War of the Vikings isn't necessarily a bad game, but it's a far cry from being a good one. With frustrating controls as well as periodic technical hiccups, it's never going to appeal to a mass audience, but those it does appeal to will enjoy it.

The thing that really crushes the game, though, is this: There are "convenient" links to the eShop to buy the full versions of the included games from within NES Remix 2 itself. Absolutely not, Nintendo. Absolutely not.

Demon Gaze is tough as nails, sometimes dishearteningly so, but its overall charm and excellent sense of polish make it impossible to stay away from for long. A truly excellent example of challenging dungeon crawling.

The Elder Scrolls Online is a ton of fun in an outside-the-box sort of way. It can't seem to decide whether it wants to be single player or MMO, so be prepared for some in-between weirdness, but nothing that really detracts much from the experience. Between Guilds, crafting, PvP, and dungeons, it has all of the makings of a solid MMO.

Destiny of Spirits gets a pat on the head for trying to be better than the worst free-to-play games out there, but since that's not difficult, and since there are far better examples in existence, the reliance on cooldown periods and senseless restrictions come are disappointing.

The third episode of The Wolf Among Us adds an illusory time limit, and it works damn well at ramping up the tension of Bigby's investigation before a stellar climax.

It could have done with being ten dollars cheaper and two hours shorter, but Betrayer is a beautiful looking title with a compelling atmosphere and enjoyably tense combat.

A heartless reskin of an already dull game, Warhammer 40,000: Storm of Vengeance is a mediocre "me too" clone with a brand name shoddily bolted to itself.

It's funny the first time, but there's just not much there beyond the one big goof.

If any one element of The Witch and The Hundred Knight had been truly great, you could look over some of its warts, but without any strong focus its just a bog standard action RPG that's artificially attempted to be made interesting with tons of superfluous gameplay mechanics tacked on.

Utterly stupid and often frustrating, Deception IV: Blood Ties is one of those games that manages to be enjoyable in spite of itself. It's a "bad" game, by most standards, but it's good in that "not good" way.

It's a great way to reincentivize the most enjoyable Warriors game since DW3, and it looks suitably pretty to boot.

Despite a few issues with its end game challenges, Luftrausers is a surprisingly addictive, challenging arcade game that will keep you glued to your Vita for game after game after game.

Yaiba: Ninja Gaiden Z is a dismal waste of a good idea. Painfully unfunny, graphically abhorrent, and straight-up disheveled in the combat department, this manages to be one of the worst games of the last generation, right at the very end of it.

The best in the series to date, inFAMOUS: Second Son tells an amazing story and gives players a ton of relishable power to play with. It's held back by some outdated and formulaic ideas, but overall it'll keep players happy.

Audacious is the word that best describes Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes. It contains quality material, but it's little more than a preview of something better, and as such, simply should not be presenting itself - deceptively - as a game in its own right.

Hearthstone might not fully scratch the strategy itch of the most advanced CCG/TCG players, but it makes an impressive attempt. The rules are simple, so anybody can get the hang of it, but there are enough deck variations available that only skilled deck builders and players will make it high in the ranks.

Colorful yet dark, Tales of Symphonia Chronicles effectively communicates its theme about ending discrimination while providing a fun and sometimes emotional playing experience. Dawn of the New World uses a similar formula, but loses the charm.

Yoshi's New Island is a solid little platformer, but it struggles to be much more than that. It will, at least, kill a few hours of time, even if that time will hardly be remembered afterwards.

Everything that made Dark Souls into a cult success carries over: complex game mechanics, punishing but fair gameplay and a richly detailed setting if you dig a little deeper. To keep things fresh, this is peppered with a mix of new elements, from improved graphics and game engine to a better designed starting sequence and new mechanics. Dark Souls II is a perfect sequel to Dark Souls.

No, this game is far from the "revolution" that excited critics have eagerly claimed it to be, but it is a wonderful little example of how fresh a standard shooter can feel when you pour all sorts of extra garnish over a solid foundation.

An episode full of setup, A House Divided trades in its intensity for a bit more action, and a touch of intrigue.

South Park: The Stick of Truth could stand alone as an extended episode of the show. Whether that's a good thing or a bad thing depends on how funny you think Trey Parker and Matt Stone are. For fans of the show, this is a seriously impressive game.

Castlevania: Lords of Shadow 2 looks gorgeous and could have been wildly original, but it squanders its polish and potential on archaic contrivances, banal writing, and an overall shallow experience. It's fine if you want a factory standard combat game, but in the year 2014, it's just plain dreary.

Thief is a mess. It's disappointing that there's a genuinely good game hidden under a lot of mediocrity.

