Joe Danger 2 is one of the few 'smaller' games that manage to be challenging and decidedly indie, whilst looking like they have more money and manpower behind it than Hello Games will probably ever want to throw at a project. It's a throwback to a time where videogames were allowed to have bright blue skyboxes, when dinosaurs and robots were the coolest antagonists you could think of and policeman or firefighter the best job you could ever wish to have. Dish out 1.200 Points for it, be grateful and look forward to whatever Hello Games will invest their considerable talent and passion into next.

Nonetheless, keep your chin up, Emobi Games. The first step has been made. 7554 brought Vietnam on the map of games developers. The next step is an actually good game. And you´ll get there. Someday.

A little bit too efficient, a bit too distant from the player, but still I´m very happy Port Royale 3 exists. Its a game that gives you a lot of options for your actions without forcing you to use them. You can labor all day if you want to or just instead take five for a whole hour without having too watch your trade-empire crumble instantly.

The combat can never play out its strengths due to the botched balancing. The same goes for the otherwise solid mechanics behind abilities and crafting. The gameworld is one of the weakest in JRPGs in years, the design was made with child-compatible cosplay in mind and the rest moves through the unhealthy middleground of a genre that still tries to find a way to the future and nowadays celebrates its greatest successes with 2D-touch-titles. Solid maybe. Hardly world-shattering.

Secret Files 3 is a classic point´n´click adventure that will satisfy most of its audience. It stands on its own, walks a good pace and shows a lot of routine. But I seriously doubt that I will remember much if anything about it in six months.

Even an unconventional title like The Secret World struggles in a market full of great alternatives without those monthly payments.

For years, Dust: An Elysian Tail will be a testament to what one person is able to create. But it also shows how problems in a game can sometimes be missed by the creator as well as the players.

High Moon Studios achieved for Transformers what Rocksteady managed to do for Batman. This is the way licensed-games are done right.

But these problems fade from memory when Quicos adventure, after about three hours, reaches its mesmerizing, moving climax. You'll sit there, speechless, lump in throat, in wonder about the emotional impact of this brave little game – letting a fantastically cathartic final song wash you out of the game. It wasn't always fun and you're not even sure you want to play it again. What you're sure of, though, is that you just witnessed something that has made videogames a bit more mature.

Back to the drawing board to think about, where the fear really comes from and exchange some of the too numerous and crude puzzles for gameplay-value. In this form, it can´t even be recommended for the small price.You get better horror from Slender or the the first two Exmortis without having to pay for it.

Structurally and narratively I wish the developers had had shown more courage. But this kind of thing can happen, I guess, if you concentrate on getting your core mechanics spot on as much as United Front did. More of a rigidly controlled experience than a real sandbox, you can't help but notice that this type of game is not what it once was: Once open-world games were the fresh-faced poster boys of interactivity and do-as-you-please attitude. Now they're becoming more and more stale and antiseptic environments. It's not Sleeping Dogs' fault alone, and the game does impress at least mechanically most of the time, but it never manages to surprise.

Nothing on offer here is bad per se. It is very competent in all of the disciplines you'd expect a title with this pedigree to be competent in. But somewhere along the fast track into store shelves Mario's magic got lost. Coming out shortly after the much fresher and more inventive 3D Land didn't do it any favors. And as a successor, six years after the first NSMB, these little updates don't do enough to justify the '2' in the title. This might just be the first Mario game that has you playing it mostly because of twenty year old automatisms.

This is not exactly the worst port in the world, but the only glorious thing about it is its sheer existence. But nonetheless, PC-gamers should still be grateful, even if it does not offer the kind of technical improvement that they are used to and have to battle a few odd bugs. But since these are mostly restrained to graphical issues which can be fixed – not always thanks to FromSoftware ... – neither the score nor the conclusion have to be changed: Dark Souls is THE game of the last few years.

It challenges you, it gives you room to breathe, but also a purpose and of course it´s fun for every minute of it, which is all that counts in the end. You don´t have to invent everything again to get that. Not, if you have mastered the craft like Vigil Games obviously has.

