Lovers of dark fantasy and charming characters should play Last Story without a second thought, but a gamer used to modern-day levels of production value and polish won't easily set those expectations aside.

The story can get confusing and nonsensical at times, and the camera gets caught up in some funky angles, but these are tiny flaws in an otherwise stellar RPG.

The controls are clunky, the graphics are student project-basic, the plot isn't worth discussing and the levels so repetitive you'll have seen all it has to offer within half an hour.

Nintendo clearly took an "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" mentality to this sequel, and given how good this game is, I can't fault them for it.

By removing peripheral complexities, Hybrid focuses completely on what makes, or should make cover-based shooters fun. It reminds me a lot of NBA Jam - not in the sense that you'll pull of crazy tomahawk dunks as a futuristic mech soldier, but in that it creates basic, tight, and rewarding experiences by focusing on a few core gameplay mechanics.

Vigil nailed the Zelda formula in Darksiders 1. In attempting to evolve that in this sequel, the team stumbles a bit. It's like they wanted to keep Darksiders 2 mechanically consistent without drawing such overt references to their source material. Some story and technical blemishes crop up from this process but they don't distract from the great dungeon design and combat. Darksiders 2 is a great game, with still considerable room for improvement.

Tequila Works certainly understands the 2D space and there is some sense of satisfaction in navigating Randall Wayne through miles of hallowed out buildings, a treacherous underground, and zombie-infested roads.

The updated visuals give the dated games a fresh look, but the exclusion of levels and options like the park editor are sorely missed.

The 3DS itself seems like an odd choice for a game like this, what with its small screen and isolated user base-compared, at least, to the massive communities surrounding PC games in the same genre.

The variety in the minigames mixed with the exceptional soundtrack make for a delightful combination.

Most Civ players will find the changes too minor and the original game complex enough that an expansion isn't necessary.

While Gungnir is in no means a bad game, there isn't anything about it that calls out to be played. The story isn't entirely original, but the lower class uprising setting fits well with the gameplay (as it does with most titles in the genre).

It helps to think of Theatrhythm Final Fantasy as a digital celebration of the series' music and culture rather than a deep gaming experience.

The stellar writing and character development continues at a superior level, and the decisions the game asks you to make are gut-wrenching.

The Amazing Spider-Man has laid an awesome foundation of gaming mechanics through its open-world design; I just hope to see more of it embraced in future games.

The inclusion of a fully voiced cast and the open-world setting of Gotham make this one of the most ambitious games in the LEGO series to date. If you only play one Batman game that comes out this year, it should definitely be LEGO Batman 2.

If you just want to click your brain off and shoot some guys, Spec Ops is not for you. That's ok though, gamers looking for that can find it in, well, almost every other game ever made. Spec Ops is unique in its intelligent treatment of adult themes. If you want a different take on the war game, I can't recommend Spec Ops enough.

The game is crafted like a shoot-'em-up, meaning you really need to dig in and master it to understand where its value lies. If you have the temperance for that type of play, Lollipop Chainsaw is one of the best brawlers in the last few years. Combine that with an effortless sense of humor and Suda 51's one-of-a-kind style, and you have gaming perfection for the right kind of gamer.

A breath of fresh air into the somewhat stale Pokemon series. Creating a strategy game that is both accessible for newcomers and deep for veterans is quite a feat, and this game has done just that.

It's both cohesive and inviting, mechanically and aesthetically. And if you're interested in a game with elaborate and interesting puzzles, you're not likely to find something better this side of Portal.

The controls are not only responsive, but they show a subtlety we don't normally see in motion-controlled games. It's just too bad that what could've been a fun, magical romp is deflated by generic fantasy tropes and equally uninspired visuals and sounds.

But much of the time, the controls simply don't work, and instead of feeling immersed, you feel enraged and helpless. If the graphics, story, or even gameplay mechanics weren't as good as they are, I wouldn't be wasting my time with a game with such messy, unreliable controls.

This isn't a bad game at all, but its relatively low score is more a reflection of how much gaming bang you get for your buck. It's just not quite worth the ten dollars it costs on XBLA-especially considering you can get pretty much the same game for five on Google Play. Babel Rising is mostly saved by its multiplayer options.

Somewhere, hidden within Gas Guzzlers: Combat Carnage, is a fun racer. Unfortunately, the fun is locked.

All in all, everything here is fantastic-I just wish that there were about twice as much of it.

The addictive core gameplay of hunting, gathering, and building is intact, with streamlined crafting and multiplayer that make the console version unique. It's definitely not a game for people with short attention spans or addictions to hyper-violence.

The gameplay is frustrating and not worth the time you'll spend on it.

For longtime fans of the DiRT games, especially those who appreciate its realistic approach to rally racing, Showdown is an abomination, an overly simple sell-out, or a bad joke of a spin-off... But for fans of off-road racing games who want something more forgiving than DiRT but still somewhat rooted in reality, or someone wishing Forza Motorsport 4 had some off-road races and a demolition derby or two, Showdown is anything but a bumpy ride.