Through its old-school gameplay, snappy soundtrack, authentic dialogue, and unlockable art, DuckTales: Remastered is a faithful tribute, and a remaster done right.

This game was built as an homage to the history of gaming. Sure it’s derivative. Sure it leans heavily on shallow and easy humor. Sure it borrows unrelentingly and unabashedly from any source Volition could pry into the product. Somehow all of that comes together to create a game that is fun, hilarious, addictive, and demands that you find every single collectable possible.

But while 4-player co-op has certainly been done before, there’s no question that Payday 2 brings something unique to the table. Gameplay is often heart-poundingly intense, whether from the anxiety of fearing detection in a stealth mission, the will to survive an aggressive assault in an attack mission, or just the rush that comes from making it out alive and much richer.

Cloudberry Kingdom is a terrific gauntlet romp through classic gaming’s hallowed halls.

It’s a light, 2D arcade shooter that’s great for killing some time if you’re waiting for your wife to get ready, but if you’re looking for immersive gameplay and a deeper level of engagement, or beautiful, eye-catching graphics, you’ll be better off looking somewhere else.

Mario & Luigi: Dream Team could have been one of the best RPGs on the 3DS; instead, it sadly overstays its welcome.

Dragon’s Crown is a fun game, and the charm evident in previous Vanillaware games translates well into HD. The action is fast and furious, and it’s a game that can be played in multiple sessions or short bursts.

Pick up Spelunky if you’re a fan of actiony roguelike games, supremely challenging platformers, or if you’re simply a gaming masochist who finds themselves griping about how too damn easy games are nowadays.

Even two years after its original release, Mortal Kombat remains one of the best fighting games ever made.

Priced on release day at only $15, this game is a worthy, if flawed, tribute to the 90’s PC gamer that can be enjoyed by the old-school and new-school alike.

As it stands, most of the potential it has feels ultimately wasted, and the price tag seems way too high for what it is at the end of the day – particularly for a game available on the normally somewhat selective Steam service.

It’s a bit disappointing that Pikmin 3 is so similar to its predecessors — especially since it’s been almost a decade since the last time we’ve had a chance to explore this world with our tiny plant friends. The limited innovation, the dissonance between control inputs, and the lack of any online functionality hold Pikmin 3 back from true greatness. Instead, Pikmin 3 will have to settle for being good — and good is just fine.

The fact that this game costs less than a night at the movies (Steam price is $19.99, though you can pick it up for 10% off for a very short span after you read this) and delivers a storyline you’ll want to play more than once, as well as the promise of infinite expansion, it’s very easy to recommend.

There’s a reason why Metal Gear Solid is so beloved — if you’ve never had the chance to find out, now’s the perfect time to take the plunge.

There is plenty to forgive Primordia for, but if you can get past the issues and lose yourself in the game there’s a rich and emotional story waiting for you. I’m a bit of a robot nut myself and despite all of my nitpicks about the game I found myself deeply affected by the ending.

If you’re a fan of either pinball or Star Wars, you shouldn’t think twice before clicking download.

The first part of this series has made me hungry for more. I will be waiting for the second and third parts, as the anticipation was effectively built up in this introduction.

Urban Trial Freestyle’s greatest strength is that it’s available for just around $5. With 20 levels, an entertaining course editor, and a console-comparable experience available on the go, Urban Trial Freestyle is a great value for the competitive gaming souls among us.

I have reviewed some bad games, but this is even bad even for movie tie-in games. This is bad on the level of Aquaman bad.

The Metro franchise succeeds when it synthesizes imperfect elements into a glorious whole; the Faction Pack fails because it breaks Last Light into its inglorious components.

In the end, however, the price of admission is a pretty cheap trip down memory lane. For less than $20 bucks you can relive a bit of naughty fun.

Spartacus Legends is the kind of game that you keep because it’s fun and you play when everything else has been beat or has gotten old.

If you don’t have these games yet, this is a perfectly sensible way to get them, but, really, you should make sure you have online access to enjoy them to the fullest.

Deus Ex: The Fall may not have been the game we were asking for, but it’s definitely a worthy addition to the franchise. Its less-than-stellar controls and a handful of bugs keep The Fall from being truly great, but if you’re looking to hop back into the yellow-tinted world of human augmentation, seven dollars isn’t a bad price to pay for sneaking around and reading everyone’s emails.

The ultimate verdict I can give Project X Zone is that it’s detailed, well-polished, excitable fun that was created with established fans in mind.

