If you absolutely must have a new combat car racing game, go for it. Otherwise, maybe hold off until the mood strikes you… or it’s on sale.

There’s an old school vibe that permeates through The HD Adventures of Rotating Octopus Character. Its simplicity, difficulty and colorful, Japan-inspired visuals are a call back to a bygone era of games.

There’s a good game in Pokemon Y, and fans looking for another game near-identical to the ones before it likely won’t find issue with a lot of the dusty trimmings and transparent battle system. If you want to get into into the new stat rebuilding features and grind out tons of easy battles to prep for high-level online multiplayer, it’s never been easier to do so. But for all else, the game’s excellent visuals belie the frustratingly old-fashioned design. RPG folk can find better times on their 3DS.

There’s a good game in Pokemon X, and fans looking for another game near-identical to the ones before it likely won’t find issue with a lot of the dusty trimmings and transparent battle system. If you want to get into into the new stat rebuilding features and grind out tons of easy battles to prep for high-level online multiplayer, it’s never been easier to do so. But for all else, the game’s excellent visuals belie the frustratingly old-fashioned design. RPG folk can find better times on their 3DS.

Everything feels so shallow because of this, nothing hooks the player in for hours on end, instead serving as a timewaster for a few minutes before finding something else to do. Seeing as this game is available on mobile phones that would be the ideal platform to play while waiting for a flight or bus.

There will be a small audience for this game I’m sure but most should just let this game pass them by.

Unless you’re dying for a game set in Vietnam, there’s no great need to play this.

The PC’s Komplete Edition is the best way to experience this game, technically. A modest gaming machine can run it with a nice smooth framerate and settings set high. The game has never looked more detailed and crisp, and timing your movements feels a little easier with the improved performance.

Despite some technical hiccups, I actually think handheld is a better version of the game than a console experience, and if you have the system for it, definitely get this one on the go.

What impresses me more then the visual/gameplay updates is the fact that Wind Waker HD still can compete with any new game on the market today. The story is charming, the characters warm your heart, and the game remains as one of the best 3D adventure games to date. With the lack of killer software on the Wii U, The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD is one of the only great games currently available to date.

Overall, it’s the same game as before but on a handheld, which worked very well for the gameplay.

Plus R is a fine tune-up of one of the most technical fighting games around, but its skeletal packaging makes it all but impossible for non-fans to get excited. There are untold hours of value here that will be all but impenetrable to most. Unless you know the game and have a local community of like-minded opponents ready to go, I can’t recommend it.

It is the first game from this studio that I have enjoyed not just because I was intrigued by it, but because it executes its concepts well and puts forth an all-around solid package.

Floating Cloud God Saves the Pilgrims is a simple game that’s easy to pick up and play, though I don’t recommend playing it in long stretches (which I did), lest you grow bored with it entirely.

Competition in the 4X space might seem quaint to some, but Stardock easily proves that there’s more than one great ruler who deserves fealty.

In all, The Wolf Among Us has a superb introductory episode.

Regardless of whether you choose to partner up or go it alone, Foul Play is a grand ole adventure. Easy to pick up and fun to master, the combat alone would make this a worthwhile venture, but adding in the game’s theater aesthetic and unique visual style makes this an easy recommendation.

As an ode to Agatha Christie, The Raven does a more then fair job. As a mystery charting it’s own ground, it ends up as little more than middling.

While it’s alright in quick bursts, it gets tiring very quickly, and it won’t be too long before you find yourself wanting to go back to main series games and play something more fulfilling.

This is the essence of FIFA 14 – a great package but a hefty sidestep, rather than a leap, as some of its predecessors were. The menus are fantastically designed, accessible and simple, which isn’t a mean feat considering the sheer amount of different modes and ways to play, and make it seem a shinier, fresher product than it is.

If you’re looking for a game with good music and not much else than Beatbuddy is your jam. Otherwise, look for the soundtrack and skip the frustration.

Even if you don’t like the gameplay, the story and setting are solid enough to where you can get at least some minimum level of enjoyment out of the game. If you are the type of person who enjoys playing adventure games with puzzles like the ones found in The Inner World, then you may get more than that out of it.

Takedown: Red Sabre was supposed to be an eloquent love letter to the tactical shooter genre, but the final product ends up reading more like hate mail. There isn’t a single part of the game that rises above mediocrity, and much of it dips below that mark. Worst of all, the very fans who have been craving a new game like Takedown are the ones who will be disappointed by it the most.

Any control issues aside, Rayman Legends never ceases to be enjoyable. The game is so fully featured that it makes Rayman Origins seem like a prototype. From the game’s delightful tone to it’s gorgeous graphics and top notch level design, Legends is better than Origins quantitatively and qualitatively. Not only that, it’s one of the best games of 2013 and one of the best platformers of all time. Maybe even better than Rayman 2.

The feeling of conquering the Wyv and Keep world will only get you so far until you realize that the characters are reliving the same puzzle as you struggle to come up with a solution.

For shmup aficionados and lovers of Japanese anime culture, Mamorukun Curse is a worthwhile play because it contains all the trappings of the genre with a few interesting twists.

In the end, Legend of Dungeon is a by-the-numbers roguelike with little to get excited about besides its unique style. Unfortunately, that style makes a promise of originality that the gameplay simply can’t deliver on.

Shadow Warrior won’t win any awards for complexity. It’s a shamelessly self-confident return to the whiplash, blood’n'guts symphony of 90s-era shooters, but it salvages the low concept, and it’s own checkered legacy, with ironclad mechanics and the likable, if oafish, story it tells.