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.