With everything running at 1080p, this is certainly eye candy. Just be sure to keep up, because neither Dante nor Virgil, or the demon horde for that matter, is going to drop the action because you're a little rusty.

As a single-playthrough experience, Ori and the Blind Forest is a wonderful example of sublime presentation, a simple but heartfelt story, and challenging platforming.

But hey, for what they were building, Tipping Stars does a lot of things right.

It's bringing back some of the old and combining it with the action sequences current gamers are accustomed to. As I mentioned in the first episode's review, it's disjointed and yet somehow manages to work.

A surprisingly remarkable Xbox exclusive that you won't able to put down and delivers the veritable “fun factor” that modern games often miss. It's truly a game that's greater than the sum of its parts, and yet every part is crafted with care and a sense of excitement, from the three fully-fledged campaigns modes and the accessible Sandbox system, to the GLaDOS-like voiceovers and the game's humorous, futuristic theme.

I applaud the fact that Over 9000 Zombies! was created by one person, because I'm sure it took a hell of a lot of work. Building barricades and turrets adds a welcome bit of variety, but it doesn't make gameplay deep enough to keep me interested for very long. Gamers who like to dominate leaderboards will appreciate the single-player mode, and I imagine that the side-by-side multiplayer mode will be a hit at parties.

Dragon Ball XenoVerse may not have a complex fighting system, but this game is all about fan service!

Bottom line: If you play only one new Nintendo platformer starring an adorable character, you should definitely pick up Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker. If, however, you have time for two, then get ready to stare directly at your GamePad for Kirby and the Rainbow Curse.

Ace Combat: Assault Horizon Legacy Plus will definitely appeal to aviation aficionados who happen to game as well, but not to many other gamers. Either way, the “Plus” feels like a misnomer—the title doesn't offer enough new or entertaining features to justify a full-price purchase point for a four-year-old marginally average game.

While the new additions and the costume collection are nice, the strongest value of Dead or Alive 5: Last Round is its clean 1080p presentation on new-gen consoles where it performs cleanly and admirably.

This won’t satiate the hunger for the next full incarnation of the series, just provide an added distraction while watching old episodes of the animé.

If Dynasty Warriors is your guilty pleasure, then Empires would be your guilt trip.

Though nothing is over-the-top incredible about each piece individually, it all links together in a way that only Resident Evil games somehow can manage—maybe not everything on the sampler platter is as tasty as the next, but altogether it's pretty darn good.

Camera Obscura is definitely a niche game with simplistic gameplay, but it has a certain charm that will captivate anyone who gives it a try.

Perhaps some day, Ready at Dawn could develop a sequel that's gorgeous and fun, and lives up to the promises of The Order: 1886, fingers crossed. But today is not that day.

Jungle Rumble appears to function as a back-and-forth of interesting ideas and ho-hum delivery.

Morningstar doesn’t only appreciate your time, but it’s easy on the senses too. There are only a few cut-scenes, but all animations and scenes are nicely done, even though clean, abandoned environments have been done to death.

Is The Book of Unwritten Tales 2 worth getting? Definitely! Although it doesn't add much innovation to the series, this game offers a more complex and fine-tuned adventure than its predecessor.

Though the combat and the camera could have given a touch more polish, the ingenuity of the card-based game design speaks loud and clear.

The awful bugs, lack of polish, boring story, and repetitive gameplay are gross enough. I suggest watching The Omen. There are less bugs, and it’s significantly shorter.

There's no denying that some players will find the formula repetitive after a short while, and the lack of other great game modes contributes to that repetition. But the complexity and depth of each class coupled with an entirely different experience as the monster allows Evolve to create its own niche within the larger multiplayer genre.

But if you can handle the constant exertion meter management, sharpen/recharge/reload your weapon while surrounded, and chase those damn beasts down on foot alone or with friends, you should be able to weather the storm of Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate.

Still, as a new version of a game many never played, The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D has plenty of improvements that overall make it a more playable experience.

Blackguards 2 had a rocky launch, but the 2.0 patch release fixes virtually all the technical and balancing issues that I encountered with it. I found its story to be a little pedestrian, but really enjoyed the gameplay and customizability of the characters.

With its truncated clock system, The Escapists balances two opposing forces against the player’s own patience with notable mechanical leverage no matter where you’re coming from. On one hand, I ended up feeling gratified and at peace doing menial mini-game-like tasks, including exercising and laundry duties. On the other, it seems like Team 17 and Mouldy Toof Studios don’t want you playing the role of a prisoner at all.

