With its limited depth, Brave Soldiers can't hold its own against more technical fighters on the market, and the tedium and lackluster presentation of the story mode won't give anyone who's not already a fan of the series much of a reason to become one.

The perpetual influx of slaves is a blunt allegory about how freeing such captives isn't a task for one man, let alone one assassin.

Freedom Cry is more than just another Assassin's Creed IV chapter with a reskinned protagonist, but its troubled handling of dark themes makes this a turbulent voyage.

BandFuse's biggest strength is the way it balances its gameplay elements with more serious guitar practice.

As much as I've gotten used to modern, hold-your-hand RPGs like Mass Effect 3, there is something to be said for this take-no-prisoners blast from the past, especially if you love old-timey D&D as much as I do.

Speedball teaches you how to play and sets you loose, but leaves you with only a handful of avenues to explore the possibilities.

The episode's focus is clearly on setting up the characters and conflicts that might pay off in later chapters; it serves a narrative purpose, but isn't especially effective on its own terms.

Huntsman: The Orphanage does manage to convey a sense of terror in its quiet moments, but they're more benign chills than you find in bloodier horror adventures that let you fight back or at least present enemies who do more than engulf you in darkness.

Despite that unwelcome intrusion and the lacklustre storytelling, Bravely Default is one of the finest RPGs Square Enix has been involved with in recent times.

Gomo is a short, stylistic adventure that has some interesting features, but ultimately its brevity and lack of challenge keep its charms from being lasting ones.

Samurai Gunn revels in its own simplicity.

Smart, occasionally funny, and immediately charming, Broken Sword 5: The Serpent's Curse is easy to recommend based on its strong narrative, memorable characters, and artistic merit. The game is a vibrant return to form for the series, and should easily please the series' and point-and-click adventure game fans alike.

Hearing a sweeping synth-rock melody punctuate a flurry of sword strikes, mace combos, and stalagmites exploding into a shower of loot is a delightful event that you'll experience countless times.

Tiny Brains might look adorable, but its short length and lack of imaginative puzzles will turn your wide grin into a questioning smirk.

When everything goes right, Vector is a fast-paced joyride that earns your attention.

Lots of little annoyances add up to make Darkout less than than the sum of its influences, though they're not enough to ruin the entire experience.

This is a strange and wonderful game, one that's equally comfortable exploring the nuances of human interaction as it is sending you through space on a flying piece of poo. Such experiences are rare in games. Then again, there's nothing commonplace about Doki-Doki Universe.

When Two Brothers works, when it lines up whole scenes that bounce between funny, disturbing, and touching, it shows just how powerful the ideas it's working with are.

Yes, it's nice to have that attention to detail poured into the physics simulation itself, but when the likes of Forza are heaping on the features, it's hard not to feel shortchanged by GT6's lack of vision. Maybe we'll see the makeover the series sorely needs when it inevitably hits the PS4, but until then, Gran Turismo 6 remains a fantastic simulation; it's just not a great game.

But as a game of ideas, The Novelist works. It's not a challenging game, but the choices you have to make are.

It's heaps of fun, totally absorbing, and such a wonderful place to be.

The game's title may not provide justification for exploring the dungeon, but the much bigger I DON'T KNOW here is why anyone would play this game.

Unfortunately, Dead Sky is just masquerading as a survival shooter. Instead, it is a fledgling tower defense game that never grows out of its daydreams of being anything more.

Ultimately, it's the variety of planes and unlockable goodies available for each aircraft that keep you pushing through the more limited, recycled stretches of this airborne assault freebie. There's room to grow here, but World of Warplanes leaves the runway with a sound foundation intact.

Blacklight: Retribution has its fun moments to balance out the frustrating ones. But with a few unpleasant quirks, some missing features, and a borderline draconian pricing model, it's hardly a must-have shooter for kicking off the new wave of current-gen gaming.

The textures, lighting, and color saturation are all slightly worse than on the PlayStation 4 version, but still much better than Xbox 360/PS3. Secondly, though there occasional connectivity issues with the online multiplayer, the majority of our play time was issue-free and full of the immense, chaotic excitement that makes this game shine.

This is a totally flawed game that offers little more than a slow, barely competent combat system and a laughable storyline. And hey, if you're that desperate to experience Fighter Within, get a friend to repeatedly kick you in the shins. It's free, a nearly spot-on representation of the game, and far less painful.

Super Motherload somehow makes alienation feel like a warm embrace.

Luxuria Superbia's unusual premise roused my interest early, but the game's resistance to offering anything new beyond its simple concept hinders it from finding a satisfying rhythm.

For each anomaly, like a poor facial render of a head coach, there's a subtle detail, like a wide receiver who tries to keep both feet in the field during a catch.

