I suspect that a lot of these issues may be solved when the next game in the franchise, Invizimals: The Resistance, arrives with its card-free ways, but at present, that's still a barrier to entry, and it's a big enough barrier that you'd be wiser to just wait for The Resistance to wash up on North American shores than to invest your energy in this entry in the series.

If this was a drastic improvement over the original, with a better camera or great ambient sound, it might make sense, but absent those changes, it just seems like you're paying extra money, and not getting all that much in return.

Nonetheless, for those who do like a good mystery, you probably owe it to yourselves to at least give this a look, and see how much it catches your mystery-craving fancy.

If a game is going to ask for people's time and money, it should be delivering something in return that can't be gotten for free on any number of X-rated sites, and Senran Kagura just doesn't do that.

Whatever minor dissonance may be created by the occasional wrong note, it's more than made up for by gameplay that's simple, fun, and insanely addictive.

What D4 does incredibly well is provide gamers who loved Deadly Premonition with another tale of weird and wonder while at the same time giving day one Xbox One owners a reason to use their Kinect rather than controlling their cable TV.

It's a smaller piece in a much, much larger puzzle, and if you don't go into it fully aware of that broader context, it's not going to make a whole lot of sense.

The only gripes I would have to say I have with South Park Pinball is as follows: A) there only 2 tables, and I’m not sure if it was a decision based on popularity or what, but it would have been nice to have at least one more to choose from in this universe. B) South Park is an undoubtedly politically incorrect game full of dirty words and don’t go there humor, and these two tables are very PG to say the least.

Invizimals: The Lost Kingdom is just a solidly competent 3D platformer that doesn't aspire to be a lot more than it is.

Not only that, but a great Alien game, which isn’t something I expected to be saying this soon after Colonial Marines. Creative Assembly has done a great job of delivering a game that pays appropriate homage to the original film, while once again breathing life into the franchise

As it is now, online play is virtually useless to me, which certainly negates a lot of the multiplayer fun on my side. Hopefully this will either improve, or be ironed out for the Wii U version of Super Smash Bros.

Either way, Sleeping Dogs is still a lot of fun, but the when it comes to throwing hard-earned money at 4th quarter releases, I can’t suggest putting this port at the top of your must-have lists.

Even with a few flaws and missteps, Chariot is still a very enjoyable platform title that is most welcome in a day and age where they are virtually nonexistent — unless you are a Wii U owner.

As it is today, Driveclub is a still a pretty darn compelling package for racing game fans, and an enjoyable and addictive racing experience for PS4 owners. It's worth taking for a test drive at the very least.

In Frozen Synapse Prime, when you beat a level, it's because you figured out your own way from Point A to Point B — or, more accurately, because you figured out how to make all the moving pieces of your own little Rube Goldberg Machine of Death come together. What could be more satisfying than that?

Arc System Works has brought many great fighters to the US, and while Arcana Heart 3 LOVE MAX!!!!! is somewhat decent, it’s definitely not their best and only earns an above average rating.

I’d wholeheartedly suggest checking Persona 4 Arena Ultimax, whether you’re a Persona fan, or have enjoyed other Arc System Works fighters in the past.

This year's iteration seems a little less polished than last year's, and the basic formula is beginning to feel repetitive, but it still holds up as one of the more enjoyable family friendly gaming experiences available this year.

But they are enough to make me think that, deep down, Natural Doctrine isn't all bad. Don't get me wrong, it's certainly not good, either — but overall, it has just enough things going in its favour that it's able to lift itself from "Oh God, this is horrible" to "Meh, you could do worse."

You can get away with a lot if you've got a sense of humour, and if there's one thing that Hyperdimension Neptunia Re;Birth1 has, it's a sense of humour. Admittedly, it's a sense of humour that will appeal only to a very specific subset of the gaming population, but if you are one of those people, your game of the year isn't just here, it's available to take with you everywhere.

It is nice to see EA not sit back and take it easy with their illustrious FIFA franchise, and honestly they will need to keep it up with Konami’s PES series set to return with a vengeance.

What I’m trying to say is that with Gauntlet, Arrowhead proved you could go home again. You could revisit old territory.

Needless to say, I really, really enjoyed Hyrule Warriors. As a fan of musou-style games, and as a lifelong Zelda fan, there’s a lot to love here.

