It's a layered, complex system, and even now, 20 hours after I started it, there are upgrades I haven't found, techniques I haven't practiced, and possibilities I haven't considered. Galak-Z pummelled me, knocked me to the ground and kicked me when I was down. But when I finally got the upper hand, and beat the final season with only a sliver of health left, the victory was all the more rewarding.

Rare Replay is a great way to experience some of the best games from the studio's past, and the new videos that document Rare's storied history are the icing on the cake; it's just a shame that you can't access them from the start.

The variety of challenges makes Tembo fun and exciting, though the high-pressure, instant-death sections can become irritating because they tend to eat through your limited stock of lives much faster than any other parts of the game, throwing the otherwise solid pacing off.

Tembo is the sort of game that encourages you to play for 100% completion and/or speedrunning, as well (it even tracks your times and high score). And with Tembo’s satisfying movement and controls, you could play through the game with some amazingly stylish platforming swagger.

Etrian Odyssey Untold 2 has some flaws, certainly--the additions to the formula make it more accessible but don't ultimately enhance the game. On the other hand, it looks great, it retains the traditional Etrian Odyssey experience in Classic mode, and you still feel empowered after defeating a challenging FOE with only a sliver of health to your name.

There are problems with just about every aspect of Victor Vran. The issues range from small to large, from the glitches to frequent crashes and audio cutouts. Still, there’s a lot to enjoy about it.

Although Blues and Bullets isn’t without its flaws, this first episode sets a distinctive comic-book, crime-noir attitude compelling enough to keep you playing and looking forward to what the series will offer in future installments. Anyone who enjoys classic noir fiction or the decidedly modern, bloody take on it offered up on the grim streets of Sin City will find a lot to like here.

Like the old saying goes--the king is dead, long live the king. Even though A Knight to Remember is not the King’s Quest of yesterday, this first episode in a new franchise ensures that the heart of the original series will live on for the current generation of adventure gamers. Bring on the new exploits of King Graham.

This is a JRPG layered atop a tactical strategy game layered atop a murder mystery, and somehow, the resulting structure holds up reasonably well.

It's a rollercoaster of an episode, with some disappointing holes punched in concepts that have been strengthened for three episodes, but it delivers a punch in the gut that makes the rest of the experience worthwhile.

Is Trove the kind of MMOG that I'd like to spend a part of every day in? No. But it is an MMOG that I'd enjoy visiting every now and then, possibly several times a week.

Had the Prototype Biohazard Bundle actually been a full upgrade, it would at least show us how far we’ve come. But given even Prototype 2’s mind-boggling technical limitations, this troubled bundle is more of a reminder that mediocrity is still not obsolete.

Whether you want to call it a shank, a duff, or a whiff, all that really matters is that Rory McIlroy PGA Tour is a poor effort from a series that was looking to make a splash in its generational debut.

In many ways, Book Three acts as the fulcrum from which the story's trajectory pivots on your past choices. It is short and powerful, using the momentum of previous chapters to leverage dramatic weight going into the penultimate act like narrative jiu-jitsu

If you are returning to Journey, a higher resolution and a higher frame rate are your ostensible rewards for returning--a return that doesn't cost you anything if you already own the game on the PlayStation 3. But Journey's real rewards aren't so pedestrian. Journey offers you comfort. It gives you companionship in a lovely but forsaken world. It gives you reason to dream even when facing loss.

Still, it's worth it for the wide range of tracks alone, and its variety of visuals and difficulties makes it the single best DLC to download for brand-new players who've never played anything aside from the core game.

A Nest of Vipers ends on a heart-shattering note and the promise of an explosive finale. Thing are getting lively, and with quickened pacing to match the action, it's hard not to end this episode without your brain spinning in anticipation. With most prominent character arcs at their highest peaks, it's a perfect penultimate episode.

Godzilla commits so many game design sins that they become impossible to count, but the greatest horror of them all is that such giant monsters could be so boring.

If you stripped away the sluggish combat and hollow questing, you’d be left with the most gorgeous fantasy hiking simulator this side of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.

F1 2015 is an incredibly frustrating game, representing both a wonderful step forward and a massive stumble.

The joy of Rocket League rests on the countless plans that are conceived and discarded every other second in any given match. Trying to predict where and how the ball will bounce next is a game within the game.