Pass protection that depicts an offensive line truly working together is a long-awaited improvement that series fans will love, and there are tangible dividends in learning the running game, provided you invest the time.

It's just a shame that the game forces you to spend so much time bogged down in its clumsy interface, when all you want to do is build a better zoo.

This game covers well-trodden territory, but the way that it tracks your performance and the performance of your friends makes it a fine fit for the Xbox One's launch lineup, and a pleasant way to spend some time.

It's not a perfect party by any means, but some good design considerations, better-than-average variety, and always-enjoyable Mario thematics put Mario Party: Island Tour a few notches above your average video game bash-in-a-box.

Redshirt does manage to successfully poke fun at a lot of social media's worst aspects, and it can be good for some genuine chuckles.

It's not the most immediately appealing of games, due to its uninteresting character lineup, but digging beneath the surface reveals a solid fighter that's fun to learn and play. It's unlikely to replace some of the bigger, more technical, and prettier fighters as your go-to versus game of choice, but it's a pleasant, enjoyable diversion when you need some airy, unfettered fun.

Ryse is all sizzle and no steak, a stunning visage paired with a vapid personality. Everything from the leveling system that's so painfully easy to complete (and so devoid of any impact on the game that it might as well not be there), to the story that does little to flesh out its lead characters beyond puerile notions of revenge is a testament to how little Ryse can back up its gorgeous visuals with anything more than a shallow set of fisticuffs.

FIFA 14 for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One is a step above it's peers. Whether you're scoring in front of a screaming Kop or eking out an unlikely cup victory, FIFA 14 produces special moments that will live in your memory long after you've put the controller down.

This is the quintessential version of FIFA 14. It brings a level of authenticity never before seen in the genre and sets new standards for player control and stadium atmosphere.

The gorgeous sci-fi burgs in Cities of Tomorrow prove that beauty only runs skin-deep. Once you get bored with the neon-clad gimmicks of the MegaTowers and OmegaCo, you're left with pretty much the same flawed game that annoyed the city-building community last spring.

The on-court action is so sloppy and unsatisfying that even rubbing defeat in Carmelo Anthony's face loses its appeal. NBA Live needs serious work in just about every aspect in order to raise its game to a respectable level.

An outstanding improvement to an already excellent racing franchise. It's far more than just a great racing sim, or a gorgeous showcase for the types of feats the Xbox One hardware is capable of. This is a game built on the romantic thrill of motorsport in all its forms, and that love for its subject matter is all but impossible to resist.

The fact that it's so tempting to spend time creating these paper models is a testament to how appealing and attractive Tearaway is. It's just a shame that one of the Vita's best experiences feels as long as a piece of paper is thick.

Risk of Rain is highly enjoyable, and with constant rewards of new items and character classes, it's hard to put down once you start. Even as I watched the last of the end credits roll by, I wiped the sweat from my brow and jumped back into the fray: I have an item log that still needs to be filled.

Everything that you can see and do within its enchanting levels is so bright, colourful, and full of wonder that it's impossible not to be taken in by its charms.

Glitches, stereotypical characters, and dull combat betray any chance of Deadfall Adventures providing any real incentive for your troubles. Digging into this game yields not a rough-cut gem, but rather a lump of coal that should have stayed buried.

Crimson Dragon frustrates more than it entertains. Flying your dragon can feel good, but it's only when the game takes a rare breath and slows down that it feels right. The ability to raise dragons is mildly intriguing, but they take forever to evolve into slightly more effective warriors, making the process more of a distraction than a rewarding challenge.

I loved seeing LocoCycle through to its zany finale, because I enjoyed the jokes and Iris' robotic line delivery, and because I loved seeing the characters get themselves into silly situations. This would have been a great short comic film. But LocoCycle is a game, and in an unexpected twist of fate, it makes the act of catching rockets, fighting soaring robots, and rushing through the rural fields outside of Scottsburg, Indiana, blander than they deserve to be.

Despite a wonky presentation and obvious technical hiccups, Capcom has successfully made Dead Rising 3 a more welcoming experience than its harsh predecessors. It can be an inconsistent experience, but I choose to ignore the game's peculiarities and play Dead Rising 3 in the spirit that I believe it's intended: running around in shark outfit shooting zombies with deadly dildos fired from a leaf blower.

Need for Speed: Rivals is very much in the tradition of Hot Pursuit, but that great, familiar gameplay has been infused with enough new elements to make it as thrilling here as it's ever been. It sure is good to hit the open road again.

