Battlefield Hardline is a two-pronged success, with a killer cops-and-robbers story backed by a speedy take on competitive play.

Revelations 2 is neither a particularly good game nor a particularly bad one. It has all the ingredients of a good Resident Evil game, but lacks substance.

Kirby and the Rainbow Curse is a weird and beautiful game, but it's an odd fit for the Wii U.

It’s particularly frustrating to see Last Round struggle in terms of raw performance when it has no problem marketing its DLC.

Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate’s accessibility and rapid early progression make it a deeply appealing Nintendo 3DS experience.

The Order: 1886 is a terrible game. Not because it’s broken or made without skill. Certainly not because it’s an average-length, story-driven shooter with minimal replay value. It’s just a bad game, forgettable in every conceivable way and safely ignored by all but the most ardent Trophy hunters.

Don’t let concerns with Techland’s previous Dead Island games stop you from taking on a chance on Dying Light. You have to slog through some really terrible story missions and some very janky combat, but there’s a detailed world to discover, and a lot of fun mechanics to take advantage of.

By locking away the other two monster classes at the beginning, Evolve needlessly gates off completely different styles of play that new players will want to experiment with immediately, if only to get a feel for competition. Even in the case of the hunters, the slow leveling and unlocking of new skills, perks, and characters feels needlessly complex in what could have been a simpler and more approachable game.

Grim Fandango is a comedy, a romance, an adventure, and sometimes a farce, but more than anything, it’s alive.

The Saints go straight to hell, both literally and metaphorically, in Saints Row IV standalone expansion, Gat Out of Hell.

With The Dark Below, Destiny is still a brilliantly fun but deeply flawed experience.

For every mission of dull gunplay, though, Saints Row IV offers up something freaky in response.

Resident Evil HD not only preserves Shinji Mikami’s classic, but introduces a new control scheme that perfectly balances its delicious challenge.

Playing through Kingdom Hearts 2.5 HD ReMix, it’s hard not to hope that making this collection has shown Nomura how best to approach the final, still upcoming chapter in his unlikely opus.

Without the scads of small talk, Persona Q feels lost in the shadow of its parent series.

Replaying stages to get everything is part of Treasure Tracker’s pleasure, but it doesn’t come at the expense of variety.

This is a series that refuses to grow, even as it chases an older audience.

The best way to escape Dead Island is to never land there in the first place.

Forza Horizon 2 is bigger and faster, sure, but it’s also a masterful snapshot of the joy that fuels car culture.

Is it overflowing with newness for anyone that’s already gorged the past year’s soccer bounty? Nope. But it’s still the very best soccer game in town.

Curtain Call is a rhythm game filled with artful nostalgia, but elements like the Quests elevate it beyond enjoyable pandering.

The Creative Assembly’s game, however, is cooked; left to boil so long it loses all flavor and texture. For 10 hours, Isolation is one of the best horror games ever made, until a second, poorly made game bursts out of its heart.

Dark Souls II desperately needed Ivory King's detailed frozen wasteland.

It’s a game that seemingly aims to bottle lighting a second time, and fails spectacularly.

There isn’t a AAA game out there that doesn’t exist to make money, but Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel stumps for dollars in a brazenly insipid way. It’s a paint-by-numbers effort, almost from top to bottom.

Costume Quest 2 is a classic JRPG, stripped of all the tedious baggage and wrapped in Double Fine’s impeccable writing and sense of whimsy.

Ultimax is practically a fandom fortress. It could be savory or bitter; that depends on the player's palette.

The Disney magic shines brightly in Fantasia: Music Evolved, and Harmonix has delivered another great reason to own a Kinect.