All in all, I really enjoyed Middle-Earth: Shadow of Mordor. While the game had always been on my radar, I still find myself pretty surprised with how fantastic it ended up being.

Outside of the vast amount of content, another big feather in Forza Horizon 2’s cap is how damn beautiful this world looks. Draw distance is incredible, environment pop-in is kept to a minimum, and the weather effects are stunning. Driving haphazardly through fields at night in the rain is a sight to see, and there’s nary a technical hiccup to be found.

It may not be perfect, but at the very least, its strange, twisted heart is definitely in the right place.

Disney Infinity: Marvel Super Heroes (2.0 Edition) is a great, family friendly game all around.

It’s not bad by any means, just not as interactive or engaging as other JRPGs available.

That's the downside to the game: Gravity Crash Ultra is designed for short, quick play sessions, which, all things considered, isn't exactly a bad thing.

When all is said and done, Pinball FX2 for the Xbox One is easily the best version of the franchise thanks to its new interface — even if you have to deal with a hiccup or two when importing your titles.

So yes, Destiny falls short of second-coming status, but it’s still worth checking out.

If I were to sum up NHL 15 in one word it would be “disappointing.”

However, if you do consider the social implications of games, then it practically goes without saying that Run Like Hell! is a game that will probably offend you to your very core, and you'll want to stay far, far away. But take heart: all that you're missing out on is a thoroughly mediocre endless runner.

Even with that similarity, though, Teslagrad still has a look and a feel all its own — which, as I said up top, is what helps set it apart from all those other great puzzle-platformers. At the same time, though, as much as that sets it apart from the likes of Braid, Fez and more, it also places Teslagrad alongside them, as one of the really phenomenal examples of the genre.

All in all, I’m pretty impressed with the overall package of Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call.

It's a deeply disturbing game, but it's also a very fun one, and it's a testament to the latter that even someone as painfully wussy as me when it comes to anything gory or horror-ish is able to completely ignore the former.

As it is now, especially without a trial for fans to judge for themselves, the game is too hit or miss for me to say that spending $35 is a wise option here.

Fan of genre? Pick this up. If not, Fall has games.

But if you have yet to experience Dead Rising 3, then this might be worth a look. But if you value performance over everything else, you’d do well to play the waiting game and see what fixes, if any, the community may produce.

By objective measures, Counterspy may be a little lacking, but in my subjective opinion, there aren't many games I've enjoyed more this year.

I really enjoyed inFamous First Light on a number of levels, and if I had to compare it to The Last of Us’ Left Behind expansion, I would give the edge to First Light just for its additional challenges and replayability.

I’m not even sure if diehard BlazBlue fans will find this appealing for more than 30 minutes, as it is more suited to the casual gamer.

On the most critical point, however, Velocity 2X hasn't changed: it's still an awesome game, and it's still absolutely worth your time. Half of it may be borrowed from Futurlab's previous game, but half of it isn't, and those two halves add up to make one heck of an experience.

All in all, this is an excellent, fully featured rendition of one of the best Dynasty Warriors games on the market.

Like the films it seems to draw inspiration from, it takes on an artistic sheen — and like both of those movies, it's a look the game wears very, very well.

In fact, that line pretty much sums up the whole game: it's easy to appreciate Metrico on an intellectual level and it's easy to admire what the game is doing on a technical level. But there's a world of difference between admiring a game and loving it, and, unfortunately, Metrico falls very clearly on one side of that divide.

Since this is technically a rehash of a game from 2009, the retail version can be had for a relatively low price of $40, with the downloadable upgrade (if you have another version of SF4 in your library) setting you back only $15. If you are deciding between download or retail, it basically all comes down to if you want the 100 costumes found on the disc, or if you have enough HDD space for the upgrade.

If you have totally avoided the Battlefield 4, Call of Duty: Ghosts or other similar hardcore multiplayer shooter experiences and/or have been looking for a fun, accessible and less violent alternative, Plants vs. Zombies: Garden Warfare is definitely worth a look.

All things considered, though, I can deal with a slightly wonky camera, pointless jumping and occasionally long load screens if they're the trade-off for an otherwise good game. And by any measure, Akiba's Trip: Undead and Undressed is a very good game.