Still, Deadlight has many visually striking and mechanically satisfying moments in store for you... In some ways Tequila Works might just have reached their goal: The punishing qualities of their game does indeed evoke its older cousins – Flashback and Another World. It's just a shame that they had to use the wrong means to do so.

Even though Dyad doesn't quite teleport you into the epic worlds of a certain man by the name of Tetsuya Mizuguchi, it doesn't lag behind much either. It even manages to evoke a new type of game experience, which high-score enthusiasts will gladly - and fully - embrace.

Actually, Wreckateer is so good that you can't help to ask yourself why Rovio Entertainment hasn't yet gotten around to launch their disgruntled poultry at Microsoft's motion sensor.

There's nothing wrong with the design of the levels or the gameplay in and of themselves. It's just that OMD!2 feels more like a sizeable update complete with co-op integration. It is a good game, though, which manages to best its predecessor. Soloing veterans of that game should think very hard if the amendments are enough to buy this sequel at launch.

I could tell hour-long anecdotes about my adventures in this weird world. Find another Spelunky-Player and these spin out of control – into endless amusing conversations. It may not be for everybody, but once it's got you hooked, it won't let go of you for days.

Just ignore the uninspired, meaningless and simply unnecessary main character and you´ll find a cute and entertaining puzzle-game, in which it is still up to Rovio and the community to discover the full potential.

Blacklight: Retribution is a good, but hardly great multiplayer-shooter. It´s solid entertainment for a while, but does not nothing new, that will knock you of your boots.

Most of the mistakes like the visuals or the faulty physics can be forgiven. One does to just forget about them after a while. But while the skating is just plain fun and veterans will almost be swept away by the nostalgia there is just not enough content in this one.

A nicely dressed game with a fun combat system, which also lets its Asian grinder-roots shine through. Especially during the quests they should have mustered more courage to try something new. There is fun to be had here, but you have to know, what you get yourself into.

As a whole, Dawnguard is either to expensive or too spiritless to really shine, maybe even both. In its best moments, it manages to surpass Skyrim in some disciplines, but it doesn't quite harness all of the potential its fascinating new areas and fractions seem to offer. A good new episode then, but not an essential one.

In the end, Test Drive: Ferrari Racing Legends would be a decent merchandise to get at the check-out of the Ferrari World. After all, enthusiasts can appreciate it for the wide variety of the famed manufacturers' cars. But if you're looking for a good simulation or arcade game respectively – this doesn't quite manage to be either; or a well done blend of both, for that matter.

In spite of or maybe even because of some of the gameplay barriers, I will remember my experience with it forever. I love it, I hate it and I love hating it.

It´s good to see that there is more potential left for a good Spider-Man game than the last downers let you to believe. The Amazing Spider-Man is a package of an open world to frolic around in and linear missions to keep it together. It is a decent game that makes it painful to think about what it could have been if the developer would have had more time to polish it. There are a lot of hints to the possibilities, but the movie is out now. One wonders, if its producer also had just three-quarters of a year to work with.

It feels great to blast though the hordes of zombies and monsters and especially the big guns will leave you with a wicked smile. If you haven't played it on the Wii, own a Move and are not averse to the one-sided gameplay, it´s an easy buy.

You got to admire Gravity Rush for its commitment to its idea. It's the kind of pure, to-the-point design philosophy, that classics like Super Mario or Halo have written on their banners: if the experience is enjoyable on its most basic level of interaction, the rest will follow on its own.

Playing Spellforce 2 – Faith in Destiny feels like watching a DVD of some show from the 80s. Before you do that, you have all those wonderful memories of heroes long gone. Afterwards you just shake the head and feel old. The world has kept turning during this time. (…) It has to be seen where Nordic Games will go with the license. There is still a lot of potential here.

