Although the bite-sized puzzle play of Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Mini-Land Mayhem! initially seems no more enthralling than what you could find on a free Flash game site, it takes only a few minutes for the game's quality to shine through.

A great football game, and lays the foundation for eventual excellence. With a little tweaking and building upon its features, the series definitely has a bright future.

The enhanced co-op and head-to-head modes offer new incentives to the socially minded, but Dance Central 3 rocks to the same beat as the first two. But then there isn't much room for improvement, as the first game basically nailed the actual dancing part of the equation.

For the first pixelated, point-and-click adventure game from a tiny, two-man studio, Richard & Alice is complex in ways that transcend its mechanics. The story is deep, thoughtful and not at all whitewashed – which is more than can be said for the snowy world in which it takes place.

A campy, silly and over-the-top adventure. It's certainly pleasing to annihilate demon hordes, but the real drive of Garcia's "road movie" is to see what weird and wonderful thing pops up next, be it a friendly demon with a southern drawl or an unexpected series of 2D shoot-em-up levels.

The power of The Unfinished Swan – not unlike a Terry Gilliam film, coincidentally – lies in its engagement with our imagination, in its ability to remind us of that capacity for whimsy and fantasy. If your life could use a little less logic and a little more fascination, The Unfinished Swan should not be missed.

D4 is utterly charming. It's also thought-provoking and very, very silly.

The highs handily outweigh the lows, thanks to a near-schizophrenic level of variety and metric tons of charm HAL Laboratory has included. Mathematically speaking, the sheer volume of Kirbys doesn't make Mass Attack ten times as good as any other DS title, but I'll be entirely damned if it doesn't make it ten times as endearing.

My apprehension toward abandonment is exactly what kept me coming back to ilomilo, because I couldn't bear to leave those errant thumbs unsupervised (in the game, I mean).

Shank 2 doesn't do much that's new or original. It's a refinement of what came before it, from the original Shank to manic classics like Metal Slug. But there's a lot of quality fun packed into this inexpensive download, making it a perfect choice for simple, fast-paced action.

The first time you're taken out by a Sunflower's devastating laser, only to watch it skip away into a hail of peas and flaming footballs – and you find yourself laughing instead of pouting – you'll be hooked.

If you're one of those car nuts I mentioned earlier, here's your game. Have fun, we'll see you in a year when you finally leave the house. If you're not in that group -- you like, even love racing games, but care less about tuning and more about the thrill of the race -- GT5 is like walking in on a group of physicists discussing string theory and asking who wants to go toss around a ball for a bit. You're looking to have fun; they're only interested in studying the math behind how it bounces.

Castle of Illusion is blessed with a magic that transcends licensing, and 20 years after its initial release, it's still a damn fine platformer.

An enjoyable nostalgia trip for Etrian Odyssey veterans. Etrian Odyssey Untold's tedium-reducing improvements elevate it above the original game, and for first-timers, it's the best entry point in the series.

Doki-Doki Universe isn't for everyone. It doesn't challenge your reflexes, and adventure game purists will likely turn up their noses at the simplistic and easily-solved puzzles.

If you allow yourself to exist in the moment, Among the Sleep will take you back to a time when a teddy bear was your shield, and you'd think twice about going to sleep without checking under the bed.

Whether you have or haven't played Abe's Oddysee, you haven't played New N Tasty. This HD remake is more than a simple reskin of nostalgia, and offers a compelling adventure with contemporary design that will satisfy most anyone's puzzle-platformer appetite.

If the load times are a deal breaker, there is an alternative: the PSP version of ModNation Racers, which is nearly identical to the PS3 version -- minus the load times.

Battlefield Bad Company 2 Vietnam -- as a $15 expansion -- is a must. The maps are excellent and several aspects of the game feel different, but still balanced, like they did in the original game.

How much you get out of Dead Space 2 is directly proportional to how much you enjoy slicing up Necromorphs (or eviscerating humans in multiplayer). The campaign is designed for multiple plays, with a "new game plus" option allowing Isaac to take his items and upgrades into a new game, even on a new difficulty.

It knows that all you really want to do is discover and create new playthings to dismember the undead. As a vehicle for that, it's a comfortable ride.

Hatoful Boyfriend is great at setting a tone and building a strange bird universe pockmarked with bits of broken, human-constructed items. These objects are eerie in such a happy-go-lucky world, though the creep factor is welcome in a game as ridiculous as a pigeon dating simulator. We'll call it the peep factor.

If you want to work your brain for a few minutes, MouseCraft is a good choice (especially on Vita).

Surely, this game's existence demands to be celebrated.

Peggle 2 remains a foregone conclusion for existing Pegglers and puzzle fans alike, even if it doesn't quite live up to the addiction that destroyed everyone's work ethic back in 2007.