Perhaps it’s best to think of it this way: If the occasional AI glitch or incoming onslaught of paid DLC gives you unbearable or unwanted flashbacks to Rome II, then you may want to avoid Attila altogether. But for everyone else, you’d be remiss to deprive yourself of a rich, captivating experience that, though not quite perfect now, will likely achieve true greatness via updates well before its successor arrives.

To say that its immature and painfully unfunny sense of humor would be appreciated by 13-years-olds is doing a disservice to the intelligence of 13-year-olds, as Zombeer makes Duke Nukem Forever look like Withnail & I.

Lost Lords carries the torch from Iron from Ice—no more, no less.

Even with the story's odd consistency and dialog was translated by an all-work-no-play intern, the mechanics make up the difference and make this a fun time-waster.

Ultimately it's a game I appreciate for its ideas more so than its execution.

Although the poor lip-syncing diminishes the impact of the dialogue and several hackneyed characters blemish the overall story, the first episode of Life Is Strange is easily worth its five-dollar price tag and positions Dontnod Entertainment as one developer to watch out for this year.

It retains that spark of ingenuity, that offbeat quirkiness which keeps its design unconventionally timeless.

Few levels provide much of a challenge, so breezing through the entirety of the game in a short period of time is more than likely, though for sub-15-buck price, it’s not much of a lost and can be worth it if you’re looking for a quick downloadable fix. But surely this blended concoction has sorely missed the bull's-eye of arcade perfection.

Despite some poor design choices and a few bugs, Citizens of Earth is still an enjoyable game that will appeal to turn-based RPG fans who like quirky humor. It's just too bad that there's such a strong focus on keeping players busy rather than interested.

The return of super powers and introduction of flight makes it a mostly enjoyable three hours, but as a standalone experience it falls just short of typical Saints Row success.

If you’ve never played the first Resident Evil, then purchasing its HD remaster is a no-brainer. However, there’s enough here to convince old-timers to explore the Spencer Mansion once again.

WWE Immortals is an imaginative recycling of ideas and an easy recommendation for casual WWE fans, particularly those who are currently engrossed in WWE Supercard. Of course, it's a deal-breaker if the game constantly breaks on your phone or tablet, though the approachable combat system and the fact that it's free helped push me through the opening loading screens (at least thirty times).

As a game, it's fairly simple, and playing by oneself could grow dull quickly. It's really when people play together, either locally or online, that #IDARB takes off.

Despite a few issues with the camera and the absence of a customizable mode, Geometry Wars 3: Dimensions proves that the multidirectional twitch-based shooter is still a blast.

The lack of meaningful obstacles lessens the overall experience a bit, but Shantae and the Pirate's Curse still stands as an excellent addition to a series with a devoted fan base. The Pirate's Curse adheres to the Metroidvania formula from previous games, but everything here feels bigger and better. I imagine the devoted fan base will only grow after more people play it.

Danganronpa 2 looks like a niche game, but it tells the kind of crazy story that more people need to experience. I mean, who can resist a talking bear and rabbit?

You could ask for a version more to your liking, but Ultimate seems mostly focused on getting to these new consoles before any other subtitle.

This video game adaptation of Game of Thrones is solid enough to be mandatory for fans of the series, but should be considered carefully by fans of the adventure genre.

I love to waste time with video games, but Loadout seems to point the gun in the wrong direction and then fire dud rounds at all the wrong ideas. The package offers plenty of gameplay and you could certainly get a kick out of using Vita remote play to while away commercials on TV, but you probably have other games to play too.

While I love this game's unusual art style and I enjoy the story premise, playing Dokuro is more frustrating than fun. It doesn't help that the controls have such an odd layout.

So if you can get over a lack of graphical variety and animation and a modicum of brainteasing, you’ll fare well in this cute puzzle adventure.

My heart felt good once I completed Never Alone after roughly 3 hours. Despite how straightforward the story is, the larger narrative and the way it ties into generations of storytelling tradition for the Iñupiat people is paramount.

I wish I could feel like Boss! meant something other than a cheap throwaway downloadable, but sometimes video games we love become the story all on their own. I couldn’t find that in Boss! though you may have an excuse to download a handful of PSN games this holiday season.

Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 ReMIX is currently available for the Playstation 3 for a suggested retail price of $39.99. Without its predecessor, Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 ReMIX, it doesn't make much sense, but it may be worth the purchase price for the truly excellent Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep alone.

Although Elegy for a Dead World is commendable as a unique and thoughtful writing and teaching tool, much of its implementation seems either limited or unfinished. It exists mostly as a launching point, and I question how many will spend long hours with it composing new works. Many existing games are inspiring in and of themselves, even if the characters are removed, because the environments are well-thought out and painstakingly realized.

In the end, Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris was almost an enjoyable sequel to Guardian of Light. However, it’s impossible to look past its glaring problems with performance, which sully what could have been an otherwise enjoyable sequel.

If the livestock weren't cutely rendered as squares and rectangles with faces but no appendages, then fattening them up and adding tumors wouldn't be such morbid fun. The over-the-top humor and wacky visuals are needed to hide the disgusting nature of what is actually occurring.

Bear puns aside, you will feel like you need to dance between the darker, more serious cast of Persona 3 and the lighter cast of Persona 4 as there are so many lovable archetypes at play. It’s to the P Studio development team’s credit that everyone gets at least a little time in the spotlight here.

Somewhere buried in The Crew, beneath the bloated content and the MMO shenanigans, is a competent racer featuring the perfect road trip. But for a game whose primary strength is freedom, there should have been more objectives and more incentives to explore its world with friends, instead of copy-and-pasted skill challenges and missions tangled in a confounding plot that's hard to forget for all the wrong reasons.

If you’re an old-schooler who needs a retro fix, there are very few games that can fit the bill better than Retro City Rampage DX.

A game that challenges the mind like Treasure Tracker doesn’t come around all that often and for that the Wii U console carves out another experience with childlike wonder as the objective, rather than the aesthetic.

At first glance I didn't think I'd enjoy playing QP Shooting – Dangerous, but the oddball style and solid gameplay won me over. Not all is perfect, though, as I could do without the long-winded story elements and cheesy music.

Hopefully, Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire will give fans that opportunity, either in retreading steps worn throughout Hoenn or acting as if it were a brand new universe on 3DS.

Hopefully, Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire will give fans that opportunity, either in retreading steps worn throughout Hoenn or acting as if it were a brand new universe on 3DS.

It is a video game that makes you perform familiar video game actions at the expense of all the reasons most people play video games, even going so far as to be ironic at times.

LittleBigPlanet 3 is a great creative experience packaged with an unfortunate single-player experience as its forward-facing section and buggy co-op play, both which significantly hamper what is otherwise an excellent creative experience and game-design as play.

Far Cry 4's lavish environment and solid shooting mechanics are stifled by a mediocre story-world that's a hair too serious and an iterative design that's a bit too obvious.

The reason World of Warcraft has proven to stand the test of time has everything to do with its ability to cater to a wide array of different types of gamers, and Warlords of Draenor only pushes the envelope even further.

Defenders of Time proved to be surprisingly deep, and it would have captured my attention for a lengthier period of time if it would have proved to be more popular, thus allowing me to experience its multiplayer component far more than I did.

Assassin's Creed fans who enjoyed Black Flag will likely enjoy Rogue as long as they're up for more naval adventures.

After a few months, the price is bound to drop well below current asking price and make its way to the $10 and lower bin.

On the whole, I found last year’s F1 to be enjoyably inoffensive, which is why F1 2014 is such a pleasant surprise. It makes for a great series swansong on PS3 (or, at least, I assume F1 will make the generational leap next year), and is just about the pinnacle of visual presentation for a racer on these tired old gaming boxes we’re still keeping around.

Smash is fun. That’s one of the most boring words to use in a video game review, I know, but I can’t sum it up any other way. Nintendo’s developers made it an obvious objective and they’ve unequivocally hit the motherload. You’ll feel like you did too, so make sure you’re tossing opponents off-stage to explore it all.

For most, Grand Theft Auto V and GTA Online will continue to present the same frustrations in place of freedom. There’s no getting around the fact that this open-world game aims to deliver variety, largely does, and yet still steps on a few toes and the sensibilities of responsibly minded Americans. I can’t help but love the parody and the ensuing outcry.

For the few songs that will catch your ear and push you to finish even on Extreme difficulty (which lives up to its name) and fiddle with the virtual pet aspects of finding the right gifts and such, Hatsune Miku: Project Diva F 2nd is a funny name, but a solid rhythm experience.

