uninspired gameplay, game-breaking mechanics and cryptic explanations for how everything fits together. Not that the game would have fit together in the first place, anyway. Whatever may be underneath the game, it’s really not worth the trouble of finding out.

Once you get the unlocks, the game is pretty fun for a few hours a day, at most, but doesn’t really hold up to longer sessions. The leaderboards could use some work, and I hope that they continue to peck away at them, but Race the Sun is a fine runner with some decent hooks and unique modes that can give you some good fun if you stick with it.

Go pick it up and give it a try, you’re bound to find something unique.

In fact, this isn’t the kind of game you want to play period. It’s the kind of game that’s clearly trying to trade off on looking like better ones, but it just reminds you that you don’t want to be playing this one.

Bit.Trip Fate is a beautiful 2-D side-scrolling shoot-em-up with a strong dubstep soundtrack. But it’s the weakest entry in the series.

Those who can break through the complexity and achieve that “AHA!” moment will be the ones that get the most out of this robot simulation.

Divekick is a clever proof of concept for a fighting game reduction, and while that concept never quite turns into a fighting game great, it remains a precise and fast-paced alternative in a genre where it can often take hours just to get a grip on a single character. It takes all but ten seconds to grasp the basics of Divekick, but unless you really get into the online, it struggles to maintain a long-lasting infatuation.

Droidscape Basilica is an impressive first outing for developer Kyttaro Games. It has its share of problems and pitfalls but overall it’s a solid iOS game that will suck up your time should you get hooked on it. While the its aesthetic appeal is a bit lacking Droidscape makes up for its shortcomings with unique gameplay and a fun combination of mechanics that, while odd at first glance, go together quite well in execution.

There is intensity in the pre-game intro that carries into the first snap and concludes as the last second ticks off the clock. Even without any game changing additions, there was a clear focus on smoothing out the rough edges and making the best playing Madden of this generation.

So where does this leave us? Same great game, extra content, fan made costumes, all on the your personal computer through the magic of Steam.

SteamWorld Dig isn’t ground-breaking, but its tight action platforming and satisfying gameplay hook will easily keep you entertained for several hours. It’s perfectly designed for a handheld experience, allowing you to pick up and play for a few minutes here and there, progressing a little further each time.

Relish the art and the experience it across several sittings; Sohta’s journey is brief, but very uplifting.

The game works on some level, so you may get more enjoyment out of it than I did. I don’t wholeheartedly recommend that you avoid this game, but you should exercise caution if you decide to take on its challenges.

By divorcing themselves so much from the experience, Pwnee Studios allows their game to suffer from not being able to judge whether a level is actually fun, making it come off pointless, shallow and uninteresting.

Overall, Cognition: an Erica Reed Thriller – Episode 2: The Wise Monkey is a solid step forward for this promising mystery series, even though the technical issues on the iPad are a bit of a drag.

Gone Home tells a story unlike any other game in recent memory, and yet it does so in a way that only a video game can. The masterfully executed environmental storytelling guarantees that each player will walk away from Gone Home with a different experience.

That’s the gist of it really. Ducktales Remastered looks great and sounds great, but at the end of the day, it’s tired and repetitive. Does it color my perception of the older classic? Not in the least. But it will make me wary in the future, when a developer trudges out an old memory in new clothing, whispering the sweet siren’s call in my ear, telling me it will all feel the same. It might, sure, but it rarely ever does.

Papers, Please is a lean game that knows exactly what it wants to do, and does it with more style and confidence than one could reasonably expect.

I found its story to be genuinely engrossing as it involves much more than eliminating street gangs and taking out the leader of an international crime syndicate. Saints Row IV is a long game as well, taking me close to fourteen hours to finish (and I still had a large number of side quests and Diversions to complete).

With so much of the story left to see, it’s hard to make any definitive calls on the overall quality of The Raven: Legacy of a Master Thief. As for the first chapter though, I am waiting with baited breath to see where the story goes, and to continue on this adventure with Constable Zellner. For fans of the adventure genre, this is an easy one to recommend. For everyone else, there is nothing quite like a good mystery, and this, so far, is absolutely one of the good ones.

That’s Dynasty Warriors 8, a mish-mash of fun, brokenness and low production values that in many ways feels like the video game equivalent of a b-movie. It’s a cheap, tacky, mostly easy game that won’t tax your fingers or your mind.

Papo & Yo leaves me conflicted. On the one hand, I couldn’t be happier that Vander Caballero turned to video games as his means for self-expression. Unfortunately, the uninspired, frustrating gameplay adds nothing to the heartbreaking story contained therein.

I like the game overall, but it tends to grow a bit tired after a few missions from the story.

Shadowrun Returns is enjoyable while it lasts, thanks in large part to its great writing and enthralling murder mystery.