No Going Back delivers a satisfying conclusion to the season, while still leaving the door open just enough to keep you guessing at what comes next. Your bond to Clementine, and to the new and old characters from this season, feels as strong as ever in the final episode. Just keep in mind that nobody makes it out of Season 2 unscathed.

Did you live through the late '80s and early '90s and you miss games like Double Dragon and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (or, at least, do you wish you had)? Then this game is for you. If not, you can skip this one without worrying you're missing out on anything.

Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright is certainly one of the best releases on the 3DS this year, and it shouldn’t be missed.

Just enjoy the game for what it is; which not only is the best Madden game in quite some time, but the overall most accurate and realistic football game I have ever played.

It’s one of those quiet titles that gets released but rarely advertised, but trust me, it’s probably the only good thing that will come out of the new movie.

This is a big, ambitious game, and like any big, ambitious game, there's some stuff that goes wrong, but a lot more that goes right. And with all that right stuff…well, that's what makes the game so worth playing.

It may not stray very far from its influences, but considering how well it borrows from them, it hardly needs to. This is an adorable, easy-to-love game, and it's well worth a play.

If you don't want to spend every waking hour of the next few months grinding and grinding and grinding, then you may want to look into something less demanding. If, however, you're already a fan of the series, then you'll soon find Disgaea 4 has everything you've come to know and love of Disgaea: it's long, it's deep, and it's funny. If that's you (and I have to admit, it's certainly not me), then grab it now, and empty your calendar for the foreseeable future.

Overall, Pure Pool is a fun and accurate representation of the fine game of billiards and there will be little that fans will find that is overlooked here.

Getting Treasures of Montezuma: Arena will cost you only a little space on your memory card, and in return you'll get literally hours and hours of addictive gameplay. All things considered, that's well worth it.

Which, come to think of it, means that Table Top Racing is among the very best racing games on the Vita. True, that's not a huge accomplishment, since the full list of Vita racing games can easily be counted on two hands. Nonetheless, this is a strong enough game that it's easy to imagine Table Top Racing standing out even if that list was several times as long.

Easily the biggest draw of the expansion is the new Adventure mode. Gone are endless Act III farming runs, replaced now with bounties and Nephalem rifts to explore across all Acts. Adventure mode is entered into separately from the story, and not bogged down by any quest related dialogue or shenanigans.

They're fun, they play well, and they still feel like they're worth playing a decade after the fact. Throw in the whole on-the-go aspect you get with the Vita, and it makes it easy to recommend picking this up.

Likewise, the graphics are cute, and full of fun little flourishes; it may start out looking like your standard retro indie game, but when your knight who can't see in 3D turns around to reveal that (s)he is flat, or when your knight with blurry vision sees everything in his or her immediate vicinity with a big blur around them, it's hard not to be charmed.

Those people who already love the series will find everything continues on here as it should, while if you're never played an Atelier game before, then the relatively streamlined gameplay should make Rorona easier to get into.

Overall, Sacred 3 isn’t the sequel that fans of the series were hoping to see, and hopefully Keen Games will pick up on the feedback offered across various outlets and forums if there are plans for another Sacred down the road.

Still, lovingly designed or not, it's hard to really get into a game where you die constantly and feel like you've got no chance — which is where the nostalgia goggles come in.

It may not make for the most exciting game, but it does make Farming Simulator 14 wonderfully relaxing, albeit in a productive kind of way — which, presumably, makes it awfully similar to the real thing, though I'd need to go back and ask that farmer I met to know for sure.

Ordinarily, as someone who loves seeing destruction in my wake, that should be hugely satisfying, but in Crimsonland's case it all just feels oddly underwhelming.

As for recommending the game to PS4 owners, it's pretty obviously worth checking out — most definitely for those who skipped out on the PS3 version for whatever reason.

For a $10 game, Magical Beat is a safe bet for anyone who thinks they'd like a little twist on the straightforward match-three standard.

And it’s a shame that the career mode is such a letdown here, because everything else about GRID Autosport feels fine. It’s still a series that attempts to straddle the line between sim and arcade racer, and does so better than most.

If they keep working on it and patching some of the bigger problems, I can see Starlight Inception becoming a genuinely good game. If they don't, though..well, then you'll probably want to go away from it at warp speed.