There may not be much more to the game than the constant adventures, but it's tailor-made for short, easily-digestible chunks of gameplay.

Strong storytelling and sheer novelty make guiding Heinrich and his pals around the dark forests of old-time Deutschland enthralling...even if you do miss the magic missiles and elves every so often.

That the game finds so many ways to stay consistently fresh within this traditional structure is a feat worthy of the gods.

Lego Jurassic Park is a nice, pleasant nostalgia trip, but it won't be long before you're asking to leave.

Jurassic Park in particular doesn't suit this design because flattening the mechanics removes all notions of tension from the game, an essential part of the film series.

Were it better able to traverse the gap between an attractive presentation and engaging gameplay, Traverser would be a game to remember.

An essential purchase for those who have spent more hours than they'd care to admit in Eorzea.

Getting to the center of the storm that is The Red Solstice isn't easy. A less-than-stellar tutorial and initial overload of information combined with a handful of quirks and bugs make it a game you have to stick with for a little while before you can fully appreciate its depth.

Like so many big games with dozens of complex moving parts, your enjoyment of PlanetSide 2 on the PlayStation 4 rests on how forgiving you are of technical hiccups you would properly expect to be vanquished.

Like some of the ghosts in The Sixth Sense, Elena's spectral aides are in desperate need of closure.

Though the game can be finished in around six hours, it provides enough intense moments to keep your attention locked through every second.

Even without the new content, Dr. Mario: Miracle Cure is a worthwhile addition to the serious puzzle fan's gaming library. It just doesn't offer enough that's new compared to Dr. Luigi to warrant a glowing recommendation if you already invested in that other recent release.

The Masterplan feels like the most tragic kind of missed opportunity: a set of viable ideas rendered inert in practice.

This feat of intelligence and insight sticks with you long after the credits roll.

Each second spent in its world teaches you something about the characters you're shepherding and the Borderlands universe at large. Episode Three is definitely the best we've seen of this series so far.

While this Special Edition provides slight combat tweaks and additional characters to toy with, there's just not enough mechanical or architectural variation to justify the fluff. As a result, the endless combat rooms and recycled scenarios can be exhausting.

If you're dying to see how Vergil fares against the Order of the Sword or feel the need to test the extreme difficulty, take the leap. Just be warned that some aspects of the game would have been better left in the past.

The visual improvements and additional characters layered atop the Devil May Cry 4 Special Edition can't conceal its bloated structure. This is, without a doubt, the best this stylish action romp has looked and felt, but just because you can gussy up an old game, doesn't always mean that you should.

Without character customization or any semblance of proper communication, the game has nothing to offer in place of its sacrifices. Like Sisyphus on a treadmill, I fruitlessly walked around in hopes of discovering something worthwhile. Unless this game can find its way, discovery will remain a lost cause.

While Brink sits in history as a game that tripped on its path to fame, Dirty Bomb will be fortunate to be remembered at all.

Finding hidden items is technically an optional side-quest, but paradoxically, it's also the game's only real challenge.

Arkham Knight is constantly trying to justify the Batmobile's presence, forcing it upon you at nearly every opportunity.

A fantastic casual-competitive game that offers untold hours of enjoyment.

It’s a game with enough ambition and execution to spark the imagination, and enough organic entropy to let you suspend your disbelief about the families you help sire. But Massive Chalice extends you the invitation and then offers you a half-empty world in return.

Its ideas reveal the game Kholat wanted to be, but its aspirations soar far higher than the game it became. What good is a mystery if you don't care about what it might tell you?

Shadowrun Chronicles isn't just a bad Shadowrun game. It's a bad game. That it comes from a series with such an exceptional pedigree and plenty of exceptional recent successes just makes the disappointment that much more bitter.

It’s the same as it always was, and that isn’t exactly a point in its favor.

Most disappointing, though, is that Sym manages to successfully convey nothing enlightening, moving, informative, or even coherent about social anxiety. Hiding may be a central mechanic in Sym, but obscuring your meaning to this baffling degree is never the answer.

The story here acts as little more than the cellophane frames old-schoolers had to paste over their TVs to create a new background for the tiny lights that darted across the screen. Both do their jobs sufficiently, but we no longer have to simply dream of more.