Storm is a game with a great concept, but a few problems in execution prevent it from realizing its true potential. It’s still worth a try for those with a fondness for unique puzzle games, but gamers who were hoping for the next Flower may be a little disappointed.

I implore you to avoid this game at all costs, and play just about anything else on the market with the joy in your heart that you aren’t playing Time and Eternity.

With some occasionally impenetrable difficulty and lack of online co-op, it feels like quite the disappointment by the time you put the controller down. If the rest of the game had been better designed, could it have risen above its brawler genre constraints? That’s a question to which we’ll never know the answer.

NCAA Football 14 is a fun and immersive experience as always. Though not many big changes have come in this latest edition, the ones that have come are big and definite steps forward.

Rogue Legacy is one of the shiniest gems to come out of the Steam Greenlight program – it really does a fantastic job of mixing the better parts of a Roguelike experience with a solid 2D platformer, with a whole lot of polish on top of it all.

At the end of the day, Rising Storm occupies an interesting niche. It’s a solid game, loaded with a lot of detail, replay value, and was clearly created by a skillful team and community that really loves the Red Orchestra style of team-oriented competitive multiplayer.

It’s not for everyone (even one of our own editors described it as “barf-tastic” at one point) but if you let its hooks into you, you will discover one of the most addictive, rewarding, crazy-ass games of recent memory.

Self-referential, acerbic, psychotic, and just balls-out fun, the game not only breaks the the fourth wall, it absolutely destroys it, giving us the best written Marvel game to date.

Neocore Games should be commended for putting out such a high-quality experience where their story is equally outlandish, silly and serious – I’m personally looking forward to the recently announced sequel.

If you’ve felt like some of the old-school magic has been missing from Super Mario games lately, let Luigi guide you through some of the most satisfying platform gaming ever designed.

All of the minigames in Game & Wario are decently fun, and some definitely have more long term gaming legs than others, but your enjoyment will ultimately come down to how much stamina you have for another minigame collection — because I’m honestly not sure if I have the stomach for any more.

Relic has taken one of the greatest strategy games of the last 10 years and given it a brilliant new coat of paint while subtly refining the rock-solid mechanics and gameplay.

Neverwinter was purpose built to be free-to-play, but they have also made the pay aspects fairly non-intrusive. They’ve provided an incredible amount of content wrapped around character classes that are a great deal of fun to play.

Aside from a few missteps in track selection and ambiance, GRID 2 firmly establishes Codemasters as one of the premier racing game developers around today.

Of course, with some better platforming and tighter controls, Rush Bros would be much more recommendable. But for what it is, a nine dollar indie game that provides some laughs, a few thrills, and some absolutely gorgeous art, it’s at least worth a look.

That doesn’t mean that the game isn’t worth a try, especially if you were a fan of the 90′s titles it draws inspiration from, but I think the current price tag may be a little high for the amount of gameplay you get.

The Last of Us spells the magnum opus for Naughty Dog on the PlayStation 3, offering us a unique experience that easily eclipses anything else we’ve seen on the system. This game is easily a contender for adventure game of the year.

It’s not something that you can marathon, it’s not something you can “beat,” and going in without those expectations will ruin it for you. Its portable nature, plus all of the extra features that they’ve been adding since the first game on the GameCube make this not only the best game in the series, but also a perfect starting point for newcomers.

It’s a bit rough around the edges but the smooth action, beautiful visual design and engrossing story made Dust a trip to Elysium for me.

This is a game that has serious potential to grow into something amazing, while being fresh and fun enough right at this moment.

Fuse hits its stride when four real-life players are communicating with one another and is mostly above-average when playing with the AI. It’s not perfect, and it won’t set the world on fire, but it’s got some great ideas, and it’s refreshing to play a co-op game where each character feels distinct. Just remember to bring friends — like a Hives concert, this is more fun with other people.

As the credits roll on this 11 hour journey, I’m pleasantly surprised to see such a great title come out of a brand new studio. The team at DONTNOD Entertainment have brought something unique to the table, giving us not only beautiful graphics and incredible sound, but also a new combat approach wrapped around a very engaging storyline.

It’s a simmered down alternative to StarCraft and a good entry point into the RTS genre. It’s unfortunate that a few technical faults and the repetitive single player bogged down the title from being as great as it could have been.

Does it push the graphical prowess of the PS3? Not even close. Does it have a coherent story? No, but it’s better than most of the Resident Evil stories in the franchise.

It isn’t perfect, but it takes everything that was great about its predecessor and makes the whole package more accessible. It’s a shining example of how to use shooter mechanics to tell a story, which is enough to make it a must-play in my book.

