Encrufted as it is with uninteresting puzzles, murky visuals, and self-defeating enemy encounters, A Machine for Pigs's better ideas end up just as thoroughly buried as Mandus's diabolical factory.

As much as I like the idea of adventuring with a wooden boy on a magical stage, Puppeteer is one of those unfortunate projects that starts off in a great direction and then fails to flesh out and support the premise. It certainly looks great and the voicework is top-notch, but with a script, characters and gameplay as flat as the theatrical props the game emulates, its charm wears off long before the final act.

I hate to be down on a small title trying to do something different and interesting, but I just couldn't get over the fact that Kickbeat felt more like a work in progress rather than something that was ready for prime time. With a better, more varied soundtrack and a little more exploration of how the martial arts theme could be applied to expanding the current game design, a sequel should be a real knockout. I genuinely hope the dev team gets the chance to make it.

Even with as many downs as ups, Grand Theft Auto V is still a significant achievement in design. Playing missions from multiple perspectives is a creative spark that will surely light up the next generation, and I'm confident the Housers have even bigger ambitions. They'll keep building upon this template and inch tantalizingly closer to creating their perfect game. GTA5 isn't it, but its flashes of brilliance will endure.

Those flaws are easy to forgive in light of what the game gets right, though. As a reviewer who's constantly in search of games which try new things or buck expectations, Lost Planet 3 was quietly, calmly fantastic. Everything about it has a very mature, measured approach which sets it apart from the pack, and the character work on display is some of the best I've seen in quite some time.

Still, it's easy enough to recommend Outlast despite the weaknesses. As far as atmosphere goes, it's at the top of its class and the journey throughout is a well-constructed one, for the most part. It occasionally dips too heavily into common video game contrivances—three fuses littered around the area, three switches for a door, scrounging for batteries, that sort of thing—but it's still a gruesomely enjoyable tale despite its flaws.

That said, the original Etrian Odyssey was a rough, brutal and vaguely experimental experience that I managed to complete out of sheer tenacity. In contrast, Millennium Girl takes the same content and makes it a thousand times more beautiful, approachable, and enjoyable for an all-new audience.

When all's said and done, Race the Sun is a solid offering and I'm sure some players will undoubtedly end up hooked on the thrill of the daily leaderboard battles. On the other hand, some (including me) will come away feeling that the final product is a bit too limited to reach the potential it holds.

Despite these minor blemishes, Rogue Legacy is an engaging game that holds up over numerous trips through its diabolical castle.

Wayforward Technologies has done an excellent job of taking an old classic and giving it a fresh update for a new generation.

The combat also shows surprising depth, although the secondary systems don't quite measure up. It's not groundbreaking or deep, even in the context of its own series, but Tales of Xillia was engaging and satisfying.

That Shelter is not a particularly convincing simulation of being a badger is no real sin—I doubt many people want to play a game about eating earthworms all day. The game's real failure is that it's not an emotionally compelling representation of parenthood. It convincingly shows that the cubs need their mother, but fails to convey the possibility that they can ever not need her.

While digging in a hole might not seem like the most entertaining thing to do in a game that's doesn't have "craft" in the title, SteamWorld Dig successfully delivers its own unique style of subterranean gameplay thanks to a great balance between managing the mine, chasing upgrades and having just enough story to keep me curious without getting bogged down in too much lore.

Between the tedious levels, incoherent story and offputting gigolo missions, I found very little to appreciate about Killer is Dead. I grew quite tired of the shallow game design and weak attempts to distract me from its vacuous lack of substance, and put the game down before rolling credits.

I'm all for interesting choices and humor when making a game, but the appeal of a one-trick pony like Divekick wore off after just a few minutes. Like, five. Perhaps people steeped in the fighting game scene or those with friends (and beer) nearby might get more out of it than I did, but I can't imagine that many players will find value in this drawn-out gag.

Overall, Dusty Revenge feels like a game that needed just a little more time and polish. If the combat could be tightened, interface bugs fixed, and load times could be reduced, this would be a solidly enjoyable title. Perhaps patches will be released to address these flaws, but as it is, Dusty Revenge takes a shot at 2D brawling and misses the mark.

SMT IV gets the details of grinding right, but it seems the devil was elsewhere.

The Dungeons & Dragons titles were some of the most evolved side-scrolling fighters of their day, with design and gameplay concepts that made them stand out from their contemporaries. However, a $15 price-tag makes it tough to recommend the package to anyone who wasn't already a big fan back in the day.

Zeno Clash II, like the original, is an interesting game. It falls slightly flat in the gameplay, but it's largely balanced by the world being so damn interesting to experience and wander around in.

Time and Eternity's veneer is gorgeous, but style doesn't trump substance—and the substance here leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Toki and Towa may love Zach the Alleged Protagonist, but I sure don't.

Out of the Park Baseball 14, like it predecessors, does exactly what it sets out to do-it provides the hardcore fan with the most detailed front office sim experience possible.

A generally joyous experience that exceeded my expectations with some of the most unabashedly entertaining play I've had all year. I have nothing but respect for the developers' attempts to right their listing ship, and with the best writing the series has ever seen, a fresh approach to the material and a strong structure underneath the crazy, they were wildly successful in doing so.

The Raven: Legacy of a Master Thief may be a refreshing change of pace from the majority of video games on the market and a charming nod to to good, old traditional murder mysteries in the Agatha Christie vein, but as a single chapter in a three-game arc, it's too brief to satisfy, too buggy to impress, and not particularly captivating or engaging. I suppose that makes it a reasonably decent diversion then, but not one that's likely to stick with players for any length of time after the credits roll.

These three chapters are what this new DLC offers to Metro fans, and I have to say that if it weren't for the Kshatriya chapter, the value of spending money on the other two chapters would be questionable as they're very similar to situations and gameplay mechanics found in the main story. Kshatriya alone makes it all worthwhile however, featuring reasonably generous and unique additional content in a DLC pack which won't break the bank.

Developers as brave as these should be recognized and celebrated for their efforts, and players who crave something deeper and more meaningful than another shooter with talky cut-scenes would do well to take this journey.

Sniper: Ghost Warrior 2 does a mediocre job of offering up a shooting gallery, but it's so limited in scope that it's almost impossible to recommend to anyone who doesn't feel a strange sense of arousal whenever they imagine popping a bullet into someone's head at several hundred yards. Well, whenever Diaz finally tells them to, of course.

I find that with League of Legends, Riot has cultivated one of the most unique spaces in gaming history—mostly for good reasons but also for some awful ones, and in the gaming museum of the future, League is sure to have its own wing.

It feels a bit petulant to complain about the plot, though.It's clear that the real focus of Attack of the Friday Monsters! A Tokyo Tale is to immerse players in a bygone era of innocence which I'm sure reflects the personal experiences of the development team, and I can certainly appreciate it for that.