If Anomaly Warzone Earth was any indication that tower offense games were good, Anomaly 2 confirms that they’re amazing.

Subtlety is what makes Last Light such an exceptionally immersive game. It nails the core tenets of a shooter, then forces you to react to enemies in ways outside of simply taking cover. It plops you in a post-apocalyptic world, then fills it with tons of minor but substantial details, like the shadows of once-living people now permanently nuked into stone walls. It strips you of hope, only to dangle a tiny sliver of it ahead of you like a carrot on a stick.

StarDrive is not a bad a game, per se--but it's a lot like the games that came before it, and does little to differentiate itself from the pack. It has character, sure--what game with samurai bears wouldn’t?

As a whole, Minis on the Move feels like a bit like a bait and switch, ensnaring gamers familiar with the franchise's established gameplay, only to deliver something unexpected and not entirely satisfying.

No one would mistake Thomas Was Alone for a AAA release, but don’t hold its relatively short length and abstract graphics against it. The game plays to its strength with clever puzzles and cleverer writing. Once you get to really know these mild-mannered cubes, you’ll want to follow their adventure all the way to the end.

Don’t Starve starts off slow and punishing and continues to get even harder as you play. Its merciless difficulty coupled with its monotonous gameplay can leave some players feeling frustrated and bored. Those who enjoy a good challenge, however, will relish in the satisfaction they’ll get when they manage to outlive their previous record or clear the game’s evil Adventure mode. It may not be for everyone, but if you’re looking for a roguelike game filled with charm and challenge, be sure not to miss Don’t Starve.

It's a charming game, but you'll spend less time fighting the grotesque foes that make up Zenozoik, and more time wrestling with poor game design--if only punching that in the face would solve its problems, too.

Minor criticisms aside, Far Cry 3 Blood Dragon does a fantastic job of servicing the demand for retro nostalgia, but inside the comfortable setting of a very modern, very well-made shooter. It’s the best of both worlds: it looks like a fun retro game, but plays like a properly modern one. What it lacks in genuinely new features it more than makes up for in pure style, and although it controls in exactly the same way as Far Cry 3 the setting makes the action feel fresh.

They say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Where one gamer will see an ugly, boring, schizophrenic mess of a survival horror game, another will see the splendor of its expansive setting, idiosyncratic cast, and spellbinding mystery. Deadly Premonition: The Director’s Cut is the misfit’s masterpiece, offering an inviting and affordable chance to see which side of the oddball gamer fence you stand on.

There’s a strong element of cooperative play with an excellent twist that will surely be the death of many a friendships, and plenty of character customization to build up your own magic-wielding badass. The game’s got plenty of great content, especially if you can convince a few others to take that step with you, but if you’re holding your breath for a great story, you’re almost certainly going to be disappointed.

From a gameplay perspective, Star Trek is hindered by its unpolished character animations, clunky controls, and repetitive hacking minigames. While it can be entertaining to experience the return of the movie's cast to their roles as the beloved Star Trek characters, it's difficult to get past the gameplay's shortcomings.

It’s clear that Monaco is a labor of love, from the meticulously detailed levels to the quirky art style and devilishly complex experience. Clearly, it’s possible to be inspired by many unrelated influences that yield an original, delightful, and frenetic outcome; Monaco: What’s Yours Is Mine is living proof.

Sacred Citadel’s obvious finale will leave you wondering why it shipped with a half-baked story. Thankfully, the enjoyable combat steals the spotlight, though it doesn’t come away unblemished.

Its addicting zombie-slaying action, dozens of interesting weapons, and immersive qualities far outweigh its dull story and occasional technical hiccups, the latter of which pale in comparison to those of the original. This outshines its predecessor in almost every conceivable way--and once it sinks its teeth into your time, Riptide is a hard game to put down.

While the story lacks the humor and extensive narrative of the Wii U sequel, Chase and the rest of the cast are still an endearing bunch.

Your brain won’t be incredibly taxed by the puzzles...but the game moves at the right pace considering that the plot is what’s most important here.

It’s also worth noting Defiance’s death mechanic, which fails to elicit much from the player. You periodically get the ability to revive exactly where you died, but generally you’ll need to "extract," which pulls you just a little bit farther out. Even so, you will rarely revive anywhere that's not in eyeshot of where you just were. In other words, you can always just respawn--and the experience and gold penalty to do so is negligible. It’s too forgiving, and a significant part of what makes Defiance an oftentimes flat and emotionless experience.

Despite its bland and overly simplistic exterior, ShootMania Storm is like a blank canvas for FPS fans' creativity.

Time has moved past this style of game, and if you don’t miss JRPGs like this one, you’ll end up wishing this vision of the future stayed in the ’90s.

A licensed fighting game done right, sure to please fans of the brand and the genre. Its accessibility lets casual gamers or avid comic readers enjoy themselves, while retaining all the depth that fighter enthusiasts crave. If you've ever wanted to witness Batman and Superman duke it out in a brutal showdown, there's no better time than now.

Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory had the potential to improve tenfold upon the previous games, but squanders the opportunity for flashier transformations and hundreds of quests.

Despite some frustrating moments and difficulty spikes, it’s a terrific game for PlayStation Network gamers looking for something both familiar and different.

Everything surrounding the long-range shooting makes this far from a satisfying experience. The muddy visuals, cheesy dialogue, predictable level design, and lacking multiplayer leaves plenty to be desired.

BattleBlock Theater is filled with absurdity, fart jokes, and curious characters that will easily suck you into a colorful world. Its stages are creative and get more complex as you get used to its mechanics and controls and offer enough challenge and funny dialogue to keep you amused. Play it alone and you’ll laugh; play it with a friend (and push him off a ledge) and you’ll laugh even more.

Devil’s Cartel seems to accomplish exactly what it set out to do, offering an intense, impressive two-player co-op experience that’s heavily customizable and replayable. While it won’t likely scratch the itch of those looking for a more traditional shooter game--namely, competitive online multiplayer--it’s an original concept set inside familiar trappings.

It might not make a great first impression, but it’s going to be awfully hard, even this early in the year, to find a downloadable game that can offer this much content. You’ll always find more and more excuses to just keep digging away.

It offers depth of gameplay and customization in a gorgeous, immersive baseball experience.

Better mechanics, a deep historical mode, expanded online capabilities, and multi-gender careers highlight a huge game with much to offer its fans. However, it’s difficult to view its desire to exact even more money after purchase by offering enticing course content as payable DLC that directly impacts your ability to play core modes of the game as anything but questionable.