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.