One of the best all-around fighting experiences you’re likely to find—and fans of both DC Comics and Mortal Kombat-style fighters will be blown away by this high-quality brawler of epic proportions.

As a game, I think Terraria shares a lot of personality traits with the worlds it randomly generates. Sometimes they aren’t pretty, sometimes they’re rough, and sometimes they aren’t the friendliest places to be, but once you dig in your heels and dig under the surface of what you’re given, there’s a whole world of wonderment just waiting for you to explore.

ShootMania breathes new life into a crowded genre by taking things back to basics. If you’re a fan of old-style twitch shooters, this is the game for you. However, a lack of progression—bar a leaderboard—and simple map designs may lead to many being turned off in the long run. If you’re after a pure shooter, however, it doesn’t get much better than this.

A great idea that falls apart in the implementation. It’s a deeply promising game that dies by a thousand small cuts and a handful of big ones. Still, Trion has built a solid foundation, and they’ve made it clear that they’re in this for the long haul, dedicated to growing and improving the game over time. And, you know, I genuinely hope they pull it off.

Between taking in the hysterical story, trying your hand at level creation, or just blowing up some buddies in versus mode, most every gamer will find something to love about BattleBlock Theater. Whether played alone or with friends, The Behemoth’s latest is an absolute blast that’s well worth the price of admission.

Game Freak returns to the non-Pokémon world with HarmoKnight, a music-infused platformer that will be a light-hearted romp for casual fans of the genre—but which might not be memorable enough for more dedicated rhythm-game devotees.

The core gameplay mechanics in The Devil’s Cartel seldom fall short of base competency, but they never really rise above it, either. With almost no combat variety, wonky cover mechanics, and cringe-worthy writing, it’s the sort of mindless, throwaway shooter you’ll have forgotten a half-hour after the credits roll.

With a few notable new features—including a first-ever complete set of PGA Tour majors and the inclusion of golf legends like Arnold Palmer and Ben Hogan—Tiger Woods PGA Tour 14 is one of the best incarnations of this long-running series. Unfortunately, the in-game mini-goals, such as earning sponsorships and mastering each course, have been eliminated; while this might not bother some players, those who used these goals as an incentive to keep playing should make note.

The overall journey drags on in mind-numbing fashion, until you just wish someone would drop a giant Pokéball on your head and end it all.

To the casual observer, BioShock Infinite may look like just another game starring a scowling, testosterone-infused hero cocking a shotgun at onrushing enemy hordes. But just like Irrational’s 2007 trip through an undersea Objectivist paradise gone mad, this is far more than a simple first-person shooter; the experience will make players think, inspire them to explore, and leave them emotionally spent by the time it’s all over. With BioShock Infinite, Ken Levine cements his status as one of gaming’s elite creative minds.

Though a functional game at the most basic level, The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct is an absolute disaster from start to finish. It feels like Terminal Reality duct-taped several different half-finished projects together and assumed the brand tie-in would move units. It’s an absolute disgrace—both to the TV show it’s based on and videogames as a whole.

Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon maintains much of the charm of the original and benefits from a superior coat of paint and level design. But one limitation the 3DS has—its lack of a second joystick—can prove irksome, especially as you move into the latter stages.

The alchemy-infused RPG known as Atelier Ayesha is much like its titular character: unpolished and at times awkward, yet also unquestionably charming and endearing.

An interesting concept that proves less interesting in execution—and ultimately suffers from repetition that’s beyond boring.

The new eagle powers are far more impressive than the wolf skills from the first episode, and although the story drags early on, it picks up nicely towards the end, ramping up to a hopefully fitting—and satisfying— conclusion in the final episode.

Great gameplay and a humorous, well-written plot are more than enough to help LEGO City Undercover overcome some of the franchise’s lingering technical flaws, making it one of the few worthwhile experiences on the Wii U.

Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate is a tough sell for newcomers, but if you’re patient, it’ll make a believer out of you with lots of freedom afforded to your playstyle, even if the controls sometimes make the experience more cumbersome than needed. Hardcore series fans, of course, will need no convincing here.

While the emphasis on fast-paced replayability and a more intimate, nuanced narrative do wonders for Judgment‘s single-player campaign, the game is ultimately held back by its surprisingly meager multiplayer offering.

Though the games themselves may be a little too obscure or esoteric for some fighting-game fanatics, Capcom’s under-appreciated Darkstalkers series has been brought back in fantastic fashion in Darkstalkers Resurrection.

Like an archeological dig. Somewhere under the dirt lies the broken pieces of a fantastic game. EA and Maxis are working furiously to put Humpty Dumpty together again, but in the meantime, we have a game that’s equal parts entertaining and frustrating. Sporting a fantastic user interface, great graphics, and an interesting concept, SimCity has an astounding level of potential. But in its current state, I can’t recommend it to any but the staunchest series fans.

Fester Mudd delivers an entertaining point-and-click-adventure experience, but given the game’s earnest devotion the genre’s sometimes-frustrating tropes, you might only want to give it a shot if you’re particularly nostalgic for the days of Guybrush Threepwood and Roger Wilco.

Dead Space 3 would have been well served to include some of the thrilling gameplay featured here, but Awakened‘s convoluted narrative has far too many absurd plot holes—and is far too short—to be worth anything to anyone but the most die-hard Dead Space fans.

Though a few flaws do mar the overall experience, Phantom Breaker: Battle Grounds is an extremely enjoyable mix of retro beat-em-up design and modern fighting-game-inspired combat depth that offers far more satisfaction than its $10 price tag might initially suggest.

A clear example of a studio going to the well with a franchise one too many times. Although highly polished and still entertaining for fans of the franchise, Ascension lacks the soul of its predecessors as it scrapes the bottom of the Greek-mythology barrel to try to deliver on a franchise that’s clearly run dry of fresh ideas.

MLB: The Show is still the premier baseball experience on consoles, but some very questionable team rankings, minimal improvements to the overall package, and subpar online gameplay mean that MLB 13 isn’t a huge leap forward for the franchise—we’ll have to wait for the PS4 for that.

The math for Dollar Dash to be fun is there, but the numbers don’t add up. One crucial variable was unaccounted for: other interested parties.

While the strengths of DmC‘s balletic combat aren’t entirely lost in Vergil’s Downfall, they’re decidedly diminished. The novelty of a new playable character and slate of abilities is largely negated by the fact that Vergil isn’t nearly as smooth, interesting, or fun to control as his snarky twin brother.

Excessive button-mashing, constant quick-time events, drawn-out battles, an awkward balance between offering exploration while also being linear—those are elements that need some real rethinking and reworking if they’re to exist in upcoming portable chapters of Castlevania, or they’re elements that need to simply not exist at all.