Agent 47 might have shed a few layers of decidedly hardcore mechanics and that leaves Hitman GO feeling a little misplaced.

If you can stomach the rhyming, you’ll find Aurora an engaging heroine with a worthy cause who can slog her way through even the most intense RPG battles.

If you’ve been following the franchise for years, you’ll love this title and if this is your first shot at Kirby’s brand of suck, don’t be scared.

So long as Nintendo can build a wide audience and keep its online courses fresh, World Tour should score high enough to move the series toward the next installment.

If you’re looking for a resource-management game with some fun, engaging combat with a bit of light RPG flair, Battle: Evolution for Utopia might be a game for you. But if you’re a gamer that doesn't like too wait too long and have no desire to pay to play/play to win in the PvP multiplayer, then you should avoid this.

Fans will definitely enjoy the ride, latching onto each minute. Newcomers, well, go play the whole series—they’re on sale often and you’ll thank me when it’s over.

After NES Remix, I knew I wanted more. NES Remix 2 is definitely a step in the right direction, but due to featuring fewer games than the first Remix (which had 16 as opposed to the sequel's 12) and not including the best from the first, there’s still an air of incompleteness about it.

For an XBLA title, Skydive: Proximity Flight will get you a decent deal for your buck. There are plenty of tough achievements to complete and the game is even Kinect-compatible. Though the idea of this winged skydiving theme can be expanded with a few more added elements, so far it's heading in the right direction.

If you’re a major Call of Duty fan, I don’t have to tell you to buy a season pass for Ghosts and the remaining DLC packs. However, if you’re a casual player like me, reconsider your purchase of the Hardened or Veteran or Super-Soldier pack with the included remote control helo-tank when the next yearly entry rolls around. Chances are you won’t keep up with the competition to justify the included DLC codes anyway.

If your measure of a game’s quality is in its length, you won’t be disappointed by this 50-hour epic, but I couldn’t bring myself to dedicate that much time to it.

FRACT OSC is one of the best original games released on Steam in a long time. It is abundantly clear that it has been created by a team that shares an equal passion for both music and games, and its unique concept and gorgeous, vibrant world deserve to be explored by as many people possible. If you’re in ownership of functioning eyes and ears, then you owe it to yourself to play this game.

As it stands now, A Realm Reborn vastly improves on its predecessor and delivers a wonderful fantasy world to spend countless hours in. It has its fair share of flaws, especially in regard to the quest structure, but I imagine fans of the genre will enjoy their time with the game regardless.

So for a budget-price game you definitely do get your money’s worth.

But let's not finish on a bad note, because for $10, you owe it to yourself to try Faster Than Light: Advanced Edition.

Fans of the Trials series will likely enjoy Trials Fusion. Players who have yet to play a Trials game: Welcome to hell. Okay, maybe that's a tad extreme, but this is not a game for the faint of heart. Those willing to fight and endure will be rewarded a satisfying experience though, one in which the numerous deaths and crashes only add to the momentous victory as the player crosses the finish line.

As a full retail release more than five months after the Xbox One's release, Kinect Sports Rivals is a tough pill to swallow. It's essentially ten dollars per mini-game and only about half of them are worth replaying, after you fully prepare your living room of course.

Lego The Hobbit is, if not the best Lego game, then closely matched with the top entries in the series. It expands the series repertoire with new mechanics and better quest navigation.

Simplifying the controls doesn’t change the fact that another player is going to be better than you, but it does help to step beginners up from one football experience level to the next. It could be that having played with deeper controls gave me awareness of my opponent’s range and ability, but even with two buttons I was able to string together a few plays and feel better about my skills in the following matches.

Worrisome backers can rest easy with this investment. The intriguing and bromantic tale manages to bring introduce some fresh concepts in the well-established point-and-click genre.

If you’re a hardcore fan of Family Guy, this might be worth checking out. If you’re familiar with this style of F2P gaming, you may want to pass or wait a bit to see if the developer decides to add some balancing adjustments to the time investment and real currency expense.

If you’re a Diablo fan, then this expansion is already on your wishlist, but if you haven’t delved into the series before then I strongly urge that you do so right now.

This is My First RPG for a new generation of gamers, one that spells things out, repeats everything as many times as needed, and generally waits patiently as you scour the map for the one thing you need to move forward.

Dynasty Warriors 8: Xtreme Legends is best suited for newcomers to the franchise. If you keep your expectations reasonable before you jump in, then you can easily enjoy yourself.

It's an enjoyable, cheap that tastes great, but doesn’t fill the stomach for very long and leaves you longing for more substantial fare.

