That's all well and good, but a lot of the ideas pitched in Telepaint have been seen before, and several levels actually retread over the same material, seemingly to pad the experience. While that doesn't happen often, when it does, you'll notice it, and will likely feel the urge to take a break before diving back in. Since the price tag is only a few bucks, it makes that pill a little easier to swallow, especially when the fatigue sets in.

Deathsmiles on PC is an odd port of a classic shooter, and even though it may not measure up to some of its Cave-bred ilk, it's still worth playing if you haven't experienced it yet.

The load times on PS4 are terrible.

It's a squad-based game that just happens to take place in an open world, and that's basically it. I don't see Division lasting as long as other, similar games either months down the line, as it simply doesn't allow for anything on a raid-like level to truly hook in the dedicated crowd.

The core mechanics and relaxing aesthetic merge so well together that players will sink in to the experience and never want to leave.

It's enjoyable enough on its gameplay merits to warrant spending time with it; it's also inconsequential enough that you couldn't be blamed for skipping it. It really just depends on how badly you want to play more Assassin's Creed.

If you're willing to dig in, and I mean truly dig in, the two styles of play benefit Return to PoPoLoCrois: A Story of Seasons Fairytale. The core story is roughly 30 hours or so, but you can mess around with all of the side content and the farming aspect for far beyond that, which is a perfect excuse to spend weeks on end with a portable.

Little quality-of-life additions like GamePad item management go a long way with The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD. They manage to hide some of the game's less flattering blemishes, and let you focus on what it does best. While I still wouldn't put it near the top of the Zelda pile, it's still head and shoulders above most modern adventure games.

Gurgamoth is closer to Starwhal, another novelty-based, colorful competitive game, but at least the latter had a sense of humor and janky-controls that are part of the fun. Put another way, Gurgamoth really is just bumper cars: a fleeting, mild amusement best remembered as a sliver of an otherwise warm, fuzzy day.

As an emotional experience, This War of Mine: The Little Ones is peerless. As a game, it's a sluggish chore.

Don't blame From Software for this -- the studio didn't even make it. And even if the developer gave the project its blessing, there's no way it could have possibly predicted what it was doing or how poorly Slashy Souls was going to turn out.

The plot is banal, the writing is tone deaf, and the acting is wooden. Those who can ignore the dressing and focus on the puzzles alone can find some good head-scratching moments and interesting logical interactions.

Overall, Soul Axiom is a painful experience...I love the plot premise; the idea of a digital, man-made afterlife and how that affects society is a cool idea. I just wish Wales Interactive explored it in a bit more detail, instead of giving us the half-baked story, sparse and boring environments, and easy, repetitive puzzles that it did. It feels like an opportunity for something special that’s been completely wasted.

It's hard to say what it actually is, but I think Ubisoft has managed to distill the formula down to the most basic level possible, and created an AC arcade game that's even more muted than the recent Chronicles offerings. Only those who haven't tired of the setup need apply.

The slow-motion combat might not be for everyone, but I found it to be just as exciting as any twitch-based shooter. Being in control of the situation at all times is exhilarating, especially when one wrong step could mean certain death.

Even with its flaws, The Flame in the Flood remains an engaging and challenging survival game.

At this point I'm starting to tire from the Telltale formula, especially when it doesn't provide a cast of memorable characters from the get-go, but Michonne herself was enough to power me through the episode and keep me interested. In Too Deep hasn't topped either season of The Walking Dead so far, but if you can still stomach a few empty "remember" prompts, you'll enjoy the story they're trying to tell.

The controls are tight, the visuals and audio are simple and charming, enemy types are varied and interesting, and you get to shower opponents with an endless barrage of giant shurikens, which never gets old.

While Far Cry Primal is a well-made experience, one I enjoyed a great deal, it oftentimes had me thinking about the routine the series has settled into, and envisioning a future where the Far Cry formula may not be as compelling as it once was, no matter how extraordinary the setting.

This game is not for everyone, but if there's even a little part of you that wants to hurl daggers at skeletal spiders under extreme duress, I recommend you go to hell. It's fun here.

This one is for fans only; and good on Compile Heart and Idea Factory for that. So to the Nep-heads who have enjoyed the series’ take on the console wars and its obsession with pudding and boobs: I can’t think of a reason why you shouldn’t pick this one up. To everyone else, there’s probably a better RPG you should spend your time and money on.

There is no reason to waste your time on a game as unambitious as Shooting Stars! You can say it's a small game, a joke game, a mobile game, and that's all true. I'm not holding it to ridiculous big-budget standards. But even within its genre and scope, there are better playing games out there that don't insult your intelligence on a regular basis. Play those instead.

Under all of this is the framework of a great runner. There are times when it's pleasing in almost every conceivable way. But, the unnecessary is too much to ignore; it bogs it down into the waters of mediocrity. The cliché fits perfectly here: More isn't always better.

The hub world is a far more realized slice of the wider Plants vs. Zombies universe, and it's so delightfully odd.

Conquest on the other hand is a more enjoyable from my perspective as a strategy veteran. It's much more complex from the start, and offers bigger maps, more interesting objectives (such as point defense or sieges), and a more intriguing plot.

Speaking of alleviating frustration, Birthright is probably the best starting place for newcomers. Not only does it offer unlimited grinding opportunities to beef up your party, but the actual missions mostly consist of easy "rout (kill) the enemy" parameters. The tale is also relatively open and shut, following a traditional storyline from a macro perspective, while keeping the complicated relationships intact.

It's a great middle-ground overall, really. Players can still grind like they can in Birthright (a mechanic that's eliminated from Conquest), but the difficulty is more in tune with the other release.

In a word, Cobalt is clunky. It has a lot of decent ideas, but it doesn't execute them very well.