It’s been a bumpier ride than I’d expected – especially given the potential comic goldmine that is the Borderlands universe – but Tales from the Borderlands seems to be back on track just in time for what’s shaping up to be weird and wild final episode.

For people who have played the series backward and forward, the most interesting part of the package will likely be the time attack modes that task you with finishing a mix of challenges from each game within a set time frame. Perfect if you want compartmentalized challenges or just don’t have quite enough time to tackle a full game.

Ultimately, Until Dawn is a clever romp through horror movie tropes that is good for those who want fun interactive narratives. It’s cheesy, and there’s perhaps less to do with it once you’re done than I’d like, but it lacks the rough edges of many other narrative-first games...Personally, if we got a few more of these each year and a few less samey shooters, I wouldn’t mind one bit.

It might contain a racial stereotype or two, and it is certainly lacking a strong female presence, but Gears of War: Ultimate Edition reaffirms Epic’s classic third-person shooter as a titan of the big-men-with-big-guns genus.

Ubisoft has done a surprisingly good job with the port.

Even without multiplayer, though, there’s a good 20-plus hours of action packed into this fun little childhood throwback – more than enough to keep strategy fans occupied until the end of the summer.

If you’re not afraid of the repetition that naturally comes with slowly wading through literally tens of thousands of monsters (I suggest pacing yourself over a few weeks or a month) there’s plenty to like in Victor Vran.

Gehenna is an extremely interesting environment that’s brought to life by what amounts to being a message board filled with ornery, divisive, and Internet-fluent personalities.

I can only provide thoughts my own experience, and my experience with Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture was one of delight and wonder punctuated by many unfortunately long stretches of interface frustration.

The main reason to consider grabbing Reckoning, of course, is to see the finale of the Exo Zombies story that began with the co-op mode’s introduction in the first DLC and which has seen new chapters in each succeeding content drop.

Just as entertaining as playing some of the games is fast-forwarding through the progression of Rare’s work over a period of decades. It’s like watching the evolution of the medium itself.

Maybe it’s just because I lack the nostalgia necessary to make the plodding pace and trial-and-error puzzles click, but if I’m to be convinced to continue investing my time the next chapter will need to pick things up a little.

N++ is something close to the perfect indie platformer: A pleasure to the senses, challenging without being frustrating, cooperative, competitive, creative, and empowering.

It may be comparatively short, but it begins and ends with an emotional bang and stuffs the second half full of surprises and gut-wrenching choices, all while setting the stage for a climactic finale poised to deliver revenge, war with those despicable Whitehills, and – for better or worse – some sort of resolution.

The Magic Circle’s appeal runs the gamut of the video game industry. While players might have one experience, someone who has actually worked in game development might get something entirely different from the game. And with a well-written script and some talented voice acting, it has a narrative that you’ll actually enjoy instead of merely coasting through to see the credits roll.

It delivers a cleaner, breezier simulated golf experience that runs more quickly and looks lovely – especially during those morning rounds – without losing the series’ robust core mechanics...However, the overhaul has come at the cost of significantly reduced content and some missing features.

Ronin is fun, innovative, and worth a go – especially if your tastes lean toward both strategy and cool ninja high jinks – but there is untapped potential here that could have resulted in a serious Steam standout.

It’s not perfect. There are moments of irritation, mostly during those Batmobile sequences. But when it’s firing on all cylinders – which is the bulk of the time – there’s just no other super hero game like it.

A pretty big disappointment.

It’s weirdly compelling. I didn’t get up from my computer once during the two-and-a-half hours or so it took me to reach the end of my little investigation.

Regardless of whether I stick with Fallout Shelter to the end, filling a bunker a couple of dozen stories deep with 100 bustling dwellers, I’ve definitely had some fun.

Sunset is that rare game that endeavours to challenge players to be entertained by something other than action.

Massive Chalice – with its dual-gendered cup, regents of all ages and both sexes, and heroes with a variety of skin tones – is perhaps the studio’s best example of diversity and representation yet. It’s welcomes all players.

It may lack new and novel features that we can use to easily define it, but Supremacy gives us something that might be even better: Some Advanced Warfare‘s most sophisticated and entertaining competitive and cooperative maps yet.

Despite its shortcomings, Splatoon is one of the best Wii U titles and is exactly the kind of game Nintendo needs to release right – a game that’s different, unique and, most importantly, features the charm people have come to expect from the company’s titles.