It’s hard to justify recommending Stardrive over Galactic Civilizations 2, Sins of a Solar Empire: Trinity, or AI War: Fleet Command when those games offer more content for less money. If you’re a big fan of space-themed 4X games, and find it on sale, I’d say you should pick it up. But everybody else is better off leaving this one for the space-bears.

The folks who worked on it were certainly heading in the right direction – Sacred Citadel just doesn’t have enough polish or pull to really keep you coming back for more – an experience I’d rather had not given my bag of quarters up for.

All in all, Sanctum 2 is undeniably fun and even more undeniably an improvement over its predecessor. It looks better, it plays better, and it meshes the two genres of tower defense and FPS better.

For the price of a cup of coffee you can pick this game up – don’t be one of the 97% that pirated it. Game Dev Tycoon is the one Tycoon title worth buying now that it’s on Steam.

It’s too bad that this game wasn’t better developed and given more time to polish. Instead of a fine dish of Klingon gagh, we end up with poorly sung Klingon opera.

With a current price of $9.99 on Steam, Surgeon Simulator 2013 is coming out of the gates rather reasonably priced for what it is. I didn’t encounter any crashes or bugs, or indeed any form of frustration that wasn’t clearly built into the game intentionally to begin with – if anything, the whole thing feels remarkably polished, more than many major releases.

Mario and Donkey Kong: Minis on the Move is a great game and excels in providing challenging and enjoyable puzzles

It’s not a large sprawling Serious Sam encounter with a noteworthy single player campaign, but it certainly changes things up enough to keep you coming back for more.

Ultimately I would recommend Black Rock Shooter: The Game to anyone who likes JRPGs but is getting tired of the same old formula.

Telltale has taken decent poker gameplay, some gaming culture icons, and an entertaining script and wrapped it up neatly into an affordable little package. For less than a cup of Starbucks, it’s hard to go wrong.

Still, original owners clearly weren’t the primary target of Dragon’s Dogma: Dark Arisen, hence it being released as a stand-alone title. The real target, for better or for worse, are brand new players who haven’t been introduced to Capcom’s newest fantasy property.

For $10, FEZ is one of the most solid “must-buy” titles in the indie game scene.

Ubisoft should be commended for creating this crazy world — it’s just a shame that the gameplay doesn’t live up to its own premise.

The bottom line, as you might expect, is that this is a visually rich combat simulator that brings a lot of arcade-style pleasure to the table, and it succeeds in strolling a fine line between repetitive and addictive – something that many similar titles aim for and miss.

My advice is to play the first game if you like it, because there is nothing new to be had here.

Monaco: What’s Yours is Mine is yet another game that illustrates just what kind of gems can come out of the indie gaming scene. It’s refreshingly original in terms of visual design, unique in its approach to the stealth game genre, and it offers a load of co-op fun that makes it an absolute steal at the default $14.99 USD Steam price, to say nothing of the price you get with the 4-title bundle option.

If you enjoyed Dishonored you know exactly what you are in for here.

Defiance may have functioned as an interesting way (read: gimmick) to promote a series on SyFy that may have a shot at stabilizing the network’s bipolar ratings, but as a game, it’s barely playable.

At 1200 MS points it’s a small price to pay for the madness, and certainly lives up to its Castle Crashers pedigree for polish, poise, and preposterous premise.

If you find the game on sale for $2 or $3, it might be worth a go, but the problem is that even at that low price there are better, more ambitious games you can play; games that move the industry into the future instead of slavishly trying to recreate the past.

Injustice: Gods Among us stands head and shoulders above any other fighting game on the market – it is without flaw.

No frills, no gimmicks, no nonsense, Out of the Park Baseball 14 is such a true-to-form sports experience that its complicated gameplay and plain-jane delivery becomes refreshing and exciting in a world of big graphical spectacles. While OOTP will never take the place of games like The Show and MLB 2k, it can supplement those gaming experiences and provide a different take on what the baseball world is all about.

I guess in the end, the problem with Resident Evil 6 is that it doesn’t have an identity. It wants to please its survival-horror fanbase, but seems to have forgotten how to walk that fine line between tense action and frustrating challenge.

Drinkbox has crafted a brilliantly unique world on top of a platformer that combines the best of the classics, along with a few of its own ideas — things like two player local co-op is a feature I don’t think I’ve ever seen in a Metroidvania game, and I challenge more developers to try to include it.

It’s still a fantastic game, with a lengthy — if slightly repetitive — campaign, and a surprisingly addictive multiplayer option.