For a game built on such a solid mix of exploration and combat, to have both systems feel so broken is almost criminal, especially when a different, better version of the same game exists on another platform.

This isn’t so much a game as it is an experience and it’s something that I recommend everyone should experience. While the controls can be troublesome and there are a few gimmicky moments, this is probably one of the most emotionally powerful stories of the year.

Dream Team‘s bright and friendly world is an easy one to fall in love with, but by the time you reach the end, that love will have been tested repeatedly by uneven design and a lack of narrative follow-through. Many of its flaws could be reduced to its strict following of the series’ formula without expanding on what makes it endearing. Much like Luigi’s dreams, AlphaDream’s latest is a little pre-occupied with expectations of Big Bro.

Divinity: Dragon Commander is an excellently written and polished blend of action, RPG, and strategy that delivers on each front without feeling disjointed or glaringly weak in any one area. It’s a game in which each component meshes together well as a whole package, and the end result is a fantastic genre mixing title that is both entertaining and thoughtfully constructed.

For a company so well known for it’s console-spanning pinball franchise, Castlestorm is as beautiful and precise as any one of their fantastic tables.

Dragon’s Crown doesn’t offer any much needed enrichment of its various genres, but it makes up for this by committing to its visual identity and the frenetic, empowering possibilities of its game design.

It’s clear that Interceptor Interactive was determined to do two things: Place as many Kim Jong-Un jokes in a video game level as humanly possible, and craft a game that follows in the footsteps of the original Rise of the Triad.

Unlike the dedicated officers of the R.I.P.D., do yourself a favor and just let this one go. I don’t think this needs anymore words to get that point across.

Whatever its reason for existing, if the purpose of Unearthed: Trail of Ibn Battuta – Episode 1 was to do anything besides provide a terrible game, it missed the mark completely.

If you really feel a need to play this, get it on Steam or some other PC forum. From what I have seen, the pictures featured here, or anywhere on the internet for that matter, point in that direction. I can’t speak for the quality of the title there, but I can, emphatically and until I am out of breath, say this: Do not, under any circumstances, play this version. Leave it on the shelf. Don’t even purchase it on sale. Don’t play it. Just… don’t.

Really, the best part about Brave New World is that it’s finally addressed every victory condition in the game and made each one not only more equally viable, but also just as busy. Weaponizing culture works to bring it more in line with the other conditions–it’s something you have to work towards and not something you just happen to achieve. On top of that, the diplomacy changes make this system more interesting as well, and it all comes down to one thing: if you have Civilization V and want to play more, you owe it to yourself to get this expansion.

Deus Ex: The Fall is a very ambitious game that pays off in some significant ways but fails in some fairly key areas.

To many players, these sorts of persistent issues can damage their enjoyment in significant ways, but the dense tactical gameplay manages to shine through more often than not, and if you really get in deep, this may be the last game you need for months. And if you’re completely unsure about the genre or heavy online teamwork, it couldn’t be cheaper to give it a shot.

In many ways, Dark’s greatest success is in reminding me of time when I liked vampires and when stealth games were stealth games. And it provides an entertaining- if sometimes absurd -experience on both fronts.

You fight bugs until the credits roll, and if that doesn’t hook you at the beginning, then you’re especially not going to love it by the time you’ve played the game for its 4 hour run time.

Overall, Bad Bots was a great game to play.

Sanctum 2 is a good game, especially if you have friends to play it with, but if there is a Sanctum 3 in the future then I hope the developers take a more critical, iterative approach to their craft.

It’s never bad to reach for the stars. It’s the only way you succeed. And much like the lessons Ivent Games hopes you learn while playing their game, I hope subsequent projects from this team eliminate the small, yet serious issues presented. Strength of the Sword 3 shows incredible promise, and goes a long way towards meeting it. It’s almost there.

Its fluid mix of combat, platforming, and smart humor made me enjoy each of my 100+ run throughs just as much as any other. After spending nearly 20 hours with the game I can honestly say I’d love to jump right back in, if only to conquer the castle just once more.

While there are a few frustrations that keep Anomaly 2 from being truly fantastic, the game’s additions to it’s unique tower offense gameplay makes this a worthwhile sequel.

Released in 2013, LSL:R feels just as out of date as Gearbox’s Duke Nukem Forever, and critically speaking, I can only offer a review based on what it is now, not by what it was then. To the fans though, the score I give really doesn’t matter, nor should it. They paid for the game they love, and in this case, they got exactly what they wanted, dick shaped nose and all.

State of Decay is an impressive open world zombie game that can actually rival blockbuster zombie games like Dead Island.