Between 20 different locations, 70 challenges that’ll certainly expand with time, and the extremely low cost of entry (it’s free-to-play), Monster Legacy might take off and dominate the iOS charts by Summer.

No-hitters seem like impossibilities in MLB 14 The Show, unless you turn on automatic fielding and let the others in your squad help out. America's game has always been about teamwork and that’s the only thing I feel is missing when sitting alone on my couch, playing the game.

If you can stick through the starting areas to around Level 10, find several friends to group with, and stomach the litany of technical flaws, The Elder Scrolls Online will more than grow on you. Whether it remains that way will be determined when I review the endgame content more thoroughly several weeks from now.

If you’re not a Japanophile, or you’re looking for a game to make you curse the Devil every other minute, Deception IV: Blood Ties is for you. If you’re like me and prefer games that don’t pad their lengths with frustrating mechanics with little narrative reward, you’ll find almost anything else to play.

It’s not a particularly baaaad game, and it achieves what it sets out to do, but there’s not enough content there, nor hilarity outside of its initial gag, to keep you playing for more than an hour or so. It’s fun while it lasts, but it doesn’t last for long.

Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z does some decent things right like the cel-shaded comic book narrative… and well, that’s about it. I wouldn’t suggest this for a fan of the Ninja Gaiden franchise or for someone who enjoys speedy action platformers.

Ether One would still prove itself a touching story, but it is doubtless that the crux of the game I played was restoring the projectors and learning more about Pinwheel.

Betrayer is a game that suckered me in with its alluring visuals, but once it had me within its grasp it outright refused to let me enjoy myself. This is a game that is far below the standard of quality one would expect from the creators of F.E.A.R., and further proof, if we ever needed it, that presentation shouldn’t take precedence over gameplay.

The game is still fluid enough to keep my attention and the NISA writing charm hasn’t yet worn off. It’s not as solid as their tactical stuff, but for a discounted price it’s worth a look. Helping this bitchy witch get some unjustified payback is still a great way to let off some steam.

Locomotion in an open-world game is oftentimes the most enjoyable part of the experience, but don’t expect Second Son to totally revolutionize the brand or the genre. I’d have liked melee combat to get a bit more involved with lifts and longer strings of attacks, but zipping around to recover health or blasting a helicopter out of the sky with an elemental missile feels perfectly entertaining for the early adopter set.

Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes is a good value for the $20 entry-level fee, provided you are willing to explore every nook and cranny of the environment and all of the possible ways of playing.

Dinosaurs and babies might not mix in history, but on 3DS they do just fine together.

If you want something more from your video games or if you want to be transported to another dimension to learn the true role of an intergalactic soldier, you should probably hit the books. If Titanfall is representative of man’s aspirations, we’re going no where fast.

Windforge has set sail without an adequate pilot, but I’m sad to say that this promising game has crashed and burned.

Though somewhat safe and predictable, Dark Souls II is more refined and somehow more challenging than its predecessor.

It was a giant step forward at the time, but it just doesn’t hold up under scrutiny anymore, compared to advances in contemporary RPG gameplay.

If it were just five or more hours longer in content, South Park: The Stick of Truth would have struck the perfect balance between writing, gameplay, humor, and length. Not since Earthbound and Super Mario RPG: The Legend of the Seven Stars has there been a turn-based RPG with such a distinct style and with so many memorable moments.

If you’re a fan of God games and have found yourself disappointed by recent entries in the genre, such as the latest SimCity and the Early Access version of Peter Molyneux’s underwhelming Godus project, then you owe it to yourself to pick up this game.

A bare-bones port of a nevertheless spectacular game.

For any fans of those old RPGs, this should be a fun throwback for you. For kids, it’ll be a fun introduction to the genre. For everybody else… what the hell, it’s still a fun way to waste some time.

If you’re already a fan of the series, or if any of this niche game sounds appealing to you, I urge you to give Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy a try. Certainly, those who played the previous two (or five) games will want to know how the trilogy ends.

Sure, you could spend your entire time shooting at both living and dead, but the best gameplay comes from varied and mechanically diverse controllable characters.

Despite some truly gorgeous visuals on now last-gen hardware and satisfying combat mechanics that feel as Castlevania as 3D gameplay could ever hope to get, Dracula gets hampered and hogtied far too frequently by poorly executed stealth. These mechanics have no place in an experience that, without them, could have totally satisfied your bloodlust.

Hiding in the shadows and taking out each opponent like a ninja, albeit a non-lethal one, is satisfying. But Thief shows one too many unrefined edges, occasionally catching itself unable to resolve the issue combining classic design with modern production.

