It's largely the same entertaining experience that Team17 has been iterating for years now, and there's nothing wrong with that.

Though Okamiden hits a pretty satisfying stride in the middle, it is a bit of a marathon... OK, yes, an adorable marathon.

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.

The first episode is an unbalanced one, but it manages to pull itself together for a satisfying conclusion. Its compelling, cliffhanging afterword ensures that I'll be giving the second chapter a shot, as well -- I only hope that it spends more time being irreverently funny, rather than spending a third of its run-time desperately attempting to convince the player of its irreverence.

The critical path through Gotham City is feeling worn, even if tread by different, younger actors.

Killzone: Shadow Fall loses its sheen at times, usually when pursuing moments that are cinematic but not sensible. As a shooter, it's better at thriving on eye-catching environments and supportive combat abilities that don't just come for free.

The game is at its best with a friend, perhaps someone turned off by the long-term learning required by more complex fighting games.

Perhaps the biggest source of frustration, however, is the antiquated user interface.

Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z knows it's a stupid, flashy arcade action game, and rolls with it. It doesn't try to be clever or witty, or even ironic and self-effacing. It's not deep or customizable, and it's clearly running out of ideas past the halfway point. It isn't perfect. To some people, it won't even be considered good.

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.

Dark Moon is a bit like Luigi himself: charming, goofy and utterly affable. The core mechanic of catching ghosts is solid and exciting, and the environments are absolutely worth seeing and exploring. It's got heart, but after trudging through all five of its locales, you may wind up feeling a little like a bedraggled, battle-worn ghostbuster yourself.

As a palate cleanser, A World of Keflings certainly does the trick, though you may feel your sanity begin to ebb after extended sessions.

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

Dream Team does a lot of things right, and is a satisfying detour for a franchise that is risking too much predictability it its main guise. It's hard to shake that feeling of a missed opportunity, of a premise not fully realized that therefore exposes some comparative shortcomings.

The bar has definitely slipped a notch or two, and while it may be the best basketball game you'll play this year, being the best by default isn't enough.

The undoubtable quality of Metal Gear Solid 5: Ground Zeroes feels carved from a bigger, better game, and perhaps that makes it a better showcase for players who don't know their Snakes from their Otacons. Too good to be a cash-in, too calculated to be satisfying and too intriguing to spurn, Ground Zeroes is a fiscal test of patience.

Mechanically, A Machine for Pigs deviates significantly from The Dark Descent, and this is where it's most disappointing. The Dark Descent employed several mechanics that ratcheted up the fear and tension, most notably the insanity system.

Primal Carnage could become a better beast with updates, but at launch it's missing some key elements and polish. Despite those issues, Primal Carnage is still an entertaining experience.

It's one of the most frustrating kinds of games that a company can possibly release: The disappointing thing about PowerUp Heroes is how much I like playing it, and how very little there is to play.

If you can look past these issues, the uninspiring gunplay and ho-hum campaign in particular, Starhawk offers up plenty of multiplayer freedom. If you can pull together a cohesive team, building defenses and barreling through enemy territory can be deeply rewarding.

There is, however, a powerful experience here. Papo & Yo makes its player face the terrible relationship of abuse in a very personal way.

If you can ignore the jarring, clipped dialogue and attempted story, play Quantum Conundrum to enjoy the tranquility of practiced physics – tranquility that may frustrate you to the point of destroying a beautiful keyboard, but tranquility nonetheless.

It's a story that could have used a few more editorial passes, sure, but it's a tale that I'd recommend experiencing nonetheless.

Ron Gilbert and Chris Remo miss on the explicit narration, but their underlying story is perfectly pitched through puzzles and your own wicked participation.

Truth be told, its an extremely challenging side-scrolling ... well, it's part shoot-'em-up, part submarine simulator and part strategy game. The sum of these parts is actually a lot more compelling than the game taken at face value.

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

If you can look past some of the more awkward elements – especially if you can do so with a couple of friends – there is definitely some meat to be found in Trine 2. You'll just have to crack a lot of shells to find it.

Taken by itself, it's unsatisfying and half-missing, but of course it's not meant to be taken by itself. It's the centerpiece of a larger whole, the lock that will let everything eventually make sense. Crooked Mile has a hard job to do, and has the bruises to show it.