Michael Jackson: The Experience 3D is an unfortunate game that punishes the player at the beginning and far too slowly develops into a functional game. I found myself playing the game just to listen to the songs, which speaks to the enduring power of Michael Jackson's pop legacy that I was willing to weather this game in order to listen to the music. Bottom line: Buy some CDs or MP3s instead.

I wish NHL 15 offered a more straightforward season mode, though the options to run your own team or play as a specific pro will give every fan what they’re looking for. Whether or not the horn sounds on home ice, every goal will give the fan in you the same satisfaction as if the game were live right in front of you.

Perhaps Necropolis’s worst sin is that it doesn’t motivate you to keep going. Sloppy mechanics can often be forgiven if the game has something compelling going for it; just ask Deadly Premonition. Here, however, players have no incentive to continue. The unfunny humor exists solely to mock the player. Every twist and turn, you’re greeted with another joke that undermines your quest and the importance of it. Your quest never feels purposeful or epic. Instead, it just feels like an insignificant afterthought.

If you dream of a single-player Star Citizen, or loved games like Freelancer, then this space sandbox will be a breath of fresh air in a much too sparsely populated genre. However, even though X4 is more accessible than X1–X3, it’s not a casual game. You have to work to figure out the mechanics behind Foundations, and if you put in the time, you’ll be rewarded with an experience that can last 100 hours or more.

L.A. Rush tries to keep up with the street racing scene, but it's all show and no go. Repeating races over and over isn't exactly a draw and the lack of customization is unforgivable.

It offers interesting gameplay mechanics and a ton of modes, but the pieces don't fit together well, making this mascot racer better suited for a weekend drag race than a 500 lap cruise.

Schrodinger's Cat and the Raiders of the Last Quark uses clever game mechanics and thought-provoking humor to create a fun platformer with an unusual twist.

Bad physics, bad level design and a paltry choice of vehicles overshadow the cool weapons and interactive maps. Where's "Twisted Metal Black" when you need it?

Sega obviously tried to emulate aspects of Super Mario Galaxy or other 3D Mario games to make this leap in the Sonic series, but Sonic: Lost World suffers with each “feature” they have added to the Sonic’s successful formula: running and jumping.

One of the worst games we’ve ever seen. As much as we’d like to see more sexual content in games, we’re afraid Magna Cum Laude will do for Mature games what "Showgirls" did for NC-17 rated movies.

You have to commend Way of the Samurai 2 for trying something different, but its myriad design flaws, weak delivery and repetitive nature serve as a reminder that different doesn't necessarily mean fun.

Cocked to the side of intellectual myopia, Flash Focus is a blurry and beady exercise that wants you to keep it one foot away from you – but you’ll probably do that and more.

Fist of the North Star: Ken's Rage reminds us what a great beat-'em-up at its core is all about, as long as you're playing by yourself and hopefully in spurts.

Except for a still-finicky camera (and Oswald being an adorable pain in the ass), I really enjoyed Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two. The Rainbow Caverns stage is one of the prettiest I've ever seen, the animation style for the cut-scenes is simply beautiful FMV, and the puzzles-while not terribly difficult-are fun to solve.

Woefully limited in its fun factor and appeal.

For a while, it is rather enjoyable to cruise by and experience the closest thing you’ll ever have to being anything like Hef, but you'll quickly long for deeper gameplay or a more real sense of progression. Use that $50 on 3 years’ worth of Playboy subscriptions instead.

This is some of the most fast-paced, frenetic Mario Kart action ever, but only to those who subscribe to its gold pass. For everyone else, this is still a surprisingly inventive spin-off, but one that also feels undermined by greed.

Slender: The Arrival has solid qualities, as well as some hit or miss tendencies, leaning towards the miss side. Undoubtedly, this one is under the horror classification and does its job throwing out its scary surprises, and for better or worse, there are still some accidental funny moments that you can’t help but laugh at.

It's a good thing that the marketing genius in the Skylanders franchise is so effective. An uninteresting game may actually serve the purpose of of the franchise, since it allows people to level up their figures relatively quickly, prompting them to buy a new figure and start over again at square one. Also, since Skylanders figures can be taken from console to 3DS back to console and continue to gain experience, the 3DS version may be just the accessory that fans of franchise will want, even if the game itself is boring and bland.

Murdered: Soul Suspect, though it was diverting like a bit of light reading, never really hooked me. And that's its biggest problem.

Unfortunately, the poorly designed mini-games and boring gameplay takes most of the joy out of creation, effectively dropping this fantasy land into the shallow end of the kiddie pool.

Were Alpha Prime really fantastic in some specific aspect, at just $20, I would be happy to recommend it to one and all. It isn’t bad – you can have fun playing it and it’s not going to crash inexplicably – but it is an offering exactly matched by its budget price.

If you are trying to ween a GF (or BF, never let it be said GR isn't progressive) on to modern consoles, this could be a great stepping stone, as the gameplay and graphics are just as simple as they were back in the day. But if you're a hardcore, experienced gamer, you may want to skip Blade Kitten in favor of playing with other pussycats.

"NBA 2K7" is fast and beautiful, while NBA Live 07 is outdated, sloppy, and only worth playing for a quarter.

The biggest offender here is that Episode Gladiolus has stripped Final Fantasy XV of most of its best qualities, relying on a dull character to carry the weight instead of the game's expansive world. Having tossed out many of the reasons I enjoyed Final Fantasy XV in the first place, it's a far less interesting addition to the game than the free content that has been introduced during the past few months, including this week's 1.07 update.

It’s fun and humorous at first, but the lack of substance and challenge is a Spider-killer.

If the taste of orcs and humans battling on a 2D plain while gathering gold and other resources hasn't become stale to your senses, then by all means dive into this feast of rehashed mediocrity. I'm looking for something with a little more kick.

In that way, Entwined feels like Journey and that’s high praise for upstart developer Pixelopus.