If you're not put off by the idea of an RPG in which every death returns you to the start of the game, Shiren the Wanderer can be a lengthy, satisfying experience.

A lazy porting job hinders Bully's classic classroom hijinks.

Cartoonish graphics and a smart sense of humor give Risk: Factions some life, although play remains awfully close to the shallow, dice-dependent board game.

There's no denying that Mafia: Definitive Edition is a stunning remake when you consider everything that was done to re-introduce the 18-year-old game to a new audience. The changes made to the story, both on the page--as it fleshes out more of the cast--and in the performance booth, enhance what was already a captivating story, while the revamped visuals breathe new life into the city of Lost Heaven. Unfortunately, the rest of the game falters when you're the one in control. The archaic and repetitive combat hasn't evolved since Mafia II was released in 2010, and the years since have dated it even more. Mafia: Definitive Edition might be an improvement on the original game, but its modernisation stops short of the mark, resulting in an uneven game that squanders its enticing potential.

This competitive strategy game is fun, though it offers only a fraction of what you should expect from a retail product.

Ratatouille is a sufficient, if unfulfilling, platformer.

Star Ocean: First Departure's updated presentation fails to disguise its shallow gameplay or limited appeal.

Saying that The Descent meets expectations may be damning this DLC with faint praise, but that’s also a fair summation of what it offers during its seven-to-10 hours of action. This is a pure sideline quest to the events of Dragon Age: Inquisition that plays out in a completely linear fashion and has no impact on the greater world.

The greatness of Disney Infinity's Toybox is undermined by the carelessness of its structured content.

Fortified feels like a really good start, not a fully realized game.

Overpowered losing buffs and overpriced cash shop items overshadow Renaissance Heroes' simple pleasures.

It's still great fun, particularly in short bursts, but it's hard to justify plunking down extra cash for Wii Sports Club.

A number of notable frustrations keep this moderately enjoyable flight-combat sim from soaring.

Destiny prefers telling the same stories time and time again, hoping to transfix you with its rinse-and-repeat pace and ply you with the possibility of better loot, rather than with gameplay diversity that intimates surprises hovering on the horizon.

Alpha Protocol's astounding intricacies are tarnished by bugs, clumsy gameplay mechanics, and rough production values.

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.

Poor AI and insane difficulty gets between you and the sniping in Sniper: Ghost Warrior.

This interesting puzzle game is a great challenge but not a great value.

I wanted to like it more, and had it not overstayed its welcome, I would have. But in the end, like its robots, ReCore is a game with a bright soul encased in parts that are used well past their prime.

A multiplayer shooter that cobbles together elements of massively multiplayer games but overlooks the lessons developers of such games learned many years ago.

Dust 514 is a better idea than it is a shooter, but its progression system has just enough depth to keep you engaged.

For just $15, you get a couple of dozen hours of mostly enjoyable Diablo-styled hacking and slashing that is just well crafted enough to make you overlook the lunacy of the story and the aggravation of the bugs.

The Political Machine 2012 updates the Beltway players and the hot-button issues, but keeps the same gameplay as its 2008 predecessor.

Unfortunately, like the cars that shuttle people around the island, this game is on rigid tracks and offers you no control over where it goes or how it gets there. You're just along for the ride.

This trigger-happy safari may be too exuberant for its own good, but there's still some fun to be had in these hunts.

Making your torturous, long trek across planets and galaxies to discover the key to the afterlife can be fascinating. It's a psychological examination of the human spirit and mind, and what we’re truly capable of when we can’t accept our losses. You have to spend several hours solving frustrating puzzles to see it through, but The Way’s poignant story is worth the occasional struggle.

Touch Detective is packed with goofy characters and funny dialogue, but its overly opaque adventure game puzzle designs prevent it from being much fun.

No matter how you spruce it up, however, WWE 2K17 isn't the substantial leap forward I was hoping for. The in-ring action is still serviceable, and refinements to various aspects of its combat make for a more enjoyable game than in previous years. But there are still a myriad of niggling issues holding it back, and the absence of 2K Showcase only compounds these problems.