During Episode 2, I was struck by a line about how connecting with people is important. In The Walking Dead, I’ve been doing just that, building alliances and becoming emotionally attached to characters.

All the fart jokes and Chinpokomon references in the world wouldn’t mean anything if the gameplay weren’t up to snuff, but The Stick of Truth manages to impress as a game on top of being frequently hilarious.

A highly enjoyable and unique RPG.

I can’t think of a better way to bring this franchise to gaming consoles. The RPG format allows for a ton of funny items and sidequests, the objectives are unlike anything else in the genre, everything moves along at a solid pace, and the overall feel is distinctly South Park. It’s one of the most faithful adaptations of a license I’ve seen, and it ranks among the best comedic games ever released.

The overall presentation is cute, with a virtual Pac Room that you can deck out with unlockable items, and a sticker album that you fill up by completing challenges. Namco missed a critical opportunity, however, in putting all the games into a greater context.

Before the tedium set in, I had fun with Garden Warfare.

If you want to watch John Rambo mow through waves of baddies in violent and satisfying fashion, watch the final half hour of the 2008 film. Don’t spend your money and time to recreate any moments in this cheap, broken wreck.

Outlast is a virtual tour through a hall of terrors. Even playing the game in full daylight makes me uneasy. However, the game's overall level design and gameplay were sacrificed at the altar of fear. If you're looking for an experience that will get your adrenaline pumping, Outlast is hard to beat, but if you’re looking for a meatier horror experience then you might want to run past this one.

Level-5 insists this is the end of Professor Layton taking top billing. The franchise will continue in unknown directions, but The Azran Legacy offers a worthwhile conclusion that adheres closely to the same formula that made Layton so beloved.

I liked the quirkiness of Weapon Shop De Omasse, but I was never truly captivated by it.

At times, the developer seems ill-fitted for the franchise, but the studio has padded out this selection of classic stealth challenges with crafty cat-and-mouse moments that help intensify Thief’s ­slow ­pacing.

Eidos-Montreal may have adhered too closely to the series’ roots, resulting in a reboot that suffers from classic problems like simplistic combat and trial-and-error sneaking missions. However, locked behind this old-school game design is a gem that stealth fans should eye up for their collection.

If you’re content to save your game every couple minutes and enjoy a slower-paced stealth game, then Thief rewards you with plenty of moments so tense you might catch yourself holding your breath.

Even with only a handful of easily dispensable enemies moving toward you, an inescapable panic is generated from the light and sound show accompanying the spectacle. If you can find your groove, you won’t have a problem hitting start immediately after getting a game over.

It’s a beautiful, original concept that falls just shy of something special.

At best, this game is a stopgap to hopefully something better in the future, because it's signaling its stagnation.

NASCAR '14 is not just a carbon copy of Inside Line, but most of its improvements are either minor enough or exposed by other flaws that the sum total of the experience doesn't equate to a lot of positive momentum.

The game rewards strategy and patience time and time again, and you’d be doing yourself a disservice by not having it on your iOS devices.

I’m happy to report that Double Helix nailed all of the classic elements of the series while launching it into the modern era.

I’m happy to report that Double Helix nailed all of the classic elements of the series while launching it into the modern era.

Strider is a great reboot for old-school arcade junkies and at the same time a fresh action experience for newcomers to the franchise.

You can find more ambitious sci-fi shooters out there, but you won’t find anything else that captures EDF 2025’s delightful mixture of action and atmosphere.

It may not be as polished or balanced as Gears of War or Killzone, but Earth Defense Force 2025 is full of gleeful carnage and B-movie charm that make it hard to put down.

While the genre can be difficult to get into due to clunky interfaces, obtuse or cryptic instructions, and infuriating citizen behaviors, Banished offers a fairly intuitive take on things and it’s also easy on the eyes.

At around two and a half hours long, it's not an epic experience, but another window into Ellie's life. Instead of blunting the impact as I feared, Riley and Ellie's story adds resonance to the original game's ending. For The Last of Us fans, this is a ride well worth taking.

Just like the previous game, I yelled alternating cries of agony and relief working through particularly challenging areas. Almost everything is fair and doable with enough focus and patience; the bonus stages are a little ridiculous, but that's to be expected. [March 2014, p.89]

This shambling monstrosity is composed of chunks from other, better games. Rather than blend them together into something new like its predecessor attempted, this one just feels like a patch-work mess. [March 2014, p.85]

This shambling monstrosity is composed of chunks from other, better games. Rather than blend them together into something new like its predecessor attempted, this one just feels like a patch-work mess. [March 2014, p.85]