Like visiting your hometown after years of absence. Everything's the same, yet off somehow. As you visit all the same places and exchange words with old friends, you're faced with an uncomfortable duality. On one hand, you get the closure of knowing how it all turned out, but on the other, you wonder what could have been, making you simultaneously satisfied and unsettled by the reality that this is the end.

Interloper distills the core elements of every good RTS and adds a little extra to put it over the top. No matter if you love or loathe traditional real-time strategy, the deep tactics and puzzle solving crammed into a nicely condensed package here come highly recommended.

It's a wonderful game with charm and inventive ideas that work and pave the way for new experiences in an otherwise stale category of games.

Xbox One owners should have no reason to bemoan the way the game looks: it’s beautiful on all of its platforms.

The Witcher 3 on PC looks absolutely wonderful, particularly if you have a reasonably powerful machine and can see the game in motion at its highest settings.

Hatred is too repetitive to be exciting, too dumb to be frightening, too basic for you to feel accomplished at its end, too dour to be violently cathartic, too self-serious to engender ironic amusement, and yet still too childish to matter...essentially, it's a nothing of a game.

If you’re a social type, this is a must-play. But loners might want to give this one a pass, at least until the developers scale the difficulty better for single mages.

Extreme repetition, poor controls, and a barely there story makes this game a dull proposition from start to finish.

Though the story is peppered with periods of inactivity that are detrimental to the pace, Sunset acts as a thoughtful, pensive walk through social themes and struggles not often explored in this medium.

As Telltale's Game of Thrones passes its halfway mark, it takes a bit of a dip, staging a set of scenes that feel less like something you can control and more like something you can only passively watch. There's no real sense of agency in the choices you are offered, other than spinning a conversation in a certain direction before coming full circle to a pre-determined outcome.

It’s a watered-down stepping stone, intended to introduce players to Puzzle & Dragons with a familiar face and none of those intimidating in-app purchases. It’s clear, however, that P&D’s design was built on a free-to-play base, and taking those elements out actually makes the game feel less substantial as a result.

If the goal was to create a game that's both alive and dead at the same time--mission accomplished.

I consistently enjoyed Technobabylon. The puzzles are always meaningful, and the story proves that you can teach the aging dog of cyberpunk some new tricks.

It's cute, colorful, and the perfect puzzle game to keep on your 3DS for dull commutes.

Beyond the mood-breaking fetch quests and blank stares, however, Life is Strange has finally come into its own in Episode Three, shedding some dialogue and pacing problems from previous episodes.

If you’ve got a few hours to kill, its campaign provides great strategic opportunities. And if you’ve got a friend nearby, you could be skirmishing for a long time to come.

Whether it's Kessler's empathy or the supplementary notes you find, The Old Blood seems to have something to say about the evolution of games, but never arrives at a solid point. The sledgehammer that is B.J.'s philosophy always wins out, stranding the gray areas in a game that clearly won't give them the time of day.

The Old Blood certainly displays intelligent action FPS design that's fun and effortless to play. Just don't expect the deep examination the game hints at to go anywhere. Here, the gloriously dumb (yet smartly designed) reigns. Progress can wait. Long live The Old Blood.

Galactic Civilizations keeps its focus right where it needs to--on excellent fundamentals. Progressive pacing makes the enormity of space amenable and paradoxically personal, while the sheer number and variety of tools and options at your disposal allow you to succeed and win if you can out-think everyone else.

It isn’t exactly easy to pick up, but the layered Discourse system in Last Word is worth the few verbal jabs and hooks needed in order to master it.

Luckily, the gameplay sings, making for a game that's not as powerful as it could be, but undeniably accessible.

Not a Hero's humor may not always hit the mark, but the action makes up for it.

The quick-paced and skill-driven combat system casts a charm on you in the beginning, but the delights wear off over time due to the presence of only a single good mode of play, grinding, and a few irritating bugs.

The opening portions of Winward have you falling asleep at your computer; later areas have you cursing angrily as every small victory you win is erased by the overzealous enemy AI (aided by utterly complacent allies content to watch town after town fall to pirates). The promise of exploring Windward's world as you see fit is a false one, and Windward never earns its sea legs.

All too often, though, the stages are designed in such a way that you're tricked into failing, and any technical issues stand out more than they might elsewhere because precise timing and concentration are so vital to success.