What's so remarkable is how the upgraded visuals enhance the overall experience. Smooth animations and lifelike faces aren't just eye candy; they affect you on an emotional level. By chipping away at that barrier between digital players and real life, you feel even closer to what's transpiring, which makes it difficult to pull yourself away.

Eventually, I grew to see the puzzles, as well as my insects' dawdling speeds, as a hindrance to what I really wanted to experience: the joy of taking in a new set of gorgeous sights. What a terrific place Morphopolis is. So terrific, in fact, that I wish there were less tedium to separate me from its stunning scenery.

Blood of the Werewolf is a fine platformer, offering plenty of hours of fun and occasional frustrated sobbing. Fans of classic Hollywood monster movies and platforming games rejoice: your game is here.

I'm not normally one for 3D, but I wouldn't play A Link Between Worlds any other way.

The alchemy of Contrast doesn't quite pay off, and in the end, the game feels as insubstantial as the shadows that populate its world.

Just as you might improperly dismiss Flower as "not a game," you might also improperly dismiss it for its brevity: You could easily finish in an hour, and that hour progresses at a relaxed pace, lulling you into security rather than pumping adrenaline into your nerves. But value is more than a simple price-to-minutes ratio, and I'd sooner revisit Flower's serenity than countless 50-hour grindfests.

As much as I enjoyed my online time with Killzone: Shadow Fall--and as much as I will enjoy lots more time with it, unlocking perks that allow me to personalize my weapons--I missed Killzone 3's jump pack, which brought a nifty nimbleness to the battlegrounds. I missed it in Shadow Fall's disappointing single-player campaign, too, which sorely needed a shot of adrenaline.

Sound Shapes is a remarkable convergence of music and platforming. Because I've played through the main albums so many times, the levels didn't hit me as powerfully as they once did. But the community levels hammered home just how singular and enthralling this game is.

Knack's downfall is that it focuses entirely on combat, but doesn't offer enough variety or depth within its system to compel you onward.

It's classic arcade action imbued with hard-hitting artistic and gameplay elements. Falling in love with Resogun is easy, and mastering it is challenging, and the combination of these two qualities makes Resogun almost impossible to put down.

Intake is a spectacularly minimal game that contains a staggering amount of complexity with just a handful of straightforward concepts.

Final Exam often feels too much like homework for its own good, but it still proves enjoyable in between the monotonous fetching and the too-long corridors with nothing to see, particularly when played with a friend or three.

Ratchet & Clank: Into the Nexus doesn't entirely break from the series' classic roots, but its focus on action over platforming makes it a fast-paced thrill ride, and the short length makes running through it again with Omega weapons in Challenge Mode irresistible.

BioShock Infinite's floating city of Columbia was both a monument to manifest destiny and a tombstone marking the human empathy that perished when the city was born. Burial at Sea uncomfortably merges the two worlds, and diminishes Rapture's enduring legacy in doing so.

Burial at Sea seems a prime example of the tail wagging the dog, and the result is an adventure with fantastic sights and sounds that don't come together in a meaningful way.

This is a dark, thoroughly ridiculous world you're visiting, but it's an inviting one, and its odd sense of humor, semi-absurd puzzles, and delightful action grab your attention and hold it.

Enemy Within is great, but its greatness comes with qualifications. Players who have never played XCOM: Enemy Unknown will find their best entry point here, since it remedies some of the concerns of the original and manages to keep others from taking their place.

Fortunately, there's enough new content here to justify it for players looking for another spin in Firaxis' gripping tale of alien invasion.

That seems to be the pattern of XCOM. The tale always grows in the telling, and with this entry, you find yourself in a world richer and more enjoyable than the one you experienced before. With a world this finely crafted, it's fitting that we should get to save it all over again.

Considering Warface is a sharp-looking game that you can play for free in your Web browser, you might be inclined to overlook some of its minor faults. The collaborative dynamic of co-op missions is the real draw, but the generic presentation and uninspired competitive combat don't take enough risks to push beyond what you've see done before.

There's an incredible scope to what you can do in Black Flag, with a level of harmony between its component parts that encourages you to try it all, and a story that keeps you invested throughout the whole thing. If there was ever any question that Assassin's Creed needed something ambitious to get the series back on track, Black Flag is that game and then some.

Journey of a Roach is a charming, worthwhile adventure with some clever puzzles and a nice cast of characters, though you may wish for a longer adventure for the price.

Considering that Path of Exile costs you nothing beyond some Internet bandwidth, it provides an embarrassment of pleasures.

Valhalla Knights 3 is a far cry from being any sort of enjoyable. The setting and class system, while great in theory, are attached to a game that is ugly, grind-heavy, laughably animated, and just plain unpleasant on numerous levels.

