Push through its uneven beginning and you'll be rewarded with clever level layouts that stretch a solid mechanical framework to its limits. Getting to that point may be more frustrating than you'd like, though, thanks to its sharp difficulty curve.

For all its good looks, Guilty Gear Xrd -SIGN- is ultimately disappointing. What the game does, it does very well, but the sum total feels lacking.

What's remarkable about it all is that Xeodrifter crams this much into only a few hours.

Never Alone is a glimpse into the real lives of Alaska Natives, and it's a peek at a different kind of fairy tale.

If the Xfinity-branded hypercar race a few hours in is anything to go by, The Crew is an overt attempt to capitalize on the popularity of modern car culture, and it would seem entirely cynical if not for a few redeeming design decisions. In the world of modern racing games that's just not enough to earn a victory lap.

Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris's temples and puzzles are fantastic, but I found myself wishing for several more hours of gameplay.

Treasure Tracker may be small in stature, but it's packed with depth and detail.

The more progress-focused Adventure definitely loses some of that competitive edge in translation, and that's certainly a shame, but it still has that instant, stimulating, rip-roaring flavor that puts the shots into shoot-em-up.

A severe disappointment. The chain wrestling mechanic is tiresome, and online play is a chore. A dearth of customization options across the board tear away at what made the series special.

Assassin's Creed Rogue is not a bad game, but it is a derivative game.

Smash is an intelligent, creative, blissful continuation of the "Who's better?" character debate, and I look forward to changing my answer as I reconfigure Smash's roster and find new favorite ways to send Donkey Kong into the stratosphere.

Rock Band may be dead and buried, but rhythm game fans jonesing for a fix should give Hatsune Miku: Project Diva F 2nd a shot. Its cheery aesthetic and anime styling may be a little off-putting for some, but its gameplay is solid and surprisingly challenging.

Though it occasionally feels grindy, each new area is a refreshing challenge, and the ease with which you can mix up your party prevents your trips through the dungeons from ever getting stale.

The core mechanics of Pokemon remain immensely addictive, and Game Freak's latest coat of polish only enhances an already captivating adventure.

The core mechanics of Pokemon remain immensely addictive, and Game Freak's latest coat of polish only enhances an already captivating adventure.

The Adventure mode at the center of LittleBigPlanet 3 is a grand showcase of bold imagination like nothing else out there, with a wellspring of charm and warm-natured humor at its heart. Even so, Sumo Digital's brief 4-5 hours of polished, pre-made contributions pale in comparison to what could be – but that's essentially the point.

The Lost Valley offers a pitiful amount of content, and what's available takes ages to unlock.

Far Cry 4 may have installed a despot, but it's still the undisputed king of the open-world shooter.

The real treat for fans, of course, will be revisiting Halo 2's campaign and subsequently reliving the classic multiplayer...For newcomers looking to see what all the fuss is about, Halo is as vibrant now as it was a decade ago, and The Master Chief Collection is essential.

Assassin's Creed Unity is the best and worst of Assassin's Creed. It's hard not to appreciate everything that it gets right, and you'll have a good time if you can wrangle some friends for co-op, but it's impossible to ignore where Unity falls tragically short.

It's a gorgeous game on an epic scale. Rich in character and story, it creates a fantasy world with plausible social rules you can get lost in. It makes you feel that you aren't just exploring a new world, but helping shape it at various levels of society. Inquisition sets the bar for what a blockbuster RPG should be.

There's definitely satisfaction to be had with Lords of the Fallen, but there comes a point at which it has no more tricks up its sleeve. In the end, the worst enemy in the game may be the game itself, and there's nothing hiding in a chest somewhere to fix that.

Despite the familiarity, it's been years since a Call of Duty campaign was as coherent and fast-paced as this one. Within the confines of its franchise, which has yet to make much room for a mature look at the subject matter, Advanced Warfare works with aplomb and, at the very least, plays its Big Dumb Movie card wisely.

The bottom line is that regardless of whether we're talking about character appearance, weapons, special abilities or buffs, Sunset Overdrive piles the number of options you can choose from sky-high. No matter who you choose to be, what weapons you equip, what playstyle you choose, or how you deck out your secondary abilities, everything feels valid and worthwhile.