Attack on Titan: Humanity in Chains is further proof that the seemingly obvious genre for an anime-to-game adaptation isn't always the best one.

even though these systems achieve competency, they've been done before (and done better) in many other games. So any praise leveled at StarDrive 2 inevitably ends up faint when it's taken alongside other entries in the sci-fi 4X genre.

That’s Project CARS at its best. No experience points. No parts to buy. No cars to add to your collection. The audacious decision to offer everything up front informs the rest of Project CARS’s design, making it distinct (and sometimes frustrating).

One of the best role-playing games ever crafted, a titan among giants and the standard-setter for all such games going forward. Where the Witcher 2 sputtered to a halt, The Witcher 3 is always in a crescendo, crafting battle scenarios that constantly one-up the last, until you reach the explosive finale and recover in the glow of the game's quiet denouement.

For all the problems, it's easy to recognize the flashes of something special in Toren. It's a loaf of homemade bread, proofed and kneaded, laid in a pan, and sprinkled tenderly with rosemary but unfortunately pulled from the oven a few minutes before it could pass the toothpick test. However complex the recipe, Toren just feels undercooked.

Completing Action Henk will set you back only several hours, but you will be at the edge of your seat for most of that time.

Inside My Radio never quite reaches the synergetic highs of its most obvious peer, Sound Shapes, but it's still an entrancing experience.

Verdun somewhat succeeds in its lavish goal, but its road to glory is lengthy still. Until then, it sits on the edge of the line, waiting for the rallying cry.

Due in part to its brevity, Lost Orbit isn't the most memorable of adventures. You barrel through its levels quickly, and unless you want to try for faster time trial scores, there's not a lot to come back for. Still, the rush of speed and the simple charms of the animation and narration make this game a blast while it lasts.

Its puzzling, challenging, and deeply weird characteristics make for a unique and engaging experience that brings new life to the staidest of sports.

Even with its cartoonish humor and quirks, Kerbal Space Program has an almost sacred respect for the tiny miracles involved in space travel, and even at its most difficult, it deserves that respect in return.

When I started BoxBoy!, I thought it would be a game for kids. In the end, it felt like a game especially made for me.

Remnants of Isolation is a truncated RPG that never allows its story or progression system to properly develop, and while the focus on a pair instead of a full party pays off in combat, the woefully undercooked bond between the protagonists never does enough to make you care about any of the three possible endings.

If you missed out the first time around, you should absolutely hop on board for this extended trip to the Apocalypse. If you’re coming back for seconds, you’ll have a terrific time welcoming our new Triangulum overlords with Megido blasts right to their stupid geometric faces.

It feels great to play, the aerial trickery is gratifying, and it's got a lot of goofy charm, but all of this is unfortunately buried under an inexplicable need to test players beyond what should be necessary in a galaxy where you tool around as a T-rex wearing sunglasses.

This is one of those friendly games that just about anyone would enjoy picking up for short play sessions every now and again, especially those who like their dungeon crawlers tinged with a sense of humor and a retro flavor.

Ziggurat can be completed in just over an hour, but it's unlikely you will stop there. The game is challenging, engaging, and a whole lot of fun, despite its problems.

The boss fights remain a titanically poor decision for a series focused on lightning-fast, frenetic gameplay, but when the rest of the package has only gotten better and more varied, they're a frustrating but small price to pay.

I put more than a dozen hours into Dimensions Evolved, but I already fear the dozens of hours more that I'm going to dump into Ultimate and Hardcore Modes as I try to best my own scores and those of my friends.

Regardless of your musical tastes, Crypt of the NecroDancer takes a proven but basic recipe and improves it with a seemingly simple twist. It would have been a fine roguelike game without its musical side, but the rhythm mechanic makes it a truly special experience.

The moments when a solution just makes you say "Really?" in a frustrated tone and when you wander seemingly without direction occur often enough to rob Broken Age of a sad amount of its magic.

Complaints aside, Tower of Guns delivers an engaging experience that is well suited to short bursts of play in its standard form or long marathons in its ranked endless mode. The game offers no shortage of fun. So grab your gun--it's time to go to bullet hell.

If I found myself describing the game to friends as the game I wanted it to be more than the game it was, it's because the "ideal" version of State of Decay is intoxicating.