Overall, I enjoyed what I played of One Piece: Unlimited World Red, certainly more than any One Piece title I’ve played prior to this. It’s not a top-tier action title, but it throws enough content at the player to keep you busy, and does so in a way that feels fun and engaging.

Sure, in the end, it all depends how much you enjoy this ever moving shooting gallery with personality, and ultimately it will be the determining factor of your purchase.

Again, if the game were released for under $10 or for the same price as their phone app with the same features, some of these glaring omissions might not be as great of an issue. I just have a hard time pushing a $20 game that puts in such little effort to appease fans or even fully utilize the basics that have been in baseball games since the 8-bit era.

I’ve found this episode to be so enjoyable that I have a tough time believing Telltale can even top it with the finale.

Nonetheless, it's still a good, solid hidden object game — and if some of the ensuing titles are anything to go by, that's a much more difficult achievement than you'd think.

All in all, I think Abyss Odyssey could be a better game, but I’m not completely disappointed in the time I spent with it.

Visually, the game is crisp, but looks to me like a glorified flash game.

All in all, though, what you see is exactly what you get. You're still trying to get all your mice from Point A to Point B, and you have to do that over and over again.

All in all, Dynasty Warriors Gundam Reborn doesn’t come close to being my favorite in the series. It feels rushed, lightweight, and not something that indicates a three year gap in time between titles.

It may not be long, but it doesn't need to be, either, and it tops it all off with an abundance of style.

BlazBlue: Chrono Phantasma is by far the best entry in the long running series.

It’s a satisfying conclusion to the overall arc, that will likely see you wanting to play through it all one more time, just to see what other paths you can take, and what changes those paths may make.

I absolutely loved Guacamelee! when I played through it the first time, and that fact hasn’t changed here. This is, by far, the best version of Guacamelee! you’re likely to see, until the inevitable sequel arrives.

As for any other problems…basically, it really all comes down to what you're expecting to do with the game. Again, Xblaze Code: Embryo is a visual novel, and it takes that descriptor very seriously.

I particularly enjoyed the unique Mysterious Pushmo puzzles, but the overall package is really top notch work out of Intelligent Systems and Nintendo.

It looks great, it's easy to pick up and play, and it's fun. What more do you need?

If you have any love or affinity for NES-era gaming, you’ll find Shovel Knight is an experience worth having.

Allow yourself to be taken in by the bright colours and easy controls and silly story, and the steep difficulty might turn you off it entirely. Recognize, however, that those are simply fun additions to what amounts to a challenging RPG, however, and the dissonance might not be so bad.

I really can’t recommend this game to anyone. It’s not a fun experience, it has very little to do with the movie, and is clearly an attempt at luring unsuspecting customers in to buy a game based on an excellent movie franchise.

1001 Spikes definitely feels much more like a genuine game from the 8-bit era. By this, I mean that I could totally imagine playing this on the NES. The graphics, the music, the way the (surprisingly deep, plotwise) cutscenes are animated: all of them are straight out of 1988 or so, to the point that I could get in a time machine, show the game to 8-year-old me, and have 1988-Matthew think the game was just like everything else he/I was playing at the time.

It’s hard to not like what EA has created so far in this new UFC franchise. While we may not see this title updated yearly like NHL and Madden, EA has assured gamers that updates and roster updates will come free of charge over time, so it should not become outdated or stale before the next big PPV event.

ent's Curse: Episode 1 continues on in this tradition, I say bring on the anachronisms. If they're all as well made as The Serpent's Curse is, then that's a throwback I'm happy to see.

Alone in the Vita library, it's a casual game that has a bit of depth to it, and it's a Japanese game that doesn't have all kinds of weird sexual issues (though, obviously, it's not without them entirely, as evidenced by the fact you can shoot upskirt camera shots during concerts). It's a light, breezy game that's made for a light, breezy time of year, and it's well worth an investment.

In other words, what you have in Mind Zero is a perfectly serviceable, thoroughly mediocre game.

Unfortunately, Murdered: Soul Suspect falls flat when it comes to the core mystery-solving mechanics found in its gameplay, and unless you’re really invested in the storyline, most will see little worth in seeing this story through to the end.

Even if you’re not a Mario Kart fanatic, I think you’ll still have a ton of fun with this entry. This is a Mario Kart that will be well-remember for years to come.