There’s still some engaging play, including a lengthy and well choreographed stealth action sequence starring Asher that makes good use of Telltale’s traditional point-and-click interface. If you can manage to pull off everything without any mistakes it plays out in deliciously cinematic fashion.

Paying a reasonable price for dozens and dozens of hours of satisfying and balanced puzzle play – and no temptation to spend more on in-app purchases – seems like a no-brainer to me.

Its vision is clear, and there can be little doubt that much love and passion was poured into its crafting.

That said, Simply Mad’s latest earns a pretty easy recommendation for anyone looking for a racing game unambiguously and unapologetically locked in the simulation category. Its vision is clear, and there can be little doubt that much love and passion was poured into its crafting.

The second act of Broken Age is unfortunate evidence that Double Fine’s crap stinks just like anyone else’s.

If some strangely-specific apocalyptic event wiped both Warcraft and Dungeon Keeper off the face of the earth, those brave souls with the will to continue might find something to cling to in Dungeons 2. Until that happens, the probably just best to stick with the real deal.

Pillars of Eternity proves that the men and women at Obsidian know how to make a good traditional RPG based on their own intellectual property...And now they’ve proven they don’t even need an investor to do it.

In the end, the biggest problem you might face is simply figuring out how best to play a game clearly meant for consoles on a mobile platform.

Last Voyage may be less than an hour long, but that time is enjoyable and thought provoking. And paying a dollar for something like this seems a small price to avoid the sort of bland, carbon-copied free-to-play junk currently clogging most app stores.

Longtime fans of Harvest Moon or those looking to reconnect with the series, Story of Seasons takes it back to the basics.

If you’ve yet to try Forza Horizon 2, this standalone expansion might prove a good way to figure out whether you want to – especially since it’s free through this Friday, April 10th. I’m not sure, though, what existing players will get out of it that they didn’t get playing Forza Horizon 2.

Five years in the making, this one-man project is an ode to retro games like Metroid and Castlevania. From graphics and music to design and mechanics, it channels a late 80s gaming vibe in a way few other modern takes on classic genres do.

There are some nice new touches, including the objective of protecting survivors – which I found helped bring everyone back together again – as well as a crazy powerful mech-armoured Goliath zombie. If you thought exo zombies were evil, this guy is basically Satan.

For the first time I could feel seething anger and resentment boiling just under the surface of most of our heroes, and it’s coming close to bursting through.

Hardline‘s release was smooth, and although it did feel like a modified BF4, it also plays like something novel and worthwhile all on its own.

Give it a chance – not just a couple of hours, mind, but five or ten; enough to let its claws sink in nice and deep – and you’ll probably find Bloodborne an intoxicating dose of pure masochistic pleasure.

Much like the original Resident Evil: Revelations for Nintendo 3DS, this sequel – weird episodic format notwithstanding – is a deferential nod toward Resident Evil’s origins. It’s both a step backwards and a step forwards; proof that that sometimes the best way to correct a franchise’s mislaid course is to double back a couple paces and start on a different path.

Still, I was left with the feeling this episode simply fills the space between the first and third, moving our heroes from one important location to another without much of consequence happening along the way.

It’s a busy game that’s a failure in many ways, but its art direction and story perfect the eerie atmosphere of the genre, and make the experience tolerable, even when the writing and game design let it down. Like the crack of moon through a black-cloud storm, White Night is a game as fragile as the light.

Play it with a few good friends or family members and it can be the video game equivalent of a bowl of soup for your soul, leaving you smiling, content, and just generally feeling pretty good.

Starships may lack the complexity and nuance of other strategy games, and it feels a bit rough around the edges in places, but its accessibility, terrific turn-based combat, and bite-sized duration combine to create a tempting alternative to a multi-evening marathon campaign.

And if you happen to enjoy your strategy mixed with a little absurdity – like a scarecrow armed with a pumpkin launcher specially tuned to stun alien brains – then all the better.

Just a pleasure to play – and the first Xbox exclusive in some time likely to leave at least a few PlayStation owners green with envy. Download this one with confidence.

After a tantalizing serving of polygonal freshness in its predecessor, it’s disappointing to see Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Tipping Stars not just tread water but actually move the series backward.