Sadly, this is the second-best way to experience part 2 and 3 of the franchise. As an idea for a 'satellite-game' to the home edition, leaving out Peace Walker from the Vita-collection was hardly a stroke of genius. For the moment it seems that the series should stay where it calls home: On a enormous widescreen, support by a gigantic sound-system.

Even if the premise is not as self-contained as it should be and the basic design not as fascinating, as in the game that helped Swifts rise to fame: Friend of Portal-esque puzzles will find enough to do for two long afternoons - and at a reasonable price point, too.

Gods & Kings does not make Civilization V a new game, but a better one. You can´t ask more out of an add-on.

The Dark Eye arrived safely in the point'n'clink-world on the first go. Daedalic didn't go for crazy experiments, but instead kept to the proven formulas of the genre and also to the adapted game-world. Everybody can be happy about that, adventure-fans as well as The Dark Eye Nerds.

The fascination for this game must come from the bizarre, exaggerated humor. It´s really good at that and uses it well to keep you motivated. Gameplay-wise, there is not much here, that you will remember after a while.

We are deep in fan-service-territory with this one. (…) Y´s Origin is a small nerdy pleasure for everyone who misses the 16-/32-bit era, but does not want to resort to going completely retro.

There are no heroes here and it´s not up to you to be one. This is as far away from the shiny-happy shooterindustry as you can get, as long as you still want to sell a few units. The 'fun'-part lies in the excessive shooter-sequences, that will spare The Line from the fate of being a highly praised but commercially unsuccessful case of auteur gaming.

A lot of bullet-hell fans have declared Akai Katana the best there is when it comes to the gameplay mechanics and especially love the slash-mode. I think I understand them, even though I'm not so sure I understand everything that's going on in this game. In slash, Akai may well be the most complex Shoot 'em Up there is.

As a sandbox full of enormous building blocks, that you can cut and position at your own liking, Tiiny & Big leaves a very well-rounded impression.

Monster World is the real highlight of these Vintage Collections... You have to hand it to old action-adventures: they manage to stay surprisingly young.

Whoever had any doubt that these collections are some kind of spring cleaning at Sega, will find three games here whose common history beyond the Sega-Logo is hardly recognizable.

Non-stop brawling, neon lights and bouncer-marsupials.

Frustrations aside: playing this with a friend is still somewhat fun … again.

At the price point of a mere 1200 points, I can hardly bicker about the lack of truly new features or the absence of a new high-end-engine, but praise SEGA, that they haven´t put this update on the shelves for the full price.

More of the same. Hardly a bad thing bad in this particular case.

All of the preconceptions have been rectified, DiRT Showdown s a reasonable, competent expansion of the series that not only could offer the possibility for another spin-off in a traditional rally direction, but brings back that good old Destruction-Derby-feeling that so many seem to have a craving for. Don´t keep saying "there are no more games like that". Here is one. Enjoy.

In the end, it is a charming, refreshing look at a Move-world, that could have been. But presumably - maybe out of fear of its own target audience - it refrains from realizing its potential and lets you go a little bit enchanted, but also decidedly unsatisfied.

Dragon's Dogma then, a game that only slowly opens up to its guest, and one that certainly hasn't gotten all of the usual RPG-homework right. But if you are persistent and stay curious it will reward you with the most delightful cases of megalomania and delusions of grandeur in a long while.

I have to admit that my expectations were much lower, but it's fun to cower in the shadows and work out the perfect way to the target and then get the timing just right.

Future Soldier can be an extraordinary gaming-experience, but it depends heavily on the conditions under which it is played. (...) This is clearly an experience, that has to be shared with friends in the cooperative modes.

It's neither as groundbreaking as the first one nor a compelling a narrative as the Max Payne 2 (…) but it's still the kind of 'Welcome Back'-Party you wouldn't want to miss.

It may not be the action-rpg-messiah that some may have expected, but it easily matches its predecessors... Blizzard's new creation defends the throne with a mix of proven gameplay and tons of features.

A well-balanced game that has far more to offer than the first hour with it might let you on to.