Not every game needs to be ambitious, but those that settle for the familiar must face the consequences. Toukiden succeeds with what it sets out to do, but fails to distinguish itself from the crowd of portable action games.

Anyone with only a passing interest in epic hundred-hour tales of good and evil should stay away. With the game costing only $7.99 as a digital download, those steeped in the Japanese role-playing games will love mixing a massive adventure and Weapon Shop during long gaming sessions.

WoT for Xbox 360 singlehandedly revives my love for console gaming. I hope you’re a quick learner because how fast you unlock new tanks is directly correlated to how well you do in game. I could see this small community catching some flak from their more passionate seniors on WoT Windows, but it’s redesigned well with the Xbox community in mind.

Its concept had the potential to inspire a few laughs, but South East Games has drained it of all humor and left us with the video game equivalent of a knock-knock joke: tired, unfunny, and not worth anyone’s time.

It would have been fine to integrate the storytelling in the play—of which there is absolutely none—and had a “meh” battle system, because that would bring this up a few notches. But instead, it’s little more than an interactive manga with some battles tossed into some of the most boring environments this side of Dragonball Evolution.

For its price, Strider has great value, especially if you can switch gears towards being more exploratory at the end. Otherwise, it’s frustrating as heck to have the difficulty curve go from playing tag with some school chums, to enemies darting for your throat with the gnashing of werewolf-like fangs for your body's fleshy sustenance. Ninjas are lean meat, after all.

Left Behind barely scratches the itch I’ve been hoping to claw at since I put the controller down last summer. It's a bite-sized extension of the characters and lives fans connected with so deeply.

Although Earth Defense Force 2025 is caught in a tangled web of technical flaws, its corny simplicity and sensible multiplayer makes for a title with surprisingly high replay value. In fact, numerous EDF fans would consider the framerate drops and shaky presentation to be part of its charm.

Nintendo didn’t want us to talk about bonus levels and bonus worlds and more hidden goodies, but finding and playing these hidden levels is too good not to add to the report card. Nintendo fans have helped the company through thick and thin, but Tropical Freeze is a love letter to them.

While the whole experience is a bit heavy on the “throw more fighters into the pit," the overall game isn’t too bad.

Visually, The Lego Movie Video Game on PS4 looks about the same as Lego Marvel Superheroes did on the Wii U, which is a shame since the movie added scratches to textures and variable stop-motion framerate and lighting effects that could have been exploited with the next-gen hardware.

If you expect more bang for your buck despite its budget pricing, then you might be left feeling a little underwhelmed by this short-but-sweet adventure.

Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII will be lauded in the short term for its fun battle system, but remembered in the long term for its bad story and atrocious ending.

Vita owners looking for another standout indie title for their collections should definitely give Dustforce a shot.

Objectively speaking, it’s a game with visuals that functions, and that’s how it shall be scored.

If you already own the PC version, there is absolutely zero reason to purchase this again. On the other hand, Sony is releasing it for free for PS members right off the bat, which is a tough price to argue down.

Unfortunately, while its developer can roll out a patch to improve its performance, it can’t roll out a patch that will increase its player-count. With that being said it is impossible to recommend Rekoil, a game which is swiftly heading towards stagnation before it ever had a chance to prove itself.

In many ways, Fable Anniversary is just a prettier version of the original game with the added The Lost Chapters DLC thrown in for good measure.

Bravely Default is an RPG for everyone.

For the first DLC in Call of Duty’s yearly Season Pass, Onslaught feels like an expansive, if mixed, package.

Despite the glaring exclusion of other NES favorites, the no-mercy difficulty, and some bland challenges, NES Remix will resonate positively with any NES fan who welcomes a taste of the past and the feeling of satisfaction you get from the mastery retro games require to win.

Under the right circumstances, Messhof has established a new and shocking blood sport that’ll captivate audiences and players alike.

Age of Zombies is still rather short, even with the extra world packed in, but its brevity with each level makes it an ideal, portable pick-up-and-play game.

While I greatly enjoyed Dr. Luigi, most of my joy can be attributed to my profound love for Dr. Mario. Those who have such a nostalgic tie to the game will love Dr. Luigi in the same way the new iterations of Tetris keep fans from the '80s and '90s coming back.

Recovery: Search and Rescue has absolutely no redeeming qualities.

Adéwalé has his moments, but the real draw here is in the expansion of free-form gameplay both on land and at sea, meaning Freedom Cry succeeds at what it set out to do.

The battle system controls easily and is fairly easy to learn; those who see this game basically like chess will enjoy it. Those looking for a new RPG to get into, however, should look elsewhere.