Long story short, Dungeon Hearts is a viciously difficult match-three puzzle game that loosely resembles RPG battle mechanics. And while it hints at other RPG elements such as questing, leveling up, and story progression, it does not truly offer them in any real way.

Citadel is fan service at its worst, but Mass Effect at its best. Clever dialogue, heart-warming callbacks, and enough content to make it worth the $15 price tag make Mass Effect: Citadel a worthy goodbye to a cast of characters that forever shaped gaming history.

In the end, Darkstalkers Resurrection achieves what it set out to do. It brings together arguably the most memorable cast of characters in a fighting game and the recent advances in online gaming netcode to make a nearly two-decade old fighting series feel fresh again.

Bioshock Infinite is a masterpiece, and few games can stand up to it in terms of quality of writing, presentation, and atmosphere. I present to you, your stand-out contender for Game of the Year.

Nothing about the game (other than the bugs) is particularly bad, but there is very little to recommend here either. As a single-player experience there are much better ways to spend your cash, and even in cooperative play I’d only recommend it pulled from the bargain bin.

HarmoKnight has the Nintendo polish, but you’re spending $14.99 for what is essentially a glorified mobile game.

In the end, it feels like the externals were worked on more than the gameplay, making the game more style than substance.

The Vita has become a surprisingly good system for fans of fighting games, and DOA5+ is an excellent edition to the family.

But if you’ve been craving an action game which offers up the unique satisfaction of defeating big, truly difficult monsters and carving a new set of armor out of their salvaged skull, get this game now. You won’t regret it.

While some aspects of the game are worthwhile on higher difficulty settings, the hand holding on Casual and Medium is excessive.

A number of nagging problems and annoying glitches mar an otherwise good product. Much of the promotion surrounding this latest Tiger promised a much more difficult and realistic golf experience; perhaps this is why EA has graced us with numerous unnecessary loading and saving screens, broken sounds, and a lot of time angrily staring at Pebble Beach’s beautiful sandy beaches.

With a complete lack of game design, uninspired dialogue, and sub-par technical performance I can safely say that Nintendo phoned it in on this one.

Capsized+ makes a bold attempt to cash in on its love from the console market, and if you really enjoyed it on the big screen then you’ll most likely find it enjoyable on the small screen.

If you enjoy that type of pleasure mixed with pain, and have been craving a cutting-edge platform adventure with a truly imaginative and polished visual style, look no further: Runner2 is a game that you ought to make a dash for.

It’s got a pretty good engine under the hood, but the paint is starting to peel.

Dollar Dash is a briefly enjoyable, but uninspired game. It has its moments for those playing amongst friends, and if they can overlook minor details like “game design,” but is there are better ways to spend your money. With a $10 price tag, you’d do well to dash away and use your dollars elsewhere.

Miasmata is definitely a unique experience, and as the work of two people it’s actually a hell of an achievement. It’s a game with ambition, which should be rewarded even if it occasionally falls short of the goals it set for itself.

Four months is a long time to wait for a game – especially when you’ve just picked up a new console with nothing else to play – but the wait was worth it. Just like the all-ages appeal of LEGO bricks and sets, LEGO City Undercover effortlessly rises above its station, representing the culmination of every LEGO game that came before it.

I personally enjoy the 2D Castlevania titles, so I was skeptical to play Mirror of Fate. Of course, I was also skeptical of another developer taking over one of the most beloved franchises in gaming history, and that turned out pretty great. Now we see MercurySteam taking the same approach to the franchise in the handheld space, and again with decent results.

So is it worth playing? Actually, yes, though you’ll want to watch some footage first, or be aware of the limitations of rally racing. There is no traffic or simultaneous opponents, and the lack of precipitation takes away the fun and unpredictable elements of rally. With no snow, ice, rain or mud, the times you’re racing against feel fixed rather than based on the day’s conditions.

If anything, the problem is that ‘timekillers’ happen to be in abundance nowadays – chances are you’re more likely to turn to your cell phone apps before you’ll come back to Kersploosh! after you’ve beaten it. On the other hand, it really is a fun, charming game the first time around, and at $2.99 it’s an easy to justify purchase for someone who wants a refreshing bit of fast fun on their 3DS.

$19.99 USD is a more than fair price to ask for this game, and considering how Steam discounts usually go, it won’t be long before this title is an absolute must-have for anyone who can tolerate the curious RTS design decisions.

Other than a few missteps here and there, and a completely forgettable multiplayer mode (think Uncharted, but worse), Tomb Raider is the quintessential example of a reboot done right.