The sterile presentation and lack of options certainly don't help matters, either. While it has its highlights, the party is over before it can really get started.

What makes Human Revolution on the Wii U special aren't the additional features, but that which was already constructed. The game draws remarkable contrast between the sterility of the corporate world and the grit of the city.

Inspired by a number of popular sc-fi properties, Dark Matter held the promise of offering an appealing mash-up of Metroid-style gameplay and Dead Space-like scares. While it mostly gets the mood right, due in no small part to its slick lighting and audio work, its other elements barely range from subpar to serviceable.

Glare offers an inventive mechanic that could have given rise to a memorable adventure, but then fails to build meaningfully on that early promise. This is an entertaining pit stop that can tide you over on your journey to a bigger, brighter galaxy.

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.

Rocksmith isn't going to be replacing the likes of a keen ear, a copy of Guitar Pro, and a good set of tabs for me, but when I think back to when I bashed out my first clumsy Green Day chords on guitar, I'd have killed for as good a teacher as this.

Though there are some clever moments to be found in the platforming challenges, the majority of the levels are either disappointingly tepid or downright frustrating. Irritum's flawed attempts to challenge your dexterity and engage your mind aren't enough to inspire you to linger in this limbo.

Be prepared to grind for several hours before the game's rhythm picks up and its diversity compels you towards the exciting closing battles that reveal Salvation Prophecy's best attributes.

That some inoffensive visuals and a few fun 2D sections are the highlights of a largely 3D game is telling. Sonic Lost World desperately wants to be Mario Galaxy, but in overtly coveting the great Italian plumber, it smothers the talents of its blazing blue hedgehog.

The new character combinations enhance the gameplay, expanding on what can be created and adding an interesting mechanic to the game. You may wind up shopping for new figures to unlock new content, which isn't a cheap habit to build, but Swap Force taps into the sheer joy of experimenting with new character combinations and building them from there.

The Stanley Parable is both a richly stimulating commentary on the nature of choice in games (and in other systems, too, like our workplaces and our families) and a game that offers some of the most enjoyable, surprising, and rewarding choices I've ever been confronted with in a game. Going the wrong way has never felt so right.

A haphazard collection of obtuse puzzles strewn about an ill-lighted world that does nothing to call attention to them. While it might be easy to assume these frustrations echo the protagonist's apparent mental illness, PolyPusher Studios utterly fails to teach you about the limits and goals of its own work, and does little to illuminate how its puzzles relate to the real-world experience Montague's Mount tries to evoke.

Full Bore's bluesy music is catchy, the animations are equally charming and unsettling, the puzzles are often fun to solve, and there are hints of a good, dark mystery behind the greater plot.

This one-hour prelude thinks as little of you as it does its characters.

When it becomes clear that success isn't a matter of overcoming psychological terrors but of discerning rigid, obfuscated logic, Knock-knock reveals itself to be not something horrifying that defies all understanding, but simply a mundane, frustrating little puzzle box.

The unpredictable human element is both an asset and a liability, and the technical problems that have plagued it are far too significant to be ignored. But when it clicks, as it often does, there's nothing quite like GTA Online.

With all the additional features that expand Prime World beyond traditional genre definitions, the game lacks the heart and focus needed to keep you invested in each match.

This is a game that demands a lot up front but pays off down the road as long as you stay patient when it comes to online homework and in-game experimentation.

Cityscapes are cloaked in deep purple haze and long shadows, and droning minor-scale chords heave and sigh, suffocating you with their smoky nuances. No matter how this story unfolds, it's hard to imagine a happy ending clearing away the pervading darkness.

This debut episode from The Wolf Among Us crafts an excellent illusion that usually veils the systematic gears that click and whir whenever you veer down a particular path. More impressively, it nails its atmosphere.

Disgaea D2: A Brighter Darkness is one of the funniest and freshest role-playing games of the year.

A fascinating experience that expertly links story and mechanics to further your connection to the world.

Pokemon X/Y isn't quite a mega evolution of its numerous predecessors, but like a dark move played against a ghost- or psychic-type pokemon, it doesn't disappoint.

Pokemon X and Y benefit greatly from their leap to a fully 3D world, and have plenty to offer both veterans and novices alike.

It's a capable homage to a beloved 16-bit franchise, complete with attractive visuals and great audio, but the overall package is best suited to those who are eager for new challenges to keep them busy after they've worked through the readily available and more affordable library of older fare that already covered the same ground.

Brutal robot-destroying fun is buried deep, but this giant mech battling series could still use an oil change.

A generic shooter notable only for its intense difficulty.

Card Hunter's fusion of tabletop role-playing games and trading cards is easy to get into and hard to pull away from.