If you’re willing to dedicate the time to truly understand it, though, then Continue will take you on an original journey, one which you’ve never embarked on before and one which you'll find nowhere else.

Let's hope that updates can better Ice Mechanica's UI and design and that developer Blindspot Creative can do better next time. At least a socially conscious game would have had more of a message, but Ice Mechanica kind of undermines the label "time-waster" by taking the player's attention for granted.

It doesn’t need extensive side missions, a sprawling mind-bending plot, or the full graphic capability of the Vita, because it’s just so much fun, which is why it’s garnering the reputation as a must-have for Vita owners.

The only meaningful thing separating the two versions is the inclusion of new characters and quests, and those additions aren't quite strong enough to make Baldur's Gate II: Enhanced Edition an easy recommendation.

With over 100 stages of fun, each lasting about a minute in length, Cut the Rope 2 is both good for quick bursts of gameplay or longer bouts on the go… until it’s time to pay, then only the most invested players will check back or pay.

Gran Turismo 6 feels like a last-generation model car with premium parts. It's certainly no slouch, but there's only so much room left for improvement, where an upgrade would finally mean moving to the most current edition.

Saint Seiya: Brave Warriors is fun enough for the occasional match, but there wasn't anything that held my attention for too long.

Ultimately, The Novelist was not the Pulitzer Prize winner that I was hoping for, but rather a fairy tale for grown-ups who want to believe that, no matter the outcome of their decisions, somehow things will work out for the best anyway.

Catching your ball in the bucket below or racking up enough points to gain an extra shot satisfies like never before, but the title will absolutely appear on a device you probably already own sometime very soon.

It’s a fun and fascinating game even if it isn’t especially memorable. Bugs notwithstanding, it’s a tough game not to be at least swooned by. It managed to get a number of laughs and awws out of me more often than the groans.

In short, as a game Zumba Fitness World Party is poorly made and poorly structured. But as a supplemental fitness video app, it's great, provided you can get through the menus without any problems. So it's probably a great buy for people already doing Zumba Workouts and other fitness programs, but not much use for anyone else.

Zoo Tycoon has all the cuddly critters up its sleeve (and I'm down with any game that features red pandas), and it wields the stick of cuteness without shame. But this simulation buries the cuteness beneath menus and squanders the power of the next-gen console by limiting the size of the zoo. Though creating a zoo is pleasant and breezy, after building several zoos with all of the animals, you've pretty much experienced the lion's share of what Zoo Tycoon has to offer.

Powerstar Golf doesn't change much to the formula of pleasant casual golf titles. Though it's more difficult than it needs to be, is slightly short on content, and is focused on randomized upgrades, Powerstar Golf fits well within the genre, doesn't cost much at all, and give even the best pros a run for their money.

Adventure Time: Explore the Dungeon Because I DON'T KNOW! does a great job of managing and working with the story, characters, and feel of the franchise, but unfortunately doesn't have the gameplay to match, especially at a $40 retail price. If you're interested in the narrative and the chance to play as your favorite characters, wait for the price to come down to $15-20, more in keeping with the kind of downloadable title this game feels like.

Ryse is an absolutely beautiful game, but all the beauty in the world can't make up for repetitive gameplay that will most likely bore the average gamer, even those who like hack-and-slash.

If PlayStation can continue discovering gems like Super Motherload, indies might really make the difference in this console war.

While Forza Motorsport 5 is a strong launch-day title for Xbox One, it has more style than substance and serves better as a foundation for future next-gen Forza Motorsport titles than the limited sampler that it really is.

There are many amazing things that Band Fuse: Rock Legends does to revolutionize the way we play guitar, and it’s inspiring.

Unfortunately, at the time of this writing, World of Warplanes is lacking the features to keep players coming back for more. With only one game mode, early adopters of the game will have to wait for a little while until Wargaming begins supporting it with more content. That said, it’s an inevitability that this will happen, and at its core WoWP is a very fun, addictive game,that is destined to carve itself out an ardent fanbase.

If I can leave you with one thing before you leave this page, it’s that you should not play this game. Don’t spend money on it. It’s meant to be bundled with these consoles for suckers so eager to play with the latest in-home ripoff technology that they’ll spend more money to get games they don’t want with it.

Though Dead Rising 3 doesn't have the most detailed graphics nor the most groundbreaking gameplay, it's a thoroughly entertaining ride that anchors the Xbox One far from the grave.

If only there were more of it across more characters that had a story, Killer Instinct would be gold. But as it stands, it’s not yet living up to the potential the series has.

In its return, NBA Live 14 helps kick off what there is to come for next-gen gaming, but as a representation for sports brands, it’s not the best outing.