It's hard not to feel that the game would have been better served by slightly slowing down the pace of its basic shooting elements. At times, it feels as much like a spatial puzzle as it does a test of your reflexes. The best spatial puzzles, though, allow for a measure of patience and consideration. As a twitchy shooter, Super Time Force never lets you catch your breath and stand firm in time, leaving you under ceaseless pressure.

Though Uncharted: Golden Abyss brings a little too much reality to Drake's day-to-day by making him polish artifacts in gimmicky touchscreen nonsense, there's still a good, if formulaic, adventure to be had. In other words, this might just sell you on the Vita ... whenever it's not selling you on the Vita.

Despite all the problems, DOA Dimensions is fundamentally a good fighter, and a great DOA. The controls don't really require an arcade stick or six face buttons, and therefore translate nicely to the 3DS; the graphics look slick, especially the huge, interactive environments; the counter-heavy battles are as quick as ever. I can't ignore the egregious missteps made, but there's a lot to enjoy about the game despite those.

While it's hamstrung by flaky multiplayer functionality and a lack of new ideas, it is impressive just how well the first-person action of the Killzone franchise has translated to the Vita. As competent as it is, however, Killzone: Mercenary is teetering on the edge of being something truly great.

WWE '12 is fun. It's a great combat game, and excellent for those that aren't marks for the innards of wrestling. You know, the "real" stuff. There's no doubt that THQ and Yuke's could make a game for those purposes, where stories are better told and interacted with, and the actual business of pro wrestling is out there for players to toy with. That's not on the cards here, as wrestling stories are told through action, and players have to connect a few dots themselves.

While the journey in Downpour is one of the most interesting in the series, some of its most significant beats fall flat.

Ultimately, one of Hunted: The Demon Forge's biggest strengths is also its biggest weakness -- there's just not much there. Yes, its constituent components are polished and impeccably streamlined, but after a few hours, there aren't any surprises in store.

It's not a bad way to pass some time but it's really more of a curiosity than a must-play game, a relic from a time when the thought of a video game character dropping an f-bomb was simply beyond consideration.

Costume Quest 2 is a lot like the bags of candy Wren and her fellow Halloween heroes collect: often sweet, sometimes sour, and (for the most part) worth the occasional tummy ache.

It's important to remember, however, that underneath the trite atmosphere and awful writing, there lies an experience that allows you to physically sift through a pile of skulls and, later on, toss explosive spheres of arcane energy at your enemies.

The illusion it maintains is easily broken by the lack of interactivity and a plot that doesn't always manage to keep its hooks in you. Where and when Neverending Nightmares fails, the effects are noticeable and jarring. Still, Neverending Nightmares is an atypical horror experience and, when it succeeds, it's one you won't soon forget.

It's a good game, but Sleeping Dogs mostly leaves you remembering the media that inspired it and probably won't remain in your thoughts over time.

The camera constantly needs babysitting -- my index finger was a near-permanent fixture on the repositioning trigger--and platforming sections can be a frustrating nightmare; floating, disappearing and jump-boost blocks require the sort of precise controls only games with "Super Mario" in the title can claim.

If you're in the mood for a rhythm game unlike anything else and don't have to worry about ruining the relationship with your downstairs neighbors, give NBA Baller Beats a try. Just move the lamp first.

As a whole, NCAA Football 14 is boom-or-bust; with all of its big gains this year, it missed some opportunities to be truly excellent.

Disney Infinity 2.0: Marvel Super Heroes features more variety than its predecessor, but the campaign content included in the base set is still quite repetitive.

A solid hunting adventure, but hardly a departure from the monster hunting genre.

Fear is intrinsically a solitary emotion, but the only worthwhile experiences you can have with FEAR 3 require the participation of a friend or three. With that kind of congregation, any chance for terror is completely diminished; but your chances for excitement are dramatically increased.

It's hard to tell where the punk lifestyle ends in Charlie Murder, whether in the game or with Ska Studios itself, and the game's insane, patchwork gameplay is a thrill.

Fans of Kung fu pulp or those who want to sample motion-controlled gaming without breaking the bank should find enough stupid fun in KFL to warrant the $14.99 download. Just don't blame me if you can't lift your arms in the morning.

An enjoyable, usually easygoing, funny RPG, with some unfortunately frustrating elements affixed to it.

Despite the frustration of the damage indicator, the worsened duel mode and a story that sort of loses its way near the end, Gunslinger is still an enjoyable experience. It's exciting and challenging, whether you're mowing down banditos in slow-mo with an engraved six-shooter or racking up 80 kill combos in arcade mode.

The silliness of turning history into a tactical land grab is worth mentioning in order to point out that the Total War series, and much more Total War: Rome 2, won't appeal to everyone with its tedium exchange.