Despite its shortcomings, Kirby and the Rainbow Curse offers up an entertaining, albeit a frequently frustrating experience. The game’s rainbow drawing mechanic makes great use of the Wii U’s GamePad but the resulting gameplay unfortunately isn’t always as fun as it could be.

Forty bucks might seem kind of spendy for something like this, but each of its three modes could have easily been released as a $10 or $15 game on its own. The value is there.

For a modest price of $34.99, the Homeworld Remastered collection gives you an experience like no other in the real-time strategy genre. There are games out there like Sins of a Solar Empire that try to emulate what Homeworld did, but others don’t compare.

Pneuma: Breath of Life wants to wedge its way into this lofty club, but it’s simply not as elegant or consistent as the best games of its ilk. The observer theme makes for some memorable puzzles the likes of which I’ve never quite seen before, but others are either frustrating, unfair, or both.

Despite being instantly engaged by Aaru’s Awakening‘s artistry and intrigued by its innovative teleportation mechanic, I came away frustrated. I had no desire to keep playing, no need to better my times or scores. Each completed level led to a sense of relief rather than satisfaction, and if all I was after was a sense of relief I could achieve that by taking an Aspirin rather than subjecting myself to scores of irritating virtual deaths.

While all the elements are in place for a traditional and memorable Resident Evil experience, Revelations 2 is – at least through this first chapter – missing a spark.

Complex, sometimes unwelcoming (though less than in the past) — and utterly satisfying when you beat your way past the walls it puts up.

In general, The Order: 1886 reminds me of almost every super hero film franchise. The first movie is frequently decent but has a few significant issues, and it’s not until the second entry in the franchise that things get more polished and interesting.

For a moderate increase in price, you end up getting a lot less in terms of content.

Evolve remains an ambitious, daringly original, and largely successful undertaking in four-versus-one play. It’s certainly worth a look for fans of cooperative, class-based games. And if you don’t mind its limiting quirks it could well become your go-to team play.

The plot is thickening. Hopefully the pacing will adjust to match in coming installments.

Narratively, Life is Strange is kind of a mashup of My So Called Life and Donnie Darko (with a few elements of Alan Wake and Gone Home thrown in for good measure).

Believe it or not, I found the added depth helped breathe life into the adventure. Going back to the flat 2D presentation removed much of the world’s vivacity.

Unless you have better luck acclimating to the traversal mechanics than I did, Dying Light is hard to recommend.

Good players may relish the more intense competition, but I find playing on the new multiplayer maps against the series most devout fans a bit disheartening.

However, if you skipped Saints Row IV when it originally landed there’s no reason not to dive in now. Saints Row IV: Re-Elected is an easy recommendation for adventurous players with a taste for the bizarre – especially at the bargain price of just $30.

Saints Row IV: Gat Out of Hell is basically a sandbox with only a couple toys. It’s fun to drive a yellow dump truck into castles you made with a pail a couple of times, but it wears thin – and quicker than you’d like.

This only lightly altered HD port won me over simply by providing the opportunity revisit a game for which I harbour wonderfully fond memories. Would that more remastered and rereleased games accomplished as much so effortlessly.

I doubt I’ll ever rank among the Vainglory hardcore, but right now I’m having a great time dipping into the arena for half an hour or so each evening.

Perhaps most importantly, you’ll earn all of your victories through skill and strategy without being prompted to pay to win. It’s strange that such a simple thing ought to earn praise, but such is the current state of mobile gaming.

It’s pretty much just the worst.

None of it is essential, nor is it inspired.

Elegy for a Dead World may have its issues, but it provides the spark and kindling for a blaze of creativity. It ought to prove plenty of fun for anyone who chooses to keep feeding the fire.

The Crew is far from a bad game and if Forza Horizon 2, the current top open-world racing game on the market, didn’t exist, I probably would have enjoyed it much more. Unfortunately, despite everything Ivory Tower’s latest title does correct, its lacklustre visuals, rubber-band AI, and disappointing story is difficult to ignore.

Guardian of Light felt like a nice little change of pace for the ailing Tomb Raider franchise when it arrived in the summer of 2010, and Temple of Osiris is a capable and – thanks largely to some great puzzles – fairly enjoyable extension of that experience.