A charming concept can only get a game so far, and Garden Warfare fails to capitalize. While there's fun to be hard, there's not much meat on the bones, and the repetitive combat ensures this will be nothing but a stopgap title until better shooters enter the market.

Furthermore, f... this game...Ugly as sin, flimsy beyond belief, and chock full of some of the worst barely-interactive gameplay you'll "enjoy" so far this year.

Strider is a stellar example of how to remake a classic. It sticks to the original where it should, and modernizes where the classic formula can be improved.

I've got nothing against big stupid action games. In fact, they're some of my favorite games of all. Earth Defense Force 2025 tries too hard at not trying hard enough, like one of those awful SyFy mutant movies. It knows it's terrible, and thinks it can get away with it by doubling down on its own awfulness. Clearly, this has worked for some, as the series has a fanbase. I don't get it, though. This is not so bad it's good. It's just plain bad, and there aren't enough giant insects in the world to convince me otherwise.

Life on the frontier wasn't pretty and neither is Banished, but it does provide an interesting city-building simulation with an excellently designed user interface.

Often funny, sometimes shocking, Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc is as convoluted as it is curious. A strange but gripping interactive crime novel, and a thoroughly unforgettable jaunt into lunacy.

Though it fails to innovate in an engaging way, the base on which Tropical Freeze is built is solid as a glacier.

The LEGO Movie Videogame is an okay game that LEGO fans will enjoy, but is missing some of the charm of the film and doesn't feel like it lives up to TT's other LEGO titles.

Toukiden: Age of Demons is a solid little Monster Hunter tailgater, but it's highly unremarkable. It's simply okay, and it's not even intrigued by the idea of being more than that.

If you were hoping that Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII was going to be a return to Square's RPG greatness of yesteryear, you're going to be disappointed. This latest title continues to attempt to straddle the line between RPG and action game.

A surprisingly well crafted multiplayer shooter full of options, amusing cartoon violence, and rock solid action. That Loadout does all this, and provides a respectably balanced free-to-play ecosystem, is encouraging to see.

Bravely Default is a joy to play for old school JRPG fans. The music, graphics and mechanics all blend together perfectly and it continues in a already strong lineup of RPGs on the 3DS. This little handheld is becoming quite the powerhouse for these kind of games.

What's here is undoubtedly high quality, but some may find themselves just wanting more of the game. It's a blessing and a curse.

The writing in the second episode of Telltale's A Wolf Among Us series does more to investigate the dark corners of your soul than your shrink can in an hour. Sadly, you can play through the episode in just as much time.

One of 2013's best games, Outlast deserves success in 2014 as a PlayStation 4 release. Disturbing and macabre, sometimes to the extreme, this is one of the best horror games to grace the world in a long time.

While a solid job of remastering the original has been done, the game itself could have used a lot more of an upgrade. It's aged pretty damn badly, and no amount of visual polish can mask that.

Its brevity and reliance on contrived challenges work against Octodad: Deadliest Catch, but when it's at its best, it's a damn hilarious game that'll charm the pants off most players.

Unattractive, uninspiring, and unstable, Rekoil tries to be every other shooter out there, but one would have more fun with almost any other shooter out there.

Consortium is an ingeniously subversive gem, containing enough backstory to fill a Triple-A trilogy while focusing exclusively on an airship crew in distress. The execution is a little clunky at times, but Consortium still has the charm and depth to encourage multiple playthroughs as we wait for the sequel.

Tomb Raider is a terrific game, and the Definitive Edition is a gorgeous looking version of it. It's the same game it was in 2013, though, with no further improvements justifying its "definitive" status.

A fun little game at times, a frustrating little nightmare at others, OlliOlli is a relatively decent, if fairly forgettable, mobile game.

In the end, Blackguards feels a lot like the first time I played Neverwinter Nights in all the good ways and all the bad. Take from that what you will.

Nidhogg is a strange, unholy pastiche of lo-fi aesthetics and surprisingly deep, albeit minimal play; taking cues from decades of arcade-style 1v1 fighting games and modern indie darlings.

A grandiloquent exercise in treading conceptual water. One of the finer examples of what can go wrong when a game swallows too much of its own guff, there's nowhere near enough depth evident to justify its insufferable trumpet blowing.

Broken Age: Act 1 is all about the slow build. Slow isn't boring, however, and a wonderful job is done of carefully constructing the pace while keeping the audience amused. It's a strong start that concludes in a way that makes me desperate for more.

The hand-drawn visuals, interesting combat, and epic story mean The Banner Saga is crafted from flawless pieces - even if the final product is a little rough.

