Although Capsized may never attain the name recognition of older 2D games it does manage to seek out new life in an old genre. Although the point of the game is to escape the alien planet, we found ourselves wanting to go back again and again.

The best thing about Brave New World is it finally capitalizes on one of Civilization V's main goals: provide multiple and equally viable routes to victory. Culture and diplomacy no longer feel less valuable than science and military might. However, it's almost like you're paying $30 for fixes and alterations. It also doesn't help that the AI is as cryptic as ever. The expansion is no doubt substantial, but it's also paying for sins of the past.

Rogue Legacy gives a fresh take on old thoughts, plays well with a keyboard and better on a controller, and stands strong even if some of its own biggest traits are ever-so-slightly underdeveloped. Superbly designed and balanced, this game rides the line of frustration and fun to deliver that one-more-go feel that will have every barbarian king and queen roaring a battle cry, then gearing up to take on that ancient evil one more time.

Project X Zone successfully delivers on the fan service and flashy battles, but it falls short in the strategy department. It’s a fun game to play in small intervals, but it’s a lengthy proposition clocking it at around 40-50 hours to complete.

Magic 2014 is still well worth its modest ten dollar price tag, but players looking to jump into a duel for the first time would be better served by the better-rounded 2012 and 2013 versions of the series, even if their art doesn’t move.

Comic fans looking for a mindless romp may find Wade Wilson’s misadventures up to the task, but players seeking some actual substance should look for another mercenary to hire.

This is a sequel that’s more about refinement than innovation, and elements such as the weather effects and the robust Theater of War serve to make an already great franchise just a tad greater. A heavy reliance on the past keeps it from earning the legendary status of its predecessor, but appropriately, Company of Heroes 2 marks a dogged victory for Relic -- these guys have clearly been fighting the good fight.

Lack of character progression aside, this is a substantial chunk of DLC, lasting 12 to 15 hours and including some great payoffs at the end. You’ll find tantalizing mysteries to explore along the way, and a few more side quests unlock after the main quest. Assault on Dragon Keep is the funniest and most expansive bit of post-launch content for Borderlands 2. Fantasy nerds, this one’s for you.

Game & Wario could come as a disappointment if you’re accustomed to excellent past collections that bare the Wario moniker. While there may be a few glimpses of really clever ideas, they’re overshadowed by the amount of uninspired games that don’t lend themselves well to the hardware. Sorry Wario, guess you’ll have to look for future funding through another Crowdfarter.

This is a game that demands more from its players, and treats them as capable thinkers. Don’t make the mistake of dismissing The Swapper.

Something that plays well, makes you think, and keeps you playing to the end is, without a doubt, worth taking in.

State of Decay is a game that is, in many ways, both the best and worst zombie game you’ve ever played. For all of its bugs, blemishes, and festering imperfections, this game realizes an untapped style of survival gameplay that genre nuts should definitely take notice of.

Quotation forthcoming.

GRID 2 has a handful of head-scratching design decisions, but it's a solid, varied, and challenging racer set in strongly realized environments. Allow yourself to think outside of the cockpit, and you can't go wrong.

Despite the daily chores and bee stings, there's something truly captivating about this virtual life, and you'll grow attached to its endearing characters as you chat and exchange letters. For long-time fans, there's much of the familiar, but the vast array of tweaks and additions to Animal Crossing: New Leaf blow through your town like a fresh breeze. It's good to be mayor.

Remember Me isn’t quite up to par in terms of craft. But whatever you might say about it, this curious and ambitious game certainly isn’t without personality or interest. It’s up to you to decide if your mind has room to hold such a curious oddity.

Some might see it as an enjoyable co-op shooter with a sci-fi bent, some as an exercise of wasted potential. We imagine that it stands as a science experiment for if yet another unremarkable sixty dollar shooting gallery can sell - Insomniac’s solid track record points to a positive outcome, but this might be a case where the catalyst just isn’t strong enough.

