Disappointingly, The Conduit offers no incentive to convince current FPS gamers to put down Halo or Call of Duty, and it presents no easy transition into the genre for those who’ve never played an FPS game before.

A misguided effort to streamline the experience and create gameplay where realism comes before responsiveness.

This game will really only make Castlevania devotees truly happy. If the original came out today, it would be quickly persecuted for how dated it looks and plays.

Xtreme Sports offers pretty graphics and varied gameplay, but the individual events are simply too limited for this to have a long shelf life. However, the new events really sets XS apart from other sports titles.

Well, I have good news! This game doesn't suck! But I also have bad news. It's not that much better.

Rather than being all about sports, Sports Champions 2 takes the intense competition found in these six sports and turns them into a party game. Taking pointers from other party games, Sports Champions 2 puts you and up to three others (four total) against each other, tournament-style.

For better or worse, Fate/EXTELLA embodies everything that makes an anime game different from the ordinary crowd, including characters that speak only in exposition, fan service that creeps you out, and gameplay that is more about watching cool stuff happen than actually being fun. Owners of the PlayStation versions need not double dip. If, however, you feel your Nintendo needs a little more anime, this can be the figurative microwave mozzarella sticks before dinner that you're looking for.

I said it last year, "Every console launch will have a Tony Hawk game," and while Tony Hawk’s Downhill Jam isn’t the biggest or best, it’s still a decent ride.

In short, if you're looking for a hardcore Ninja Gaiden experience from Ninja Gaiden 3, complete with ridiculous bloodletting and a very challenging difficulty, this Wii U version is your game. However, the inconsistent difficulty and poor camera hamper the experience, somewhat.

What we’re presented with is a patchwork, yet not entirely unworkable mishmash of NBA clichés, as spliced with a series of fun but ultimately insubstantial mini-games and fan-service bonuses.

I had a good time with Star Fox Zero, but it feels like a game whose design is built on contradictions; the desire to have the new targeting control, but with the classic Arwing gameplay keeps both from being entirely functional. It prizes arcade-style progression, but lacks modern concessions for console titles, like adequate checkpoints or multiple difficulty levels.

No amount of zen can keep a player from dying so many times and feeling so helpless that they punch through a poster for a band they actually like. If you appreciate an abusive relationship however, this is the way to go.

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.

Despite its flaws, there’s nothing Magna Carta 2 does bad enough to keep me from playing. If you want to see what a JRPG from the olden days would be like if you gave it a modern overhaul, MC2 will form your responsum.

While it's not up to the standards that Square-Enix have set in the past for the genre, Paon and Nintendo have a solid RPG on their hands.

To both its credit and its detriment, the gameplay remains almost wholly unchanged from the original. Luckily, Journey of Dreams also shares with its predecessor some beautiful art design and a stunning musical score that save it from mediocrity.

NBA Ballers: Phenom might mark a change from its predecessor with a new story mode and faux third-person exploration, but it ultimately tries too much and does too little. Compared to EA’s more complex series, this is one street baller you’ll want to leave on the curb.

Arguably the best Jurassic Park-themed game to date, and a must-buy for fans of the films.

While they’ve done a good job of giving you many reasons to replay those levels for higher scores and more unlockables, replaying these levels many times over will barely bring the game’s total length to more than a few hours. This bumbling groundhog should have seen its shadow much sooner and ushered in a much longer springtime full of rail-shooting joy.

It would have worked better had the game allowed you to switch from any of these game styles at will. I think that was the original idea, but sadly it all turns out overly scripted and directed.

Cryostasis manages to be more of a psychological trip than most games in the past five years, and it’s fantastic to play through. If you’ve found yourself disappointed with the style of horror games in the past few years, give it a try – you will not be disappointed.

There is a time and a place for decisive tactics aimed solely at victory, though Minimum hopes to draw a line in the sand. Then, it hopes to add a few 90 degree angles and complete a box. Then, it asks you to put a bullet through that box guy’s head. It’s up to you whether you decide to follow through with that or try the flaming swords.

The idea of an open-ended, multi-squad, strategic, cooperative shooter is incredible, and during those short bursts when Red River comes together-especially when playing with friends-there are few games like it. But there are so many issues, both large and small, that you'll have to overlook a lot of flaws in order to enjoy it.

I’d like to get past my seeming bias for the Old Days, but every mistake and death reminds me of some comfortable feature from yesterday’s Sonics that didn’t make it into Sonic and the Secret Rings. Sonic is just too fast for his own good.

The numerous gameplay features like vulcosuits, spritnite, and artifacts come together to create an enjoyable and complex turn-based system that promotes strategy. Here's hoping that Tokyo RPG Factory's next project takes that gameplay design and applies it to a heartfelt story that doesn't feel like it was assembled on a conveyor belt.

The whole package is so bland, boring, and unremarkable (and tedious - moving those guys around so you feel like you have a team that can win!) that it's similar to PB&J on white bread. Bad analogy? Well, it's just as imaginative as Blue Dragon Plus, so it fits.

Oninaki tackles the theme of death brilliantly thanks to some poignant scenes and a willingness to go where most games won’t. That thorough exploration of death ties into every aspect of the game from its hack and slash gameplay to the ending choice that will leave players reflecting upon the journey they just went on. It isn’t often that a game truly succeeds as art, but every part of Oninaki goes back into its core motif and that’s why it is an essential action RPG.

You would never know there had been a two-year break between iterations in the series. MotoGP 09/10 looks even more rushed and inattentive to overall design than its immediate predecessor.