It's still cut from the same cloth eternal favorites are made of. It does come from a much smaller coil this time around, though. (…) Instead of staying mysterious and unfamiliar for basically forever, the smaller maps of this conversion mean that you've grasped every inch of your surroundings all to soon. You will get to the point where you'll feel trapped, wanting to escape and to start over somewhere else.

It´s best not to question the relevance of Sonic in the world of modern gaming, but as a retro-flashback as well as a strong representative of its genre, this is a convincing game.

Sony, again, proves itself as a publisher willing to treat itself to some unconventional and outright anti-commercial games. In this regard I would love offer the best of compliments to Datura and Plastic – too bad that I can´t think of a single one.

It´s understandable if your eyes tell you that this looks like a lot of fun. But after three stages at most your worn out thumbs will tell you otherwise. Trust them, they've had their fair share of real heroes.

The cheapest of leveldesigns, an impact detection from hell, a meaningless underwater gimmick, an online mode bordering on being defective, a demented storyline – badly told too. It´s just the recycling of some leftovers and a waste of your time.

Port Royale 3 feels bound by the traditions of this time-proven series and gets all the basics right. However, it never really strays from the path you had imagined it would take, even before you ever played the game.

UEFA Euro 2012 is a nice little extra if you just have to have a game for the tournament, but it´s by no means an essential buy for FIFA 12 players.

Sure, the combat is a bit more static than it should be in this day and age and the paper-thin story is as simple as the characters are free from the burdens of personality. But still, the atmosphere of this idealized Caribbean with all of the Bruckheimer-Disney-innuendos always manages to drag you back in. Hardly a contender against Witcher 2 or Skyrim, Risen 2 still manages to cater to its own niche with ease.

Animated movie, point and click adventure and puzzle game meet halfway. Adorable, odd and as much a breath of fresh air as only a game about trees and those who live on them could be.

After the first episode I´ve got a good feeling that in August we might talk about the complete series as one of the most engaging and successful outlines for episodic gaming so far.

As much as Disgaea 3 can get along on the qualities of the original and of course still is a good game: you just can´t help the feeling, that the Vita should instead have deserved the fourth release of the franchise.

If you get along with the trial and error concept, you may get some enjoyment out of The Splatters.

It relieves its predecessor from the position of being the best skill-based game on this platform with honors. And that is a remarkable trick in and of itself.

Prototype 2 is an extraordinary, mature action game. And bloody as hell to boot.

Legend of Grimrock deserves candlelight and graph paper. Who knows how long it will take until someone will bridge the gap between an idealized past and the reality of now in such a wonderful way again; and if it will be in such an uncompromising and yet perfectly working way, as it was accomplished with Legend of Grimrock.

In the end, Kinect Star Wars wants to be a lot of things, but doesn´t achieve really much of anything.

Pandora´s Tower is a game that takes its time to reveal its own charm and qualities.

You will turn and shift every new room like a child handling a new toy that still has that special fragrance of fresh plastic – the smell of birthdays and Christmases. One can easily forget what kind of arduous design-process must have been necessary to create this almost hypnotic and wondrous effect.

The Witcher 2 on Xbox 360 is a wonderful, groundbreaking and lasting experience. So good, that a few visual cutbacks can't diminish the joy of playing.

Fans of the series will be dissatisfied by the stingy assortment of weapons, the overly mindless fights and the barrage of quick-time events. (…) If you're able to look past the many simplifications in comparison to earlier games in the series, just looking for a fast and undemanding slaughter, Ninja Gaiden 3 fits the bill just fine.

On the one hand, Tiger Woods 13 is a game almost too good for current control methods, on the other hand, a misguided experiment in online monetization. There seems to be a perfect game of golf sitting somewhere in the middle. We'll see if they can find it in 14.

Ridge Racer Unbounded then, a game on the quest for itself. It takes elements from almost every arcade-racing game in recent years and tries to build something for itself, with some success. Online, with a little help from the powerful editor, the game shines the brightest. Ridge Racer fans of old might not agree with it as much. Nevertheless, I hope for more games from this new side of the franchise to come.