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.

Civilization: Beyond Earth is a good game in the context of the Civilization franchise.

If you have an Xbox One and a Kinect, you should have Fantasia: Music Evolved in your library, not only because it's the thing that shows off how well your Kinect can work, but also because it's an immediately accessible and fun party game.

A Golden Wake interprets a rich history in its chapters and paints an image of the best and worst of the 1920s, and while its overly-easy puzzles didn't really add to the story, I felt a stronger appreciation for that era after playing through it.

As a shoot-'em-up, though, A City Sleeps feels half-baked. The foundation is solid, but since it only includes three levels, it has to ramp up its difficulty too quickly, and it becomes overwhelming and frustrating as a result. With a more measured approach to difficulty and more levels to give players time to acclimate to its mechanical quirks and control issues, A City Sleeps could be exceptional.

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.

Evil Within just plain doesn't give you a fair chance to succeed. It doesn't provide enough information for you to make good decisions and it handicaps your ability to fight well. It requires so much repetition that it can't possibly maintain any sense of tension or unease, and its story is told so aimlessly that you'll likely forget the plot between scenes.

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

Bayonetta 2 is the perfect action game. It oozes style and boasts gameplay that's both refined and lacking in excess. The combat is so purely entertaining that it's easy to lose yourself in the almost-zen flow of dodging, countering and kicking enemies to death.

A marvelous soccer game, and it's certainly better than FIFA 14, but the series' improvements felt even more marginal this year. The game captures the thrill of soccer unlike ever before, but the new, emotional player animations are only a small addition to what was already a great product.

Driveclub is a well-made, sometimes irritating juxtaposition of the old and new.

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.

A singular experience, at times strange, astonishing and even bewildering, but always captivating. The mystery will keep you going, but what the game does best is surprise. The Vanishing of Ethan Carter has a great story to tell, even if it's not the one you were expecting.

In the same way that Ash respected the alien for its brutality in the original film, though, maybe I also respect Alien: Isolation just for how long, grueling and relentless it ends up being. Instead of completing the game, it feels more like I've escaped it and the nightmare it put me through. I no longer have to hear the sickening slump of the alien being spewed out of a vent.

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.

Much as Persona 4 Arena was a great fighter in its day, Ultimax immediately renders it obsolete. Whether you're a fan of fighting games or just want another chance to hang out with the familiar faces of the Inaba region, Persona 4 Arena Ultimax has you covered and then some.

While there are definite areas where Nintendo could improve on Super Smash Bros. in an inevitable sequel, this is the most feature-complete, compelling Super Smash Bros. entry to date. It stands right alongside Fire Emblem: Awakening and The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds as a game that every 3DS owner should play.

What would have otherwise been a competent sandbox game with solid combat mechanics and an interesting twist on a known fantasy world is elevated by the Nemesis System. Shadow of Mordor is the strategic person's action game.

Forza Horizon 2's world isn't the most lively, beset as it is by roaming bands of automotive enthusiasts, but it leaves room for the living – for you. There's space enough to imprint your moods, whether you rocket into hairpins with a Ferrari or simply cruise around in a gaudy, gold Bentley. Forza Horizon 2 is a big, bouncy summer drive.

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

With NHL 15, EA Canada has taken its secret weapon and buried it under a thick sheet of beautiful, glistening ice...Though there's some enjoyment to be had on the ice, NHL 15 feels like the first major misstep the series has made in years.

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.

Wasteland 2 is so packed with stuff to do and things to see that the game demands multiple plays, yet its story options are so intricate that replaying the plot never seems like a chore. But all of that is overshadowed by omnipresent bugs.

The game works as a limited experience, something novel and adorable and emotional, and it knows not to be anything more. For what it is, it's perfect(ly morbid).

Curtain Call outclasses its predecessor to such an extreme degree that it makes the original Theatrhythm obsolete. It's a solid purchase for Final Fantasy fans and rhythm game veterans alike, and it explores the Theatrhythm concept to its fullest.