The narrative experiments are definitely awesome, but you can’t just put style over substance, especially when all the same problems return. Hitchy framerates, action sequences that hang too long and make you fail them at least once thanks to technical error, the fact that you want to say something but your character doesn’t give you the option.

To put it bluntly, don’t bother with Fireburst.

Magrunner: Dark Pulse is a great puzzle game that you might be tempted to dismiss as being unoriginal. If you make that mistake, you will be cheating yourself out of a memorable experience.

Each level in Hotline Miami begins with a choice – which rubber animal mask will you wear? Pixelated, haunting renditions of a variety of animals are represented. Dog, insects, donkeys. Which would you prefer? It’s a powerful and completely cosmetic decision that blends simple, fast action mechanics and surrealist narrative to an incredible accumulation.

Scurvy Scallywags is on my front page where it will stay for quite a while. I keep returning to it if I find myself with a few minutes to spare. It’s perfect for those quick gaming bursts and is enjoyable for long periods as well. Scurvy Scallywags is $1.99 on the apps store and is definitely worth the asking price. It brings some unique twists to the match-3 genre that can easily reel you back in.

Overall, the idea behind Tiny Token Empires is a good one. For those looking for a different way to exercise their Match 3 muscles, or even explore the world of 4X gameplay in a real simple, easy to understand manner, there are worse ways to do it.

There are a lot of ideas packed into this game but I feel like if they would have cut back on a couple of the concepts to focus more on the story then this could have been a real stand out game. As it is now Remember Me is more appealing when it gets cheaper or if you have absolutely nothing to play.

The extent of your enjoyment will largely hinge on whether you view 400 Days as an odd footnote to an incredible first season, or as the prologue to an even higher-stakes follow up this Fall.

NCAA Football 14 feels like a great culmination of all the NCAA Football titles this generation. The new engine fixes a lot of the weird problems that occurred in the past few games and allows the running game to take center stage.

You get a whole new slew of 80 levels that takes about as long as the main game to get through, and has even more to do because it’s just so amazingly difficult. While some of the visual elements feel a little pasted-in, New Super Luigi U adds enough fresh things to an already excellent base game to be more than worth your time.

It’s great fun, a hell of a time, and an excellent way to hold on to a true classic of the arcade circuit.

Eador: Masters of the Broken World has a lot going for it, but it buries a lot of its strong points under layers of monotony and frustration. It is a tough, but not impossible, game to recommend. If you are a hard core PC turn-based strategy junkie, your options or rather limited.

Beyond just the fact that it’s a little boring to play, there are also the weird problems to deal with, and the game’s charm is nowhere near enough to make up for them. Even when you’re playing, it does so much of taking care of itself that I started to wonder why I’m even playing this when it can so easily play itself.

I wanted to like Prime World: Defenders as it really had me going for the first few levels. I had a couple of close calls where my HP almost went down but I managed to keep it perfect with well placed towers. This exciting back and forth between me and the enemies rarely showed its head again during the rest of my playthrough.

At the end of the day, Game and Wario is a compilation of a few good and a lot of mediocre experiences. You can see a ton of potential in a great Wario game for the Wii U but Game and Wario is not that game.

There’s always something new to see and do, and all the additions make it easier to hop in for a few hours each day and lose myself in the world. When things get to stressful for me in the real world, it’s nice to know that Animal Crossing: New Leaf is there in my 3DS, offering me a nice escape.

Rising Storm has started off on the right foot by being offered for free to owners of Red Orchestra 2, and this helps solidify the feeling of being an expansion. To be honest though, it’s not a bad thing. Rising Storm changes just enough with the new weapons, new maps to explore, and new mechanics such as the ability to create traps with grenades.

It’s an strong addition to the genre, and does a fine job building upon the foundation set by the lauded Company of Heroes.

The Last of Us is a masterful tale of two individuals who are both authentic and flawed. It creates one of the most memorable video game experiences I have ever played and I believe its the best game to come out in the last ten years.

Unless you remember these three fondly from your youth, there’s little reason to pursue them now. Being able to reach back to the origins of one of gaming’s biggest companies continues to be an act of at least some historical interest, but little amusement.

While not broken, it’s simply not that much fun past the initial “OMG I’M PLAYING AS A SUPERHERO!!!!!!” moment. It saddens me to say, but even for free, I can find better things to do with my time.

Thunder Wolves aims to embody the 80′s action flick and does so in a pretty fun manor. The gameplay is simple and enjoyable for the short time you’ll play, and the story feels appropriately campy. Enemies explode by the dozen and missiles fly left and right at all times.

If you’re coming for the puzzles then you’ll have a great time, if you want a story that makes you question your beliefs then you may find what you’re looking for and if you just want to sit in awe at the clay world then that’s fine too.

The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing was a treat, and hopefully, we’ll be able to have more in the future.