Fans of Silent Hill will enjoy it more, because they'll find many allusions to the games of old that'll influence the experience in a positive way. Anyone new to the franchise, but interested in this brand of horror should, give it a look, too. (…) This game definitely restored my belief in the series, and that's perhaps the biggest compliment I can give this game.

No matter if you just miss the old days or if you are wondering why shoot´em´ups were a big thing back in then: Sine Mora is the way to go.

I don´t know if this botched port can at least in some ways be fixed by patches and it seems, that the PS3 got it even worse. Be that as it may, the way Konami presents these classics is neither a favor to itself nor the franchise.

Before I play Jane's Advanced Strike Fighters again, I'd rather have another go at HAWXs 2. And that is not something I say lightly.

At times it's a bit ugly, other times the AI is a bit daft, and even and even though I can't quite make out its calling as a flight-simulator on a console: unlikely as it may be, give Birds of Steel a chance.

What Twisted Metal needed was more development-time. More ways to interact with what the maps have to offer, better net code and more intuitive controls could have put this in a very different light.

Nintendo and Sora offer with Kid Icarus: Uprising their most emancipated work on the 3DS so far and also show how capable this little handheld really is. Once you get to grips with the controls, you will spend quite some time with this one.

This is not a real simulation, but there is also very little action to be found. ... Nothing here is really bad, but it looks more like the basic structure for something that one day may be… well, something. I hope Microsoft has a plan of what this future game might be like, because I don´t really have a clue. But it sure would be sad to see this time-honored franchise just fade away like this.

It´s a fun little miniature-golf-game, perfect to kill some time. It does nothing new, but that doesn´t mean it fails to entertain.

Finding your way into the game is harder than it should be. But once you're in, this is one of the best download titles on the 3DS.

It´s Limbo on Prozac. More colors and much more happiness.

It was about high time that FIFA Street found back to more realism, complexity and, in the end, long-term playability.

An average action-adventure, but with a little bonus for being likeable in an odd sort of way. That may not be much, but in some way a decent combat-system and a lovely lisp has to be rewarded.

The developers still have to work to turn this diamond in the rough into a brilliant cut. But even so, Carte managed to make me feel like a true geek. Maybe I will even get myself some real cards next time.

You don´t need From the Ashes if you think it'll add something relevant to the main plot. If you're looking for some background information, a new squad-member, a fresh weapon and a few war assets as well as outfits, it delivers exactly that.

In any case, Fall of the Samurai demonstrates what releasing a good add-on truly means. They could have gone down the cheaper "a little more of everything" road. But instead, Creative Assembly invested their hearts, brains and their uncompromising attention to detail into this, to give this expansion its very own charm and character.

All in all, the port is well executed and especially Snake never looked better. But that is hardly a good enough reason for veterans of MGS 3: Subsistence to return to the jungle.

The zombie-invasion is by no means a cheap bridge to motivate some western gamers to cross over to the eastern side, but the means to add some variety to SEGAs gangster-soap and at the same time provide a little bit of insight in some of the less common aspects of the Japanese Yakuza.

It tries, but gets outclassed by games that have been released years ago. That´s no easy feat to accomplish.

The first look at Unit 13 might have been daunting, but now I don´t want to miss the game on my memory card. The elegance that's missing in the presentation can be found in the puristic, unpretentious flow of the game's design.

Even though there is some competence to be found on a basic level, it will scare away western gamers with its frugal looks, some almost incomprehensible cultural references to the more obscure side of Japanese gaming and its obsession with the shameless presentation of anime-women, who seem to be just a bit too young. Neptunia wants to polarize and you can love it for this or hate it. This game doesn´t care one bit.

Journey is not the kind of game that you finish once and then shelve it forever. Here you play for the enjoyment of playing itself, not to reach a certain goal.

You are better off to tolerate the cracks in the façade of this game and use them to dig deeper into it. Then, I Am Alive will have the desired impact. We need more broken, bleak and bitter games like this.