Unearthed: Trail of Ibn Battuta is pure garbage. It just about works, it's shameless in its mimicry of better games, and it's as ugly as Satan's pink portion. God damn, there's something hilarious about it though.

Don't Starve is a gorgeous, terrifying, often funny game, albeit one that can chew away at the player's morale with its constant demands and willingness to undo hard work. Provided you go in willing to work hard and take punches on the nose, there's plenty of reward to be had.

An impressive port that, while needing to jury rig one or two things, does a most admirable job of putting Terraria in your pocket.

Simple to pick up and play, the precise, tension-filled combat is capable of turning friends into bitter rivals.

More like the broken candy cane at the bottom of your stocking, left half forgotten in the hurry of the holiday rush, than a real, heart-felt gift to fans of the franchise.

It's gorgeous in motion, and can be a satisfying little puzzle-platformer, but prepare yourself for some trial-and-error, garnished with repetition.

It plays out like cold-hearted cash grab, seemingly spat out just so the Wii U has something on its eShop this holiday season. A stuttering, stunted selection of nothingness.

A brilliant, addictive downloadable that will is designed to target and trigger the happiness center of your brain.

All That Remains has quickly put to bed any worries I had that TellTale would be unable to pull off the same stunt twice. Written with a maturity, intelligence, and above all, restraint, the season opener packs its punches with frighteningly effective precision, and delivers exactly the kind of memorable, beautifully distressing content fans of the first series will have come to expect.

A rewarding business simulation for all types of players, though one that eventually boxes in the player a little too much.

YS: Memories of Celceta is a great action RPG and one of the most entertaining games on the Vita. It perhaps stumbles in a few places but never enough to fully fall.

As good as the series has ever been. The franchise is almost always a safe bet and they won't let anyone down with this installment. Gran Turismo 6 doesn't really introduce anything too new, but it will give you little snippets of fun to offset the tension that can accrue over hours of playing a serious racing game where every turn could make or break the race.

Tiny Brains is short, messy, and relies heavily on reusing its ideas, but it's also a funny and clever little game that can delight as much as dismay.

A Link Between Worlds is a sentimental game that skates off its predecessor's successes, but is so good at doing so one hardly minds. A few neat new tricks and a beautiful visual style help make up for the game's more frustrating hurdles.

Ryse: Son of Rome tells its story well. It has amazingly enjoyable and ruthlessly violent combat, which pairs incredibly well with the stellar graphics quality. Sadly, the experience is over all too quickly, and you'll be left wondering where the rest of your game is.

It's quite possibly the best looking next-gen title. Hardcore fans will enjoy it to its full extent, but it's fairly forgiving to newcomers as well. There's just not a ton of middle ground, you'll either really love it or not be interested at all.

What it really boils down to is that Tearaway is just FUN. Thoughtful, engaging, and charming in a way that many recent games haven't been, this beautiful world will appeal to lovers of platformers both old and new.

Super Mario 3D World is a very good Mario game that suffers only in that the unrealized potential for it to have been a great game, period, keeps peeking in between the cracks. Fun to play for veterans and newcomers alike either as a single-player challenge or frenetic multiplayer party-brawl; and a definite must for current and prospective WiiU owners.

Resogun's pretty graphics and sometimes excessive effects make it look like a tech demo, but its refined action and subtle intricacies quickly put such notions to death. This is a thrilling and challenging shooter that just so happens to demo the tech quite well!

Just don't expect anything particularly "next-gen" about the game. The visuals are reminiscent of any given game from the end of the X360 or PS3's life cycle. This is an update to an old style of gameplay, but there's not a lot new here. There's a lot of old to love, though.

Killer Instinct is definitely fun, if a bit lacking in depth. The lack of campaign mode and limited character options mean it won't take long for you to breeze through the entirety of the content offering, but the online versus should ensure that you get plenty of enjoyment for your investment.

LocoCycle has an utterly ridiculous story that will illicit a few laughs, but its gameplay isn't all that engaging.

Dead Rising 3 will likely go down as one of the quintessentially "good" launch titles seen when a new console releases. It's an exclusive title with a big open world and tons of zombies that demonstrates the power of the next gen console well.

The enhancements aren't quite ready for prime-time, but Baldur's Gate II remains one of the greatest RPGs of all time and an unsurpassed D&D experience. The improvements to the interface are fantastic, and if the new content gets the final wax-and-polish it deserves, it will be too.

While the story is good fun, and the mechanical conceits awesome, Contrast's puzzles just aren't as hard as they need to be.

Need for Speed: Rivals is like the love child of GTA and Grand Turismo. It avoids the repetitive closed-course race tracks in favor of a fun, free-spirited open world racing experience.

