While I would have liked to see a bit more emphasis on the melee combat and less on shooting, I think you’ll still find that most battles give you a bit of a rush and are enjoyable to play, particularly the unique boss battles.

For the price, it's an excellent value, giving puzzle fans over 70 levels at various stages of difficulty.

Despite the issues of repetition and somewhat contrary design choices, Alien Swarm is an enjoyable shooter at an absolute steal of a non-price.

It might not satisfy the needs of action gamers, but for those who appreciate a classic style platformer with plenty of challenge and responsive controls in the vein of Donkey Kong Country and Genesis-era Sonic the Hedgehog, it's an essential purchase, with plenty of history attached and an ironic twist of fate by breaking new ground with Steam Greenlight and Kickstarter.

It would be extremely difficult not to be charmed by the graphics and animation in Luigi’s Mansion 2, as the passion behind them is practically tangible. Even the central focus of puzzle solving and ghost-catching are fun on their own. However, I cannot possibly overstate how much of the joy gets sucked out by its strict adherence to a completely linear chapter progression. It’s like a hospital painted in vibrant colors. It does a lot to brighten things up, but you can only do so much to counterbalance the sterility.

While Elder Scrolls Online has improved through the release of Morrowind, it still isn't enough of a jump to warrant a resounding recommendation (the 4v4v4 PVP mode here still isn't enough to get me into ESO PVP). If you already own it and are coasting by on free-to-play fumes, you should still think about upgrading and exploring the pointed, more focused land of Vvardenfell.

Depending on how skilled you are with puzzle solving (and how good you are with your hands if you're using the Touch), I Expect You To Die could last you several hours or a few days. But what I can really get down with is that even after I had finished the handful of scenarios, I anxiously wanted to see how others would approach the same concepts, and tried out a few new tactics of my own.

If we take our eyes off what the P.E.N.I.S. is suggesting for a minute, Sucker for Love is a wholly enjoyable experience. The writing is hilarious and clever; especially a treat for anyone who has a Necronomicon on their shelf. Its approach to the genre is completely irreverent, and it pulls it off so well it’s flattering. It’s certainly not the longest visual novel you will find, but it’s worth forfeiting your sanity to summon. Just beware of the bugs that crawl beneath its skin.

Arzette: The Jewel of Faramore is such an unjudgmental love letter to Link: The Faces of Evil and Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon. It’s a reminder that whether or not a game is good or bad isn’t the whole store. It’s more complex than that. The internet found legitimate entertainment in the CD-i Zelda games, and rather than write them off as ridiculous, Seedy Eye dug in and asked why. It found what was so compelling about those astounding failures and applied those lessons in a thoughtful and deliberate way. The result transcends its influences and takes on a life of its own.

Dragon Quest Heroes almost feels like a fully-fledged action RPG, but there's a few things holding it back from greatness. In the end though it still has its charms, alongside of a beautiful art style and a buttery smooth framerate. If you really dig Warriors games and can go at it solo, you'll likely enjoy it.

It's a different sort of game when compared to its brothers, but it works very well in the space it occupies. It's unfortunate that there are quite a handful of technical issues, because otherwise this is a great excuse to head back to the Sword Coast.

Kaze and the Wild Masks is an unashamed blast from the past, for better or worse. PixelHive's love letter to 16-bit gaming surmounts budgetary and design shortcomings with a compelling challenge, luscious visuals, and an evocative soundtrack, all punctuated by a solid underdog spirit. Kaze's polished but formulaic gameplay will not be to everyone's taste, but for those who long for the halcyon days when the platformer was king, it's most definitely wabbit season.

The two final skirmishes in particular feel internally consistent and well-realized and are great examples of the dynamism possible within Gears' ostensibly rigid and heavy framework.

Indivisible is rich with character, personality and passion. But is hindered by technical problems, vacant maps, and pacing issues, which hold back its true potential. With a little tweaking, some of this could be reversed, allowing Lab Zero's delightful cast, deep combat, and dramatic storyline to shine through. The blemishes can be hard to ignore but Indivisible, like Ajna's new-found friends, still gets inside your head.

FC 26 is the best entry to the franchise in the last five years. It hits its predecessor out of the park in every department, and it’s what any football game should strive to be. With intense gameplay and more modes, there’s something for everyone to enjoy. You can easily spend hundreds of hours grinding the gameplay content and improving yourself, while the rewards act as a cherry on top.

It didn't need to reinvent the wheel either; as Gearbox pretty much had the formula figured out the second time around.

While only half of the package is truly worth the price of entry, the fact of the matter is Tales of Symphonia is required reading for JRPG fans. If you've been itching to get into another giant quest filled with twists, turns, and a top-notch battle system, this is your chance.

Anomaly 2 is an immediate and exciting strategy game unlike any other, but over time the repetition and lack of depth leaves something to be desired.

From beginning to end I was completely entranced by these kids' quest to escape the horrors of Heavenly Host. Corpse Party has a timeless story built around solid characters and a genuinely creepy setting that is able to buoy its sometimes outdated gameplay.

While the story mode leaves something to be desired, the survival mechanics of The Long Dark's sandbox make it worthwhile. We have three more episodes of Will's journey to weave a wider story throughout the alternately unforgiving and inviting Canadian terrain. In the meantime, I'll be sitting back with my coffee mug, reflecting on my own small stories within The Long Dark.

While it's not quite the stunning triumph that many had hoped for, Sonic Generations is a truly great game that provides some of the best Sonic action ever seen and pays fitting tribute to Sonic the Hedgehog -- highlighting both his successes and his failures.

I got swept up in Duke Nukem 3D: 20th Anniversary Edition World Tour, and although I had initially planned on just checking out the new chapter, I ended up beating the entire game over again. There's a reason that these classic games like Shadow Warrior and Rise of the Triad still hold up, and it's mostly due to strong level design that very few developers are striving for. If you like a side of getting lost in mazes with your shooter main course, Duke is ready and waiting.

I love this game. It pushes all the right buttons for me.

Bomb Chicken kind of came out of nowhere, and I completely lost track of time after my first session with it.

Thomas Was Alone tells a story that's more complex than games orders of magnitude more expensive and difficult to develop. It's also a triumph of narrative's ability to convincingly superimpose human qualities onto nonhuman objects, telling the audience what's what (who's what?) and letting the imagination take over. It proves that you don't need tens of millions of dollars and hundreds of staff to make a game story worth telling, just a good hook, an engaging vision, and a whole lot of heart.

The gameplay is excellent, the cutscenes are interesting, even the live-action stuff is surprisingly engaging. Everything about it works great individually, but everyone will absolutely notice that they're just that: individual parts. The overarching story connecting it all isn't enough to keep it from feeling disjointed...It's a disappointing realization, but not a damning one. Far from it, actually. Remedy's keen understanding of how to make an action title shines through, and it's every bit a game that has been lovingly crafted for years.

It'll be a grind, but I'm still eager to do it. There are just so many recognizable monsters that hold special places in my heart, it seems like it would be a disservice to neglect them. Plus, there are the post-game bonus dungeons that aren't going to conquer themselves.

The Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing II is a much better showing than the original. It's what a sequel should be; it improves on nearly everything while adding brand new ideas to the pile.