This Gunslinger isn't fancy or high tech. It excels where it matters most, with satisfying gunplay in a colorful old west setting that’s satisfying enough to have you forget or overlook the game's faults. If you're looking for a shooter that lets you spit fire into the hearts of your enemies, strap on the spurs and become a Gunslinger yourself.

So much potential turned into so much dull shooting. Instead of an experience that’s been richly integrated into EVE Online, we’re left with a me-too shooter that’s eager to take and unwilling to give, doing very little to justify its own existence. It may be technically free, but it isn’t worth even a minute of your time.

If you’ve played Revelations before, you’ll find few differences here with only a few new characters in raid mode and an infernal difficulty that remixes enemies and item locations for those seeking an extreme challenge. If you’ve yet to play it, this is a viable hybrid of old-evil sensibilities and new-evil action. All things considered, not a bad mutation.

As broken as it is conceptually, the fundamental tapping game works well enough, throwing in directional inputs and holds as the difficulty ramps up. Unfortunately there's just not enough music to go around.

The fact Last Light is absolutely stunning on the PC and packed full of crisp detail makes exploring and fighting through this hellish, dimly-lit realm an affecting and exhilarating experience. A few years and a lot of spit-shine make a huge difference on the visual front.

An expansive downloadable game that's bursting with stuff to do. It's disappointing that cheap mini games and toys are the only incentives for perfecting courses, but even so, the game provides a ton of variety and a consistent level of challenge. Like other great puzzlers on handheld platforms, Minis on the Move will have you searching for your 3DS charger before you know it.

A condensed but fun experience in the role of pretend-doctor and the medical disasters you can impose on your pretend patients. It’s a dark, gruesome, and hilarious take on this life-saving vocation…though you’ll probably end up ruining more lives than you save.

Pandora's Tower isn't the best-playing action RPG out there. Its fixed camera and control issues are often quite frustrating. Yet these issues aren't enough to completely outweigh Elena's convincing character.

There are many things to see in this land, but wandering around can feel empty.

Bawdy and beautiful, Blood Dragon is that mocking love letter that lets you live out selfish, stupid, guilty pleasures and this time with production values.

Your patience is tested perhaps too often in Soul Sacrifice. The pacing feels too slow through most of the early goings and it's not until you've offered several hours and no small quantity of blood that the storytelling finally awakens to move with some purpose.

Star Trek covers its blemishes with its drive and plucky production, creating a constant concourse of weapons, environments, and one-offs. But the game is too long and fraught with poor design choices to remain blind too for a full play through.

It will take a capable character about a dozen hours to make it to the bottom of this mega-dungeon, and once you do, the dungeon locks up its doors once more and fortifies its defenses with even more fearsome guardians to match your inflated level and newly-acquired loot.

This arcade-style take on stealth takes a careful balance of planning and execution, and even if it’s not quite a perfect crime, it’s still a pretty darn good one.

The game has a lot going for it when everything is working properly and the handful of new gameplay elements turns Riptide into something legitimately better than its predecessor. In some ways, Dead Island: Riptide feels like a massive content patch, but considering its smarter pacing and greater visual and gameplay variety, it's closer to what the original game probably should have been.

The core shooting mechanics are engaging enough to keep you coming back, and its intriguing episodic ties have the potential to keep ark hunting interesting in fresh, original ways.

There’s a lot to appreciate here, and many good fights to be had -- Injustice actually does justice to its source material and its players.

Slender: The Arrival is an atmospheric package relying too much on one admittedly terrifying trick that overstays its welcome far too early in an already short series of events.

BattleBlock Theater is a fine little game, and though it has charm and pizazz, it also comes of feeling a bit of a sideshow, just something to pull out on a rainy day for a fast fifteen to buy a new head, play a quick match, or toy around with a level idea. You’ll get your mileage, and scratch that itch to run, jump, and punch with wild abandon, which for fifteen bucks is A-OK.

