Despite being won over by its personality – a catchy minimalist electronic score and simple but endearing aesthetic give it a feel all its own – I just never found my groove in Dustforce.

Bravely Default‘s combat system sits comfortably among some of Square Enix’s best including those within games like Chrono Trigger, earlier Final Fantasy games, and Dragon Quest VIII. It’s that good.

Speaking as a fellow who’s spent far too much money on plastic bricks for his kid – and more time than he cares to admit building and disassembling them with her – I haven’t been as enthralled with or enchanted by a Lego game since the original Lego Star Wars.

Worth keeping in mind for series n00bs: I’ve found Joe Danger games play a bit better on an iPhone or even an iPad Mini than an iPad.

Push these qualms aside and Bardbarian is just about everything I want in an iOS game: quirky, quick, cheap, fun, and habit-forming.

This is another app that will hound you to spend real money in order to buy things like better punching bags and balls to play with, but you can have a lot of fun with the basics and not spend a penny. So it’s worth a download, even if you never get serious about levelling up your blundering ninja.

It’s a nice twist on traditional defense-style games. The strategy is surprisingly thoughtful, and the wacky traps rarely failed to bring a smile to my face.

The Banner Saga is an example of a successfully Kickstarted video game that gives its backers everything they wanted, including a story that’s rich in character and detail.

Double Fine has produced a high-quality game of decent length with terrific audio and visual production and an engaging, twist-filled and idea-laden story read by an outstanding cast. Look no further for evidence of its compelling nature than the strength of your yearning for the concluding act to be delivered as quickly as possible.

If you’ve never played it, or if you want something that really shows off the horsepower your new system, this game does it. If, however, you’ve already bought the game, it’s kind of hard to recommend getting it again at full price.

Ultimately, Liberation features a fantastic premise with an evocative heroine that sadly doesn’t measure up to any of the games in the main series. If you are an Assassin’s Creed nut who really wants to see the fictional universe from another perspective, give Liberation a whirl. If you are just looking for some more Assassin’s Creed action, the other six games are better than this one.

This high-priced Dr. Mario clone is still loads of fun – especially in groups – and serves as an effective prescription for anyone suffering a deficiency in accessible, competitive puzzle play.

Despite its finely crafted and quite enjoyable drawing and physics puzzles, I found Max: The Curse of Brotherhood to be more frustrating than fun.

Lego Friends may not be the sort of game you steal away to play yourself after your daughter goes to sleep. And it’s not one you can play together with her for a shared and meaningful family gaming experience...But if you want to buy her a game that’s clearly meant just for her, a game that, as a parent, you can feel okay about having her play on her own or in the back seat of the car, not worrying that it will tarnish her developing brain with mindless violence or make her obsess over her appearance, Lego Friends is worth consideration.

I don’t expect many people will organize online Peggle 2 parties, and playing a puzzle game against strangers isn’t as much fun. Pity there’s no local splitscreen play.

Serious golf fans looking for a game capable of scratching their itch to hit the links through Canada’s long, cold winters aren’t going to find it here.

Despite it’s narrative strength, Freedom Cry somehow lacks the polish and teleological glue of the game upon which it builds.

The controls are too tricky, the action too dull, and the time spent preparing and waiting to actually play is too long.

If you have a crew of friends ready to do some co-op puzzling, Tiny Brains is probably for you; you’ll have a good time, even if you want to punch your buddies by the end...If you’re going it solo, maybe take a pass.

Killer Instinct is one of the most thrillingly addictive fighting games in years, recreating the mid-1990s series like you remember it, just not necessarily how it actually was.

Eldritch is a punishing difficult game that tests a player’s ability to survive in a Lovecraft-inspired world.

The tweak on the formula set up by GW and SSHD may seem minor to begin with, but once the outer layers of the game are peeled away, Resogun reveals itself to have a significantly different feel than either of its predecessors.

The addition of the newer, free-er structure and the loss of a lot of the chaff from the post-Link-to-the-Past Zelda’s make the game a joy to play.

Tearaway is probably the most fun you can have on a PlayStation Vita.

Endlessly creative, relentlessly delightful and eminently playable by all levels of player, SM3DW is perhaps the best 3D platformer released since the series’ heyday.

This is all fun enough stuff. There’s a nice mix of split-second tactical thinking and deep brutality – I could almost feel each blow through my controller.

It’s hard to hate Need For Speed Rivals. But it’s also hard to love it. The game brings a solid, core competency in every aspect of its arcade racing base, while introducing interesting new online features. Unfortunately, these features never quite gel to their full potential.

I came away wishing it had been something more. I was hoping for a racing simulation that didn’t just look next-generation, but also felt next-generation in the way it played. Which is to say I’d have preferred Turn 10 spent as much effort innovating the career mode as it did perfecting the way the game’s cars look and handle.