It is rather hard to recommend God Mode. Even though it has competent mechanics, flat out there isn’t enough content to see you playing for more than a couple of hours, especially when there are full retail games out there with similar game modes bundled in as well as with full campaigns and full multiplayer offerings for the same, or lower, price.

Deadly Premonition: The Director’s Cut is a delightfully weird game that, despite all of its many faults, has more heart and soul than any other budget title.

Call of Juarez Gunslinger is Techland at their best and the most fun I have had with a western experience since Red Dead Redemption.

It’s a relentlessly tense stealth-action shooter that manages to make its dead-horse premise feel as if it’s never been seen before now.

It’s a lesson Dillon’s Rolling Western: The Last Crusade could have used: it’s not always good to be genre-straddling, especially when you do it in a way that leaves both your genres hamstrung and uninteresting.

Even when armed only with its age and a modern translation, though, Soul Hackers’ great storytelling and infectious dark spirit make it a forty-hour-plus proposition that long-time JRPG fans should consider.

A very ambitious undertaking, StarDrive has a lot of promise. There’s a lot the developer hopes to add, and he plans on supporting the game for the foreseeable future, but the package as it stands is a bit of a hard sell to all but the most patient and driven 4X fans.

I certainly appreciate the game existing on the eShop, but unfortunately, The Starship Damrey needed to have better storytelling and a better payoff to make the download worth it.

Star Command is a very unique iOS experience that I hope to see a lot more of in the future. The biggest problem I have with this game compared to FTL is that you aren’t going to see a lot of variety in your play experiences because, unlike FTL, there is a full story here that takes about four hours to run through so you’re pretty much tied to the same path every time you play with very little branching.

Do yourself a favor and just buy an old Snoop album for $10 on Amazon.

Poker Night 2 doesn’t have particularly deep pockets as far as original content goes, but considering its budget price you could spend your money on worse things. If you like poker and just want to fold some 2’s and 7’s there are definitely better games for you out there already.

The fighting system isn’t bad, it seems perfectly balanced, I just didn’t particular care for the way the game moved. If the movement had been more fluid, I think I would have really liked this game a lot.

A wonderful novelty, Sorcery! exists to serve a niche group of users and will struggle to find a captivated mainstream audience.

Evoland is by no means a bad game but really just feels middling once you really get into it.

Cognition – An Erica Reed Thriller – Episode 3: The Oracle, is mostly an entertaining experience. You may miss some of the features that showed up in the first two episodes, like the forensics/murder investigation elements and the variety of locations.

Despite its problems, Cognition succeeds at immersing you in its emotionally charged, supernatural mystery. If you are fond of mysteries and adventures, you won’t regret the time that you spend with the first episode of this promising series. While it shares lots of flaws with its brethren of the genre, this point-and-click adventure game has enough going for it with its story and cognition mechanics to make it worth playing.

A more ambitious script, combined with a few memorable levels, would have made for a pretty good game. Instead, Star Trek: The Game, is a boring experience that you will forget about soon after you are done with it.

All that being said, the core of Pressure is a fun ride. Good mechanics go a long way towards making a great action-racer, but the bumps along the road end up bogging this down at the end of the race.

Zeno Clash II has that unique quality about its world and combat that the first game possessed but it’s polish that is sorely lacking from the overall package.

Fans who just want more Far Cry 3 or have particular nostalgia for the 80′s could certainly find worse ways to spend a rainy Sunday afternoon, but you’ll have to hear some terrible jokes to get there.

The game is flashy and can be pretty addicting while pushing you to your limits. It’s by no means a perfect game, but it’s not bad either.

God Mode is a game that’s fun for about an afternoon, if that. Because of how dull the game is, there’s no real incentive to play for long stretches of time.

Characters aside, Mario and Donkey Kong: Minis on the Move is a very fun game, with a frantic pace and several deviations on the main puzzle type that serve to give you a pretty full package.

Guacamelee! is a surprising source for a number of in-depth questions regarding ethnic art and internet influence, but it’s also one of the finest games available for the PlayStation Vita.

Still, if you loved Dishonored as much as I did, The Knife of Dunwall is worth your time; just be prepared for more of the same and less of the extraordinary. Except for Daud. Daud’s cool.

A game this broken doesn’t warrant a playthrough of any kind and is the sort of purchase that fills one with regret instantly afterward.

The great thing about Star Wars Pinball is that you don’t have to read instructions in order to get something out of the game. My fondest experiences with it were spent during short, impromptu sessions that didn’t accomplish much outside of listening to the sound effects and watching the table light up.

Those with any love for the genre should play Gemini Rue for the story and to delight in the nostalgia of a simpler time before eye-popping HD graphics, light bloom and the Unreal Engine.