With its intricate leveling system and randomized dungeons, The Guided Fate Paradox succeeds in creating a game that can easily gobble up biblical amounts of time. It's simply too bad all that time spent ends up feeling like a waste when there's no great payoff for all that hard work.

From an exuberant campaign full of spectacle and variety to the way Extinction's unpredictable aliens force you to use those targeting skills in entirely new ways, Ghosts strikes an excellent balance between the familiar and the novel. This is a game that's keenly aware of the series' strengths, but doesn't find itself beholden to them. No matter what standard you apply, Call of Duty: Ghosts is a terrific first-person shooter.

Somebody will no doubt someday make a good sci-fi Diablo. But The Harvest is definitely not that game. Use three hours of your life on something else.

The game's midi-chlorian counts may not be through the roof, but not every bird needs to be a Jedi Master to have value in this galaxy.

The Mario & Sonic series is the perfect example of the kind of charming, bite-sized, and all-inclusive entertainment that defined Nintendo throughout the Wii's golden years, but a lack of creativity and a poor implementation of the Wii U GamePad ensure that Mario & Sonic's fourth outing in six years fails to secure a podium finish.

Such bloat is indicative of a game that's constrained by the limitations of its original design where additional features intended to expand the experience simply don't gel with its combat.

Mirror of Fate on the 3DS may not have been the side-scrolling, vampire-hunting adventure that we all hoped it would be, but with its heightened presentation and revamped mechanics, Mirror of Fate HD is a big step in the right direction.

The game is meant to be played cooperatively, but while connection issues remain, you're likely to muddle through on your own. It's difficult to recommend any game that you endure rather than enjoy, even one this unique.

Whether you're looking for a way to take down the Juggernaut or working to help a random citizen in Free Play mode, Lego Marvel Super Heroes is all sorts of web-slinging, shield-flinging, Hulk-smashing fun.

WRC 4 continues Milestone's trend of satisfying but unremarkable rally games. Some key areas have clearly been worked on, but the core experience still lags behind Dirt when it comes to capturing the pure excitement of off-road racing, and Career mode is nothing that we haven't seen dozens of times in other racing games.

So with five versions of the game spread across two generations of consoles, which is the best Battlefield? Unsurprisingly, the PC version remains on top with excellent visuals and sprawling 64-player matches that make the most of the great maps and incredible combat diversity.

Regardless of platform, Battlefield 4 multiplayer is a blast and definitely the best reason to return to this hallowed franchise or dive in for the first time. Though the campaign makes strides in the right direction, it remains a sideshow to the main event.

Eldritch does right with the revered Cthulhu mythos, bringing to life its sinister lore and pitting gamers against Lovecraft's insidious demons. Though a short ride, the game provides plenty of jumps and scares, just in time for Halloween.

While it may be tinged with an insubstantial campaign and a few other minor problems, How to Survive is a worthy game built on a strong foundation of exciting experiences.

If you're someone who has steered clear of Layton previously, Azran Legacy isn't going to convert you. This is a series that sticks to what it knows: challenging puzzles alongside a thoroughly charming adventure.

For anyone who grew up loving professional wrestling, be prepared to be swept away in a tide of nostalgia. If only the core action could have been as compelling.

It's a shame the wrestling isn't up to par in WWE 2K14 because the elements surrounding it are so interesting.

The full game is for those with actual dreams (faded or otherwise) of being a football manager, while Classic mode is aimed at those with a more active social life and a desire for instant gratification. Whereas last year's game was the beginning of this dual-focus outlook, this season it feels fully realised thanks to the further depth and complexity added to the core experience.

Batman: Arkham Origins is a deeply predictable game. It gives you exactly what you'd expect in another Arkham game, without doing anything to push the series forward.

In the absence of new elements, the tried-and-true free-flow combat and predator mechanics feel routine rather than inspired. Origins is worth experiencing for the way it sets the stage for the events of the other Arkham games, but it also resides squarely in their shadows.

The first few hours of Blackgate provide an exciting glimpse of what might have been a great game, but it slowly falls apart, hour by hour, villain by villain.

Solstice Arena is explosive fun, and its short matches quickly entice you into the "just one more game" mentality so common in compelling multiplayer experiences. And though the game is great for the PC, each match's brevity makes Solstice Arena a fantastic choice for gaming on the go.

Phoenix Wright's return to the courtroom brings with it an impressive blend of comedic sensibilities and philosophical examinations that make you question how any judicial system can determine guilt when the relationships people have with the truth are so complicated.

Though the brutal rise in difficulty near the end mars the adventure, it doesn't ruin the overall mood, and the cover charge is more than reasonable for this particular night at the club. Grab a colorful cocktail and head to the dance floor!