It’s a joy to see SimCity return in a better form than it has ever been. It is wonderfully complex, but very easy to play. The title is a massive undertaking and it has come together beautifully overall.

It brings real innovation to a genre that’s seen little significant deviation from 1989’s Populous.

It's an uninspiring distraction from games like Pure and Nail'd. The lack of congruency between the level design and control scheme definitely doesn't help.

I’ll come back here and rate the game once I’ve finished the last chapter. However, I’m not convinced that it’s going to become any more magical and entertaining than it is now. It’s a shame, because the game starts from a good place: A new fantasy IP with a take-no-prisoners female protagonist. And I can tell that a lot of the people who worked on the game were sincerely trying. But I can also tell that several others very much were not.

RymdResa is a gorgeous roguelike that has a significant amount of untapped potential that could lead to a much better game to play. For now, you’ll have to make do with passively exploring space and not much else.

An unusual adventure with better-than-average fighting mechanics and a mostly likable cast. But it falls short nearly everywhere else.

A delightful, engaging, and clever tribute to one of Mickey's greatest games. In many ways, it surpasses the original Castle of Illusion. In fact, this is the best title starring Mickey in years.

ReCore is fun game betrayed by technical woes. I love the combination of shooting and platforming, but it just doesn’t have enough polish to back up its solid mechanics. It could have used some extra time in development to smooth the experience out.

MercurySteam has taken out most of the problem sections inside the original Lords of Shadow’s design document, specifically the loose patch work of several different action genre ideas, and has given Lords of Shadow 2 a much tighter focus.

Sonic Lost World is beautifully brutal. More important, however, is that it’s a worthy addition to Sega’s most beloved franchise.

The Order is thrilling and frustrating. I should make it very clear that I did enjoy my time with it. I didn’t want to put the controller down because Ready at Dawn did such an exquisite job of doling out the action. And that, combined with its decent concept, story, and gameplay, would’ve been enough a long time ago. But in 2015 it left me feeling discontent. Is this what I bought a PlayStation 4 to play? Is this what Sony is passing off as a bold new experience? A different shade of Resident Evil 4?

Empire of Sin has its bugs and some rough cinematic moments. But Romero Games pulled this project off with a team of just 30 people. For a game of its ambition, that seems like a small team. It’s pretty much an indie project, or perhaps “double-A,” compared to other games that are more polished but have hundreds of developers — or even more — working on them. What I also liked was that the game feels smart. I felt like I was playing against other crime bosses who were figuring out how to outthink me or double-cross me. And that’s what you want in a gangster game.

Making a group of enemies disappear in a chain of miniature black holes with your Warp Rifle is ridiculous. More important, it’s ridiculously entertaining.

Weapon Shop de Omasse is an infuriating, boring game. Only RPG enthusiasts who snigger at jokes about stereotypical Evil Lords, grinding against rats, and “Tutorial Caves” will care to play it — and even then, they would be wise to reconsider.

As feel-good as Doki-Doki Universe is, there’s not much going on under the surface.

I could see someone maybe enjoying the fishing aspect of it, but in this case, still waters don’t run deep. To catch fish, you simply use your sonar to highlight their hiding spots in the water and cast your line. The whole endeavor lacks complexity, and if you’re there to see the characters, then there’s not much of that either.

A good but safe debut from the three-man team at Boomlagoon. Aside from its cute premise and racing-inspired gameplay, everything else feels like something we've seen dozens of times before on the App Store. Hopefully, the team will flex their creative muscles a little more in future titles.

Deadpool won’t win any awards for innovation, and it won’t really stick with you, but you’ll have a hard time not enjoying its self-aware humor and action. Fans of Deadpool the character will have a great time with Deadpool the game. As far as super hero games go, this is definitely one of the better ones.

Redux: Dark Matters is not an exemplary shoot-em-up, but it is a rather a safe and well-executed one where fans of the genre can get an immediate sense of its influences.

A frustrating experience for Sonic fans. You can sense the old, creaky bones of what once made the franchise so much fun, but they're surrounded by chewy, rancid meat.

It wasn’t terrible. Maybe I will play it again. And maybe I will wake up in a cold sweat after dreams of masochistic racing missions.

Some core players might find the puzzle elements and on-rails battle sequences too easy, but I'm definitely not one of them. As a story-focused motion control offering, Fable: The Journey shows off the Kinect's potential while still existing as far more than a technology demo; this is a true Fable in all senses of the word.

I admire Game and Wario’s charm and creativity. After playing it, I can definitely say I’m more sold on the Wii U’s tablet controller than I was before. I just want to see these features implemented in meatier experiences.

There's minimal pressure to spend any money, the AI-controlled bots are intelligent enough to fool particularly stupid game reviewers, and the battles manage to be adorable and epic at the same time. Unfortunately, the repetitiveness in the sound design and gameplay makes the excitement level drop too quickly.

While Omega has its good parts, it doesn't bring enough of that signature storytelling to the forefront. I love pulling the right trigger to shoot dudes, but I enjoy using the same button to interrupt a cutscene even more. This DLC doesn't understand that.

When I finished playing this game, I felt like I wanted more. That’s the mark of a good game.

Sonic Adventure 2 HD isn't terrible, it's just a relic from an unpleasant era. All of its problems are the sort of thing that plagued countless games back when Sega originally put it out, but they're also the sort of thing that people figured out how to fix in the years since.

It’s not as varied or exciting as a Mario Kart title, but it’ll keep you busy and entertained — especially once you mute those sound effects.