While it may lack more than several features that we might have taken for granted in the last handful of WWE titles, WWE 2K15's gameplay enhancements are a necessary boon and provides a well-invested platform for its future.

For a fantasy game presenting dozens of hours of gameplay, Dragon Age: Inquisition largely delivers on its promises, both mechanically and in gameplay that fans will want from the third title in the series.

Unity may be the hardest game the franchise has produced thus far. Regardless, I welcome any open-world game that can dedicate resources to this kind of heavily-directed play while maintaining the living environments you spend most of your time in.

Aside from some outdated appearance issues, JRPG cliches, and forgettable music, there isn’t anything terribly wrong with this game.

That said, with the plethora of other options ranging from churches to space programs, controlling an island nation bent on exorcizing its previous demons (existing under the Crown of an imperialist ruler) and taking sole command of an army and a civilization, Tropico 5 is a fulfilling experience.

If all you did was buy someone an Xbox One console and a copy of this, you’d have them covered for the next year should they really take to multiplayer or definitively clearing each campaign on the hardest difficulty with and without friends.

Tiny Troopers may be a middle-of-the-road experience, but sometimes that's just fine.

Call of Duty doesn’t just return to its explosive roots here; it manages to create a new metaphor for the American bang-bang shooter consumers who continue to drive sales of both it and other major franchises.

Despite my own wishes for changes to the tracklist, fans of the franchise and new Xbox One owners could do a lot worse for in-home dance simulations this Fall.

If you're being generous and don't care about the missing creation features, then WWE 2K15 is about as strong as WWE 2K14, except that it asks for premium price. In fact, that this current-gen WWE 2K15 could have been better as DLC for WWE 2K14.

In one breath, Freedom Wars will either delight or subvert what you think about role-playing games whether you’re well versed in Japanese gaming or not.

I know it’s designed for kids, hence the lack of difficulty, but it does come across better this time than it previously had.

This year’s installment isn't the most polished basketball title or even the best hoops title in general. But it’s absolutely safe to say NBA Live has returned and will be sticking around as a contender, as long as it continues to take these positive dribbles forward.

For handheld gamers this holiday season, the pickings remain slim, but Fantasy Life offers an idealized imaginative antithesis to all-out action like you’d find in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS.

Players who can withstand repetition and enjoy ridiculous 1000+ hit combos will likely appreciate the experience Samurai Warriors 4 provides.

It may not be a perfect experience, but it’s a real blast for anyone who likes these types of games.

To those who are looking for another action-RPG fix prior to the release of Bloodborne and can overlook LotF’s derivative nature, then it’s worth a shot. For everyone else, though, there are plenty more games releasing just around the corner to warrant you overlooking this one.

Sunset Overdrive doesn’t take itself seriously, making the action and character of the game stand-out about as much as its vibrant color scheme. Sequences that slightly alter gameplay or offer up a big boss manage to delight beyond most of what’s available on the latest consoles today.

Despite a few pre-existing flaws carried over from Civilization V, Sid Meier's Civilization: Beyond Earth evolves the franchise and has the potential to become an outstanding spin-off of its own.

While it’s still missing a few sparks of genius that made those old classics so endlessly replayable, it’s certainly fun while it lasts.

It's still one of my favorite games this year, but the flaws keep me from recommending it to everyone; this is a game for those who love the genre, and want an old-school tactical RPG challenge.

Where the title lacks the ability to teach you real art skills, it’ll provide dozens of hours of entertainment for a gamer aware of what they’re getting into.

Disney Fantasia: Music Evolved is a solid, entertaining game that's not too challenging for kids and whose main story I completed in about six-and-a-half hours.

If you're a Borderlands fan who's looking to scratch that itch for loot-based four-player firefights, then this will serve your needs well until the next core installment in the franchise. Otherwise, you're better off waiting for the inevitable Game of the Year package.

The Evil Within definitely brought back my nostalgia for old-school survival horror games: creepy mansions, terrifying monsters, puzzles, and eerie level design.

Still, Defense Grid 2 represents the pinnacle of tower-defense design at this moment and for that it gets a firm recommendation from this reviewer.

Wasteland 2 won’t be for everyone. It’s a challenging game that only rewards those willing to sink real time into it. If you like your tactical battles with simple presentation and old-school RPG design, you won’t like this game. It’s deep, and it feels that way right off the bat.

NBA 2K15 retains the title of best basketball video game, but it's a far less impressive title this year.