Knack is a colorful, but mediocre platformer that has issues with repetitive gameplay on top of being frustratingly difficult at times.

Killzone: Shadow Fall is not going to win over the masses, especially those who never cared for the series to begin with. It is, however, a fine shooter with a fun story, and a multiplayer mode that fans can sink hours and hours into.

While the action can wear the player out, and the campaign itself isn't particularly lengthy or deep, fans will get their money's worth from this concentrated blast of Ratchet & Clank action.

Burial At Sea tells an interesting tale with plenty of twists, but it doesn't have enough substance on the gameplay side of things to back it up.

Enemy Within is a solid expansion to an excellent game, with options like MECs, medals and gene mods that make you want to stomp aliens all over again in exciting new ways. The first two thirds of the campaign are definitely improved, but EW doesn't solve the problem of slogging through the endgame.

Call of Duty: Ghosts throws a lot of stuff at the walls and attempts to see what sticks. In addition to the campaign and multiplayer there's now Extinction, Squads, Clans Wars and more. There's a little bit of everything to be found here and it's all built on the foundation of a fast paced shooter. With so much customization over your character and you routes of play there's probably something for everyone in Ghosts.

As Battlefield 4 takes over carrying the flag for its franchise it comes with much the same baggage as the last iteration. The multiplayer is as amazing as it's ever been, but it continues to be saddled with a sore excuse for a campaign.

While Black Flag feels very much like an Assassin's Creed game, its gameplay reminds me more of Sid Meier's Pirates! wrought in glorious 3D. As in that classic game, you are free to sail wherever your heart desires, and be as dastardly or as benign as you like. Embodying Edward Kenway and living through his adventures on the seas, while also experiencing his struggle with Assassins and Templars alike, is pure escapist delight.

Batman: Arkham Origins is a flawed, but enjoyable game that fails to improve on a winning formula. This is still great core gameplay, solid graphics, great voice acting, and a plot that's a good ride while it lasts. Just don't expect anything new.

Lego Marvel Super Heroes is a light-hearted adventure that's got a few technical flaws, but is a nice, relaxing super hero game that's free of all the grimness we've come to see in recent years.

Dual Destinies follows in its predecessors' footsteps by combining simple gameplay mechanics, memorable characters, and bizarre courtroom antics into a wholly entertaining experience. It drags at times, with pacing between the investigations and trials occasionally being an issue, but that hardly gets in the way of the fun.

a perfectly serviceable adventure with some truly funny moments, but they're broken up by too many long, drawn-out segments that add little but minutes on the clock, and the finale is more of a sudden stop than an actual conclusion. The net result is an unfocused experience that feels more like just another chapter in an ongoing series rather than the final piece of a fast-paced comic trilogy.

It's a rehash of what made Sonic awesome in 1991. It's not a videogame from 2013. It controls like a game from 1991, it has gameplay like a game from 1991. Warts, blemishes, sluggishness and all. It is, by all measures, an astoundingly average game.

An amazing introduction to the Fables setting, the first episode of The Wolf Among Us absorbs you fully into the character of Bigby Wolf through excellent writing and forcing the player to make engaging choices.

rain's premise is certainly interesting, and as far as aesthetics go, it does put you into a somber, yet intriguing world of dreariness. But rain's gameplay doesn't live up to its setting, and doesn't offer much more than the occasionally tricky puzzle or stealth sequence.

Shadow Warrior isn't free of some design flaws that can take away from the experience, but as an action game, its combat is solidly put together. While not the easiest to use, the various weapons and sword fighting combos you have really make you feel like a badass warrior whenever you pull off a gruesome decapitation.

It is the difference between The Godfather Part 1 and Part 2, between Inglorious Basterds and Triumph of the Will, and between Just Cause 2 and JFK Reloaded. In the former examples, the audience can get behind the anti-heroes depicted for whatever reason and condone their admittedly awful actions, but in the latter group, the subject matter or the protagonist's morals are skewed too far from the norm to be comfortably witnessed. That's what it's like to play Grand Theft Auto V. The three men you take control of throughout the game aren't even anti-heroes. They're just scumbags.

Technical flaws and narrative shortcomings aside, Dragon Fantasy Book II is a fun, retro-inspired RPG that hits the notes it needs to.

It's brilliantly wacky and unique, with awesome basic gameplay, but The Wonderful 101 doesn't quite live up to its potential.

A superficially-twisted, Dear Esther-like game of linear exploration punctuated by flowery narrative - but scary, it is not.

Puppeteer is a game that most might overlook, but it's an inventive, beautiful new world with fantastical ideas.