Valkyria Chronicles is one of the most unique and fun strategy games I’ve ever played, despite a few flaws with the port.

How much you enjoy Inquisition will likely depend on what it is you enjoy about RPGs. If you want complex systems and hardcore challenge, it could potentially disappoint. I don’t. I want a rich world, interesting characters, and a dramatic and memorable plot. Judged on those criteria, Dragon Age: Inquisition sits happily alongside BioWare’s best.

This is not the modern Transport Tycoon I hoped it would be, but it will fill a few hours before your attention inevitably derails. [Holiday 2014, p.66]

It just doesn't measure up to the imagination and potential of the setting, and you feel like little more than a jumped=up errand boy. [Holiday 2014, p.66]

A novel structure for competitive play, but can't match the depth of most MOBAs or the feel of a good shooter. [Holiday 2014, p,64]

Admirably back to basics, eschewing fancypants gimmicks to focus entirely on the ancient, noble art of hitting balls into holes. [Holiday 2014, p.58]

The campaign is mostly predictable, dumb fun, and the multiplayer is some of Call of Duty’s best—but still subject to every existing criticism of CoD.

The tractors look great, but the rest of Farming Simulator 15 comes off like shovelware from 2012.

For existing fans there aren’t a lot of compelling reasons to upgrade from last year’s edition, unless you’re really nostalgic for the Graham Taylor approach to football.

This is the detective game L.A. Noire claimed to be. It doesn’t have the inflated budget of Rockstar’s game, but it makes up for its rough edges with quality detecting, compelling cases, beautiful world-building, and and endearing gusto.

A sublime blend of fighting, puzzling and exploration, but the unforgiving difficulty may be too much for some.

Parts of Final Fantasy XIII are worth the absurd amount of time it takes to properly open up, but this port is a big letdown.

Dungeon of the Endless pulls from many popular games and genres from the last couple of years, but what's wonderful about it is that all these elements come together to create something entirely new.

Allow yourself to get pulled into the show, and it’s hard to see where real life finishes and NBA 2K starts. It's the best sports series on earth. By a distance.

If you have a capable rig—and don’t experience the crashes I did—I think it’s a worthwhile experience. Still, it’s less interesting than Dark Souls in terms of plot and setting, and full of wandering and grinding that first tested my patience, and finally made me as powerful as some of the bosses. If I could take its combat system, weapons, and enemies and put it in another more interesting game, I would.

The best fan experience for the series by far, but cut corners and poor design choices bog down an otherwise fun beat-em up.

Although its foundation in Civ 5 makes it familiar, Beyond Earth is full of interesting surprises that are pleasantly difficult to master.

Easy going in tone but frantic and stressful by nature, Screencheat seizes on a single novel idea and builds an enjoyable couch shooter around it.

The controls are sluggish, the video options are limited, and the aspect ratio decision is utterly stupid. All of the above drags The Evil Within from enjoyably challenging to needlessly frustrating.

Admirably open levels that reward exploration means there’s high replay value if you’re prepared to overlook the back-tracking.

With its fundamentals unchanged and last year’s foray into classic cars removed, F1 2014 provides very little beyond a perfunctory car and track.

Thankfully, smart as ever, Amplitude Studios has created another astounding story-driven game, that really has taken the best bits of RTS, RPG and 4X, drawing much from Endless Space, and spun it differently for every faction.

A well-executed but thoroughly unambitious extension of Borderlands 2. Low-grav jumping adds a new dimension to combat.

Adorable, amusing, colorful and well-animated, but the combat is too simplistic and repetitive to remain interesting throughout the game.

An approachable 3rd-person space sim with a vast, and often beautiful, universe to explore.

Ryse: Son of Rome's combat and incredible graphics are entertaining, but it's too narrow and repetitive, even for a short game.

I know that there's a great, massive RTS beneath all these issues. I've seen glimpses of it when everything works correctly, but at the moment I can't recommend Planetary Annihilation without a warning that it's bound to disappoint and frustrate, even if you do teach yourself to play it.

Isolation is a taut, confident, and electrifying horror game that perfectly captures the essence of Ridley Scott's legendary film. I just wish they'd been braver with the story.