Challenges tend to strike the right balance of brevity, the game library is varied and mostly wears its age well, and the Remix stages offer a much more interesting and enjoyable bag of tricks than before.

Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy feels like as good a way to sign off as could be expected.

It was a great game in 2006, it's remained a great game since, and now this sequel is roughly more of the same. But after seven years and with a $60 asking price, I'm also left asking, "Is this all there is?" It's the Eastern Front, after all. It seems like there should be more to it.

Though it struggles with this repetitiveness at times, The Journey's wonderful vistas, heartwarming character and inventive use of the Kinect offer an experience that is blissfully pleasant, even soothing.

It's sad to see the game lose sight of its assassin role-playing ideals in favor of bombast, bomb blasts and pig herding, so I hope this is but a momentary stumble while the franchise regains its balance. Trim the excess, remember the central thrust (hint: it's with a knife) and then you'll have a great game again. Assassin's Creed 3 is the kind of game that's just good enough to make you wish it was better.

A curious thing happens when From Dust stops getting in the way and tells you to just have fun...You have fun...From Dust is finally able to dazzle, however briefly, by stripping away practically everything that makes it a "game" and leaving only its base mechanics behind.

It's just a shame the co-op isn't better implemented -- without a compelling multiplayer component, Dungeon Siege 3 lags behind its role-playing competitors.

Fall of Cybertron's multiplayer component also benefits from High Moon's sincere approach to the source material, always enabling those giddy moments in which you and your teammates leap into the air, transform and blast off to the next objective.

The tale may not be as finely crafted as Tolkien's, but it's reverent of his work and worth experiencing – just keep in mind that you'll have to kill a lot of orcs to do so.

If you're a fan of the noir genre or '90s adventure games, you're gonna like the cut of its jib.

When I see Fancy Pants Man, the game's scribbled but charming protagonist, I see Tom Cruise sliding down the hall in his underwear. This entire game feels extrapolated from that iconic, underdressed celebration in the absence of authority.

Its combat is neat if still a bit limited, and its dark direction and weird narrative a bit tainted by self-indulgence, but this is still a Grasshopper grindhouse romp worth most of its issues. The danger, I guess, will always be one drink too many.

The Pre-Sequel is missing just a bit of soul, but it has plenty of heart – hearts exploded by laser rifles.

There's nothing inherently wrong with linearity here; Mirror of Fate is just lacking an easily discernible big picture, and often conflates errand-running for intricacy. It's also unevenly paced, with all the solid puzzles sedimenting in the game's middle.

As it stands, military enthusiasts or die-hard shooter fans looking to grind for a new set of unlockables may find something to like. Those willing to put in the time will find some very enjoyable weapons and gadgets waiting for them.

Mafia 2 is, to put it mildly, a tightly controlled experience, to an extent that may be a little shocking to those of us who've become acclimated to the freedom of most open world games.

All the elements of a great game are here: gorgeous graphics, stellar controls, a robust move set -- yet Krome seems content to settle for mediocrity when placing them into a cohesive whole.

Mafia 2 is, to put it mildly, a tightly controlled experience, to an extent that may be a little shocking to those of us who've become acclimated to the freedom of most open world games.

My absolute favorite feature of Escape Plan is the ability to skip levels. As the game helpfully, and humiliatingly, tells you after a few failures, you can skip any level and move onto the next one.

2014 FIFA World Cup is a reliable on-field game, and its depiction of soccer is as superb as that of FIFA 14, but it's only valuable to the sport's biggest World Cup fans. It behaves more like a one-off version of the sport, one that's not particularly worthwhile with another main entry in the series just months away.

It has a look all its own, and the dreamy, ambient score would make for great mood music in an opium den. It is, however, hindered by its controls and a lack of gameplay variety, which doesn't much evolve over its 10 hour campaign.

This isn't Conker's Bad Fur Day. It is still very much a game, if not bluntly for kids, that kids can play. The co-op and difficult unlockable objective stages present the game, intentionally or not, as a adventure that a parent plays with the kid. It's not a perfect game for kids or adults, but it's good for both.

There are plenty of things that were great the first time you saw them, and work together to provide a pleasant experience, but there is no element of surprise, no attempt to dazzle you with new elements.

Doing tricks and nailing tough shots can be rewarding, and the movement and sliding of the Splatters helps it feel more unique than the multitude of Angry Birds clones out there. The simplicity of the mechanics, however, doesn't always translate to addictive gameplay, and you may soon grow tired of performing the same actions over and over again, especially when it feels that success is owed more to luck than skill.

Call of Duty: Ghosts is a solid installment, but it lacks creativity and innovation. Its new engine already looks dated in the face of the competition, and it eschews many of the solid concepts seen in Black Ops 2.

