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.

Ultimately, Moebius feels like an early version of a full game, something that needs playtesting and a keen critical eye before it's ready for public consumption. Even fanfiction authors have editors.

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.

It tries to combine artistic vision and depth with traditional game objectives, and ends up being weaker for it.

With a few smart and unobtrusive tweaks to its thorny heart, Trials Fusion nails its balance between purity and cruelty. The new tricks system doesn't betray the game's simple roots, and instead makes a perfect landing seem even less attainable at times – and more rewarding. The primal pleasures of Trials live on and into the future, leaning forward just a tad.

MLB 14 might have its rough edges, but it lives up to the term "simulation" in the truest sense, offering players the means to realistically succeed any way they choose.

What ultimately brings down Conception 2, however, is that none of its elements manage to rise above a general feeling of mediocrity. The combat is too dull and repetitious to ever be addictive. The dating sim, jiggly boobs and all, is interesting, but too limited to carry the game on its own.

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.

Kinect Sports Rivals feels cheap. A few of the multiplayer games – namely tennis and water racing – are fun in short bursts, but other games – bowling and target shooting – are duds, even with another person. The biggest challenge in gameplay is often hassling with the Kinect and, overall, the games themselves are insultingly simple.

This is a deep experience backed by intricate mechanics and a concerted polish that makes gameplay immediately intuitive and rewarding. Age of Wonders 3 will keep you up until the wee hours of the morning, constantly muttering that you'll crawl into bed after just one more turn.

Escape Goat 2's soundtrack also stands out, thanks to its almost otherwordly feel. It's distinctly odd, yet charming and memorable.

The world of Ether One is a superbly detailed and well thought-out place. The gameplay hearkens back to an age when you needed three pages of notes to solve a single puzzle. The story is both heartbreaking and horrifying, as well as intriguing and enigmatic.

While previous Infamous games were often frustrating during their later campaign missions, Second Son maintains a steady growth in difficulty throughout, allowing players to rise to the challenge by progressing through its skill tree at their own pace.

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.

The sense of flight and weightlessness is as intoxicating as the build-what-you-want nature of the game's war machines. And besides, dying is just an excuse to try out a new combo of parts, and I'm mighty curious to see how an armored, cannon-firing airplane with an underwater engine would handle.

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.

Dark Souls 2 may not be what came before, but it is its own game, with its own hilarious deaths, ridiculous traps, haunting melodies, and foreboding bosses, and it still stands out with ease. That punch to the ribs may not wind as hard, but you'll still want to get up and explore this dark, devious world, over and over again.

It's a whole-brain game with minimal controls, and it's the most fun I've had with a bow and arrow since The Year Of The Bow – or even the 1980s.

Though it fails to elevate itself into the exalted ranks of the Very Best Mario Games, Yoshi's New Island is by no means a sub-standard experience. It's solid. Reliable. You come in expecting devious platforming levels that will test your gaming mettle, and that's exactly what you get.

Titanfall isn't tuned to perfection for everyone yet, but it starts as a smart, swift and startling movement in well-traveled space.

Unlike Deadly Premonition, Earth Defense Force 2025, or other games that hide genuine depth behind an awkward presentation, Magus has no hidden quality, charm or saving grace. It's entirely witless, and none of its mechanics strive for anything beyond mediocrity. Despite its issues, though, Magus is surprisingly breezy to play.