True to its fanciful food title, Guacamelee serves up a saucy mix of eclectic influences in a fresh take on a classic dish. While there’s always the risk of sampling too many flavors, the end result is a delightfully diverse game that successfully showcases a different side of itself at every taste.

The odd thing is that while Army of Two: The Devil's Cartel is clearly not a well-executed game, it still manages to be fun with a friend. It's quick, stop-and-pop gameplay with carnage and explosions aplenty. Every awkward moment and terrible line of dialogue is a potential laugh -- or two -- so it's not the worst choice for a weekend rental.

BioShock Infinite is both art-house and grindhouse, managing to offer something for everyone. There’s drama, philosophy, and shocking violence, then there’s combat, abilities, and gear -- there’s even numerically quantified damage for the stat-obsessed. It’s enhanced by thoughtful plotting and great characters and wrapped up in a beautiful world and calamitous physics. Heady and bloody, it’s a tesseract worth tackling, and even if you can see its seams from time to time, its ambition cannot be denied.

Even with numerous technical problems, Cart Life offers more than simple entertainment. You’ll cringe when Andrus’ rent is due and despite your best efforts, you’ve come up short. Dealing with the landlord is more frightening than most survival horror games and it has a lot to do with the fact that you aren’t shooting zombies. This isn’t escapism at all; Cart Life puts the trials of life front and center. For once, the player has to think about issues rather than blasting them with a shotgun.

Every haunted room seems to breathe with an inventive charm and delicate attention to detail that make this game one of the best reasons to own a 3DS. Catching ghosts is a rewarding occupation, and the vast amount of hidden collectables could have you fighting to exorcise your inner completionist. With the addition an unexpectedly inventive and enjoyable multiplayer experience, 3DS owners will be hard-pressed not to cut Luigi just a little more respect.

Review forthcoming.

The best moments arise when you stop to let it all sink in. It asks for attention rather than reflexes, and serves as a reminder that so few of these experiences exist.

It’s solid, it’s capable, it fits with the identity of the series. In short, it’s Gears.

While the omission of co-op play in this outing is an unexpected disappointment, Lego City Undercover is the best game in the series so far. It's consistently fun and surprising, offering the freedom of a great open-world game without all the guilt.

Series savants won’t be disappointed by the game’s catalog of well-constructed missions and stellar multiplayer experience, but players may still find themselves hoping for some sort of wild mutation from the franchise’s established norms.

Some of the new features are questionable, such as the throwing meter, while others, like the postseason mode, aren't fleshed out enough to make MLB 13 an instant purchase for those who are content with previous versions. Yet while there really aren't any new modes or "wow" features to make MLB 13 a completely different ballgame from previous entries, the gameplay, customization, computer AI, and visuals are too strong to ignore for even the most jaded fan.

It isn't the most serious affair, but if shooting the breeze in the bowels of the Normandy provided you with some of your fondest Mass Effect moments, you'll absolutely love this one last chance to bond with your crew.

Combines bold action with a certain level of restraint, taking a few chances but still hewing close to the familiar. The unexpected multiplayer arenas will click with some, while others may not even touch it, and only the server logs, written on ancient papyrus scrolls, will show if it has staying power.

Aside from some issues with its online requirements, bugs, and restrictions on city size, it's still a satisfying and addicting simulator that will grant dozens of hours of entertainment with one well-designed city alone. It's best played with friends, but there's still plenty of fun in store for those who go it alone, and the work Maxis has done here proves that the beloved franchise can still hold its own in a gaming world vastly different from its first appearance in 1989.

It’s clear that some effort certainly went into this dastardly devil’s creation, but Vergil’s Downfall leaves us wanting more; the inability to play as Vergil in the main campaign, much less the recently released Bloody Palace mode, is a puzzling omission given the precedent set with Devil May Cry 3.

Mirror of Fate leaves a poor first impression, but the game gradually becomes more enjoyable as you move through it. The game takes time out to puzzle near the halfway point for a welcome change of pace, and has its best moments coming at the end of the game, which you can reach in around ten hours.