It’s so bare-bones it feels like a cheap mobile game knock-off, and the fact that it was released without even a whisper seems like damning proof that Natsume knows it. Lost Valley is a dull, almost offensively boring and watered down version of a normally fantastic series. Do not pick up this game.

So Telltale’s game is one meant for existing Game of Thrones fans, which is fine and probably how it should be. And it’s clear that Telltale’s talented storytellers respect and understand the material from which they’re working.

Don’t be tricked by Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker‘s relatively inexpensive $39.99 price tag; there’s a ton of game here.

There’s enough new here that Enemy Within almost feels like a completely different game.

Still, Tales from the Borderlands is off to a great start in its plot and personalities. If Telltale can focus more on our heroes’ banter and comical interactions in coming episodes, it will only get better.

Given that the best part of the game is the show – and that the vast bulk of the creative work had already been done prior to the game’s development – it seems to me that it ought to have a price more inline with a season of a kids cartoon TV show than a game.

There’s got to be a point at which Lego games finally outstay their welcome. But, against all odds, nine games in under two years is not it.

The menus are still clunky and slow, players seem to run out of energy around the 60-minute mark of every game, and fancy animations are a poor substitute for basic functionality.

Rollers of the Realm aimed for the big points and, while it might not be dead centre, they’re mostly on target.

Super Smash Bros. for Wii U has holes that simply can’t be filled with trophies and an encyclopedic soundtrack. The customizable characters are interesting, amiibo’s have their finer points, and the multiplayer is smooth, but at its core this is a game left unchanged.

Far Cry 4 is filled with crazy action sequences and harbours a deep disregard for political correctness that dares players to complain about its depiction of bare-breasted women wielding machine guns and jokes about maxi pads used as bandages...However, if you’ve played Far Cry 3, it’s all going to seem pretty familiar. Routine, even.

With all the tweaks and additions, the current generation edition is unquestionably the best. It may not include quite enough fresh content to warrant a second purchase, but it’s certainly the edition that ought to be sought out by those yet to play...Most importantly, perhaps, it provides us with a small peephole into the future of the series.

Nothing is so simply put in The Vanishing of Ethan Carter, but to put it simply, this game is absolutely worth the $20 price tag. It’s not long (about four hours), nor is it particularly challenging, but through and through, this is a beautiful game of strange, twisted, and sometimes sick puzzles.

While Rogue is overshadowed by Assassin’s Creed Unity‘s next generation marketing blitz, it’s a meaty additional chapter that provides greater depth to some fan-favourite characters.

Every aspect of the Assassin’s Creed formula has been taken apart and put back together again, all while existing in a world populated by impressive crowds of thousands. Sadly, the game pushes right up against the hardware limitations of the new-generation consoles and does not have the quite narrative ambitions or scope as previous games in the series.

BioWare’s about to drop its mic and walk off stage...It is a paragon of multiple-path storytelling and character development. It offers a master class in intricate, customizable, multi-hero combat. And it delivers not one but ten beautiful and expansive open worlds to explore, boldly throwing down the gauntlet to rival developers.

There is an incredible amount of content across all four games, and having that much stuff means you can basically play it in any way you like. Further, every single aspect of the game is unlocked at launch, every map, every level, every upgrade.

If it’s not the best indie game of the year, it’s pretty bloody close to it.

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare is undeniably distinctive within the Call of Duty family. But it might take a game or two for Sledgehammer to start delivering on the same scale as its sibling studios.

Fantasy Life appeals to the dad in me because it teaches kids that work can be fun. It encourages kids to think that jobs – even real ones like tailoring and carpentry – are like a game.

Something much more tame, a word that should be the antithesis of the series...Game developers won’t fix what isn’t broken and to do so is taking a huge risk, but Bayonetta is a series of firsts and this game feels like it’s playing on repeat.

Of course, the ultimate factor likely to determine whether you keep jiggling your buns beyond the first night will likely be whether you enjoy the music or not, and unfortunately I found this year’s batch of songs a bit disappointing. The vast bulk of them are, at least to my taste, flavourless pop fluff.

Had Sunset Overdrive come out late August, there’s a good chance it would have gotten a lot more time to embed itself into people’s consciousnesses. Now, I hope that some of the interesting things the game does are enough to get it noticed in the deluge of big fall games.

It is certainly more polished than Civ 5 was when it was released, and feels much more like a finished game, where as the predecessor was merely alright until it was elevated by its expansions.