Even compared to the original Brain Age, Concentration Training is much more demanding, and players shouldn't expect to breeze through exercises and watch their training grade skyrocket.

It is entirely possible to play through the game using just the three figures that come packed with it, thereby sidestepping the financial minefield upon which Skylanders: Giants is so precariously stationed. Possible, but not particularly realistic. Much of the fun and variety in Giants comes from the abilities lurking inside its many different characters, and with an estimated $500 in new figures to collect, Giants becomes even more difficult to recommend.

There's still fun to be had here, though given the choice series fans and strategy purists will likely boot up a previous title, such as the genre-defining Age of Empires II: The Age of Kings instead.

Platinum Games may not have made a Legend of Korra game that plumbs the same well of soul that the source material does, but they've made something elementally entertaining all the same.

It's just a pity that a title inspired by some of the most outlandish and inspired works of literature has to live with some of the driest tropes that the game design textbook has to offer.

Every year, the series brings a balance of improvement and ongoing flaws. Considering this year's game as a whole, improvements like the new presentation style and lack of player suction heavily outweigh the more minuscule issues that remain. It's a good kind of frustration for players, the kind where this year's game is definitely better than last year's, which may actually be enough incentive to give it a shot.

Some of its one-note elements cry out for variety and it can't hold a torch to the senses of immersion and depth that make a game like Arkham Asylum stand out so brilliantly. But as far as movie-based games go there are plenty worse -- and just like a popcorn flick, there is enough fight and flash in the Captain that you may end up having fun in spite of yourself.

These problems are emblematic of a "rushed" feeling that pervades the entire experience.

Though it plays it safe in terms of mechanics, TxK is challenging and thrilling throughout. It's a treat for anyone who enjoyed any previous version of Tempest, and it's especially worthwhile if you missed out on Tempest 2000.

I like The Sims 4, although I fully recognize that it's not nearly robust enough yet for series fans. If you're new to the franchise, it's a great place to start and explore the possibilities. The Sims 4 certainly feels like more of the same game we've known for over a decade.

When SSX wasn't trying its best to push me away, I loved every minute of it. From a mechanical perspective, it's the best treatment the "extreme sports" genre has received on the current generation of systems thus far. Unfortunately, it's wrapped in a dirty old program from X-Games '98 and punctuated with frustrating moments.

It's just a shame that the game doesn't do more to make newcomers feel as welcome.

Paradoxically, New Vegas doesn't make good on much new on any front, and it takes a hit both as experience and product for it.

Despite its many worthy additions, Skylanders Trap Team is the first game in the series to disappoint me. The new villain characters are charming - seriously, who could hate a floating, magical vegetable named Broccoli Guy? - and the talking portal accessory puts a fun spin on traditional series elements, but the uninspired level design really drags down the overall experience.

Is it an easy game for kids, or a tough game for seasoned players? It offers some great level design, top notch fan service, and a decent challenge, but that challenge arrives a little too late.

It's accessible and adorably illustrated. It has a streak of dark humor embedded in its cast of Frankenstein furballs, and it's just relaxed enough to let its physics-driven puzzles slide out of control every once in a while, giving its challenges a spark that chores don't have.

A good tower defense game is an addictive and beautiful thing, and Anomaly: Warzone Earth is no exception. It offers a couple of twists on the familiar formula, but more variety and perhaps a few more missions could have pushed it over the top.

In truth, the very best thing about Dark Star One is just how little competition it has in the space combat sim genre. The closest you'll get on the 360 is Project Sylpheed, and that's far more arcadey and fantastical than this.

Instead of simply clicking around a screen and hotkeying special moves like in Dawn of War, it's fun to actually control a Space Marine in a more personal, focused way.

As it stands, Nail'd is an arcade racer less about perfection and more about the simple joys of going fast and landing big stunts. It's a simple trick, but it's well-executed.

Instead of simply clicking around a screen and hotkeying special moves like in Dawn of War, it's fun to actually control a Space Marine in a more personal, focused way.

The delta between the bosses and the moment-to-moment gameplay make Blackgate a frustratingly inconsistent experience, but the good parts are truly impressive.

As a game full of puzzles that just happen to star DC characters, Unmasked isn't as fun as last year's Unlimited, which I'd suggest over this release for those who want the best Scribblenauts experience.

Book of Spells is a children's game that retains the magical appeal that makes Harry Potter's world so intriguing, even for older players. The games are easy, true, but if you, as a grown-up, can read a young adult novel on a packed bus without shame, you can probably enjoy Book of Spells in the comfort of your own home.

I'll never have the kind of relationship with SoulCalibur 5 that I did with SC2, but I still plan on the two of us spending as much time as possible together. I love this game, I'm just not in love with it.