Ultimate Ninja Storm 3 starts strong and has a few inspired moments, but it can’t keep up its momentum and plods through most of its material, too often asking you to watch rather than play.

A few things about the new Tomb Raider come across as wasted effort. The story of Lara’s transformation is sabotaged by the gameplay, and is frankly a little dorky, with an after-school special style multi-ethnic cast filled by lame sterotypes like angry black woman and scrap-happy Scotsman. Likewise a multiplayer mode, which nobody familiar with Tomb Raider would expect or even think to ask for, is competent but utterly unremarkable.

Lasting about three hours, this $10 first act has a hard time standing on its own.

Crysis 3, the endcap to the sci-fi shooter trilogy, recaptures the spirit of its source in an all-inclusive package wrought with the best elements from each game. And though it doesn’t necessarily exceed series expectations, it certainly doesn’t betray them, either. The only concession is the compact campaign, but it’s easy to overlook it in light of the game’s accomplishments overall. From its cerebral, open-ended gameplay and lavish visuals to its impressive scale and multiplayer execution, Crysis 3, in all of its careful engineering and design, is certifiably dressed to impress.

An amazing action game that offers a level of exacting fidelity that few can match. The short length isn’t a detractor--you’ll definitely come back for seconds given everything it has to offer. Hacking enemies to pieces hasn’t felt this good in a long time. Don’t be surprised if this isn’t the last we see of Raiden.

While Proteus doesn't evoke a sense of lasting emotional impact, it provides a brief escape to zone out and let your senses soak in its world, whether you're following your nose in discovery or simply relaxing and watching the sunset.

While the more obvious gating puzzles aren’t as charming, Antichamber still manages to craft its conclusion to a crescendo, with the swelling geometry taking on a personality, successfully building a narrative despite a lack of story.

Despite the game’s best intentions to immerse you in the Aliens universe, the result is a bloody massacre. Relying on dated storytelling techniques and technology, and stretching way too far to provide a plausible link between the second and third films, Aliens: Colonial Marines isn’t able to connect its action to any real sense of drama or terror, completely missing the aspect of psychological horror that gave the film its edge.

If you're looking for combat, in-depth crafting options, or a true survival simulation, then Miasmata's limitations will likely be disappointments. Yet if you are the type of player who enjoys exploring, cartography, and the danger of being hunted by a creature you cannot defeat, then Miasmata will prove a to be a highly memorable experience that's equal parts exasperating and thrilling.

The Vita crossover feature allows for almost seamless alternations between portable and console gameplay; in fact, the lush visuals of Thieves in Times tend to fare better on the Vita. Yet the most satisfying achievement of Thieves in Time is that this isn’t a mere nostalgia trip like 2010’s Sly Collection; with Thieves in Time, Sanzaru has proven that there’s never been a better time to join forces with Sly and his merry band.

Dead Space 3 has the bad habit of drawing you into a tantalizing catastrophe right before goading you right back into its more tedious and borderline exploitative elements. The quest is long and the side-content plentiful, but it all comes at the expense of the atmosphere. In our estimation, it’s a poor bargain.

Providing a delightful glimpse of the past in more ways than one, Skulls of the Shogun is a tactical treat for fans of old school, Japanese-style strategy games. Equal parts quirky and complex, it only comes to prove that the glory days of this often forgotten genre aren't quite gone.

Nintendo has managed to lower the barrier to entry in Awakening while still preserving the core Fire Emblem experience. It takes positive strides forward with new additions like enhancements to the social system and battle mechanics, and the series' established formula is all the better for it. If you've been hard-up for a solid RPG on the 3DS, Awakening is precisely what you've been waiting for.

Despite some brief rough patches and a structure that requires replay, The Cave is a thoroughly entertaining descent that lives up to its pedigree. Gameplay and narrative work together to create a funny and surprising adventure with inventive puzzles that hit the challenge sweet spot just right.