Like another delicious mashup, the Cadbury Creme Egg, Hyrule Warriors is superficially dead simple, but for those willing to unwrap its foil lining and bite through the chocolate shell, there lies a wealth of cleverly designed gameplay mechanics, charming references to fan-favorite characters and locations and a whole lot of tasty, sugary goo.

If you just want to shoot things with friends, you'll enjoy your time with Destiny, even when you're mocking the lame story. If, on the other hand, you love the loop – town, dungeon, loot – you'll be more likely to stick around after the story's over.

Danganronpa 2 is wildly uneven, with an engaging story and disjointed action elements, but solving its mysteries provides more than enough satisfaction to make putting up with the bad bits worth your while. It's weird, aggravating and gruesome, but it's also undeniably charming.

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.

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.

Even with the infrequent hiccup, unavoidable video segment or occasionally tiresome menu, Madden 15 has taken major strides in defining its place in the series. Hammering QBs after slipping past a blocker is all the more invigorating thanks to a flattering, defense-minded camera.

Infamous: First Light is everything Infamous: Second Son should have been, it's just too bad it only arrives now, in this anemic form.

The ending, and therefore the episode, may please many players. However, from a storytelling standpoint, No Going Back falls flat.

Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright drags on too long, but even towards the end it's enjoyable at its basest of levels.

The core gameplay of sneaking, assessing the situation, downing enemies, disabling cameras, pilfering plans and occasionally snapping necks is great fun. Setting up a string of sticky bombs for a connect-the-dots series of explosions is especially satisfying, but delights like these are weighed down by CounterSpy's random structure and, in particular, its "more more more" approach to difficulty.

Hohokum offers more than you'd expect but less than you'd want; without gameplay depth to back up its visuals, it sparks the imagination but doesn't kindle it.

Gods Will Be Watching bleeds into your thoughts, even if the toll feels steep and caustic. The cost can feel too high, the enjoyment too strange and poisoned at times. But ... it's brilliant and different, you know? I just hate it, that's all.

The cutest catalyst for an existential crisis I've ever encountered. Its puzzles are complex and brutal, at times unforgiving and in other ways surprisingly merciful. The townspeople are lovable and unique, even in their bite-sized interactions. The game is packed with surprises – it's deep in narrative, world and interaction. Overall, though, it's a roguelike...Kind of.

Divinity: Original Sin could be more straightforward and more modern in other aspects and perhaps maintain its allure. After 60 hours of deep, challenging and often confounding role-playing action, I'm willing to forgive its sins, original or otherwise.

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.

Wayward Manor has charm for the adorable-goth market, but not so much for puzzle game enthusiasts. It's simple, slightly janky and kind of cute, with an OK story and sub-par game design.

Amid the Ruins forces us to swing that axe again and again and again in unsavory situations; it forces us to feel each step through a mass of hungry zombies, and it makes the steps leading up to an uncomfortable conversation just as tense.

Light reaches for greatness, but ends up merely serviceable; nothing breaks or falls apart within its mechanically sound design, but nothing inspires the game to step out from the shadows of better games.

In some respects – particularly in its graphics and slightly more refined shooting – Sniper Elite 3 is a better game than its predecessor. That said, it's grandfathered in a lot of Sniper Elite V2's AI issues, while also forcing players to micromanage too much when it comes to sniping.

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

The Wolf Among Us has been consistently excellent from start to finish, and its final chapter, Cry Wolf, is the well-told end of this well-told story.

Shovel Knight isn't just inspired by 8-bit classics, it is inspired in and of itself.

Like any athlete with a thirst for victory, EA Sports has a great opportunity to create something special with this brand. It's just not quite ready for its title fight yet.

It sends you digging into the trenches of World War 1, but knows that leaving you to wallow in the mud and blood forever does not grant it emotional maturity. For every dour moment in Valiant Hearts, for every uphill struggle, there is a moment of warmth, of return, and reunion between old friends.

Entwined has clear objectives and an overall goal, but the reward for "beating" it isn't points or a trophy, it's a sense of serenity and peace. It's certainly not for everyone, but to those who find the idea appealing, it utterly succeeds.

Even without the creation and sharing tools here, Intelligent Systems' little series continues to tickle the brain just right. Mallo may trick you into thinking a relaxing, smooth time awaits therein, but even when the game gets rough, Pushmo World is well worth visiting.

