With new game modes, an enhanced interface, evolving maps, and greatly improved small-scale battles, Battlefield 4 continues the franchise’s trend of setting the standard for the squad-based multiplayer shooter.

You’d be hard-pressed not to enjoy this game for at least a few hours, but go beyond that and it might get tedious.

WWE 2K14 still features some unfortunate issues, but those can be easily ignored as the 30 Years of WrestleMania mode soars past every possible expectation you may have.

The overall polish has improved, and there is more fun to be had in this iteration than any previous. It no longer feels like a forced checklist, instead offering players the freedom to partake, skip, or mix and match as much as they see fit.

Bugs, glitches, game freezes, and other technical issues mar what would have otherwise been a passable, if unsurprising and uninspired Batman game.

If you’re looking for a title which really does something new or exciting with the genre — or if you just plain want a new tower defense game that looks and feels flashy and exciting — hold off on this one until the inevitable Steam deals chop the price by a third or greater.

If you’re itching for a hardcore co-op action experience, then you’ve struck gold with FORCED.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution – Director’s Cut may be overlooked by those who have already played it, but it is a robust experience worthy of a playthrough by its own right.

The game’s bland look and feel only serves to further highlight the abject shallowness of the entire experience.

In a world littered with indie games trying hard to be nostalgic and missing the mark, it is nice to play a game that truly captures that 16-bit experience.

So here I sit, fingers raw from playing. Rocksmith 2014 has done something I didn’t think was possible after its predecessor failed at the same task – it has made me want to learn the guitar and bass.

While I’m surprised that Just Dance 2014 continues the tradition of not letting us import our old tracks, it offers plenty of new features to make the series innovative instead of iterative.

Goodbye Deponia has some great things going for it: the gorgeous staged scenes set against hand-painted backdrops are Daedalic’s trademark, and they seem to have pulled it off again here.

Pokemon X & Y set a new standard for Pokemon games to come.

Pokemon X & Y set a new standard for Pokemon games to come.

Sonic Lost World is a wonderful addition to the Sonic legacy and one of the best exclusive titles on the Wii U. It harks back to the classic days of gaming that got me into video games in the first place, a time when developers aimed to challenge players rather than guide their hand through a movie experience.

It fails as a 2D sidescroller, it fails as a 3D platformer, and on a system that has no short supply of absolutely amazing examples of both of those genres, Sonic Lost World is absolutely inexcusable.

If you’re trying to figure out what it is that makes The Inner World so satisfying, you’re really not going to be able to pick any one thing. The story, graphics, and gameplay are all okay, but it’s the sum of the parts that synthesizes The Inner World into the charming gem that it is.

It fills a niche that I’m sure will have a following, but it is not for everyone, least of all casual strategy gamers such as myself.

Even if you don’t have any other versions on other platforms, SWAP Force on 3DS is a decent 3rd person 3D platformer. Just don’t expect a 3DS interpretation of the console SWAP Force game – it stands on it’s own pedestal, and it can fit your toy collection inside a pocket.

I don’t think there are any weaknesses in the story or its delivery – the plot is fairly simple, as is the combat. I think Vicarious Visions does this series proud in carrying out a new and challenging role – take a genre-defining product and bring some freshness to it while maintaining the consistency and imagination of new characters balanced with the old.

Prime World is free to play on Steam, so if you’ve got time to burn and are looking for a game that tries to shake up the MOBA genre, then give Prime World a shot.

Cavemania is a gorgeous, fun, and addictive game that should probably be on your phone, but doesn’t quite hit the high mark in terms of free-to-play iOS games quite the way Real Racing 3 or Pixel People has.

While Quantic Dream tackles subjects usually only handled within the realm of film, it lacks the grace, subtlety, and class of its celluloid counterparts to do it properly. Technically, it’s a triumph, with some of the best looking graphics and facial capture I’ve ever seen in a video game, but if you’re going to put so much emphasis on the story, it better be damn good, and honestly, it just isn’t.

If you’ve never tried Port Royale or Patrician, but are looking to explore a truly engaging “period piece” that will provide hours of entertainment, take Rise of Venice for a spin. As the latest offering from Kalypso and Gaming Minds, the game succeeds at re-creating an age out of mind through the very modernity of its design, and the presentation is as slick as any other new release you’ll find out right now.

Rune Factory 4 is a game that you could easily dive into for twenty minutes or two hours at a time, and it seemingly never ends. There’s always one more thing you can do to improve your station in the town, or the town’s station in the world.

Ultimately, Shadowrun Returns is a great game that does an excellent job of not only drawing players into the Shadowrun world, but doing so while delivering an option-laden classic RPG experience.

The storyline used to merge the two is slightly clumsy, but that can only be expected when combining two relatively disparate franchises. What I didn’t expect, though, was for the merge to be treated as a zero-sum game; where Unmasked expanded the depth and breadth of DC content, it has responded by limiting the scope and difficulty of the core Scribblenauts experience.