If you have any sort of appreciation for a great RPG, look no further than Ni no Kuni.

Ninja Theory has done right by Devil May Cry, delivering a striking game that honors the series' essence while still feeling like the product of a distinct vision. If you can forgive a few excesses--like the pretty-but-toothless boss fights--you'll find that your old friend hasn't changed all that much on the inside, in spite of his new style.

Anarchy Reigns throws a lot of blows, and while it's sometimes recklessly off target, this is a talented and capable fighter at its core.

With patience and persistence, this nostalgic electronic journey through unplugged gaming's past is a stirring romp that'll undoubtedly rekindle deep rooted passions for tabletop adventure.

The overall weirdness and distinctive art style keep Black Knight Sword from being another run-of-the-mill action game. Yet the five main levels can be completed within two hours, and while there is an option to continue playing on a more challenging difficulty setting as well as additional challenge-oriented modes, the level design doesn't encourage exploration and there's little interactivity aside from slashing at enemies.

This lengthy, unique, and upbeat JRPG is absolutely worth the many dozens of hours your inevitably sink into it, making it an essential addition to the Vita's repertoire.

Guardians of Middle Earth gets the basics right--it's a playable MOBA that you can drive with a control pad. But in the process of streamlining this notoriously complex genre, it sacrificed a bit too much at the altar of accessibility.

Making good on the aspirations of its predecessor, PlanetSide 2's vision of large-scale warfare is the most exuberantly realized yet. And with a payment model a good deal more generous than the 14 day trial teased by Everquest all those years ago, there's certainly little reason not to give it a go.

As a cartoon tie-in aimed at a very specific demographic, Transformers Prime does a pretty good job defining its setting an action. It just doesn't go far enough. A decent kids game that gets old a little bit too fast, Prime just won't quite measure up for Transformers fans that frankly have shinier, better toys to play with.

Warped charm makes these bizarre critters and their zany game world likeable enough, but Rabbids Land falls woefully short of the Mario Party format it attempts to mimic.

Once you get into the rhythm of each faction's style of play, Natural Selection 2 opens up the throttle on one of the most interesting and intense multiplayer experiences you'll find on PC.

No Time Left ventures into masterpiece territory, particularly when considered in relation to the episodes that came before.

It feels like Activision rubber-stamped this empty shell of a game to make a quick buck. The Vita deserves better. You deserve better.

Serious wordsmiths may bemoan the lighter difficulty and more streamlined puzzle play, but it's hard to grumble when the simple act of noodling around with your wacky word creations is so blissfully absorbing on its own.

Tank! Tank! Tank! is hard to recommend on any level. It's short on content, fails to take much advantage of the Wii U hardware, lacks gameplay depth, and quickly becomes monotonous. It holds some charm for those who enjoy massive creature flicks, but everyone else should steer clear despite its discounted price tag. Launch day surprise, this is not.

You're left with a book that can't be read, a game that isn't really played, and a sense of disappointment that can't be waved away by all the wands in Ollivander's shop.

The best yet in the series, but with a modest play time and simple gameplay it's hard to recommend as a purchase for adults. The formula is simply starting to wear a bit thin. For fans of the films, it's a quality product that does the license justice and likely represents one of the final pop culture spin-offs before the trilogy is finally laid to rest.

It ultimately relies too much on the honor system, and many players will be less inclined to give their best effort when the game gives you a pass just for moving around. In the end, the game doesn't do much more than simply give you an excuse to dance--it really is just as simple as its title.

Despite its goofy title and questionable marketing tie-ins, Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed deserves to be taken seriously... just not too seriously. It's a fun, challenging, and easily enjoyable racing game that uses a lot of familiar mechanics and ideas but knows well enough to try and do its own thing. And it does that thing pretty well.

PES 2013 combines the strengths of its recent predecessors to deliver the most focused game of soccer the franchise has seen in a while. As a result, the series comes closer to FIFA's quality than it has in years.