Tomodachi Life wore out its welcome for me quicker than any Animal Crossing game ever did, due to its comparative lack of structure and progression, and its brilliant spark of creativity fades much more quickly than you'd like.

Without the well-established relationships in Always Sometimes Monsters, the game would be a disaster. It would be an exercise in tedium and starving artists – but the writing makes it all worthwhile. Yes, even the act of making tofu burgers. In the end, love – even just the chance of it – is worth it.

With some truly great ideas and some unfortunate choices, Murdered: Soul Suspect and its ghostly hero is neither heaven nor hell, but something in between.

Even as a one-off experience, though, Leo's Fortune is an excellent platformer. The thumb-sliding controls fit tablet play perfectly, and the clever, gorgeous design is evident throughout. It's neither lengthy nor terribly challenging, but these complaints are outweighed by the joy of sliding through each beautiful level.

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.

What Sheep does so elegantly is remind us that life is rarely as tidy as Snow's rules would allow, and that "right" is an ever-shifting concept. It gives us absurd characters like talking pigs and childhood boogeymen and makes them as real as we are, so that we ourselves feel like citizens of Fabletown, scraping to get by.

Even when it skews toward bigger actions and questionable bouts of busywork, though, Watch Dogs is a more fluid and modern power fantasy than we're used to. Somewhere, in its vague, fantastical version of hacking, there's a lesson about the power and the naughty temptations that lie in our networked, selfie-infested world.

It's passable and functional, but doesn't elevate the franchise or add the magic that'll bring El Presidente to a wider audience. It is what it is: Another evolution in a franchise that needs a revolution.

Like the combat, the story starts off strongly, intertwining threads about Red's past, the history of the Camerata and the true purpose of the Transistor, but it doesn't come together in a satisfying way.

The greatest problem in Wolfenstein: The New Order, then, is a jarring inconsistency of tone and cohesion... It's almost as if there's a tug of war going between the big dumb shooter and the attempt to be subversive, with the result being a game that's not really slick enough to be an action classic, and not dramatic enough to draw you in.

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

The gravity-shifting sections spliced into existing and new tracks feel like a natural extension of the series rather than a gameplay-changing revelation, but it's a strong compliment to an already enjoyable experience. The social features are surprisingly solid and may even outlive the total course selection, but it helps that the new tracks feel as worthy of a revisit as the series' standouts.

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.

This is the episode where it all starts to come together.

In the age of Netflix streaming, iTunes, Steam and online multiplayer, Sportsfriends stands apart by reminding us how to have fun with people, not avatars.

The transition to PS4 proved to be a healthy one for MLB 14: The Show. Continued online issues and increased load times aside, the visual boost provided by Sony's new hardware adds to what is already a solid baseball sim, making it the best version of the game available.

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 may look like just another sloppy licensed game, but beneath the surface squirms a dissonant yet introspective deconstruction of the genre (probably).

A little panache and daring can go a long way towards standing out on the real-life fairways, and it would've done so here as well.

It's a shame, because there are moments when Daylight's ominous ambience is pitch perfect, but ultimately it's undone by ho-hum gameplay and a dull story. The witches are truly unnerving, but they're never a real threat, and the reward for your survival is disappointing.

There's simply no soul in Child of Light, no emotional attachment to keep you pressing on into the darkness. There isn't even a good addictive hook – the story makes a few feeble tugs at your heartstrings, but doesn't create any great mysteries that you'll be desperate to solve, and the combat, while solid, never quite achieves "just one more round" status. It's all lovely and pleasant and well-crafted – and hollow.

Kirby: Triple Deluxe doesn't succeed on all fronts, but the majority of its campaign is a joy to play, and the "Kirby Fighters" mini-game is solid enough to flesh out the package. Triple Deluxe doesn't reach the heights of Kirby Super Star, but it's still one of the finest Kirby adventures to date.

As unassuming and stylish as the rest of the series is melodramatic and bombastic, Hitman Go is an impressive debut for Square Enix Montreal. The play style recalls the strategic thinking of the console/PC games, but does so with an entirely new style that fits touch-based devices like a fine leather glove.