There are miles of terrain to discover in Far Cry 3, filled with numerous trials and objectives to explore at your own pace, and an excellent sense of connection with the game's unhinged cast. The co-op and competitive multiplayer components stand as comparative low points, but chances are you'll be so busy trekking through this vast island that you'll likely write them off as just another symptom of jungle sickness.

With a more deliberately-designed fighting system, Battle Royale strives for the sort of cred you'd sooner find in an arcade than a living room get-together. The end result is a serviceable party game that shoots for the stars but ultimately comes up short of its competitive aspirations. In its attempts to take its format in a different direction, it has inadvertently skewed itself away from the fundamentals that would make it work. In the end, you can safely say that Battle Royale is indeed not like Smash Brothers, but it might have been better if it were.

ZombiU does deliver a distinctive survival experience, albeit one stymied by awkward meanderings and dull undead. It's not likely you'll die of boredom per se, though the good sections are strung few and far between. More than anything else, ZombiU feels like it was rushed to launch, which is too bad--a little more time in the incubator and it could have been something special.

Rather than encourage you to engage this striking world as a real place with coherent rules and consequences, you're asked to internalize its shortcomings and game them mercilessly. When it truly makes good on the open-world stealth thing, it certainly has its moments, and nowhere is this more evident than in the Contracts mode. But even in these cases, its flaws are merely papered-over. If you mean to accept this contract, bear in mind the numerous potential complications.

Sing Party gets by well enough as a minimalistic party experience that's heavy on embarrassment potential and light on actual gameplay, but the inability to switch off the vocals tracks is the biggest detriment to the experience. It's a frustrating design decision that goes against the very spirit of what the game is trying to emulate. Serious karaoke enthusiasts will bristle at having to sing over the original tracks, and casual players will likely be uncomfortable mustering the resolve it takes for party play. What's left is a pretty weak package with limited appeal.

It's hard to see Nintendo Land becoming anywhere near the sensation that Wii Sports was. It requires too much equipment for the modes that last, and the rest can be quickly milked of their entertainment value. It proves that Nintendo is capable of creating addicting one-dollar games, but at 60 bucks, it's not priced to sell. As a pack-in for the deluxe version of the console it's a nice extra that shows what the Wii U is capable of.

Nintendo really has this kind of game down to a science, to the point where players can almost take for granted that the newest Mario game will hit a certain standard of quality. It's not the most inspired piece of work, but New Super Mario Bros Wii U satisfies the requirements for a great platformer and does a good job of putting the system's touchscreen to interesting use. The game is actually at its best when another human being is involved, and if you're on board with the Wii U, it's a great chance to get in touch with your new system.

Despite the new additions, Epic Mickey 2 feels phoned in. The charm and novelty of the paint mechanics are starting to fade, and it lacks the ambitious decision making that helped to distinguish the original. What's left is a mediocre platformer, and all its allusions to Disney's rich history can only help it so much.

The elastic story provides plenty of incentive to replay the campaign, the strikeforce levels aren't executed perfectly, but they're a glimpse at the future, and the multiplayer features are tweaked to make every play style relevant and to level the playing field. It does so many new things so very well, making it the most groundbreaking Call of Duty since the first Modern Warfare. Shooters simply don't get much more deep, varied, surprising, or rewarding than this.

Sticker Star exhibits some growing pains, but the new direction pays off in spite of them. The lack of traditional RPG elements will take time to adjust to, but once you've cleared the hurdle, you're rewarded with a solid game that hones in on its clever puzzles and refined battle system to deliver an experience that simultaneously comforting and novel.

Quotation forthcoming.

For all the careful planning that might go in a stickup, it all usually comes down to clutching out impromptu, split second shootouts. Sometimes these quirks manifest as incompetent A.I. behavior or exploitative gameplay, but for the most part, it all congeals in a remarkably tense and satisfying experience with depth to go with its style.